Five Star Customer Experience
September 28, 2011 Leave a Comment
I love the simplicity of this short clip on the ‘New Consumer.’ Here’s to you delivering a FIVE STAR customer experience!!!
The 2013 Real Estate Sales Tax Myth
February 2, 2011 Leave a Comment
Over the last two or three months, I have received a number of e-mails from consumers and REALTORS® alike that have forwarded the following to me seeking confirmation:
Did you know that if you sell your house after 2012 you will pay a 3.8% sales tax on it? That’s $3,800 on a $100,000 home! When did this happen? It’s in the health care bill and it is scheduled to go into effect in 2013, right after the 2012 elections. So, this is “change you can believe in” that Obama has been preaching? Under the new health care bill – did you know that all real estate transactions will be subject to a 3.8% Sales Tax? Since the bulk of these new taxes won’t kick in until 2013, most people won’t know what hit them until after the election. This means if you sell your $400,000 home, you will have to pay a $15,200 real estate tax. This bill is set to screw the retiring generation who often downsize their homes. Does this stuff make your November and 2012 vote more important? Oh, you weren’t aware this was in the Obamacare Bill? Guess what, you aren’t alone. There are more than a few members of Congress that aren’t aware of it either. Why am I sending you this? The same reason I hope you forward this to every single person in your address book. VOTERS NEED TO KNOW!
To quote Sergeant Hulka (played by Warren Oates) from one of my favorite movies, Stripes, “Lighten up Francis!”. Here’s the real story.
Harrisburg, PA and Business; A Great Match
January 19, 2011 Leave a Comment
The Wall Street Journal’s online business site, MarketWatch, recently named the ten best cities in the United States to do business in. Drumroll please – - – coming in at number nine – - – Harrisburg, PA! MarketWatch cited our city’s ”high personal income levels and strong business attraction” as two of the reasons it made the list. Geographically, it has the advantage of being located between the major metropolitan cities of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC and New York. Penn State, one of the top research universities in the country is also located within an easy drive. In addition, the regions boasts a top notch medical facility in Penn State’s Hershey Medical Center. You can see the entire list by clicking here.
If you’re thinking of locating your business in Harrisburg, the Capital Region Economic Development Corporation (CREDC) is a great resource. Its mission is to be a catalyst for policy change for job creation and for business growth in Cumberland, Dauphin, and Perry Counties that enhances the quality of life in our region.
Congratulations Harrisburg!
Hidden Benefits of Refinancing Your Mortgage
January 18, 2011 Leave a Comment
So you’ve had your mortgage for a while and think you have a good rate. Most people only consider refinancing if their present interest rate drops one percentage point – - – say from 6½% to 5½%. But there are other good reasons to refinance your mortgage that will save you cash and make your life easier in the long run. Consider the following:
1. Dis-ARM yourself. You may have obtained an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) when you first purchased your home and received an unbelievable rate. You’re now probably experiencing the escalation part of the ARM which means your monthly payment is going from great to – - – hmmm - – - not so great. Check into refinancing your loan so that you can lock in an interest rate and with it, obtain peace of mind knowing it won’t increase in the future.
2. Eliminate Holiday Blues. Are you like many Americans that went out and racked up credit card bills over the holidays? If you’ve been in your home a couple of years you probably have an untapped resource in the equity sitting in your home. Read more of this post
The Most Important Time in Selling Your Home – Week One
September 11, 2010 Leave a Comment
OK – so you’ve decided to sell your home and buy one that suits your lifestyle better than your present one. You may want a house with more bedrooms for your growing family or perhaps a condominium to get away from shoveling snow during Central PA’s winters. Whatever the circumstances, perhaps the most important decision you’ll have to make in determining how successful you will be is setting the price on your home, and in most cases, this is where sellers end up shooting themselves in the foot.
It’s human nature to want to price a home high to attract that one buyer that will magically appear and fall all over themselves to give a seller anything they want, but we all know that these buyers are a figment of the imagination. In other instances, sellers set their price too high anticipating that buyers will automatically try to offer something lower. For some reason, sellers have it in their mind that every home ever offered for sale has sold for something less than the original list price.
In the past, when a seller put their home up for sale, all they considered were what comparable properties similar to theirs sold for in the market. While this is certainly a good idea, it is by no means the only thing to consider in this hyper-competitive market we’re in today. Read more of this post
The Difference Between Short Sales, Foreclosures and REO’s
September 8, 2010 2 Comments
Practitioners in the real estate industry sometimes throw around acronyms and terminology that we understand, but in many cases our clients do not.
Here is a prime example: short sales, foreclosures and REO’s (Real Estate Owned). I found this short video clip that does a great job in explaining the differences. The guy in the video is Spencer Rascoff, the COO of Zillow.
Considering Selling Your Home as a FSBO? Hmmm – - maybe not.
June 3, 2010 2 Comments
So you’re thinking about putting your home on the market and moving to that condo/farm/new build/quiet neighborhood/high-rise/bigger home/smaller home (select one). Even though prices on homes seem to be stagnant and you won’t be able to get as much for your home as you could just three years ago, the deals you can get as a buyer after you sell your home seem too good to pass up.
Your natural inclination is to save the commission and try to sell your home yourself which will leave extra cash to put toward your next home. Simple math says that if you don’t pay a REALTOR® a commission to sell your home, you’ll have more left over to buy your new home. You may want to reconsider your strategy.
In a recent article posted on FORBES.com, they make the case that going it alone has drawbacks that most potential ‘For Sale By Owners’ don’t even consider.
Here is the article posted in its entirety:
Five Reasons Why You Still Need a Real Estate Agent ¹
The proliferation of services that help homebuyers and sellers complete their own real estate transactions is relatively recent, and it may have you wondering whether using a real estate agent is becoming a relic of a bygone era. While doing the work yourself can save you the significant commission rates many real estate agents command, for many, flying solo may not be the way to go–and could end up being more costly than a realtor’s commission in the long run. Buying or selling a home is a major financial (and emotional) undertaking. Find out why you shouldn’t discard the notion of hiring an agent just yet.
1. Better Access/More Convenience
A real estate agent’s full-time job is to act as a liaison between buyers and sellers. This means that he or she will have easy access to all other properties listed by other agents. Both the buyer’s and seller’s agent work full time as real estate agents and they know what needs to be done to get a deal together. For example, if you are looking to buy a home, a real estate agent will track down homes that meet your criteria, get in touch with sellers’ agents and make appointments for you to view the homes. If you are buying on your own, you will have to play this telephone tag yourself. This may be especially difficult if you’re shopping for homes that are for sale by owner.
Similarly, if you are looking to sell your home yourself, you will have to solicit calls from interested parties, answer questions and make appointments. Keep in mind that potential buyers are likely to move on if you tend to be busy or don’t respond quickly enough. Alternatively, you may find yourself making an appointment and rushing home, only to find that no one shows up.
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