We are all guilty of alittle fence riding. Be it a car, a house, or any other major purchase, all of us can be well, indecisive.

However, now more than ever the Humpty Dumpty inside us all needs to face plant off of that wall on one side or another, and the most savvy of savvy will land on the side of the wall/fence that means making a home purchase.

Record low rates, record low prices, record high inventory, record breaking incentives and tax breaks, and a motivation level that’s through the roof make this the best time imaginable to get off the fence and buy a house. And, it is our job as Real Estate agents, to help push you over the fence:) Not just because it’s our livelihood for now, but because making a choice to purchase a home right now could be not only the best time to buy into the American dream, but a cornerstone in a person’s wealth building strategy. Which means that you will love us for helping you make the leap, and we will continue to build a relationship with you for years to come, continue to do more business with you, and build a mutually beneficial relationship…which is a win/win for everyone involved:)

By and large, the biggest argument that I hear from my first time home buyers who are teetering on the edge of homeownership but are too timid to make the leap is the fear that homeownership comes with a huge price tag above and beyond the mortgage payment (i.e. maintenance and upkeep). Also, I hear people saying that they’d like to be debt-free otherwise before committing to such a large debt. Well. Here are my soapboxes on both of those arguments (and yes, I will recite them while helping you to the other side of the fence) lol:

You are not debt-free right now, but you have to pay rent to live somewhere. That rent could possibly be more than what you would pay to own. Living expenses for shelter are unavoidable no matter what other financial commitments you have (unless you are living with a relative rent free. This argument doesn’t go so far if that is the case). LOL!

Making a commitment to a 15 or 30 year debt for a house can be quite daunting. However, when looking at every incentive, and all of the other positive identifiers in the market right now, it makes the possibility of renting a more daunting alternative. Even with the added expense of taxes, PMI, and home owner’s insurance, with interest rates and incentives, the cost of ownership is so low, that an interest bearing savings account where one deposits the money saved per month from renting could go a long way for a person’s comfort level when dealing with the “what if this breaks” fear… Not to mention that if you qualify for the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit, you have the potential of an $8000.00 nest egg right off of the bat. And you are building an equitable return on your money when you pay for your living expenses every month pertaining to your home.

As the deadline for the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit looms, I find more and more people trying to make a commitment to become a homeowner. The time is now. Sieze the day. Take the leap. You won’t regret it

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Alright…so in a down market everyone in the real estate industry turns into a creative marketing machine. Volume down, guard up, value added service in check, and creative marketing implementation on lock! So…what are incentives and how do they affect buyers, sellers, and home sales? Incentives are the way in which some agents are electing to get their listings noticed, some sellers are offering to entice scarce buyers, and buyers are reaping the benefits due to all of the above…

Point blank, incentives are enticements for 1 property to be chosen over another. The examples are endless: Closing Costs Paid, Furniture Provided, Discount Points Bought, Landscaping Packages, Outside Living Area Upgrades, Appliance Upgrades…the sky is the limit and the offers can get as benign or as outlandish as you can imagine.

The best incentives seem to be those attached to dollar signs for many buyers. They wanna know how much they can save, how much they can have, and what they can do with it… Buying real estate at this point can be as lucrative as a full-time job if you do it right! Obama’s gonna give ya $8k if you’ve never done it before, your closing costs can be paid which could be as much as 4.5% of the purchase price, you can go from LG to Kenmore Professional Series at no cost to you, and hell- How bout a plasma to mount over the fireplace?

The downside to incentives is that sometimes, appropriating that money to be a reduction in list price coulda been much more effective in luring buyers to the property when the listings are plentiful and the buyers are scarce. Aesthetics are key in this theory as well. A lower priced home with proper staging can lure a buyer just as effectively as a home with tons of freebies and enticements…

So, the money for the incentives might keep a listing at the bottom of the price pond, where it can be overlooked by those skimming the surface of the pond.

I’ve never had a buyer that bought a house just because they were gonna get a plasma tv thrown in…I have had many buyers buy homes that they thought were gonna build equity quickly and were great deals…and yes, I’ve even had buyers who wrote offers on the great deals and asked for the plasma to be thrown into the mix…lol. I suppose at this point in the game, the thing to bear in mind is that each and every real estate transaction will have an enticement afforded- aesthetic, monetary, geographic…but incentives can sweeten the pot. The question is, what is more effective for agents- Fire sales or incentives? What is more lucrative for buyers- lower prices or incentives? And what makes seller’s feel more enticing- bottom line pricing or built-in incentives that require higher pricing?  I need a creative marketing consensus…

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So, today was disheartening. Awesome client, awesome house, awesomely excited…and the dreaded home inspection day came.
Hands down, when I talk to clients before, during, and after transactions the home inspection is the most dreaded, nerve racking, grueling experience of all when making a home purchase… and selling a home!

So here’s my wise phrase that I use: EVERYONE involved feels the same way. The agents, the seller, the buyer, heck, even the mortgage person handling the loan! Every house has something wrong with it. Even brand spankin new construction will have a flaw- human beings build homes and there is room for human error, there are cosmetics that will be affected by a house being marketed/viewed, there are hidden elements that any upstanding and competent home owner can accidentally overlook.

There are certain things that will be deal breakers for different people. Home inspections are all different. There are good inspectors and bad inspectors. There are little things and big things. There are certain things that are found that would be nothing to one buyer, and everything to another. They are SUBJECTIVE in all rights of the word.

That said, there are ways to avoid the dreaded home inspection’s potential devastation…
For sellers of existing homes, have it pre-inspected by someone you know, like, and trust. If you don’t know any inspectors, handy men, or other home professionals, call an agent and get some recommendations.
For buyer’s, don’t get too excited about things that turn up on the inspection until you have done some research, talked to your agent, and/or talked to a professional who can explain things to you.

Half the battle has been fought by the time we get to the home inspection. The rest of the battlefield is the half that leads to HOME!…so put down your bludgeoning tool and take a deep breath! Short of a sink hole, tectonic plate movement, or dead bodies int he basement, almost everything is fixable Even if a deal falls apart due to a home inspection for one buyer, repairs can be made, and the next buyer may have a completely different outlook:)

But…for now…looks like me, the buyer, and the seller all get to go back to the drawing bored. Yippee. LOL!

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