The One With The Unscrambling

by Wendy WeaverLeave a Comment on The One With The Unscrambling

Scrambled is how we feel when we can’t get the threads of all of our thoughts and questions to lay down orderly-like so that we can make sense of them. The purpose of this blog post is to unscramble some of the threads and thoughts about real estate that are misconceptions, myths, and the root of paralyzing indecision.

According to latest numbers only 33% of buyers at this moment are buying a home for the first time. 67% have a home to SELL. This means there ARE listings out there, people just aren’t listing them because they are in a cycle of paralytic thought where they think there’s nowhere to move so they don’t list their house. They think they can’t sell their house for a multitude of reasons. Here are some of them and the reasons why you CAN do it.

  1. “My current house isn’t worth that much. I won’t make enough money to buy a new house“. Have you run comps and done a market analysis? Do you know what your seller closing costs are? I’m guessing NO, so don’t jump to conclusions and stop yourself before you even start. Reach out to a Realtor and find out what your current house is worth. This costs you nothing at all. It doesn’t even cost you time. I’ll make it even easier for you. Here’s a link to a super simple way to get a general idea of your home’s worth AND a buyer heat map that shows you how many ACTUAL BUYERS in our system are looking for a house like yours. https://homevalue.howardhanna.com/wendyweaver
  2. “I heard that I need 20% down to buy a house”. Yeah this one still shocks me every time I hear it. NO, YOU DO NOT NEED 20% down to buy a house. Hardly anyone even puts 20% down because it’s so cheap to borrow money right now! You can get Conventional loans as low as 3% down and FHA loans with 3.5 % down or a VA loan (if you are a veteran) with 0% down. There are options even beyond these to bring your cash needed down incredibly low. I have many mortgage friends who would be more than happy to talk to you about your specific options. Again, this costs you nothing and opens up a world of useful information to you. All you have to do is ask. Email me at wendyweaver@howardhanna.com and I’ll send you a list of mortgage pros. You don’t even have to talk to a human being on the phone if you don’t want to. (I’m talking to you Millennials)
  3. “I can’t sell my house because I have nowhere to go because there’s no houses on the market and I don’t want to be homeless”. OK, so let’s break this down. First of all, do you want to move? If you do then there’s probably a way. Here are some facts:
    • Bridge loans are available such as the Howard Hanna Buy Before You Sell program. This program allows you to find a home to buy before you sell yours. Yes, that’s what I said. It’s easy, it works and it’s low risk. It’s the perfect option for many home sellers. Here is some more information. https://blog.howardhanna.com/posts/how-the-howard-hanna-buy-before-you-sell-program-helps-to-cover-the-gap/
    • Do you want to sell now to take advantage of the higher price you’ll get because of the current seller’s market climate? OK, we can do that. Here’s how. If your house is in a high demand area you will quite likely get multiple offers with my help and expertise. You can tell buyers that you need a flexible closing date with the possibility of renting back from them. This gives you LOTS of time to find a house to buy!!
    • If your house is in REALLY high demand then you are truly the boss of what happens. You can list your house and only take an offer that offers you the closing period you need. Myth clarified: YOU DO NOT HAVE TO TAKE AN OFFER UNLESS YOU WANT TO. A lot of people think if you list your house and you get an offer you are obligated to take it. Not so.

The bottom line is that if you WANT to move then you need FACTS in order to make a decision. You need to know the following answers:

  1. How much is my current house worth? What will my net profit be? I can help you find out this crucial answer.
  2. Based on that number how much house can I afford given today’s insanely low interest rates? What monthly payment do I want to keep to?
  3. Once we know (a) your target monthly payment and (b) the amount of cash you’ll have from your current house we can create a target price range. Without those two numbers you are wasting your time and spinning your wheels.
  4. Now, we know what your house is worth and what you can afford in a new house. We look and see the viability of it based on what location and home features you want. Do you have champagne dreams on a beer budget or are you right in line with reality? We can find out.
  5. NOW you can make a decision and choose to pull the trigger or stay put.

The One Where I Might Go Home Again, Part One

by Wendy Weaver1 Comment on The One Where I Might Go Home Again, Part One

My very first house was on Beechwood Blvd. Not the fancy-pants part, but the part by the parkway entrance with the heart stopping merge requirement. Dead stop to full blown merging into 60 MPH traffic right before the tunnel. Pittsburghers are nodding their heads in understanding. But, I digress. That first home was, for me, 1972-1974. I don’t remember it, however once when I was little my Dad took us trick or treating there and we got to go in and I KNEW which bedroom was mine. So maybe some primitive part of my baby-brain registered “safe space”.

In 1974 my parents bought the house that I lived in from ages 2-17. It was insanely cheap. (Maybe $70k). 216 Beech Street in Edgewood. Amazing Victorian. This was my house. Holy shit did I love that house. This month I turn 47 years old and I haven’t stepped foot inside for 30 years yet I dream of it often and torture myself with thoughts of visiting constantly. Torture.

I think that house had magic in it.

I think that my mom was able to infuse love and happiness within its walls somehow despite a divorce at a young age and raising two daughters alone. I should have memories fraught with sadness and strife and hardship yet all I remember was good. I credit my mom for that. I also credit the house itself for that.

On the surface, on paper, it was a 3 bedroom 2 full 2 half bath home. But oh my God just writing that out feels like blasphemy to lock it down to such trivial words and descriptions. I can’t even do it. It isn’t fair to the house. It’s like describing your child using height and weight instead of that they are kind and funny and snort when they laugh. So what about this particular house was so special? From my own perspective as both someone who lived there as well as someone who sells homes for a living it blows pretty much all the other houses away.

Describing this house is a funny thing because pretty much only my sister and my mom and maybe a handful of my childhood friends and relatives will remember these details like I do. Can I describe it? I have it all imprinted in my mind forever, yes. Can I make you see it? I don’t think that I’m a talented enough writer. How do I describe the exact feel of the sunlight hitting the back of the couch in the sunroom by the windows or the way I had to sit on the high swivel wooden stool at the counter in the kitchen if I wanted to talk on the phone? How do I describe all the funny little things that made that house so magical? Maybe it was the ancient box of Pall Mall cigarettes I found in the attic once that me and my best friends smoked in true rebellious fashion. Maybe it was the secret hidden closet behind the closet in my mom’s bedroom where she hid our Chanukah presents. The black and white floor in the front entry that our job was to Mop & Glo before Rosh Hashana dinner. Roller skating across the long three rooms that were the back playroom, living room and front sunroom. One big long expanse of hardwood floors. The Eric Estrada poster which hung on my closet door in my room that I used to kiss goodnight. The wooden sign in the kitchen that would perplex me and my friends “just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you”. Why it was chosen to sit over our kitchen table at the picture window is a mystery. Mom? Why ? But hot damn, I remember. So many memories, thoughts and emotions tied to that place.

I want to go back. We came close once after my childhood best friend Dorothy’s father Sherman passed away. After the funeral, me and my mom and sister went and snuck into the back yard and took a picture (below). That’s as close as we’ve come. I have talked to the new owner of the home and he graciously has invited us to come. But it’s an impossible thing. What if I go and what it is now ruins for me what it was? I want to so badly and not at all in equal parts.

After we moved out someone bought it and trashed it. (pic below) Absolutely devastating. It was foreclosed on. Then it had a restoration I still can’t believe. It’s gorgeous now. It’s not at all my house anymore. Is the magic still there inside the walls? If I walk inside will it be like walking into a strangers house since it’s completely different or will it still be magic? Still be home? It used to be a beachy weathered gray, and me and Johanna would sit out front waiting for our Dad to come visit us and take us to dinner. (pic below). Now I can barely recognize it when I do my inevitable yearly drive-by stalking session.

Stay tuned for Part Two to see if I decide to visit or chicken out.

The One With The Tattletale

by Wendy WeaverLeave a Comment on The One With The Tattletale

In this job you often meet eccentric people and it’s funny. Sometimes you come across people who go slightly beyond eccentric. A person, a stranger, such as this crossed my path for 2 minutes one day and “tattled” on me.

Once I had a house for sale that LOOKED haunted. Three generations of women had lived and died there. In my photos I took there are orbs in a couple of rooms. It was a very old Tudor so the gothic-ness of it lent itself to spooky splendor. Everyone who knows me knows I love this stuff. I go to mediums. I historically have been able to tell when there are spirits or an energy in a house that doesn’t want me there. There weren’t any mean spirits in this house but the energy of these women was for sure present in my opinion. Houses often take on the energy of the people who loved and lived inside it’s 4 walls. I enjoy talking about it. It’s interesting and fun.

Anyway, it was sort of joke amongst people in my office because I was alwasys posting pics etc of this house and like I said, it just LOOKED haunted by nature of what it was architecturally and decor-wise. I didn’t need to SAY anything to elicit comments from the public on how it looked haunted.

Here’s where my story getting downright hilarious/scary/unbeleivable.

One day I was walking into my office as a colleague was walking out so we stopped and chatted casually for about 2 minutes. We were joking around and laughing about my “haunted house” and about the orbs in the pictures etc. I went inside and did some work in the computer room. About an hour later my manager calls my into his office. WHY? WELL….Let me just tell you!!

I got reported by a stranger for SELLING HAUNTED HOUSES. A woman had been in the nearby area outside sitting on a bench or something and overheard my 2 minute funny convo and TATTLED on me for selling a haunted house. I wish I could have been there to hear how it went down, but it went something like this:

“I heard an agent outside say she purposely is selling a house she said is haunted! She said there were ORBS! Do you really have agents here who will take a haunted house and sell it to innocent people and not tell them?” Obviously she was told that of course it’s not haunted, and how could one prove it was haunted to begin with? She was VERY MUCH a willing believer in haunted houses and was REALLY mad at me. She kept talking about the orbs as PROOF beyond a reasonable doubt that it’s haunted. Of course this isn’t true. Orbs are caused by dust in the air hitting the flash etc. We had just been JOKING AROUND.

She literally walked into my building, asked for the manager and reported me for selling a haunted house without disclosing it in writing to every buyer. First of all…..a house being haunted is not a disclosable item in Pennsylvania. Someone dying in the house isn’t even a disclosable item. Second of all, I’m a REALTOR not a ghost hunter. I don’t actually KNOW it was haunted. Certainly not enough to say so as material FACT. Laughing out loud at this moment just recalling this happening. BUT SHE SAID THERE WERE ORBS!

Lady on the bench eavesdropping on people: You refused to give your name so I was never able to defend myself which is SO frustrating. It was a joke. So, in case you are reading this, for your peace of mind, a young couple bought that house and both seller and buyer are happy.

So are the ghosts.

Too much?

Moral of the story: Be careful what you say in public because you never know who is listening and if they are put together right or not.

Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com

The One With The Honest To God Truth

by Wendy WeaverLeave a Comment on The One With The Honest To God Truth

Truths:

  1. Having to work all summer while my kids are home and hubby home (he’s a teacher) is a tough pill to swallow.
  2. You’ll find me with my laptop working from the pool more days than not.
  3. If you ask me to show you houses for months and months and then screw me over and use your Aunt’s neighbor to help you buy a house I will haunt you and your family when I die. No, really. I will.
  4. Listing agents don’t get paid a penny until your house sells. Pretty much no one wants your house to sell more than you do except me. So, never worry if I’m doing everthing I can. Believe me when I tell you I am.
  5. Buyer’s agents don’t get paid until you actually buy a house. Many people think someone is paying us. They are not. Our time spent with you is our time freely given in the hopes that you will indeed find a house to buy. See haunting warning, item 3 above.
  6. If we tell you over the summer we are unavailable because we have an appointment it’s probably code for “we are at Kennywood and my family will disown me if I cancel their fun day”. You WANT your Realtor to have a balanced life because a happy Realtor is an efficient Realtor. A miserable Realtor will make YOUR life miserable. Truth.
  7. When you write a review online for us on our website or Zillow etc, it’s a priceless GIFT to us. For you it takes but a moment, for us it means a lot and can have a lasting impact. If you have been living under a rock and don’t know….Reviews are EVERYTHING. Buyers read them. Sellers read them. They use them to make decisions on who to hire. You can go to your Realtor’s website and find the review link, or find their profile on Zillow and add your review.
  8. TRUST US….don’t micromanage us. I don’t tell you how to cut open your patient, file charges against a criminal, grade a thesis paper, or deliver the mail. I don’t know how to put an IV in a person or how to safely build a bridge. I TRUST YOU to do those things. You need to trust me that I know how to do my things. I do. Swear.
  9. For God’s sake DON’T PLAY THE WHAT IF GAME. Nothing makes me crazier. Things will happen when and how they are going to happen. Going over 7 different possible scenarios isn’t healthy for you. We figure out a game plan when presented with specific situations. The variables in this job are endless. ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN so playing the what if game is so futile. When presented with a situation we find the solution if one exists. Period.
  10. Finally, Realtors aren’t psychic. OMG how awesome would that be? Sadly it’s just not the case. 11 years later and I’m still shocked when the nicest house ever sits on the market for 62 days while the craphole that smells like cats sells with 7 offers in an hour. Sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason to these things. I often wonder if a house doesn’t sell right away if it’s because it’s waiting for the special person who does eventually buy it. If you have read my other blog posts you know I believe homes have energy and I believe certain people are drawn to or repelled by a home’s energy. There truly is a key to every lock, a buyer for every home. Patience and faith is the reality. Crystal balls are not. If only!!!

The One With The Dissapointment

by Wendy WeaverLeave a Comment on The One With The Dissapointment

There’s a story here so stay with me.

I’m lucky that at this point in my 11 year career I usually don’t have to compete for listings. It’s rare that I go up against other agents, usually a seller just knows me by reputation and they ask me to help them and I do, and I get their house sold. Sometimes I am up against other agents though, and sometimes I get the listing and sometimes I don’t. I move on. You better believe I watch the listings I don’t get to see what happens though. Human nature! I saw the pilot episode and want to see how the finale shakes out. Who can blame me? The frustrating thing is when I look them up and the listing is awful. Terrible pictures, absoutely no marketing, no social media strategies, no market exposure besides throwing the house into the MLS and waiting. When this happens I sit back and really wonder what the heck did that agent say or promise. Do people realize that the internet is far and away the #1 way buyers find homes? It’s no exaggeration to say that at least once or twice a month on average I get a message on Facebook asking me for help…asking me why their house isn’t selling. My response at that point can only be that they are represented elsewhere and there’s absolutely nothing I can do to help, I can’t even give advice. I can’t tell them it’s because no one knows about their house and that the listing online is horrible and everyone is skipping it because the pictures are dark, grainy, and sad. Shoulda, woulda, coulda called me. 💁‍♀️ Don’t even get me started on FSBOs.

Do yourself and your friends and family a favor next time they or you are thinking about listing a house. GO ONLINE and search that agent you are thinking about. LOOK at their listings. How’s the listing description? Is it hurried and filled with spelling mistakes? Does it make you FEEL something? A good listing description makes you FEEL a certain way. Facts don’t elicit emotion and houses are ALL ABOUT EMOTION. It’s naive to think otherwise. What’s their average days on market? Ask them what their online presence is and how they employ social media in marketing. If they look at you and say that stuff doesn’t matter, THEY ARE WRONG.

But why the title of this blog post? Well that’s the story I’m going to tell you. The saddest thing that’s happened to me so far in my career and the first thing that’s happened to me that I can’t seem to just let go and all the stuff I said above is one of the reasons I can’t get past it.

The story: Once upon a time there was a girl named Wendy, and ever since her mom moved to Mt Lebanon there’s been a house she STARES at and COVETS and really, really, really loves. It’s awesome, fascinating and just simply fabulous. One day in the present time she found out through sheer happenstance that the owners were planning to list it. So she drove there in like a stealth ninja, took a picture from her car, went home and printed the picture out and for the first time in 11 years selling real estate, sat down and wrote the sellers, total random strangers, a letter. Front and back, by hand. Explaining her relationship to this house and how she’d do anything to list it. Right when she was about to go hand deliver this letter, she found out some buyers of hers wanted to put an offer in on a house and there was a time element involved, so she put the letter aside and wrote and submitted the offer. THEN, she took that letter, drove to the house, got out of the car and hand delivered the letter to the owner who proceeded to say she had signed with another broker just an hour before and that I was too late. Three guesses how that listing looked. It killed me. This house deserves theatric video. Full blown marketing blitz. It’s an iconic house and was thrown in the MLS with no fanfare at all. I know I need to get over it, I know. Maybe by writing this blog and getting my feelings on it out it will help me move past it. I truly hope the sweet sellers get their house sold quickly and for a great price. I really wish it had been me to do it though.

The One With The Q and A

by Wendy WeaverLeave a Comment on The One With The Q and A

I totally had writers block, so I turned to my favorite Facebook moms group, “South Hills Working Moms”, and asked if anyone had questions about Real Estate that I could answer. Here are the questions and my hopefully helpful answers:

Q: When should someone engage a Realtor to purchase a home?

A: If you don’t want to spin your wheels endlessly searching totally inaccurate national websites you should engage a Realtor as soon as you begin to contemplate whether buying a house is for you or not. I say the same phrase over and over and over….you can’t make any decision without FACTS. Contact a Realtor, let them advise you on who to contact for a mortgage pre-approval. No one should ever be looking at houses without a pre-approval. Once you have a pre-approval, let a Realtor set you up in a REAL TIME search so that you have accurate info. It takes us no time at all to set you up, it’s easy on our end so don’t feel like it’s “wasting our time” because you don’t even know if you want to move. Sometimes it takes seeing a special house pop up to light your fire. A buyer’s agent services are at no cost to a buyer, so you have NOTHING to lose and everything to gain by finding someone to help you navigate the process.

Q. When should someone engage a Realtor to sell a home?

A. Immediately! A good Realtor (me of course) will come to your house, no obligation and no cost, and walk through with you and give you suggestions on what to do in order to get your home ready to sell. We will show you comparable sold listings for your home and help you to understand what the value of your house is, and go over numbers with you so that you can see what your net proceeds would be after all the fees etc. The process will be laid out for you along with a timeline. By the time a good agent leaves your home, you should have a very solid base of information in order to make your decision. It’s ok to have a couple different agents come take a look. It’s important that you “click” with your Realtor. If you don’t trust them and like them, it won’t work well.

Q. Moving out of town? How to pick a long distance realtor…finding trust over email?

A. I’ve done this many times for people, all over the world, not just out of town. Realtors have a good and strong network everywhere. We have specialized websites and Facebook groups that we all communicate with each other in. I know agents in cities all over the country, and especially all over Pennsylvania. If I know Jane Doe needs to have someone help her find a house in Philadelphia for instance, I reach out to my referral network and I INTERVIEW THEM, search their professional history, do a lot of background research on them and then I make the connection. For this service that Realtor generally pays me a referral fee, so I am motivated to make sure the person I hook you up with is the BEST. If you don’t click, I’ll find you someone else. So basically if you want to find a good Realtor somewhere else, ask a Realtor you know here to help you find the perfect match.

Q. Being stuck in your “starter house” for too long and needing more space but unable to afford any of the fancy “flipped” houses that are for sale, and not having technical skills to buy a crappy one and fix it up:

A. I LOVE THIS QUESTION because it’s filled with opportunities for me to clarify some things. First of all, being able to “afford” a new house….For a conventional loan you only need 3% down to purchase a house, and you can ask seller to pay up to 3% in closing cost assistance. For an FHA loan you only need 3.5% down and you can ask seller to pay up to 6% in closing cost assistance. So in terms of cash you need, it might be much less than you are assuming. ALSO, if you’ve owned your house for a long time you of course have a lot of equity you can turn around and use to purchase the next home. ASK A MORTGAGE PERSON FOR HELP before deciding you can’t do it without actually checking. I can give lots of recommendations for every type of buyer and personality. Secondly, do you KNOW you can’t afford a new house or are you just assuming? Sometimes flips are terrible. Sometimes it’s so much better to buy an inexpenseive and dated home and just tear out carpet, paint, and add new lighting. Anyone can make those changes and they make a huge and inexpensive impact.

Life it too short to be stuck in a home you don’t love. If you don’t love it, move. You are not a tree. (I love that quote!).

The One With The Onwards and Upwards

by Wendy WeaverLeave a Comment on The One With The Onwards and Upwards

If you know me personally or if you have been following my blog posts, you surely know by now that I rarely sit on my laurels, and I constantly seek change, excitment, fun and that I loathe boredom and sameness and the ordinary. I crave challenges and newness and that’s what this blog is about. This is a stream of conciousness about having ants in my pants.

I really love my job. I especially love getting houses ready to sell and the high I get when I begin marketing and taking and editing the photos and excitement of my phone blowing up and offers rolling in. I seriously love that. My heart races, I get an endorphin blast. It literally gives me a high. I have one and maybe two listings coming on the horizon that I actually dream about. I mean I have the entire marketing blitz planning in my head. I have taken all the pictures in my head. Every angle. I write real estate blurbs for the MLS in my brain while I’m falling asleep. I am good at listing and selling houses. Almost anyone can show houses to buyers and help them buy one. NOT everyone is good at listing, marketing and SELLING houses. This is where I shine and I’m not shy about it. Give me any house and I’ll figure out how to make it the RIGHT kind of appealing and I’ll get it sold.

Sometimes though it doesn’t feel like enough. There’s got to be something else upwards and onwards in my career. Problem with Real Estate is that there’s not many options. I will never, ever leave my Brokerage. That’s not an option for me. The Hanna family is near and dear to my heart and they have my undying loyalty. But I want more. What more do I want? I honestly don’t know. Do I want a team? Do I want to be in managment? Do I want to be a mentor? Maybe yes to all. Maybe no to all. In a perfect world I’d co-manage an office with someone else and split the duties but I’d never leave the Lebo office because it’s my home literally and figuratively. But then I think about that and it would be crazy because I’m really good at my job, and really successful. I mean I do as well as some TEAMS and I have 4 kids from ages 7-21. The sky is the limit as far as my potenial now as they are getting older and needing me less. I know that. But do I want to sell real estate for the rest of my life? Financially it would be the smart thing to do I’m sure, but I’m not a greedy person and I don’t NEED to reach the sky. I just want to be happy and fulfilled. Is that too much to ask????

Maybe it’s time to go see another psychic!

The One With The Wallpaper Border (don’t)

by Wendy WeaverLeave a Comment on The One With The Wallpaper Border (don’t)

My top 20 list of what to do before you get your house on the market.

1. If you have wallpaper borders, it’s not ok.

2. If you have the light fixtures from Home Depot that look like boobs…. no. Just no.

3. What’s the outside of your house look like from the street? Power washing, window washing, river rock landscaping and grading and FLOWERS make for great curb appeal.

4. Does your screen door look like a rusted out tetanus magent? Get a new one.

5. What’s your front door look like? Do you love it? If you don’t, chances are other people won’t either. Paint is cheap.

6. For goodness sake replace dead lightbulbs. It’s not that hard. I promise.

7. Can I see every toddler fingerprint and doggy’s nose print on every window? WINDEX is your friend.

8. Do I need to duck when I go in your basement because I’m scared of all the spiderwebs in the ceiling? Sweep them away! Make your basement NON TERRIFYING.

9. Does every buyer who comes into your home want to be regaled with every family photo you have? Um, no. They don’t. If your house is screaming “THIS is MY HOUSE” they won’t be able to emotionally picture it as theirs.

10. Come on. Clean the freaking kitty litter box.

11. Do you have vertical strip blinds circa 1991? Don’t make me come over there with a screwdriver and a crowbar. Because I will. I really will.

12. Clean your &$@! house. If you can’t do it at least throw money at the problem.

13. Does your master bedroom look like a room from the Delta Phi house or Chip and Joanna’s house? More Joanna. Less kegger.

14. People like alive things. This does not include old dusty curling ivy you’ve had laying on top of your kitchen cabinets for like 12 years. Fresh flowers.

15. Brown is not a good color for bathrooms. Don’t argue with me. I’m right.

16. Target is your friend.

17. Holy crap enough with the Glade plug ins. Go with NICE soy candles or get an essential oil diffuser and diffuse lemongrass.

18. A bowl of baby Twixs on the counter never hurt anyone

19. Don’t ignore outdoor space. People like to congregate outside around fire pits, etc. Even if they don’t like it, they like to think they do and they like to imagine being the kind of person who drinks wine around a fire pit. Help them with the vision.

20. If you are missing the gene that knows how to do items 1-19, just ask me for help. Getting houses ready to list is MY FAVORITE THING. I know EXACTLY WHAT TO DO to your house to get it sold fast and for the most money possible.

The One Without an Agent

by Wendy WeaverLeave a Comment on The One Without an Agent

You know those little boats people ride around in in Venice? Gondolas? You go for a ride on them, but there’s a guy who’s job it is to row and to keep you from falling in or hitting your head on the footbridges that you glide underneath. Could you ride in the gondola alone on your trip to Italy? You probably physically could, but why would you? Would you risk falling overboard or a severe concussion? Probably not. The same goes for using a Realtor to buy a house. You CAN buy a house alone, but it’s like riding one of those boats blindfolded like in the movie Birdbox. Here’s what I’d like to discuss:

The other day I listed a home in Castle Shannon. I had 2 offers within hours, and 5 overall within 48 hours. About 3 days after listing, the Realtor.com inquiries started rolling in. 3 of them. By the time they saw the listing I had already sold it. This goes for all the national websites. If you want a fighting shot at getting a house you better have a REALTOR telling you about it the moment it’s posted online, and in many cases your Realtor knows about houses BEFORE they are listed. In a crazy market like this you don’t stand a chance without an agent working FOR YOU.

Two days ago in one of my Facebook groups a woman was talking about being stunned and upset that her taxes were about to double because her current assessment was being appealed by the school district, as often happens when someone buys a house that’s worth much more than what the Allegheny County assessment has recorded. Realtors are supposed to warn their buyers about this potential outcome, especially if the old assessment is really far below the new value. I, along with other agents, saw this post and all wondered the same thing. WHY in the world hadn’t this woman’s agent warned her?? If it’s doubling, that means it was a VAST change in value and would certainly be appealed by the school district. Guess what her answer was? She bought the house without a Realtor. She’s angry at the mortgage company for not warning her, but that’s not the mortgage company’s job. They aren’t in the know about that sort of thing. REALTORS ARE. That’s an expensive mistake. Since hiring a Realtor is FREE, it’s a doubly expensive mistake.

If you are trying to buy a house, HIRE A REALTOR. There’s no cost to you, and they work for YOU with only your best interest at heart both ethically and legally.

Don’t fall off the gondola. Ask for help. 412-818-4734 or email me at wendyweaver@howardhanna.com.

I can set you up in a RealScout account which shows you new listings in real time. All you have to do is ask me to.

The One With The Fear

by Wendy WeaverLeave a Comment on The One With The Fear

Fear is a normal response to the unknown. It’s human nature. However, nothing worthwhile is ever easy, and there is a powerful way to tap down the fear….it’s knowledge. Knowledge and education is the antidote to fear and uncertainty. This is what I want to talk about this morning.

Our market is lacking inventory, making it a seller’s market. One of the reasons for this is that people are AFRAID to list their house because they are nervous there won’t be one for them to buy.

Let’s talk about the facts:

1. In a multiple offer situation an offer with a home sale contingency is not as attractive to sellers as one without it.

2. There are programs available that let you buy BEFORE you sell, thereby removing the lion’s share of the risk and giving you what you need for a down payment without the proceeds from your current house.

3. Lots of people can actually buy their next house without selling the first one until later. So let’s talk about the timing. You buy a house with no home sale contingency, and choose a 60 day closing period. Once you close you don’t have a mortgage payment for 2 months. So really if you buy before you sell it can be structured easily so that you actually have a built in 4 MONTH grace period to get your first home sold without ever having double mortgage payments.

4. You can buy a house with 3% down and asking seller to cover some closing costs, and then refinance later once you get the proceeds from first house. There’s no need to think you can’t do it just because you won’t have a huge sum from your proceeds. You can even borrow from your 401K without penalty!

5. If you have kids or pets imagine how much easier (logistically wise) it will be to sell your house if you’ve already moved out and into the new home.

6. Just because you put your house on the market doesn’t mean you HAVE to accept an offer. You could even find a buyer who is willing to have a very delayed closing!

7. It doesn’t happen often, but with houses in high demand, you can actually make accepting an offer contingent on YOU finding your new house. If someone wants your house enough they’ll give you the time you need to secure a new home.

8. Inaction won’t help your anxiety about the process! Learn. Ask! I’m always happy to sit down with anyone and discuss options and scenarios.

9. Talk to a mortgage broker! KNOWLEDGE is POWER. You can’t make a decision without facts. So start out with finding out IF you can buy before you sell. Only a mortgage person can tell you that and not all of them offer buy before you sell programs. ASK ME.

10. GAME PLAN: Call or message me at 412-818-4734 or email wendyweaver@howardhanna.com and set up an appt with me to come over for a casual visit so that I can see your house. At this meeting I can tell you how salable your house is, and we can discuss what you want in a new house so that I can tell you how difficult or easy it will be to find. Those two pieces of info along with info from a mortgage professional will be facts you need to MAKE A DECISION and stop the torture of trying to figure out what to do.