Valerie Mineiko's Real Estate Blog

Falling in love with a  new home  can be exhilarating. It can also be kind of scary, especially when you’re unsure of all the details. What if something goes wrong and you end up losing the deal? Sometimes it seams that how careful you are, some deal killers are unavoidable. Others may be preventable, so pay attention if you hope to keep your deal alive.  1. Don’t Take Chances with Your Mortgage Loan Pre approval  One reason for a real estate contract to fall apart is that many buyers don’t completely understand the  mortgage process . You can get a loan pre approval, but it doesn’t actually guarantee that you will get the loan. After you receive your pre approval letter and decide to move forward with your purchase, the lender will open your file, give you a big list of paperwork to obtain, order appraisals, credit reports, verify your employment income, and more.  Then your information is sent to the loan processor who reviews it all.  The processor ...

  Keep Your Home’s Value Consistent With The Neighborhood Before you begin any new home projects in order to raise  your property value , be careful not to raise the value too far above other homes on your block. Potential buyers looking to purchase higher priced homes may look exclusively in pricier neighborhoods, so don’t price yourself out of the market for your area. You always want to keep the value of your property within 15 to 20 percent of the surrounding homes in your neighborhood. The Average Cost Recouped (National – According to Realtor Magazine) • Minor updates to your kitchen (88%) • Remodeling your entire kitchen (81%) • Remodeling your bathrooms (85%) • Adding a family room (80%) • Adding a Deck (77%) • Master suite remodel (75%) • Adding an attic bedroom (74%) • Replacing your siding (73%) • Replacing your windows (69%) • Updating you home office (55%) Other updates to your home that may increase  you’re the property value  include: Jacuzzis, hot tub...

New construction homes offer so many benefits to home buyers. See the Top 6 reasons why so many consumers prefer new homes to used homes: 1) The New Home Warranty A used home probably has some older products that may need to be fixed or replaced. Your new home — and the items that come with it — are brand-new and under warranty. There is a high cost to replace a roof, appliances, water heater, etc. on a used home. With your brand new home, you won’t need to worry about fixing or replacing big ticket items for years. 2) You Can Design Your Home Your Way Your new home can reflect your style, not the previous owner. Don’t settle for someone else’s choices when you can choose your own colors, cabinets, counter tops and flooring. In many cases, you can choose to specify bath and kitchen fixtures, lighting and other options as well. 3) Save on Energy Costs Today’s new homes are much more  energy efficient  than homes built in the past. Why settle for drafty, energy-wasting, windows ...

  Have you heard of wired or automated homes? Many people have heard about wired homes but they don’t really know what it involves. Simply put, wired homes are houses that that are controlled by computer systems. Integrating home systems can provide security, peace of mind and convenience, plus the applications to simplify life. In the marketplace today, these systems can add  value  to your home! Examples of Wired Controls Access controls:  These give you the ability to gain access to your home, including driveway gates, security keypads, electronic locks, etc. Audio/video control systems:  Systems that control your home theater, audio and video systems. Communications controls:  Intercom and phone systems that allow internal and external communications. Control devices and sensors:  These are modules, devices, and sensors that activate a light, an appliance or system. Home theater/satellites:  These products provide the ultimate in home entertai...

Getting Involved with Fix & Flip Real Estate If you’ve been thinking about getting into this potentially lucrative market, one of the first recommendations I have is to find a reliable remodeling company at your disposal. Although the typical fix and flip repairs are minor, (ones you can perform yourself,) you could still run into some snags. To be successful in the Fix & Flip market, you must be good “deal finder”. This is where your Real Estate Broker may be able to help you!  Contact me  to learn more. It may take some time to recruit good make over designers. If you don’t know anyone, ask your  Realtor  for some referrals. Also, friends and family usually can provide you with some leads. Begin networking and talking to tradesmen. You can schedule them to check out your ugly home, then watch the transformation begin. Avoiding Money Pits One way to avoid purchasing a potential “money pit” is to make sure that three areas of the house are in good working con...

  The Starting Point When Making an Offer The first thing to consider before making an offer is to have your  Realtor  prepare a CMA (comparative market analysis). After all, you will be making one of the biggest purchases of your lifetime, so it’s imperative that you know what the correct value is to make the best offer you can. Remember, an offer is just a starting point that will lead to a binding purchase contract. However, until both buyer and seller have agreed to all the terms, including a final price, both parties have an opportunity to abandon of the deal. Besides the  market value , it’s best to learn as much as you can about the property before you submit the written offer. Your Realtor can answer most of your questions, however some concerns you may need to scope out on your own – through your due diligence. Having a home inspection can provide answers about the structure of a home. This may help determine whether you’re ready to make that next step of si...

Before you decide to put your home on the market, ask your  Realtor  (me) for help on improving the presentation of your home. I can tell you what buyers will expect in your market and at your home’s pricing point. Here are 9 steps to get a head start on preparing  your home for sale: 1. Welcome Potential Buyers with Curb Appeal Try to make your front door appealing to buyers.  Paint it , clear all the clutter from the walkway and yard, mow the lawn and clean up your hedges. Plant nice flowers that will attract attention from the street. Repair any broken screens, doorbells, shingles, etc, and purchase a nice new welcome mat. An unattractive exterior makes a bad  first impression  on buyers. 2. Clean Until it Sparkles  Your home’s cleanliness implies that a home has been well taken care of. You want to deep clean wherever you can. Potential buyers will scrutinize homes, especially the kitchens and bathrooms. Repaint and re-caulk where needed ...

For many homeowners, painting the exterior of their house seems too daunting a task, one best left to the professionals. However, with detailed information, the proper materials and plenty of preparation, you can paint your house as well as a pro, saving money in the process.  Before getting started, you will need to estimate how much paint you’ll need for the project. To do so, measure the length of all exterior sides of the house, then multiply the length of all sides by the height of the house, adding two feet to the height for overhang. There’s no need to subtract doors and windows as you’ll probably need the extra for touch-ups. Take this information with you to the paint store. Paint cans display what’s known as “coverage rate,” which basically tells how much surface area the can will cover. Now divide the total square footage of your house by the coverage rate on the paint can you’ve selected. Now for the fun part: Choosing a color. One thing to keep in mind is that many hou...

The thought may have crossed your mind: what if you find the job of a lifetime in another state, or your company transferred you – should you  sell or rent your home?  There are quite a few factors to consider before making such an important decision. Reasons to Keep Your Home Think about some reasons for keeping ownership of your home. Do you like the home enough to hold on to it in case you ever  move back?  Do you want a tax break through property depreciation? Do you want to use the home as a retirement investment? These are all good reasons for retaining your home ownership, but there are other factors to consider that could outweigh the benefits. For instance, are you ready to be a long-distance landlord – hiring someone to maintain and manage the property for you? There are also many other costs involved, such as advertising, turning costs (cleaning and painting between tenants), taxes, insurance, utilities when your property is between tenants, etc. In order ...

Did you know that making your home more energy efficient increases its value? According to one study, making no cost/low cost changes can boost your home’s value by almost $20,000. The following suggestions can help make your home more energy efficient for your family as well as for future home owners. 1. Lower the thermostat on your water heater.  If your tap water at the highest setting is too hot to touch, lower the temperature by a few degrees. You’ll never feel the difference! 2. Check for air leaks around doors.  A lot of the air you pay to heat or cool escapes through unsealed doors. Install or replace worn weather stripping, and replace broken or missing storm doors. 3. Close the air vents in  rooms  not in use.  No reason to heat or cool an unused guest room, so close the vents and shut the door until you need the space once again. 4. Keep heat producers far from your thermostat in summer.  Floor lamps and televisions can significantly raise the te...

Of all the ways to  buy real estate , leasing with an option to buy is one of the most creative alternatives if your credit is not as strong as it could be. Tenants who are interested in buying, but are not currently in a position to buy can use it to lock in a price against future price increases. This is also a tool that can be used by owners and property managers to attract quality tenants. And it is used by owners with property that, for whatever reason, is not renting or selling at the price they want. The Option to Buy Agreement Leasing with an option to buy is exactly what it sounds like – a renting tenant signs the agreement with a landlord stating that the tenant may buy the property at the end of a prearranged time period. The owner is obligated to sell at the option price, however, the tenant is NOT obligated to buy the property. But when a lease-purchase is exercised, the buyer is obligated to purchase at the end of the rental period. A common misconception is that once...

After this cold and rainy 1st half of the year, it feels like sunshine will never come. Don’t fear, it’s on the way! It might be easy for most of us to combat the heat by staying inside, enjoying our air conditioning,  or taking a dip in the backyard pool— but staying cool and healthy for plants is much more difficult. Most people take pride in a manicured lawn & garden, so naturally are brokenhearted to see them wilt, discolor, and even die during the days of summer.  Follow these 3 tips to ensure your plant’s life this spring/summer 1. Choose Your Plants Wisely While they all may all look beautiful, you should be picky when it comes to choosing which plants and flowers to plant. They are not created equal, meaning that not all greenery can survive in all climates. Talk to a to a professional at your local garden center store to decide together which plants will be best for your area. 2. Make a Feeding Schedule A common mistake that many people make, is to water their pla...

So you got the new home, and now you’re moving! After all the excitement wears down, the reality hits: you’re actually moving. This means packing up everything you own and often entrusting all of your worldly possessions to a moving company. So how do you choose a good, trustworthy moving company? Get online and do a quick Google search and pick the first name that shows up? You might as well put on a blindfold and throw a dart. You should always proceed with caution, because you just don’t know who’s out there & it can be daunting – you’ll see dozens of potential options that may or may not be worth your while. Before you get overwhelmed and decide it’s just easier to do it yourself, take the time to do some additional research. The American Moving & Storage Association According to the American Moving and Storage Association, the end of the month and summertime are the busiest times for moving companies. You should try to book at least six weeks in advance. October thru April...