RealEstateBuyMe.com: Illinois: Schaumburg

It is probably true that on half the home inspections I do the filter is installed backwards.  It is important that the filter be installed the right way!  Why?  Because one side is stronger and meant to handle the air flow's pressure.  There is an arrow drawn on every filter to tell you the air flow direction.  Put in backwards, and as it gets loaded with dust, the filter can literally get sucked into the system and even cause damage to the fan.

Someone took the time to draw which way the filter should be installed.

That way, when it is put into the slot, you only have to put the arrow on the filter in the direction of the arrows drawn on the return duct.

What if the arrows are drawn wrong?

THESE ARROWS ARE POINTING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION!!

How do you know which way the air blows?

The air will always be drawn TOWARD the blower.  From the blower it gets heated in the furnace or cooled on the AC coils.

So the air-flow arrows on the filter should point TOWARD blower.

This unit is 5 years old.  It was filthy.  The ducts in the house were filthy.  Could it be the bad information on the arrows contributing to that?

My recommendation:  If you don't know which way the air is blowing, put a piece of toilet paper on the end of a pair of pliers and stick it into the slot.  See which way the paper is drawn.  That is your air flow direction!  Don't believe me?  Check it yourself.  AND THEN DRAW YOUR ARROWS THE RIGHT WAY!

I closed on a house today where the buyer was asked by BANK OF AMERICA about their future child plans! Not if the wife was pregnant now, but FUTURE plans.

This is a young couple moving from their first to second home. At the last minute, the underwriter (of course) requested several more forms and more information. Okay, normal.

But one question they asked the husband was "Do you plan on having more children?"

WHOA.

Lani Rosales wrote about this recently on AgentGenius about this topic and her point was she was SHOCKED by the question. She didn't understand why more realtors were not outraged when this was pointed out in a Realtor Magazine article. It generated very little interest.

Well this buyer was insulted and not pleased. They have one gorgeous little girl now. They qualify for the new home on the husband's income alone. It is nobody's business if the wife is pregnant (she's not) or if they ever plan on having more children.

Why aren't more agents upset by this?

I am a full time worker and a mother of 2. I worked throughout 2 pregnancies. I understand if I had quit work our income would have dropped and perhaps we would have not been able to afford our house. I get that.

But in this case, the wife is a full time mother and her income would not "drop" if she got pregnant. How in the world does it matter?

Isn't this violating Fair Housing somehow? Discrimination?

In the past month other bloggers have posted about this being a lie (another mortgage blogger posted that lenders only ask this in case to see if the buyer will quit later, after getting pregnant). This is NOT THE CASE here and this is not hypothetical or third hand info.

This happened TODAY to a buyer client of mine and the lender was Bank of America.

 

Flickr photo courtesy CarbonNYC

 

 

 

 

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Erica Ramus is Broker/Owner of Realty Executives in Pottsville, PA. If you're looking for a PROFESSIONAL to represent you in all of your Schuylkill County real estate needs, call Realty Executives at 570-622-6006. Serving all of Schuylkill County ... Pottsville, Orwigsburg, Schuylkill Haven, Auburn, Pine Grove, Frackville, Minersville, Ashland, Shenandoah, Port Carbon, Palo Alto, St. Clair, Barnesville real estate. Click on the link above to search Pottsville PA homes for sale or any Schuylkill County homes for sale. We have all properties listed for sale in the Schuylkill MLS on our website -- free search! No registration is required!

We also run Schuylkill Appraisal Services, for all your appraisal needs in the area. If you need an appraisal, we are your Schuylkill County appraisal source. 

Chances are that if you are selling a home that has been on the market any length of time, you've had your share of showings. If you haven't sold yet, you might wonder what all those people who passed on your home eventually bought. I've got news for you: a huge percentage of them aren't buying anything anytime soon. They are working with an agent, they may be pre approved, but they might be a months or a year away from actually acting. How can this be?

Right now, the buying public is in a war of attrition with sellers. The vast majority of prospective buyers are sitting this out. They aren't indifferent, they just aren't in any hurry. We have listings that have hundreds and even thousands of unique pages views on the Internet every week. Many of those views are the same people, but they are there. The same listings have had dozens of showings, yet there aren't dozens of homes selling in that category. We get phone calls and emails inquiries, which we answer diligently, and believe me we are selling the value. But the mass inertia of the public will never be overcome by a persuasive phone pitch or email. 

Here is a quick breakdown of what I am observing. 

• Lurkers. The vast majority of the prospective buyers are silently lurking online. They watch houses online for weeks, months and more. If the one they really have their eye on reduces to a tantalizing number, they graduate to the next category:
• Callers. Callers are the ones who call the office asking about a listing or inquire via email, and then disappear unless the stars align. What floor is the apartment on? Oh, the first floor? Never mind. How close is the house to the school? One block? Oh, I was afraid of that. Too close. If the stars do align, callers become...
• Lookers. Ah, the looker. The mystery is revealed. The person I have been playing footsie with for 3 months has finally appeared in the flesh to see my listing. Lookers aren't buyers. Lookers look. And question. And ponder. And figure. They want to see the utility bill. They want to bring their father in law to check it out. They go down to City Hall to make sure the shed/deck/basement/whatever is up to code. They seem to not understand that there is a time for that. Sometimes lookers are...
• Likers. Likers like. They want to keep looking, but they like it. That's very nice. I like that. What? An offer? Whoa, there, don't pressure me. What's your hurry? This is a big decision. Are you hiding something? I want to keep looking. But that is very nice. Let me know if they get any offers. They say buyers are liars, but they are not. Likers are liars, because they game the agents with faux interest so they can keep seeing more houses. 

Lookers and likers do become buyers on occasion, but most of the time if they do make an offer it goes nowhere, often after huge effort is expended. My experience is that buyers start out as buyers, and they are rare. Buyers are ready to act. Buyers want to find something. Buyers make adjustments. Buyers are quick learners. Buyers live in the question of "what will it take to get this house." Whereas lookers live in another world where they feel they cannot act unless they absolutely steal something. They seem to forget that they will derive utility from living in their purchase as a home, an instead view it as a cold asset that must be bought low, at a fire sale price. The problem is they seldom like anything that is not cream of the crop, and those aren't stolen.  

The numbers bear my thoughts out. I have hundreds of online views, dozens of calls and inquiries, some showings, a rare offer, and at the end of the funnel is a few closings per month. Lots of agents are out there showing homes to people they will never, ever sell a home to. And because we don't have a crystal ball or some other device to measure sincerity or motivation, we accommodate them. That's the reality of this market. 

 

• We Are Westchester County, NY Real Estate. Reach Phil at (914) 723-8900.
• J. Philip Faranda, Broker-owner, J. Philip Real Estate, LLC. 2010 Vice President, Westchester-Putnam Multiple Listing Service. 
• I am one of New York's premier short sale REALTORS. 
• J. Philip Serves Briarcliff Manor, Ossining, Croton, the River Towns, Westchester County, and the bedroom counties of New York City.
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All content/images, unless noted, are the property of J. Philip Faranda & may not be used without permission

Zero down loans are (almost) entirely a thing of the past. While many wanna-be buyers are tucking their down payment pennies away, many of these folks feel that they’re missing out on deals in the meantime!

Here are my top 7 tips for coming up with those critical down payment funds:

Know how much you need to save. We all know that to reach a goal, you have to set a clear target. So, first things first: figure out exactly how much of a down payment you actually need. If you have a credit score of at least 620, you may be able to qualify for an FHA loan that only requires a 3.5% down payment. (For a $200,000 house, that’s $7,000.) Check in with your agent and mortgage broker regarding (a) whether you qualify for an FHA loan and (b) whether you’ll be able to find a property that works for you and for the FHA within the realm of what’s affordable for you.

It’s true – the conservative lending guidelines on FHA loans will limit how much you can spend, and require you to pay monthly private mortgage insurance (PMI), if you put less than 20% down.  But PMI is tax deductible and eventually goes away.  So what this really means is that you’ll more than likely end up with a mortgage payment that you can easily afford to pay for a long time to come.  And it might be less house than you might be able to buy with a higher-down payment, less conservative loan, but less is more, people.  Less is more (especially when it comes to mortgage payments!).

Also, while no-down-payment loans are almost extinct, there is a little tiny exception for borrowers employed in a certain set of professions: doctors, lawyers, dentists and C-suite executives of Fortune 500 companies are all potentially eligible for zero down professional loans offered by a couple of small, private banks.  These loans do have the basic credit and income requirements, but they require ZERO down payment, because these professionals are perceived as posing a very low risk of foreclosure.  In some cases, pros can qualify for up to $1 million with no down payment!

Save your dough in a high-interest online savings account. Regular bank savings accounts are paying right around .10% interest right now.  Ally and SmartyPig are paying somewhere between 2 and 3 percent.  Every little bit helps, right?

Sell your junk. eBay, anyone?  Not only does selling the stuff you no longer need or use generate cash to put into the down payment kitty, it has the side effect of feeling almost like preparation for moving. Clear out your clutter, make room for your new life as a homeowner, and make a few bucks at the same time.  That’s what I call a #WIN.

Get a side gig – Blogging, weekend table-waiting, baking, dog-walking – it’s not overkill to get a second job or start a small side business to help you either pay down your debt or save up toward your down payment.

Borrow it from your city or state.  The federal homebuyer tax credit is history, but many state and local governments still offer incentives for homebuyers in the form of down payment assistance programs. Most often, these are second mortgages with very low or no payments for 5, 10 or even 30 years (in Oakland, California, for example, the down payment loan doesn’t have to be repaid for 30 years or until you sell or move out).  And many will help not just low-income buyers, but also those with moderate incomes, or anyone buying their first home!

Google <your city> <your state> and <down payment assistance> to see what your local government has on offer, and what it takes to qualify.

Borrow it from yourself!  If you have a 401K or Roth IRA account and some years to go before retirement, you might be able to tap into it or even borrow against your own funds for your down payment.  Currently, you can take up to $10,000 out of your Traditional IRA with no penalty to put toward the purchase of your first home, but you will be taxed.  You can take as much as you want out of your Roth IRA contributions with no penalty or taxes, though, and as much as $10K from your earnings penalty-free for your down payment.  The rules get a little tricky, here, so definitely check in with your tax and financial advisors.

And while you can’t similarly draw from your 401K, many retirement and pension plans will allow you to borrow the money against your funds, then repay it to yourself – at interest.  Hmmmm, pay your lender back with interest, or pay interest to yourself – choose you!  But first, get some advice from your CPA or financial planner.

Get the gift that keeps on giving.  Cash gifts from relatives are seen by many lenders as a legitimate resource for down payment funds.  There are guidelines, though - some lenders require that you put your own money on top of a small cash gift (less than 5% of the purchase price); but will let you use gift money exclusively if the gift is 20% of the home's price or more.  Also, most lenders require a "gift letter" documenting that the giver is your relative and is not expecting you to pay the money back.

Check in with your mortgage broker for a briefing on gift-money guidelines.

If it seem like a "gift" is a hard thing to come up with - don't dismiss the concept too soon.  I know more than a few now-homeowners who had no clue where their down payment money would come from until they were reminded about gift money as a strategy, then cashed in long-ignored offers of help from parents, aunts and uncles. 

Source: Trulia - By Tara-Nicholle Nelson

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With smiles,
Bo in Yukon

Search Homes in Yukon, Mustang and Greater OKC Metro

Bo Kociuba, Realtor®
Serving Oklahoma City Metro - Yukon, Mustang, Tuttle, Piedmont, Newcastle, Bethany, Oklahoma City and Edmond

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I Am A Local Real Estate Expert - Zillow is Not

Whether you are thinking of buying a home or possibly selling your home you more than likely have stumbled upon Zillow and thought you hit the mother-load of real estate information!  It's a fancy site with Zestimates, has homes marked on a map that are either currently listed or have recently sold, and you can spy on your best friends home on the other side of town to see what it's worth and that's cool, right?  Wrong!  Well, if spying on your neighbor is cool to you then that's your business BUT if you are thinking of buying or selling a home then you want to steer clear of Zillow.

You see, I cringe when I speak with a buyer or seller and they come at me with all their research from Zillow.  They already have a predetermined listprice based on what they learned from Zillow or they think they already know if a home is over or under priced with information they received from Zillow.  Well, let me set the record straight - more often then not, Zillow is inaccurate.

Zillow is a computer generated program that acquires information from various sources and then runs it through a program to give you information based on a mathematical equation.  Trust me, there is no human sitting at a desk inputting data about all of the homes throughout the country.  What Zillow can not replicate and therefore will never be able to accurately price real estate is the human touch and the ability to physically see into other properties.

Zillow does not take into account upgrades and/or updates to a home or lack thereof.  It doesn't know:

• While your home may have Formica countertops your neighbors have all upgraded to solid surface counter tops.
  
• You have replaced your carpet, vinyl in the kitchen and bathrooms and updated the appliances while your neighbors have carpets that are worn thin, 15 year old outdated vinyl and brass fixtures from the 80s
• ZILLOW DOES NOT KNOW THAT THE HOME NEXT TO YOURS WAS A FORECLOSURE AND THE PREVIOUS OWNER RIPPED OUT ALL THE CABINETS, TOILETS AND MADE OF WITH THE COMPRESSOR UNIT TO THE HVAC.

All Zillow knows is what is found on other public sites - statistics.  There is no room for the human touch.

So, please, if you are thinking of buying or selling a home don't consider Zillow as your source for pricing.  It's a fun site - lot's of bells and whistles - cool tools and great graphics but that's about it.  If you are serious about buying or selling real estate then you want to rely on a real estate professional that can add the human element and knows your neighborhood and the local real estate market. 

                         

Whether you are buying or selling Real Estate in Wake Forest NC it just makes sense to use a Realtor® that knows the area!  I live here, work here and play here - I call Wake Forest NC home!  For more information regarding Wake Forest NC be sure to visit my websites:

• Leesa Finley - Homes for Sale in Wake Forest NC, Wake Forest NC schools, restaurants, shops, entertainment and MORE....
• Circa Properties - My company website with information for the entire Raleigh NC area including Cary, Apex, Garner, Franklinton, Youngsville, Holly Springs and MORE....