Hello Blog Readers!
Sabrina here, came across this great article pulling statistics from the National Association of Realtors. Please enjoy this positive report on our real estate market.
Existing-home sales near 5-year high
NAR’s year-end stats show housing markets flirting with pre-bust growth
BY INMAN NEWS, TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2013.
Existing-home sales, prices and inventory saw dramatic changes in 2012 reminiscent of the housing boom, statistics released today by the National Association of Realtors show.
At 4.65 million units, 2012 existing-home sales were up 9.2 percent from 2011, according to NAR’s preliminary totals for the year. That would be the highest volume since 2007, when 5.03 million were sold.
Bolstered by low inventories, the national median existing-home price was up 11.5 percent from a year ago in December, to $180,800. December saw the 10th consecutive month of year-over-year price gains, a trend not seen since May 2006.
For 2012 as a whole, the national median existing-home price was up 6.3 percent, to $176,600, the largest annual price gain since prices surged by 12.4 percent in 2005.
At 1.82 million units at the end of December, existing-home inventory now represents a 4.4-month supply, the lowest level since May 2005, near the peak of the housing boom.
“Likely job creation and household formation will likely fuel (market) growth,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun in a statement. “Both sales and prices will again be higher in 2013.”
To finish reading this article and few their charts and graphs please visit: http://www.inman.com/news/2013/01/22/existing-home-sales-near-5-year-high
Here is another great article about home sales: http://newsgeni.us/?em=info@thecatonteam.com&p=106674
Got Questions? – The Caton Team is here to help.
Email Sabrina & Susan at: Info@TheCatonTeam.com
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Please enjoy my personal journey through homeownership at:
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Thanks for reading – Sabrina
Tag: home
SHOULD YOU BUY A HOME DURING THE HOLIDAYS?
Funny – I was just writing my own blog about our local real estate market when I came across this article from San Diego. It’s not local – but it hits home – thought I’d share and add my two cents….
SHOULD YOU BUY A HOME DURING THE HOLIDAYS?
Once Thanksgiving is over, the real estate world starts to wind down for the holidays and it typically reawakens after the Times Square ball drops and resolutions come to life.
But if you’re a potential homebuyer who’s prepared to close in today’s competitive market, you may want to keep shopping while everyone’s waiting for spring, some real estate agents suggest.
The Caton Team has found that buyers on a concrete budget find great values if they are flexible during the holidays. We’re ready when you are.
That advice may be especially relevant this year for consumers who have repeatedly lost out on deals because of a limited and continually decreasing supply of homes, but remain persistent. Buying intensity typically cools down at the start of fall through early January, which could increase the odds for those with more patience.
Related: Report: We’re in the midst of a housing recovery
Home sales have increased from October to November only four times since 1988, when DataQuick began to track home sales and prices locally.
In the other years, transactions have fallen from anywhere between 0.2 percent and nearly 26 percent. Home listings have dropped off from 3 percent to 11 percent during those months in the past three years.
“During Christmas, people will be focused on the holidays and nothing really happens,” said Ken Pecus, co-founder of San Diego-based Ascent Real Estate and 20-plus-year real estate veteran.
“The first week of January, the new mindset kicks in, resolutions kick in, and in the second and third week, people look at their taxes, and almost overnight, by the end of January, you have almost twice the buyers in the market,” Pecus added.
Would-be buyers historically have bowed out during the winter season because they are overwhelmed by holiday spending and commitments. There’s also the aversion of moving in the middle of a school year. Consumer interest typically picks back up again in the New Year and peaks in the spring.
Related: Demand for homes stays strong during the fall
Certain buyers may be well-served to buy during the winter because of sellers who must move because of:
• A job change or transfer.
• The possible sunsetting of the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act, said Donna Sanfilippo, president of the San Diego Association of Realtors. The potential expiration of the law, which lets certain home sellers get tax relief on mortgage debt forgiven by lenders, has pushed home sellers scrambling to list and short sell their homes before the end of the year.
In some cases though, the rush to do that is unwarranted. Consult a tax pro to determine if short selling is right for you.
• The fact they’ve been waiting to sell their home for a long time and need to buy something quickly. If you can wait a little longer to sell your home and want to maximize your profit, then wait until the peak spring months.
Even with the expected holiday homebuying slowdown, buyers should know that the inventory level may still be a challenge.
Right now, there are more than 4,700 active listings in the county, down 11 percent from October and down more than half from the same time a year ago, based on numbers from the San Diego Association of Realtors. The current level marks at least a three-year low.
In the San Francisco Peninsula – inventory has been low all year, fueling multiple offers on homes and driving prices up due to competition outweighing supply. There has been moments, for example in San Carlos we had 25 listings and Redwood City had 36 – for the whole city. That’s not enough homes for the volume of demand out here.
Buyers also may deal with the challenges of bidding against cash buyers and investors, who can look more attractive than traditional buyers.
The Caton Team has witnessed Cash Buyers at all price points – under $500,000 to over 1,500,000. Sellers have the opportunity to pick the best offer among several. And sellers are being savvy – taking higher down payments when possible. When The Caton Team prepares an offer, it is more than just price.
Their share of the homebuying market has remained strong. Almost 28 percent of total homes sold in October were purchased by absentee buyers, many of whom are investors. That’s up from 27 percent logged a year ago and in September.
Hovering near the peak, almost one-third of buyers bought with cash in October.
“I’m expecting 60 to 70 people at my open house,” said San Diego Realtor Miguel Contreras before a recent Wednesday showing at a property in La Mesa. “The property is a fixer, so it’s mostly investors.”
Sounds familiar in the SF Peninsula market. Open houses visitors are strong, and often there is enough activity to warrant an offer day before the following weekend. I’ve seen homes have one open house and take offers on Monday. That’s a break neck pace if you ask me, and I’m a veteran. My first time buyers can’t move that fast. And with prices climbing, the early bird get’s the worm if he can’t process the information fast enough.
Related: Another hurdle for short sales
Contreras, who worked during Thanksgiving week, said he’ll make himself available throughout the holidays to cater to what he expects to be a continued interest from investors, cash buyers and traditional buyers.
The same goes for Cherilyn Jones, another local real estate agent. Last week, she was preparing for two new listings to come online. Her most common clients are first-time homebuyers and investors.
“The investors have not slowed down,” Jones said. “We get holiday freeze, but not for investor clients. It’s hard to find them properties because their criteria is very, very specific … and the deals are not as good as they used to be.”
Article By: Lily Leung
Last Thoughts…
In our 25+ years of local Real Estate experience, buying during the holidays can truly benefit buyers who’ve been outbid all year. We’ve found homes for buyers over the holiday season that would have been snapped up in a hot second during the spring or summer. As long as buyers are flexible and open minded – there is definitely some Christmas Miracles in the making this time of year. Keep a look out for my next Cinderella Stories about Russ and Natalie and the home we found over Thanksgiving!
I read this article at: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/dec/01/does-it-make-sense-buy-home-during-winter/?page=2#article
Got Questions? – The Caton Team is here to help.
Email Sabrina & Susan at: Info@TheCatonTeam.com
Visit our Website at: http://thecatonteam.com/
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Please enjoy my personal journey through homeownership at:
http://ajourneythroughhomeownership.wordpress.com
Thanks for reading – Sabrina
Factoring in Commuting Costs
Great article I thought I would share…. Though banks and underwriters may not consider this additional cost of community, The Caton Team does. When we sit down with new buyers we talk about where they work and the cost of living in X, Y or Z. We stopped using the lender approval as our price guideline for house hunting – instead we ask each buyer to determine their true monthly budget. What they are spending on gas, transportation, utilities, other debt and lifestyle. We then take the true picture of expenses to determine their comfort level on a mortgage payment and work backwards to find a house that fits that price and other elements. Enjoy the article….
Factoring in Commuting Costs
MORTGAGE lenders do not figure in a household’s likely commuting costs when weighing loan applications, but a recent study suggests that borrowers of moderate means would be smart to calculate these costs themselves before buying.
The study, published in October by the Center for Housing Policy and the Center for Neighborhood Technology, looked at transportation and housing costs in the 25 largest metropolitan areas. It found that transportation costs rose faster than incomes in every area over the last decade.
That has added to the financial burden shouldered by moderate-income homeowners, defined as households earning 50 to 100 percent of a metropolitan area’s median income. Transportation consumes 30 percent of their income, on average. Add housing costs to that and the combined cost burden rises to 72 percent.
“The impact is larger for moderate-income households,” said Jeffrey Lubell, the executive director of the Center for Housing Policy in Washington, “because everyone needs to get where they need to go and the fixed costs are the same for everyone. The lower you go down the income stream, the more transportation costs loom as a very big expense.”
The study also found that some metropolitan areas generally considered more affordable than New York become less so after transportation is figured in. For example in Houston, where housing development is more sprawling, transportation consumes 32 percent of income, compared with 22 percent in New York, which has a more robust transit system.
Mortgage underwriters sometimes look at a home’s location relative to where the buyer works, but in most cases a long distance between the two is an issue only if it suggests that the buyer isn’t actually going to live in the house, said W. Thomas Kelly, the president of Investors Home Mortgage, a subsidiary of Investors Bank in Millburn, N.J. Commuting costs vary too much to be figured into qualifying ratios, Mr. Kelly said, adding, “How do I say to a borrower, you don’t qualify because you live too far away from work?”
Scott Bernstein, the president of the Center for Neighborhood Technology in Chicago, argues that transportation costs are quantifiable enough that they ought to be factored into underwriting. And they were, during the first half of the last decade, in an experiment the center conducted jointly with Fannie Mae. Called a “Location-Efficient Mortgage,” the product was a contrasting proposition to the “drive till you qualify” strategy of finding an affordable home. The mortgage compensated borrowers applying to buy in areas with lots of transportation choices, and close to jobs and amenities.
“The bottom line for the borrower was that the location-efficient value would get taken into the underwriting ratio so that it would allow for more borrowing capacity for this income level,” Mr. Bernstein said.
Tested in a handful of markets before 2007, the mortgages were issued to about 2,000 borrowers and, based on the center’s evaluation of a representative sample, showed a very low default rate. But the experiment ended with the mortgage market collapse.
Or, as Mr. Bernstein put it, “The experiment was successful, and the patient died.”
Now the center is working with the Department of Housing and Urban Development on an online affordability calculator that will allow people to look by location at what their likely housing costs, with transportation, would be nationwide.
“Housing counselors can also use it to help coach people on how to pick locations, and it could help developers get a competitive advantage,” Mr. Bernstein said.
The national calculator could be ready by year’s end. Another calculator developed by the center, called Abogo (abogo.cnt.org), lets people plug in an address and find out what a typical household in that area spends on transportation.
By LISA PREVOST
I read this article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/realestate/mortgages-factoring-in-commuting-costs.html?ref=realestate
Got Questions? – The Caton Team is here to help.
Email Sabrina & Susan at: Info@TheCatonTeam.com
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Please enjoy my personal journey through homeownership at:
http://ajourneythroughhomeownership.wordpress.com
Thanks for reading – Sabrina
A Cinderella Story – Fredric and Heather
When it came time to sell their first home Fredric and Heather called the Realtor who helped them their first go around – Susan Caton. By then, Susan and I (Sabrina) had partnered up and became The Caton Team. It was an exciting meeting, sitting around the dinning room table planing for the sale of their home and discussing the hopes, dreams and reality of their next home.
In the competitive Bay Area real estate market a buyer needs to be ready to make a fantastic offer the moment a home pops on the market. If a buyer has to sell their current home – writing an offer contingent on the sale of a home is not as attractive to the seller as a non-contingent offer. Therefore, we agreed that the best course of action was to sell their current home to be prepared to pounce when their next home came on the market.
This can be a scary moment – where will the family live if we don’t find the next home. Nonetheless, the hunt for their next home began way before the for sale sign showed up in their front yard.
So Heather and Fredric did a fantastic job getting their home ready for sale. Before our first open house The Caton Team had wind of interested parties. Within a week their home was in contract. Oh my!
So the serious house hunting hits. We’re out day and night checking out everything on the market, new and old…and we start writing offers. Good offers, solid offers. But we keep getting out bid, sometimes by all cash, sometimes just larger down payments or out of the the ballpark offers. Regardless, the sweat starts beading. Now we’re talking short term rentals as the close of escrow on their current home slowly approaches….and we are very thankful for the 30-days of rent back we negotiated to give us a little more time. That was extremely helpful, but not enough. So, a short term rental was located. More offers. Out bid.
Suddenly there is buzz around a certain Silicon Valley IPO. The weeks leading up caused a mini boom on the peninsula. Offer dates, multiple offers, no contingencies, all cash – you name it – things were a bit nuts. Then the dust settled, and as a boom of new listings flooded the market a week old listing was suddenly overlooked. We wrote an offer. Out of the blue, another offer comes in. This house was awesome. We couldn’t let it get away. Proud to say our reputation preceded us and the Selling Agents knew we’d get the job done – when it came down the the nitty gritty, we helped our friends and clients prepare a terrific offer package and in the end their offer was accepted.
The phone call to your clients when you get to share the good news that they got the home of their dreams – well, it’s one of the best phone calls around.
Thank you Fredric and Heather for trusting The Caton Team with all your real estate needs. Here’s to many happy years in your new home.
Got Questions? – The Caton Team is here to help.
Email Sabrina & Susan at: Info@TheCatonTeam.com
Visit our Website at: http://thecatonteam.com/
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Please enjoy my personal journey through homeownership at:
Thanks for reading – Sabrina
Popcorn Ceilings – No Night At The Movies…
Please enjoy my candid journey through homeownership at http://ajourneythroughhomeownership.wordpress.com where I share my personal stories of being a young homeowner. My newest blog is about Pop Corn Ceilings… Enjoy!
Thanks for reading – Sabrina
Home Prices Rebound According to CNN Money – enjoy this shared article…
Home prices rebound
By Chris Isidore CNNMoney
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — In another sign of a turnaround in the long-battered real estate market, average home prices rebounded in July to the same level as they were nine years ago.
According to the closely watched S&P/Case-Shiller national home price index, which covers more than 80% of the housing market in the United States, the typical home price in July rose 1.6% compared to the previous month.
It marked the third straight month that prices in all 20 major markets followed by the index improved, and it would have been the fourth straight month of improvement across the full spectrum if not for a slight decline in Detroit in April.
The index was up 1.2% compared to a year earlier, an improvement from the year-over-year change reported for June. While home prices have been showing a sequential change in recent months, it wasn’t until June that prices were higher than a year earlier.
The July reading matched levels last seen in summer 2003, when the market was marching toward its peak in 2006. The collapse of the market after that led to the financial crisis of 2008.
“The news on home prices in this report confirm recent good news about housing,” said David Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “Single-family housing starts are well ahead of last year’s pace, existing home sales are up, the inventory of homes for sale is down and foreclosure activity is slowing.”
Record low mortgage rates and a tighter supply of homes available for sale have helped to lift home prices. Lower unemployment also has helped with home prices, although job growth in recent months has been slower than hoped.
Earlier this month, the Federal Reserve announced it would buy $40 billion in mortgage bonds a month for the foreseeable future. This third round of asset purchases by the central bank, popularly known as QE3, is its effort to jump start the economy through even lower home loan rates.
Related: Best home deals in Best Places
Mike Larson, real estate analyst with Weiss Research, said part of the improvement in the housing market is due to investors using the low mortgage rates to buy up homes that are in foreclosure and renting them in a strong rental market.
But he said that he doesn’t think there’s much chance of housing prices forming any kind of new bubble in the foreseeable future.
“Clearly the worst is behind us for this market., but this is not a market that is going to take off again,” he said. “While you have a firming up, you still have tight lending standards and people who have been burned are reluctant or unable to get back in the market.” He predicts it will take several more years before housing prices can gain more than 1% to 2% a year.
Related: Buy or rent? 10 major cities
But that is good news for a housing market that was plagued by plunging home values and high foreclosure rates for much of the last six years. And the good news has the potential to build on itself, said Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist for Deutsche Bank.
“Housing remains a rare bright spot in an economy that is otherwise muddling through,” he wrote in a note to clients Tuesday. “The price trend for housing is significant, because it provides economic stimulus via stronger household balance sheets.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that home prices had reached a 9-year high. In fact, they rebounded to the level last seen in summer 2003, before their peak several years later.
Curious about the local real estate market on the San Francisco Peninsula? Email me!
I read this article at: http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/25/real_estate/home-prices/index.html?source=linkedin
Got Questions? – The Caton Team is here to help.
Email Sabrina & Susan at: Info@TheCatonTeam.com
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Please enjoy my personal journey through homeownership at:
http://ajourneythroughhomeownership.wordpress.com
Thanks for reading – Sabrina
Susan Caton – of The Caton Team Realtors – Interviewed by the Daily Journal – Article by Sally Schilling
Please enjoy this article below, my partner and mother-in-law, Susan Caton was interviewed by Sally Schilling of the Daily Journal regarding the local San Francisco Peninsula Real Estate market.
First-Time Home Buyers Beat Out By Cash
By Sally Schilling – Daily Journal Correspondent 9.17.12 5am
Low interest rates and low housing prices have first-time buyers feeling optimistic about purchasing a good home. But people who have saved up enough money for a sizable down payment are finding they are still not in the most favorable position in the housing market.
Cash buyers are often beating out first-time home buyers who are taking out loans.
“They’re being beat out, but not necessarily priced out,” said Anne Oliva, president of the San Mateo County Association of Realtors. Sometimes, cash buyers get preference over buyers with home loans, even if their cash bid is lower, she said.
Traditional home buyers with a 20 percent down payment are struggling, said Oliva, who is currently working with a couple for whom she has put in nine different offers. Her clients have enough for a 20 percent down payment, but sellers are thinking it is better to go with the cash buyer for the sure deal.
The challenge may be even greater for first-time buyers of units in complexes, such as condominiums or apartments. Investors are buying up units with cash and turning them into rentals, said Oliva.
First-time buyers with a 3.5 percent down payment on a condo, for example, may get pre-approved for the loans and have their offer accepted. But they could lose final approval of the loan once the lender sees that the complex has a high number of rentals.
“Every lender looks at the renter-to-owner ratio,” said Oliva, who ran a program for first-time home buyers in San Bruno. “If the renter-to-owner ratio is high, they will not lend.”
While she understands that buying and renting condos is a good move for investors, Oliva worries about how this trend will affect the number of homeowners.
“We could have a huge problem with increasing homeownership if this keeps happening,” she said.
Abundance of cash
“There’s a lot of cash out there,” said Susan Caton, a Realtor based in Redwood City. “It’s amazing, even over $1 million there’s a lot of cash.”
Caton worked with a client who was outbid several times on homes priced at more than $900,000. “They kept getting beat out, and beat out,” she said.
One home priced at more than $1 million in San Francisco had 25 offers on it. A client offered with 60 percent to 70 percent down and had excellent credit. They were beat out by an all-cash offer that was less than asking price.
The all-cash offer closed in nine days, whereas the client’s offer which would have closed in 30 days.
“In San Mateo County, it’s the same thing,” she said. “With 40 or 50 percent down or better, you are still beat out by cash offers.”
Caton agreed that the low housing inventory is a big part of the problem, along with the conditions that come with first-time home buyers with loans.
“Fifty percent down is a darn good offer and a good loan,” she said. “But the sellers or agents are saying ‘take the cash, it’s a sure thing,’ especially with no financing or property conditions.”
Many home buyers do get discouraged.
“It’s a hard battle,” said Caton. “It takes a lot of patience, but they can’t give up.”
But she sees a silver lining in the dark cloud.
“In each instance when a buyer is beat out a number of times, when they finally get a house they are so happy they got the one they got,” she said.
Strings attached
There are many reasons for sellers to prefer all-cash offers from prospectors over a down payment from a home buyer with a loan. Many strings are attached to a deal with a first-time home buyer; the sale may take longer to close, an appraisal is needed and sometimes sellers are required to do repairs. And on the other hand, a cash offer may have no conditions.
“If you’re up against cash offers, it’s very difficult,” said Diane Viviani, a longtime real estate agent in San Mateo County.
The cash-buyer trend is especially apparent in the $500,000 to $700,000 range, where inventory is low, said Viviani.
Recently, a home on Oneill Drive in San Mateo had 30 offers on it, she said. The listing price was $525,000 and it sold for $675,000, after being on the market for just eight days.
“I’ll tell a buyer to make the best offer you can,” she said.
For those taking out Federal Housing Administration loans, the down payment only needs to be 3 percent, said Viviani. But with such a low down payment, the lender’s liability is higher and the buyer seems less attractive.
“It’s doable,” said Viviani of FHA loans. “But when something comes at or below market [price], they’re seeing them go [to cash buyers].”
Fading trend
Joe Rodden, a longtime real estate broker based in Redwood City, has seen this trend. A home on 18th Avenue was recently sold to a cash buyer, despite the offer being 5 percent less than the other offers from people taking out loans, said Rodden.
“[The seller] felt more comfortable taking cash because it was a sure thing,” he said.
When asked what happens to the houses after they are bought with cash, Rodden said this is up to the buyer. Cash buyers could potentially close a deal with cash and then take out a loan, but the contract would still say all cash.
The cash trend has become less common in the past couple of months because prices have bumped up, said Rodden.
“Now cash buyers don’t see the same bargain,” he said.
I read this article at:
http://smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=1754902&title=First-time
Sabrina’s 2 cents…
Reading this article, it is clear – the local San Francisco Bay Area Real Estate market is highly competitive – so really nothing has changed. We live in one of the greatest places on earth!
Though the focus of this article made it clear how tough it can be – The Caton Team has seen the light at the end of the tunnel. After our clients experience writing multiple offers and being out bid – we reevaluate the situation and get back into the market. I’m happy to say in the end, we find the right home for the right client. Each experience is different though… thus our ‘Cinderella Story’ blog entires. ENJOY!
A Cinderella Story… Lisa and All Those Offers…. at:
https://therealestatebeat.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/a-cinderella-story-lisa-and-all-those-offers/
A Cinderella Story… Jake and Sophia…. at:
https://therealestatebeat.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/a-cinderella-story-part-2-jake-sophia/
A Cinderella Story…Nisi and Rip… at:
https://therealestatebeat.wordpress.com/2011/08/15/a-cinderella-story-part-1/
Got Questions? – The Caton Team is here to help.
Email Sabrina & Susan at: Info@TheCatonTeam.com
Visit our Website at: http://thecatonteam.com/
Visit us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sabrina-Susan-The-Caton-Team-Realtors/294970377834
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Please enjoy my personal journey through homeownership at:
http://ajourneythroughhomeownership.wordpress.com
Thanks for reading – Sabrina
Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite
The National Pest Management Association’s Vice President of Public Affairs, Missy Henriksen, shares the following tips for avoiding these pests while traveling.
Check Your Room. If you don’t want to let the bedbugs bite, thoroughly inspect your room for signs of infestation. Henriksen advises placing your luggage in the bathroom when you first arrive in your hotel room, because there’s no place for bedbugs to hide in most bathrooms. Next, says Henriksen, “Pull back the sheets and inspect the mattress seams, particularly at the corners, for pepper-like stains or spots or even the bugs themselves. Adult bedbugs resemble a flat apple seed.” Also look behind the headboard, inside chair and couch cushions, behind picture frames, and around electrical outlets. If you see anything suspicious, notify management and change rooms (or better yet, establishments) immediately.
Request A Different Room. If you do have to change rooms, don’t move to a room adjacent to or directly above or below the site of the bedbug infestation. “Bedbugs can easily hitchhike via housekeeping carts and luggage or even through wall sockets,” notes Henriksen. “If an infestation is spreading, it typically does so in the rooms closest to the origin.”
Cover Your Bags. Even if you don’t see any signs of bedbugs, you should still take precautions. Never place luggage on a hotel bed or floor. Use luggage racks if available, and place your suitcase in a protective cover. Even a plastic trash bag will suffice.
Keep Everything Off the Floor. Despite the name, bedbugs lurk in many spots, not just where you sleep. Always be vigilant when you travel. Avoid putting your personal belongings on the floor of an airplane, bus, train, or taxi. Keep your small bag or purse on your lap at all times, and seal your bigger bags inside plastic or protective covers before checking or storing them in overhead bins.
Treat Your Luggage and Clothes After Travel. “The best way to prevent bedbugs is to remain vigilant both during travel and once you return home,” says Henriksen. The National Pest Management Association offers the following checklist to make sure you leave the bedbugs behind:
• Inspect your suitcases before bringing them into the house, and vacuum all luggage before storing it.
• Consider using a handheld garment steamer to steam your luggage; this can kill any bedbugs or eggs that might have hitched a ride home.
• Immediately wash and dry all of your clothes—even those that have not been worn—in hot temperatures to ensure that any stowaway bedbugs are not transported into your drawers or closet.
• Keep clothes that must be dry-cleaned in a plastic bag and take them to the dry cleaner as soon as possible.
• If you suspect a bedbug infestation in your home, contact a licensed pest professional promptly. Bedbugs are not a DIY pest, and the longer you wait, the larger the infestation will grow. A trained professional has the tools and knowledge to effectively treat your infestation.
I read this article here: http://travel.yahoo.com/ideas/five-ways-to-stop-bedbugs-before-they-bite.html
Got Questions? – The Caton Team is here to help. Email Sabrina & Susan at: Info@TheCatonTeam.com
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Thanks for reading – Sabrina
The Real Estate Beat 