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Get real with unrealistic sellers
In some areas there is a shortage of desirable, well-priced listings. Sellers who don't need to sell now are waiting for a better market. Many sellers who would like to sell now have unrealistic expectations about what a buyer would be willing to pay for their home.
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Tech playing key role in real estate deals
Invariably, buyers or sellers are faced with important decisions at the most inconvenient times. They may be on vacation or on a business trip. Even if you're in town, you may be tied up in meetings and unable to take time to drive to your real estate agent's office.
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Refinance home to pay off credit card?
DEAR BENNY: We will soon have our mortgage paid off. Our home is valued at $120,000. Unfortunately, we owe about $50,000 in credit-card debt. I took early Social Security and work part time. My husband will take full Social Security next March and continue to work full time. So we had planned to pay extra on the debt with his Social Security check and the fact that we will no longer have a house payment. This will likely take at least two years. However, we wonder if it would be more beneficial to re-mortgage the house for the $50,000 to pay off all the credit-card debt. Obviously it would be a lower interest rate and would be an income tax deduction. What do you think? --Jean
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Appraisal rules tangle with home values
How much your home is worth depends on who's looking at it. Your home insurer will value your home in terms of the cost to rebuild it. A mortgage lender's appraiser will value your property in terms of the sale prices of similar homes in your neighborhood that sold recently. The property tax assessor may have a different set of criteria.
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Tips for handling contingent offers
Financing a trade-up move is far more difficult now than it was before the economic meltdown of fall 2007. Today's guidelines require such buyers to qualify to carry two mortgages, to have verifiable income, and have enough cash for a downpayment.
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Five ways to cut heating costs
If you're thinking it's time to do something about your cold house and your high heating bills, here are five win-win suggestions that will help you do both.
1. REPLACE YOUR FURNACE FILTER
A clogged filter makes your furnace work harder to deliver the same amount of heat, which wastes energy by keeping the furnace on for a longer period in order to bring the house up to the requested temperature.
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Multiple home inspections pay off
Buyers often assume that if a house is new there's no need to inspect it. What could possibly be wrong with a brand-new house? You'd be surprised.
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Dial down holiday excess
Fiscal, nutritional and environmental excess. Such is the dark side of the holiday season. But by adopting a greener approach to festivities, that gluttony can be pared back.
Here are some strategies:
Plant greetings -- Abandon snail-mail cards in favor of online greetings, which eliminate paper waste and requires no fuel for delivery. But if sending cards is something you still wish to do, opt for recycled paper and cards that get second lives in the garden. Some are infused with seeds, and recipients plant the cards and later watch flowers bloom. One source is Greenfield Paper at http://www.greenfieldpaper.com/asccustompages/categories.asp?categoryid=3.
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Questions every buyer should ask
Take this checklist along when you visit a home and talk to the listing agent.
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Get rid of 'energy suckers'
While we do have a fiduciary duty to focus on our client’s agenda, there are times, however, when we need to rid ourselves of people who drain us of our time and energy.
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Tips for avoiding surprise defects
A homebuyer in the hills above Oakland, Calif., recently closed on a home that matched her wish list almost perfectly, which is as good as it gets. Before closing, the new home was inspected and no major defects were discovered.
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Is now a good time to downsize?
Interest rates are low. Prices have come down in many areas. More buyers are deciding it's a good time to buy, even though it may be awhile before the housing market stabilizes.
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Is a condo a good investment?
Not too many years ago, buying a condo was considered a compromise move. Condos are more affordable, particularly for first-time buyers who have a tough time breaking into the housing market. Until recently the cheap entry fee entitled you to apartment-style living, no yard to call your own and lackluster appreciation-not an attractive package to most home buyers.
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When is the right time to buy?
Some buyers will tell you that the best time to buy is during the winter holiday season. Is this good advice?
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