Townhouse or a Single Family Home: Perspective for First-time Buyers

Buying a home is an exciting venture, especially for first-time buyers. In today's market, a big question is whether to purchase a townhouse (attached) or a single family home (detached). The answer, of course, depends on what you're looking for. Keep these points in mind as you consider your options.

Monthly Payments

In many communities, townhouses sell for less than comparable single family homes. A smaller price tag is appealing, especially if it means borrowing less money. But typically, a townhouse comes with monthly homeowner association (HOA) dues that may reach into the hundreds of dollars. Some detached dwellings may also have HOA dues, but most do not. When calculating your monthly payments, add up your mortgage payment and your HOA dues to get the full picture.

Home Maintenance

With a single family home, you're responsible for all the upkeep. With a townhouse, however, the homeowner association is responsible for some or all of the external maintenance. That means that when it's time for a new roof or a fresh coat of exterior paint, your HOA will likely take care of it. A portion of the dues you and your neighbors have been paying will be used for exterior maintenance expenses. Check with the association to see which external repairs they are responsible for completing.

What About a Yard?

Don't overlook the yard when buying a home in Syracuse. A detached home can come with a sizable yard. An attached home may have a small yard, a patio area only, or no yard at all. If you want a huge yard for the kids or for entertaining, then a single family home is likely right for you. On the other hand, if you want just a small outside area that doesn't require much yard work, then a townhouse may be more your style.

Other Considerations

These are important points to think about before buying a home, but there are other considerations:

• Are you comfortable sharing one or more walls with neighbors?
• How much are property taxes and special assessments for each dwelling?
• Will your family fit comfortably in the house?
• If you have pets, are they allowed in the townhouse community you’re considering?
• What might the resale value be for each property type?
• How important is it to have your home close to schools or retail areas?

Weigh your options carefully. Each type of dwelling offers different benefits. Decide what’s important to you, and ask your realtor plenty of questions before buying a home.

Monday Morning Wake Up Call

Monday Wake Up Call: Your Motivation, Inspiration, & Direction for the Week Ahead

Loyalty Welcome to another Monday! I have a question for you: When you think of the person in your life who is most loyal, who comes to mind? What caused you to think of that person when you thought about the word “loyal”? We all have our own feelings about or definition of loyalty but, more important, we all have those people in our lives whom we love and admire for their loyalty to us. These are the people you can trust to have your back all of the time. They will never abandon you.   Think about how important it is to have those people in our lives. When we are weak, they carry us. When we are overwhelmed, they lighten the burden. When we want to talk, they listen without judgment. We need people in our lives who are loyal to us but, to attract those people, we must first be loyal friends and family members ourselves. It’s not always easy but, when you’re a loyal friend or family member, you should know that the gift of a loyal friend is priceless.   Something to Think About In addition to the people in our lives who are loyal, pets also are very loyal, easy to talk to and love us unconditionally. If you’re ready to add to your list of loyal friends, perhaps it’s time to get a pet.   Weekly Activity Write notes to the people in your life whom you consider to be loyal friends. Express what it means to you to have such amazing friends.   a Words of Wisdom “The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love and loyalty.” – Zig Ziglar “Loyalty isn't grey. It's black and white. You're either loyal completely, or not loyal at all.” – Sharnay “Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships.” – Stephen Covey “Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.” – Albert Einstein “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” – William Shakespeare

Monday Wake Up Call

Monday Morning Wake-Up Call:

Your Motivation, Inspiration & Direction for the Week Ahead

 

Increased Intelligence

Happy Monday! How was your weekend? Did you do something to increase your intelligence? You’re probably thinking, “What?! Increase my intelligence?” That’s the response most people have, but did you know that there are many great reasons for intentionally increasing your intelligence?

Intelligence has been defined in many ways, including as one’s capacity for logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, planning, creativity and problem-solving. It’s your ability to perceive information and apply it to a specific project or objective.

 

Many clinical studies are currently looking at the effects of increased brain activity as it pertains to Alzheimer’s disease. Mental decline as we age appears to be largely because of altered connections among brain cells. But research has found that keeping the brain active seems to increase its vitality and may build its reserves of brain cells and connections. You could even generate new brain cells! Wow! As we get older, we can actually get smarter vs. losing what we’ve learned throughout life. What an exciting discovery! 

 

Something to Think About

Intellectually stimulating activities also may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s. One large observational study looked at the impact of ordinary activities such as listening to the radio, reading newspapers, playing puzzle games and visiting museums. Investigators asked more than 700 seniors to describe the amount of time they spent doing these activities. After four years, the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease was 47% lower, on average, for those who did the activities most often than for those who did them less frequently. A more recent study showed that older people with less education who engaged in activities such as reading, crossword puzzles and writing letters performed as well on memory tests as their better-educated peers.

 

Weekly Activity

Keep your brain active every day:

• Stay curious and involved – commit to lifelong learning
• Read, write and work crossword or other puzzles
• Attend lectures and plays
• Enroll in courses at your local adult education center, community college or other community group
• Play games
• Work in your garden
• Try memory exercises

Words of Wisdom

“When we are no longer able to change a situation – we are challenged to change ourselves.” – Viktor E. Frankl

“You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.” – Jim Rohn

“Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can change your life forever.” – Keri Russell

“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw

 

“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” – Marcus Aurelius 

Monday Wake Up Call

Monday Wake Up Call: Your Motivation, Inspiration, & Direction for the Week Ahead

Wisdom Welcome to Monday! I hope it was a great weekend for you. Have you felt business picking up? More listing appointments? More buyers? The fall market has begun, and it’s predicted to be a great one. How exciting! We all love a great market, which usually indicates increased sales and income. How will you manage the increased income and plan for your future? You don’t want to be one of those agents who suddenly finds themselves in a “cooled-off market” saying, “Please give us just one more boom, and I promise to save some money this time!” The time to think of the future is now, and the word that comes to mind is “wisdom.”   Wisdom is defined as the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight. Those with wisdom also possess knowledge and have an understanding of people, events, situations and the willingness – as well as the ability – to apply perception, judgment and action in keeping with the understanding of the optimal course of action. Now is the time to think about how you can secure your future. Ours is a business of ups and downs. We’re in an “up” market, but that can change. Use wisdom this year with your purchases, investments and savings.   Something to Think About Wisdom is regarded as one of four cardinal virtues and, as such, is a disposition to perform the action with the highest degree of adequacy under any given circumstance, with the limitation of error in any given action. That means the decisions you make might not always have the outcomes you want, but you have thought them through, applied wisdom and considered the outcome or consequence.    Weekly Activity Are you working with an investment professional to plan for your future and retirement? If not, this is a great time to ask those you trust who they’re working with. Make an appointment, and get started planning for your future today.   Words of Wisdom “The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.” – Malcolm X “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin “You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.” – Zig Ziglar “In time of peace, prepare for war.” – Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus “You have no choices about how you lose, but you do have a choice about how you come back and prepare to win again.” – Pat Riley Crafting Your Response Welcome to Monday! As summer draws to a close and business picks up, it’s a great time to complete our series on listening. The final skill is Responding. If you’ve mastered the other skills in the listening process, then responding should be easier than ever. You’ll be prepared to address the speaker’s most important points with an awareness of the circumstances and context surrounding his/her words. It’s important to understand the transition between listening and speaking, though, and be aware of the ways responding is still part of the active listening process: • Don’t complete the speaker’s sentences. This is a presumptuous and rude way to respond. Why do we all do it at times? I think there are several reasons: Sometimes we’re pressed for time. Sometimes we haven’t really listened or evaluated what the person is saying, and we assume that we know what he/she is going to say. Sometimes it’s a person who always says the same thing, and it’s painful. Sometimes he/she is speaking so slow that it’s driving us crazy! Do any of these sound familiar? Perhaps we should look at it from the other person’s viewpoint: Why would he/she say the same thing over and over? Why does he/she talk slow or keep starting over when we interrupt? Maybe we’ll discover that it’s less painful when we become better listeners. • Address the speaker’s points. It makes it easier for the speaker to transition into a listener when he/she knows exactly which part of the message you’re addressing. Examples include, “When you said… my first thought was…” or “If I can go back and ask you about something you said. You said…” Something to Think About While each stage seems like a lengthy process, it all happens in a very short amount of time and should feel natural during a conversation. All you’re doing by practicing these tips is making yourself more conscious of the way you communicate and the bad habits you should avoid in the listening process. Listening is the most important part of communication, because if you fail to understand the message being expressed to you, you also will fail in providing a substantial and meaningful response. This is the root cause of many arguments, misunderstandings and complications, whether at home or at work. Being able to take control of the listening process will turn you into a better communicator overall. Weekly Challenge This week, be aware of your conversations at home and in the workplace. Apply all of the skills that we have discussed this month, and watch what happens in all of your relationships. Words of Wisdom “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” – Stephen R. Covey “This is the problem with dealing with someone who is actually a good listener. They don’t jump in on your sentences, saving you from actually finishing them, or talk over you, allowing what you do manage to get out to be lost or altered in transit. Instead, they wait, so you have to keep going.” – Sarah Dessen “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t being said. The art of reading between the lines is a lifelong quest of the wise.” – Shannon L. Alder “We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we say.” – Zeno of Citium “It takes a great man to be a good listener.” – Calvin Coolidge “Defensiveness is usually someone silently screaming that they need you to value and respect them in disguise. When you look for deeper meanings behind someone’s pain you can then begin to heal not only yourself, but others.” – Shannon L. Alder

Monday Wake Up Call

Monday Wake Up Call: Your Motivation, Inspiration, & Direction for the Week Ahead

Happy Labor Day! I hope you enjoyed your Labor Day weekend. It’s fun to have that last summer fling! Of course, we also want to be observant of why we have this holiday. Labor Day celebrates the creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the achievements of American workers. It’s a tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity and well-being of our country. That means we were celebrating your achievements this weekend too! Home ownership is a BIG part of the American dream, and you make that possible. Did you know that buying and selling a home is considered to be one of the top three stressful events in a person’s life? However, great agents make buying/selling a home less stressful and more joyful. A recent NAR Home Buyer/Home Seller Survey indicated that more than 80% of home buyers and sellers had a positive transaction and would recommend their agent and use him/her again when buying or selling another home. Congratulations, and keep up the great work! This week we celebrate YOU!   Something to Think About Not everyone has a great real estate transaction, but 78% of consumers indicated that they would use an agent recommended by a friend or family member. That’s terrific news for agents who are doing a great job and staying in touch with their clients. Statistics also show that 10% of the people in your database will do business with you or refer business to you each year if you stay in touch! If you have 400 people in your database, that’s 40 transactions per year!   Weekly Activity We are at the start of the fall market. It’s predicted to be a great season, so touch base with 10 of your clients each day to see who wants to buy or sell a home – or who knows someone who wants to buy or sell a home. Your efforts will definitely pay off!   Words of Wisdom “May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.” – Nelson Mandela “We need to find the courage to say no to the things and people that are not serving us if we want to rediscover ourselves and live our lives with authenticity.” – Barbara De Angelis “I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” – Stephen Covey “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” – Viktor Frankl