The holiday season has officially arrived. We hope you enjoy this wonderful time of year and make some fantastic memories with your family and friends. We just wanted to take a moment to thank you for your continued support. We love helping people make their real estate dreams come true, so thank you for working with us. This may be a busy time of year, but we are always here to help you and answer any questions you may have. Just give us a call or reply to this email. And in case we don’t hear from you, have a happy new year!
When hiring a Realtor to list your home, you shouldn’t make an impulse decision. In fact, you should interview a few different Realtors for the job and ask them specific questions about their business. Here are three examples of smart questions to ask any Realtor before you hire them:
1. What’s your track record? Ask them how long they’ve been in the business, how many homes they’ve sold, how big their team is, and more. You don’t want to hire somebody that doesn’t have any experience. You want a Realtor with the experience and knowledge necessary to get your home sold for top dollar.
2. What are you going to do to market my home? The days of putting a sign in the yard and waiting for a buyer are long over. Your Realtor needs an aggressive marketing plan and an aggressive marketing budget in order to have a successful sale. It takes a strategy to sell a home for the price you want.
3. What are your reviews like? You don’t even have to necessarily ask this question. You can find the answer for yourself online. If the Realtor doesn’t have very many online reviews or has poor reviews, you should avoid them.
You can investigate customer feedback online.
Choosing a Realtor is about more than just picking a friend or a face on a sign. It's about knowing who has the track record and the motivation to get your home sold for the most money possible.
If you have any questions for us or you’d like to interview us for the job of selling your home, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.
Can refinancing your mortgage actually hurt your credit?
Right now, mortgage rates are at historic lows. For many people, this is a reason for them to refinance their current mortgage, since refinancing allows you to pay off your current mortgage with a new one at a lower rate. In other words, refinancing means you can lower your monthly payment and put more money in your pocket. But an important factor that many people don’t understand is that refinancing can negatively affect your credit score. When you refinance your mortgage, the new creditor will do a hard inquiry about your credit history, and this hard inquiry can lower your credit score. This is because looking into new credit lines, like a new mortgage, equates to a greater risk. How much will this actually lower your credit score? It depends on several factors. In some cases, a hard inquiry may not lower your score at all. In other cases, your score may be lowered by five or more points. It depends on the number of inquiries you’ve had over a certain time frame. Your score may also be more dramatically impacted if you have a short credit history. If you shop around for the best rate for 45 days or more, you might accrue multiple hard inquiries. This could translate into a negative impact on your credit score.
Refinancing means you can lower your monthly payment and put more money in your pocket.
What does all of this mean for you as a homeowner? Is this a reason for you not to refinance? This isn’t an easy question to answer. It’s best to meet with a mortgage professional who will help you determine what’s best for your specific circumstances.
My team and I would be happy to refer you to one of the many great professionals we’re connected with in this area. If you are thinking of refinancing, the first step is to call us and get a market analysis. The more equity you have in your home, the lower your interest rates could be. If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Why should you consider selling your home during the fall instead of waiting for spring or summer? Here are seven good reasons:
1. Competition drops off in the fall. Many people consider the fall to be the “offseason” for buying homes, but there is still quite a bit of inventory left on the market. Some of it’s new, some of its inventory that’s being re-positioned and re-priced to sell before the holidays. Either way, it gives you much more negotiating power than you'll see during the spring.
2. Sellers are worn out. Many times when sellers overprice their homes, they sit on the market for months without offers. If their homes are still on the market during this time of year, they will realize that they need to be aggressive with their pricing in order to get the home sold.
3. Sellers are serious about selling. In many cases, sellers need to close by the end of the year. Whether it’s for tax reasons, a job transfer, or something else, many sellers are motivated to make a quick deal. That’s always good news for buyers.
4. You can take advantage of tax breaks for the whole year. Even if you close on your home in December, you’ll still be able to take advantage of the mortgage interest and property tax deductions for the income you’ve earned in 2017. Even though you would only have owned the home for one month of the year, you would still be able to take deductions for the whole year.
5. Fall is a safer time to purchase. Although crime and burglary rates in this area aren’t high by any means, they do drop off significantly in the fall. Most break-ins occur during the summer.
6. You will stand out. During the fall, there tends to be a slowdown within the industry. As a buyer, that means you’ll receive more attention from the sellers who do have their home listed. This will help the transaction move along much more quickly.
Your home will stand out in the fall.
7. You can take advantage of year-end deals for your new home. The end of the year is the time to buy if you’re looking to furnish your home with new appliances and furniture. You’ll need to get them anyway, so you might as well buy during a time of year where you can get a great deal.
If you have any questions for us or you're thinking about buying or selling a home in the Brainerd Lakes area, give me a call or send me an email. I would love to hear from you.
The days of putting a sign in your yard and expecting your home to sell itself are gone. Today, I’ve got three selling sins to avoid if you want to achieve listing success.
There are a lot of ways to succeed when selling your home, but there are just as many ways to fail. When it comes to selling your home this season, it’s important that you avoid these three home selling sins.
Asking too much. Of course you don’t want to sell your home for less than it’s worth, but overpricing your home can cause it to sit on the market for months and either sell for a low price or not sell at all. Buyers can see how long your home has been on the market and how many times the price has been reduced. This causes a lot of doubt. Even if a buyer likes a home, they’ll wonder what’s wrong with it if it’s taking a long time to move off the market.
Not advertising enough. Your home isn’t going to sell itself. These days, it takes an aggressive marketing plan and budget to get your home off the market. The days of simply putting a sign in the yard and waiting for buyers are long gone. Today, you need to advertise to get your home sold for top dollar. You can advertise online, on TV, on the radio, in print, or in a number of other ways. My team and I spend over $60,000 a month advertising our listings. As we like to say, it isn’t the market that gets homes sold, it’s the marketing.
Not making your home presentable for showings. Buyers expect a meticulous home. They expect nothing less than something that looks like a model home. Be sure to clean, declutter, and stage your property accordingly.
Your home isn’t going to sell itself.
If you have any other questions, would like more information, or want to talk about how my team and I could market your home, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Today I wanted to send you a personal invitation to our second annual Oktoberfest!
Join us on Saturday, October 7th at our office at 5 p.m. We’ll have free bratwursts, burgers, potato salad, beer, pop, and a bouncy house for the kids. At 6:30, we’ll also have live music by The District, a great local band.
Don’t miss our Oktoberfest event on Saturday, October 7th!
The party will go until 9:30 p.m. If you want to attend, just send me an email with a headcount so that we have the right amount of food.
This is just our way of thanking you for your support.
As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any questions you might have. We look forward to seeing you at Oktoberfest!
Have you heard about the home-flipping craze? Home-flipping is the process of buying a home, making improvements to it, and then turning it around to sell for a profit.
A decade ago, home-flipping was a huge trend. The real estate market was on fire at the time. Unfortunately, though, it was the extreme lengths to which the home-flipping craze was taken that caused the real estate crash we saw between 2008 and 2009. However, with the recent popularity of television shows like “Flip or Flop” and “Flipping the Block,” the home-flipping craze has come back in full swing. If you’re considering going into home flipping, there are a few things to consider before doing so. First of all, know that home flipping is now more profitable than ever before. A Waco, Texas home that was recently featured on HGTV’s “Fixer Upper,” for instance, was originally bought for $28,000. After several renovations, however, that same home is being listed at over $950,000—that’s over 30 times its original purchase price. While this big of a profit isn’t the norm, the flipping game is becoming more and more profitable all the time.
The home flipping-craze has come back in full swing.
The median household in 2016 sold for $189,000—over $62,000 above the average sales price. At a 49.2% return, this is the most profitable return we’ve seen since 2000.
But these high returns aren’t the only thing driving the current home-flipping craze. Years ago, most home-flipping was a result of speculation. Investors would buy and fix homes, then wait for the market to go up. Due to the strength of our market combined with a lack of inventory, this is no longer the case. Today, flippers need to bring added value to their flips. Home-flipping today is much more profitable than it was in past years. This is largely thanks to low inventory. Though it isn’t just sellers who benefit from this flipping craze. Because flipped homes are done well and are available in all price points, home-flipping has brought a lot of opportunity into the market for buyers, as well. If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Fannie Mae—the nation’s largest underwriter for mortgages—has introduced three new rules that affect those who have or have cosigned for student loans. These rule changes can make it easier for you to get a mortgage and pay off your student loans.
The first change applies to how they calculate your debt-to-income ratio. If you’re on an income-based repayment plan, you might know that the No. 1 reason why they don’t get approved is a high debt-to-income ratio. Previously, Fannie Mae calculated this debt by taking 1% of the outstanding balance. If you have a huge student loan, that’s pretty substantial.
Now, they’ll use your monthly payment instead of the principle to calculate your debt. This will hopefully decrease your debt-to-income ratio and enable you to meet the criteria to secure a mortgage to purchase.
The second change relates to third-party payments. Some folks are lucky enough to have their parents or employers pay off their student loans. The trouble in the past, though, has been that Fannie Mae still counted that as debt against your debt-to-income ratio.
Now, if you can prove your parents or your employer has paid your student debt for the last 12 months, it will no longer be calculated in your debt-to-income ratio. This will make it easier for you to get approved for a mortgage, and with today’s low interest rates, the timing could not be better to buy. The market is very robust and we’re seeing inventory fly off the shelves. In many cases, it’s much cheaper to buy than it is to rent.
These new rules can be a big money saver for the right person.
The third change is they’re eliminating the 0.25% fee they normally charge if you choose to refinance your current home and use that cash to pay off your student loan. This applies whether the loan is yours or you’re a cosigner. There are often benefits to education loans that you won’t get with a mortgage, such as deferment or income-driven repayment plans. However, the mortgage rate is significantly lower than the student loan rate, so it makes sense to refinance this way if you want to save up to three percentage points.
These new rules can be a big money saver for the right person. If you need help understanding these guidelines to see whether they’re right for you or you have any questions about putting them in place, don’t hesitate to call me or shoot me an email. I’d be happy to assist you.
Today we’re going to talk about buying your first home. This can be a very exciting process, but it’s also a huge commitment and investment. It can have huge repercussions in your life for years to come. That’s why I want to share with you three tips that can protect you as a first-time homebuyer.
Know what you can afford. A mortgage is only part of what you’re going to have to pay each month. This does not include taxes, utilities, repairs, and the upkeep that is required when owning your home. Once you have a clear idea how much everything will cost, you can compare your income to what those expenses will be each month and make sure you feel comfortable moving forward with your purchase.
Choose your lender wisely. Don’t just go with a lender that will offer you the cheapest interest rate. You want a lender that is confident and trustworthy and will offer you advice on how to improve your credit. The right lender will also lead you in the direction of taking advantage of the special loan programs that are out there, including ones where you can be pre-approved with 0% down. Make sure you go through the whole underwriting process before putting a purchase agreement on the home you want to buy.
Don’t overlook the details. There are many details you need to pay attention to during this process. An example is getting an inspection for the home you want to buy. This is different from an appraisal as a home inspector spends more time in the home tearing the place apart, looking for anything that might be wrong with it. Inspections generally cost $400, but it’s worth the money in the long run. Another example is understanding the fine print of the contracts. If anything is unclear to you, talk to your real estate agent. There are no dumb questions when it comes to the purchase agreement.
The process of buying a home for the first time can be very intimidating, which is why it’s important that you hire a real estate agent that can walk you through every step of the process. If you have any questions about this topic or you’re looking to buy or sell a home, please give us a call. We’d be happy to help.
Should you sell your home on your own? We’ll go over 10 reasons why For Sale By Owner properties can actually cost you more time, money, and headaches.
Many homeowners think they can sell their own home. However, there are 10 reasons why you should avoid listing your home as “For Sale By Owner.”
1. There are common scams that target FSBO properties. The scammer sends you fraudulent papers from an attorney requesting your private information and, before you know it, your identity has been stolen.
2. You will have all of the liability. We all make mistakes, but if you make a mistake selling your home, it’s more likely that the buyer will sue you personally. When you work with a real estate agent, we have insurance that covers up to $1 million for each incident.
3. The paperwork is daunting. The current purchase agreement is more than 50 pages. Filling out the wrong information or checking the wrong box could cost you thousands of dollars or land you in court.
4. You could end up in a bad deal. If the buyer makes a low offer, you’re stuck with it once you sign on the dotted line.
5. You will sell your home for a lot less money. FSBO properties sell for about 16% less than properties represented by real estate agents. The median sales price for a For Sale By Owner home is $210,000, while homes represented by an agent sell for an average of $249,000.
6. Your home will not attract as many buyers. A lot of buyers do not want to deal with FSBO properties because they don’t want to deal with the lack of representation, liability, or headaches that arise without a professional Realtor involved. As a result, you will be selling your home to a smaller buyer pool.
7. Inspections can be problematic. Sellers who don’t know the rules can get stuck with unnecessary costs for repairs. For example, when Sue sold her 10-year-old home, the inspector said she needed to change a variety of things because the code had changed. The inspector did not understand that since the home was built before the code changed, Sue did not have to make those repairs. So, because Sue and the inspector did not understand the code and the current law, Sue wound up paying thousands of dollars for unnecessary repairs.
We recommend hiring a professional real estate agent to sell your home.
8. Your marketing is limited. The National Association of Realtors did a study to figure out where FSBO home sellers found their buyers. 42% of those sales came from the yard sign, 32% came from family and friends, and 15% came from social media. No disrespect to any For Sale By Owner sellers out there, but if all you have is a yard sign and your uncle Bob to promote your house, you can see how that impacts your bottom line. We spend over $45,000 a month to advertise our listings, so we will get your home in front of every potential buyer in your price point.
9. The little costs add up. The main reason most people want to sell their own homes is to avoid paying the Realtor commission. However, there are so many hidden fees involved in selling a home that not hiring a Realtor may cost you more money. Whether it’s photography, fliers, or listing your home on the MLS, you will get nickel and dimed through the whole process.
10. Selling your own home will cost you a lot of time. It takes time to take the pictures, study the contracts, find an attorney, find a title company, and research whether or not a buyer can obtain a mortgage.
Ultimately, we recommend that you work with a real estate agent to help sell your home. We can help you sell your biggest investment; after all, we are the No. 1 real estate team in Minnesota.
If you have any questions for us, just give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!
Recently, my team and I received a fantastic endorsement from Gary LeVox, lead singer of the Grammy award-winning country music group, Rascal Flatts.
Gary is a respected artist who approaches his craft with the same heart and passion that my team and I have for each real estate transaction. Here is what Gary had to say:
“When ‘I’m Moving On’ won the award for ACM song of the year, it struck a chord with folks who understand the challenges that come with life’s big changes. For many, that time comes when they sell their home. If you’re moving on, you want a real estate agent who will make selling your home easy and stress-free.” - Gary LeVox
My team and I are passionate about each and every transaction.
It is always our goal to make your transaction a smooth one. If we can’t sell your home, we will buy it.
Please check out the video above for the full endorsement. If you have any real estate questions, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!
When the time comes to choose your home, how do you choose the right Realtor?
It’s one of the most important decisions you’ll make since your home is one of your biggest assets. Choosing the wrong agent could cost you thousands—or even tens of thousands—of dollars.
You want an agent who will market your home aggressively to get it sold quickly and for top dollar. That’s why the first question you should ask a potential agent you hire is how much their marketing budget is.
How much do they spend per month advertising homes? Next, you want to ask what their marketing strategy is, step by step. Thirdly, ask about their history: how long they've been in real estate, how many homes they’ve sold, and their close-to-sold ratio.
You want an agent who can market your home aggressively.
The next thing you’ll want to know is if the agent actually has buyers. One of the many benefits of our team is that we have more than 14,000 buyers in our database that we reach out to.
Many times, homeowners choose their friends to sell their house, and unfortunately, I’ve seen many relationships severed because real estate and friendship don’t always mix.
If you have any questions about finding the right Realtor or you’re thinking about buying or selling in the Brainerd Lakes area, give me a call or send me an email. I’d love to help you!
Did you buy your first house in 2016? You're in for a brand-new tax experience, but the good news is you might be in position to save a lot of money by itemizing your taxes.
If you bought your first house in 2016, you're in for a brand-new tax experience this year. This may be the first time you've had to itemize your taxes, but it's surprisingly easy to do.
To file with the least amount of headaches, start by locating your disclosure agreement, which is typically part of your home closing paperwork that you receive from the title company or your mortgage lender. Next, you'll want to add up the four main real estate deductions:
Loan costs and fees. Your lender charges different fees, which are spread throughout the closing disclosure agreement. Look for the application fee, underwriting fee, origination fee, and loan costs, to name a few.
Mortgage interest. You get to deduct the entire interest portion of your mortgage payment, which will typically be your biggest deduction for the year. This is especially true when you first start out on your mortgage as that's when you'll pay the most interest on the loan.
Property taxes. You can deduct your property taxes, but only for the portion of the year that you've lived there. If you negotiated to have the seller pay the property taxes for the whole year, in many cases you can still deduct property taxes for the portion of the year you've lived there.
Mortgage insurance. If you didn't put 20% down when you bought the home, you'll probably have mortgage insurance. This is not the same thing as homeowners insurance.
Other items you might be able to itemize include furniture you gave away or other charitable donations. If you work from home, you might be able to deduct your office space and supplies.
This doesn't just apply strictly to new homeowners.
If you add up all those deductions and the total is less than the standard deduction of $6,300 for a single person or $12,600 for a married couple, you probably won't need to itemize your taxes. If your itemized total is more than the standard deduction, you will save some money on your taxes this year.
This doesn't just apply to new homeowners, either. If you've been living in your current home for more than a year and you haven't been itemizing your taxes, you can start now because in many cases, mortgage interest, mortgage insurance, and property taxes are recurring deductions. You can also apply them this tax season.
If you have any other questions about this topic or you're thinking of buying or selling a home this year, don't hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I'd be glad to help!
Have you heard the news? The new administration is looking to revamp the tax code in a way that affects the long-standing mortgage interest deduction (MID). Some people are concerned this might impact home sales and drive down home values. I believe it will do just the opposite. Here’s why.
First, a bit of background. Under the current system, you can include the interest you pay on your mortgage in your itemized tax deductions. If your itemized deductions turn out to be more than your standard deduction, you save more on taxes. Currently, about 20% of homeowners who have a mortgage take advantage of the MID for an annual average savings of $2,000 in taxes. Under the proposed new tax plan, the standard tax deduction would almost double. For example, the standard deduction for a married couple would go from $12,600 to $24,000. If this happens, an estimated 84% of people who currently itemize taxes would simply go for the standard deduction, and this is the part that has some people worried. After all, if people don't take advantage of the MID, won't this decrease the value of owning a home? Here are two reasons why that won't happen. First, most people do not buy a home in order to save on taxes. A survey from 2015 confirms this fact. The top reasons why people buy a home include the need for change, an increase in income, or a baby on the way, but there's no mention of saving on taxes. This checks out with what most real estate professionals see in everyday life. Second, taxes will actually be lower under the proposed new plan. Traditional estimates of the impact of the MID assume other taxes stay the same. In this case, if the deduction goes away, home prices could indeed suffer to an extent. But under the proposed new plan, the overall tax burden will be less than it currently is.
Under the proposed plan, the overall tax burden would be lessened.
In other words, most people will not lose money because they aren't claiming the MID. Instead, they will gain money by paying less in taxes altogether. With more disposable income, people will be free to spend more on a home. This will drive sales as well as prices. The fact is, current home prices around Brainerd keep increasing — not because of tax breaks, but because of tight supply. If you have any questions about the new tax plan and how it will affect the Brainerd real estate market or you’re thinking of buying or selling a home in the Brainerd area, give us a call or send us an email. We’re always happy to help!
Should you be worried about the recent rise in interest rates? Let me assure you, things are much better than they appear.
Yes, rates rose from a low of 3.44% in August to 4.12% for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage. If you took out a 30-year mortgage on a $250,000 house, your payment would be almost $100 a month higher, totaling $35,000 more in interest over the life of the loan. This has people nervous that the market may slow down.
However, the current rise in rates is unlikely to affect the market. Interest rates last year were at an all-time low, and historically, rates have been much, much higher. Just 10 years ago, rates were at 6.34%, and for much of the 1990s, rates hovered around 7% to 10% for a 30-year fixed mortgage. In the 1980s when my parents bought a home, they paid a 16% interest rate for their mortgage!
In a historical context, rates have been much higher than they are right now.
In this historical context, you can see that rates have never been better than they are right now. So what does this mean for you? If you're thinking about buying a home, this is an amazing opportunity to find a great home and some great value.
If you're looking to sell your house, you're in great position to get top dollar. Just last December, we saw sales drop, but not because of interest rates, but because of the lack of inventory. If you're selling your house, it all comes down to supply and demand: there are a lot of people looking to buy a home in the Brainerd Lakes area, but not a lot of inventory available for them.
If you have any questions for me, you'd like to know what your home is worth in the current market, or you're thinking about buying a home, give me a call or send me an email today. I'd be happy to help!
When it comes to real estate, spring starts in January. You might already know spring is the hottest season in terms of home sales. Home buyers come out in big numbers with a lot of pent-up demand from the long winter months.
The numbers actually bear this out — homes sold in the spring sell 15 days faster and for about 2% more money than the average listing. However, in order to prepare your home for sale, you have to start preparing now for the spring market. Today, I want to show you four easy steps on how to prepare your home for the spring rush.
The first step is pricing. Pricing your home correctly is critical in getting the maximum amount of money in the shortest period of time. Homes that sell quickly tend to be priced properly and generate multiple offer situations.
The second step is deciding the ideal time to list. The peak spring rush is March through May. This is a very broad time frame, but homes are viewed five times more on the first day they hit the market than seven days later, so it’s important to get your home on the market on the exact right date so it can have the most impact.
To prepare your home for sale, you have to start preparing now for the spring market.
Third, you'll want to maximize curb appeal. The reason why is simple: 63% of home buyers that liked your home online will do a drive-by.You want to make sure you make a solid first impression by cleaning up the lawn from the long winter, painting the outside, refreshing the landscaping, cleaning the windows, and possibly replacing the roof.
Finally, you want clean up the inside of your home. We encourage people to rent a storage unit and put all non-essential items in that unit. You want to declutter as much as possible because buyers will typically decide within 30 seconds if they like your home or not.
By following these simple steps, you’ll be taking full advantage of the spring real estate market. If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call. I look forward to hearing from you!
