homes for sale in soldotna: Soldotna Real Estate Commercial Property: Taking the Long-Term Perspective - 04/30/14 04:46 AM
This year, it looks as if the busy spring real estate season extends beyond the residential arena. Latest reports show commercial property sales on the rise throughout the nation—and in volumes that make it one of the main contributors to the overall economic upturn.
The most reliable data comes from the National Association of Realtors®, whose latest quarterly survey shows year-over-year sales increasing a full 11% (with prices rising 4%). It’s an encouraging backdrop for businesspeople and individual investors who are gauging the opportunities in today’s Alaska Real Estate commercial property market. Despite the vagaries of the tax and political climate (it is an election … (0 comments)

homes for sale in soldotna: Alaska Real Estate Mortgage Insurance: Tonic for Lender Anxiety - 04/14/14 05:15 AM
Many of Alaska Real Estate would-be first time home buyers are stopped short when they come up against the need to raise the initial deposit. But just because you don’t have a hefty down payment, it needn’t mean you can’t own your own home. You can still purchase a house with less than a 20% down payment if you are otherwise qualified—that is, if you take advantage of something called private mortgage insurance (“PMI”).
The reason there is a market for private mortgage insurance in Kenai Real Estate is because lenders face an increased risk when they issue a loan with a low down payment. The … (0 comments)

homes for sale in soldotna: Soldotna Real Estate Home for Sale or Not,Spring's Time for Renovation - 04/10/14 09:48 AM

With spring in the air, you don’t have to have your Kenai Real Estate home for sale to catch the spring cleaning bug. Whether or not you’ve been cooped up inside for a longer-than-usual siege of the wintertime blues, as soon as the weather turns the corner, there seems to be a natural urge to open the windows and start freshening your place up.
Spring also brings the traditional hot selling season, and if you’re among those getting ready to list your own home for sale to take advantage of it, you’ll want to add extra attention to the traditional cleanup. Home for … (0 comments)

homes for sale in soldotna: Foreclosures in Soldotna Real Estate Still Available for Careful Buyer - 04/09/14 07:41 AM

Despite the winter’s chilling effect on all sorts of sales, February saw single family homes, condominiums and townhomes selling nationwide at a full 7% increase over a year earlier. The opposite is true of foreclosures—no surprise, since the health of the market means fewer serious borrower delinquencies, hence fewer foreclosures.Even so, Alaska Real Estate foreclosures are still available, possibly because some of the fiercest competition may be tailing off. Real estate watcher RealtyTrac finds that the institutional investor buying spree appears to be losing steam—which could be very good news for individuals interested in purchasing foreclosures.Typically, Kenai Real Estate foreclosures are listed on an … (0 comments)

homes for sale in soldotna: No Longer Scorned, Soldotna Real Estate Piggyback Loans Find New Favor - 04/08/14 10:23 AM
It’s another after effect of the rise in housing prices: piggyback loans in Alaska Real Estate are making a comeback. According to a recent American Bankers Associations Report, the number of piggyback loans originated across the nation more than doubled within the past year.A piggyback loan involves taking out two mortgages simultaneously, with a home equity loan (aka “second mortgage”) ‘piggybacking’ on a first mortgage. In Kenai Real Estate home purchases, piggyback loans typically come into play when the buyer is unable to provide a full 20% deposit. Normally this would necessitate the buyer having to take out private mortgage insurance (PMI), which can … (0 comments)

homes for sale in soldotna: Soldotna Real Estate Homeowners Watch Google’s Latest Acquisition - 04/07/14 07:46 AM
 
Right at the start of the year, Google announced a surprising move. It said it was purchasing a home appliance maker most of us had never even heard of…for $3.2 billion in cash! It was a gambit that everySoldotna Real Estate homeowner should note, because it signals where some very smart money is headed: right where we live!Remember, Google isn’t just famous for its search engine; it’s also frequently in the news for its forays into any number of futuristic enterprises (those mysterious barges, for instance). The appliance maker that now has Google’s billions in its pocket is called Nest Labs, … (0 comments)

homes for sale in soldotna: Soldotna Real Estate Apartment Investors Eye “Gen Y” Demographics - 04/07/14 07:14 AM

Kenai real estate investors come from every kind of background, but all share a common trait: they like to think ahead. For that reason, investors eyeing Alaska Real Estate apartment building prospects may want to take a close look at what’s going on with the Millennial generation.For those of us who are a bit uncertain about which group is considered “Generation Y” and which are “Millennials,” there’s a reason for that. Both terms refer to the same group—everyone born between 1977 and 2000. And whatever you call them, they are a very important demographic. According to some statistics, they are 80,000,000 strong! That … (0 comments)

homes for sale in soldotna: Responses Quicken with Quality Soldotna Real Estate Listing Photos - 04/03/14 04:57 AM
  In advertising, they call the photo that glamorizes a product its ‘hero shot.’ In the case of a real estate listing in Alaska Real Estate, the pictures that accompany the written description can all be hero shots, if enough care is taken.
In one Auburn University study (The Relationship between Property Price, Time-on-Market, and Photo Depictions in a Multiple Listing Service), it was found that adding a single photograph to a listing could lift the final sale price by as much as 3.9%. That’s not surprising, but what is noteworthy is that each additional listing photograph added several hundred dollars to … (0 comments)

homes for sale in soldotna: Staging Approaches to Boost any Soldotna Real Estate Home Sale - 04/02/14 06:24 AM
With spring already upon us, we stand at the threshold of Alaska Real Estate’s first major selling season of 2014. If you are preparing to add your own property to the Kenai Real Estate home listings, the International Association of Home Staging Professionals would like to draw your attention to some statistics that bolster their members’ proposition. None is more compelling than this one: non-staged homes remain 79 days longer on market than their professionally-staged neighbors.
Still, since not everyone hires a professional staging company to work their magic, you’d think there would be a few DIY alternatives that would well … (0 comments)

homes for sale in soldotna: Redefining What’s Hot in Soldotna Real Estate Luxury Listings - 04/01/14 09:54 AM
   Charlie Chaplin always managed to mix a good measure of insight in with the silent movie knee-slappers. It was “The Little Clown” who once said, “The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury.” One way or another, we Americans have come up with a singularly surefire way to overcome that problem: we just constantly redefine what comprises “luxury”!
Real estate website Trulia proves the point. Each year they count how frequently certain phrases appear in luxury listings—here in Alaska Real Estate as well as across the nation. From year to year, their findings provide an interesting measure of … (0 comments)

homes for sale in soldotna: Smaller Soldotna Real Estate Houses Can Be in Sync - 03/31/14 06:44 AM
It just might be that a groundswell is spreading throughout the home-buying public. In Kenai Real Estate, smaller houses that used to be difficult to sell are rising in popularity, and I can guess why.
First, a little history. Back in 1950, what we would consider smaller houses were the rule: the average square footage came in at just 983 (try to imagine the ‘average’ family with 2 kids, 2 adults and Lassie all shoehorned in there!). By 2006, that figure had blown up to 2,248 square feet—and we all know about the bigger McMansions—just in time for the financial meltdown. … (0 comments)

homes for sale in soldotna: Overprice Your Soldotna Real Estate Home: Why Not? - 03/28/14 04:48 AM
A major home-selling decision arrives right at the start: setting your Alaska Real Estate home’s price. It’s a step that can be decisive for good or for ill.
But what is the “right” price? We know what it probably isn’t—it’s not the first number that pops into your head, nor is it likely to be The-Price-of-Your-Next-House-Plus-the Cost-of-a-Family-Vacation-in-Tahiti-Plus-the-New-Sportscar-You’ve-Always-Wanted-to-Own. It’s also not a price that will ‘test the market’ (to make sure there hasn’t been an upward spike in demand since the last comparable neighborhood home sold).
Setting a home’s price in the right ballpark can be easier than many people assume. You … (0 comments)

homes for sale in soldotna: Being Your Own Boss and Getting a Soldotna Real Estate Home Loan - 03/27/14 04:48 AM
You don’t have to tell anyone who is self-employed that there are extra costs that go with the benefits. In addition to the long hours and weight of responsibility that come with the job description, getting a home loan has always added special challenges. Now that we are into the new Dodd-Frank era of federal oversight, some of the changes warrant an early heads-up.
The 2010 legislation that went into effect on January 10 created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with the function of tightening the rules lenders follow in order to discourage the issuing of mortgages that borrowers can’t be … (0 comments)

homes for sale in soldotna: Things Your Nikiski Real Estate Agent Thinks You Should Know - 03/26/14 10:45 AM
Real estate agents in Soldotna Real Estate are true veterans when it comes to every aspect of what needs to take place for a home to be sold. We know in advance what all the pieces of the puzzle are, and what needs to be done for them to fit together properly. We’ve also seen why some homes stay on the market for too long, while others get snatched up right away. And the best part is—we want our clients to know all those same things!
That’s a terrific opportunity for sellers who realize that by simply setting their asking price … (0 comments)

homes for sale in soldotna: Kenai Real Estate Home Loan Rate-Watchers Eye New Fed Leadership - 03/26/14 10:08 AM
 
On January 6, the Senate confirmed Janet Yellen to head the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, making it the first time ever that a woman has led the nation’s most important financial institution. In some respects, it makes her the most powerful woman in the United States.
As with every personnel change in the Fed, Yellen’s rise has fostered plenty of concerns about the direction the Federal Reserve will take under her leadership. Since it’s the institution that determines the federal funds rate—which in turn dictates how much businesses and individuals pay for their loans—any change in Federal Reserve policy … (0 comments)

homes for sale in soldotna: Real Estate Books Aid Soldotna Real Estate Buyers, Sellers, Investors - 03/26/14 09:51 AM
when it comes to making the most of Soldotna real estate, knowledge is power. The schools didn’t teach us anything about selling a home or how to decide which home to buy, yet those are subjects that have lasting impacts on our lives. When such key decisions are in our immediate future, we come face-to-face with the importance of making the right choices, asking the right questions—and engineering the best deal.
Whether or not you’re about to head a foray into Soldotna real estate, here are a number of excellent recent books that will help arm you with actionable knowledge:
100 … (0 comments)

homes for sale in soldotna: Selling a Property in Soldotna Real Estate Can Hinge on Location - 03/26/14 09:48 AM
This spring, all signs point to our Soldotna real estate market being a sizzling hot one. For anyone who will be selling a property soon, it’s time to take stock of the factors that will influence how attractive (and competitive) their offering will turn out to be.
Always near the top of the list is, of course, location: location as geography (how close it is to Alaska Real Estate’s key shopping, parks and recreation areas) and location as setting (how desirable is the surrounding neighborhood).
And when it comes to location, a stubborn fact of life is that selling a property in … (0 comments)

homes for sale in soldotna: Slow and Steady Price Rise Boosts Soldotna Real Estate Housing Market - 03/26/14 09:42 AM
The details seem stubbornly worrisome. Mortgage requirements have grown stricter. The Federal Reserve may or may not turn off the cheap money spigot—and if anything causes the stock market to sputter, it’s uncertainty. Occasional bits of good news in the labor picture can’t overcome the fact that unemployment remains stuck on high in many states.
All of this should be bad news for the housing market in Real Estate Kenai, except for one overriding factor: apparently, American consumers aren’t buying it.
Despite uncertain economic news, consumers’ overall expectations for the housing market remained steady. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s … (2 comments)

homes for sale in soldotna: Buying a Soldotna Real Estate House—Which Will it Be, New or Old? - 03/26/14 08:41 AM
When it comes to buying a house in Kenai Real Estate, almost the first thing most of us do is to check the online listings to see what’s out there that catches our eye. That quick first look will usually reflect some preferences most of us don’t even bother to think about (that is, until we’re buying a house).
Sometimes they stem from our earliest childhood memories—the impressions that shape what ‘home’ should look like. Sometimes, those preferences have developed over time as an expression of our personal style. One preference can be a real trouble-maker if a couple discovers that their … (0 comments)

homes for sale in soldotna: 2014 Trends in Soldotna Real Estate Home Design Bring Fresh Notes - 03/26/14 08:37 AM
Keeping your Kenai Real Estate kitchen looking up-to-date doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. Contemporary home design in Soldotna Real Estate is all about knowing what the latest trends are and which to choose when regular maintenance calls for a change in appliances or décor.
This year, eco-friendly appliances are definitely ‘in’—as are the pops of bright color meant to create a vivid and welcoming kitchen. And as convenience features continue to evolve, those are increasingly prominent factors influencing design choices. Especially if you are planning to sell your Real Estate Kenai home in the near future, there are a … (0 comments)