Scheduling Showings
August 12th, 2008 categories: Buyer Tips
It is interesting how much more time it takes today for me to schedule showings. It used to be, I just printed out the MLS, mapped out the day, and called the listing agents to schedule my showings. Today it takes me considerably more time to do the same thing. I still start with the exact same procedures, but then I have to take care of all of my buyer information.
Is it a short sale or in pre-foreclosure status. That might be listed in the MLS, but then I ask the listing agent and check the tax records. Are their any liens on the property? Count up all of the mortgages listed on the property, do they add up to more than the list price, if so, sounds like a short sale. I look through the old MLS listings to find out how long the property has really been listed…I’m showing 8 properties tomorrow and they have been on the market 56, 80, 429, 727, 764, 811, 934 days respectively, oh and the last one has been on the market since December 2002! What was the original list price, versus the list price today, versus what they paid for the property. Did they buy the house at the height of the market or do they actually have equity in the house that they might be able to negotiate with. It used to be I only researched all of this information after my buyer picked a house to help them make the right offer. But to make myself more useful to my clients, I come prepared with all of this information so we can discuss it as we walk through the house. In many cases this can help rule out a house or put it higher on the list. I then put all of this information into a spreadsheet to carry with me as I show the property, then afterwards write down as much information about each property as I can and put it into the database. This allows me a quick reference to any property I have previously shown, but also is very helpful for agent feedback that anyone on my team can give out.
That is what is involved when I show property these days!
Rob Johnson, The Simms Team
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Reverse mortgages and the new housing bill
July 29th, 2008 categories: Buyer Tips, Financing, Seller Tips
Reverse mortgages are for older homeowners - the owners are allowed to mortgage their home for cash or for monthly income, all according to a formula based on the owners ages and the home value. The lender does not need to be repaid as long as the borrower continues to live in the house.
One of the provisions in the housing bill just approved by Congress, awaiting President Bush’s signature, is an increase in the maximum mortgage amount for a reverse mortgage - it is more than doubling to $417,000. In some high cost areas of the country the amount can be as high as $625,000.
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Is your agent internet savvy? Google them.
June 23rd, 2008 categories: Buyer Tips, Seller Tips
Many real estate agents will tell you that they post lots of places on the internet and that they’re internet savvy. Why not check them out? Just google them (go to the google search box, enter their name, and hit enter). This isn’t the only way to check, of course, but when one agent has 86,600 links and another one has 346 links, that should tell you to check further. Unfortunately, this can be complicated when the agent you’re checking has a common name and the number of references refer to more than one person.
As Bill Gassett said:
** In the Real Estate world it is crucial to have an online presence. I know if I was selling my home I would not want to be using a “secret agent”. I would want someone in my corner who knew how to expose my home to the masses online. One of the easiest ways to see if a Realtor will do a good job marketing a home is to see if they have a good online presence.
This can be accomplished by Googling a Realtors name. There should be pages and pages of results!! If you Google a Real Estate agents name and don’t come up with much information it means they don’t know how or have not invested the time to market themselves on the internet. If they don’t know to market themselves, how could you possible expect them to do a good job marketing your home?
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Are short sales a good deal?
April 24th, 2008 categories: Buyer Tips
Lately we’ve had many buyers asking to see short sales, because they’ve read so much about what bargains they are. We caution them that in our experience, though we’ve had several short sale “contracts” accepted by sellers, we have had none that actually closed. Any contract will be subject to acceptance by the lender - and if there are additional mortgages, a home equity loan, or a business loan secured by the home, the issues increase significantly and the likelihood of a closing diminishes. Read the rest of this entry »
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