Real Estate tips for 2020

Linda White

Schrack Realty

615 Washington St.,

Huntingdon, PA 16652

814-643-6000, 814-571-0804

 Your move matters to me!

HAPPY 2020!

I hope you enjoyed a terrific 2019 and that this year, 2020, will be even more amazing!

New year, new you? It’s not just a time to make resolutions to eat right and exercise more. It’s a time to look over your assets and financials. Soon your w-2’s and 1099’s will be arriving and you will be assembling everything for completing your tax return.

If you bought or sold property in 2019, make sure you take advantage of any tax breaks you can possibly get. I highly recommend using accountants because they are the pros at what they do. I would not trust myself to be up-to-date on changes made by state and federal governments. Whether you use a pro or do your return yourself, pull out a copy of your settlement sheet. If you cannot find one, let me know and I will send one from our files.

Even if you bought before 2019, you may have had to pay PMI (private mortgage insurance). (This often happens if you did not have 20% downpayment.) You may have forgotten about this as it is blended in with your actual mortgage payment. However, if you have paid down the balance or your property value has increased, you may be able to have your lender remove the PMI amount, saving you money. The magic number is 80%...if the amount you owe (principal) on your home’s value is 80% or less, you have 20% equity and you may be able to eliminate the PMI. If it’s been a few years and you want to get an idea of value, let me know. I can’t do an appraisal but I may be able to arm you with some info so you can discuss this option with your lender.

If you bought a second home and plan to use it sometimes and rent it out other times, there are some tax rules that determine whether you can use the expenses as deductions.

If you bought a house that is used as your only home or primary residence, you may qualify for the Homestead exemption. This is a credit against your school taxes which run from 7/1 thru 6/30 each year. The number fluctuates but it can be several hundred dollars. If you haven’t applied for this, you can find the forms at http://www.huntingdoncounty.net/Dept/TaxAssessment/Documents/Homestead%20application%202015.pdf  or call me and I will print one for you.

Investing some money in property is a very wise choice. In most cases, property values will increase annually if you just keep up your place. Updating or adding on can help really boost the value. If you feel your money in CD’s, savings, IRA’s, etc. isn’t working very hard for you, maybe you want to explore more real estate investing.  If I can be of assistance to you or someone you know, please give me a call!

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 Linda White PA Realtor

Help, my Facebook is Foreign!

Get me my English back on Facebook!

Yes, I had the same problem you have. Somehow I must have brushed a button on my computer while viewing posts on Facebook. In the blink of an eye, I got some strange language made up of strange characters that were far from my preferred English language. I let it go for a little while because I could mostly work around it. For instance, if I wanted to “like” something, I found what I thought was the like button. It was in the foreign language but when I put my cursor over it, the English version appeared above the foreign version!

Well, I finally was about to break down and ask a techie friend if I could sit down with his Facebook page to use it as a guide. The problem was, I didn’t remember the location of the “settings” tab and all that stuff was in the foreign language.

I googled my problem and one of the sites that had a fix was called Tech5. After a little trial and error, I was able to get to the correct screen and once again found my beloved English!

Because it was pretty annoying and I noticed many other people reported the same problem, I thought I would try to do a simple explanation. It may help a few of you.

On your Facebook page within the dark blue band at the top, click on the last icon, a small triangle-shape (down arrow). You should see several groupings of items. First block will be your page(s), second block should be create page/manage pages, third block is create group/new groups, fourth block is create ads/advertising on Facebook, fifth block is activity log/news feed preferences/settings/logout, last block is help/support inbox/report a problem. I’m telling you what is in each block because, if your problem is like mine was, all these items were in jibberish! So just use the count from the top of the blocks to get to “settings”…it would be the fifth block down and the third item within that block…click on that.

Next you should be on a page for general account settings. If this is also jibberish, the top item on the left of the screen should be highlighted. There’s a larger block in the center of the page. There are 8 lines under the main heading. Language is what you want, it is the 6^th line down. On this line, go to the far right and click on “edit”. The line expands and shows a drop-down list of languages. Fortunately “English” is in English!! Select it, click on save changes and you should be back in business!

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Huntingdon County (south-central) PA
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Weekends, Friday thru Sunday:

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Small cabin $79/night, Large cabin $129/night

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My personal economic stimulus plan...

submitted by Linda White, http://LindaWhitePaHomes.com, LindaWhitePA@gmail.com

Okay, so our country has some serious economic problems. Between what the government says and what the media reports, I'm not sure whom I should believe. And, short of requiring our government and big business to start thinking and reacting like successful small businesses, I'm not sure they have a clue (nor do they care about) how to get our country back in the black. I do believe that we will do further damage to the situation if we all just crawl into our little holes, hold tight to the money we have and stop spending. I do not encourage splurging now but just being in maintenance mode and giving ourselves a little extra something every once in awhile, just to keep from becoming extremely down and negative. It's up to us to keep the economic ball rolling.

If you have a steady and secure job, congratulations! If your employer may have to lay you off, I'm sorry and I pray you'll find something else to tide you over until things improve. If you're on a fixed income, you must keep a tight budget and make your dollars stretch. If you're self-employed (like my hubby and me), you might not be sure where your next paycheck is coming from...keep the faith! My husband sells and services water treatment equipment (Clean Water Systems, Inc.) and I sell real estate (at Keller Williams) and manage our cabin rentals (Warrior Ridge Hideaway). Our business has been steady to strong in the past year and we feel truly blessed. That being said, we know we need to keep a close eye on things; if we falter, I don't think the government will seriously consider our proposed bail-out request!

Consider your local economy vs. the national economy. A big concern for many people is the value of their real estate investment. In central Pennsylvania things don't seem so bad as in some of the big-city areas. As I follow closely the real estate market, I know that State College, PA and the areas around Penn State University have always been pretty stable. A few years ago some major cities especially near resort areas were expanding like crazy, home prices were escalating and builders could not keep up with the demand. Now those areas are returning to normalcy, some below normal. Comparatively around Happy Valley, our home values appreciated more than normal a few years back but now we seem to be right about the normal national average of 3-4% appreciation per year.

So here's my plan, what I propose to do... Please comment and let me know what you plan to do!

Keep a positive outlook. That is, look for opportunities to change things for the better. Don't watch too much CNN (constantly negative news). Be aware of what's going on but don't dwell on it. Did you notice that when the plane landed on the Hudson River and no one was killed, it wasn't sensational enough for the media? They had to hype it up by pointing to all the "what-ifs" so they could make it more of a story. Thank God for a great pilot and the weather conditions which allowed all to survive!

Define what you need vs. what you want. There's nothing wrong with rewarding yourself with a specialty coffee occasionally. Perhaps every morning might be a little frivolous! Just think of the total cost over a year's time and that may alter your attitude. Regarding eating out, every lunch and every dinner might be extreme... learn to cook and enjoy your home. But don't stop eating out completely; this is important in your local economy too.

What about those gas prices? I think we were all pretty happy they came down so much. But many people began to rethink their traveling, carpool, and make each trip count. We are all wise to continue the budget because, sooner or later, the prices will likely go back up.

Shop the sales. Typically in January retailers run sales to clear out the after-Christmas surplus and get ready for spring merchandise. Pick up the decorations and replace those burned-out strings of lights for 75% off and you'll be smiling next Christmas as you decorate the tree! Boots, leather jackets, show-blowers, you name it!

Use coupons for the grocery items you need. When the Sunday paper comes, cut out the coupons first, then look at the fliers from your local grocery and drug stores. Very often the merchants will run special prices and note in their ad that additional discounts may be available from the Sunday coupons. Visit websites like coupons.com and smartsource.com where you can download and print additional coupons.

Stock up on non-perishables when they're on sale. Everyone can find a little extra space for some canned goods, sugar, flour, cake/brownie/bread mix, spaghetti sauce...If you have a large freezer, buy your meats in bulk packs, bring them home, divide them into smaller portions, put them in a freezer bag (labeled with date and item). Make sure to squoosh the air out; the pros say that helps avoid freezer-burn.

Support your local businesses. I know there's a temptation to shop online especially when the merchant offers free shipping. But your friends and neighbors depend on your buying locally to keep the local economy strong. A lot of businesses may be willing to "price-match". If you bring them proof of a business selling the same item at a lower price, they may sell it to you at that price. It never hurts to ask.

Look for price roll-backs. Wal-Mart is famous for this but some of the drug and grocery stores have recently started doing it. Many merchants should be thinking that it's better to get 80% of something than 100% of nothing. They may be better able to ride out the economic challenges by accepting a little less profit in exchange for continued patronage by their customers.

Were you thinking of trading/buying a car this year? Since gas prices have come down, this might be a good time to buy a new or used SUV. Remember when everyone "went hybrid" and the dealers couldn't give SUV's away. This negative demand caused prices to drop. Car dealers in general are struggling with most people holding onto and fixing up the cars they have instead of buying something else. A good situation for a buyer to negotiate price. Did you see the commercial for the car dealership offering to let you return the car you purchase if you loose your job? I'd have to see the fine print on that...interesting.

Did your New Year's resolutions include getting in shape and losing weight? Many gyms and weight loss centers know that this is prime-time for them to acquire new customers. I just saw a segment in the news saying you should ask them to waive the initiation fee for new members. That could save a lot of money. As for me, I do my exercising at home. I have lots of equipment and videos...yes I need to make myself use them more regularly!

Were you thinking about moving? In central PA our home prices are pretty stable. If you're a first-time homebuyer, you may qualify for some programs to help you get into your first place with little to no downpayment. If you want to sell a smaller, less expensive house and move up to a larger, more expensive house, this market will treat you pretty well. Due to greater demand for starter homes, you should have a nice gain when you sell. Due to greater inventory and less competiton from other buyers for the higher-priced homes, you should have some good negotiating power when you buy. Even if you're looking to down-size, keep in mind that you might get less than you'd like when you sell your big house. However, this same market will also proportionately give you a lower price when you buy a smaller house or condo.

Be a friend, a good neighbor or a helping hand to someone who could use it. There may not be an exchange of money in the action but the giver gets a warm, fuzzy feeling and the receiver realizes someone cares. It matters to that someone and hopefully they will pass it on.

I hope these ideas will encourage and empower you to make a difference. Together we can turn things around. Big changes must be made but that usually starts with small changes. Please share your plans...