Have you ever started on a web search, trying to find information on a particular subject, only to find that you have to read through multiple sites just to get one answer? Ask.com has certainly helped in this arena, but it doesn't quite solve the problem that Fannie Mae's website has figured out for homeowners that are struggling with their mortgage.
This new website goes into great detail about the different options available to a mortgagor based on your current financial situation. There is a woman that comes on to the page and immediately starts talking about the site, how to move through the different tabs, and some simple tips on what to do first. The site also has links to general forms a mortgage servicer may require when submitting information for a loan modification, pursuing a short sale, etc. After spending some time walking through all the different scenarios and I found the site easy to understand and navigate through along with a list of numbers to call if you want to speak to a live person about your situation and even a glossary explaining all the key terms used while working with your mortgage company on a solution.
I am very pleased to see a website that is clear and concise with its information and lists ALL options available to homeowners who are struggling with their payments. If you would like to speak with someone about your situation in particular, please give me a call or send me an email and I'd be happy to visit with you to find the best solution or help navigating the website.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Save The Date - Foreclosure Prevention Seminar - August 31, 2010
I will begin teaching Foreclosure Prevention Seminars with my first one in August and will continue teaching these seminars until the interest runs out!
This seminar will go through the different options a homeowner has available to them while behind on their mortgage payments. My first seminar will be held at Maplewood's Community Center on August 31st from 7:00-8:00pm. Please pass along this information to anyone you may know that would like to learn about their options with my contact info to sign up.
Formal invitation to follow, can't wait to see you there!
This seminar will go through the different options a homeowner has available to them while behind on their mortgage payments. My first seminar will be held at Maplewood's Community Center on August 31st from 7:00-8:00pm. Please pass along this information to anyone you may know that would like to learn about their options with my contact info to sign up.
Formal invitation to follow, can't wait to see you there!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Multiple Offers - What to do?
It seems we're now in a market where the best houses go quickly and the so-so ones sit at the same list price for months or one minor price reduction. With the houses that do go quickly, the majority of the time they end up with multiple offers. As a buyer, this can be frustrating when you finally find the house you like. Below are a few tips on how to work this type of situation.
Let’s start off with a situation where you presented your offer first. Likely you presented an offer that is lower than what you originally expected to pay for the home, testing the waters to see what the minimum that seller will accept. Within hours/days of submitting that offer, one or more offers are also submitted and in turn are asked to come back with your highest and best offer for the seller to review. You say you love the home and would be sad if the end result is someone else winning the bidding process. In this situation, I would suggest updating your offer so that the net will give the seller the closest dollar amount to the list price as possible. If you’re not approved to purchase at list price, make sure it is as close as possible. If you’re purchasing with cash, you might even be best served with an offer above list price. You could even consider offering $100 above the highest submitted offer, so long as it doesn’t exceed a pre-determined amount.
How about the flip side, where you submit your offer after someone else already has? This is a situation where you want to come in with your highest and best from the get go. Again, if you’re paying cash for the property and are comfortable submitting an offer over list price or one that would beat out the highest offer by $100, then by all means do so. With financed purchases, you would proceed the same way as described above when your offer was presented first. Write your offer to be as close to the list price as possible or slightly over list price.
With financed offers, you’ll want to be careful not to go over the list price too much as the home must appraise for your offer price or you could find yourself having to come up with cash for the difference. In multiple offer situations, you’ll want your purchase agreement to be as ‘seller friendly’ as possible. This could mean closing sooner (or later, depending on whether the seller’s readiness to close), writing cash in lieu of a financed offer, omitting the inspection and even buying the house with debris/trash left in. Reducing the amount of work needed to close can weigh just as heavy as a higher priced offer with lots of contingencies to a seller. Show the seller you want to close this transaction as soon as possible with as few potential problems capable of surfacing while in the process of closing. Another important factor is delivering your highest and best offer as quickly as possible, don’t waste precious time deliberating how you should proceed or trying to speculate what the other buyers are thinking.
If you have questions about multiple offers or other real estate topics, please call or send me an email and I’m happy to help!
Let’s start off with a situation where you presented your offer first. Likely you presented an offer that is lower than what you originally expected to pay for the home, testing the waters to see what the minimum that seller will accept. Within hours/days of submitting that offer, one or more offers are also submitted and in turn are asked to come back with your highest and best offer for the seller to review. You say you love the home and would be sad if the end result is someone else winning the bidding process. In this situation, I would suggest updating your offer so that the net will give the seller the closest dollar amount to the list price as possible. If you’re not approved to purchase at list price, make sure it is as close as possible. If you’re purchasing with cash, you might even be best served with an offer above list price. You could even consider offering $100 above the highest submitted offer, so long as it doesn’t exceed a pre-determined amount.
How about the flip side, where you submit your offer after someone else already has? This is a situation where you want to come in with your highest and best from the get go. Again, if you’re paying cash for the property and are comfortable submitting an offer over list price or one that would beat out the highest offer by $100, then by all means do so. With financed purchases, you would proceed the same way as described above when your offer was presented first. Write your offer to be as close to the list price as possible or slightly over list price.
With financed offers, you’ll want to be careful not to go over the list price too much as the home must appraise for your offer price or you could find yourself having to come up with cash for the difference. In multiple offer situations, you’ll want your purchase agreement to be as ‘seller friendly’ as possible. This could mean closing sooner (or later, depending on whether the seller’s readiness to close), writing cash in lieu of a financed offer, omitting the inspection and even buying the house with debris/trash left in. Reducing the amount of work needed to close can weigh just as heavy as a higher priced offer with lots of contingencies to a seller. Show the seller you want to close this transaction as soon as possible with as few potential problems capable of surfacing while in the process of closing. Another important factor is delivering your highest and best offer as quickly as possible, don’t waste precious time deliberating how you should proceed or trying to speculate what the other buyers are thinking.
If you have questions about multiple offers or other real estate topics, please call or send me an email and I’m happy to help!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
It's Official ~ Tax Credit Deadline Extended!
Congress officically passed the bill late yesterday to extend the closing deadline of the qualifying purchase transactions to September 30, 2010.
If you've got a contract ready and just haven't closed yet you are in good shape as you'll now have another 3 months to complete the transaction and earn the $8,000/$6,500 after all!
If you've got a contract ready and just haven't closed yet you are in good shape as you'll now have another 3 months to complete the transaction and earn the $8,000/$6,500 after all!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tax Credit Deadline Extension - Update
Great news folks, the House of Representatives passed the bill to extend the tax credit closing deadline yesterday! All that needs to happen now is to have the Senate pass the bill.
This extension was part of a larger bill that fell through on the Senate floor last week. There was wide support amongst the senators for amending the American Jobs and Tax Loopholes Act by adding the tax credit extension to this bill, however the much larger bill stood still last week when discussed within the Senate.
There seems to be lots of support within Congress for the extension of the tax credit, it'll all depend on whether both sides can come to terms and agree to pass it once and for all.
Again, I will continue to keep you posted on the progress of the extension as it happens.
Feel free to contact me with questions!
This extension was part of a larger bill that fell through on the Senate floor last week. There was wide support amongst the senators for amending the American Jobs and Tax Loopholes Act by adding the tax credit extension to this bill, however the much larger bill stood still last week when discussed within the Senate.
There seems to be lots of support within Congress for the extension of the tax credit, it'll all depend on whether both sides can come to terms and agree to pass it once and for all.
Again, I will continue to keep you posted on the progress of the extension as it happens.
Feel free to contact me with questions!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Is there an inspection needed to list my home on the market?
Did you know that a large portion of the cities in the Metro Area now require that an inspection be performed on their home prior to transferring ownership? Quite a few of these cities even require the inspection be performed prior to listing on the MLS, so that the report is available to all interested parties prior to offer submission.
Nowadays, more and more cities are joining the ‘inspection train’ where a seller must have a property inspection be performed prior to the transfer of ownership. The inspection is very different than that of the buyer’s inspection performed in that it only goes over the specific city's code requirements. All cities that require these inspections have a detailed form, specialized by each city, that an inspector must go through when evaluating the structure. Most cities allow for qualified home inspectors perform this inspection, so long as they’re approved by the city to perform said inspections. Some cities require a city employed inspector perform the inspection. No matter who does this inspection, the inspector must go over a specific list of items to test or evaluate and disclose the findings on a report. Each city has their own way of ‘checking the list’ but they do have similar levels of notating whether or not the item is up to city code. For the most part; an item can either meet the minimum requirement, be below the minimum requirement or considered hazardous if not repaired.
Once you have the report, you may need to complete some of the items ‘flagged’ prior to transfer of ownership. Which items need to be taken care of will depend on each city. For example, in the City of St Paul, all homes must have at least one hardwired smoke detector in the home. If the home does not contain one of these detectors, then this item is marked Hazardous and requires the installation of the detector prior to the sale of the home. This is the only item on the St Paul report that is required to be addressed before transferring ownership. Almost all cities will allow the transfer of ownership on the required repairs to a buyer, so long as they repair and have the items re-inspected within a specified timeframe. A buyer must submit a signed form to the city and include a copy in their closing paperwork in order to move forward with the sale. Some cities even require an escrow agreement be put in place for the required repairs notated on the report.
Now you ask yourself, should I complete all the repairs notated on my report? While most buyers are agreeable to assuming repairs, if you are in a financial position to complete them, I highly suggest that you do so. In this real estate market, most of the homes being sold are now ‘As-Is’ sales. This means that the seller will not be doing any repairs to the property, unless required by the city to do so, prior to closing and the buyer must accept the property condition as is. Banks and servicers are already taking a large financial hit on these assets as it is and have little intention of spending any more money to sell the home than is necessary. The sellers who sell their home as a short sale have experienced great financial difficulty and do not have the means to fix every item flagged on their report. Lenders who approve these short sales also require these particular sales to be As-Is anyways. A home that has an inspection report that is ‘clean, where there are no repairs required to sell, is much more appealing than a home that has required repairs already notated before even viewing the home. Every buyer will have built in expenses with the purchase of a new home, furniture, paint or even fixture updates. No need to pass along the additional expense of fixing the required repairs and hiring an inspector to re-inspect the completion of the repairs if it isn't absolutely necessary.
If you have any questions regarding the different city required inspections, or are in need of a quality, certified inspector, please feel free to ask me.
Nowadays, more and more cities are joining the ‘inspection train’ where a seller must have a property inspection be performed prior to the transfer of ownership. The inspection is very different than that of the buyer’s inspection performed in that it only goes over the specific city's code requirements. All cities that require these inspections have a detailed form, specialized by each city, that an inspector must go through when evaluating the structure. Most cities allow for qualified home inspectors perform this inspection, so long as they’re approved by the city to perform said inspections. Some cities require a city employed inspector perform the inspection. No matter who does this inspection, the inspector must go over a specific list of items to test or evaluate and disclose the findings on a report. Each city has their own way of ‘checking the list’ but they do have similar levels of notating whether or not the item is up to city code. For the most part; an item can either meet the minimum requirement, be below the minimum requirement or considered hazardous if not repaired.
Once you have the report, you may need to complete some of the items ‘flagged’ prior to transfer of ownership. Which items need to be taken care of will depend on each city. For example, in the City of St Paul, all homes must have at least one hardwired smoke detector in the home. If the home does not contain one of these detectors, then this item is marked Hazardous and requires the installation of the detector prior to the sale of the home. This is the only item on the St Paul report that is required to be addressed before transferring ownership. Almost all cities will allow the transfer of ownership on the required repairs to a buyer, so long as they repair and have the items re-inspected within a specified timeframe. A buyer must submit a signed form to the city and include a copy in their closing paperwork in order to move forward with the sale. Some cities even require an escrow agreement be put in place for the required repairs notated on the report.
Now you ask yourself, should I complete all the repairs notated on my report? While most buyers are agreeable to assuming repairs, if you are in a financial position to complete them, I highly suggest that you do so. In this real estate market, most of the homes being sold are now ‘As-Is’ sales. This means that the seller will not be doing any repairs to the property, unless required by the city to do so, prior to closing and the buyer must accept the property condition as is. Banks and servicers are already taking a large financial hit on these assets as it is and have little intention of spending any more money to sell the home than is necessary. The sellers who sell their home as a short sale have experienced great financial difficulty and do not have the means to fix every item flagged on their report. Lenders who approve these short sales also require these particular sales to be As-Is anyways. A home that has an inspection report that is ‘clean, where there are no repairs required to sell, is much more appealing than a home that has required repairs already notated before even viewing the home. Every buyer will have built in expenses with the purchase of a new home, furniture, paint or even fixture updates. No need to pass along the additional expense of fixing the required repairs and hiring an inspector to re-inspect the completion of the repairs if it isn't absolutely necessary.
If you have any questions regarding the different city required inspections, or are in need of a quality, certified inspector, please feel free to ask me.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Tax Credit Deadline Extension - Update
I'm sure you've been hearing in the news that there is movement to extend the $8,000/$6,500 tax credit deadline. Last week, senate passed the vote on this matter however it has been attached to a jobless benefits bill that is still in need of passing. While this is good news for most, it may seem slightly misleading.
All parts of the tax credit are not being extended, merely the closing date portion. The two important criteria of this tax credit are those of buyers having a purchase contract executed by April 30th, 2010 and that of closing the transaction by June 30, 2010. The portion that is in the middle of debate is that of the closing deadline, where the powers that be are in the process of extending this deadline to September 30th, 2010. A new buyer can not have an executed contract after the original April 30th deadline, close by September 30th and expect to receive an $8,000/$6,500 check in the mail. A buyer must have already had a purchase agreement executed by April 30th, but was struggling to close in time for the June 30th deadline in order to be eligible for this credit.
This extension was initiated due to the heavy inventory of the properties being sold in these transactions being either bank owned or homes sold as a short sale. Very often, these transactions are delayed due to title issues, short sale approvals and other miscellaneous reasons not caused by the buyer's actions. Congress has clearly taken note that the buyers in these circumstances should not be penalized when they’ve done everything in their power to close the sale in the designated timeframe.
Again, while this is good news to the buyers who fit the criteria of having an executed contract by April 30th, do not be confused and think you can find a home and close by September 30th and receive the tax credit.
I’ll be watching this closely and in turn post at the time that it does come into law. If you have any questions regarding the tax credit or other real estate issues please give me a call and I’d be happy to answer!
All parts of the tax credit are not being extended, merely the closing date portion. The two important criteria of this tax credit are those of buyers having a purchase contract executed by April 30th, 2010 and that of closing the transaction by June 30, 2010. The portion that is in the middle of debate is that of the closing deadline, where the powers that be are in the process of extending this deadline to September 30th, 2010. A new buyer can not have an executed contract after the original April 30th deadline, close by September 30th and expect to receive an $8,000/$6,500 check in the mail. A buyer must have already had a purchase agreement executed by April 30th, but was struggling to close in time for the June 30th deadline in order to be eligible for this credit.
This extension was initiated due to the heavy inventory of the properties being sold in these transactions being either bank owned or homes sold as a short sale. Very often, these transactions are delayed due to title issues, short sale approvals and other miscellaneous reasons not caused by the buyer's actions. Congress has clearly taken note that the buyers in these circumstances should not be penalized when they’ve done everything in their power to close the sale in the designated timeframe.
Again, while this is good news to the buyers who fit the criteria of having an executed contract by April 30th, do not be confused and think you can find a home and close by September 30th and receive the tax credit.
I’ll be watching this closely and in turn post at the time that it does come into law. If you have any questions regarding the tax credit or other real estate issues please give me a call and I’d be happy to answer!
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