Charles D'Alessandro your Brooklyn Realtor®

If you need (or want) to sell your Brooklyn real estate this winter, you’ll have to step up your game a bit. People tend to be less likely to buy in the winter because the weather keeps them indoors rather than out house hunting. And let’s face it, most homes just don’t look as good in the brown, drab winter as they do in the spicy spring and summer.

If you’re one of the lucky owners with a home for sale in an area that stays beautiful all year long, you can still find a few tips here to help get your home ready to sell.

Six tips to help you sell your Brooklyn home this winter:

1. Keep it cozy. You want your home to be warm so people can comfortably take their time viewing your Brooklyn real estate. Saving money on heating costs isn’t worth it if it means freezing out your potential buyers.
2. Turn up the light. Keep curtains and blinds open during the day. Turn on your lights, both inside and out, at night. Put your lights on timers if you won’t be home until after dark. Use motion detectors to light up in the evening when a potential buyer approaches your doorstep.
3. Point out cold-weather benefits. Have mass transit within walking distance? That’s a big benefit in bad weather because you don’t have to de-ice or dig your car out of the snow in order to get to work. Have an attached garage? Ditto.
4. Take advantage of good winter locations. If your home is in a location that people flock to in the winter, say an area with great outdoor winter sports such as skiing or a warm-weather area like Florida, now is the time prime time to promote your house! Put all you’ve got into marketing the benefits of living where it’s always sunny or where winter living is fun.
5. Set the mood. Play soft, classical music. Toss afghans or throws across the back of your sofa. Hang plush robes in your bedroom or bathroom.
6. Clear away snow and ice. Shovel a path through the snow so potential buyers don’t have to get out their snowshoes. De-ice your driveway, sidewalk, steps and porch to prevent slips and falls.

If you’re ready to sell your Brooklyn real estate this winter, I can help. Give me a call today Charles D’Alessandro Your Brooklyn real estate agent with Fillmore Real Estate a call at 718/253-9600 ext 206 or email me at [email protected] for more information.

(more…)

Does Your Brooklyn Home Have Curb Appeal?

As a seller preparing to sell your Brooklyn home, you may be busily emptying closets and painting walls, but don’t forget about the outside of your house. Home buying is emotional and, like many emotional reactions, it can be heavily impacted by first impressions.

Here are some suggestions on how to encourage love at first sight by increasing the curb appeal of your Brooklyn home:

Tidy up – You may be so used to seeing the crumbling stack of firewood by the garbage cans and the old paint cans by the shed that they fade into the landscape, but potential homeowners see the mess.  As you look at the outside of your house, think about what you can throw away or put out of sight. The broken swing on the tree actually takes away from the grandeur of that old oak.  An extra hint: Not everyone will enjoy the garden gnome collection as much as you do.

• Trim Everything – If the hedges under the front windows of your Brooklyn home are so unruly that they cover the windows, it’s past time to find the clippers.
• Repair the Front Walk – If you have crumbling cement or stepping stones that slide deeper into the mud with every raindrop, check into updating the front walk so that it is inviting, safe, and weed-free.
• Power-wash decks so they look fresh.
• Clean the gutters – Tiny maple trees in your gutters scream “Water damage!” to potential buyers.
• Paint – If the paint is peeling on the outside of your house, potential buyers go in wondering what the upkeep is like inside. Spend money before you put your home on the market to get a better sale price and quicker purchase. If you absolutely can’t afford to paint the whole house, consider painting the shutters and front door for a fresher look.
• Make Friends with Mulch – If your green thumb is actually brown, and your garden sports a post-apocalyptic motif, consider the wonders of mulch.  It covers up that patch under the oak where the grass won’t grow. Buy a few simple plants and mulch around them to achieve a calm canvas on which gardeners can imagine more complex plantings, while those with challenged gardening skills can envision easy maintenance.

The theme of all these tips is to create an image of your home as a place of order, calm and cleanliness; a place where prospective home buyers feel comfortable and cozy.

Whether you’re ready to sell or need more information before taking the plunge, I can help. Give Charles D’Alessandro Your Brooklyn real estate agent with Fillmore Real Estate a call at 718/253-9600 ext 206 or email me at [email protected]

If you are on the verge of buying Brooklyn real estate, you’ve probably heard the term Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI). Mortgage professionals talk about it a great deal, but you may be asking, “What is it exactly? And why should I care?”

Private Mortgage Insurance Defined

PMI is required by lenders if the down payment of a purchase is less than 20 percent of the home’s value. It protects the lender if the borrower defaults on the loan. It also makes the lender more apt to loan, even if the down payment is as low as 3%, because in the long run, the lender’s investment is protected.

You Pay For It

Unlike other types of insurance which you pay to protect your interest in an asset, you pay Private Mortgage Insurance to the mortgage company to protect its interest in your new Brooklyn real estate. (Note that PMI is not usually tax deductible. Check with a tax professional for details. )

Make It Go Away: PMI Can Be Terminated Once You’ve Paid Down Your Loan

Once you pay down your mortgage to the point where it hits the magical 80% of the original purchase price or appraised value, whichever is less, you can request cancellation of PMI. The Homeowners Protection Act requires that loans made after 1999 include notifications to the borrower when you arrive at this point in your payments.

Your PMI payments must be automatically canceled once you pay down your loan to 78%. At closing, and on a yearly basis, you should receive information from your lender about when you can request cancellation.

Whether you’re ready to buy Brooklyn real estate or need more information before taking the plunge, I can help. Give me a call today Charles D’Alessandro Your Brooklyn real estate agent with Fillmore Real Estate at 718/253-9600 ext 206 or email me at [email protected],

Should You Rent or Buy a Brooklyn Home?

If you’re sitting in your apartment right now thinking: I wish I could paint it, but my lease doesn’t allow it, maybe it’s time to talk to a Brooklyn real estate agent about purchasing a new home.  Before you rush off to the store to look at paint samples or, more importantly, sign on the dotted line of any mortgages, consider the pros and cons of buying.

Pros

1. Financial Investment: Given the gloomy news on foreclosure rates across the country, it is easy to forget that buying Brooklyn real estate is also a means of saving and investing.  The money you pay in rent to your landlord goes to your landlord; the money you put toward a mortgage goes toward building equity in your home.
2. Pride of Ownership: By buying a home, you will be able to paint the interior walls any color, renovate to your heart’s content, put nails in the walls and know that it is truly your territory. As a homeowner, you have a level of control over your environment that renters lack.
3. Putting Down Roots: Purchasing Brooklyn real estate is a commitment to a community, akin to staking a flag in the ground.  You’re not just passing through, if you own your own home.  Most mortgages are 15 to 30 years.  Certainly, you can sell before that time is up, but with closing and moving costs and an uncertain market, the era of flipping houses for fun and profit is at a close. Buying your first home may involve considerations on other long-term decisions such as where you want to raise your children.

Cons

1. Additional Expenses: Even if the mortgage you secure on your home is less than your current rent, home ownership comes with a lot of extra bills. You may not have considered the cost of yearly real estate taxes, insurance, repairs, and maintenance.  If your water heater dies as a renter, your landlord is required to replace it.  As a homeowner, you’re looking at the time and expense of getting it replaced yourself.
2. Less Flexibility: Rental leases often include provisions for leaving before the termination of the lease.  So, if you’ve decide to accept a job offer in Paris, while you might lose some money in security deposits, you can sever your connection relatively easily. That’s not the case with a mortgage.  You are responsible for the payment on the mortgage whether you live in your home, rent it out while you’re in Paris or leave it vacant. Buying [city] real estate is a serious, long-term commitment.
3. Less Time: With most apartments, someone else is raking the leaves, shoveling the snow, mowing the lawn, and replacing that broken water heater.  As a homeowner, those duties would fall to you or someone you hire to tend to those issues.

Whether you’re ready to stop renting and buy a home or you need more information before taking the plunge, I can help. Give me a call today Charles D’Alessandro Your Brooklyn real estate agent with Fillmore Real Estate at 718/253-9600 ext 206 or email me at [email protected]

How to Sell a Haunted Brooklyn House

With Halloween right around the corner, you’re probably planning costumes, decorating for fall and maybe becoming aware of eerie home happenings that you wouldn’t normally notice. While the prospect of living in a haunted home could be scary to some, the idea of selling spooked Brooklyn real estate might be even more horrifying!

Rumored ghosts and past suspicious incidents could result in your home being moved from buyers’ purchase lists to their black lists. If you or your neighbors believe your home is haunted, take the following ghost-busting tactics into consideration before you put it on the market.

Follow the law – If you think your home is haunted, consult with a Brooklyn real estate agent to ensure you’re following the law. Every state’s legal procedures are different. You could be obligated to notify potential buyers or face legal ramifications down the road — or you may not have to utter a word.

• Squash the rumors – If you don’t think your home is haunted but others do, it falls into the category of stigmatized property, which includes all houses with perceived problems. Talk openly and lightheartedly about the rumored problems, and put an end to scary stories. Also, host a ton of open houses so buyers can experience the home’s aura for themselves.
• Seek out professional haunting help – Believe it or not, some mediums make a living from clearing houses of negative energy, ghosts or whatever you want to call the eerie feeling people get inside your home. If your Brooklyn real estate agent can tout that you’ve had your home cleansed of negative energy by professionals, you might be one step closer to a closing date.
• Reduce and be rid – You might just have to bite the bullet and reduce the price drastically. The goal is to entice an investor who isn’t planning on actually living in the home, but has other plans for it.

If the cat’s out of the bag about your home for sale being haunted, please call me at Charles D’Alessandro Your Brooklyn real estate agent with Fillmore Real Estate at 718/253-9600 ext 206 or email me at [email protected], for more ghost-busting information.

What to do with those Outdated Items in your Brooklyn Home

If your Brooklyn home is starting to look like a landfill, you’re not alone. You’d like to get rid of all the old stuff you don’t use anymore, but you want to be responsible and don’t know where to take it, right?

Here are some of the most common obsolete items and ideas on what to do with them.

·        Technotrash: This is computer-related waste, VHS tapes, cassette tapes, CDs, DVDs and other obsolete accessories.  A company called GreenDisk can handle all your technotrash disposal needs by safely and securely destroying your old data, recovering reusable components, and recycling all of the rest of your accumulated technotrash.

• Old electronics: Also known as e-waste, this includes old appliances, TVs and monitors that contain valuable metals that can be recycled, along with other hazardous heavy metals that need to be handled responsibly. Many communities sponsor an E-waste Day, when everyone can bring their old appliances in for safe disposal. Some retailers have recycling programs where you can earn gift cards by trading in old electronics.
• Shoes: Don’t trash those outdated shoes or ones you just don’t wear anymore. Soles4Souls is a charity that wants all gently-worn shoes. You can find drop-off locations near your Brooklyn home. The shoes will be sent to people in need around the world.
• Old medicines: If you have medications that are past their expiration date or that you don’t want or need any longer, don’t flush them. Drugs are becoming a serious problem in water supplies and groundwater.  You can now buy a postage-paid envelope to responsibly dispose of many prescriptions and over-the-counter drugs. The Dispose My Meds program is an online resource to help you find local pharmacies that will take back expired or unwanted drugs.

Now that you know where to take your old obsolete stuff, you’re well on your way to getting your Brooklyn home clean and de-cluttered. If your next step is to get it on the market, I can help with that too! Contact me call today Charles D’Alessandro Your Brooklyn real estate agent with Fillmore Real Estate at 718/253-9600 ext 206 or email me at [email protected],

When a buyer makes a short sale offer on your Brooklyn home, it’s impossible to know for sure if the offer will be accepted by the lender.  Even when you’ve negotiated the offer with the buyer and come to an agreement that meets both of your needs, there’s still no guarantee that the lender will say yes to the short sale.

Here are three tips to help get short sale offers on your Brooklyn home accepted by the lender:

1. Convince the lender that you have a legitimate hardship. Submit a hardship letter, pay stubs, bank statements, monthly budget and profit and loss statement to demonstrate that you cannot make your monthly payments and have no disposable income. Here are examples of hardships to mention in your letter:
   1. lost your job
   2. reduced hours/pay at current job
   3. have to move more than 75 miles from home to get a new job
   4. death of a borrower
   5. divorce
   6. onset of a disabling illness

1. Negotiate with the buyer to exclude terms and contingencies that complicate the sale. Lenders do not like to accept short sales when they include time contingencies or when the short sale is contingent on the sale of another home.

1. Submit paperwork as a complete package. Ask your lender for a list of all documents needed. Fill out the paperwork and collect all other documents required. Make copies of everything. Put together a complete package, including all the documents your lender requested, and only then send the entire package to your lender. If the lender later tells you they can’t find a particular document, don’t waste your time arguing about it, just resend the information – it’s easy to do because you already have copies prepared!

If you’d like more information on the possibility of selling your Brooklyn home as a short sale, give me a call today Charles D’Alessandro Your Brooklyn real estate agent with Fillmore Real Estate at 718/253-9600 ext 206 or email me at [email protected],

Charles D'Alessandro your Brooklyn New York real estate agent

Before you put your home on the market, you want to make certain that it’s in tip-top condition to ensure a quick sale. The key to listing your home at a competitive price and guaranteeing you have what buyers are looking for is to think like a Brooklyn  real estate agent. To get your Brooklyn home ready to sell, here are five easy and inexpensive home improvements this Brooklyn real estate agent recommends: Layout – Take an objective look at your home and stage accordingly. Remove clutter and rearrange furniture so that potential buyers can envision each room’s purpose. Also, store any obtrusive furniture that disrupts walking flow or makes rooms look smaller.

1. Hardware – Update all hardware. Changing out door handles, drawer pulls and light fixtures is an easy way to modernize your home while costing little money.
2. Charm – Play up the unique features of your home. Refinish hardwood floors if scuffed, remove excess objects from built-in bookshelves and clean unique light fixtures. It’s these irreplaceable elements that make your home stand out from other homes and hook buyers.
3. Scent – Eliminate all bad odors like pet smells, stale cooking odors and cigarette smoke.  Just lighting candles or spraying air freshener won’t work.  Clean, deodorize and get rid of rugs or other cloth objects that still smell bad.
4. Curb Appeal – Spend some time sprucing up the yard. It’s the first impression buyers will have, and although the house might be in mint condition, a lots-of-work lawn could instill a negative notion before they even step a foot inside your home.

Buyers’ needs vary in every market. However, buyers will always consider these five features before they buy. So, stay one step ahead of the game and ensure your house is up to par with buyers’ expectations. If you’re getting ready to sell your home and are looking for a Brooklyn real estate agent who can help you sell your home fast and for top-dollar, I’d be honored to be interviewed for the job.  Give me a call today  Charles D’Alessandro Your Brooklyn real estate agent with Fillmore Real Estate at 718/253-9600 ext 206 or email me at [email protected],

Divorce and Your Brooklyn Real Estate

Divorce is hard enough without having to deal with the frustration of dividing assets. However, when it comes to valuable items such as property, you need to make sure you’re taking the logistical steps necessary to appraise and distribute your Brooklyn real estate.

Determining Value of your Brooklyn Home

• Hire a real estate appraiser – If you and your soon-to-be ex can’t come to an agreement on the value of your home, then you might want to consider employing an appraiser to come to a decision for you.
• Get help from a real estate agent – A more cost-effective, but maybe not the most precise, way to determine the value of your property is to ask a Brooklyn New York real estate agents to estimate the cost. They’ll usually charge you little to nothing, and you can use this as a way to interview real estate agents to sell your home.

Evaluating Equity of your Brooklyn home

• Calculate the true value – Computing the equity of your home is essential to figuring out how much it’s worth. Take the home’s value and subtract how much you still owe in mortgages, equity loans and secured lines of credit.
• Figure out non-marital vs. marital equity – In equitable property states, non-marital equity (such as assets acquired before marriage, prenuptial exclusions, gifts, personal injury settlements and inheritance) remains yours and is set aside from the communal marital assets.

Dividing Assets

• Know the difference between the title and mortgage – Many people try to have their name removed from the title thinking it will exempt them from the debt of the mortgage — this is incorrect. The title lists the legal owner and the mortgage lists parties responsible for payment. If one party is awarded the home, then you must refinance for it to be reflected on the mortgage.
• Sell and divide the proceeds – Put your home on the market for an immediate sale, and after all the costs have been deducted, divide what’s left.

When dividing assets during a divorce, an immediate sale isn’t the only option. You can award the house to one party and compensate the other with money or other valuable assets.

If you’re going through a divorce and need help deciding how to proceed with your [city] real estate, I’m happy to help.  Call  Charles D’Alessandro Your Brooklyn real estate agent with Fillmore Real Estate at 718/253-9600 ext 206 or email me at [email protected],