February 2026 - Newsletter
- Stacy Fernandez
- 4 days ago
- 14 min read
Happy February!
This post may contain affiliate links. If you click the link, I may earn a small commissionāat no extra cost to you.
šø Lincoln NE Area Market Snapshot
The weather warmed up and we saw quite a few new houses pop onto the market. That or we are getting the New Year New Homeowner vibes! Things are sitting a little longer but we have personally experienced a pick up as well. If your house is well maintained and generally updated (emphasis on kitchen and bathrooms) you could very easily be in a multiple offer situation. We have had a few buyers lose out on some competitive homes. The multiple offer is still present but you need to make sure you are priced competitively, show well and make the home easily accessible.
If you are curious what your house could bring, let me know we can run some comps - also check out the money tip this month another reason to reach out for comps!
š« Realtor Matchmaking
You know what I love most about my past clients?!
They trust me to help them with real estate no matter where they are looking!
So I have the sweetest past clients that are looking for a little change in their lives. The thing is they don't know for sure where that is going to land them. They are exploring a few different areas including different states.
The difficulty they are running into is they don't have an agent in these states!
The good news is they understand that I am happy to help them find a reputable agent WHEREVER they are looking. So they have reached out to me a few times now and I have gotten them connected with a solid agent in the area they are looking!
They are actually some of my most loyal past clients and i'm sad they will likely be moving a ways away but i'm so happy for them and excited to see where they end up.
Did you know I can help you, your friends, your family, your acquaintances, the stranger you met at the gas station, all do the same thing?!
I love connecting people with reputable, reliable agents no matter where they are looking! I'm also here to be a sounding board if they need another opinion/cheerleader/buffer/advisor.
As always if you or anyone you know is needing some real estate resources you can always reach out or fill out this link here:
Click to be Matched or Refer Someone Else!
The weekly lives are also still going to help first time home buyers! The topics aren't always exclusive to first time home buyers so be sure to check us out on socials and tune in if it vibes with you: Facebook PageĀ and Instagram.
š A Note from Your Favorite Realtor
Well we have some big news that you probably have already heard - if not we had a baby!!! The gender was a surprise to us but we were blessed with a beautiful baby...
GIRL!
Pleased to introduce Evany Mabel Fernandez!
She came into the world on February 4th, at 10:17am. She weighed 7lbs 4.7oz and was born en caul (in her amniotic sac) which is thought to be lucky and only happens 1 in 80,000 births!
We are so grateful that our little family has grown and we have really enjoyed the time spent with each other. Ezrael is the best big brother and loves his sissy very much. He loves to give her besos (kisses) and hold her hand. It has definitely been an adjustment sharing Mommy and Daddy but overall everything has gone quite well. Gizmo is probably the most affected as he feels terribly neglected as all of the attention is on the kids. Don't let him fool you he loves all the visitors and still gets played with plenty. He especially loves our bedtime walks to put the kiddos to sleep.
After Evany was born all of the sickness Ezrael was bringing home from school caught up with me. I had a strong cough, lots of congestion and body aches. It was a bit miserable but thankfully my husband is amazing and my mom was able to come down to baby me, while I babied the new baby. Thank goodness Evany did not pick up anything I had, and the bonus was we had a few good days of cuddling, naps and recovering.
Other than that February has been a pretty relaxed month. Knowing February was likely to be baby month we didn't commit to a whole lot so that worked out for us. One thing that has picked up quite a bit is business. In real estate you never really know when you are going to be busy and maternity leave isn't really a thing. It was kind of nice because we had a property on the market just before her arrival and we got an offer and got it all negotiated before the baby came - it's like she already knows the business and was gracious and waited until everything was tied down.
We have also had some lucky buyers that got to meet our sweet Evany because she is and will continue to be my additional accessory! So if you are thinking of buying (or selling) and want to get your baby fix in - give me a call; Evany will likely be joining. If Evany isn't joining us then you will most likely get this handsome fellow showing you a house š
Sorry ladies he is already taken!
We ended February in Kansas celebrating the life of my Great Aunt Jeanne. It was a nice memorial and a great time to reconnect with family we don't see often! My Great Aunt was a lovely lady and I will always remember her for her kindness, easy to talk to attitude and genuine care for people. I will attribute a lot of my love of travel to her. The summer going into Highschool she was going on her last school trip to Italy. She was a latin teacher in Kansas and went to Italy with students often. Since this was her last trip she reached out to my family and asked if anyone wanted to go. Luckily my Mom was willing and so we went! It was my first time across the pond and really opened my eyes to traveling, experiencing new cultures, food and history. It was an awesome trip and all possible because she extended an invitation!
I still think back to the night before leaving we stayed at my Aunt Jeanne's house because we were flying out of KC. I decided I needed to get in touch with the language so I was cramming reading the books on her shelf. The problem was she was a LATIN teacher and they speak ITALIAN... That was my first lesson is preparation for travel abroad. Do a little more research and prepare accordingly. I honestly think I was so excited that it just completely bypassed my common sense but I quickly learned latin was a dead language. She probably got a kick out of it in the morning when I was trying to speak latin saying I was ready for Italy! It still did help a little since Italian is a latin based language but not quite the same. I will always remember Great Aunt Jeanne fondly and appreciate the love of travel she helped instill in me.
While in Kansas my Dad's cousin Donna passed along a neat family heirloom as well. It was my Grandma's Dad's Mom's (aka my great-great grandma's) pocket watch. I am honored to be able to keep it and pass it on. It's super neat with her name engraved on one side of the interior locket and a sweet looking clock face under the other locket. I have some research to do on it to see if I can find the maker, so if you are a watch connoisseur let me know and we can figure it out together!
Also hope you enjoy some never shared photos of the kiddos and our life the past month!
Well March we don't have a ton planned so we will see what the month brings. I have a lot of pregnant friends that will be due in March/April so i'm excited for Evany to get some more friends her age. Will for sure need to do a playdate with all the babies!!! Other than that hoping to focus on the business coming our way and generating some more. Also looking forward to planning our camping season and organizing the calendar for all the fun things this year. Wishing you a happy March!
š° Money Tip
Eliminate PMI
Did you buy your house with less than 20% down? If so you are probably paying Private Mortgage Insurance.
It might be time to see if you can get that dropped off your payment!
Who doesn't want to save a few bucks each month, especially if your house has some solid built in equity.
What is PMI - Private Mortgage Insurance
PMI is insurance that protects the lender, not you.
If a buyer puts down less than 20%, the lender views the loan as higher risk. PMI reduces their risk in case the borrower defaults.
It does not:
Protect your home
Replace homeowners insurance
Build equity
Go toward your loan balance
It is strictly risk protection for the bank.
What Does the PMI Payment Go Toward?
Your monthly PMI payment goes to a private mortgage insurance company. If a borrower stops paying and the home goes into foreclosure, the insurance company reimburses the lender for part of the loss.
Thatās it.
Itās not a savings account.
Itās not a fee you get back.
Itās a risk premium.
How Do You Get PMI Removed?
On a conventional loan, PMI can usually be removed in one of three ways:
1ļøā£ Automatic Removal at 78% Loan-to-Value
Once your loan balance reaches 78% of the original purchase price (meaning you have 22% equity), the lender must automatically remove PMI.
2ļøā£ Request Removal at 80% Loan-to-Value
When you reach 20% equity, you can request PMI removal.
You may need:
A good payment history
No late payments
Possibly an appraisal
This often happens sooner if your home appreciates.
3ļøā£ Refinance
If your home value increases significantly, refinancing could eliminate PMI if you now have 20%+ equity.
Our Personal Story
Recently I was at a real estate meeting with the lender we used to finance our house.
Shout out to Ron Svoboda with CharterWest Bank!
It got brought up about dropping your PMI and how it can save you money each month. It got me thinking... I know our house has increased in value and our neighbors house (very similar to ours) had just sold for $385,000.
I did some quick calculating at the meeting which was the following:
Purchase price: $325,000
5% Downpayment
Original Loan Amount: $308,750
Roughly how much I thought we still owed: $300,000
Neighbors house sale price: $385,000 (more outdated but had a walkout)
Quick Estimated Value for our house: $375,000
$375,000 x .80 = $300,000
That meant we were probably right on the cusp of having 20% equity
AKA
We were dang close to being able to drop our PMI payment!
The next step was to reach out to our loan servicer. I just got on the chat through their website and asked what we needed to do. It did require an "appraisal" aka broker price opinion (it's just a realtor doing a more in depth Certified Market Analysis or CMA very similar to an appraisal but typically cheaper). It cost us $150 and we just had to schedule a time for the Realtor to come check out the house and take a few photos.
Considering we were on the cusp I was a little worried we would get a bad BPO but I had pulled comps and was pretty confident the $375,000 was very conservative. Also when I checked out statements we actually only owed $290,000ish so our ratios were looking even better. The servicer also had an estimated value online that put it at $390,000 so I was going to use that as leverage if needed. If the value didn't show we had 20% equity we would have been out the $150 and would have to do this process again later (with an additional $150 fee).
Luckily our house was valued at $397,000 so once that info came back they gave us a notice that our PMI was dropped and to our surprise they automatically removed it from the bill, adjusted our auto pay and now we no longer pay PMI!
I was hoping for a few hundred dollars in savings but it was only $66.90 a month. I guess that is a perk of having good credit is our PMI was pretty low compared to others i've seen.
None the less that's another $66.90 we don't have to spend meaninglessly. With a $150 investment our break even on that will be in less than 3 months i'd say it's worth it since we don't have any plans to sell.
For the PMI to automatically have dropped off we would have had to pay the loan down to $260,000 which would be quite a few years (I didn't look on the amortization schedule to see for sure but it would be awhile - definitely more than 3 months).
The thing I find really funny is that since we have done this and had the PMI drop off we have been getting bombarded by PennyMac (our loan servicer) saying we have equity on our home that we can tap into. In my mind i'm like yes thank you we know, I don't want more expenses I want my PMI dropped! This was before I checked the statements to see if they dropped the PMI. I really thought we were going to have to heckle them to get them to officially drop it off. Luckily nope, it was super easy and had already been adjusted on our statements/autopay!
Do you have any mortgage or insurance savings tips?
šļø Home Tip
Hereās something most homeowners never think about until they absolutely have to:
If your home experienced a fire, storm, or major loss tomorrow ā could you list everything you own?
Most people canāt.
And unfortunately, insurance companies donāt just hand you a check and say, āReplace everything.ā You typically need to document what was lost.
Thatās where a home inventory logĀ becomes incredibly valuable.
š What Is a Home Inventory Log?
A home inventory is simply a record of your belongings ā what you own, roughly what itās worth, and proof that it existed.
It doesnāt need to be complicated or perfect.
Even a basic list can:
Speed up insurance claims
Reduce stress during an already overwhelming situation
Help you receive proper reimbursement instead of rough estimates
Prevent forgotten items (which happens more than you think)
š” Why This Matters (More Than You Think)
After a loss, people remember big items:
ā Couch
ā TV
ā Bed
But forget hundreds of smaller things:
Kitchen gadgets
Clothing and shoes
Tools
Decor
Kidsā toys
Holiday decorations
Garage items
Individually they seem small ā together they can add up to tens of thousands of dollars.
Without documentation, insurance may default to minimal replacement estimates.
ā The Easy Way to Create One (No Spreadsheet Required)
You can do this in about 30 minutes:
Step 1: Walk Through Your Home With Your Phone
Record video room by room
Open closets and drawers
Narrate what you see (āSamsung TV, sectional couch, Ninja blenderā¦ā)
Step 2: Take Photos of High-Value Items
Electronics
Jewelry
Appliances
Furniture
Tools
Step 3: Save Receipts When Possible
Digital copies work great.
Step 4: Store It Somewhere Safe
Cloud storage (Google Drive/iCloud)
Email it to yourself
Secure online folder
Important: Donāt store the only copy on a device kept inside the house.
š° Bonus Money Tip
Updating your inventory once per year can also help you:
Confirm you have enough insurance coverage
Avoid being underinsured
Identify items that may need special riders (jewelry, collectibles, equipment)
Think of it as protecting everything youāve worked hard to build.
If you have experienced a disaster what do you wish you had planned for?
šĀ Book Recommendation
I've been doing a lot of reading lately and it all seems to be making me cry. Probably because a lot of what i've read recently touches on death and what comes after. This isn't a specific book recommendation but a review of the books around this topic.
I was gifted this book from one of our lovely neighbors. It was a good read and was an account of a Near Death Experience from a Neurosurgeon. I thought the perspective was pretty neat considering he came from the science side of the equation and not so much the spiritual. His account of what happened was also very interesting and thought provoking.
I'm not sure where I came across this. I probably heard it in a podcast and thought it sounded interesting. All I know is it was on my Goodreads "Want to Read" list and was available at the library so I read it. It was a very interesting book because the original author never finished the book because he passed away before he could finish it. I knew this going into it so I knew it was probably going to be a tear jerker. It was a perspective on living knowing you are going to die. Which I mean we all are going to die but most of us don't have a timeline as to when. He was also in the medical field so it presented a new perspective from doctor diagnosing disease to person receiving the news.
tuesday's with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Now this is a book we were all supposed to read in school i'm pretty sure. However I must have missed all those classes because I truly don't think i've read many of the required reading classics from school. This one really got me crying! I was reading it before bed and Eliezer looked over at me and was like, "Are you okay?!". I think Morrie reminded me of a past client that had ALS and it helped me understand more of what he went through. It also reminded me to be grateful for all the little things and Morrie reminded me of all the teachers/mentors that truly cared.
Lastly on this same theme:
This one had been sitting on our shelf of unread books. I think I picked it up really cheap on a garage sale once and only bought it because I knew it was a popular book. I read it last year and was really the one to kick off this theme of existence and life after death. This was a completely different perspective as it came from a young child. We all know children have wild imaginations but some of it was pretty compelling.
Sorry I know my book reviews are totally lacking. I'm convinced my memory isn't that great especially when it comes to details but I remember how they made me feel and all of these books made gave me some sense of peace and understanding. In addition they encouraged me not to take the small things for granted. If you are needing that little reminder I would highly encourage reading one of these. Life is short and on the long days it can be easy to forget that. These books can be a little reminder to step back and appreciate the small moments that really are meaningful to a fulfilled life.
Also side note if you are on Goodreads let me know and i'll add you as a friend! Love seeing what people are reading and adding to my ever growing "Want to Read" list!
Any books you highly recommend that you would like to share?
šø 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!
šÆ Goal Tracking
Accountability 101 - Goal tracking update.
Still haven't officially updated our goals so I think we will be sticking with 30 transactions and hope we can achieve it this year!
We had another closing and we weren't expecting to have it this month as we had to put it back on the market. It was a crappy situation and no fault of the sellers, sadly the buyer's daughter was in a life or death situation and they didn't know if moving to Nebraska made sense anymore, thus they backed out of the contract.
Luckily we were able to secure another offer and closed in 1 week and on our original closing date!!! Our sellers got to move onto their new home and close out their bridge loan - woohoo to saving money on not having to extend the use of that type of financing.
Cheers to another successful real estate story and hope to make many more of them this year! If you or someone you know is doing anything real estate related please reach out - we would love to help š
š„ Cheers
Hope your February was filled with love and looking forward to the Luck of March š
-The Fernandez Family
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