Topics

Retro Real Estate: Selling Houses in the Good Old Days – Washington Blade

by
Retro Real Estate: Selling Houses in the Good Old Days - Washington Blade

Retro Real Estate: Life in the Good Old Days

This month I am celebrating 25 years of selling real estate in the DMV.

Prior to becoming a Realtor, I had bought and sold at least a dozen homes during the previous 20 years and had lots of experience with real estate agents in my retro Real Estate days. There were those who commanded my complete attention when they spoke and those who made me think, “I can do better than this.”

When I returned to D.C. from Minnesota in 1997, unemployed, I enrolled in real estate school and quickly learned that helping others do what I had done for years involved a whole new set of skills. The process and the rules continue to evolve.

With my D.C. license in hand, followed by Maryland and Virginia licenses by the end of the year, I set up shop in my unfinished basement and joined a Century 21 franchise. A year later I moved to Prudential (now Berkshire Hathaway), where I stayed for 15 years, then to Keller Williams, and in 2017, to RLAH @properties, which I consider my final resting place.

Full Story From the Washington Blade

3 Undeniable Ways a Realtor Can Help You Sell Your House in the Gayborhood

by
gayborhood - deposit photos

Attempting to sell a house in the gayborhood with the current real estate market conditions is tough. Interest rates remain sky-high. Many homebuyers are either priced out of the market or scared to jump in. Partnering up with a credible realtor is the best way to ensure your property will have the greatest chance of selling. However, it’s important to note that not all realtors are created equal. There are different marketing strategies that realtors use to connect you with people shopping for homes. It only takes one excited buyer to successfully sell a property in the gayborhood.

Here are 3 reliable ways that a realtor can help you sell your home located in the gayborhood.

  1. 3D Virtual Tours

3D virtual tours bring the online presence of your listing to life. Consumers – now more than ever before – shop online for nearly everything. This includes houses! Homebuyers oftentimes start their search by scrolling through listings on Zillow or Redfin. Creating a 3D virtual tour of your property enables people to become emersed in your property without having to drive there.

Naturally, this generates more potential buyers that will be interested in purchasing your home in the gayborhood. Additionally, it will weed out tire-kickers that aren’t as serious about your property. 3D virtual tours showcase the primary highlights and stunning interior features of a home. If your home in the gayborhood suffers from damages, like a bad roof, virtual tours of the interior can help show why your property is still worth buying. Realtors can use technology to their advantage to help homes sell quickly.

  1. Open House Events

Open house events help create urgency among a pool of prospective homebuyers. It makes sense, right? If you walk into a dark, vacant home that looks like buyers haven’t been through in months, there is less urgency to make an offer right then and there. However, if your realtor hosts a fun open house event, buyers will cross paths and the urgency to make an offer will arise. Plus, who doesn’t love a fun party in the gayborhood?

You can create a unique theme for your event and provide food to bring people together. Dress to impress and have fun. If you can generate a strong turnout for the open house event, buyers will start to sweeten their offers. Homebuyers oftentimes offer to pay for a portion of your closing costs once the property sells. Seller closing costs are expensive, especially if your home in the gayborhood sells for a high price. Every dollar counts when selling your home!

  1. Networking in the Community

Realtors are experts at networking within the community. You never know who you’ll meet and how you can add value to each other. Gayborhoods offer inviting communities filled with incredible people to connect with. Your realtor can strap on their walking boots and hit the pavement to help sell your home. Typically, realtors can find real estate meetups and other public events to attend. They can let everyone they meet know about your property and promote it. This strategy, tailored with an open house event, can be the exact dynamic duo you need to sell your house in the gayborhood.

Real Estate Tips: Wanna Flip a House?

by
Real Estate Tips: Wanna Flip a House? - Deposit Photos

If you still use Facebook, you know that there is a group for everything, from different breeds of dogs and cats to silly games that lead to data mining of your information for business or nefarious purposes, to groups that offer advice on certain medical issues, to everything real estate.

Tips to Flip a House or Renovate it For Sale

One of the Facebook groups in which I participate allows users to share do-it-yourself home improvement tips to flip a house. It’s a bit like HGTV or the DIY network, with a dose of reality thrown in.

Simple topics might include improving curb appeal, selecting paint colors, installing flooring, replacing an electrical fixture, or changing a toilet. 

Sometimes contractors weigh in on more complicated work and even give an idea of how long a project might take and how much it might cost in a particular area of the country.

Full Story From the Washington Blade

How Can Buyers Fight Rising Interest Rates?

by
rising interest rates - deposit photos

Loan officers are projecting further increases in rates as the Federal Reserve (the “Fed”) attempts to control inflation. Basic economics tells us that more expensive credit slows spending, which, in turn, lowers prices. It can be a fine line to walk between inflation, control, and recession.

People who are seeking a conventional loan of $647,200 or less with a 20% down payment will likely receive the best 30-year fixed rate if they hold a salaried job and have a credit score of more than 740.

So, what can you do to minimize the effects of rising interest rates?

How to Fight Rising Interest Rates in Today’s Market

First, make sure your credit is squeaky clean. Consult a loan officer to get a copy of your tri-merged credit report (Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union) to avoid any surprises. Do not start paying off debt or closing credit cards without your loan officer’s input. There is such a thing as good debt where credit is concerned.

At Gay Realty Watch, we look for news to share with you about the gay real estate market – both lgbt real estate news and news specific to gay and lesbian real estate meccas.

Authored By Valerie Blake
See the Full Story at the Washington Blade

Click here for gay realtors, mortgage lenders, and other real estate professionals in AREA

What to Do When Interest Rates Are Rising

by
Interest Rates Are Rising - man hiding head under laptop - deposit photos

What To Do When Interest Rates Are Rising

Interest rates are rising, and it’s the talk of the town right now. Yes, they have gone up. But they also have been historically low. When I first got my license, the interest rates for many of my buyers was over 4%. About 20-30 years ago, interest rates were much higher at times, 9%, 12%, 14% were not uncommon numbers to hear. It wasn’t until after 2010 that rates were mostly below 5%. So even though we are experiencing a rise in rates, given the historical perspective, they are still way below the rates that we were seeing in the 1980’s, 1990’s, and early 2000’s.

What does this mean for the average buyer? Every time the rate goes up, the buying power is reduced. Especially for first-time buyers who usually have less money to put as a down payment and need more money from a lender to help purchase their first home. But if you look at the last few decades, even rates of 4%-5% are still low compared to what we saw in the last few decades.

So, if buying a home is on your to do list and interest rates are rising, get pre-approved with a reputable lender as soon as you can, start your search, and then when you go under contract you can “lock in” your interest rate for a period of time. Don’t forget to ask your Realtor and lender what first-time homebuyer benefits they might be able to use. In D.C. there are programs such as DC Opens Doors, HPAP and EAHP. Maryland and Virginia have their own programs for first-time buyers, or sometimes they offer tax breaks for qualified buyers. The important thing is to have experts in real estate and lending to advise you as you make your first move into the real estate market.

Full Story From Joseph Hudson at the Washington Blade

Remodeling Your House: Luxury Vinyl Floors – The Washington Blade

by
Remodeling Your House: Luxury Vinyl Floors - The Washington Blade - deposit photos

Love and marriage, milk and cookies, law and order. We all recognize these pairings, but luxury and vinyl are two words I never thought would appear together, especially when describing flooring.

Adding Luxury Vinyl Floors to Your House

When my best friend moved to Florida, I flew down to help her get settled in her new house. As soon as I stepped into the foyer, I was greeted by an odd smell and some wood-look, plank flooring that I could not identify. It turned out to be vinyl, with its volatile organic compounds (VOCs) still off-gassing from recent installation.

This kind of artificial flooring has been around since the 1800s and used to contain asbestos, although the carcinogen was phased out of the manufacturing process in the 1980s. The luxury vinyl floors product I saw was known as Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) and was entirely unlike the sheet flooring that used to be installed in our kitchens and bathrooms of yesteryear.

At Gay Realty Watch, we look for news to share with you about the gay real estate market – both lgbt real estate news and news specific to gay and lesbian real estate meccas.

Authored By Valerie Blake
See the Full Story at the Washington Blade

Improving Your Home – The Washington Blade

by
remodeling / improving your home - Washington Blade

Improving Your Home Before Selling

What are some of the things I am seeing my clients doing lately to improve the functionality and value of their homes? Improving your home can be done in ways both big and small.

I have one client who is turning a dining room with an attached full bathroom into an extra bedroom. He has a large living area to entertain in and thinks the space would be better used as a bedroom. Another client of mine has removed the popcorn ceiling from her condo just because it drove her crazy.  Another is considering installing a home office along one wall, instead of just a desk — basically wants to construct an installed desktop/countertop with attached cabinets and drawers, and enough outlets for devices, charging and screens.  

Another set of clients has installed a wall full of bookshelves and has turned an extra bedroom into an office where the bookshelves will live. I am seeing basement renovations, installations of washrooms, additional bathrooms in lower levels and reducing the size of a lower-level garage to include more living space, since there is also off-street parking in the driveway.

Other projects clients have tackled include painting, replacing damaged floors with new hardwood floors, ordering custom built islands for their kitchen with extra storage space, adding fun wallpaper for accent walls, replacing the HVAC system, ripping out carpets in living areas and replacing them with hardwood floors.

At Gay Realty Watch, we look for news to share with you about the gay real estate market – both lgbt real estate news and news specific to gay and lesbian real estate meccas.

Authored By Joseph Hudson
See the Full Story at the Washington Blade

Is the US Housing Market Slowing Down? – Bloomberg

by
Boise - Deposit Photos

No city exemplifies the mania of the Covid-era U.S. housing market better than Boise, Idaho, where prices have surged by more than 30% in the past year. But in a sudden reversal, buyers are now the ones with power.

Asking prices for houses are being slashed. Bidders no longer have to waive inspections to win over sellers juggling multiple offers. Demand has slowed so much it’s like a light switch suddenly turned off, said Dominic Zimmer, a local Realtor.

“You’re seeing the fear of missing out switching from buyers to sellers,” Zimmer said. “Now sellers are afraid of not scoring the way they saw their neighbors do a year ago.”

Is the US Housing Market Slowing Down?

The cracks in one of the nation’s hottest housing markets mark an early signs of the housing market slowing down. That the US boom — fueled by low mortgage rates and remote-work moves — is losing intensity. While much of the country is still seeing record price increases and plunging listings, in some destinations builders who could hardly put up homes fast enough now have inventory sitting.

Full Story From Bloomberg

Home Maintenance Hacks – BHGRE Blog

by
Home Maintenance Hacks - BHGRE Blog - Deposit Photos

5 Home Maintenance Hacks You Can DIY

When it comes to maintenance and repairs, professional labor can be one of the more costly portions of a homeowner’s budget. While many people opt to save cash by doing work themselves, not everyone possesses the skills necessary to fix their own homes (even with the help of online instructional videos). Attempting a DIY project without careful preparation and a complete knowledge of the task could result in expenses that far exceed the cost of a contractor.

Even if you have the experience and know-how, it’s important to consider the time, materials, tools and permits required for your home improvement project. Here’s how to know which projects you can tackle yourself, and which you should probably leave to the expert. Here are five home maintenance hacks you can tackle yourself, and five more you should probably hire an expert to do.

Patching a hole in drywall

Nearly any homeowner can patch nail holes. Using a spackle knife, fill in each hole with lightweight putty and scrape the excess off the walls. Wait for the putty to dry and sand down the spot until it’s smooth. Then, paint the repaired spots with primer. Larger holes in drywall require more steps to repair and may be best left to the professionals.

Full Story from the BHGRE Blog

What Happens Once You’re Under Contract? – Washington Blade

by
housing contract - pixabay

What are the most common questions real estate agents, title companies and lenders get once a client is under contract? Well, luckily on my team we send out a next steps letter to all of our clients once an offer has been accepted and this helps them to know what to do the first week, the second week, and in any subsequent weeks before the settlement.

Once You’re Under Contract

For example, the letter will go out and say, “Make sure to get your EMD check to the title company in the agreed upon amount of time.” The EMD is your earnest money deposit, and most contracts have a buyer write a check for several thousands of dollars that will go the title company as sort of a “security deposit” on a contract that later gets applied to the buyers’ closing costs.

The letter will also instruct a buyer to contact their lender and confirm with them that they are under contract and to get the contract over to the lender so they can start preparing the loan and order the appraisal. The letter also states that later in the process the buyer will get the wiring instructions from the title company where settlement will be held for the down payment money. If there is to be a home inspection, we will also get that scheduled, usually in the first week after going under contract also.

Full Story From the Washington Blade