Is a USDA Loan Right For You?

If you're thinking of buying your first home, but do not have money for a down payment, you might want to consider a USDA loan.  

With a USDA loan, you don't put anything down, it is 100% financed.  Before you get too excited and think "Wahoo!  I don't need any money!" - you will still need earnest money, money for closing costs & for any inspections.  In a buyer's market you can often get the seller to pay your closing costs.  In our current market, a seller's market, it's still possible that a seller might pay your closing costs, but it's not as likely.

A USDS loan takes longer to get, so the closing timeframe on a house is going to be longer, at least 60 days, often more.  There are certain requirements like all the exposed wood must be painted.  They don't care if the house is polka dotted, it just can't have exposed, unpainted wood siding.  You can't get a USDA loan on a house with any out buildings, like a shop, or things like a pool.

Besides the fact that this type of loan is finicky with the condition of the house (like no plumbing, electrical or roof issues), it also is only available in certain areas. Basically think rural, outlying towns.  You'll want to talk to your lender, but in this area some of the approved towns for USDA loans are Forest Grove, Cornelius and North Plains.

As with any loans, there are requirements.  But don't think that this is a bad option.  The fact of the matter is, it is an option.  When you're thinking about the current low interest rates and thinking that now is the time to buy before home prices go any higher, this may just be the option for you.  You could buy a home and start building your own home equity, instead of continuing to rent and paying off someone else's mortgage.  Talk to a lender today and if you don't have one, give me a call and I can get you connected with a lender that you can trust.

7 Apps and Web Tools That You Never Knew Existed

Here are seven tools that you can use regularly but probably never knew existed. 

1) Autodesk Homestyler is probably the neatest free design tool that I've seen and so user friendly.   You can create house floor plans.  You can input your furniture and then move it around to see how different layouts work.  It gives you so many options that your head will spin and you'll wonder how you ever decided on a layout before this! 

2)  I'm sure you've watched news clips about the latest arrest of a sex offender and thought at least that person didn't live near me.  Which then leads you to wonder if one does live near you or that perfect house that you want to buy.   Find out at Oregon's Sex Offender Inquiry System.

3) Property Tracker is a free web tool that will email you when a new house fits your search criteria.  Maybe you want to sell your house in two years and just want notice of homes that sell near you to get an idea of what prices people are getting.  Maybe you want to buy but don't want to waste time searching.  Set up a search once with Property Tracker and it'll do all the work for you.  You can choose how often you get notice, once a day/once a week, etc.  P.S. don't forget to put my name is as your Realtor connection so that if you want to see the home or get more info, just a simple click and I'm on top of it for you!  Get it for your smart phone too at JLSapp.com/amiek and with a quick download you're all set.

4) Painting is probably one of the surest ways to clean up a room and really make it pop!  But selecting a color and figuring out the amount of paint that you actually need can be problematic.  The Paint Quality Institute is an easy online tool that'll calculate how many gallons of paint you need to buy.  This quick app from Benjamin Moore will let you take a picture of anything and it'll match the paint color that's closest to it! 

5)  Are school districts important to you in your home search?  Check out Oregon Home Town Locator that not only shows you the boundary maps of the school districts but also gives stats on each school.

6)  Ever wondered what the value of a tree would be to your street?  The National Tree Benefit Calculator inputs the location, species and tree size to give users an understanding of the environmental and economic value that trees provide annually.  While you're thinking about trees... try this tree identification app called Leafsnap.  It is only for trees but it lets you take a picture of a leaf and it'll tell you what tree it's from.  Now when you're walking by a really neat tree, you can figure out what it is!

7) Do It Yourself Project Calculator is so very neat!  Want to know what it would cost to fix up your bathroom?  What about a kitchen remodel?  Put in a new deck?  All of those questions can be answered using a very easy estimator and with a couple of selections of the size, type of finish and voilà! You've got a project cost!