Ruthie's Corner

4 Tips for Saving Money for your 1st Home Saving money is never easy. When you’re hoping to purchase your first home, saving is a necessity! Try these cost-saving tips and soon you’ll have a nest egg to put toward your new place. 1.  Make a budget and stick to it . Consumer.gov has tips for making a budget. Create your budget and then commit to sticking to it (knowing that hard work will pay off when you find that beautiful home to call your own)! Be sure to track what you spend. And make sure to avoid any unnecessary spending – this is not the time to be buying a new car or making any similar large purchase. 2.  Talk to a lender about what you can afford . I know it’s exciting to go out looking at homes. But before doing so, you owe it to yourself to speak to a lender. Your lender will ask about your income and expenses and, within about 10 minutes, will be able to calculate what you can afford. Your lender can also help lay out all expenses associated with ...

Why Now Is The Time To Buy If you have been considering purchasing a home, you may be curious to know if this is the right time in the market to make your move. The market is fast changing, with new laws coming into play, interest rates are constantly rising, and a whole slew of things buyers have to face when it comes time to picking the right house. What does that mean for you? Well, that there isn't a better time to buy than now. Let's break down the benefits of purchasing a home now, instead of waiting.    1. INTEREST RATES ARE SOARING If you haven't been keeping up with the real estate market, you might be missing out on the data around interest rates. They are going up, and they are going up fast. 5% may not seem like a lot, but can be the difference between hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars on what you are paying out towards your loan on a monthly basis. Would you want to pay an extra $200 towards interest for your...

Don't Replace Your Agent With The Internet With the influx of new technology and web based solutions, it isn't a surprise that everything is moving fast into the era of the internet. From sites like Uber to Grubhub, we generally can pull up our phones or laptops to order what we want with ease. And with every industry being revolutionized by technology, the same methods are "attempting" to be applied to the real estate industry.  We could all agree that the simplification of the process through paperwork would be much appreciated by agents and buyers/sellers alike; but the attempt of replacing the agent by sites like Zillow and other third party resources, can lead to a snowball affect of disaster. Think about real estate being smack dab in the middle of fast food and a doctor. You can use your mobile device to quickly place your order for a $20 meal, but when it comes to getting a surgery, you'll want to put that phone...

My Niche What is my niche?  A tough question for me to answer but I will give it a shot. I have found that I really enjoy working with land. Any type of land! I love going out and looking at the views and the potential that piece of land holds. I am not sure that is because I am a rancher and I love to see my cows out in the pasture or if I just like land but regardless that is what I put the most effort into.             I think one aspect that sets me apart from other agents is I am always willing to learn. I enjoy taking classes and talking to the older more seasoned agents to get their advice and wisdom. I research a lot on many of the parcels of land for sale in my area and I enjoy driving by them and seeing what my clients might see. With land in my area there are a lot of regulations regarding the water and usage depending on the area it is in. To water livestock out of a domestic well you must have 35 acres or mo...

7 Steps to Take Before You Buy a Home By doing your homework before you buy, you’ll feel more content about your new home. Read Visit houselogic.com for more articles like this. Copyright 2015 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® ...