Richard Zarzaur

05/20/2022

Fantastic find in Homewood! Check it out. Thanks, RZ

SHOWINGS START AT 8AM FRIDAY MAY 20TH. Amazing Homewood Find! Fenced with lots of curb appeal and mature landscaping. Adorable front porch with attached 1-car garage and plenty of additional driveway parking. 4 bedrooms with 2 updated baths including granite countertops and oil rubbed bronze fixture...

05/12/2022

Where are all of these CASH offers coming from?

They need to be the best offer!

I have never seen or even heard of this many cash offers on properties.

Some of them are in excess of $500K dollars.

I used my IRA years ago for the down payment on a second house before I sold my old house.

You can borrow from your IRA without penalty if you put the amount back before a certain amount of time.

I am not sure of the amounts and times. You must check these things with your accountant and don't go by what I say, but that process served us well.

I have heard of young couples borrowing the cash from parents to make a cash offer then financing to pay back their parents.

The market has been crazier than I have ever seen it.

I know agents that won't even write an offer if it has a contingency of having to sell the buyers’ existing house.

Agents have been writing offers with that contingency for decades.

As fast as houses are selling right now, that contingency is even easier to accept.

It does, however, require an agent that can see the big picture and explain how that contingency is not that big of a deal and shouldn’t be automatically rejected.

Cash offers are great, but they are not better than most higher offers. You have to look at everything.

05/10/2022

Grossly overpriced never sells!.

I saw a local listing today that has been on the market for over a month because it was originally listed for more than $150K over its market value.

This is where an experienced agent must earn their commission.

They are not doing their sellers any favors by not standing up to them and explaining how this will negatively affect any offers.

I have seen many offers coming in at 10% to over 15% above asking.

This house should have been listed for less than $450K.

The sellers have had to lower the price numerous times because nobody is interested in paying that much over the value of the home.

Now the property in question has a negative stigma to it.

All of the people looking in that area have already looked and passed on this property.

It was a nice house in a nice area that should have sold in the first few days on the market.

It will eventually sell, but unfortunately it won't have that new listing activity you get the first days of a listing going live.

05/02/2022

This house is so move in ready it's ridiculous. It is listed as Coming Soon so it is not able to be seen until May 13th. You can messenger me to make an appointment. If you are looking in Homewood and for a lot of charm look no further. Interior pictures will follow as soon as the master bath is finished with an upgrade. I will repost listing when they are available. Thanks for viewing.

Amazing Homewood Find! Fully fenced with lots of curb appeal and mature landscaping. Adorable front porch with attached 1-car garage and plenty of additional driveway parking. 4 bedrooms with 2 updated baths including granite countertops and oil rubbed bronze fixtures. Beautifully renovated kitchen....

04/28/2022

A good strategy for buyers

I see a lot of properties going under contract very quickly.

One strategy buyers might want to try is looking at properties that are still active (not under contract) after 20 days on the market.

There are reasons these properties are still available.

One reason might be that they were priced too high when they were listed.

Another reason may be that they are very outdated.

Or they might have serious structural problems.

The main thing is that they are still available to be purchased.

You need to do your homework and try to find out why they are not already under contract.

Your agent should definitely be able to help with this.

When you do find the reason, and if you are still interested, be sure to adjust your offer based on what you discovered.

Most buyers are trying to sell in order to accomplish something else.

All sellers hope for that winning offer. Luckily when there is no immediate contract with a new listing, you likely won’t be competing with multiple offers.

Some sellers need to sell quickly so they can buy a home they don’t want to miss out on, giving you the advantage.

04/25/2022

If you are buying - waiting costs you money!

The sooner you can buy the better. Interest rates are going up along with listing prices.

Experts are predicting that home prices are going to continue to climb or level out over the next couple of years.

It is also predicted that interest rates will continue to rise over the next few years.

If you are considering selling your home to downsize or upsize, now may be the perfect time.

If you are just buying, then you can't afford to wait.

I have done the math, and if your mortgage payment is X number of dollars at Y% interest rate, then you can figure an extra 12-13% increase in your payment for every 1% increase in interest.

Basically a $1,000 payment at 3.5% mortgage would cost you approximately $1,130 at a 4.5% mortgage and so on.

So you don't need me to tell you that waiting means you won’t be able to afford as much house as you could have before the rates increased.

A great tip is to try your credit union to find a better rate or mortgage program.

04/21/2022

Stop the vicious costly rental cycle

Buying a home is almost always better than renting.

You build equity as opposed to just throwing money away on rent.

According to Realtor.com, buying is 15.5% cheaper on average than renting. With that said, a $1,500 rental house would probably cost you $1,268.

After 5 years of renting, a $200,000 house will have cost you $90,000 of your hard earned money. Plus you will have been paying for someone else's property.

By contrast, if you had bought this property, you spent only $76,080 paying for your own property, all the while earning equity.

Later when you wish to sell and move, because you own your home, you can sell and most likely turn a profit as your property has increased in value.

The house I sold 6 years ago for $206,000 now has a zestimate on Zillow for $327,000.

If you are renting you have no chance to recover any of the money you have paid out in rent.

I would love to sit down with you and look at your situation.

We can figure out how to get you into your own property and break that rental cycle once and for all.

04/18/2022

New construction having Major Problems since the pandemic.

After having faced the pandemic for over two years now, the home construction industry is facing many challenges and obstacles.

For the past decade new construction has been mostly open concept with white or very cool neutral colors.

Since the pandemic, people are finding that working from home works better with more walls than the open concept provides.

Depression is another reason that the trends are moving to some warmer color options as opposed to the gray trend of recent years. Some experts believe that brighter colors lift our spirits.

Another issue is getting the raw building materials within a reasonable time frame.

Availability of appliances is an issue as well. They now are ordered 9 to 10 months before the property is ready, and still sometimes don’t arrive in time.

600 new homes are being built in Liberty Park, and 200 to 300 west of the Ross Bridge area. Shipping, supplies, and cost continue to be an obstacle.

Have you had problems getting what you need since the pandemic?

04/15/2022

This photo is 20 years old and the number has doubled!

The main thing I missed during the pandemic is time with my family.

Easter Sunday will be the first time I have seen most of them since Christmas, even though most of us live in Birmingham.

Before the pandemic I would regularly see them at birthday parties since I have 15 great nieces and nephews (and still counting) just on my side.

Most of my greats don’t even know who their Uncle Richard is since they have seen me only a half dozen times, and usually when we have a gathering of 50 or more family members. So basically no one on one time.

I’ve really missed bonding with them since my fondest memories of my adult relatives are from when I was very young.

Pre-pandemic, my brother Raymond’s daughter Brittney would bring her babies to his restaurant, Famous Fred’s in Hoover, where Bonnie and I would play and visit with them most Saturdays. We loved spending time with them, watching their little personalities grow.

During the pandemic we have maybe seen them 5 or 6 times. Thankfully they still run and jump in my arms every time I see them because we made that early bond. But we have missed out on that with most of the rest of the kiddos, which is sad.

During these times just let them know you love them.

04/13/2022

Why have interest rates peaked recently?

Inflation is pushing interest rates up. They are higher than they have been in years.

A recovering economy along with supply chain issues have helped drive inflation to growths we haven't seen in decades.

Just 15 years ago mortgage rates were 5% - 6%, and they have been much higher than that in the past. What we have seen in the past couple of years has been record low rates, which couldn’t last forever..

In the 80’s the average mortgage rate was 10%. Today that sounds crazy, but buying and selling houses still went on every day.

I know my mortgage loan was at 5% just 5 ½ years ago. It appears that rates are on their way back to over 5% very soon.

This means higher payments for the same amount of money. But it doesn’t mean you can’t afford to buy. It just means you have to add that factor into the homes you can afford.

You can’t afford to keep paying rent and lose out on the equity you can grow by owning your own home.

Buying a home or condo instead of renting an apartment is a smart move as you will be building equity while spending about the same amount each month.

Tell me how long you rented before you realized this?

04/12/2022

What do you think about Tiger's miraculous return to The Masters?

I watched the 2022 Masters this weekend as the cool windy weather proved to be a challenge for all except Scottie Scheffler.

Scottie was amazingly steady all four days. I think he was the only player to post under par all four rounds.

The most amazing thing to me was the way Tiger was committed, not only to completing his four rounds, but the fact that he was actually competing at all after his horrific accident a year ago.

I hated to see Tiger injured so severely, considering that he had reportedly repaired his lifestyle from a few years ago.

It was heartwarming seeing him compete with his son in the father son event a month or so ago.

But the fact that he could come back and play at the Masters level, while in obvious pain, was nothing less than inspiring. I can only hope he has truly cleaned up his act. I am not sure he could have come this far without having successfully made some major changes in his life.

His pain was evident in his face on almost every shot, and yet he seemed calmer and more determined than ever.

Like a lot of us, I will keep watching The Masters and pulling for Tiger to make another run for a green jacket!

04/08/2022

Machines and workers on Patton Chapel have been wreaking havoc for two years but I kind of love it..

They are putting sidewalks from Hwy 31 past Simmons middle school.

Patton Chapel Rd bridge was torn down and completely reconstructed.

The biggest improvement is the restructuring of two three-way intersections into one four-way intersection.

This has caused disruption in my neighborhood for the last two years, and still isn’t completed.

The last year has been spent forming curbs and sidewalks, and pouring
concrete.

All of these improvements put a strain on everyone affected by this construction, from homeowners to area schools, students, parents and teachers..

Lanes are frequently blocked in both directions for days at a time.

I know as well as anyone what a mess and inconvenience all of this has been in our local area. I am my neighborhood HOA President so I have been just a little more involved.

However, I will be the first to say that these improvements were much needed and are going to make all of our lives better once completed!

Just hold on and be patient if improvements are coming to your neighborhood.

If you have been through one of these major neighborhood improvements I would love to know if you think it was a waste of money or if things are really much better?