Four (Simple But Invaluable) Reasons to Hire Team Birtola-Garmyn

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It goes without saying that we want to serve you and help make possible all your real estate goals. But here’s what makes us different: we genuinely care about you. And as you’d expect, when someone cares about another, they operate in a manner of integrity. The goal for us is to have happy customers that have nothing to complain about. How do we do it? Here are four things that set us apart from the rest. We think you’ll agree, these are most important…

We Listen To You

We care about what you want. Rather than focus on what we think we might like, we go after finding you the perfect solution that represents what we know that you will like. How do we know? Because we take the time to listen to you. We do a full needs assessment right off the bat and get to know the reasons behind what you desire. We feel that knowing our clients well is key to understanding what will make them happy and ultimately deliver the results they need.

We Follow Through

We make it a priority to be accessible, following through with everything that involves your transaction. This can be anything from providing information on a property you showed interest in, to providing the response to a counteroffer you might have made – or anything else that requires our attention. If we say we will do it, we make sure we do and we do it in a way to respect your time. In today’s fast-paced world, we recognize the need to stay in touch and keep in touch.

We Know Our Market

If you’re looking at buying a property in our area, you can rest assured that you are going to get the best information possible on the area. Why? Because this is our home. We were born and raised here, spent all (or most) of our years here and we know the market inside out. Not only can we share valuable insight into the various neighborhoods and their nuances – but also we are knowledgeable with in-depth insight as to the real estate market trends of the locale. We know what’s selling, how much it’s selling for, who’s buying and selling and why. Knowing all this puts us in the great position of being able to advise you effectively.

We Do Everything With Honesty and Integrity

There are many agents that will say what their client wants to hear and despite the potential risks at hand from doing that, they continue to act in this manner. We feel that the relationship we have with our clients is pivotal to a successful and strong real estate transaction. Whether you are selling your home, buying or investing. Each situation requires honest advice whether dealing with pricing your property, or settling on a price to offer on a home – regardless of the topic, we are committed to interacting with you with nothing but your best interests in mind.

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We won’t let you walk away disappointed.

Contact us today and let us help you make your homeownership dreams become a reality! Our email is Questions@TeamBirtolaGarmyn.com or you are welcome to call us at 541.312.9449 or toll free 800.816.9449. We look forward to hearing from you!

Eights Steps Toward The Front Door of Your Beautiful New Home!

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We know how exciting it is to be planning for a new home.  Everything should be perfect and there is no room for anything to go wrong.  Armed with the expert knowledge of your experienced and friendly Realtor, following the eight steps mentioned below, in conjunction with our previous blog post “Five Things You Need to Know When Buying a Home”, you will be in the best position to be in the best home for you and your family.

Work Up Your Wish List

Understanding exactly what it is that you need in a home is a huge step.  Without realizing it, many potential new homeowners have no idea what they want or need when it comes down to looking for the perfect home.  Through working with your Realtor on a needs breakdown, you are shown the areas that are most beneficial for the needs of your family and lifestyle.  Finding the perfect home can only be done if you know what the perfect home for you is. 

Do Some Home-Searching

Looking for the home of your dreams is not a matter of poring over real estate magazines or searching endless Google searches; it’s a matter of having access to the latest and greatest listings that are relevant to you and your needs.  We provide you exclusive access to our MLS system that will accurately and quickly show you the results with hundreds of potentially perfect homes.  The information remains updated, with current property listings maintained on a regular basis.

Let Them Know You’re Interested

Once you have identified what your perfect home is, have searched high and wide for the one that fulfills your dreams and have centered on the ideal property – the next step is to make an offer on the property.  With our guidance, you will be shown the best ways to manage this aspect of your transaction.  Important advice will be administered that will help you to be sure of your decisions and then the proper assistance will be given to follow through with the decision and offer-making process. 

Dilly Dally With Dollar Amounts

Unless hardcore buying and selling transactions come naturally to you, it can be difficult to negotiate with the existing homeowners.  Using your agent as a buffer, the negotiation process can and does become an easy one, managed entirely through liaison communication, putting the burden of results on the agents negotiating the sales on their clients’ behalf.

Ensure Smooth Sailing Within All Services

As soon as your offer is accepted, there are the tedious procedures that involve vendors.  For services from anything from termite inspections and building code checks to title insurance or other vital steps along the way, having someone who is experienced and has managed hundreds if not thousands of such transactions, is ideal.  Not only will this remove the burden of the stressful aspect of a new move from you, it will clear up the way for you to start planning on the fun stuff like registrations in neighborhood schools, signing up for utilities and getting to know your potential neighborhood.

Get The Documents Lined Up

One of THE most daunting aspects of buying a new home is the mountains and mountains of paperwork.  Ok, so it may not be that much, but it seems that way for people who are unfamiliar with the language in those documents and the meaning behind what is written.  Preparing documents prior to the closing process is an important part of the entire thing and it requires meticulous attention to detail and a working knowledge of the contracts.

Finalize Everything Flawlessly

While closing on the sale of your new home is the most exciting part – especially after having gone through weeks and sometimes months of getting to this point – the closing step is a crucial one and has the potential to slow things down if not handled flawlessly.  Your Realtor will work to ensure smooth sailing during this stage so that you can focus on the prize – your new home!

Wrap the House Up In a Neat Bow

Now that everything is said and done, the real fun begins.  During post-closing time, it’s time to move in your furniture, acquaint yourself with the ins and outs of your new area and complete the package.  The support and assistance you will get from your partners in real estate will be pivotal at this junction since they will have seen you through all stages of this exciting venture.  Being the biggest purchase in their lifetime for most people, this last step is the most fun. 


When you trust an agent to help you with all the steps mentioned above, you KNOW you can focus on the more exciting parts of moving in to your new home.  By leaving the tedious things like poring over long documents and tiny fine print, you can enjoy the process of looking for your home using our services such as exclusive access of the latest listings.  At the end of the day, you can look forward to years of lasting enjoying in your new home!

Seize the Opportunity! It's One of the GREATEST Times in History to Upgrade Homes

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We have all seen the media reports of how the real estate market has been down in the dumps for years now.  But at the same time, we also see reports of how this is an excellent time to buy a house, whether as a first-time buyer or an existing homeowner looking to upgrade into a newer, bigger or better place.  To help illustrate how this can be true, despite the unstable real estate market, here is a simple equation with three parts:

SALE OF THE EXISTING HOME, PURCHASE OF A NEW HOME, INTEREST RATES

Selling The Home You Are Living In Now
Basically, you have two choices if you are thinking of selling your property – either do it now or do it later.  Selling it now would mean that you would suffer the loss of the last ten years’ worth of value downgrade.  For the last decade or so, home values have steadily dropped, to an average of about 10% less than what they were before.  So assuming a $200,000 home in this equation, consider the next level.

Buying A Bigger and Better Home

A reasonable upgrade to a home that, say, has a list price of $350,000 is an exciting prospect especially since its value just five years ago would be about $420,000.  Not only would you be buying more house, with the average square foot costing far less than it would have just a few years ago, but a few years down the line when the real estate doom starts to rebound, you will be sitting in a house that is worth much more than you purchased it for.  How is that possible?  The third part of our equation is how that is possible.

Financing On Super Low Interest Rates
There is hype all over the place about the historically low interest rates we have been seeing on the market for quite some time now.  This will not last – but while it does, the 30-year fixed rate mortgages that are available these days [to qualified buyers] are as low as 4.5%.  This is almost unprecedented and coupled with the buyers’ market that it is with the inventory levels we are seeing, this is quite simply the best time to buy and at the best rates.

Why Buy Now Instead of Waiting For Later?
Given the three parts to our equation, the question many homeowners ask is now or later.  To answer this, here is a simple chart that demonstrates what would happen if you sold your home now vs. later and if you bought a new upgraded home now or later – both scenarios taking into consideration the changing values of property.

Existing Home New Home Interest Rate Difference Saved
Upgrade Now $200,000 $350,000 4.5% $15,000
Upgrade Later $220,000 $385,000 6.5% -

To explain this further, 

Assume your home value goes up 10%, from $200,000 to $220,000.
But the new home you purchase would also increase in value, putting the original value of $350,000 at $385,000 in just a few years.  An important consideration is that the higher the mortgage, the higher your interest rate, (in other words loan amount conforming to conventional rates has gone down) which will affect you as time goes by and the current opportunities will no longer be there to avail.  The new interest rate that would go along with inflation would be an expected 6.5%, meaning that money for your mortgage would cost you more.

Keeping all these factors in mind, it is clear why now is the best time ever to be selling your home and upgrading into a new home.  The money saved is a sizable chunk of a down payment for many homebuyers. In this example, about $15,000 is the amount saved and the best part is that the super low mortgage rate gets locked in for thirty years.  

When you work out the numbers in the long run it is clear that availing the opportunity out there now is the perfect solution to owing the best possible home in the future.