Homebuyer Credit EXTENDED and EXPANDED!

Wow, this is amazing news folks…on Friday, 11/6, President Obama signed into law an extension of the Homebuyer Tax Credit for first time buyers AND and expansion of it to include another credit for EXISTING home owners ‘moving up’.  You now have more time to take advantage of the fantastic prices on Lake Wallenpaupack Real Estate…some of them are downright CHEAP!

So, here are the details:

The First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit remains in effect and you now have until April 30th 2010 to go under contract and until June 30th 2010 to close on your new home.   Credit is 10% of the purchase price up to $8000.  This is a refundable credit, which means you actually get cash in your hand if you normally get a tax refund.  If you’d like to read more info about this credit, click HERE.

The NEW Homebuyer Tax Credit for Move Up Buyers allows a $6500 refundable credit for buyers vacating a home they have owned for at least five consecutive years out of the last eight years.  The maximum home price is $800,000 and the income limits are $125,000 a year for singles and $225,000 for married couples.  The effective date is November 7th (the day after the extension was signed into law) so if you’ve already bought you’re out of luck…but if you were on the fence and can take advantage of this credit get moving!  If you’re currently renting after having sold your home within the last two years and eleven months BUT owned your previous home for five years in a row beforehand, as long as you’re within the eight year window, you can take the credit too.   

This will most likely be the last batch of these credits, and you have PLENTY of time if you start looking to be in a binding contract by April 30th of 2010, even on a short sale or foreclosure.  So, what are you waiting for?  Call me today and I’ll help you find YOUR Lake Wallenpaupack dream home…and the US Government will be kind enough to help you upgrade it a little, pay down your debt, buy a bigscreen…whatever floats your boat.  Heck, since you’re looking for Lake Wallenpaupack real estate, maybe you should BUY a boat!  Don’t miss out on such a great opportunity!

 

CHEAP Lake Wallenpaupack Real Estate, Indian Rocks.

More and more folks are contacting our office looking for CHEAP Lake Wallenpaupack real estate, and for the first time in a while we actually HAVE SOME!  So, I’ve decided to feature a cheap Lake Wallenpaupack property today and will continue to share great deals later on.  This week, check out this awesome home in the Indian Rocks development…it’s WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE of Lake Wallenpaupack!

This charming two bedroom, one bath cottage was built in 1976 and sits on .12 acres.  New roof, updated kitchen and bath and a great screened in porch.  It’s truly in MOVE IN CONDITION!  Located on a township road that is well maintained year round, too.  Has a woodstove to supplement your electric heat, and you’ll be entitled to use the clubhouse, beaches, outdoor pool and tennis courts.  AND, power boating is allowed because this development comes with access to LAKE WALLENPAUPACK!  Dock slip available and lake rights on Lake Wallenpaupack…WOW!

So, how much do you think it is?  Well, all this can be yours for the CHEAP price of $125,000!  That’s right…your own Lake Wallenpaupack home at an incredibly low price.   Call me today, this won’t last long!!!!

Updated Kitchen

Updated Bathroom

 

Another view of front of home.

Finding your Lake Wallenpaupack real estate: an MLS Portal tutorial.

We’re taking a little detour from the Buying your Lake Wallenpaupack real estate series this week to focus on one of the most amazing tools every created…the publicly searchable Pike and Wayne County PA MLS (short for Multiple Listing Service) with Portal.  I won’t go into all the gory details of what the MLS is, means, or how it began, as I’d prefer that you remain awake and reading…but know at one time, before the advent of the glorious internet, only real estate agents had access to this data and it was in a printed format.  Yikes!

What the Pike and Wayne County PA MLS allows YOU do to is search for available properties using the criteria YOU chose…so you can find exactly what you’re looking for, or darn close to it…and you can create a Portal to save your searches, likes, dislikes and MORE!  I provide FREE Pike and Wayne County/Lake Wallenpaupack MLS access here in my blog and on my website, which not all agents do.  Me, I think the best way to find clients is to be honest, available and informative.  So, it’s free here now and always will be.  Do I hope you call ME when you want to go look at a home?  YOU BETCHA!

If you look up above this post, you’ll see a tab that says “Search the MLS”.  Right click on it and open it in a new tab or window so you can go back and forth during the tutorial if you wish, or you can just print this page for use in the real world.  Ready?  Here we go!

Scroll down on the Search the MLS page and click on the ‘Click here to search’  link.  You’ll see a page that takes a little bit to load with ‘Property Search’ in the upper left corner.  Now, you can skip this next step and just search the MLS but I think you’d be missing out on LOTS of features…so click on the Log In link over on the right side.  A little box will pop up and you can fill in the info there and sign up…this information is ONLY VIEWABLE TO ME, AND NO ONE ELSE, EVER!  All you need to fill out is your name and email address…and while I’d love it if you used your real name you can put a fake one in there, but be sure to use a real email address so you can get your password.  You’ll get an email soon after with the subject ‘Portal Logon Information’ and it will contain your username and password and the login link.  Click it to login, and enter your info.  You’ll see the MLS search again, but with a message:  Welcome, *your name here*! You have successfully logged into the portal of Sandra Durlee Lauer.  You may now save searches using “Save” and rank your listings using the icons next to each listing.  Also, you may go to your dashboard by clicking “Home”.

Click on the Home link on the right hand side.  You’ll see a page with four sections:  Searches and Reports, Carts, Messages and Profile.  You may want to go to your Profile first to change your password to something you will actually remember.  Now, let’s do our first search!

Click on New Search.  Over on the left, choose your criteria.  You can use as few or as many as you would like.  Let’s say you’re looking for a home under 100K in the Wallenpaupack School District.  Click the List Price box, and enter 0 and 99,999 in the boxes.  Now, a little further down, check the School District box.  Then pick Wallenpaupack.  Then, click on View Results.  TADA!  All the houses on the Pike and Wayne County MLS that are less than 100K and in the Wallenpaupack Area School District are displayed for you.

Now, when you are viewing all these, you can click on the smiley face, the median face or the sad face to indicate whether or not you like, are indifferent to or don’t like any particular listing and it will SAVE this info to your portal so I can get a better idea of what suits your needs, and you can keep track too!  Happy face is a Favorite, median face is a Possibility and a sad face is a Reject.  The emoticons will turn from black and white to full color when you chose one.  You can even share your listings on Facebook, Twitter, My Space or via email. 

Click on any individual listing to view all the details…and if you want to send me a note about it, click on the Messages tab, then click “Write a message to Sandra about the highlighted listing’.  Ask me questions, request a showing…whatever you need! 

If you want to save your search so you can see it again, just click the SAVE link on the right hand side, then enter a name and a description.

Now, click on the Home link.  You’ll see all the things you marked over in your Cart, just click to see them again.  Messages you sent are down in the lower left, and keep an eye out in the cart for recommended to show up…those are ones I think you may like!  Your saved searches will appear in the Searches and Reports section, ready and waiting for you when you feel like looking.

If you decide not to use the Portal feature that is perfectly fine…you can use my MLS search however you like, and once you start using it you may find it hard to stop!  Real estate here in the Lake Wallenpaupack area is so interesting, and many folks find looking at homes for sale online to be a relaxing, fun hobby.  No, I’m not kidding…I really know people who say that!

Happy searching, and if you have any questions, let me know.

NOTE:  This tutorial was handwritten and custom made by ME, so please don’t reuse it and pass it off as your own without permisson.  Email me and ask first…if I happen to see it somewhere, I will be in touch regarding copyrights.  Thanks!

Buying your Lake Wallenpaupack real estate: Step Four, how to find the right house for YOU.

Once you’ve found your real estate agent (since you normally can’t see homes for sale without one!), you have lots of thinking to do…this is one of the biggest decisions of your LIFE, and you need to take the time to sit down and put on paper exactly what type of home will be right for YOU. Here are my suggestions:

FIRST, determine your price range.  In previous steps we’ve covered whether or not you were ready to be a homeowner and if you would be able to find financing.  I’ll assume that since you’ve moved on to this step, you HAVE a financing commitment and thusly you already know exactly how much you can afford.  If you haven’t, go back and investigate those, please.  Bottom line is your mortgage payment with taxes and insurance included cannot exceed 30-35% of your monthly income.

SECOND, target a location. You’ve chosen the Lake Wallenpaupack area, but it’s a HUGE area that covers many towns and several school districts. For folks with kids or those who may have them later on, the school district can be a deciding factor on a location. For others, town vs. country is the thing that matters. Still others base their choice on things like lake view, development or community type, proximity to stores they shop at and more. So, make your ‘wish list’ for a location.

THIRD, determine the size home you need.  Two bedrooms?  Five?  Is one bathroom okay, or do you need more?  Eat in kitchen or is a dining room a must?  Full basement for future expansion?  Garage?  Be honest with yourself and choose based on your current needs with an eye towards the future if you’ve yet to start your family.  Buying a bigger house than you need is often more of a challenge than it’s worth…you have to heat and cool that space, AND fill it with furniture! 

FOURTH, and lastly, determine the size of the property you’d like.  Keep in mind that a full acre in the town of Hawley or Honesdale is RARE, so if you’re looking for town living you’ll have to settle for a smaller lot.  Same with most developments.  Again, base it on your current needs…and remember, the more property you have the more you have to maintain!

Once you have your entire wish list complete, sit down with your agent and go over it, or start combing the MLS yourself…and that’s our topic for next time…I’ll provide a simple tutorial on how to use the MLS search I provide for you (free of charge, of course) to find, track, and share listings.  It’s SO amazing!

Lake Region Insurance, serving the Lake Wallenpaupack area!

There’s a little tab up there that says ‘Need Insurance?’ and I thought I’d create a post in addition to the info you can find there, just in case you missed it.  If you live in the Lake Wallenpaupack area, I’d be delighted to provide you with a FREE insurance quote.  I have 24 years of experience helping folks meet their insurance needs and am licensed in health, life, and property and casualty.  My office, Lake Region Insurance, is proud to represent a large number of great companies, including Hartford, Travelers, Cumberland Insurance Group, Donegal Insurance Group, Mercury Insurance Company, AIG, GMAC and many more. 

But Sandra, why would I want to use a local agent when I can get a better discount on my own with a large company that I find online?  Well, folks…that’s simply not a true statement any longer.  The online quotes you’ll get aren’t your REAL quotes…because most insurance companies run your credit report to arrive at your REAL rate.  I won’t argue whether or not that’s a fair and just process (I personally don’t think it is…because no matter what the stats say, having poor credit can’t make you a worse driver and having great credit won’t make you a better one, either…I know plenty of people with a history of credit problems with clean records and no accident history!) but it’s today’s reality.  Chances are, I can beat your real rate quote, especially if you switch both your auto AND homeowner’s policies.  The best part?  We’re neighbors.  You’ll drive by my office on Route 6 right by Lake Wallenpaupack, and if, God forbid, you have any problems and need to enter a claim, you KNOW RIGHT WHERE TO FIND ME and you’ll have my cell phone number and email address so you can get in touch with me whenever you need to.  And all through the process, you’ll deal with ME, and I’ll hold your hand the whole way.  Try and get THAT from a big online company.  Sometimes, peace of mind is worth a few more pennies…it is to me, anyway…and that’s what I aim to provide for you.

Contact me today for your FREE quote…call me at 570-226-6400 and I’ll give you the list of info I need to work up your quote, or email me if you’d rather:  sdlauer1954@yahoo.com.

Buying your Lake Wallenpaupack real estate: Step Three, choosing a real estate agent.

So, your financing is in place and you’re ready to start house hunting…but HOW?  Should you just call the listing agent whenever you see a property you like and see it with them OR should you find one agent that you use to see all the properties that interest you?  Personally, I think finding your very own buyer’s agent is the BEST idea for a number of reasons.

Yes, we all work on commission…if you see a house you like and the selling agent shows it to you and you buy it, they get the whole shebang, which is very nice for them (or me!).  If you have your own buyers agent and there is a different selling agent, the commission is split in half, which is STILL nice…but sometimes the dual agent can be a bit more pushy since they stand to make much more on the transaction, especially if they don’t know you from Adam.  Working with a buyer’s agent who has your needs and desires in mind and KNOWS you…well, it seems to me that they may have your best interests at heart JUST a smidge more.  My opinion, of course!

If you are a first time buyer, you NEED an agent.  While buying a home isn’t necessarily rocket science, there are many facets of the process that require negotiating and neutrality, and an agent can do that for you.  So how do you FIND one?  Ask around…and INTERVIEW.  Meet with several agents, tell them your wants and needs and see what they come back with…and how FAST they come back with it.  If you find properties that are nothing like what you are interested in on the agent’s list for you, PASS.  If you find yourself saying ‘oh, I LIKE that one!’ more than once, it’s a good start. 

An agent should be PROMPT…you should not wait longer than a few hours for a call back, and you should not have to wait to see homes for longer than a day or so, if that.  A good agent should get back to you within minutes and be ready to show you places at the drop of a hat, any time.

Also consider whether or not your agent will be capable of being aggressive enough to put in the offers you want to make…wishy washy doesn’t get deals done!

And don’t be afraid to ask for stats on how many homes the agent has sold AND for references from clients.  If they won’t furnish this info, RUN! 

Another thing to consider…does the agent offer all of the hi-tech options you’d like when searching for a home?  Can you use their website to search the MLS and track what you find on your own?  Can you email them questions and documents when the time comes?  Do they have a cell phone and actually ANSWER it?  Will they send you directions and maps so you can do drive-bys before you make a showing appointment?

FYI, I’d love do all that for you, and more.  It’s my goal to make YOUR Lake Wallenpaupack real estate dreams come true, after all!  The best part of my job is helping people find a home that they’ll make memories in for years to come…it makes me feel so blessed to have had a hand in it all!

A Lake Wallenpaupack Labor Day!

It’s Summer’s final hurrah…LABOR DAY WEEKEND!  Come on up and spend it at beautiful Lake Wallenpaupack…only a short drive from Metro NYC, Long Island and Staten Island.  There are so many things to do here…rent a boat and spend the day on Lake Wallenpaupack, shop in the quaint Victorian village of Hawley, attend local fire department picnics, drive around combing yard sales…you’ll never run out of activities, that’s for sure!

And, while you’re here, why not take a look at some Lake Wallenpaupack real estate?  Maybe you’ve been thinking about relocating, or maybe you’ve decided it’s time to buy that vacation home you’ve always dreamed of.  It’s never been a better time to buy…and if you’re a FIRST TIME HOMEBUYER, you can still close in time to receive your $8000 tax credit if you act NOW.  There are MANY bargains and reasonably priced offerings on the Lake Wallenpaupack real estate market…you can get A LOT for your money these days.

Pike and Wayne counties are such wonderful areas to live in, and the school districts are great.  But don’t take my word for it, come see for yourself…and if you want to look at some properties, give me a call!

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Sandra, Lake Wallenpaupack & Pocono Mountain Real Estate

Buying your Lake Wallenpaupack real estate: Step Two…Finding Financing Part Three, USDA loans.

Welcome to Step Two, Part Three of our ‘Buying your Lake Wallenpaupack real estate’ series: Finding Financing, USDA Loans.  As I explained in Part One, financing is the biggest hurdles buyers face in this real estate market.  Many loan types that used to be readily available are gone, and buyers are left with only a few choices.  This week, we’ll cover USDA loans.

Not many folks had ever heard of the USDA (that’s the Unites States Department of Agriculture) loan program until the credit crunch, myself included.  Suddenly it’s the most popular second only to FHA loans…and I’m not sure why it isn’t out in front, because it is terrific!  This is the only loan left on the market for which you DON’T NEED A DOWNPAYMENT.  That’s right…NO DOWNPAYMENT.  You can finance 100% of the appraised value, sometimes up to 103% to cover fees.  There are two types of USDA mortgage loans…Guaranteed and Direct.  You can read about them in detail at the USDA WEBSITE.  All homes must be within the designated  eligible RURAL location.

The Guaranteed version of the Section 502 loan is ideal for folks with decent credit (a score of 640 or above will usually get you through with no questions asked no matter your past credit history, as  long as you have no delinquent federal debt) who just don’t have access to enough savings to come up with 20% or 3% downpayment but want to become a homeowner.  The Section 502 loan is funded through a lender, but backed (guaranteed) by the USDA in case the borrower defaults.  There are restrictions…income limits apply (in Pike County, a family of four must make less than $78,400 a year, in Wayne County less than $73,600) and the home must be considered ‘modest’.  Buyers must be able to afford the monthly payments, including taxes and insurance and currently be without adequate housing (too small, in bad shape, unaffordable rent…this is a very flexible guideline!).  You can use the loan to buy, rehab, or build.  Loans are 30 year term at an interest rate set by the lender.

The Direct version of the USDA Section 502 loan is absoultely the BEST choice for lower income folks and the loan comes directly from the USDA.  There are a few more limitations on this one: families cannot have more than 15K in liquid assests unless they apply them to the loan, you must be without adequate housing, you must be unable to qualify for a mortgage loan with a traditional lender, the home price can’t exceed the area allowed maximum (cap set at $179K in Wayne County, for example), as well as the household income (you can find the limits on this TABLE).  As with the Guaranteed version, credit must be acceptable, and a 640 credit score will get you approved pretty easily.  You can also use this loan to buy, rehab or build.  Terms are normally 33-38 years.

Gee, Sandra…those sound the SAME.  What gives?  Well, there is a huge difference…the USDA sets the interest limit for the Direct loanand will determine how much you can afford, AND, if you are categorized as LOW or VERY LOW income on that table I linked to above, you MAY QUALIFY FOR AN INTEREST SUBSIDY…which could reduce the interest rate you will pay to as low as 1%, helping you get much more home for your money!  Case in point…I know a family of three making about 23K a year who just bought a home using the Section 502 Direct loan with a sales price of 115K.  Their mortgage payment is $464, and that is with taxes and insurance included! 

Now, the interest rate subsidy is not for everyone…because if you sell or refinance and have equity it must be repaid.  BUT, if you’re looking to buy long term and will not pay off the loan early, the subsidy is forgiven so this loan is GREAT FOR YOU!  The subsidy is affected if you make more money and you will be asked periodically to verify your income for this reason.  You may also be asked to refiance if the time comes when you CAN qualify for a tradtional loan. 

Both the Guaranteed and Direct are wonderful programs…contact the USDA or your local bank TODAY!

Pleny of houses under the limits in our area, and I’d love to show them to you.  Call me today, 570-776-0728.

Real Estate Intervention…

If you’ve already seen this show, you’ll know where I’m going with this…pricing is THE MOST IMPORTANT thing to consider when selling your property, even here in the Lake Wallenpaupack area. 

Real Estate Intervention is a new HGTV show…’motivated’ sellers are taken on tours of current properties for sale that are similar to their home and in the same price range.  Mike Aubrey is the fellow that takes them out in the wild, often for an eye-opening reality check.  He is SO blunt, I love it!  Mr. Aubrey fearlessly points out everything that is better in the toured listing than that of the homeowners, and also indicates how long things have been on the market.  He ALSO gathers stats and shows homes to the sellers that have actually SOLD.  Yes, if the toured listing is deficient from the homeowner’s listing he mentions that too.  But that’s not often the case.

How do the sellers react?  Well, the show I caught this weekend featured a young couple with a small child and another on the way looking to sell their condo, which they purchased for 480K or so using an INTEREST ONLY LOAN.  They decided to go FSBO and were asking 549K and were concerned when it didn’t sell right away.  INTERVENTION TIME!  Turns out that other units in their building were selling for as low as 450K…and of course, their initial reaction was ‘well our unit is NICER and it’s SPECIAL’.  It seemed to me that the wife was having the most issues with accepting that the value of their condo was lower, perhaps, that what they paid…she kept saying ‘but this is OLD, and I don’t like THIS’ in units they toured. 

When Mike sat down with them, he suggested that they list with an agent immediately and start at 495K and if they were lucky they would be able to unload it and only have to bring 20K or so to the table…meaning that it was going to COST THEM MONEY TO SELL.  They resisted, then a short time later put it on the market with an agent at 529K.  When Sabrina Soto (the host) went back to check on them, the wife was VERY confident and said ‘well we’ve had a ton of interest and have an offer pending for close to the asking price so we’re packing to move!’.

Fast forward a few weeks…their offer never went anywhere and they wound up selling at 500K…only 5K more than Mike estimated, and they did have to bring money to the table.

Sandra, it’s great that you like the show but what does this have to do with ME?  Well, it’s simple…when you are planning on selling, it is in YOUR BEST INTEREST to sit down with a QUALIFIED REAL ESTATE AGENT to determine a REAL, ACTUAL value of your home.  This should be based on SOLD PROPERTIES in your area, NOT what you’ve seen your neighbors list their home for.  IN THIS MARKET, IT IS ESSENTIAL TO PRICE YOUR HOME AT THE RIGHT PRICE WHEN IT FIRST GOES ON THE MLS…you must SET the market by pricing at a ’sellable’ number, not CHASE the market by listing high and going lower as time goes on and prices move downward.

Important to note, and things you should think about in advance so you aren’t horribly offended when your agent tells you your home is worth XXX and you thought it was worth XXXX:

• While your home may be special to YOU, it will most likely NOT BE SPECIAL to the buyers looking at it.  It is JUST ANOTHER HOUSE ON THEIR LIST and is NOT WORTH MORE because you think it’s special. 
• The upgrades you made on your home may not be what buyers are looking for…that red kitchen tile may actually have made your home worth LESS, so be prepared to have folks criticizing your style choices. 
• Your neighbor listing his home for a certain price DOES NOT make your house worth just as much…if your neighbor recently SOLD his home for a certain price, then yours MAY be worth that depending upon a ton of other factors, of course.
• A good agent is HONEST and will provide you with a price he or she thinks it will SELL at.  They are NOT trying to ’steal’ your home or earn a quick buck…BUT they should be able to back up that price with FACTS.

That being said…I would be delighted to provide you with a FREE comparable market analysis to determine what I think you should put your home on the market for.  I’m honest, thorough…and you won’t EVER need to have your OWN Real Estate Intervention if you choose me as your agent!  Call today, 570-766-0728.

Sandra, Lake Wallenpaupack and Pocono Mountain Real Estate.

Sidewalk Sales in Honesdale, PA…Wild Wild West theme!

If you like shopping (who doesn’t?) and are looking for a really fun time, come to Honesdale today or tomorrow for the 49th annual Sidewalk Sales.  This year’s theme is the Wild Wild West…you may just see the Triple W Cowboys wandering around staging the occasional shoot out.

In addition to the food and fun, all of the stores in downtown Honesdale have merchandise set up outside on the sidewalks (hence the name of the event) so you can browse outside.  How nice is that?!?  And, of course, most will be offering sales, steals and deals.  Even nicer! 

Sponsored by the Honesdale National Bank and the Downtown Honesdale Partnership, the Sidewalk Sales run through Saturday, July 25th, 9 AM to 6 PM.  Don’t miss it!