Frequently Asked Questions Selling Your Home: How do I prepare my house for sale?  Making your home look as nice as possible may seem obvious ... but surprisingly many sellers only vacuum the living room rug and perhaps clean the bathtub. Sellers MUST make every attempt to keep the house clean, tidy and free of clutter. One of the most overlooked areas is the front yard and the curbside appeal of your house. Prospective buyers often drive by the homes for sale and make judgments on the house from the curb. You never get a second chance to make a first impression and your first impression is the front of your house. Owners can take several steps to make their home show better. For example, sweep the sidewalk, mow the lawn, prune the bushes, weed the garden and clean debris from the yard. Clean the windows and make sure the paint is not chipped or flaking. Be sure that the doorbell works. Clean and make attractive all rooms, furnishings, floors, walls and ceilings. It's especially important that the bathroom and kitchen are spotless. Organize closets. Make sure the basic appliances and fixtures work. Get rid of leaky faucets and frayed cords. Ensure that the house smells good and make sure the temperature of your house is comfortable.   Buying Your Home: What is the first step to buying a home?  Before you go looking at houses to purchase you need to know how much of a house you can afford. Finding out what you can afford is one of the first steps, which can be done by pre-qualifying for a home loan. This step will help you narrow your search for both a neighborhood and particular houses. A pre-qualification is a simple calculation that considers several factors, but primarily your income. We have included a Mortgage Calculator in this website under "Properties" so you can do this in the convenience of your home. There are no guarantees with a pre-qualification, but it will be expected of you when you make an offer on a home. Sellers look highly upon prospective buyers if they are pre-qualified/pre-approved for a loan.   Investing in Real Estate: How do you increase the value of your property?  Let's start with a few statistics: A remodeled bathroom returns 81% to the owner, a bathroom addition returns 89%, and a master bedroom suite adds 82%. Cost of the improvements can help a homes value but quality must come first!! Well-planned and well-executed remodeling jobs are a good investment while bad work seldom enhances value. The condition of the property, specific home improvements and neighborhood stability and safety -- can influence property values. The greatest rise in home prices occurs when the economy is strong and the number of home sales is increasing. Though markets vary, that has occurred twice in recent history -- in the early 1970s and the late 1980s. However, single-family homes appreciated much more than condominiums. While overall market conditions are out of the homeowner's control, other factors are not.   Your Mortgage: What about a 15-year vs. 30 year loan?  The difference in payments and overall savings between a 15-year fixed-rate loan and a 30-year fixed-rate loan depends on the interest rate and the loan amount. A 15-year note offers the opportunity to save considerable money over the life of the loan, since the period of amortization is half that of the 30-year note. This means that the total interest paid on a 15-year note as compared to a 30-year note is significantly less. However, calculating the overall savings of the 15-year note over the 30-year note depends on several individual circumstances, such as the borrower's changing income status. If you are uncertain that you can afford a 15-year note, consider getting a 30-year note and make 2 additional payments a year. Have these 2 payments go directly to the principal of the loan. This way you can save the up the additional money over 12 months and if you cannot make those payments you are not penalized by the mortgage company.