Uncategorized • April 5, 2022

What Do All Those Letters Mean?

by Debbie Marett

When you receive an email or a business card from someone do you sometimes wonder what the string of letters behind their name actually stand for? If you are not in the industry, you really have no idea what they all mean!

Letters After A Name?
Post-nominal letters (or post nominal titles) are the letters after a name to show that the holder has a granted or earned qualification, position of importance, degree, place of office, or another such accreditation. They can also be know as a name-suffix.

A person may have several different incidences of post-nominal letters. They are generally listed in order as follows:

Honours
Educational Degrees
Memberships to accredited professional organisations / societies

As a Realtor®, it is very important to me to be on top of all the changes in my industry, most of all to be knowledgable! I take numerous classes, webinars and trainings on a regular basis as well as make a commitment to obtain the designations that make me the best that I can be in order to serve my clients properly. Here are some of the designations that I currently have and what they mean:

ABR- Accredited Buyers Representation

The Accredited Buyer’s Representative is designed for real estate agents who focus on working directly with home buyers. An ABR® is a specialized practitioner who has demonstrated a commitment to working with buyers. ABRs® are trained to work as hard for the buyer as the listing agent does for the seller. When every dollar counts, as it always does, it is important to have someone trained to negotiate the price, terms, and conditions to your advantage.

The ABR® designation is the benchmark of excellence in buyer representation. This coveted designation demonstrates to peers and consumers a commitment to providing outstanding service to real estate buyers.

Why Use an e-PRO®?

Social media is still relatively new and evolving every day. An agent with NAR’s e-PRO® certification is dedicated to making the most of today’s social media and technology to help you with your real estate needs, whatever they may be.

e-PRO® is the only technology certification to be officially recognized, endorsed, and conferred by the National Association of REALTORS®.

Agents with NAR’s e-PRO® the certification demonstrate:

Advanced training in using the latest technology and social media to promote your property or find your next home.

A clear understanding of the ways that e-office strategies, rich media and social networking can benefit today’s consumer in a real estate transaction

Excellence in adopting, implementing, and promoting technology best practices

Ethics with commitment to use technology in fair and responsible manner

Professionalism by completing an education program designed to keep one’s technical knowledge and skill sets up-to-date

GRI – The Graduate, REALTOR® Institute (GRI) symbol is the mark of a real estate professional that has made the commitment to provide a high level of professional services by securing a strong educational foundation.

Buying property is a complex and stressful task. In fact, it’s often the biggest single investment you will make in your lifetime. At the same time, real estate transactions have become increasingly complicated.

New technology, laws, procedures and the increasing sophistication of buyers and sellers requires real estate practitioners to perform at an ever-increasing level of professionalism.

GRI designees:

Have pursued a course of study that represents the minimum common body of knowledge for progressive real estate professionals.
Have developed a solid foundation of knowledge and skills to navigate the current real estate climate—no matter what its condition.
Are recognized nationally.Act with professionalism and are committed to serving their clients and customers with the highest ethical standards.
RENE- The Real Estate Negotiation Expert (RENE) certification is for real estate professionals who want to sharpen their negotiation skills. The RENE certification program gives REALTORS® the tips and tools they need to be skillful advocates for their clients.

CNRS – Cartus Network Relocation Specialist

CNMS- Cartus Network Marketing Specialist

Both of these certifications entail bi-yearly training and you have to be invited to be on this team of agents and have a proven track record in both buying and selling real estate for a period of time.

Cartus Corporation is a global relocation company specializing in employee relocation, including home sale and home purchase, household goods shipping, move management, property management, rental and temporary housing, settling-in, spouse/partner career transition assistance, visa and immigration services, intercultural and language training, relocation accounting, international assignment compensation services, policy consulting services supporting benchmarking, program startups, group moves, mergers and acquisitions, and change management

USAA Preferred Agent – Specializes in military loans in both buying and selling of real estate

Buying • April 5, 2022

The Real Cost of Buying a Home

by Debbie Marett

Property investment and house mortgage financial concept, selling home

Great article by Scott Burns Dallas Morning news

What’s the cost of buying a home?

Yes, this is a trick question.

The obvious answer is the price you pay for it. If you find a house you like and pay $400,000 cash to buy it, the cost is the price, $400,000. Long-term, buying for cash will probably work out well. The value of the house is likely to appreciate with inflation. The eventual sale will likely be a tax-free event.

While you’re living in the house, you’ll enjoy another benefit. It’s what economists call “imputed income.” That’s the invisible, tax-free benefit of shelter you’d otherwise have to pay for with after-tax income.

Sweet.

But simplicity becomes complex when you finance the purchase of your home, and that’s what most of us do. According to the National Association of Realtors, 87% of all homebuyers finance their homes.

When you sit down to sign that enormous stack of documents, one will tell you how many dollars you will be paying over the life of the mortgage. Borrow $300,000 for 30 years at 3.25% — the rate available before Russia invaded Ukraine — and you’ll be repaying $470,023. Borrow it at 6%, as many did long ago, and you’ll be repaying a whopping $647,515.

That’s pretty intimidating. It’s also why many homeowners are in a rush to pay off their mortgage. “Think of all the money I’ll save,” they say.

In fact, the true savings from prepayment will probably be smaller.

How can that be? The answer is what financial types call “the time value of money.” A dollar coming our way in 2040 isn’t as valuable to us as a dollar in our bank account this week.

And yep, there’s this thing called inflation.

So how do you calculate the true cost of buying your home?

You’ll need a financial calculator to do the specifics for your own house. Meanwhile, let me show you how it would work with some calculations for a typical home cost in Texas. According to a recent report from the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University, median home prices in our major urban areas ranged upward from $300,000.

San Antonio was the least expensive at $303,000.
Houston followed at $309,100 and Fort Worth at $319,600.
Dallas came in at $383,100.
Austin led with a stunning $453,600.

As I write this, a qualified buyer with a good credit score and a 20% down payment could snag a mortgage rate as low as 3.75%. (This doesn’t count any payments of points that raise the effective interest rate.)

So what’s the true cost of a $300,000 or $400,000 home?

If you buy a home for $300,000 with a $60,000 down payment, you’ll be borrowing $240,000 and have a monthly payment of $1,111.48, repaying $400,132.80 over 30 years. If inflation matched the interest rate, the present value of all those payments would be exactly the amount you borrowed, $240,000.

But what if the inflation rate is a good deal higher?

If inflation ran at the trailing 7% rate, for instance, you’d be paying back $167,063.86 in current value, not $240,000. In effect, the true cost of your house would be $227,063.86 (the $60,000 down payment plus the $167,063.86 present value of the amount you would repay).

Now let’s do the same exercise with a $400,000 house. With a down payment of $80,000, you would need a $320,000 mortgage with a monthly payment of $1,481.97. Over 30 years, you’d pay $533,509.20. But the present value of those payments after 7% inflation is $222,751.31, not $320,000. Again, the effect is to reduce the cost of buying your home to the down payment plus the present value of your mortgage, a total of $302,751.31.

In both cases, you’re buying the house at an effective discount of nearly 25%.

How well this actually works out depends on one thing. It’s the difference between the interest rate on the mortgage and the inflation rate you experience. If inflation runs hot, you’ll make out big time.

Yes, it’s a gamble. But it’s the gamble that built middle-class net worth for decades after World War II.

This isn’t new finance magic. It has been this way whenever the rate of inflation is greater than the interest rate on mortgages. It’s not a sure thing, but it’s looking like a pretty good bet.

Does this mean home prices in Texas aren’t high?

No. It only means that daring homebuyers may not be quite as crazy as many seem to think.

Selling • April 5, 2022

Effective Staging Ideas Can Transform Your Home

by Debbie Marett

WRITTEN BY ANDREA DAVIS

Appearance is crucial when selling your home. Making your home look sensational will go a long way in being able to get what you want out of the property. It’s here that staging comes into play. But many homeowners aren’t able to afford the cost of a professional stager. Thankfully, you don’t have to turn to a professional. There are a number of things that you can do on your own to transform the look of your home.

#1 Pack up your personal items.

Packing up all of your personal effects is one of the cheapest and simplest ways to prep your condo or home for sale. Removing your personal touches will help a potential buyer to see the home as their own. Sometimes your personal items can make that difficult. Pictures, artwork and other decor are more distracting than you realize. Hide them in the basement or a storage space while conducting tours.

#2 Get rid of the clutter.

Getting rid of any excess clutter is a great way to get potential buyers to look at your home. Sometimes emotional attachments can make throwing out clutter difficult. It’s easy to gather clutter if you have lived in the same home for years. Excess items can have a negative impact on how your potential buyers view your property. De-clutter your home as much as you can to attract more buyers.

#3 Rearrange and neutralize your rooms.

Even though you might enjoy the blue walls in your bedroom, that doesn’t mean a potential buyer will. Loud or eclectic design elements might make a potential buyer think about all of the work that they have to put into the home. The best thing you can do is to repaint your rooms a neutral color, like white, tan or cream. This will appeal to more buyers and allow them to visualize their own decor in the home.

Consider rearranging the furniture in your rooms to increase their functionality. Think about how to show potential buyers how much they could do with a room. Maximizing space is crucial when selling a home.

#4 Eliminate smells and stains by deodorizing and scrubbing your home.

No buyer wants to walk into a home that is dirty and smelly. The best thing you can do is scrub everything from floor to ceiling before having an open house. You don’t want any dirt, dust or odors lurking around the home. You want to make sure your property shines as much as you can. Greet buyers with a clean, fresh smell in every room. If you’re short on time, hire a cleaning service. A pro will save you time and ensure a spotless home.

#5 Replace the hardware around your home.

Most homeowners can afford to replace the hardware around their home. Focus on your doors and kitchen first. Next, make your way through the rest of the home. Swapping out your old hardware with new hardware can make a big difference in how your cabinets and doors look.

Conclusion

In going through the tips above, you can quickly transform the appearance of your home. Even making these small changes can make a major difference in how potential buyers view your home. You don’t need to spend a fortune staging your home. Instead, invest some time and effort in making a difference in the way your home looks.

What Do All Those Letters Mean?

The Real Cost of Buying a Home

Effective Staging Ideas Can Transform Your Home

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