CT Home Sellers – ARE YOU READY TO SELL?  Deborah Laemmerhirt 203-994-4297

Sellers Info
Selling your home shouldn’t be a stressful ordeal. Making the smart move of choosing a REALTOR® is your first step to ensuring that your investment in your home pays off. Our services and experience allow you to focus on your move while We manage your home sale from our initial consultation to the closing deal, and beyond. We pride ourselves on repeat business and hope you’ll come to understand why.  GET MY UNIQUE INDIVIDUALIZED MARKETING PROGRAM TODAY!

• Complete a comparative Home Valuation that will compare your home’s value to that of your neighbors.
• Compile a comprehensive plan detailing all the efforts we will employ to sell your home, including Internet and local media. (see additional information below)
• Present your home to as many qualified buyers as possible getting your home maximum exposure.
• Help you stage your home and generate curb appeal to ensure you get the highest price.
• Assist with obtaining offers and help you in negotiating the best deal as smoothly as possible.
• Help you find your next home and answer all of your questions about the local market area, including schools, neighborhoods, the local economy, and more.

Recent Home Sales

What are homes selling for on your street? Use Contact us to find out what neighborhood homes are selling for, free of charge, or choose a more detailed analysis of the value of your home.

Getting the Highest Price for Your Home

Curb appeal is key and could make a difference whether people stop and take a flyer, or drive right by. Here are a few tips to increase the curb appeal of your home. Staging your home is important. Many buyers will stay in your home longer if it’s staged appropriately. We have compiled some ideas to present your home in the most effective manner.

Closing Costs to Expect:

• Broker’s commission is a full-service fee and will cost anywhere between 5% to 7%.
• Attorney fees
• Local property transfer tax, county transfer tax, state transfer tax, and state capital gains tax are the charges that you’ll pay for the privilege of selling your home. Credit to the buyer of unpaid real estate taxes for the prior or current year are variable and depend on when you close and when your taxes are due.
• FHA fees and costs are all fees are now negotiable between an FHA buyer and seller.
• Home inspections fees are in some circumstances paid for by the seller (but not usually) and include pest, radon and other inspections.
• Miscellaneous fees can accrue from correcting problems noticed during the home inspection.

When a house goes on the market, first impressions are extremely important.  This is the HOT time for you to capture the buyers who are already in the market, ready willing and able to buy.  Your home must show at it’s peak!  And your home must be easy to show.   They have seen the existing inventory and have rejected it, either the price was not right or it didn’t suit them.  They have alerts set up with their agents and are hungry for new listings.  This is the time you are most likely to experience excited buyers, eager for a fresh new listing.  The longer a property sits on the market the more likely a buyer is going to think 1) the seller doesn’t really want to sell or 2) the seller must be desperate by now or 3) what’s wrong with the house?  In any of the scenarios the buyers are going to, more often than not, want to discount their offer more than they would if they think they are competing with other buyers.  MARKETING YOUR HOME NOW.

Neither the seller(s) nor the agent controls the market, which dictates what a buyer is willing to pay for a home, but what we CAN control is pricing it correctly and marketing the heck out of it.  Some sellers might think that pricing it correctly is just the lazy agent’s answer to sell a house.  If that were true, we wouldn’t devote the amount of resources we do to marketing properties.  With less than one in ten houses selling right now, you want to SELL, you don’t want to be one of the 90% sitting on the market month after month, especially as prices continue to decline.  We market the heck out of our listings to expose them to targeted and qualified buyers and agents so that they sell for the most the market will bear.  This is a proven strategy to get you the most for your home as well as the quickest time to close, price right and market aggressively.

Each house is unique and we craft a marketing strategy to fit each home’s special qualities.  We market to potential buyers, both local and out of area (including international), and we market to other Realtors working with buyers in your area.  We highlight the best features of your home and absolutely saturate the internet with your listing.  In fact, each listing has it’s own custom designed website, just for that listing.  You will be able to see week by week how many buyers are “visiting” your listing.  If there is a buyer out there looking, they WILL know about your home.

We have a a listing marketing and management tools which contains over 50 possible tactics to market, manage and sell your listing.  We sit with you, assess your home and create a strategy specific to your listing.

Here is a list of some of the tools we may use for your listing:

• A fully custom webpage just for your property with interactive google street view maps, statistics, neighborhood info, full captivating description, tons of photos, video, and more with your own custom domain name
• Craigslist advertising
• Social media including google +, twitter, face book, linked-in and Pintrest.
• Detailed and descriptive blog on our website and other blogs
• Custom photo yard sign For those with smart phones this includes a mobile version of your single property website! And, for those who text – there is a unique code to get instant home information
• Custom Open House signs
• Rotating featured property on our websites
• Placed on hundreds of local, national and international websites through the company and my group’s efforts
  
• Work to get your home to rank on the internet with SEO and content
• Enhanced Realtor.com, Yahoo.com, Trulia.com, Aol.com, MSN.com and Zillow.com listing with banner, highlighted info and more
• Custom panoramic tour and/or video of your home on YouTube and many other video sites
• Custom photos and video of the highlights of the neighborhood
• Professional Designer consultation for stating/prep suggestions to sell
• Custom Flyer designed for home showings
• Custom e-flyers emailed to buyers already currently looking for exactly your type of property through our buyer inventory
• Emailed to our 4000+ strong email database
• Emailed to all of the area Realtors
• Docent cards placed in the home to highlight the features of the home
• Public Open House
• Local and regional print ads

Bethel, CT Homes and Community – Debrah Laemmerhirt  203-994-4297

There are hundreds of homes for sale in the small, laid back town of Bethel, Connecticut, where Deborah Laemmerhirt, realtor at www.HomesInConnecticutForSale.com will be able to show you a variety of properties; and in this area, you are sure to find a place you will love.

Not far from Danbury, nestled in the hills and trees of Connecticut, a small town of less than 20,000 people, Bethel, can be found. This town has been around as long as its neighbors; settled in the mid 1700s, Bethel did not officially become a town until it finally seceded from Danbury in 1855. It has this same historic appeal, but none of the detachment that comes from living in old-money neighborhoods filled with impeccable, stately homes–it has them, certainly, but it is a singularly friendly and welcoming place.

An unofficial town website hails Bethel as having a “low crime rate, reasonable taxes, good schools and a healthy economy.” These factors have been instrumental in many Americans’ choices for their new homes.

The Bethel community is an accepting one, inviting newcomers to contribute to a monthly events calendar, it’s library’s website boasting a cake pan lending program. Its real estate listings show an abundance of homes for sale. Its excellent, but few, schools are all located in a central handful, so that high schoolers and kindergarteners are all attending at the same place, and most of its attractions are located in its Greenwood Avenue Historic District. Cinemas, cafes, a zoo, an aquarium, hiking trails, and orchards advertising hayrides; the town is cheerful, placid, even cute. It’s a great place to live, and an even better place to raise a family. If you’ve made the decision to buy a home in Bethel, Connecticut, you’ve made a good one.

There are hundreds of listings in this historic municipality, any of which a Deborah Laemmerhirt, realtor at www.HomesInConnecticutForSale.com can show you. A realtor can answer any questions you have regarding the new homes and historic homes available in Bethel, and help you negotiate the best price in an area that has a range of listings varying in the hundreds of thousands. Make the process of buying your home in Bethel as easy as living in Bethel will be, and go to a real estate agent.

For local Bethel CT updates and news go to www.Bethel.Patch.com.

How is the Bethel CT Real Estate Market doing?  As you can see from the graph below, as the inventory dropped the homes increased significantly.

Are you ready to buy a home? This recent article from Realtor.com has the answer…

While it may be acceptable to snap up a pair of shoes on an impulse, buying a home requires thoughtful planning and decision making. Whether you’re becoming a homeowner for the first time or you’re a repeat buyer, buying a home is a financial and emotional decision that requires the experience and support of a team of reliable professionals including a Realtor, a lender, a lawyer and a range of other individuals.

Why Do You Want to Buy?

The emotional part of the decision comes into play when you think about why you want to move. If you’re a first-time buyer, you need stability in your career and the desire to commit to living in the same community for five to seven years. You should want to establish roots in a neighborhood and look forward to decorating as you please without requiring a landlord’s permission.

Purchasing a home is a lifestyle choice that requires you to think about how you like to spend your time and the type of community where you want to live, such as a rural area without nearby neighbors, a highrise building in a city or a home within a planned community with recreational amenities. The more you understand your priorities for a home, the easier it will be for you to narrow your real estate decisions.

Homeownership can also be a powerful way to increase your personal wealth for you and your family, since you’ll be building equity in your home as you pay off your mortgage.

Are Your Finances Ready for Homeownership?

While your dream home may or may not be within your reach right away, you can take steps to become a homeowner the moment you earn your first paycheck. In order to qualify for a mortgage loan to buy a home, you’ll need good credit, a pattern of paying your bills on time and saving money, and a maximum debt-to-income ratio (your gross monthly income compared to the minimum payments on all recurring debts) of 43 percent. Some lenders have stricter guidelines, so the lower your debt-to-income ratio, the better your chances of a loan approval.

While loan programs are available with low down payments of 3.5 to 5 percent, and a few programs offer no down payment at all, you’ll still need some savings to pay for closing costs and moving expenses, a deposit on a home, and for cash reserves after you buy. Saving money and preserving or improving your credit history are essential elements to homeownership.

What Can You Afford to Buy?

Housing prices and rents vary from one location to another, but you can use a rent-vs.-buy calculator to estimate the difference between your current rent and buying a home. In some markets buying a home can cost the same or even less than renting. Remember, when you’re a homeowner you need to included homeowners insurance, property taxes and homeowner association dues in your housing costs. You can also use a home affordability calculator to help you estimate what you can pay for a home. You should also think about your plans for the future and how you spend your money, along with your comfort level with a mortgage payment. A lender will tell you how much you can borrow, but that lender won’t know how much you spend on travel or golf or your plans for potentially reducing your work hours when you have a family.

Once you’ve thought through the emotional and financial aspects of becoming a homeowner, your next steps should be to find a reliable, experienced Realtor to become your partner in the homebuying process and to meet with a reputable lender who can discuss your options for financing your purchase.

Read the original article here.

CT Home Buyers

Deborah Laemmerhirt – 203-994-4297 – www.homesinconnnecticutforsale.com

CT Home Buyers Information. Buying a home is an exciting time in one’s life. Making the smart move of choosing a REALTOR® is your first step to ensuring that your new home and community meets your needs. Our services and experience range from helping you select and interview Mortgage Officers to helping you find the CT home that best suits you and your family.

For your convenience, we also provide listings by email. SELECT TO GET LISTINGS EMAILED TO YOU. We pride ourselves on repeat business and hope you’ll come to understand why. As Your Agent, We Will:

• Assure that you see all the properties in the area that meet your criteria.
• Guide you through the entire home buying process, from finding homes to look at, to getting the best financing. 
• Assisting you through the Inspection process.
• Make sure you don’t pay too much for your new home and help you avoid costly mistakes.  Helping you with negociations and to stay within your comfort zone.
• Answer all of your questions about the local market area, including schools, neighborhoods, the local economy, and more.

Before You Start Looking For Your New Home:

• Check your credit rating. Straighten out any errors before its too late.
• Determine a comfortable monthly budget for your new purchase, including down payment and monthly payment.
• Find a loan program that meets your needs and get pre-qualified (preferably pre-approved).  I can assist you with some choices.
• Choose a REALTOR® that you trust and who understands your needs.  I would encourage you to call or email me.  My group has a great deal of experience with buyers and the area.
• Determine what areas and neighborhood best matches your needs.
• Identify important features you need your new home to have.

Closing Costs to Expect:

• Lender fees include charges for loan processing, underwriting, preparation and establishing an escrow account.
• Attorney and Vendor fees include charges for insurance, title search, and other inspections such as septic, radon or insect.
• Government fees include deed recording and state & local mortgage taxes.
• Escrow and interest fees include homeowner’s insurance, loan interest, real estate taxes, and occasionally private mortgage insurance.

I can help you with any home on the market CLICK Below to view:

  Select Town, Price and GO!

CT – Home Insurance Claims – Deborah Laemmerhirt  203-994-4297  homesinconnecticutforsale.com
In some states, making a single homeowner’s insurance claim can raise your annual insurance premium by more than 20%, according to data collected by InsuranceQuotes. So you have to decide it it is worth it to actually make the claim.

Nationally, making a homeowner’s insurance claim leads to an average annual premium increase of 9%.

The states with the highest post-claim increases include:

• Minnesota 21.2%
• Connecticut 20.6%
• Maryland 19.3%
• California 18%
• Oregon 17%
• Arizona 17%
• Alaska 17%

The states with the lowest post-claim increases include:

• Texas (insurers are not allowed to boost premiums after the first claim)
• New York 1.1%
• Florida 1.8%
• Vermont 2%
• Massachusetts 2%

In Connecticut, you really need to think before you file a relatively small claim. An example show’s why. Suppose:

• Your insurance is $500 a year.
• You have a $500 deductible.
• Your premium will rise 20% after your first claim.

If you file a $600 claim, you’d receive $100 from your insurance company ($600 claim minus $500 deductible = $100), but your premium would rise $100 because you filed the claim. You’d break even the first year, but you’d be paying $100 more for insurance every year after that.

By contrast, if you file a $6,000 claim, you’d receive $5,500 from your insurance company and your premium would still rise only $100. 

Deborah Laemmerhirt  203-994-4297  www,homesinconnecticutforsale.com

Adding energy efficiency features like attic insulation or a highly efficient furnace may help you when you’re ready to resell your home.

According to the National Association of Realtors’ Profile of Homebuyers and Sellers, nearly nine out of 10 recent homebuyers said heating and cooling costs were somewhat or very important when considering a home for purchase.

“Going green has proven to be more than a trend,” says NAR President Gary Thomas. “Many people now seek out this way of living and want homes and communities that are more resource efficient and sensitive to the environment.”

Often, the higher a home’s energy efficiency, the more money the homeowner saves in monthly heating and cooling costs.

NAR found 49% of buyers thought a home’s heating and cooling costs were very important when considering a home for purchase, followed by energy-efficient appliances and lighting, each at 24%.

Landscaping for energy conservation and environmentally friendly community features were less important but were still a factor in the minds of homebuyers.

Nearly half of buyers found these features important.

Regionally, buyers in the North and South placed a greater importance on heating and cooling costs, probably due to more extreme temperatures in those areas of the country.

The survey also found buyers who purchased more recently built homes placed greater importance on environmentally friendly features than buyers who purchased older homes.

Nearly 60% of buyers who bought homes built in 2011 said heating and cooling costs were very important, compared to less than 30% of buyers whose homes were built before 1910.

Deborah Laemmerhirt  203-994-4297  homesinconnecticutforsale.com

What are out utilities costs going to be this winter?  Some on this depends on how well insulated our home are and also what our thermostat setting are set at!

Utility costs – Winter utility bills will likely rise for homeowners using natural gas, propane or electricity, and drop for homeowners with fuel oil furnaces, according to the federal government’s Winter Fuels Outlook.

Here’s how much the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts you’ll pay for fuel this winter:

Natural gas:

• $11.33 per 1,000 cubic feet
• 13% higher than last winter.
• Average bill $679

 Electricity:

• 12 cents per kilowatt-hour
• 2% higher than last winter
• Average bill $909

 Heating oil:

• $3.63 per gallon
• 2% lower than last winter
• Average bill $2,046

Propane:

• Cost per gallon: N/A
• 9% higher than last winter
• Average bill $1,666

About half of U.S. households use natural gas. If you’re among them, a 13% bump in natural gas prices might seem high. But overall, natural gas is still cheaper than it has been over the past five years.

How much you pay to heat your home is heavily influenced by winter temperatures and your home’s insulation.  Another factor is of course your thermostat setting and the types and seals around doors and windows.  We burn wood for most of our heat and also for hot water so our saving on oil is tremendous – although I know most are not able to heat this way.

The Energy Information Administration predicts this winter will be about as cold as last winter, unless you live in the Northeast where it’s going to be 3 percent colder or the West where it’s going to be 3 percent warmer.  I’m not looking to the 3% colder!

Deborah Laemmerhirt  203-994-4297  homesinconnecticutforsale.com

Mortgage Refinancing – If you are tempted to refinance your mortgage in order to get a lower rate or a shorter term, you should know, it’s a complicated process. Not everyone is in a good position to refi, though if you succeed, it can be well worth the effort.

By refinancing at a lower rate you could dramatically decrease your mortgage payment. If you currently have an adjustable mortgage, refinancing could allow you to lock in a long-term low rate. This could offer you much-needed financial relief, freeing up some cash to pay off debts or invest in your retirement accounts.

Then again, many homeowners apply to refinance, only to discover they can’t get approved.  Plus, some mortgages options that once were offered have now disappeared and certain others have cropped up in their places.

In spite of the potential drawbacks, it’s certainly worth checking into your potential for refinancing success. Here are some secrets you should know that will help you determine, or increase, your chances of getting a better loan.

Your credit (or FICO) score will determine whether or not you get the lowest rate on your refinancing loan. Generally, to get the best rates, you’ll need a FICO score of 740 or higher. If yours falls between 620 and 740, you’ll have to pay higher interest rates or fees. And… if your score is below 620 you may not be approved for a loan at all.

To make things more difficult, the three major U.S. credit bureaus (TransUnion, Equifax and Experian) all calculate FICO ratings differently. Typically, a lender will take a look at credit reports from all three bureaus and choose the score that falls in the middle.

While Experian doesn’t make its credit reports available to the public, you can visit MyFico.com to purchase your TransUnion and Equifax FICO reports. Keep in mind that these scores may be different from the ones your lender sees.  However, because all FICO scores are fairly consistent, it will give you a good idea about where you stand.

You should know, it is possible to legitimately raise your credit score, but it takes time. Start months before you plan to refinance. (See right-hand box.)

Before you head down the refinancing road, do your homework and figure out your home’s current value. Don’t assume your house is worth whatever you paid for it. Home values are affected by numerous factors specific to your geographic area as well as to the national economy, so knowing is far preferable to guessing.

A local real-estate agent may be able to provide information  on recent sales of similar homes in your neighborhood. You could pay an appraiser for a professional opinion of your home’s value. The problem with this is, an appraisal will likely cost between $300 and $500 (depending on where you live) and as part of the refi-process you will have to pay again for an appraisal ordered by the bank.

Another point, appraisers often use foreclosure sales, short sales and other distressed home sales in your area to calculate your home’s value. Even if you are not approved for the refinance loan, you’ll still have to pay the appraisal bill. This is all the more reason to do your research and calculate your home’s value on your own.

You are much more likely to be approved for a loan if you have some equity in your home. If your current mortgage is less than 80 percent the value of your home, refinancing shouldn’t be a problem.

However, you may have another refinancing option if your mortgage is for between 80 percent and 105 percent of your home value and your loan was bought by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. If you fall into this category and are current on your loan payments, you may be able to refinance under a new government program called “Making Home Affordable.” Visit https://makinghomeaffordable.gov/ to learn more about this program and find out if you qualify.

If you have a second mortgage on the home you’re trying to refinance, you may encounter some additional challenges. These days, some lenders are refusing to stay in second place if you try to refinance your first mortgage.

If your second lender resists, you have a few options. You can pay off your second loan, roll the two loans together if you have enough equity or find a new second lender who will allow you to refinance your first mortgage.

If you are refinancing your mortgage, your goal is to shorten your loan — not make it longer. The only time it may make sense to start over with a 30-year mortgage is if your current mortgage is only one to four years old and the new rate will greatly reduce your payments. For the most part though, try to avoid going backward. Consider a 15 or 20-year mortgage-this will decrease your future interest payments and allow you to pay off your house more quickly.

It’s clear that refinancing a home is no easy task. As you head down the refinancing road, you may be surprised at how much documentation you’ll need to provide. Many lenders are asking for pay stubs, bank statements, brokerage statements and even tax returns to ensure you are a low risk. While it may be a tough process, you will reap the benefits if you are successful.