Toledo Area Blog

Here are some steps for repairing your credit and buying the home of your dreams.

1. Make a budget. Calculate your income and your expenses make a budget for your household.
2. Look at your credit report and be aware of your score.
3. Talk to your creditors. Do this as soon as you realize you are getting behind in your payments. You can work with them to reduce your payments before you get too far behind.
4. Always get any agreement in writing. Make sure you get a letter when you negotiate lower interest rates and payments.
5. Stop using credit cards. Only buy what you know you have money in the bank for.
6. Gradually cut off credit accounts. All of a sudden cutting off all credit accounts makes others think you are financially unstable.
7. Try a secured credit card. This means you supply money up front as collateral. For instance, if you deposit $400 in the bank, you will have a $400 limit on your secured credit card. This is a safe way to build your credit.
8. Join a credit union rather than a bank. They are more likely to give you a loan than a bank is.
9. Always make payments on time. Payment history is the number one thing that determines your credit score.
10. If at all possible, always avoid bankruptcy. Bankruptcy shows up on your credit for 10 years.

Here are some helpful tips for saving energy in your home.

1. Try lowering the thermostat and dressing warmer. Just lowering the thermostat 1 or 2 degrees can make a change in your energy consumption.
2. Lower your thermostat at night and whenever you are not in the house. Also, try closing off and not heating rooms that you don’t use.
3. Make sure your refrigerator is set between 37 and 40 degrees F. Also, keep your refrigerator stocked because it is much easier to keep a stocked refrigerator cool than an empty one.
4. Try lowering the temperature on your electric water heater to 120 degrees F. Also, try turning it off when you are leaving for an extended amount of time.
5. Consider buying a new refrigerator if yours is over 10 years old. New refrigerators use much less energy than older refrigerators.
6. Try air drying your clothes instead of using a dryer. Also, wash with cold or warm water but rinse with cold water.
7. Only wash full loads of dishes and let them air dry.
8. Turn off computers, lights, and other electronic devices when you leave the house. This will make a big difference.
9. Try using a microwave or toaster oven to cook smaller items.
10. Try taking shorter showers and install a low-flow shower head.
    
    11.)  Plug your Television Sets into a Power cord and simply turn the switch to off when not using.  This will save you up to $50.00 a month.  And surprisingly the newer the T.V. the more effective this is.  You appliances still draw electric when they are plugged in. 
    
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Homeowners are the targets of many scams. Here is a list of 10 homeowner scams:

1. Bogus Health and Fitness Claims
2. Misleading Prize Offers
3. Unscrupulous Moving Practices
4. Identity Theft
5. Unwanted Office Supplies or Bogus Directory Scams
6. Work at Home Scams/ Bogus Employment Services
7. Overpayment Schemes
8. Door-to-door Sales Schemes
9. Lottery and Sweepstakes Fraud
10. Unscrupulous Used Vehicles Sales Practices
    
11. Phone calls to lower your credit card interest.

Mortgage fraud can be the result of identity theft. Here are some helpful tips for avoiding identity theft:

1. Never leave receipts in random places such as bank machines, gas stations, or trashcans.
2. Always sign your credit cards. Never give your credit to someone else to use. Report lost cards immediately. Keep an eye on your monthly statements to see if anything shows up that shouldn’t.
3. Shred important documents, such as pre-approved credit card applications, bills, and credit card receipts.
4. Avoid keeping written record of any of your credit card information. This is an easy way for someone else to get a hold of them. 
5. Never give others personal information, such as your social security or pin number, over the phone, unless you initiated the call.
6. Always get your mail immediately. Don’t leave it in the mailbox for long. Never leave mail lying around.

Here are some steps and tips to furnishing your house on a budget:

1. Look for auctions! You can find these in newspapers or free shopper papers. You can find anything from small knick knacks to major appliances. This is a great way to find just about anything for a reasonable, cheap price.
2. Also try looking at classified ad listings. You can find many low cost items here. Most of the time you can find “bigger” items such as furniture and appliances in the classified sections of the newspapers.
3. Yard sales and garage sales are also great places to find deals on furniture and other household items. Check your local newspapers for information on garage sales. Sometimes, you can find entire neighborhoods that are having garage sales.
4. Antique stores are also great places to find items. Some people are afraid to try antique stores because they think they are too expensive. But really, you can find some great deals. Also, don’t be afraid to bargain with the salesperson. This is how business is done!
5. Keep an eye out for vintage buildings. During renovation, fixtures and other items may often be sold for a cheap price.
6. Try a fresh coat of paint. This is often a great way to spruce up a room. Also, you can find in-store specials on paint.

1. To start off, offer close to the asking price. This is a good idea because you will not offend the seller by bringing an offer too low. The seller may either accept the offer or counter for a slightly higher offer.
2. Don’t fall in love. It’s important to not love the house so much that you end up paying way more than you can afford due to a bidding war. Prepare yourself to walk away when the counter offers are not coming down enough. There are other fish in the sea!
3. In a slow market, it is a good idea to offer as much as you can afford. Sellers are usually unmotivated in a slow market so give them your best offer so that they don’t get offended and refuse to work with you.
4. Try some bargaining tactics. If the seller seems highly motivated, use some terms such as repairs to bargain with them. If this happens, the seller may accept a lower offer if you say that you will make some of the repairs.
5. If you do fall in love with a home that you feel is overpriced, offer a low amount but be prepared to go higher. You may find yourself with a desperate seller that will just counter a little higher than your offer, and you could get the house for less than you imagined you could.
6. Research the neighborhood. Check out what other, similar houses have sold for. Also consider how long the house has been on the market. If the house has been on the market for a while, you may want to bid low because the seller may just accept it.
7. Keep in mind that a lot of sellers are advised not to accept the first offer, so don’t be too firm! Be prepared to accept more than your original offer.
8. Don’t get caught up in the emotion! Be prepared to walk away from the deal if you have to. This is a good way to make sure that you don’t pay too much for your home.
9. Always do your negotiating in writing and NEVER accept verbal offers.

The negotiation process can get very tricky sometimes. Make sure that you are prepared. If this seems overwhelming, don’t worry. A real estate agent is the best person to help you negotiate. They’ve done it many times on either side of the table and they sometimes can guess what the seller is thinking. They will be able to give you advice on what to do during the entire process. But don’t feel like you have to listen to everything your real estate agent says. In the end it is 100% your decision!

If you need any help finding a home, please don’t hesitate to contact me! I would be happy to help you negotiate!

The key to making money in real estate is learning how to flip a house. Any experienced or inexperienced person can flip a house. You don’t even need help from anyone else! Here are the key steps towards flipping a house.

Begin by buying a HUD repo which allows you to buy a house with no money down. Now, you can begin working on flipping this house. Make all of the updates and upgrades. Then put the house on the market, preferably with a Realtor. Once this house is sold, you can go straight into buying another fixer-upper. This time you can buy the house with all cash. Work on flipping this house, put it on the market, and once it sells you will have even more money collected and can buy another house to flip.

One of the key things that makes this formula work is buying the right house. The key is to buy a house that needs only cosmetic repairs, not structural changes. Cosmetic repairs include painting, updating lighting fixtures and plumbing fixtures, and installing new carpeting and flooring.

If you use this formula to your advantage, you can make as much profit as $100,000 a month! The key is getting started. Don’t believe others when they say that in order to successfully flip houses, you need a lot of starting money. You can a buy a house with no money down and the sellers can often help you with closing costs.

If you have any questions about flipping a house or would like to start flipping houses, feel free to contact me. I can help you find the best houses to flip and can also help you sell them with maximum exposure once they are flipped. You can email me at luhring@bex.net or call me at 419-460-5587.

Victoria Luhring has been certified as an official ASP, or Accredited Staging Professional. She has taken the two day class that taught her many techniques important in staging a home for a quick sale. ASP real estate agents are true professionals who have been trained under strict guidelines that have been developed for over 30 years.

Here are some simple home projects that could greatly increase your chances for a quick sale of your house:

93% of ASP staged homes sell in one month or less, compared to the average market time of 160 days for non-ASP staged homes. This is why it is important to have a professional like Victoria on your side.

Click Here to go to the official ASP (Accredited Staging Professional) Website

Markets across the country have larger inventories to choose from, and a many great homes are available at very reasonable and affordable prices. This means there is a large variety of houses to choose from with very affordable prices! Factor in the recent interest rates drop over the last several months, and we have one of the best buyers markets in recent history. Since many experts believe that interest rates will rise over the next and upcoming years, now is a great time to lock in today's low interest rates and save on your next purchase. Home buyers who take advantage of these low rates can save tens of thousands of dollars over the life of their loan! The time to buy is now!

If you have any desires to look at some houses in the Northwest Ohio area, I can help. I can put you on a search of the entire Toledo MLS that will email you properties in your search criteria as often as you would like. This means you will get the listings as soon as they come on the market. Please contact me if you would like to be set up on an email search of the Toledo MLS. I would be glad to help!

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