Questions I Am Often Asked

Summer will probably find your home empty more than any other season, between weekend trips to the beach and longer family vacations. To guard your home against break-ins while you’re away, make it look like you haven’t left, says The National Crime Prevention Council.

Put several household lights on timers, and set them to turn on and off at appropriate times to create the illusion that someone’s home. Keep shades and blinds in their normal positions. In addition, if you’re going on a long trip, stop mail and newspapers and arrange to have the grass mowed while you’re gone. You may even want to put a radio on a timer.

Before you leave, also check all your door and window locks to make sure they’re in working order — and use them. Each external door should have a sturdy, well-installed dead-bolt lock. As you head out the door, activate your alarm system if you have one. Then enjoy your holiday, knowing your home is secure.

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Pre-approval Letters: Good Idea for Buyers

If you’re thinking of buying a house, you’ve probably been advised to get a mortgage pre-approval letter from a lender. Despite the mountain of paperwork involved, it’s a smart idea for many reasons.

You can call up a lender any time, answer a few questions about your financials and get a pre-qualificationletter. To receive pre-approval, however, the lender will require the documentation to verify what you say. Thus, pre-approval carries more weight than the pre-qualification.

The information that lenders verify also allows them to accurately calculate the maximum mortgage amount you qualify for. Knowing exactly how much money you can borrow is a great benefit of pre-approval; you may be surprised by the figure, which is difficult to translate from the monthly mortgage payments you think you can make.

Just as you will be more confident knowing you are able to obtain a mortgage, so will the owners of the home you want. A pre-approval letter is a good bargaining tool that may help you get a better price on the home of your dreams and may make you the winning bidder when several people are vying for the same home.

This months joke:

Question: What do you call a very popular perfume?

Answer: A best-smeller

Question: How do I handle a low offer on my property?

Selling your house may leave you feeling vulnerable: Not only is your house a huge financial asset, but you have strangers peeping in your closets, appraisers judging your home’s value and inspectors noting its flaws. A low offer in the midst of all of this can seem like a personal affront. However, no matter how well you have prepared your house or how certain you are that it’s priced fairly, receiving a low offer is a possibility.

Prepare yourself ahead of time to not take it personally. Instead of falling into a grudge match, do one of two things: Reject the offer, or counter it and move on.

If you do decide to counter the offer, try to get as much information as you can about why the offer came in at the price it did. While the buyer’s agent will not disclose information that may put his or her client at a disadvantage, take any information you can get to help you structure the counteroffer

Have questions? email Risa at questions@risa.net or call her at 1-800-699-4901

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