Tips on Handling a Foreclosure

Unfortunately, foreclosures and short sales do happen. I’m here to give you some facts and tips on what you can expect before purchasing another property.

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 865-6404 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Unfortunately, foreclosures and short sales do happen. So, today I am answering the question, “How long do I have to wait before I can purchase another property?”

In most situations, if you had a foreclosure and you want to get a conventional loan, you’re looking at a four-year waiting period before you can purchase another property. An FHA loan has about a three-year waiting period, and a VA loan usually has a one-year waiting period.

While you are waiting to be able to purchase again, you need to make sure you keep your credit impeccable. Do not be late on any payments, and do not close credit cards.

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Do not be late on any payment, and do not close credit cards.

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Your credit cards should remain open, but make sure to never let your balance run over 30% of your credit limit. So, if you have a $9,000 credit limit, you don’t want to spend any more than $3,000, as going over that could drop your credit score.

If you have any other questions about this topic or any other real estate-related questions, please feel free to reach out to me with a phone call or a quick email. I would be happy to help you.

Join Us for a Seller’s Seminar

We are hosting an upcoming seller’s seminar and we would love for you or anyone you know who is thinking about selling next spring to join us.

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 865-6404 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

We’ve got something a little bit different for you today.

Instead of discussing the latest market statistics or trends, we wanted to invite you to an upcoming event we are hosting.

On January 21st from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., we are hosting a seller’s seminar. This is a perfect opportunity for you or someone you know who is thinking about selling to get some more insight into the process.

CLICK HERE FOR OUR
HOME SELLER'S SEMINAR

One big problem with people getting ready to sell their home in the spring is that they wait too long. They don’t start preparing until February or March, and getting the home on the market takes them longer than they expect.

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This seminar will greatly help you in this market.

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Going to this seminar will help you in this market. You’ll know what you need to do early enough to actually do it. If you want to sell for top dollar, you want to be listed by the time March rolls around. So come out and join us as we walk through the home selling process from beginning to end. We will even feed you lunch!

In addition to the expertise of real estate professionals, we’ll also have representatives from the lending, title, appraisal, staging, and home warranty industries as well. This is a free seminar, so all you’ve got to do is sign up. You can do that here.

Just fill out the form and we will be in touch soon.

If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Why Is Winter a Great Time to Sell a House?

Every year I'm asked whether the wintertime is a good time to sell a house. It's actually a great time, for a few different reasons you may have never considered.

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 865-6404 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Every winter, sellers ask me whether they should sell their house now or wait until spring. 

There are two different schools of thought for this scenario. Typically, what we see in the Alaska market is that you have far less competition in the winter than you would in the summertime. Sure, the number of homes that sell in the summer is higher, but there is much higher inventory that you would have to compete against. 

In the winter, there is less inventory for buyers to choose from, which typically keeps pricing pretty stable. You have to think about the possible outcomes and balance it out with your lifestyle and what works for your family. If you sell during the winter, though, you will have a lot more serious buyers than you typically do in the summer. 

In the summer, you tend to get a lot more 'looky-loos' who are out looking just as a hobby. Believe me, nobody is out there in 20-below weather in the winter dragging their kids in and out of homes just to look at them for the fun of it. 

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Nobody is out in the winter just to look at homes for the fun of it.

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If you're thinking of selling this winter or you have any other questions about the real estate market in Alaska, give me a call or send me an email today. I look forward to hearing from you!

3 Questions to Ask Before Buying a Home

How do you know if now is the time for you to buy a home? Luckily, there are three questions you can ask yourself to figure out the answer.

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home,click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 865-6404 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Only you and your family know if the time is right to buy a home. If you are thinking about buying a home, here are three questions you should ask yourself: 

1. Why are you buying a home in the first place? For most people, the reason has nothing to do with money. Most people buy for one of four reasons: they want a good place to raise their children, they want a place where their family is safe, they want more space, and they want control of that space.  Forget the finances for a minute and really consider why you want to buy a home. 

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Why do you really want to buy a home?

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2. Where are home values headed? CoreLogic recently projected that home values will increase 5.3% nationwide over the next 12 months. If you are buying a home, it’s important to buy on an upswing. Why? Let’s say you plan on buying a home that costs $250,000 today. That same home will cost you an additional $13,250 if you wait until next year. Your down payment will also need to be higher to account for the higher home price. 

3. Where are mortgage interest rates headed? As you know, the long-term cost of a home can be dramatically impacted by even a small increase in mortgage rates. Although we don’t know how much rates will go up, the Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Realtors, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac have all projected that mortgage interest rates will increase over the next 12 months. 


If you have any other questions about buying a home or about our real estate market in general, give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

The Connection Between School Zones and Home Value

Do you know the connection between school zones and your home's value?

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home,click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 865-6404 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

You may not know this, but the school zone your home is located within is important. Being in a good school zone can positively impact your property’s value. Being in a bad school zone can do the opposite. 

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Homes located within great school zones have distinct advantages.

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We found a great article on Housing Wire recently that talks about this. There is quite a bit of interesting information in here, so we recommend that you take a look. Homes located within great school zones have distinct advantages over others.


If you have any other questions for me, you can always reach out by phone or email. I look forward to hearing from you and am happy to answer any questions you may have.

Have You Seen Resolution Pointe Recently?

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home,click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 865-6404 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

The Resolution Pointe development is coming along nicely. We’re here with an update for you, in the form of a neighborhood walkthrough.

There are 99 lots in this subdivision. We completely sold out on phase one. We have about three left for phase two, and 15 for phase three. We are now getting ready to open up phase four, where another set of 15 beautiful lots will become available.

The nice thing about this subdivision is that any builder can build here. There is a nice variety in the homes of this neighborhood because we have so many different builders and different styles. It adds some nice flavor to the neighborhood.

We have also got an exclusive look for you of the latest home in Resolution Pointe built by Trevi Builders. In the kitchen of the home, we’ve got beautiful alder cabinets and granite countertops to go along with a copper farm-style sink. In the master bedroom, there are big windows that showcase a beautiful green view. There is also a large master bathroom and walk-in closet, which are very important to buyers. For a better look at this particular home, watch the video above.

If you have any questions for us about this neighborhood or any of the lots on it, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you out.

Anchorage Area Market Update

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home,click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 865-6404 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

The question of the year seems to be, “What is our market doing, how is our economy doing, and how is that affecting our housing market?” Today I’m going to talk about the Anchorage-Eagle River market stats and update you on where we are today versus last year.

This year’s total active listings compared to last year show that we’re up about 16%, which is not horrible. This just means that the buyers have about 16% more homes to look at and choose from. If you’re a seller it means that you need to be on top of your game and your house needs to look better than everybody else’s.

The good news is that our sales are not down by that much - only 6% compared to where they were this time last year. Our average sales price right now is down about 2% - it was $364,000 last year and we’re at $358,000 this year. Our average days on market figure is showing slightly less, which is great news if you’re a seller. In that respect, we went from roughly 86 days to 67 days. And finally, our list-to-sales price is about the same, as the sellers are getting somewhere between 98% and 99% of asking price.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to give me a call. My number is 907-240-2804. Or you can contact me via email at dar@darwalden.com.

Staying on the Cutting Edge of Real Estate in Anchorage

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home,click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 865-6404 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

This week I’m in San Diego for a Realtor RATE convention learning some of the best and latest real estate trends across the country. We think this type of education is important because it helps us stay on the cutting edge of the market in Anchorage. 

This convention has been jam-packed with top-producing agents talking about what they’re seeing as the latest trends across the country. We also got to spend time with multimillionaire investor and entrepreneur Daymond John of NBC’s “Shark Tank” and hear his rags-to-riches story.

To understand the caliber of professional here - you must be in the top 1% of your market and the nation to be invited. Not only does this help me stay on the cutting edge of the Anchorage real estate market in Alaska, it helps you. If you need an agent outside of Alaska, please call me and use me as your resource, as I have access to the top agents across the nation.

If you need any real estate help in the future, please feel free to give me a call at 907-240-2804 or send me an email at info@DarWalden.com. So long from Sunny San Diego!

Prepare Your Alaska Home for the Market

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home,click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 865-6404 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Some homeowners wait for June or July to put their home on the market. However, February, March, and April are actually busier months for the real estate market. Things slow down in the summer due to the fishing and hunting season. That said, now is the perfect time to prepare your home for the market. 

There have been many times where I talk to a homeowner about preparing their home to sell, and the owner tells me they’ll be ready in a week. Next thing you know, one week turns into four, and the home still isn’t quite ready. Get started now with these four simple tips!

1. Clean up outside. Curb appeal gets people in the door. Put trash cans in the back of the house and consider painting your front door. 

2. Use quality photography. The pictures you put online have to make it look like your home belongs on HGTV. Make your home look as clean and spacious as possible, and consider hiring a professional photographer. 

3. Focus on the kitchen. Take everything off the counters that you don’t use every day. Get everything down from the top of cabinets. You want people to focus on the house and the floor plan, not your clutter. 

4. Clean up the master bedroom. Clean off the dresser and have a nice comforter set for the bed. Keep the curtains open to make the room light and inviting. 

We recommend focusing on the kitchen and the master bedroom because these are the two rooms buyers pay the most attention to. We have many more tips for sellers, so if you have any questions, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

What Makes an Anchorage Home Sell?

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home,click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 865-6404 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Today, we're here with part two of "What makes a home sell?"

The first thing you want to do is captivate your buyers from the driveway. If they don't like the outside of the house, you won't get them to look at the inside of your house.

Do what it takes to make the outside of the house appealing. Repaint, re-stain the decks - as soon as weather permits, of course! For now, keep walkways and driveways clear, and take the trash cans around to the back of the house.

Next, walk into your home. Does the house smell good? If you have animals in the home, you need to air out the house very well. It may feel a little boring, but neutral colors are the best way to go.

As for carpet, you might be able to get away with deep-cleaning it. However, if you can still see a lot of wear and tear it may be best to replace them. Carpet has a lifespan of about five to seven years, and buyers expect fresh carpet.

Finally, focus on the areas that will impact the buyer the most: your kitchen, master bedroom, and master bathroom. Deep-clean the kitchen: scrub baseboards, take the magnets off the refrigerator, and get rid of anything sitting on top of cabinets. If you don't have a nice bedspread, purchase one. Clear extra items off your dresser. Clean the master bathroom and get rid of laundry hampers.

If you have any questions about today's video, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!

What Is the Most-Asked Question in Real Estate?

There are many great Anchorage area homes for sale. Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home,click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call me at (907) 865-6404 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Today I am going to answer the most asked question of the year in Anchorage. The question I’ve been getting is, “What do you expect to happen to the housing market in the next few years?” 

Unfortunately this is not a question that I, or anyone else for that matter, can answer. However, I can tell you that our inventory is extremely low right now. There are 543 single-family homes and 279 condos currently on the market. We expect these numbers to pick up in February.

If you’re contemplating selling your Anchorage home this year, now is the time to get it ready for the market. It takes some preparation, and a lot of work, so our advice would be to start the process as early as possible. In reality, the early spring market has been when sellers sell the fastest and get the most money for their home.

If you’re thinking about getting your home on the market, feel free to give me a call. I would be happy to do a walkthrough with you and let you know what you need to do to get prepared to sell.

Next time, we are going to give you some great tips to prepare your home for the market. In the meantime, if you have any questions for us, just give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you!