For Rehoboth Beach, DE House Buyers, 6 Horrifying Halloween Plot Twists
Unless you are among those who are currently focused on the search for a new Rehoboth Beach, DE house, this week’s Halloween celebration has probably captured a goodly bit of your attention. As Halloween night draws near, most other Rehoboth Beach, DE residents find themselves preparing kids’ costumes, carving suitably horrifying jack o lanterns, stocking up on goodies for the onslaught of the costumed throngs, or, alternatively, making plans for going dark convincingly enough to avoid the wrath of the trick-or-treaters. But actively engaged house hunters can be forgiven if they’ve been preoccupied with their more urgent real estate pursuit.
That doesn’t seem fair, so in order to preserve the spirit of Halloween week for house buyers, here is a theme-appropriate tale with half a dozen shriek-producing plot twist endings:
(Turn down the lights).
Imagine an innocent couple—after an uneventful series of house showings, they finally find the home of their dreams! They apply for the home loan; all they have to do is await approval…
It’s a dark and stormy night. Now the phone rings! It’s the bank; the phone is on speaker as we hear the bone-chilling voice that says:
1. “Is it true that you just changed jobs two weeks ago?”
2. “Soooo, last Tuesday you decided to buy a bunch of furniture for the new house—on credit?”
3. “That big one-time deposit into your bank account. It came from…where, exactly?”
4. “Looks like you forget to list that personal loan balance of $12,315?”
5. “I see you bought a very nice car last week. Very. Nice.”
6. “Eight credit inquiries in the past two months? Really—eight?”
Credit missteps like these can turn into trap doors on the path to owning a home. But such scary Halloween plot twists will just be make-believe—especially for Rehoboth Beach, DE house buyers who have the benefit of teaming up with a licensed Rehoboth Beach, DE real estate professional. Whether buying or selling, I hope you’ll give me a call—the earlier, the better! Call/Text me Russell Stucki at (302) 228-7871, email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., visit more listings at www.beachrealestatemarket.com.
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- Written by Jimmie Bachand
The Delicate Art of Considerate Rehoboth Beach, DE Rent Increases
Inflation has been barely noticeable for quite a while, but as Rehoboth Beach, DE shoppers have begun to notice how it’s been creeping up lately. For Rehoboth Beach, DE landlords, that triggers a subject that directly impacts the profitability of their real estate investment.
Managing rent increases properly—and communicating them in a manner calculated to preserve your tenants’ goodwill—is a subject estate author Kevin Ortner writes about in Realtor Magazine. A few of his insights:
· Raise rents on a regular schedule—usually, this will come at each lease renewal period (or when the agreement specifies)—but for month-to-month situations, once a year is recommended. Small increments on an annual basis are more predictable (and agreeable) than “catch up” raises scheduled less frequently.
· Be competitive. The “sweet spot” you are looking for is the best price you can get for your rental—which is also actually “how much tenants are willing to pay.” That’s subject to compliance with Rehoboth Beach, DE and local laws in accordance with the terms of your lease. Research by starting with a look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ annual calculation of Shelter Cost Changes—most recently, 3.4% at the end of August. The national trends are good to know but are not as significant as the more important data: the rates similar Rehoboth Beach, DE rentals are currently advertising.
· Give extra notice. You’re required to abide by the law and your lease, but when you give tenants more time, it makes any raise less burdensome. If the raise is competitive, tenants will have ample time to shop around and see that it’s reasonable.
· Work to keep good tenants happy. The most successful landlords frequently take their best tenants’ situations into consideration. If you decide to cut them some slack as a way of cultivating the relationship, you might even do what Ortner suggests: “show them what the rent increase was going to be”—but with that number crossed out and a smaller one in its place. You should also have determined the operating cost rises behind the rent increase, and be willing to share those facts.
The Ortner prescriptions are aimed at maximizing profitability by keeping rent increases rational—and tenant-landlord communications open. If you have ever considered the investment potential of becoming a landlord yourself, right now is a terrific time to investigate the opportunities our Rehoboth Beach, DE market is offering. Give me a call—I’ll show you what I mean! Call/Text me Russell Stucki at (302) 228-7871, email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., visit more listings at www.beachrealestatemarket.com.
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- Written by Jimmie Bachand
Rehoboth Beach, DE Real Estate Acronyms Include These Puzzlers
Buyers and sellers are more well-informed than ever before due to easy access to online Rehoboth Beach, DE real estate sites (like mine—and BTW, thanks for stopping by!). Given the advent of constantly updated listing data and the abundance of accompanying commentary and analysis, it’s no surprise that the level of real estate sophistication is significantly higher than it was even just a few years ago. It also means that more members of the general public are likely to find themselves in the puzzling presence of some real estate alphabet soup that haunts realms formerly visited only by real estate and mortgage industry professionals.
True: it’s easy to query Google to decipher acronyms like “DHSC.” But then you’ll have to wade through red herrings like “Doctor of Health Sciences” and “Defense and Homeland Security Consortium”—or even Deployment Health Surveillance Capability (that’s from Munich, Germany, but it’s listed as a possibility). Real estate’s “DHSC” is short for Direct Home Selling Costs”—meaning the combined selling expenses (carrying costs, loss on sale, repairs and improvements, commission, closing costs, etc.) all lumped together in one succinct 4-letter package.
Here are some common real estate-related acronyms you may come across from time to time:
HUD/RESPA—The statement you get at the closing table which spells out all the monies paid out and received: short for “Housing and Urban Development/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act.”
PMI—The kind of insurance borrowers pay for home loans of more than 80% of the property’s value: short for “Private Mortgage Insurance.”
TOM-When a listing is taken off the market because of illness, travel, repairs, etc.: “Temporarily Off Market.”
PITI—the four parts that make up monthly mortgage payments: “Principal, Interest, Taxes, Insurance.”
IDX—the technical term used in connection with real estate search sites that display the parts of Multiple Listing Service information that’s marked for public access: “Internet Data Exchange.”
APR—the by-now familiar term which takes all of the costs of generating a loan and combines them into a single percentage number: “Annual Percentage Rate.”
There are a whole mini-dictionary’s worth of other real estate terms and acronyms, but if you are one of Rehoboth Beach, DE’s buyers or sellers, you usually won’t have to deal with many of them. Not so “CMA”—that’s the “Comparative Market Analysis” I’ll provide to help brainstorm the best asking price for your property. Call me for that one when it’s time to think about selling! Call/Text me Russell Stucki at (302) 228-7871, email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., visit more listings at www.beachrealestatemarket.com.
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- Written by Jimmie Bachand
Answering the Selling Your Home Chicken-Egg Riddle
Especially when the market is moving briskly, selling your Rehoboth Beach, DE home can put you up against a chicken-egg quandary. “Which came first?” is as unanswerable today as when we argued about in the second grade—yet when a key decision about selling your home depends on answering a similar puzzler, it’s anything but whimsical.
The metaphor is almost exact. If you know you will be buying a new house but haven’t yet sold your current Rehoboth Beach, DE home, which comes first?
As for the new purchase, the universally agreed upon best practice for house-hunting is to be able to produce a lender’s preapproval for X dollars.
So selling your Rehoboth Beach, DE home has to come first, right?
But if you need to have sold your home before you get serious about finding a new one—what if the tight market means it may take a while to find the right home at the price you’re looking for? Selling your current home usually means committing to moving out at a date that’s fast approaching!
So that means locking up the new home comes first, right?
The answer is to have faith that—unlike the chicken-egg riddle—generations of Rehoboth Beach, DE buyers and sellers have successfully solved the dilemma. It involves a number of working parts including the particulars of your current financial profile, a formulation of the post-sale net proceeds, and a properly constructed pre-approval letter that will be contingent on the successful closing.
Although you could put all those parts together yourself, that’s hardly necessary. It’s a piece of cake once you’ve enlisted the services of the Rehoboth Beach, DE professionals who deal with these issues all the time: a team including your knowledgeable Rehoboth Beach, DE Realtor® and an experienced local mortgage professional. Call me whenever you need to solve any similar Rehoboth Beach, DE real estate dilemma. I’ll be at your side to help protect something else: your nest egg! Call/Text me Russell Stucki at (302) 228-7871, email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., visit more listings at www.beachrealestatemarket.com.
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- Written by Jimmie Bachand
