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How to Select a Mortgage Professional in Western New York

Colleen Kulikowski — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 12:54:08 +0000

Mortgage Professionals are not all the same! Do your homework before you commit to one!

Many buyers make a huge mistake when they select a Mortgage professional. They make the decision based on Interest Rate. But that is only one aspect of your decision.

Questions to Ask

Before you commit to a Western New York lender, here are a series of questions you should ask them. Next to selecting your Real Estate Professional, the most important thing you need to select is your Mortgage Professional.

There are the obvious questions:

Do You Offer Loan Rate Locks?
Is There a Prepayment Penalty?
Are You Equipped to Approve Loans In-House and will you guarantee the Good Faith Estimate?
How Much Time Do You Need to Fund?

But let’s talk about some questions you should ask potential Western New York lenders before you commit to working with them.

Which Type of Loan is Best?

A great Western New York Mortgage Professional will want to discover more about you and your goals before throwing out loan options. The options are very dependent on what you plan on doing over the next couple of years. One loan is better in certain situations and another loan is better in another. Your financial health will also affect your options. Just think about it, you would not want a doctor to suggest unnecessary surgery before they take a complete medical history?

A great lender will want to explain the pros and cons to you about:

Fixed-rate loans
Adjustable-rate loans
Interest-only loans
Negative-amortization loans

Read Also: How to Keep Your Mortgage Approval

What Are All the Loan Costs?

Each “point” is equal to 1 percent of the loan amount. Therefore, 2 points on a $100,000 loan cost $2,000. Sometimes lenders charge origination fees in addition to points. Points “buy down” the interest rate, meaning the more points you pay, the lower the interest rate. Points are also tax deductible, even if the seller pays some or all of the points.

Your lender will explain all the costs of a loan. This will include not only fees that go into the lender’s pocket but also related third-party vendor fees such as:

Appraisal
Credit report
Lender’s title policy
Pest inspection reports
Escrow (where applicable)
Recording fees
Taxes

An estimate of these fees constitutes the Good Faith Estimate or GFE, which the lender is required by federal law to give to you. Ready to speak with a lender before you start your home search in Western New York? Give me a call at (716) 743-5297 or fill out the form below.

The Realtor Myths

Colleen Kulikowski — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 05:16:15 +0000

There is a lot written on the Internet about Realtors. Some of it good, some not so good. It is human nature that you would want to know the dirt on Realtors. The Internet is a great place to find it.

Yes there are a few bad apples out there, but every industry has them. Don’t let some of the bad Realtors sour your opinion on the whole profession.

Realtors are not trusted by consumers because of misinformation. The misconceptions people have about our profession are many. In an effort to help you; I thought it was about time to discuss some of these Realtor Myths:

All Realtors are the same

Well yes, we all have the same access to the same information. We all start with the same training. Anything one Realtor can do so can another. But let’s talk about what Realtors really do in today’s competitive market.

Do they have their own Internet presence or are they dependent upon their company?
Do they network within the Realtor community?
Are they involved with the community?
Is the company they work with well respected?
Do they advance their education?

All Realtors know your community

Realtors know a lot about Western New York, and they can help you learn more about each community. Some Realtors specialize in Residential Real Estate while others specialize in Commercial Real Estate. While Real Estate Professionals prefer to work with Condos, while others focus on homes or investment property.

It is not always what the Realtor knows about a community, it is how well they can research an area for you.

Realtors should tell you about schools, crime stats and ethnic makeup

Federal Fair Housing laws prevent a real estate agent from discriminating against a number of protected classes, which automatically prohibits an agent from disclosing anything remotely relating to the protected classes. Therefore, it may come as a shock to many people that agents cannot disclose crime rates, school stats or ethnic mixes of neighborhoods. If that kind of information is important to you, an agent can tell you where to find it but cannot provide it to you.

Read Also: Fair Housing Rules Affect WNY Buyers

Agents get Kickbacks for other services

Realtors have been prevented from receiving any kind of kickback or favor from real estate vendors. It’s against the law. It’s against RESPA: the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. Some agents are slower than others to realize how the law affects them, but most have heard of RESPA and would not jeopardize their license, regardless of the temptation.

Realtors will say anything to get the sale

Western New Yorkers are a close knit community bad news travels very fast. Realtors depend on repeat business, our reputation in the community is very important to us. If we to lie and break that client’s trust it would destroy that reputation.

Beside which, making misrepresentations or a false statement is against the law. Agents who break fiduciary relationships or fail to disclose material facts are subject to prosecution and a loss of their license to sell real estate in New York.

Realtors Make a lot of Money

Not all Realtors are rich, many of us make a good living. We are independent contractors, we pay our own taxes, professional fees, E & O Insurance, marketing and overhead. There are a few that are driving around in Lexus cars and have designer wardrobes. But there are many more that drive a Ford or Honda, live in modest homes and love to shop at local consignment shops to have a designer wardrobe.

Realtors by nature are great bargain hunters. The bargain hunters are the ones you want working for you. They not only recognize a good deal in a consignment shop, but it carries over to their understanding of value in the Real Estate market too!

Realtors just want your money

Realtors don’t want your first born child or all of your money. We provide a service, and all we expect is to be paid for that service. We tell you up front what we expect for our service. Some times people feel that what we earn is a lot of money. If you feel that way, you do not have to use our services. Go ahead and do it yourself.

What we do expect is to be paid for our services, which by the way, is only once we perform. So if you home doesn’t sell, we do not get paid. When working with buyers, it is customary that the seller pays the commission. A commission that you agree to at the time you list your home for sale.

Realtors just want me to up my offer so they can make more money

I may suggest that you increase your offer because it could make or break the deal for you. There are times that you may be faced with multiple offers on the home you want to purchase. This is simple math, there is little difference in MY commission on a $80,000 and $90,000 sale price. The $10,000 does not go to me.

You can make more money by paying less commission

Discount Brokerages like to claim to save sellers money by charging less. Top producers in this business do not discount services. Why? Because they don’t have to. When you see the value in our Marketing and experience you will understand that sometimes you get what you pay for.

Thinking of selling your Buffalo home? Interested in finding out the current market value of your single family home, condo or investment property? Then call Colleen Kulikowski at (716) 743-5297 to discuss what is happening in today’s Western New York Real Estate Market.

Buffalo NY — No greater place to call home!

Colleen Kulikowski — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:04:28 +0000

Thinking of visiting Buffalo and Niagara Falls? Want to experience a little bit of everything? Then mark your calendars for June 25-28 2009 for the next Buffalo Homecoming Weekend…

Pride in Buffalo shined last year. Even though the weather didn’t always cooperate, it was an amazing weekend! Buffalo Homecoming 2008 showcased the best that Buffalo has to offer! The four day celebration June 26-29 gave us the opportunity to share the great restaurants that the Greater Buffalo Region has to offer, and showcase 20 of the most progressive CEO’s. There were 40 companies at the Career Fair with amazing job opportunities.

Read Also: News of Buffalo Homecoming

We celebrated the Arts and Cultural organizations in Delaware Park and saw the launch of the row boats in Hoyt Lake after years of them not being available. Some took in art exhibits at the Albright Knox Gallery others enjoyed local artists in the Casino on Hoyt Lake while the Buffalo Philharmonic String Quartet played. And as our event ended, many people strolled over to Shakespeare Hill to enjoy King Lear.

Read Also: Article on Buffalo Homecoming in Buffalo News

On Saturday we discovered all that is great about Buffalo from the Downtown Housing Tour and the variety of neighborhood tours. Then there was the Buffalo Bison’s Game — where I got to invite everyone to the Sunday Brunch at the Buffalo Zoo, where we paid tribute to Tim Russert. We had a reunion party that joined the 80′s Bash because of weather, and in true Buffalonian spirit, one event opened its arms to another! Buffalo is truly the city of Good Neighbors. Don’t you want to call it home too? Below is a slide show of all the photos that were taken on my camera during the event.

Read also: Article on Buffalo Homecoming

It is hard to believe that it was just a year ago that Buffalo NY lost our greatest ambassador in Tim Russert. Two weeks after his death we had an amazing weekend that celebrated everything he loved about Buffalo NY. I was an honored to be a member of a group of Buffalo ambassadors that organized this event.

I returned to the Buffalo area after 21 years of being away to be closer to family late last year. Inspired by Oprah’s “Big Give” I gave some time and expertise to Buffalo Homecoming. In doing so, I made new friends and was inspired by the many wonderful Buffalo Ambassadors we have right here in Buffalo NY.

Visit www.buffalohomecoming.com and www.NiagaraRises.com for more information and the blog for details about the weekend. While you are there, you can find out how to sponsor and volunteer and get that feeling I was talking about!

Favorite Buffalo Area Real Estate Articles

Colleen Kulikowski — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 08:50:02 +0000

Growing communities include Wheatfield, Clarence and Orchard Park.

There are so many articles that I write. Someone recently asked me what were my favorites. Well to decide what are my absolute favorites is tough, each one had a different reason for being written and at the time was my favorite.

Just a note, sometimes I write an article about a specific community (, , or for example) but the information is universal to all , and of Real Estate. So don’t let my titles stop you from reading the information contained in the article. Also note that if you are a many of my Seller articles will be of interest to you, just like some of the articles will be of interest to Buyers, Sellers and Investors.

Here is a brief summary of some of the articles that I consider my favorites here:

Buyer Related Favorites:

Seller Related Favorites:

Investor/Finance:

Interested in buying a home in Western New York? Call Colleen Kulikowski at (716) 650-0051 to start today! Perhaps you need to sell your WNY home and need assistance is getting your home SOLD… Fill out the form below and we will be happy to assist you!

Is This a Good Time to Purchase Real Estate in WNY?

Colleen Kulikowski — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 05:39:00 +0000

“What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate.”

Donald Trump

As Realtors we are here to assist buyers to achieve the American Dream – Home Ownership in Western New York. That might be to relocate to a new location, which might mean selling their current property, helping them find another qualified agent in the new area. As your Real Estate Professional we have to be part banker, part analyst, in addition to helping you find the right WNY home.

We have to wade through the massive amount of information that is now available to the Western New York Real Estate consumer and help make sense of it all. With Web 2.0 that information has expanded tenfold.

No wonder the consumer is sitting on the fence. It was a lot of information to process when you were looking at two or three neighborhoods. Now people are exposed to a lot of extra information, information that may not be relevant to your specific situation or area. What results is you are forever stuck in analysis paralysis.

If all that is out there is the negative why would you want to purchase a WNY home? For all the bad, there is much good happening in Western New York. There is growth and new development happening, there is construction going on. People, like myself, are coming back to Western New York.

There is hope!

The media seems to do well enough on the negative. Remember that is what gets ratings and newspapers sold. It makes great headlines all the bad in the world, remember corrections and retractions are usually buried somewhere in the paper. The media wants to sell papers, they don’t sell homes.

Taking Real Estate advice from the media is like going to your family physician to get the oil changed in your car.

David Podgursky made an excellent point in a post by Caleb Mardini posted – Why Buy? about the cost of not buying a home and his advice was:

“If you’re buying a home – buy a house you LOVE. If you have this many regrets causing you to keep from purchasing then maybe you just don’t LOVE the house. Don’t, though, let a good deal or the right house slip away from you because you’re betting on the market. Know what is controllable and what isn’t. The right house could disappear as quickly as it came on the market and you could miss out on the right property while trying to figure out the right time to make your move”.

Awhile back I wrote Help – My Crystal Ball is Cloudy and in it I wrote ” There are many factors that affect us all across the country – Baby Boomers, Generation X, the economy, insurance, taxes and disasters to name a few. How they will affect us will be dependent on many local things. But there are things that point out that now is the time to buy. Mortgage rates, lifestyle decisions, and the like play into the decision as importantly as are we heading for an upswing in prices. You may purchase in the downswing while prices go a bit lower, but you run the risk of higher interest rates later on. If you are planning on keeping the property for long term, this setback is temporary. If you are too slow you could miss out on that perceived “better opportunity” only paying more and with a higher interest rate. Because that is also a possibility!”

Mark Eibner wrote a great post about Crystal Balls his advice in the market if for the Colorado area, but he probably says it best for the whole country “For those of us that have been in this business long enough, we know that there is no such thing as a crystal ball. The only thing that is certain for sure is change. Change will be the biggest news item for the next five years. The Crystal ball says get ready to CHANGE.”

How are you going to react to the changes in the Western New York Real Estate market? What changes in your plan are you going to make? How are you going to be one of the winners this year?

For help answering those questions, please call me at (716) 743-5297 to discuss your Real Estate plans and how best to achieve your goals!

Can I get a home with poor credit?

Colleen Kulikowski — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 04:13:00 +0000

It is very important, especially with the credit tightening up not only in Western New York, but around the country. So if you are planning on obtaining a Mortgage to finance the purchase of your New Home in Niagara Falls, you should check it out before applying for a mortgage.

Read Also: Easy steps to save for the down payment for your new home!

Your Credit Report, should be clean. Your Mortgage Professional will run their own copy, but you need to get your own Credit Report to verify that it’s squeaky clean, and fix it if it’s not.

Read Also: How to Keep Your Mortgage Approval

Here is a list of places you can get a copy of your Credit Report and additional information regarding Credit Reports:

Consumer Information About Credit Reports
Equifax: 800-685-1111; www.equifax.com
Experian: 888-EXPERIAN (888-397-3742); www.experian.com
Trans Union: 800-916-8800; www.transunion.com

Read Also: Documents You Need to Apply for a Mortgage
Do You have the Credit Score Blues?

If you have any questions, please feel free to call our office at (716) 743-5297 and we will be happy to assist you in the process or fill out the form below.

I don’t want to work with a Realtor

Colleen Kulikowski — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 06:02:06 +0000

Why the Consumer does not trust Realtors

I write about For Sale By Owners to hopefully assist them in the process of selling their homes. I do it for free, giving advice to assist them in the process. I figure that by doing so I will provide information that will prove my abilities, and when they are ready, they will call me for assistance.

So it’s pretty common knowledge that some people rank Realtors right up there with car salesmen and lawyers. Why I mention this? I got an email recently from an angry For Sale By Owner that blames me for all the ills of the real estate market and the current mortgage crisis.

Realtors are one reason for this countries mortgage meltdown. They pump up the values of homes, they put unqualified buyers in homes that they can’t afford, and they have more bullxxxx than car dealers. They take there cut at closing and run. Any problems talk to the lawyers. It’s not the realtor’s problem.

Wow! My profession responsible for this Country’s mortgage meltdown! Go figure? At the time, I just replied “Good luck with the sale of your home.” This person has no idea what it is that we do when we work with Buyers to purchase their homes. Nor do they understand what it takes to properly sell a home in today’s Real Estate market.

Consumer Misinformation

As I read the message I realized that there is a lot of misinformation regarding Realtors out there. Let me address some of the statements in this FSBO’s email message:

Pump up values

We do not choose the values of homes, we report what has happened in the market, the buyers, banks and appraisers determine if it is an acceptable value
I tell many of my potential sellers the value of their home and they are angry with me, because it doesn’t match the number they want, in fact it is far less

As of today there are 11 homes that I turned down to list with unrealistic selling prices, and another dozen that didn’t ask me to list their homes. Trust me if I think that I could get you the price you desire, I would.

Put unqualified buyers in homes they can’t afford

Apparently this Consumer never heard of pre-qualification or read any of the articles I have written to buyers regarding qualifying for a mortgage

The team here at Best Buffalo Homes, has each buyer qualified with a Mortgage Professional, either one of our Mortgage Brokers or one that the buyer selects. We do not show a home to a buyer unless they are qualified.

They take their cut at closing and run

Well that is interesting, many agents keep in touch with people they sell a home so they can have repeat business. What we do is provide a valuable service, and when we complete our service it is customary to be paid.

We do not cut and run, many times we are the first person that is called when there is a problem. Unfortunately NY State laws limit what we can do and many times we must defer to an attorney.

Thinking of selling your Western New York home? Interested in finding out the current market value of your single family home, condo or investment property? Then call Colleen Kulikowski, your Buffalo Realtor, at (716) 650-0051 to discuss what is happening in today’s Western New York Real Estate Market. We would be happy to give you a personalized Comparative Market Analysis for your home, just fill out the form below. View additional WNY Market Area Statistics here.

All Statistics are gathered from the Buffalo Niagara Association of REALTORS®.

Do you know about the Commercial Revitaliation Deduction?

Colleen Kulikowski — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 04:09:55 +0000

The City of is one of 40 communities in the United States that is eligible to share in Federal tax incentives to stimulate job growth and promote economic development. The current Niagara Falls Renewal Community consists of census tracts 202, 204, 205 206, 209 and certain areas of CT 211 based on the 2000 census data.

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Your business may qualify for some of the Federal tax incentives that accompany this designation – the Commercial Revitalization Deduction (CRD), RC Employment Tax Credit, for instance allows businesses located in the RC to claim tax credits for each employee that lives and works in the Niagara Falls RC. You may also be eligible for the Increased Section 179 deduction and Capital Gain Exclusion.

Eligibility Requirements include:

Developers and businesses specializing in redeveloping abandoned and underutilized buildings in RCs.

Developers and businesses undertaking new building construction projects in RCs.

Businesses located in RCs that cannot meet the Renewal Community Business definition (that is, they do not meet the 35% RC resident employee requirement, their employees perform services outside the RC, or too much of their gross income is earned outside the RC).

For more information on the Renewal Community (RC) and the RC credits, please contact Tom Tedesco, Renewal Community Coordinator at (716) 286-4482. You can also consult the IRS web site at www.irs.gov and search on Renewal Community for a list of Renewal Community publications. These incentives are available through December 31, 2009.

Please call or stop by City Hall Room #17 to learn more how you can benefit from being located in the Niagara Falls Federal Renewal Community.

Interested in information regarding investing in Niagara Falls Real Estate, please call Colleen Kulikowski at (716) 650-0051 or fill out the form below.

VA Mortgage Basics

Colleen Kulikowski — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 17:23:33 +0000

What is a VA Mortgage?

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) guarantees loans to help qualified veterans, reservists, and active-duty service members to finance their homes. Refinance or Purchase. The VA loan allows veterans 100% financing without private mortgage. A VA funding fee of 0 to 3.3% of the loan amount is paid to the VA and is allowed to be financed.

Active Duty Military/Veterans and their families have been at the heart of many of the programs of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) — even before HUD became a Federal Department. After World War II, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance combined with Veteran’s Administration mortgage guarantees to help returning veterans achieve the American dream and buy their own homes in record numbers.

You can apply for a Certificate of Eligibility by filling out a governmental form called the VA Form 26-1880, Request For a Certificate of Eligibility For Home Loan Benefits.

Check with your lender if you don’t know if you cant find your certificate, they can quickly process your request and find out if you are eligible for a VA mortgage through a system called ACE.

VA Mortgage Benefits

A VA home loan is one reward that is available to them, and a reward that those of us in Real Estate Industry need to make them aware of, and the advantages that VA Mortgage provide them with.

VA Mortgage benefits for a Veteran:

No down payment
No PMI
Loan amounts up to $417,000
Assumable mortgages

Those who are eligible:

Honorably discharged
Widow/widower of eligible service member or spouse of an MIA or POW
Wartime service – a minimum of 90 days active duty
Peacetime periods – 181 days of continuous active duty
Actively in service or a valid VA Form DD214
Have certificate of eligibility

Hopefully this will assist Veterans be aware of and utilize every benefit that they are entitled to.

Interested in purchasing a Western New York home? Interested in finding out the current market value of your single family home, condo or investment property? Then call Colleen Kulikowski at (716) 650-0051 to discuss what is happening in today’s Western New York Real Estate Market.

ML#B361446 $ 649,000	13 Ojibwa Circle Buffalo, 14202 Subdiv/Complex: TOWNHOMES @ WATERFRONT PL Neighborhood: Waterfront County: Erie School: Buffalo Assoc. Fees: $70.00/month Built in 2010 3000 sq. feet 3 Bedrooms, 2 Full Bath(s) , 1 Half Bath(s)
	65 Whitney Place # 3 Buffalo, 14201 Subdiv/Complex: THE WHITNEY Neighborhood: Downtown County: Erie School: Buffalo Est. Taxes: $420.00 Assoc. Fees: $225.00/month Built in 1898 1093 sq. feet 2 Bedrooms, 1 Full Bath(s) , 0 Half Bath(s)	ML#B358894 $ 99,000
ML#B365505 $ 1,300,000	200 Delaware Ave # 1602 Buffalo, 14202 Neighborhood: Downtown County: Erie School: Buffalo Est. Taxes: $2,064.00 Assoc. Fees: $987.00/month Built in 2009 2964 sq. feet 3 Bedrooms, 3 Full Bath(s) , 1 Half Bath(s)
	77 Leonore Rd Amherst, 14226 County: Erie School: Sweet Home Est. Taxes: $2,861.00 Built in 1960 1050 sq. feet 3 Bedrooms, 1 Full Bath(s) , 0 Half Bath(s)	ML#B364531 $ 94,900
ML#B360436 $ 225,000	3123 W Lake Rd Wilson, 14172 County: Niagara School: Wilson Est. Taxes: $3,938.00 Built in 1920 2062 sq. feet 4 Bedrooms, 1 Full Bath(s) , 1 Half Bath(s)