Happy New Year!

My wish for everyone is to live this last day of 2010 to the fullest and send it on its way. We welcome the New Year with a sort of muted anticipation. We are hoping that 2011 will be the year that more jobs are created to ramp up a very mixed and unknown economy.

To everyone, have a prosperous and wonderful New Year and Welcome 2011!



Plan for your home

If a new home is in your future this New Year, give it some planning. Getting the house ducks in a row will give you the upper hand when the time is right.

First things first, contact your housing professionals early to set your road map. The mortgage loan is taking longer to process, give it some time and give your lender a call. Once this is done you can move on to the Real Estate Agent, then you shop for your home.

Anything real estate takes time, don’t underestimate the timelines or you may be disappointed. Remember; always contact your trusted Realty professionals that have the experience to guide you through the home ownership roller coaster.

Predictions for the 2011 Housing Market!

Well 2010 is coming to an end and as we prepare for what lies ahead lets give our prognostication for the real estate market. If it is anything like our local weather predictions it will show opposite outcome for what has been forecast. It is like watching the old tonight show with Jonny Carson as Carnac, its all in the envelope.

Like you, I have been reading and listening to all of the latest data that has been belted out by media and “expert” statistical keepers. So far none of the information is of any foundation. Everyone can clearly see that the homes that have been sold to date have clearly taken the inventory down, but, there are no real trends.

Maybe what the “Expert” home sale people need to do is just take the whole year of 2011 from start to end and then come up with a “trend”. Forecasting the market viability gets you all kinds of responses depending upon who is asked. It is like our Idaho weather where the meteorologists have been less than 50% so goes the real estate market.

What we do know is the house market and real estate industry as a whole is working its way though the wild ups and downs. There are no trends that can be sustained for long and what is said today will not be the same tomorrow. Happy New Year!

Road to Ownership

2011 may just be the year to change your goals and prepare for your home purchase. The process of becoming a home owner has never changed, the game has. What do you need to know when you set out to make such a big decision?

First things first, with the economy ever changing the way it is, entering into a home purchase is going to be scrutinized up and down, left and right. Where to begin?

Employment is the largest looming aspect dealing with any real estate related purchase. Not just the fact you have a job, but, how does your job provide for you. Most first time home buyers are going to start with a home loan specialist or mortgage broker. They are gathering information about your life at this point in time.

Generally speaking, the mortgage loan industry guidelines will require that you have a job that you have been in at least two (2) years. You will need to show income tax returns for those years. If you are self employed i.e.: Realtor, Sales person, also a two year period of time with income tax returns to back it up. Credit scores must be good and your debt to income ratios (how much you owe compared to how much you bring home) must be in an acceptable area. Being a first time home owner will take an extra step. Taking a home buyer class is the first. This class will enlighten you on the upsides and pitfalls of the home buyer process.

Once the loan is in place it is moving to the home shopping is next. Knowing what you can afford is paramount when touring homes. This saves you time energy and effort. Of course hiring a Real Estate Agent that is experienced working with buyers will make it all worth it. Realtors know the ins and outs of the business. They will educate you as the buyer as you go through the home purchase process. Happy House Hunting!

Homes for those who serve

We are dedicated to provide our real estate expertise to you, the members of our Military. Providing all of the heroes the service they deserve. Whether you are active military or retired for over 10 years we give you the knowledge and ability to work through the red tape of Government programs.

Our team of lenders and realtors work hard to make sure your housing needs is met in a timely and professional manor. Relocation and long distance transactions are given the scrutiny to provide you with piece of mind for service men and women.

To start your journey give a call, email or fill out our easy to use form. We will get back in a rapid fashion.
Providing military real estate services and Relocation in the State of Idaho.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Hoping you have a safe and joyous Christmas!

Everything You Own

Ahh you are out for your Sunday drive and go past signs pointing to a house up the winding road, the signs read Estate Sale. Wow, that must be worth checking out because there are not many Estates in the area. Well actually there are more than you know. Just what does an Estate mean? It is a legal term for everything you own, all of your personal property.

I have never really given it a thought that I have an Estate, but it is true, if you own anything, cars, chairs or toaster ovens they are all part of your estate. All of these treasures can be moved or transferred. So as a Real Estate agent what do I deal with?

The Real part is that part of your ownership that is affixed and not moveable. Land, buildings, fences etc. Real property is your house and anything that is built into your home. A real estate agents job is to sell or help buyers transfer your real property to another person.

So even though you do probably always have an Estate, you may not have real property if you for instance currently rent. Next time you describing yourself try to fit in the term Estate, it will automatically elevate your worth, (at least for a moment).

Real Estate Review 2010

As we look foreword to 2011, we view the past year with either good riddance or with glee. Now I don’t believe for a minute that many have a warm place in their heart for 2010. It was a year that was filled with ups and downs. The real estate market was in the middle of a major shift and Realtors were making adjustments themselves to ride it out.

Continued unemployment was the main reason for a poor economy and stifling paychecks. We had record low interest rates, yet not many were buying. Every economist in the country was predicting growth, yet they showed disappointment when that didn’t come to fruition.

There are some new aspects of the real estate business that came to the forefront during the last year. Many Realtors and real estate agents were embracing lateral income in the form of Property Management and Home tending, this is the practice of placing live in short term renters in vacant homes until the home sells. Home staging became popular with many agents offering this service. The bank industry added more and more new positions to handle all of the repossessions and foreclosures. New companies developed that take care of all of the banks short sales and foreclosed properties.

Yet in the end the year was not that great for the market. Real estate is and always will be one of the most important pieces of the countries money markets. It will rebound, but the question is when that will happen. If you listen to the government coffers it will happen in 2011 to 2012 that would be a well accepted timeframe. The only problem is that jobs need to come back before any predictions can be made.

I look ahead and welcome 2011, because you have to be better than our current times.

The Book of Listings!

How did Real Estate evolve over time to get where it is today? I remember when I was buying a home back in the late 80s, my real estate agent brought me into the room, (of her office), and plunked a very large book on the table. This book contained pages and pages of home listings; each was in a certain place.

Then you would read about each individual listing, by the way without pictures, and choose which homes you where going to view. This process may have taken several hours just to determine your list of homes on the market. Then off you went to look at your choices.

Today buyers and sellers have the ability to virtually walk though every house on the market if they wish. Remember, back during these times no one had cell phones either, so information updates such as if the home had a contract or was pending may not have been known for a couple of days depending upon the Realtors fast response returning calls off the answering device.

Information is golden, today just like twitter and face book, everything is instant. Generally speaking, a real estate agent will know right away if a home is still on the market. So now instead of going into a room to look through the Big Book, buyers can literally pre purchase a home before they even have boots on the ground to view it in person.

I will never know what it was like before the Inter web, but, I am so happy to be able to offer the services that we have available for all Realty marketing, for both Home Buyers and Sellers.

Location?

What are the trending searches for buyers today? Well with the market shift of the last few years, they have changed the top preference. No longer is the area location of top priority. They may start out with a wish to be in a certain location, but with time migrate to other places with the type of property that satisfies their wants for either a great price or gigantic home with lots of space.

Now I don’t think that they have given up on wanting to live in a desired area, I do believe that with the options out there for residential real estate, the location falls to a great deal.

The real estate market is changing daily to adjust from the old ways of thinking. Two or three years ago there were hot market areas and the “subdivision to be in”. As time has passed what goes around comes around. Some of those hot homes are now coming back out on the market again with drastically reduced prices. The short sale – foreclosure market is forcing new prices and bringing those homes some only dreamed about into their comfort zone.

The one statement that I have always held on to when I went to Real Estate School was “Real Estate is always Cyclic”, nothing today will be the same tomorrow. Kind of makes sense now.

The Quiet in between Storms

There it is again, can you hear it? The story goes; you have been pounding the metal on your current real estate transaction working to the bone for your clients. The furry of the high drama getting the deal accepted, going through the contingencies such as the inspection, getting all of your paperwork ducks in a row. Documents faxed back and forth, signatures, dates and Ts crossed.

Does this sound familiar? Then you get to a place where there are no more papers flying, no more faxes faxing. Where are you? The twilight zone you say? But no, you are in Dun Dun Dun Dun….UNDERWRITING! It’s that period of time just before you are ready to close your real estate deal. The bustle is done and it is in the place for lender review. All is quiet and the waiting begins until final mortgage loan approval is given to go ahead and fund.


We are in the stop and go period and it never changes. Your loan is being given the scrutiny of the microscope. Once it has come out of underwriting, the bustle begins again until your clients move into their new home. What a great time for Real Estate!

On the road again!

With the economy being what it is at this moment in time, why is there still activity from people moving to Boise from other States? Are they trying to come to greener pastures or are the reasons to have a better life style? Many relocate from other parts of the nation for work related transfers or in hopes of finding a great place to raise a family.

Real estate is still moving, it may be at a slower pace and the cost to move may strain many folks that may not have effected them five years ago. What does it involve to relocate to Idaho from the Realtor aspect?

Many of the people moving to Idaho are coming with job related moves. As a Relocation Realtor, I must give them as much information on Idaho as I would provide information about finding them a home to purchase. The need to find schools that match their family goals, and located the home that qualifies as meeting qualifications for area and size etc.


Finding the dream home is just the start. An agent may only have a couple of days to provide everything that is required of the buyer before they have to return back home. It is a long distance relationship from this point. In this market of short sales and foreclosures, nothing is for sure at any point in the process. Sometimes multiple trips are needed before something is narrowed down. Yes it takes time, and yes it is worth the effort. If you haven’t been through this process it may scare others off. Patience is a virtue, knowing what is going to happen in the process is priceless!

Is the appraisal system broken?

With home valuations coming in all over the board, many have been asking the question if there needs to be some sort of conformity to the way that appraisals are done.

What is an appraisal? It is one mans opinion of the worth of your house compared to other like homes that have sold in the past 3 to 6 months. Ok, then how do the appraisers come up with the values they do? The answer is that there is no set rule to determine value of properties. Most Banks will hire firms to determine the valuation and then they determine how to market their repossessions accordingly.

The questions being, why do well kept homes that are maintained by the owners the same appraised value compared to a trashed home with no yard? The answer is the comparatives are only taken off of the local MLS for homes sold and occasionally from tax records. Does the appraiser go to all of these homes to see first hand the condition? The answer is NO. They currently use homes with the same square footage and number of rooms etc. and run them on paper. The sold amounts are what your home is up against.

The way that the appraisal has ruled the cost evaluation is probably broken, but the banks go along with it on a daily basis. Realtors can come up with the same value if this is the case. These after all are the comparables they use to find their list price. If truly comparing homes have nothing to do with it right now, then why do we need appraisals? Reform is needed.

A Virtual Realtor

As Real Estate moves more and more toward the virtual world, do you ever wonder what it will be like or what services would be offered?

For those of us that participate in the world of Face book, many have seen the Farmville posts that come up many times over in your profile. There are so many people that see the posts that you make and literally millions of people that play the Farmville game.

In the Real Estate world everyone knows that if you are not participating in the “social” aspects of marketing, you will eventually not do as well as those that have embraced the new ways of marketing and communication.

Marketing Real Estate and properties these days require you to have the best web presence that you can to get your listings seen by the millions of lookers and buyers every day. You choices are now trying to decide how big of an ad to place in your local newspaper with a very limited audience to figuring out the best keywords for your online listing, the online presence is going to give more exposure than only delivering your information to people locally.

How the world searched in 2010…

Over the weekend, Google unleashed Zeitgeist 2010: How the world searched.

Successful home selling

After finding a buyer, all you have to do to make it to closing is to avoid the traps, What kind of traps could there be after you have signed on the dotted line?

The first step is to make sure you have made the correct professional associations, yes; I mean that you have chosen the best Real Estate Agent to be your representation as your Realtor. When you have a contract that is signed by all parties involved the work just begins. Don’t ever think of this as the end of the process.

Many of the points in the contract now have to be resolved such as the inspection. This is particularly important when working with the Banks and Short Sale transactions.

Follow the link provided to ensure you get the information needed. The sale of a home is never done until the home funds and records. Don’t be sold short follow the directions of your Realtor.

Craigslist, love it or hate it!

One of the best ways to advertise your home for sale or any product that you wish to sell is Craigslist. It has been very good to me for advertising Rental property and house hold goods that I no longer wish to hold onto.

There are just a couple of steps that you need to know in order to make the Craigslist experience a good experience. When you list anything on Craigslist just know that the majority of the hits are going to be scammers. These are people that click on your ad and then send you an email with a website or email address to send back. Don’t click on anything that was not solicited. Just delete the email and all is well.

Craigslist operates on the premise that you remain Anonymous. This means that your address is not seen when it is online. You then click a link to send to the poster. You will know if the person is a legitimate customer if they request a phone number to call you. Allow them to call you; don’t call them back unless they give you a local non 800 phone number. You can still be scammed by calling an 800 number.


Never meet anyone to show your property or home by your self. If they request to meet you in an out of the way place, refuse to do this. Use these simple rules and it will make you online experience a good one.

Two Big Ones for Boise

Finally making it past the Boise Planning and Zoning is Whole Foods Market! The Austin Texas based store will bring refreshing and new business to downtown Boise. The 35,000 square foot market will have organic and natural based foods and products. The store will include an outdoor plaza and landscaped parking lot. They plan to break ground in 2011.

Another great development is the addition of a Henry's Market to be located at 15th and Idaho with the ground breaking in March 2011. The California based store will offer organic and natural products along with natural beef and poultry. They will also have a full service deli and local grown fruits and vegetables.

I look foreword to our City moving ahead with the additions of these great Stores!

Help with Short Sales and Foreclosures

Short Sale and Foreclosure Resource

Boise House and Home dot com is a website with Realtors and Agents certified by the National Association of Realtors as the resource for your short sale and foreclosure assistance in Idaho.



Winter in the City

Winter in Boise Idaho at Night!

Christmas Scene in Boise Idaho

 Idaho Capitol Building Christmas Ribbons

 Christmas Tree of Idaho in the Winter Night

 Idaho Christmas Tree

 Downtown Boise Buildings at Night in the Winter

 Downtown Boise in The Winter Night

Wait, where did my Realtor go?

In the Real Estate business people come and go and move and shake all the time. You may see a Realtor agent at one company and then they are at another, what’s with that?

To begin with Realtors work for themselves, they are independent contractors and are responsible for everything in their business. A Realty company or Broker is the company that you place your license to do business. The brokers companies are as different in what they offer as are the Realtors that work under the company name.

There is every kind of Real Estate Brokerage out there; there are the big franchise companies, such as Century 21, Keller Williams, and REmax etc. Then there are the local smaller brokerage companies found in everyone’s town and city. As a Realtor you make commissions based on what is paid by the seller, in turn, the Realtor keeps the Broker in business by paying certain percentage of their commissions to the company. Many think that the realtor gets a great big commission and will live happily ever after. It is in fact just like a real job except that there is no payday; it is payday after you close a transaction.

Your Realtor probably has gone to a brokerage that is adjusting to the leaner times. Many of the smaller brokerages don’t take a percentage of the commission, but a flat fee. Many also help with the advertising, signs and lock boxes which could take up to half of the income for Realtors. It just all depends upon the current thinking of what your realtor is doing to make his business better for the current market. Support your Realtor!

Need to buy quickly?

You have a client that for one reason or another needs to purchase a home as an owner occupied residence, meaning they want to live in the house. What do you do to find the right home for your clients that will have a relatively short closing time?

You, as a realtor need to ask several questions to narrow the search right out of the gate. Some buyers with a needed “quick close” may try to lead you down a path that they still wish to have the best deal out there. The quick close and rock bottom price may not work. Searching for a quick close in most cases rules out all of the short sale homes with a few exceptions. The big exception being the short sale is thru a local bank with local decision making. These can usually be made with short time frame. Bank owned homes are the next that you can look at. This is providing that the Realtor has all of the documentation ready to submit an offer such as loan approval letter etc.


The bank owned or REO properties can usually have a decision within a week, if longer time is needed, rule it out and move on. The best one is the heralded seller that has no bank or short sale ties; yes I am talking about a clean sale. Most sellers have the prices set at market value, meaning they are priced at the same as the others have sold in the last 3 months. These have only the seller to make the decision and can close quickly. (Remember the way it used to be?) There are still ways to close in 30 days; it just takes some work on the part of the Realtor!

Snow Day

Dateline Boise Idaho, November 1, 2010. Snow all night long and most of yesterday making for a snow day schedule. Brand new 7 inches of the white stuff is on the road making for a winter wonderland. Schools are closed and most businesses are delaying the start of the day.

With the forecast of more snow today and then changing to rain with higher temperatures, it will test the driving skills and emotional skills of everyone on the road today.

 

Photos Via KTVB