Hope you had a great 4th of July Holiday, from your Huntington County Local Realtor Andy Eckert

These past 30 days have proven to be busy and full of travel. My family which included all 3 kids and Steph made a trip to St Louis for 5 days. We filled the trip with a lot of walking, eating, swimming and sightseeing. I think since we all made it back still talking to each other it was a success. This was the 1^st vacation all of us have taken together since Olivia was a senior in HS (5 years ago). As our kids grow up and become young adults the environment seems altered in a way. I miss when they were small and we all went together and meandered around at a much slower pace. I think the only way it could have been better is if we would have left our cell phones in the hotel room.

We explored the Arch and went on a river tour; we also went to a St Louis Cards game, man what a stadium. We visited the City Museum which would be any kids dream come true, it offered tunnels and cages to climb for 10 stories and if that wasn’t enough they had a Ferris wheel on the top floor. There were slides from level to level and a 10 story slide which Steph and I road. We enjoyed watching our kids climb around like they were 10 years old again, Sebastian said he was going back and Olivia had red face for about an hour after we left, not sure she has done anything that exhausting for awhile. Aleah took it all in stride and just enjoyed hanging with her Big Sis and Bro.

We also walked through the Zoo which was free and enjoyed seeing what animals would come out into the blazing hot sun so we could see them; I think we all enjoyed the Penguins area the most since it was 45 degrees in there. After we finished at the zoo Olivia talked us into taking the Budweiser tour which thrilled Aleah to no end, which if you follow my posts on Facebook you would have seen. That place was amazing if you like beer which 4 of 5 of us don’t. Olivia was happy to drink our samples.

What I figured out about taking a family vacation when your kids are no longer kids is, it’s really expensive to feed them. I also found that they all have different opinions as to what we should do, it was much easier when Steph and I made all the decisions.

I enjoyed the time together and the time away from home. I hope all of you also get a chance to get away this summer. We spend too much time watching everyone’s life happen on social media vs living ourselves.

Put down your cell phones and take a walk and breath some air. You deserve it!!!!!!!!

God Bless All

Home Inspection Red Flags to watch from Andy Eckert your Huntington County Realtor

Beware of These Home Inspection Red Flags

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | MONDAY, JUNE 27, 2016

A home inspection not only allows buyers to learn more about their home, it also helps them uncover any potential problems.

Curbed.com recently featured a 14-point checklist to help home buyers during a home inspection. Here are a few items they suggest to investigate further during a home inspection that will give your buyers more confidence in moving forward. 

Read more: Home Inspector or Specialist?

HVAC system. Home inspectors will make sure the home’s heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system is working, and they should also be able to estimate how long the home air conditioning condenser (the outside unit) should last too. They just need to check the serial number, says Nigel Turner with Total Home Inspection Services in West Milford, N.J. Many condensers last 12 to 15 years before needing replacement. 

Water drainage. "The biggest issue of any home is always going to be water disbursement," Turner told Curbed.com. "There’s the potential for damage to the foundation. If water is found to be in the vicinity of the house, you want the water to flow away from the house, not towards it." Home inspectors who use an infrared camera may be able to uncover potential water damage that lurks beneath the surface of a home too.

Roof. Learn how old it is and any potential issues, particularly if anything that you may have to one day bring up to code. Roof problems are responsible for 39 percent of home owners insurance claims, according to data from Trulia. 

Oil tank. Even if the house is heated with gas, it's still important to check and see if there's an oil tank on the property in case it once was heated by oil. A tank may still be present. Certain areas require the oil tank to be removed. Others may have just been filled with sand and gravel. Make sure you find out and to ensure it hasn’t leaked into the ground. "Make sure we sweep the whole property," Elice Shikama of RE/MAX in Franklin Lakes, N.J., told Curbed.com. "Because sometimes sellers think they only have one. They could have multiple underground tanks."

Chimney. "Chimneys can be a very costly enterprise, if there’s damage to the chimney lining on the inside, if the masonry around the chimney is faulty, corroded, or whatever it might be," Turner says.

See the entire 14-point checklist that Curbed.com offers for home inspections. 

Check out my New Commercial created by Huntington University Video Production Team, from Realtor Andy Eckert!

My Newest Commercial, Hope you Enjoy !

I am Thankful for my Faith, Family and Friends on this Memorial Weekend. From your Local Huntington County Realtor Andy Eckert

33 years ago (May 18^th 1983) my life changed forever, I being me had an accident. I was on Holiday with some friends in Michigan as we were on summer break from High school. Eckert's are hard headed and buck the system as much as they can get away with it. This lake was a summer home for a classmate of mine and the kids there liked to initiate new kids by throwing them in the lake. I thought no one was going to do that so I dove in, bad decision. I fractured my neck and was paralyzed from the shoulders down, Chad a local kid noticed I was drowning and pulled me out. He saved my life and at the time I wasn’t sure I was happy he did. That summer consisted of a life saving surgery and a boat load of rehab. It took weeks for me to be start learning to walk again and a month before I did. I spent the summer trying to fit back into my own skin because believe it or not I felt like I had no idea what my body would do next. Starting school in the fall was a challenge since I didn’t get my HALO brace off until 4 days before school started, the scariest this was walking in the hallways at HNHS hoping I didn’t get knocked over. Honestly if my parents knew how weak and unsure of myself I was I don’t think I would have been allowed to go back that year.

The next 20 years I dealt with depression and anger issues trying to get past the mistake I had made. I never quite felt I was doing with my life what I was supposed to. I lowered my head and kept my nose to the grindstone and worked through it. When I got married that helped give my life the purpose I was searching for. When Steph had Olivia I started to realize all I went through was for a reason and was a plan I didn’t control. I still to this day struggle from day to day with my past demons but I have my Faith, Family and Friends to lean on.

Now after 3 decades I have let go of “what might have been” and embraced “what still can be”

I OWE SO MANY FOLKS FOR KEEPING ME IN THE GAME, MOSTLY MY PARENTS AND MY WIFE.

GOD has always been there for me and he has shown me grace even when I wasn’t living up to my potential. I have so much to be thankful for and I am starting to realize that maybe the accident that changed my life forever may have been intended to save it. This is what and where Im supposed to be, so hold on here we GOOOOO.

God Bless and pray for all our Men and Women who serve us in the Military. This Memorial Day I remember the Uncle I can’t remember as he lost his life serving other(Thomas Parker). I also remember Ray and Kenny as they returned home to their families.

Spring is Big for Sellers and June Buyers are Heating UP! Plus Refinancing news, from your Local Huntington County Realtor Andy Eckert

Spring: The big season for home sellers

June: For buyers, the hunt is heating up

June is the month buyers begin looking for their dream homes in earnest.

And real estate agents say the game is on.

This June buyers are expected to outnumber sellers in most locales, says Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors (NAR). That means there will be lots of buyers who can't find their dream home unless they get in the game early.

Because the supply of homes is low, prices are going up. The nationwide median price for an existing single-family home was recently $213,800, or up 8 percent from last year. This year's pricing is part of a 47-month upward trend of gains, according to News Corp, which own The Wall Street Journal and also owns realtor.com, NAR's listing website. 

Lenders are saying that it's a busy borrowing season. "There's a decade of pent-up demand," says Bob Walters, chief economist of Quicken Loans. In March, he says loan volume for home purchases was at its highest level in four months, and low interest rates are also fueling a mini-refinance boom. 

The average interest rate for a 30-year mortgage was 3.74 percent for the week ending March 4, according to mortgage rate website HSH.com. In June borrowers should still be able to find mortgages at less than 4 percent, a great rate historically.

To avoid delays in closings, lenders recommends getting into the market as soon as possible. They say the number of mortgage seekers is expanding every day. Lenders are pushing for preapproval, which requires full documentation, to be submitted to an underwriter. Preapproval can save up to 10 days in the closing period and gives you an advantage when there is competition for the same house.

Refinance your home, renovate and

get a tax deduction

 For homeowners wanting to refinance, the IRS usually requires that mortgage points, or prepaid interest, be amortized over the lifetime of the loan. 

There's one exception, says Eric J. Wexler, a Rockville, Md., tax attorney and CPA. 

If a portion of the refinanced mortgage proceeds is put toward home improvements, the points  related to the home improvement amount may be deducted in the tax year of the refinance. 

That is assuming the amount falls below the $100,000 deduction limit and that other IRS requirements have been met, Wexler says.

Huntington & Allen County 1st Quarter Market Report, and why owners are overly optimistic, from your local Realtor Andy Eckert

Quarterly Market Report from the Huntington and Allen County Area.

Owners Overly Optimistic About Home’s Price

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | MONDAY, MAY 16, 2016
Owners are continuing to overestimate the value of their homes. The latest Quicken Loans’ Home Price Perception Index shows that home owners overestimated the price of their home, on average, by 1.95 percent compared to appraisers valuations in April.

Read more: In Search of Sellers
Home owners in the Midwest and East coast are overestimating their home’s value by the highest amounts, according to the HPPI.

The gap between home owner and appraiser expectations narrowed last month. In March, appraiser opinions of home values were 2.17 percent lower than home owner expectations.

“The HPPI is in a healthy trend, nationally,” says Quicken Loans Chief Economist Bob Walters. “While everyone wants their appraisals to come back showing more equity than anticipated, like some home owners in the West, the discrepancy we are seeing now won’t likely derail a mortgage transaction.”

Spring has finally Sprung and the Eckert family is enjoying it! from your local Huntngton County Realtor, Andy Eckert

This past month has been filled with a large auction in Auburn, surgery on my foot and getting ready for Olivia’s graduation. The graduation is more just planning out the trip to Bloomington and hoping she gets her diploma.

Spring has finally sprung and the grass is growing pretty quickly at the homestead, we have the baby goats growing fast and getting ready to pick up rabbits. Steph needs to find some chickens to raise for 4-H and then the Eckert farm will be full. Savannah and Sebastians horse came to live with us this week, Belle was a gift from Sebastian to his lovely lady a few years ago and now she is ready for some training and riding.

Aleah has started her Track season and finished her Volleyball season all in the same week. Steph thinks Aleah maybe a little too hard on herself when competing and needs to let mistakes roll off her more. That might be an Eckert trait or a Grandma Sherrill habit. Either way it’s hard to be at your best if every error one makes causes a lack of concentration due to the anger or embarrassment.

Michael has started his baseball season under the leadership of Terry Stoffel, let’s hope his batting improves and he starts knocking the crap out of the ball. He loves being a part of the team and the games are big deal for him. Michael wants to ride horses this year in 4-H and that training will fall on my ladies Steph and Aleah, Michael you’re in good hands.

Sebastian will be working for a Buddy of mine again this summer mowing and landscaping(Wind Landscaping) located in Allen Co. He loves working with James and being outside, he already has been offered a internship for next fall with an Insurance company. He seems to be getting all things in order for his graduation in 18 months.

My Buddy Carson Raymond Eckert had a birthday in April and will be making his 1^st Communion, that’s a lot for 30 days. I’m thinking about what to give him as a present, he is kinda attached to his Hello Kitty collection.

I’m hoping that my right foot heals quickly so I can do the left and be back on my feet midsummer. It would be awesome to walk 9 holes of golf without hurting for 3 days after. I never look forward to surgery but I finally had enough of sitting on the sidelines while everyone else was enjoying life. Plus my wife said I was an OLD man. Stephs been great helping me and Dad was my private driver for a week, damn he drives slowly. I never knew it was possible to take 30 minutes to drive from my house to my office, but he proved that wrong. A few times I had to look twice to make sure we weren’t going backwards.

Have a great spring of sun and mushroom hunting, God Bless…….

I always have time for YOU or your Referrals.