Ed Pluchar with Real People Realty Podcast Ed Pluchar

If you’re still renting, it’s much more financially beneficial to buy a home and take on a mortgage payment. Here’s why. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale Did you know it’s more beneficial for you to take on a mortgage payment than it is a rental payment? It’s true, and today I’ll explain how by using an example from my own life and adjusting the numbers for an interest rate you can secure today. Follow along in the video above to see an in-depth, side-by-side comparison of a rental payment versus a mortgage payment. For your convenience, I’ve provided timestamps so you can skip ahead to various sections at your leisure: 0:52—The numbers at a glance: $1,300 per month in rent versus $1,929 per month for the mortgage (at today’s interest rate) 1:36—The drawbacks of the rental payment and the benefits of the mortgage payment 1:57—How the mortgage numbers are divided up   4:07—How your tax credit reduces your overall payment 5:22—When factoring in your increasing principal and decreasing interest, in less than a year, your original $1,929 monthly payment will be less than $1,300 6:36—Why your rental payment will only go up  7:10—Wrapping things up  As always, if you have any more questions about this or any other real estate topic or you’re thinking of buying or selling a home, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to help you.

If you receive a lowball offer, I don’t think you should flat out reject it. Here’s what you should do instead. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale Let’s say you have your home on the market for $300,000 and an offer comes in at $250,000. You’re hoping to get at least $280,000, so you have every right to decline the offer right then and there. However, you can also counter this lowball offer. I would typically advise at least trying to counter in this kind of situation. Here’s why. A lot of buyers, especially first-time buyers, have the mentality of “let’s see what can happen” when they’re making a lowball offer. Someone with that mentality will typically bring their price up more than you think after negotiation. They may come up to $260,000 or $275,000 quicker than you think.  I would advise at least trying to counter. ” This happens pretty frequently. A lowball offer gets countered, then the buyer comes up to an area where the seller would accept it. If you have any questions for me about this specific situation or about anything else related to selling your home, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

If you think you may be paying too much in property taxes, there are two ways to go about reducing them. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale How can you reduce your property taxes? There are a couple of easy ways to do this.  The first way is to make sure you are receiving all the exemptions you qualify for. There are many that could apply to you. The second way is to speak to an attorney about appealing your taxes. If you look around your neighborhood and think “I may be paying too much,” ask your Realtor about this. A Realtor will take a look, and if we get the idea that you may be overpaying on your taxes, then we’ll take that to an attorney who specializes in appealing taxes and ask them to take a look at your case. The attorney will usually do an initial evaluation and determine whether you’re paying too much. If you are overpaying, then ordinarily that attorney will handle all the paperwork and processes for you. They will take it to the county assessor, and they should get your property taxes reduced. Often, you won’t owe them anything unless it’s a successful appeal. But how you pay will depend on that specific attorney.  If you look around your neighborhood and think “I may be paying too much,” ask your Realtor about this. ” So if you think you’re paying too much in property taxes and would like to look into that, give me a call. I can get you on the right path. If you have any other real estate questions, you can also give me a call or send me an email, I would love to help you.

Eric Marcotte of Peoples Bank joins me today to give you a thorough overview of the mortgage process. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale After you decide to buy a house, your first step should be to talk to a mortgage lender. Knowing what you can afford, how you can improve your credit, and the state of your financial situation overall is crucial in getting the home you want.  With that in mind, I’ve invited mortgage expert Eric Marcotte of Peoples Bank to join me today to answer a few mortgage FAQs and talk about each step of the mortgage process.  I hope this conversation gives you the guidance you need to become the best buyer you can be. If you’d like to reach out to Eric, you can give him a call at (219) 838-9101. If you have any questions for me, feel free to email me or give me a call. I’d love to help you.

When a seller pays a buyer's closing costs, what are they actually paying for? Find out today. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale There are a number of reasons a buyer might ask for a seller to cover the closing costs, but is this arrangement really as common as HGTV makes it seem? Yes and no.  When a seller does cover a buyer’s closing costs, these funds are usually taken out of the total list price rather than paid out directly.  Sellers cannot contribute to the buyer’s down payment. ” Also, it’s important to realize that down payments aren’t included in these “closing costs.” Instead, closing costs in this case refer to additional expenses like title fees, escrow fees, insurance, and more.  The reason this distinction matters is that sellers cannot contribute to the buyer’s down payment. The buyer must provide these funds themselves.  So when a buyer asks for closing costs, they aren’t actually asking that every bit of their closing-related expenses be paid by the seller.  If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

When the appraisal on the home you’d like to buy comes in low, you and the seller have three workable solutions to consider. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale What happens when your appraisal comes in low?   Let’s consider this question through the eyes of a buyer. Once the inspections and repair requests are squared away, the bank will order an appraisal, which serves as a professional opinion of the home’s market value.  The bank will send an appraiser out to the property, and that person’s job is to certify that the price in the purchase contract and the home’s actual value are in line with one another. If the appraiser can’t justify the price, it’ll either be too high or too low.  If the appraisal ends up being higher than the offer price, there’s no issue. The buyer will receive greater equity than originally expected, and the parties can move through closing without a hitch. An appraisal that comes in low, on the other hand, can be problematic.  One of three things will happen following a low appraisal:  1. The seller takes a price reduction  2. The buyer brings more money to closing  3. A combination of the first two options   If no agreement is reached, the contract will be rendered null and void because the buyer won’t be able to obtain the loan they made arrangements for.  An appraisal that comes in low can be problematic. ” I’ve seen it play out in different ways: I recently saw a seller take a $13,000 price cut for the sake of saving the deal. I appreciated it because I was representing the buyer in this particular transaction. In another scenario, one of my buyers made an offer on a home that appraised low. They felt that the home warranted a higher appraisal, and together we fought the appraiser on it. Despite our best efforts, the buyer ultimately chose to bring more money to the table to secure the home.    If you’re getting ready to purchase a home and you have any questions about appraisals and how they work, please give me a call at 815-931-2279 or send me an email at Edward.Pluchar@Gmail.com. I’d be happy to hear from you!