Tag: first time buyer

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 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!).