Pittsburgh PA Real Estate Blog

Family Pets Are Losing their Homes Too.

Many People how are facing foreclosure are forced to give up their pets because they have nowhere to go.  Shelters are full of pet that have lost their home in this slow real estate market. Shelters need your help more then ever.  If you are faced with giving up your pet please investigate whether or not the shelter you choose is a NO KILL shelter.  This means that they will keep your pet until they find a suitable home.

If you are interested in helping you local shelter you can do so by donating Money, Volunteering, Organizing a Fund raiser or Adopt a pet.

PMI IS BACK!

That's right Private Mortgage Insurance is back, with all the troubles the banks are having with bad loans PMI is on the rise.  You will need PMI if your LTV (Loan-to-value) is less then 80% of the homes value. PMI ensures your linder if you default on your loan. Here how to calculate the cost.

Make Every Pixel Count

When marketing homes for sale you need to make every pixel count.  There are many things in photography to consider when photographing a home.

From my experience here are some tips...

Lighting - On a bright day rooms with large windows may leave the room under exposed. Solution extra light will be required.

Angle - Most lenses can't capture the whole room.  Solution a wide angle lens will be required.

Exposure - Rooms with insufficient lighting cause photography to be blurry.  Solution a tripod will be required.

Here are some good samples I took of  a cabin....

Regional Exposure Solved

As a listing agent I wanted to give my Sellers regional exposure, not just in the county their property is located within. Southwest Pa has many counties that are close together or within a 1 hour drive. Sellers need regional exposure but so often their Internet exposure is limited to just one county. Having a Blog for each county helps improve the online presence for my listings, I have added a link called Hot Property that helps my sellers get the regional online Exposure they deserve. If you are considering selling your property and you have several REALTORS you are interviewing, you may want to do a simple GOOGLE search on their name -- you may be surprised in the results!