Tag: tips

When you’re trying to buy and inventory is low, it may seem inevitable that sometimes there simply isn’t anything available that suits your needs. If this happens to you, it may be that you need to expand the scope of your search. This doesn’t necessarily even mean broadening the range of acceptable homes, but rather looking for them in a different way. There are a couple different options for doing this.

The first option is looking at different media. Many homes are listed on a Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and can be easily found by your agent or on an aggregator site such as Zillow. Off-MLS sales aren’t common, but they do happen. And they’re becoming more frequent with the increasing popularity of social media sites. You can potentially find listings on sites such as Facebook or Twitter. The other is to look at old listings or listings slightly outside your price range. Often these will actually be one and the same. Overpriced homes tend to sit on the market longer because no one wants them at the current price. But that also means there will be less competition, so you may be able to offer below asking price, even in a generally competitive market. Even if the listing isn’t old yet, you can keep tabs on potentially overpriced listings and see if the price drops or it hangs around for a while.

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Moving to a new area and not knowing anyone there can be an awkward situation. Some people are social butterflies and will be eager to get to know their neighbors. Others may need a little help. Here are a few suggestions to break the ice.

The most forward approach is to simply go up and knock on their door. Not everyone is going to answer the door to strangers, but you may be able to entice them. Consider bringing a gift of homemade cookies or any other dish you know and love. If you don’t want to take the situation to them, you can instead invite them over. Throwing a housewarming party is a great opportunity to invite all your new neighbors, or you can suggest a block party. For the less socially inclined, there’s an option that doesn’t require contact, but can build up familiarity over time. That is taking walks around the neighborhood and simply greeting people you happen across. If you have a dog, there’s a good chance you’ll do this anyway, but it could just be part of your exercise routine.

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When buying a new home, you should not always expect that you’ll stay there forever. This is especially true for first time buyers, who often need to buy a starter home first before they can build up enough equity to buy a forever home. But sometimes it’s the right call. Keep in mind that you don’t actually have to live in your forever home forever; it just means that you could see yourself doing so. And a starter home doesn’t have to be your first home; it can be a middle stage on the way to your forever home. Neither is a binding commitment.

So when should you buy your forever home, and when should you buy a starter home? Starter homes are generally less expensive, and are something you plan to sell later. If you immediately purchase a new home after selling, you may be able to avoid capital gains tax. It’s an investment for the future. The downside is that they’re generally smaller. If you are planning to have kids soon, a smaller home may not be big enough, and moving frequently can be hard on kids. But that isn’t the only factor in determining if you should buy a forever home. Even if you could see yourself living there forever, that doesn’t mean it’s financially sound. More expensive homes will also have higher mortgage payments, taxes, and insurance fees. You may want to consider it, though, if you are able to secure a low interest rate.

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Finding the right neighborhood can be difficult. You probably don’t know everything about a neighborhood you’re about to move to. Your agent may know more, but won’t know as well as you quite exactly what you’re looking for. But there are certain factors that are important for most everyone, and many of them can be researched objectively.

Everyone wants to feel safe in their community. No area is entirely without crime, but crime rates can give you a good idea of how safe you will be. The websites Neighborhood Scout and Crime Report can give some in-depth details. You should also look at transportation options and commute time. This includes not just your job, but also shopping, amenities, and schools. Not everyone is going to have the same needs in this respect, but everyone will want their specific needs met. Another important factor is the people in the community. It’s near impossible to judge them without going there, but you don’t have to be living there. You can visit community centers or even just knock on doors. Some people aren’t going to answer the door to strangers, but if that’s an important factor in providing a sense of community, that can also inform your decision.

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With home prices on the rise, young adults are experiencing struggles paying for a home with just their own income. As a result, cohabiting is becoming more common, in which unmarried partners –or possibly just friends — choose to pool their money and purchase a home together. Some may be concerned that this can cause some financial headaches. But really, all you need to do is make sure you know your cohabiting partners well.

Marriage certainly confers some legal and financial benefits. As far as purchasing a house, though, the financial side of things doesn’t actually care whether you’re married or not. Relationship status is not a factor in mortgage rates, as every co-purchaser’s financial history is considered separately, whether they are married or not. However, this also means that if you don’t really know a partner’s financial history too well, you may be in for an unwelcome surprise. It’s also important to note that even after successfully purchasing the home, conflicts between co-owners can result in situations not too dissimilar to divorce proceedings, even if you aren’t married.

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Home improvements have gotten more popular recently, as many people have switched to work-from-home and are spending more time there. Usually, these improvements are primarily made for the owner, rather than for a prospective buyer. These features would also be high in demand if you are planning to sell your home, but there are a few things that can actually increase the value of your home by much more than you spend.

You may be able to improve your energy efficiency by upgrading your windows, which is certainly value over time for a homeowner, but it’s also increased value for a home seller. Energy efficiency is a significant draw for buyers, and will improve the value by more than its cost, even if you aren’t reaping the rewards of it yourself. Kitchen remodels almost always pay for themselves. Homeowners spend a lot of time in their kitchen, and they want it to suit their needs. Figure out what people are looking for in a kitchen right now, and make it happen. A rather expensive upgrade is a stone veneer. You won’t recoup the entire cost if you sell immediately, but you’ll get back most of it. This is one that you’ll want to have accrue value over time.

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Conventional wisdom says you should eat three meals per day, one when you wake up, one at midday, and one in the evening. This convention, though, is actually rather new. And not at all backed by science — it’s based around standard work schedules more than anything. You eat before work, you have a meal during your lunch break, and you come home and eat with your family. However, your meal times should be limited to a smaller window.

Fasting is actually a very necessary process to help repair damage to the body. Of course, this can include the normal eight hours of sleep. But for a healthy body, eight hours should actually be the time that you’re eating, and you should fast the rest of the day, or at least twelve hours. It is possible to do this while still eating three meals, but the standard work schedule makes this difficult. You don’t need as much food as you’re probably eating, though, and you could even just eat one meal per day if you really wanted to. Breakfast in the morning used to be reserved for wealthy people who could afford to eat that often. Skipping breakfast and waiting until your lunch break to eat is actually not a bad idea, even if many people nowadays only do so because they lack the time. For a while, you’re going to be hungry in the mornings, but this is a psychological effect because your body is used to eating at that time, and is temporary. The same thing would happen if you shifted to a new work schedule and had different meal times. It doesn’t actually mean your body needs food.

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More: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220412-should-we-be-eating-three-meals-a-day

Attempting to sell your home yourself, without paying an agent, may seem tempting. Especially if this isn’t your first sale, you may think you know everything. The fact of the matter is, you probably don’t; moreover, FSBO presents problems even if you understand the process.

In order to sell your home, you’ll need to take time out of your day to show your home to prospective buyers. This could be a colossal waste of time if the buyers aren’t actually interested and just want to look. There’s also a large amount of paperwork involved. That also takes time, and it’s easy to make mistakes. Maybe you think you’ve done all the paperwork before and know how it works, but the laws could have changed or this sale could involve paperwork the previous sale didn’t require. Even professional agents make mistakes sometimes — but they have errors and omissions insurance. You probably don’t. That can lead to lawsuits. In the unlikely situation that you’ve done all your research and know exactly what to do, it’s still likely that you’ll receive fewer or lower offers. Agents tend to be wary of FBSO sales because of all the issues they can present, and so are unlikely to show them to their clients.

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Spring tends to be the hottest season for the real estate market, which means heavy buyer competition, especially while inventory is still recovering. These tips, including some lesser-known ones, can help you stay in the running.

It’s not unusual for homes to be listed low in order to garner interest. While this may not be necessary with higher demand than supply, it’s good to know that you may want to look lower than your expected budget. Even if an offer is accepted near the list price, that just means you have a bit extra for repairs or updates. Alternatively, you could put it towards a higher earnest money deposit, which shows the seller you’re actually serious. Getting an actual approval letter, and not just a pre-approval, will do the same thing.

There are also a few contract terms you can change to appeal more to sellers. A good agent can advise you on matters related to your current situation to see which contract terms are best for you. These include various waivers, particularly an inspection waiver; a lease-back for sellers who are also prospective buyers; and a relatively unknown thing called an escalation clause. An escalation clause, also called an escalator, lets the seller know as soon as they receive your offer that you are willing to increase the offer if outbid, and defines an upper limit. This can prevent a situation in which the seller sees your offer, sees an offer higher than yours, and accepts the higher offer, without realizing that the higher offer is actually lower than what you are willing to pay.

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More: https://www.realtor.com/advice/buy/secrets-thatll-help-you-buy-a-house-today/

Tax season is upon us. You may have already started working on your taxes. But perhaps you haven’t thought about everything you may be able to deduct. Some of the most significant costs of homeownership can be tax-deductible.

Many people are aware that their property taxes may be tax deductible — if you didn’t, well, now you do. But did you know that the interest on your mortgage always is? Your lender should have this line separated out, so it’s easy to find and deduct from your taxes. Another homeownership cost that is sometimes tax deductible is home repairs. Significant repairs are probably tax deductible. Be sure to check with a tax professional to determine which of these you can actually deduct. They may even be able to find more tax-deductible expenses you weren’t thinking of.

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Multigenerational homes are becoming more common recently. But what exactly does that mean? And why? A multigenerational home has a rather simple definition. It includes any home in which two or more generations of adults live in the same building. This doesn’t include children, but children can be present as well.

Common examples of multigenerational homes are parents of young children living with the children’s grandparents and adult children moving in with their parents. The former is frequently in order to give parents some extra help raising their kids. Moving back in with your parents, or vice versa, can be done for a couple reasons. A common one is recent college graduates wanting to have a place to stay while they pay down their student loans. Sometimes older parents move in with their children because they need help taking care of themselves.

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Sellers who haven’t done their research, especially first-time sellers, are prone to certain errors when selling their home. Many of these involve wanting to get as much money as they possibly can. What sellers don’t realize is that they may need to either temper their expectations or spend some money to make money. Besides these sorts of issues, sellers also sometimes don’t have a new place lined up for themselves for when the sale goes through, which can cause them to spend unnecessary money on temporary rentals.

Especially in a hot market, sellers tend to overprice their homes. It’s true that prices are high right now, but listing your home at exactly market value isn’t going to draw attention. List lower, and let market competition do more of the heavy lifting. More competition also means more serious offers, but do keep an eye out for offers that seem too good to be true — they probably are, and would be a waste of time. Time is something you don’t want to waste when trying to sell your home, since interest will wane and home values may change. The best offer isn’t necessarily the highest offer, either; look at contingencies and down payment percent as well.

“For sale by owner,” or FSBO, can be tempting because it cuts out the middleman. If sellers don’t have to pay an agent, they keep more of the profit. Seems simple, but as it turns out, their profit will probably still be higher with an agent representing them. Agents have better marketing tools, more experience with pricing and staging, and the ability to host open houses or get in contact with photographers and videographers to create virtual tours. FSBO sellers can decide to do these things themselves, but the cost comes out of their pocket, so they don’t manage to skip out entirely on costs.

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More: https://www.realtor.com/advice/sell/things-first-time-home-sellers-get-wrong/

Kids can complicate the process of moving. Young children may not understand what’s happening, or just not understand the reasons why. Older kids that know what’s going on may simply have strong emotions about significant life changes such as this. Parents wish they could do something to make the transition smoother. Well, it turns out they can: Involve the kids in the process.

A large factor in kids’ reluctance to move is that they feel a lack of control. It’s simply something that’s happening and unavoidable, rather than something they’re doing. Take them to open houses with you, so they can familiarize themselves with their potential new homes. Ask them to help pack — you may think your kids aren’t going to want to be given tasks, but if it helps them feel like they are an actor rather than observer, they will feel more in control. Hosting a goodbye party for the kids, and not just for adults, can also help to add closure.

The process doesn’t end with moving out. There is more to do after moving in. Unpacking is just as important as packing. Let them help choose paint colors and the arrangement of furniture, especially in the room that will become their new bedroom. Once you’ve settled in the new house, go meet your neighbors, and take your kids with you.

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