Closing at the Hospital - An Emond Team Client Story

At closings, us REALTORS are usually just there to smile, tell jokes, and answer questions.

 

At the closing with Dusty and Maggie, I got to do a whole lot more!

With another child on the way and a move from Georgia, Dusty and Maggie were looking for that family home close to Rapid City with a yard.  We found a home with plenty of bedrooms and space in a Black Hawk neighborhood.

Part of the financing required signatures from Dusty’s father who was still on the east coast.  Easy stuff with our digital signature system!

With closing just a few days away, I got the word Maggie was in labor.

Fortunately, the Title Company was gracious enough to come to the hospital.  We had a closing in the delivery recovery room.

While Dusty and Maggie signed, I got my baby fix in holding the newborn (after 4 kids, I didn’t want any more…but holding a new one is always amazing!).  I even sent pictures to my wife so she’d get jealous!

That was one of my favorite closings.  So many great memories!

No matter your situation, we do everything we can to accommodate what you need and make your home buying experience an AMAZING one.

You deserve an awesome real estate experience!  Schedule a time to have coffee with us:

https://www.mindfullivingrealtyrc.com/free-coffee-on-us

Rock on!!

Buyers Become Sellers And Move On - An Emond Team Client Story

5 years ago, Greg and Heather were referred to me by a mutual military friend.

There was a little culture shock as we began looking for homes.  After being in South Carolina with their large entryways, smooth walls, and white trim, our textured walls and popcorn ceilings weren’t what they were hoping for.  We even talked with a builder about no texture on the walls.  The estimate back from the mud guys was a considerable sum…

It took some time to get used to homes in our area, but they did find a home with a 3 car garage they loved.

Here they began their family with a baby girl and kitten!

Duty would call again, however, sending Greg south.

They took great care of their home.  The pictures and videos looked so great!  But they endured more unexpected twists and turns than most sellers should.

First, there was the slow market showings in their neighborhood.

Next, we received a sight unseen offer with a home viewing contingency – meaning they could back out if they weren’t satisfied with the house after viewing it.

Sure enough, when the buyers came up 2 weeks later, they decided the home wasn’t for them.

Buyer 1 – gone.

The next offer came in a week later.  That weekend I got the call….they buyer had suddenly lost her job.

Buyer 2 – busted.

You’d think 3^rd time is the charm, right?  Yeah, us too.

3^rd offer in and accepted.  Another call that weekend.  The buyer’s husband had committed suicide.

WHAT?  Crazy?  I’ve ever had such weird, un-avoidable experiences with a seller before – all in the space of a month.

Buyer 3 – sadly gone.

The 4^th offer did finally get closed.  Even after a sideways blowing snowstorm and 3 feet of snow in the driveway a few days before close.

Through it all, Greg and Heather were calm, understanding, and maybe more sympathetic than they needed to be.  We were even a bit scared what might happen to the 4^th buyer after everything that happened!

We’ll miss them around.  Always fun to talk to and watch their family grow.

Life is unexpected.  Curve balls get thrown at you.  You can’t control everything.

But patience and perseverance will always win the day. 

We at the Emond Team are here to help you through your real estate transactions – no matter what gets thrown at us. Schedule a time to have coffee on us!

https://www.mindfullivingrealtyrc.com/free-coffee-on-us/

Buying A Home Should Be Fun - An Emond Team Client Story

Buying A Home Should Be Fun
An Emond Team Client Story

“Yellow Car!”

I glanced sideways from driving to the next home I was showing Alex and Brittani to see what that was all about.

Alex, in the back seat, swore under his breath.  In the next moment, blurted out “Yellow car!”

“OK.” I said. “What’s going on?”

It was their car game.  You get into the car, the game begins.  Whoever sees and calls the most yellow cars before getting out of the car wins.  School buses, construction vehicles, and other commercial vehicles excluded, of course.

I loved that they felt comfortable enough around me that they could keep playing their game – even in my car showing homes.

Didn’t take long before I was hooked and calling out yellow car as well.  My inexperience did not help me win any of the bouts, however.  I like to think I added to the competition.  😊

We had FUN looking at homes.

The home they fell in love with even had a secret room behind a bookcase in the basement behind the bar.  We were cracking up about that the whole time.

It was such a great transaction.  They were on top of whatever the lender needed, realistic on what they were buying, and so appreciative of everything.

At closing, I presented them with a yellow matchbox car in memory of the fun we had driving around.

Real Estate is never boring.  Some of the unique homes, designs, decorations (and collections, of course) are hilarious!

You just have to lighten up and enjoy the process.

Having fun is part of who we are at The Emond Team.  A friend of mine described it right:
“If you ain’t having fun, you ain’t doin’ it right!”

Let’s go and experience some home buying fun!  Schedule a time to meet with us over coffee and discuss your home dreams. 

https://www.facebook.com/pg/rapidcityhomesonline/services/

Rapid City Home Style Renovation Loan - Buy it AND Fix it!

Home Buyer Loans
Home Style Renovation Program

  Hi everybody! I'm Tristan Emond with Mindful Living Realty and this is Angelia with Gateway Mortgage. We're here at 15 Camp Drive just off Highway 385. We're gonna take a look at it and talk to you about some home buyer options.

Ready to do this? Let's do it!

Tristan: All right here we are, in this house. Obviously, we need some updating. There's some old, cool things here. But if I come in here, probably want some things taken care of.
They probably don't want a heart bathtub.  How can a buyer fix this property up and and roll it into the loan? What kind of programs you have?

Angelia: We have a really good one. It's called the Home Style Loan Program. What that means is, you can come in -have a purchase price, you can have your contractor come in and give you bids for whatever you want to have updated or remodeled for your liking.

Tristan: Your choice? You decide what you want to do?

Angelia: Yep your choice. You can do kitchens, bathrooms. It has to have some value to it so that it helps your value on your appraisal.
Then what we do is we get the bids from the contractor and add that to the appraisal - we do an "as-if" appraisal. When that appraisal will come back, it says “Yes your value would be ‘this’ if you have these remodels or rehabs completed.” And then we can lend off of that amount.

Tristan: This property is right now $185,000. Let's say you brought a contractor in here and he says, “$20,000 will get all this fixed.”  So then total purchase price is $205,000. Correct?

Angelia: Yep and then we can go off of that value.  We can do up to 97% loan to value - so a minimum 3% down for some borrowers.

Tristan: So, a buyer coming in would have to have 3% down cash?

Angelia: Minimum, yes.

Tristan: Up to 5% down I assume?

Angelia: Yes, you get 3% if you're a first-time home buyer. Then 5% up to whatever you want.

Tristan: Okay sounds good!  Obviously they need to be approved for the total amount as far as their income ratio, etc, etc, etc.. You gotta be pre-approved for the total amount?

Angelia: Correct. Because what we will do is, once you buy the house the seller will get paid their proceeds. And then the amount for the rehab or remodel will be set in an escrow account, where that contractor will draw from that account.

Tristan: Everything gets done by the contractor.

Angelia: Yep. And it will all be done so when you move in....it's all ready to go.  You don't have to do the work yourself.

Tristan: This would be a great option if you want to buy this house (or any other house) and there were some updates that needed to be done or some repairs. Sounds like maybe even some foundation repairs or something as long as that appraisal worked out at the end, everything should be good.

Angelia: You can even add a garage. We've have some people that have houses that don't have a garage, you could add a garage if they have the space. That adds some big value to it. Everybody needs a garage. It's called the Home Style Rehab Program.

Tristan: Awesome! Any questions, give Angelia a call. Talk to you later! Thank you!

Angelia Dale's Legal information:
Angelia Dale, Loan Originator, NMLS #175544
Gateway Mortgage Group
Rapid City, SD
605-490-2246
angelia.dale@gatewayloan.com

Gateway Mortgage Group is a registered service mark of Gateway Mortgage Group, LLC. NMLS 7233. All loans subject to program guidelines and final underwriting approval. See local branch for additional terms and conditions. South Dakota Mortgage Lender License #ML.05071

Getting Your Home Ready to Sell | Tristan and his WHITEBOARD LIVE!

Get Your Home Ready to Sell

Tristan and his WHITEBOARD - LIVE!

Get Your Home Ready for Sale!  Don't wait too long!


Hey Everybody! I'm Tristan Emond with Mindful Living Realty.

Welcome back to Tristan and his WHITEBOARD - LIVE!

Today we are talking to home sellers who are thinking about getting your home ready for sale.
And I know that every REALTOR will probably tell you, "Yup. You got it ready, now is a great time to list!"

I'm here to tell you now IS a great time to list.

Lemme tell you why.

Since January 1st, where in one of my last videos I reported we had a really low amount of inventory, we have put well over 100 plus homes under contract. Over a hundred under contract.

There was on property we looked at with a buyer, he decided not to put an offer on it, But eight offers on that one property. Eight offers!

Also, I have been receiving a number of emails from other agents saying "Hey, I've got buyers. They are looking in this area, in this price point. They can't find anything they like Do you have anything coming up?"

We have a buyer demand that's looking for properties in the Rapid City area.

Now is a great time to put your home on the market!

Even if you’re not ready to put your home on the market yet,
it’s a good time to get it ready to be put on the market.

You may need to do a few things to make sure that home is as clean and sparkling as possible.

To help, I have created a bunch of videos, a seven-step series of videos, to talk about how you can prepare your home for sale.

I've also prepared a report "Seven Steps for Getting Your Home Ready for Sale!"

Both of these items you can have delivered directly to your inbox. Actually, directly to your Facebook Messenger.

All you have to do is type in the comments below "GIMME" and this information will be sent directly to you.

Now if you are watching this outside of Facebook, get onto this Facebook page, Type in the comments "GIMME", and it will be sent to over Facebook Messenger
(Post link: https://business.facebook.com/rapidcityhomesonline/videos/959749720896837)

This year reminds me of 2017 where by February 15th we were in the height of the spring market. If you waited until May you were almost too late.

If you are thinking about listing this spring, don't wait until May. Get it done as soon as possible.

Get it ready now!

If you have any questions, if you have any concerns, download my reports, then get a hold of us.
We'll come by take a look at your property, and get you started.


Thanks so much guys! Have a great day. Talk to you next time on Tristan and his WHITEBOARD.

The Real Estate Agent of the Family | An Emond Team Client Story

We can be your real estate agent of the family…

It’s one thing to have 2 closings in one day.

It’s another when those 2 closings are from the same family – the parents AND the daughter.

But…let’s back up a bit.

Back in 2010, we helped the Fredrichs buy a cabin in the Hills for a vacation home.  They put love and sweat into it and made it into an amazing place!

As time went on, they sent their family and friends to us for real estate transactions.

Fast forward to 2018.  It was time to sell their cabin and buy a forever home closer to town.

At the same time, their daughter Emily had been approved to buy her first home.

We found the places they loved about the same time and scheduled the closing for the same day.  (their vacation cabin was under contract and was scheduled to close a few weeks later)

We kept each other on our toes as we handled all 3 transactions at the same time.

Through their attention to detail and a couple of great homes, closing day finally arrived.

It was an honor to sit next to them as they signed their documents.  Emily was so excited, and Jay and Cindy were relieved to be moving forward.

A few months after that, we sold an amazing lot in the Hills to their other daughter and son-in-law for them to build their dream home.

The Fredrichs trusted in us to help their family move up in life.

We are ready to do the same for you.  Our family…helping your family.
We can be your family’s REALTORS for life.

Are you ready to get started?  Shoot us a message and let’s schedule a time to get together.

Or fill out the form on our page!  https://rapidcityhomes.net/emond-team/

Conventional versus Government Mortgage Loans | Tristan and his WHITEBOARD - LIVE!

Conventional versus Government Loans

Tristan and his WHITEBOARD - LIVE!

Conventional Versus Government Mortgage Loans

Hi everybody. This is Tristan Emond with Mindful Living Realty. Welcome back to Tristan and his WHITEBOARD - LIVE!

Today I'm with Angelia Dale with Gateway Mortgage.

And today we're going to talk about the difference between conventional and government loans.

Downpayment

So first of all, Angelia, give us a quick synopsis of what each one is. Okay so your conventional loans - they require a down payment. You know, anywhere between 5% and however much you want to put down. They're more your traditional loans that we do.

Our government loans are FHA VA and Rural Development. Some of them require 0% down up to 3 1/2% down for the FHA loans.

Okay so biggest difference at this point is down payment. So Conventional is 5% I'm sure plus, right? Government is zero to three and a half.

Okay so that's the main, obviously, money thing. So, if you have don't have as much money down, you're going to be with an FHA, VA or RD type of loan. If you've got a bigger percentage down, conventional is probably the way to go. Yes.

So, what's next on these?

Rules and Regs

Conventional loans have less rules regarding the appraisals, what you can do with the house, things like that. Where the government loans some of those loans require - you can't rent out your house, you have some different mortgage insurance requirements, that kind of thing.

Okay so conventional - less rules. Government - more rules.

But that's because I assume that the government is financing it, so they're going to say "Hey if we're gonna give you the money, you're going to follow our guidelines" correct? Yeah you are getting into a program that has zero to three and a half percent down, so there are some regulations required like that.

Very good. Okay next up?

Income and Assets

Our next step on conventional - they are not as particular on income, on assets, that stuff.  Your government programs - most of them have income requirements or asset requirements. So, they're a little bit tighter on the government programs regarding what they're looking for.

Okay so loose-er income regs (right?) on conventional.  And government has more income regs over here. 'Cause, again, you're basically buying into a program that allows you to have a lower percent down, right? Therefore, they're going to have more rules.

Home Condition

Okay last step. What about - I know with some of these government loans...you go into the property and there's the peeling paint outside or you've got a cracked window that has an issue.

The government programs are a lot tighter regarding health and safety issues. So, when you have peeling paint, broken screens or broken windows, things like that, that becomes an issue. The government programs want to make sure that you don't have a lot to fix when you go into a home, because you're going in with zero or three and a half percent down. So, you don't have a lot of assets to fix that property. They are a bit tighter on their appraisal requirements.

Where a conventional - they don't care so much if there's peeling paint on the house, because you don't have to go in and fix that.

Right - so we've got less conditions on the home (conventional) and then we've got more conditions over here (government).

Cool! Yep.

All right, well if that kind of wraps it up for us.

Thanks so much for coming on today and hopefully you can see or got some information here. I'll see you next time on Tristan and his WHITEBOARD!

Thank you!


Angelia's legal info:

Angelia Dale, Loan Originator, NMLS #175544

Gateway Mortgage Group

Rapid City, SD

605-490-2246

angelia.dale@gatewayloan.com

Gateway Mortgage Group is a registered service mark of Gateway Mortgage Group, LLC NMLS 7233. All loans subject to program guidelines and final underwriting approval. Contact local branch for details. 1301 W Omaha St #118, Rapid City, SD 57701. South Dakota Mortgage Lender License #ML.05071.

The Dream Came True for Our Rapid City Homebuyer - An Emond Team Client Story

Dreams do come true.

On December 1, 2011, Jessica posted on her Facebook status:

“Someday I aspire to own a home on the Boulevard.”

Someone should have warned her about putting things out there…  😊

In the fall of 2014, we listed a historical home on 11^th street.  The owners had bought it as a complete fixer-upper.  They had worked to make it a cute space while retaining as many of the historical pieces as possible.

The open houses on this property were phenomenal!  But…the comments were the same.  People loved the idea of an old home, but they really didn’t want to live in one.

The following Spring was the beginning of Jessica’s dream.  She called me to view the home.  As she walked through the living room, the floors creaked.  Her eyes lit up. 

I knew she was a buyer that would appreciate all this home had to offer.  She loved the history.  She loved the original woodworking, the staircase, the front porch.  She loved the potential of what she could do to make it her own.

AND….it was in her price range.

She quickly had her parents check it out (it turns out I knew her dad…), and excitedly put in an offer.

The sellers accepted and we were off to the races.

This picture of her on the front porch, arms raised in victory – is one of my favorites.

She was ecstatic.

She was realizing her dream of homeownership from 4 years earlier.

And we were along for the ride.

Another reason we do what we do  Helping others experience the dream of owning their own home.

In this case, her FIRST home.

You deserve a place to call home and an awesome real estate transaction to boot.  Call us.  We are here to help.

Your Family.  Your Home.

https://rapidcityhomes.net/emond-team/

Rapid City Real Estate Market in 2018 | Tristan and his WHITEBOARD LIVE!

2018 Rapid City Real Estate Market

Tristan and his WHITEBOARD - LIVE!

Rapid City Real Estate Market in 2018.

Hi everybody - happy 2019 and welcome back to Tristan and his WHITEBOARD LIVE!

So... of course we need to check out the 2018 Rapid City residential real estate numbers. See what happened last year.

So, you can see up here I've got a bunch of numbers. We're gonna go over a few things - we'll look at how things went.

We see the last year we were up 6 and 1/2 percent on our average sold price from 2017. What was really interesting to me was that in 2012 - since 2012 we're up 21%.  So steady growth - consistently - in our market as far as sold price is concerned.

I like to look at the price points that are selling the most to kind of give you an idea of where all the action is going at.  We can see in 2016 in the $150.000 to $200,000 price range, we had about 513 sell.  And in the $200,000 to 250,000 range...365.  So quite a difference.

However, this year are 2018, the $200,000 to $250,000 is taking the lead.  Of course, that does make sense as the prices go up, we're seeing more sold in this area as more of those homes become mainstream.

Used to be, you could buy quite a bit of home for $150,000.  Now, you know, you almost need $200,000 to get into something that's really nice, right?

Of course, the above would also reflect days on market.  The more action we have, the lower days of market.  In 2016 we had 47 days on the market and we're down about 10 days here in 2018.
A very strong market if things continue to click.

This red number down here is the number I want to drive some attention to.

That is how many homes are on the market as of January 1.  That's low.  That's not that many homes on the market at all…compared to where we usually are. We're usually in the 500 range about this time.

I see a lot of buyer pent-up demand.  We could be seeing an early spring season this year - you never know, but I think I can say we might have some of that coming here.

We'll see what happens!

Glad you're around for this 2019!   Hope to see you next time on Tristan and his WHITEBOARD! Have a great day!

- Tristan