A Simple Guide To Home Ownership

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
Friend me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JulianneThibodeauKrutka

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!

Some tips for the homeowner with an FSBO Listing!

Dear Homeowner,

Congratulations on making the decision to sell your home!  I’m sure it was a decision you contemplated carefully and I wish you great success in the outcome!

If you have decided to sell your home on your own, without the expertise of a licensed Realtor, I’d like to offer you a few tips that may help you through the process.

In real estate there are three important factors to getting a home sold.  To the buyer, it’s all about location, condition and price.  For the seller, it’s all about EXPOSURE, condition and price.

Let’s talk about price first.  It would be nice if we could just pick a number out of the air and say “This is the amount I want someone to pay me for my house”.  It’s not that easy unless you’re planning to give your house away or your secretly hoping that it does not sell.  Ideally, you want to find the buyer who will pay you the most money for your home, but there is a very fine line between pricing your home to sell and pricing it to sit.  The key to figuring out how much to list your home for is research.  How much you owe, or how much your home is assessed for, or how much the house down the street sold for are not concrete factors in determining the price you set for selling your home.  You’ve got to do some solid research.  Don’t be afraid to call in a Realtor or two at this stage of the game.  Most Realtors will give you a comparative market analysis on your home for no cost or obligation.  A reputable Realtor will visit your home, gather some information, then take that information and look at your local real estate market and find homes that are comparable to yours in ways such as size, location and amenities.  They’ll show you homes that are currently on the market, thus establishing your competition.  They’ll show you homes that have sold, showing you the actual sale price of homes that are similar to yours.  They’ll also show you homes that did not sell and offer some ideas as to why they didn’t sell.  Using recent data from your local real estate market will help you nail down a price for your home that makes it appealing to buyers in your area.  Don’t be fooled into thinking that your buyers don’t know the local market.  Most of them have been looking at homes and comparing prices for quite some time.  The average home buyer spends at least 3 months looking for the right home.  In addition, many of your potential buyers will have an experienced Realtor working on their side!

The second big factor in selling a home is Condition.  Think about it for a minute.  If you’ve got two houses side by side with the same number of bedrooms, bathrooms etc and one of the houses needs a new roof, some new windows and a good amount of yard work, while the other house has a nicely manicured lawn and a better roof…which one are you more likely to look at and buy?  Now don’t misunderstand me, I’m not suggesting that you need a new roof to get top dollar for your home, what I am saying is that when you are setting your price you must consider the condition of your property compared to the competition for your property and then price it accordingly.  Hand in hand with condition though is curb appeal.  For example, a home with a well cared for yard is going to be much more appealing to a perspective buyer than one where the grass is over grown and the bushes haven’t been trimmed in ages!  For more information about the many easy and inexpensive ways to prepare your home for sale feel free to contact me: Julianne Krutka at 413-297-6718 or email Julianne.Krutka@NEMoves.com.

The final and most important factor in getting your home sold for the best possible price is EXPOSURE!  Imagine this…you have a fabulous valuable work of art and you decide to sell it.  If you have a lawn sale or put an ad in the local paper, how many people are actually going to see your piece of art.  On top of that, of the people that drive by and stop at your lawn sale or call you on your ad, how many of them will actually appreciate the true VALUE of your piece of art?  The answer is, probably not many.  Now imagine you take that piece of art to an auction house such as Sotheby’s in New York.  Sotheby’s conducts their entire business on selling various types of valuable “art”.  Sotheby’s is going to contact everyone around the WORLD that they know who is in the market for a piece of art such as yours.  They’ll find you a buyer and chances are they’re going to sell your piece of art for a much higher sum than if you tried to sell it yourself.  Again, the key here is EXPOSURE.  Sotheby’s not only exposes your piece of art to a much larger audience, they will expose it to people who have expressed a specific interest in that type of art!  Real Estate works in much the same way.  The more people who see your property…more importantly, people specifically looking for YOUR TYPE of property the more likely it is that you’ll get the highest possible price for your property.  For more information about the value of gaining the most EXPOSURE for your property feel free to contact me: Julianne Krutka at 413-297-6718 or email Julianne.Krutka@NEMoves.com

Ok, so let’s assume you’ve done your homework.  You’ve priced your house properly, you’ve make it look nice inside and out and you’ve advertised sufficiently.  Now you’re getting phone calls from people who want to view your property…Great!  How do you show them your home?  The first thing you need to do is protect yourself.  Nine times out of ten the people calling to view your home are strangers.  You might try to schedule showings during the daytime and you might want to be sure you have someone with you or maybe even have a neighbor or family member looking out for you while conducting your showing.  When it’s time for the showing, you can show your potential buyers from room to room but remember not to rush them.  Be sure to point out the features of each room but be careful not to spend too much time talking.  You really want to listen to your potential buyers so that you can learn what their impressions are of your property.  They will give you invaluable information about things that might need your attention and details you might have overlooked.  Don’t be afraid to ask your potential buyers if they have been pre-qualified for a mortgage.  A serious buyer has already consulted with a mortgage professional so that they are certain they are shopping for a home that is priced within their means.  A Realtor rarely works with a buyer without a pre-approval because it’s heartbreaking to both the buyer and the seller when someone finds a home they really want to buy and then learn they can’t afford to buy it.

So now you’ve shown your home and you have someone who wants to make an offer.  Should you take the first offer that comes along?  Well, again, if you’ve done your homework and you’ve priced your property accordingly then the offer should be pretty close to your asking price if not right on!  If the offer is where you had hoped it would be, then congratulations, you did a great job pricing, marketing and showing your home!  If the offer is significantly lower than you had hoped, go back and do your homework again.  Is the buyer trying to take advantage of you because they know you’re not working with a Realtor?  Or are they trying to steal your house by making you think you’ve over priced it?  Some things to take into consideration…how many showings have you had?  What kind of feedback have you received from those showings?  How motivated are you to sell your property?  Can you and will you negotiate?  Keep in mind that setting the contract price is just the beginning of the sale…you’ve still got inspections and appraisals to get through.  Will the potential buyer find any major repair issues after they complete the inspections?  Will the appraisal on the home meet the guidelines for the mortgage company to lend upon?  What if your buyer’s have a home they have to sell first?  Will you take your home off the market indefinitely while they try to sell theirs?

Yea, now we’re down to the wire, you’ve found your buyer and you’ve negotiated your price and your terms.  Now, the buyer is requiring inspections.  They want a mechanical and structural inspection, a pest inspection and a lead paint inspection.  Are you going to be present for all of these inspections?  Are you going to be willing to make repairs or re-negotiate if necessary when they’re done?  If repairs are needed are you going to find the contractors to do the work, will you oversee the work and will you have it certified as being completed properly? Once you’re past the inspection period, assuming any issues have been dealt with and the buyer still wants the property, who will oversee the appraisal process?  How much longer before you know your buyer’s financing is in place?  How much longer after that will be the closing?

The average time frame for selling a house from the date of offer to the day of closing is 6 weeks.  The first 10 to 14 days after the offer is accepted is time used to draw up the contracts for the sale, have them approved by the attorney’s representing the buyer and the seller and then schedule and conduct inspections.  The financing process should be started within this time frame as well.  After the inspections have been completed and both parties agree to continue with the transaction the buyer’s lender will then order the appraisal.  The appraisal can take another week to two weeks to complete.  Once the lender is satisfied with the creditworthiness of the buyer and the appraisal has confirmed the value of the property the lender will notify the buyer of their loan commitment and closing can be scheduled typically within 10 to 14 more days.  To protect yourself, in the very beginning of the negotiations to purchase, there should be some dates included in your contract.  For example, two weeks from date of your offer should be sufficient time for inspections to be completed and any areas of concern to be addressed.  Four weeks from date of offer should be adequate time for your buyer to obtain a commitment for financing.  Two more weeks from date of loan commitment should be ample time for the lender and the attorney’s to schedule a time for closing.   It’s important to keep your sale moving in the right direction.  By putting these time frames into your contract to purchase you protect yourself from harm from a buyer who could drag out the process because he or she may be unable to perform.

When all is said and done, Congratulations!  If you’ve followed the advice in this article, you have or will soon sell your home.  If at any point you feel you need the advice or service of a professional Realtor please feel free to contact me either by phone at 413-297-6718 or by email Julianne.Krutka@NEMoves.com.  I’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have and if I don’t have the answers, I’ll happily refer you to someone who does.

This information provided as a courtesy by:

Julianne Krutka
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage

48 Court Street Westfield, MA 01085

Office: 413-568-2324
Cell:  413-297-6718

Fax: 413-263-3536
Email: Julianne.Krutka@nemoves.com

Site: www.chainreactionrealestate.com - Serving the real estate needs of Buyers and Sellers in Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut.

Fan us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Westfield-MA/Chain-Reaction-Real-Estate-Serving-Western-MA-and-Northern-CT/145401069566

Friend me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JulianneThibodeauKrutka

Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/JulianneKrutka

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!

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.

Julianne Krutka
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage

48 Court Street Westfield, MA 01085

Office: 413-568-2324
Cell:  413-297-6718

Fax: 413-263-3536
Email: Julianne.Krutka@nemoves.com

Site: www.chainreactionrealestate.com - Serving the real estate needs of Buyers and Sellers in Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut.

Fan us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Westfield-MA/Chain-Reaction-Real-Estate-Serving-Western-MA-and-Northern-CT/145401069566

Friend me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JulianneThibodeauKrutka

Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/JulianneKrutka

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!

@lesleylambert speaks on tweaking tweetdeck at #pcwm

Pod Camp Western Mass 2010

This was my horoscope for this day….

…It's always more challenging to sail against the prevailing winds and today you'll get your chance to demonstrate your masterful navigational skills. But don't waste energy just fighting the emotional tides. Instead, choose a route that enables you to get out of the tumultuous currents completely. Once you have relaxed and caught your breath, continue on your way with determination.

Today I attended an event that took me outside of my comfort zone. It took me out of my house and away from the safety of my ability to hide behind the computer screen. It was an event that I so looked forward to and yet at the same time feared beyond reason. Once upon a time in my life I was quite the social butterfly but with the computer age came the ability to be socially content without ever leaving the house. Today I stepped outside of my house, outside of my comfort zone and into a world filled with vibrant, wonderful, gifted and giving people. It was a struggle against my “emotional tides” but as with any other struggle in life, the rewards of this day are immeasurable!

Part one of today’s event was something called Pod Camp Western Mass. It was an event designed to bring together a number of people who wanted to learn more about Social Networking using the Internet. As a Realtor, Social Networking plays a key role in being able to deliver the services that my Clients need. I attended this event in the hopes of learning how to better reach out not only TO my clients but FOR them as well.

I attended four sessions during this conference or un-conference as they prefer to call it. There were two sessions before lunch and two more afterwards. In the first session I learned that as in any social situation, behind the computer screen or otherwise, you’ll only get out as much as you put in. The more effort and information about yourself you put out there, the greater the rewards.

In the second session I learned that “efficiency” is a double sided task. It’s not enough to do things quickly, or within a set scheduled amount of time, but you must also consider how effective what you are doing is towards meeting your goals.

During the lunch break I learned that sitting at one table only allows you to meet, greet and get to know the handful of people at your table. If you really want to experience social networking in the real world, you need to get up from the table and move around the room. The same is true behind the computer screen. If you only network in one place on the Internet, Imagine how many opportunities to meet the people who can affect your life in a positive way are lost.

After lunch, session three was about a computer software program that can be invaluable in social networking. In this session I learned that taking the precious time to learn how to use the tool can save you precious time in the end in making the tool work for you!

Session four was the one I felt I needed the most…in session four I learned that there are no excuses! If you are going to be successful in any business using Social Media, you need to use all of the tools that are at your disposal including the ones that are a little harder or a little less comfortable to use. All you get when you use excuses is half baked results!

After a full day of learning and socializing in real life like I have not done in YEARS, part one of today’s event left me feeling exhausted. Part two of today’s event was an after party being held at a local Tavern. In all honesty, I’d had enough of social networking for one day. I’d had a lot of fun and learned a lot of useful information. I really didn’t feel the need to continue the interaction, I was drained. I drove home, came in the house, sat behind my computer screen and watched the tweets pouring in from the local tavern. One kind soul actually messaged me and asked where I was. I was too much of a coward to tell them I’d had enough and was staying home so I dragged myself away from the safety of my computer screen and headed out once again.

Part two of today’s event really was the icing on the cake! I’d forgotten just how great it feels to be out in the world interacting with like minded individuals. Thank you Pod Camp Western Mass for not only helping me learn some important ways I can build my business using the tools of the Social Media trade but for getting me past the “tumultuous currents” and the “emotional tides” and for reminding me that “social networking” face to face works just as well if not better than hiding behind the computer screen!

I want to dedicate this blog post to ALL of the attendees at today’s Western Mass Pod Camp 2! Thank you for such a wonderful day! For making me feel welcome and appreciated! A special thank you goes out to Steve Sherlock for making me realize my excuses were crap! Another special thank you to Kelly and Tom Galanis just for being the wonderful people that you are! Thank you Morris, Keith, Pat, and Jason for just being totally awesome! Thank you Alfonso for not thinking me a lunatic for trying to hunt you down! Thank you Dan for getting me to that after party! And finally, thank you Lesley…for always being there FIRST!!