Move 2 Milwaukee

(414) 379-1101

4655 N Port Washington Road Suite 300, Glendale, WI 53212

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Happy New Year

Is your New Year’s Resolution to purchase a home or condo this year? Well then join the club. Sorry to burst your bubble, but you are not alone. In the Metro Milwaukee 4 county area showings will increase by 100% in the next 2-6 months. Yes 100%, for every 100 people looking today there will be another 100 people looking next month! If you say you aren’t ready to purchase yet, think again. If your apartment is rented until June, I have an answer . If you have not been pre-qualified yet, I can help. These are all good concerns that can be easily addressed. It’s a process. Here are a few first steps in starting your search and addressing your concerns:

  1. Make the commitment that purchasing a home is your goal for 2017
  2. Do some research and choose an agent that will work for you and in your best interest. Check their reviews!
  3. Talk to not only 1 but 2 or 3 lenders about getting pre-qualified. If you are not sure or don’t know where to start, find an agent. A good agent will start by explaining the process and helping you with the next steps.
  4. Your apartment lease doesn’t end until June? If you make a commitment today to purchase a home, by the time you pick an agent, get pre-qualified, evaluate your search and start looking online, most of January will be over. Start looking at homes today because it could take 30-90 days to find the right home for you. Once you put an offer on a home or condo and it’s accepted, it will take another 45-60 days to close. Your first payment is the month after closing. If you close June 5th your first payment is not due until August 10th. Starting in February, take 2 months to find the home, 2 months to close and suddenly you are at the beginning of June.

Let me help you start your search today!

I have worked with over 100 first time home buyers in the last 3 years alone. I specialize in first time home buyers and understand what is needed for them. I give them the time they need and I’m always there to answer any questions they have. I have included a few of my reviews from 1st time home buyers for you to view. I am not here to push you or to sell you a home. I am here to guide you through the process and work with you to find not just any home, but the home that is right for you.

1st Time Home Buyer Reviews:

Danielle:

Bob Arnold you made this first time home buying experience wonderful. You pointed out things we wouldn’t have thought to look for and offered advice that we didn’t even to think to ask. Absolutely I would recommend you to anyone. Thank you.

Sarah:

As first time home buyers, we needed a lot of guidance and Bob was more than willing to go out of his way to meet with us and educate us through this process. He helped us not only find our first home, but our dream home!

 

Bob Arnold is a qualified Milwaukee real estate agent who understands the market and can help you navigate the purchase of your new home or condo. Call today.

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What is an investment property?

I believe a property whether it be a home, condo or duplex in the Milwaukee real estate market is always an investment. If you want to get technical though, I look at a true investment property as something that you will make a return on or will help cover your current costs. Today’s buyers are savvy and are looking for a safe option to invest in. Investing in real estate, especially in Milwaukee, does receive national attention. Owning a “Brick and Mortar” can be highly beneficial. This year I have more buyers purchasing duplexes, 4 families and even larger 8, 16, 18, and 24 family properties than ever before. The Metro Milwaukee area continues to be a relatively safe area for investment. The best kept secret is that a qualified buyer can purchase up to a 4 family, but must owner occupy, with as little as 3.5%, YES 3.5% down payment. Can you imagine purchasing a duplex for 185k with only $7,500 down and have someone cover $750-$900 of your month’s payment? Another option would be to purchase a 4 family all brick low Maintenance for 250K with as little as 12k down payment and have income of $1900-$2400 per month to cover cost and more! Remember these properties are increasing in value, you are getting a tax deduction on them and after a couple of years you can refinance, move out and then purchase another property. I have a number of buyers doing that now. Yes, this does seem to be like one of the best kept secrets in real estate. If you are interested please feel free to contact me to learn more or visit my web site move2milwaukee.com.

Check Out a Previous Client Review!

Highly likely to recommend
09/13/2016
Bought a Single Family home in 2016 for approximately $225K in Bay View, Milwaukee, WI.

5 of 5 Stars

As first time home buyers, we needed a lot of guidance and Bob was more than willing to go out of his way to meet with us and educate us through this process. He helped us not only find our first home, but our dream home!

Follow the link for more:

http://www.zillow.com/profile/move2milwaukee/#reviews

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Milwaukee Area Real Estate Market Update

While we experiencing a strong real estate market in the metro Milwaukee area but we can’t forget that it is still based on supply and demand. One of the biggest factors effecting price in the Metro Milwaukee market is the inventory. New listings in the Milwaukee region decreased 10.4 percent down to 2,288 listings July. Pending sales were also down 36.3 percent to only 1,150. Inventory levels fell 10.2 percent to 6,906 units, while the median sale price increased 1.3% in July. Making this even more of a seller’s market.

In most areas the $250K and under market is extremely active. Some Milwaukee real estate areas are experiencing the problem of little or no homes available in this price range. Go under $150K and nice homes are being sold in less than a week with multiple offers. For example, I was looking for some homes in Thiensville the other day for a buyer I am working with to find 8 homes on the market and 7 of the 8 had offers. Our four county area, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Waukesha and Washington are a price sensitive market with very different buyers and number of buyers in different price ranges. For example: Once we get over the 600K range our inventory increases and prices actually seem to be dropping or we are seeing price reductions. Now updated or new construction are always going to sell quickly. Pockets like Whitefish Bay and Shorewood are doing great in any price range.

What’s going to happen with the interest rates, up or down? If I only had that magical crystal ball. We are seeing them fluctuate in the 3`s. Are we living on borrowed time? It depends on who, what bank, economist or media you want to listen to. World chaos and poor employment numbers in the U.S. are keeping them down. What we do know is prices are going up at an average of 10% plus per year. The house now priced at $250K will be $275K next year, yes the same house that was $200K 2 years ago! I know our incomes are not going up that fast. You may want to really think about a home purchase game plan. I have not had any buyers come back to me in the last 3 years saying “Bob I wish I would have waited to purchase a home”. Instead most if not all say I wish we would have purchased sooner! Here is another one of my great testimonials:

7/06/16
5 of 5 Stars
Buyer’s Agent
Worked with Bob shortly after we relocated to the area. Bob took the information we provided and gave us a good sampling of what was available in a fast moving market. Bob was very flexible in his schedule to accommodate our schedule. Once we found our home, Bob acted quickly to bring our offer to the table and get accepted. Bob also worked closely with us in making offer conditions and following up with some additional matters in the home inspection. Bob also had connected us with an excellent home inspector who provided a very detailed report as well as a Real estate attorney that met our needs. Bob made the home search and overall home buying experience stress free and enjoyable.

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Which Real Estate Agent Is Right For You?

When you are searching for a Real Estate agent in the Metro Milwaukee area to work with, research is important. Purchasing your new home will most likely be one of the biggest investment of your life.  Doing a little research on a Real Estate agent will go a long way. Looking up reviews on the agent, google searching them, and checking their website are just a few ways to find out about the agent. For reviews and volume of sales, check major search engines such as Zillow, Trulia, and Redfin. These sites are the best way to truly figure out what the realtor brings to the table. Want to know the best part about all of this, there is no cost to this research, it’s all free!

I rely heavily on Real Estate reviews from my clients. I actively reach out for reviews as well as send out my reviews to potential clients. I would like to show you the power of a review. Below are 2 reviews one from Ben and Stephanie and one from Brianna, both were recent clients of mine. Sure, we had some bumps in the road with these purchases but rarely does everything go perfect in such a big investment. It is how those bumps are handled by the Real Estate agent and the solutions they find that make be biggest difference. In the end, the only thing that matters is the Realtor did the best job for his/her client and the client feels good about their purchase. Here are two examples of a recent reviews I received on Zillow.

Highly likely to recommend

5 out of 5 Stars

06/18/2016

Purchased Home in 2016 in Milwaukee, WI

Local knowledge: 5 out of 5 Stars

Process expertise: 5 out of 5 Stars

Responsiveness: 5 out of 5 Stars

Negotiation skills: 5 out of 5 Stars

Bob is the best! I’ve never written a Google review but I had to give Bob 5 stars. He’s been really helpful as we are first time buyers. We had no idea what we really wanted at first and he’s been very patient and accommodation. Plus he’s been really honest and upfront about certain things which was refreshing. He’s not pushing you into the wrong home, he definitely seems to care about you getting into the right fit. I recommended Bob to my brother and I’d recommend him to whomever is looking for a home. We had some huge issues with a lender (won’t mention the companies name) but Bob fought for us. Wish I could bump up the stars from 5 but I can’t recommend him enough.

Highly likely to recommend

5 out of 5 Stars

Brianna Purchased Home in Brookfield
We can’t recommend him highly enough. Bob is the reason our offer on our home was accepted. He worked hard to get us into properties the day they came onto the market. Bob was available and willing to answer all of our questions, and as first time home buyers, we had many. He knows Milwaukee and the surrounding communities well. It put our mind at ease knowing we had a knowledgeable, experienced advocate on our side throughout the home buying process.