Infinity Real Estate Podcast with Steven Hall

Are Pre-Listing Repairs Worth It in Seattle?

iamstevenhall@gmail.com (Steven Hall) — Wed, 25 May 2016 11:16:00 -0700

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People in Seattle ask me all the time, “How much has to be done to my house before I put it on the market?"

This freaks people out sometimes. Homeowners have lived in their homes for five to 20 years and they know every single thing wrong with the house, and some that they haven’t paid attention to. It can prevent some sellers from listing.

What I recommend is letting me come over and take a look at what your property is worth compared to other houses around it. Then, we can determine which repairs make sense to do, if any. In this hot market, people are pounding down my door for fixers. Your house might not be a fixer, but it may need a roof or furnace or some landscaping, and you really don’t want to do it. It’s not going to affect us putting it on the market, but it is going to affect the price.

“

Which repairs will get you the
best return on investment?

”

It might be worth it to accept $5,000 less for your house and let somebody else deal with the problems. On the other hand, some people don’t like to sell their home if it’s not in good shape. There are a couple of options there, starting with a pre-inspection, so we know what we’re dealing with. This can also help you get more money and sell quicker.

We can also get an appraisal, because sometimes a house is worth more than comparable homes because of quality or features. We recently had a home listed at higher than $600,000 around other homes that were worth $450,000. Why? The homeowner was a builder for 25 years, so the home was stunning. It had crown molding throughout, the best carpet and top-of-the-line appliances, and we ended up getting $660,000 for the house within 30 days. The appraisal was a big part of that.

The best thing to do is simply pick up the phone and call me. I can tell you what is and isn’t necessary to get your home sold. Now is a great time to be a seller!

An Overview of HECM Mortgages and Why You Need to Know About Them

iamstevenhall@gmail.com (Steven Hall) — Thu, 12 May 2016 10:12:00 -0700

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Tane Cabe is here with us to talk about one of the most exciting mortgage options out there for homeowners. It’s called the HECM, or Home Equity Conversion Mortgage. Most people aren’t even aware it exists, but after today you’ll be glad you heard about it.

HECM’s are an interesting animal, because they are totally different from a conventional mortgage. To use one, you must be at least 62 years old, and have the money for both the down payment and closing costs. I recently had a pair of clients who were 75 and 80 qualify for one of these mortgages. They were living in a beautiful house, but it was getting too big for them. We sold that home for $620,000 and after paying off their mortgage, they still had about $500,000 in equity left. They didn’t have a lot of income, just social security, but we were able to get them a HECM on a home worth $450,000 with just a $260,000 down payment, allowing them to retain the rest of their money for other things.

A HECM mortgage has no mortgage payments, ever. It gives buyers cash out of their previous home, increases their income, and they can never be kicked out of the home as long as they are keeping up on insurance and tax payments.

Another way an HECM can be used effectively is if you are interested in investing in property. For example, you can buy a four-plex for approximately half of its market value, and rent out three of the units to generate an average of $2,225 a month, without having to pay a mortgage whatsoever. It’s a powerful tool.

Finally, you can use an HECM mortgage as a “warm gift.” If you decide to give your home to your children or grandchildren when you pass away, that’s great. The HECM can be used to sell that house and buy another one, while pulling the equity out and being able to give that to your family for a down payment on a home.

The birth of the HECM was way back in 2008, where it was buried deep in the economic stimulus package. The goal of this program was to get more seniors to buy homes and give them a good opportunity to downsize from their current home that they may have raised their family in.

Why have a huge house and a big mortgage payment when you don’t need either? If you don’t want to have a mortgage payment, the only other way to do it besides having a HECM is paying in cash. With a HECM, you can put 50% down or less on a home, and all you’ll have to pay are taxes and insurance. The home will also be federally insured.

Tane wrote a great book called “Double Your Retirement Dollars” and he goes into great detail about this program, as well as some others. If you’d like a free copy, just head on over to nopaymentbook.com/steve and enter your info on the page. Tane will send you a copy, and you’ll be able to look at tall the great information in there.

Will Your Offer Get Accepted in a Hot Seattle Market?

iamstevenhall@gmail.com (Steven Hall) — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 10:30:00 -0700

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“What do you think a seller will accept for a fair price?” I get asked this all the time. In our current market, that is a particularly interesting question.

If the home has been listed for a while, 5% below asking price is acceptable. You won’t ruffle any feathers. I’ve done investment real estate for a long time, and if a property has been on the market for more than a month or two, most of the sellers are happy to receive any offer on their home at that point. Even if it’s a lowball offer, they’ll counter. You don’t lose anything with a lower offer.

However, if a home has only been on the market a couple days, that’s where things get challenging. Multiple offers are common, and I recently lost a home for one of my clients. This was a beautiful property in a top school district. We were up against 13 offers over asking price, and we lost to a buyer who offered all cash and waived the inspections. There’s not much you can do in that case.

Ultimately, it depends on what you’re going for. If a home has been on the market for a while, usually there’s a reason for that. If we’re smart about it, we can find out what that reason is. Maybe the seller doesn’t want to repaint the house. If that's not a deal killer for you, we can most likely negotiate something with the seller.

If you have any questions, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

How Can You Make Your Seattle Home More Energy Efficient?

iamstevenhall@gmail.com (Steven Hall) — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 14:09:00 -0700

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Today I’m here with Stephen Bay of Eco Consulting. Eco Consulting is an energy assessment company, and Stephen ensures that homes are energy efficient and educates people on ways to make their homes energy efficient. They don’t sell any products, and there is zero cost for using their services. All of their revenue comes out of the utility companies. Stephen is here to help you save money on your utility bill!

Eco Consulting has been popular because they can come into your home and install free light bulbs because they use utility rebates to cover the cost. In fact, they have installed more than 90,000 LED bulbs for free! Their goal is to make residential energy use go down in Seattle. They do not sell any products, although there are a variety of companies that do sell products. However, Eco Consulting should not try to sell you anything, and they have won awards for their services in the Seattle area.

When Stephen comes into your home he will perform a visual inspection and let you know what you qualify for when it comes to utility rebates. You can get up to $1,200 for a new heating system, depending on the type of unit you have.

If utility companies can reduce usage, they no longer need to build more infrastructure to provide power to people. In the long run, this will save the utility companies a lot of money.

An energy audit will usually take anywhere from 45 minutes to a few hours. It depends on the size of the home, and it also depends on whether or not the customer has questions or concerns. Part of Stephen’s goal is to educate his customers about how to become more energy efficient.

There are a lot of different things that you can do yourself if you’d like to improve the overall efficiency of your home. Stephen finds a lot of good tips here. We also encourage you to reach out to Stephen if you have questions.

Please spread the word about this service, because Eco Consulting doesn’t spend any money on marketing or advertising. They are also looking for Energy Ambassadors to help spread the word. If you educate ten people and they sign up for their free services, you can get a free lantern from LuminAID, and you will be also be entered to win eco-friendly upgrades for your home.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me!

Don't Miss Out on This Excellent Grant Program!

iamstevenhall@gmail.com (Steven Hall) — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 12:44:00 -0700

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Today I have Joe Tafoya with me, and he's going to be speaking about a fantastic grant program that's available. Essentially, you can get $20,800 for free. You don't ever need to pay it back!

A lot of people don't believe that this is real, but it is. It's available through an FHA loan. Now is a wonderful time to buy a home because of low interest rates, and if you combine that with this grant program, it's a phenomenal time to buy a home.

This grant program will cover a percentage of your down payment up to $20,800. This is a wonderful opportunity, especially if you're a first-time buyer. If you plan on living in a home and then using it as an investment property a few years down the road, this is a great way to buy it.

Joe recently helped a client receive $15,000 for a down payment, and they also got their money back for the appraisal, the inspection, and they even received a free home warranty. That's a pretty good deal!

Before we end, I'd like to say that right now is a good time to sell as well. Buyer demand is good right now because of these low interest rates, and when I mention this grant program to buyers they're usually convinced that they should buy a home while their buying power is high. This means that if you choose to sell now, we can probably find you a buyer that's willing to pay a good price for your home.

There is no catch here! Please don't hesitate to contact me about this opportunity. I look forward to speaking with you.

Is this Grant too Good to be True?

iamstevenhall@gmail.com (Steven Hall) — Thu, 6 Aug 2015 12:49:00 -0700

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Today we are talking about a grant program called the National Housing Fund. It’s a nonprofit run program for home buyers, and it offers them grants to use towards purchasing a house. Since this is a “grant” by definition, you don’t have to pay a cent of it back. But what’s the catch? We’ll explain everything for you today.

This grant program is designed to give you up to $20,800 towards buying a home with no stipulations attached to it. The National Housing Fund is a nonprofit, set up by the US bank in 2006. They have funded over 20,000 of these loans so far. The way I look at it is as an incentive for you to use their loan programs. Why would you use this loan program over another? Well, it’s free money! The interest rate for this loan is relatively low as well, with a 4.5% 30-year fixed rate.

If you don’t have the money for a down payment of closing costs, you can use this program to get into a house with $0 down. If you do have money in your pocket, keep it there and let the grant program pay for some of your principal.

To qualify for this grant, you do need to meet a few requirements. The first is that you make less than $103,000 as an individual. You will also need 3 years of verifiable income, and a credit score of 640 or above. To qualify, all you have to do is give us a quick call or email and we can get you in touch with a lender who will let you know if you qualify, 99% of the time, people do.

If you want to learn more about this program, check out this website. You can also give us a call or shoot us an email with any questions! We look forward to hearing from you soon!