Archive for the ‘Connie Recommends’ Category

Curb Appeal is the First Impression

The first impression whether you are buying or selling is very important.  Just like with friendships, the first impression will hold sway over other opinions and critiques made, so make it a good one.

Curb Appeal Affects Buyers

You want your potential buyers to take notice of your home from the instant they pull up.  If it looks uncared for or cookie cutter like every other house in the neighborhood, they may just continue driving.

There are a few things you can do to the home’s exterior to increase curb appeal:

1. Check the trim and make sure it is in good repair.  This includes the shutters, window sills, fascia and soffit under the roof overhang.
2. Make sure the gutters are cleaned out and draining away from the house.
3. Inspect and repair any wood rot that the home inspector will pick up on.
4. Fencing should be secure and in good condition.
5. Touch up any exterior paint, doors, window trim, etc.
6. Store Trash container and debris out of sight of the roadside.
7. Make sure the yard looks well cared for, the grass is cut, if you have pets make sure the waste is cleaned up and prune any shrubberies.

These are just a few things that can help your prospective buyers take a second look at your home.

Enjoy your day and come back often to see my other posts and search for your new home or do some research on selling yours.

I am asked all the time what are the 5 most important things the consumer can do to make their home buying experience a little less stressful.  Looking back over all my years of experience and seeing the changes in the market, I have to say that there is rarely a stress free buying experience.  There will always be something that pops up that will always get worked out but will give you an adrenaline shot till it does.  But here are some tips on making it a little easier:

1. Fix your credit!   When your score is better that 700 you will have a better chance of getting the best interest rate and lower closing costs.
2. Run your credit at http://bit.ly/t3nhR this services is the only free credit report service sanctioned by the government.
3. Get pre-approved.  Pre-qualification is nice to find out how much you should spend, but pre-approval shows that you are ready to buy and gives you a little leverage when negotiating the price for the property you want to buy.
4. Get the property inspected.  This is really important even if it is new construction.  Most builders are reputable but there are a few that may cut corners and you want to be able to find those corners before you buy and move in.
5. Read your title.  Make sure that if you are thinking about expanding your home or building something else on the property that there are no restrictions.  This may not cause issues during the sale but they certainly will later on down the line after you’ve moved in.

Thanks for visiting my blog.  Come back for more tips and advice as well as viewing my new listings as they come in.  Sign up for listing announcements by clicking here http://bit.ly/9C4Oqf.

Buying a home is a huge decision.  Here is another great tip about choosing what your needs are as far as your leisure style and family size.

What are your needs for leisure space?  Do you need a Den?  A Living Room? How about a great room with a big screen tv and surround sound system.  Everybody’s needs and wants are different.

A Living Room with beautiful formal couches and chairs would be a great way to entertain guests on special occasions, or just a nice place to sit for tea in the afternoon.

A comfortable den with over sized couches is another option.  Do you prefer the informal to the formal?  Maybe you have a few young children that need some play space.

You could have a sports nut in the family that likes to watch the games or a movie on a big screen tv with surround sound.  The great room is the best for this scenario.  There is plenty of room to have friends over and cheer your favorite team on or put a pool table and play some games instead of watching them.

Whatever your situation think about the options and choose what is most comfortable for your life style.   If you like the great room or formal living room idea but it is too much right now, make sure the home you choose has the space to add on at a later time.

For more tips on home buying stay tuned.  And to buy or sell your home call Connie at 978.697.5488.

Spring is in the air and so is love for the first time home buyer! Interest rates are still low.  The weather is warming up and it is a perfect time to be looking for your new home.

Here is the info on the tax credit:

Eligibility requirements:

• First time buyers are defined as individuals or couples that have not owned a home in three years or more.
• Existing home owners that have lived in their home for the last 5 of the past 8 years.
• All U. S. citizens who file taxes.

Income Limits:

• Individuals or head of household with adjusted gross income of less than $125,000.
• Married couples with combined adjusted gross income of $250,000.
• Partial credit for those individuals with adjust gross income between $125,000 and $145,000 and married between $225,000 and $245,000.
• No credits for individuals over $145,000 and married couples over $245,000.

The effective date started November 6th, 2009, and ends May 1st, 2010.  For those buyers in April of 2010 you must close before July 1st.

All single family homes qualify as long as they are the principal residence of the buyer and under $800,000.  Vacation homes and renal property do not qualify.

For more information please go to http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com

Look for my next blog that will detail Century 21’s $8,000.00 cash giveaway to home sellers for listing with Century 21!

Well here is a great video that echoes the sentiments in my last post about our homes getting smaller.  Some developers are getting very practical and showing consumers how to follow suit.

If you are looking for a new home, watch this video to help you decide what is important and how you can find it.

If you need an agent that will tirelessly help you find your home, give me a call and let me help you.

I just came across this great article in The Wall Street Journal.  It talks about the 10 “must have” features in today’s homes.  I will have the link at the end of my post.

It is very interesting and discusses Americans changing their needs for larger homes in favor of a smaller home as a signal of the changing economy.  I am also seeing this as an agent.  Through my years I have seen many trends but people seem to be getting back to what is practical and extra space is no longer on the list of “must haves”.

Here is the link http://bit.ly/aRXe9D

Enjoy!
Connie

Well this option sounds different, but apparently buyers that qualify can sell their tax credit to FHA-approved mortgagees and non-profit organizations as well as some Federal, state and local agencies that want to buy them.  Of course there are conditions that are important to the legal execution of this kind of deal:

• the proceeds of the sale cannot exceed the tax credit
• the borrower must certify that the tax credit is not going to pay for any other bills
• the FHA must have a copy of the borrower’s tax refund or the IRS form 5045 in their files
• any fees and costs of the sale cannot exceed more than 2.5% (ex. $6,000 tax credit with all fees and costs extracted the borrower can not receive less than $5850 for the sale of their tax credit)
• the borrower must have at least 3.5% of down payment that does not include any of the funds from the sale

For information regarding this, ask your mortgage company the FHA directly.

Yup, the title is right.  There was a whole bunch of information passed around last year about using your $8,000 tax credit as a down payment on your new home.  Of course that can’t be true, how can you get money for a tax credit when you haven’t bought the house yet?  Well according to HUD that is Fraud! Another problem is that the tax credit can only be given to the qualifying individual and not a third party.

You may be asking yourself how you can get around this, well if you qualify for the tax credit and you are getting an FHA loan or another qualifying Government agency loan, you may receive a tax credit advance with a secondary lien against the home.

The following are the conditions for this:

• the tax credit advance and the FHA-insured first mortgage may not result in cash back to the buyer
• the second lien may not exceed the total amount needed for down payment, closing costs and prepaid expenses
• the secondary financing may be “soft”, meaning no payments for a period of time or require monthly payments
• payments must be deferred for 36 months and cannot be used in the first mortgage qualifying ratios
• if the secondary financing has a short repayment term, there must also be a provision that if the borrower fails to pay by deadline, principal and interest payments either begin automatically or the loan converts to a “soft” second
• the secondary financing cannot require a balloon payment before the first ten years

There is another option!  We’ll discuss this on our next blog.

Check back soon.

Connie

I found a great video on YouTube on finding a good real estate agent. Check this out

Besides choosing your home, choosing your agent could be the second most important decision.  Do your homework, ask questions and talk to more than one agent.  Make sure they have what it takes to help you with your purchase and/or sale.

The importance of staging your home will be shown to you by an experienced real estate agent. There are many things you can do, but each home is unique and has some properties that are better highlighted while others are not made a priority for the potential buyers to experience. You and your agent will assess your home and decide what are the important things to draw attention to your potential buyers. An experienced agent may already have several buyers they are thinking may be interested in your home and will know what their triggers are and be prepared for it.

The suggestions may range from replacing bold colors to more neutral tones or removing old wallpaper and painting the room to make it look spacious and elegant. Speaking of spacious, if a room seems a little too narrow, hanging a mirror in just the right place can make the room seem a little larger than it actually is.

The kitchen is usually very important to buyers. The appliances may need to either be updated or at least look newer. The cabinets may also need to be cleaned up. New hardware on the doors of the cabinets may also be a huge selling point.

If your closets are small, remove half the contents and put like colors together to make them look larger and roomier than they are. Add some shelves if possible to make it look more organized.

Have the carpets cleaned and deodorized to make the room seem fresh. There is nothing worse than having a seller walk into a stale smelling room. Fresh flowers can also help this and they are also very beautiful to look at.

Bathrooms must also be very clean and luxurious. The tub must be inviting, the sink must also sparkle and the toilet should be clean the top should be down.

There are many other suggestions that can be made. If you want more information about your home, contact me and I will be glad to help you.