HAVE YOU BEEN NAMED EXECUTOR OF YOUR LOVED ONE’S ESTATE?

I was. It was a lot of work emotionally, mentally and physically. My sister and I were named Executor- well Executrix since I am a woman and my sister was named Executrix also, if for some reason I was unable to carry out the duties involved.

I lived in Jersey and my sister lived in New York at the time. My uncle’s Estate was in Seattle, Washington. That’s a five hour flight from LaGuardia JFK airport. Unfortunately, I wasn’t driving at the time and our brother, John came with us for ease of transportation.

I hadn’t been to Seattle since I was 14 when I visited for the first time with my mom, Vera. We visited My Aunt Ryoko and their dog, Jero Son. Jero Son means Harold, Jr. according to my Aunt because they didn’t have any children. Lol. I always thought that was so cute because my uncle was always annoyed with the dog barking and my aunt Ryoko (we lovingly call her Yoko), would make such a fuss because that was her “baby”. My aunt passed away in 2004 and my uncle kept the dogs they had at that time in remembrance of my aunt. They became very close over the years. By the time we arrived to visit my uncle, Chewy was pretty much in charge. I had to straighten him out while we were there and remind him who was the boss….. ME! Lol.

Fast forward to February 2014 and we visited my uncle a few months earlier and he too passed in February, actually one day before my birthday of that year. We had to fly to Seattle. The lawyer who was handling my uncle’s papers wouldn’t tell me anything until after he called the hospital and confirmed that my uncle was deceased. He then phoned me to get my contact information and extended his services to us to handle what needed to be handled. I looked over the paperwork and my sister and I decided not to hire my uncle’s attorney to do anything for us because we felt he overcharged my uncle every chance he got and we weren’t going to let him take advantage of us. Seattle has a great website to assist you through the process. We found another attorney to consult and he was excellent.

This was my first time ever going through a process like this and my uncle had a lot of paperwork to get through. It got emotional between my sister and I with whether or not to list the home for sale. Being a Realtor and not from the area, I considered very strongly just selling it to an investor and moving on. After discussing it with my sister we decided to put the home on the market. My uncle’s neighbor had a friend who was a Realtor. We listed the home with her. The home sold for $10k Over asking price. We were very pleased. A decision we were very happy we made.

This was a very emotional experience for all of us and we hit a few bumps in the road along the way. There were some highly emotional moments that could have turned out very ugly. Since my sister and I are close, we knew that uncle would not be pleased so we worked it out and came through the experience with our relationship still intact. Whew!

Would I do it again? I hope I am not given that task anytime soon. It was very stressful. If you are ever appointed Executor/Executrix of a family member’s estate, go into the situation with a clear mind and clear emotions. Keep Love at the forefront and you shouldn’t go wrong.

I share this experience in remembrance of my uncle, Harold J. Hardy this Memorial Day.

Love will keep it together~~~~

If I can be of Service, please email me at sbhardy@kw.com. 

 

HOW IS YOUR CREDIT?

The Homebuying Season is upon us and I know most Buyers may want to go Looking at Houses because you feel that’s the best way to start the Home Buying Process. However, I would like to suggest that the first thing you do is to ask yourself, “How’s my Credit?”

This is the best way to begin the Home Buying Process because when you know what your credit looks like and if you have any issues or challenges that you need to handle, you can just right in and get those issues handled. The next stop is a mortgage rep to do at least a pre-qualification letter so you will KNOW what you are eligible for. NOW – you’re ready to talk to your Realtor or real estate agent because your agent has a definitive number to search for properties for your budget. Now all you have to do is let your agent know where you want to live, how many bedrooms and bathrooms your family will need, if you want a basement, etc.

Imagine for a moment you didn’t do any of the above and you went around looking for homes with your family and you found a beautiful 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, full basement, kitchen with stainless steel countertops, laundry room fully loaded. You call an agent on the fly and ask to see the house from the Inside and the agent asks you, “How much do you qualify for?” You ask the agent why is that important and the agent says, “I just showed that house to my buyers and it cost $190,000. “Do you have a pre-qualification for that amount?” You answer no you’re just looking and wanted to get into the home. The agent then tells you that the Buyers that she just took to see the home are qualified to purchase and are putting in an offer – Today! That just took the air out of your sails. Ouch!

Next Stop – Mortgage Rep so that won’t happen to you and your family again. 

If I can be of assistance, please respond to this post or email me at sbhardy@kw.com.

To Your New Home,

A Little About Me~

Hello all, just wanted to share this video so you can match a name to a face, etc. If I can be of Service, please contact me at sbhardy@kw.com. Thank you & I look forward to Working With You.

You may be Deserving of a home however are you Prepared for home ownership?

I was having a conversation about home ownership with a past client who stated that the person deserved a home. That’s a beautiful thing and it got me to thinking well, just because that person is deserving are they prepared for home ownership. I immediately thought about both words – Deserve & Prepared.  According to dictionary.com, deserve means to be qualified for because of actions. Prepare means to put in proper condition or readiness. So as it turns out both words/verbs (according to dictionary.com), mean the same thing – to be deserving you also need to be qualified for what is deserved. So now the question becomes are you prepared to be a homeowner? You have decide.

I’d like to share my Story about Deserving. I purchased my home in July 2015. I didn’t move in until October. Why? To be perfectly honest, I didn’t think I deserved to have a home. Huh? Yes. That was my mindset at the time. How did I solve that issue within myself? I had a nice little conversation with me and said, “What is wrong with you? You have a home. Pack your s*** and move into your new home. I did just that and never looked back. It’s amazing the chatter that goes on in our heads sometimes. We really have to take control and silence the chatter. If you don’t, it can stop you from achieving your goals and dreams.

If I can be of assistance in your home search journey, please respond to this blog post or email me at sbhardy@kw.com. Believe me, I know how you feel if you’ve felt that you didn’t deserve it.

To Your New Home,