Real Estate Information

The first thing that most of us think of is the adage... "location, location, location". While that is certainly very critical, there are many other things to consider when buying real estate. Here are some universal guidelines.

• How long you intend to stay in a home. This is an important question to consider because moving is quite expensive. If you're in a temporary job and may soon be relocating to another city or even state, renting rather than owning might be a better option.  While none of us entirely knows how our future will play out, understanding how long you expect to stay in your home allows you the chance to decide how large a home you want. If you're a young couple, a home that is able to grow with you might be appealing.  Whether you're buying a home to live in or as a rental, the next series of tips can help in either circumstance. What makes a home more comfortable to its owners can also make it more attractive to renters.

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• Job market. It's always a good idea to check the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to see how the employment is in an area that you are considering purchasing a home. Areas with lower unemployment, of course, are most attractive. The greater the demand for jobs in an area, the more likely home prices are to go up.​

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• Check area vacancies. This may not seem that important if you're planning to live in the home but actually this is a good thing to know even if you don't rent your home. If there are lots of vacancies compared to surrounding areas, there could be a slowing in the market. If you're planning to rent the home, you'll want to make sure that you have enough savings to cover expenses any time when your home sits vacant. If the market is slowing, there could be a period of several months before you get a quality tenant in place. Being prepared will ease the stress.

   

• Visit the local police. Crime in an area isn't always detectable right away from a few visits to your potential home. Do a little digging. Ask questions. Investigate the neighborhood. Some areas may look okay but may have a high crime rate. It's best to understand the neighborhood you might soon call home.

   

• Natural disasters. Believe it or not, some people like a home so much that they disregard the natural disasters in the area. This isn't to say that buyers should say, "Well, I can't buy a home in California because they have occasional earthquakes." Rather, some buyers are willing to gamble big time. For instance, they are willing to buy homes that are located on unstable cliffs where the cliffs are eroding year after year. Insurance... if you can get it... will certainly be higher. Natural disaster-prone areas such as flood zones may require additional insurance and a strong stomach to endure the stress.  Ultimately, what to look for when buying real estate is about considering the things that will matter not just in this moment but in the years to come. Having a good strong foundation beneath your home and a safe neighborhood are key components to creating a happy homeownership and good investment.

​​Source: Realty Times

The National Association of Realtors reported home sales edged up 0.6% to an annual pace of just under 5 million homes. Compared to a year ago, the pace of sales was up nearly 10%.

"Without these frictions, existing-home sales easily would be well above the 5-million unit pace," said Lawrence Yun, the Realtors' chief economist. He said that customer traffic is up 31% compared to a year ago, showing greater demand than actual sales.The pace of sales would have exceeded that level were it not for tight credit and insufficient houses for sale to meet rising demand, the group said.

The recovery in the housing market so far this year has been a major driver of overall economic growth, lifting not just the pace of home building but also retail sales. Near record low mortgage rates coupled with improving unemployment, a drop in foreclosures and a tight supply of homes for sale have all combined to lift home prices.

The median price of a home sold in April was $192,800, up 5% from March and 11% from a year ago. And the number of homes on the market represented a 5.2-month supply at the current sales pace. While that is up from March it's down from a 6.6-month supply a year ago.

The percentage of sales considered distressed sales -- homes in foreclosure or short sales in which the seller owes more on the home than the selling price -- now represents only 18% of sales, down from 28% a year ago.

The pace of new home sales has been rising every month for nearly two years. The latest sales reading is the strongest level since November 2009, when sales were inflated by a short-term home buyer's tax credit.

Source: CNN Money

The spring cleaning chore with the most fun potential is prepping your deck or patio for spring. Here’s how to do it with a touch of fun.

Water toy #1: A pressure washer

If you don’t have a pressure washer in your tool shed, you’re missing out. Spring is a good time to add one to your arsenal of lean, green cleaning machines. They blast away dirt mostly without harsh chemicals, which is good for the planet and your deck and patio plants. 

Plus, they’ve come down in price, and are easier to manage than they used to be, making pressure washing your deck and patio much more fun and much less hassle. 

Once you start playing with a power washer, you might find yourself looking for more to clean, like your siding.  

Water toy #2: Standard garden hose

If you’re not the power washer sort (maybe you don’t like the noise), arm yourself with a hose. It’ll still be fun. Just pretend you’re a kid again and launch an attack on an unsuspecting family member or neighbor. Before you know it, everything will have a good soaking.

Now that you’ve got your water tool of choice, here are some tips to make the job go easier:

Patio umbrella: When you open your patio umbrella for the first time in spring, don’t be surprised to see spiders and moth cocoons. Blast them off with your garden hose. Scrub fabric with a gentle water-and-dish-detergent mixture to avoid stripping the umbrella’s water-resistant coating. When you place the umbrella back into its stand, don’t forget to tighten stand screws.

Outdoor furniture: Heloise, our favorite cleaning tipster, says a scrubbing solution of ¾ cup beach and 1 tablespoon of laundry detergent mixed into 1 gallon of warm water will brighten dingy resin lawn chairs. Vacuum wicker furniture with an upholstery attachment. 

Patio pavers: Scrub with a bleach solution (1 part bleach, 10 parts water), which will get rid of stains. More stubborn stains may require treatment with muriatic acid, which is best left to professionals. To prevent future stains, lay outdoor mats on stain-prone areas, like under the grill or patio table. 

Grills: The best time to clean baked on gunk is to scrub when the grill is still warm — not hot! — which is nature’s way of softening grease and crunchies. Use a wire brush with scraper to strip off charred food. Or, soak grates in soapy water for 30 minutes, then scour with steel wool. Don’t forget to clean drip pans and ash collectors, too. To keep grills clean, spray on cooking oil before lighting, which keeps food from sticking and makes cleanup faster. 

Another tip: Cut an onion in half and rub it on a warm grill either before or after you grill to keep the grill clean.

Water features: Scrub scum from your birdbaths and fountains. Mix a 1:10 bleach:water solution to kill algae, but make sure you rinse thoroughly until the water stops foaming. Use a water wiggler to keep water moving and discourage breeding mosquitoes. 

Have fun and be sure to get a little wet!

Source: Houselogic

Fixed-rate mortgages climbed this week after signs of stronger consumer spending, Freddie Mac reports in its weekly mortgage market survey. 

Here are the national averages for mortgage rates for the week ending May 16: 

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.51 percent, with an average 0.7 point, increasing from last week’s 3.42 percent average. A year ago at this time, 30-year rates averaged 3.79 percent. 
• 15-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 2.69 percent, with an average 0.7 point, rising from last week’s 2.61 percent average. Last year at this time, 15-year rates averaged 3.04 percent. 
• 5-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 2.62 percent, with an average 0.5 point, rising from last week’s 2.58 percent average. Last year at this time, 5-year ARMs averaged 2.83 percent. 
• 1-year ARMs averaged 2.55 percent, with an average 0.4 point, rising from last week’s 2.53 percent average. A year ago at this time, 1-year ARMs averaged 2.78 percent. 

Source: Freddie Mac

We can help you get a SOLD sign also.  Call our office at 873-0614 for all your real estate needs!  

Congrats to Jenny!

Zionsville Community High School (ZCHS) has made the Newsweek’s list of America’s Best High Schools.  ZCHS is #2 in IN (#1 among the large comprehensive high schools) and #224 out of approximately 22,000 high schools nationwide (Top 1%). This ranking is based on the schools outstanding graduation rate, AP success, college bound student population, and average SAT scores.

You can visit: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/features/2013/americas-best-high-schools.html to learn more about the system for ranking schools and to see the rest of the rankings.

Source: The Daily Beast

As the inventory of for-sale homes remains at low levels, sellers are getting more comfortable at the bargaining table and telling buyers to cool it with the contingencies. In competitive situations that attract multiple bids, some sellers are even telling buyers they want an offer without mortgage contingencies. 

A mortgage contingency, often included in sales contracts, provides buyers with a safety net of being able to get out of the deal without forfeiting their down payment in case they are unable to obtain financing within a certain timeframe. 

Some sellers are telling buyers they want non-contingent offers — and better yet, make it all-cash too. 

“When you have a market that’s heating up, sellers feel emboldened to say to buyers, ‘I’m not going to give you this clause because I don’t want to take the risk that you can’t get your mortgage,” Marc Israel, the executive vice president of the title insurer Kensington Vanguard National Land Services, told The New York Times. “The last thing sellers want to do is tie themselves up with a buyer for some extended period of time just to have the buyer cancel the contract.”

This has put some buyers in a risky spot. If their financing is delayed or denied for any reason — which isn’t that uncommon in a tight lending environment — buyers may be left with having to turn over their down payment. 

Peggy Aguyao, an executive vice president of Halstead Property, says in New York it’s not uncommon for even higher bids to be passed over by sellers in favor of lower bids because they are non-contingent or all-cash offers. 

Gea Elika, a principal broker at Elika Associates, an exclusive buyers’ brokerage, says his brokerage never advises clients to proceed without a mortgage contingency. For those clients who insist, “we’ll try to go to a major lender that’s preapproved the building in the last three months. Then we may try to find a portfolio lender as a backup.”

Source: “Mortgages: When a High Bid Isn’t Enough,” The New York Times

1. Set a closing date

Your real estate agent will work with the seller’s agent and title company to schedule your closing date. Be sure it meshes with the end of your lease or the sale of your existing home and a time when you’ll able to play hooky from work. If you’re tight on cash, schedule your closing for the end of the month because that’s when you’ll have to pay the least amount of interest at the closing table.

2. Gather your funds

You may be required to bring funds to the closing. If they’re not easily accessible, arrange early to transfer them to a liquid account to avoid last-minute problems. If the title company requires the funds in the form of a cashier’s check, also leave time to stop by the bank and pick one up.

3. Purchase title insurance

Title insurance protects the policyholder against trouble with a home’s title. Your lender will insist that you purchase a policy to protect it. You should also consider purchasing what’s called an owner’s title policy from the same insurer, which protects you from fraudulent claims against your ownership and errors in earlier sales. In some areas, sellers traditionally pay for the buyer’s title policy. Shop online at Closing.com,EasyTitleQuote.com, and FreeTitleQuote.com. If your home has been sold within the past few years, ask the prior owner’s insurance company for a reissue discount.

4. Line up homeowners insurance

Get quotes and compare policies to be sure coverage will be in effect by your closing date. An annual policy should run $500-$1,000, depending on your home’s size, age, and amenities. If you live in an area where natural disasters occur, like earthquakes, floods, or hurricanes, you’ll need separate insurance to protect your home.

5. Review your good-faith estimate and HUD-1 settlement sheet

Your lender must provide a good-faith estimate of your closing fees. Some of those fees can’t change, and others can rise by 10%. Before you go to the closing, read your good-faith estimate, compare it with your HUD-1 settlement statement, and question any fees that increased.

6. Do a walk-through

Schedule an appointment to walk through the home one last time just before your closing. Make sure repairs you requested have been made, no major changes have occurred since you last viewed the property, and that the sellers left anything they agreed to leave and took all their belongings.

Also test electronics and appliances, such as the doorbell, dishwasher, washer and dryer, and oven, to ensure they’re functioning properly. Do the same with the hot water heater and heating and air conditioning systems. Walk the yard to be sure no plants or shrubs have been removed.

7. Resolve issues identified in your walk-through

If your walk-through uncovers problems, in some states you can delay the closing until the seller corrects them. But that’s often not feasible because your lease is probably over and you’ve already scheduled movers. Another option is to negotiate a discount to your sales price to cover the cost of the work needed. If the air conditioning is on the fritz and a contractor says the repair will cost $500, ask that the sales price be reduced by that amount. If you make that request at closing, however, be ready for a delay while the title company redoes the paperwork.

A third option: Have the title company hold a portion of the seller’s proceeds in escrow until the dispute is resolved. Once that happens, the funds will be released to you or the seller, depending on the outcome.

Source: NAR, Houselogic

If you prevent weed seeds from germinating, your garden will be weed-free. Here are some surefire ways to keep weeds from growing in the first place.

Shhh! Don’t Disturb the Soil

Weed seeds “sleep” in your soil all the time, just waiting for sunshine to enable them to germinate. Left underground, many weed seeds remain dormant for years. So the less you disturb the soil, the more likely weed seeds will remain asleep. 

Avoid high-powered tillers, and go easy on the hand cultivating. Sow your flower and vegetable seeds above the ground in mounds of compost, shredded leaves, or even in bags of topsoil. Better yet, plant seedlings and starts.

Smother Weed Seeds

Another way to keep seeds asleep is to cover your soil with sun-blocking organic or synthetic mulches.

Organic mulches — hardwood mulch, newspaper, cardboard, straw -- degrade in a few months and improve soil structure and add nutrients. Synthetic mulches — landscaping paper, plastic — can last several seasons, but won’t help rebuild soil when they eventually degrade.

Heed these mulching tips:

• -Wet the ground before you lay down layers of paper, which will prevent the paper from blowing away while you work.

• -Scout yard sales for old carpet and wallpaper, efficient sun blocks that prevent weeds.

• -Spread mulch 2 to 4 inches deep to suppress weeds and retain moisture.

• -Always pick straw, not hay, to prevent weeds. Hay usually contains hayseeds, which will sprout where you’re trying to keep weeds out.

-Learn more about mulching with our handy garden mulch guide. 

Wage a Chemical Attack

Pre-emergent herbicides prevent weed seeds from germinating, but don’t kill existing plants and grasses.

The exact timing for applying a pre-emergent herbicide is hard to pinpoint because you must spread the herbicide before seeds germinate, which happens underground at different times. 

Conventional gardening wisdom says spread pre-emergent herbicides when the daffodils pop or the forsythia wilts. But advance planning is the best way to determine when to spread. Log the date when you see the first weeds in your garden, then subtract three weeks to arrive at the date you should spread the pre-emergent herbicide next spring.

Grow Up and Personal

The closer together you plant your flowers and vegetables, the less space weed seeds will have to grow. 

If you double-dig — loosen (don’t pulverize) soil at least 2 feet down — you can plant cheek-by-jowl, because plant roots can grow down, not out, to find water and nourishment. If you plant intensively in a diamond-shaped pattern — rather than rows -- you’ll avoid barren spots where weeds will grow. 

To keep weeds out of lawns, make sure your grass is lush and healthy so weeds have no room to grow. Reseed bald patches; fertilize if a soil test determines nutrient deficiencies;aerate in the fall.

Source: NAR, Houselogic

How much value can neighborhood curb appeal add? Having nice landscaping adds $1,777 in home value when you’re selling your home, according to data collected in aHomeGain.com survey about how home improvements boost home value.

Curb appeal works in the other direction, too. If a for-sale house down the block is sporting some bad curb appeal, it could sell for less than it might otherwise. And that comparable sale drives down the value of your home.

We couldn’t find any data on how much the average buyer discounts his offer when the neighbors haven’t painted their house since 1979, but we do know nobody pays top dollar to buy next door to a house that looks like the “before” picture in a siding ad.

Here are 6 quick exterior projects you can do in a day or two to add to your home’s value and neighborhood appeal.

• 1.  Landscape for curb appeal by re-sodding bare spots, trimming shrubs, and adding colorful spring flowers to your front yard.
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• 2.  Add some outdoor lighting for curb appeal to highlight your beautified yard after dark.

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• 3.  Pitch in with the neighbors to rent a power washer for a day to give your sidewalks anddeck a little care and maintenance. Be gentle and careful if you decide to use the power washer to clean your home’s exterior; you can easily blast things off your house, like the paint, or get water into siding seams.

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• 4.  Clean your siding, whether it’s brick, wood, or vinyl, by using a long-handled, soft-bristled brush, soap (trisodium phosphate), and water.

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• 5.  Create a little cool curb appeal with house numbers — that is, dress up your address.

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• 6.  Freshen up the look of winter-ravished patio furniture with new pillows, a bright umbrella, or a colorful tablecloth to give the impression to anyone at the open house that the neighbors have fun parties.

Source: Houselogic, NAR