We are so excited to move to our new permanent location, 1860 NE 4th Street, Bend, OR, 97701.We are saying goodbye to HomeSmart on December 31 and rolling out our exciting new company, Red Door Realty, in 2018. 

Join us at our new office on January 19 for our Grand Opening Party. There will be refreshments and an iPad giveaway. To get a sneak preview of our new office, watch this short video. 

If you have any questions about this change or other real estate-related topics, feel free to give us a call or send an email. We'd love to help you reach your real estate goals.

If you’re buying a home, should you get a home warranty? Oftentimes during a home sale, it’s natural for buyers to ask themselves this question and wonder whether they really need it. There are a few things you should know about what home warranties can do for you.  

When buying a new construction home, it automatically comes with a 12-month warranty for all the major systems and components. When buying a home that’s not new construction, the day you close, you’ll be responsible for any issues that come up. Typically, these issues come up pretty quickly during that first year of ownership.

A home warranty covers all the major systems in the home, and Home Warranty of America even offers roof leak repair, which can come in handy for us central Oregon residents who just endured a winter that featured a lot of snow and ice dams.

The cost of a home warranty ranges from $370 to $500, and that sum can be included in your overall closing costs. The $500 plan covers everything and gives you additional coverage if items need to be replaced, whereas the $370 plan only covers the major systems.

When I’m working with a buyer, I always include the home warranty when I write up the offer and ask the seller to pay for it as part of the transaction. Roughly 75% of the time, sellers don’t mind doing this, and they’re happy to build confidence in the home they’re selling. If you work with our team, we always include this in the offer. If you’re working with another Realtor, ask them to ask the seller to pay for it.

When I’m working with a buyer, I always include the home warranty when I write up the offer.

If the seller doesn’t agree to pay for it, I highly recommend you at least get the minimum plan or find out about getting more coverage. I have a home warranty on my home that I renew every year. When living within a budget, you never know what can happen or what systems might fail that could cost you thousands of dollars.

One of the more common items new homeowners have issues with is water heaters. Sometimes buyers who buy their homes in the summer and turn on their furnace for the first time in fall find out that it’s not working. This happens because when the inspector turned on the furnace during the home inspection, they only did so for five or 10 minutes, which isn’t long enough to pick up on any potential problems. The same potential problem applies to AC units for buyers who buy during the winter.

The systems in the home that don’t get used are the ones that might get rusty or break down faster, and there are differences in usage patterns from one homeowner to another. If you have large family moving into a home where a smaller family lived, you’ll get more wear and tear in a home, and that’s why you see breakdowns happen almost immediately after the family moves in.

All of this is why we encourage all of our buyers to get a home warranty when purchasing a home. Hopefully the seller will pay for it, but if they don’t, you can get it incorporated into your closing costs through your loan.

If you have any questions, I’ve included a brochure in this blog which talks about the main things a home warranty covers. As always, if you have any other questions or you need to buy or sell a home in our central Oregon market, don’t hesitate to reach out to me anytime. I’d be happy to help you.

Home appraisals are typically ordered by lenders who want to determine the value of a home before they decide to approve a loan to purchase it. They also need to know the value just in case the buyer defaults and they have to take over the property and sell it.

An appraiser looks at three to six recent comparable sold properties in order to determine its value. One of the problems with this method is that appraisers don’t have a chance to walk through any physical properties—they just have online data. That data may or may not be accurate.

While appraisals are typically thought of in terms of buyers, sellers need to be aware of them too. There are a few different ways in which you can help your home appraise to where you want it to. 

Make sure your home presents as well as possible.

The easiest way is to make sure the home presents as well as possible. This involves opening blinds, turning on lights, and making sure the yard is perfect, among other things.

Another thing that could be helpful is leaving out a list of features and upgrades that you’ve made to your home to show how it’s unique. This could potentially increase the home’s value in the appraiser’s mind. If they don’t know if something is new or remodeled, they will assume that it’s not and you’ll miss out on the added value.

If you have any questions for us about appraisals or if we can provide assistance of any kind, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

Today I’m with my listing partner Amy Moser to discuss some of the dangers of trying to sell your home by owner. 

Many sellers consider selling their homes themselves to save on the 5% to 6% commission that comes with using a real estate agent. But statistically, homes sell for more money when they’re represented by a Realtor. According to the National Association of Realtors, they sell for 16% more than if they were a For Sale By Owner property. 

When you list with a Realtor, your home is put on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and exposed to thousands of Realtors who are working hard to find suitable properties for their clients. Additionally, most serious buyers are working with a Realtor because it doesn’t cost them anything to do, as the commission is paid by the seller. 

If you’re trying to sell your home by yourself, you have all of your personal contact information out for anyone to look at. Without an agent, there is no one to screen these individuals before they call and ask to walk through your home. According to Amy, these sort of buyers are usually looking for the best deal, the biggest discount, and won’t qualify for traditional financing, so they’re looking for someone to carry their mortgage, which will be you.

Most people are not that brutally honest.

When you hire a real estate agent, you have access to all the most current real estate contracts, legal disclosures on your property, representation on what is included and not included, and reduced liability if the deal falls through. By working with a Realtor, you will be able to avoid buyers that prey on sellers who don’t have representation. 

The last piece that I want to talk about is that selling a home is a lot of work. “There are many parts prior to even getting an offer on your home,” Amy says. Some of these parts include marketing for your home, and then a checklist of items that need to be taken care of that protect you as the seller during the process, like inspections and appraisals. “Very few real estate transactions go through without any hiccups,” Amy says.

Another benefit to hiring an agent is they can act as a buffer to receive any feedback on the home after showings. Most people are not that brutally honest and feel uncomfortable telling a seller about things they think the seller should improve on to their face. Having an agent to take in that information and communicate it to the seller can help get the home sold faster and for more money.

If you have any additional questions about the benefits of hiring a professional Realtor, or you’re looking to buy or sell a home, give me a call. I’d be happy to help!

Are online home values accurate and trustworthy? I get this question quite often.

The truth is that when you consult a website for a valuation of a property, the value it kicks back isn't accurate. This is because you're asking a computer to generate a value for your home based on multiple sources of data. However, that data may or may not be anywhere near your actual property.

This could be data from the county, including your home's square footage, lot size, and bedroom/bathroom count. A computer certainly doesn't know whether your house has been remodeled or updated at all. On the other hand, a computer also won't know if your home is the only one in the area that hasn't been updated and sold for a premium.

There are too many details about homes that a computer can't possibly know.

A computer also can't account for things like your property backing up to public land, being on the busy street, being on a golf course, or opening up to a park or preserve. There are simply too many details about homes that a computer can't possibly know or understand. 

If you've thought about selling your house and you'd like to know what the actual market value is, I'd love to come out and give you a personalized market evaluation of your home. In the end, your home is worth what an able buyer is willing to pay for it, not what a computer says.

If you'd like to know what your house is worth or you have any other questions about the Bend real estate market, you can always give me a call or send me an email. I'd be honored to help you!

Have you ever considered buying a rental or investment property? It's a great way to diversify your real estate portfolio. The two ways to do this are converting your home into a rental or pulling some equity out of it to finance a new property that you'll then rent out. Home values have gone up all over central Oregon, giving many homeowners significant equity in their property. To help me explain this topic, I've invited in Matt Bassitt from Northwestern Home Loans.

If you want to pull equity from your home to take advantage of the great rental market we have, there are different lending options. You typically want to have 20% or more equity put down when buying a rental property to avoid having to pay mortgage insurance, but some rental properties are profitable enough to offset this. You can also refinance your mortgage and convert your current home into the rental to buy a larger new home, for example. Whether you convert your current home or buy a new one can affect financing rates in this case.

The central Oregon rental market makes now a great time to invest in property.

Since the mortgage rates you get will be better on your primary residence, you can also refinance your mortgage and stay in the home as your primary residence if you can keep your mortgage loan-to-value ratio below that 80% mark. Then, you can use the equity you've pulled to buy a rental property with 20% to 25% down. Since rates can be 0.5% to 1% higher on a 30-year investment property loan, it can be a smart strategy to pull equity to buy your new residence, get the best possible rate, and then keep your old residence as a rental property. 

With this route, there's an intent clause (in basically every loan type) you'll have to sign at closing stating you intend to occupy the house as your primary residence for the next 12 months. So there's basically no way to sneak this past your lender when it comes to investment property. 

You can, however, refinance your loan and make a purchase simultaneously. It's common for purchases to be treated with a priority for refinances, which have a three-day decision period unless the property in question is an investment property already. 

As you've probably noticed, this process is pretty technical and complicated. If you have any questions about it on the lending side, you can reach Matt Bassitt at 541-323-7000 ext. 202.

If you have any questions for me about rental property or about real estate in general here in central Oregon, don't hesitate to give me a call or send me an email soon. I'd love to hear from you!

If you’ve had a short sale or a foreclosure in the past, how long do you have to wait to buy a home again and what do you need to do to prepare yourself for that process? 

From 2009 to 2013, I worked with many people who had the unfortunate experience of having to do a short sale or a foreclosure during that downturn in the economy. Since then, we’ve seen a complete turnaround with housing values here in central Oregon, so many people are asking me that same question. I’ve brought in Matt Bassitt, owner of northwestern Home Loans, to help me answer it. 

There are many different rules and regulations between each loan program, but for the most part, three years is the standard waiting period. If you’re a veteran and you used a VA loan, it might only be a two-year wait. According to Matt, most people in this category have already met the time requirements.

You should submit a loan application and start preparing for homeownership six to 12 months prior to when you think your deadline is. Sometimes the dates recorded in your credit profile aren’t accurate, so that will give you time to work that and other things with your loan officer to improve your credit.

There is a lot of strategy that goes into setting yourself up to buy your next home.

There is a lot of strategy that goes into setting yourself up to buy your next home. I’ve noticed many people who’ve gone through a short sale or foreclosure stop using credit altogether, which is a mistake because that means their credit score and credit history haven’t rebuilt. 

There are some fantastic financing options that involve putting down as little as 0%. If you’re getting a tax refund or you’ve been saving up, for example, you can employ that as part of your strategy to buy a great home, secure a great interest rate, and rebuild your credit. 

If you would like more information from Matt, you can give him a call at (541) 323-7000 ext. 202. If you have any questions for me about this topic, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I’d be glad to assist you.

When you buy or sell a home, it can be an emotional process. My goal is to capture the romance and happiness that each home has to offer.

Our team is made up of seasoned professionals who provide the very best service and experience available. 

There's Amy Moser, a listing partner who helps us strive to always be the best we can be and put the needs of our clients first. I'm best known for my outstanding marketing skills. I have a degree in marketing, and I believe that a home's online presentation is more important than ever.

Don't take it from us though, take it from Jessica Jensen, who we helped find her perfect home.

"My husband and I don't have any financial experience, so working with Christine was amazing because she walked us through every step of the process and made sure we knew exactly what was going on and that we were getting a good deal," says Jessica. 

I always strive to provide the best customer service and expertise possible.

The thing I enjoy most about meeting the new people who move to our community is exposing them to just how amazing it is. I love showing people how to get the most out of living here in Bend. 

"Christine's knowledge of each neighborhood and the individual value that they have to offer is invaluable to a buyer, and it has helped me in my buying process," says Jeanette Sampson, who also bought a beautiful home with us.

I always strive to provide the best customer service and expertise possible so my clients can count on me as their trusted real estate advisor. Real estate is a relationship business, and I want to be your Realtor for life. If you'd like to learn more about working with us to buy or sell a home in Bend, don't hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I’d love to tell you more!

Did you know that if you’ve ever used an FHA loan, a VA loan, or a USDA loan to buy a home, you’re free to reuse those loans if you’re currently renting and want to become a homeowner again?

Today I’m joined by Matt Bassitt from Northwestern Home Loans to explain the stipulations of reusing home loans. According to him, this situation happens all the time. 

The VA loan in particular gets misconceived most often as a one-and-done type of deal, but there is no limit to how often you can use it if you’re a veteran of the armed forces. You don’t even technically need to use one VA loan at a time, either. If you’re using a VA loan for a house you’ve turned into an investment property and you want to buy a new property, you can qualify for a new VA loan. However, because some of your eligibility is being used on that first property, you may have to put a down payment on the next one. 

There’s nothing stopping you from reusing a home loan.

FHA loans are slightly different in that you can’t use more than one of them at a time. They’re designed for first-time homebuyers, but they’re not exclusive to them. With these loans, you’re allowed to use a different type of loan at the same time. For example, you can use a conventional loan to buy an investment property if you’re using the FHA loan to buy your primary residence. 

USDA loans are similar to FHA loans in that you can’t use more than one of them at a time, but with these you aren’t allowed to use different types of loans at the same time. The one thing all three of these loans have in common is you must use them for a primary residence. 

If you have any questions about these loans or you’re confused about whether you’d be able to qualify for one, you can reach Matt at 541-323-7000 ext. 202.

If you have any other questions, feel free to give me a call or shoot me an email. I’d love to hear from you!

How long does it really take to close on a home after putting it on the market?

The timeline will vary depending on the type of property being sold. 

However, it will vary depending on the type of property that you are selling. I do see longer timelines for high priced properties, acreage properties, specialty properties that are located in resort communities, or vacation rental properties.

If you would like to know the timeline for buying or selling a home in a certain area, please feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!