Success Law # 1

The Law of Service and Rewards. Simply stated this means: " Render a true and valuable service and rewards will come to you." The world and particularly the Internet, is full of people that try to gain their wealth and success by dishonest and selfish means. Abundant life does not come to these people. It makes no difference if it is a crook with false claims, who takes precious dollars from trusting people, a bank robber with a gun, or a despot, who gains control of a nation. These people will not have an abundant life.

3 simple ways to increase your home's value

Think like a potential buyer and your mission becomes clear, an expert renovator says. That means fixing what can be seen (or, ugh, smelled) first.

The single most cost-effective investment you can make to increase the value of your home is to buy a roll or two of plastic trash bags. Stuff them with junk outside the house -- from beer cans to raked leaves.

Nothing could be more common sense than cleaning up the yard and exterior, right?

You'd be surprised at how many people don't recognize the importance of doing these kinds of items. When preparing your house for sale, spend money on things a buyer can see.

One of the things that you don’t want the potential buyer to do when they drive up to your house is to have what we refer to as high 'Yikes!' appeal. "Yikes appeal" is the state of a house in which a normal person would drive up, say, "Yikes!" and keep on driving.

What a 'Yikes' house looks like:
A house with high "Yikes!" appeal has weeds, a boat parked in the front yard and an old car transmission on the side of the house, nested amid beer cans. A rain gutter hangs down. Overgrown shrubs obscure the front windows, creating a dreary interior. People actually try to sell their homes in such condition, creating opportunities for bargain-hunters.

A lot of money is at stake. Homeowners spent $166 billion on home remodeling in 2001, according to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. More than three-quarters of that was spent on what the Joint Center calls improvements, with the rest going to maintenance and repairs. Another $48 billion was spent on the remodeling of rental properties.

Researchers discovered that 6.3% of remodelers spent more than $20,000 on improvements in 2000-2001 and 2.7% spent more than $35,000. Much of that was targeted toward fixing up kitchens and bathrooms.

Protect, improve, and appreciate:
"Families that spent more on home improvements also realize the greatest rates of price appreciation," the Harvard study said. "In many regions of the country, homeowners recover as much as 80% to 90% of the cost of home improvements in the form of higher home values. Little wonder, then, that homeowners spent almost $2,300 on average in 2001 to help protect and improve their most important financial asset."

If you're getting ready to sell a house, you want to be among the homeowners who recover 80% or more of their investments in the form of a higher price. The key is thinking like a buyer. And what do buyers do? They drive up to a house and look at it. If they're not repelled by what they see, they step inside and look around.

Based on that typical experience, here are a few guidelines:
• Spend money on what can be seen vs. what can't be seen.
• Fix up the exterior first, then the interior.
• Focus first on "Yikes!" appeal -- clutter, trash and bad smells that drive down a home's value.

The improvements that are most visible are the things you need to focus on first.

What you see is what pays off:
This means that, if you have $10,000 to spend, and you can either spend it all on a new roof or all on repairing a cracked foundation (but you can't do both), you should replace the roof because it can be seen. Whatever your budget, put a higher priority on improvements that can be easily seen, because those give you the best bang for the buck.

Because an unkempt yard and ugly exterior can cause prospective buyers to drive away without going inside the house, you should work on those first. Clear up clutter. If you want to, hire day laborers to remove that old engine block in the driveway and reattach that rain gutter that fell two years ago and has been lying by the side of the house ever since. Then concentrate on landscaping. Prune hedges, trees and shrubs, especially if they obscure the front of the house. Paint. If the roof is dirty, hire someone to power wash it.

From the curb, the roof takes up 30% of what you see. If you have a nice-looking roof, that goes a long way in curb appeal for the house.

Cut clutter, clean:
I am not recommending that you break the bank -- just that you spend a little time and money to make the place look better. You should do the same inside the house -- reduce clutter and clean everything. If you own a pet, invite a non-pet owner inside the house to sniff around. You might be inured to the smell of your pets urine, but the stench could make a buyer retch.

If you can, repainted wall-to-wall and have the carpets and vinyl flooring replaced. You might think that by offering a flooring allowance, a family could move in and select their own flooring. Buyers don't want to select their own flooring. They want to move into a house that they don’t have to do too much work to. It delays their move in time. People don't want to fool around with painting and replacing carpet and fixing the house up. In the world of fast food and instant gratification, people just want to buy a house and move in."

When you're trying to decide how to spend remodeling money, seek the advice of an experienced real estate agent who is familiar with your neighborhood. A licensed appraiser should be able to provide guidance, too.

Spring Cleaning Checklist

With spring selling season arriving, take the time now to polish your home to perfection.

1. Let the sun in. Make any room look brighter with clean blinds and windows. Mix a solution of one part white vinegar to eight parts water, plus a drop or two of liquid dishwashing liquid, for a green window cleaner. Spray on and wipe with newspaper to avoid streaks. (Washing on a cloudy day also reduces streaking.)

Showing tip: Replace heavy drapes with lightweight shears during warmer months to give a room a brighter, lighter feel for prospective buyers.

2. Sniff out smells. Check the drip tray underneath your refrigerator and wash out any standing water from defrosting. Remove inside odors by washing the inside of the fridge with a baking soda and water solution. Boil lemon juice in your microwave and add it to your dishwasher to eliminate bad smells. Also, put the lemon rinds down the disposal. Add activated charcoal in the fridge to keep odors at bay.

Showing tip: Make the fridge smell fresh instantly with cotton balls soaked in vanilla extract or orange juice.

3. Make your bed better. Vacuum mattresses and box springs, and then rotate and flip over. Do the same for removable furniture cushions. This is also a great time to wash or dry-clean the dust ruffle and mattress pad.

Showing tip: Add new loft to a lumpy comforter by having two people vigorously shake the quilt up and down to redistribute stuffing.

4. Clean those coils. Improve energy efficiency by vacuuming grates, coils, and condensers in your furnace, stove, and refrigerator (either underneath or in back). If a vacuum won’t reach, try a rag tied to a yardstick.

Showing tip: Shut some air conditioning vents on the first floor or basement so that more air will reach and cool the second floor. Reverse the process in winter for heat vents.

5. Wash the walls. Grease, smoke, and dust can adhere to walls and make even the best decorating look dingy. Wash walls using a general-purpose cleaner with hot water. Start at the top of the wall to avoid drips and in a corner so that you wash one wall at a time. Rinse the mop head frequently in clean water. And don’t press too hard because flat latex paint won’t absorb too much water.

Showing tip: Resist the temptation to spot-clean walls since it will make the rest of the wall look dingy.

If you have any questions, give me a call.

FHA Raised Their Limits!

Great news for people living in Salt Lake County, FHA raised their limits to $729,750!! That's HUGE.

This should dramatically increase activity in the $350,000-$750,000 range, and especially from $420,000 up, as people will not need Jumbo loans in this price range, and people with less than perfect credit can use the FHA program.

Give me a call so we can talk about what this means for you.

TIME Magazine report on Real Estate

Excerpt from TIME Magazine: February 2008. At last someone in the media who understands how real estate (and investing) works! This is not your typical "scary ski-is-falling" article, but finally a reporter uses reason and logic to analyze the buying and selling of real estate.

To read the artical, click here.

Top Way’s to Avoid Mortgage Fraud

Get a referral for real estate and mortgage professionals. Check the licenses of the industry professional with State, County or City regulatory agencies.

If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is. An outrageous promise of extraordinary profit in a short period of time signals a problem.

Be wary of strangers and unsolicited contracts, as well as high-pressure sales techniques.

Look at written information to include recent comparable sales in the area, and other documents such as tax assessments to verify the value of the property.

Understand what you are signing and agreeing to – if you do not understand, re-read documents or seek assistance from an attorney.

Make sure the name on the application matches the name on your identification.

Know and understand the terms of your mortgage. Check your information against the information in the loan documents to ensure they are accurate and complete.

Never sign and loan documents that contain blanks – this leaves you vulnerable to fraud.

Foreclosure Fraud Schemes

Perpetrators mislead the homeowners into believing that they can save their homes in exchange for transfer of the dead, usually in the form of a Quit Claim Deed, and up-front fees. The perpetrator profits from the schemes by re-mortgaging the property pocketing fees paid by the homeowners without preventing foreclosure. The victim suffers the loss of the property as well as the up-front fees.

Be aware of offers to “save” homeowners who are at risk of defaulting on loans or whose houses are already in foreclosure.

When listening to the little voices, pay the most attention to the ones coming from your heart. Seek a qualified Credit Counselor or Attorney to assist. Check with the State to make sure they are licensed or approved.