Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report

Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale

I get emails and calls on a daily basis from people who want to look at homes but don’t want to get pre-approved. However, getting pre-approved is a very important part of buying a home.

First of all, don’t forget that we are in a seller’s market right now. If you find a home and there are multiple offers on it already and you haven’t talked to a lender yet, then you can’t make an offer. Sellers in this market want to make sure that potential buyers have been pre-approved and are prepared to make a purchase.

Pre-approvals also help you make sure that you are in your price range. Just because you read an article online that says interest rates are at a certain level doesn’t mean that’s the rate you would get with a 10-year loan, 15-year loan, or 30-year loan. Online articles also tend to skip overpaying a mortgage insurance premium.

When a lender pulls your credit, they’ll talk to you about your payments, how much money you can put down, and what kind of house you can afford. A lot of people say, “I pay $1,200 a month for rent, but I could pay $1,500.” How do you know for sure? Have you looked at your debt-to-income ratio?

You need to work with a lender. Don’t go online and get pre-approved. This is one of the biggest investments you will make in your life, so you need to make sure that you are working with the right lender. The right lender will make sure that you have the right loan for your situation and guide you down the right path.

Most Realtors will send you to a lender they trust. If you talk to a lender online, we don’t know what kind of advice you’re getting. Some online lenders will tell you one interest rate and give you another. We will put you in touch with a lender so that you can sit down and have an in-depth conversation with a trusted professional.

You need to work with a lender you can trust.

Keep in mind that if you get pre-approved and it takes you six months to find a house, then you need to talk to your lender again. Interest rates might have changed and the market is constantly changing, so you need to talk to your lender to make sure that you are making a good offer on a home.

Again, home sellers in today’s market are only interested in serious buyers. They want to make sure that you can afford their home. The best way they can figure that out is to look at the pre-approval you submit with your offer.

More and more lately, people tell me that they don’t need to get pre-approved to look at a home. There are agents out there who will work with those buyers, but good agents will require a pre-approval. It only takes about 15 minutes to get pre-approved, and it takes 45 minutes for you to have a more in-depth conversation with your lender and lay out the best home-buying plan for your financial situation.

So, don’t skip the pre-approval! If you have any other questions about getting pre-approved or buying a home, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report

Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale

A lot of people watch HGTV and decide that they want to do a rehab and create the home of their dreams. Unfortunately, many people do not know how to actually buy a rehab property.

Most people will say to me, “I was approved for $100,000 and the house is only $50,000, so I will have plenty left over to fix up the property.” When you get pre-approved for a mortgage, that is not the same loan that you need for a rehab property. You need to go after a rehab loan.

Let’s say you like the floor plan of a home but you don’t like the kitchens or bathrooms so you want to redo the property. That’s great! You will probably end up with a great deal and have a lot of equity at the end.

However, let’s say that the house is $100,000 and sitting in a $140,000 neighborhood. In that case, the house is already priced for the condition of the home. You can get a $2,000 or $3,000 rehab loan to get the home where you want it to be, but the seller will not sell you the home at $50,000 or $60,000 because they have already discounted the property according to its condition. You really need to consider what you are looking at and the home prices in the neighborhood.

Other people want to use rehab loans simply because they want to redo a $250,000 house. They want to change the layout, knock out some walls, and redo the kitchen. The thing is, that’s not the seller’s problem. If you don’t like the house enough to make an offer and do the updates that you want, then it’s not the seller’s responsibility to come down on the price for you.

You need to go after a rehab loan.

If you want to do a rehab, then you need to have your contractors in place. You need to know your costs and figure out if the changes you want to make are doable. For example, what kind of kitchen do you want? Will the kitchen fit into the home? A lot of rehab loans require that you submit a bid from your contractor with your offer. Someone from the bank will make sure that those numbers line up. You also need to make sure that your contractor is insured and has the resources to get your rehab done.

If you want to replace the windows or do a basic kitchen remodel, then you can look into a stream loan. These are useful when you like everything about the house but you just need to make a few tweaks to turn it into the home of your dreams.

Ultimately, you need to make sure you have your lender and contractor lined up right away when purchasing a rehab home. If you have any other questions about rehab properties, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report

Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale

Pittsburgh is a seller’s market right now, which means there are a lot of buyers for each home. Buyers are negotiating harder and bidding higher than they normally would’ve just to get the deal. Here’s the problem, though—they’re also having serious remorse after the fact. 

If you’re a buyer in our market and you want to avoid buyer’s remorse, you need to know what you want. Do you really want that house? If you’re not sure and you put in an offer anyway and it gets accepted, that can lead to problems in the transaction. 

When you enter a home sale feeling that you bid more than you normally would have on that home just so you could have it, you might not feel like negotiating when the home inspection comes along. Perhaps you saw another house and wanted to keep looking while the inspection was going on in case something better came up. Many agents are actually accommodating this trend, which gives you even more reason to not want to negotiate with the seller. 

This is pretty unfair. The seller took their home off the market and chose to work in good faith with you to get to the closing table. They worked with you, and you chose to put in an offer on their house. Give them the opportunity to work with you. You don’t know what they’re willing to do to move the transaction along. You have no idea what’s in their head in terms of where they want to move or how quickly they want to move. 

If you’re not sure you want to buy a home, then don’t put in the offer. Another house will come around. If you lose a house in the process because you weren’t ready or you didn’t know if it was the perfect house for you, that’s okay. 

If you’re not ready to purchase a home, don’t purchase it.

If you made the decision to put that offer in, though, work with that decision and work with the seller. 90% of the time, it will work out for you. There will never be a perfect home or one that doesn’t have issues during the inspection. When you buy a home, it’s called ‘homeownership’ for a reason. 

In any case, most homes come with home warranties anyway. If yours doesn’t, ask for one and keep it on the home—especially if its mechanical systems are old. That way you can alleviate some of the repairs. As a homeowner, you will have to negotiate taking on some of those repairs. 

If you’re not ready to purchase a home, then don’t purchase it. Wait for the right one for you. At the same time, if you put an offer on a home, be fair and negotiate on it. If you want the seller to be fair with you, you also have to be fair with them. 

If you have any questions about this or any other real estate topic or you have a topic in mind you’d like to see me discuss in a future video, please give me a call or send me an email. I would be more than happy to help you.

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report

Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale

Pittsburgh can be a great market for real estate investors to get into. I probably get three to five calls a week from investors looking at properties to buy and flip here in town. Most of them think it will be a simple process, but it can become pretty complicated if you don’t have your ducks in a row.

More and more investors are coming into the market thinking they can get an automatic 60% ARV. However, if you’re using someone else’s money, you are only going to make a 20% to 30% return after paying the lender and vendors off. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. When there is a property out there with a possibility of a 60% ARV, every investor comes to bid on it. That drives the price up and the ARV down.

One of the biggest problems that investors have when flipping homes here is that they don’t have a lot of local connections. They think they can just hire any old person off the Internet to get everything done right. That’s a bad way to do business. You need to visit the area, see it, understand the market, and understand the properties you’re looking at.

A lot of agents in town that work with investors have the right contractors to help you achieve your goals. That’s why you should reach out to a local expert like myself at the very beginning. Nobody wants to buy a house for $20,000 that ends up costing $40,000 and is pieced together all wrong. I see it happen here every day.

Each micro market is different.

Having a local expert on your side means having someone with the experience to help you succeed. Adding new carpet, paint, and a kitchen won’t raise a property’s value by 40%. There are better ways to spend your money.

Finally, investors tend to miss when it comes to pricing. Again, this is where a local expert comes in. Each micro market is different. A price that's just right in one neighborhood may be much too high in another. Only someone with years of experience working in this real estate market will know where you need to price in order to sell quickly and for a nice profit.

If you have any questions for me or you’re looking to invest in Pittsburgh area real estate, I’d love to hear from you. Give me a call or send me an email anytime.

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report

Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale

If you plan on selling your house this spring, there are a few things you should do to prepare your house for the market here in Pittsburgh.

For starters, I'm big on home inspections because they tell you about any problems that would come up during the time your house is listed. If your home doesn't need any additional repairs when you put it on the market (because you already had a home inspection), you can pretty much stick to your price.

Next, you have to prepare your yard after the Pittsburgh winters that make our yards look horrible. Put out mulch, rocks, and plants to make your landscaping beautiful and add some fresh flowers for color. You should also furnish your porch and patio—bring out wicker or white outdoor furniture and add bright cushions. You want to make your whole porch or deck pop and show that there's space for entertaining.

Cleaning is also a necessary task that must be done. When your home goes on the market, you need that spring cleaning. Make sure everything is sparkling clean from the windows to the jambs to the floors and walls. Get rid of cobwebs in the basement and bring some flowers inside for a fresh smell to show your house in its best light this spring.

Let in as much natural light as possible—buyers love natural light!

You also want to power wash your sidewalks and driveway, as well as the house itself if you have siding, to bring back their vibrancy. If you don't own a power washer, you can rent one for about $50 to $60 a day.

Finally, make sure that when you're showing your home that you open the curtains and blinds to let the sunshine in. Let in as much natural light as possible because people love natural light.

If you have any other questions about selling your house this spring or you're looking to buy a home in the area, give me a call or send me an email. I'd be happy to help!

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report

Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale

When it comes to pricing a home, buyers want to negotiate even after the agents have done all the work, while sellers sometimes don’t listen to their agent when it comes to pricing. I want to go over a few things that both buyers and sellers should keep in mind when it comes to the price of a home.

Let’s say that a buyer sees a house that is priced at $140,000 in a $160,000 neighborhood. Even though the home is priced below the neighborhood, the buyer still feels the need to negotiate and get an even lower price.

Keep in mind that when an agent prices a home, nine times out of 10, they will meet with the seller and go over everything about the house. The agent will take the location, condition of the home, condition of the roof, furnace, and AC, and the number of kitchens and bathrooms into consideration when coming up with an accurate price.

If it was as simple as going to Zillow and putting the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and square footage into the computer, then you wouldn’t need an agent or appraisal. However, that is not how pricing works.

Zillow’s Zestimates are out of control. Nine times out of 10, Zillow’s Zestimates are completely wrong. Zillow looks at the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and square footage. Zillow also looks at the last 30 days of sales within a two-mile radius of your home, which includes all different kinds of homes.

There is only so much money in any given transaction.

When you sell houses, you can’t compare a ranch to a three-story home. You have to compare apples to apples. Not only that, Zillow has no idea about your new kitchen or whether or not you have hardwood floors. All of those upgrades you’ve made factor into the price of your home.

So, let’s go back to that $140,000 house in the $160,000 neighborhood. The home has a 25-year-old furnace and a 25-year-old roof, but other rooms have been updated. The agent has already taken that information into consideration when they priced the home. The problem is that buyers will look at the home and think they can come down on the price because they will need to replace the roof and furnace, even though the home has already been priced for that!

Even if you have a new roof and furnace, that doesn’t mean your home will be priced above your $160,000 neighborhood. Buyers expect that you will have kept up with the maintenance on your home.

Still, buyers feel they have to negotiate with the seller to come down on the price, get them to pay closing costs, and then fix all of the repairs in the house. Keep in mind that there is only so much money in a transaction and that the home has already been priced lower because of those repairs. If you as a buyer are asking for so much, how will your offer look to the seller? It won’t look like a win-win situation, that’s for sure.

If you have any questions about this topic or have another topic in mind you'd like to see me discuss, please feel free to reach out to me. I'd be happy to help.

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report

Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale

Most people don’t know what home warranties really cover. However, it’s incredibly important that you have a home warranty for your home.

Let’s say you’re looking at a home and that home has a 20-year-old furnace, a 20-year-old AC unit, and older appliances. You really like the layout of the home but you know that you will have to pay to replace or repair those appliances.

When you purchase this home, make sure that you get a home warranty. Having a home warranty and keeping it up to date will help with those costs. In fact, home warranties can absorb 90% of what that cost will be for you.

Home warranties can save you 90% of repair and/or replacement costs.

So, if you find a home you really like and see those repairs coming, a home warranty makes perfect sense for you.

A lot of people get a home warranty when they buy a home but forget to renew it. You have to renew your warranty every year. Home warranties protect you and cover more than your furnace and AC units. Home warranties cover electrical, plumbing issues, toilets, doorbells—basically, all major components of your home are covered, along with some minor components.

Like every insurance policy, there are things that are covered and things that are not. Make sure you check which items are which. That said, major items in your home should be covered.

I always recommend that you get a home warranty when you purchase a home. If you have any other questions about home warranties, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report

Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale

For the first time in two years, the FHA will reduce its mortgage insurance premium to lower the monthly payment for the loan buyer. Currently, an FHA mortgage insurance premium is based on 3.5% down, which is 0.85% of the loan amount. On January 27th, it will be reduced to 0.6% of the loan amount.

However, if you put 5% or more down, the premium will be reduced to 0.55% of the loan amount, which would be a substantial amount of savings, depending on your loan balance. With this new insurance premium being lowered, you could save as much as $55 or more per month if you purchase a home through the FHA.

This new change could save you a lot of money, depending on your loan balance.

This change should make it tougher for people to decide between a conventional loan and an FHA loan. A lot of people with 5% down or more used to go with a conventional loan because it would result in a lower mortgage premium. With this new development, though, FHA loans are going to compete with conventional loans.

For more on this topic or any other topic you would like to hear about, please feel free to call or email us anytime. Until next time, make it a great day!

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report

Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale

The end of the year is here, and the Pittsburgh real estate market is quite stable. While certain price ranges saw some different things, we’ve generally had a steady market. Really, the only thing that has changed is a dwindling supply of inventory.

Our inventory is so low right now that we are in a seller’s market. Sellers are in the driver’s seat and it will continue to be that way until at least the midway point of the year. There simply are too many buyers and too little inventory. Buyers need homes, and sellers are reaping the benefits. If you've been thinking of selling, now might be the time to do it before interest rates go up and while you can still get top dollar for your home.

Your chances of success in this market are high.

If you are going to put your home on the market and you want to sell quickly and for a good price, my prediction is that you will succeed. In this market, move-in ready homes aren’t staying on the market for more than a few weeks in most cases.

If you have any questions for me or if you’re thinking about buying or selling in the new year, give me a call or send me an email. I would love to hear from you.

Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report

Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale

There are a few things you should never do when you are in the middle of buying a home. Here are the 10 commandments for home buyers:

You shall not change your job, become self-employed, or quit.  

You shall not buy a car, truck, or van — unless you want to live in it.

You shall not charge your credit card excessively or let your accounts fall behind.

You shall not spend money that you have set aside for closing.

You shall not omit any payments or debts to your loan officer.

You shall not buy any furniture.

You shall not originate any inquiries into your credit.

You shall not make any large deposits without first checking with your loan officer.

You shall not change your bank account.

You shall not cosign a loan for anyone.

Don’t make any major purchases until after you close on your new home.

If you break any of these commandments, you may not be able to buy the home. Wait until after you have the keys to your new home before you go out and buy furniture for it.

If you have any other questions about the home buying process or about real estate in general, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!