Before you start shopping for a home, unless you have cash to pay for your purchase, mortgage pre-approval is your #1 home buying assignment.

1. Pre-approval tells you what price range you can afford
2. Realtors and sellers will not take you seriously without it
3. Sellers and Realtors may not even let you see the homes
4. You need one to be able to submit an offer
5. Your mortgage process will be smoother and faster

That brief list should be enough to convince you about why you need a pre-approval. But possibly 42% of homebuyers start looking at homes online, and try to see homes without mortgage pre-approval. For numerous reasons, this is a significantly bad idea.

It's easy to feel overwhelmed during the home-buying process. Whether it's your first home, a "move-up" home, or vacation home. Buying a home isn't something you do all of the time! So, it can be challenging. After all, a home is probably the most expensive purchase you'll ever make. And it's one that can involve many complicated financial steps. But keep your eye on the prize! What you'll go through will be forgotten, and you'll have years and years of enjoyment in your new home. As you are certainly aware, you have to come up with a down payment. But, the up-front costs don't end there. In fact, once you have an accepted offer, a surprise package of additional required, and sometimes, non-negotiable fees that can total well into the five figures. So here are eight costs that will hit your finances the hardest, and what you can do to minimize the impact.

Recently, we heard that several Buyers (not ours, thank goodness!), had ruined their home loan process and new home purchase by:

1."Borrowing" money from their down payment, or just spending it outright.

2. A couple of others went out and bought new furniture/cars.

3. Another charged up one credit card to the tune of $20K.

When you are buying a home, you want your financial records and everything associated with your finances to be super squared away so you can qualify for the lowest rate available at the time of your application. It's an admittedly stressful chore to prepare for applying for a home loan. Following the 10 commandments below will help you watch your P&Qs on your way to home loan success.

Disc Golf in the White Mountains!

NATIONAL DISC GOLF DAY – First Saturday in August

Grab your discs and call up your friends! The first Saturday in August is National Disc Golf Day! On August 2, 1974, disc golfers in the Rochester, NY area decided to make their annual City of Rochester Disc Golf Championship a big national tournament to find out just how many other people around the country were playing disc golf. They called the event the American Flying Disc Open, and to attract the attention of the Frisbee™ community; they put up a brand new 1974 automobile to be awarded to the winner! The Registrar at National Day Calendar approved the day in July of 2016.

Disc golf shares the common traditional golf goal of reaching each target (golf hole) with the fewest number of strokes, or in disco golf, more accurately, throws. Some of the earliest versions of disc golf involved school kids tossing things like tin lids on a self-made golf course. By the 1970s, though, players competed in league play and tournaments…using those familiar plastic discs. Since then interest in the sport has continued to grow.

Requiring far less equipment, Disc golf is very much like the traditional game in many ways. But rather than clubs and a ball, the only gear necessary is a disc or Frisbee™. Starting from a tee pad, most usually a rectangular area made of anything from rubber to cement or even brick, the player works down the fairway after each throw.

Buying & Selling a Home at the Same Time

Whether you decide to buy new home first, or sell your current home first, you should know your options!

Buying a new home and selling a current home at the same time can be stressful.  Selling first may make you feel "homeless" and rushed.  Buying first may involve two mortgages. So let's review each scenario.

Using Realtor.com, Trulia, and Zillow, and dozens of non-local websites online, many buyers and sellers might think “Why does anyone need a real estate agent?” The answer is everyone does!

Those websites are designed to be user friendly and have the effect of making consumers believe the entire real estate process is easy-peasy, just like the website. But, the truth is there's a mountain of work that goes into a real estate transaction besides finding a home. Or selling a home.

You might think this a propaganda, considering what we do for a living, but give us a minute! This is probably the biggest financial decision/investment you will ever make. That's huge. So, here are a few reasons why it's really important to use a local agent rather than try to go it alone.

Do you want to know about some easy effort, low-cost but highly effective things you can do to increase the asking price of your home?

If you're seriously thinking about putting your home on the market, or if it's already up for sale, you can boost your home's value by making some small changes that will certainly make your home stand out during showings, and also address any potential issues before buyers do. Here are five super-easy ways to boost - if not skyrocket the value of your home.

Rock Painting Totally Rocks!

Saw a post in our Facebook feed announcing a group event.  Hiding a painted rock, giving coordinates, and encouraging people to find the cache, leave a painted rock behind.  Fascinating.  I wanted to find out more.

Well, it's a thing. A beautiful, uplifting thing. The "Kindness Rocks Project", was founded by Megan Murphy.  From the website The Kindness Rocks Project: "It all started with a single stone on a beach in Cape Cod and now spans the globe. The Kindness Rocks Project, founded by Megan Murphy, is based on the profound truth that one message at the right moment can change someone’s day, their outlook, and, indeed, their whole life. The messages on these thoughtful pebbles take many forms: gratitude, affirmations, encouragement, and offers of hope—all signposts along the way for someone to find at exactly the right time."

The Wachter Team increasingly is seeing home sellers and buyers who are in the process of downsizing.  And we can relate.

When was the last time we used a gigantic soup tureen that Pam made?  Or the enormous turkey platter?  The place settings for 12?  Certainly visions of joyful gatherings, parties, the fun and enjoyment we remember tug at our fond memories.  But, more and more as we and others look around our big homes, stuffed with a lifetime of things that mean things, we're a little lost. 

So we fully understand our downsizing clients.  We want to help.  It's such an emotional time.  But it makes sense to look at downsizing from a logical standpoint.  Is it right for you at this time in your life?  Time to focus on the future and not the past?  Let's think it through together.

With more and more people retiring every day, many are considering White Mountains AZ for retirement living.  And our 55+ communities are extremely attractive, including RV resorts!  The White Mountains offers unlimited recreational, educational, senior support services, a huge medical center, and a peaceful and quite lifestyle.  Roads are all excellent and typically uncongested.  There's always something to do in the White Mountains!