Melissa Yost, ABR CDPE

For first-time homebuyers, the most widely used loan programs take 45 to 60 days for processing... does that mean it's too late to qualify for the $8,000 credit on your next tax return?
Well no, but it means we have to hurry! There are some steps we must take up front, like pre-qualifying, searching for the home, and negotiating the deal. These steps can take as little as a day, or as long as a couple of weeks.

Where to start: If you're in Pinal County, let's get you in touch with a lender and look at some possible properties! Give me a call or send me an email and we'll get started!
If you're out of the area, I'll help you find a great Realtor in your area. They'll be able to get you started there!

As some of you know, I am getting married next year in October. Of course, I subscribe to just about every bridal magazine out there. As I was reading the November/December 2009 issue of Bridal Guide, yes it sounds early, I came across an article about things you should consider before purchasing a home. I thought it would be a good read, but of course I found some information I don't necessarily agree with!

In the first Q & A section, the author encourages buyers to have 20% for a down payment... However, in Casa Grande there are many loan programs available where buyers only need to cover their own closing costs and they're in the door of their first home!
One loan program is referred to as USDA and is only available in certain rural areas. It offers buyers up to 102% financing, which means the loan can also cover closing costs, as long as the home appraises. This is one of the most attractive loan programs available to first time homebuyers here!
Another viable option for first time homebuyers is FHA financing. Buyers are required to put down 3.5% out of their own money, but they can ask the seller for closing cost contributions. This means that on a $100,000 loan, the buyers must come to the closing table with just $3,500, some of which can be a gift from family!

In a question that asks, "What else should home buyers beware of?" the author suggests that the $8,000 tax credit isn't a real benefit unless you're in a higher tax bracket. I don't know about you, but if someone told me that I could spend less on my mortgage per month than what I pay to a landlord AND receive $8,000 on my next tax return... I'm definitely in!
Did you know you can also amend your 2008 taxes to receive the full $8,000 refund sooner?

I'm not quite sure who the author is or what knowledge and experience she has regarding real estate, but I just thought I'd set some facts straight. Sometimes you can't always believe what you read, please be sure to consult a local Realtor and a tax consultant!

The great thing about working with a Realtor that is part of a team is that you get more people working for you! With team offices, often times you'll have a full administrative support team as well as your Realtor to make sure your transaction goes smoothly.

Our office is actually split into 2 teams, we have a Buyer Team that consists of 6 Realtors and a Listing Team consisting of 4 Realtors. This means that those of us who work as Buyer Specialists can focus in very closely on only working with Buyers. This allows us to become experts and really work for your best interest when purchasing real estate. We know the market from a buyer's side and can provide incredible support through an extremely stressful process.
On the other hand, the Listing Team specializes in listing properties for sellers, they know the market from a seller's prospective and are skilled in absorption rate pricing to get your property sold!

When choosing to work with a Realtor on our team, you're really hiring our whole office. We all work together to ensure our clients receive the absolute best service and experience possible. Our office has a full time administrative team which consists of an office coordinator, transaction coordinator, listings manager, and office manager. We also have a property management department to handle rental properties! Each administrative member of our team is an integral piece of our puzzle.

Our office coordinator, Darlene, is responsible for the day to day duties of holding the office together, she answers phones, greets clients, manages mailings and other clerical tasks. She's the first person people meet as they walk through our door and she also connects each of us to our clients.

We always joke that our transaction coordinator, Tracy, has a job because other people don't do their own. But seriously, she's indispensible when it comes to keeping us all in line with paperwork, deadlines, escrow companies, loan officers... every step of the transaction process, there she is keeping us all up to speed!

Our listing manager, Kathy, works mostly with our listing team but is also always there to help with the buyer team if needed. She keeps all of our listings updated in the Multiple Listing System, all of our advertising outlets, the websites, brochures, and so much more! She's also delving into the world of short sale packaging and processing!

Jocelyn, our office manager, is the glue that holds the office together. She makes sure the office is running smoothly and everyone has what they need to get their jobs done. She oversees the administrative support team everyday and jumps in to assist whenever and wherever she is needed.

Our property manager, Linda, manages over 200 properties for owners, she also works with tenants to coordinate repairs, collect rents, and much more!

Last but not least, we have 2 awesome Broker/Owners that oversee each team and make the best training opportunities and technology available to us!

Often single agents will find themselves with all of these responsibilities on their own shoulders. This leaves them very little time to manage your transaction to their fullest responsibility.

The Casa Grande Police Department has set up a really interesting mapping ability on their website. Users are able to map residential, commercial and vehicle burglary crimes as well as auto theft on a map that is powered by Google. The map is really easy to use and will be a valuable tool for homebuyers coming in from other areas! The map can be found here: http://www.casagrandeaz.gov/web/guest/crimemap.

You can easily move and recenter the map to find your neighborhood, or you can enter an address and the map will relocate to the address. This way you can see what crimes were committed in a certain time period in your neighborhood. The map does not give exact locations, but does provide a street name and a marker in the general area of the crime.

Below is a screenshot of my neighborhood, SK Ranch. As you can see, there was only one incident in the area in April this year, pretty cool huh?

I applaud CGPD for creating this great tool for our community!

We've been thinking about extending our small patio for months now. I think that it was partially because of all the work we knew was involved. Last week we finally got serious about it. We really thought this project was going to be a horrendous task, but in the end it really wasn't so bad and it was all totally worth it!

Our original patio was probably about 11' by 10', just enough to have a couple pots of plants and a sliding glass door. It definitely wasn't big enough for any seating though! Our patio furniture sat off to the side in the rocks. This made it really hard to enjoy the backyard because the patio was the only space, other than the decking around the pool, that we could enjoy without shoes. Oh by the way, I hate shoes!

This decision took us a long time to follow through on. It took countless trips to Home Depot and Lowe's to pick out which kind of pavers we wanted. We finally made a decision and bought a few to take home. Then I picked up a pattern book and our project finally took some roots. We finally splurged and ended up spending about $600 on the pavers themselves. We happened to have picked the most expensive kind, of course. Each paver was almost $1 a piece.

So the first step was to clear out the gravel and get down to the dirt. Then we picked up some of the screen or screet at the local nursery. This is the stuff they screen out of the larger sand. The screen was poured on top of the dirt, about an inch or two across, depending upon how uneven it was in places. This had to be completely level and was one of the most time consuming steps of the whole project. Once that was started, I went in and started placing the pavers. I used a rubber mallet to tap them into place and make sure they were level with the existing patio.

Of course, I had a pattern picked out so I had to place the pavers. Once I figured out the pattern, it was a breeze and it became fun to solve the problems I came to on the ends and how to make it even without needing to make a lot of cuts.

Speaking of cuts, this part wasn't as difficult as we had anticipated. We used a hand saw and a diamond blade to cut about 1/4 of the way through and then used a chisel to break it apart.

After all of the pavers were placed, we had to spread playground sand into the cracks. Then we wet the area and we'll push more sand into the cracks as the week goes by. This part is a process and it takes the sand settling into the cracks over a period of time for them to fully set. We also used a plastic strip on the raw edges to make sure the pavers stay in place. This is really easy to instal, it's an L shaped plastic strip and we just had to hammer the stakes into the ground.

All in all, this was not nearly as intensive as we had originally thought. We're even considering extending into the other side!

And look! I even got another planter space out of it all!