Friday, March 25, 2011

This Month in Real Estate

Provided By Keller Williams Realty



Would you like to know how the market is doing in your city? Give us a call at 972.772.7000 or email us at rockwall@kw.com.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Should I Accept This Offer?

Provided By Realty Times

Today's market can be a difficult one for many sellers to navigate. And while your real estate agent can advise you, the ultimate decision of what offer to accept is entirely up to you.

This decision can come with quite a bit of pressure. Even in the most favorable of markets this can be a difficult time. How do you know when to accept an offer?

Here are some questions to consider.

1. Is the buyer pre-qualified/approved? Selling will require an investment of time and money. You may need to find a new home or a temporary rental. There's nothing worse than buying a new house, only to find out the deal to sell yours has fallen through.

2. Do you need to move? The urgency of your move may dictate what offer you accept. Many sellers need to move quickly for a new job. Or they may need to sell to avoid foreclosure. If you are in a rush, you may need to accept an offer that is less than ideal.

3. How much do you owe? You don't want to sell your home at a loss. And be sure to take closing costs into consideration. Many markets experienced high levels of depreciation over the last year. If you are underwater on your loan, now may not be the time to sell.

4. What is the market climate? Are you likely to get another offer? How long has your home been on the market? Have you had many showings? All of these are factors to consider when contemplating what offer to accept.

Above all, ask yourself if this offer was a reasonable offer. There are buyers that may attempt to low ball you. They may see that your home has been on the market longer than your competition. They may know that it's a strong buyers market. And in response they offer a much smaller amount for your home than it is worth. You are not obligated to accept or even respond to these low ball offers. But if you are in need of selling now, every offer warrants consideration or a counter offer.

In the end, you must accept an offer that works for you. You may be willing to accept a lower amount in exchange for a faster closing date. Or you may wish to hold out for the highest dollar amount.

Are you interested in selling your home? To get the answer to your selling questions give us a call at 972-772-7000 or email us at rockwall@kw.com.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Pot O' Gold

Join Keller Williams for a Pot O' Gold Happy Hour benefitting Rockwall Cares tomorrow at Taco Cabana from 4:00pm - 7:00pm. For more details call us at 972.772.7000.  We hope to see you there!

Friday, March 18, 2011

5 Mortgage and Foreclosure Myths

Provided By Trulia

In a mortgage market that changes as quickly as this one, today’s fact is tomorrow’s fiction. For buyers, misinformation can be the difference between qualifying for a home loan or not. Sellers and owners, knowledge is foreclosure-preventing, smart decision-making power! Without further ado, let’s correct some common mortgage misconceptions.

1. Myth: Buyers with bad credit can’t qualify for home loans. Obviously, mortgage guidelines have tightened up, big time, since the housing bubble burst, and they seem likely to tighten even further over the long-term. But just this moment, they have relaxed a bit. In the last couple of weeks, two of the nation’s largest lenders of FHA loans announced that they’ve dropped the minimum FICO score guideline from 620 (which allows for some credit imperfections) to 580, which is actually a fairly low score.

At a FICO score of 620, buyers can qualify for FHA loans at many lenders with only 3.5 percent down. With a score of 580, the lenders are looking for more like 5 to 10 percent down – they want to see you put more of your own skin in the game, and the higher down payment lowers the risk that you’ll default. However, if your credit has taken a recessionary hit, like that of so many Americans, this might create a glimmer of hope that you’ll be able to take advantage of low prices and interest rates without needing years of credit repair.

2. Myth: The Mortgage Interest Deduction isn’t long for this world. Homeowners saved over $85 billion in 2008 by deducting their mortgage interest on their income tax returns. A few months ago, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform caused a massive wave of fear to ripple throughout the world of real estate consumers and professionals when they recommended Mortgage Interest Deduction (MID) reform, which would dramatically reduce the size of the deduction.

Fact is, the Commission made a sweeping set of deficit-busting recommendations to Congress, a few of which are likely to be adopted. Fortunately for buyers and sellers, MID reform is not one of them. Very powerful industry groups and economists have been working with Congress to plead the case that MID reform any time in the near future would only handicap the housing recovery. Congress-folk aren’t interested in stopping the stabilization of the real estate market. As such, the MID is nearly universally thought of as safe – even by those who disagree that it should be.

3. Myth: It’s just a matter of time before loan guidelines loosen up. The US Treasury Department recently recommended the elimination of mortgage industry giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I won’t get into the eye-glazing details of it here, but the long and the short is that (a) this is highly likely to happen, and (b) it will make mortgage loans much harder and costlier to get, for both buyers and homeowners. It’s possible that loans are as easy to get as they’re going to get. So don’t expect that if you hold out, zero-down mortgages will come back into vogue anytime soon. Fortunately, Fannie and Freddie aren't likely to disappear for another 5-7 years, so you have a little time to pull your down payment and credit together. If you want to get into the market, the time to get yourself ready is now!

4. Myth: If you don’t have equity, you can’t refi. Much ado is being made about how stuck so many people are in their bad loans, because they don’t have the equity to refinance their way out of them. If you’re severely upside down (meaning you own much, much more than your home is worth), stuck may be the situation. But there are actually a couple of ways homeowners can refi their underwater home loans. If your loan is held by Fannie or Freddie (which you can find out, here), they will actually refinance it up to 125% of its current value, assuming you otherwise qualify for the loan. That means, if your home is worth $100,000, you could refinance a loan up to $125,000, despite the fact that your home can’t secure the full amount of the loan.

If your loan is not owned by Fannie or Freddie, you might be a candidate for the FHA “Short Refi” program. While most mortgage workout plans are only available to people who are behind on their loans, the Short Refi program is only available to homeowners who are current on their mortgages and need to refinance up to 115 percent of their homes’ value. So, if you owe $250,000 on your home, you can refinance via an FHA Short Refi even if your home’s value is as low as $217,000. If you think you’re a good candidate for a short refi, contact your mortgage broker, stat – there are some in Congress who think that this program is so underutilized (only 245 applications have been submitted since it rolled out in September – no typo!) that its funding should be diverted to other needy programs.

5. Myth: If you’ve lost your job and can’t make your mortgage payment, you might as well mail your keys in. Until recently, this was essentially true – virtually every loan modification and refinancing opportunity required that your economic hardship be over before you could qualify. And documenting income has always been high on the requirements checklist. But there are some new funds available in the states with the hardest hit housing and job markets, which have been designated specifically for out-of-work homeowners.

The US Treasury Department’s Hardest Hit Fund allocated $7.6 billion to the states listed below – all of which are now using some portion of these funds to offer up to $3,000 per month for up to 36 months in mortgage payment assistance to help unemployed homeowners avoid foreclosure. Contact the state agency listed below if you need this sort of help:

•Alabama: http://www.hardesthitalabama.com/
•Arizona: https://www.savemyhomeaz.gov/
•California: https://www.keepyourhomecalifornia.org/
•Florida: https://www.flhardesthithelp.org/
•Georgia: http://www.dca.state.ga.us/housing/homeownership/programs/hardesthitfund.asp
•Illinois: http://www.ihda.org/
•Indiana: http://www.877gethope.org/
•Kentucky: http://www.kyhousing.org/
•Michigan:http://www.michigan.gov/mshda/buyers/save_the_dream/helping+hardest+hit+homeowners++contact+your+mortgage+servicer+for+assistance
•Mississippi: http://www.mshomecorp.com/firstpage.htm
•Nevada: http://www.nahac.org/
•New Jersey: http://www.state.nj.us/dca/hmfa/home/foreclosure/homekeepers.html
•North Carolina: http://www.ncforeclosureprevention.gov/
•Ohio: http://www.savethedream.ohio.gov/
•Oregon: http://www.oregonhomeownerhelp.org/
•Rhode Island: http://www.hhfri.org/
•South Carolina: http://www.scmortgagehelp.com/
•Tennessee: http://www.thda.org/
•Washington D.C.: http://www.dchfa.org/

Do you have more mortgage and foreclosure questions? Give the experts a call at 972-772-7000 or email us at rockwall@kw.com.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Keeping Your Cool During a Build

Provided By Realty Times

Moving can be stressful, but add the process of building a new home on top of it, and you're in for quite the ride.

There are some ambitious homeowners-to-be that take on the task of being general contractor themselves.

However, what they save in money, they reap in stress.

Don't fool yourself, though. Those who opt to employ a contractor or builder for this project aren't immune to homebuilding stresses. From the search for the right lot, contractor, and houseplan, to choices in construction grade and interior design details, there's a lot to think about.

Here are some useful tips to keep stress at bay.

1. Plan ahead. There is perhaps nothing more important than starting early and keeping ahead of schedule in your planning. If you wait to the last minute (hello, procrastinators), you will have added stress as you scramble around only to find out your cabinets will now take 5 weeks to ship or that your financing is falling through.

2. Be Organized: Keep a list with contact numbers, notes, estimates and budgets, and projected due dates.

3. Have Re-grouping Sessions. Set aside one day a week to reorganize your list and to look over things that must be completed. Use this time to organize a "to do" list for the week and to figure out what tasks can be delegated to your spouse, family, or builder. A good leader delegates!

4. Open Communication: Have open communication with your builder. Be sure you know where your money is actually going. You need to be comfortable asking even the simplest questions.

And to deal with unavoidable stresses, try out these tried and true methods.

1. Breathing: Have you ever noticed how much calmer you feel after you take in a slow, deep breath and then release it? Conscious breathing can bring a deep sense of peace to even the most hectic of moments.

2. Yoga and Stretching: Yoga doesn't have to mean long and pricey classes. You can learn a few simple stretches and postures that allow you to release stress and keep your body open and ready to handle the next day.

3. Laughter: Take breaks to laugh and have fun! All work and no play, well, it's no way to live. Have family game nights or watch funny movies!

4. Healthy Food: You can't expect a car to make on a cross-country trip running on fumes or contaminated gas. Your body is your vehicle. Be sure to eat healthy, so that your brain is geared to make wise and sound decisions.

5. Exercise: Did you know that taking that evening jog or working up a sweat on the elliptical is about more than just fitting into your skinny jeans? It's about training your body to withstand stress.

6. Simplify. Your friends and family will understand! Don't feel obligated to accept every invitation or make it to every event. This is a time to find balance in your life.

Building a home is a long process. Depending on the size of your home it can take anywhere from three months to a year or more, not counting the preliminary planning stage full of house plans, permits, and budgetary issues. It will all be worth it, though, when you lay your head down to sleep that first night in your very own dream home.

Are you wanting to build your perfect home? Give us a call at 972-772-7000 or email us at rockwall@kw.com.

Friday, March 11, 2011

10 Ways to Increase the Value of your Home

Provided By: Front Door

Thinking of remodeling? You don't have to spend a lot to add home value. See how even small updates can reap big financial returns in these 10 videos.

If you are looking to sell your home and you need more tips give us a call at 972-772-7000 or email us at rockwall@kw.com.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Pricing a Home to Sell

Provided By Realty Times

The most popular real estate slogan has always been "location, location, location." Well, folks, there's a new slogan in town, and his name is "price, price, price." You can have the most fabulous Malibu beach house, but if you are overpriced, you won't sell in today's market.

How do you know where to price your house? How do you know that your real estate agent has priced accurately to sell?

Here are a few tips to steer you in the right direction.

Appraisals: Your real estate agent or brokerage will have a list of local appraisers. You can also visit The Appraisal Institute online at appraisalinstitute.org. Simply click on "find an appraiser". An appraisal costs just a few hundred dollars, but it affords you a clear idea of the amount for which a buyer can be approved.

Comparables: What are homes like yours selling for? Comparables can be found by analyzing homes in your neighborhood, or in nearby neighborhoods, that have similar square footage, upgrades, and amenities. If a comparable home sold for $150,00, there's little chance you'll find a buyer willing to pay $180,000 for your overpriced home. You always want to be the least expensive home in the neighborhood, when it comes to selling, not the most! Everybody loves a deal.

Be Competitive: Underpricing a home is a strategy that some agents employ to garner interest and to create a bidding war through multiple offers. A well-priced home is sure to get more showings than a home that costs more than the competition. More showings mean more exposure, which ups the chances of you receiving an offer.

Lender Communication: Lenders will only allow a buyer to borrow up to the amount a home appraises for. That means if you are overpriced, even an eager buyer may hit a lending road block.

Consider Leasing: If you've been caught in a depreciating market, you may have more money in your home than you can sell it for at this time. A reasonable option is to lease your home. Your real estate agent should be able to work out the specifics of any contract for you.

How Bad You Need to Sell: This is the real kicker. Some homeowners want to sell, but they don't need to. That means they can wait out a down market, or even wait for the "perfect" buyer. If, however, you find yourself needing to move across town, or across the state, then you will have to be more willing in today's market to compromise. And compromise is all about price when it comes to real estate.

Buyers are savvy. Technology allows them to search the local MLS, research the latest trends, and even see how your neighborhood's prices have changed over the last 30 days. They will know if your home is overpriced. It is best to error on the side of too little than too much in this numbers game. If you price your home right, however, you're sure to find a ready and willing buyer.

If you are ready to sell your home, give the experts a call at 972-772-7000 or email us at rockwall@kw.com.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Surprising Insider Secrets for the 5 Stages of Buying Your First Home

Provided By Trulia

Buying a home is not a discrete event; it's a process - a sequence of events that happens over time, sometimes over as long as several months or even years! While general guides to buying a home are a dime a dozen, I'm excited to share with you some insider secrets you may not have heard elsewhere - one for each stage involved in buying a home. Here's to helping you make the best decisions at every phase of your homebuying process!

Stage One: Deciding Whether It's The Right Time to Buy.

Insider Secret: The market is the least important factor you should consider when deciding whether and when to buy a home.

Why: Everyone knows affordability is at an all-time high. Home prices are low, and so are interest rates. But trying to time the market is a fool's errand; many who get caught up in that game of trying to make sure they buy at the absolute bottom will end up losing out on very, very favorable conditions.

Beyond that, the most important considerations when deciding whether and when you should buy a home are personal, not market driven. On today's market, it only makes sense to buy a place if it's going to be sustainable and work for you for at least the next 4-5 years [if your town's real estate market has been fairly recession-proof] or 7-10 years [if the housing/foreclosure crisis has hit your area pretty hard].

Against this "smart holding period" backdrop, smart buyers decide to buy when it makes sense for:

•their life plans (i.e., they are comfortable making the commitment to live in the same town, and the commitment to )

•their family plans (i.e., whether they plan to get married, have children or empty their nest in the time they plan to own the home - and the implications of these plans on their space needs and location priorities

•their career plans (including, but not limited to: whether they have job or income security, whether they feel they will be working in the same area for the foreseeable future, and whether they want to work less or start their own business in the months or years to come)

•their financial plans (including foreseeable changes in income and expenses, e.g., kids going to college or making partner at the firm).

Stage Two: Getting Pre-Approved.

Insider Secret: Working with a mortgage broker referred by your real estate broker or agent may save you money.

Why: Bolstered by the real-life stories of a couple of bad apples, TV pundits and some consumer advocates have spun the tale of a real estate industry cartel, whereby sinister agents hook unsuspecting buyers up with shady mortgage brokers, who place them in crappy loans and kick back some bucks to the agent. I'm here to tell you, in my experience, the opposite is true the vast majority of the time.

When you work with a mortgage broker who has a strong track record of helping your real estate agent's clients out, you end up in a best of all worlds situation, nine times out of ten. First off, your agent will take you much more seriously once a mortgage broker they know and trust has run your credit, checked your income and approved you for a loan, as well as communicated with your real estate pro about your qualifications and what you can afford. Secondly, your agent can help you communicate with your mortgage broker, sometimes helping get past appraisal glitches or facilitating other workarounds, as they come up. Third, you get the assurance of working with a mortgage pro who has been vetted and vouched for by someone you not only trust, but someone who can verify that the mortgage broker has the ability to get transactions closed in the timely manner required of today's real estate sales contract. Otherwise, you may end up working with a competent mortgage broker who has a great track record when it comes to refinancing, but can't keep up with the pace and common obstacles to getting a home financed in the context of a sale.

On top of that, sometimes the relationship can help you negotiate out of a couple of line item loan fees (if your particular mortgage rep has the power to get them down at all), if push comes to shove and cash is tight to close the deal. Assuming you are working with a real estate pro you really trust, working with a mortgage broker they trust can save you, rather than cost you, money.

Stage Three: House Hunting

Insider Secret: "Distressed" doesn't always equal "discounted" - in some cases, a "regular" sale can be a deeper deal.

Why: Short sales and foreclosures have grown to comprise roughly 30 percent of the homes sold on today's market, even higher in some areas. The average sale price of foreclosed homes was 32% lower than the average sale price of non-foreclosed homes, at last count. However, it's not always the case that foreclosed homes or short sales - homes which are being sold for less than what the seller owes on their mortgage(s) - offer the buyer a fabulous discount.

Mortgage servicers and asset managers who make decisions about distressed properties are on the hook to their investors to recoup as close as possible to the current fair market value of every home they sell. Some banks even have a general rule of rejecting offers more than 10 percent or so below the home's list price, preferring instead to reduce the price by that amount and put the home back on the open market to see if any new buyers are activated by the price reduction to make an offer better than the lowball offer that was initially put on the table. On short sales, the bank is trying to get as close as possible to recovering what the seller owes - and may or may not be concerned with what the fair market value of the home is. (Nine times out of ten, there will be a big gap between fair market value and the seller's outstanding mortgage balance. If there wasn't, the seller wouldn't need to do a short sale!)

With so many distressed properties and homes with depressed values on the market, in many areas, the individual, non-distressed home sellers who are putting their homes up for sale right now are those who are very motivated to sell. Further, they are more likely to be flexible with you on everything that is negotiable, from contingency and escrow periods, to price, to repairs and included items.

Also, individual sellers can be emotionally motivated to sell to move on with their lives, get into their bigger (or smaller) house, or move on to their next job; banks, on the other hand, aren't people (!), so lack that emotional sense of urgency to get the properties sold, no matter how urgently you may think they should be trying to get rid of the foreclosed properties they own. (If you've heard the old advice that banks don't want to be in the home-owning business, I can tell you this. That is true, in a very general sense, but now they are and will be - for a long time to come. They have no emotions, have no urgent need to sell or move, and are not willing to give houses away at pennies on the dollar to get out of it, no matter what those infomercial folks say.)

Long story short: you can sometimes negotiate a better deal with an individual seller on a "regular" sale than with a bank on a distressed home sale. So, don't limit your house hunt to foreclosures and short sales, if you're looking for a good deal on your home.

Stage Four: Negotiations

Insider Secret: Your family and friends can cause you to lose your dream home.

Why: With so much information on the web and the news every day about the recession and the buyer's market, everyone seems to be an armchair economist/real estate savant. But much of that news is national and based on medians, averages and trends. That is, it might not necessarily apply to every home on the market in every city, and more importantly, it might have nothing to do with "your" particular home.

When I was a little girl, my best friend's grandfather would very carefully hand each of us a quarter, always doling it out with the sage admonition: "Don't spend it all in one place." We'd always smile, look at each other, then go ask our Moms for ten bucks apiece. In the same vein, people who are not currently in the market for a home have no idea what an individual home should "go for." If you tell your parents, church pals, or colleagues at work the blow-by-blow details of your offer, counteroffers, etc., you should expect to hear things like, "Oh, you're paying way too much!", "I think you should push them down another $10K," or "You know, you're in a better bargaining position than that." And sometimes, taking that sort of advice will end up blowing your deal. Work with your trusty real estate broker or agent to develop a smart strategy - with their experience in your local market - about what price and terms to offer. Then keep working with them to manage and maintain realistic expectations as you proceed through negotiating the contract to buy your home.

Stage Five: Escrow, Inspections and Underwriting

Insider Secret: It's critical that you attend your home inspections.

Why: When it comes to inspections, many first-time buyers expect that a home will either pass or fail. Except in a few jurisdictions where the government imposes certain condition requirements for a home to be sold, the home inspection is more about educating you, the buyer, as to the details and nuances of the home's condition than about seeing if the place hits a particular target for "good" or "bad" condition.
Home inspectors don't just look for things that need fixing, they also look to understand the home's systems and features, as well as to point out areas that will require your ongoing maintenance, highlight emergency shutoffs and other need-to-knows, and indicating where you should have specialists further inspect items of concern. Many home inspectors create vivid, detailed electronic reports - some, complete with color photos. But that's not enough!

If you're physically onsite at the home during the inspections, the inspector can physically show you the shutoffs for water, gas and electric - and how to use them. They can also point out, in person, any things that need repair, and give you some tips for maintaining the place in tip-top shape. Also, in many states, the general home inspector is legally prohibited (vs. the pest, roof or other "specialty" inspectors) from issuing a written quote or bid for repairs, to avoid a conflict of interest where they'd try to fabricate flaws in the home to get the repair job. However, the repair costs are one of the most important things a smart buyer wants to know!

If you show up, many inspectors will give you a rough range it would cost you to do various repairs, or otherwise indicate to you whether the needed repairs are "big deal" or "$10 home improvement store" fixes; some will even give you a few references to contractors they trust.

All around, you'll get much more of the detailed information you need to know whether and how to move forward with the transaction if you should up in person to the home inspections, rather than just waiting for a copy of the report to come to your email.

Are you ready to find your perfect home? Give us a call at 972-772-7000 or email us at rockwall@kw.com.

Friday, March 4, 2011

6 Things That Turn Home Buyers Off (and What Sellers Can Do To Prevent It)!

Provided By Trulia

We've talked about surprising home features buyers LOVE, and about why buyers aren't biting on today's market, despite it being highly affordable. But we haven't talked much about the characteristics of sellers, listings and homes that turn buyers all the way off. Well, not until now!

Here are 6 big-time homebuyer turn-offs that make buyers cringe at the thought of your home, and action steps you can take to prevent your home from being an offender:

1. Stalker-ish sellers. I know you think you’re being helpful, walking the buyer through your home and pointing out the wagon-wheel light fixture you made with your own two hands, the custom mural of a stingray you paid top dollar to have painted across your living room wall and the way the sounds of happy schoolchildren running across the front yard of your corner lot to get to the school in the next block lifts your spirits. However, the buyers might be trying really hard to ignore, minimize or figure out how to undo the very features of your home you hold dear. They also may want or need to have personal space and conversations with their mate or their agent while they’re viewing your home - you being there, especially walking right alongside them while they’re in your home, prevents them from being comfortable about doing this, or discussing all the things they would change if the home were theirs. In my experience, the more nitpicky a buyer gets about a house and the more detailed their list of things they would change, the more serious they are about considering making an offer on this place.

What’s a Seller to do? Back off. Let your home be shown vacant, or leave the house when people come to see it. If you need to be there, at least walk outside or go sit at the coffee shop down the way while prospective buyers view your home. If the buyers have questions, their people will contact your people.

2. Shabby, dirty, crowded and/or smelly houses. You already know this one. Yet, buyers constantly marvel. The buyers who come to see your home are making the decision whether to choose your home for the biggest purchase they’ve ever made during the worst economic conditions most of them have ever experienced. Your job is to get your home noticed – favorably – above the sea of other homes on the market, many of which are priced very, very low.

What’s a Seller to do? Other than listing your home at a competitive price, the only tool within your control for differentiating your home from all the foreclosures and short sales is to show it in tip-top shape. Pre-pack your place up, getting rid of as many of your personal effects as possible. Do not show it without it being completely cleaned up: no laundry or dishes piled up, countertops freshly washed, smelly dogs (I have a couple who smell on occasion – no judgment – but don’t show your house with pet odors) or litter boxes cleaned and/or out of the house.

3. Irrational seller expectations (i.e., overpricing). Buying a house on today’s market is hard work! On top of all the research and analysis about the market and situating their own lives to be sure they’ll be able to afford the place for 5, 7, 10 years - or longer, buyers have to work overtime to separate the real estate wheat from the chaff, get educated about short sales and foreclosures and often put in many, many offers before they get even a single one accepted. The last thing they want to add to their task lists is trying to argue a seller out of unreasonable expectations or pricing. And, in fact, there are so many other homes on the market, buyers don’t have to do this. When they see a home whose seller is clearly clueless about their home’s value and has priced it sky-high, most often they won’t bother even looking at it. If they love it, they’ll wait for it to sit on the market for awhile, hoping the market will “educate you” into desperation, priming the pump for a later, lowball offer.

What’s a Seller to do? Get real. Get out there and look at the other properties that are for sale in your area and price range. Get multiple agents’ take on what your home should be listed at, and don’t take it personally if their recommendation is low. If your home has much less curb appeal or space or is much less upgraded than the house across the way, don’t list it at the same price and expect it to sell. If you owe more than your home is realistically worth, you may need to reexamine whether you really want or need to sell, or consider a short sale, if you simply have to sell. Don’t be tempted into testing your market with an obviously too-high price, unless you’re prepared to have your home lag on the market and get lowball offers.

4. Feeling misled. Here’s the deal. You will never trick someone into buying your home. If the listing pics are photo-edited within an inch of their lives, or your home is described as an “approved” short sale when, in fact, the bank approved another offer, now withdrawn, but will require a new offer to go through any sort of approval process (even a truncated one), buyers will learn this information at some point. If your neighborhood is described as funky and vibrant, as code for the fact that your house is under the train tracks and you live in between a wrecking yard and a biker bar, prospects will figure this out. If the detailed information about your home, neighborhood or even transactional position (e.g., short sale status, seller financing, etc.) is misrepresented, the sheer misrepresentation will turn otherwise interested buyers off. If you authorize your agent to “verbally approve” the buyer’s offer, don’t go back the next day demanding an extra $5,000. In cases where the buyer feels misled, whether or not that was your intention, running through the buyer’s mind is this question: If they can’t trust you to be honest about this, how can they trust you to be honest about everything else?

What’s a Seller to do? Buyers rely on sellers to be upfront and honest – so be both. If your home has features or aspects that are often perceived negatively, your home’s listing probably shouldn’t lead with them (like the ad I recently saw with the intro line: “this place is a mess!”), but neither should you go out of your way to slant or skew or spin the facts which will be obvious to anyone who visits your home. Make sure you know what the listing of your home reads like, before it’s published to the web, and that a prospective buyer will not feel misled by it.

5. New, ugly home improvements. Many a buyer has walked into a house that has clearly been remodeled and upgraded in anticipation of the sale, only to have their heart sink with the further realization that the brand-spanking-new kitchen features a countertop made, not of Carerra marble, but brand-new, pink tiles with a kitty cat in the middle of each one (I saw this once, people – no joke). Or the pristine, just-installed floors feature carpet in a creamy shade of blue – the buyer’s least favorite color. New home improvements that run totally counter to a buyer’s aesthetics are a big turn-off, because in today’s era of Conspicuous Frugality, buyers just can’t cotton to ripping out expensive, brand new, perfectly functioning things just on the basis of style – especially since they’ll feel like they paid for these things in the price of the home.

What’s a Seller to do? Check in with a local broker or agent before you make a big investment in a pre-sale remodel. They can give you a reality check about the likely return on your investment, and help you prioritize about which projects to do (or not). Instead of spending $40,000 on a new, less-than-attractive kitchen, they might encourage you to update appliances, have the cabinets painted and spend a few grand on your curb appeal. Many times, they will also help you do the work of selecting neutral finishes that will work for the largest possible range of buyer tastes.

6. CRAZY listing photos (or no photos at all). Here at Trulia, we’ve seen listing photos that have dumpsters parked in front of the house, piles of laundry all over the “hardwood” floors touted in the listing description, and once, even the family dog doing his or her business in the lovely green front yard. Listing pictures that have put your home in anything but its best, accurate light are a very quick way to ensure that you turn off a huge number of buyers from even coming to see your house! The only bigger buyer turn-off than these bizarre listing pics are listings that have no photos at all; most buyers on today’s market see a listing with no pictures and click right on past it, without giving the place a second glance.

If you are ready to sell your home give us a call at 972-772-7000 or email us at rockwall@kw.com.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Fixed Mortgage Rates This Week Better For Borrowers

Provided By Realty Times

After slight movement early last week, mortgage rates ended up looking better for borrowers with a decrease of .125% for conforming 30 year and 15 year mortgage interest rates making them more competitive with FHA mortgage rates.

FreeRateUpdate.com's daily survey of wholesale and direct lenders show that current 30 year fixed mortgage rates are at 4.750% and 15 year fixed mortgage rates are at 4.125%. 5/1 adjustable mortgage rates are at 3.250%. Still remaining below 5%, these are the best mortgage rates available with 0.7 to 1% origination fee to well qualified borrowers who can also meet lender approval.

FHA 5/1 adjustable mortgage rates increased .125% and are at 3.625%. >FHA 30 year fixed mortgage interest rates are at 4.625% and FHA 15 year fixed mortgage interest rates are at 4.000%, both remaining the same.

FHA mortgage loans continue to attract borrowers for the benefits they offer such as the low down payment requirement although FHA closing costs (APR) are higher due to the upfront mortgage insurance premium and other applicable FHA fees. Coming April 18th, FHA is increasing the annual mortgage insurance premium by .25% for FHA 30 year and FHA 15 year fixed rate mortgage loans.

Jumbo 15 year fixed mortgage rates saw the biggest jump increasing .250% and are at 5.250%. Jumbo 30 year fixed mortgage rates are at 5.500% and jumbo 5/1 ARM loan rates are at 4.125%, both remaining the same. Jumbo mortgage loans are available for borrowers in need of financing above the conforming loan limit which is $417,000 to $729,250 depending on location. Available with 0.7 to 1% origination fee, these low jumbo mortgage rates can still be obtained by borrowers who have outstanding credit.

MBS prices (mortgage backed securities) have fluctuated each day this past week depending on the news and investor reaction. Mortgage rates increase and decrease in the opposite direction of MBS prices. After Tuesday's mixed results, mortgage rates stabilized for the rest of the week upon the release of the producer price index,, the consumer price index and housing starts which all came in better than expected.

To determine what your mortgage rate will be give us a call at 972-772-7000 or email us at rockwall@kw.com.