Find a New Home Through the Louisville, KY MLS

A great way to locate your new home is by using the MLS in Louisville, KY. There are public versions of the Louisville, KY MLS available were you can easily locate the home of your dreams!

I am available to help you learn how to best utilize the MLS search features, and to provide you all the available information about any home you desire.

Contact me through my website, and remember to have fun searching the Louisville MLS for your new home!!

Expert Real Estate Louisville, KY

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for supporting this blog! I have decided to no longer update this particular blog as I am moving my web presence over to my Expert Real Estate Louisville, KY site. My goal is to provide you, the real estate consumer, with a comprehensive web resource for all facets of buying or selling a Louisville home. Please visit my new site, browse around, and feel free to leave your comments...

You can research buying or selling a Louisville, KY home, search the MLS Louisville, KY for free, find relocation information, and discover what it is like to live in Louisville.

The site will be a continual work-in-progress, so remember to check back often and see what's new!

As always, I welcome your comments, and I look forward to providing you excellent customer service as your real estate expert in Louisville, KY!

A Musical Interlude

I thought I would post a few links to some music I truly enjoy. Glenn Gould is an astonishing pianist who is one of the few people ever to master Bach's Goldberg Variations. Some have commented that he has a brain in every finger. He was controversial because he sang the 'melody' out loud while playing and you can hear it on all of his recordings. Additionally, it is suspected that he had Asperger's Syndrome and that played a role in his musical genius.

I recommend right-clicking these links and opening them in a new window. While you are enjoying the music, go to my website, Real Estate Louisville, and take the time to explore the site. You may find your new home while appreciating some of the greatest music ever composed!

Glenn Gould, Bach's Goldberg Variations 1-7

Glenn Gould, Bach's Goldberg Variations 8-14

Glenn Gould, Bach's Goldberg Variations 26-30 - The beginning of this one is unreal! Lots of cross-hand technique that I've tried unsuccessfully to incorporate into my rendition of chopsticks...;)

Planning for the Future's Hard - Because the Future Hasn't Happened Yet

Ha, ha! I love that title. When you get done reading, take a look at the link below to see where I found it...

I think it is an apt title for this post because it is obvious and oh so true. It is hard to plan for the future, not only because it hasn't happened yet (obviously), but because it is hard to find the time, motivation, and guidance to do it in a productive manner (true).

How does this apply to real estate, especially for you first-time home buyers? Simple...You need a financial plan in place before you even consider making an offer on a new home. It takes time, personal honesty, and the motivation to see the plan through to implementation to make it a success.

What should you consider in this financial planning? You need to accurately assess your income from all sources, determine your credit scores and correct your credit report (see the post below), and you need to analyze your expenses. You need to determine your short and long-term budget, plus you may need to consider adjusting spending habits. You should seriously consider speaking with a professional financial planner.

The reason for all of this planning is because a home is a tremendous asset, probably the largest asset you will control, but it is very hard to quickly turn into cash. In other words, if you are committed to a mortgage, you will have to continue making those payments regardless of any other unexpected changes to your financial status and risk negative effects if you fail to do this as promised.

Yes, you could borrow against the equity in the home if you have any, but this will most likely serve to make your financial situation worse. So, it is extremely important that you have planned not only for your normal budget, but added extra as a buffer.

Something else to consider when planning your finances for buying a new home is there will be unexpected and possibly new expenses that you will experience for the first time. Yard maintenance, exterior maintenance like the roof, gutters, windows, and landscaping, plus all other mechanical and electrical components in the house will now be solely your responsibility. And...You have to keep up with these things. If you let the maintenance go, it could cause at least minor financial troubles leading up to major damage to the home.

I suggest getting out a piece of paper (or firing up the computer) and making lists of all of your current expenses, plus your expected new expenses. Call around to your friends and family who are already homeowners and ask them what they pay for routine maintenance and upkeep. Add a buffer to this. Be realistic and make sure when you are finished, you have enough money left over to pay for the mortgage you think you want. You may be surprised, but at least you will have that surprise behind you, the adjustments made, and your budget planned before you enter into a contract to purchase your new home.

Most of all, I suggest the guidance of a professional financial planner. A very small investment to save or earn potentially substantial sums of money in the future.

Okay, now the inspiration for the title: Frank Caliendo as GWB. Note that this is not considered political commentary by me, just a guy trying to be funny.

If you have any questions, or would like to discuss buying or selling real estate, contact me through my website, Louisville Homes.

Owner's Title Insurance

At some point in time during the process of buying a home the issue of owner's title insurance will arise. If you are making an offer to purchase in the Louisville area you may be using the standard Greater Louisville Association of Realtors contract. This contract contains a specific paragraph that advises buyers to purchase an owner's title insurance policy and actually requires you to initial a space acknowledging you are declining this option.

What is title insurance? First, you need to realize that the word 'title' refers to the chain of ownership of a piece of property. At some point in the past, that particular piece of property was surveyed and conveyed to an entity, whether it is an individual, a corporation, or other legal vehicle, and a record was established in a local government office. In Kentucky, the records are maintained by the county in which the property is mostly located.

In addition to the chain of ownership that is maintained by the county, there will also be records pertaining to all legal claims against the property that have occurred throughout the years. These could be in the form of easements, liens for work performed, mortgage notes, special assessments, etc. Any one of these, and many, many others that are not listed, could affect the ownership of the property and this is where title insurance comes into play.

For someone to sell you a piece of property they must legally own that property and have full authority to convey ownership to another entity. As a quick example, if a married couple owns a piece of property jointly, the husband or the wife individually could not sell that property without the consent (in writing on the deed of transfer) of the other party.

One of the most important steps in the transfer of property is the title search. Typically, the lender will commission a professional to search the chain of title for the property to be transfered to ensure the seller has the legal authority to transfer the property and there are no outstanding recorded claims against the title. While this search is considered very thorough and should be enough to protect the parties involved, the lenders know that problems can and do arise and they will always buy a lender's title insurance policy to protect their interests from an unrecorded or missed claim. In other words, if someone makes a legal claim to the property and threatens the lender's investment, they will be covered and defended fully by this policy.

Here is a great post on this topic by Dan Melson that enumerates several of the ways problems can complicate the transfer of property.

What does this mean for you as a buyer? Simply put, if you do not have an owner's title insurance policy in force and a legal claim is made against property you have purchased, you will have to defend the claim out of your own pocket. Even worse, if you lose the legal battle, you will lose the property and most likely still owe the lender for the money you borrowed. You will be in big financial trouble.

Owner's title insurance policies are very inexpensive in this light. In fact, they are typically only a few hundred dollars and I think they are well worth every dollar in piece of mind, protection, and investment smarts. So the next time you are asked if you would like to accept an owner's title insurance policy, you may want to give it serious consideration. Please feel free to visit my website, Real Estate in Louisville KY, to read more about the process of buying a home and to contact me with any questions you may have on this subject.

Buy! Buy! Buy!

Wow! What a great time to buy a home! Interest rates are extremely low, lenders have stabilized their underwriting requirements, and there is a huge inventory of homes to choose from in the Louisville area... It's an ideal market to maximize your buying dollar!

If you are thinking of purchasing your first Louisville home my website, Louisville Homes, has loads of useful information and tutorials to help get you started.

If you would like to read about defensive buying techniques, especially when the economy exhibits some signs of challenge, go here. I have posted an article giving advice on how to take advantage of a buyer's market here. Keep in mind I think there are endless ways to structure deals that can be very beneficial in their own right, especially in the current market in the Greater Louisville Area.

There is no doubt that a savvy buyer who has properly prepared themselves financially and through thorough market research stands to be in an advantageous position presently. The mortgage rates are going to fluctuate, home prices will probably begin to rise as the market recovers, and the inventory will decrease as more and more buyers make their move. It's a great time to buy while the market adjusts!

Please feel free to contact me through my website with any questions regarding buying a home. You can also search the entire Louisville MLS for free on my site. Good luck, may this market treat you well!

Credit Reports, Credit Scores, and Buying a Home - The Basics

Let's take a brief look at credit scores, credit reports, and how these items affect your home buying power, plus your long-term financial strength. Three companies provide this information to potential lenders, and others who deem this information necessary; Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Also, it is a federal law that you be provided a copy of your credit report from these three companies once a year. Go to AnnualCreditReport.com to view your reports.

First, your credit report is a compilation of your credit history related to things like credit cards, revolving charge accounts (gas card or Sears card), previous mortgages, student loans, car payments, etc. It contains detailed information on your payment history, whether or not you have any negative items affecting your credit, plus details of your personal information known by the credit reporting company. It is very important you immediately dispute any negative reports in these credit reports if they are incorrect, or take whatever steps necessary to correct the negatives if they are correct.

Several items on your credit report will affect your credit score, the number that is supposed to represent to the lender the risk they will take on by loaning you money. The factors are, in no particular order, the length of your credit history (the longer they have data for you, the better), the length of time you have had your accounts open (again, the more time, the better), the type of accounts you have (variety is good), your payment history with your accounts (on time, never late is your goal), and the ratio of your debt to your credit limit (Even if you have a credit card with a $100 max limit, if you carry a $100 balance, you are considered 100% financed, and this is viewed as a negative.).

How can you improve your credit scores by viewing the information on your credit report? Most credit reports will have a summary page that tells if there any negative items on your credit report. It is very important you do whatever necessary to remove these items from your credit report. Let me give you an example...

Back in the days before free credit reports existed, I had an outstanding medical bill that went to an old address and was never forwarded that I did not know about until I made an attempt to make a purchase that required my credit to be pulled. This negative showed up because the bill had gone to collections. All I had to do was call the doctor's office, explain what had happened, pay the bill plus a small penalty, and they immediately reported the matter resolved to the credit reporting companies. I also followed up with the credit reporting companies and it took a few weeks of time for everything to stabilize, but the action disappeared from my credit report and I was able to again get prime rates. It won't always be this easy, but you have to do everything in your power to resolve all negatives if you want credit and the best rates.

Another way to improve your scores is to get your debt ratios below 50% on your credit cards and revolving charge accounts. As I stated before, just because your balance is low in terms of dollars it doesn't mean that is a positive if your debt ratios are above 50%. Use your credit report to compare account balances and credit limits and devise a plan to get your balances under the 50% (25% is even better) debt-to-credit-limit ratio as soon as possible. This will definitely improve your credit score.

Two more ways to improve your scores are to pay all of your bills on time, and not to have too many people pull your credit at any one time. There is some debate as to how much your credit score is affected by numerous pulls, and it seems to be less of a problem if all of the pulls are for the same thing, but your score will go down with every credit pull no matter what it is for. Don't go buy a car on credit, then the next week buy a TV on credit, then a house...Space your purchases out reasonably and monitor your credit scores to see when they recover from each purchase.

Speaking of monitoring your scores, for a small one-time or monthly fee any one of the credit reporting companies will give you your credit score. It can be worth it to monitor your score as you prepare to buy a home to see what changes are improving your score and to have an objective goal to work towards to get the best possible rates and terms.

I hope this post has provided you with some helpful guidance to first gather your credit report, correct any negatives, and then improve your score. If you think of the thousands upon thousands of dollars in interest this work could potentially save you, I think it is well worth the effort...Please feel free to contact me through Louisville Homes for Sale if you have further questions.

A New Year - Opportunity Knocks in Louisville Real Estate

While 2007 became a year of market change that brought challenges to both buyers and sellers, 2008 is poised for recovery. The lending 'crisis' of this past year caught buyers off guard and left sellers in a lurch. In addition, sellers hoping to cash in on the previous years' boom, or ones in financial trouble, found themselves swamped in inventory with few buyers.

Luckily for all of us, Louisville's real estate market is somewhat isolated from the rest of the Nation and mostly influenced by the local economy which remains strong. With Ford electing to keep open the two Kentucky plants, plus the growth seen by UPS and other local employers, Louisville's job base and therefore real estate purchasing power remains intact.

We did go through a period of increased inventory, plus the foreclosure rate is abnormally high, so the market is still fragile. The inventory will correct itself some throughout the winter months, but will probably remain higher than average for Louisville. The counter to that problem is the lending industry responding to the demand for mortgage options for first-time buyers, plus consumer confidence increasing as the economy stabilizes.

This next year will continue to be a year of change and adjustment for the market, but buyers and sellers armed with solid market information who are willing to flex with the market should be in a favorable position. It will be a good year to buy, and for those sellers who take the time to make cost effective updates, it will remain possible to sell for a fair market price.

I encourage anyone considering selling their home or making a purchase this next year to take the time and become completely informed regarding the market before making any commitments. Secure competent, knowledgeable guidance and representation and learn how to save yourself money by comparing all available options. You can contact me through my website, Louisville Real Estate, if you would like discuss this post. Good luck, I hope you have a successful year buying or selling a home!

Why You Need to Learn the Internet to be Competitive in Real Estate

We are almost there.

My opinion is that within the next two years, the internet will be responsible for initiating 90+% of all real estate transfers. Of course, this is very bad news for print publications, but the flexibility and search capabilities of the internet makes flipping through a magazine randomly looking for a home a waste of time. I'm sure those options will linger for those who prefer them , but it won't be much further down the road where print publications cannot financially survive.

Why am I telling you this? Because the age of the internet is fully upon us today and there are buyers and sellers who have completely embraced the technology to their advantage. This means these buyers and sellers will have a significant jump on the competition in terms of speed, knowledge, and timely market information. If you are not on the same playing field, using the same technology, your dream home could be snapped up before you even know it exists, or your neighbor's home sold before you get a first showing.

What can you do to catch up if you are new to using the internet in this manner, or to improve your technique if you have some experience? The short answer is to partner with a Louisville, KY Realtor who is internet savvy and let them help you learn to fully utilize the system. Certainly I have an obvious bias in this situation, but I also have a tremendous amount of experience with the internet and the know-how to make it work for my clients. The best part is I give the advice and guidance for free, but I do ask that you strongly consider using me to help you close your transaction.

Another option you have is to sit in front of the computer and start using the internet. Go to Google and begin to search for terms that relate to what you wish to do. Read as many articles as you can online that give guidance on how to find homes on the internet. You should be aware that you can find out a huge amount of public information on the internet, most likely for free, that will expose critical information about specific properties that can be used favorably in negotiations. You will most likely need someone with significant experience to find this information (like me), but it is available.

There are other options, if you please, but the point is to get involved, learn the technology, and get ahead of the competition NOW! Even if you cannot use a computer, don't own a computer, or are not even sure what the internet is (it makes me wonder how you are reading this post!!), you can make the technology work for you by using a knowledgeable partner. All you need to do is communicate in the terms that are familiar to you and have your partner translate it into internet-speak.

I promise you will be amazed if you have the opportunity to see the full power of the internet in action, and you will never want to go back to the old ways. It's just too convenient, logical, and saves so much time and effort. Contact Joe Hayden, or send an email and I will be happy to demonstrate to you this wonderful tool.

The Importance of Details

Real estate is a business of details. From contracts to disclosures to listings to marketing plans, detail is everything. Every paragraph, phrase, and word holds specific meaning and must be used with care to accurately convey meaning to other participants in the transaction.

What you say and don't say can cost you money...big money. And don't think for a second that the other parties in the transaction will not take advantage of an unfortunate oversight. It happens during negotiations and at the closing table every day; one party's intent, while sound and fair, is not adequately defined in a contract and the other party is able to win concessions.

Let me give you a specific example: Let's say you have some evidence of water damage from a past roof leak on your ceiling. The roof leak has been correctly repaired by a reputable company with sufficient documentation, but the buyers request that the ceiling itself be repaired. You agree to this repair and an addendum is added to the sales and purchase contract that states precisely... "Seller to repair water damage to ceiling in living room".

What exactly did you just agree to repair? Did you agree to repair any mold damage or evidence behind the drywall? Did you agree to use the same quality materials, or a reputable company to make the repair? Did you agree to paint the ceiling after the repair?

See where this is going? The repair request lacked detail and clarity, and is now open to interpretation. This being an example from the real world, I will tell you the seller interpreted the request to mean "repair the ceiling using a reputable company with similar materials, but a repaint is not required". Of course the buyers thought it was understood the ceiling would be repainted.

After a battle at the closing table over the meaning of the addendum, the buyers had to accept the repair as-is and the seller had to make no further corrections. Unfortunately for the buyers, their real estate agent allowed a poorly written addendum to develop into a serious point of contention that threatened to destroy the deal.

Keep in mind the importance of details when you are working with real estate, and make sure you are working with competent representation. If two people cannot read the same verbiage and come to the exact same conclusion, the wording is insufficient. Make sure you review your choice of wording in detail and if you are in doubt, seek the advice of an attorney. It can be pretty painful in the wallet should you make a mistake. I am always available through my website, Louisville, Kentucky Homes, to answer all of your real estate questions.