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So you're thinking about buying some investment property, what are some things you might want to consider? First of all, you want to keep in mind that the parameters that you use for buying investment property are seldom the same as what you would use if you're buying a house that you're going to live in or even a vacation home. There are a few different business models that you can use. And we're talking mainly about residential investment property. So you can do short-term rental, you can do long-term rentals, you can do mid-term rentals. But also, look at how you want to build that portfolio or even just get started if this is your first one. So one of the most ideal business models is something where you're going to have immediate cash flow, but particularly in this market, that is often kind of hard to come by to find something where your mortgage is going to be less than the amount that you're charging for rent. So that is kind of a delicate balance, and something that requires some calculation, and sharpening the pencil to get to the numbers where they need to be. The second business model is where it covers itself pays for itself all along to a degree at least, but appreciates over time. So you're really banking on that appreciation over time. So that would be a scenario where your mortgage is $2,000 a month, and you can also get $2,000 a month in rent. So you do not have to necessarily lay money out every month except for repairs or upgrades and things like that. But it's not making money every month. Nothing is going back in your pocket until you go to sell or it appreciates over time. The third and one you see a lot of investment people and motivational people talk about is "house hacking". And what does that mean? If you don't know house hacking is where you buy a multifamily property. So a duplex or a triplex for a quad and you live in one unit and rent out the rest. This is a fantastic scenario, especially if you're a first-time buyer, if you are not tied up on your first home, particularly your dream home. Or if you just want to focus more on building wealth and building that investment portfolio. So often, it'll pay for you to live there. If your mortgage is $3,000 a month on a duplex, for example, and you can charge $2,000 a month, then you're only paying $1,000 to live in the other unit. You can do this every two years really, and keep swapping up just building your portfolio rather than renting that unit that you've moved out of doing it again and doing it again. So often you'll hear people talk about House hacking. That's what that is. So if you want to get started in real estate investing, one of the best things is, obviously, to give me a call, call an agent in your market who is familiar with investors and working with investors and real estate investing so that you can sort of get the lay of the land and figure out what business model works best for you for your finances, for your family for your future, how you want to do it, because then you can really focus on the properties that are going to work to fit into that business model. But if you're curious about investing, I do have a lot of experience working with investors. I have done this myself. So I know a lot about the process of getting there and going through and some of the pitfalls that you might want to avoid. So give me a call send me a message shoot me an email and let's talk.

So you want to buy or sell a house, but you need a little breathing room and you don't know how you're going to work, the timing of that whole situation, especially in this market, what do you do? One way that we often handle these logistics of literally moving targets with closing dates, times moving trucks, people moving in people moving out is with a possession by seller or possession by purchaser agreement. But what are those? You may have heard that term, and sometimes the possession by the seller is actually called a rent back. That's our common vernacular for that document, or that situation. And it's called a rent back because basically, you as the seller are renting back your house after you close and the purchaser actually owns it. We do have another thing called a possession by the purchaser. That is very, very seldom used, because there are a lot of risks involved in letting a purchaser move into your house before you are actually close as you can imagine, they move in and they start putting wallpaper up or demoing the kitchen, and some reason, their deal does not close and you're stuck with whatever they did when they were in your house and you're also kind of stuck with them in your house, and you may accidentally become a landlord. We don't use those very often. The way that the possession by the seller works is literally just like the way you would rent a property. So you own the house, you know, you're going to close on, say the 10th of the month, but you need to stay in for an extra week or two, we're going to have a whole document that's basically a rental agreement where the purchaser closes, and then you're going to be renting that house back from them for the next week or two weeks, whatever. There is usually a deposit just in case you damage anything while you're moving or getting all your stuff out. And you are going to have to cover that if that happens. There's generally a per diem amount as well. So if you go past that, say, you're supposed to close on your new construction, this is one where sometimes the closing dates don't really line up the way we want them to say you're closing on new construction on the fifth of the month. And that's when your rent back ends on the house that you're leaving. But the builder isn't ready until the 10th, so you may have to pay extra, then for those additional days that you stay, or you may just have to beat it because sometimes the agreement was you're going to be out on the fifth and sometimes that's just what has to happen. All of this can get really confusing and sound really confusing. In reality, it's not that confusing, but a lot of it goes back to having a plan before you put your house on the market before you write the contract for the house that you fall in love with making sure that you sit down with your agent and kind of plan out that whole scenario. Sometimes hard when you're really emotional about this process or you're looking at all the other moving parts, but the times and the dates and all of that good stuff really get important, so having that plan is really key. I'd love to explain to you how that might work for you, so just give me a call send me an email, send me a message, and let's set up a time to chat.

Who pays for what when you're buying or selling a house: buyer edition. So if you're buying a house, sometimes when you get excited you think about the process, and you're really focused on looking at homes and that whole emotional aspect of it, you don't necessarily think about all of the little things that come along the way, and who pays for them. So when you're buying a home, the first thing once you have found the house that you love, and you're writing the offer, of the first things you're going to do is you're going to write a check to send a wire for the earnest money deposit. Now, that is basically a deposit that is going to be held in escrow. So it doesn't go directly to the seller in the state of Virginia, in the state of Virginia, that is all I can talk about because that is where I am licensed. So in the state of Virginia, it does not go directly to the seller, it gets held by the settlement agent that you're going to use to do your closing, or the real estate company that you are working with to buy your home, that generally needs to be about 1% of the entire purchase price of the home. So if your house is $500,000, you probably want to write about $5,000. As your earnest money deposit, it basically binds the contract again, it gets held in an escrow account until closing. So if you were originally going to have to bring $100,000 to closing, you will then only have to bring $95,000 Because that $5000 gets applied to whatever else you bring to closing for your downpayment, your closing costs. Another thing you're gonna have to pay for as the buyer is any inspections that you have. And we are now still in a crazy tight market, but we are seeing a good number of inspections. And they can range in price from $100 to $1,000, depending on the type of inspection. And what I always tell people is you can have as many inspections as you are willing to pay for. You have to weigh that out and discuss that with your agent, because you may know that you want to have a camera sewer inspection on one house, and on another house, it may not seem as important. So sometimes those numbers and those types of inspections depend on what you're buying, and where and all that good stuff. So remember, the seller is not paying for any inspections except the pest, Wood Destroying Insect, inspection. That is the one that they're paying for and it usually costs them $100 or less. Once you've covered that earnest money deposit and your inspections, your next cost is going to be your appraisal. And if you're going to have a survey. And your appraisal is generally going to be in the 600 to $1,000 range. And that survey, if you want to have one, a lot of lenders don't require them anymore, but they vary widely depending on the property, the type of property, where it is, how difficult it is to survey, and 100 other things. So I can't give you an estimate there. But those generally are going to be things that you're going to have to pay for out of pocket, because should the loan not go through, those people still want to be paid. So they're going to want the money upfront and not rolled into your closing costs that happen on closing day. After you get through those financial hurdles, you're not going to have to pay anything really until you get to the settlement table and then you're going to have all of your lender fees, your attorney fees, your title insurance, your points that you might have with your mortgage, there are a whole bunch of things and I have another video that kind of breaks down the closing costs, so go check that out if you want a little bit more detailed info on what your closing costs entail. But at settlement, you're going to get that earnest money deposit that you paid upfront applied to that number and then you're going to have all of your closing costs and the actual amount that you're paying for your down payment. And then you're done. But those little along-the-way fees sometimes get lost and all the excitement so just make sure that you've budgeted and that you've got the cash, even if you're putting a relatively low down payment, make sure you've got the cash to cover all those other things that you might want to do along the way or that you're going to be required to do. If you have any questions or you want a little bit more detailed information about what things might look like for you in your financial situation with the home that you want to purchase. Give me a call I'd love to chat and help you make your homeownership dreams come true.

Who pays for what in a transaction, seller addition? When you think about closing costs, as a buyer, there are lots and lots of fees that add up. But let's talk a little bit about if you're selling your home, what are you going to have to pay for, because it's not all just give me the money at the end of the day. So in the market that we're in, now we're seeing relatively little in the way of repair costs. So one of the big things or one of the big unknowns, perhaps when you're selling your home is if the buyer has an inspection, and they are able to ask for repairs, and you agree to do those repairs, what those are going to be costing you. And that can depend largely on what needs to be done, if the buyer wants, you know, is demanding that they be done. And who does it, what the repair is all of that stuff. So that is one of the biggest things you want to budget for if you know that your HVAC is in rough shape and that that is going to be something you have to deal with, you want to make sure that you've stocked a little bit of money away, or some contractors will let you pay at closing from your proceeds after your home sells. But ask them first because many of them don't. After you get through that you're really only going to have to pay for the termite wood-destroying insects, whatever you want to call it, a lot of people just call it the termite report, but it is a wood-destroying organism report. And what that means is you're going to have to pay for and arrange or your agent will arrange for a pest control company to come in, do an inspection, make sure there's no termite damage and here in central Virginia, it is very wet, it is very humid, we've got a lot of that sort of thing. So hopefully, you've had a contract all along as you've owned the house, and there's no issue. But once they come in, they're either going to give it a clean bill of health, or they're gonna say you need treatment, which almost always costs between 750 and $1,000. And heaven forbid repairs. And that can range. You know, depending on the repair, go nuts. You can spend all sorts of money on that. But as long as you've got a clean bill of health, that Wood Destroying Insect, wood destroying organism, the report should only cost you about $100. That is going to be required for the sale unless it was waived in the contract because it is a provision of the contract that we have our boilerplate template contract here in central Virginia. Your biggest fee though as a seller is going to be the Commission's because they do come out of the proceeds at the end of the day. So whatever you pay your listing agents, and from that whatever goes to the buyer's agent, that's going to be your largest amount. At the settlement table, you're going to pay that you're going to pay that wood destroying organism fee, and then you're going to cover the attorney fee or settlement agent fee for them to prepare the deed. There are some taxes because of course the city, the county, the state, they all want a little bit of paint and you know little bit of the action. But overall, with the exception of the Commission's your closing costs as a seller are going to be relatively low. Not a whole lot that goes into there if your house is in good condition. If you have any other questions about what it's going to cost to sell your home, what it's going to look like at the end of the day, and how much you're going to end up with, then give me a call. I'd love to talk to you, help you look at the numbers, break them down, and see if it is a good time for you to sell and what you're going to end up with at the end of the day.

If you're buying a home and you write your offer you love the house, the thing that you love the most is that fantastic chandelier in the dining room, and the adorable dog house that looks exactly like the house you're buying. Make sure you write those things in. Here in central Virginia, our contract actually lists out the items that are automatically assumed to be staying when you buy your house. So they're automatically in the contract. We don't need to write those in. They are technically things that are attached to the house, which means fixtures, fans, curtain rods, blinds, dishwashers, microwaves, and stoves. That's basically it. Now, some of the gray areas can be mirrors in the bathroom, sometimes they are attached. And sometimes they're not refrigerators. Well, they're always attached the same way a stove is, why are they not included? I don't really know. But they're not. So we always write those in. If we're buying a home, and you want to keep that refrigerator or the washer and dryer, we're gonna have to write those in because they're not automatically included in the contract. But I would go a step further and say, that if you absolutely fell in love with that chandelier in the dining room, and the seller wants to take it, they should have excluded it. But if we know we want to keep it and we know we don't want any hurt feelings, or kerfuffle, as we go through the process, we go ahead and write that in as well. So to be safe, we're always going to write in all of those little extras, but probably not the window blinds in the bathroom, and probably not the ceiling fan that's in the rec room. If you're looking at homes online, and you are not working with a realtor, I'd love to help you figure out exactly what you're looking for and what's going to stay with that home when you purchase it. So give me a call and let's chat and I can help you navigate that entire process.

If you spend any time at all on social media, you probably hear people talking a lot about buying houses to invest in short-term rentals and what a great source of passive income that is. So you maybe thought, Should I buy a house and use it as a short-term rental? Let's talk about some of the details that you might want to think about. You may have heard the old saying, you know, you make money on the front end, not the back end. So if you're looking at a house, to be a short-term rental, make sure that it's not something that's going to need a ton of work that's gonna then price you out of that short-term rental market to recoup your money. Also, make sure that if you are looking in an area that maybe you're not as familiar with, you are familiar with, or get familiar, with the zoning laws and regulations or short-term rentals in that area. Because they don't allow it and you definitely don't want to buy something to use as a short-term rental, and only to find that you can't. If the property is not currently furnished, or if you don't like the furnishings, then make sure that you're calculating into your budget, all those furnishings that you're going to have to put in to make it be fantastic. Because, you can get a great rate for a short-term rental, but not if it looks like everything came from you know, the goodwill. When you're doing your calculations, you also want to include things like who's going to manage it, who's going to check on it? What are the fees going to be? How is it going to get cleaned? Do you have an HOA in that neighborhood or area that needs to be paid? All of those little things get an idea of the utility costs, that sort of thing, and I have a great spreadsheet that you can plug all those numbers in. So if you want a copy of that or you want to get a little bit more information about buying a short-term rental owning a short-term rental, what to look for, and the do's and don'ts. I'd love to talk to you happy to help and put you on the right track to finding out all of the information that you might need to know to make a decision if it is in fact a good call or if maybe you want to go another direction for your investment.

So what do I do with my dog or my cat or my ferret or my bird or whatever if I'm getting ready to show my house? Your pets themselves. The physical beings. Make sure that you either have your, especially dogs, make sure that you have them created or in a comfortable spot where the potential buyers can actually see the home, but your animals are not going to be underfoot, scaring people, potentially running out the door, or anything else. My best advice, give them to a friend or family member or board them for a couple of days, at least when you first start the showing process. Get the dog hair off of everything. If you have pets that make a mess, or you've got dog toys, or cat toys, or giant cat towers everywhere that are distracting for a potential buyer, get those out of the way. Do a deep clean. Get the evidence of your lovely fur babies out of the way so that people can make an objective decision on their own. I'm going to go back to that same thing from number two and reiterate the cleaning. Lots and lots of people will run the vacuum and think that's good enough but I'm telling you a deep clean will really make a difference and get away some of the smells that we sometimes as they say become nose blind to. That goes to the backyard too. Trust me nobody wants to take a look at their potential new backyard and find that they have stepped on something on the way back into your house. That's not good for anybody. Trust me. If you're thinking of selling following these tips are really going to help you get your home on the market if you do have pets. It will make it easier for people to see your house for people to show your house and for your pets to not have to deal with strangers coming in all the time. If you have any more questions, I'd love to help you get your home ready and your pets ready to make the move that you want to make.  

Marry the house date, the rate, marry the house date, the rate. This is something that if you spend any time on social media, and you've even dipped your toe into thinking about real estate, you've probably heard or seen someone say. It's a phrase that I kind of hate because I think it minimizes the whole experience and doesn't really talk about all of the nuances, but let's unpack it a little bit and look at that phrase in terms of the current market, and why it might be worth digging into a little bit. So simple economic principles, say if inventory is low and demand is high prices are going to go up, we have been in a historically low inventory situation in housing in the entire country for a while now. And that will continue for a while longer. So while the high interest rates have sidelined, some of the I'd like to buy a house people, there are still lots of people who actually need to buy a house and it has not sidelined them. So there's still a good amount of demand, and not a lot of inventory on the market, which means prices will likely continue to rise, despite the fact that interest rates are high. So while they are expected to go down in the probably first/second quarter of 2024, they will first of all, maybe never go back to 3%. So if you're waiting for that, like as my father used to say, if you're waiting for that you're backing up. You're not going to get anywhere, because that's very unlikely to happen. But even if they go down, when they go down, those prices are not going to go down at the same time. Because obviously, interest rates go down, those prices are going to go up because all of those I'd like to buy a house people are going to come back into the market. So demand will go up, and inventory is not going to change radically. And those prices are going to continue to escalate. So if you're thinking about buying and you are particularly renting in the meantime, if you can afford it, if you're ready, buying now is probably going to be a better financial decision than paying rent until six months or a year down the road, when maybe rates are lower, but prices will almost definitely be higher. So if you're thinking about buying or you think, you know, hey, maybe I'll buy a house in the spring, I'm going to save up more money, or whatever your thought process is. If you're thinking of buying anytime in the next six months to a year, give me a call, and let's talk, break down the numbers, look at what the projections are for the area and the type of house that you're looking at, and the price range. All of those things go into figuring out these numbers, but I'd love to talk to you. I'd love to help you determine if now is the right time or if it's the good time to wait and help you make those calculations that fit your personal finances and life plan.

So believe it or not, even in this market, pricing is incredibly important. And if you're wondering why your house has been sitting or why a house hasn't gone off the market that you've been seeing over and over in your search, if you're buying, it is price, it is literally always price. When I was a pretty new agent, I remember sitting in the office, and there was an agent who had a listing that hadn't sold very quickly. And this again, was a long time ago when things didn't fly off the market like they do now. And she was asking everybody to take a look at her listing and see if they could tell why it hadn't sold. And even brand new, I said, I think it's the price. I think you need to drop the price. And she was indignant that it was not the price that it wasn't always the price. But, if you really think about it, think about you having a great house in a great location, but the condition of the house is rotten - price. You have a weird house in a great location, in great condition, what's going to move it - price. If you have any combination of those factors, and one is off, those are generally things that you can't change, or you can to some degree condition, yes, you probably don't want to totally renovate a house if it's got an unusual floorplan. So price is going to be a factor. And obviously, location, location location is something we say for a reason. And that's because it can't be changed, but what can be changed, is always the price. So this goes back to having a consultation and walking through with your realtor when you are starting to think about selling so that doesn't mean if you say I want to sell my house in September, that's when I want to sell that's when I want to move. You should be in a perfect world at least calling your agent a couple of months before so that we can come through, walkthrough, and tell you, Hey, you're going to get more bang for your buck if you paint, if you replace the front door, if you do a little landscaping. All of those little things can improve the condition which can maybe maximize an unusual floorplan and make it seem more livable. So if you're curious about what you might need to do to get your home ready for sale, or if you know you're going to want to sell your house in a couple of months I'd love to talk to you just give me a call. Reach out and let's set up a time to chat and I can walk through and give you a to-do list that will help you get more money for your home because it really is always price.

Dreams versus reality. Here are a couple of things that I implore you to please not do if you are thinking about starting to look for a home. In a perfect world, when we start looking for that perfect home for you we are able to find something that fits all of your needs, is going to be able to be your forever home, and is of course going to be totally Pinterest-worthy. The problem is that sometimes the Pinterest dream does not hit the budget reality. And if you're starting to shop for a home, whether it's your first home, your fifth home, or anything in between, our budgets are just a little bit less than what our dream looks like it's going to be. So while I do always encourage buyers that I'm working with to fill out a have-to-have list and an absolutely not list, make sure that those are actually giving you enough opportunity to be open to the possibilities that are actually available in your budget. Because otherwise, trust me it is a very discouraging process. Make sure that when you're talking about, thinking about, and writing down those must-haves they're things that are actually possible within your budget. And sometimes that really means looking at your whole house budget, your whole life budget, and talking to a lender to get that pre-approval number first. But remember, your first home doesn't have to be your forever home, your second home doesn't even have to be your forever home. So, spend more time with the lender and your budgets and looking at the houses that are actually available, rather than spending your time building your dream mansion that may be completely unattainable at this point in your life. Trust me, you can get there, but sometimes it takes a couple of houses to land where you really, really want to be. So when you're writing that list of must-haves and absolutely do not want to make sure it's a little more rooted in reality and a little less rooted in Pinterest. Sometimes it's really hard for those things to match perfectly, but we can usually get pretty close to the things that you need, the things that you want. And a lot of times a little special touch from you will get right back into that Pinterest or Instagram category. If you want a copy of my buyer's guide, or you're thinking about starting to look on your own, give me a call, reach out, or send me a message. I'd love to talk to you and help you get started building that wish list for that home that you might be ready to buy in six weeks, six months, or even a year. I'd love to talk.