Check your cellular phone coverage.
Imagine you just closed on a new home and have been handed the keys. Maybe the moving van is out front and you're starting to unpack some boxes. You couldn't be more excited. Perhaps you want to share your excitement, so you call a friend or loved one.
But wait a minute. What? This can't be. Nooooooooo!
Not a pleasant time discover that you receive little or no signal on your cell phone at the new house. I recommend checking to make sure you get decent reception at any house you're considering before signing a contract. To some, this may only be a minor factor in choosing the right house. But, if you're like me and don't use a landline, it could be something you need to seriously consider.
It only takes a second, so next time you're at a showing or open house, make sure to check how many bars your getting while walking through the house.
Posted by Mike Cromie on Beyond Realty - St. Louis Real Estate Blog.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
Did That Tweet Just Cost You Money?
We all have those social networking friends that feel the need to tell you every last detail of their personal life via Facebook, Blogs, Twitter, Foursquare etc. Someone you may hardly know in "real" life is willing to tell you everything from intimate personal relationship details to which type of mustard they just bought. For them, their life is an open book and I commend them for it. I really do. I can't open myself up like that. (Although, I must admit that I'm thankful for the ability to discreetly hide the news feeds of some individuals' posts.) But sometimes that openness can come at a cost. Literally, a monetary cost.
A letter in the March 2011 issue of REALTOR magazine reminded me of a story a fellow agent recently told me. In both cases, a home buyer posted details of a real estate transaction that they were actively negotiating. In the magazine story, the buyer indicated how strongly they wanted the house and even what they were willing to pay for it. The seller was somehow made aware of this, which obviously compromised the buyer's negotiating position costing them money on the deal as a result.
As Realtors, one of our most sacred responsibilities to clients is to protect their interests in contract negotiations. This includes their motivation for selling/buying, how badly they want to deal to get done and how much they are willing to accept/pay. Although the importance of keeping those cards close to your chest may be obvious to agents and most clients, perhaps we can do a better job at educating clients to the potential dangers of making such knowledge public, even when they think it's just their "friends" that they're telling.
Posted by Mike Cromie on Beyond Realty - St. Louis Real Estate Blog.
A letter in the March 2011 issue of REALTOR magazine reminded me of a story a fellow agent recently told me. In both cases, a home buyer posted details of a real estate transaction that they were actively negotiating. In the magazine story, the buyer indicated how strongly they wanted the house and even what they were willing to pay for it. The seller was somehow made aware of this, which obviously compromised the buyer's negotiating position costing them money on the deal as a result.
As Realtors, one of our most sacred responsibilities to clients is to protect their interests in contract negotiations. This includes their motivation for selling/buying, how badly they want to deal to get done and how much they are willing to accept/pay. Although the importance of keeping those cards close to your chest may be obvious to agents and most clients, perhaps we can do a better job at educating clients to the potential dangers of making such knowledge public, even when they think it's just their "friends" that they're telling.
Posted by Mike Cromie on Beyond Realty - St. Louis Real Estate Blog.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
6417 January Virtual Tour
For more information on this listing, or any other in the St. Louis area, visit www.MikeCromie.com.
Posted by Mike Cromie on Beyond Realty - St. Louis Real Estate Blog.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Tips For Home Buyers #2
Follow the home inspector around your house.
This tip can be especially helpful to first-time home buyers. Or for that matter, anyone that's unfamiliar with the various systems used to run a home. It's a great way to get acquainted with your new purchase.
Although not necessary, I often recommend to my clients that they be present during the home inspection and to feel free to ask questions. A good inspector will educate you about the home you're under contract to buy and should encourage any questions you have. After all, this is what you hired them to do. Their job is to inspect the home's structure, test all of it's systems, point out potentially hazardous situations and discover latent defects. But in the process, by following them through the house, you can discover the location and function of many of the home's mechanical, electrical and structural elements.
A complete home inspection will take anywhere from 3-6 hours, depending on the size of the home (Although, some of the time will be spent in areas that you most likely won't want to go, or shouldn't for safety reasons, such as the roof, attic or crawl space). This might seem like a long time to follow someone around your house, but may come in handy down the road. I'm sure even the most novice of home buyers know how to flip a breaker switch or even change their furnace filter. But, can you locate your main water supply shut off in the event of a leak? Or do you know how to determine when your brick needs tuckpointing? Or how to adjust the temperature on your water heater? These are just some of the nice tidbits you can gain from being present and curious at the time of inspection.
Posted by Mike Cromie on Beyond Realty - St. Louis Real Estate Blog.
This tip can be especially helpful to first-time home buyers. Or for that matter, anyone that's unfamiliar with the various systems used to run a home. It's a great way to get acquainted with your new purchase.
Although not necessary, I often recommend to my clients that they be present during the home inspection and to feel free to ask questions. A good inspector will educate you about the home you're under contract to buy and should encourage any questions you have. After all, this is what you hired them to do. Their job is to inspect the home's structure, test all of it's systems, point out potentially hazardous situations and discover latent defects. But in the process, by following them through the house, you can discover the location and function of many of the home's mechanical, electrical and structural elements.
A complete home inspection will take anywhere from 3-6 hours, depending on the size of the home (Although, some of the time will be spent in areas that you most likely won't want to go, or shouldn't for safety reasons, such as the roof, attic or crawl space). This might seem like a long time to follow someone around your house, but may come in handy down the road. I'm sure even the most novice of home buyers know how to flip a breaker switch or even change their furnace filter. But, can you locate your main water supply shut off in the event of a leak? Or do you know how to determine when your brick needs tuckpointing? Or how to adjust the temperature on your water heater? These are just some of the nice tidbits you can gain from being present and curious at the time of inspection.
Posted by Mike Cromie on Beyond Realty - St. Louis Real Estate Blog.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Summer, summer, summertime. Time to sit back and unwind.
Yeah that's right, I'm breaking out DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince lyrics. (Normally, I would assume if you don't recognize these lyrics you're from an older generation than mine. However, if you don't know them and you're reading a blog, I'm more likely to assume I'm the one from the older generation - and that scares me.)
What better way to sit back and unwind on a hot summer day in St. Louis than to hang out at the pool. My wife and I are city residents and thought our pool-going options were pretty slim. If you're like us and don't live in a community that runs their own public pool (unless, for us, you count the YMCA run Carondelet Rec Plex), you may also feel left out. But I've done a little research recently and was pleasantly surprised to find that a majority of the pools run by various St. Louis area municipalities are available to non-residents.
Although you'll almost always pay more than your tax-paying resident counterparts, in several cases you don't even need to be an accompanying "guest" of someone else. Some aquatic centers are only available with a season pass, whereas others offer daily passes.
Next time you want a break from the heat, check out these St. Louis area pools (click the link to find detailed information on fees, locations and schedules):
Daily and Season passes available without accompanying "resident/member":
Crestwood Aquatic Center
Sunset Hills Aquatic Center (New in 2010)
North Pointe Family Aquatic Center (Ballwin)
The HEIGHTS (Richmond Heights; Indoor pool and water park)
St. Louis County Parks Aquatic Facilities (Kennedy Pool, North County Pool, St. Vincent Water Park)
Aquaport (Maryland Heights)
Season pass available without accompanying "resident/member":
Carondelet Rec Complex (New in 2010)
Shaw Park Aquatic Center (Clayton)
Daily admission as a "guest":
Carondelet Rec Complex (New in 2010)
Shaw Park Aquatic Center (Clayton)
Recreation Station Aquatic Center (Kirkwood)
Webster Groves Aquatic Center
Posted by Mike Cromie on Beyond Realty - St. Louis Real Estate Blog.
What better way to sit back and unwind on a hot summer day in St. Louis than to hang out at the pool. My wife and I are city residents and thought our pool-going options were pretty slim. If you're like us and don't live in a community that runs their own public pool (unless, for us, you count the YMCA run Carondelet Rec Plex), you may also feel left out. But I've done a little research recently and was pleasantly surprised to find that a majority of the pools run by various St. Louis area municipalities are available to non-residents.
Although you'll almost always pay more than your tax-paying resident counterparts, in several cases you don't even need to be an accompanying "guest" of someone else. Some aquatic centers are only available with a season pass, whereas others offer daily passes.
Next time you want a break from the heat, check out these St. Louis area pools (click the link to find detailed information on fees, locations and schedules):
Daily and Season passes available without accompanying "resident/member":
Crestwood Aquatic Center
Sunset Hills Aquatic Center (New in 2010)
North Pointe Family Aquatic Center (Ballwin)
The HEIGHTS (Richmond Heights; Indoor pool and water park)
St. Louis County Parks Aquatic Facilities (Kennedy Pool, North County Pool, St. Vincent Water Park)
Aquaport (Maryland Heights)
Season pass available without accompanying "resident/member":
Carondelet Rec Complex (New in 2010)
Shaw Park Aquatic Center (Clayton)
Daily admission as a "guest":
Carondelet Rec Complex (New in 2010)
Shaw Park Aquatic Center (Clayton)
Recreation Station Aquatic Center (Kirkwood)
Webster Groves Aquatic Center
Posted by Mike Cromie on Beyond Realty - St. Louis Real Estate Blog.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Record Low Mortgage Rates
My mom always told me not to take advantage of other's misfortune. OK, maybe she didn't, but that seems like something moms say. Either way, I'm here to tell you - you can. And you should. And you shouldn't feel bad about it, at least in this case.
Because of the European debt crisis, mortgage rates here in the US are seeing record lows. The national average rate on a 30 year fixed loan, quoted on Bankrate.com, is 4.87%. Many investors are moving their money into US Treasurys, which lowers their yield and in turn, affects mortgage rates. This creates a great opportunity for those currently seeking a new home.
In an article on CNBC.com, Moody's chief economist, Mark Zandi, had this to say about the potential of buying a home in today's market: "It's the best time in our generation to buy. It may be the best time in any generation. Mortgage rates are so low and with homes prices down and lots of inventory, you couldn't pick a better time to buy or re-finance."
If you've been considering making a purchase of a new home for a while, or just missed the tax credit deadline this could be the opportunity you've been waiting for.
To search all listings in the St. Louis area, please visit my Google Map Search. Or sign up for Property Watch to be emailed listings that fit your criteria as they come on the market.
Posted by Mike Cromie on Beyond Realty - St. Louis Real Estate Blog.
Because of the European debt crisis, mortgage rates here in the US are seeing record lows. The national average rate on a 30 year fixed loan, quoted on Bankrate.com, is 4.87%. Many investors are moving their money into US Treasurys, which lowers their yield and in turn, affects mortgage rates. This creates a great opportunity for those currently seeking a new home.
In an article on CNBC.com, Moody's chief economist, Mark Zandi, had this to say about the potential of buying a home in today's market: "It's the best time in our generation to buy. It may be the best time in any generation. Mortgage rates are so low and with homes prices down and lots of inventory, you couldn't pick a better time to buy or re-finance."
If you've been considering making a purchase of a new home for a while, or just missed the tax credit deadline this could be the opportunity you've been waiting for.
To search all listings in the St. Louis area, please visit my Google Map Search. Or sign up for Property Watch to be emailed listings that fit your criteria as they come on the market.
Posted by Mike Cromie on Beyond Realty - St. Louis Real Estate Blog.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Tips For Home Sellers #1
Go see your competition.
A good way to know how you stack up against your competition is to see them in person. The typical practice when pricing a listing will be for your real estate agent to show you, either online or on paper, comparable properties (comps) in the neighborhood. The agent may have seen some of the properties him/herself, especially if they specialize in the area, but you as the seller need to as well.
Not only will this help to accurately price your home, but you may come away with some fresh ideas on ways to present your home at showings. Pay attention to things you like and dislike about the way other homes show. Then go home and try to view your own home in the same critical mind set. You might find that the stuffed moose head smoking a cigarette in the den is tacky after all. Who knew?
Posted by Mike Cromie on Beyond Realty - St. Louis Real Estate Blog.
A good way to know how you stack up against your competition is to see them in person. The typical practice when pricing a listing will be for your real estate agent to show you, either online or on paper, comparable properties (comps) in the neighborhood. The agent may have seen some of the properties him/herself, especially if they specialize in the area, but you as the seller need to as well.
Not only will this help to accurately price your home, but you may come away with some fresh ideas on ways to present your home at showings. Pay attention to things you like and dislike about the way other homes show. Then go home and try to view your own home in the same critical mind set. You might find that the stuffed moose head smoking a cigarette in the den is tacky after all. Who knew?
Posted by Mike Cromie on Beyond Realty - St. Louis Real Estate Blog.
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