Team Thayer Property Servicing

What do FHA appraisers look for? Utilities should be turned on so the appraiser can test systems and appliances. Appliances must function properly. There should be proper drainage around the perimeter of the house. The heating unit must be in working order (and AC if applicable). Water pressure must be adequate for the house. Appraisers flush toilets, turn on all faucets and ensure that both hot and cold water are working. The water heater must be in working order and strapped according to local code. Attics and crawlspaces are to be viewed at minimum from the shoulder up by the appraiser. When viewing the attic, appraisers make sure there are vents, no damage, no exposed or frayed wires, and that sunlight is not beaming through. When inspecting the crawl space, appraisers make sure there are no signs of standing water or any other foundation support issues. Excessive debris in the attic or crawl space should be removed. Paint must not be chipping, peeling, or flaking on hom

Flipping houses looks glamorous and easy on TV. Many people are enticed to get into the business, lured by the promise of easy money and high volume. But what is really involved in flipping houses profitably? We took a look. What do you need to get started? You need an excellent credit score. You need cash, because you are usually investing in a high-risk property and need a bigger down payment, or you are buying outright, free and clear, at auction. Another option would be a  203(k) loan  but that’s a whole other article. You need to know the real estate market. Most importantly, you need to know houses. Just like a good car mechanic looking to spend the least on a fixer upper, you need to know just how deep the money pit goes. What you should look for in a house to flip: Location . Find a  home  in a desirable neighborhood, or in a city where people want to live. Sound Condition . You don’t want to start rebuilding it from scratch. Look for home that have a good sou

A Time of Opportunity for Home Sellers In real estate timing can be everything, and right now a perfect storm is forming to the benefit of many Eugene area home sellers. Here are 4 key reasons why this spring promises to be an excellent sellers market. Low mortgage rates.  remain historically low while monthly rents in our tight apartment market continue to rise. This is causing many long-time renters to make the jump to home ownership. Low rates also make it easier for existing home owners to move up into larger and higher-priced homes.  High demand.  All of the key statistics point to a very strong demand for Madison area real estate. For example, Dane County single family home sales were up by 14% in January of 2015 compared to January of 2014. Listings with accepted offers are also trending much higher. At the end of January, the number of Dane County single family homes with accepted offers was up by 29% from last year. These numbers from the South Central Wisconsin MLS sug

PREV | NEXT It’s getting more expensive to buy a house. Prices rose 6% in the fourth quarter of 2014 as buyers competed for fewer and fewer available homes for sale, according to new data from the  National Association of Realtors® . The NAR report  shows most cities (86%) are experiencing rising prices, with fewer available homes to choose from. Just 24 cities, or 14%, recorded lower median prices in 2014 than in 2013. “Home prices in metro areas throughout the country continue to show solid price growth, up 25% over the past three years on average,” said  Lawrence Yun , chief economist at NAR. “This is good news for current homeowners but remains a challenge for buyers who are seeing home prices continue to outpace their wages.” Still, as more jobs are created, consumer confidence rises, driving the demand for housing. But with fewer sellers putting their homes on the market, the housing market just chugs along. “This should signal existing home owners, who

The Internet has changed the way buyers shop for homes.  Where once people drove around neighborhoods, they now do the majority of their browsing online. The popularity of the Internet has led not only to websites by Realtors and real estate companies such as  RE/MAX,  it has also lead to websites by third parties.  These websites garner a lot of traffic,  but the information they contain may not always be accurate.   This is especially true when searching for foreclosed homes and pre-foreclosures. What is a Pre-Foreclosure? A pre-foreclosure is home in which the owner is more than 90 days delinquent on payments.  The bank has begun the foreclosure process,  but these properties are not yet for sale.  Pre-foreclosures don’t always come onto the market.  Not everyone wants to sell.  Instead, homeowners might work out a deal with their bank or they might file for bankruptcy. Online real estate databases such as  Zillow  and Trulia integrate foreclosure and pre-foreclosure inf

How to Save For A Down Payment There are many great reasons for you to start saving for a down payment. Fixed mortgage payments and a more stable market are just some of the reasons to consider buying a home. Whether you are planning to buy a home in the near future or not, coming up with a down payment can be challenging. It all depends on how motivated you are to accomplish your financial goals. Here are a few tips on how to save for a down payment. Reduce large expenses:  Skipping your Monday morning Starbucks latte may help you save money slowly over time, but why not go after your biggest expenses first for better results. We are talking about your rent, which is probably eating up 30% of your salary pay. You can always try to negotiate a better rate with your landlord, move to a cheaper location, or even downsize by moving to a one bedroom apartment which will drop your expenses greatly. You can also consider bringing in a roommate to help cut down costs and help you save m

How to Save For A Down Payment There are many great reasons for you to start saving for a down payment. Fixed mortgage payments and a more stable market are just some of the reasons to consider buying a home. Whether you are planning to buy a home in the near future or not, coming up with a down payment can be challenging. It all depends on how motivated you are to accomplish your financial goals. Here are a few tips on how to save for a down payment. Reduce large expenses:  Skipping your Monday morning Starbucks latte may help you save money slowly over time, but why not go after your biggest expenses first for better results. We are talking about your rent, which is probably eating up 30% of your salary pay. You can always try to negotiate a better rate with your landlord, move to a cheaper location, or even downsize by moving to a one bedroom apartment which will drop your expenses greatly. You can also consider bringing in a roommate to help cut down costs and help you save m

I don't care what it is that you want out of life, health, wealth, love, or happiness, you will have to draw on intense powers of motivation to get it. Today I was reading two books that got my mind spinning on the subject from the Nobel peace prize winner, Elie Wiesel and his book  "Open Heart"  and Seth Godin's  "The Dip." Here is a quick overview to five new ways to motivate yourself: 1. Learn when to quit:  The hard wiring of you brain is very good at knowing when you are spinning your wheels doing something that is not inline with your 'end game' goal. Maybe it's a mindless career in a 9-5 job you hate, or a relationship with someone you know is the wrong person.  No matter how hard you try you probably will never be able to trick your mind into getting motivated around something that you know deep down is the wrong thing to be doing. It's better to just quit and make a big change. Seth Godin says in "The Dip": &qu

If you receive rental income from the rental of residential homes, specified rental expenses may be deducted on the owner’s tax return. Such costs may include interest on the property loan, owner’s property tax, operating costs, home value depreciation, and repairs.  Deductions may include the average and requires expenses for operating, protecting and maintaining your rental real estate investment. Ordinary expenses are those that are typically included in the business of managing rental homes.  Necessary expenses on rental homes are those that are deemed appropriate, such as: * interest on home loan * advertising costs to rent the home * homeowners taxes * property maintenance * household utilities  * home insurance. A detailed log covering the cost of home repairs on the rental property may include: staining wood, painting, fixing plumbing leaks and replacing damaged doors, windows or other home features of the rental property. “You can deduct the expenses paid by the

Zillow  will not mean the end of real estate agents. But the company is changing the way agents do their jobs. That's what Zillow CEO  Spencer Rascoff and Chief Economist  Stan Humphries argue in the new book "Zillow Talk: The New Rules of Real Estate." Real estate agents are still relevant despite the wealth of industry information available to consumers online, they said. Zillow may be leading the charge, pulling relevant information on home listings together into one place. But it's the Internet that's really shaping the future of the real estate industry. No one — not Zillow or real estate agents — disputes this. They just see the industry's changes through a slightly different lens.

Bad tenants are bad news! Renting to a person who refuses to pay their rent can cost a landlord thousands of dollars. A destructive tenant may end up damaging your property and racking up huge repair bills. Other nightmare renters can fight eviction, and the worst case is a renter who harms other tenants or even you! A landlord’s lackadaisical approach to tenant selection can end up biting him in the end. Here are 6 common mistakes that cause good landlords to end up with bad tenants: #1: Failing to run proper  tenant screening  checks.  This error can cause you to miss big red flags that would steer you away from certain rental applicants. A tenant criminal background check can show you the applicant’s potential for being dangerous or destructive. A tenant screening credit check could alert you to a person’s problems with huge debt, or overall financial instability. Eviction records can return evidence of a person’s past evictions. All of this information is important in deter

Owning a home can pay off at tax time. Take advantage of these homeownership-related tax deductions and strategies to lower your tax bill: Mortgage Interest Deduction One of the neatest deductions itemizing homeowners can take advantage of is the  mortgage interest deduction , which you  claim on Schedule A . To get the mortgage interest deduction, your mortgage must be secured by your home — and your home can be a house, trailer, or boat, as long as you can sleep in it, cook in it, and it has a toilet. Interest you pay on a mortgage of up to $1 million — or $500,000 if you’re married filing separately — is deductible when you use the loan to buy, build, or improve your home. If you take on another mortgage (including a second mortgage, home equity loan, or home equity line of credit) to improve your home or to buy or build a second home, that counts towards the $1 million limit. If you use loans secured by your home for other things — like sending your kid to college —