Jason Roshek

Get That Colorado Home Loan—Even with Poor Credit

2012-02-17T21:27:12-07:00

You’ve found the Pikes Peak home of your dreams, but you think your credit isn’t good enough to qualify for a mortgage. Not to worry, says the AOL Real Estate website. Even buyers who’ve had foreclosures, bankruptcies, or previous loan rejections can still become loan eligible—by knowing some valuable tips.

It will take work, but you can increase your chances by highlighting your “compensating factors,” i.e. those things that don’t show up as part of your bad credit score. Here are seven things that will put you in the best possible financial light with lenders and improve your chances for that loan.

Other Assets – This includes things like a large 401(k) account or other retirement accounts which tell lenders that you have some financial resources if you get into trouble with your mortgage.

Job Stability – Being at a job five years or more can offset a bad credit history. Let the lender know how your income has increased over the years through regular pay raises as well as cost-of-living or annual merit increases. Lenders want to know you can cover any unexpected costs that come along.

Discipline, Consistency, Stability – Show lenders your current savings account or 401(K) balance to prove you’ve kicked your bad credit habits.

Put Down Roots – If you’ve lived in your current Colorado Springs home for three years or more, this shows that you’re connected to the community and will probably stay put for several years. Lenders like permanence.

Big Down Payment – The bigger this is, the faster you’ll be approved. If you don’t have at least ten percent, check into state and local assistance programs for help. Show the lender you can be trusted to figure out your financial problems.

Documentation – Provide lenders with canceled checks for payments made as well as bank statements that prove you’re saving regularly. These offer solid proof that you pay your bills and are being truthful about your credit history.

No one’s credit is perfect. But if yours is of the “really less than perfect” variety, presenting these positive aspects of your financial life can set a lender’s mind at ease and ultimately get you the loan for that great property in Colorado.

No matter what your financial situation, we can help find a home for your budget. When you’re ready to buy or sell a home in the Pike’s Peak Area, call The Roshek Group! We are ready to help you with all of your real estate needs.

The “Don’ts” of Great Colorado Credit Scores

2012-02-08T22:22:09-07:00

You know your credit score is important. The closer your score is to 800 the better your chances of securing a loan for that beautiful Colorado Springs home. A high score also means better rates and terms for the loan. However, many people don’t realize that certain negative actions can bring down your credit score—and keep it there for seven years or more.

From RealtyTimes, here are seven things that can wreck your credit score and your subsequent eligibility for financing.

Frequent Late Payments (aka Deadbeat Behavior) – Consistently making payments 30, 60, or 90 days late should be avoided. Know that paying even 30 days late can stay on your report for many years.
Collections – If your lender contacts a collection agency to obtain your payment, it’s reported to the credit bureaus and this negative information stays put on your report for seven years.
Charge Offs – Another seven years of damage result if your lender charges off your debt because they know you’re never going to pay.
Public Proceedings – Examples include bankruptcy, tax liens, or other financial judgments assessed to you. Even if you pay them off, they’ll show for seven years on your report. Bankruptcies can hang on for ten years and you never get rid of an unpaid tax lien.
Settlements – This means paying part of your debt in a settlement such as a mortgage short sale. Whether for mortgage, credit cards, or other debts, a settlement notice means (you guessed it) seven years of an undesirable credit score.
Foreclosures – Whether your lender forecloses on your Pikes Peak home or you give it to the lender in a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, it’s another seven year stain on your report.
Vehicle Repossessions – Not paying the car loan means the repo man takes the car and your credit score takes another nasty hit.

For those who’ve managed to avoid the things on this list, keep up the good work! If you’ve made one or more of these errors, there is still hope for buying a home in Colorado. With a lot of patience and hard work, you can get your credit score back in line. And now you know what not to do to keep it there.

Colorado Renters: Get Off the Fence and Buy!

2012-02-03T18:27:04-07:00

For those still on the fence about renting versus owning in Colorado, it’s time to jump. If continued historically low interest rates and decreased home prices don’t push you, here are five other good reasons to buy.

So Long, Landlords – Even if you’ve had a great landlord, the money you pay every month goes into his pocket, not yours. You can love where you rent, but if the landlord is selling, you may suddenly find yourself seeking a new place to live.

Having Your Own Style – While you can do basic modifications in a rental, you can do much more in your own Pikes Peak home. And you need no one’s permission but your own.

Cost Factors – There are ways to compare the costs of renting versus buying. See GinnieMae.gov for a price chart that helps you analyze things like the tax savings and equity you’ll get as a homeowner as well as how much rent may increase. You can compare real numbers and make your best decision.

Long-Term Gains – Housing has not been this affordable for decades. Homes in Colorado and many other areas are undervalued and selling for less, while rent in those same areas is rising. Homeownership is a great long-term investment.

All Good Things Must Come to an End – Many people think that interest rates will stay low indefinitely and that there will always be plenty of home choices, but things can change. It’s expected that in 2013, distressed sales will begin to drop. Conversely, the number of new households is rising each year, which means that eventually fewer houses will be available. So it may be best to buy your Colorado Springs home now rather than put it off.

Whether to rent or buy is a very individual and personal choice, and fear of the unknown is not a good basis for any decision. Crunch the numbers, consider all your options, and talk to a qualified real estate agent. You might just decide that owning a home really is better than renting, and you can finally get off of that uncomfortable fence.

Whether you’re buying or selling, a qualified real estate agent will help you make the best deal. When you’re ready to buy or sell a home in the Pike’s Peak Area, call The Roshek Group! We are ready to help you with all of your real estate needs.

Use Good Fence Manners on Your Colorado Home | Colorado Relocation Group

2012-01-27T19:34:11-07:00

Whether it’s for privacy, more curb appeal, or to keep the kids safe, you’ve decided to fence in your Colorado home. Before you begin, here are some tips to make sure that your neighbors will appreciate the new addition as much as you do.

One absolute must is to know and stay within your property line. Study the plot plan of your Pikes Peak property or have a new survey done, because going even one inch onto your neighbor’s land will mean tearing the fence down and starting over.

Make sure you (or your fencing company) have obtained a permit and know the local zoning laws for height, placement, or other restrictions. Typical height limits are six feet for back and side yards, and four feet for front yards. Corner lots may have different rules if the fence will inhibit the visibility of drivers. To build over the limits, you’ll have to apply to your zoning board for a variance. This generally means a hearing where neighbors can voice any concerns.

If you’re part of a homeowners association, their rules actually come before the local laws and can include specific style, height, and maintenance regulations. Remember that a fencing company may not know these requirements, so it’s your job to tell them.

If a neighbor damages your fence, document with pictures and try to work it out. If not, small claims court is your next likely stop.

There are also some non-required but nice things to do to keep your neighbors on your side.

Tell them about the fence before installing it, and make sure everyone agrees on property lines.
While not a must, it’s common practice to put the nicer, finished side of the fence facing your neighbors.
Do maintenance on both sides of the fence whenever needed.

A fence is defined as anything that creates a barrier, including trees or hedges, and the same rules of zoning and neighbor etiquette apply to a “living” fence.

With a little knowledge and consideration, you can stay on the good side of your Colorado Springs neighbors—even after the fence goes up.

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Colorado Living ...Where Dreams Come True

The Roshek Group

719-687-1531

PikesPeakRegion.com

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Contingency Clauses: A Must for Colorado Home Buyers | Colorado Relocation Group

2012-01-20T16:05:28-07:00

Contingencies are the conditions that a seller must meet before a buyer will honor an offer to purchase the home. For a seller, these clauses are sometimes obstacles; for a buyer, they’re protection. If you’re buying a home in Pikes Peak, Woodland Park or any other area in Colorado, the following three contingency clauses should always be a part of your contract.

Contingency 1: You Must Sell Your Home Before Buying Another – This is especially true if you need money from your existing home to purchase your next one. If your home doesn’t sell, you can’t buy. The seller might not like this contingency, but it’s a better alternative than your taking on loans for both the old house and the new one as there’s no telling how long your old home will take to sell, or how much the final selling price will be.

Another approach is to set up a 21-day contingency for selling your current Colorado Springs home. In this scenario, the seller of the home you want can still keep the property on the market while you hopefully get some buy offers on your home. After 21 days you can either buy the new house or let the offer run out.

In this market, buyers are still somewhat in control. If the seller walks away because of your contingency, move on, or come back to the seller in a few months. Most likely the house will still be for sale.

Contingency 2: You Must Qualify for an Affordable Loan Rate – Even though interest rates are low, lenders don’t always qualify buyers for the lowest available rate. Figure out the highest rate and least-attractive loan terms that you can afford, and write those into your contingency clause. If the purchase price jumps too high, you’ll know you need to back out based on your stated cap.

Contingency 3: No Home Inspection Means No Deal – Your offer should absolutely stipulate that the house be inspected for all possible issues, including termites. If the inspector finds big issues, you can renegotiate the sale price or ask the seller to make the necessary repairs before you buy. Sellers will usually put a ceiling on how much they’ll pay for repairs, but you must then state your own cap as well. If a very expensive problem is uncovered, you’ll have a way out of the offer.

Some real estate agents privately refer to buyer contingency clauses as “weasel clauses,” insinuating that it allows buyers to “weasel out” of an offer penalty-free and with a refund of their earnest money deposit. In reality, contingency clauses are just common sense precautions for Colorado buyers as well as sellers. Planning ahead for contingencies helps everyone to know where they stand, and can often help a deal close with little or no angst.

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Colorado Living ...Where Dreams Come True

The Roshek Group

719-687-1531

PikesPeakRegion.com

via coloradorelocationgroup.com

Get the Right Energy Audit for your Colorado Home | Colorado Relocation Group

2012-01-15T14:58:03-07:00

We all assume that our Colorado homes are energy efficient—but are they? An energy audit is an easy way to find out. It can diagnose your energy issues, particularly air leaks, and then help you prioritize what needs fixing.

The big decision is whether to do the audit yourself using online information or to hire a professional energy auditor. Whether you’re in Pike’s Peak or other regions of the country, the following information from Houselogic.com provides the pros and cons of each kind of audit.

The do-it-yourself audit generally costs less, but it may only give educated guesses about the airtightness of your home and may have you paying for fixes you don’t really need, i.e. installing new windows when just insulating the window frames would do. Or you might end up over-sealing your home, creating indoor air quality issues that could affect your health.

Professional energy audits offer two choices: visual and a more thorough diagnostic option. The diagnostic audit includes visual work as well as the use of high-tech tools that determine just how airtight your Colorado Springs home is (or isn’t). This method pinpoints the exact location of air leaks, detects gas leaks, and shows which way drafts are blowing.

A professional audit can be expensive, running from $150 for a visual check to $400 or more for a diagnostic check, but it will reveal things that, when fixed, could save you 5 to 30 percent on your annual energy bills. With an average bill at $2,200 per year, that’s a savings of about $660.

When hiring a professional auditor, be sure to ask questions and make sure the auditor does not work for a window company. A certified auditor will have a professional affiliation with or training from organizations like RESNET or the Building Performance Institute. Professionals also provide a written report of their findings. Often your local utility company will offer audits or can recommend a qualified auditor.

If you have a newly constructed home, paying for an audit is unnecessary as your house will have the most up-to-date building codes and modern energy efficiencies. For an older home or fixer-upper, postpone the audit if you have more serious issues to fix such as structural problems or bad electrical systems.

Though an audit might only find minor issues, remember that fixing small things can often keep you from shelling out for major repairs later. Knowing what’s involved in an energy audit and working with a qualified auditor will help you make the best decisions for your Colorado home and your wallet.

Energy efficient homes are good for us and for the planet. When you’re ready to buy or sell a home in the Pike’s Peak Area, call The Roshek Group! We are ready to help you with all of your real estate needs.

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Colorado Living ...Where Dreams Come True

The Roshek Group

719-687-1531

PikesPeakRegion.com

via coloradorelocationgroup.com

Pull Out that Smartphone to Buy or Sell in Colorado | Colorado Relocation Group

2012-01-06T21:12:57-07:00

Real estate is making a huge jump into the technical world. According to the MSN Real Estate site, the technology explosion of the past three years has totally changed how people buy and sell their Colorado homes.

Many real estate sites like Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com now offer applications for smartphones and tablets to make a buyer’s life almost care-free. Drive to a neighborhood you might like, run a search on your phone to get a map with homes for sale in that area, and then use your GPS function to start checking them out.

If you spot a house you like in Pike’s Peak, the Zillow app tells how long that house has been on the market and how often the price has been reduced. You might also learn that another house nearby recently sold for $50,000 less, so your house of interest might be overpriced. This instant, accurate data means you can then walk away and check out the next property on your list with no time wasted.

On the Realtor.com app, you can draw a line with your finger around a particular section of a map and see any homes that are for sale in that area. You’ll “search” only the Colorado Springs neighborhoods that fit your criteria and skip places with, say, more retirees than young families.

Sellers can benefit from these new electronic tools by ditching newspaper ads in favor of the newer web-based or mobile-based technologies. Tech-savvy sellers know that the Gen X and Y buyers will use their phone or iPad when house hunting, not the classifieds.

Realtors® are also catching onto this trend and are letting technology help their bottom line. Because many buyers search by school district, one agency now uses a Twitter feed to alert buyers of home listings in each school district. There are also apps to let homebuyers rate and review their Realtor®.

The arrival of mobile apps, social media, and GPS are having a large but very positive impact on real estate, and the change is sure to continue with the development of new technologies.

Whether you’re a self-proclaimed geek or technologically challenged, I will walk with you through every step of the buying or selling process. When you’re ready to buy or sell a home in the Pike’s Peak Area, call The Roshek Group! We are ready to help you with all of your real estate needs.

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Colorado Living ...Where Dreams Come True

The Roshek Group

719-687-1531

via coloradorelocationgroup.com

The “Ins and Outs” of Colorado Home Inspections | Colorado Relocation Group

2011-12-30T14:07:07-07:00

Whether you’re buying a lovely old “fixer-upper” in Colorado Springs or brand-new construction in Pike’s Peak, you’ll want to have the property inspected inside and out before you sign a contract.

Once you know what repairs the home requires, you may be able to work them into your offer or negotiate with the sellers to have them pay for some of the fixes. Or you can decide there’s too much repair work and just keep house hunting. But it’s the home inspection that helps you make these important decisions.

A home inspection will vary with the kind of Colorado property you are buying. According to the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI), a standard inspection will cover the following areas:

Heating and central air systems
Interior plumbing
Electrical systems
Roof, attic and visible insulation
Walls, floors, ceilings
Doors and windows
Foundation and basement
Structural components

However, inspectors are not required to move yard debris, plants or snow to look for hidden problems and are not liable for missing them. Nor are inspectors required to identify latent defects or check home systems not readily accessible (i.e. inside walls). It’s also worth knowing that inspectors do not have to note potentially harmful plants or animals such as termites and molds. Talk with your home inspector about these areas prior to the inspection.

Remember that you don’t have to reject your potential Colorado dream home just because it needs repairs. Every house needs something. Your job is to get the facts and then decide what you can spend and/or how much work you want to do if you buy that home.

The bottom line is to find an inspector you trust and who is ASHI licensed so that every potential issue can be identified. A good home inspection will provide some peace of mind as you make one very large investment.

A good real estate agent will help you negotiate all aspects of your home purchase, including the inspection. When you’re ready to buy or sell a home in the Pike’s Peak Area, call The Roshek Group! We are ready to help you with all of your real estate needs.

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Colorado Living ...Where Dreams Come True

The Roshek Group

719-687-1531

via coloradorelocationgroup.com

Give Colorado Listing Photos Curb Appeal

2011-12-23T14:39:58-07:00

There are two words that every Colorado home seller should know: curb appeal. The better this is, the higher your chance of enticing a buyer the minute they park in front of your house. But the curb appeal also needs to show up in your on-line listing photos, since most buyers will see this before they view the actual property.

To put that pizazz in your photos, try these three simple, no cost options.

Take Down Window Screens – Most home exteriors can look pretty
dull, and screens generally make windows look dark. You can shine up door knobs
and lighting fixtures, but these changes won’t show up in your external photo.
To spice up your photos and add some dimension, take down window screens on the
front windows before shooting—but remember to keep and reinstall them after the
home sells. Buyers likely won’t miss the screens during a showing, but they
sure will once they’ve moved in!
Water Your Bark Mulch – When mulch is first put down, it looks
great and creates a nice clean look in your garden or yard. Old mulch looks
dull and is a big turn-off. Watering the mulch makes it darker so it contrasts
with your greenery and makes it seem more vibrant. So pull out the hose and wet
down your mulch before taking the picture as well as before an actual showing.
Make The Walkway Stand Out – Turn the front walkway of your Colorado dream home
into a “runway.” Make sure it’s clean
and clutter-free, and then dress it up with potted plants, lights or statues. Make
sure it shows up in your photos by standing on a small ladder to take the
picture looking down on the property. Or shoot from an angle rather than
straight on.

The goal is to have your home call to potential buyers whether they see it on the Internet or drive by in a car. And living in a beautiful area like Pike's Peak makes the job even easier. Look around for anything you can do that will make your home stand out among the myriads of other listings so that a buyer’s very first impression will be, “Oh, how beautiful! I’d love to call that my home.”

Along with great curb appeal, you need an agent who’ll bring a steady stream of buyers to your door. When you’re ready to buy or sell a home in the Pike’s Peak Area, call The Roshek Group! We are ready to help you with all of your real estate needs.

Staging : Not just for the interior of your Colorado Home | Colorado Relocation Group

2011-11-27T12:25:14-07:00

When people speak of staging their home, they are typically referring to the inside of the home – decluttering, de-personalizing and sprucing up the interior living areas to make the home more inviting to potential buyers. However, people often overlook the importance of staging the exterior of the home. While often referred to as “increasing curb appeal” this aspect of staging a home is just as important as ensuring the inside is ready. Remember, people will see your driveway and front porch of your Colorado dream home before they see what the interior has to offer.

Here are ten great tips for ensuring that the outside of your Colorado Springs home sets the stage for a quick sale:

Create a “to do” list: Stand at the curb in front of your house and scan your front yard. Jot down anything that catches your eye that needs attention: edging, chipped paint, dirty walkway, etc. Then, have a friend perform the same task and add their items to your list
Fresh paint: Exterior walls, eaves, doors, shutters, and visible wood should appear freshly painted or stained.
Clean entryway: Clear any clutter from the entryway to your Colorado Springs Home, store snow boots and shoes and sweep leaves and spider webs away.
Ensure exterior lights are working: This includes any fixtures on the home, security lights and landscape lighting. If you have a dark entry area, consider adding a new light.
Utilize the outdoor living space: Add an outdoor rug if space allows. If you have a large porch, add a swing or bench that faces the best view from your Colorado dream home.
Keep the lawn mowed and neatly edged: If the yard is in very poor shape, consider laying sod.
Clean the flower beds: Keep them free of fallen leaves and weeds. Consider adding a layer of mulch – it’s cheap, easy to put down and instantly makes the front yard look fresh and cared for.
Add colorful flowers: Weather and season permitting, plant or pot some fresh flowers outside the front door. Consider adding potted plants, especially flowers with yellow blooms as they draw the eye’s attention and makes people feel at ease.
Trim bushes and trees: Make sure trees and shrubs aren’t hiding windows, or infringing on walkways. Also, trimming tree canopies will help ensure this season’s snow doesn’t topple them onto your home.
Power wash the driveway, walkway, shutters, siding, doors, etc.

In today’s competitive market, staging your home is an important part of the selling process. With the high number of homes on the market, your home needs to stand out to potential buyers as well kept, a good value, and ready for their family to move in. A well-staged Colorado Springs home appears inviting to potential buyers and allows them to see the home as a place their family can live and make memories.

When you’re ready to buy or sell a home in the Pike’s Peak Area, call The Roshek Group! We are ready to help you with all of your real estate needs.

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