Pennsylvania

Buying a home, especially your first home can be a crazy thing. You're like a fish out of water. You turn to real estate professionals to guide you through your process and lead you to the promise land safely with no scars and a smile on your face. Your family and friends get wind of what you're doing and you've got information coming from all angles and you really don't know who to turn to for answers. What do you do?

Well, you ask somebody. I will tell you that when you're buying a home, the only people from whom you should seek advice are those who are trained in the area you have questions in. Now, everyone knows someone who has gone through the process and will be more than delighted to share their "friend's" experiences with you to help you out but everyone's experience is unique and my rule of thumb is if they haven't been trained and they don't do it everyday, chances are, their answer isn't gonna be the right or best one. With that being said, there are a few key people that you will want to direct your questions to during your process, and they are:

1. Your REALTOR: This person owes you the fiduciary responsibility of acting in your best interest, educating you as much as possible on the real estate market and area you wish to live in, giving you advice within his/her scope of expertise on the aspects of your search and transaction, working with your lender to gather any information and documents they need in order make sure you make it safely and securely to the closing table, and working as hard as they can to relieve some of the stress that comes along with buying a home, being your seeing eye on the market and protecting you from making costly mistakes during your purchase, and a host of other services which may or may not include coaching you through breathing exercises in the event you may start to hyperventilate when you have finally found *THE ONE* or if you have found *THE ONE* and the news has to be broken to you that it is "currently under contract" despite the fact that it was listed as active.

2. Your loan officer: This person is the glue that holds it all together, the light at the end of the tunnel, the baconator who holds the key to your heart, he would without him, you would be stuck in the pit of rent. This person my lovelies, has the wonderful task of guiding you to the money, and educating you ‘til your eyes are blue about the finance portion of your transaction. To make your life easier and your lender a little happier, please be prepared to provide your loan officer with: the last 2 years w2's and tax filings, last 2 month's pay stubs, and the last 3 month's bank statements. It would really please the bank AND your REALTOR, if you refrained from making any large deposits that cannot be explained or linked to a closing gift, spending your reserves and closing costs, maxing out your credit cards, submitting credit applications, and becoming delinquent in any bills during the life your transaction as this would give them the daunting task of delivering the news to you that your once approved mortgage is now denied.

3. Your home inspector: This person is the guy OR gal who has been trained to open your eyes to the not so pretty attributes of your new home that the current seller will hopefully, with the help of your REALTOR's negotiation skills make them all pretty again. He/she will come to the home and dig deep into the cracks and crevices to ensure you're not purchasing a money pit. They will inspect the interior and exterior of your home to uncover any issues your property may have i.e. roofing, structural issues, building code violations, heating, plumbing, and electrical. They will take pictures and provide you with a detailed report (some including cost estimations and some not) explaining their findings and what they "recommend" to be repaired and what is "required to be repaired.

There are others who will be key in your transaction such as:

• Your home insurance agent: who will provide you with a quote on your homeowners insurance and explain the details of your coverage to you. It is wise that you shop around for good rates.
• The appraiser: who will be contacted by the bank to give a true valuation of your prospective home. You should have a good idea of the valuation already from your REALTOR who should be preparing a CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) for your prospective home in order to guide you in making a good decision on your purchase offer. If this is the home you really want, you don't want to waste your time, the seller's time, or your realtor's time by making an offer that is far too low and you don't want the costly mistake of paying too much for a property either. The CMA will delete those possibilities. However, the bank will not rely on your realtor's CMA for money that they are lending you, they will rely on their appraiser. (Now, I doubt, if the appraiser will be available to for you to ask questions, but you can direct these questions to either your loan officer or your REALTOR.)

Note: It is imperative that you let each of the people do their own job. Your loan officer is not a REALTOR so I wouldn't suggest relying on him/her for real estate related questions. Your REALTOR is not a loan officer and though it is a wise choice for your REALTOR to be well versed in the loan process, it is much better if you go directly to the source for this information. Neither your REALTOR or your loan officer are inspectors so any questions related to these issues should be directed to your inspector. Yes, your REALTOR will most likely advise you on some things regarding your house as we are required to disclose any known defects but the rule of thumb is to ask your inspector. Hey, you're not paying him/her pennies so make sure you get your monies worth. Remember, as Realtors, we come across a lot in our profession as most issues are repetitive but it is better to let everyone involved stick to their position and things will run much smoother.

Happy buying...........Oh and one more thing: DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK!!!

Times are present so we can remember them and maybe even learn from them. When there is no longer time, well, that's another discussion in of itself.

While I don't mean to be the master of the obvious over here, being in the lending industry isn't easy these days. The irony of all that, at least from my vantage point, is that I didn't make a significant mint when times were easy. But I'm still around. I'm either stubborn or stupid, perhaps both. Or maybe, just maybe, I belong here.

One client reminded me of that.

I no longer have their email on record, but when the appraisal of the house they were going to buy for $180,000 came in $50,000 less, I was introduced to an unique point of view:

And I'm paraphrasing, " Hoopla aside, I just want to buy a house to call my home."

I was sitting back and thinking about these things and I read what he wrote to me. That sentence spoke volumes.

Are we making this shit more complicated than it really has to be? Are we telling everybody else that declining markets, negative equity, stricter credit guidelines, and an influx of new business without the ability to service that very business are the wave of the present and the always near future? There are a few success stories along the way, but I'm not going to sit here being idle when a guy with a 780 credit score, plenty of money, can document his income, is a US citizen, and has watched at least one episode of "All in The Family", has the least bit of trouble buying a house.

The talk of the day in the lending industry hasn't been common sense, but a gut reaction to the age of absolute greed. Unfortunately for me, I missed that part. I could of had a deck, new roof, siding that would make the ass that is my neighbor jealous, and a bit of coin socked away just in case I encountered a near third degree burn on my right foot. It's funny how life works. It's even funnier how we work.

Let me try to end this with a bit of knowledge you may not find (or have being admitted) anywhere else. Us Loan Officers only get paid when we close loans. Sure, folks want loans cheap, at the lowest interest rate, with no points or fees... and I shop at Dollar General sometimes as well. Cheap lasagne burns quite well. But, my guess is that people don't give a damn of how we are paid... they just want to buy a house. They want to buy a structure they can call home. My plea is one that probably will fall on deaf ears, though those ears will go cauliflower before I'm done with them. If you want to fix the housing industry, listen to the folks who want to buy that house. Listen to the folks who are actually practicing the trade.

I won't get too political about this, but come here... closer. Let me whisper in your ear.

If you want to solve anything dealing with the Real Estate Industry, it's not a bad thing to actually consult the members in the field.

We can tell you that the guy above, with that credit score and monies, is a player. But he doesn't want to be a player, he just wants to buy a home.

I guess he wants a place to live and call his own, interesting concept.

2505 Swiss Mtn $195,000

8C1 Mtn Villa $65,000

72 Southwind $605,000

150 Southwind $813,117

2807 Swiss Mtn $110,000

S4 SunRidge $350,000

Finn and Feather $900,000*

As this posting takes us through the first half of 2009 we thought you would enjoy some other statistics. The good news is that the first half of 2009 resale transfers have exceeded 2008 numbers, 18 sales to 12! The bad news for sellers is that the average sales price for the first six months is off from the same time frame last year.

Below are the Active Listings by number of bedrooms and their price ranges! Information is from the West Penn MLS

We keep a multitude of statistical information and welcome the opportunity to share our market knowledge with motivated parties.

Recorded sales transfers for the resorts are acquired electronically from records inputted at the Somerset County Court House, Office of the Recorder of Deeds. We review sales in Jefferson (Hidden Valley) and Middlecreek (Seven Springs) Townships on a weekly basis.

Prices do not reflect bill of sales and other out of settlement transfers. Furnishings, which are included in the majority of sales are assigned no monetary value. We do not post transfers that carry $1.00 values.

* This transfer was not an active listing and was purchased by Seven Springs. It is a large lodge with guest house, 2.9 acres, and several fine amenities located off of Village Road.