Something to think about BEFORE you put your home on the market…

Whether you are thinking of up-sizing or down-sizing, have you thought about how you are going to pay for your next home?  For most of us, financing is necessary, but will you qualify for that next home?  BEFORE you decide to list your home, please, please get pre-qualified for your next one!

Lesson Learned…

Home was listed for sale at the beginning of September, Buyer made an offer on December 2, a little back and forth and they were under contract on December 5 with a close date of February 1.  As part of the Buyer due diligence, they had a home inspection by Iron Gate Inspection Services, Buyer’s Agent provided Inspection Response to the Seller‘s Agent and Seller quickly agreed to fix everything on inspection response.

Fast forward to January 18, 2 weeks before closing, Buyer receives a letter from an Attorney retained by Seller, that Seller is unable to secure a mortgage and Seller no longer wishes to sell their home and asked that Buyer give them “good title” and walk away.

Buyer retained an Attorney and by January 22, Seller was told they must close on the sale of their home on February 1 as agreed to in the contract.

What would you have done?  In this case, the Buyer was my client and we won and she will be moving into her new home this weekend, BUT, I also represent Sellers and this has changed MY listing presentation and I will be asking my Sellers to pre-qualify PRIOR to their home going on the market.  My goal is to Turn your Dreams into an Address…but I can’t do that without your due diligence, know your status before making a decision to sell, you don’t want to go from owning to renting.  The Shanley Team at Inlanta Mortgage is ready and willing to work through this with you and I’ve made it easy for you with a link on my home page (as well as in the right hand column of this blog post) directly to their application.  Also check out my post “Power of the Pre-Qual“…it’s not just for Buyer’s anymore!

Not sure of the current value of your home?  Visit my website and request a Current Market Analysis of your home’s value and let’s talk!

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Vicki Reed

Downtown Winter Dining on a Budget!

It’s that time again…Devour Downtown!  Held semi-annually, Winterfest is January 21 – February 3, this event encourages us to savor fare from more than 50 downtown restaurants and get special deals from entertainment venues and attractions including the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Indiana Ice and many more! For more information and a list of participating restaurants and their special menus, visit http://devourdowntown.org.

How about topping the evening off with a carriage ride?  Yellow Rose Carriages are at your disposal to take you on a horse drawn carriage tour of Indianapolis.

Rather stay indoors?  Retreat to one of the many live music venues in downtown…Blues?  Slippery Noodle Inn is Indiana‘s oldest bar, and home of the Blues in Indiana features live local, regional and national Blues seven nights a week.  Prefer Jazz?  Check out the Chatterbox Jazz Club in the heart of the Mass Ave Arts District hosts live, local jazz seven nights a week!  Sing-a-long?  Try Howl at the Moon for a night of dueling pianos and high energy singing.  The list goes on and on…

Want to live downtown in the midst of all this energy?  Let’s talk!  Downtown has a variety of properties, starting as low as $60,000 all the way to $2,790,000…what’s your budget?  Check out my website to search for available properties!

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Vicki Reed

Wish # 9

My ninth wish is that we open ourselves to receiving help from others when we need it and not being shy about asking for help from our family and friends.

How many times have you said to your family and friends “what can I do to help?”  Most of the time the response is “thank you so much, but I’ll/we’ll be fine”…but the reality is that you could really use the help!  Why are we so willing to offer help to others but not accept help for ourselves?

As a Realtor, my schedule is more flexible than most, I can help my friends by meeting repair or delivery people at their homes for them – they all have wi-fi, so I can work there as easily as my own home or office.  But when they have offered to help me, I tend to try to handle it all myself.

So my wish is that we all be more open to accepting help when offered, times are tough and we all need our friends.

helping-handsVicki Reed

Wish # 8

My eighth wish is that I would win the lottery…told you, some of these will be selfish!  I don’t have to win a big jackpot, a million would do!  What would I do with the money you ask…well, first I would payoff my debts and depending on the size of the win, this is what I would like to do…

1.  Set up trusts for my nieces – with stipulations, no need to spoil them completely!

2.  Set up Charitable Remainder Trusts for my parents and sisters – they get an income stream for their lifetime, then when they pass, what’s left goes to item # 3.

3.  Create the Reed Family Foundation – with my Dad, Uncle Bob and I, our limb of the family tree ends, this would allow me to teach my nieces about giving and create a legacy for my Dad.

4.  Help my friends, make their lives a little easier and their burdens a little less.

5.  Buy a vacation home in South Carolina – probably Pawleys Island – It would be there for myself, my family and friends to use.

6.  Put money into my business – VLR Real Estate – and dream big!

I know you have all thought about it, what would you do?

lottery_20100826113803_320_240  Vicki Reed