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What is Radon?

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January is National Radon Action Month! I frequently get asked by my clients which tests they should do during an inspection.  I always recommend a general inspection, a sewer scope, and a radon test. This is almost always followed by “what is radon?” Well, radon is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that is slightly radioactive. Because of this radioactivity, it is dangerous to the human body in high doses. In fact, it is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the united states. Sounds a little scary right? Lucky for us, we can test for it!

It’s important to know there will be some level of radon present in all homes. The gas enters the home through the soil at the lowest level of the house. This is why the best place to test the radon is in the basement or near the crawl space entrance. You can buy simple tests at places like Home Depot or Lowe’s, or you can pay a professional to conduct a 3 day test. The professional tests are much more accurate, but if you are just curious about your home, the do-it-yourself test will suffice.

In the real estate world, an average of 4 Bq/m3 or becquerel per cubic meter is considered a safe level. Throughout the test the radon levels will fluctuate greatly, sometimes reading around 1 Bq/m3 sometimes it can go up to 90 Bq/m3  As long as the 3 day average is under 4 Bq/m3, the radioactivity in the Radon gas is not high enough to be greatly concerned about. If your average is higher than 4 Bq/m3  don’t worry, you don’t have to abandon the house! You simply have to have a mitigation system installed.

There are multiple different systems that can be installed but the most recommended system keeps the radon from entering your home at all. For example, the system shown has a fan that blows the gas from under the house to the exterior of the house so it can simply be diluted into the air. Currently radon systems average between 1500-2000 to install depending on the difficulty. These are commonly negotiated as part of a real estate transaction before closing. 

 

If you have other questions about radon gas, the EPA has a great site you can find here or leave them in the comments. As always, If I can help you or anyone else that you know with the purchase or sale of a home, I am never too busy to help!

Be Ready to Buy

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You need to be ready to buy when the market shifts. 

We still have an inventory crisis, and that will keep the market from crashing.  Pricing will continue going down as long as the interest rates continue to climb. As soon as inflation is back under control, they will drop the rates again.  When they do, you want to be ready to buy so you can enjoy the climb and build wealth.  

What do you need to do to be a ready to buy? Here are the 4 things I would focus on to best position yourself for a future purchase. 

Save your money.

You’ll need a downpayment and the more money you can put down, the better the house will be. Set aside a percentage of every paycheck, somewhere you can’t touch it, and let it build up as much as you can. If the bulk of your money is tied up in investments, I’d pull it and hold the cash so the stock market isn’t deciding how large of a downpayment you have. Of course talk with your financial advisor about this strategy, but stocks are also predicted to continue declining.  

Pay down your debts.

Your debt to income ratio is a huge part of being able to buy a house. Start with paying off your smaller debts and then wrap those payments into the larger debts. This will put yourself in as strong a position as possible.  

Work on your credit score.

This will improve naturally as you pay your debts down. You also want to make sure you stay up to date on all your payments and remove any past delinquencies that may still be showing up.  Free credit report sites can give you a quick overview, but for a better look I’d head over to one of the actual reporting agencies.  

Hone what you want to buy.

Once interest rates come back down, there will be a frenzy again because we don’t have any inventory.  Knowing exactly what you want to buy will put you in the best position to immediately jump on it when it comes on the market.  

This market is different than anything we have ever seen before, and as such we are all learning something new everyday.  If it were my money, I’d be buying homes as soon as the interest rates hit 5.5%. If you want to talk about a buying strategy, or what this could mean for you, please reach out!

Want to meet with us? You can schedule with us HERE

Is this a good HOA?

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Buying a home could mean dealing with a homeowners’ association. This begs the question, how can you tell if the HOA is doing a good job? Watch to find out!

HOA’s manage, maintain, and regulate everything that is outside of the home — Such as the structure of the building, the common areas, the landscaping, and the recreation areas, if they have them. But unlike the membership of other community organizations, you can’t resign if you’re unhappy with the way the organization is run.

If the community you are searching in passes these 4 checks, you are probably in good hands!

#1 – Community looks nice

If the community looks good, it usually means that something positive has impacted the community. Of course, the opposite is also true. If you’re thinking about buying into a community, take an objective look at its appearance. Is the structure of the building in good repair? Are the trees pruned, the beds weeded and the landscaping well maintained? Is the pool clean? Are any of the homes in the community eyesores? Your answers to these questions reflect on whether the HOA is performing its duties properly and requiring homeowners to do the same. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding.

#2 – Strong Communication

This is your community and you have every right to know what’s going on in it. Do your research. Figure out how the HOA board communicates with homeowners. The options are numerous and include newsletters, websites, annual reports and emails. Check for flyers advertising community meetings. If homeowners are invited to attend committee meetings, it’s a good sign that their input is heard and valued.

#3 – Strong Money Management

The best HOA’s put checks and balances in place to safeguard against the risk of financial mismanagement. They employ a second set of eyes – someone not on the board – to collect the dues, pay the bills, and review checks and invoices to make sure the HOAs financial affairs are in good order. Often the second pair of eyes is a professional property manager, a lawyer, or an accountant on staff. We also want to be sure that they have a clear budget for addressing repairs, whether it is unforeseen circumstances or scheduled maintenance.

#4 – Clear HOA Rules

HOA’s tend to have a set of rules called Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions. CC&R’s supercede city, county, and state laws and come with hefty fines if they are violated. So it’s really important to know if you’re moving into a community with a strict HOA. CC&R’s are meant to be applied objectively and fairly throughout the community – but sometimes they’re only enforced if a neighbor complains. The best way to tell if CC&R’s are applied consistently (or not) is to take a tour around the community. If everyone’s landscaping is immaculate, the HOA is probably very strict. But if some homes look run-down, and others don’t, it’s a good sign that the HOA is pretty lax on enforcing their rules.

Now that you know what to look for, let us help guide you into the perfect community! Even if that means avoiding HOAs all together! Contact us below!

Ready to get started? You can chat with us, or our lenders! Learn more about them over on our preferred lenders page

The Open House

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Today we are taking you behind the scenes of everything we do to prep for an open house! We made this great video for you to enjoy! If you prefer to read about it, we have that included below for you!

The first and most important thing that we do to prepare for an open house is to research the current trends in the neighborhood. We are constantly watching overall trends, but we want to be able to answer neighborhood specific questions to prospective buyers as well. We pull together a list of comparable properties, every other open house in the neighborhood, and our buyer book and head off to the house.

The Big Set Up

All of our open houses are marketed on multiple websites and through facebook ads, but you never know who might be driving by, so we also place many signs around the neighborhood to make it easy to find us.

Once we are at the house we want everyone to feel like they are already home. We have both sweet and savory snacks available, white or rose wine, sparkling water, and plenty of napkins. We also want to turn all the lights on so the home shows the best it can no matter the weather. This also gives a chance to get even more familiar with the property. We look for the furnace, water heater, and any quirks that people may have questions about.

Open houses are one of the most fun things you can do as a realtor. You get to meet quite a few people and usually spend a couple hours inside a gorgeous house. If you are starting to think about getting into the market, we are happy to send you weekly open house lists. Just fill out the form below! You can also search for homes by clicking HERE

The Listing

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Today we are taking you behind the scenes of everything we do to prep and win a listing appointment! We made this great video for you to enjoy! If you prefer to read about it, we have that included below for you!

The first and most important thing that we do to prepare for an upcoming listing appointment is to research the current trends in the neighborhood. We are constantly watching overall trends, but pricing a home and creating a personalized market plan requires specific data about which homes have just sold, how long they were on the market, and many other factors. We pull together all the market data, put together a personalized marketing guide, print the contract and head over to the potential new listing!

The Interview

A listing appointment is when we are truly being interviewed. We put our best foot forward and show everything that we have to offer. Typically we are going to be competing against 2 or 3 other agents so it is critical that we set ourselves apart. One big thing we do is send our ‘7 tips for Selling your Home’ booklet to the potential client before we even meet them. You can download it HERE if you want to check it out.

Some other big differences you can expect to get from us are the scope of our marketing knowledge and the brand power we bring. We are well-versed in running social media ads so we can guarantee the listing will get many more views than any neighbor’s listing. We also have the power of the Sotheby’s brand behind us. That gives us access to all of their marketing partners. We get to see our listings on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Mansion Global and many, many more websites around the world. The home is also marketed directly to our global Sotheby’s network. It may just be the perfect fit for an investor or someone relocating here to Portland.

Marketing

In the video above, our listing proposal stood out and we won the listing over at least one other agent. It always feels good to win, but now that we have the contract signed, it is truly time to get to work. Here is quick list of everything we have to coordinate in the week before the listing goes on the market.

Professional photos are the most important step at this stage. NEVER hire an agent that tells you they can take the photos on their phone. They won’t look good and you only get 1 chance to make a first impression. We also do a stunning walkthrough video, 3D tour, and drone pictures. Your home will be the best looking one on the block when we are finished.

The home in our video went pending for full price after only 4 days on the market. If you need some guidance about what to do to sell your home, we would love to come and interview with you! If you want a quick snapshot of your home’s value, you can find that HERE. Or if you prefer to check in on your neighbors homes, you can search for everything on the market HERE. You can also fill out the form below and we will be in touch soon!

Buyer Closing Costs

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Today we are going to be talking all about closing costs! Check out the video below to learn all about them! If you don’t like videos, read on below.

Last week we went through closing costs when you are selling a home, but there are also closing costs associated with purchasing a home.  Most buyers are aware that they need to save up for a downpayment. They also know they need to pay for inspections. But, many people don’t realize there are also quite a few fees that you need to budget for.  

I had a buyer a couple of years ago that had to let their dream home go because they didn’t have enough cash to close on the home. This could have been solved if they had know to budget for an extra 3%.  I really don’t want you to end up in that situation. So here are my 3 tips for buying a home when it comes to closing costs.  

Write out a budget

Meet with your realtor and write out a budget. Depending on the time of year that you are buying, closing costs can vary from 2-4% of the purchase price. That means if you are buying a $500,000 houses here in Portland, you can expect your closing costs to be about $15,000.  We have a great buyers guide for you once you are ready to get serious about buying a home. You can download it HERE

Be honest about what you can afford

Take a look at your finances and budget for what makes sense.  Just because you are approved for a $500,000  house doesn’t mean that is what you should spend.  If you only have $7,000 to put towards closing costs, we may want to look at buying a cheaper home.  You don’t want to move in and be immediately house poor, so lets come up with a real budget and decide what kind of purchase makes the most sense to you.  

Stretch your money

Make a plan for your money to go farther.  Depending on the health of the overall market, we may be able to ask the seller to pay for some, or all, of your closing costs. This means that your money can go farther.  While this is an option in all markets, if we end up writing an offer on a home with multiple offers, the chances of our offer being accepted and getting closing costs covered is very low.  There are things we can do to combat this, so we just need to sit together to plan everything out.  

Closing costs are not a fun part of the real estate transaction. They do however pay for your new deed, so they are crucial to buying a home.  If you want to sit down to discuss the specifics about what fees are covered, or if you just have general real estate questions, I would love to chat with you anytime! 

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube so you are always up to date with what we are doing!  You can also sign up for our monthly newsletter and we will send you fun events happening in Portland.  

Thanks for joining me today and I will talk to you soon!

Why preapprovals matter

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Chances are if you have ever had a conversation with a Realtor you have been asked “are you pre-approved?” A pre-approval is a letter from a lender that states you have the ability to purchase a property within a certain price.  They take a quick look at your debt, income, and what you want your monthly payment to be. Then they are able to give you an accurate price range. Not only does this give you criteria for your home search, but it allows you to shop confidently without wondering whether the house payments will be too high.  While your peace of mind is important during the real estate transaction, that isn’t the main reason that pre-approvals matter.  We will get to that in a moment.

In Portland houses are selling faster than hotcakes!  If you are looking for a home in a desirable neighborhood, that is move in ready, you are going to have a lot of competition.  statsAs an example, here are the stats for the Richmond neighborhood.  As you can see, the average days on market before a home went pending (upper box) is 10 days.  That is less than 2 weeks on the market before the seller has negotiated and accepted an offer.  If you look at the closed sales (bottom box) you can see that the average is only 3 days!  While I did select a specific neighborhood, this trend continues into almost every neighborhood of Portland.

So, Back to the importance of the pre-approval. Say we are out looking for houses and you fall in love with one of these cute homes; 47th 30th

if you didn’t already have that pre-approval on hand, you wouldn’t be able to write an offer in time to even be considered. There are a lot of people out looking for the same homes and the only way to win is to be more prepared than your competition is.  The first home that you lose is always the hardest, and while sometimes there really is nothing more that you can do, if you lose a house because you missed a step in the beginning, you will always regret it.  Calling a lender and talking numbers for 20 or so minutes may not be the most fun thing in the world, but it is a lot more fun than losing a house.

If you are getting ready to enter the real estate market and need some referrals to lender, I would love to help you out. And as always, if you or anyone you know has any real estate needs, I am never to busy to help!