15 Aurora Avenue Cranston RI

THIS HOME IS SOLD!

Don't miss this opportunity! At the end of a dead end street. Many upgrades already done, just needs a little TLC!!!

Make this your first home.

Offered at just under $205,000!

This is a foreclosed home. In Rhode Island sometimes these are the "best" ways of affording a home. If you are even the least bit handy, this is a perfect starter home, with three bedrooms, carport, secluded yard, fireplace, partially finished basement with bath, Central air!!

Please bring proof of funds with all offers!

My First Home

I was reading a comment on another blog of mine today, and someone mentioned how we, as Realtors, bring our lifetime experiences to the table of Real Estate. It made me think of my first home buying experience. When we first start out looking for a home, we are very excited. We check out all the websites and look through all the Virtual Tours and ride by as many homes as we can. This can go on for a couple of years. After awhile, we start getting serious and call a Realtor. Now we are still looking on the websites and sending him/her what we find and he/she is sending homes to us. We are starting to check out the insides of these homes. It's still very exciting. We can picture ourselves, or not, in some of these homes. We start to narrow down our choices, because the more homes we look at the more we can realize what we actually like or dislike about a home. Then one day, "this is it"! You know when you walk in the door that this is your new home. Now you go through the financial aspects of it and there is delay after delay, more paperwork needed, but you don't care, you just want the closing to be over with, so you can get in that house and start decorating! You have it all pictured in your mind, what you will buy and where everything will go. Then you move in. Well now you realize (actually you realized before but that was no fun), that you simply do not have the money to redo the entire house, buy furniture, appliances, rugs, etc. So you have to make do with one room at a time. Eventually, a lot of sweat equity can net you a very cozy place and right now Rhode Island Real Estate appears to have quite a few foreclosures on the market. You can pick up a neat little house for just under $200,000. Sure it will need work, but most of the homes I have seen need the basics that you would do in your own home anyway, once you lived there for awhile. So, if you're Realtor wants to show you some foreclosures, go ahead and look. You will need Vision and be able to picture how it will all look after you put in your own ideas, but your home will be worth more than you paid for it in no time at all. Now is the time to get a good deal, don't let it pass you by!

Rhode Island Real Estate Buyers get Ready Now!

Spring is here and as most people know, a lot of homes are going on the market. Homes "look" better in the spring and its more fun to shop for a home when there's no snow on the ground. If you are looking for a home, I would advise you to get started now. You need to get yourself approved for a mortgage, find out how much you can afford and get looking. If you want to work with a Realtor, start looking for one you feel comfortable with, who will take the time to find out what you want and spend some serious time actually looking for your new home! Don't be discouraged by all the news you may have been hearing in Rhode Island Real Estate, about sub prime mortgages, foreclosures, stagnant markets....This is the time to find some good deals. Yes there are a lot of foreclosures. Yes there are a lot of houses on the market and yes, the 100% loans are going through a tough time. There are still great programs out there for you and a much wider spectrum of homes to choose from..So find a Realtor and start looking! Rhode Island Real Estate is hopping! Make sure you are ready. I have buyers now that are already approved with letters in hand. We are ready to make an offer as soon as we see the "right" home. Don't be left out of the game by not having your letter ready. Know your market and be prepared. This won't last forever!

Rhode Island house hunting

There has been a great deal of commotion lately regarding the Mortgage Industry. Websites have been set up to keep track of all the Companies that are going out of business due to poor lending practices.
What does this mean for you? If you purchased your home in the past 2-5 years and used a creative mortgage, ie: arm, interest only, even some no downpayment mortgages, then you may be one of the many hurt by these latest happenings.
You may have heard about the increasing amount of foreclosures in Rhode Island. Well some of this is due to these formerly mentioned lending practices. I am not going to go into who is to blame for this, because ultimately, it falls on the consumer to pay attention to his/her own finances. However, I believe that, at times, a borrower tends to think that the Lender "would not give him a loan if he could not afford it".
This, as you may now be aware of, is not true.
If you or someone you know is in this unsatisfactory position, and depending on how long and other factors, you need to address the situation as soon as possible. Don't wait until it's too late. The last thing you need is to lose your home. The lending laws are in the process of changing, but it will take time for the results to be seen.
I had a call the other day from a young girl who bought her home two years ago (I was not her Realtor:). She applied for a mortgage and was approved for an interest only mortgage for three years. After the three years the payments would change to include the principle and a higher interest rate. Basically her payments will probably triple. Now, she says she cannot even afford the original "interest only" payments. She called me because she had seen a foreclosed home I had on the market. I had to explain to her that she probably had no equity in her home because the market in Rhode Island had been stalemating. There really wasn't anything I could do for her, other than try a short sale, but she was still thinking she could "switch" houses. She is sadly, out of luck.
Please, please, please, when you are looking for that new home, do not get so caught up with the dreams that you lose track of Reality! You probably know way before you get to the loan application what you can really afford. Don't forget it!

Rhode Island Real Estate

Okay, I'm back from my little vacation. Actually I have been back for 3 weeks! Blogging has taken a back burner because I have been so busy. I thought I would pop in here today and give my perspective on the Rhode Island Real Estate Market.

Lately, there have been numerous foreclosures in and around Rhode Island. The investors are out in droves looking for a good deal. And who can blame them? They are fully equipped to come in and gut a place then put it back on the market for a higher price. There is an inordinate amount of work that goes into these "projects" that I don't think the average person realizes.

What I have also found is a lot of first time homebuyers looking at rehab houses because they think its the only way they can afford to get a house.

Some of these houses are in dire need of COMPLETE rehab and there is no way someone could live in them and work "on the weekends". I find this very sad, because it means that these people cannot find a home in their price range!

There are, however, still some great Mortgage products around that not everyone knows about. I still have the belief that if you have a job for at least a year and not a lot of credit debt, then you can still own a home in Rhode Island. Sure it takes awhile to find something that you feel you would like, but it's not impossible!!!

So for all those people out there that think they can't afford a home....Call me! If there is any way possible, I will find it.

Realtor Vacations?

Should a Realtor take a Vacation?

It's been awhile since I have taken a vacation, so I decided to "block some time" and get away. The nature of Real Estate (in Rhode Island at least) means you are available 24/7! I have always pledged to get back to people in a minimal amount of time, by email, phone, etc., so to take a vacation means that I cannot do this.
Scheduling this vacation was more work than I thought. I had to go to each website that I use and block out the time, send emails to everyone and call the people I am working with. I am in the middle of a negotiating offer and counteroffers and if it doesn't happen today......???!!! Arrrghhh.
It was actually more work for me to prepare for this vacation then it would have been to stay home! Of course I had to get Jake (my dog) and Max (my cat) taken care of and Blackie (the feral cat that has visited me for 7 years twice a day) fed. I have to clean my house!~ LOL.
Okay, I am down to the wire now. Big question, should I take my laptop? Or should I go technologyless (that may not be a real word:) and just veg out. I am leaning torward the latter, but I feel guilty:) Well, see you when I get back. PS You can still email me so I guess that tells you what I decided. And to my new buyer that I met with on Monday, I am still searching. Guess I answered my own question. Realtors can not take vacations! See ya!

Wireless for Rhode Island

Just read a post that Rhode Island is going wireless. Maybe I can hold off on that card for a few more months. You can read about it here.