Village Meeting: Property Value and More

I am a bit of a civics geek. I enjoy the political process so I have been going to some village meeting to get the scoop on my new community I live in. Saturday, it was about 3 degrees, but I still walked over to the Village meeting–it is only a five minute walk. I thought it was more of an informal meeting so I did not arrive at the starting time. They were in the middle of a Powerpoint presentation detailing the changes they will be making to the central business district. These future changes will help bring in more businesses and help keep our train station in the place that it is. These factors alone will dramatically help our property value. We are already 5 minutes from the train and central business district (well, it is a small town central business district). Because we are some of the closes houses to this area, and this area will become a more popular area we will gain from this significantly. Currently, there are only a few businesses down there but there are plans for a grocery store and other conveniences so when we go to the train in the morning or when we return from work at night we can easily get some chores done and not have to drive 10-15 minutes somewhere to do it.

I also spoke to a Trustee of the Village about some issues that affect my wife and me. This was very rewarding because I received direct answers on what is currently being done to address my concerns. In the past I have written to Congressmen and women only to receive general answers. I am even more satisfied with our choice of towns because it looks as if we are getting in on the ground floor of something really good for the community. And within the next several years many of these projects should be finished while others are in progress.

Written by Nagel on February 7th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Household and Real Estate.

Good Time to Buy a Home

If you are looking to buy now is a good time to buy a home. Steve McLinden from Bankrate.com offers up: 7 buying tips for the down cycle

1. Negotiate with builders. 2. Negotiate with home sellers. 3. Educated timing. 4. Avoid hot spots. 5. Modesty is the best policy. 6. Flexibility. 7. Follow fundamentals.

1. Negotiate with builders. Don’t be afraid to ask builders for concessions such as steep price discounts, closing-cost waivers, luxury upgrades, free landscaping, free trips and free club memberships. Many builder-incentive packages are worth 10 grand and up! In some markets such as Boston, new condos are selling for 20 percent less than they were in mid-to-late 2005.

2. Negotiate with home sellers. Unlike the go-go market of recent years, offers of 5 percent to 10 percent or more under asking price will not be inappropriate. (See “selling tips” for some of the throw-ins that buyers are being offered.)

3. Educated timing. Read up on local — not national — market trends, religiously read for-sale ads, and get a sense of what’s moving and where, then be prepared to jump on bargains, especially as the last of the speculators are being flushed out of the market and for-sale inventories are at their zenith.

4. Avoid hot spots. Stay away from buying homes in neighborhoods that appreciated significantly above average home prices in recent years — especially if you’re moving for the short term. Once prices in these hot spots are corrected, these often see slower upward movement or remain flat after the overall market heads north again.

5. Modesty is the best policy. Consider more modest homes in well-maintained, established neighborhoods. By contrast, pricing and re-pricing on expensive homes, new homes and new condos make those products riskier during down cycles.

6. Flexibility. For maximum flexibility in pouncing on the right deal, get preapproved for your home loan.

7. Follow fundamentals. Just because a lender will advance you money to live or build beyond your means doesn’t mean you’re standing on sound fiscal footing. At year-end 2006, $330 billion of adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, were creeping upward. Avoid risky interest-only loans and ARMs, opting for fixed-rate mortgages instead. And learn from the recent past: Don’t assume housing will appreciate enough in the near term to cover your home’s rising interest payments.

Check out my home Buying experience.

AllFinancialMatters has ideas on house affordability.

Written by Nagel on February 2nd, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Household and How To and Real Estate.

Staging Your Home to Sell

Hopefully you do not need this information, but I am sure a lot out their need it. The housing market is down and will remain down for sellers this year. Staging your home to sell it is essential to getting it sold. Bankrate.com’s Steve McLinden offers up these tips on selling your home in a down market.

In short, the housing market, after a historic run-up in prices, is correcting. While that’s of little concession to current and would-be sellers, it’s not the end of the world either, especially if you don’t need to sell immediately. Economics elsewhere are encouraging. Recession doesn’t appear imminent. Wall Street appears healthy. Unemployment is low, and the general economy is good.

The market, as it always does, will reach equilibrium again, though probably not before mid-2008 or so, most economists estimate. So reset that panic button and sit back to raise a glass to 2007 as a transition year that will bring us one step closer to healthier home sales. In the meantime, take note of how home-buying and home-selling strategies change in a down market.

Here are seven selling tips and seven buying tips, for ‘07, that could help save you a little grief in the short term and a lot of money in the long term.

7 selling tips for the down cycle

1. Price to sell. 2. Consider all credible offers. 3. Offer to proffer. 4. Catch the wave at the source. 5. Preserve your equity. 6. Gain in a sell-buy scenario. 7. Stay if possible.

1. Price to sell. If you really must sell now, don’t mess around. List your house based on what the market dictates today, not the prices that friends, relatives and co-workers got last winter or last spring. And consider that some — certainly not all — real estate agents may suggest you hang on to a higher sale price in hopes they’ll earn higher commissions. At the same time, be wary of agents who will urge you to set an excessively low price — just so they can collect fees.

2. Consider all credible offers. Holding fast for a better offer might put you in a situation where you’re merely playing catch-up with a moving market. Don’t assume there will always be another offer coming down the pike. You may need to come off your price 5 percent in some areas and 10 percent or more in others.

3. Offer to proffer. Buyers are requesting all kinds of enticements to spice the pot. Club memberships, prepaid lawn maintenance, moving-expense reimbursements, all appliances included and liberal repair credits are just a few possible throw-ins. Don’t be shocked if you hear, “Throw in that plasma TV and we’ve got a deal.” Consider in advance how far you’ll be willing to go, but draw the line, however, at “first-born child.”

4. Catch the wave at the source. Prepare your home for sale at the very earliest point this “spring” (actually early March or even late February), the time when seasonal buying interest is just starting to build.

5. Preserve your equity. Until the market stabilizes, refrain from borrowing from home equity (or raiding your 401(k), for that matter) to pay your bills, or for vacations and other purchases.

6. Gain in a sell-buy scenario. If you’ll be buying another home at the same time you’re selling your current one, the price reduction on the new one can compensate for the “loss” you’re taking on the old one. If you plan a “move up” to a better neighborhood and are paying 10 percent below list after selling your old home for 10 percent below list, your net dollar savings will actually be more.

7. Stay if possible. If you’re happy in your home and are meeting your expenses but want to sell due to continuing “housing bubble” fears, sit a spell. A home is a shelter first, and investment second. Except for a handful of markets that are still hyperinflated, odds are that it will pay to ride out the storm. Generally, the early stages of a downturn are the scariest because that’s when amateur investors are dumping “spec” properties cheaply.

Written by Nagel on January 30th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Household and How To and Real Estate.

My 2007 Financial Goals

2006 has been a busy year for me. I was married on December 23, 2005 (I will count this as 2006), we went on our honeymoon to Italy in March, I had job issues, we had a very difficult time finding a house to buy, and just last week I switched jobs.

Now I think things will settle down a little so I can plan some financial goals for the new year.

1. Pump more money into our retirement accounts. We want to max out our Roth IRAs as well as increase our contributions to our 401ks (my new 401k has much better options than my current one).

2. Create an emergency fund of at least 6 months of expenses in case of a job loss, injury or some other major financial incident.

3. Wipe clean all my student loan and credit card debt. Neither amount is high, but I have been paying my student loan for almost 10 years so it will be nice to close that account permanently. My wife and I have put a little money on a 0% purchase credit card for furniture, but we should easily be able to pay that off in the next several months.

4. Save enough to do home improvements. Our house we purchased is 40 years old. It is in great condition, but like all houses it has a lot of small projects that need to be done as well as one big one–rehabbing the kitchen (it is the original). We want to be able to complete this without borrowing money.
5. Start a roof fund. When we bought the house we were told the roof was 6 years old; it is actually 12 years old and probably only has about 5 years left. Therefore, we need to start saving now for that eventuality.
6. Start investing outside of our retirement accounts. We hope to have enough to begin investing our non-retirement money in 2007. Unfortunately we have not been able to do that because we were saving for a down payment for a house for a long while.
These are some lofty goals. We might not reach them all in 2007, but we sure plan on trying our best.

I hope we all can reach our 2007 financial goals. Good luck to you and have a great 2007!

Take a look at others’ goals on Consumerism Commentary.

Check out pfblog’s financial goals for 2007.

Check out 2million’s net worth.

Moneysmartz has some tools to help you with your financial goals.

Personal Finance Advice has this to say about 2007.

Written by Nagel on December 26th, 2006 with 3 comments.
Read more articles on Household and Real Estate and Stocks.

Insurance Bundling

I dread insurance because I feel like I pay all this money and get little in return. But I guess peace of mind is what you are paying for, right?

My wife and I are buying a home. We are changing our auto insurance to the new town; we changing from renter’s insurance to home owner’s insurance and finally we are adding short and long-term disability. We go through Erie Insurance and love it. By bundling all our insurance policies with them we save at least 5% on them all.

My wife has had the same agent for several years and he is extremely helpful so we really believe we are getting what we need.

Written by Nagel on December 19th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Household and Real Estate.

« Older articles

No newer articles