Sep 03
lgordonTips Energy Efficient Homes, finished basement, floor plan, home builder, home warranty, new home, new home construction
Here are 6 reasons that favor building in lieu of purchasing a resale.
- The floor plan styles and colors of a resale home usually don’t fit your every need vs. a new home which can be designed with YOU in mind.
- Many older homes do not come with a warranty; therefore you are at risk of investing in a money pit.
- New home construction is much more energy efficient, therefore saving you thousands of dollars on energy costs.
- New homes have basements with higher ceilings, allowing you to finish the basement in the future with greater ease.
- Many older homes have lead base paint and asbestos siding – these are items that will have to be removed for safety issues.
- Finally, what could give you greater peace of mind than a 10 year home warranty? That is what Fine Line Homes provides.
The bottom line is there may be many “deals” on the existing homes in your area, but are they really deals in the long run. I don’t think so.
Sep 02
mbittnerMiscellaneous
Once again Dan Johnson had outstanding performance in Sales and Customer service for the month of August 2010. CONGRATULATIONS DAN!
Congratulations to Dan Johnson for achieving Top Housing Consultant for August 2010
Sep 01
acowderMiscellaneous home builder, home building process, home buying, quality workmanship
The Westbury
I know people make the difference. I am both an employee and a past customer who built my family’s home while working at Fine Line Homes.
The dynamics of the staff becoming a customer is a very important part of the sales team. Taking pride in ones job is taken to another level when you work for and with a company like Fine Line because your product is an everlasting reminder of quality workmanship. You know people recognize a home built by Fine Line for the many reasons but foremost for the people involved in the process. You remember the sales and office staff; you can talk to the workers on site, and after your home is built the employees of Fine Line Homes will still be there. You will say “Hi” when we meet on the street because you will be a customer happy with your home. Sure you may have a question or two but you know the employee still works there and cares about you.
Employees make such a positive impact on the home buying and building process. No matter if it is a first visit or years after your home is finished, you will be greeted with the same friendly welcome. You’ll find a staff of long time employees… longer than you may think, of helpful and knowledgeable people here to inform you about Fine Line Homes and why many of our employees become customers of Fine Line as well.
Aug 20
jkerschnerMiscellaneous home builder, home plans, spelling
In today’s world where messages are transmitted at ever increasing speeds, only to be deleted almost as quickly, is it really important? I’d hazard a guess that it depends upon the nature of the message, who is sending it, who is receiving it, etc. Purely from my observation, it appears that a hierarchy has formed with respect to the level of tolerances whereby text messaging has no boundaries, emails are expected to be more structured but usually not proofed before sending, and the standby written messages (letters, memos, print ads, etc.) adhere to the standards we all learned in school.
Wuold you tihnk any lses of soemone who snet you a mesasge taht had splelnig erorrs or wolud you chlak it up to the fnigres not kepeing up wtih the mnid as they wree tyipng the mesasge. As I’m tyring to tpye this paargarph with erorrs on puropse, the copmuter auotmaitcally corertcs me and genrelaly konws waht I’m trying to splel as long as I’m in the balplark. Stduies sohw that as lnog as the fisrt and lsat letetr are in the crorect positoin, your barin will adapt as you raed the mesasge and inteprret the prpoer wrod even thuogh it is isn’t speleld corerctly. Did it wrok for you?
I am a fan of proper spelling and feel it helps convey a message in a professional way. A word of thanks to Rick Henry for his efforts in keeping out website current, educational, and professional.
Aug 19
mbittnerFeatures board and batten, cedar wood siding, lap siding, rustic exterior, vinyl siding
With a wooded lot, a home with a rustic exterior will fit in nicely and offer a warm natural feel. Cedar wood siding was used on the home photo above. There are vinyl siding choices that offer less maintenance as well. Mastic for example features Cedar Discovery, Board and Batten and Lap siding. Other popular selections include darker windows and trim, fiberglass stainable doors and accent stone. Contact a Housing Consultant for more information or pricing.
Aug 16
mbittnerMiscellaneous
Lori Gordon and Cindy Stern had outstanding performance in Sales and Customer service for the month of July 2010.
Congratulations Lori and Cindy!
Congratulations to Lori Gordon (left) and Cindy Stern (right)
Aug 10
bcampanellaFinancing, Tips financing to build a new home, home builder, home builder financing, housing finance, new home financing
It’s not a big secret that in today’s economy, the lending practices of area banks, mortgage brokers and credit unions seem to change or be under review on a monthly basis. Federal rules and regulations change, local lending practices change, underwriting and appraisal practices are subject to what often seem like arbitrary twists and turns.
Whereas in the past, over 3 years ago, you could call your lender over the phone and get a rough idea what your financial profile looked like and determine “how much house can I afford,” that scenario is far different today.
Credit scores can determine what rate of interest your mortgage will be at. How much equity you ‘think’ you have in your present home and how much you will actually receive after a sale in today’s depressed existing home sales market can vary widely. Lenders have been changing the minimum amount of Down Payment required to qualify for a loan.
All of these circumstances are in addition to the standard qualifying requirements of length of employment, compensation amounts, debt load ratios, mortgage terms whether fixed rate or variable and length of mortgage payback in years.
Therefore, in today’s volatile housing finance market it is best advice for a potential home buyer to spend personal appointment time with his/her lender and gain as much knowledge as you can about how much house you can afford, how the qualification process can be affected by current home sale, what role does the appraisal play in loan approval, what are the time restraints on lender communications such as a Pre-Qualification letter or a Pre-Approval letter and how they differ vastly from a formal Mortgage Loan Commitment Letter.
Your Fine line Homes Housing Consultant will need to know from you what your “financing plans” are – remember he or she is there to help you to bring your home building dreams to a happy, joyous and stress-free conclusion. Your meeting with your lender is an important ‘first step.’
Aug 05
dyagelLewisburg, PA Sales Center, home plans flexible living, flexible living spaces, home office, home plans, home plans with home office, home plans with office space, work from home
I think it is interesting how home plans have changed over the years. Even more interesting is how our needs have changed. While we still have the basic need for shelter and a place to store our stuff, our home is so much more than that, it is a retreat at the end of the day when we want to de-stress, a dwelling place that reflects who we are and how we live, and even a place to work. Now more than ever people are working from home, either part-time or full-time; we now have the technology and flexibility to do so.
Incorporating a Home Office into your floor plan involves both function and aesthetics. Things to consider when planning this space would be what it is going to be used for, how elaborate it needs to be and a feasible location. It can be as simple as taking a closet or nook and making it a place to house your laptop and printer. A small office like this could also be integrated into your kitchen cabinet layout and would work for paying bills, monitoring your child’s internet activity, and would be convenient for pulling up recipes online. However, if you are trying to work out of a Home Office and need a quiet area where you can spread out paperwork with minimal distractions or even have clients coming to your office, a separate room with a dedicated workspace is a good idea, not to mention the tax benefits.
No matter what space you decide to use for your Home Office, consider the following: no matter how large or small your office is, if it is well organized it will not feel cramped and cluttered; making sure it has adequate light and even a view of nature will inspire you to get work done; and an attractive color palette and family photos will personalize your space and make it feel like home, which will make it feel less like work.
Jul 30
lgordonFinancing house down payment options, new construction down payment options, new home construction, new home financing, new home purchase
Can you come up the 20% down payment necessary to build a home? Most consumers cannot.
If you are one of the many people that want to build, but can not come up with the down payment, you have options. Many consumers are struggling with the ability to come up with the down payments required by banks since the recession. Most banks require the typical 20% down for a construction loan. That is a lot of money to come up with on a $200.000.00 home.
There are alternatives available. If an individual owns a parcel of land that they want to build on, they can use the equity in the land as the down payment, and if there is 20% equity, that individual would not have to come up with any down payment. There are banks that let you wrap the closing costs into the loan under the right circumstances.
There is also PHFA (Pennsylvania Housing Finance Authority) financing that is available through select banks. PHFA financing allows you to acquire a construction loan with very little down payment, although there are income restrictions. The interest rate for PHFA financing is at an all time low of 4.6%.�
We would be happy to assist you in finding the best lender to meet your individual needs.
Jul 23
cackermanHazleton PA Sales Center, Tips builder customer service, customer service, dream home, new home construction, service after the sale
What really makes a great building experience when building a new home?
A young couple decides to build their dream home. All their homework is completed, style of home, location, products selection, price range, and oh yes the builder. Is that all? I think not.
Construction begins and throughout the process the young couple experience little to no problems with the builder or their work. All of the products appear to be correct and operating. As soon as construction is complete the couple moves into their brand new one of a kind, and probably the largest investment they will ever make home. Then it happens. Things are not as they seemed before they moved in. They are finding that workmanship and products in the house are failing or never worked in the first place. The problems that the young couple is experiencing could and do happen to the best of builders, but what really separates the good builders from the great builders?
Service after the sale that’s what! That same couple could at that very moment begin the ‘nightmare’ if their choice in builders was not a wise one. What if your builder chooses not to stand behind the product he or she sold to you? What if the customer is left high and dry? What if the customers really did their homework before they chose the builder.
I know, you are thinking to yourself, what kind of a fool would get themselves into that kind of situation, or that would never happen to me because I know better. Well I can tell you this happens to people more than it should. So if you are deciding to build a new home, please be sure to give some thought to how your builder performs once the sale is complete. Easily said right? So how might someone do that you ask?
How about asking the builder for references of past customers, or check with your local Chamber of Commerce, or even ask the builder. It’s a simple as that, really I promise.
I know first hand that Fine Line Homes takes great pride in their service after the sale motto. Ask just about anyone, my guess is that you don’t need to look hard or far to find someone you know who already owns one of our homes. Chances are that the reason you are even reading this is because of our “word of mouth” reputation.
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