Kafayat Ayodele-Peters's blog

When it comes to finding your next home, it's easy to focus just on the house-hunting process and how your agent can find you that next home. But the value of a real estate agent is not just in finding you a home—it goes way beyond just that.

Before you even step foot into a potential property, your agent is already hard at work behind the scenes doing things like:

• Prepping Your Finances: Your agent will connect you with the best local lenders so you can find the right financing options and get pre-approved. This will allow you to make fast decisions and offers when the perfect home pops...

For many people, real estate investments are a key strategy to grow wealth and get set up for success. As I always say, there’s a reason why all of those millionaires and billionaires have strong real estate portfolios. There are many tax advantages, allowing you to keep more of your wealth, including the capital gains deferral and deducting of operating costs.

Real estate investments also diversify your investments to avoid having all of your wealth in one basket (AKA the stock market) so you can better weather turbulent economic times in the future. Real estate investments can also...

The economy and the real estate market have both shifted, and that’s made some people nervous about the future of real estate. Because we saw so many home sales in 2020 and 2021 during what was a good time for the economy and the real estate market, there are worries that a flood of foreclosures is on the horizon. But are thousands of foreclosures likely in 2023?

Short answer: it’s not likely.

The last time we saw widespread, mass foreclosures were during the infamous years of 2007 and 2008. During that time, predatory lending practices made it so many people got into mortgages they...

If you want to successfully become a homeowner, getting pre-approved is one of the best first steps you can take. But sometimes buyers, especially first-time homebuyers, think that getting pre-approved is just another random thing to do.

Getting pre-approved is anything but something random or optional. In fact, it’s a key step to finding the right home for you in our current market. When you get pre-approved, a lender will take a look at your financial information and give you an estimate of a mortgage that you could get approved for.

A pre-approval basically says that with your...

If you’d like to buy and move into a beautiful new home this spring, then your countdown has already started!

While the spring might seem far away now, the rush of real estate’s biggest season will be here before you know it. There are many things you’ll need to do to get prepped and ready to buy a home.

Here are a few things you should get started on now in January so you’re ready for the spring market!

- Get your finances in order: Now is the time to pull up your budget, your paystubs, your debt, and your credit score. First, make sure that your credit score is strong and that your...

This spring, you may be faced with a choice: do you renew for another year at an increased rent or do you jump into real estate and finally become a homeowner?

If you think you’ll stay in your area for 5+ years and have a steady income, now could be the perfect time for you to start your real estate journey.

Once you’ve decided that you want to buy a home, you can begin the homebuying process. Here’s how you should plan to spend the next few months!

January: This is the time to start learning about the homebuying process! Go look up some resources for homebuyers, ask your family and...

Every homeowner needs to see this strategy if they want to sell their home for top dollar.

There are some selling strategies out there that won’t work for every homeowner, but this one is universally applicable and so important.

Here’s the strategy: Set the scene when putting your house on the market.

This all comes down to staging your home. With staging, you’re using furniture and decor to help buyers imagine themselves in the home and see how perfectly their life could fit into the space.

Instead of just having an empty room or a space cluttered with furniture, staging sets the...

As you approach the closing date of your home, you’re likely looking forward to moving into your new home. But before you move in, there are eight things you need to do.

1. Celebrate: First things first–a celebration is in order! Make sure to take a moment to celebrate this huge milestone before jumping into the rush of getting ready to move.

2. Change your locks: You want to feel safe and secure in your new home, so changing the locks and getting new keys will help protect you and your new home.

3. Service your HVAC and change the air filter: Make sure that the air you’ll be...

Everyone is talking about interest rates right now, and with good reason. A couple of years ago, we saw interest rates hit historic lows as the Federal Reserve tried to stimulate the post-pandemic economy. But then inflation happened, and now the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates.

As a buyer, you should do everything you can to get the best interest rate possible. But remember: you can always refinance to a better rate down the road.

But how are you actually supposed to get a good rate in the first place? To many buyers, the mortgage rate can seem like a black box that just...

It’s easier to become a real estate investor than you might think!

With a little bit of knowledge about how the real estate industry works, you can become an investor and set yourself up for financial success without needing hundreds of thousands in savings.

Here’s how you can become a real estate investor in 4 easy steps:

1. Buy a home on the low end of your budget. Make sure that it’s not a fixer upper that you’ll end up sinking a ton of time and energy into. A move-in ready home is the ticket here. You’ll need to work with your buyer’s agent to negotiate on the home and ensure you...