Things That Will Make You Wealthy

5 things that will make you wealthy by Dave Ramsey plus one more from me.

  1. Have a written budget. You have to have a written game plan with money or you’re going to lose.

  2. Get out of debt. When you don’t have any payments, do you know what you’ve got? MONEY!

  3. Live on less than you make. In the house of the wise are choice food and oil, but a fool devours all he has. Proverbs 21:20.

  4. Save and invest. 100% of people who don’t save money don’t have any money saved.

  5. Be generous. Follow the 7 Baby Steps and you can be outrageously generous!

And 6 - Buy a home! Long term renting will not create wealth (actually it will but for your landlord). It can be scary but its one of the BEST investments you can make for yourself. And you don’t have to have 20% down - that is an old wives’ tale. And remember the interest rate on rent is 100%.

Why isn't my home sold yet?

Here are the three reasons your home is not sold yet.

  1. Price: buyers know the market. They have access to tons of data online and while the market is still crazy buyers are not in the mood to grossly overpay for your home.

  2. Condition: too small, too dated, too smelly, major repairs, dysfunctional floor plan, you get the picture.

  3. Location: too close to the road, in town, out of town, on a mountain, in a valley, again, you get the picture.

Two of these things you can change, one you cannot. So if your home is not selling you will need to have a closer look at and and see what adjustments need to be made.

Being A Homeowner Rocks!

Here’s just a few reasons being a homeowner rocks!

  1. Monthly mortgage payments stays steady even as rents rise and inflation increases.

  2. Decorate and update without having to ask your landlord.

  3. Possible tax benefits

  4. Building equity instead of giving it away to someone else

  5. Being able to borrow against the equity in your home for other things such as debt reduction and home improvement projects

Big Nos when buying a house

OOPS!!  big no-no’s when buying a house

  1. Not getting pre-approved. In this market sellers won’t even consider your offer without a lender letter

  2. Maxing out your budget. If things in your life go sideways you need to be able to handle unexpected expenses and maxing out your mortgage is a no-no.

  3. Skipping the fine print. Do you have a prepayment penalty or an variable rate on your mortgage? Its important to know before hand the terms and conditions of your loan.

  4. Making decisions from the heart instead of the head. This one is soooo hard. But try and take the emotion out of the equation.

  5. Not factoring in other expenses such as HOA fees or mortgage insurance.

  6. Not protecting your credit score before closing. This is not the time to take out a loan for a new car or furniture for your new home.

Importance of Correct Pricing

Pricing your home can feel a bit squirrelly, like playing with a bowl of slime.

Having a trusted professional is key to a successful outcome.

Let me tell you a quick story.

One of my lovely seller clients was ready to sell their home. We looked at other sold homes in their area and decided on a price.

While they were getting their home ready for market another home in their neighborhood went up for sale for a little more than the price we had decided on EXCEPT it was half the size!

I reached out right away and said let's watch, wait and see.

After two weeks the neighbors house was still on the market. My clients were concerned: would buyers think something was wrong with their house because it was less money than one half the size? I assured them that another sellers expectations of the market does not change the value of their home or their timeline.

My sellers were finally ready to go live on the market. Within days of listing, they had 3 fantastic offers on their home.

This is a perfect example of why correct pricing is so important. Two hundred days later the other house still has not sold. Time IS money.

And as the pace of the market begins to change pricing has become more important than ever.

Have Fun!

DON’T TAKE LIFE TOO SERIOUSLY!

Life is too short to be straight laced and on point of the time.

Let me tell you a little story about this photo.

We were enjoying a Rockies spring training game when out of the corner of my eye I spotted something large and purple.

Dinger!

I jumped to my feet with the agility of someone half my age and dragged my kids to the concourse for a photo op.

I think I was more excited than them! My daughters happily posed for a photo with their favorite dinosaur.

And then to my 9 year old daughters horror I asked her to take MY photo with Dinger.

I can only imagine what was going through her mind, BUT what I hope she was thinking was, my mom is fun, my mom likes to laugh, my mom helps us make memories and my mom loves me by showing ME how to have fun!

With gratitude.

I Am Not A Perfect Mom

Things I am not: a perfect mom.

Things I am: someone trying my best, day in day out.

When I was pregnant with my first everyone told me that parenting was the “most difficult, yet most rewarding job you will ever have.”

This is not an understatement!

Raising humans is serious stuff! There is lots of second guessing, regrets, missteps and fumbles.

And yet, there is so much love, fun and and adventure..

So what I’ve learned in 15+ years of parenting is that you shouldn’t take yourself too seriously. Our kids have a tremendous amount of “built in grace”.

You are not alone

Okay no more horsin’ around

If you are in the market to buy a home and you haven’t met with a lender you are doing this all wrong.

Agents won’t show you homes and sellers won’t take you seriously.

Remember, you don’t have to do this alone.

Get a lender recommendation from a real estate agent you trust and make your first step towards homeownership.

"Your house is worth a gazillion dollars!"

But Zillow says my house is worth a gazillion dollars!

Okay, I’m exaggerating, kind of.

Zillow uses sales data to come up with your “Zestimate” but what they can’t factor in are things like the view, traffic noise, intimate community knowledge, changes in the local work force like a company leaving town or coming to town.

In other words the “Zestimate” is a 50,000 foot view of your homes value.

Having your local agent help you price your home is like looking under a microscope at the value of your home.

Don’t leave these things to chance. Now is not the time to be inaccurate about pricing. Correct pricing is going to dictate whether your home sits on the market or gets multiple-over asking offers.

Tuff Shed Budget

Do you have custom home taste on a Tuff Shed budget?

Well you aren’t alone and here are a couple helpful tips to overcome this pesky situation.

  1. Homeownership is a stepping stone process. With each home purchase you will likely be getting more of what you want. Consider readjusting your expectations and recognize you might not yet own your dream home.

  2. Lots can be done with cosmetic repairs. That run down home down in your neighborhood might not yet look like a gem but with some elbow grease and money you can turn out a diamond in the rough.

  3. Be strategic about buying by watching the market with a trusted real estate agent. Is the market rapidly accelerating? Purchasing a smaller home or condo in a rising market and then quickly selling while the market is still rising can produce quick equity that can allow you to leap frog to your next home sooner than later.

The advice of a trusted and knowledgeable real estate agent is important to maximize these strategies. Reach out with questions.

A must in your house

Do you have one of these bad boys installed in your home?

If you don’t, I BEG you to go to the hardware store TODAY and pick one (or two, or three) up.

As a guideline, Colorado law requires carbon monoxide detectors be installed within 15 feet of all bedrooms upon the transfer of property. But even if you are not selling your home it’s imperative that you are protected.

Carbon monoxide is odorless, colorless and tasteless. It steals oxygen from your red blood cells and can steal the life right out of you. You essentially drown without getting wet.

The weather is getting colder and folks are turning on their gas powered heating, so please don’t take a chance.

This is serious stuff. If you read just one of my posts all year, this is the one I want you to really take to heart.

With gratitude.

Try Before You Buy

Serenity Now.

Let’s face it, buying a home can be stressful. There’s a lot going on in a short amount of time and big decisions are being made.

But here’s one decision that should be easy - getting a professional home inspection.

Buyers ask me all the time if they should get an inspection and I always answer with a resounding YES!

However, I know that some buyers are capable of doing their own inspections and some want to save a little money and not hire the professional.

I can understand both of these sentiments.

However, if you think of a home inspection like to do insurance, you will see the value. If you could insure a $300,000 house for $600 would you do it? Of course!

A home inspection is your “try before you buy” insurance.

Bring some peace to your home buying experience and go with the professional home inspection.

Home Inspection Preparation

Whaaaaa!!!

LENDER REQUIRED REPAIRS!

These three words are NOT what you want to hear when you are buying or selling a home.

So what does this mean you might ask?

Lender required repairs are repairs that must be completed in order for the buyer to get approval for their loan.

It doesn’t matter if the buyer (or seller) care about or want these repairs, they are imposed by the lender.

Common lender required repairs are; peeling paint, broken windows, missing hand rails or anything that falls under health and safety.

As a homeowner what can you do to avoid this situation?

Ask your agent for a do-it-yourself checklist for home inspection preparation. While this is for preparing for a home inspection, it will cover most anything that a lender would be concerned about as well.

That One Thing

What’s your “One Thing”?

Okay, a little background here. By “One Thing” I mean the thing you get up for in the morning and go to work.

The thing that drives you.

The thing that is always front and center.

The thing that you don’t make compromises for.

I dug deep a few years ago to figure out my “One Thing”. Specifically the One Thing that drove my ambition and drive at work.

On the surface it was providing for my family and helping my clients with their real estate goals and dreams.

But I knew there had to be something else, something deeper. So I took an even deeper dive, and finally found what motivated my One Thing.

It’s very personal and raw, but it was so worth the personal journey to discover this about myself. So I would encourage you to take some time with this question. It only took me 14 years in the business to figure out!

With gratitude.

How do you relax?

OMMMMMM.

What do you do to relax?

To get to your “Calgon Take Me Away” place?

Your zen moment?

So I am no master but deep breathing always helps up front and then I do some helpful “self talk”.

I have also found that meditation apps such as Headspace and Abide are excellent for those (like me) that have trouble shutting up the noise that floats between my two ears.

How about you?

Want to know more about real estate?

Real estate is actually quite simple.

A home is worth what a buyer is willing to pay and a seller is willing to sell for. Of course there are other factors in play but at the end of that day that is the matrix.

And therefore, the market itself dictates the pace and value of property. As we move into a more balance market this is becoming more and more apparent.

And what history tells us over time is that real estate is one of the safest and most profitable investments.

Do you want to know more about buying or selling? Reach out to me with your questions, I am here to help!

Network of excellent agents

Being a “local” has become a somewhat territorial statement.

“I’m a local so I know better, have priority or get to complain about all the non-locals”.

This is kinda BS in my opinion, after all we are all “locals” of planet earth At least I think so

But there is a situation where being a local is super important.

Your real estate agent.

I often have clients ask me to help them buy or sell in other areas such as Denver or Grand Junction. And while my real estate license is good for the entire state of Colorado, I don’t feel I am providing the best service possible by helping buyers and sellers in areas I don’t know.

If you are not a local you might not know about the large employer that’s about to relocate, or the proposed airport expansion or areas notorious for bad water or shifting soils.

It is so flattering that my clients want to “take me with them” to their new area. And while I cannot be their boots on the ground agent, I’m more than happy to interview agents in other areas and find a great fit - a local who knows their community and can look out for your best interests.

My network of excellent agents is literally worldwide! So if you need any agent in another area, please let me know. It would be my pleasure to assist you.