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Lisa Rossetto-Glowacki

To move or not to move?

November 16, 2009 at 09:54 AM · Posted under Lisa Rossetto-Glowacki

As a Realtor^®, every year I receive this question from countless homeowners. Should I move or improve my house? What is my house worth? Is this a good time to sell my house and buy another? Gaze at your crystal ball of real estate and tell me what I should do! (Well, they don’t always come out and say this, but some do!)

If I could accurately predict the future of real estate, I’d be wealthy, as I could probably also predict the future of the stock market! Let’s consider a few important facts:

The government extended AND expanded the first-time home buyer’s tax credit. If you have not owned a house in 3 years, you could qualify for $8,000. If you have owned a home at least 5 of the last 8 years, you could qualify for $6,500. Income limits are $125,000/individual and $225,000/joint. The max purchase price is $800,000. The offer must be accepted by end of April, 2010 and must close within 60 days after that.

Interest rates are at historic lows! 5% or lower in many cases. They have been artificially held low due to the government purchasing bank mortgages and taking the risk from them. The government has indicated that they will not continue to purchase these mortgages after March, 2010. All indications are that after that, interest rates will rise sharply and dramatically over the 6% level.

Real estate inventories are plentiful and, in many cases, are priced at levels of 3-5 years ago. Many are in beautiful, move-in condition. Can you say bargains galore?

If you have a house to sell, as a seller, you can take advantage of buyers coming out of the woodwork to take advantage of this tax credit. There will be many more buyers this year than next year.

Put all of this together, and I think you’re looking right into a crystal ball that says, buy, buy, buy real estate now, now now!

Posted by:Lisa Rossetto

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Tagged with best time to buy a home, best time to sell a home, first time home buyer tax credit, home buyer tax credit, lisa rossetto

Be ready to list your home at a moment's notice!

November 03, 2009 at 02:53 PM · Posted under Lisa Rossetto-Glowacki

Sometimes, the unexpected happens in life. The job opportunity of a lifetime, a chance to move back somewhere closer to family, perhaps job loss. Whatever the reason, you can have your house always ready to list by doing a small few items now. Here’s the list:

Make sure that mechanicals in the house are properly working: furnace, air conditioning, water softener, reverse osmosis water systems, garage door openers, alarm systems, intercom systems, plumbing systems and the like.
Make a ‘to do’ list of cleaning and develop a ‘pretend’ time-line, saying, “I will do the following in the next week”. Pick one or two only so it’s not so over-whelming.
Clean: Doors and woodwork, baseboards, windows, those grungy patio door tracks! Also, behind refrigerator, washer and dryer. Vacuum draperies.
Closets: Do they need to be painted? De-cluttered?
Organize: Bookshelves; stack neatly and add a bit of decoration. Cabinets; clean out, organize, re-line shelves.
Walls: Take a look at all the walls and see where there are drywall nicks and patch and paint those. The really ‘ugly’ wallpaper that’s still up? Take it down and paint neutral. You can always go back and decorate later.
Basement: Start emptying the basement of clutter, box up unused items neatly, give away to charities little-used items. Do the same with the garage.
Worn-out ‘stuff’: How are the exterior lights by the garage door? All rusted? It won’t cost much to replace them. Check other ‘old’ items as well like faucets, knobs on all cabinets, switch plates and heating vent covers. If they’re rusted, banged, ‘gross’ or older than father time, change them!
Exterior: Take care of any building repairs. Trim landscaping. Spruce up the mailbox and the house numbers.