A recent artical announced a new grant program to qualifying buyers, buying West St. Paul. This new grant is on a first come basis and funds are limited. There are no income restrictions. The buyer must purchase a foreclosed property, be owner occupied, and live in the home for a minimum of 5 years to not repay the $2000 back. Other benefits are listed below. Please visit West St. Paul Vacant Property Grant Program for more information.
Qualifying applicants will receive the following:
•· A $2,000 grant,
•· Free Family Pool Pass for One-Year,
•· Free Family Golf Membership for One-Year, and
•· Free Basic Comcast Cable with High-Speed Internet for One-Year.
This is a great opportunity for anyone buying a home in West St. Paul!! Please feel free to call or email with questions.
I should practice what I preach. The other day we started up the dishwasher and ran off to do what ever we needed to do. An hour or so later I came into the kitchen and stepped on the rug by the sink...my foot was wet! Looking around I saw the whole counter was wet and water was on the floor. The disposal had backed up the anti siphon loop and water came spilling out of the air gap valve on the sink.
One thing I recommend is to not leave the home when running products with water (dishwasher, wash machine..etc) Though it did not wreck anything it surely could have. A quick tip is make sure every once in awhile you clean out the inlet on the disposal from the anti siphon tube. It can build up with food particles and fat over time not allowing water to safely drain. Also make sure you run your disposal before you start the dishwasher so no food particles there are also blocking the drains.
Water can be so destructive!
To follow up with my last post about multiple offers here is a little stat that makes sense why we are running to that situation. A few weeks ago our multiple listing services connected with BookAShowing (sweet system by the way) You click on all the homes you want to set up, click BookAShowing and you can set all them up with times and dates, hit set appointments, and wait till you get confirmations!!! No more calling 15 companies appointment lines, well a few companies are not on board, but the majority are.
Any ways since they released BookAShowing just a few weeks ago, NorthstarMLS users have already scheduled over 120,000 showing appointments using the system. Can you smell the amount of buyers out there looking at homes!!!
FYI; In 2008, the number of homes sold in the 13 county metro area was 38,746
As the market heats up and starts to turn around, unfortunately it is sometimes impossible to avoid multiple offers. In the last month my clients have been involved in a handful of multiple offers. I have also show many properties that sold in just a few days. Had they wrote offers, more multiple offer situations.
Regardless of the market the homes that are the best condition and priced right will get the most attention. Though now, many areas of the Metro are actually sellers markets, and many buyers are trying to get the same properties. In many areas there is less than 2 months of inventory! In a balanced market 5-6 months in norm.
Another factor seems to be the banks are having fun by putting homes on the market at undervalued prices only to get buyers to bid it up. In the past they would list them too high or maybe market value. I have seen many properties just recently in which they listed them $15,000, $20,000, or $30,000 under market value! I would show it to my client right away and put in an offer, a STRONG offer. Then you get to find out that the bank will not look at any offers until it has been on the market for at least 5 days.....wall la, now there are multiple offers!
The best way to avoid multiples is to get into the home as soon as possible and put your offer in as soon as possible. Also put in good offers, low ball offers will only take longer to negotiate thus allowing time for other offers.
If you are in a price of $150,000 and below be ready to put in many offers. With the majority of the market in this price range I let my clients know that it can easily take 2-3 offers before we get one excepted. Trying to compete with investors of cash offers, quick closings, and no seller paid closing cost makes the average buyer's offer easy to pass up. You can put in the best offer but watch out for appraisal issues....that is a whole other subject!
GOOD LUCK!!
Well, it has been a busy last few weeks, a little lax on the blogs lately, but here is some information that might be useful to many. One thing I would like to mention as I get asked a lot is about down payment grant programs.
One program recently revealed is called the Minneapolis Advantage. They offer a $10,000 zero-percent interest loan that is forgiven at the end of five years. The loan is available to qualified home buyers purchasing an eligible home in which they will live in an approved neighborhood.
Applications will be available from April 2nd on a 1st-come, 1st-served basis. You can see the map for qualifying areas and click on the link for common questions and answers.
Specializing in First Time Home Buyers, Investment Properties, and Move up Buyers. Roseville, Como Park, Shoreview, Arden Hills, North Oaks, Falcon Heights, Midway Area, Mac Groveland, Highland.
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