Homeownership Tax Deductions

It's not just that Interest Rates are low. It's not just that home prices remain low.
You can also reduce your taxes owning a home.

For more information on Homeowner Tax Deductions, click here

There are so many good reasons to move from renting to owning your home. Call me, email me or check out my website and let me work with you to get you a home that meets your needs!

Homes for Sale in the 10th and Page Neigborhood

Homes for Sale in Belmont in Charlottesville, VA

Condos and Townhomes for Sale in Charlottesville, VA

Quinton Beckham
The Beckham Team
Keller Williams Realty
3510 Remson Court, Suite 301
Charlottesville VA, 22901
quintonbeckham@me.com
434.242.6212
www.thebeckhamteam.com

What does 2015 Hold for the Real Estate Market.

I was talking with a client this weekend who asked me what I saw in my crystal ball for real estate in 2015. Truth is, I don't own a crystal ball. I don't even own anything that could be called crystal. Nevertheless, predicting what is to come is an age-old tradition amongst real estate agents that has become only more complicated in the information age.

We have lots of sources of information and there is a tendency to think that we can truly narrow and predict everything that is going to happen for a particular piece of property at the drop of a hat. That's not true. In fact, I would wager a lot of it is crystal ball chicanery designed to make us look smarter than the average bear and 'seal the deal' with a particular client. Now, that's not to say that all of it is verbal sleight of hand.

So here are a few predictions that have a very high likelihood of being true both here in the Charlottesville Real Estate Market as well as the Nation as a whole.

Millenials are Moving into the Market

The tried and true generation that has fueled the market up to now has been Baby Boomers. This is an easy thing to say as they have been the largest percent of the working / consuming population for decades. They placed a much higher value on being in one city for life and it showed in their propensity to buy a home and settle down. But that's not so true today. The largest cohort of population by age group is 23-year-olds. Followed closely by 24 and 22-year-olds. This is a huge number of people who are in the age bracket where they married and start families or choose places to settle down and work a job for a while. As this groups gathers their buying power they can make an impact in the market and help to push up home prices a small amount over the next decade. 

Where we live is changing as a Nation

As the average age of home buyers begins to drop, the places they buy are changing as well. This generation is noted for wanting to live in smaller, more efficient, more green homes. They do not believe that those homes are solely located in rural areas but are looking for easier access to the city, decreased reliance on cars for transportation and more urban areas. Ass to this that New construction remains at all time lows and there is simply not as much housing available in suburbs and rural areas for first time home buyers to buy. 

Mortgage Rates will Rise. 

They will, I swear. I know, I know; we said that in 2014 and it didn't really happen. But it is coming. I think people who are a little younger than I do not remember the 80's. In the 80's I bought a house and got a mortgage rate of 14%. All of my friends were so impressed I got a rate that low! So here's the low down. When rates go up, how much house you can afford goes down. By a lot. And it's coming. Maybe in a small dose this time around but it will continue. It's the way of the world that as the markets improve the rates go up. And the market has very little else to do after the crash than improve. Some of the rate increase will be offset for FHA borrowers in the decrease in costs for Mortgage Insurance Premiums that FHA is enacting. 

Home Prices will go up, but not as much as you think

Once the market began to recover home prices JUMPED up at a pretty good rate. This was mostly rebound; markets trying to get back to something close to their original value. I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, but that's over. Now we are back to something more normal. Normal meaning something before the market went crazy with unsustainable growth. If you're selling, however much you may read blurbs that say home prices are up 10%, it's just not true. At least not how you think. Average home prices may be going up a lot, but the average home values are not going up that fast. The prices are climbing faster because we have fewer and fewer distressed, foreclosed or short sale properties on the market. So now, if you want a $400,000 home you actually have to pay $400,000 for it. This raises the median price. The values are not climbing that fast. They are starting to stabilize and their growth will be largely dependent on the demand and the economy. 

And of course, if you want to buy or sell a home in the Greater Charlottesville area, then I want to help you. 

Belmont Homes for Sale in Charlottesville 

Luxury Homes for Sale in the Charlottesville / Albemarle Area

Quinton Beckham

Keller Williams Realty 

3510 Remson Court, #301

Charlottesville VA, 22901

www.thebeckhamteam.com

The Most Important Client in the World

Who's the Most Important Client in the World? 

I find myself in lots of conversations with other agents lately about whether what our industry is composed of 'sales professionals' or 'service professionals.' This is a very telling conversation. Many agents across the country have built million dollar businesses by consistently applying proven sales models to their businesses. Their contact network grows and as a result of that their volumes grow and they hire additional help (which they do carefully to get talented people) to handle the increased number of clients successfully.

I have no issues with this whatsoever. You do have to plan your business and get help in order to grow and when managed correctly, the growth results in improved service for your clients. It's something I have frequent dreams of. I would love to spend the day working with clients on important things like choosing the home that truly meets their needs. A place that they can spend the next ten or twenty years in. I want to help people who are retiring get the best return on the home they are selling that is now bigger and costlier than they really need and spend time with them to really know what they are planning for their life so I can do my part even better. 

When I have these sales vs. service conversations, I think back on my favorite parts of this profession and wonder, what part of all this is actually sales? I mean, there are certainly portions that are sales. When you want to sell your house I have to get the word out there that its for sale. I need to have good timing with then it goes on the market and know the neighborhood and market as a whole to get you buyers who are ready to buy and wanting your house. Definitely sales. But not at all what I spend the majority of my time on. 

Good agents spend the majority of their time on predicting the "bumps in the road" for their clients and taking action to smooth those out before they are on the horizon. Good agents spend time with their clients to find out what they actually are wanting and helping them get there. When yo want to buy a house you are not just making an investment in your family's future; you have an image in your head of the life that you want. Room for the kids to play and not be so cramped that every morning isn't a jumble of backpacks and stepped-on-toes and dropped lunches. You want a dining room for holiday dinners. Do you want to spend your weekends walking the Downtown Mall or roller skating at Carver gym on a Friday night? Do you picture a yard where you play soccer with the kids or a place that you plant your own vegetables every spring? 

These are all important things when determining your overall satisfaction with a house. Sometimes its even telling a client that they can't have it all. These take time. These are not about the next sale or lead or client. These are about you, the client. 

I believe that this is what makes us a service industry. 

When you are in the sales industry, the most important client in the world is the next one.

When you are in the service industry, the most important client in the world is the one I am sitting across from right now. 

Homes for sale in the Belmont Neighborhood of Charlottesville 

Homes for Sale in the Cherry Hill Neighborhood of Charlottesville 

If you are looking to buy or sell a home in the Charlottesville Area, I would be very happy to help you. 

Quinton Beckham

Keller Williams Realty

3510 Remson Court, Suite 301

Charlottesville VA, 22901

quintonbeckham@me.com

Cell: 434.242.6212

www.thebeckhamteam.com 

51 Ways to Make Your Home Sell Faster - Tip #6

In our ongoing series on 51 Ways to Make your Home Sell Faster we now reach Tip #6



Homes for Sale in Charlottesville, VA
Homes for Sale in Belmont 
Luxury Homes for Sale in Charlottesville, VA

Quinton Beckham
Keller Williams Realty - Charlottesville
1885 Seminole Trail, Suite 100
Charlottesville, VA 22901
434.242.6212
www.select-homes-charlottesville.com

Think you can't get a home loan? Think again

I think what is probably the most frequent fear of first time home buyers - or rather, those who dream of being first time home buyers - is that they won't be able to qualify for a mortgage.

I think most of us have been there at one time or another; whether you were a teen-ager sitting across from the car salesman or you have just been through the wringer with the economy and are trying to get out of paying high rents for something that is not yours, the fear of being turned town for a mortgage can paralyze you into not even trying.
Just this week I had a meeting with  a family that was in a similar position. They had owned a home that was their 'dream home.' But then there was a flood. After the flood there was mold. The wife slipped and fractured her hip, requiring she be on temporary disability for six months. When they went to call their homeowner's insurance company, the company didn't know who they were. Lo and behold, after having had their mortgage sold off from company to the next a few times, there had been a mix up and the premiums that should have been protecting their home against just such a disaster were not being paid by the latest company to own their home.
After numerous phone calls and an attorney they did the only thing they could do to escape the black mold that was rising out of the basement and into their home: they left.

They called me not too long ago after having found me online and you could hear the emotion over the phone as they told me their story. They had left the home they owned and moved into a home that they are still leasing, but now the owner of the home that they are leasing wants to sell and they need a place to live. After talking to them I explained that the best thing to do was to come in to the office, meet with our mortgage officer - movement mortgage, a great company that we work with who keeps an office right with us to help our clients - and to just take a look and see what things looked like.
The couple was nearly tearful as they explained their story to us and gave us permission to check into their credit history and see what was possible.
Lo and behold, they are not that bad off. Yes, their old home shows negatively on their credit, but it was nearly three years ago that this happened and otherwise, they have good income, decent credit and can make some small changes that will allow us to get them into a home of their very own. Many handshakes and hugs later, they left with a plan to do some simple things to raise their credit scores and help them put money away to pay closing costs. It helped too that the husband had served in the Marines and they qualified for a VA loan.
In about three or four months, we should be able to have them in a home that they can own again, along with all of the tax advantages that go along with it and the simple pride of having a place to call their own.
What's the moral of this story? Simply this: No matter how bad you think things are, not taking the time to pre-qualify always works against you. Even the worst of credit can be repaired and a good lender has loan officers that can give you a plan, a time line and some hope. And who knows who these loan officers are? You REALTOR.
Think you can't buy a home because of your credit, you income or your past? You might be surprised. But you won't know if you don't ask.

If you want to know if you can own a home of your own, call me, I can help.

Homes for Sale in the Belmont Neighborhood of Charlottesville, VA
Homes for Sale in the Rugby Neighborhood of Charlottesville, VA
Resources and tips for Home Sellers in Charlottesville

Quinton Beckham
Keller Williams Realty Charlottesville
1885 Seminole Trail, Suite 100
Charlottesville, VA 22901
434.242.6212
www.select-homes-charlotteville.com

It's About Community... And Brunch

Most Real Estate Agents will spend time talking to you about your neighborhood or your community. That's our job - to know the neighborhoods and to help you find not just a house, but a home. When you think about it, that's really a tall order. If you take a minute and search the internet there is a ton of poetry, essays and commentary about what makes a house a home.

Depending on who you read or what your particular bent is, homes are made by having our families in them, by having the lawn and landscaping be perfect, by decorating and entertaining or by the community itself - whether we all go to the same church, like the same sports team or maybe just that we can go next door and borrow a rake or a shovel, a cup of sugar or a serving dish when we need one. No matter which of the many things make you think of your house as a home, it all means having a place where we help make the lives of the people around us better.

Richard, Chris and Keira

On Saturday I got to have brunch at La Taza in Belmont with a few of the people who help make me feel like I am home. They are an incredible bunch who have one thing in common - they all participate in a bicycle ride that covers about 425 miles between Burlington, VT and Portland, ME every year in August. And they have been doing it for over a decade. The ride is called the Charity Treks Ride and details can be found at www.charitytreks.org.

Steve "Wonderdog"

Charity Treks' first ride was in 2002 when a group of people came together to raise money by riding bicycles and raising money to help fund research by the UCLA AIDS Institute and the Emory Vaccine Center that brings us closer each year to finding a vaccine for HIV. They come from all walks of life and all across the country. Richard is from Sacramento. Mark, Aims, Kat, Peter and Chris are from here in Charlottesville, Steve is from Montana. Over the years, along with a few hundred of others, we have ridden literally thousands of miles together and raised over a million dollars that have gone on to provide seed grants to researchers who have leveraged that money into tens of millions of dollars in funding from NIH and other groups - all towards a cure for a pandemic that no continent, no race - no neighborhood - has managed to hide from.

There is no way to explain the sense of family we have built in a short blog posting. They are not necessarily my neighbors but the group has formed many bonds over the decade+ that we have all spent time on the road together; and though no one comes knocking on your tent flap asking for a cup of sugar or to borrow a rake (yes, we camp for the five days it takes to bicycle that far) there is plenty of sharing and being a small, mobile community whose goal is to make the world a little better, a little easier to smile in, a little less scary. And that isn't what community really is about anyways? We find it surrounded by people that we both expect and surprise us, in ways both common and unique, but in the end, we all find it when we set out to make a difference and find that there are others who want to make a difference too.

I am riding in August to support research into a Vaccine against HIV, if you would like to support me in this cause, CLICK HERE
My goal this year is to raise $5000 - I have $4300 dollars to go!

And since I am still a Real Estate Agent,
Click Here to See homes for Sale in Belmont
Click Here to See homes for Sale in Charlottesville

Quinton Beckham
Keller Williams Realty
434.242.6212
www.select-homes-charlottesville.com

Let's Talk about Short Sales... But only for 2013

While perusing Facebook and catching up in what my friends across the country were doing I ran across one Tucker Griffin and Barnes' postings which talked about the Debt Forgiveness Act. Forgive me if I sound like I am quoting, and I guess in many ways I am, but Bill tucker is a lawyer in Charlottesville with over 30 years experience leading the Firm's Real Estate Group in all manner of Real Estate related issues. Tucker Griffin and Barnes is an excellent firm with a stellar reputation that, despite being a full service law firm, has managed to stay focused on their community.

Homes for Sale in the Belmont Neighborhood of Charlottesville

What he pointed out in this posting was that the Debt Forgiveness Act has been extended to December 31, 2013. This allows homeowners who are are at risk of foreclosure - upside down on their mortgages and going through financial issues that could make them fall behind on payments - to have an opportunity to sell the home they are in while avoiding being taxed on the "forgiven" debt. This is an incredible boon to any family that is feeling trapped in a home that they bought at the peak of the market that they can no longer keep up with after the recession.

For the full posting from Tucker, Griffin and Barnes, click here. 

If you or someone you know is falling behind on their mortgage payments or at risk of foreclosure, a short sale offers you unique opportunities to get a fresh start without having to file bankruptcy or pay an enormous tax bill. For more information, contact me at 434.242.6212 and I strongly recommend that you read the link above.

Condominiums for sale in the City of Charlottesville

If you are looking to Buy a Home, Sell a Home or Invest in Real Estate, call me -

Quinton Beckham
Keller Williams  Realty
434.242.6212
www.select-homes-charlottesville.com

Mortgage Rates Decline - Home Buyers Rise

If you were paying attention this week you saw that mortgage rates declined once again. A 30-year fixed rate had risen to 3.56% but yesterday reached the low of 3.51 - just a few tenths of a point from the all time low of 3.31% (click here for the full article from USA TODAY.) New home sales jumped 16% in January over December and the number of people who signed contracts to purchase resale homes also rose, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Following this increase in demand, home prices also rose. All based on purchasing power.

NAR tracks the Pending Home Sales Index which measures the number of homes that are placed under contract. Although this does not measure actual sales, it is a good indicator of consumer confidence. This has seen a relatively steady climb over the last 12 months with a good jump in January. NAR offers this data to the public and you can view it by clicking here. Additionally, overall financial forecasts remain on the upswing with unemployment dropping, mortgage rates making modest climbs to reach break into the 4% territory in the fourth quarter of the year. This data can be seen by clicking here.

Overall, this continues to be a good home buying season for everyone involved with rising home prices benefitting sellers, decreasing unemployment putting cash in the hands of more consumers and low mortgage rates keeping homes affordable for anyone who is seeking to upgrade their home or get out of renting and become a homeowner.

If you are interested in becoming one of those homeowners, click this link to see all properties for sale in the City of Charlottesville, Virginia.

If you have questions on buying or selling a home, you can check out my website or contact me directly at 434.242.6212

Quinton Beckham
Keller Williams Realty
434.242.6212
www.select-homes-charlottesville.com

Believe it or not, it's a good time to sell

In case you haven't noticed, Winter is winding it's way to a close and Spring is just around the corner. And as plants get ready to end their restless slumber and spring forward into the air, home buyers are stirring too. Spurred on by forecasted changes in mortgages rates and pending changes in FHA rules and costs, home buyers are seeking to get a home before the prices have fully recovered and while mortgage rates remain at their historic lows.

What they are finding is this: There aren't a lot of homes on the market.

While new home sales are starting to pick up again, builders remain cautious and many homeowners are still underwater on their mortgages making selling their home something that they are not optimistic about. The nation now has a 4.2 month supply of homes on the market; meaning that if sales continued at their current rate, we would be out of homes in 4.2 months.

Nationwide, nearly 28% of homeowners owe more than their home is worth, according to data from market watcher Zillow. And if you look at homeowners who don't have at least 20% in equity, that number climbs to 45%. So what does this mean for you?

Click here to see Homes for Sale in Charlottesville

For buyers

If you have been thinking that now is the time to get the best mortgage rates and better pricing per square foot on a home of your own, you are right. The market made a lot of gains last year but homes can still be found that are a great deal and the low mortgage rates mean that you can afford more home for your monthly payment. Some buyers who wouldn't have even been able to qualify for a mortgage of $250,000 because of interest rates making their monthly debt too high five years ago are finding that they CAN qualify because the payments are actually less than what many of them are paying for rent. It's still a great time to buy, but if you see that home that meets 90% of your needs, you better jump on it, there just aren't a lot homes out there and finding that "perfect" home in the price range you can afford isn't likely to happen. 

For Sellers

If you have some equity or just have a real reason to move, then you shouldn't wait. You are much more likely to get close to your asking price now than if you wait until the market picks up in Spring and Summer and the competition grows. Although many buyers are aware of the lack of inventory, they are not wanting to wait and maybe miss a chance to make a great buy at a low interest rate. Listing now can make you one of the few homes available that many buyers are in competition for. Add that to the fact that the REO or distressed home market (those in short sales or foreclosures) is drying up, and you have an opportunity to snag that smart buyer who knows today's market conditions won't last. 

Click here to see what your Charlottesville Home is Worth

For the complete article in USA TODAY, click here

Call me for more information on making the market work for you,

Quinton Beckham
Keller Williams Realty
434.242.6212
www.select-homes-charlottesville.com