Tag: Realtor

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 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.