Beware of home hunting Burn Out

House hunting can be a grind. If you’re not careful, it can easily take both an emotional and physical toll on you.

At the beginning, you and your family will be fuelled by excitement, desire and enthusiasm-the raw ingredients of adrenaline. That’s what keeps you going .

After a while, however, along day of viewing homes with fidgety kids and an empty stomach can leave you exhausted. When that happens, even the most ideal home can seem undesirable.

Since you don’t want exhausting to result in a missed opportunity, it’s important to pace yourself. Here are some tips for doing just that.

• When it comes to endurance. Everyone has their limits. If a child or spouse is looking tired, take a break. Just because one person is able to see a lot of homes in quick succession doesn’t mean everyone else in the family will have the same stamina.
  
• Never house shop on an empty stomach. Make sure everyone has a good breakfast. Lunch, or dinner before heading out.
  
• If you have young children, find out where the local parks and playgrounds are located. These are great places to take a break and let the kids play for a while.
  
• Keep some bottled water and perhaps some light snacks in the car. You never know when someone’s stomach will begin to grumble.
  
• During an all-day excursion, avoid the temptation to eat a large lunch at a restaurant. It may make you fell sluggish and tired in the afternoon. If you’ve been house hunting for several weeks, all the homes may start to look alike.

If this happens take a few days off. It will help to restore your perspective.

Using “Conditional Offers” To Your Best Advantage

You find a home that you’re interested in buying. But you have concerns. Is it in a good state or repair? Will you be able to secure the right financing? Can you sell your current home in time?

Any of these issues can prevent you from making a prompt offer and as a result, cause you to lose the opportunity.

The solution? Make a conditional offer.

A conditional offer means just that. You offer to purchase the home so long as certain conditions, which you specify, are satisfied. Here are the most common examples:

• “Subject to financing”. You will buy the home if you’re able to arrange for a suitable mortgage.
  
• “Subject to inspection”. You will buy the home if it passes inspection by a qualified home inspector of your choice. If he or she finds that substantial repairs are required, you can either walk away from the deal or renegotiate.
  
• “Subject to selling my current home”. You will buy the home if you can sell your own home within a set period of time. For example: 45 days. A seller might agree to this if your home competitively priced.
  
• “Subject to the repair of ___.” You will buy the home if the seller makes certain repairs, at his or her own expense. This can range from something relatively minor, such as fixing a crack in the foundation, to major repair like replacing the roof shingles.
  

A Conditional offer will protect you. However, there is always the risk that the seller will say “No.” If you’re in a competitive situation, for example, and another buyer’s offer is unconditional. You may lose the deal-even if your offer price is higher!

So you really need to use conditional offers strategically, in just the right way, under just the right circumstances.

Get It In Writing

As you tour a potential new home, you notice that the carpeting in the living room is stained. “Don’t worry about that,” says the homeowner, who senses your disapproval. “We’re going to get the carpeting professionally cleaned before we move.”

Should you take their word for it?

Regardless of how honest a seller may seem, never rely on a verbal promise.
Will they move that abandoned car in the back yard? Will they fix the crack in the front steps? Is that expensive-looking ceiling fan included with the house?

Don’t assume. Get it written into the offer.

No Income Mortgages – Self employed and commissioned sales people

For years it was almost impossible for self employed or commissioned sales people to get financing for a home. Problems consists of
1) Onerous and Intrusive demands: Years of financial records, tax returns and other paperwork made it difficult, if not impossible, to get a mortgage.
2) Fluctuating incomes: Canadians with fluctuation incomes were treated as high risk clients and the amount of mortgages they were offered were far below what they could afford to pay or wanted.
3) Not a long enough history: Business owners and commissioned sales people that had not been in business for 3-4 years could not provide the required documents whereas employees need only be at their jobs a few months.
4) Taxable Income Too Low: Many self employed and commissioned sales people write off a portion of their gross income with legitimate tax deductible expenses. This can make their net operating incomes look too low for the lenders. The problem then becomes, "If I write off all my legal expenses so I pay the least amount of income tax, the lenders won’t like my net income, and if I don’t claim all my legal expenses I will have a higher income that the lenders will like, but I will pay unnecessary taxes. Either way I have a problem."
Finally there is an answer, No Income Verification Loans
Due to the highly competitive nature of our mortgage market, there are lenders that offer mortgages specifically designed for self employed and commissioned sales people. These lenders were smart enough to realise that there is a huge need for this type of product considering the high number of self employed and commissioned people in Canada.
No Income Verification loans mean exactly that. They resolve the 4 problems mentioned above.
1) They eliminate most of the documents required making it easier, faster and less intrusive to get a mortgage.
2) Fluctuating incomes from past years are not even looked at.
3) A long business history is not needed as years of financial statements are no longer required. Some lenders like to see that you have been operating for 2 years, but do not need a financial history.
4) Taxable income too low; these mortgages are granted on stated income rather than net taxable income. This allows you to continue to use all legal means possible to reduce your income taxes without hurting the possibility of qualifying for a mortgage.
New products - Bigger mortgages
Up to 90% Financing
As more and more Canadians move from traditional employment jobs to self employed or commissioned jobs, the mortgage market is motivated to develop more products.
Up until recently No Income Verification mortgages were limited to a maximum of 75% of the value of the property. Now that GE insurance has joined the market and provided mortgage default to lenders on No Income Verification loans, we are seeing loans as high as 90% of the value and still with No Income Verification.
Finally, self employed and commissioned sales people are being treated with the respect they deserve, fast and easy approvals and good discounted rates.
Please Call and we would be happy to discuss your options with you.

Tips for Checking References

You have no doubt heard this tip before: Always check references before you hire a mover, lawyer, decorator, contractor, or other home professional.

But for some people, picking up the phone and calling strangers to ask for a reference can feel awkward or even intimidating. Here are a few tips that can help:

• Call in the early evenings. This is the most convenient time for most people.
  
• Explain that you are checking references and that the professional or company you are considering hiring suggested you call.
  
• Ask if this is a convenient time to speak.
  
• Ask if they were satisfied with the services.
  
• Ask if there were any surprises with the final bill.
  
• Ask if they have recommended that professional or company to their friends?
  
• Thank them for their time.

How the Buyers Find Listings on Vancouver Island

The Vancouver Island Real Estate Board recently published stats that they had collated from Buyers who have purchased on Vancouver Island in 2007. The question asked that could be most valuable to both Sellers and Realtors is how the property was found or selected by the Buyers. Not surprisingly over 40% of listings were found on the MLS.ca. Secondly, 30% of homes sold were introduced to the Buyers by their Realtor and his or her web site. The study further breaks down the remaining stats as follows, 11% of properties were found via the Yard Sign, 6% of Buyers were told of the listing via friends or family and lastly only 3% of Buyers found a home from the old fashioned newspaper advertisement which is generally the most costly and least effective tool for the realtors. The benefit of having these stats is it shows home sellers how important it is to wisely to choose a Realtor who focuses on giving you maximum web exposure and who strives to make people aware of his or her websites and web presence.

Putting the FUN BACK into Moving Day

Moving into a new home should be an exciting experience. But, unfortunately, that’s not typically the case. In fact moving day is traditionally fraught with such misery that there is even a reality TV show about it.

Your real estate agent can help. He or she can assist you in finding the right movers, provide you with relocation tips, recommend contractors and other home professionals, and advise you on what to expect on closing day.

Some agents disappear after the deal is done. Make sure your agent is available to help make the transition into your new home a pleasant one.

Your House is a Product on the Market

As our Real Estate Market starts to correct itself, homes may have a difficult time selling and are on the market for longer periods of time. With this in mind it is even MORE important that your home has an ‘edge’. The art of Home Staging is that edge. It is always to your advantage to prepare your home for sale and doing it properly is most important.

Your house is now a product and as such it’s not about your taste anymore - it’s about selling that product. It’s that simple. Speed is important when getting your house ready to sell and emotion has no part in this equation. Your home has to now connect with strangers immediately that they walk through your door. People will be positive or negative about your home within a few minutes and spending more time there will only build on that feeling. So making a positive and strong first impression is vitally important.

A detached view is needed when preparing a house for sale and that is the job of the Home Stager. We create a strong first impression by taking out the religious icons, the toys, pet things, personal items. We help to create a neutral environment that appeals to many people but with a generic ‘clue’ to having a life – anyone’s life - there.

A fresh coat of paint in key areas is sometimes all it takes, other times quite a change in color needs to happen. Using bright accent pieces in ‘quiet corners’ will change the appearance of a room…your house needs to appear to be cared for in different and important ways. Flowers and plants on a minimal scale make a home feel fresh, clean and stunning if used in the right ways. Remember that it’s often the ‘little’ things that can make all the difference and step up an atmosphere to a different level. Remember that Staged homes have a proven success rate – they show better than competing homes and they often sell for considerably more money and in substantially less time than non-staged homes in the market place. Photos of staged homes look much better in the advertising and they are recognized as properties ready to sell and are recognized by the buyers as the homes they would most like to see.

Take the market advantage, maximize your property’s sales appeal quickly and affordably. Use the proven set of guidelines of the Home Stager and have your home be the most professional and inviting home on the market in your price range incorporating both interior and exterior enhancements suggested by your Home Stager.

Barbara Milligan
Legacy Re-Design & Interior Decorating
Office – 250-246-2073
Cell – 250-210-0710

Web Marketing: The Wave of the Future

On an average day on Vancouver Island 77 listings are added to the MLS system and the system is being updated virtually every minute of every working day. The minute a listing is entered into the database it becomes available to all members and the general public. All listings on the MLS are given exposure through the www.realtor.ca site. This site is updated each business day with new listings and changes to existing ones. This enable the public to search MLS listings across Canada - (over 80 board listings are included)- and make contacting the Listing Representative easy and convenient from anywhere in the world! Statistics show that the number of Vancouver Island Real Estate Boards property feature sheets viewed on the internet each month is constantly on the rise. This site has grown from approximately 5000 hits in April 1996 to over 1 million page views per month. Proving that doing Real Estate Marketing on line and providing clients with a state of the art Web Site such as our own is obvious direction for the future of home sales in the future.