Category Archives: Lake Toxaway Real Estate

Buying a House: Unlike Any Other Shopping Expedition!

4-22-buyhouseAs most Lake Toxaway homeowners would agree, buying a house is dissimilar from any other kind of shopping—and that’s not just because of the price tag.

When you set out to shop for most everyday items, you usually pick which store you’ll visit first, then survey what they have to offer. If the goods aren’t what you had in mind—or the price seems too high—you hit the next store. We do this without a second thought.

For more important purchases, you’re apt to do some research first. You might search on the web or read magazine reviews to see which brands have the features you want. You may check out customer comments, paying more attention to the ones which sound reliable. You compare prices and delivery specifications, then buy online or find the nearest Lake Toxaway store. When you have the time, this kind of spadework pays off in the quality and value gained.

Buying a Lake Toxaway house differs considerably. If you have any doubts about that, it’s easy to verify. Just compare the process of buying a house with how you approach any other major purchase. Think about buying a new car…

Representation.

When you’re in the market for a new auto, unless your brand loyalty is unshakeable, you’re likely to visit several car dealers, check out prices and features, take a test drive (or many test drives—given today’s prices, that’s not a bad idea!); then sit down and talk turkey with the showroom salesman. If you’re a seasoned buyer, you’ll probably wind up having it out with the sales manager before the deal’s done.

When you’re buying a car—even a Rolls-Royce, which costs more than some houses—no one brings along their agent. When buying a house, you should!

It’s true that some buyers consider letting the seller’s agent put together the deal, but that’s bound to be a huge mistake. That agent is employed to represent the interests of the seller. As buyer, your interests are hardly the same. If someone were suing you, you’d never consider hiring their lawyer to represent you—but when one agent is in charge of the whole process, that’s what happens. It doesn’t make much sense, especially since having your own agent costs you no more (both agents’ commissions are paid from the seller’s proceeds).

Inspection.

When you buy a new car, if you insisted on having your mechanic check out the engine, the dealer would wonder what part of “new” you fail to understand. He would think you’d lost your mind. Yet buying a house without providing for your own thorough inspection would be a very risky move. Although skipping the inspection might save a little money, Lake Toxaway home buyers expose themselves to an array of future problems when they do so.

Pre-Approval.

It’s awkward to go about financing a new car before you know what you want, which is part of the reason dealers have a financing department. When you’re buying a house, the opposite is true. Since some people have an unrealistic idea of their total financial picture (and an incomplete understanding of lending practices), it makes any buyer stronger to appear with pre-approval in hand. Sellers know you’re for real!

If buying a house in Lake Toxaway is on your agenda, having me in your corner will help make it one “shopping expedition” that’s both a pleasure and a success. I hope you’ll call me!

Lake Toxaway Real Estate and the Many “Months” of March

3-18-marchThis March has been such a busy one on the Lake Toxaway real estate calendar that I thought it would be a good idea to double-check everything just to be certain I wasn’t overlooking any important happenings.

It wasn’t just that the first day of spring on the 20th is the traditional start of what’s regularly the busiest time of year for Lake Toxaway real estate activity. This is a reliable phenomenon, further reinforced by the 61 million results you get when you Google “Spring Real Estate Selling Season.” To be accurate, the National Association of Realtors® fudges a little by calling spring and summer the hottest seasons for real estate activity—but it turns out they are pointing to the fact that many sales initiated in spring close during the summer (which is when people prefer to move).

March also has a red-letter day on the 23rd, which is when Freddie Mac, the mortgage reinsurer, is set to kick off their ‘Home Possible’ program. It’s a lowering of their down payment requirements, so mortgage lenders will have more leeway with borrowers. That should provide a further boost for Lake Toxaway real estate activity, which has been laboring for years under tough lending requirements that discouraged some otherwise well-qualified home buyers.

Then there is March Madness, in which basketball plays havoc with more than just television schedules. You could say that it plays hob with appointment times for many Lake Toxaway home showings, since the last five minutes of most of the games take at least half an hour.

Just in case the calendar has even more events that might affect Lake Toxaway real estate, we thought we’d better check to be certain we haven’t overlooked any upcoming happenings.

We found out we can relax.

True, this March is Optimism Month, which is certainly thematically in tune with the positive spring real estate outlook (speaking of ‘in tune,’ March is also Music in Our Schools Month and Play the Recorder Month).

It’s International Ideas Month, which, for anyone who’s been following the headlines, is certainly arriving in the nick of time. For those who are, internationally speaking, prone to sticking to their old ideas, March is also International Listening Awareness Month. It’s Mirth Month as well as Humorists are Artists Month. It’s also Noodle Month (does this have a connection with Mirth Month?), Peanut Month, and National Nutrition Month.

In addition to minding nutrition, this is a month for safety: it’s National Collision Awareness Month, as well as National Cheerleading Safety Month. It turns out, there are another couple of dozen other Months that are taking place right now, but most have little to do with buying and selling homes.

What seems better connected to Lake Toxaway real estate is the fact that this is also Umbrella Month, although it’s too early to know the precipitation total for the whole month. It hasn’t prevented many showings or open houses, for sure.

In any case, if you are thinking of taking advantage of the Spring Selling Season, it’s also a terrific month to give me a call!

3 Key Ways You Can Help Your Lake Toxaway Real Estate Agent

2-13-agentIn the weeks before you decide which of our local real estate agents will represent you and your home once it goes on the market, you’re probably looking for a Lake Toxaway Realtor® with the qualities that make a great sales person: knowledgeability, directness, personality, trustworthiness. Likeability is always helpful, but it’s only one among many qualifications. This is a business decision, and an important one for you and your family.

Then, the instant you make your selection, the landscape changes completely! You are no longer on your own: you and your Lake Toxaway real estate agent are members of a team that’s ready to get to work on the project. You both want your home on and off the market as quickly as possible, so the smoother the workflow with your real estate agent goes, the better.

Your real estate agent will already be hard at work assembling the marketing program that will attract prospects from near and far, but you can be helpful even with that effort. It’s the first of three key ideas that are often pointed to as key contributions owners can make:

Help your agent with unique selling points

What makes your home different from all the others that will be listed for sale? Every property has unique selling points that don’t fit into the standard check boxes, so let your agent know. Qualified agents are already thoroughly familiar with Lake Toxaway’s broad attractions, but you’ve experienced specific advantages to living in this home, in this neighborhood. Each selling point is another facet that could fire a buyer’s imagination. Having a rich store of real life anecdotes to draw upon will strengthen your agent’s ability to put your home in the limelight.

Keep it cozy without clutter

Most times, an owner is still living at home, so your Lake Toxaway real estate agent will be working with what you have available when it comes to furniture and home décor. It’s a strongpoint when prospective buyers are able to project themselves into being the comfortable homeowners. If they’re prevented from envisioning your home as their own, they’ll be out the door and onto the next! Clearing away personal items helps with that—and keeping the clutter level low increases the sense of spaciousness. If buyers see an overstuffed closet, they’ll sense a house that lacks storage space. If kitchen counters are cluttered, they’ll think the space is too small.

Be flexible with your schedule

Your real estate agent lists your house, makes sure to market it in all the many venues available, arranges open houses and showings, and spreads the word throughout the industry. During this part of the process, you help greatly by being as flexible as possible when it comes to showings. Sometimes potential buyers may seem to be placing insensitive scheduling burdens on the team—but as any serious-minded house hunter can tell you, they have their own scheduling issues, too!
Selling a home is a team effort, for sure; one you can decide to launch with a simple phone call to me at my office!

When Lake Toxaway Homeowners Consider Buying a Second Home

12-31-2ndhomePeople approach the whole idea of owning a second home from a hundred different perspectives simply because a second home can answer so many different purposes. If you are a Lake Toxaway homeowner at the stage in life where making retirement plans is becoming a more immediate imperative, you might want to buy a second home as a vacation destination—but one which is also a tryout for your family’s future center of operations. Those who have spent a good part of their lives in cities sometimes seek a second home in the mountains or at the shore as a restorative refuge. People living in less crowded environs might crave a pied-à-terre for proximity to a city’s cultural riches. There really can be a hundred different reasons (and that’s not even counting all the financial ones)!

Once you begin to seriously entertain the notion, it becomes evident that deciding on which of many possible directions to pursue will involve weighing the tradeoffs each presents. In addition to an opening a conversation with the Lake Toxaway real estate professional whose advice you’ve come to trust the most, some of the main points you will want to consider—

  • If the second home is going to serve even temporarily as a weekend getaway spot, then buying within reasonable driving distance may be more important than you might assume. Keep in mind that the drive (or flight) will grow steadily less interesting as time passes.
  • In most instances, a second home will be occupied by members of your family only on a part-time basis. This brings up a number of issues—among them, insurance. Vacant properties present a different profile to insurers than do homes that are occupied most of the time. Hazard insurance tariffs could also differ from what you are used to (especially in flood-prone areas). Investigating insurance coverage and costs early on in your search will help you to avoid surprises.
  • You should consult your tax expert for details, but as a general rule, if the home is not rented out as a business proposition, you’ll likely find that you are able to deduct mortgage interest and property taxes on your Federal tax return. Then again, if you are thinking of renting the house out for more than 14 days per year, rental income is taxable. In that case, though, you’ll be able to use deductions for expenses, such as insurance, maintenance, professional fees, and sometimes even depreciation. Each situation will be different—again, your tax professional will have the relevant answers.
  • Financing a second home is similar to financing your main residence. You are likely to need a down payment of 10% to as much as 30% in some cases. If you will be drawing on the equity in your current home, it’s only prudent to be able to retain a reasonable amount of reserves for unforeseen emergencies.

Many people buy a second home in anticipation of retirement. If that is the case, think of factoring in the availability of quality medical and support services in your search areas. A remote cabin in the woods may seem appealing now, but as a retirement venue, maybe not so much! Thinking about the long range is never more important than when you are entertaining the purchase of a second home. I’m here to help clarify those issues, as with all your other Lake Toxaway real estate need.

Forecasting the Future for Lake Toxaway Housing in the New Year

12-31-forecastIt does seem to be time for an in depth forecast about Lake Toxaway’s housing outlook for 2015. The prediction game is going strong everywhere else this week, with print and online journalists and TV talking heads interviewing experts and each other about what to expect in the coming year. Some make noteworthy predictions—but more seem to be doing their best to sound authoritative while remaining vague enough to avoid provably wrong calls.

I have to sympathize. Last year, after delving into the Lake Toxaway housing outlook to come up with predictions, the one I put at the top of my list was a forecast that mortgage interest rates would soon be climbing. That was safe—rates had been so low for so long, history told us they had to rise, didn’t it? Besides, all the experts agreed.

What then happened in 2014 explains why financial prospectuses tend to footnote projections with sentences like “past performance is no guarantee of future results.” Rates did rise; but then sank again. So this year, it’s probably a better idea to shelve the crystal ball in favor of laying out some of the factors we do and don’t know—factors that should influence the direction of Lake Toxaway housing trends for the coming year.

First, what we do know for sure. Since Baby Boomers make up the largest demographic in the country…

Uh-oh! No they don’t. The Census Bureau now says that the cohort of 23-year-old Americans has just become the largest in the country. Followed by 24- and 22-year olds, respectively. Probably why the chief economist at the NAR® projects that this generation will “drive two-thirds of household formations over the next five years.” He says 2015 will become the point at which the millennial generation’s presence in the housing market will be truly felt for the first time. So what we do know is that younger buyers have begun to join the ranks of homeowners in substantial numbers. That’s different; it has the look of a major trend.

And mortgage rates will rise (because they have to, right?) Again, this one only seems to be a reliable projection. At this point, a 30-year mortgage is actually lower than it was a year ago. It is thought that foreign influences (uncertainty in Europe; economic weakness in the Far East) are what have held down U.S. housing financing rates. If that’s true—and since no one can say with any certainty what to expect from events overseas—mortgage rates and their influence on Lake Toxaway housing activity should more accurately be placed in the don’t know column.

So will Lake Toxaway housing prices and sales activity rise in the coming year? We do know that the public opinion polling data supports that likelihood. Consumer confidence is building, possibly because of a brightening employment picture (not to mention last week’s record-breaking Santa Claus rally and other strong economic news). In fact, real estate mega site Trulia reports that their samples tell them “consumers expect 2015 to be better, especially for selling a home.”

Economists agree. Fortune.com says that economists are “nearly unanimous in predicting that home values would continue to rise” and that “surveys of homeowner sentiment suggest that more of them will look to sell their homes” in the coming year. If you are leaning in that direction yourself, there’s one factor we know for sure: I’ll be standing by in 2015, ready to put all of my resources and experience to work for your Lake Toxaway home sale!

Lake Toxaway Homes for Sale Use Staging to Set the Mood

12-24-stagingWhen you think about the importance of staging when a Lake Toxaway home goes on the market, you might relate it to how department stores go about increasing sales during the holidays. You have only to stroll through the front door of any of the legendary department stores this time of year to experience what I mean: the most successful ones fairly assault your senses with the color, glitter, sounds (sometimes even the scents!) of the season. If you’ve ever strolled down 5th Avenue in Manhattan any time after Thanksgiving, you’ll have experienced a major jaw-dropping tourist attraction. It seems like the whole place is staged—and masterfully, at that!

Why so many veteran merchants put that kind of effort (and budget) into holiday decorating is proof of how cost-effective staging is for merchandising. It’s not that different when a home is being prepared to be offered to the public. Effective staging for a Lake Toxaway property performs the same function that Macy’s and Neiman Marcus hope to achieve: to indirectly alter their visitor’s mood to one more receptive to the designer’s goal. Department store holiday décor is more than just eye-candy created to instill a jolly mood. By transporting us into the spirit of the season, it gently cues us into recreating how we feel at the moment of gift-giving (i.e., generous gift giving!). Sometimes that might take 50 or more fully-decorated Christmas trees—all for the sole purpose of creating an atmosphere that Scrooge himself couldn’t resist!

In the same way, staging a Lake Toxaway home effectively can put prospective buyers into in a receptive frame of mind. The goal is to create an instant impression that does two things.

First, it immediately establishes trust. By presenting a well-designed and smartly maintained environment, it acts to dispel one major element of buyer resistance—the fear of the unknown, which in the case of a Lake Toxaway home sale translates into lurking suspicions about the condition of “somebody else’s” house. Good staging envelops visitors in spaces that just feel substantial.

Second (just as important), staging a Lake Toxaway home effectively creates a welcoming feeling. If visitors feel comfortable—at ease enough that they can easily picture themselves at home there—they are much more likely to consider the next steps. Not every home can appeal to every prospective buyer, of course, but good staging does away with idiosyncratic artifacts that would narrow the field.

National studies show time and again that, staged correctly, homes are more likely to garner higher offers—and more quickly. Of course, staging is only one step in the process of listing and selling a home, and it isn’t even the first: that one is giving me a call!

When (and When Not) to Tap Your Lake Toxaway Home Equity

12-17-homeequityYour Lake Toxaway home is your castle, sure—but it’s also a great deal more than that. In addition to being the place where you relax after work, spend time with family, and generally live your life, it’s also the most substantial investment most people ever make. Much of its prominence is due to the many advantages homeownership brings in the personal financial realm.

In addition to the ongoing tax savings its mortgage provides, it’s the home equity—the difference between market value and the amount owed—that’s such a valuable contribution. A Lake Toxaway property’s equity adds considerable financial flexibility in the form of easily obtainable home equity loans.

That’s how your Lake Toxaway home can be the enabler for financing key life events—important undertakings like college, home improvements, or major debt consolidation. It’s a mainstream activity, and one that’s growing in popularity. Credit reporting firm Equifax tells us that the number of home equity loans have increased by 16.1% over last year; home equity lines of credit, 21.4%.

But at the same time, it’s the ease with which home equity financing can be arranged that should be cause for caution. Before anyone takes advantage of this kind of financing, they should clearly consider what they are getting into, the better to decide when and when not to make use of it.

There are two forms of home equity credit—the home equity loan (HEL), and the home equity line of credit (HELOC). HELs are straightforward loans, created and retired when you take a one-time, lump-sum of cash, then pay it back, with interest, over time. HELOCs work more like credit card accounts. You are approved for a line of credit with a top limit, and you can spend as much as you want until you reach the limit. You may use it or not as you wish. In fact, with most HELOCs, you’re actually issued a credit card or checkbook to use as you see fit.

Deciding when home equity financing is appropriate is an individual decision, but a conventional rule of thumb is that it is usually best reserved for single events. One good use is for home improvements, since they actually add equity to the underlying collateral. Another is for debt consolidation when it has the effect of lowering monthly interest outlays.

When are Lake Toxaway home equity loans not a good idea? For one, if you don’t need a lot of money, since opening a HEL or HELOC might involve closing costs and other fees, make sure it makes financial sense. And always look to the future. Since failing to make timely payments can actually force the sale of your home, any time you are less than certain your cash flow will support repayment, better look for other forms of financing. Your Lake Toxaway home is a castle worth protecting; you want to be sure that you are the single voice to say if and when a move is in order.

And of course, whenever you are contemplating a major move, give me a call!

Lake Toxaway Economy Boost Foreshadowed by Latest Confidence Rise

12-17-economyLake Toxaway’s economy, like all others, is largely dependent upon consumers doing what consumers are supposed to do: buy! Why they make their decision to behave or not is every bit as complicated as you would suppose. It’s the product of how their own careers are faring; how the greater economy (and the economy in Lake Toxaway) are doing; even how the world economy is behaving—or seems likely to behave anytime soon.

In all of this, the hard facts about how the economy is actually doing are not just backward-looking, they’re also slow to arrive. Worse yet to those who think numbers should mean something definite, the numbers are frequently recalculated later. The latest ‘jobs’ numbers or the ‘housing starts’ numbers, when they are announced, are often accompanied by a statement that the previous quarters number has been “revised to” x. If you are a local business person who makes projections based on the best information available, that wouldn’t be the new number—it would be the previous, now revised number: very old information.

There is one way around this, though, and that’s fortunate. Everybody has the same reliability and timeliness problems, yet have to have some basis for making discretionary spending decisions. The usual solution is to rely upon measurements not of the actual economy’s activity now or in the past, but of what most people expect that activity to be in the future.

Yes, that kind of measurement is ‘soft’—opinion, rather than hard data. But if those expectations are widely publicized, they affect what actually comes to pass. If consumers are bullish on the future, well, that’s reassuring news! Lake Toxaway businesses are encouraged to stock their shelves. People are more likely to list their Lake Toxaway homes for sale. The local economy looks better and better! On the other hand, if consumers are depressed about the future, caution will prevail. Businesses will hold off on new hires and trim their inventories. You can’t be too careful, after all. To some degree, consumer expectations often become self-fulfilling prophesies.

That’s why December’s latest consumer confidence reports are the best news for the future of the economy we’ve heard for some time. Last week, Reuters ran the headline, “U.S. Consumer Sentiment at Eight-Year High”; the Business Insider, “Consumer Confidence Crushes Expectations.” Reuters attributed the burst of citizen optimism to “improved prospects for jobs and wages, and on lower gasoline prices…”

The University of Michigan co-sponsors the index upon which the numbers are based, which showed December’s reading of consumer sentiment at 93.8, “the highest reading since January 2007.” That was a full 4 points above the median that had been previously forecast by 70 economists. It was also 5 points higher than the final reading for November.

If the Lake Toxaway economy perks up as anticipated, area real estate watchers should expect a noticeable uptick in activity—particularly if mortgage interest rates stay low, and inflation remains a non-factor (the same survey pegged consumer inflation expectations at 2.9%). If you are a Lake Toxaway homeowner or prospective buyer with an equally upbeat outlook, it’s good reason to give me a call to discuss how your plans dovetail with a rebounding market!

Lease-Option: a Lake Toxaway Rental Investment Owner’s Alternative

12-10-leaseSuppose your Realtor® helped you land a prime Lake Toxaway rental investment property—and you’ve been more than content with the result. Your longtime tenant proved to be conscientious and dependable, with resulting passive income that has been quietly building your bank account with very little oversight from you. In short, your Lake Toxaway rental investment has made you a very happy landlord.

But now, that smooth sailing may be nearing an end.

Your tenant rings you up with the news. Even though she loves the house, over Thanksgiving dinner her brother convinced her she should become a Lake Toxaway homeowner herself. Since she doesn’t have quite enough cash to qualify for a home loan, he told her she should go out and find a rent-to own property. But since she’s content with the house she’s been living in—your rental investment—she wonders if you’d like to discuss switching to a lease-option arrangement?

If you had ever contemplated cashing in on your rental investment, there are several reasons you might want to give it some thought. First, this would spare you the effort and expense of selling. You won’t have to wait for an interested buyer—and you know from experience that your tenant is a solid citizen. Furthermore, whenever you put a rental investment property up for sale, there can be complications if you want to continue to rent it—sometimes a tenant resents having to accommodate strangers tramping through their home. Worse, they may even subtly sabotage showings.

Although there is no single formula for how a lease-option (aka ‘rent-to-own’) agreement is constructed, some basic underpinnings are common. The landlord retains ownership and the tenant pays rent until the option to buy is exercised. Both agree on the sale price and on the specified period of time by which the sale must be completed (usually the time the tenant estimates will be needed to qualify for a mortgage). As compensation for your agreement to refrain from selling the property to anyone else during this option period, the tenant usually pays either an up-front fee or agrees to a higher-than-market rent. Some of that overage may be set aside to be applied to the ultimate purchase. Property maintenance is often made the responsibility of the tenant, along with provisions in case he or she fails to maintain it properly. And a number of other issues may be addressed.

But if the tenant does not exercise the option to buy within the specified timeframe, typically no refund is owed—the option lapses, and since the deed has always remained with the investment property owner, it becomes free to be rented or sold to another party…that is, if all local and state laws have been scrupulously observed—and all other conditions met. In other words, if ever there were an agreement that cried out for a trusted lawyer’s oversight, this is it!

Offering a lease option on your rental investment in Lake Toxaway is just one possibility when you’ve landed a choice property (which is where I come in). If you’re considering selling your Lake Toxaway investment property and would prefer a more traditional route, call me today!

Obvious (and Less Obvious) First House Buying Tips

12-3-firsthomeFor Lake Toxaway renters who are beginning to investigate the possibility of buying a first house, the prospect can look like more than just a steep hill to climb—it can look more like a cliff! Just last month, the Daily Real Estate News cited recent research that indicates in most places (512 counties surveyed, in fact) it can take the average family more than twelve years to save up for a 20% down payment. When you consider the significant financial advantage that a first house brings its Lake Toxaway owner, the situation seems like a Catch-22. How can you save any faster when that big tax advantage goes only to the existing homeowners?

If a decade-plus wait sounds unreasonable, there’s a lot you can do to trim the delay—

1) (Obvious) Cut excess spending

If you take notes for a month or so about how you really spend your money, you find that the little things really add up: morning coffee, daily lunches, planned and unplanned shopping expeditions all put serious dents in your wallet. Spot the expenditures, you can cut back on, then reduce or eliminate them as soon as possible.

2) (Less Obvious) Create a ‘First House’ account

Create a separate savings account with the single purpose of holding your first house down payment. Watching it grow month by month will more than make up for the inconveniences caused by scrimping on daily and other spending.

3) (Way Less Obvious) Pick up extra work

You may never have considered it, but sometimes moonlighting is a great way to add additional income that quickly build your First House account. If you have a hobby that lends itself to web sales, think of starting a store on sites like Etsy or Amazon.

4) Reduce your current bills

There are those bills that you can’t quite get rid of — cell phone, credit cards and other bills don’t just go away because you’re saving for a new Lake Toxaway house. For some bills, though, there are options for slimming down your monthly payments. Try negotiating a lower APR or reducing your phone or cable plan.

5) Make (and stick to) a budget

Those notes you made up there on 1) can be the raw material for making a detailed budget that separates necessary expenditures from extras like gifts, trips and special nights out. Find creative ways to entertain yourself and get together with your friends. Hosting movie nights, finding free concerts, and moving cocktail hour to home are all surprisingly doable.

6) Downsize

It may seem counterintuitive: why would you decrease the size of your current digs? If you can temporarily scale back, the lowered rent can materially boost your savings. If it’s at all practical, living with relatives might move the process along even more quickly!

The kind of scaling back that builds for a local first house down payment is a lot more fun if you can see quick progress. And the possibility of qualifying for a smaller than 20% down payment is also currently increasing. Give me a call for a realistic discussion of your own Lake Toxaway first house purchase!