The holiday season is a time for thankfulness, togetherness, joy, and cheer. It's also the time of year when consumers need to be most vigilant of fraud, scams, and cyber-attacks! Stay on guard this holiday season so one of these common scams doesn't ruin your holiday plans.

This Season's Hot New Scams

Scammers are always looking for new ways to defraud people of their money and personal information. Whether it's modern technology or increased awareness of older scams, swindlers' methods are constantly evolving and adapting. Here are just a few of the newer scams we've seen in recent years:

Social Media Scams. As you scroll through the endless feed of content on your social media platform of choice, you'll come across hundreds of links that will take you off the platform to other websites. You need to be careful when clicking an external link on social media: it could be directing you to a scam website or even worse sending you to a site that will download malware onto your computer.

Before you click a link to an interesting news article or a remarkable offer on some product you were considering purchasing, take the time to instead search for that news story on a reputable news website or find that product on a trusted retailer's webpage.

Look-Alike Websites. Scammers are getting better at spoofing existing websites with the intent of capturing your account information or downloading malware onto your computer. Always double-check the URL of any website you visit. Scammers can create sites with URLs that look remarkably similar to those of legitimate sites. Make sure you're on Amazon.com, not Arnazon.com!

Fake Travel Booking Sites. Nothing ruins a holiday vacation like reserving your trip on a fake booking site. Scammers take advantage of common phrases and keywords to have their fake booking sites appear in search results for consumers looking for deals on popular travel destinations or through pop-up ads on vacation and travel blogs. When providing personal and financial information via the internet, always make sure you're on a legitimate business' website.

Compromised Account Alerts. You receive a surprise message on your phone claiming that your account has been compromised and instructing you to click a link to resolve the issue. You’ll feel the urge to click the link as soon as possible in case your information may be at risk—and that's when they get you! Scammers often use panic to stop you from thinking rationally in the moment, long enough to get you to surrender account information.

Financial institutions (New Tripoli Bank included) will never ask you to provide account information over the phone or via a link in a text message. When in doubt, you can contact whatever business the text message is claiming to represent in order to see if the alert is legitimate.

New Wrapping Paper, Same Old Scams

Not all scammers are reinventing the wheel this holiday season. In addition to the aforementioned schemes, many con artists fall back on classic scams updated with a new coat of paint, taking advantage of advances in communications technology to further obfuscate their true intentions from unsuspecting victims. Here's a refresher on some of the most common scams you'll encounter:

Gift Card Scams. Who doesn't love gift cards? I'll tell you who—government agencies, legitimate businesses, and financial institutions. If you receive a message from someone claiming to be from the government or some business to whom you owe money and they start asking for gift cards, this is an immediate red flag! Once your money has been put onto a gift card, it's impossible to recover in the event of a scam. That's why scammers love asking for payment in the form of gift cards.

Charity Scams. 'tis the season of giving, but unscrupulous scammers see the opportunity to take advantage of others' kindness in order to trick them out of their money. One common scam is being contacted by a fake charity thanking you for a donation you never made and then rushing you into providing payment. These fake charity scammers also rarely mention how they plan to use your donations to help those in need—since your money will never make it to them!

Always research any charity you intend to donate to, and never send donations in the form of gift cards, wire transfers, or cryptocurrency; all of these methods are hard to trace and impossible to recover your money from.

Package Delivery Scams. While these scams happen throughout the year, they are especially pernicious during the holidays when it is more likely consumers are on the lookout for updates on their package shipments. You'll receive a call or text from someone posing as the US Postal Service or other delivery service that will include a fake tracking link. The link will take you to a site requesting personal information, or it will download malware onto your device.

Fake Gift Exchanges. A variant of the old "pay in advance" scam, this scam asks you to join an online gift exchange, where you buy a $10 gift for a stranger with the promise of receiving many gifts from other participants in the future. Some of these function as pyramid schemes, asking you to contact additional participants in order to keep the grift going. Just use common sense when someone you don't know is asking you for money and respectfully decline.

Emergency Scams. One of the most common methods scammers use to get you to fall for their swindle is to create a sense of urgency or panic in order to keep you from taking the time to think about what they're asking you to do. One of the best ways to create this sense of urgency is to pretend to be a friend or family member in an emergency, such as a car accident or police arrest. These scammers will ask you to send them money in order to resolve their fake emergency, then disappear with your money. Oftentimes, these scammers will browse your social media in order to learn enough about your personal life in order to pretend to be a friend or family member.

Before you send any money, you should verify the person's story with another friend or family member. Ask questions of the caller that would be difficult for an impostor to answer correctly. Also, if they ask you to send them gift cards or wire money—that is an immediate red flag that this is a scam!

Puppy Scams. Pets can make great gifts but come with a lot of caveats. Fake pet sellers are a common issue for online marketplaces such as Facebook marketplace, where scammers post stock photos of animals looking for people who want to buy a pet, take their payment, and never deliver a furry friend. If you're thinking of gifting someone a pet for the holidays, you can take steps to make your transaction safer, such as asking questions of the seller, requesting to meet them in person, and requiring documentation.

What You Can Do

• If you feel that someone is trying to scam you, don't respond! Delete the email, hang up the phone, or trash the text message and block the email address or phone number that sent it.
• If you provide a scammer with personal or financial information before you realize you're being scammed (account numbers, date of birth, online banking username, passwords, etc.), contact your financial institution or other affected businesses immediately.
• Update your login credentials for any affected accounts as soon as possible. Enable multi-factor authentication on any site that offers it.

Another year is almost over, and we are less than two months away from Christmas! With the holiday season fast approaching, many of us are already getting a head start on our present shopping. You may find yourself stumped as to what gifts you can give that are meaningful without taking a sizeable chunk out of your bank account. I'd like to share some helpful hints that will make your gift-giving this holiday season pleasurable and affordable.

Budgeting for Gifts

The first step in planning your gift giving is deciding who your recipients will be. Start by compiling a list of every person you intend to buy gifts for, including children, spouses, siblings, parents, friends, neighbors, and coworkers. The earlier you put together this list of gift recipients, the more time you have to brainstorm gift ideas for each one.

Next, you want to set a budget. Determine how much you're willing to spend, then place a dollar amount next to each name on your gift list and calculate the total. Adjust the dollar amounts up or down depending on whether you're over or under your intended budget. This gives you a clear idea of how much you can spend on each person on your list.

Now it's time to decide on what to give.

Brainstorming Gift Ideas

Don't be afraid to ask your giftees what they would want (or need) for a present. As much as it's nice to surprise your friends and family with an unexpected gift, you don't always know what they actually want. By asking, you are insuring you gift them something they will enjoy or actually use.

Get creative! You can make any gift thoughtful with a bit of effort. Even for less expensive items, such as a bottle of wine or a box of your spouse’s favorite chocolates, you can make your gift that much more special with minimal work by adding a bit of decoration like a cute ribbon or gift tag.

Think about the practicality of your gift: is this something the recipient will use? For example, if your mom loves to spend her free time in the kitchen baking, you could create a personalized "baking basket" filled with baking supplies such as a mixing bowl, cookie mixes, measuring cups, and anything else you think a hobbyist baker might use. To help stay within your budget, you can purchase most of these supplies at a dollar store or wait for your local shops to put these items on sale.

Make sure you take advantage of sales and coupons. A lot of stores now offer digital coupons through apps, which is a great way to help you save when holiday gift shopping.

Create a Coupon Book

A great free option is to give a coupon for an act of service. The gift of free time can be more meaningful than anything money could buy.

Maybe you have a son and daughter-in-law with young kids who haven't had a night out in several months; you could give them a coupon for a free night of babysitting. Perhaps your grandfather doesn't like shoveling snow; gift him a coupon for snow removal. Are you a great cook? Offer a friend or family member a coupon for a homecooked meal.

There are plenty of examples of these kind of "gift coupon books" online to help inspire you, and you can customize them to the needs of the gift recipient. This gift is great because it shows thoughtfulness about the gift recipient while also not costing you any money, instead you're giving the gift of your own time. Plus, you can get as creative as you want DIYing the coupons and putting together a fun, festive coupon book.

No matter what gift idea you come up with, remember it's the thought that counts. You don't need expensive or extravagant gifts to let someone know you care.

Beth-Ann May is an Assistant Branch Manager at New Tripoli Bank and has been working for the Bank for over seven years. Outside of the office, she enjoys spending time with her husband and young daughter.

This past Saturday, New Tripoli Bank employees headed to the Lehigh Valley Zoo for our annual company picnic! We didn't let the weather bother us as employees and their families came out to see the animals. Zoo staff brought out a turtle, penguin, and armadillo for a close-up animal encounter that the kids loved, and we raffled off gift baskets for our employees while everyone enjoyed a catered dinner. It was a fun-filled evening that let everyone unwind and enjoy one another's company outside of the office.

Mental health and financial wellness are two topics that may seem separate but are actually closely related to one another. The concept of financial wellness encompasses your ability to manage your finances. Strong financial wellness is achieved through developing sound money habits, budgeting, and understanding your financial situation. Studies have shown that when a person fails to achieve a strong state of financial wellness, it can negatively impact their mental health.

Financial Stress & Financial Wellness

Stress can lead to issues with both mental health and financial soundness. Stress tends to impair our judgment, leading to impulsive decision making which can ultimately damage our finances. Making good decisions with your finances is challenging when stress becomes a burden on your mental health. This can lead to impulse purchases, late bill payments, and an inability to allocate long-term savings. This can cause a vicious downward spiral where the stress compounds, leading to further financial difficulties.

Stress not only impacts mental health, but many times it also has physical impacts. The physical side-effects of stress can include insomnia, fatigue, hypertension, heart diseases, obesity, etc. Stress can also lead to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as smoking, drinking, or unhealthy diets. Additionally, stress can lead to people avoiding necessary doctors’ visits.

All of these various scenarios can lead to additional expenses and have further negative impacts on one’s financial wellness and mental health.

Importance of Physical & Mental Wellness

Taking care of yourself is critical to both physical and mental health. Activities to improve physical well-being include exercise, relaxation practices (such as yoga, meditation, etc.), participating in local events, and pursuing hobbies that interest you. Staying active will improve your physical health, balance your state of mind and allow for better decision making, ultimately leading to better financial outcomes.

Practicing Financial Wellness

There are certain skills everyone needs to learn to practice proper financial wellness, including how to budget, save, invest, and utilize debt. All of these concepts fall under the banner of financial literacy, which is understanding the basics of financial investments and how they work. An understanding of basic financial literacy is closely related to financial wellness, and knowing where and how to utilize these skills to achieve financial stability in a way that’s right for you.

Budgeting is a key first step to regaining control of your finances. Keeping track of a budget can be done using a simple excel spreadsheet or with the help of a budgeting app. By entering your monthly income and expenses into a summary, you can better analyze your spending habits and make sure your expenses are not exceeding your income. If they are, it may be time to re-analyze your spending habits and consider what is most important to you.

Saving and investing money ties back to your budgeting process. If you are able to keep your expenses below your income, you will have extra funds to save and invest. At New Tripoli Bank, you have access to several competitive savings products at competitive rates. Additionally, investing in short-term saving products such as Certificates of Deposit can provide short-term returns on your money.

Debt is an instrument that allows you to access funds to achieve your goals in life. New Tripoli Bank offers a variety of lending products that can help you attain these goals, such as fixed rate mortgages, home equity loans, and personal loans. One of our lenders would love to assist you in reaching your life’s aspirations.

Improving Financial Wellness

There are several skills you can use to improve your financial wellness, including budgeting, preparing for emergencies, saving and investing, paying down debt, and planning for the future.

There are plenty of tools at your disposal to assist you with improving your financial wellness. These include budgeting apps, setting up automatic bill payment for monthly bills through your financial institution, setting a recurring reminder in your phone to periodically review your financial status, and arranging a meeting with a financial professional. These tools can help take the stress out of improving your financial wellness.

Putting your trust in a knowledgeable professional could provide peace of mind that you are saving and investing in the right products. They can help you set a realistic budget for your lifestyle, review your financials, and guide you into the appropriate financial avenues to achieve your goals.

Mental health and financial wellness are intertwined and if you ignore one the other will suffer. When someone experiences financial stresses, they may become mentally stressed, which can compound into further financial stresses, and physical and mental instability. Improving your financial literacy can improve your financial wellness. Utilizing techniques such as budgeting will help you achieve your personal goals and alleviate stress.

If you’re looking for assistance with your financial wellness, consider reaching out to a Community Banker at New Tripoli Bank. We can help point you in the right direction no matter what part of your journey to financial improvement you happen to be on.

Matthew Koncz is New Tripoli Bank's Controller and an Assistant Vice President. He has been with the Bank for over five years and is responsible for monitoring New Tripoli Bank's financial health. He is also a Certified Public Accountant and has completed educational programs for CPAs offered by various accounting firms and organizations including PA Bankers.

by Jennifer Dietrich

Natural disasters can happen anywhere at any time and affect consumers at every income level. While a natural disaster is impossible to avoid by its very nature, there are steps every consumer can take to help prepare for an emergency to mitigate its impact on their life. Starting over after a disaster invites uncertainty, expense, and a lot of difficult choices.

While it can be hard to imagine life after the worst has happened, the truth is that your financial responsibilities don’t go away simply because you’ve suffered from some catastrophe. Immediately following a disaster, your priority is your safety and the safety of those around you and meeting your day-to-day needs. However, once you’re safe and accounted for, you will need to focus on ensuring your financial obligations are met.

Here is how you can best prepare for an emergency.

Create a Disaster Preparedness Plan

A disaster preparedness plan is a general outline of how you and other members of your household intend to respond to the types of emergencies that are most likely to occur where you live, work, learn, or play. It can be impossible to prepare for every predicament, so you should formulate a plan that is applicable to a broad swathe of situations. This plan is intended to ensure the immediate safety of you and your loved ones in the event of a disaster.

You should assign responsibilities to the members of your household based on their capabilities. Plan for emergencies that are most likely to occur where you live, consider what you and your family need to do in the event you are separated during an emergency, and decide what you need to do in the event you need to evacuate to a safer area. Finally, ensure that you have a plan to contact each other after the emergency has passed.

Create a List of Financial Obligations

Responding to an urgent situation takes up a lot of one’s attention, leaving little time to think about things like credit cards or student loan payments. It’s important to keep a list of these financial obligations as part of any disaster preparedness plan to make sure you are able to manage your finances while you recover from a crisis. Include any automatic payments so you remember when bills come due, in the event that your finances are stretched thin you may have to ask for extensions or adjustments to your payments.

Immediately following a disaster, you should consider contacting credit card companies, loan servicers, lenders, utilities, and any other entities to whom you may have bill payments due. In the event of an emergency, some companies will waive interest in late fees, allow you to stretch out or defer monthly payments, or provide other options to help you continue your payments even as you work on rebuilding following a disaster.

In the event that your home is damaged to the point that you can’t live in it, contact your utility companies to have them suspend your service since you won’t be using them while you rebuild.

Safeguard Personal Documents

You should make copies of personal documents that will are important to have easy access to following a disaster. This includes things such as Photo ID, Social Security information, birth certificates, insurance policies, military service records, Pet ID tags, tax statements, household information, and medical records. These documents should be stored in a safe place at a separate location from your home, such as a fireproof safe deposit box at your local bank.

You can also scan these documents and store them digitally; if you do so, be sure to keep them in a place that is both encrypted and password-protected with multifactor authentication. You do not want this information getting into the hands of hackers.

Inventory Your Home

Take some time to survey your home and create a list of all the important personal and household valuables. Many types of insurance will cover your belongings in the event they are damaged inside of a home that you own or rent; be sure to check with your insurance provider so you understand exactly what is covered by your policy.

Beware of Post-Disaster Scams

Scammers like to take advantage of the stress and confusion that follows a natural disaster or emergency. These scams range from fake disaster relief charities, impostor scams where the scammer pretends to be someone from FEMA or another government agency, employment scams looking for desperate people trying to rebuild after a disaster, and loan repayment scams.

Some simple rules you can follow to avoid being defrauded are:

• Be cautious about sharing personal financial information with anyone. You should only feel comfortable providing this information when you are the one reaching out.
• Remember the government will not call or text you about owing money or receiving economic impact payments.
• Scammers will try to contact you via social media – never the government!

You can find more about identifying and avoiding scams on our resource page about Fraud, Scams, and Phishing.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is responsible for responding to disasters and providing aid to those affected. If you have been affected by a natural disaster or other emergency, you can visit FEMA.gov for more information and resources to help you recover and rebuild.

By taking the time to plan a disaster response, you will be better prepared for emergencies and reduce the time it takes for you to rebuild your life. You can reach out to your friendly community bankers at New Tripoli Bank for help with things such as setting up an emergency fund, renting a safe deposit box, and identifying potential scams to ensure you are fully prepared for the next big emergency!

Jennifer Dietrich is a Deposit Operations Representative for New Tripoli Bank and has been working for the Bank since 2023. She spends her free time at the various sports fields around the area cheering on her son.

Retiring in a financially secure position isn’t a sure thing. It takes planning and commitment to ensure you can retire comfortably and early enough to enjoy your golden years to the fullest. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, only about half of all Americans have calculated how much they need in order to save for retirement.

People are notoriously bad at thinking about and preparing for the distant future, doubly so when it requires them to save money. However, formulating a plan, developing savings habits, and understanding how Banks and other financial institutions factor into retirement planning is essential for achieving your retirement goals.

Start Early & Stick to It

The best time to start saving for retirement was yesterday, and the next best time is today! Even before you develop a formal retirement plan, it’s important to get into the habit of putting money away into a savings account on a regular basis. Long-term savings plans rely on compound interest to turn even the most modest amounts of money into a sizeable fund for the future. So, the earlier you start saving, the more you can leverage the power of compound interest.

Start by putting a small amount of money into a savings account at the end of each month. As you grow more comfortable with your new budget, consider increasing the amount you deposit each month. The key is to make saving an automatic habit rather than something you need to actively consider each month.

Understand Your Needs

Retirement is expensive. It’s important to understand that your retirement savings are there to replace your regular income once you stop working, so how much you save determines what your standard of living will be upon retirement. Take some time to list your current expenses and income and determine which of your regular expenses will change in retirement. For example:

• Are you currently paying a mortgage? You should calculate if you will finish paying it off before retirement. Don’t forget that even if you have your mortgage paid off, you will still have home maintenance costs after retirement!
• How much do you plan to drive? If you drive a lot for work, you may notice your monthly gas bills getting much lower after retirement.
• Do you want to keep dining out after retirement? Be sure to factor in leisure expenses like vacations and dining out.

The standard rule of thumb you will receive from financial planners is to replace 70 to 90 percent of your annual pre-retirement income through savings and Social Security. So, if you earn $80,000 per year before retirement, you’ll want to earn $56,000 to $72,000 per year in retirement.

New Tripoli Bank has a retirement calculator on our website to help you determine your savings target. Once you have calculated this number, you can use it to determine whether or not your savings contributions are enough to help you reach your goal.

Consider Social Security Benefits

Before you start looking into retirement accounts, you should determine what your Social Security benefits will be upon retirement. The amount of wages that Social Security replaces varies depending on your earnings and when you retire. The longer you wait to retire, the greater your Social Security benefit will be.

You can learn more about Social Security and calculate your expected benefits by visiting the Social Security Administration’s website: https://www.ssa.gov/

Consult Your Employer

You should speak with your employer to understand what options they can provide to help you save for retirement. Many employers offer 401(k) plans, and some businesses still maintain traditional pension plans for their full-time employees. If your employer doesn’t offer a retirement plan, suggest that it start one. Your employer may be able to set up a simplified plan that can help you and your coworkers plan for retirement.

If your employer offers a 401(k) plan, you should ask if they do contribution matching and what stipulations exist to ensure that you get as much money as you can out of the plan. You should contribute as much as you comfortably can to this plan. Your taxes will be lower, you’ll be taking advantage of your employer’s contribution matching, and automatic deductions from each paycheck reduce your mental burden when it comes to saving.

Put Money Into an IRA

An Individual Retirement Account is similar to a 401(k), but instead of being an employer-sponsored retirement savings account, you assume responsibility for opening and contributing to the account. Much like a 401(k), the funds you contribute to your IRA are invested into a variety of investment products such as stocks, bonds, and certificates of deposit (depending on the type of IRA and the institution you are working with). This means an IRA will, on average, produce greater returns on investment than a standard savings account.

The tradeoff is that the funds in an IRA can’t be touched until you reach a certain age, and contributions to an IRA are limited to a certain amount each year (click here to learn more about contribution limits for the current year). There is also a penalty for withdrawing from your IRA before you reach age 59 ½.

There are two types of IRAs, traditional and Roth, and each one offers its own benefits. Traditional IRAs are tax-deferred, which means you make contributions from your income before taxes, and you will pay tax when you start receiving the money later in retirement. Roth IRAs are the opposite: the money contributed to a Roth IRA comes from post-tax income, but in exchange you do not pay taxes later when you start taking the money out in retirement. You are not limited to one or the other (though the annual contribution limit applies to all your IRAs combined), and each has its own benefits and downsides. After seeking advice from a financial planner, you can speak with one of New Tripoli Bank’s IRA specialists who can assist you in opening your desired IRA account.

You can also speak with our partners from the New Tripoli Financial Advisors for more information on other investment options.

No matter how ready you think you are, it can’t hurt to ask for advice. New Tripoli Bank offers both traditional and Roth IRAs, as well as Simplified Employee Pension IRAs. Feel free to contact me or reach out to your local New Tripoli Bank branch office to speak to a community banker who can walk you through opening a retirement account. We would be happy to help you plan for the future!

Jenna Smith is an Assistant Vice President and the Branch Manager for New Tripoli Bank's Claussville Office, as well as a certified IRA Services Professional who has worked for New Tripoli Bank since 2006. She completed the PA Bankers Advanced School of Banking and has been helping customers for many years. She has dedicated her career to learning all she can about banking and finance and in her free time enjoys spending time with her family and working on arts and crafts.

by John Hemak and Mike Koch

Over the years, we have been asked the same question many times, both from customers looking to start up a new business and existing customers looking to expand their business: “Why do I need a business plan?”  A solid business plan is important because it addresses every aspect of the commercial venture you are about to undertake. The plan describes your business, it identifies its operational and financial goals, and, most importantly, it helps you determine the best course of action to achieve success for your business.

With this blog, we hope to provide an outline for developing an effective business plan, as well as point out several resources available to help you formulate your own plan.

First, write an executive summary. This is your pitch to provide more information about your business to people. Key items you should include are a mission statement, a brief description of products or services to be offered, and your intended customer base.

Next, describe your company in detail. You will want to include in this description your business’s registered name, business location, and the key employees comprising the business. Your company description should also define your business structure, such as sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, or corporation. If there are multiple owners in the business, this is the perfect time to specify the percentage of each owner’s stake in the company. It’s important to highlight the ownership team’s strengths that will give your business an advantage over your competitors.

Now that you’ve completed a description of your business, it’s time to state your business goals. These should include short-term and long-term goals. These goals can be numbers-based and will recognize the financial and profit goals of the business, as well as strategies to create brand awareness. Explain how you will achieve these targets, either by attracting new customers, adding investors, or obtaining a business loan.

The fourth item is to describe your products and services. This section can be a bit overwhelming, but it is necessary to explain how your product or service works, provide a detailed pricing model, cover your supply chain, and order fulfillment strategies. You should also go into greater detail about the customer base you wish to service.

The last step is to outline financial plans by providing a prospective statement for the next five years. Include forecasted income, operational costs, and cashflow statements. Include a section on unanticipated costs, as it’s important to factor in potential costs so you are not caught unaware if something does come up, and you have a contingency plan in place. You will also want to consider a capital expenditure budget, to ensure the business is able to support future capital projects, such as equipment, personnel, or real estate acquisitions.

The bottom line is that business plans are important because growing a business requires a vision and establishing a business plan will help set you on a successful path.

If you’re looking to get started on your own business plan, there are a several resources available to assist you in developing your business plan:

• The US Small Business Administration provides example plans through their site. You can check out their guide to writing a business plan here: https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/plan-your-business/write-your-business-plan
• There are Small Business Development Centers located throughout the country; you can find a local center at https://www.sba.gov/local-assistance/resource-partners/small-business-development-centers-sbdc. The goal of these centers is to help businesses start, grow, and prosper through offering free services.
• Consider hiring a Business Consultant, a professional who can offer industry experience and knowledge that can help guide you to create a successful business plan.

John Hemak is a Vice President of Commercial Lending for New Tripoli Bank and sits on the board of the East Penn School District Education Foundation. He has been involved in commercial lending for decades and has been a commercial lender for New Tripoli Bank for over 11 years.

Mike Koch is New Tripoli Bank's Business Development Manager and has previously served as a Branch Manager and Assistant Branch Manager. He has been a member of the New Tripoli Bank team for almost 20 years and has decades of experience working with business customers.

With how tight the real estate market is right now, it’s easy to believe that selling your home is a sure thing. However, just because there are more buyers than there are houses on the market doesn’t mean the offers you receive on your home are the best they could be. Many homes are put on the market in need of serious repairs or with unflattering pictures that poorly reflect the personality of the property. These homes often languish on sites such as Zillow or Redfin for months before finding a willing buyer.

If you want to give yourself the best chance to receive an offer on your home and maximize its value to potential buyers, you’re going to need to put in some effort. Here are five recommendations you can consider in making your house more appealing to prospective homebuyers.

Making Repairs

Every homebuyer knows the importance of having a home inspection contingency as part of an offer. One step you may want to consider is having your property inspected before putting it on the market. Making certain repairs before selling a home may help to alleviate potential buyers’ concerns and also potentially reduces the likelihood that a sale falls through.

A pre-listing home inspection report will tell you which home repairs you should consider making. You will want to review this report carefully and proactively with your trusted advisors. You will also want to compile a list of completed repairs and have that information readily available.

Making certain repairs before listing your home shows you are being transparent about the property you are selling, which can reflect positively during negotiations and potentially increase buyer confidence.

Make Small Improvements

When it comes to selling your home, keep in mind that not all home improvements are made equally. A fully remodeled kitchen will be the centerpiece of your open house, however the cost to remodel your kitchen won’t necessarily be reflected in the sale price.

The upgrades that can maximize your profit are those that tend to have the greatest emotional impact on buyers. Minor changes like repainting the cabinets or even upgrading older appliances can make a noticeable difference. Even something as small as replacing lighting fixtures can go a long way toward evoking an emotional connection in a potential buyer.

Rather than remodeling your entire bathroom, consider making smaller updates like replacing the vanity, shower frame, and the fixtures. It’s amazing what a small investment can do to improve the first impression of a home.

Curb Appeal

Does your home have curb appeal? The front of your home will be the first and last impression you leave on a prospective buyer, so it’s important that you put your best foot forward.

If you have a lawn, make sure it is dry and freshly mowed. Also consider picking up some inexpensive colorful perennials and annuals to fill out any garden beds.

Avoid Negatives

Think about all the aspects of your property that annoy you. It could be as small as the outdated fixtures you haven’t gotten around to replacing, or that your backyard is smaller than you might like. Once you have all these “undesirable” features in mind, make an effort to avoid highlighting them as much in your listing.

Your photos should focus on the aspects of your house that will be pleasing to everyone. Focus on exceptional features that make your home stand out. Be sure to highlight any improvements you’ve made to the home in your listing. This can include a bathroom, your kitchen, or even new flooring.

The Perfect Buyer

Do you know what your perfect buyer looks like? Different homes appeal to different demographics. For example, a house in the suburbs may attract young families with children while a condo in a city might appeal more to a single person or a younger couple.

You should keep your target buyer in mind when staging your home. If you think your home will appeal most to single men, consider moving things around to set up one of your bedrooms as an office or even an exercise room. If you believe your ideal buyer will be a family of four, think about staging one of the rooms as a child’s bedroom. The idea is to make it easier for potential buyers to envision what their lives would be like living in your home.

Selling a house can be just as intimidating as buying one, but a bit of forethought can go a long way toward receiving the best offers on your investment. Hopefully, these tips will help you the next time you decide to sell your home!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. We are happy to help!

Gail Post is a Vice President and Mortgage Loan Officer at New Tripoli Bank with over 40 years of experience in mortgage lending. She has been working for New Tripoli Bank for over 25 years and has helped many of our residential customers finance their homes. When she's not working, Gail enjoys volunteering in her community with her husband and spending time with her children and grandchildren.

Nashville, TN – The Pennsylvania Bankers Association has announced the election of John M. Hayes, Chief Executive Officer and Director for New Tripoli Bank, to its Board of Directors, effective May 17, 2024. Mr. Hayes joins a board of 27 member-elected representatives from banks throughout the Commonwealth who are responsible for determining the Association’s policies and governing principles.

Mr. Hayes is the seventh Chief Executive Officer of New Tripoli Bank, and he was recently appointed as the newest member of its Board of Directors. He also serves on the board of New Tripoli Bancorp, Inc., the holding company for New Tripoli Bank. Mr. Hayes has over 30 years of banking and financial services experience and is active in his local community as well, serving as Chair of the Board of Governors of the Lehigh Northampton Airport Authority. He has previously served as Chair of the Board of Governors of the Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce and Housing Association & Development Corporation.

Mr. Hayes acknowledged, “I am honored to have been elected to the Pennsylvania Bankers Association Board, representing the industry’s interests and their mission to advocate for banks throughout the state. PA Bankers has always supported community banks like New Tripoli Bank and I am proud to offer my time and experience to furthering our mutual goals.”

Click the video to view

×

Reflections on the History of New Tripoli Bank with Willard Snyder

Show Transcript