4 Steps to Powering Up Your Professional Network

Powering up your professional network involves following four steps: making your profile a priority, growing your connections, extending endorsements, and sharing content.

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How can you power up your professional network?

The first step is to make your profile a priority. Make it the most up to date it can be. Don’t leave anything blank. People want to know about you. The more they know about you, the more they trust you. If they trust you, you’re the one they’ll go to with their questions because they’ll consider you the foremost expert in your industry 

Secondly, grow your connections. LinkedIn is an important platform through which you can achieve this. Every time you meet with somebody you think you need to know, ask for their email address so that you can join their LinkedIn network. If this person has a secure LinkedIn account and profile, you won’t be able to join it without entering their email address, and you’re not getting anyone’s email if you step away from a meeting or a conversation.

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The more people know about you, the more they will trust you.

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The third thing you need to do is extend endorsements. People love it when you endorse them for what they do. If you give endorsements, you’ll get endorsements in return. 

Finally, share content. If you share content with people, it shows them that you’re paying attention to their pages and really reading the content they’re distributing. If you yourself get good advice, what’s the point of keeping it all to yourself? Just like with extending endorsements, the effect of sharing content is symbiotic. If you share content, others will share their content with you, too. 

If you have any questions about how to power up your professional network, feel free to email me or give me a call. I’d be happy to help!

The Importance of Title Insurance

There are two kinds of title insurance policies you need to be aware of: the Owner’s Title Insurance Policy and the Lender’s Title Insurance Policy. Not knowing how each works can leave you vulnerable.

Buying a home?  Get a free home scouting report

Looking for a home loan?  Start a mortgage application

Today I’m joined by Rob Lindley of Canyon Title to discuss what you need to know about title insurance.

There are two different types of title insurance policies that most people buying a home need to be aware of. The first is the owner’s title insurance policy, which insures your ownership of your asset. The second is the lender’s title insurance policy, which ensures that the lender that’s loaning you the money for the home is in the appropriate lien position against the title of the property.

Why would you need a policy when the lender has their own? The lender’s title insurance policy is only ensuring that the lender doesn’t incur any financial loss if some kind of problem arises. If you don’t have an owner’s title insurance policy and you were to lose money as a result of some sort of defect on the title, the insurance company wouldn’t pay you—they would only pay the lender.

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Not having title insurance can leave you financially vulnerable.

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Not having title insurance can end up costing you in unforeseen ways. For example, say the home you purchased had a kitchen fire three months before you purchased it and the owner hired someone to repair the kitchen for $100,000. After they sold that property to you, if they didn’t pay that $100,000 for the kitchen, you could be financially responsible for the repair costs.

If you need more information from Rob, you can reach him by phone at (303) 831-7575 or visit canyontitle.com.

If you have any more questions, feel free to email me or give me a call. I look forward to helping you in any way I can!

10 Buyer Tips for Finding the Perfect Home

Buying a home can be a complicated, overwhelming process. Today, I have 10 tips to help you find the perfect home.

Buying a home?  Get a free home scouting report

Looking for a home loan?  Start a mortgage application

Today I’m here with 10 tips for buyers to help you find the perfect home.

1. Go for the long haul. Think of somewhere you want to live for at least five to seven years. You will have to do some investigation about what’s going on in the community, and trust me, you will be glad you did.

2. Leave room for growth. You never know if you will have a child or if a family member may need to move in with you for a while. Even if you get a pet, having extra space is a good idea.

3. Be flexible. Look at homes that have rooms that can be converted for other purposes as you live there. That way, you won’t have to move as often.

4. Go for what fits you. You may need a condo, house, or duplex. Go for what fits you. This decision isn’t always based on the price or your budget, so get your Realtor involved in order to pick the right home for you.

5. Check your surroundings. The best thing you can do is go to the local grocery store to get an idea of what the community is like.

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Go for what fits you.

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6. Buy what you can afford. Don’t buy a home thinking that you may be able to afford it in the future. Doing so will only put you in a tough situation down the road. A good loan officer can help you with this step.

7. Think about your home first. Imagine what your life will be like in this house rather than focusing solely on the property’s resale value. You may be living there a long time.

8. Look at old and new homes. Both old and new homes have different pros and cons and different costs associated with each.

9. Location, location, location. As you think through some of these tips, you should always keep location in mind.

10. Think about what will happen when it is time to sell. It doesn’t always make sense to buy the white elephant because when it comes time to resell the home, you will be limiting the pool of potential buyers. Although you should think of the house as your home first, you shouldn’t completely forget about resale value.

If you have any questions about the home buying process or about real estate in general, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

How to Make the Home Buying Process Less Stressful

The home buying process can get quite stressful, but it doesn’t have to be. We’ve got some great tips to share with you that will help you manage your stress during this time. Most of these are simple tasks, but many people fail to do them. Here are 8 stress-relieving tips:

1. Take time out. Take some time to meditate, relax, or do yoga. If you hire a great agent, they can relieve a lot of stress for you right off the bat.

2. Eat well-balanced meals. This is usually a 30-day process. It’s a great way to get your body and mind right.

3. Limit alcohol and caffeine. Many people gravitate towards these things during the home buying process, but you shouldn’t. You’ll feel better in the end.

4. Get enough sleep. Eight hours is ideal, although not everyone can get that. Get as close to eight hours as you can.

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These simple tasks can make the whole process less stressful.

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5. Exercise. Moving around and exercising are great ways to relieve stress. Even getting out to do some power-walking can help.

6. Sit back and count backwards from 20. This will relax your mind and help you focus on your end goal instead of your current struggles. Try it and see how it works.

7. Stop aiming for perfection. Things are never perfect, and you shouldn’t look at homes under a microscope. Rely on your agent and loan officer to work together to find a great home that you’ll be happy in. A few minor flaws are no big deal.

8. No one person can control everything in a real estate transaction. Once you accept that there are a lot of different moving parts that need to be aligned, you can trust the people you’ve hired to do their best.

If you have any other questions for me about relieving stress or buying a home, I would love to hear from you. Give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!

What You Need to Know About Down Payment Assistance Grants

Buying a home?  Get a free home scouting report

Looking for a home loan?  Start a mortgage application

Recently, I’ve received a lot of emails and phone calls regarding down payment assistance grants. With the way prices are moving in our economy, I feel it’s a good time to talk about this topic.

You might be asking, what is a down payment assistance grant? A down payment assistance grant is just that - you apply for a grant, you get the grant, and you never have to pay it back. That’s where these grants have changed over the past few years.

The qualifications for these grants are pretty simple: you can’t earn over a certain amount of money, and you have to have a certain credit score. Because you’re a loyal client, friend, and customer, I’ll let you in on a little secret: the minimum earning qualification is $91,000. In other words, if you make $91,000 or less. I’ll let you in on another secret: the minimum credit score is 640.

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If you make $91,000 or less and your minimum credit score is 640, you qualify.

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How do you get started? Very simple - just click on the link at the beginning in the video above and apply now. Only certified lenders can approve these grants, so send me an email or give me a call so I can help you.

Additionally, send an email or call if you have any questions on this or any other topic, I’d love to engage with you and answer them.

How to Get an Offer Accepted in Today's Competitive Market

Buying a home?  Get a free home scouting report

Looking for a home loan?  Start a mortgage application

Getting your offer accepted in today's crazy market can be challenging. I've got five strategies I wanted to share with you to get your offer accepted.

1. Submit your offer at a realistic price. I believe this to be the most important step.
2. Have a full loan application already submitted with credit, and fully approved.
3. Have proof of funds. The seller really wants to know that they have a real borrower that can close on their home. Remember there's another side to this transaction
4. Have a full complete package ready to submit to the listing agent. There's nothing worse that looking like an amateur at this stage.
5. Record a video or write a letter. Write or record a story for the seller about how much you and your family really want the house. My bonus tip for this item is to have the loan officer call and support what you just sent. Listing agents love this because they also want to know that the deal will close.

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Have proof of funds.

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Thanks for watching today. If you have any questions, feel free to call me or email me.

How to Choose the Right Lender for You

Buying a home? Get a free home scouting report

Looking for a home loan? Start a mortgage application

The first thing you want to look for when you're choosing a lender for a mortgage is how responsive they are. When you call, do you get a call back in one hour, or in 24 hours? That will be crucial in the lending process. Secondly, is the lender looking out for your long-term goal or just your short-term one? It's important to be in the right position, because most people change their loan every three years or so.

Next, pay attention to product selection. Are you just being put into something, or are you actually discussing what's best for you? One of the most important things to do is to research the lender. You're trusting this person with everything you have financially. Make sure that when you decide to use this lender, you go on Zillow and see if they have reviews. Look for responsiveness. Ask your agent about them. Sometimes, it's not about the loan - it's about the lender you choose to do the loan.

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Are you just being put into something, or are you actually discussing what's best for you?

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Finally, the last thing is good old-fashioned likability. Are they easy to talk to? Can you tell that they're really looking out for your best interests? That's one of the best ways to determine if you're working with the right person.

I hope you find these tips helpful as you search for a lender, or plan to do so in the future. If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call!