We’ve had great success with our client appreciation program. If you aren’t a part of it already, here are a few of the benefits you’ll see from joining. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale. Most of you who are reading this are already a part of our client appreciation program. However, for those of you who aren’t, we wanted to explain what this program is and the benefits you’ll see from joining if you haven’t yet. First, we send a piece of mail each month about a real estate-related topic, which also includes information about houses we’ve listed or an event we have coming up. Then, we send out a video email in the middle of the month that is related to that same general topic. In addition, we also send out blog articles like this one that cover questions that we get from people most frequently. If you have friends, family members, or co-workers who you think might be interested in receiving some of this information we are providing, we’d be happy to add them to our client appreciation program. Another huge benefit of joining our program is that you can reach out to us for almost anything. We work in property management as well, so we know roofers, plumbers, electricians, and any other kind of service provider you might need in your home. We can also give recommendations for things that don’t even have to do with real estate. We know the best restaurants, dentists, babysitters, and more in Reno. I’ve lived here for 29 years now and know the area very well. This program benefits us because it allows us to stay in touch with you regularly and help you with any problems you have in your home. If you or someone you know might be interested in joining our client appreciation program, all we need is a phone number, an email address, and a home address. We will take it from there. If you have any real estate-related questions in the meantime, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.…

In today’s final installment on the benefits of owning real estate, I’ll discuss the tax benefits associated with homeownershi p Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale. Today’s discussion is the final installment in our six-part series about the advantages of owning real estate. If you’d like to brush up on our previous videos, visit our blog to watch parts one through five. On top of all the other benefits discussed, owning real estate affords you a range of tax-related benefits. Many people are concerned with how the new laws regarding tax benefits on the interest paid on one’s house will affect their investments, but those legal changes shouldn’t affect you in Reno. The interest you pay is deductible on your taxes—for more thorough detail on how that works, consult your CPA. You'll receive a statement from your lender, after which, all you have to do is use that statement to write off your interest on your tax return. Further still, everyone needs to live somewhere. As long as you’re making monthly payments to live somewhere, why not pay your own mortgage down, rather than a landlord’s? “ On top of all the other benefits discussed, owning real estate affords you a range of tax-related benefits. ” Ideally, you’ll live in a house for at least five to seven years, during which time you can pay a good portion of your loan down—or more, if you pay extra each month. If you look at your 30-year amortization schedule, you’ll be amazed at how much money you save in interest payments by making an extra payment every year during the life of your loan. Also during that time, your home will appreciate in value, leaving you with a big chunk of money. There are more benefits to being a homeowner, and if you’d like more specifics or have any questions, reach out to us. We’d be happy to sit down and talk about how you can benefit from owning real estate. We hope to speak with you soon.…

Most of the time, my clients are looking for appreciation, cash flow, or both. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale. Today we’re back with No. 5 in our six-part series discussing the advantages of owning real estate. This time, we’re discussing the advantages of owning rental properties. When people purchase rental properties, there are two things that they’re usually trying to accomplish: 1. Appreciation. This involves buying a property that’s either in need of work or in an up-and-coming area where we think prices are going to appreciate. 2. Monthly cash flow. A lot of this depends on the age and overall goals of the investor. We can even manage the property for you. I’m always playing this game with my clients of appreciation versus cash flow. If you’re lucky, you can get both, but most of the time you’re looking for one or the other. I have plenty of clients who we help that end up managing their own properties. However, if you don’t want to do that, my team can certainly help with property management and still get you that appreciation or cash flow that you’re looking for. If you have any questions about your specific situation and how owning rental property might help you, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.…

Is it better to rent a property or own one? We will discuss this today in the fourth installment into our six-part series on the advantages of owning real estate. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale. Today marks the fourth installment of our series on the advantages of owning real estate, and, this time, we will be going even deeper into the subject. Specifically, I would like to share some advice about when purchasing a home is the superior option to renting. If you plan on living in a property for at least five to seven years, I highly recommend ownership over the rental lifestyle. Renting can be a good, non-permanent living situation, but it is far better to have a home of your own if you are staying put for some time. As you may remember from previous installments in this series, buying a house is the best way to control your living situation and leverage your money into building up a long-term asset. If you pay down the mortgage on your house and achieve a lower debt ratio, the property’s value will steadily increase. Renting can be a good, non-permanent living situation, but it is far better to have a home of your own if you are staying put for some time. There will be some maintenance-related expenses, but homeownership is, overall, a worthwhile investment. So, if you have been renting for some time and are ready to make the transition into owning real estate and want to know more about the home buying process, feel free to reach out. If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.…

Today I am continuing my series about the advantages of owning real estate by discussing the third advantage: appreciation. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale. Today I continue my series on the advantages of owning real estate. The benefit we'll be discussing today is appreciation. Let’s say that you go out and buy a $300,000 house today. You do not actually need $300,000 if you use a lender and get a mortgage loan for this purchase. Based on your credit score and what your lender allows, you may be able to put down anywhere from 5% to 20% on that $300,000 home. The best part about this is if your home appreciates 10% to 20%, you will get the appreciation from that entire $300,000 sum. If you wanted to invest $300,000 in the stock market, you would need that money in your pocket to invest it. When buying a home, you can leverage a smaller amount of money and still earn the appreciation from that entire $300,000. Based on your credit score and what your lender allows, you may be able to put down anywhere from 5% to 20% on a $300,000 home. There can be huge benefits when you own actual, tangible property. The biggest benefit is you can buy even more property and you do not have to have all the money in your pocket to do so. Leveraging your money long term can definitely work for you. After 30 years of owning the property, you’ll have a good investment that brings in money just like investing in the stock market would. If you have any additional questions or you are interested in buying or selling, please feel free to contact me. I look forward to speaking with you soon.…

How can making improvements to your property benefit your overall personal wealth? Today let’s discuss this question in the second installment of our six-part series on the advantages of property ownership. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale. Today marks the second installment of our six-part series on the advantages of owning real estate. Let’s dive right in. This time I’d like to discuss how improving your property can serve as an investment in your own personal wealth. Painting, upgrading landscape, or replacing systems and appliances are all ways to make your property more valuable. And these are just a few of the many projects you could take on. Improving your property can serve as an investment in your own personal wealth. Unlike investing in the stock market, the benefits and results of investing in improvements to your property are much easier to understand. As someone who does invest in stocks and who has a degree in finance, I can say that even I find real estate to be more comprehensible. Purchasing property also protects you in the long-term, as any property you obtain now would surely be more expensive in the future. If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.…

Today I will be discussing the first of six advantages to owning real estate. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale. Today’s video begins my six-part series about the advantages that come with owning real estate. The first advantage I thought of was the fact that it is easier to understand and control your real estate investment —be it your primary residence or a rental property—than, say, an investment in the stock market or retirement account. If you own your property, you have control over your monthly payment, location, and more. I always tell people this: You have to live somewhere. If you own your property, you have control over your monthly payment, location, and more. If you are renting out a property you own, you can always hire a property manager. The downsides to renting are the complications that arise when you want to sell the property, not to mention that rents are rising dramatically, especially in the Reno-Sparks area. Over the course of this series, I will explain other advantages of owning real estate. If you have any questions in the meantime, feel free to reach out to me. Otherwise, until next time!…

Inventory is low and prices have been increasing in our market, so if you’re thinking about buying, you should do so sooner rather than later. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale. What’s the latest news from our first quarter market? Everyone’s been hearing that it’s seller’s market, there’s not a lot of inventory, and it’s hard for buyers to find a home, but how much of that is true? Speaking for myself, I’ve had success helping both sellers and buyers lately. If you’re a buyer, the trick is you have to be willing to be more open than you might’ve been before. There are still a lot of good, affordable homes available out there, especially if you’re buying for the long haul. With that being said, inventory has been and will continue to be on the low side in both the lower price points and the higher, more luxury-oriented price points. With so many people moving here from California because of all the job opportunities, prices have been increasing. The market correction this time, though, is completely different from the market correction of 10 to 12 years ago. There are a lot of cash buyers and buyers with big down payments who don’t have to concern themselves too much with appraisals. “ If you’re a buyer, you should consider doing so sooner rather than later. ” In general, I don’t see prices decreasing anytime in the near future. They might flatten a little bit, though. As I mentioned in my last video, interest rates are climbing a bit, so that will put a little downward pressure on pricing. If you’re considering buying a home, this means you might want to do so sooner rather than later. Even if prices flatten, your monthly mortgage payment will increase if interest rates rise. If you have any more questions about our market or your specific area or you’re thinking of buying or selling a home soon, feel free to reply to this email or give me a call. I’d love to help you.…

Why is it so important to boost your credit score? Sign up for my monthly mailer to get more information. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale. For those of you who receive the item of value that I send out each month, I’ve recently sent out a letter detailing the importance of having a good credit score, indluding tips you can use to boost yours if it isn’t where it needs to be. By now, most everyone has heard about how the Fed has increased interest rates. That means when you’re getting a loan for a home mortgage or if you have a credit card, costs and payments could become more expensive. This is why it’s so important to have a good credit score, because there are some perks to simply having a higher score. For example, you can get better home loans and a lower interest rate on a car loan or student loans. The benefits remain even if you’re not planning to apply for a loan. Additionally, a good credit score can also make it easier to get hired for certain jobs. “ A good credit score can also make it easier to get hired for certain jobs. ” If you haven’t received my mailer yet and would like to be added to my list, we’ll need your home address, email address, and the best telephone numbers to reach out at. If we have that information, we can also send this information to you electronically. If you have specific questions or if you’re looking for information, feel free to reach out to us. We would be happy to help you.…

If you’re in any type of leadership position, it’s important to be positive. If you’re in a leadership position and you’re struggling with it, I have some great books that can help you. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale. If you’re in a position of leadership, no matter what type of position that is, I believe it’s important that you be a positive person. Anyone who spends time with me either at home or at work knows that I’m an upbeat, positive person most of the time. Why do I think this is so important? Let me give you an example. If you’re in a position of leadership, it’s important to be a positive person. My son just finished his third year of playing college basketball, but he decided to give up his scholarship and his basketball career because the environment around that career was very negative and the leadership aspect at the head it of wasn’t fantastic. If you’re in any type of leadership position and you’re struggling with how to handle it, I recommend you read “The Energy Bus” and “The Power of Positive Leadership” by Jon Gordon. These two books are great resources for the topic of leadership and I believe they can help you a lot. If you’d like a copy of one of these books, give me a call and I’d be glad to send you one and talk to you about leadership. If you have any other questions about this topic or you have any real estate needs I can assist you with, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to help you.…

Whatever your needs are, our team is here to help. That goes for more than just real estate, as well. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale. There are many ways you can use my team and I as a resource. It seems like recently, we’ve been helping a lot more people make their move here from another state. I wanted to let all of you know that you can call us for things other than real estate. Over the years, people have called us for a number of things, even where to find a babysitter, where to find a dentist, and where to go for a great meal out. We want to be a resource for you in terms of your real estate needs and also in your daily life. Whatever you need to know about our Northern Nevada area, reach out and we would be happy to help. One more thing I want to make you all aware of is that we’ll be giving away some things this month. Ultimately, the bottom line is this: We want to be a resource you in terms of your real estate needs but also in your daily life. If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.…

Today I’m bringing you a couple of updates from all of us here at the Lessinger Team. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale. Today, I just wanted to bring you an update on some of the new things going on here with the Lessinger Team. As many of you may already have seen, both Re/MAX and the Lessinger Team have updated their logos. We’re bringing a new look and some new people to our team this year. For those of you in our database who get items of value in the mail each month, keep an eye out for your invitation to our annual client appreciation event. This year, it will be a baseball game again and we’re so excited to have a great time with all of you. The game will be on Friday, May 4 at 6:35 p.m., so save the date now. We will give you more details in the future, but we hope you’ll come out for some food and fun. Food will be provided starting an hour before the game, so come out early if you’d like. We’d love to see you, join us for the fun. Our goal this year is to get at least 100 people out there, and we’d love to see you join us for the fun. There will be more events coming up in the summer months so be on the lookout for those as well. If you have any other questions, would like more information, or don’t already receive our monthly mail-outs and would like to, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.…

Today I’ll be answering a few more questions that I’ve heard about the market. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale. Today, I’d like to continue answering some questions about our market that I’ve been hearing. Recently, I attended the Builder’s Association forecast for 2018. Based on what was said there, I can say that the outlook for the coming year is good. People are concerned that the prices in the area have gone up the past few years, and we’re getting close to the peak of the market like we saw around 10 or 12 years ago. However, this is a completely different market than it was then. We have people moving to the area for good economic reasons, like the new companies and new jobs developing here which draw people in. Because of that, inventory has been really tight. This is especially true for low-end price points. For example, there are only currently 58 homes available that are under the $300,000 price point and only five homes under $200,000. What’s more, only 11 of those 58 homes were built more recently than 1990, so if you’re looking for a newer home, they’re getting harder and harder to find, and almost impossible if you’re looking under $300,000. Rent rates have gone up in this area over the past two years more than anywhere else in the United States Despite this, it’s only January, so by February, we should start to see more homes coming on the market. If you’re a buyer, though, you’ve got to be ready ahead of time. Get pre-approved now so that you’ll be able to react more quickly when a home does appear. It’s still a seller’s market, so there isn’t a whole lot of room for negotiation due to the lack of inventory. There are a lot of people who are being forced to buy a house and find roommates to help pay for the expenses or go back to renting a home or apartment. Rent rates have gone up in this area over the past two years more than anywhere else in the United States. In response, more and more apartment complexes are being built, which gives people a place to live, but if you’re looking to building long-term wealth, renting is not the way to go. If you want to know more specific details about the state of our market and what we can expect from the year ahead, feel free to reach out to me. I’d be happy to sit down with you and talk about your situation.…

Do you plan on buying or selling a home in 2018? If so, the Lessinger Team is here to help you reach your real estate goals. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale. If you are thinking of buying or selling a home in 2018, it’s important that you work with an experienced real estate team. We work with a lot of people who were referred to a different Realtor or worked with an agent that was a friend or family member. Whatever the case may be, in today’s market, you need an agent or team that has experience. In addition to helping people buy and sell real estate, our team also handles property management. Between everyone on our team, we have 70 years of combined experience in real estate. Why is experience so important? There are a number of different steps and factors in any real estate transaction. We can help you price your home to sell, figure out how much to offer on a home, and guide you through negotiations and repairs. There are a number of details to keep track of, not to mention mountains of paperwork. Thanks to our experience, we know exactly what needs to be done. We have 70 years of experience in real estate. We also understand our local market conditions. We can help you through a buyer’s market or a seller’s market. Reno has had a lot of growth over the last five years, and we get a lot of questions from people who are concerned that prices are too high. We can sit down with you and help you decide if now is a good time to buy or sell, or if you would be better doing so later on. Our goal is to give you the information you need to make a good decision, whether you buy or sell in 2018 or down the road. We want to do what’s best for you. If you have any questions or would like to sit down and talk with us about your real estate goals, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. If you know anyone who is thinking about buying or selling a home in 2018, we would love to meet them and give them the information they need to make the right decisions. Just give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!…

The Lessinger Team had an amazing year and it’s all thanks to you. Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report. Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale. 2017 was an amazing year for us here at the Lessinger Team. Today, my team and I want to thank you for that. I was lucky enough to meet many of you in person this year at our various client appreciation events, which was truly a great experience. Thank you so much for your support. As the year draws to a close, I want to remind you all that I’m always here for you. I can’t wait to continue bringing you updates and valuable information in the new year. And, again, thank you so much for your support. I hope you all have a happy holiday season. If you have any real estate questions, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.…