5304 Alan Avenue , San Jose 95124

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Yajnesh Rai

408-547-7845

YRai@KW.com

www.YajneshRai.com

509 Porpoise Bay Terrace #G

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Thanks, Yajnesh

408-547-7845

www.YajneshRai.com

YRai@KW.com

So You Wanna Sell Your Home? Step 5: Create an Eye-Catching Ad – Real Estate News and Advice – realtor.com

Previous Steps:

1) Clean Up

2) Hire Realtor

3) Determine Price

4) Pretty Up the Place

5) This Step

 

Long before home buyers set foot in your place, declare with a flourish “This is the one,” watch the clouds part and the rainbows form, and make you a terrific offer, they have to know you’re selling it first. And it’s up to you and your Realtor® to spread the word. Only how?

Look no further than this fifth installment of our weekly Home-Selling Guide, which will show you how to put together an attractive online ad that will win you plenty of admirers—and plenty of honest-to-God prospective buyers!
Take great pics

Online house shopping is a lot like online dating. Everyone will tell you they loved your bio, but really, they’re  just looking at the photos. To show your home in the best light, consider hiring a pro.

“The photos the pros take just stand out over amateur snapshots,” says Darbi McGlone, a Realtor with Jim Talbot Real Estate in Baton Rouge, LA. A pro will be able to find the best angle, make your small half-bath look relatively palatial, and even touch up some of the photos to make them truly pop online. Ask your Realtor for suggestions, or look through the Real Estate Photographers of America and International.

But if you (or your Realtor) want to take a crack at snapping some winning images yourself, we learned these tips from a professional photographer:

    Store away everything you can before you start shooting. Movable art, throw pillows, brightly colored small appliances, and other knickknacks might make your home look cozy and inviting to buyers in person, but those small items don’t translate well in photos. For your photos to look the best, you want to draw the eye to the key elements of the room—such as the fireplace or the huge bay window. Too much going on in each shot? Those eyes won’t know where to focus.
    Don’t use your smartphone. Let’s repeat this one: Don’t use your smartphone. This is your house you’re selling, remember? For the best shots, the camera and the lens matter. Aim for using a digital camera with HDR (high-dynamic-range mode) capabilities, and take photos with a wide-angle lens that can capture the whole room without making the space feel squished. “I’ve tried all the tricks, but unless you have a wide lens, you are wasting your time,” McGlone says. So invest, OK?
    Try shooting from every viewpoint imaginable—and then add a few more that you might not have originally imagined. Take plenty of shots of each room from every angle. To make rooms appear more spacious, crouch down and snap at knee level. Experiment.
    Edit and retouch your photos using software such as Photoshop—but remember, less is more. “I will brighten a photo if it looks too dark but never touch up so much that it is not realistic,” McGlone says. Stick to the basics and add just enough to enhance the photos, otherwise buyers may think you have something to hide. And most likely, you do.

Write a winning description

After the photos, buyers will read your listing details. At the top of your listing should be the basics: number of bedrooms and bathrooms and the square footage. Next come the stand-out features. “That includes things like interior exposed brick, a fireplace, an outdoor kitchen, or any upgrades,” says McGlone.

While your Realtor will usually write your listing, you can (and should) have final approval. And it turns out certain words reel in buyers better than others. Here are five words correlated with a higher sales price, according to research featured in Freakonomics:

    Granite
    State-of-the-art
    Corian
    Maple
    Gourmet

 

The reason these work: They’re specific. Granite countertops give you a good idea what that kitchen is like, as do maple floors. Terms that are vague or appear to be trying too hard will backfire. Below are five terms correlated to a lower sales price:

    Fantastic
    Spacious
    !
    Charming
    Great neighborhood

 

So keep an eye out for eye-roll-inducing adjectives that might very well turn off buyers.

Build buzz on social media

To get the word out, your Realtor will post your listing in the local multiple listing service, worldwide sites such as realtor.com®, and their own brokerage business website. To add to the potential buyer pool yourself, get to sharing. Social media isn’t only for pictures of cats and political opinions; you can find a buyer for your house, too.

“These days you really have no choice but to smartly use social media to promote your listings,” McGlone says. After all, your friends and acquaintances will take a special interest in helping you out—make doing so just a click away. Even if they aren’t looking to buy, someone in their own network could be, so encourage your friends to share the post and pass it along. While Facebook is a tried-and-true favorite for posting listings, you can also use Twitter or photo-driven Instagram to great effect.

Make sure to market offline, too

Even in today’s Internet-obsessed world, you and your Realtor need to do some offline marketing as well. Remember those yard signs from seemingly bygone days? They may not be the reigning house marketing tactics anymore, but it’s still a good idea to let your Realtor pop one in the yard. A study by the National Association of Realtors® found that 48% of buyers still relied on yard signs to help their search.

Bottom line: You never know which avenue will reach the right home buyer who will lay eyes on your home and fall in love. And all you need is love—however you find it.   

The Main Motivators Pushing Home Buyers | Realtor Magazine

The Main Motivators Pushing Home Buyers

Daily Real Estate News | Tuesday, March 01, 2016

One in four home buyers say they want to buy a home because their rent is too high, according to a new survey by the brokerage Redfin of 750 home purchasers. The number of home buyers citing high rents as a main motivation to buy is rising – up from one in eight last August.

Still, affordability remains the chief concern on home buyers’ minds. Twenty percent are concerned about the limited number of homes for sale – also on the rise. Sixteen percent are concerned about too much competition from other buyers – a five percentage jump over last quarter, according to Redfin’s survey.

Home buyers are also braced for home prices to rise in the coming months. Fifty-three percent say they anticipate prices will rise soon compared to 48 percent of previous survey respondents from last quarter. But mortgage rates remain important to them. Sixty-seven percent of buyers said mortgage rates were important or very important motivators in their purchase decisions.

How To Budget: A Simple, Flexible Method For Everyone – Forbes

Creating a budget can seem overwhelming.

The categories often used to classify our expenses are too numerous to count — transportation, utilities, business, education, entertainment, financial expenses, food, gifts, and so on, plus all the subcategories within them.

On top of that, we don’t always spend the same amount per month in each category. We might need $200 in our electronics budget one month for a new smartphone purchase, but none the next month. We might need $20 in our health budget one month and $220 the next.

Since we can never be that exact and consistent by category, and since the overall goal anyway is to stay within one’s means, over the five years that I’ve covered personal finance (during which I paid off debt and saved up enough money to start freelancing), I have come to prefer a simplified method of budgeting that uses the 50/20/30 guideline of budgeting (or numbers tailored to your situation) in which a certain percentage of your budget is allocated to certain large categories, and weekly allowances to keep you on track.

This strategy allows you flexibility while also making sure you reach your financial goals and that your spending aligns with your personal values. Here’s how to make it work for you.

1. Tally your necessary expenses, aiming to keep them under 50% of your take-home pay.

After you’ve paid taxes and made your employer-based retirement contribution, such as to a 401(k) account, there’s a certain amount that you take home every month. If you’re paid monthly, it’s equal to your paycheck. If you’re paid biweekly, your take-home pay will be slightly more than two paychecks, because every six months you will receive one extra paycheck. In that case, multiply each paycheck buy 13 and then divide by 6. That’s your take-home. If you get paid weekly, it will be slightly more than four paychecks, because every three months, you will receive an extra paycheck. In your case, to get your monthly take-home, multiply every paycheck by 13 and then divide by 3. (Alternatively, if you get paid weekly or biweekly, you can budget as if four or two paychecks equaled your monthly budget and then treat the extra paycheck that would come every quarter or half year as a bonus that you could put towards savings or debt or another goal.)

After you’ve determined your monthly take-home, divide it by 2. For most people, the number that you calculate is the upper limit of how much you should spend on all your “necessary” expenses. These include housing, transportation, groceries and utilities. If you don’t typically use a set amount for your groceries, allocate a reasonable amount now, a number that you can easily stick to.

If you can get the sum to be less than 50%, it leaves you more room for paying off debt, accumulating savings, or having more play money. In particular, because housing and transportation costs tends to be our largest expenses, if you can keep these low, you can keep the portion of your budget devoted to necessary expenses low overall.

2. Aim to allocate 20% or more of your take-home pay to your financial priorities.

This is the section of your budget devoted to your big goals. Financial priorities include paying off debt, saving for retirement, saving for any big financial goals such as buying a house, taking a dream vacation, or starting a business. If you’re paying off debt, make sure that this amount can at least cover your minimum debt payments, preferably more. (Check out this guide for more information on paying off debt, and this article to see how to prioritize between debt payments and retirement contributions.) If you don’t yet have emergency savings, start small by building a “curveball fund” of about $1,000 or $2,000, which could cover any unexpected car repairs or health expenses. Then, contribute regularly to an emergency fund with the goal of saving at least three months’ worth of your necessary expenses (though most people — again, and the exact amount depends on your personal circumstances — should aim to eventually reach six months’ worth).

Once you’ve determined how much you can put toward your debt payments and savings contributions, put those on auto-pilot, so that the debt is being paid and the savings is accumulating without requiring you to manually transfer the money every week. For your savings account, choose a bank such as Ally or Smartypig that allows you to have sub-accounts, so you can divide your savings between emergency fund, a trip to Patagonia, and the down payment on your house. (Get tips on choosing a bank here.)

The way that each person splits up their financial priorities money depends on their own personal situation. But if you don’t have debt payments and have enough of an emergency cushion, you can devote this area of your budget toward your own retirement accounts such as a traditional or Roth IRA. If you can, max out those accounts, which have a contribution limit of $5,500 a year for the year 2016 ($6,500 for those 50 and older), and do so through weekly, biweekly or monthly automated transfers. If you max out both your individual IRA as well as your employer-sponsored accounts, you can put additional money toward a brokerage account. Just don’t forget that for any investment account, not only should you set up auto-transfer of money into the account, but also the automatic purchase of the investments.

If you can’t imagine putting 20% of your budget toward savings or paying off debt, start with whatever percentage you can manage now, and then increase it by another percentage point or two at regular intervals as you find ways to cut costs or make more money. For instance, if you receive a 2% pay raise (here are the mistakes to avoid when asking for one), continue living on the same amount, but increase the financial priorities section of your budget by two percentage points. If your necessary expenses are below 50%, such as 40% or 35%, you should more easily reach the 20% goal and even surpass it to, say, put 25% or more of your budget toward your financial priorities.

Note that because this calculation is based on your take-home pay, retirement contributions that you are making to an employer-sponsored account such as a 401(k) are not included, and so your total retirement contributions should be even greater than the dollar amount that you are contributing from this part of your budget.

3. From the remaining 30% or less of your budget, set yourself a weekly allowance.

This part of your budget, which is devoted to discretionary lifestyle expenses such as dining out, shopping, entertainment, charitable donations, gym memberships, electronics, etc., should be no more than 30% of your take-home pay. Since some months are longer than others — unless you’ve decided to treat that extra paycheck per quarter or half year as a bonus — in order to determine the weekly allowance, tally up the total of your take-home paychecks for the year — multiplying by 12 if you get paid monthly and by 26 if you get paid biweekly. Then divide by 52 and multiply it by 0.3 (or, if you are able to put more toward your financial priorities, perhaps you are living on a smaller percentage, such as 25%, in which case you would multiply by 0.25) to determine your weekly allowance. This is the amount that you can use at your discretion every week for all your other expenses. Knowing this number will help you plan for big expenses. If, one week, you know you’ll spend a large portion of it on, say, your sister’s birthday, you can plan in advance and enter that week knowing that you’ll need to ratchet down your other spending to make room for that.

In order to be sure you stick to the weekly allowance, if you’re in debt and need to be especially careful about adhering to this number, start by taking out that amount in cash every week. For those who feel they can be a little more relaxed, track your expenses with an app, on a Post-it note in your wallet, or on a spreadsheet.

You can also use your allowance to save up for larger than normal purchases, by, for instance, taking $50 out of your allowance every week for four weeks to save up for a $200 purchase. And, if you ever go over your budget one week, you can then just cut your allowance for next week and vice versa.

Is 50/20/30 doesn’t work for you, come up with your own guideline, but stick to it.

If you have a budget that falls out of the norm for some reason — perhaps you’re fresh out of college and are saving on housing costs by staying at your parents’, but have high student loan payments, or perhaps you are a new parent that has high child care costs, you may find that a completely different ratio of necessary expenses to financial goals to discretionary expenses works for you. If so, then follow that. The 50/20/30 guideline does not, and is not meant, to work for everyone. The point of the overall exercise is to determine what’s necessary, what your financial goals are, and what’s discretionary and the best allocation toward each of those buckets — and then to stick to those amounts.

If you find it difficult to stick with your budget, look for ways to cut costs and to make more money, and then tweak your budget again. Every time your financial picture changes, revisit this calculation in order to keep your spending in line with your current situation. However, once you’ve determined that you’re living within your means and automated your good financial behaviors, the only other ingredient you need to achieve your goals is time.

So You Wanna Sell Your Home? Step 4: Pretty It Up – Real Estate News and Advice – realtor.com

    Stash your stuff

    When you’re just living in your home, a bit of clutter is business as usual. You know the drill: video game cartridges in the bathroom, toolbox in the kitchen, tuxedo shirt inexplicably in the garage. But when you’re trying to sell, all this disorder can be deadly. That’s because clutter can make even spacious homes look cramped and dirty, distracting from substantial assets, says Darbi McGlone, a Realtor® with Jim Talbot Real Estate in Baton Rouge, LA.

    One way to help pare down your belongings is to go room by room, boxing up anything you haven’t used or worn in at least six months. What’s that you say? There’s nothing you’re not using? Try anyway. You’ll probably be surprised by the stuff you won’t miss. (Bonus: You’ll have less to move later.)

    One area where you’ll want to be merciless is your kitchen counter: Remove everything but your coffee maker, so people will think, “Wow, such a huge kitchen!” And to allow home buyers to really envision themselves living there, you’ll also want to pack up personal items such as the framed photos, report cards on the fridge, or your kid’s collection of “Star Wars” snow globes.

    But don’t just stuff those things in the closet.

    “Closets often end up being the dumping ground to store all the clutter that was visible,” says McGlone. “Which is never good, because closet space is an important buying consideration. You want potential owners to be able to see the true amount of space in each closet.” Instead, stack boxes neatly in the attic, basement, or, best of all, a storage facility—the perceived extra space you add to your home could be worth the rental cost and then some.

    Stage to sell

    These days, home staging is all the rage: On average, staged homes sell 88% faster and for a whopping 20% more than ones where home sellers just kept their furnishings in place. And while you can hire a professional stager, you can also cop a few of their tricks for free.

    For instance, hanging curtain rods higher can give the illusion of taller ceilings. Well-placed mirrors can make rooms appear bigger and brighter. Want to go the extra step? Paint your walls white, layer in neutrals, then add pops of color with pillows or a cashmere throw on the couch for a cozy glow.

    “I always think to move the furniture toward the walls to make it feel like there is more space,” McGlone says. Push furniture out and away from each other to open up floor space, but be careful to keep window space clear. Conceal flaws whenever possible; if the view out a window isn’t great, put up sheer curtains so the light comes in but the scenery stays hidden. And as with all your possessions, think “less is more,” although stagers do sometimes strategically add furniture (such as a cozy reading chair in a bedroom corner) to give the illusion of more space. Go figure!

    Boost your curb appeal

    Finally, it is time to take a hard look at the outside of your house. After all, that’s the first thing buyers will see when they pull up, so you’ve got to work that curb appeal hard.

    For starters, take a good hard look at the paint. If it’s looking dull or dingy, try power washing first. You can rent a power washer from most home improvement stores; a good wash can take off layers of dirt that make your home look shabby. Most professional paint jobs come with a 25-year warranty, and if you’re long past that, it may be time for a new coat. At the very least, slapping a coat of paint on your front door will give you the most bang for your buck—because that’s what buyers will see up close before they even knock.

    Paint aside, your yard also needs to be in order. Overgrown trees can make a home seem dark and creepy. If your trees are touching any part of your house, you should scale them back. If your front lawn is lacking in shrubs and flowers, add some. Even in winter, you can find hardy plants such as evergreen boxwoods and holly bushes. Also make sure your lawn is mowed, and if you have a pool that’s open, keep it sparkling.

    “A dirty pool will remind people how much upkeep there is, even if they asked for a pool,” McGlone says.

    Once you’ve gotten your home looking fantastic both inside and out, it’s time to break out your camera and spread the news that it’s up for grabs. Stay tuned next week to learn the ropes!

So You Wanna Sell Your Home? Step 3: List It at the Right Price – Real Estate News and Advice – realtor.com

Repeat after us: What you paid doesn’t matter

You may have a dollar figure in mind—perhaps based on what you paid originally, plus a little extra. Because homes appreciate, right? Maybe yes, maybe no. While a hefty increase in value is nice in theory—and in general, it’s expected to be a seller’s market this year—“ultimately, it’s up to the market,” says Chandler Crouch, broker of Chandler Crouch Realtors in Fort Worth, TX.

Think of it this way: Would you buy a banana for $1 if those same bananas were on sale down the block for 69 cents? Of course not! And, of course, a home ain’t no banana.

No matter what you paid for your home, market values fluctuate—both up and down. This can work for you or against you. But all that matters on the open market is what buyers are willing to pay now.

Use all your tools: Comps, AVMs, and your Realtor®

The best way to get a handle on your home’s sales price are the prices of similarly sized homes in your neighborhood—otherwise known as “comparables,” or “comps.” For example, if a house near yours with the same square footage and numbers of bedrooms and bathrooms, and in similar condition, sold for $230,000 within the past three months, you can bet your own price will be in that ballpark.

For a quick snapshot, several websites (including this one) offer automated valuation models, or AVMs, where you type in your address and then get a price based on an algorithm that factors in comps in your area. But AVMs are just a starting point.

“No one has actually put eyes on your house, so an AVM can’t really give you an accurate price,” Crouch says. That’s why you need your Realtor to visit your home, so she can factor in your home’s unique strengths and weaknesses along with comps to come to a better estimate.

When your Realtor tells you a price, check it. Ask her how she came up with the amount, and look into the comps in your area yourself. Once you’re able to pore over the info, Crouch says, “you’ll be able to see a price range for yourself, so you won’t feel like you’re just having to blindly trust your Realtor.”

Factor in upgrades with a grain (or two) of salt

Yep, you poured $10,000 into your brand-new chef’s kitchen, or $15,000 to install an in-ground swimming pool. Sweet! So it stands to reason that you’d make that money back when you sell, right? Well, not quite. Surveys by the National Association of Realtors® show that your return on investment for home improvements depends on what kind of renovation you’ve pulled off—and how much prospective buyers want it in your area. Refinishing hardwood floors, for instance, will reap a 100% return, paying for itself. Convert a basement to a living area, and you’ll recoup only 69% of those costs. The harsh truth: Not everyone is going to fall head over heels with your five-seat built-in hot tub.So do your research and find out what those upgrades will really get you.

Leave some wiggle room

Most buyers love to negotiate when you’re trying to sell your house. So it helps to “let them win one,” Crouch says. Instead of starting out with the absolute lowest price you can afford to go, add a bit of a cushion. How much? Crouch says you should round off your asking price in $5,000 increments. “It’s just how people think,” he says. So if you know you want $347,000 for your house, you can play it safe and round up to $350,000.

Also keep in mind that many first-time buyers may have a hard time coming up with cash for closing in addition to their down payment, even if their finances are good and they’re qualified for a loan. Offering to cover closing costs—while sticking to a higher asking price—might help seal the deal.

Price with Internet browsing in mind

Once you find yourself a ballpark price you’re happy with, it’s time to fine-tune it. Keep shoppers’ online search parameters firmly in mind—small differences in your price can spell a big difference in your exposure.

“Home buyers typically fill out a Web form that has a minimum price and maximum price,” says Crouch. “If you’re a dollar outside of that range it is going to be like your house didn’t exist—they’ll never see it.” In other words: Price your home at $300,000, and you could miss out on a whole lot of people who are searching in the $250,000–$299,999 price range. So if you’re on the cusp, consider rounding down to capture more eyeballs. Remember what we said about padding? It cuts both ways.

Test the waters with a soft rollout

While choosing a price can be scary, consider this one small loophole: Some brokerages offer a “soft” rollout plan in which they highlight the house as “coming soon” online, without officially listing the house in a multiple listing service. That buys you time to test the market, see if people will click at that price—then adjust accordingly without having to officially lower or raise your price on the record.

8 Bad ‘Home Improvement’ Habits | Realtor Magazine

Home owners can overdo it when it comes to the upkeep of their home. This Old House recently spotlighted several ways that home owners’ enthusiasm for home ownership may actually harm the house.

1. Having light bulbs that are too bright. You want a well-lit home, but exceeding a lamp or light fixture’s recommended wattage can be dangerous, particularly with incandescents or halogen lights, says John Drengenberg, consumer safety director for Underwriters Laboratories. “Using a bulb with too-high wattage will cause the fixture and its wiring to overheat,” he notes, which could then allow the heat to travel to the wall or erode the insulation on the wires and lead to a house fire. Check the fixtures label to make sure you use the correct wattage.

2. Planting trees near driveways or walkways. A line of trees to the house may up its curb appeal but adding young trees near driveways or walkways could be putting your slab at risk. As these trees grow taller, their roots will go outward, potentially pushing up the paving and causing it to buckle or crack. This Old House recommends planting small trees that will remain under 20 feet at maturity and that are at least 10 feet from paved areas. For larger trees, leave at least a 20-foot radius.

3. Overscrubbing a sink. Don’t overdo it with abrasive cleaners; they can scratch the sink. “Cleaners with a grit or grain to them will wear away at the finish and dull it,” Kohler‘s Mike Marbuch told This Old House. “That will make the sink more prone to gunk sticking to it—actually making it look dirtier.” Try a liquid cleanser like vinegar or lemon juice on the sink and avoid scrubbing it every day.

4. Overdoing it with can lights. Excessive recessed lighting in a home can cause a lot of air leaks. Recessed lighting is known as causing heat-sucking air leaks, especially when the fixtures are unsealed in vaulted ceilings. Airtight recessed lighting fixtures are available that are rated for insulation contact (IC). Also, use as few recessed lights as you can, especially when it comes to adding them to cathedral ceilings or in rooms directly below unconditioned attics.

5. Spreading too much mulch outside. “Over-mulching will suffocate plants, confuse their root systems, and prevent water from percolating into the soil,” notes the article at This Old House. “If you’ve mulched so much that tree trunks and flowers’ and shrubs’ lower branches are covered by or dragging in it, you’ve gone overboard.” Have mulch no thicker than 3 inches.

6. Using glass cleaner on mirrors. Watch out for store-bought sprays that promise to make your glass sparkle. “A drop of liquid running around the mirror’s edge can cause the reflective backing to lift or craze,” This Old House notes. The black edge can occur from using ammonia- or vinegar-based cleaners. This Old House recommends using warm water and a soft, lint-free cloth to clean mirrors. Or if you do use the sprays, spray it onto a dry cloth first and not directly onto the glass.

7. Repainting too much. “Excessive paint is detrimental – especially on an older house, which may have layers of thicker oil-based paint, which becomes brittle with age,” notes This Old House. To avoid thick, cracked, or peeling paint, be sure to carefully power-wash prior to painting, sand areas that need it, and then use 100 percent acrylic-resin exterior paint.

8. Fertilizing too much. Fertilizing too often can spur more weeds to grow. Also, the Environmental Protection Agency warns over-fertilizing can cause “nutrient pollution,” which is when nitrogen and phosphorus runoff from lawn fertilizers and then leads to an overgrowth of algae that can even pollute local waterways. Some lawn experts recommend only fertilizing twice a year, late summer and fall only.

So You Wanna Sell Your Home? Step 2: Find the Right Realtor – Real Estate News and Advice – realtor.com

Here’s how to find a Realtor who’s right for you.

Gather referrals, but take them with a grain of salt

There are a lot of agents out there. So how do you choose? Go ahead and ask your pals for referrals, but don’t fall into the trap of picking an agent purely because of rave reviews. The old mantra of location, location, location applies to real estate agents as much as homes.

“You want a Realtor who is very familiar with your area—and not just what he can pull up online,” says Wendy Flynn, a Realtor in College Station, TX. The reason is simple: If they’ve spent time in the area, they’ll know how to market your house there.

So a better question to ask your friends than “Know any real estate agents?” is, “Know a real estate agent who’s sold any properties in my area in the past few years?”

Test their communication skills

Once you have some potentials, email them or call their office, then sit back and wait. This is your first test of a key component: how responsive will your agent be? Ideally, she should get back to you that same day.

“If it takes longer than four business hours without a decent explanation, I would be cautious,” says Chandler Crouch, broker for Chandler Crouch Realtors in Fort Worth, TX. Imagine if you’ve got competing offers on the table, or if some problem comes up with the home inspection. You don’t want to wonder where your agent is and whether you’ll hear back from her!

Probe their experience

Your initial conversation with a prospective listing agent should be like any job interview: Don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions right off the bat. A good agent should know his stats, and any dancing around these numbers could mean he’s hiding something. According to Crouch, you should ask the following:

• How long have you been in business? Aim for Realtors with at least two years of experience, enough time to learn the ropes and finesse their marketing and selling plans. Time (on the job) is  money (in your pocket).
• How many houses did you sell last year? Look for agents with double-digit sales. “I wouldn’t consider an agent unless they had 20 or more sells a year,” Crouch says.
• What percentage of your listings do you sell? Ideally you want an agent who has sold an average of 60% to 80%.
• What is the average list price to actual sell price ratio for your listings? This can fluctuate by market, but you should still look for high numbers. “I would set a low bar of 95% to be acceptable for even the worst market conditions,” Crouch says.

 

Assess their marketing skills

Everyone knows that to sell a house quickly (and get the big bucks) you need to reach as many eyeballs as you can. And the way to suss out an agent’s ability to do that is to ask these questions:

• How will you market my home? A Realtor should use at least a good brokerage website to showcase your listing, national listing portals such as realtor.com®, and an email subscription list.
• How will you use social media? They should use at least Facebook and Twitter to market listings; they get bonus points if they post photos on Instagram.
• What offline materials do you use? While most marketing is done online now, your Realtor should still make use of tried-and-true methods such as fliers, yard signs, and brochures, especially at an open house.
• How much do you spend on advertising? “Don’t stop asking until you get a solid dollar figure,” Crouch says. Advertising costs vary widely by area, but Realtors should consistently spend a portion of their business expenses on advertising. By asking for a set amount, you’ll know if they’re doing that or not.

 

Don’t shoot for cheap

Finally, don’t assume the most inexpensive agent is the one for you. While agents work at different price points and some may take a lower commission, they should be confident enough in their abilities to stand by their prices, according to Crouch. So when you’re talking terms, he recommends asking agents if they’ll work on a discount. If they jump at the chance early on in the conversation, that might be a red flag.

“Think about this: If the agent can’t even negotiate to protect their own money, how likely do you think it will be for them to go to bat to protect your money?” Crouch says. “It’ll be a test of confidence in their own services at least.”

 

First Time Home Buyer’s Guide | Mortgage Rates, Mortgage News and Strategy : The Mortgage Reports

First-Time Home Buyers: Start Here

So, you’re buying a house. Or, at least, you’re thinking about buying a house.

That’s excellent news. Homeownership is a terrific way to create stability in your life, and to start building wealth for your future.

But, it’s also an emotional time, and one which is fraught with stress. There’s so much money involved when you buy a home and every decision can be analyzed then analyzed again.

So, how do six million people manage to buy new homes each year? With preparation and attention to detail.

You can’t know everything there is to know about buying a home — especially when you’re a first-time home buyer. But, you can do a little research and put yourself in position to succeed.

The more you know, the better off and less stressed you’ll be. You may even get a better deal on your home loan.

Explaining “The Mortgage”

According to the National Association of REALTORS®, roughly 10 percent of all homes are purchased using cash. For everyone else, there’s a mortgage.

Mortgages are loans used to finance real estate. You can get a mortgage loan for 100% of a home’s purchase price, so that the home is financed entirely by the bank.

Alternatively, you can put some of your own money toward the purchase — a figure known as a “down payment” — so that you finance the amount that’s left over.

For example, if you bring $25,000 of your own money to a $250,000 home purchase, you have made a 10% downpayment and your remaining mortgaged amount is $225,000.

Speak To Two Mortgage Lenders, At Least

You can get a mortgage loan from just about anywhere.

If you have a favorite local bank or credit union, you’re able apply for a mortgage loan there. Or, if you have a online bank or lender you prefer with which to work, you can apply for a mortgage loan there, too.

Mortgages are ubiquitous — you can even apply for a mortgage from members of your family, if they’re so inclined to make you a loan.

As a home buyer with choices, then, what’s important to remember is that every mortgage lender will offer slightly different terms and require you to meet slightly different standards.

Just because you get approved for a mortgage with Bank 1, for example, doesn’t mean you’ll get approved at Bank 2. And, if you’re approved for a loan at both banks, there’s no guarantee both will offer you the same low rate.

This is one of the main reasons why you should plan to speak with two mortgage lenders — at minimum — when you’re in the process of buying a home.

It not only helps to have a Plan B, but it’s nice to know that you’re getting the lowest mortgage rate possible.

What Mortgage Is Best For Me?

Home buyers today have their choice from more than a dozen different loan types, but more than 90% of buyers will end up using one of four government-backed programs.

It’s likely that you will, too.

These four programs are the Conventional home loan, the FHA home loan, the VA home loan, and the USDA home loan.

These programs are popular for their accessibility, their low rates, and their friendly terms. You can apply for each with your favorite mortgage lender — online or in-person.

The Conventional Loan

Conventional mortgage loans are what most home buyers think of when they think of “home loans”. There are more conventional loans closed than any other loan type.

Conventional mortgages are often the best choice for home buyers with good credit scores and a downpayment of at least 10 percent.

However, two conventional mortgage options exist for buyers making a downpayment of just three percent. They are the HomeReady™ home loan and the Conventional 97 option.

HomeReady™ home loans offer discounted mortgage rates to buyers in lower-income neighborhoods, minority-heavy neighborhoods, and in areas which have been declared a federal disaster zone.

Conventional 97 mortgages offer no such discount, but can be the most economical way to purchase a home with little money down — especially for buyers with extra-good credit.

The FHA Loan

FHA loans represent the next-biggest share of mortgages among U.S. homeowners. The biggest appeal of the FHA loan is that buyers with below-average credit can get mortgage-approved.

FHA loans allow buyers to make a downpayment of just 3.5 percent and the program offers flexible mortgage standards for buyers with slightly banged-up credit.

FHA mortgage rates are often lower than conventional mortgage rates, but because all FHA loans require mortgage insurance premiums (MIP), the overall cost of an FHA loan is sometimes higher.

The VA Loan

The VA loan is the next most common mortgage type.

Available to veterans and active members of the U.S. military, VA loans offer 100% financing, simplified loan approval standards, and access to the lowest mortgage rates available.

For the last two years, VA mortgage rates have consistently beat rates for all other common loan types. VA mortgage rates can be as much as 40 basis points (0.40%) lower than rates for a comparable conventional loan.

The USDA Loan

Available in rural areas and low-density suburbs, the USDA loan is another no-money-down mortgage you can use to finance a home.

The USDA loan is meant for home buyers of modest means who are buying modest homes. The program allows for lower-than-average credit scores and offers below-market mortgage rates to qualified borrowers.

And, because of how the USDA program defines “rural”, more than 97% of the geographic United States is potentially USDA home loan-eligible.

What Happens After I Pick My Mortgage Type?

Once you’ve uncovered the mortgage loan type which works best for you, you’ll want to begin thinking about your monthly budget and how much home you can afford.

It’s up to you to figure this out. A bank can’t do it for you. So, first, determine your monthly budget and write that number down.

For this example, let’s say it’s $1,500 per month.

We’ll now work backwards to determine your maximum home purchase price.

Find your PITI

Your mortgage payment is made up of four parts, collectively known as PITI — Principal + Interest, Taxes, and Insurance.

Principal + Interest is your mortgage payment. It’s based on the amount you’re borrowing, the interest rate at which you’re borrowing, and the number of years in your loan.

Taxes is real estate taxes. As a homeowner, you’re responsible for paying an annual real estate tax to the local taxing authority. Annual taxes typically range from 1-2% of your home’s value annually.

Insurance is homeowners insurance. As a homeowner with a mortgage, you’re required to have your home insured, and insurance cost in the range of 0.25-0.50% of your home’s value annually.

So, assuming a home purchase price of $250,000 and a ten percent downpayment, we should set aside $400 from our monthly budget for taxes and insurance.

This leaves $1,100 to spend on principal + interest.

Find your mortgage rate and price range

Determining whether a home is “in budget” will depend on your principal + interest payment; and, your principal + interest payment depends on current mortgage rates.

Be aware that mortgage rates change all day, every day; and, over the course of weeks and months, rates can change by 50 basis points (0.50%) or more.

When you’re shopping for a home, then– especially over long windows of time — it’s important to check in with how the market rates are moving.

Consider the above example, where we have budgeted $1,100 to spend on principal + interest each month.

• With mortgage rates at 3.75%, the payment is $1,043. The home is in-budget.
• With mortgage rates at 4.25%, the payment is $1,107. The home is out-of-budget.

This example show why you should never shop for homes by “price range”. The same home is affordable when rates are low; and unaffordable when rates increase.

Adjust your target price range based on current mortgage rates. It’s the only true way to keep on-budget.

Shop For Homes With Confidence

There are a lot of reasons to be stressed when you’re buying a home, but getting your mortgage shouldn’t be one of them. A little bit of knowledge can go a long way toward keeping you calm.

Access to good tools can help, too. Use a mortgage calculator to see how today’s mortgage rates might fit your household budget, and what your mortgage PITI could be.