Harrisburg real estate market thru Sept 2016

Remember that 6 months supply is considered a balanced market

Remember that a 6 Month supply is considered a balanced market.  

To see how this impacts the home you want to sell or buy, just call, text or email

Local Home Prices this year v last

Here are the average prices of homes that SOLD in Cumberland and Dauphin Counties.

If you are interested in how this affects the home you are considering buying or selling just call text or email.

That Home Inventory We've been putting off

Tips to Effectively Cataloging Your Many Possessions

Realty Times Staff 08/15/2014Do you ever look around your house and think “Man, I’ve got a lot of stuff”? From the obvious things like televisions, computers and appliances to the things tucked away in cupboards and closets like pots and pans and personal paperwork, chances are good you own hundreds, if not thousands of things. While we’ve been advised over and over to back up our important personal data on our computers and tablets so we don’t lose dozens of baby pictures or our entire collection of music on iTunes, PC Mag notes it’s also extremely important to create an inventory of our possessions. If the worst happens and your home catches fire, a burglar breaks in or there’s a natural disaster, having a complete list of your belongings will make the entire insurance process go a lot smoother. For example, the Quote Wizard website features a helpful article about actual cash value versus replacement cost for your things; in order to effectively determine this, you have to have a handle on what you own in the first place. In addition, some people like to have a running inventory of their stuff just to know what they have and where they can find it. The following tips can help people started on the road to cataloguing their possessions: Think about getting help from an app In order to catalog your items, you’ll need to decide the best way to do it. Although you might imagine yourself wandering through your home or apartment equipped with a pen and notepad writing down things like “big screen TV” and “blue couch from Ikea,” this system will probably be much more time-consuming and tedious than you realize. Fortunately, there are a variety of handy apps that can help you keep track of your many possessions. For example, MyStuff 2, will help to keep tabs of your electronics, appliances, jewelry and more, and it features a handy barcode scanning tool. The app is available for iOS and has no limits on the number of items you can enter. Another great app is called Visual Inventory, which allows you to take photos of your many items and then tag them appropriately. This app is available for free for iOS users, an a similar one called Visual Home Inventory is free for Android. Capture your possessions on film As Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association notes, another effective way to document all of your belongings is by taking pictures or videos. You can either walk from room to room videotaping your items and narrating what they are, including important registration codes and other data, or you can take and then print out numerous photos of your things, and write down what they are and other important data on the back of each snapshot. Take it slowly, and room by room To avoid feeling overwhelmed by the inventory process, remind yourself that it is not a task that needs to be finished in a day or even a week. Set aside some time each day for cataloguing your stuff, and take it room by room or even closet by closet. Once you have finished your list, keep in mind that it will need to be updated as you get new things or discard other stuff, so make sure you can access it as needed. Today's Local Market Conditions Report

Financial Considerations When Thinking about Home Ownership

Click the pig

For Sellers wondering about the impact of the Zillow Tulia tie up on my business

Zillow/Trulia provides marketing and computerized prices.

I help you to understand what the numbers mean and guide you through the ever more complex process

Home Sales Prices this year versus last

Home sale prices in the Harrisburg market 2013 v 2014 depend on where the home is located. For once that river really is a dividing line.

What the Federal Reserve found as the impact of home ownership on net worth

To see the impact they found just click the picture below. Then let me know what you think.

Paying off Your Mortgage Early

Paying off your Mortgage Early

If you are looking to pay off your mortgage earlier than you had initially planned, there are multiple ways to get this done. Before doing any of them, however, you should check with your bank to make sure there are no hidden fees or charges for paying early.

Refinance your Mortgage

A good way to put a dent into paying off a 30-year mortgage is to refinance it into a 20-or-15-year loan. 15-year mortgages are the most popular, as there is considerably less mortgage interest in the long run. Be sure before making the change that you are financially able to do so, as changing to a 15-year loan commits you to higher monthly payments. If you are unsure about your financial ability to change to a 15-year, try staying on your 30-year loan and make payments as though you are on the 15-year one. This decreases the amount of time on your mortgage without adding the risk of a late payment.

Add a Little Extra

One of the best ways to pay your mortgage off early is to pay a little bit more where you can afford it. You can either do this by adding a set amount every month, or even just by rounding up every month. Even adding an extra 6 dollars to your monthly payments on a 200,000 dollar 30-year loan will save you 4 payments in the end. Make sure before doing this that you check your contract for any prepayment penalties.

Unexpected Money

Adding a little bit extra every month is great, but another option to keep in mind is adding any unexpected or extra cash flow to your payment. This can include anything from tax refunds or work bonuses to inheritances and investment earnings. This way it doesn’t feel like you are paying as much as long as you do not rely on that money.

Bi-weekly Payments

In Australia, people make bi-weekly half-payments on their mortgages. Why does this make any difference? Well, there are 12 months in a year, so most people will be paying 12 months worth of their loan. Someone who is paying half of their loan every other week, however, will be paying 13 months of their mortgage since there are 52 weeks in a year. This allows you to pay more of your loan off without feeling like you are paying more than you were before.

Other Options

These are great ways to cut down on the amount of time you have a mortgage, but there are many other ways as well. These include doubling up on your monthly payment 4 times a year and a money merge account. Money merge accounts should only be used by people who really understand cash management. If using any of the above options, it’s a good idea to get statements from your bank showing how much is still owed and also to make sure that any extra payments are going towards your principal and not being saved until the following year.

Harrisburg PA home sale prices 2014 v 2013

Here is where house prices have gone so far this year compared to last year.

When you would like to see what this means for your unique Selling or Buying situation, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me.

Harrisburg Market Absorption through June

A lot of indication of close to a balanced market (6 month supply) in both Cumberland and Dauphin Counties

When you would like to zero in on what this means to your unique situation, just call or email me.