Carlisle, PA

FHA 203K Loan / Lender - Smooth Transaction Guarantee! - Carlisle, Pennsylvania

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The FHA 203K mortgage requires action early in the process to set the stage for proper transaction flow...


A phone call for a discussion about your project costs nothing... but you could save thousands.

I would recommend you start your search online. Why? Because for one it is free, for two gives you a wide view of opinions and information on the new city, or town you are planning to move to.

When moving to the Carlisle area, there is not a lot of information to help you through the process of finding a place to live, what there is to do, etc. So I am writing this guide to help you trough it.

1. Search home listing sites in the area: Such as, Realtor.com, Trulia.com, Zillow.com, Joshsoldit.com, Homes.com and more to find homes you may be interested in.

2. Find the right Realtor: In previous blogs, I mention that it is important to find the right agent. You want to work with someone who reflects you, you want to work with someone who has your best interests in mind and focus's on the big picture " finding you your dream home in the least amount of time possible and for the best price." Also, before doing a home search or making an offer make sure you are under buyer's agency, if not the Realtor is working for the seller. He/she should have also reviewed the Consumer Notice with you before discussing any numbers.

3. Pre-approval is king: Sellers beg for pre approved buyers. In this area; there is a vast selection of homes to choose from. Knowing what you can afford, and showing sellers you are serious work hand in hand.

4. Make a list: What are the things you can not live with out, things you would like to have, and things that are not as important such as tennis courts or 10 car garages (unless you own 10 cars). I think you will find it funny that the house you decide to buy, normally will not have most of the things you thought in the beginning that you could not live without.

5. Read about the area: Carlisle Pa is know for it's car shows, Corvettes running down it's downtown is a picture you will see a lot of. It is also know for beautiful country sides. Carlisle itself has a lot of restaurants and taverns to enjoy a bit to eat or to meet your friends for a night out. It has shopping centers and lots of places to go for pizza or ice cream. Mechanicsburg is very close to Carlisle and features more places to shop, parades downtown on occasion and more. The mall is located in Camp Hill Pa and is in a major retail shopping district. The roads in my opinion are not the best, and designed poorly. But, you have to take the good with the bad in any location I guess.

6. View homes: Your Realtor should narrow down your home selection based off of what you liked and did not like from the homes he/she selected for you, or ones you may have found on you own. Your best bet is to weigh the strengths and weaknesses for all the homes. Make a pile of the ones fitting your criteria the best and the worst. Focus, on the best and put aside the ones that do not fit your criteria. Then narrow down your best list to the homes that have what you want, or need and fit what you are willing to spend. Then view those properties. Normally you will find you are left with between 3-5 homes. If none of these fit after viewing, repeat the process or go back over the ones you thought would not fit and make some compromises.

7. Make an offer: So you have found the home you want, now you will need to make and offer. Most times from what I see happens is no one is interested in a property until you are, so be prepared for more than your offer to come in. Review with your Realtor the best price you can offer, and tht they feel will be a strong enough offer for the seller to accept or counter before the others are accepted.

8. Offer accepted: Now your offer has been accepted, you want to have any and all inspections done on the property to make sure it has a clean bill of health or minor repair that can easily be taken care of.

9. Negotiate repairs: If repairs are needed, see if the seller is willing to address them. If not, you may need to repair them yourself if you are 100 percent on buying this house and this house only, or you may counter back with them paying half which the seller might view as fair and accept.

10. Close: You have bought your home, now it is time to move and start your new life in Carlisle Area, Welcome to the area. I hope you found this helpful.

Please note: This is a demonstration of what might happen on negotiations, it is not always like that. Sometimes seller accept right away with no counter, sometimes they accept another offer and so on. This is meant only as a demonstration or example.

Visit Carlislepa.org for more information on our town.

Josh Bickel

Century 21 Piscioneri Realty

www.Joshsoldit.com

I held an open house yesterday for a property that was built in the early 1900's. I had a customer come in alone. She walked through the property inspecting every inch of it to a T. I waited patiently by the front door until she returned. She then said that she was looking for an older home. She stated she loved their old feel and woodwork. Then she said, "my husband is out in the car. He likes modern homes and won't come in because he feels all old houses are haunted." I laughed and said, "well I can assure you this home is not haunted, I have been here all day." She thanked me and said she would be in contact. After she left, another few couples and customers came through, most loved the old world feel of the property.

The time was 3 pm and my obligation to hold the open house was up. I went outside to gather up my signs and balloons. I locked the door and then realized I had left my binder inside. I unlocked the door again and went in to get it. Upon just about locking the door, I heard a strange noise, so I swung the door open again. Curious, I walked back inside. I did not see anything out of the norm, so I walked back out and locked the door. On the way back to the office I thought about what this could be. What if the place was haunted and what if the husband of my customer was right? Then I thought, oh well, as long as it's not a mean ghost!

So, on to today. I showed a property built in 1790. It was orignally a mill and built on the creek. The old mill stones were still on the property, which I fould to be neat. I waited for my client to show up before entering the property. Upon talking to the list agent's office before the showing, they stated that the property was vacant. As a self rule, I never enter vacant properties alone. After my client arrived, we went inside. This home had a very old world feel. It had orginal hardwood floors, the kitchen had a brick style oven and the attic and basement were the creepiest places I have seen in awhile. So, I bet your wondering already... Josh, what happened!

Here we go... keep in mind the list agent's office said this property was vacant, not to mention all the doors were locked, so there's no chance of people getting in. We walked into the bathroom and it looked as if someone had just taken a shower. The bathroom window still had steam clouding it and the room itself had that steamed filled feel like your bathroom gets after showering. My client and I must of had the same reaction because we both kind of said, "well its about that time", and left the property! This property in general was strange. It had stairways in rooms leading up to the ceiling, a big room with cat size doorways on both sides of the narrow room leading outside and now this. I guess if a bed and bath was what he was looking for, this one was a bit more then he had bargained for. "On to the next", we both said!

This made me wonder. How would you know if the home you were showing/selling your clients is haunted? How do you know if something horrible happened there, besides asking the neighbors? How would you know? In my opinion, asking the neighbors could result in bad feedback on yourself. What if they did not believe in ghosts or though you were strange for asking if the house next to them was haunted, or if a suicide or murder might have happened there? But, here's the kicker. What if your client asks you if it is haunted or if a horrible event took place there. It can be hard to determine.

What if your clients are looking for a haunted property? I read that alot of people these days are looking for property that folks feel are haunted. But, what if people tell you the place is haunted and you sell it to clients wanting a haunted house but it turns out not to be? This is a huge gray area. If they want to know if it is haunted or something horrible happened, I always say to ask the neighbors who have lived there the longest. Nine times out of ten the neighbors know everything that has happened in every house around them. But, sometimes things tend to change a bit. It's kind of like when you were in school and you told a story to a friend. By the end of the day, it has changed into something different but with the same concept. If you would like to know if something happened in a particular house, again, ask neighbors or look at old newspaper ads by doing an online search of the property address. Sometimes those things come up. You could even ask at the police station as well.

Again, this is a gray area because there is almost no way to prove with out a doubt that it really is haunted. If something horrible happened there, most people just assume it's haunted and alot of resaturants, bed and breakfasts and halloween attractions buy these places because of that fact. But heres my question, as a Realtor, how can we tell our clients a property is haunted without a doubt? Keep in mind our clients best interests are in our hands and, in my opinion, I don't think we should tell them unless someone has doucmented evidence such as video or photos. But, keep in mind that these things can be edited today very easily as well. On the other hand, the fact that something horrible happened at a property normally is document and can be proved, so I dont feel this is as much of a problem, if that is what our clients are looking for.

Happy haunted house searching everyone!

If you looking for a home in the Carlisle area, I am only a phone call away!

Let's face it, beautiful looking homes sell faster than those in need of repair. Homes with interiors that look like a 5 star hotel penthouse inside sell faster, than those cluttered with personal belongings and bright green walls. So how do you go about making you house look like a 5 star hotel when your on a budget and need a fast sale?

Well let's look at what the popular TV network says to do first. You watch shows saying this person remodeled their kitchen in 4 days and spent 75k and got a 98% return on it. So you say, "well I could do that but I don't have 75k to spend." So how do I do the same thing for say around 2k?

First you have to address the problems with the home.

Are your kitchen cabinets worn?, broken hinges?, missing hardware?

Are your living room walls bright green?

Do your sofas look like yard sale material?

Is your bathroom floor have carpet in it?

Are the light fixtures in the dining and kitchen from the 70s, 80s?

Kitchen Cabinets

Ok, so this list is a few of the things buyers take note on. in my last blog I mentioned that buyers form an opinion within seconds of walking in the door. Your biggest investment should be to make the curb appeal jump out first, but the inside counts as well.

So for the kitchen cabinets if the clear-coat is flaking off. Simple fix, paint them right? Most people will always paint the cabinets white. But some buyers might not like white cabinets. I say look at the counter top color and base your new stain or paint color off of that.

If you have black counter tops use a lighter paint or stain. If lighter counter top use a darker or medium stain or paint. This can be accomplished without removing the cabinets, just make sure you remove the doors, and drawers. Paint or stain them separately. The upgrade the hardware if needed.

(Note: make sure you get the cabinets a light sanding, whether the paint is flaking or not. This will give the paint or stain something to stick to.) Then re-assemble and clean up any dust or debris. Note also to cover the floor with a drop cloth and tape down with masking tape. Also mask around where cabinets and counter top meet. We want this to look like they were always this color.

Bright Colored Rooms

I am sure you have heard or watched a program telling you to paint all the walls neutral. Right?

So what most do is go to the hardware store buy 10 cans of beige paint and paint all the rooms the same color. NOT THE RIGHT IDEA. Yes, you want the room color to be neutral. No, you do not want to paint all the walls the same color or use different tones of beige. To most people beige is a boring color like white it creates no drama and no "wow" factor when walking in. So what to do..

There are neutral colors in almost all colors, reds, blues, greens,yellows, etc. If your dining room has a chair rail (molding about 2 1/2 ft up from the baseboard) use a neutral Burgundy or brick red color on the bottom and a neutral beige or off white above it. If it does not have a chair rail you have 2 options, either paint the room one color or you can add the molding yourself if your good with molding.

For living rooms I like to see a netrual gray or blue.

Keep hallways and walk thru areas light and clean looking. Use a off white or light beige here. Remember to map out how you walk through the house the paint should follow.

(Example, if you have two walls that meet and the end of the wall stops, like on doorways, paint the inside of the walk thru the same color as the direction you normally walk thru it. So if you painting the hall and you normally walk thru the hall to get in the other room paint the inside wall area the color of the hall and so on.)

You can really paint the rooms any color just keep it neutral and make sure it goes with the furniture and flooring in the room. Green carpet with red walls might turn buyers away!

Sofas, Old Worn Furniture

Sofas, love-seats, chairs are any easy and cheap fix. Simply add a sofa, chair cover, and a few throw pillows.

If your going to leave them in the room make sure you arrange the room to look the biggest. One mistake is to put all the furniture against the wall. If there is a focal point in the room such as a fireplace, picture window,etc. Use that to you advantage. Arrange the furniture to where you can enjoy the focal point. Speaking of fireplaces make sure they are clean. Add logs or a electric log to add drama as well. Personal pictures and Nick knacks should be put away. Remember also that less is more when it come to furniture.

Outdated Light Fixtures

Nothing turns buyers into panic mode more then when they start adding up all the things they will have to replace or update. So, if you light fixtures came with the house in 1978 then its time for a upgrade. Light fixtures can run anywhere from $20 to $500 each. Choose fixtures that are simple for hallways etc. Splurge a bit in the dining room and find a elegant looking low cost fixture.

In the kitchen, if you have the old florescent light fixture in the middle of the room, take that bad boy down and get it as far from the house as possible. Add a multi functional light such as a suspended pendent system. (Note: when installing lights be sure to turn off the breaker, also make sure you have white or red to white, black to black, and copper or green to ground. If you do not understand simple wiring. Please call a professional or someone who does.)

Carpet In The Bathroom

Yes, I still see this. You might ask the question of, why? That is the million dollar question isn't it. I assume it is to keep your feet warm, before we had heated flooring. What to do: get rid of the carpet!!

You can buy square self stick tiles now for very little money and they have them looking so close to real tile now its not funny. All you need for this project is a razor knife, a pen, and a scrap of cardboard cut to the same size as the tile.

Start against a wall with no objects like sinks or toilets and work outward, some like to start in the middle and work out like with real tile. In this case you will need to measure and map out each tile location with a chalk line. Use you cardboard cut out to measure around sinks and toilet and draw a template of what you measure on the cardboard, cut less of an amount as actually needed first and then see if it fits, trim as necessary. Then, simply trace your template onto your tile and cut.

Buyers will love all the simple fixes you have fixed for them and your home should sell faster if this is done right and you didn't have to spend 75k to get there!

I hope this helps, Please keep in mind if you are not handy with DIY projects contact a professional or someone who is. I am not responsible for any damage, electrical issues or other matters caused.

So you have decided to take the plunge, you want to move into a bigger house, or your boss is shipping you across the United States to Utah. Or your tired of your old kitchen. People move for a lot of reasons, people sell for a lot of reasons too.

So your saying, "Josh just get to the point and tell us why the heck my house isn't sold yet." Well in order to understand why you must first understand what is going on in the market.

In today's Cumberland County PA market, as of right now April 2011 it is a buyer's market. This simply means that there are more sellers than buyers to buy the homes for sale.

A Sellers market is the exact opposite. Mortgage rates are very low, the lowest they have been since Truman was in office I heard someone say. This is all fine and good but here lies the problem making it a seller's market.. A lot of people want to buy, but there credit is not the best or they just foreclosed or went Thu bankruptcy and the list goes on. However, there is always sunshine on the horizon. There is also a lot of people who can buy now and have great credit, some have cash saved, just won the power ball and more! More good news is we are seeing an increase in the amount of transactions each month.

So your asking... Josh, why hasn't my house sold then?

Now, I am going to write these in the order I feel causes buyers to shy off. #1 being the worst and so on. Some others might disagree with me and say that price is always the #1 problem and I say to that.. not so.

Problem 1: Curb Appeal

Why is this number 1? First impression is everything, you wouldn't buy a car with scratches all over it when the lot down the street has the same car all shiny and scratch free would you? I doubt it. Buyers think the same way about your front lawn, landscaping, and front of your house. (No; this does not mean it is ok to have the back and sides looking like a hurricane just hit!). Nice clean landscaped yard with a great entrance shows one thing to buyers. Pride of ownership.

So, if your on a budget here is the easiest way to add curb appeal for around $200.

First, clean up any limbs, trash, grass clippings. Buy some cheap (but not cheap looking) flower pots and plant flowers in them and add to you porch or near front door. If front door's paint is flaking off, scrape loose paint off and re-paint. Add drama by using a red or navy color. Power wash the siding, clean the windows. Fix burnt out bulbs. Add some new mulch to flower beds, gardens. There is lots of little things buyers are picky over such as rusted mailboxes, etc. Look for these and fix (New mailbox $50, can of spray paint $ 5, you see where I am going with this.) (Note: this will not work if mailbox has rust holes in it, if that's the case replace it).One of the best things I have found to do is ask your neighbors what they think is wrong with your house.

Problem 2: Very Little Marketing

The old saying "you have to spend money to make money" is very true. If you or your listing agent takes one photo of the frontof your house and puts a business card size ad in the local paper, chances are you will never see a buyer. Speaking of photos, when photos are taken make sure the house is clean and neat, make sure agent takes great looking angles and during the right time of day. This makes a huge difference! Buyers don't want to see photos of your bed un-made or food all over the kitchen, Etc. I recommend to review the photos with your agent before posting them.

Effective marketing should flood every avenue with; your property is better than Bob's almost identical house 4 blocks down the street. It should be in local papers, on every website possible, blogs, have brochures to hand out with a description and full color photos, it should be video taped with a walk through and be posted on you tube, agents sites, blogs, be on the MLS, and the list goes on but you get the idea. Advertising is key. Without the right advertising the house won't get buyers. Houses usually sell themselves to buyers, so with no buyers from little advertising the house can't sell it self to its new owners. People get this illusion that Realtors are salespeople. Not so much, we are more negotiating marketers and half a dozen other things.

Problem 3: PRICE

Oh yes, the one everyone hates to hear. The one Realtors are famous for saying. But honestly, it's not that we like saying it or we want to sell your house for less (it benefits both of us to sell for more.)

However, real estate is a numbers game and the numbers show that if a house a block away which is identical to yours is selling for $245,000 and your home is listed at $300,000 guess who wins! The house for $245k might not have granite counter tops and cherry cabinets, but buyers feel with the money they have saved they can upgrade the 70's style kitchen to match yours and still be under your list price.

Not any different than why you might choose to buy milk at a certain big name department/grocery store vs. the mom and pop shop down the street. So Josh, how do I know where to price my house. That's the million dollar question, there is not really a right or wrong answer. But, with a good Comparative market analysis you can get close to where you need to be on price and "yes" the 70k you spent in the kitchen will get you some return, but most of the time not all of it. So if your neighbor is listed at $245k and has a run down old kitchen and you list say around $255,900 and note all the upgrades and move in ready. Guess which one wins now.

Seller's are always iffy about listing so far under what they want(if they wanted 300K) but, think about this... the longer your home sits on the market, the less you will get for it. The longer it sits, the longer you wait to find your new place, the longer it sits, the longer you make mortgage payments. (Note: that I am not saying every house has to be dropped 44,100 to sell, it's only an example.)

Problem 4: Interior Is In Ruins, Or Personalized

You would be surprised but buyers actually form opinions in seconds upon entering the house. Turn offs include but are not limited to pet smell, last nights dinner smell, unclean smells of any kind, too much furniture, pet cages, floor console TVs, family photos, dirty bathrooms (yes, I have been to homes where they did not flush!) un-made beds, bright yellow paint in the living room, etc.

Again, it comes down to pride of ownership. My advise, rent a storage unit and store extra furniture, and other items in it. (Do not use the garage as a storage unit! The garage should be clean and neat as well. Buyers look there too!) Before showings/open houses make sure your home looks and smells clean. The old trick of baking cookies works wonders but gets tiring after 10 showings! Burning scented candles or having plug in's on works just as well. Remember, less is more when the agent shows the house, so keep furniture to a minimum.

Problem 5: Location

This one is a big problem. It's not like you can pick up your house and move it. But, chances are if you live right beside an airport or train station, problem 5 is now your problem 1. I am not saying your home will not sell but it makes it more of a challenge.

So how to solve: Market property toward people who love to watch planes or even work at the airport, market property toward train lovers. Now, you CANNOT market it only toward them but you or your agent can add something like "great views of planes taking off and landing" or " can sit on your new porch and watch the trains roll into the station." You have to be very careful how you say things when describing the people you want to target."

Certain words can get you or your agent in serious trouble. So what if you live in a high crime area, now what? What if there is a giant apartment building in your back yard?

High crime area: install security locks on windows, have alarm system installed. Giant apartment building: now we know you can't move it or your house, so make the best of it. Add a fence or shrubs to mask it or take you immediate view off the building.

I am proud to serve Cumberland County PA. If you have any real estate related questions or are planning to buy or sell do not hesitate to contact me!