Tristan Emond, Rapid City Home Specialist

So we've found your dream home, the seller has accepted your offer, your loan has been approved and you're eager to move into your new home. But before you get the key, there's one more step-the closing.

Closing is the process of passing ownership of property from seller to buyer. And it can be bewildering. As a buyer, you will sign what seems like endless piles of documents and will have to present a sizeable check for the down payment and various closing costs. It's the fees associated with the closing that many times remains a mystery to many buyers who may simply hand over thousands of dollars without really knowing what they are paying for.

As a responsible buyer, you should be familiar with these costs that are both mortgage-related and government imposed. Although many of the fees may vary by locality, here are some common fees:

· Appraisal Fee: This fee pays for the appraisal of the property. You may already have paid this fee at the beginning of your loan application process.

· Credit Report Fee: This fee covers the cost of the credit report requested by the lender. This too may already have been paid when you applied for your loan.

· Loan Origination Fee: This fee covers the lender's loan-processing costs. The fee is typically one percent of the total mortgage.

· Loan Discount: You will pay this one-time charge if you have chosen to pay points to lower your interest rate. Each point you purchase equals one percent of the total loan.

· Title Insurance Fees: These fees generally include costs for the title search, title examination, title insurance, document preparation and other miscellaneous title fees.

· Prepaid Interest Fee: This fee covers the interest payment from the date you purchases the home to the date of your first mortgage payment. Generally, if you buy a home early in the month, the prepaid interest fee will be substantially higher than if you buy it towards the end of the month.

· Escrow Accounts: A mortgage lender will usually start an account that holds funds for future annual property taxes and home insurance. At least one year advance plus two months worth of homeowner's insurance premium will be collected. In addition, taxes equal approximately to two months are placed in the escrow account as well.

· Recording Fees and transfer taxes: This expense is charged by most states for recording the purchase documents and transferring ownership of the property.

By communicating with your lender and an easy-to-read spreadsheet, I try to give you a good estimate of your closing costs so we know what we need to do to structure the offer. In this market, it isn't uncommon for you to ask the seller to help pay for some of your closing costs.

If you have any questions about the homebuying and closing process, don't hesitate to email or call me. I'd love to hear from you.

- Tristan
Prudential Kahler REALTORS
www.rapidhomesonline.com

Things are picking up! We've got a full sales and listing board here at the office. The first time homebuyers are driving the force, with the majority of sales below the $200,000 mark. Here are the stats on the number of homes sold in the month of April:

Along with more stats:

Date Range for Active Stats: as of 5/1/08 and 5/1/09
Date Range for Sold Stats: 1/1/08 to 5/1/08 and 1/1/09 to 5/1/09

(These statistics are based in part or whole by Black Hills Association of REALTORS. Neither the Association nor its MLS gurantee or is in any way responsible for its accuracy.)

So there you have it!

- Tristan

Prudential Kahler REALTORS
www.rapidhomesonline.com

So my sister decided that since the weather was so wonderful and it happened to be Earth Day, that we should climb up a hill and pick up garbage. She invited us to come over after supper and we would do our part. I'm thinking - 4 kids climbing up a hill to pick up trash? Yeah, that's gonna be a hit...

Surprisingly, they treated it like a treasure hunt and, of course, the next thing to compete over.

"I found the first piece!"

"I haven't got anything, yet..."

I sat with Emily at the top of the hill since she was not into it and watched the boys take off across the hillside with my sister racing to find stuff. I sat there and yelled about the piece of cardboard I saw from where I was sitting. (just doing my part...turned out to be a Pizza Hut box.)

Here is the triumphant crew:



Maybe I should send this to Walgreens - might make a good commercial for them...

Beautiful day - wonderful family - life is good.

- Tristan

Tristan Emond
Prudential Kahler Realtors
www.rapidhomesonline.com

Well, it's been a struggle to get to homes much less look at any with a blizzard a week for 3 weeks that shut down the city along with no travel advisories. So we were stuck at home one day and then spent hours shoveling the next. Everyone I have talked to is ready for Spring!!

As you can see from the graphs below, the trend is down some. I could blame lots of things and events, but it is as you see it.

Single Family Homes

New Construction

(As of 4/1/09. This representation is based in whole or in part on data supplied by the Black Hills Association of REALTORS® or its Multiple Listing Service for the periods as shown. Neither the Association nor its MLS guarantee or is in any way responsible for its accuracy. Data maintained by the Association or its MLS may not reflect all real estate activity in the market.)

However - we did have a home show the end of March and had some very good and surprising results. Usually, you have to be pretty pro-active to even catch people's eyes to talk with them. This year, I had a number of people come up to me and talk about buying or selling - even to the point of getting names and phone numbers. Other agents that worked at the booth had similar experiences. We've also had some great activity lately, so it will be interesting to see what happens in April as the snow melts (hopefully..) and the sun shines.

Take care!

- Tristan

Tristan Emond
Prudential Kahler REALTORS
www.rapidhomesonline.com

Yesterday was the day of all days. 72 degrees. I took the kids to the park and we played baseball. I washed the van. We sat out on the deck and put our feet on the table. (which resulted in making the legs go to sleep, but still...) We even tried to roast marshmallows. It was hard to really think about doing much of anything but simply enjoying the day.

Fast forward to today. We sent the kids out the the curb this morning for school. We knew there was a blizzard warning. It was supposed to start really snowing at noon. So, we're thinking, half day of school, right? It was raining and spitting, but certainly not a big deal. I mean, in Minnesota, when I was going to school, they didn't close down unless you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Anyway, they come running back in yelling at us to check online to see if things have closed since no one else was at the bus stop. (At least some parents are smart.) They closed school down due to the imminent blizzard. Sure we're talking up to 10 inches today with more accumulations tonight, but come on now...

But now, as I am at home looking out the window (spending the night at the office did not sound fun to me) it is finally starting to look blizzardy (new word for the day). The winds are going to be gusting up to 50 miles per hour, so we got a live one! Here it is:

You never would have thought, even last night at 9:00, that there was gonna be a blizzard the next day.

Amazing South Dakota weather...

- Tristan