Posted July 29, 2010

A Simple Guide to Home Ownership

The first step to Home Ownership is to meet with a local Real Estate Agent.  A good agent will listen to your needs and concerns, will put you in contact with local lenders, will help you seek out the properties that will suit your needs and your budget and will guide you through the entire process from searching for your dream home to making it yours at closing.  Your agent will protect your interests along the way.  Find an agent that you’re comfortable with, someone who will listen and someone who will communicate with you in a fashion that works for you.  Remember this…the seller has their own agent working for them make sure you have your own agent working for you! Don’t worry about compensating your agent, in most cases your agent is paid from the seller’s proceeds of the sale.

The second step to Home Ownership would be to get together with a local lender.  I stress the word local here because the local lenders have a really good idea of what your local real estate market looks like and they can often times point you in the direction of local first time homebuyer programs and mortgage loan products specific to your area.  Meeting with your local mortgage lender early in the process to home ownership allows you to shop within your means and positions you to be ready to make an offer the minute you’ve found your dream home.

Once you’ve chosen your REALTOR® and you’ve secured your mortgage pre-approval, it’s time to begin the search that will end in home ownership.  You’ll need a list and your list needs to be broken down into “wants” and “needs”.  Be honest with yourself and your agent about what these wants and needs are and together you’ll work towards your goal of home ownership.

Don’t get discouraged if you don’t find your dream home in the first week or even in the first month.  Every home buyer is different and so is every house.  It may take some time to find the right combination of your wants and needs.  Home ownership is a huge investment and responsibility and it’s important that you don’t settle for just anything.  There may be times when you are convinced that the house you’re looking for doesn’t exist when the truth is it just might not be on the market yet.

Don’t be afraid to look “outside the box”.  Sometimes the path to home ownership can take you in a direction you might never have considered.  I’ve worked with buyers who insisted they only wanted to look at capes but then discovered they really liked the raised ranch.  Also, when you’re looking at properties, it’s sometimes hard to see past the obvious.  Maybe you find a house that meets all your wants and needs, but it’s painted in a garish combination of colors.  Try to see past that and imagine what it would look like painted in your color choices.

Once you’ve found your dream home, the next step in the process to home ownership is to make an offer.  At this point in time, you’ve got a pretty good idea of what your local housing market looks like and with the help of your agent you should be able to nail down a reasonable market value for the house you’re ready to buy.  Take into consideration if it is a foreclosure property or a short sale listing but keep this in mind…under no circumstances can you assume that you are the only buyer for the property and that the seller will accept any offer you make.  If this is truly your dream home and home ownership is your goal then your offer needs to be within a close range of current market value for the property.

If your offer is accepted, the next stages of the home ownership process can get pretty tedious.  Negotiating the contract, conducting inspections, requesting repairs, obtaining repairs and securing your mortgage financing will all be done in a matter of weeks to months depending on the condition of the property you’ve decided to purchase.  Try not to worry, the path to home ownership is a path that many have traveled before you and your REALTOR® is well equipped to hold your hand and help you along the way. 

Your path to home ownership can be a daunting journey.  But, remember this most important tip.  During your journey, communication is the key to success!  The better your communications with your agent the more successful and rewarding your journey to home ownership will be!  Be certain that you choose an agent that you can work well with and who is working for YOU!  Decide early on how you and your agent will communicate and your path to home ownership will be successful and rewarding!

Julianne Krutka is a Professional REALTOR® who specializes in working with first time home buyers who are searching for the best path to Home Ownership.  No matter what your geographic location, I can help you find the REALTOR® who will help you find your dream home and reach your goals of Home Ownership. 

Contact me today to get started!  http://www.juliannekrutka.com/web/pgcnfID_66956/Contact

Julianne Krutka
Park Square Realty - Westfield MA
Western MA and Northern CT REALTOR®
Cell:  413-297-6718
Email: Julianne.Krutka@gmail.com
Website: www.JulianneKrutka.com
Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/JulianneKrutka
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A wise person once said..the only stupid question is the one you don't ask!  I am never to busy to answer your questions about Real Estate...ask away!

Posted April 23, 2010

Real Estate Market Reports and their Value to you the Consumer.

I just updated all of my Real Estate Market Reports for Western Massachusetts.  These reports give a snapshot of all the Real Estate activity within a town for the past 30 days. See which properties are FOR SALE (active), under agreement or have SOLD in the past month.  If you need information for a city or town I have not covered, please contact me and I'll be happy to provide you with the information you seek!

Visit www.chainreactionrealestate.com to view Real Estate Market Reports for Agawam, Chicopee, East Longmeadow, Holyoke, Longmeadow, Ludlow, Southampton, Southwick, Westfield, West Springfield and the Hilltowns of Western Massachusetts. If you are thinking about buying or selling a home this year, these reports can be a valuable tool in estimating your market position.  Use the "active" property listings to learn what your competition might be if you were planning to place your home on the market.  Use the "sold" property listings to learn what the value might be on a home you are considering for purchase.  Use the "under agreement" listings to get an idea of the average time a property could be on the market before a buyer is found. As with all things...knowledge is power.  Use these market reports to arm yourself with a little bit of extra knowledge in your local Real Estate Market and it can help you to become a more powerful (knowledgeable) buyer or seller. Have questions?  I've got answers! Feel free to contact me at your convenience.

posted June 30, 2009 

What can a seller do to succeed in a buyer’s market?

We’ve heard over and over again that we are in a buyer’s market.  What exactly does that mean?  Does it mean that buyer’s can set their own price on any property?  Not exactly.  Does it mean that there are more buyers than there are sellers at this point?  Not at all.  Does it mean that if you are considering selling your home that you shouldn’t put it on the market?  Absolutely NOT!  

When we use the phrase “we are in a Buyer’s Market” we mean that there are enough houses on the market at this point in time that a buyer has plenty of choices.  Buyers can afford to take some extra care to find their perfect home. It means that there is enough competition in the market for buyers to have a little bit more leverage in negotiating the best price for their perfect home.

What does this mean if you are considering the sale of your home?  It means that you have to get it right the first time.  It means that when you decide to put your home on the market, the most important thing you can do is be realistic about your home’s VALUE.  

Value is not measured by how much it cost to build your home or how much money you’ve spent remodeling or maintaining your home or even worse, how much you need to get for your home.  Value is not set by bankers, or brokers or appraisers or even assessors.  The “value” of your home is set by the person or persons who would consider buying your home in today’s market.

Let me give you an example of how value is determined…let’s use the television for our example… In today’s market, we have Digital, Plasma, LCD, and Projection televisions just to name a few.  We have televisions with surround sound, remote controls, parental controls…etc. etc. admit it, we have a Television in just about every room of our house.  I’m willing to bet each television is different and each one has a different value (not relative to price).  We have new ones, old ones, big one, little ones, inexpensive ones and costly ones.  If you were going to shop for a new television today, the first thing you would do is some research.  You’d jump online or pull out the Sunday paper ads and you’d read about all the features offered by today’s television makers and you would decide which features were important to you.  You might make a list of which features you’d like to have and which features you’d have to have, (just as a potential home buyer does when they shop for a home).  You’d be looking for televisions that have the greatest amount of features for the least amount of money.  Once you have decided which features you want or need you would then compare brands (like comparing neighborhoods) and search for locations of nearest retailers…finally you would compare price…and through that process, YOU, the television buyer, would determine the “value” of the television you were going to purchase.  

So let’s say you’ve decided what you want and how much you are willing to spend.  Wouldn’t it be great if you could just go to the retailer and say ”hey look, I want this TV and I’ll give you X amount of dollars for it”?  Well, I guess you could do that, but will you get what you want that way?  Not very likely.  Why?  Because the retailer knows what the “value” is of that television because he’s compared it to others of similar makes and with similar features.  He knows what his competition is.  You might get him to price match with you if you’ve done your homework and you can show him specifically what his competition is but without the facts, you are at the mercy of the retailer.

The same is true for home sellers.  If you haven’t done your homework, you are at the mercy of the home buyer.  If you price your property higher than its realistic value, it will sit on the market for a long time.  You might get some interest from buyers in the beginning, but while it sits on the market for days and weeks and even months…active buyers are out buying property that is priced to suit its value.  It is critical when you decide to sell your home that you get it right the first time!  You need to do your homework, or better yet you need to work with a real estate professional who can do it for you.  Your local real estate professionals know the local real estate market, they know how to compare your home to others with similar locations and features.  They know what today’s buyers are looking for and what they are willing to pay for it.  The bottom line is this, you can set your price anywhere you like, it’s your property…but when you set your price in accordance with your home’s real value, your property WILL sell, even in a buyer’s market!  Remember this simple phrase when you decide to place your house on the market…value is in the eye of the beholder (aka the buyer) AND… price does not determine value…it is VALUE that determines PRICE.

For more POSITIVE information about today’s Real Estate Market Visit the author’s website at www.JulianneKrutka.com

Posted June 22, 2009

The only stupid question is the one you don’t ask!

I was speaking with a friend the other day who is paying almost 900.00 a month for a 400 sq ft apartment.  She was complaining that she was having trouble reaching her landlord about a plumbing issue she was having.  She was willing to foot the bill for the necessary repair, but she couldn’t find a plumber who would do the work without the permission from the landlord.  Why the landlord wouldn’t return her calls is a mystery to her.  Why she would continue to try to reach him is a mystery to me.

I asked her about her apartment complex and she went on to complain about the neighbors, the neighbors kids, the parking situation, the disastrous laundry room issues, the lack of lawn care and yard space and finally about how her rent had gone up twice in the past year!

After listening to her for a few minutes, I asked her why she stays there if she is so unhappy.  She said that she couldn’t afford to move.  Ok, I expected that answer but I asked again why do you continue to live somewhere that doesn’t feel like “your” home?  She was puzzled and asked me what I was getting at.  I said “why don’t you buy a house?”  She laughed and went on to tell me that she’d never be able to afford a home.  Then I laughed and said “have you received that opinion from a professional”?

I went on to explain that if she could afford 900.00 dollars a month for rent, then wouldn’t it make sense to spend that 900.00 on a home that was hers?  She said “of course it would, but I don’t have twenty thousand dollars for a down payment”.  Now it was my turn to laugh and I asked her where she got the impression that she needed that much money to buy a home.

As it turns out, my friend has been tricked into thinking that the only way to buy a home is to have “perfect” credit, a 20% down payment and an income of more than $50,000.  Unfortunately, my friend is not the only apartment dweller who believes in these misconceptions and therefore continues to live in a place where she has little or no control over the space that she pays for handsomely with her hard earned money on a monthly basis.

It makes me feel so sad to think about how many potential buyers are spending their hard earned paychecks building equity for their landlords when they could be spending the same and in some cases even less in owning their own home and building their own equity.

So let me take this time to dispel some of the buyer’s myths that I have encountered recently in my local market…

First, there is a definite difference between “perfect” credit and “good” credit.  When I hear people say “I can’t buy a house my credit isn’t good enough” I ask them “who told you that?”  The answer is always the same…”well, no one” or “I heard it on the news”.  No one has ever told them that their credit isn’t good enough because they have never taken the time to ask.  Why won’t they ask?  What are they afraid of?  They love the idea of owning their own home but they shoot themselves in the foot when they won’t search out a mortgage professional and ask the simple question of “can I qualify to buy a home?”

Second, I often hear…”I can’t afford a mortgage”.  Again I ask, ”who told you that?”  Again I get the answer, “well, no one” or “I heard it on the news”   When I learn that they are paying 900.00 or more for rent I ask if they are able to pay their rent on time and the answer is always a resounding “yes”.  Then I ask them how much they think a mortgage payment would be and then they hem and haw and shuffle their feet and finally tell me “I don’t know”.  It takes everything I have not to just shake my head and sigh.  How on earth can you be so sure that you can’t afford a mortgage if you don’t have any clue how much a mortgage is?  Again, they shoot themselves in the foot when they won’t search out a professional or even get online and find a mortgage calculator to get a basic idea of how much of what they are already affording could be better used towards owning their own home.

The third thing I hear the most when I ask someone why they continue to pay rent instead of buying their own home is “I don’t have the 20% down payment”.  I can’t stop myself from laughing when they say this and my answer is always the same, “neither can I.”  Then I go into the same statements I’ve already made.  I ask who told them they needed that large a down payment and the answer this time is the same as before, “well, no one” or “I heard it on the news.”

Ok, so for those of you reading this who are continuing to pour your hard earned money into someone else’s pocket for the purpose of building someone else’s equity, here are a few things you need to know…

One, you don’t need $20,000 to buy a $100,000 home.  The FHA (Federal Housing Administration) lending program only requires a down payment of 3.5%....in other words $35.00 for every THOUSAND you intend to borrow.  This is not a misprint!  If you want to buy a 100,000 dollar home, you only need $3500 for a down payment!  That’s not much more than the first, last and security deposit that most people pay to get an apartment in the first place.

Two, at today’s mortgage rates at around 5 percent you can roughly figure a mortgage payment of principal and interest would be just over 500.00 per month.  Of course you have to add property tax and insurance to that figure, but it’s pretty safe to say that on a 100,000 dollar mortgage your payments would be not much more than your cost of rent and in many cases could be LESS!

Third and finally, yes, credit is an issue, but if you haven’t spoken with a professional who understands the intricacies of credit scores and how they are viewed by mortgage companies then you really don’t know if you can qualify or not.  So why not ask the question?  Contact your local bank or Real Estate professional, ask them to refer you to a mortgage specialist for the purpose of a “pre-qualification”.  It costs nothing to learn the truth about your ability to obtain a mortgage and there are no obligations to anyone for asking the question “do I qualify” so why not do it?

I hope this information is helpful to you.  If not for your, then maybe for someone you know.  The bottom line is this…you are not stuck where you are unless you allow yourself to be.  A few good questions, directed at the proper professionals who can give you quality answers and you could be living the American dream of home ownership!

Go ahead, I dare you…ask me the questions and if I can’t answer them I can direct you to someone who can!

Have a great day!

Julianne Krutka

www.JulianneKrutka.com

email:  Julianne.Krutka@gmail.com

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