Matt Nuzie -Realtor -ABR- 1st Time Home Buyer Specialist - Connecticut -

Scarface - Great movie, all-time favorite. Right up there with the Disney classics; Aladdin & Lion King. Well, On second thought maybe not, but there is a great lesson that we can take from Al Pacino in Scarface and APPLY it to our Real Estate Careers.

AT THE END OF THE DAY, ALL YOU HAVE IS YOUR NAME AND REPUTATION.

Are you proud of the name you see on your business cards? For Sale Signs? News Paper Ads & Billboards?

I am not writing this blog because I am perfect and most certainly do not want to come across as though I am talking down to ANYONE. The purpose of this blog is create awareness to the daily actions and interactions that make up our so called LIFE. Every conversation, e-mail, TEXT & meeting, someone is forming an opinion of you. These opinions will eventually create your reputation.

Is your REPUTATION important? As a Real Estate Agent, your reputation is paramount. It is A number 1 the most important aspect of your business. As a matter of fact, it is your business. Everyone has come across the agent that you can't help but scratch your head and say, "How do they stay in business? I couldn't imagine dealing with them on a daily basis!" To answer your question: They have a large families and are part of a cult that keeps them busy.

5 Tips that everyone already knows but will ensure the RIGHT repuation;

1) Image - Dress the part, fake it until you make it!

(Realtors are prefessional business men and women, dress like one at all times)

2) Be On Time - By now you MUST of read my blog about buying a watch!

(Time is the most valuable commodity your clients have, aside from the house you are about to sell them)

3) Smile - No really, SMILE. Leave your troubles at the bar (J/K). If your having a bad day, find a way to put your personal agenda aside and provide high quality service to your clients.

(Nobody wants to deal with an agent that is negative and miserable)

4) Personal Notes - Take the time out of your day to personally thank someone for something they did. Write them a quick thank you note. The key to this is HAND WRITTEN, notes addressed to "Current Resident" don't get read.

5) Honesty- In a world that is recently over whelmed with corruption. Honesty will go a long way and will lead to trust, which will lead to successful transactions and will result in REFERRALS. I love it when there is "another offer" on the table but magically when you submit your offer, the other buyers put an offer on an IGLOO in the North Pole. Do you blame them? They heard it was a buyers market.

Michael Jackson may have gone off the deep end. However, before doing so, he put together great lyrics;

"I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror,I'm Asking Him To Change,His Ways"

When you come home at night, can you look yourself in the mirror? Are you proud of who you are and what you have become? Did you put forth your best effort and do so in a ethical manner? Remember, all we have is our signature and the reputation that is attached.

Make it a Great Day!

To build a foundation for this blog, I will outline the home buying process geared towards the first time home buyer. I will discuss every aspect of the home buying process. Many buyers enter the market with out having a understanding of the process. This blog will serve as an open forum where I will lay out a road map of a real estate transaction;

1) Selecting a Real Estate Professional: Choosing the right realtor is crucial in ensuring the quality of your experience. Your realtor should have TIME for you. They should EDUCATE you on the different towns and allow you to form your own opinions and not be subject to their personal bias and experiences. They should have a team of professionals to refer you to when other services are needed throughout the process. The most important quality your realtor should possess is a PASSION & DESIRE to work with you and represent you in the biggest investment of your life.

2) The Pre-Qualification Process: Before you begin your search, you should consult with a mortgage professional. This will allow you to understand the expenses you will incur as a home owner. The mortgage broker/lender will PRE-QUALIFY you. A pre-qualification is the initial analysis of your income, assets & debts. This will give you a rough estimate of what price point to focus your home search on. Before heading out and looking at properties you will want a PRE-APPROVAL letter from your lender as well. A pre-approval is a step above a pre-qualification. A pre-approval will require your lender to pull your credit score and review your W-2, 1099's or tax returns. A letter of pre-approval should always accompany any offer on a property (we will get to this later in the blog).

3) Analyzing the Inventory: Your real estate professional should present you with all the properties that fall in your price point and location that you would like to focus your search on. You may have a wide variety of towns in the beginning. Not a problem, it is important to acclimate yourself with the different markets. As a first time home buyer you may not be committed to a certain town and have the luxury of searching a few different towns. The only way you can narrow your search criteria is to get out and submerge yourself in the different markets. Drive through the towns, do your research. Look into the school systems & other public information that you can find on each town/cities website. Buying your first home can be a stressful situation, the best way to diffuse the stress is through education and understanding of the process.

4) Viewing Houses: You have done all the pre-liminary work, now it is gametime! It is time to get in the car and find the house of your dreams! Take great notes, after a while it will be tough to differentiate between properties. Do not get discouraged if you see things that you are not in love with, it simply means that you can rule that out of your search criteria. Realtor's are great photographers, sometimes the pictures you view online may not be an accurate portrayal of the property and vice versa. Always walk through the house twice, you will pick up something new on the second viewing. Look for potential; hardwoord floors under carperting, good room size, the potential of an open layout (can walls be moved), how traffic (company) would flow through the house on the holiday's. Again, buying your first home is a big decision, take pictures, ask questions & take your time in homes that you can see yourself living in!


We will end here for now, this is just the beginning of the process. In the upcoming posts, I will take you through the negotiation of an offer, the inspection, appraisal, attorney's role, financing and much more...


I am here to answer all of your home buying questions and questions specific to Fairfield County & New Haven County Real Estate!


Make it a Great Day!


Matt Nuzie
Accredited Buyer Representation
RE/MAX Right Choice
MNuzie98@aol.com
203-268-1118 ext. 230

The stock market is extremely volatile, 200 point swings without a flinch, the real estate market is comprised of foreclosures and short sales, unemployment is rapidly climbing and retail sales have plummeted. You may think YOUR job is challenging, but how would YOU like to be The President of the United States of America?

At first instinct, you may be optomistic & say I would love the opportunity, I'd change x,y and z and there would be WORLD PEACE! My thoughts exactly, however, after following the political scene in depth this year & taking off election day because it was such a monumental event & hooked on the inguration festivities, my thoughts were the following;

"What will President Obama do on January 21st and what time will he set his alarm clock for?"

Think about that for a second, let your mind go and your imagination take over. What would YOU do January 21st as the leader of this country? My mind could not conceive what that morning would be like. I don't think he would be able to fit his TO-DO list on 10 yellow sticky note pads.

With that being said, lets bring this blog into perspective as far as our universe is concerned, the real estate economy. Last week was a big week, there was discussion of a $15,000 tax credit and a 4% interest rate for first time home buyers. That idea triggered my motivation for this blog and I asked myself, What would I do to turn the real estate market 180 degree's and headed in the right direction?

My focus would be on the sellers. We need to end this short sale/foreclosure mess. We need to keep people in their homes. This will put a bottom on the "short sale" effect on neighborhood's, driving prices lower and lower with each short sale. Understanding that we will never be able to completely eliminate foreclosure; there are unfortunate situations that we just can't avoid.

A large majority of home owners that were subject to predatory lending still have the same if not more income then when they purchased their home. However, their payments increased exponentially, due to the adjustable rate mortgage. Well, on a case-by-case situation, the banks need to be mandated to work with their CLIENTS and lower their interest rate. This program needs to be feasible and easy to work for the average home owner. They shouldn't have to write letters upon letters, cry bankruptcy and call the bank 150x a week. The more efficient this program is, the quicker we get to the bottom and the sooner we see home prices rise.

President Obama's focus appears to be on the buyers. I firmly believe that the buyers do not need any more incentive to buy. They simply need to feel confident that this is the bottom and 3 months from now the world isn't going to end. All the tax credit's, interest rate incentives need to be REAL, in writing and explained. Just this past weekend I was with a client looking to purchase his first home. After an in depth discussion on the real estate market, his number one concern, is getting to the bottom of all the proposed home buying incentives that is pre-maturely published. Not having a definitive answer leads to more questions, insecurity and hesitation on the part of the buyers & rightfully so. When making the largest investment of your life, wouldn't you like to know if the President is going to implement a $15,000 tax credit and if the interest rate is going to drop to 4% for 1st time home buyers?

Have a great week!

-Matt

Definately my most CREATIVE BLOG yet, I had a great time writting it, I hope you enjoy! Comment / Post replacement songs that you would of included...

1) Waiting for your 1st meeting w/ Potential Client;

Song: Karate Kid - Your the Best Around; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qae_TUTeGo

2) 25th time together looking at properties;

Song: I will Survive, Gloria Gaynor http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv6lHwWwO3w

3) Narrowed down to 3 properties...The Decision

Song: The Jeapordy Theme Song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXGhvoekY44

4) The Negotiation...

Song: Rocky Theme Song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhlPAj38rHc

5) The Home Inspection...

Song: Inspector Gadget Theme Song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG6uXxeChVM

6) The Appraisal...

Song: The Price is Right Theme Song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8iOmVd1W_g

7) The Closing...

Song: Walking On Sunshine, Katrina & The Waves http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eONhto0x_nI

8) Ca$hing of the Comi$$ion Check;

Song: Oh Happy Day, Sister Act 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TENUZcgPgI

**MAKE IT RAIN, HAVE A GREAT DAY**

Dear Matt Nuzie:

The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS has identified the Internet domain name, kickingrealtor.com, as one in which the membership marks of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS (National Association) are used as a part of the domain name. We discovered the domain name in our routine monitoring of the Internet for use of the REALTOR membership marks. The National Association requests that you comply with the rules developed by the National Association to preserve and protect the Membership marks and discontinue using the kickingrealtor.com domain name. You may review these rules at the National Association's website, REALTOR.org in the Law & Policy section

LETS DISCUSS THE SITUATION AT HAND...

Quick Background: I went to the University of Connecticut and was the starting Place-KICKER for 4 years. Broke all types of records and coming from the small State of Connecticut, I am often recognized as the KICKER from UConn. To set the record straight, all the notoriety isn't good. As a KICKER, you are either a hero or a zero. Many times I was the punch line in fans BLOGS, newspaper articles, etc. (The direct cause of my fear of BLOGS). Just GOOGLE my name in conjunction with UCONN and you will have a better understanding of where I am coming from.

NOW that you have a brief understanding of the KICKINGREALTOR.COM, you may understand my confusion as to why I need to get rid of the website. This is sort of like the cop in Harlem, NY that arrests the little old lady for jay walking when the house behind him his being robbed and the homeowner is held at gunpoint. OK, I know it is not that extreme; but you get where I am coming from. I am sure there are greater injustices that the NAR team of lawyers can investigate then my domain name.

I would understand if it was UN-ETHICALREALTOR.COM or SEXYREALTOR.COM. Get it, got it, case closed, makes sense, I would of withdrawn the website yesterday. BUT, KickingRealtor.com, where is the foul in that one? It simply combines my athletic career with my professional career in a classy yet catchy way. I have often been refereed to as the Kicking Realtor and even got it tattooed across my back, JK, scared of needles, true fact.

"MAKE IT RAIN" w/ comments & advice & CONDOLENCES FOR THE KICKINGREALTOR.COM, Thank You!