Black Hills End-of-Summer Events

There’s never a dull moment in the Black Hills of South Dakota! Whether you own a Black Hills home or just use the region as your playground, you can always find something going on to please the whole family.

Looking for some Labor Day fun? Why not check out the 8^th Annual Sturgis Mustang Rally from August 27 – August 31, 2014. This event is rapidly becoming the fastest growing Mustang event in the world! Held every Labor Day weekend, this rally includes auto-cross & drag racing, along with a show & shine/parade on Main Street. Check out the event calendar to plan your Labor Day weekend!

Would you love some good old American history? Deadwood History will host the 1^st Annual Deadwood Stagecoach Days: 1876-1890 on Sept 5-6, 2014. This event is held at the Days of ’76 Museum and Rodeo Grounds. Come learn about our great Deadwood history with stagecoach and freight wagon demonstrations, a wagon show & dust off, various talks by historians and wagon experts, old-fashioned games, and more. If you’ve never enjoyed an authentic chuck wagon meal, now’s the time to bring out the family for some fun!

Save your appetite for the Taste of Autumn BBQ Cook-Off Championships, September 19-20, 2014. This weekend event will include Family Fun on Friday evening with food, live music and refreshments. Taste of Autumn People’s Choice Judging will take place on Friday evening and is open to the public. Saturday morning the BBQ event will get under way with judging taking place in the early afternoon followed by awards presentations at 4 pm. All proceeds from this event will benefit the Rec Center’s Youth & Family Scholarship Program. This event is being held at the Spearfish City Park Campground and promises fun for the whole family.

Take some time to enjoy our end-of-summer activities in the area! Our expertise in the Black Hills or Rapid City markets will ensure you a stress-free experience. Contact Jim Peterson at (605) 574-4444 or June Johnson at (605) 786-7356 at Integrity Realty Team, or email us to discuss how we can help you with all your real estate needs.

Our office is in the heart of Hill City and as a tourist spot, restrooms are hard to find – ours are always open for your convenience! Like us on Facebook to stay current on all upcoming events!

Don’t Miss the Opportunity to Buy Your First Black Hills Home

One of life’s milestones is buying your first Black Hills home and with home prices still affordable in the Black Hills region, inventory up, and interest rates low … now is the perfect time to buy.

However, it won’t last forever! According to Trulia for the week ending August 13, the average listing price for homes for sale in Hill City was $325,227, which represents a 3.1% increase compared to the prior week. The inventory was at 95 resale and new homes in Hill City.

First-time home buyers can make some rookie mistakes which can easily be avoided by preparing and getting smart even before your house hunt begins.

Get Pre-Approved ASAP
You may have already computed your debt-to-income ratio and you have a good idea about how much home you can afford. However, don’t assume that is the loan amount you will ultimately receive. Credit scores play a big role in loan approvals as well as other factors. Making sure you are pre-approved for a loan before shopping for a Hill City home will save time and stress.

Keep Your Head Above Water
Before aiming for the stars, make sure you leave yourself some breathing room when it comes to your mortgage amount. While you may be able to afford the house on paper, pushing your mortgage to the limit can leave you exposed to changes in the economy or personal changes in the future.

In cases where all your family earnings go into the support and upkeep of your home, it can be a frequent cause of family stress. Also, you may find yourself with a large beautiful home but with no extra cash to do any updating or additions to make it your own.

Beware of the “Perfect Home” Trap
It’s natural to excitedly make a wish-list then limit the home search to those that only hold every single one of your wants. This will severely limit your options in finding the perfect home for you. It’s important to choose the things you are not willing to compromise on. These may include location, neighborhood, school district, or home size; things you cannot change. Remember, when it comes to personal preferences on additions and decorating, these can be added later.

Also, while you are waiting for that perfect home that meets all of your requirements, housing prices will continue to rise and chances are as the year progresses that mortgage rates going up, adding expense to your purchase. Instead, determine the most important of your needs and select a home that meets the majority of them.

A Home Inspection is a Must
Any good Realtor® will tell you to never skip the home inspection. By completely skipping a whole house inspection in order to save the relatively small amount of money involved is just crazy. Never use a friend or relative with limited experience to conduct the inspection either. You could be missing potentially expensive and even hazardous defects in the property. A whole home inspection protects you and your family from things unseen that could add up to thousands upon thousands of dollars in repairs or rebuilding later down the road.

First-time home ownership can be stressful and confusing when you don’t have the right Realtor® on your side. Our expertise in the Black Hills or Rapid City markets will ensure you a stress-free experience. Contact Jim Peterson at (605) 574-4444 or June Johnson at (605) 786-7356 at Integrity Realty Team, or email us to discuss how we can help you with all your real estate needs.

Our office is in the heart of Hill City and as a tourist spot, restrooms are hard to find – ours are always open for your convenience! Like us on Facebook to stay current on all upcoming events!

Stage Your Black Hills Bathroom for Success

Staging your Black Hills home is very important in showing buyers all the great potential in your home. Some rooms are easier to stage then others. In most rooms you can use the furniture you already have and then it may be a matter of reorganizing, rearranging or cutting down on the amount of furniture in that room. Bathrooms, however, can be a completely separate beast.

Most homes have a smaller guest bathroom or a bathroom that the bedrooms share. Knowing how to maximize that bathroom storage space can be very useful in preparing your home to put on the market. You will want each bathroom to look as large as possible, be uncluttered, and highlighting good storage solutions for buyers.

Know what to store in your bathroom. Instead of packing your cabinets and counters full of “essentials,” stick to just the basics when staging your home. Keep toiletries under the sink in a container if possible for easy clean up. Hand towels and face towels can be folded neatly and put in drawers, while bath towels are stored in the linen closet out of sight.

Don’t clutter the countertops, medicine cabinets or cabinets with reading material, electronic equipment, medications, styling products or hair dryers. Make your counters look as spacious as possible.

Say goodbye to that clutter. Let’s face it, we all have things in our bathroom that can be tossed. Old makeup, almost empty bottles, or things we bought thinking we’d use but never have. Now is the time to really determine if you want to “keep or toss.” Be stringent. Anything you  no longer need or haven’t used in the last 6 months – toss, donate or recycle!

Invest in some bathroom storage solutions. You don’t have to spend a fortune on storage solutions. Determine what works for the bathroom space and utilize that space for maximum efficiency. Buyers will appreciate having extra storage and your bathroom will look roomier and neater with proper storage.

Get creative. Now that you’ve moved items out of the bathroom and into better storage areas, determine what kind of storage solutions work best for the space. Even using a nice basket to hold toilet paper or towels on the floor can be used. Organizer drawers under the sink or over the toilet can help to keep things in their proper place and out of the view of buyers.

Getting your home organized and staged to sell can make a big difference in the quality of buyers you attract and the amount of time your home is on the market. Our expertise in the Black Hills or Rapid City markets will ensure you a stress-free experience. Contact Jim Peterson at (605) 574-4444 or June Johnson at (605) 786-7356 at Integrity Realty Team, or email us to discuss how we can help you with all your real estate needs.

Our office is in the heart of Hill City and as a tourist spot, restrooms are hard to find – ours are always open for your convenience! Like us on Facebook to stay current on all upcoming events!

Get Mortgage Smart Before Buying a Black Hills Home

Finding that perfect Black Hills home is the fun part, right? However, before we start taking that wish list and hitting the road viewing homes, you need to do some of the “not-so-fun” work such as finding the right mortgage. There are many mortgage options out there but with some good planning and the right Realtor®, it doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are some helpful tips to find the right mortgage for your needs.

Start the pre-approval process early. Whether you are wanting to buy now or not for the next six months, you should start the pre-approval process now. Not only will you find out just how much you can afford, you’ll also discover any potential hassles and be able to address them before you find your dream home. If you’re a couple, file paperwork for both of you to give the lender a complete financial picture.

Fixed rates are still a better option than an ARM. Rates are still historically among the lowest we’ve seen in years. Locking in such a low rate for the life of the loan makes more sense than opting for an ARM. Adjustable-rate mortgages will increase with changes in the economy and there’s no assurance of where you will financially stand when the loan comes due.

Choose the most viable mortgage loan term for your budget. Although lenders will push 30 and 40-year mortgages by glorifying their lower monthly payments, you can save yourself tens of thousands of dollars in interest by shortening the term of the loan to a 15 or 20-year mortgage loan. Get all the facts to see if you can feasibly work a little higher payment into your budget now and have that home paid off quicker (and for less).

PMI can be avoided. The simplest way to make your mortgage work for you is to plan to make a down payment. You’ll most likely be exempt from private mortgage insurance (PMI), which protects the lender in case you default and increases your monthly payments without decreasing the amount you owe. It can really add up over time. If the home you are considering is on the higher price spectrum and affecting the down payment amount, perhaps have a look at some less expensive options. The money you save now may help you customize that home over time, giving you just what you wanted a little further down the road.

An experienced Realtor® can help you make the most of your home buying options. Our expertise in the Black Hills or Rapid City markets will ensure you a stress-free experience. Contact Jim Peterson at (605) 574-4444 or June Johnson at (605) 786-7356 at Integrity Realty Team, or email us to discuss how we can help you with all your real estate needs.

Our office is in the heart of Hill City and as a tourist spot, restrooms are hard to find – ours are always open for your convenience! Like us on Facebook to stay current on all upcoming events!