April 2025 - Newsletter
- Stacy Fernandez
- 1 hour ago
- 10 min read
Hello friends,
This month we are going to be covering the following:
This post contains affiliate links. If you click the link, I may earn a small commission—at no extra cost to you.
📸 Lincoln NE Area Market Snapshot
👫 Realtor Matchmaking
At the end of March I hosted my very first Virtual Home Buyers workshop! Honestly it was pretty nerve racking because I just don't want to let people down. They trusted me to help educate them on a topic that most people don't know where to start, so it was a great honor to be able to do so.
In my mind it was successful but there are definitely a few kinks to work out. The biggest one being using a mic... My computer fan was non-stop and quite loud. My assistant aka Eliezer was texting me to speak louder (see texts 😂). I felt like I was yelling loud enough the whole neighborhood could hear the presentation.
Why I mention this under Realtor Matchmaking is because the majority of the people that wanted to attend weren't actually from my area of work. A lot of Omaha people and two out of staters! That is so exciting!
I'm hoping I can continue these type of teaching opportunities and help people all over!
Here is my ask of you:
If you or someone you know (yes even out of state) is considering buying or selling I'd love to invite them to my private group to help get them educated and prepared.
Once they feel ready I'm happy to get them connected with a Realtor in their market - aka Matchmade.
Don't forget it doesn't cost to be matched. We are compensated by the Realtor they are matched with in the form of a referral. Our service and education costs NOTHING!
Ready to be Match Made? Know someone else who needs a Realtor?
📝 A Note from Your Favorite Realtor
Thank you for joining me again this month!
April is a funny month to me. I get excited for the change of weather (especially the thunderstorms), time with family, and the flowers that start to grow and bloom. On the business side of things we tend to see the market pick up a bit and really start talking to people about wanting to buy/sell. There is something about the fresh air that makes people really get grooving.
However it is a funny month because it can also be a bit gloomy. There seem to be many plans to be made and things to check off your bucket list but it just doesn't seem like quite the right time. Then summer hits and its all hand on deck and it sure seems to go faster and faster each year.
I need to remember that the busy season in life (and business) is nearing and that it is okay to enjoy the calm before the storm. Part of my slump I think is that my assistant, Ezrael, is getting quite the personality, teething and a busy body. I'm figuring out it is getting much harder to do my tasks in a timely, efficient and motivated manner. He is a lot to chase after - i'm getting exhausted and I don't feel like i've even done much.
The good news is he will be starting Montessori Summer School and is enrolled for the Fall! I know I will be heartbroken when he is more excited to go to school than to hang with me, but i'm also excited to have some focused time back. Plus I can't wait for him to learn more practical skills like cleaning and learning to entertain himself.
As I mentioned bucket lists and getting things on them done I would like to go into a little bit more detail about my personal bucket list. Every year I do vision boards which is my version of a bucket list.
I like to do them quarterly so that way they don't seem so overwhelming and actually approachable. Also so I can keep them through the years I put them in 12x12 frames like these. That way I can take them out each year and put them in a scrapbook.
Have I got everything done, absolutely NOT. That is okay though, I don't think I have ever completely checked off everything on my annual vision boards, EVER! I do feel good about the progress we have made though!
Speaking of some of the progress we finally did get a new basketball hoop! It has been a hit among the neighborhood kids and of course our Ball Loving Boy - Ezrael. It doesn't go quite low enough but that's okay Daddy likes the workout anyway!
Also on the bucket list are home renovations. We are hoping to unveil some of our home renovations that are in process, so stay tuned next month!!! I'm planning to check off a lot of things on the vision board bucket list by next month!
Enjoy some photos of our life lately including bucket list items BINGO & Home Renovation, Easter activities, Skate Night and just other random things we have been up to.
Well we hope you all had a beautiful Easter with family or friends. We celebrated with Eliezer's family at our house. Eliezer wanted to do a more traditional Easter (Pass Over) style dinner. He did lots of research and prepped a delicious and beautiful meal which included Lamb, Fava Beans, Rice (courtesy of my brother-in-law Oz), Date/Raisin Puree, mini sourdough loaves, red wine (courtesy of my other brother-in-law Roy) and pomegranate. It was quite delicious and I think we will be making this a tradition, wish we had more photos but here is a glimpse.
Wishing that your April Showers bring beautiful May Flowers and look forward to what the end Spring and beginning of Summer bring you all!
👶🏼 Ezrael Exclusive
Ezrael wanted to share his favorite snacks with everyone!
He is a big time snacker and sometimes in order to keep the peace we just have to give him something to munch on. I guess we aren't much different 🤣
So pretty much every snack we give him we buy in bulk at Costco (need to become an affiliate for them it sounds like...). These are just some really quick and easy options that he loves. We love that they are healthy whole foods without dyes and preservatives!
What are your kiddos favorite healthy snacks? We are always looking for good options!
🔦 Client Spotlight
Support Small Business with Handmade Crochet
In this section i'm going to highlight a lovely past client of mine and introduce you to her small business! I hope you think of her when you are needing a special and unique gift for someone.
Please meet Adriana Molina!
She is a very talented crocheter! Her and her husband recently closed on their family home here in Lincoln. They were very sweet and gave Eliezer and I a gift after closing. That was when I discovered how talented she really was!
When we were house shopping, a room for her crochet stuff had come up a few times, that and a laundry shoot 🧦 I knew she had an interest in crochet but I did not realize she had a small business selling her creations.
I mean look at these adorable little stuffed animals! She can even make a Gizmo!!!
If you are needing a special gift that supports local business I encourage you to reach out to Adriana!
I would love to continue to support my clients! If you have a small business you would like featured please reach out so I can showcase you and your lovely talents!
💰 Money Saving Tip
When you are shopping for anything but especially big ticket items be sure to price match!
For example when we bought the basketball hoop at Scheels we did a quick internet search and found that online at Scheels it was listed for $20 cheaper and the attachment kit was another $20 cheaper at Walmart!
Luckily having worked at Scheels back in the day I knew they price matched. So we asked the sales associate and they made sure we got the better prices!
It may not seem like a lot but $40 is $40! I could buy a whole extra fruit salad for Ezrael with that kind of money, i'm talking with raspberries, blueberries, melons and mango!
Really though price matching can save you a lot of money throughout the year. It is really simple to just google the item you are considering buying and see if it is online somewhere else cheaper! You can even do a google image search to make it even easier.
Here is a good blog about who price matches and some of their limitations:
If all else fails it doesn't hurt to ask if they price match!
Just be aware stores can be sneaky. I've heard you need to check Target's app to see prices and compare them to in-store. If they don't match be sure to price-match it so you get the lower price! I'm not totally sure of their complete policy but worth checking out before forking out extra cash you don't need to spend!
If you are looking for a new basketball hoop here are the links to the stuff we bought:
Do you have any specific money saving tips you would like to share! Reach out please.
🏡 Home Tip
Home Owners Insurance is doing some crazy stuff right now... Not in a good way either...
Nebraska ranks very high up there in the cost to insure your home. Probably because we do tend to file a lot of claims for wind & hail damage.
We need to be on the lookout for our cost of insurance but also we need to be aware of Actual Cost Value replacement addendums/exclusions/etc we are seeing pop up in more and more of our homeowner policies.
In fact our personal home just switched to ACV (Actual Cost Value). Which is a big red flag in my book!
Here is what happened for us:
We received our updated policy packet.
I actually read it! (Wow actually doing responsible homeowner things not just preaching them 😰)
Found out they switched our roof coverage to ACV.
Researched exactly what that means.
Discovered if we have to replace our roof due to hail it just got a heck of a lot more expensive!
We are shopping for new insurance...
I'm going to do a quick example of what an ACV replacement could look like. That way we can all get a better feel for what that actually means. We are going to try to keep the numbers simple.
Original Roof Cost: $10,000
Roof Replacement Cost: $15,000
Deductible: $1,000
Age of Roof: 10 years (20 year expected life)
Actual Cost Value (money from insurance): $4,000 ($5,000 remaining life value - $1,000 Deductible)
Out of Pocket Cost: $11,000 to replace
The other type of insurance which is what we started with before we got kicked into Actual Cost Value is known as Replacement Cost. Let's run the replacement cost version.
Original Roof Cost: $10,000
Roof Replacement Cost: $15,000
Deductible: $1,000
Age of Roof: 10 years (20 year expected life)
Replacement Cost (money from insurance): $14,000 ($15,000 cost - $1,000 deductible)
Out of Pocket Cost: $1,000 to replace
Quite a large difference if you ask me! During my research I've learned that insurance companies will often switch you to Actual Cost Value after about 7 years of roof age. So you need to be on the look out for this.
I don't want to make all insurance companies sound evil or bad as they are businesses too and they are there to make money while also offering a service. However I think it is very important to be aware this is happening and to protect your assets and pocketbook.
The benefit of an Actual Cash Value policy vs a Replacement Cost policy is that they are supposed to be cheaper. It then becomes a math problem to see if the money you are saving can be invested to make up the difference in the event you need to replace the roof. If you can make more than that is great, just make sure you have accessible cash to cover the difference in the mean time.
I'll keep you updated on what we find for alternative insurance. We are going to be quoting out an umbrella policy to cover all of our properties/business as well as exploring other companies that offer the full replacement coverage. Will probably have to do some calculations to determine when it makes financial sense to do ACV vs Replacement as well! Let's be honest this probably won't get done in a month but I'll keep you posted once it finally gets done!
Have insurance you love? I'd love to know about it too!
💸 Free Resources
All of these Free Resources can also be found on our Realtor Matchmaking Site:
You can also find Lincoln Nebraska Local Resources here:
Wanting something else specific? Let me know, i'd love to offer more value!
🎯 Goal Tracking
Accountability 101 - Goal tracking update.
Well we are finally on the board ladies and gentlemen! It took a little longer than I had hoped but we are grateful for any and all business.
Our first transaction was a bit of a doozy, a lovely little short-sale and man the bank is a pain in the butt to work with.
The second was some lovely first-time home buyers that I had worked with a bit last year that had decided to wait until this year. They closed on a beautiful home and are excited to host cookouts and grow food in their garden!
🥂 Cheers
Thanks for tuning in again!
-The Fernandez Family
Great post and 🔥🔥 tips!