Elizabeth Todorov

Renting vs. Owning

Although some renters believe that renting is “maintenance free,” they are actually paying for maintenance in their rent – whether they need it or not. Renting offers you no equity, no tax benefit, and no protection against regular rent increases. If you’re paying rent, you’re really just paying someone else’s mortgage. Let’s compare.*

Rent vs. Own

* Approximate Payment/Cost Comparison based on estimated annual tax results. Based on 2.5 tax bracket and on estimated first year interest and taxes. Recommend consulting with tax expert. Payment based on FHA 30-year fixed rate loan with 7% interest rate, sales price of $125,000 and a loan balance of $121,250. Interest rate/rental rates, prices, terms, and availability subject to change without notice. See a qualified tax consultant for more details.

When you walk into someone’s home, what's the first thing you notice? Clutter, dust, decorating style (or lack thereof) the list goes on. Probably one of the things that won't make the top of your list would be size and number of rooms, the yard, things that stay with the house once someone moves out.

In all actuality, those are the things that matter when buyers are looking to buy a house, but many times these buyers can't seem to get past the fact that there are toys and dog hair all over your house, so therefore they are not interested because they can't see what a great house you really have!

Of course, you've heard the drill from your Realtor, "CLEAN THE CLUTTER, VACUUM AND DUST THE HOUSE, BAKE COOKIES..."

However, if your Realtor has not told you the importance of staging, they need to listen up. Staging your home starts by putting away all personal items such as: photos, taking down personal decor that may only appeal to the current owner and other things along those lines. Also, when a professional home stager comes into your home, they will re-arrange your furniture so that it looks more appealing and also emphasizes the size or charm of the room.

Moreover and maybe most importantly, when a home is staged, it can sometimes sell up to 70 times faster than it would un-staged. The cost of staging is like a drop in the bucket when you think that you are most likely going to be able to sell your home for more money in less time. It's a no brainer.

Rates Drop!

Mortgage Rates Fall as U.S. Expands Rescue - NOVEMBER 26, 2008

By Jon Hilsenrath and Deborah Solomon- THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

The Fed, whose traditional lending role has been to make emergency loans to banks, plans to purchase in coming months up to $600 billion of debt issued or backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae and Federal Home Loan Banks, all mortgage-finance businesses with close ties to the government…..

The intervention, the latest in a series of unprecedented government actions, immediately pushed down rates on 30-year mortgages by as much as one-half percentage point. Lower rates could help borrowers looking to refinance or buy homes, and potentially bolster ailing housing markets.

What does this mean?

For Buyers: Basically because the rates have dropped to 5.75% on conventional loans and 5.75% on FHA loans, this means that buyers who are on the fence should MAKE A MOVE NOW! Check out the chart below that illistrates just HOW MUCH you can save on your monthly and overall payments with these new rates...

For sellers: This means that if your thinking of selling, NOW IS THE TIME! or you have a property currently listed, this means that buyers are going to be more competitive over properties, which is always good for sellers and it also means for those sellers who want to sell but who are on the fence, they should take advantage of this buyers market by putting their house on the market, especially when the rates are sooo great!

Rate and Payment Chart Example:

Well, you've read my blog about the history of Canton... so what's going on now? Well... for starters, located directly on the square lies a project that was initiated last year in which residents could purchase a brick that would be inscribed with their name could then be placed on the square, replacing the current bricks. This project showed signs of progression but it will probably continue next spring.

Moving up O'Donnell Street, make a right onto Conkling and you will run into probably the biggest project that Canton/Brewer's Hill has seen in a long time. Not only is there going to be a 5 story building called "Domain," but they are also incorportating shops and restaurants into this building which will house and entertain hundreds of Baltimore residents. This project is going to be finished by the end of Nov. 2008.

More info to come....

Question: What are some thoughts that run through potential buyers minds when they’re on their way to see a “For Sale by Owner” property?

1. This house must be a deal since it’s not listed with a Realtor…
2. I wonder if the sellers are shy or pushy. Are they going to get one over on me? (Already their guard is up)
3. Do I need to hire someone to do paperwork?

So they are greeted at the door by the owner who starts showing them around the house.
What sorts of thoughts are they thinking now? “Wow, I hate this color granite,” or maybe “neon-green tiled bathroom??? I wonder how much this is going to cost to replace.”

Here’s the problem: the buyer is now forced to hold these thoughts inside their head because they do not want to hurt the seller’s feelings and they feel like they are obliged to say, “oh how nice!” So imagine how the potential buyer feels once he or she leaves the property? Well, they probably have a sense of relief since for the last 20 minutes they have not been able to say what they are really thinking and voice their concerns out loud.

This example is one of the main reasons that it’s so worth it have a buyer’s agent, if you are a buyer and have a seller’s agent, if you are seller.

Buyers don’t want to feel like you are selling your house to them; it leaves them feeling like you were being “pushy” which in turns creates a bad taste in their mouth and negative thoughts in their head.

In all actuality, if the seller would have listed their house with a Realtor, any potential buyers would have had to have a buyer’s agent take them thought the home without the sellers present.

Therefore, potential buyers are able to voice their true opinion and concerns out loud to their buyers agent who would be more apt to give them their honest opinion and tell them truthfully about how much it would cost them to fix this or change that, or just assure them that carpet and paint color are a very easy fix. Buyers need someone else there to share opinions and to hear them out loud for themselves and sellers need to understand that when they show the home themselves, they are oftentimes turning off potential buyers.

email: LizEtzel@KW.com for answers, advice and help