Eric Mitchell Real Estate

  What To Do When Mortgage Rates Are High Compared to the interest rates over the last decade, especially the low rates that kicked off the housing boom of 2020, current interest rates may seem exorbitantly high. But the truth is that mortgage interest rates are simply nearing long-term  historical averages  of 8%, and are well below rate increases reached during other inflationary periods. As you wonder whether or not to buy a home with mortgage interest rates that have doubled over the past year, you may appreciate some perspective in accepting that your projected house payment will be hundreds of dollars higher than it would have been had you purchased the same home one to three years ago before home prices hit record highs. Higher mortgage interest rates have done little to temper demand for homes. Here’s how consumer interest rates really work. Interest rates rise or fall depending on how the government reacts to economic circumstances. In an inflationary environment...

  How to Spot Foundation Problems The foundation provides support for your entire house, so keeping it level and in good condition is critical to the protection of the entire structure and the safety of your family. A foundation can become damaged by a variety of problems and natural occurrences. If you notice any of these warning signs, you should have your foundation inspected as soon as possible. Cracks The most glaring sign of a foundation problem is cracking in the foundation, walls or floors. This can be a result of movement in the soil that causes the house to sink. Even if a crack appears small, it can indicate that there is a serious problem. This should be addressed as soon as possible. Settling or Heaving You may notice that the house is settling or sinking on one side. This indicates a significant foundation problem that can result in safety issues. Ignoring even a small change will only allow the problem to get worse. Sometimes the opposite happens and the foundation m...

  Ending Small Talk: Tips for More Meaningful Conversations Having more meaningful relationships with friends both new and old is a great goal, and it can start with your conversations. Below are five tips for those of us frustrated with small talk. Skip the weather.  As tempting as it may be to springboard off the weather, this can lead you down the empty-conversation rabbit hole and into a twenty-minute dialogue about rain. Asking about almost anything else should yield more interesting results. Think of base questions.  So, what should you talk about, if not the weather? Come up with a short list of base questions you can turn to in a flash. If you’re talking to a stranger or new acquaintance, try “have you done any traveling lately?” or “are you reading any good books?” These more personal questions show genuine interest and will actually reveal something about your conversation partner. Make eye contact.  Regardless of what you’re discussing, work to maintain or...

Kitchen Trends That Are Going Out of Fashion Most of us spend a lot of time in the kitchen, preparing meals and cleaning up. In many cases, we spend so much time in our familiar kitchen space that we don’t pay much attention to what it looks like. But the trends, they are a-changin’. Today’s kitchens are sleek and practical. Design experts list seven kitchen looks that are quickly going out of style: Short backsplashes . Backsplashes that reach up to six to eight inches above the countertop are sorely outdated. If you’re up for a remodel, take the backsplash all the way up to the upper cabinets to make your kitchen feel bigger and cleaner.   Distressed wood cabinets.  Once the darling of country-style kitchens, the clunky distressed wood of yesteryear is giving way to natural wood or white finishes. Over the stove microwaves.  When microwaves came into fashion, homeowners put them over the stove to save counter space. But today’s families want necessities ...

Hanging on to Your Sanity While Working From Home At first, it may have seemed like a dream come true; sleep a little later…skip the commute…work in your pajamas if you feel like it.  But working from home can quickly outstay it’s welcome. You miss the routine – the coffee breaks and kibitzing, the face-to-face meetings, all those busy, ringing phones – and given the uncertainties of the COVID-19 crisis, there’s no way to know how long your work-at-home status will continue.  Psychologists and productivity experts provide these tips for making the most of the time you are working remotely: Choose a permanent workspace –  It may be tempting to work on the living room sofa. Don’t do it. Create a workspace at a desk or at the dining room table and make that your dedicated workspace. It will help keep you on track and may even help remind family members to avoid unnecessary disturbances.  Get dressed for work –  Whether it’s office casual or shorts an...

How the Coronavirus Is Impacting Luxury Real Estate While the health of our family and friends is the top priority right now, there are many who are justifiably concerned with how the global pandemic is, and will continue to, impact the luxury real estate market. As one of the largest and most important assets in an individual’s portfolio, it’s necessary to understand how this crisis will affect the value of your home. While the situation is rapidly evolving, here are a few key takeaways to help keep you informed at this point in time.  Uncertainty Looms Large As is currently the case with the financial markets, and the economy as a whole, uncertainty is the key word right now. There are those who forecast a quick economic bounce back and those who see a drawn out recovery, but the reality is that no one can say for sure because this crisis is unprecedented. For the time being, a wait-and-see approach is the safest way to go. Short Term Implications In the short term, i...

Signs You're in a Lousy 401(k) Retirement Plan Many Americans just aren’t prepared for retirement. Two-thirds of families fall short of conservative retirement savings targets to retire at age 67, according to a 2015 study by the National Institute on Retirement Security. The median retirement account balance — including money in a 401(k) retirement account — is $2,500 for working-age households, and $14,500 for near-retirement households, the study found. Even for workers who contribute to their employer’s 401(k) plan, they may not be saving enough money to get them to the often recommended retirement income goal of having 70 – 80 percent of their pre-retirement income, or they may be in a 401(k) that isn’t doing a good job of making money for them. Here are some signs that you may be in a lousy 401(k) retirement plan: Low results:  Poor performance is an easy indicator to spot, and it doesn’t mean you have to stay with that 401(k). Moving to another retirement pla...

Save for a Home with a Dollar-for-Dollar Match Program A federal program helps low-income families buy a home with a unique method meant to encourage saving: It matches dollar-for-dollar what they save to buy their first home. The Individual Development Account, or IDA, doesn’t offer a lot of money to help with a down payment — up to $2,000 in federal matching funds with more contributions possible from local IDA programs — but it’s a start. Participants can start by saving as little as $25 — matched to as much as eight to one, depending on the program, though most offer one-to-one matches. Income levels must be 200 percent below their state’s poverty level. With an 8:1 match, IDA participants can raise much more than the $4,000 total with federal matching, and could have $10,000 or so for a down payment on a house. Most IDAs are funded by the federal government and are run by nonprofit groups and financial institutions, and grantee programs are required to raise an equ...

Is Granite on its Way Out? According to the National Kitchen and Bath Association, granite countertops are in less demand today, while the use of quartz is on the rise. Why? For one thing, man-made quartz countertops are offered in a far greater range of looks and feels. Reason number two: it’s a bit easier to maintain over the long haul, and it’s deemed a better environmental choice because it emits lower levels of radon—a potentially cancer-causing agent. To be fair, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains the radioactive materials in granite countertops are far too minuscule to pose a health threat. So what, exactly, is a quartz countertop? It’s made of engineered stone, composed of at least 90% ground-up quartz mixed with a binder (like resin) then molded into a slab. Because pigment is added during the manufacturing process, the sky’s the limit when it comes to color. And quartz is non-porous and fairly resistant to stains, mold and bacteria. Unlike grani...

Steps to Take After Identity Theft Reacting quickly is essential after you’ve been the victim of identity theft. It can lessen the damage by thieves and lower the stress of having your credit card lost or stolen. You may notice when you get home that your credit card is missing. Or you may get an email from your credit card company that there is some suspicious activity on your account. Whatever alerts you to identity theft, here are some steps to take immediately after realizing it: Get on the phone Depending on the circumstances, you may want to first call the police to report a crime. If someone just grabbed your purse and ran away, the police are obviously the first agency to contact. Next, call your credit card company and ask that it cancel your credit card and send you a new one immediately. If any charges were made by the thieves, the credit card company should remove them. With anyone you contact about this theft, be sure to take notes of the names, dates, ...

Making Financial Lessons a Family Tradition Teaching children manners and how to tie their shoes is one thing, but financial lessons are often pushed to the wayside until it’s too late. Budgeting and financial planning should be a focus in every household. Whether you are passing along your lessons to your children, nieces or nephews, keeping financial sense in the family can have longstanding benefits. Here are some financial lessons you can teach children before they leave home: How to Budget Whether it’s through a household budget that you let them become a part of, or a weekly allowance on which they have to determine how to spend and save, budgeting is a skill they will be able to use throughout their lives. Show the younger generations how to budget for monthly expenses, such as a mortgage, groceries, utility bills and other expenses, and then show them what your monthly income is. If the expenses are higher than the income, then work together to cut expenses and l...

5 Financial Tips for First-Time Parents So a babe is on the way? Congrats! Along with the chaos of, well, everything that is to come, your finances are about to experience an upheaval, as well. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it will cost upwards of $245,000 to raise a child born in 2013 to the age of 18—and this does not include college. Feeling that bank account burn already? Below are five tips for rocking your budget as a new mom or dad. 1. Tweak the budget.  Your new little one is going to cost a pretty penny. From hospital costs to diapers and child care, budgetary stress is an added strain on you as a new mom or dad. Look for any unnecessaries you can slash to make room for more baby dollars. The more prepared you are, the better. 2. Track your spending.  Don’t just make that budget and set it aside. Set a monthly meeting with your spouse to look over your spending, make sure you’re on track, and identify any problem areas or potential savin...

When A House Doesn't Sell So what happened? The house has been sitting on the market for 180 days, had a few showings, feedback wasn't bad, you even lowered the price by $20,000...what happened? It's a frustrating situation for sellers and their agents. It happens all the time.  "Oh, it's just the market. A buyer will come along eventually". Is it just the market? What about those homes that sold in a week just around the corner? The market was fine for that home. "It's over-priced. We need to cut the price by $10,000 to get to the next buying level". Could be. But if you've done the research and found the right comparable home sales and you know the price is right...what then? Marketing is the key ingredient to selling a house when it's priced right. A good marketing strategy can even overcome a house being a little over-priced by attracting a larger buying pool. Many agents look at marketing as putting a home in MLS, puttin...

Building Credit Without Credit Cards A credit card is one of the main ways to build credit. By using a credit card wisely and not running up huge bills and paying them off in full on time, consumers can improve their credit score. A good credit score can make getting a home, car and other loans easier, and at better interest rates. Some people who have poor credit may have difficulty improving their credit score fast enough, and others may not even want a credit card. A credit card isn’t the only way to build credit. Here are some other ways: Get a small loan Apply for a small loan from your bank or credit union. If you’ve had an account in good standing for a few years, you should be able to get a small loan. Some banks may only offer secured loans, meaning you’ll have to come up with some collateral such as a car to qualify for the loan. However you get a bank loan, pay it back on time and your credit score should improve. Monitor student loan payments You shoul...