New Year, New Home?

Exciting times ahead in 2013 - with lots of homes still available and interest rates holding at all time lows, have you been thinking of a new home?  Upgrading from your current digs or finding that sweet little picket fence?

Some things to consider:

WHAT is your favorite thing to do in life?

Important?  Yes!  If you love to cook and entertain, you probably want a bigger kitchen/living room and you MAY want an open-concept home.  If your favorite thing is fixing the 'stang, a heated detached man-cave may  be the aha! piece in your new home.  Share that - Makes it MUCH easier to help you find your home

Paint is cheap!

So the rose-print wallpaper in the master bathroom isn't your thing.  Pretend it's that cool blue you want, or that bold red.  Take a picture of the ugly room, go onto one of the variety of sites available to choose paint colors (ask me where), upload the photo and kazaam!  Change the color and see what it will look like with YOUR style stamped on it!

Hotel Chic is a GREAT sales tool

We need to look at the HOUSE, not the PICTURES of the people that currently live there. 



Well, that's a start anyway.  For a more complete list, contact me directly at CarriesHouses@gmail.com.  Happy House Hunting!

Five Things Every Buyer Needs to Do

Thinking of buying a home this year?  Not quite sure what to do to make that happen?  Here are the 5 things you need to do before you begin seriously looking at homes.  Believe me, being prepared will save you time, money and frustration and ensure you can successfully purchase a home and still have money left at the end of the month.

1. Interview a couple lenders.  Don't just fill out an application online; that can actually cost you points on your credit score.  Meet with a couple lenders so you can make sure you will have control over your home loan decisions.  This is a 30+ year committment; make it a good one.
2. Fill out a budget worksheet and be very honest about your spending habits.  You are the only one looking at the numbers; don't lie to yourself
3. Drive around different communities that interest you.  See if the stuff in the neighborhood yards match your personality and expected lifestyle.  Realtors cannot, by law, tell you where the best schools are or where kids live.  You get to pre-research that.
4. Interview 2 or 3 Realtors.  Open houses are great for this - and we won't even know if we're being interviewed so don't tell us and you will see which personality will best suit you.
5. Pull the following together: For the lender - tax and income info, expense info including car payments, student loan payments.  Don't lie, they can see it all on your credit report. For the Realtor, bring your preapproval letter from the lender, a list of must haves and want to haves, and an open mind. 

That's it.  Put on your walking shoes, sign that Buyer's Agency (we'll talk about that later) and have fun shopping for your new home!

North Woods Homes: Is your home ready for the market?

North Woods Homes: Is your home ready for the market?: "It's probably safe to say that now is a good time to buy. Home values have remained stable, and interest rates are still pretty low at..."

Is your home ready for the market?

It's probably safe to say that now is a good time to buy.  Home values have remained stable, and interest rates are still pretty low at just over 5% as of today's publication date.  But did you know that it's also a pretty darn good time to sell?


What does this mean for you as a seller?  It means that buyer confidence is returning, and you have a much better opportunity right now to sell your home than you did last year, even with the First Time Buyer credit.  We currently have about 10 months inventory on homes under $150,000 in the Chippewa Valley, so if you price your home right, prepare it for sale, and trust in a good Realtor who will aggressively market your property you should be happy with your home sale results. 

What exactly do I mean by preparing your home for sale?  Well, there are several factors involved and most of them revolve around depersonalizing your home.  You can go online anywhere and get lists of "what to do when you are selling" that include everything from replacing outdated flooring or cabinets to painting the trim on the exterior of your home.  Your Realtor is not a home stager but can give you great pointers on what might need to be fixed, painted, decluttered and cleaned before you can expect an offer.  I make it my practice to give that advice only after I have a signed listing contract.  However, the lists you find online can be very helpful in getting you pointed in the right direction, or you can hire one of the local professional home stagers.

The top 10 preparations that I find work best for our area include the following:

1) GET RID OF ALL EXTRAS - declutter like crazy, and if you rent a storage unit for several months to put those extras in while you are marketing your home you should consider it money well spent.

2)  WALLPAPER IS NOT IN - repaint walls, remove wallpaper and anything floral or fruity.  Neutral is key - you want it to feel about as personal as a hotel room.

3) CLOSETS HALF FULL - or half empty, however you feel about that.  But remove at least half the items in each closet, stretch the hangars that remain to about 1" - 2" distance from each other and make sure that top shelf has only a couple items on it.  Showcase the storage space!

4) LEAVE SOME FURNITURE IN PLACE - so you have to move out of town - bedrooms especially are difficult to picture how furniture fits so leave a few pieces for visual effect.  Trick I like; king size air mattress on top of laundry baskets (for height), put on a nice dust ruffle, comforter and shams stuffed with old pillows or air pillows in a bedroom.  Shows off the space, doesn't cost a mint and easy to move around.  Just make sure you have a tent card announcing it's not real furniture and keep off!

5) FRESHEN THE BATHROOM - this is often hardest as you can't use your shower for a few days, but remove your soap stained grout or caulk and replace it with brand new.  Use a mix of 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water to shine up your tub, shower, floors, toilets and sinks and do put a fresh set of towels out when people are coming to see your house.  Trick I like - get a pretty set of "show towels" that are not used for anything but display for your showings.  They will look fluffy and clean, your bathroom will show better.  Do NOT use a plug in air freshener or pot pourri - lots of people are turned off by heavy air fresheners and think it means the seller is hiding something.

6) GET AN ENTRY WAY RUG - and leave a chair, especially in the winter, handy for house hunters to take off and put on their shoes.  It makes people feel welcome and wanted, and gives a good first impression.  Have this rug specific for your showings and open houses - daily use will quickly dirty the rug and you want to give the same impression as you get entering a clean hotel room.

7) REMOVE ALL COUNTER DECORATIONS - your kitchen is a big selling point - if you have lots of counter space a plant or decorative flowers are good with NOTHING else in sight; if you have limited counter space make sure there is not so much as an envelope on it.  You want your kitchen to feel workable and welcoming to a prospective buyer - it won't be your kitchen after the sale - make it appealing to others.  A plate of fresh baked cookies on the stove top with a tent sign saying "enjoy one" is welcoming - heavy perfumy smells just cry "I'm hiding icky smells!" If you have a garbage disposal, run an orange peel or half a lemon in it immediately before the showing or open house - it freshens the air without perfume and smells "clean".

8) TAKE OUT EXTRA FURNITURE - okay, you periodically have a dozen teenagers in your living room so you have 3 couches and 2 recliners set up in front of the video game tower for their convenience.  Guess what -  it makes the room crowded, uncomfortable and even if its a huge room it makes the room feel small and unwelcoming.  No more than 1 sofa and chair in a moderate sized living room.  Vacuum right before showings, dust your end tables and TV and make sure your kids' pictures are removed for the showing.  You want prospective buyers to see their furniture in the living room, not yours.  IF you have a wild print on your sofa, please get an inexpensive slipcover in a neutral color and put it on for the showings - wild prints and colors distract the buyers from the house itself.

9) NO WALL OF PERSONAL PHOTOS - or as my kids call it wall  of Shame.  You want buyers to look at your house, not try to figure out if they know the people in your wedding photo.  Again, Hotel Level Depersonalization!

10) Clean up the outside - in the winter, make sure there is no dog sign (yellow snow) at the approach and please do go so far as to sweep the front stoop.  In the summer, keep the bushes and grass trimmed and the flower beds weeded out.  This is your house's first impression, and instead of having people drive by and dismiss it because the front looks uncared for, make sure it looks well manicured from the street view so that casual passersby calls your agent's number (prominently displayed on their signage) and books that showing appointment.  Replace the banged up mailbox, put a new net on your basketball hoop and power wash the exterior of your home.  In the Chippewa Valley, you can find several companies that will do this for you at a very reasonable rate, including windows. 

Just remember, you've had  some great memories in your house; but when you are selling, it's time to let someone else envision their own great memories in the making.

It's perfect, where do we sign?

Well, first you need to take a really, really deep breath and think for just a minute.  I am maybe a little more cautious with my buyers than many of my colleagues, but here's the thing - this is the biggest purchase of your life.  It's a huge committment; not quite as big as entering into a lifelong partnership with your true love but still, the money and time you are going to invest in your home is not to be entered lightly.

What, to you, constitutes the "perfect" home?  Is it brand spanking new?  Do you get to have fun ripping down walls and refurbishing woodwork?  Is it something in between, something that you can repaint and refloor, or even just move into and change one room at a time? 

How about the style?  Do you love or hate split levels?  Are you concerned about having too many stairs and prefer a ranch or do you like the idea of all the bedrooms being on the second level and away from the living spaces? 

Do you need a big yard or hate mowing?  Do you want a condo - where you never have to do "outside" work, or do you love to garden? 

How many stalls do you need the garage to be versus how many would you want? 

Before you even start seriously looking, make yourself a list of everything you loved about the house you grew up in.  Make a list of everything you love about where you currently live, and make another list of things you absolutely do not want in your new home.  Keep this set of lists and discuss them with your Realtor.

Go to your bank, and pick another one that somebody you know, like and trust recommends and interview a couple of lenders - it's important that you like and trust the person handling the financial aspects of your purchase. Make sure you ask about such things as points, prepayment options, downpayment requrements and most importantly how much you actually qualify for.

Then go home again and make a list of all your monthly bills (excluding current rent/house payment).  There are several good, free online budget forms you could use to help yourself with this and do NOT under any circumstances leave anything, including the cost of your morning coffee, off the list.  Whatever amount you have left reduce by 25% and that should be your maximum comfortable house payment.  This should be less than what the bank qualifies you for, and your very clever Realtor will be able to help you figure out the price range you can actually purchase. 

The reason you want to reduce that final amount is quite simple - you need to put money into your savings!  You need to do it so when the dishwasher spews dirty water all over your hardwood kitchen floor you can repair it and replace the dishwasher, or if the furnace conks out in the middle of the night you can pay for an emergency repair or replacement.   You, as the homeowner, carry the entire repair bill so make sure you are well covered!  You need to do it so you can order pizza on friday night and not worry about whether you have enough to pay for it, or take a weekend trip with a friend without fretting over the cost of gas. 

And you need to do all of this and more before you look at houses, so when you find the one that makes you take that deep breath, feels as comfortable as your favorite pair of jeans, causes you to think of all the great memories you will have in that one, perfect house you can turn to your Realtor and utter the words, "It's perfect!  Where do I sign?" and know that you can absolutely, positively purchase your new home.

Not such a Bad Year After All

Did you know that this year's trending shows that we should be at or near the bottom of the classic bell curve?  Take a peek at the stats above and tell me what YOU think - these numbers are directly from the RANWW MLS reported closed sales as of Dec 27, 2010.  Closed properties do not have to be reported immediately, so there are more than likely some that have not made it onto the Dec stats.  Overall, you can see that we are following a very normal curve - some ups, some downs but overal quite average.  Why is that?  Because no matter what CNN says, we are NOT CALIFORNIA OR FLORIDA!  Traditionally, people in our area are financially conservative and as such we have not had the huge fluctuations in home values that our coastal brethren have faced.  For example, a 1600sq ft ranch home in CA, depending on location, may have gained over 500% in value over the past 10 years.  Can you imagine that happening here?  For one thing, we do not have a multimillion person population center here, we are not crunched for space, and we have plenty of homes available in locations that provide easy access to our workplaces and schools.  Add to that the power of penny stretching we've learned from our parents and grandparents, our famous regional patience while waiting for the "right home at the right price" and the craftsmanship that allows even small homes in our area to feel like great spaces and our housing market is exceptionally healthy as compared to national levels.  Want more information?  Call me today and we can discuss YOUR home sale or purchase!

Home sales down????? Not by much!

EVERY day in Real Estate is fun, and my favorite question from people is "So, I hear home sales have tanked.  Is that true?"

Well, yes and no.  To be totally honest, home sales in the Chippewa Valley for the month of July 2010 were down from home sales in July 2009, primarily because of the drop dead date for the Homebuyer Credit.  It is currently estimated that 57-60% of people interested in purchasing a home have done so already this year, which is a little bit lopsided as far as the "normal" bell curve is concerned.  However, home sales overall for the year are up significantly from last year, and I can only see improvement from here on out.

The phones have begun ringing again, showings are being booked, and in utilizing social media property exposure is through the roof! 

Further, while the Chippewa Valley has experienced a slight depression in home sales over the past 2 years, we are much, much healthier than most of the country and our market has a lower percentage of distressed properties than many other market areas.  This is good news - it does help keep home prices where they need to be and means that most of our neighbors actually can afford to own what they live in.

So, thinking about buying or selling?  Now is a GREAT time to buy!  Interest rates are at fantastic new lows, home prices are still as low as they are likely to get and there are plenty of people out there looking!  Check out my current listings at http://www.cheeseballoon.com/ and call now - I'd LOVE to sell you your next home!