FSBO Jane

In these financial times, there are new rules for what makes sense in home ownership. Where first-time home buyers have traditionally stretched themselves to buy larger homes, today’s buyers are thinking conservatively and purchasing well within their means.

A recent New York Times article points out seven new rules for such buyers, all aimed at making the decision to buy a well-informed, well-thought-out one.

Here’s a clip: “If you’re determined to be truly conservative, don’t spend more than about 35 percent of your pretax income on mortgage, property tax and home insurance payments. Bank of America, which adheres to the guidelines that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac set, will let your total debt (including student and other loans) hit 45 percent of your pretax income, but no more.”

Read the rest here.

Picture this…

You’ve been scouring several charming communities, searching for that perfect house. You canvas each neighborhood, looking for FSBO signs; you spend hours on the Internet wading through at listing after listing. Finally, after months of searching, your eyes fix on a gorgeous home. You practically run inside for a showing, and you fall in love with every room. Without even thinking about the price, you say to yourself, “This is the one.” Then, you find out that the home is selling for over $400K. What do you do?

If you truly want to purchase a home priced well into the 4, 5 and 600s (and beyond), you might fret, thinking that you won’t be able to get such a high loan. However, let me introduce you to the jumbo loan.

Each year, the conforming loan limit is set in January, by federal agencies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Currently, the conforming loan limit for a single family home is $417,000. If your dream home costs a lot more than that, the loan you are seeking is referred to as a jumbo loan, as it exceeds the amount Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are allowed to lend to a borrower.

In the simplest terms, jumbo loans are non-conforming loans that offer a home buyer a great flexibility to purchase the house he/she wants. They are not possible to sell to a federal agency like Freddie Mac or Fannie May, either. Keep in mind that, because you are taking out a larger amount of money, the interest rates may be higher; however, jumbo loans tend to have less strict criteria for borrowing than you would see while applying for a conforming loan. You should also consult with your broker as to which loan you would like to buy: a fixed rate or an adjustable rate.

The other day, I was enjoying an outdoor Oktoberfest concert right in the middle of downtown Chicago. My feet grew tired, so I leaned up on a pole that conveniently resided directly behind me. As I used this pole to relieve my feet of the brat and beer weight my body had just acquired, I realized that I didn’t even know what the pole was for. I looked up, and for a few moments, lost myself in a patriotic admiration. Directly above me, an American flag gracefully swayed in the windy city’s breeze, seemingly along with the music. It was beautiful.

As Americans, we tend to show patriotism at certain times of the year, or during certain moments in our lives. We hang a flag outside on Labor Day, Memorial Day, and if we remember when it is, Flag Day. If we know someone in the military, we’ll stick a bumper sticker on our cars. After the 9/11 attacks eight years ago, we all flew to the store and bought little flags to stick just about everywhere. But on a regular basis, we forget.

Why not permanently show our patriotic spirit through home decorating? A patriotic décor would be a refreshing, uplifting décor that everyone could relate to. Here are some ideas on how to incorporate the American spirit into your homes:

• On a front porch, lay a satin, red, white and blue bunting along the railing.
• In an office or a bedroom, hang lanterns with red, white, and blue stars from the ceiling.
• Cover a table with a red, white and blue striped tablecloth. Or, lay a starry and stripy table runner across the table.
• On an end table, display a brass statue of a soldier, or a favorite president.
• Add star and striped throw pillows on your couches and chairs.
• Frame the lyrics to The Star Spangled Banner, or America the Beautiful, and hang it on your wall.
• Drink your morning coffee out of a red, white and blue coffee mug, and place your toast on a striped plate.
• Decorate windows with cloth curtains that display an American theme.
• Add a wallpaper border to your kitchen or dining room, showing off stars and stripes, or significant moments in history.
• At the next craft fair you attend, have a hand-carved sign made to say “God Bless America,” or your favorite patriotic saying.
• As always, hang an American flag on any interior or exterior wall, everyday.

For more ideas, or for purchasing items, visit these websites:

Flag and Banner

Country Porch

Interior Design

As a FSBO (for sale by owner) seller or buyer, the Internet offers an arena of information for you to acquire the tips and knowledge you need to be successful. But does it ever frustrate you when you’re trying to find an answer to a question, like the steps to making a bid, and all these realtor and agent websites show up? “We’ll do all the work for you” doesn’t exactly help when you’re trying it the FSBO way.

That’s why I find and save a multitude of FSBO blogs in my Favorites folder. And as you know, the Buy Owner Blog tops the list. This blog only covers topics that are helpful to FSBO buyers and sellers, with topics so widespread, you’re sure to find what you’re looking for. I almost always do.

Two recent blogs that I found to be helpful included one about how to accept a bid, as a seller, and one about how to make an offer, as a buyer. Each article covers the questions that a buyer or seller would have without help from an outside agent. But they also make it clear that the process is possible alone, and you’ll come out of the process with a lot more money and pride.

To check out these particular articles, read 8 Tips for Accepting a Bid and Making an Offer.

Dare to dream? Today is your day. Bergproperties.com provides a real estate blog that posts homes for sale. But unless you’re a multi-millionaire, you won’t find your next home on this site. It only lists homes for sale by celebrities.

If you tend to “want what you can’t have”, don’t click this link to BergProperties.com. The pictures display penthouse apartments in Manhattan, with oversized windows to fill the oversized rooms with oversized views of New York. Or they display an utterly private deck that overlooks sandy, hilly property and aquamarine waters with white foamy waves. They even have the nerve to show master bathrooms that are, quite literally, twice the size of my entire house.

On the otherhand, if you enjoy keeping up with a world you can only dream about, you’ll want to check this site out! The prices will provide you an excuse to not be involved in this world, along with the explanations as to why some celebrities must sell their homes. Fame and million-dollar paychecks to go hand-in-hand, after all, and neither lasts forever.

1. Plan for the size of your pile. An ideal size is 3-by-3 (feet). You don’t want to run the risk of the fire burning out of control.

2. Keep the materials small. If you throw in huge chunks of scraps and grass into a big heap, your pile will take longer to decompose. Be sure to shred any kind of paper.

3. Contain and insulate the pile. Try building your pile within a plastic bin or a hay bale. You want to make sure that nothing falls out of place.

4. Stick to a pattern. Start with a layer of sticks, and then add a moist material (garden trimmings, grass clippings). Alternate brown scraps and green scraps in four-inch layers until you reach the desired four-foot height of the pile.

5. Don’t add food! Food scraps attract pesky rodents. Some people might say that coffee grounds, fruit bits and veggie scraps are good to burn. However, if you don’t plan on burning your compost pile right away, you could be in for big surprise and a messy yard if some fuzzy friends get into the pile.

6. Keep the pile a little damp. If it’s too dry, you won’t be able to decompose a thing. If the pile is sopping wet, the pile will take longer to decompose and will most likely emit a horrible smell.

7. Rotate the pile. By turning the pile, you’ll distribute the heat evenly and your waste will decompose faster.

9. Watch it! Keep an eye on the pile. You wouldn’t leave candles burning in the house when you gout out for the night. So don’t leave a compost pile burning in your backyard.

10. Use it. Compost is a great tool to help improve the structure of your soil. So, if your grass isn’t growing, add a protective layer of the compost to get it started.

A lot of articles these days are saying the same thing: If you want to sell your house, you have to drop your price.

What do you think? Is that true? Could selling your home be as simple as lowering the amount of money you’re asking for?

Consider this bit of advice, taken from an old MSNBC article written back in 2006, when the real estate market was looking much, much different:

“The key is realistic pricing. Jim Warkentin, another Realtor in McLean, says the recent hot market ‘was very forgiving’ when a house was not priced right. ‘A trained chimp could put a property on the market and it would sell,’ he says. ‘Not anymore.’”

If that was sage advice three years ago, how much more now?

A recent AP article says there are new normals in real estate, some that affect buyers who need to look at homes as long-term investments and some that affect sellers who need to reconsider whose market they’re working in.

“Be patient and maybe even lower your asking price, because the balance of power has swung strongly to buyers,” writes Adrian Sainz, offering advice to sellers.

It’s a new type of selling market, and only those who realize it will come out ahead.

A conforming loan limit is a maximum loan size regulated each year by federal agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, thanks to the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. This loan can be applied to all conventional mortgage loans available for a whole loan purchase by either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

In plain English? It’s the maximum amount of money Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac may guarantee a borrower (you) for a first mortgage loan.

How much is the limit?
This depends on a lot of things. First of all, there are two sets of limits for first mortgages: a general conforming loan limit and a high-cost area conforming loan limit. You also have to factor in the number of units in a home, as well as the location of the property. Since 2006, the general conforming loan limit for a single-family home has been $417,000. If you are buying a small condo building, the loan limit will increase roughly $100,000 per unit (up to four units), give or take a few 10 thousand dollars. As for the high-cost area conforming loan limit, depending on the location and the number of units in the building, the limit could exceed $1 million.

Generally, though, the most common conforming loan limit is $417K for a single family home.

What happens if the home I want to buy costs more than $417,000?

You will be required to apply for a different type of loan. Check back in a few days for another post. It will explain what to do when you want to buy a house that costs more than the conforming loan limit allows you to borrow!

Whether it’s the beginning, middle or end of October, this is the month for professional sports teams. Baseball and soccer are wrapping up, while basketball, football and hockey are just getting started. There is no better time to create your dream room by draping any space in the colors of your favorite team. And while this idea might typically be used for kids’ bedrooms, you should feel free to decorate any room in the house the way you want. Also, there are lots of home décor items out there geared more towards adults. So give in to your guilty pleasure and design that all-sports room you’ve always wanted.

Is your house is the place to be for the World Series, the Super Bowl or any other championship game? Then why not get into the spirit of the game by preparing a spread in a sporty kitchen! Get inspired by visiting different restaurants/bars in your neighborhood and seeing how they are decorated. Although there may be tons of framed photos and jerseys on the walls of these places, you may only want to choose one item to hang on one wall. Create a focal point and add a few small touches that complement the main piece.

For example, hang up a photo of your favorite player(s). If you’re a Chicago White Sox fan, a picture of the team celebrating a championship win is a great piece. Plus, black and white hues make for a classic color scheme in the kitchen. And, of course, there is always dishware.

The basement is might be one of the best places to incorporate a sports theme into your home’s décor. There is more space, for one, and it’s a great big spot to gather with friends and watch the big game. Perhaps you’ve acquired an extensive collection of memorabilia. With a lot of empty wall space in the basement, there is plenty of room to hang photographs or to install shelving units for pucks, balls and the like. And would you believe that some professional sports teams are featured on furniture pieces?

Let’s say you are a HUGE Los Angeles Lakers fan. You’re in luck, as the NBA online store sells recliners, chairs, rugs, lighting and more. Essentially, you could furnish the entire basement and complement the furniture with your personal collection of pictures bobbleheads, basketballs and everything else you own.

Keep in mind, you don’t have to stick with the abovementioned sports. If you’re interested in a tropical theme, surfing and swimming decorations are always an option. Do you like the country? A horseback riding theme might be for you. If you spend a lot of time on the green, you might want to turn your basement into your own little putting ground. You will be able to achieve anything you can imagine.

When it comes to buying and selling FSBO, there are no limits to types of homes offered. If you do a quick search on any site to see what’s available for sale by owner, you won’t only find single-family homes and apartments. Many of the options present an investment opportunity, with the possibility of building houses or an apartment complex on vacant land, or living on a property that also contains a separate house, a guest house, a manufactured house or a vacant lot.

Doing a quick search on the site I find most credible, Buy Owner, I found all sorts of investment opportunities for anyone interested in real estate revenue. With Buy Owner, it’s so simple, because if you choose to do an advanced search, you have the option of choosing business property, vacant land, commercial property and others.

One option I found included a duplex that is available to own and currently contains renters. That’s immediate income for whoever purchases it! I also found a two-flat that had one renter and a bar in the bottom, which would obviously provide immediate income. Lots of vacant land was available, with permits already allowing construction. I found a few lots that included an extra lot next door, and one property included three gorgeous homes that could all be rented!

The best part of it is that even if you don’t realize there’s an investment opportunity available with a purchase, the writing description will usually point that out for you. Why not at least consider the possibility of making an income with your real estate purchase?