English majors in college are commonly put through a curriculum that requires reading some of the world’s classic novels and discerning what makes them so. One measure of a great novel is that the reader can see the entirety of the narrative in its first pages. The theme, tone and structure of the early pages of the book foreshadow what is to come. Simply stated, every part of the book leads to the whole and you can absorb this message from every part. Imagine if that were the case right now? We would think in ‘stories’ and write our own.  

Congress is unveiling a proposal that would give most Americans a monthly payment of $2,000 until the coronavirus pandemic begins to fade. This is profoundly necessary relief for those of us who cannot safely…

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Black Swan Event · This Time Is Different · The New Normal is Not Normal · Time To Rethink Your Career · This Is What Happens When Change Happens · 30 Million Americans Are Unemployed in 6 Weeks · How To Do Business From Home · Why Fi ? · Our Country Is In A Leadership Vacuum · The Stock Market Is Disconnected From Reality · Become The Best At Serving Your Sphere of Influence · Just Do Something · Circumstances + Attitude = Outcome · Awaken Possibilities Again · Resist The Urge To Do Nothing · Now Is The Chance You’ve Always Wanted · Strike While The Iron Is Cold · The New Normal Is Not New Or Normal · What To Do With What Is Left · Now Your Job Is To Live Out Your Greatest Potential · Growth Is Still There, It’s Just Not In The Same Places As Before…

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Salespeople are typically focused on being transactional and closing more deals. Fiduciaries use a consultative approach, putting a client’s best interest in mind even if it means disclosing info that will kill a deal. Fiduciaries won’t place their commissions before your best interest. Unfortunately, many agents in our market are experienced at selling themselves. The real estate industry over the years has become less about the customer and more about the number of transactions an agent closes.  Some of the blame can be directly correlated to real estate coaching which has become big business and focuses on “Closing the Deal” as opposed to solving a client’s problem.  Big Real Estate coaching companies train agents to become adept at answering…

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What’s the Difference Between a Seller’s Market and a Buyer’s Market? As we begin 2019, if you are about to start looking for a home, you may come upon these terms. Beyond a simple definition for each of these, it is very important to know the different factors that define each, and how the different markets can impact a buyer.  This article will examine these areas.

Seller’s Market Defined

A seller’s market exists when there are many more buyers seeking to purchase than there are homes available on the market. Stated differently, there are less houses available to satisfy a larger pool of buyers in the marketplace. This lack of listing inventory leads to rapid (at times excessive) price appreciation, very quick closings, many cash buyers,…

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 Chances are good your buyers are not approved at all…they’ve only been pre-qualified

Shocking headline, isn’t it?  Hard to hear the truth sometimes, but I am going to tell you that in my experience, the bulk of Pre-Approval letters being given to Real Estate agents by Loan Originators are just plain worthless.  They are being written to get the buyers a house, but the protection/reassurance the seller is looking for that tells them the buyers really are qualified does not exist.  Welcome to Fantasy Island.

My intention in writing this is two-fold: first, to let you know about this situation, and second, to give you some suggestions for getting a comfort letter that is worth the paper it is printed on.

Frequently a Realtor will refer me one of…

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Written by Robert H. Ruth

 

Second home season is officially here!  While buying a primary residence is a substantial commitment financially, with long ranging impacts, purchasing a second / vacation home is an even larger commitment, so careful deliberate planning is paramount if you are in the market to purchase a second home this year.   Here are five important issues to consider when contemplating a second home purchase:

 

How familiar are you with the area?

  • Buying a home as an annual vacation destination or to use on weekends or Holidays is a very serious commitment. You better make sure you like the area you are purchasing in because you’ll be spending a huge amount of your free time there. Many buyers I work with have…

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Written by Robert H. Ruth

Every year since 2013 the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has published a report looking at trends among buyers and sellers in the Real Estate Industry from the previous year. I’ve always eagerly anticipated this report because it provides excellent insights into the composition of the Real Estate marketplace. This year I thought I’d share some of the more significant findings that are pertinent to home buyers since that is the focus of my blog posts here. If you want to see the report for yourself, I have provided a link for you to download a pdf version here: CLICK HERE

The introduction of the report has much useful information about the composition of buyers in the Real Estate marketplace .  Here are what I…

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Written by Robert H. Ruth

This is a topic I discuss with borrowers most every day, so I thought you’d like to know the components of your credit score.  According to Fair Issac Corporation (FICO), “the score is calculated from many different pieces of data in your credit report, and the data is grouped into the 5 categories below.” Here they are with the approximate weighting assigned to each category:

 

  • Payment History : 35%
  • Amounts Owed :  30%
  • Length of Credit History:15%
  • New accounts Opened :10%
  • Mix of Credit :10%
  • Total: 100%

Let’s see what each category represents:

Payment history: 35%

This tells whether you have paid your credit card accounts on time in the past.  If you make all your payments on time each…

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Written by Robert H. Ruth

What is a concession?

A concession is some benefit usually offered from the seller to the buyer that helps in the negotiation to buy a home.  The concession is typically financial in nature, and is in essence, a type of deal sweetener for the buyer. In the real estate finance industry, concessions are also known as Interested Party Contributions (IPC’s).  For this article, I wanted to explain the 2 most common types of IPC’s: financing concessions, and sales concessions.

 Financing Concessions

These IPC’s are paid on the borrower’s behalf by the seller to help facilitate the transaction. Financing Concessions typically cover closing costs for the buyer who is financing the purchase with a mortgage. They are…

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Written by Jon Nelson

THE REAL ESTATE CYCLE - Barring any special circumstances, every home, neighborhood, city, town and state is subject to the inevitable influence of the Real Estate Cycle. Independent of any external pressures, the stages of this ever-changing sequence have been the source of much unnecessary financial and economic strife and leave a permanent mark on homeowners and the municipalities they populate.

If a certain locale is not growing, it may very well be declining. This is a dynamic pattern that can and will impact the indirect and sometimes unforeseeable consequences of consumers unknowingly purchasing ‘too much home’ for their budget. The ripple effects of this are far-reaching and can often accelerate the decline of a…

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