Salt Lake City Area Real Estate Podcast with Jodie Osofsky

This market is active and competitive. Here’s what you should know if you’re buying. 

If you plan on buying a home in 2017, that’s great news. However, there are a few things that you should know before you make the decision. We’ve got seven tips to share with you today that will help you become a better buyer. We’ve got tips for budgeting, tips for home maintenance, and tips for working with a lender.

1. Meet with a lender you trust. This could also be a lender that your Realtor trusts. You want to establish a game plan, know what type of loan product you’re going to get, and what you need for a down payment. There are a lot of down payment assistance programs out there.

2. Automate your down payment savings. Make them as relatively untouchable as possible.

3. Build up and clean up your credit. You don’t want to be sidelined when the time comes to buy because your credit needs work. A good lender will check your credit and if there are any problems, they will work with you to find a solution.

Be ready to pounce when it’s time.

4. Practice living on the budget of your estimated payments. This is a good exercise to use to determine if you can handle the monthly payments on your current income. 

5. Get familiar with home maintenance. If you’re a first-time buyer, you don’t necessarily need to know everything it takes to maintain a home, but it’s a good idea to get familiar with it.

6. Create your wishlist and must-have items list. Compare those lists to the homes currently on the market, and get familiar with the homes that match your criteria in your target areas.

7. Be prepared to pounce when you are ready. This is the final step, but it’s the most important one. The market is active and competitive. We expect our trend of low inventory to continue.

If you have any questions for us or would like to discuss this topic further, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you.

Whenever I hear multiple buyers starting to repeat the same misinformation, I start to notice a trend coming about. I never know where the info is coming from, but I know it’s wrong. Today I want to clear the air a bit on a few things I’ve been hearing about short sales.

Oftentimes, buyers tend to think that short sales are the best strategy to get a deal when buying. 85% of the time, that’s not true. Short sales are unique and different from other sales for a few reasons, such as:

1. In a traditional sale, homes that sit on the market and don’t sell typically reduce their prices. For short sales, this doesn’t typically happen because the balance the owner owes continues to rise as long as the short sale goes on. If someone is in foreclosure, they are not making payments. This causes interest and penalties to continue to accrue.

Short sales are unique situations.

2. Most of the time, the loans on these homes have mortgage insurance protecting the bank from losing too much money. This doesn’t give them a lot of motivation to drop their price significantly. You’ll be paying at, or just below market value for a home that may be in major disrepair. It might not even have a clean title, which will cause you to have to pay off any liens on the title. Ultimately, the bank could just decide to foreclose on the property at any time as well.

Before you hang your hat on the short sale bargain dream, remember they can take up to 13 or 14 months, and make sure you’re educated on what the process is like and an individual home’s situation.

If you have any questions for us, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

As the weather starts to get colder, we want to bring you some tips to prevent you from having to deal with the nightmare of frozen pipes. I learned a few things from a report I recently read, and I want to share them with you. 

One typical preventative measure to take is getting a pipe sleeve that goes on a water line attached to an exterior wall. You can pick one of these up at Lowe’s or Home Depot, or you can just use newspaper as insulation if you’re in a pinch.

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Pipe sleeves can work wonders.

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There are quite a few things you can do in order to take preventative action against frozen pipes. One is keeping your garage door closed, as pipes are sometimes connected through there. If you have a bathroom or sink that is attached to an exterior wall, keep those bathroom cabinet doors open on cold nights and let the faucet drip just a touch to prevent freezing.

If you’re going away or out of town, always remember to keep your thermostat to at least 55 degrees.

Hopefully these things can help you and hopefully you’ve learned a thing or two in the process. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.

There have been cases of wire fraud lately in our industry, and we wanted to address this scary topic with you today.

There have been issues with scammers hacking emails and changing wiring instructions. The FDC and the NAR have put out an official warning against this wire scam. In fact, a good friend of mine who actually works in our office had it happen in her own personal transaction. It was a very simple email from a very sophisticated hacker. Her down payment, over $40,000, ended up being wired away overseas.

The other shocking thing I learned through this is that the FDIC does not insure wire transfers—they only insure deposits. How do we handle this, knowing that the federal government requires us to send any amount over $10,000 in wire form?

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The FDIC does not insure wire transfers.

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We are cautious, we take an old-school approach, and we double and triple check information we are given. We also don’t email wiring instructions under any circumstance. For those of you in a real estate transaction, be aware that this is something that might delay your transaction a bit, but ensuring your money is safe and sound in the right hands is more important than anything else. If someone sends you wiring instructions without any verification, be very wary and cautious.

If you have any questions for us, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

You might not want to wait to buy a home or refinance your mortgage. Why? It all boils down to interest rates.

Here is a little interest rates 101. Mortgage rates are tied to the bond market, and are mostly pooled into one big bond called Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS for short). The MBS bond is highly sensitive to inflation and the fear of inflation. Since there has been little to no inflation during the crash, we have seen historically low rates.

After the election, the bond market overreacted to the risk of inflation under the upcoming president. It’s clear that it was an overreaction because the bond market has started to settle down a bit. However, experts say that the bond market will not settle down all the way. Those historically low rates are a thing of the past. 

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Interest rates will not be as low as they were before the election.

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There are a few other factors at play here. For example, the Fed really wants to raise short-term mortgage rates in December, provided that the economy can withstand an increase. Not only that, but OPEC, a major oil company, has decided to slow down its production, which the bond market does not like either.

Ultimately, you have to do what’s best for you. If you wait to time the market, that’s like waiting for a crystal ball and complete control of the global economy, and you’re not going to get either one.

When you’re ready to make a move, get with a good professional. Get information from the professional and not the Internet. Do what’s best for you and your family. You can’t put your plans on hold forever and wait for interest rates to go back down; rates will not go back down to where they were.

However, keep in mind that, historically speaking, anything under an 8% interest rate is a good rate. Anything under 6% is phenomenal.

If you have any other questions about interest rates or the real estate market, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

Join us on December 7th for our third annual Cookies & Cocoa with Santa event!  Looking to buy in the Salt Lake City Area? Get a full Home SearchLooking to sell in the Salt Lake City Area? Get a free Home Equity Report It is almost time for our third annual Cookies & Cocoa with Santa event! Join us on December 7th for an evening of fun! There will be professional photographers there to take pictures of the kids with Santa that you can use for your holiday cards. We will also decorate some sugar cookies and spend some time coloring with Santa. “ Mark your calendars for December 7th! ” Mark your calendars and keep an eye on your mail for your invitation. Please RSVP so that I know how many cookies to bring.  This is just one way to thank you, our clients, for your support. In the meantime, if you have any real estate questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I look forward to seeing you soon!

I recently attended a broker town hall meeting and learned some interesting statistics about the Utah economy. To sum it up, we have a very good report card. Looking to buy in the Salt Lake City Area? Get a full Home SearchLooking to sell in the Salt Lake City Area? Get a free Home Equity Report Today I’d like to give you a quick snapshot of the Salt Lake City market and go over some of the numbers with you so that you have a better understanding of where we are and where we’re going. Earlier this week, I attended a broker town hall meeting at the Salt Lake Board of Realtors and learned a few interesting things about our current market. Overall, Utah is doing spectacularly, especially when we look at the statistics for job growth and unemployment. Utah’s unemployment rate is 3.7% as of the end of September, while the national average is 5%. When it comes to job growth, income growth, and a number of other factors, Utah’s report card is showing straight A’s as well; we’re among the top three states for everything across the board economically. Another interesting thing I learned at the meeting was the fact that Utah ranks among the top 10 states in the nation for exporting. This is a major industry for us as a state. I also learned that the five major areas that we export to are the UK, Hong Kong, Canada, Mexico, and China. Our dollar is super strong right now all around. “ Interest rates are likely to rise in December. ” I also wanted to address concerns that everyone seems to have about the election. Remember that, although there is an election every four years, the real estate market does not crash every four years. Please keep this in mind when you’re making decisions about buying or selling a home. At this town hall meeting, one thing that they kept hammering on was the fact that interest rates are still so low right now. The Fed wants desperately to raise those rates again and it’s likely that they will do so in December, so if you’re thinking about refinancing or purchasing a house in the future, now is definitely the time to consider doing so. If you have any other questions about what our market looks like economically or about Salt Lake City real estate in general, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to help you!

Price isn’t the only thing that matters when buying a home. A home that is a good investment doesn't necessarily mean that it's the right home for you. Looking to buy in the Salt Lake City Area? Get a full Home SearchLooking to sell in the Salt Lake City Area? Get a free Home Equity Report When you’re looking to purchase a home, you can’t only be concerned about what the smartest financial investment is. That’s not to say that you should ignore the price, but you should take your lifestyle into consideration, too. I have had clients before that made the “smart” purchase and ended up not being happy long term. If you don’t stay in the home long enough to build equity and move on to the next property, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. It’s important to take into consideration what you do in your spare time, what your lifestyle looks like, and which rooms you utilize the most. Really think about that lifestyle and consider whether it might fit better in a condo or townhome than a traditional single-family home. Also consider the home’s proximity to activities you enjoy with friends and family. “ There’s much more to consider about a home than its price. ” These are all things to keep in mind when you’re looking to buy a home. I would love for people to think about that a little bit deeper than just the surface level questions of whether it is a smart investment or not. If you have any questions for us, don’t hesitate to reach out. We would love to hear from you. Just give us a call or send us an email.

There are certain upgrades you can make to your home that may improve your living situation but will not improve the home’s value. Looking to buy in the Salt Lake City Area? Get a full Home Search  Looking to sell in the Salt Lake City Area? Get a free Home Equity Report We talk a lot about what does help the value of your home, but here are seven things that do not help the value of your home: Extensive professional landscaping. There’s a difference between getting your home’s landscaping up to snuff for a future sale and doing extensive rock walls and water features. You will not see that money back when you sell your home.Upgrading electrical or plumbing in an old home. While this might have great value to those who live there and improve the overall cost of ownership by making these upgrades, you won’t see this money back in an appraisal.New home necessities. Having a new roof, gutters, HVAC system, etc. can be a plus for a buyer, but they won’t necessarily give you extra value for those items. “ You will almost never see extra money in an offer for a pool. ” Swimming pools and personal spas. You will pretty much never see extra money in an offer for a pool, especially here in Utah where our climate only allows for the use of a pool for three to four months out of the year. Making dated improvements. You don’t want to update your home with brass fixtures, even if they may be to your taste. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you don’t want to do anything too trendy either.  Painting your home. Your home does need to be painted from time to time, but you’re not going to get all your money back from any paint job. Solar panels. Although this is a nice, earth-friendly thing to do, we haven’t seen solar panels increase value on homes or make any impact on appraisals here in Utah. If you have any questions about these tips, don’t hesitate to give me a call or shoot me an email. I’d love to talk further with you.

What are some of the biggest regrets that homeowners have when selling a house? Today I'm discussing the five most common regrets I see, and how you can avoid them. Looking to buy in the Salt Lake City Area? Get a full Home Search  Looking to sell in the Salt Lake City Area? Get a free Home Equity Report Today I wanted to talk about the biggest real-life regrets that home sellers have. Not preparing the home before going on the market. When we as Realtors get in the picture, we're excited to get the home on the market and get going to sell the home as quickly as possible to maximize the dollar for the seller. Sometimes, though, Realtors aren't the best at helping sellers pump the brakes and realize that the home isn't ready for the market. In the last few years, we've found that as buyers scroll through homes online, if the home doesn't have pictures that are lit well and professionally done, they become disinterested, even if it's the deal of the century. Having the home look right and present well online is crucial, so you have to do some back end work.Trying to sell without an agent. There are so many different ways I could prove that, with the biggest being when it hits your pocket as a seller. You don't net as much money as you could by hiring an agent. “ When dealing with multiple offers, don't just look at the dollar amount. ” Skipping the staging. Like I mentioned with photos, staging is crucial. Thanks to HGTV, we all expect homes to look like model homes as buyers when we look online. Getting your home as close to that as possible will help maximize your dollar.  Jumping at the first offer. The first offer can sometimes come from an over-reactive buyer. Many times, these buyers aren't prepared or qualified to buy a home. They aren't as knowledgeable, so as quickly as they over-offer on your house, they can back out and walk away, too. Having an experienced agent to guide you through the offers is important.Picking a buyer based on money only. We've been dealing with multiple offers a lot this summer in the Salt Lake City area. When you have multiple offers, you tend to want to only look at the highest dollar net. The highest net offer isn't always your strongest buyer, however, and I have seen a lot more deals fall through this year due to flaky and unqualified buyers compared to recent years. You want to vet those offers and the qualifications of the buyer. Hopefully this topic was helpful for you. If you have any more questions, I'd love to sit down and chat with you. Give me a call or send me an email and let's continue this conversation soon!