It’s important to maintain a properly insulated home. Older homes may have limited insulation in attic spaces or walls. Adding insulation to these spaces can be relatively inexpensive and can be a real money saver, since heat rises and can easily escape through an improperly insulated attic.Insulation can also go beyond the inside or your walls. Insulated thermal curtains can do wonders for conserving energy. This is especially true for North-facing windows.Check for leaks around windows and doors. If you have older, non-insulated windows then consider replacing them with energy efficient upgrades. You can even take a tax credit for these particular improvements. Take this upgrade one step further by using window wrap during installations. Leaks, both old and new, can be filled with caulking. Install storm windows and doors to prevent heat escaping as well.

via Cornerstone Real Estate ‘s Real Estate Update.

Today’s market, however, brings new worries to the table. The economy is on the brink of a renewed recession. Fewer buyers can qualify for a home mortgage, especially since many lenders want at least 20 percent down. Plus, unemployment rates have remained consistently above 9 percent.What do first-time buyers really need to know about today’s market? Here are some things to consider.Interest rates are at historic lows, with 30-year fixed rates between 4 and 5 percent! This is incredible. Imagine the difference between an interest rate of 4 percent and one at 13 percent. For a $100,000 with 20 percent down, you’ll find a payment near $568 a month. For the exact same home at 13 percent you’ll see a monthly payment of just over $1,000.Home prices fell after the bubble burst, leaving affordability rates at generational highs. This means there are great deals to be had. In addition, there are a large number of foreclosure and short sale properties available, sometimes at even more savings.

via Cornerstone Real Estate ‘s Real Estate Update.

My wife and I recently made an offer on a home in Smithfield Utah. Unlike my current house, this home has a full basement. Knowing that most homes on the eastern bench in Utah have high radon levels, and being that I plan to live in this house for a very long time, I decided to have a radon test done as part of our due diligence.

I purchased a $12, do it your self radon test kit from Lowes, followed the instructions, and set it up in a basement bedroom about 2 feet off the ground.

Two days later I went back to the house, put the little radon test kit in the postage bag provided, and mailed it off to the lab address in Carrolton Texas. Being that I needed the results quickly before my due diligence deadline, I paid an extra $10 for “expedited processing” and paid about $5.50 for priority mail so it would get their faster. It worked. On friday I got the results telling me that my potential house had some fairly high radon levels 6.5 pCi/L. The EPA recommends having a radon mitigation system installed anytime the level is above 4.0. The average US home has radon levels at 1.3 pCi/L.

When I told my wife about the high radon levels, she was really concerned. She didn’t know much about radon but had great fears that our children would be among the 21,000 Americans who die each year from lung cancer caused by radon, if we bought the house. In reality, the risk of getting lung cancer from radon gas is higher than normal, but it is still not a high probability. Nevertheless, we don’t even want to risk higher than average probability for our family.

The nice things about radon gas, is that it can be reduced through mitigation efforts.

Sometimes the “do it yourself” radon test kits aren’t completely accurate. After all, they are delivered by mail to some out of state location. So I decided that I would want an additional test done to verify that my radon levels really were high before asking the seller to pay around $1,500 for a radon mitigation system. So I called Ben from Radon Check and had him come out with his super high tech radon tester. This advanced tester provides detailed reports that show the different fluctuations in the radon levels based on the time of day.

After this test was completed it was confirmed that indeed our Radon levels were high.

The house in Smithfield we are buying is a new construction house that is owned by the builder. If we were to back out of the house based on the radon levels, there is a good chance that the next potential buyers would do the same. For this reason, it was the builders best interest to pay for the radon mitigation system — which they did.

If you’re buying a home in Utah that has a basement, check it for radon. It’ll cost a few bucks, but it’s well worth it for the peace of mind that comes from knowing that your house isn’t contributing to your families probability of cancer.

via Logan Utah Radon Tests and Due Diligence « Logan Real Estate Blog.

Many buyers want to offer $50,000 less than the list price, on $150,000 Logan homes, because they just want to see what the sellers will do. Is this a good idea?

It depends on who the seller is. If the property is a short sale or bank owned home, then this may be okay. Banks are realistic and aren’t going to accept an incredibly low ball offer, but doing so probably isn’t going to hurt a buyers chance of actually getting the property later if they do decide that they really are willing to pay more for the property.

If the property is owned by a regular seller, someone who has lived in the house and made it a home, then this is a bad idea. For a seller the home has value. It has memories, it has emotional value, it has monetary value of improvements the seller has made in the property.

When sellers get a low ball offer they get offended. They develop emotional animosity towards the potential buyer and often will refuse to even counter the offer, because they don’t want to sell their home to someone who doesn’t see the value in it.

A good real estate agent will advise their clients on a real value for the property, and help them make a realistic offer based on that. Many of these sellers absolutely can’t go any lower than their list price. They are already paying to get out, and are doing all they can just to avoid a short sale.

One strategy for this market is to try and get buyers to make an offer that will be accepted immediately. An offer that is low enough that it is still a good deal, but high enough that the sellers will take it instead of risk losing the buyer.

When a home buyer has a good buyers agent, the agent is going to sell it to the listing agent that the offer is good, and that the buyers are expecting it to be accepted.

When the seller receives the offer, they will understand that even though the offer is probably slightly lower than what they would have accepted, they may take it, just to have it done with. By accepting the initial offer, they don’t have to go through any more pain that comes from uncertainty and waiting.

If a home is a good deal, offer more than the list price. When properties are good deals they are going to get multiple offers, but only one buyer is actually going to be able to purchase the property.

It’s a new age of real estate. Whether you’re looking for Mesa Arizona Real Estate or Real Estate in Wisconsin, buyers attitudes and behaviors are different than they have been in the past. It’s important that real estate agents educate their buyers accordingly so that they really can offer the best service and expertise.

Right now going around Cache Valley is a guy named Shawn Phillips, who claims to have a company “Shawn Global.” He has made several offers on half million dollar houses that he has never even seen. He makes the offer remotely, sets up inspection appointments, then won’t keep his appointments to ever see them. He typically says he will put down $20,000-$100,000 in Earnest Money, but surprisingly never actually provides the check.

Why he does this? Perhaps he really think he will magically come up with the money to buy the Cache Valley Homes, or maybe he’s just desperate for attention. I don’t know what his motive is, but the result is a lot of discouraged sellers. Logan Real Estate sellers get excited to finally get an offer, especially on these high end homes, but then get devastated when they realize that they have wasted their time and don’t really have a legitimate offer.

The police can’t really do anything about it, because he’s not really breaking any laws. But it is really annoying, especially if sellers start making moving plans for their next home because they think their house will sell.

via Cache Valley Sellers – Watch out for of Phantom Buyers « Logan Real Estate Blog.

With the uncertainty of the economy, many people are looking for ways to cut back. When it comes to selling their home, homeowners often don’t want to put much money into getting it ready for the sale. While that’s certainly understandable, properly preparing a home before listing it goes a long way to helping attract serious buyers and offers.

It’s not that you have to upgrade or completely renovate a room in order to make your home more marketable. Polishing up and tiding up a few key areas can have a remarkable impact. With that in mind, you don’t have to spend a fortune to do this. In fact, you can make your home appealing even on a budget. Here’s a few ways:

Read More At Cornerstone Real Estate ‘s Real Estate Update.

Do you have too much to store and too little space? If you’re like many homeowners, finding enough storage space can be a challenge. Thankfully, remodeling professionals can help you create new ways to tuck away your family’s treasures in a resourceful and sophisticated way, according to the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI).

Finding storage solutions doesn’t always mean undertaking a major remodel. Sometimes it’s about using the square footage you already have. Remodelers can help you plan and reallocate storage to accommodate your family’s changing lifestyle. Getting creative with storage can improve daily living and boost the resale value of your home.

Cornerstone Real Estate ‘s Real Estate Update.

What is a loan mortgage calculator?

Mortgage loan calculators are used to help a prospective borrower determine how much they can afford to borrow to purchase a piece of property for different loan options.

Types of mortgage calculators

There are different types of loan mortgage calculator available in the market:

Monthly payment calculator – You can use this kind of mortgage calculator if you want information regarding different loan types available and what your monthly payments will be with those loan options.
Interest Only Mortgage Calculator – This type of calculators will help you to know about standard monthly payments as well as interest only payments. You can get a clear idea of what you will be required to pay and the required corresponding adjustments.
Adjustable Rate Mortgage calculator – This calculator usually starts off with a lower interest rate thereby reducing monthly payments. The risk though remains that the interest rates may rise in the future.
Amortization schedule calculator – If you want to get information on your monthly principal and interest payments, you can use this calculator. It will also tell you how high a monthly payment can reduce your principal balance thereby reducing your loan term.
Early Mortgage pay off calculator – If you want to determine how soon or early you can clear your mortgage thereby saving money on interest, use this calculator.
Cost Calculator – This helps you to work out how much it’s going to cost you to buy your house.
Repayment Calculator – This is going to help you determine what your repayments are going to be.
Debt Consolidation Calculator – This is going to help you find out the benefits of consolidating your debts.

There are many kinds of loan mortgage calculator available in the market that are meant for mortgage professionals as well as consumers who want to make right decisions.

The numbers are in, and for the first quarter of 2010 Cornerstone Real Estate Professionals is the number one Logan Utah Real Estate brokerage in terms of home sales.

Even more impressive is the huge advantage Cornerstone has for the number of buyer transactions among the major Cache Valley Real Estate brokerages. For the second quarter, Cornerstone had nearly three times more buyers transactions than Parker Real Estate, Youngblood Real Estate, and ERA Advantage Realty. It also had nearly twice as many transactions as Century 21, @Home Realty Network, and Coldwell Banker.

Buyers are choosing to use Logan real estate brokerages that know how to use technology and that are on top of things.

Cornerstone #1 Cache County Real Estate Brokerage.