Archive for the ‘Connie's Tips’ Category

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.

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.

Some people think that just because there is so much information online and it is readily available that they can learn enough about real estate to buy or sell their own home!  It’s true that it is possible.  But what are the tradeoffs?  Well, let’s think about it…

Knowledge:

How much do you really know about real estate?  Do you know what the market is really like or just what you read about in the paper?  How will you come up with a price for your home?  Do you understand all the legal paperwork that has to be organized and executed properly to make it a safe transaction for both the buyer and the seller?

Advertising:

Sure you can advertise your home by just sticking a sign outside and people will come by everyday knocking on your door, right?  Um, probably not!

Well then I could put an ad in the local paper…  Maybe that will work?  Well, what’s the circulation?  How many different newspapers are in your local area?  Do they charge for the ad?  How long will it take, how many months can I run the ad?  How many people will really read it?  Unfortunately not many!

I could advertise online with all those other people trying to advertise their homes online!  Ok, how long have all the other homes been online waiting to sell?

Advertising your home is a very important component of selling it.  Do you have the time to research the best places to advertise?  Do you have the funds available for the advertisement?  These are all things that are handled quite expertly by a real estate agent.  An aggressive agent that is working for you will advertise in many different ways: in print, on the web and possibly on the radio.

Time:

How much time will you spend chasing down the buyers or sellers, or writing and placing advertisements and looking up legal jargon?  If time is money, figure it out.  What is your time worth?  There is a ton of paperwork that has to be done.  Is a lawyer cheaper than the real estate agent?

Negotiation:

Are you a good negotiator?  This is a key element to buying or selling your home.  Again a lawyer could be used in place of an agent, but who will charge more in the end.  Negotiating with a construction company for a new home can be a challenge even when you are working with an agent, builders are in the business to make money not concessions.

Questions after the closing:

There are always questions after the closing regardless of how smooth it was.  Whether it be yours or the other party these questions may have ramifications if not answered properly.  Is there tax liability on either party, what is the correct amount, how was it calculated.  A good real estate agent can answer these and more.

An experienced and reputable agent will take care of all your advertising needs.  They know the market, they have the network of buyers and sellers already.  They have the knowledge to make sure you are protected properly and have all the right paperwork done at the right time, as well making sure you get what you deserve if you are selling or if you are buying, making sure you pay what you should and no more!  A good agent will even counsel you on making the right mortgage decisions.

There are so many decisions to make when buying or selling a home make sure the best decision you make is in hiring the right agent that will work tirelessly for you and your family.

Well, my new site is live, I hope you like it and find it easy to use. Please feel free to make suggestions for ease of use or specific information you want to see. I built this site for you the consumer.

Buying or Selling your new home is a huge decision. I want to make it as easy as possible for you to find your new home or to feel comfortable that I am the right real estate agent to sell your home.

If you would like to look at my listings, they are both on the front page as a gallery or you can click on featured listings. Check these often as I get new listings weekly. Even though the market has slowed some, my sales have not, so don’t wait too long if you see what you want here!

Under Search MLS you can search on your towns of interest and see the MLS listings for all agents. You can search by City, County or zip code and many other options to narrow down your requirements. Enjoy this feature.

The Advanced Map Search allows you to look at a google map. You can click on a balloon to see my listing at that location. You can also see a full map to the area.

Buyer and Seller are blogs that I will update to continually give you new information. Check out the information that is already there to get your house ready to sell or see what you need to do to buy a house.

The Contact page is just what it sounds like. If you prefer to email me, just click here and email me, I will get back to you within a few hours.

Along the right side you can see what some of customers have said after a sale. I have met some wonderful people helping them to buy or sell their home and many of them have shown their appreciation by writing me and telling me.

There is also a block that narrows down listings by the towns that I am most active in. When you click on this page you will see a slide show with those homes and it is further broken down by dollar range, click on your range and you will see all the qualifying homes.

For convenience I broke out the Condo’s and the Town homes in Mass and NH. There is still a little glitch here and you are seeing all of Mass but we are getting that fixed up to make it easy for you. You will also see The Doto Real Estate Report here, just click to read my blog postings.

Under Resources you can click on Register for free email alerts for the towns that you are interested in. Please register right away if you are thinking of buying a new home. I would love to help you in making that decision, and you can watch your email for any new listings in the area you choose!

If you are selling, you can click here and fill out a form so that I can give you a free market analysis on your home. Be informed when selling your home, know what it is worth and what the homes in your area are on the market for.

Last but definitely not least, if you have an iPhone, you can click here and register your iPhone for updates on listings in the areas you are interested in.

I have tried to supply you with all the options that I can to make your search better. Please comment on this blog so I can be of service to you better! I WORK 8 DAYS A WEEK FOR MY CLIENTS!