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What to Fix In and Outside Your House before SellingTRANSCRIPT
1
3 Proactive Steps First-Time Homebuyers Should Consider
How to Choose the Perfect Neighborhood
6 Powerful Home-Staging
Secrets the Pros Use
First Time Home
Buyers Fulfill Dreams with
the Right Mortgage
What to Fix In and Outside Your House before Selling
HomeFitExercise the Best Ins and Outs of Home Ownership
The Magazine for Home Buyers and Sellers
March 2014 Issue
2
Letter from the Editors In this issue, we will touch on a lot of consumer-oriented subjects regarding
the sale and purchase of real estate.
As the housing market continues to rebound, real estate agents and their
clients still face issues of financing, pricing and strategies for showing their
homes.
In this issue, we will cover details about how a buyer or seller should choose
a real estate agent to represent them and what questions should they ask
their potential agent to ensure they are both on the same page.
We will touch on how a first-time homebuyer can proactively prepare for
acquiring a mortgage to finance their starter home, the type of credit reports
needed, what factors affect their credit scores, what steps can they take
to repair their credit and if it needs to be repaired. Also, the documents
expected to gathered and presented to a loan officer.
For sellers, we’ll examine home improvements and decide which come
closest to paying for themselves, or if any of them do. We’ll also offer sellers
a list of repairs they should make before even considering putting their house
up for sale.
Finally, we’ll share some professional staging secrets with sellers that will
ensure that they’ll be able to show their properties in the best possible light.
We hope you find this issue as informative and fun to read as we did writing it.
Feel free to contact us if you have questions or would like your friends and
family added to our distribution list.
Michael L Maratta, BRE # 01900054"Let Me Sell your home in 30 days"[email protected]
Sam Tello, NMLS # 479946Loan OfficerCell: [email protected]
26690 Madison Ave Suite 105Murrieta, CA 92562
16870 West Bernardo Dr. Suite #416San Diego, CA 92127
16870 West Bernardo Dr. Suite #416San Diego, CA 92127909-213-5909
Dale MontanaroREALTOR®Direct Phone: 951.566.7922 [email protected]
27701 -D Scott Rd. Suite 103 Menifee, CA 92584 951-566-7922
Pat LoyaRealtorCell: (909) [email protected]
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CONTENTS
6. How to Choose the Perfect Neighborhood
4. What to Fix In and Outside Your House before Selling
8. 3 Proactive Steps First-Time Homebuyers Should Consider
10. First Time Home Buyers Fulfill Dreams with the Right Mortgage
12. 6 Powerful Home-Staging Secrets the Pros Use
15. A Bit About Mold
14 Found the Perfect Home – But Furniture Won’t Fit!
This magazine is published monthly. Entire contents are copyright protected under law where applicable. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or use of content in
any manner without permission is strictly prohibited. All images are copyright protection of 123RF.com and its photographers.
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What to Fix In and Outside Your House before SellingIf you’ve decided to sell your house,
then the next step you need to
take is to make some necessary
improvements to its exterior and
interior.
Professional home stagers say this
is the only way to ensure that your
real estate agent will be able to
sell your property in a reasonable
amount of time for the price that
it’s worth. You’ll want to plan and
complete these improvements
before you list your home and you’ll
want to make them without going
overboard on spending.
First Things First
In real estate, as with so many
things in life, first impressions are
everything. That’s why the first thing
you should focus on improving
is how the outside of your house
looks, commonly known as curb
appeal. That’s because the exterior
of your property is the first thing a
potential buyer sees.
Cosmetic touches such as making
sure your lawn is mowed and your
shrubbery is trimmed are a must.
If your house has siding that is
weathered then you should invest in
getting it pressured washed. Some
companies advertise that they will
pressure wash any house for just
$199. Or if you want to save some
money and you have the time,
you could rent a pressure washer
yourself. It goes without saying
that if there is any siding missing, it
should also be replaced.
If you house doesn’t have siding and
it hasn’t been painted in a few years,
consider putting on a new coat or
two. This should include painting
your front and garage doors.
Inside Improvements Will Boost Its Value
Again, inside cosmetic
improvements can help you get
top dollar for your home. You
should focus on improving the first
impression a potential buyer gets
when they enter it. If the tile in your
foyer is dated or cracked, replace it.
However, don’t improve something
that is in fair shape but just needs
to be scrubbed. For example,
sometimes bathtub faucets can
be spotted, dull and grimy. That’s
the time to clean and polish them,
resurrecting their original shine and
beauty.
As with the exterior of your home,
a coat or two of paint can cover
up blemishes and accentuate the
architectural lines of your dwelling.
It’s not unusual for those putting
their homes up for sale to have
second thoughts after sprucing the
old place up!
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Super Clean Bathrooms and Kitchens
Cleanliness is something a potential
buyer will see, smell and notice
throughout your home, but
especially in the bathrooms and
kitchen. As a result, home staging
experts recommend thoroughly
cleaning your entire house, but
cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms
with bleach. They also suggest
fixing any dripping faucets because
they are a major turn off to potential
buyers. So do repair them if you
have this problem. Sadly, it’s often
such little things that can kill a sale.
Say Goodbye to Clutter
Finally, improving the appearance
of your home so it will show at
its best can sometimes be an
exercise in subtraction rather than
addition. Staging professionals say
clutter is the No. 1 reason potential
homebuyers reject some of the
most pristine properties they’re
shown. Clutter is insidious because
it happens slowly over the years
and finally forces home sellers to
remove or pare down some of
their favorite pieces of furniture and
decorations. It also forces them
to get rid of the junk that’s been
accumulating over the years in their
garages, basements and especially
their closets. But get rid of it you
must, if you hope to sell your house
for a high-market price.
If you follow these suggestions,
experts say you can expect your
property to stand out from the rest,
sell at a good price -- and do so in a
reasonable period of time!
1. Go stand on the street to see
what clients see when driving up
to the house. Be aware that any
negative impressions they get
outside the house (landscaping not
maintained or non-existent, peeling
paint, etc.) is just going to make
them think that the house itself
has not been well taken care of.
So even if you have spent the time
and money to fix up the interior, it
would all be wasted if the clients get
a bad first impression as they drive
up to the house.
2. Next, step outside your front
door and close the door; then
stand on the stoop and look
around for 5 minutes. While the
real estate agent is searching for
keys and trying to open the door,
the clients are standing behind and
looking around. So what are they
seeing? Dead plants, old Halloween
decorations in the middle of
January, cobwebs?
It’s definitely worth it to take some
time and clean it up. Want to go
a step further? Try a new coat of
paint or some new furniture or
accessories.
3 Tips to Get You Started with the Outside of Your Home
3. Don’t forget the backyard.
While that might not be part of the
potential buyers’ first impression,
you still should make sure it’s in
the best condition possible. Pull
up weeds, water plants, do some
sweeping (if that’s applicable) and
maybe purchase new furniture or
accessories (plant pots, bird houses,
etc.).
And the biggest tip of all? Imagine
yourself as a potential buyer looking
at your property for the first time.
What impressions are you getting?
Would YOU buy your house? What
would you like to see changed
before you put an offer on your
house?
Proper staging helps you sell
your house in a shorter time and
potentially at the price you want.
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How to Choose the Perfect NeighborhoodWhether you’re a first-time
homebuyer or getting ready to
sell your house and upgrade to a
larger property, choosing the right
neighborhood to move into should
be your first consideration.
While different people may seek
various amenities and aesthetics as
part of their neighborhood search,
there are certain factors everyone
should consider before making a
final decision on where to move.
Important Factors
Before you move into a particular
locale, you should check the crime
stats of the neighborhood. This
can be done online using various
websites that breakdown this critical
information by zip code. In some
jurisdictions, local police stations
can give you this data. Suffice it to
say, even if a neighborhood looks
beautiful on the outside and there
are plenty of houses to choose
from, if you find that burglaries and
car theft is skyrocketing there, it’s
time to move on.
If you have children, or are planning
to, the quality of a prospective
neighborhood’s schools should
be a major factor in making your
choice. You can contact the local
school board in the neighborhood’s
jurisdiction and obtain the latest
stats on how the average student
in the neighborhood scores on
national proficiency tests. You can
then compare them to scores
of students in other areas. This
stat often mirrors the quality and
effectiveness of education available
in a particular neighborhood.
Education Budget
You can also get an idea of
the quality of education in a
neighborhood by comparing the
budget allotted by local officials to
the area compared to other areas.
Another source of information is the
education section of community
newspapers covering the
neighborhood. It wouldn’t hurt to
look them up online and even give
the education reporter a call. You’d
be surprised how many of them will
be glad to give you their opinions
of the state of education in the area
they cover. Finally, you can contact
the local Parent Teacher Association
(PTA) and get both the pros and
cons of the education system in the
area. Members of this organization
also can tell you if the schools
have sufficient room, or if they are
overcrowded.
Traffic and Future Development
When choosing a new
neighborhood, quality-of-life
issues such as traffic and potential
crowding have become important
factors in making a decision. Let’s
face it, no matter how pristine a
neighborhood is, if you have to sit
in gridlock for a significant amount
of time before you can reach your
front door, it might not be the
area for you. The easiest way to
discover the traffic volume in a
neighborhood is to get in your car
and drive around it at peak morning
and evening rush hours. If it’s easy
to drive from place to place, then
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you have a winner. If not, then
you might decide to cross the
neighborhood off your list.
If a neighborhood you’re interested
in is already fairly built out, it makes
sense to research whether there are
any major development projects
in the wings. This can be done by
visiting the local planning board’s
website, or visit in person. Although
it’s not a given that all proposed
developments will be approved, a
majority of them do make it from
the drawing board to completion.
So, if you are considering a
neighborhood that is in store for
major development in the next
couple of years, you really need to
weigh this factor in your decision.
Proximity to Schools, Stores, Hospitals and More
Another important consideration
in choosing a neighborhood is
the proximity of your new home
to schools, hospitals, stores, parks
and airports. If you have a family
member who is disabled or sick,
it makes no sense moving into a
neighborhood that is far from the
best medical facilities. If you are
an avid runner you probably want
to choose a neighborhood that
is close to a park with a running
trail. While some neighborhood
associations take pride in the fact
they’ve managed to block zoning
changes that would allow a local
convenience store, if you like to
grab a hot coffee everyday on the
way to work, then you have to
take this into consideration before
buying a home in a neighborhood
that bans stores.
Rising Property Values
Finally, before you choose a
neighborhood to move to, you
should also examine whether the
property values are trending up or
down. You can easily check recent
property sales online to find this out,
or call your real estate agent and
have her run the numbers. This is an
important factor in case you decide
to sell the property in a few years.
The point is to take your time
and carefully research each
neighborhood on your list of
perfect neighborhoods until you
find the one that most closely fits
your needs.
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3 Proactive Steps First-Time Homebuyers Should ConsiderThere are specific steps a first-
time homebuyer can take before
entering the real estate market
that will greatly improve his or her
chances of getting financing and
being able to purchase a starter
home.
Here are three proactive steps
you should consider taking before
you contact a real estate agent or
mortgage broker:
1. Check your credit score - If there is a single factor that can
help or hurt your foray into the
world of financing a new home
it is your credit score, according
to mortgage-finance experts. So,
if you want a good idea of what
your chances are of obtaining such
financing, you should first order a
credit report from each of the three
credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian
and Transunion. Just use one of
the many online credit monitoring
companies that provide the reports,
as well as your current credit score
for a small fee.
2. Begin reviewing and repairing your credit - Once you get the reports you
should carefully examine them to
make sure there are no mistakes.
If there are any errors, you should
contact the credit bureaus and take
the necessary steps to have them
corrected. You should also look for
any unpaid or collection accounts.
If there are any unpaid or collection
accounts you should settle them
immediately, or set up some sort
of payment plan. At the very least,
this will show that are willing to pay
your debts.
A copy of your credit report will
also show all of the credit you
have available in relation to your
credit lines. This is something
lenders consider carefully before
making a loan. It’s known as your
credit utilization rate. For example,
if you have total credit availability
on your credit cards of $30,000
and you owe $20,000, then your
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credit utilization rate is 67 percent.
This rate has a great effect on your
overall credit score. The lower the
percentage, the higher your credit
score will be, vice versa.
According to industry experts, a
good credit utilization rate for a
first-time homebuyer is less than 33
percent. If your rate is higher than
this, you will have to make a serious
effort to pay off as much debt as
possible and satisfy any unsettled
notes. On average, it takes about
six months to improve your credit
score.
3. Get your documentation in order. As we mentioned,
today more than ever, mortgage
companies by law are requiring
documentation of a potential
borrower’s income and taxes. The
day of the so-called no-doc loan,
where no such documentation
was required, is gone. In general, a
mortgage lender will ask a first-time
homebuyer to produce two recent
pay stubs and the last two year’s W2
forms in order to apply for a loan. In
addition, the lender will require the
applicant to provide two months of
bank statements.
The exception to this rule is the
documentation lenders require
of first-time homebuyers who are
self-employed or are in commission
sales. If you fall into one of these
categories, you should be prepared
to produce up to three to four years
of W2s. Lenders are looking for
steady income and to make sure
your last two years or earnings were
not an anomaly.
While taking these steps may seem
like a lot of work, getting your credit
score, working to improve it and
gathering your documentation will
greatly increase your chances of
acquiring a mortgage for your first
home when you are ready to buy.
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First Time Home Buyers Fulfill Dreams with the Right Mortgage
When it comes to mortgages, it’s
important to find the right loan
officer.
You want to work with someone
who can find the type of mortgage
that is right for you and your family,
whether you’re seeking to buy
a new home or refinance your
existing home.
The right loan officer takes pride
regarding their customer service
so your experience will be more
personalized.
What if Your Credit is Less than Ideal?
Before you go to a lender, you
should check your credit rating.
Federal law requires that each of
the three major credit reporting
agencies provide you with a free
annual credit report.
Reviewing these reports will not
only provide you with your credit
rating, but will alert you to any
misinformation or errors contained
in your report.
Bad credit mortgages come with
higher interest rates so it pays to
clean up your credit before actually
buying a home.
A good loan officer will offer credit
improvement ideas, or refer you
to a service to help you repair your
credit prior to obtaining a loan.
This may involve setting up
payment plans to existing creditors,
challenging bad reports that are on
your record in error, and so forth.
Having someone to help you
navigate through the maze of credit
reporting is extremely useful even if
your credit isn’t pristine so you can
still apply for a mortgage.
Fulfilling Your Dreams
With the right mortgage, first time
home buyers can truly own a piece
of the American dream.
It’s enormously satisfying to pay a
mortgage payment instead of rent
every month, knowing that you’re
slowly and surely building equity.
That equity lays a foundation for
your financial future and that of
your children too giving you peace
of mind.
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10 Tips to Buy Real Estate without Breaking Your Budget
1. Get pre-approved for your home loan
2. Explore creative financing options
3. Sell your existing home first
4. Look for vacant real estate
5. Consider cosmetic fixers
6. Buy a major remodel project
7. Don’t discount bank foreclosures
8. Buy land with a manufactured home
9. Purchase an older, smaller home
10. Buy the cheapest house in the best neighborhood
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6 Powerful Home-Staging Secrets the Pros UseThe art of staging a home so it will
have the most appeal to potential
buyers is something anyone can do,
if they just follow the example of
professional decorators.
Here are six staging secrets that you
can use to make your house stand
out and capture the attention of
potential buyers:
1. Dress up your porch - Whether you have a large porch
or just a few steps in front of your
house, adding a new doormat and
a few exotic flowers or plants can
help make your home stand out.
A nice porch can come alive with
just a couple of pieces of outside
furniture, while a few strategically
placed solar lights on either side
of your walkway will do much
to make your house sparkle as
will porch lights kept on when a
potential buyer drives by at dust or
at dawn.
2. Make your house spotless but lived-in – While it’s critical
to keep your house super clean
and spotless when it’s being
shown, you don’t want it to appear
sterile or unpopulated. After all,
a house is a place where people
live. Professionals use a few fresh
flowers in vases or a basket of
produce to make a house look lived
in. A few lemons on a cutting board
in the kitchen is also not a bad idea.
3. Stylize your plain dining room table – A bare dining room
table is a little like a black hole. It
is unfriendly and tends to suck the
positive energy out of anyone who
passes by it. The pros say decorating
such a table with an assortment of
small colorful arrangements will
breathe life into an otherwise dreary
dining chamber.
4. Closets wide open – Professionals say you should open
your closets wide, that is, after you
have thoroughly cleaned them and
removed any clutter. By doing so,
you create a feeling of spaciousness
and you’re declaring affirmatively
that there is a great deal of closet
space in this home!
5. Install a pedestal sink to create the illusion of more space - If you have a tiny bathroom
that’s cramped and makes you
want to scream, imagine the effect
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it might have on a potential buyer.
One possible and inexpensive fix
the pros use is to remove the big,
old sink in your tiny bathroom and
replace it with a small pedestal sink
and decorate it with a few red roses.
The result is the optical illusion of
much space and style, transforming
the bathroom from a liability to an
asset.
6. Use art to draw people in – Unfortunately, many prospective
homebuyers tour a house with
blinders on. It’s almost as though
they have tunnel vision. How in the
world can you get them to explore
the entire depth and breadth of your
home? Professional stagers use a
piece of artwork hanging at the top
of the stairs, or a colorful vase near
the back of the house to catch the
eye of prospective buyers. Such
a strategy gets them to view the
house in its blissful totality, rather
than segmenting it into little chucks.
Busting the Myth That Home Improvements Pay For ThemselvesFor years, homeowners cherished
and embraced the myth that
expensive renovations and
improvements to their homes were
great investments that would more
than pay for themselves in the long
run by adding to the overall value
of their properties when they were
sold some day in the near future.
Many major home improvement
contracts have been signed and
justified by this financial myth.
Remodeling and Improvements Equals Poor Return According to Remodeling Magazine,
over the last decade, payback on
the average remodeling job has
fallen from 82 percent in 2003 to 57
percent in 2013.
* Here are the payback percentages
on some popular home
improvements:
Garage doors only paid back 71.9
percent of their cost when the
house was sold.
Steel Entry doors only paid back 73
percent of their initial cost.
Built-in, back-up power generators
only returned 47.5 percent of their
cost at the sale of a property.
Popular additions such as a sun
room only returned 45.9 percent of
their original cost.
*Remodeling Magazine
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Found the Perfect Home – But Furniture Won’t Fit!You’ve been looking for a home and
you’ve found one that feels almost
perfect. The location is convenient
and you can picture your family
living here happily. However, there’s
a problem. One or more pieces of
furniture you’ve had for years just
will not fit. Do you buy the home
anyway, or keep looking?
Move It?
Suppose the piece of furniture that
won’t fit is a tall chest-on-chest
that’s always been in your bedroom.
Could you use it in another room?
Might it be handsome and useful
in the living room or dining room?
(Rooms downstairs often have taller
ceilings than rooms upstairs.) Could
it store games, videos, tablecloths
and place mats, and silverware in its
new location?
If that thought process takes care
of the chest, but you’re left without
enough storage in the bedroom,
what then? Is there a smaller chest
of drawers that was used in your old
guest room that would fit in your
bedroom? What about putting an
inexpensive chest of drawers into
your walk-in closet?
Give It Away?
Maybe the problem is that you have
a bed that’s too large for any of the
bedrooms in the “almost perfect”
house. Is it a Sheraton tall post
field bed with canopy or a massive
Victorian piece that’s been in the
family for generations?
Do you love it, or might another
family member with larger rooms
and taller ceilings be very excited to
get it?
Sell It?
Maybe the offending piece of
furniture has monetary value, but
has no sentimental value. Why not
just sell it? There’s no need to buy
a house based on where it’ll fit, is
there?
Evaluate and Decide
Don’t turn down the idea of
purchasing a home you’d really
enjoy simply because some of your
furniture won’t fit.
Ask yourself questions about the
possibilities. When you come up
with answers you like, you’ve made
your decision.
Who knows, another family
member or a stranger shopping for
a special piece of furniture could be
delighted with your decision, too!
15
A Bit About MoldThere are a number of little things
to look out for when purchasing
a new home. Normally things to
consider include location, wiring,
the condition of the house, and
several other factors.
One of these factors is mold. There
are different types of mold that can
occur in a home and lead not only
to structural damage, but some
health concerns too. Mold can be
difficult to find in homes as it grows
exclusively in dark and moist areas
that are usually hidden somewhere
in structural areas, like attics and
basements. By the time mold shows
up in actual living areas, chances are
that it is all throughout the home.
Another concern is if a home
has ever flooded and was not
completely or properly cleaned
afterward. Leaky plumbing and
basement crawlspaces are other
likely candidates. Mold can be a
difficult thing to completely get
rid of as the only thing it needs
to continue growing is organic
material such as wood and
moisture. Both of these items are
abundant in most homes.
Usually moisture finds its way into a
home through faulty or leaky roofs
and foundations. Both areas should
be checked by an experienced
mold inspector on a fairly regular
basis if there is any worry of mold
beginning to grow, or if there has
been mold in the past.
Mold can be an expensive problem.
Be proactive about searching for it
so you save money in the long run.
Best House Color to SellWhen you go to social events, do
you make an effort to snazzy up?
Of course you do. Attraction is a key
factor in forming relationships and
the same applies to your house.
When you put the house on the
market, you need to make it look
good for the dates with potential
buyers. The color of your house can
make all the difference.
First, there is no absolutely correct
answer to the best color! Instead,
the decision depends on the
makeup of your home and the
surrounding landscape.
Let’s take a closer look: 1. Whatever color you choose,
make sure it doesn’t clash with the
other homes in the neighborhood.
An otherwise appropriate color
could end up making your house an
eye-sore.
2. The Roof. What color is the roof
on your home? If it is a red tile roof,
off-whites are probably going to be
the better choice than dark green.
Unless you are going to invest
money in a new roof, make sure the
paint color doesn’t clash with it.
3. Highlights. If there is a particular
part of your house that should be
emphasized, used light colored
paint around it to draw attention.
4. Hide It! Conversely, if there
are parts of the house that are
mundane, use darker colors to draw
attention away from them.
5. On large flat surfaces, such as
the side of a garage, keep in mind
the color you choose will have a
washed out appearance.
Now we get to the fun part. After
considering the above issues, make
a preliminary list of colors and buy
small cans of each color. In a private
area of the house, start applying
samples strokes a couple feet long
and a foot or so wide.
Try to paint examples in shaded
areas and those exposed to the sun.
Do not immediately judge the
results of your experiments. Instead,
wait a few hours for the paint to dry
and then start comparing.
Dry paint takes on a very different
appearance than when it is wet.
Once the paint is dry, take a long
look at each sample. You will
typically find the colors look much
different. You may find one color is
perfect or you may find something
a little different would be best.
Either way, you’ll have come up
with the best house color to sell
your home.
Opening Doors...
...Making the Dream of Home Ownership a Reality
Call and Let Us Help Make Your Dream Come True!The Nat Genis Team Inc.Michael L. Maratta"Let me sell your home in 30 days"26690 Madison Ave Suite 105 Murrieta, CA 92562(951) [email protected]
Alterra Home LoansSam Tello, NMLS # 479946
Loan Officer16870 West Bernardo Dr Suite # 416San Diego, CA 92127Cell: 909-213-5909Office: [email protected]
Executive Capital GroupPat LoyaRealtorCel (909)261-4160lic #[email protected]