Lake Wallenpaupack 8th Annual Chili & Wings Cook Off!

Looking for something totally fun (and delicious!) to do this weekend while you’re in the Lake Wallenpaupack area?  Well, consider yourself booked on Sunday, January 31st from noon until 4 PM.  Held at Ehrhardt’s Waterfront on Route 507 (turn left at the first light on Route 6 by Lake Wallenpaupack), it will only cost you $20 to taste and judge any and all entries.  Come on out and taste what the Lake Wallenpaupack area restaurants have to offer…trust me, the chili and wings are ALL to die for!  Plus, it’s a great opportunity to get to know some local folks or visit with old friends.  You can find detailed info here, at the Hawley – Wallenpaupack Chamber of Commerce website.

And since you’re going to be right by my office at Wallenpaupack Realty…give me a call, 570-766-0728.  If you’re interested in buying I’ll be happy to sit down and chat with you about it.  Prices in the area are a little lower and GREAT homes can be had for a very reasonable price.  If you’re thinking of selling…I can help with that too!  Don’t fret over prices…I’ll take my time and research and find the BEST price for you to list at. 

All the best,

Sandra, Lake Wallenpaupack & Pocono Mountain real estate.

Buying your Lake Wallenpaupack real estate: Step Seven, the sales contract.

The seller has decided to accept your offer…good for you!  You’re now ready for Step Seven in our Buying your Lake Wallenpaupack real estate series: the sales contract.  This is yet another point of the homebuying process when you’ll be relying heavily upon your real estate agent, so I hope you chose a great one! 

Now, you may have had to draw up a sales contract to make your offer…some agents do things this way, others will draw up a simple offer to purchase to get the price in line before filling out too much paperwork and still others will do everything verbally or via email to come to a price.  I prefer to wait until we have a final price before creating the contract, so let’s go from there.

The very first thing you’ll need to go with your sales contract is a check for your ‘earnest’ money.  This is to show the seller that you are serious enough about buying the house (since they’ll be taking it off the market while you’re in the process of buying it!) to cough up some dough.  Here in the Lake Wallenpaupack area, the amount varies, but it’s usually at least $500.  If the sale doesn’t go through, you CAN sometimes get this money back…it all depends on how the contract is written and the contingencies it contains.

So, let’s talk about contingencies…these determine how and why either party can walk away from the contract without penalty (translation: you get your earnest money back) if they are not met according to how they are written.  The most common included are shown below, and you should read, re-read and read AGAIN before signing your sales contract to make sure they are EXACTLY how you need them to be! 

• Appraisal:  The sale depends upon the house appraising (this is required by all lenders!) for the amount of the purchase price.  If it comes in lower, you can walk and get your money back, or the price can be lowered by the seller.
• Loan:  This is the biggie…it states when you MUST have proof of financing by and the terms of the financing.  If you can’t get a loan, the seller can keep your earnest money as you’ve defaulted on the contract.
• Home Inspection:  You should always do this, even if it’s not required…this will alert you to any issues and you can try and have the seller fix them or credit you for the cost to fix them.  If they won’t, you can walk away.
• Wood Destroying Pest Inspection:  Also known as a termite inspection, this also finds dryrot.  It is normally required by lenders.
• Septic Inspection:  Required for all homes that have a private septic system, if it’s not working, you can have the seller fix or you can walk.
• Private Well Inspection:  Again, required…tests to make sure the water is not contaminated and that the flow is adequate.
• Lead Based Paint Inspection:  Required for all government backed loans, this determines if any lead paint hazards exist on the property.

There can be more, of course…but those are the ones that are MOST important and are required by most lenders.  You will specify and the seller will agree to the timeframe required for all.  Some others include a separate roof inspection, radon or mold inspections, preliminary title reports, homeowner association documents, early occupancy agreements and the most dreaded contingency of all:  pending sale depends upon the sale of existing residence.  Avoid that like the plague these days, folks.

Once the contract is drawn up and signed by both parties, you are committed to following through to the best of your abilities and have to meet the contingencies as they are due in order for the contract to stay in force.  If you don’t, you risk losing your earnest money…and in rare cases, a lawsuit.

Another thing you MUST see before signing, if it applies to the seller, is the Seller’s Property Disclosure.  ASK FOR IT!  The seller is required to list any issues with the property…wells, septic, property lines, etc.  If you can prove they lied down the line, you may be able to collect damages. 

Starting next week, we’ll deal with each of the contingencies in depth…and how to handle it when things go wrong.

HGTV’s Holmes on Homes: A must see for EVERY homeowner!

I’ve been watching, most often in horror, a most educational show on HGTV:  Holmes on Homes.  (Yes, I agree, great choice for a title).  Renovation expert Mike Holmes tackles the overwhelming job of repairing shoddy work other contractors have done for a homeowner…and every single time, I am SHOCKED at what has happened to these poor people!  He uncovers problems from plumbing and electrical to roofing and carpentry, mainly in situations where the homeowner has paid a contractor big money.  All they’ve gotten in return are huge headaches, substandard work and sometimes downright dangerous problems.  That is, if the work even gets FINISHED!

I’ve learned something from every episode so far…in one, a couple pays to have their basement finished.  Sounds nice, doesn’t it?  They wound up with such an unsafe area that it was completely unusable…the bulkhead actually came down when Mike pulled on it!  And, when he ripped out the rest of the basement (ALL of the work the couple paid for went in a dumpster!) he actually found written in the walls ‘first basement’ and the date that the contractors, who said they had tons of experience, decided to put there for posterity’s sake.  Then there was the little old lady who invested the remainder of her savings to make her apartment completely handicap accessible and wound up with a place too filled with hazards to live in any longer…yikes!  And the people who wanted their home remodeled and found themselves out a ton of money living in an unfinished home.  I could go on…and on!

The important thing…if you’re a homeowner, you need to watch this, especially if you’re considering hiring someone to do work for you.  In places like the Lake Wallenpaupack area we sometimes fall for things because things have such a small town feel…a case in point:  a homeowner contracted a fellow to do her roof because he had done the roof on her employer’s business and home and did a decent job.  He ran off with her $3800 deposit, never to be seen again.  No matter what you THINK you know, if you’re spending your hard earned money you’d better make sure you really KNOW IT and have proof in writing! 

So how does one prevent things like this from happening?  Well, when you’re considering hiring someone, get at least ten references in writing.  Sure, that seems like a lot…but if your contractor can’t give you ten references that are positive and recent, you don’t want to use him.  And, CHECK the references.  Go to see the completed job.  Speak with the homeowner.  Ask to see before photos.  If the contractor doesn’t support this, again…NO! 

Next, do a Better Business Bureau check.  If the gal I mentioned above had done so, she would have seen that the seemingly nice, professional roofer had a bunch of complaints against him.  She won’t even buy from an unfamiliar website without checking the BBB now!

Then, when you do hire someone, NEVER PAY FOR A WHOLE JOB UPFRONT!  A real contractor won’t want to see much of your money at all until the job is well underway or completed.  At most, put a tenth down.  If your contractor wants money for materials, his business isn’t doing well and there’s most likely a reason for that!

Lastly, EDUCATE YOURSELF and WATCH THE JOB LIKE A HAWK!  The internet is a bottomless well of knowledge…if you hire someone to do your kitchen, research all aspects of it and take the time to OBSERVE your hired crew at work to make sure they are doing things properly.  Ask questions, and lots of them!  If they don’t like you hanging around, they have something to hide.  And don’t be afraid to fire someone (and pay them for work they have done so far…you may want to see a lawyer first to make sure you’re doing things the right way) if you aren’t happy with the quality of work being done.

You also may want to consider seeing a lawyer BEFORE signing any work orders…it might cost you some money now, but it will SAVE you money if something goes wrong.

And, do your self a favor and watch Holmes on Homes…learning from the mistakes of others is SO much cheaper than learning from your OWN!

Buying your Lake Wallenpaupack real estate: Step Six, making an offer.

So, you’ve found the house you want to make your HOME…this means you’re ready for Step Six in our buying your Lake Wallenpaupack real estate series:  Making an offer.  You’re going to find out very soon why you hired such a GREAT real estate agent…they will be your go between with the seller’s agent (if it isn’t a dual agent situation) for every little thing from this point forward.

First things first for making an offer…KEEP YOUR WITS ABOUT YOU.  So many people fall in love with a place and it completely clouds their judgement.  Don’t be one of them!  What does this mean?  Well, you must have and STICK TO a price cap.  You may have a price set in your head that is lower than the asking price and it the MOST you can afford…don’t go over it if the seller won’t come down.  Being house poor is not a bit of fun and can last a very LONG time!  Bidding wars are rare these days, but just in case…stick with that price cap! 

Next, let’s talk about the price and how you determine what to offer.  You know what it’s listed at, and if your agent did their job it’s within your price range without having the sellers come down a huge amount.  Another thing your agent should have done is pulled ‘comps’…properties that have SOLD in the area that are similar in size and condition to the one you’d like to buy.  This is a great way to determine a starting point for your first offer.  And yes, please remember…this is a NEGOTIATION so you can expect series of back and forth offers and counters until you meet where both you, the buyer, and the seller are comfortable.  After reviewing the sold comps and comparing that to your price cap, ‘the number’ should be pretty clear and your agent can write up the paperwork to submit to the selling agent.

But Sandra, I don’t want to offer TOO MUCH…how can I tell how low the seller will go?  Sorry folks…there is no easy answer to this question!  Some people, on their own, pull local records to see the price the seller paid for their house and offer accordingly.  Most often it’s a wast of time, as this amount is only how much they paid when the deed was recorded…it doesn’t take refinances or home equity loans in to account.  Your best bet is to offer low…this, though it may end up being your home, is a business transaction after all.  If the seller is offended by your lowball price, the worst thing that can happen is they come back at you with a full price counter offer.  BUT…what if they accept your low offer?  You’ve saved yourself thousands!  Don’t be afraid, and if your agent is iffy about offering what you want be firm.

What do I need to include in my offer?  One VERY important thing…if you will need the seller to pay closing costs (they don’t really pay them, this just allows you to finance them in your loan) make sure that’s on the table with the first offer.  To keep things simple, I advise doing an ‘offer to purchase’ first and then getting a sales contract done once the price is agreed upon.  When it’s done this way, there’s much less paperwork for you to do in case it doesn’t work out.  Also, a copy of your mortgage preapproval is VITAL and can help spur the seller to accept on your terms.

What if the seller makes a counter-offer?  This is where the negotiation begins…you look at the counter, see how close to your number it is, how far the seller has come down, then put in YOUR counter.  And so on, until the happy medium is found or the deal is dead.   

Offer accepted?  Come back next week and we’ll talk all about the sales contract!

Sandra, Lake Wallenpaupack & Pocono Mountain Real Estate

A Lake Wallenpaupack Thanksgiving…

Thanksgiving in the Lake Wallenpaupack area is so intersting…many of the folks who own vacation homes come up with their entire family to celebrate the holiday, many others choose Lake Wallenpaupack as their specific Thanksgiving vacation destination and do so year after year, and lots of us who live here year round invite our families to come dine with us.  What a melting pot it creates…not to mention that there are three times the people to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to!

There are a ton of things happening over the long weekend in the Lake Wallenpaupack area…downtown Hawley is advertising huge Black Friday sales, downtown Honesdale has sales as well.  And heck, it’s been so WARM you could still get one more day out on Lake Wallenpaupack on your boat if you haven’t stored it yet!

No matter where you are or what you’re doing, I wanted to take this opportunity to wish you and yours the happiest of holidays…and save some pumpkin pie for me!

Best, Sandra

Buying your Lake Wallenpaupack real estate: Step Five, preparing for and attending a showing.

Welcome to Step Five of my Buying your Lake Wallenpaupack real estate series:  preparing for and attending a showing.  You’ve taken the time to do your homework and know what your target area and price range is, and you and your real estate agent have combed the MLS and found several properties you’re interested in seeing.  Your agent will contact the selling agent (if they or their office is not the selling agent) and make arrangements for a showing of the property…now, for the seller, a showing means cleaning and neatening and making the house look its best as preparation.  But what should you, the buyer, do in advance to prepare for going to a showing?

Let me start by advising you that the Lake Wallenpaupack area may seem small on paper, but in reality it is HUGE.  You could want to see two homes in the 18428 zip code and travel upwards of 15 miles to get from one to the other.  So, first thing you should do is be prepared to travel and use an online direction site to plan your trip so you aren’t driving back and forth and wasting time and gas.

The  next thing you should do is print out the MLS listings for all the homes you’re going to see.  Your agent will do this too, usually…but if you do it on your own and bring a clipboard you can take notes at every house about what you liked or didn’t like, condition, things that may need repair, and so on.  It helps to organize the listings in the order that you will be seeing them, and note the appointment time as well.

Always dress for the weather, and wear comfortable, safe shoes that will allow you to traverse rough terrain AND reach hard to access areas like attics, basements, sheds and the like.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve shown homes to people in dress clothes and heels who couldn’t get into the backyard because of snow pack or in the basement because the didn’t want to leap down into the bulkhead.  Lots of homes in the Lake Wallenpaupack area are unoccupied as they are seconds…translation: may not be mowed or plowed.  This is your HOME you’re looking for, and you NEED to see the basement of a place if you are considering buying it!

Pack your camera and some tools…a measuring tape, flashlight, level and screwdriver are the things you’ll most likely need the most.  A pocket knife can’t hurt, either.

Once you get to a house, inspect the outside first.  Look at it from the street, from the front door, the back door, and CHECK OUT THE NEIGHBORS AND THE GENERAL LOCATION.  If you don’t like the location from the start, it’s fine to look inside…but remember, the one thing that you can never change about your house is THE LOCATION.  So, if you aren’t happy with the location from the get go, it’s best to move on.  Look at any porches and note any cracks, leaning, anything that looks not quite right.  Try and get a good view of the roof, too and see if you notice any problems.  Write it all down on your sheet, so you can review it later.

Once you’re inside the home, take stock of the space and how it makes you feel.  If the seller has done a good job, you should be able to picture yourself and your stuff in the home.  If they haven’t, you’ll need to use your imagination and vision.  Wander through once just to see the general layout then go back to the start.

On your second go round, take photos and make notes per room regarding sizes, flooring, windows (are they new or do they need work?), doors and ceilings (any signs of leaks?).  In the kitchen and bathroom check the cabinets under the sink to see if there are signs of water damage.  Note what may need work or replacing.  Check any heating systems to make sure they work, and open all taps to test faucets…don’t forget to flush the toilet! 

In the attic or attic crawl, use your flashlight to scan near the roof lines to see if you notice wetness.   Carefully inspect the insulation for dampness.   Make note of any problems on your sheet.  In the basement or crawlspace, look for signs of dampness or dry rot.  Wet floors are a good indicator that there may be issues…check ALL the foundation walls for cracks and make note of where they are. 

Do this for every home you see that passes your initial location test…then, when you get back to the real estate office (or your house) you can take your time and easily review the pros and cons of every listing you’ve seen with your agent.  When you think you have a winner, it’s time to make an offer…which we’ll cover next week!

Remember that tax credit, and call me when you want to look!  Sandra, Lake Wallenpaupack and Pocono Mountain Real Estate.

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!