Hope Leitner, Realtor®, CRS

A home inspector is another key professional involved in a real estate transaction.   Many times, the sales contract will have a provision that allows the purchaser to have inspections made to discover issues that are not readily apparent or have not been disclosed by the seller. It is important to have a qualified individual perform the inspection.   Regardless of whether a license is required, buyers should ask about the inspector's experience, training, years in business and if they are familiar with the area and type of property involved. Membership in professional associations can indicate an inspector's commitment to education and training.   References from both customers and agents are helpful and may be more meaningful.   You are encouraged to call the references, especially, if you are concerned about any specific areas. Errors and Omission insurance is intended to cover mistakes made during an inspection.   It would be good to find out if the inspector has this

If you are making a particular meal for the first time, it is essential to have a recipe so that it turns out the way it should.   Knowing the ingredients and preparation can guide you through the process. Buying a home is really no different than making a new recipe.   There are certain things that need to be done, many of which should occur in a particular order to save time, money, effort and disappointment.   Your first inclination may be to start searching the Internet for homes and schedule some showings or possibly visit open houses.   Even though this is very gratifying, it shouldn't be done until you have gone through the preliminaries. Buying a home for the first-time implies you haven't been through the process before and even though, you may have a rough idea of what needs to be done, selecting the right agent in the beginning will give you the benefit of years of personal and professional experience that can help you avoid some of the common mistakes made whe

We are all spending more time at home and will probably need to continue to do so for a while longer.   Depending on the makeup of your family, your home is now a home office, a gym, a virtual classroom and considerably more meals have been prepared in your kitchens in the past six months than normal. Some businesses have undergone a metamorphosis that has shown them that maybe they do not need the big commercial spaces for their employees.   They realize that they can be just as productive with their work force offsite which will cut expenses. If this scenario sounds familiar, it may be worth exploring what moving would look like for your situation.   To analyze the options, you will need to know what your home is worth and what the net proceeds will be after selling it. You will need to know what homes are available with the amenities you are looking for together with the prices and mortgage money.   Depending on the interest rate on your current mortgage, there may not be much

Selling a home and buying a lower priced home that meets your current needs can be to your advantage in an "Up" market like the current one with low inventory.   The advantage is that you can maximize the price for the home you're selling and not have to reinvest it all in your replacement. Just to illustrate the point, let's say there is a 10% premium in the sales price of a home currently.   If you're selling a home for $750,000, it would be $75,000.   If you replaced the home with a $500,000 home, the premium would be $50,000 which means you're $25,000 ahead. Let's further assume that your home is debt free so that when you sell it, you have a large cash equity.   Instead of paying cash for the replacement home, get an 80% loan at today's low interest rates and reinvest the proceeds to supplement your retirement. You may be able to get as low as a 2.5% mortgage and earn significantly more on the proceeds in other investments. Home prices are

Cutting the price will generally bring buyers of anything out of the woodwork that were not serious before.   Some renters could easily lower their monthly cost of housing by half or more by purchasing a home with all the financial benefits that come with it. The most obvious thing in today's market is that the mortgage payment could be less than the rent the tenants are paying.   With mortgage rates hovering around 3%, this is a major factor of the savings. The two other major contributing factors are appreciation and amortization of the mortgage, neither of which benefit tenants continuing to pay rent.   According to the FHFA House Price Index, home prices rose 5.4% from July 2019 to July 2020.   There were 400,000 less homes on the market during the summer of 2020 than the previous summer which is influencing appreciation. With each payment a homeowner makes on their mortgage, a portion is used to reduce the principal amount owed.   This is like a savings account for the o

Banks are concerned about making loans that will be repaid not about making loans that are tax deductible for homeowners.   It is good business for the bank but how is the homeowner supposed to know? Most homeowners and potential homeowners are aware there are tax benefits associated with ownership.   For instance, mortgage interest and property taxes have been deductible expenses from federal income tax since it was enacted in 1913.   The current law provides that homeowners can deduct the interest on Acquisition Debt which is the amount of debt incurred to buy, build or improve a first or second home up to $750,000.   The amount of acquisition debt decreases as payments are made and it cannot be increased unless the additional funds borrowed are used for capital improvements. It is not uncommon for a homeowner to refinance their home for any number of reasons.   It could be to get a lower interest rate that would lower the payments or remove mortgage insurance.   However, when

The concern today when putting your home on the market should not be whether you'll get a contract; it's whether you are going to recognize the majority your net proceeds without any unnecessary delays. What you realize from the sale of your home has to do with maximizing the sales price while minimizing the sales expenses.   Interestingly, the buyers will be trying to minimize the price they have to pay for your home and possibly, have you pay some of their expenses. Taking a few pictures with a cell phone and putting a sign in the yard may be enough to get a buyer but successfully selling a home in today's market requires expert marketing and expert negotiations.   Marketing begins with the preparation of the property to optimize the first impressions it makes to potential buyers.   A skilled professional can make recommendations that can help the home sell for the most money and in the shortest amount of time.   Cleaning, painting, depersonalizing, removing unneces