Lehigh Valley Real Estate Blog, Home Buying & Selling Information

Home Warranties - Should I Purchase One?

Home Warranties benefit both the Home Buyer and the Home Seller.

A home seller can purchase a home warranty when listing the house. Then, if anything breaks while the house is on the market, the warranty should cover it (depending on the policy). The home seller can then pass this warranty onto the buyer for the remainder of the year.

If a home seller does not provide a home warranty to the buyer, the buyer can elect to purchase their own home warranty. The cost is approximately $400.00 for the fist year.

Here is an example of coverage:

Air Conditioning System	Heating System
Electrical System	Plumbing System
Water Heater	Sump Pump
Oven	Range
Range Exhaust	Stove/Cooktop
Built-in Microwave	Refrigerator
Built-in Dishwasher	Clothes Washer
Clothes Dryer	Garbage Disposal
Built-in Trash Compactor	Central Vacuum
Garage Door Opener	Ceiling Fans
Door Bell Chimes

The $400.00 cost for the warranty may be well worthwhile if any of these go bad.

When buying or selling a house, a home warranty should definitely be considered. It is a selling point as well as "Peace of Mind".

The Basement Got Water! - The Sellers Lied!

The basement got flooded. The property disclosure didn't state water comes in the basement. The home seller lied to us.

This question has popped up more than once in the past few years. A buyer moves into a house based on the statements the seller filled out in the PA Property Disclosure. If the seller stated that the basement does not get water, the buyer may believe the seller lied on the Disclosure when the first heavy storm has them up late at night getting water out of the house.

About two years ago, Lehigh Valley got over 10 inches of rain in one weekend. 8 inches occuring on the first day. I was out showing houses and half of them had water in the basement.

While out showing the houses, I was very concerned whether or not my finished basement, which had never gotten water, was surviving the day. The storm was that bad! The buyers and myself got drenched but my basement survived the day.

With respect to water in the basement, I believe each situation (home condition and storm condition) is unique. The day we got 8 inches, I'm positive a LOT of basements that never got water did. That doesn't mean that a seller who stated the basement had never gotten water lied. Mother Nature might have hit the house with something it had not experienced before.

In addition to reviewing the Property Disclosure, a Property Inspection should be done by the buyer before purchasing the house. The inspector should be trained to look for past water damage.

If water problems are suspected, there are companies that specialize in water proofing or provide other methods (property grading, french drains...etc) to correct the issue. 

Other than that, all you can do is cross your fingers when Mother Nature strikes!!

Making A Verbal Offer On A House?

Over the past few months, I have run into a few Lehigh Valley home buyers that find a house they like and then want to make a verbal offer on the house. The common statement is: "Call them up and tell them we will give them $xxx,xxx for their house."

Years ago this might have worked but these days the Pennsylvania Agreement of Sale (from PAR) consists of 18 or more pages. The offer (agreement) contains many terms and contingencies and a home seller can not evaluate the true offer on their house without receiving a copy of the complete agreement of sale.

The offer should also include a copy of the pre-approval for the mortgage. A home seller will want a guarantee that the home buyer can afford the house and is using a reputable company. A verbal offer does not provide the seller with any written proof that it is a qualified buyer interested in the property.

In addition, the home buyer should have signed off on the Property Disclosure and provided an escrow (security deposit) check to hold the property. A verbal offer typically does not go into ALL of the terms and without receiving it in writing the home seller has no guarantee that the home buyer will actually go through with the deal. As a result, home sellers want to see the complete offer in writing.

After discussing the "verbal offer" with other agents, the general concensus is that if the offer is not in writing there is nothing to talk about. Many agents have a strict policy of "get me it in writing".

What is a Talking House?

Talking House is used by Lehigh Valley home sellers to market their house 24 hours a day.

The Talking House unit, which is about the size of a VCR, is placed in the house and continuously broadcasts marketing comments on a specific AM radio station.

A perspective buyer pulls up in front of the house, tunes their car radio to the appropriate am radio station and hears a detailed description about the house.

Tell me more about Talking House!

Mortgage Companies and Purchasing Your Lehigh Valley House!

How important is your choice of mortgage companies in ensuring you actually move into the house you are attempting to purchase in Lehigh Valley?

There is only one answer. Very Important!!

Pennsylvania is a state where "Time is of the Essence". That means that there are dates on the Agreement of Sale with conditions that must be met or a breach of contract occurs. If the Breach of Contract occurs because of something to do with the Buyer (even if it is the fault of the buyers mortgage company), the Seller has the ability to keep the deposit money and put the house back on the market.

A common cause of a breach in contract is the mortage company. The mortgage company gives the go ahead to close on a certain date and then is not able to deliver the mortgage at that time. Out-of-state lenders believe that it is no big deal. NJ has very lax rules regarding closings and a NJ lender believes PA has the same rules. It isn't TRUE.

In PA, it is a huge deal. Time is of the essence and the closing date was not met. That allows the seller to try to keep the buyers deposit and put the house back on the market to sell it to someone else.

Is doing something like this in the sellers best interest? Typically not, but it depends on the mortgage company. A slight delay in a closing is sometimes common in PA but when it goes into weeks the buyer and the mortgage company lose credibility with the seller. If the buyer is not willing to switch mortgage companies in order to finish the deal, the purchase falls apart and now the buyer has to hire a lawyer to attempt to get their deposit back. Depending on the circumstance, they may never get it back.

A lot of these problems can be alleviated by working with a lender in PA. I read an article a while back that described why a buyer should work with mortgage and title companies that the agent recommends. The jist of the article was that real estate agents usually have a relationship with a mortgage or title company and therefore the buyer will receive better service since the provider wants to maintain the relationship with the agent. I couldn't agree more!

When a buyer works with a mortgage company and title company that I am familiar with my confidence level goes up greatly that everything will proceed favorably in the buyers interest. If any problems occur, I am able to vouch to the sellers about the integrity of the service providers. With an unknown lender, who does not return phone calls, I can't do the same.

This blog was prompted by a recent experience I had. Last week, my buyers were supposed to close on their new house. 3 days before closing, we got told that the mortgage could not be done by the due date. It took two days of multiple phone calls to get a new date from the company. The mortgage company guaranteed they would have the mortgage and be able to close this Friday (a week later than the initial closing date). After three days of phone calls and being told everything was okay, my buyers and myself spent four hours waiting for a closing that never happened. In the 11th hour, we got told that the appraisal had not even been completed and then no one involved with the mortgage process would return our calls.

The buyers are now talking to a local mortgage company in order to get into their new house. Luckily, the builder agreed to yet another delay.

The Blues Are Leaving Lehigh Valley!

The Easton area Blues Festival has been canceled. The event, scheduled from June 1st through the 10th, was not able to obtain the sponsorships and donations needed to sustain another year. The Blues Festival has been held each summer since 2000.

For an area that has a huge following for Bethlehem's Musikfest, the Blues, by itself can not survive. In December of 2005, the Lehigh Valley Blues Fest, a yearly event since 1993, closed its doors.

Northampton Borough Goes to the Dogs!

After 13 years of being dogless, Northampton has decided to resurrect the departments K-9 unit. Sam, a 16 month old Dutch sheperd, will be joining the force in May. Sam's main task will be to search for people and drugs as well as learn how to protect the officers.

Welcome aboard Sam!

New Construction - You don't want your own Agent?

Over the weekend, I was faced with this question. I was stumped. I couldn't figure out why a home buyer wouldn't want their own agent. The builder pays for it!

Fair housing laws do not allow a home builder to pass on the saved commission to the buyer. Whether you have an agent or not, the purchase price of the new house remains the same.

The agent in the model home works for the builder and owes all fiduciary responsibility to the builder. This is not a maybe question. The model home agent fully works for the builder and when a home buyer deals directly with this agent, the buyer has no legal representation.

Do you want to purchase one of the most expensive items in your life and not have somone looking out for your best interests? If you had a legal problem, you would want your own lawyer. If you had a medical problem, you would want your own doctor. Yet, purchase a house for hundreds of thousands of dollars and you want to do it on your own when the builder is willing to pay for you to have your own agent. I'm left pondering...why?