I was featured in a blog written by Amy Miller about Musicians who do other jobs.  Below is the result!

Recovering Oboist: Jonathan Fink, cellist and Realtor®.

Like I have been saying – the Market is changing.  Don’t wait…this is it.

“Queen Village real estate agent Patrick Conway struggled to strike a balance between talking about the state of the housing market and keeping track of prospective buyers at an hour-long open house in the 700 block of South Philip Street.”

Open houses begin drawing buyers who seem serious.

When you put your home on the market, you are inviting complete strangers to come to it and inspect it from top to bottom. This, in turn, sets you up for greater liability risk should someone get hurt. All it would take is one injury from one of those strangers to set a lawsuit in motion. While those interested in seeing your home will not be unattended in it, injuries can still occur, and you need to be sure you have proper protection against personal liability.

Removing Hazards

The most important thing to do to protect yourself is to remove any noticeable hazards. Uneven pavement, stairs cluttered with belongings and bubbles in the carpeting can all invite a fall from someone touring your property. Fixing these needs to be part of your list when getting the home ready for market. Look around your home with a careful eye, and ask your realtor to help you do the same thing, and remove anything that could be fodder for a lawsuit.

Check Your Insurance

Your homeowner’s insurance policy has a liability section, but you still need to check this to ensure it is adequate for the additional risk you are taking on. If you purchased your homeowner’s insurance policy because of its cheap price, you may find that the liability limits are too low for the risk you are taking.

When Coverage Is Insufficient

If you don’t have enough coverage, consider an umbrella liability insurance policy for the time your home is on the market. These policies are separate from your regular homeowner’s insurance, and they have their own, usually higher, limits. They cover both home and auto liability, so you get some additional protection.

You could also increase your liability on your existing policy. However, your need for increased liability is temporary. Once you sell your home or pull it from the market, you will not need this coverage anymore. Because of this, adding an umbrella policy for the short term is often the most cost effective solution.

Of course, if you find that your existing liability coverage is sufficient, then you do not need this additional umbrella policy. However, knowing how much coverage is “sufficient” is often challenging, particularly if you have never been through a lawsuit. For this reason, consider consulting with a trustworthy real estate professional, attorney or insurance agent before deciding whether or not you need this additional coverage.

Mario Cattabiani is the Director of Communications at Ross Feller Casey, LLP- a personal injury law firm in Philadelphia.

What does this mean for you the home buyer?  If you are buying a $300,000 with FHA you can buy that home with about $10,000 cash and your monthly payment would be around $1500 a month!  Depending on your taxes and insurance.  You can be well below $1800 a month on your new home.  For those of you renting-take a look at the rent number and consider that you could be owning your home for the very same numbers you are paying now for rent.

Loan payment  at 3.5% interest rate!

$200,000        $898.09
$250,000        $1122.61
$300,000        $1347.13
$350,000        $1571.66
$400,000       $1796.18

The Freddie Mac survey showed 30-year FRM averaged 3.49% for the week ending Thursday, a record low from last week’s 3.53%. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.55%.

via Mortgage rates drop to historic lows | HousingWire.

I want to earn your Real Estate Business!

If you are reading this please understand I want your business!  I don’t care if you are my close friend or my facebook friend or someone I saw once at a job.  Someone once told me I shouldn’t work with my friends.  I have completely ignored that advice and am happy to report that it has worked out great!  The people work with ARE my friends, the people I know well and the people they refer to me!  I wouldn’t have it any other way.

There is additional pressure when you work with people within your community. You better get it right and I do!  I am very proud to say that in the last 5 years I have never had a settlement close late!  I work tirelessly to make sure your transaction is as smooth and painless as possible.

Do you want your Realtor to be accountable?  Yes you do and I am!  I own the success and if there are issues, I own them too!

Do you want your Realtor to tell it to you straight?  I will – if anything I may be blunt with my opinions.  I have been known to tell buyers, “I won’t let you buy this house.”  Very recently I had a buyer looking at a property and I just knew there were going to be other offers!  I told him in no uncertain terms, “if you want to buy this we need to make an offer right now!”  He did and his offer was first and slightly better than the other offer that came in and we are now under contract!

Do you want a Realtor that communicates quickly?  Please!  Sometimes it scares people how quickly I respond.

Do we sometimes encounter issues?  You bet!  Sometimes they can be difficult to work thru but the fact is that professional agents and solid support people can work thru almost any problem if they work together.

Don’t ask me if I work in your neighborhood/area – I do!  To me its about the people.  I can do my job in any neighborhood in the city or the suburbs.  Ask me first!  If I can’t help you I promise I will find someone who can.

Is your goal to sell your home or buy a home?  You need to speak to me!   Really.

Jonathan Fink
215 805-5276 Text/iMessage/
Facebook.com/jonathan.fink
Twitter.com/finkj
finkjonathan@gmail.com

Would you use an on demand car service that costs twice as much as a cap if it meant NOT standing in the middle of the road and dealing with cabbies?  Uber (German for over and above) thinks you will.  This service is available by pressing a button on your smart phone.  A Lincoln Town car comes to pick you within 5 min!  Perfect for that night out in Center City!! Check out the article in the link.

Uber thinks it can woo Philadelphians with luxury car service.

Keller Williams – Featured Homes for Sale.

As CHOP expands and creates jobs it will create more traffic but on the up side think what this will do for the already booming Grad Hospital neighborhood.  Not to mention maybe even Grays Ferry!  As an investor I bought 2 small houses in Grays Ferry several years ago and I wonder if now this will bring that neighborhood into the path of development!

We have lots of listings in the Grad Hospital Area.  This one in particular is fantastic with parking.  Click Here

CHOP expansion could bring jobs, traffic.

The first step to buying a house is to choose an agent who will represent you in the transaction.  You want someone you can trust – someone who knows the process well – and someone who understands the market and someone who has access to the right vendors to help you thru the process.

Ideally you want to meet with the potential agent in his office.   This will give you an opportunity to find out if he/she is someone who is competent to handle this important transaction.  You are in essence hiring this person.  There is however no cost to the buyer for a buyer agent.

The PA Consumer notice defines a buyer agent as - As a buyer agent, the licensee and the licensee’s company work exclusively for the buyer/tenant even if paid by the seller/landlord. The buyer agent must act in the buyer/tenant’s best interest, including making a continuous and good faith effort to find a property for the buyer/tenant, except while the buyer is subject to an existing contract, and must keep all confidential information, other than known material defects about the property, confidential.

A professional Realtor® will go over this information with you during their consultation.  I spend about 45 minutes going over the entire process with my buyer clients.  During this meeting we talk about everything from neighborhoods to mortgages.

Before you shop for a house – shop for a Realtor®.  When you find the right one- the rest of the process is a actually very easy.

Call me today and we can talk about setting up your free meeting.

Thanks!

Jon

Congrats to my client Renee Warnick and her daughter Olivia for their appearance in the paper yesterday.  Really neat article about the Lancaster Farm Fresh Co-op.  Renee and her husband Derek sold their home with me in West Philly and bought a new home in Chestnut Hill.  Their two children go to the Jenks School and they are very active in their community!

A fresh approach to food.