Have you been wondering if you should build your dream home? Based on current interest rates and recent national stats, the answer to that question may be a huge YES! Of course, you can’t make the total decision based on market but if you have your credit in order and the funds to make it happen, you might want to explore all your options. Mortgage rates are at an all time low so that may also help you in your decision making process. Remember, waiting and waiting for the exact right time may cause you to miss out on the exact right time!    

Factors to Consider:

1)  Are you in a financial position to build?  Keep in mind that costs typically go well beyond the initial estimate from a builder as you add your personal choices re: floors, tiles, carpets, lighting, etc.

2) Are you prepared for the process…emotional and financial of building a home? You might want to talk with people you know who have gone thru the building process to gauge your own ability to do so without “going crazy”. An architect I knew once said, “Building a home will either draw you closer or tear you apart”. Seems extreme but often true.

3) Have you done your own homework on the kind of home you want…can afford….the location you want to build in and the cost of living there? If not, this is a very important FIRST step to building.

4) It’s important to research your architect and/or builder. Don’t just contact referrals they give you to talk with…of course those will be their ‘happy’ customers. Search out homes that were built by them and get honest and thorough feedback. Also check with the city you’re building in to see how many if any complaints or compliments they’ve had re: builders in town.

The point is, just because the interest rates are low does not mean it’s the right time for you to build but it could be. Be diligent. Be thorough. Be honest with yourself about your goals and finances. Then decide with confidence so you can move forward with joy about what’s to come. That joy will override all the challenges!

With the Coronavirus pandemic came an almost dead stop to the real estate industry caused by fear of the future regarding jobs, health, the drop in consumer confidence and the stock market. BUT just as suddenly as things turned to chaos, the housing market, enhanced by historically low mortgage interest rates, has actually become a welcome high point among many still uncertain lows.

After an almost stagnant spring, home sales rebounded in May and June. New construction rose to 16.6% in May and then continued to rise to over 17% in June. Pending home sales showed the highest one month gain since the NAR (National Association of Realtors) started tracking numbers almost 20 years ago rising an amazing 44.3% in May.

Whether you’re a buyer or a seller, this is good…no great news!!

During this uncertain and challenging time, many sellers still want or need to sell their homes and qualified buyers want to take advantage of the amazingly low interest rates. BUT for some, the idea of showing their home or walking through a home causes them some concerns.

One way to help reduce the stress for both seller and buyer is by taking advantage of Virtual Tour and Drone photography. As a seller, offering a Virtual Tour of your home gives your potential buyer the opportunity to virtually not only view your home’s benefits but also get a realistic sense of the traffic flow, spaciousness and dynamics that aren’t always attainable from still photos. If you have a dynamic outdoor living area or have amazing views to offer, Drone photography provides an aerial view in stills and virtual options to allow your prospective buyers to get a full sense of what your home offers them.

Yes, using professional photography including Virtual Tours and/or Drone options will be an added cost to you as a seller. BUT the benefits, especially in these times of uncertainty of how to deal with showing and viewing homes, will far outweigh the cost and may bring you more potential buyers and offers, giving you your best price and profit.

BuyOwner.com offers you professional photography options so don’t hesitate to contact our Marketing Consultants to see how this advantage can bring you faster and better results!

What do you do when your neighbor claims part of your land belongs to them AND they have a survey to “prove” it?  Can the county record change the boundary of an decades old existing boundary because of this new survey?  This happens more often than you might think and if it happens to you, here are a few things, quoted from “Quora Digest”, that you can do to help resolve the situation.

(1) Ask for a copy of the survey being quoted. IS it by a licensed land surveyor? Or some other surveyor?

(2) Get the county/parish/boroughs tax assessors plat (map) which should have the lot description from the original survey. Locate the benchmark used to identify the map basis.

(3) Look at your title search or other documents to identify any easements.

(4) Locate the physical property line markers, sometimes this is a buried pipe, sometimes it is a arrow or mark on the curb. Typically ground marks trump maps.

Once you have these documents you should be able to figure out the truth of the situation.

I have a second home on a steep hill in coastal California in an area with lots of magnetic abnormalities due to iron rich deposits. A neighbor had our property lines surveyed and noted that the hill had slumped over 8′ since the 80 year old prior survey.

The hill has slumped (as hills do in California), but 8′ is a lot of slump! So I checked his survey against the original. Both were done by licensed surveyors (so far so good) but they used different benchmarks (wait a sec).

The original survey used a benchmark located using a magnetic compass survey line to a nearby hill top benchmark. The new survey used a highly accurate GPS based location. No attempt was made by the modern surveyor to locate the original benchmark.

A subsequent survey by the local water district did. Guess what. The original location point is 7′ or so off of the GPS location. Local magnetic fields distorted the original survey….

The key is if you’re confident that your survey is correct and you’ve been paying taxes on that land for several years, you should not just give in and agree. New doesn’t always mean right!