Tag: Real Estate

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 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 All The Trips

by Wendy WeaverLeave a Comment on The One With All The Trips

The job I do comes with its fair share of unbelievable stress, pretty insane hours (I’ll leave that for the next blog post), a constant barrage of problems to solve without letting any of my clients know there even IS a problem, and sometimes it’s a true wonder we all still do it.  

We do still do it though, because when it’s all said and done the job is actually pretty fun and there’s some perks that someone in a regular 9-5 just doesn’t get. The most awesome of which, for me, is the trips. 

I have gotten to go on some pretty fun ones over the years. The resorts and hotels are always top notch, with the best amenities and luxury all the way. The Hanna family doesn’t mess around when it comes to where they take us. They are there too, for even longer than us because they host the different regions at different times. That means the family can be there for weeks in some cases, so the places we go are pretty damn fabulous.  

This year we are going to an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica. Some of the other trips I’ve had the pleasure of attending with the Hannas are Naples, Florida, Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, Miami Beach, Florida (That one was going to be Cancun but there were too many travel warnings at the time). Every year at the trip they announce where next year’s trip will be. I look forward to that each time. Going on a trip with my good friends who are in the same business is therapeutic and a salve for the stress. Relaxing, drinking, letting loose, and venting, venting, venting about all the craziness we deal with is always just what the doctor ordered.  

My huge passion for travel is one of the reasons I set myself such high goals…. You have to earn the trip. It’s not just handed over to you. I strive for it each year, and always reach it. Here’s to 2019 and another trip well earned. If any of the Hannas are reading this, THANK YOU.