Sure, owning a home is the American dream. It’s also the largest investment most of us will ever make, so go into it knowing what is and isn’t required.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Enough money to make monthly mortgage payments. Duh! If a mortgage payment will bust your budget, you can’t get rid of your landlord yet. Use a mortgage calculator to estimate your monthly payment.
• Enough income to pay property taxes and homeowner’s insurance. The mortgage isn’t the only cost you’ll have each month. You also have to pay taxes and insurance. If you can’t make those payments, say bye-bye to the house.
• The ability to maintain the property. You must keep a home in good repair or it will lose value and you’ll lose money. You can do the work yourself or hire it out. Either way, you can’t ignore peeling paint and windows that won’t close, like you did when you were a tenant.
• A decent credit record. If you have lots of late payments, have declared bankruptcy or left old debts unpaid, it’s harder to get a mortgage. And if you do get one, your bad credit record will make you pay a much higher interest rate.

Here’s what you won’t need:

• A big down payment. It’s best to make a big down payment so you can skip paying private mortgage insurance (PMI) and lower your monthly payments, but it is possible to buy a house for almost nothing down.
• Experience. As experience real estate agent I’ll guide you and coach you step by step to the process.

We’re glad that more people are becoming curious about this market! It’s an exciting and rewarding situation, with interesting old homes in good condition, new luxury developments, plucky condos downtown, and well-planned family residences with lasting financial and utilitarian appeal.

Searching for a home Despite (and perhaps because of) the great selections in homes in this area, buyers are having a difficult time zeroing in on the home or property that is uniquely appropriate for their needs.

Just remember: Browsing the listings for months is one way search out the deals, but weighing the investment potential of each property can be difficult, and many homes for sale are never listed publicly.

The Home Buying Process As you begin to think about buying a home, you’re probably acutely aware that this is likely to be your greatest investment ever (short of children or a good marriage), and you might be wondering if there’s anything you really need to know as you go into this process. This is where your real estate professionals come in. With the help of a trained agent, you can come out on top of a closing that might otherwise have pushed your retirement ahead a decade! This happens all the time to buyers, who are left reflecting on the relatively small commission that would have brought a Realtor into the bargain to help them.
If you’d like to know about the home buying process, I would love to tell you all about it.Contact Us
Five Reasons to buy your home with a REALTOR®

1. Get access to all the listings.
2. Know all the facts on properties you’re interested in.
3. Negotiate with the help of a real estate professional.
4. Finance your home faster.
5. Make a solid investment that pays off down the road.

New homes for sale hit the market daily. As your representative, we’ll be in regular contact with sellers and other real estate agents to ensure you see all the newest listings right away, whether or not they’re made public. Often, our clients can put in offers with little or no competition and walk away with an impressive deal on the property of their choice. Your agent will also make sure you see only the properties that meet your needs and investment preferences, so that you don’t spend time on listings that aren’t of interest. As you compare the best deals, we’ll provide you with important information about the home, its neighborhood, zoning issues, utilities, and nearby plans for development.

Many real estate transactions include an extensive negotiating process, and as your buyer’s Agency it will be Our job to represent you here and get the best deal possible. We’ll also attend property inspections, make sure any and all agreed-on repair work is carried out, and handle paperwork related to the sale. We can also help set up the financing for your invesment, and work directly with a broker to provide you with a seamless service package.

Working with a dedicated agent on your next home purchase will save you time, and add professional assurance to every step of the process. With the guarantee of a solid investment, the decision could also make you more wealthy when it’s time to sell. To get in touch with us today, please contact us whenever you’d like.

Looking to buy a home? Here are five essential tips for making the process as smooth as possible.

Get your finances in order.

Start by getting a full picture of your credit. Obtain copies of your credit report. Make sure the facts are correct, and fix any problems you find. Next, find a suitable lender and get pre-approved for a loan. This will put you in a better position to make a serious offer when you do find the right house.

Find a house you can afford.

As with engagement rings, there’s a general rule of thumb when it comes to buying a home: two-and-a-half times your annual salary. There are also a number of tools and calculators online that can help you understand how your income, debt, and expenses affect what you can afford. Don’t forget, too, that there are lots of considerations beyond the sticker price, including property taxes, energy costs, etc.

Hire a professional.

While the Internet gives buyers unprecedented access to home listings and resources, many aspects of the buying process require a level of expertise you can’t pick up from surfing the web. That’s why you’re better off using a professional agent than going it alone. If possible, recruit an exclusive buyer agent, who will have your interests at heart and can help you with strategies during the bidding process.

Do your homework.

Before making a bid, do some research to determine the state of the market at large. Is it more favorable for sellers or buyers? Next, look at sales trends of similar homes in the area or neighborhood. Look at prices for the last few months. Come up with an asking price that’s competitive, but also realistic. Otherwise, you may end up ticking off your seller.

Think long term.

Obviously, you shouldn’t buy unless you’re sure you’ll be staying put for at least a few years. Beyond that, you should buy in a neighborhood with good schools. Whether you have children or not, this will have an impact on your new home’s resale value down the line. When it comes to the house itself, you should hire your own home inspector, who can point out potential problems that could require costly repairs in the future.

Moving from a small town or suburb to a large city can be an intimidating proposition. Here are a few tips to help make your move as painless as possible.

Research before you move. It’s important to understand the culture you’re joining. Do research online and find out about school systems, neighborhoods, parking, weather, public transportation, and laws that are native to that area. If you can, visit a city before moving and connect with someone who’s lived there before.

Have a plan. There are a lot of steps to go through before you start packing the moving truck. Find housing before you leave, or at least know where you’ll stay while you look for a home. Never sign a lease on an apartment that you haven’t seen. If you can’t get there, find a friend or an employer to check for you. Have a job waiting for you, or if that’s not possible, know what you’ll do for money in the first few weeks of living there. Try to line up things like driver’s licenses, car insurance, renter’s insurance, and parking passes ahead of time as well.

Get involved. Meeting people in a big city can be daunting. Don’t expect the neighbors to knock your door down with a casserole when you arrive: city life is often too noisy and hectic. Take the initiative. If there are things you liked to do in your town, find ways to do those things in the city. Try new things. Volunteer. Big cities offer so many opportunities to engage other people, so find what you like.

Mind your wallet. City life is expensive. Everything costs more: food, insurance, clothes, rent. There are also a lot more ways to get ripped off, whether legally or criminally. Be careful how you spend, and know where your money is going.

Selling your home doesn′t just mean hiring a realtor to stick a sign out front. There are a lot of preparations you should make to ensure you get the best offer possible in the shortest time.

Repair. Just because you’ve gotten used to the cracks in the walls and the rattles in the radiators doesn’t mean a buyer will too. If you have hardwood floors that need refinishing, be sure to get it done—hardwood is a huge selling point. Buyers like to snoop around, so be sure to fix any sticky doors or drawers as well. Finally, don’t forget to address any issues with the exterior—fences, shingles, sidewalks, etc. After all, without curb appeal, some buyers may never get to see the inside.

Neutralize. You want buyers to see themselves in your home. If your living room has lime green shag, wood-paneled walls, and all your collectibles and personal photographs, this will be much harder for them to do. Try replacing any bold color choices in your floors and walls with something more neutral—beiges, tans, and whites. Repainting and reflooring will make everything look fresh and new, and help prospective buyers imagine all the possibilities.

Stage. Once your house is clean and updated, it’s time to play dress up. Home stagers can add small details and décor touches that will bring out the possibilities in the various spaces in your home: lamps, mirrors, throw rugs and pillows, flowers, decorative soaps and towels, patio furniture. Home staging can be particularly useful if your home is especially old or if the exterior looks dated. Think of it as a little mascara and rouge—if it’s done right, you notice the beauty, not the makeup.

As the events of the last few years in the real estate industry show, people forget about the tremendous financial responsibility of purchasing a home at their peril. Here are a few tips for dealing with the dollar signs so that you can take down that “for sale” sign on your new home.

Get pre-approved. Sub-primes may be history, but you’ll probably still be shown homes you can’t actually afford. By getting pre-approved as a buyer, you can save yourself the grief of looking at houses you can’t afford. You can also put yourself in a better position to make a serious offer when you do find the right house. Unlike pre-qualification, which is based on a cursory review of your finances, pre-approval from a lender is based on your actual income, debt and credit history. By doing a thorough analysis of your actual spending power, you’ll be less likely to get in over your head.

Choose your mortgage carefully. Used to be the emphasis when it came to mortgages was on paying them off as soon as possible. Today, the debt the average person will accumulate due to credit cards, student loans, etc. means it’s better to opt for the 30-year mortgage instead of the 15-year. This way, you have a lower monthly payment, with the option of paying an additional principal when money is good. Additionally, when picking a mortgage, you usually have the option of paying additional points (a portion of the interest that you pay at closing) in exchange for a lower interest rate. If you plan to stay in the house for a long time—and given the current real estate market, you should—taking the points will save you money.

Do your homework before bidding. Before you make an offer on a home, do some research on the sales trends of similar homes in the neighborhood with sites like Zillow. Consider especially sales of similar homes in the last three months. For instance, if homes have recently sold for 5 percent less than the asking price, your opening bid should probably be about 8 to 10 percent lower than what the seller is asking.

If you’re prepping a home for sale, what are the main areas of a home you should target with your staging – especially if you can’t stage every square inch? the most important rooms to be staged:

1. Living room

2. Kitchen

3. Master bedroom

4. Dining room

5. Bathroom

6. Children’s bedroom

7. Guest bedroom

Staging can influence buyers’ perceptions of a home and even the home’s perceived value. Indeed, 32 percent of buyer agent’s say that their clients tend to be more willing to increase their offer by 1 percent to 5 percent of the dollar value; 16 percent say they believe a staged home could potentially raise their buyers’ offer by 6 percent to 10 percent.

The following chart shows just how staging can influence buyers’ perceptions of a home.

Listing your house with me you get the staging for free check my Special Offer

Before you show your home to any potential buyer, you want to make sure the staging is perfect. Follow these general tips and your home will look better than the competition.

FOR THE INSIDE

• Clear all unnecessary objects from furniture throughout the house. Keep accessories and objects on the furniture restricted to groups of 1, 3, or 5 items. In general, a de-cluttered home helps the buyer mentally “move in” with their own things. Rearrange or remove some of the furniture in your home, if necessary. Many times home owners have too much furniture in a room. When it comes to selling your home, thin out overcrowded rooms to make the rooms appear larger.
• Clear all unnecessary objects from the kitchen countertops. If it hasn’t been used for three months…put it away! Clear refrigerator fronts of messages, magnets, pictures, etc.
• In the bathroom, remove any unnecessary items from the countertops, tub, shower stall, and commode top. Keep only the most necessary cosmetics, brushes, perfumes, etc., in one small group on the counter. Coordinate towels in one or two colors only.
• Take down, reduce, or rearrange pictures and objects on walls. Patch and paint all walls, if necessary.
• Review the house interior, room by room, and…

1. Paint any room needing paint.

2. Clean carpet and draperies that need it.

3. Clean windows.

• Pack up and store. If you need room to store extra possessions, get a storage unit.
• Leave on certain lights during the day . During showings turn on ALL lights and lamps.
• Set a background tune. Play light FM music every day in the house, for all viewings.

FOR THE OUTSIDE

• Go around the perimeter of the house and move all garbage cans, discarded wood scraps, extra building materials, etc., to the garage or, if applicable, take them to the dump.
• Check gutters and roof for dry rot and moss. Make sure they are swept and cleaned.
• Examine all plants. Plants are like children…they grow so fast. Prune bushes and trees. Keep plants from blocking windows: “You can’t sell a house if you can’t see it!”
• Remove any dead plants, weed all planting areas, and put down fresh mulching material.
• Keep your lawn freshly cut, edged, and fertilized during the growing season.
• Clear patios or decks of all small items, such as little planters, flower pots, charcoal, barbeques, toys, etc.
• Check the condition of the paint on your home, especially the trim and the front door. The first impression, or “curb appeal,” is very important.

IN GENERAL

Try to look at your house “through a buyer’s eyes,” as though you’ve never seen it before. This exercise will help you see what needs to be done. Any time and money invested on these items will usually bring you the return of more money and a quicker sale.

Check my Special Offers for free staging of your home.