Kathy Riggs January 17th, 2011
Now that the New Year has gotten into full swing, people are striving to keep the resolutions they made a few weeks ago or they have abandoned them altogether.
Sometimes people traveling the road of good intentions get distracted even with the best efforts.
If you are one of those people who have been contemplating purchasing a home for any reason – first time buyer, downsizing or relocation, make the resolution to buy in 2011.
Regardless of small fluctuations, interest rates remain at historic lows and it is a buyer’s market. Your home is not only your castle, but also a symbol of the investment you have made in your community and your country. Statistics show that homeowners are much more involved in their communities as volunteers than renters are.
So, it you have resolved to purchase a home in the coming year the process will be much smoother if you approach it with the Boy Scout motto: “Be Prepared.”
The first step is to get your finances in order. Find out what you can afford and to maintain the lifestyle you enjoy. Schedule an appointment with a mortgage officer and ask to be pre-approved. The mortgage officer will need to know your annual income and information about your debt load. Getting pre-approved is most important. Even if you are the best credit risk, many sellers, especially properties owned by banks, won’t consider your offer without a pre-approval letter. You could miss the house of your dreams because another buyer was prepared before they went house hunting.
Step two is to call your real estate agent. An agent who is a REALTOR will help make the trip from house hunting to home owning as smooth as possible – and that’s a topic we will explore in the very near future.
Month Housing Tip for January…
Check the air filter on your heating system. January is a good time to check the cutoff valves to sinks and toliets.
SHAMELESS PLUGS
More than 90 percent of buyers start there housing search online. Call me at 252-939-2432 if you have found several houses you wish to see and we’ll start house hunting. Just because it doesn’t have my firm’s sign as the listing firm does not mean I can’t help you get in the door.
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Kathy Riggs December 19th, 2010
Christmas does get here sooner rather than later and no matter how much planning ahead we do, something almost always get overlooked.
Such is the case with this blog. My normal post time is early Sunday evenings when I’m getting mentally adjusted for the workweek to come on Monday morning.
However, the hustle and bustle of holidays had me saying “I’ll do it tomorrow” until now it is Christmas week and I haven’t posted since Thanksgiving…sounds like a New Year’s resolution in the making.
Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I love turning my home into the “Christmas House” with a large tree surrounded by a collection of Pound Puppies and Christmas animals. I love the music, the food and the fellowship. And I love seeing decorations throughout the town. The lights that bathe our houses at Christmas make the neighborhoods feel warm indicating there are people and families on the other side of the door. Once people started building houses with back decks rather than front porches families had fewer opportunities to drop “over” without dropping “in.” Neighborhoods were better connected, and seeing candles in windows or a spotlighted wreath on a door helps establish a connection with the people inside. From cottages to mansions, homes always look prettier at Christmas.
And each year decorations seem to go up earlier. Growing up I remember the tree rarely went up more than two weeks before Christmas. Now decorating is a Thanksgiving weekend tradition.
Regardless of the time your decorations (or mine) go up, the time comes when they must be taken down and packed away for another year.
And while we don’t keep the Christmas decorations up all year, we can carry the spirit of Christmas with us every day of the year…the spirit of love, joy and peace, the gifts brought to us by the Christ child born more than 2,000 years ago in an event not covered by CNN or Fox News, but heralded by angels from above.
To those of you who believe I say Merry Christmas. you should understand.
To those of you who don’t believe, I say Merry Christmas…I hope you will one day see the light.
To those of another faith, I say Merry Christmas and hope you accept the greeting in the spirit with which it is expressed.
And to borrow a phrase from my fat red-suited friend, Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night.