Things to do BEFORE you decide to SELL your house!

Deciding to sell your house is a big step!  Before you commit, take a look at the big picture. 

Why?  Are you moving?  Do you hate your neighbors?  Job relocation?  School district not desirable?  You don't like your house?  The reality of it is, the Jacksonville, NC housing market favors buyers right now.  Which means, you're going to have to put your best foot forward, as a seller, to make your house the most attractive and the most competitive.

What's your end goal?  Do you just want to break even?  Do you want to double your investment?  Do you just want to be done with the house?  A lot of factors can impact the outcome.  Look at your numbers.  Call me to do a comparative market analysis to show you what other similar homes are selling for, what features and concessions they offered, and what the buying trends are in the market.  We can talk it over so that you can make the most informed decision possible.

Do you have some lingering "honey do" projects?  Let's talk about that!  Some are necessary things that need to be done (i.e. replacing broken light fixtures and repainting to neutral colors) versus replacing all the appliances because you don't like them.  Most of these things won't add value to the price of your home, but they will make your home present better!  For instance, you'd buy a shiny clean car before you'd buy a beater at the same price, right?  Same concept applies to homes!

Not sure where to start?  Give me a call!  We can talk about all the major parts of it before you make any huge decisions.  

Check out 902 Brynn Marr Road, Jacksonville, NC 28546 FOR SALE!

Here it is! Welcome home to 902 Brynn Marr Road, in the heart of Jacksonville, North Carolina. Conveniently located in the Jacksonville Commons schooldistrict, this home is only minutes away from both Camp Lejeune and New River MCAS! The updates in this home are sure to impress and comfort!

NEW roof and heat pump ready for the new buyer! Walk in through the front door to the large open living room that flows nicely into the eat in kitchen- Perfect for entertaining. The exposed beams add charm to the vaulted ceiling in the living room, but don't miss the wood burning fireplace for those cozy evenings!

You'll love the bathrooms! Both updated with modern fixtures and design! The spacious master bedroom is fit for a king! With ceiling fans in all thebedrooms and custom paint, your family will feel right at home. Call today for your personal viewing!

I'd love to show you this home, and any others you may be interested in!  This one is available for $135,000!  Such a Value!

Amanda Parmer, REALTOR®, HomeTeam Real Estate

910.545.0450    ajparmer09@gmail.com

www.AmandaParmerSellsHomes.com

Investing in Real Estate? I don't know the first thing about it....

Let's face it.  We're all going to get older, and none of us will make it out alive.  But what we can do before we get all the way to the point of getting excited about AARP discounts, early bird dinners, or vitamin sales at Walgreens, is plan!  Not in the morbid sense of investing in a burial plot.  I mean something completely different, but still in the same lines of investing in real estate!

You can start working on your PASSIVE income.  Passive income is simply, and income you get without going to work.  In my case, it's income from rental properties and other investments.  It's truly a great feeling to wake up in the morning with the freedom of knowing that all my bills are paid, and I don't have to go to work if I don't want to.
I get that there are challenges, no matter what age you start.  But the important thing is- START!  Have very little money?  Little life experience?  Love to shop or vacation?  Loads of student debt?  Poor credit?  No like minded people around to bounce ideas off of or ask questions?  I can truly relate!  My goal with this blog is to share some of the light at the end of the tunnel, and share the knowledge that I've discovered (for free!!  This is NOT a get rich quick scheme, and you DO NOT have to send in 3 easy payments of $59.99- but you're welcome to!!)  Many people my age face the same problems, and I wasn't any different.  Instead of focusing on what we don't have, let's focus on what we do have and how we can START!
Are you motivated?  Does having a passive income sound good to you?  Can you create an attainable goal for yourself?  It seems like the older I get the more complacent I can become and easier it is to "settle" for something, rather than really work for what I actually want.  It's a different mindset to actually do it.

I'm sure you're savvy enough to navigate the internet, use spreadsheets and listen to podcasts.  There is a wealth of information on the internet and other resources as far as periodicals, books, podcasts, audio books and entire websites and forums dedicated to educating people on how to successfully invest in real estate.  Utilize it.
Time is definitely on your side.  Whether you're thirty years old or thirty years young, you have plenty of time to plan it out and crush it!  Chances are you're not facing retirement in the next 5 years, so you have plenty of time to plan and do your research to become a millionaire real estate mogul!
If you've read this far, you're interested at least in what's next, right?  Check out my next blog for some insights on investment strategies!  Give me a call to talk about investing in real estate more!  Jacksonville, North Carolina is ripe with investment opportunities and I'd love to be your resource!  

Need some cash to start investing- check out these money saving tips!

There are so many people who have the opportunity to start investing in real estate, but think they don't have the money!  To me, money is a lot like food.  If you've ever been on a diet, you can appreciate the analogy.  When you start a diet, you realize that you have to cut out a lot of bad food (or spending) but you find better alternatives!  Instead of full on ice cream, you might have frozen yogurt.  Likewise with money- instead of eating out, you might cook dinner that night.  There are people who have made a fortune investing in real estate without making sacrifices.  Personally, I've gone without Starbucks for a month or two to save some dough.  If you want something bad enough, it won't seem like such a sacrifice!

Make Sure You Have the LOWEST Credit Card Rate

It’s no secret, most of us use credit cards. As a matter of fact, more than half of the households across the US carry more than a thousand bucks on a credit card from month to month. During the recession, many credit card interest rates went up. Now that the financial climate is a bit better, you may qualify for lower rates. Lower rates that will reduce your payments and open up more resources for you! Now, your lender likes making money so, they are not going to call you and say “Hey, you qualify for a lower rate, do you want it?”! This part’s up to you. All you need to do is call all of your lenders and say something like, “I was going through my credit card bills and noticed that you charge the highest interest rate. Can you do something that makes these balance transfer credit cards less enticing to me?”. You will be surprised at how effective this can be!

Stop Eating Fast Food

When I was 19, I would think of fast food as a quick, cheap bite to eat. Back then, I didn’t do the math! The truth is, fast food can really rack up quite the bill. I found out that my morning breakfast burrito’s almost every morning were costing me $120 per month! Making my own, about $20. Although not everyone has a once a fast food habit, most people do eat fast food at least once a week. Even stopping that can save about $20 a month.

Shop Around The Edges Of The Store

This one is a tip not only to save money but, for health! Think of how your grocery store is laid out. All vegetables, meat, cheese, milk bread, ect… can be found around the edges of the store. When you walk into the center of the store, you find food in boxes and cans, frozen food and highly sweetened and processed treats. The truth is, any boxed or canned food costs money to prepare. Therefore, you will always spend more for that portion of food than you will if you make your own. Although, I can’t personally come up with a recipe for Doritos, healthy alternatives like carrots and ranch dressing tend to cost less. This may be uncomfortable in the beginning but, you start to crave carrots and broccoli. So, save money and get healthy!

Enjoy Free Social Activities

Human Beings are social creatures. If you don’t find free ways to be around others and have a good time, eventually, you will start spending money to do it! Check online in your area for hikes, clubs, or anything that you could think of that would be free and local. Living near the beach, there's always something fun to do! No matter where you are, I’m sure that if you look hard enough, you will find something free that you enjoy and involves spending time with others. Who would have ever thought that having fun could save you money?

Make Money Doing Side Work

Everyone has incredible strengths in one thing or another. Find yours and solicit your friends, family and neighbors for your services. If what you love to do involves crafts, sight up as a vendor when the craft shows come around. If you look online you can usually find somewhere to sell your art at least once a month! There are tons of great ways to make extra money to get your investment started. All you need to do is find the one that works best for you!

Final Thoughts

Getting started in the real estate investment market isn’t about who has more money. It’s all about who has the strongest desire to succeed. Those who do have that desire will find ways to save money or make money to get started! I hope that describes you!

Call me today to talk about your options!  Jacksonville, NC has a TON of investment opportunities, ripe for the picking!  I would love to help you get started!

Is 2013 the year to buy your house?

The past 5 years have not been fun for real estate agents and builders. Being constantly on the defensive while trying to motivate buyers and sellers to move, lending standards that the Pope would be intimidated by, and an appraisal system that is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder has not helped ones digestive system.

Let’s face it, TUMS could have made a fortune sponsoring the National Association of Realtors.

But are the hard times in our rear view mirror? Take a look at this excerpt from the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI):

In all, 74.9 percent of homes sold between the beginning of October and end of December were affordable to families earning the U.S. median income of $65,000. This was up nearly a percentage point from the 74.1 percent of homes sold that were affordable to median-income earners in last year’s third quarter.

“The most recent housing affordability data should be encouraging to many prospective home buyers, because it shows that homeownership remains within reach of median-income consumers even as most local markets appear to be on a recovery path,” said NAHB Chairman Rick Judson, a home builder from Charlotte, N.C.  He noted that the most recent reading of the NAHB/First American Improving Markets Index found that 259 out of 361 metros currently qualify as improving, including representatives from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.via the NAHB

Now we all know real estate is about the local market, but these numbers will help the national confidence and psyche when it comes to taking that next step. 259 out of 361 markets improving? That is fantastic news.

Then add the low interest rates so affordability is improved, sellers that are more realistic in their pricing, and we may have something going on here…

Nothing is worse than blowing smoke about something you are selling, and real estate agents (not to mention the National Association of Realtors) do not have the best reputation when it comes to being as upfront with their clients. But when you have a great product at a great price combined with a market that is enthused, selling homes becomes much more pleasant.

Call Amanda for all your real estate needs!  910.545.0405

I want to invest in real estate. Where do I start?

Clearly, there is no cookie cutter answer for investing in real estate.  Because the real estate market is ever changing and there are so many variables, there is no true "one-size-fits-all" approach.  But there are certain parameters you can decide, for your situation, that would be the "best-size-fits-all" approach.  Whether that's only choosing properties that are all ready remodeled or properties only in one particular zip code, or however you choose to determine it, you need to choose the method that works best for your specific situation.
The very first step is to invest in yourself.  Read, learn, talk to informed individuals that are investing or are interested in investing.  Educate yourself and maybe even work alongside someone who is actively investing in real estate.  You can't put a price on experience!
Then it's time to get dirty!  There are several options on how to start, and each one will depend on your current situation.  You'll hear about the "buy and hold method" or the "fix and flip."
I personally think the easiest way to start is with your own home!  Start out with something ugly- I mean UGLY!  And make it into a marketable home.  The biggest benefit to this method is that you get to live in your investment, so you don't have "carrying costs" while you're working on it and trying to sell it.  I mean, you have to live somewhere, so why not live in your investment!!

Another option is multi-family homes!  A duplex, for example, qualifies for FHA or VA lending.  You can finance your duplex, live in one side, and charge rent in the other side.  Do this for a few years and build your capital while someone else pays your mortgage!  Again, you have to live somewhere, so why not live in your investment!

How about other rental property (buy and hold) properties?  If you can finance or front the cash for a rental property- DO IT!  Real estate is a market- meaning people shop for homes, and deals!  If you have the inventory they're shopping for, you're going to make the deal.  

There are a lot of creative methods for beginning your investment lifestyle!  Once you start, you won't want to stop.  Have questions?  Wanna look at properties?  Let's talk!  Give me a call and we can discuss your options!  There are a lot out there!  Jacksonville, NC has a TON of investment opportunities, we just need to take the first step!

4 Questions to Answer BEFORE You Buy A House!

Buying a home can be the biggest investment  a person makes in their entire lifetime.  There are a ton of questions that need answering before it's over with, and you need the right person to ask them to.  Buying a home is a process of elimination, so if you understand what you don't want, it's easier to exclude homes than keep adding ones to the list of homes to see.  If you can answer these top four questions when starting the homebuying process, it will be easier to make an educated and informed decision!

First, Where?
Real estate has always been Location, Location, Location!  Why?  Because it's typically one thing about your home that you absolutely cannot change.  Take into account the neighborhood statistics such as pricing, valuation, crime, public services, school district, commute and neighborhood amenities.  For my family, the neighborhood amenities outweigh the commute.  I would rather have a golf course, pool and nature trails and have to drive just a little further to work everyday than live closer but in a neighborhood that doesn't offer anything.

Secondly, How much money do you need to set aside?
This is mostly determined by what type of financing you'll be using, whether or not you'll be putting money down and how far you'll be moving.  You'll want to include enough for closing costs (usually somewhere around 3% of the purchase price just to be super safe,) appraisal and inspection fees, moving costs and transferring utilities.  Of course unforeseen things come up, so it's always better to be safe than sorry with a little extra cushion!

The third question is What's your monthly budget?
It's easy to bite off more than you can chew by purchasing at the max of what you're qualified for.  However, it's usually smarter to determine what your comfort level is, monthly, to include mortgage, insurance, electric/water/gas, HOA, landscaping, trash service, sewage, etc.  A qualified loan officer should be able to give you an accurate pre qualification based on your monthly budget.

Lastly, choosing a qualified buyer's agent can make or break your homebuying experience!  You want someone in your corner who you're comfortable with and who listens.  After all, you're buying a house.  Wouldn't it be nice to have someone in your corner who can educate you provide guidance as well as keep open lines of communication?  Some REALTORS® have even taken additional education to earn special designations through the National Association of Realtors® such as Accredited Buyers Representation, where they've learned negotiation skills, how to better facilitate transactions for their buyer clients and other techniques.  

Call me today about buying a home!  I'd love to help!