Helpful Info and FAQ’s

Find the right home starts with defining what you’re looking for. It’s important to look at your needs first and then determine your wants. The very basics I’d recommend deciding upfront are the location, size, and type of home (ie. townhome, condo, single-family, or all 3). You can include as many or as few criteria in your search as you would like, but just be aware that the number of homes available can change dramatically depending on what you decide.

Also, Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, Redfin, Homie, and every other site out there is never as accurate or as up-to-date as the Official MLS of the state. Often those sites will be delayed several hours to several days when it comes to getting new properties listed. Don’t miss out, I will get you set up on the official database of Utah.

There are advantages and disadvantages to each. With new construction, you sometimes get to decide your exact finishes, colors, floor plan, and more and it’s all included in the price and thus the loan you get for the home. Something a lot of people don’t think about though is the cost to finish your landscaping. Most new homes do not come with a finished yard and that cost can add up. Building new, you generally pay a bit more than existing homes, but in a rising market you can end up with instant equity once you close because the home is worth more than what you originally offered on it once finished. It’s not good practice to plan on that happening though.

With existing homes, there can be more preexisting problems or repairs that need to be done. These types of things allow for forced appreciation. That means that you can make the repairs and updates and the home will be worth more because of it. This is a very powerful way to build wealth if you’re ok getting your hands dirty!

This should be one of your very first steps in the process. It’s very important to know what you can qualify for because that will save you time and energy looking at homes that do not fit within your budget. In general, a prequalification doesn’t expire as long as your financial situation doesn’t change, so it’s not a problem to get prequalified even if you plan to wait a while before actually buying.

Once you’re under contract on a home, getting a loan is a pain. Plain and simple. No matter who the lender is, they are going to ask for things that seem ridiculous and you are probably going to be frustrated by it. Just know that this is for your benefit so that we do not have another lending crisis as we did in 2008. You will get through it, just be patient and get your documents organized!

This is the fun part! Once we get a hotsheet setup on the official database of Utah and you start seeing homes you like, let me know! Often times I’m able to set up showings the same day or the next day. When seeing a home, I recommend looking at two things. The first is location, it’s hard to pick up a home and move it. The second is the layout of the home. It’s difficult to change where the kitchen is or move a bathroom. Make sure the layout flows well and works for your needs. Things like paint, flooring, and aesthetics, in general, are usually pretty easy to change, but it is a bonus if you like those as well! As we walk through the property, I’ll help you see and understand potential worries or issues with the home such as a furnace on its last legs or a roof that has seen better days. I’ve seen a lot of homes and done a lot of renovations so I have a pretty good eye for those things.

This is my specialty. There are agents out there who don’t do much in the way of making great offers. They see a home, and write whatever their client wants. That is not what I do. When you decide that you want to make an offer on a home, I get to work. I run a CMA to see what I believe the home could appraise for, I talk to the sellers to figure out what they are looking for in an offer and what we could do to stand out, I ask them what other offers they have and try to get as much information as possible to know how we can come out on top in the end of the day. If there are no other offers, I dig into why that might be and see if we can negotiate a discount on the asking price to make sure you get the best deal possible. In my experience, only about 1/10 agents actually does any kind of work like this when writing an offer.

It’s important to know how long these things take. In general, the time it takes from when you get an offer accepted to when you can move in is about 25-30 days. That can vary depending on the sellers’ and your needs.

How long it takes to find a home is another story. That depends entirely on how particular you are about what you’re looking for and how willing you are to make a winning offer. I’ve helped clients find a home in as little as 3 days, and others have taken over a year or more. It just depends!

House hacking is one of the most powerful ways you can build wealth in real estate when you are first starting out. It takes little money to get started and just takes some creativity. There are two main ways it can be done. The first is to buy a single unit home, live in it for a year, and then buy a new home and rent out the previous home. This can be done many times in a row. The second is to buy a home with two units and rent out the other unit while you live there. You can then do the same thing and buy a new home and rent out both units of the previous home. Those are the very basics, and they are EXCITING! If you’d like to learn more about this, just let me know! I’ve done it 3 times myself and helped many clients do the same.

Buying properties strictly as an investment is a very good way to go to set yourself up for long-term success. To buy an investment property you generally need 12-25% down minimum depending on the loan program you use. It’s important to consider the market you are in and if it’s better for cash flow or appreciation. In general, it’s tough to find a market that knocks it out of the park on both of those, but it is possible to find a balance. Don’t get too focused on any single way to make money with investment properties. There are 4 main pillars of wealth building in real estate and they are: Cash Flow, Appreciation, Loan Paydown, and Tax Benefits.

If you’re not so sure that you want to become the next Grant Cardone (big wig real estate investor dude), owning your own home is still a great way to build wealth. In almost every case, you will build more wealth owning than renting. It does have more inherent risk, but that’s the case with any investment. It also comes with added non-financial benefits such as being able to do whatever you want to your home to make it your own. If you’d like me to break down the options and numbers between renting and owning, I’m always happy to do that for whatever market you are in!

Flipping homes is getting higher up on the risk scale for real estate investing. It takes a high level of knowledge and experience from various professionals to successfully flip a home. It also takes a lot of work! If you’re interested in flipping a home though, let’s chat about different ways you can find deals including off-market, wholesalers, and more.

Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, and Repeat. The misunderstood 2nd cousin to house flipping. If you want to scale your rental property portfolio, this is one of the best strategies you can employ. It’s not easy, but I have several resources I can provide that will help you down this path. If you’re interested in learning more, let me know!

One of the greatest parts about real estate is that the opportunities are endless. There is no set number of ways to build wealth and financial freedom. If you are creative, you can figure it out. Let me know if there is something I haven’t covered here that you’re interested in knowing more about, I’ve been around the block a time or two and have probably heard of it or something similar to it.