Schuylkill County Real Estate: December 2009

Pre-Home Inspections: What Every Seller Should Consider !

Chris and I are Realtors so our opinion is obviously one from that perspective.  But, that perspective was pierced last year when we helped my mother sell our family home of 35+ years located in Bucks County. It was a really slow market at that time and we wanted to sell the home in a few months rather than the average 6-8 months it was taking other homes to sell. So, my perspective as "just another Realtor" faded fast since this was the home I spent my formidable years growing up in and there were many memories embedded into every square foot.

Collectively we agreed that the old house was very well maintained but it certainly needed some repairs.Therefore, we thought it would be a great idea to get a pre-inspection to get a good overview of what we might be up against when a buyer got their own independent home inspection. We did not want any surprises.

We got the inspection done and decided to repair many of the small items that popped up and adjust the price of the property to compensate for some of the items we were not interested in replacing or repairing. We decided not to use our home inspection as a marketing tool in the advertising though we could easily have done so. That was not our goal in getting the pre-inspection. We did it for our own information and for disclosure purposes.

 

The home went pending in 3 weeks in a slow market and settled in less than 45 days at a great price. I attribute that success story to the decision we made to get the pre-inspection. It eliminated the "fear of the unknown" regarding repairs and allowed us to confidently and intelligently price and sell the property fast.

Every seller in this Real Estate Market, whether it be in Philadelphia, Bucks County Pennsylvania, or anywhere across the country should consider  doing a pre-inspection prior to selling their home. In fact, every Realtor representing a seller should consider introducing that option to their seller clients.

Pre-inspections are beneficial and should be considered by every seller because:

1) Pre-Inspections remove the fear of the unknown

2) Pre-Inspections create a platform for realistic pricing from the start

3) Pre-Inspections provide a real advantage when used to increase marketing appeal

The bottom line is information helps empower one to make informed decisions.  If interested in additional information regarding selling your home, please contact The Somers at thesomersteam@yahoo.com. 

Feel free to subscribe to our blog to stay up to date with our latest posts and information on the Philadelphia Real Estate Market.  You can also sign up to receive the Philadelphia Real Estate Blog via email.

     

 

So, you have been unemployed for 2 or 3 months now. Or you may have just received news that your position will be eliminated after the New Year. What should you do?

Many households exist without a BUDGET. Money comes in, money goes out - sometimes thousands of dollars exchange hands in a single month with nothing to show for. Names were left off to protect the innocent. Then, there are some households who "think" they have a budget, but never really respect/ abide by it.

When families run into financial difficulties, some may have depleted their savings, tapped into retirement savings and even ask for families to help.

One very stark observation is that families never get on EMERGENCY mode - ie. changing their lifestyles to adjust to the new financial environment.

One thing I constantly hear, "I'm just holding out waiting for God to turn things around. I know it will happen. It will happen real SOON." So, they go on living the next few months as if things will continue to be the same because "God's going to continue to bless me" mentality.

Now, before you get upset, don't get me wrong. I love God with all my heart. I believe in the power of prayers and I believe that God could turn things around for anyone in an instant. But I don't believe God wants us to live in denial.

 

As a good steward of your finances, whether or not you receive the BAD NEWS, a household NEED to have a Financial Plan B and Emergency Plan C.

Your Financial Plan A is the "currnet" lifestyle you live with the current income you can support your lifestyle with. You must have a Basic Budget.

Your Financial Plan B is when you receive the BAD NEWS. You may need to evaluate what are the lifestyles and expenses you need to cut out. Some examples may include: Manicure/ Pedicure, going out to restaurants to eat, Christmas or vacations, Starbucks, dry cleaning, services for conveniences such as lawn care, shopping and unplanned grocery trips. You may also want to consider trimming back your TV cable services, your cellphone services - Unlimited plans, etc. (You would think these are easy to understand, but you'd be surprised how many don't go in this mode).

Your Financial Plan C is when you need to make drastic measures for basic survival. First, you make sure you have your Basic 4 walls taken care of. This includes your rent or mortgage, your transportation, your food, clothing and utilities. Over and above these necesseties, you make a priority list of what needs to be paid. The word here is "EMERGENCY". Your job is to stretch your financials coming in for as long as you could.

The final and drastic measure would be to consider selling your cars and your home. No one wants to come to this point. But if you do, you may need to get yourself financially and emotionally ready to take on this step.

The biggest problem is that unemployment income was never enough to sustain a household's current income. Yet, families fail to make necessary adjustments for the transition. What they believe is that this is temporary. It is TEMPORARY but TEMPORARY for some, maybe be 2 months, temporary for some could be 18 months or longer.The problem is also to find the position that pays the same to continue living the current lifestyle. Most people have to take 1/3 in pay cut to be in the same position they were in.

The saddest part is that at the beginning, people live and spend as if bad things won't happen. Before you know it, families are in turmoil, emotions are high and divorce is in the picture.

These are REAL for many families. Don't be another statistic. Just like any business practise a Fire Escape plan, you owe it to your family to create a Financial Escape plan. You don't ever have to execute it. But if you do, you have one less thing to worry about.

A business would not go into the following year without a Financial Budget. Why should your household be any different?

 

Question of the Week:

WOULD YOU FIRE YOU If YOU WERE HIRED TO MANAGE YOUR FINANCES?

 

 

If you need a simple Financial Budget to begin your planning, find it here on Budget in pdf format.

The Equity sheet (pdf format) is to see how much you are worth.

 

PS: I'm sorry that I felt compelled to talk about this right before Christmas. Some financial damages may have been done. But there is still time to correct the problem. I rather plant this in your mind before the holidays, rather than to throw a bombshell at you after the New Year. Too many families have "Christmas" with no budget only to find "surprises" on their credit card bills in January and February.

 

 

Related Articles:

• When Finance is More Than Head Knowledge
• The Real Hard Truth about Homeownership
• Time Value of Money in Closing Costs
• Unconventional Financial Advice for Newly Weds
• Can Dave Ramsey Principles Work for All America?

 

 

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Contact:

Loreena Yeo
Frisco TX Realtor® / Broker of 3:16 team REALTY
(214) 783-2210
loreena@loreenayeo.com

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Copyright © 2009 by Loreena Yeo (3:16 team REALTY)
Originally Posted on Every Household Needs a Plan B. Sometimes Plan C too.

Dear Mr. & Mrs. Seller, Your Absence Is Appreciated…

 

          When people are selling their homes, there is sometimes an unnecessary presence. Sellers (and sometimes their agents) remaining in their homes during a showing to potential buyers. I cannot fathom why any seller would so eagerly and willingly sabotage the sale of their home in such a fashion. Nor can I imagine why an agent would be a party to such a move. Either agreeing to such conditions being stipulated by the seller upon listing the home, or neglecting to counsel sellers that their absence during showings would be in their best interests’ amounts to a failure on the part of the agent to fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities to their clients…

 

          Now, this must be a universal phenomenon.  This is only the umpteenth time (ok, maybe I’m exaggerating, but I digress) that I have read about this as I track my blog’s progress and read other real estate blogs, both here in the Rain and elsewhere. Recently, Mark Hall and Todd Clark wrote posts highlighting the consequences for sellers who chose to remain in the home during a showing. In both scenarios, a potential buyer backed off and chose another home because of the actions of the seller, who was present during the showing. When the time for feedback came, I am certain that neither the agent nor the seller were happy with the results…

 

          If it has never happened to you, then you are lucky. I happened to be one of those buyers, once upon a time. I went to view a home with my wife and our agent, and the seller was at home. Not that she (and she was an elderly lady) said anything, or went out of her way to make us feel uncomfortable, but we all got that vibe. I went and put in a full price offer on the house anyway…only to have the seller back out and eventually change her mind about selling the place at all. I seriously think now, in retrospect, that I should have never made an offer on the house, considering the suspicions the lady aroused in all of us.

 

          The surest guarantee of getting a house sold is an absent owner. Now, I know that many may argue with that premise, simply because price is king…but I would argue that a good agent can negotiate the price, but cannot negotiate any negative feelings that may arise because of the unnecessary and unwanted presence of a seller and/or their agent. Buyers’ being able to tour a home without either the listing agent or the seller present enables several things to happen:

1.     A thorough examination of the home;

2.     Buyers to confer openly with their agent about any possible issues that may have been spotted as the buyers toured the home;

3.     Establishes an atmosphere of sincere interest. The seller wants to sell, and communicates that to the potential buyer by not being there.

 

So, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, next time there is an appointment to show your home, your absence is greatly appreciated!

 

 

 

 

 

Looking for information about homes in the Greater Waterbury area?

Buyers, need to find financing and advice on the home-buying process?

Sellers, looking for tips on how to make sure your home sells?

Stop by www.williamsplaces.com !

 

 

Courtesy of William James Walton, Sr. , Realtor, Century21 Access America

Serving northern New Haven and southeastern Litchfield Counties (Waterbury, Wolcott, Prospect, Naugatuck, Middlebury, Southbury, Watertown and Plymouth)

'Tis the Season:  Selling During the Holidays

During the holiday season, the focus for many turns to home and family.  Many buyers cease searching for a new home during this time; however, there are many others who have no choice--they must continue their search because of job transfers, family changes or relocation.  Due to the fact that many sellers feel that during this holiday season, they would prefer not to be 'disturbed,' they will temporarily remove their homes from the market until after the first of the year.

 

 

 

I recommend that my sellers remain on the market during this time if at all possible.  The reason--there is far less competition.  Yes, there are fewer buyers but, the competition is far less and you've got a better chance of selling during this season than waiting for the spring's flood of new listings.

Consider this--holiday festivities are a breeze at your home that is on the market during this season because you have already done the work to constantly keep your home in showing order to be prepared for a showing at a moment's notice.  Your efforts to reach out to potential buyers could pay off during this challenging time!

 

 

When your home offers the features and amenities. location and price that a potential buyer is looking for, you are more likely to sell it quickly in the winter than waiting for the spring or summer buying seasons.  Your home may very well be looking its best this time of year.  Here are some tips for setting the stage for your holiday listing:

1. Adorn your front door with a festive wreath.
   
   
2. Place a fresh welcome mat at the front door.
   
   
3. Minimize your holiday decorations--tastefully selected decorations will give the buyer a 'warm' feeling but, not distract their eyes from your home, which is what you want to ultimately sell.
   
   
   
   
4. Remove furniture to accomodate your decorations--you don't want your home to appear smaller than it is because you've tucked a small tree in the corner and pushed your furniture together to accomodate that tree.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Holiday scents will make your home seem warm and welcoming--consider boiling an apple slice and a stick of cinnamon just before a showing.  You can store your boiling pot in the refrigerator for several days for re-use.
   
   
6. If you're only stepping out of the home for the agents to show, leave it toasty with a fire in the fireplace.  Do not leave your home unattended with a fire burning though!
   
   
7. Because winter months can be dreary because of the weather, raise your blinds and leave the lights on.
   
   
   
   
   
8. Do not over-decorate--all buyers do not celebrate the holidays in the same manner that you do so, give your home a warm feeling but, don't overdo it.
   
   
9. Leave your stereo playing classical or jazz music softly during showings.
   
   
10. As you leave your home for showings, ask yourself if you've appealed to all senses:  visual, smell and sound.  You may even want leave them cookies to appeal to their sense of taste!
    

 

Other holiday incentives you can offer:

• If you can cover the buyer’s closing costs, or a portion thereof, you may attract potential buyers to your home by advertising this information.
• Offer a “decorating allowance” for purchasing your home during the winter months. 

 

Keep in mind that when you place or leave your home on the market during the winter holiday season, people rarely “browse” for homes during this time of year. The potential buyers who do visit your home are serious about buying and are often in a hurry to do so.

 

The equation is simple:  Serious buyers +  tastefully done festive décor = you, well on the way to selling your home!  'Tis the season!

   

      

   

For many years home mortgage insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) have made home ownership possible for millions of home owners. During the "boom" FHA loans lost a lot of ground in the marketplace because non-conforming loans were often easier to get and cost the borrower less scrutiny and often less out of pocket. (More on Examiner.com from my article this morning.)

Welcome the day when Housing and Urban Development Secretary (HUD) Shaun Donovan stood in front of Congress and reported the reserves of the FHA insurance pool to be only .53% - far below the federally mandated, by law, 2% reserves. As you may imagine Mr. Donovan, in an effort to save his job, is now scrambling for good ideas to get those reserves back to the minimum legal level. Let us all observe as the fireman tries to put out a big fire while his own pants are on fire.

Here are some of the recommendations thus far:

1. Raise the required minimum down payment from 3.5% to 5%
2. Lower the maximum seller contribution from 6% to 3%
3. Establish a required minimum credit score
4. Eliminate the ability to finance the Up Front Mortgage Insurance Premium (UFMIP) into the loan
5. Raise the cost of FHA mortgage insurance (higher premiums)

Currently it is much more difficult to be approved for a home loan, purchase or refinance, than it was two years ago or even six months ago. Mortgage brokers are not dropping like flies they have already dropped like flies and the remaining small percentage are having great difficulty getting loans underwritten and closed when they involve lower credit, lower income borrowers. Mid-level lenders are now the ones who are disappearing as they still lose warehouse lines of credit at an astonishing rate. This week saw the demise of LendAmerica.

Judging from the applications I have accepted and closed over the last few months these changes will absolutely impact at least 25% of the borrowers who have successfully purchased or refinanced their homes in the last few months. In fact I have two borrowers today who easily qualify who will likely not qualify if these changes are made. Considering I'm one out of tens of thousands go ahead and do the math. 

Just wait ... it's not only FHA - it's Fannie, then Freddie and Ginnie. We predicted it a few months ago that it would not be long until buyers would need a minimum of 5% down, a minimum of a 640 credit score and rates would start to rise.

Are you ready to pay attention even if you don't get CEs for participating in the conference calls? If I were an agent I would be - I would want to be ahead of the curve!

Ken Cook - Georgia - FHA, USDA, VA and Conventional Home Loans (678) 439-8683

No two homes are alike, which is why pricing a home for sale can be so challenging. You may have an idea of what your home is worth on the open market, but in order to sell it, you'll have to support your price to buyers with comparables - other similar nearby homes that have sold recently or are currently for sale.

To help determine the right asking price for your home, your real estate professional will prepare a comparative or comparable market analysis, or CMA.

 

The CMA is a professional report that real estate agents give to their clients. CMAs are generated by a computer program from your agent's multiple listing service, (MLS). The MLS is available to members only, and they pay a fee to get access to the service's public and proprietary data, including tax information, sold transactions, and listings input by all cooperating MLS members.

Your agent puts search perimeters into the CMA program for homes for sale or those that have recently sold that are most similar to your home. This information is sorted according to fields of information such as neighborhood or zip code, number of bedrooms, number of baths, age of the home, square footage, price range, sold dates within 3-6 months, and other data.

The program then creates a report that tells the agent which homes most similar to yours have sold recently and which homes are for sale.

The CMA is an analysis based on the most current information. It provides unbiased empirical evidence of the latest market conditions as they relate to your home.  You can clearly see a snapshot of the market in the CMA - that prices are going up or down, and what buyers are willing to pay right now.  

As a pricing tool, the CMA has some limitations. For example, it can't tell you why some homes sell above or below the market average. While one home sold for $130 per square foot, another home on the same block sold for $120 per square foot - the same week!

What made the difference?

There are features about any home that can't be quantified by a CMA, but you can read through each listing in the report for clues for why a home sold for more or less than the market average. 

Between identical homes, one property may simply offer better drive-up appeal or is in better condition. Clutter, dirt, overcrowded closets, pet odors or too much furniture can overwhelm buyers and cause them to view a property negatively, which will influence the price they're willing to pay. To avoid this, be sure you are staging your home to sell by simplifying your space. You can sometimes tell from pictures on the CMA if conditions made a difference in a home's selling price. 

Also, buyer and seller motivation can't be quantified.  You don't know why a seller agreed to take less for their home or why a buyer paid more for another home. Family problems, corporate relocations and other reasons all play a role. What you can learn from the CMA is how long the home took to sell. If it was quick, the seller was highly motivated.  

For these reasons, your real estate professional may suggest that you disregard the highest and lowest sales price in a CMA before choosing your listing price.

As you've lived in your home, you've made repairs and improvements that only you know about. Your real estate professional can help you look at these costs realistically.

While a home with a new roof is certainly worth more than a home that needs a new roof, you may not get 100% of your investment back in your sales price. What a new roof can do, however, is make your home more attractive to buyers, and more likely to attract offers.  

Your real estate professional will suggest a pricing strategy for you based on the CMA, but the asking price will be up to you. You have to consider your home's condition and your motivation as well as local market trends. 

Remember, comparables are your home's competition - the homes you use to compare to yours are the same homes buyers will use for comparison as they shop for a home.

They'll choose the home that best suits their needs and what they perceive to be the best value in price, location, and condition.

Important Links

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I can help you with every aspect of buying or selling your home because I'm experienced, because I am a Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty Real Estate Professional . . .and because I care.   

As your Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty Sales Professional, I will provide you with the information you need to make an educated decision.

The relationship between a home buyer or seller and their agent is based on trust, shared goals and understanding.  I strive to continually improve and to do this I listen and take the needs and wants into consideration.

For assistance with any of your real estate needs, please contact me, whether it's to get started on helping you realize your goals and dreams, or just to ask a question - no pressure, no hassle, no obligation - just a friendly conversation. I would welcome the opportunity to make a difference for you. 

Anthony Stokes Pereira Office: (845) 770-2188 Cell: (845) 538-7021 Fax: (845) 624-7137 Email: anthony.stokespereira@randrealty.com www.anthonystokespereira.com

  

Lately, I have been recommending to most sellers that they pre-inspect their home prior to putting it on the market.  This often comes with resistance because at first, it doesn't seem like the expense will be recouped on the sale.  I advise that this is a good strategy and could net a seller more in a slow market.  Here are some reasons:

• a pre-inspection catches what the buyer may find during their own inspection so that the seller can repair and/or price the house accordingly from the outset

• by making necessary repairs in advance, the seller can better manage the repairs on their own terms and there is no time constraint to having the job done; the seller can shop around for estimates

• the pre-inspection report can be offered to potential buyers to provide disclosure and evidence of repairs and/or defects that a seller may choose not to repair
  

• a report gives nervous buyers more confidence to submit an offer, especially if the home is older and competes with new construction

• it is less likely that the buyer will "renegotiate" the offer after their own inspection because it is less likely they will find a surprise or a "new" deal breaker; the buyer will likely submit their highest offer at the outset

• a pre-inspection can uncover a huge potential "deal breaker" like toxic mold, termite damage, code violations, etc.  If a buyer discovers this after submitting an offer they are more likely to back out, rather than adjust the price or ask for repairs

• if the first buyer backs out due to a large defect, the seller stills has to make the repairs for the next buyer while the house remains on the market longer; possibly needing a further price reduction

• making the repairs after the buyer discovers them does not "add value" after the fact, it only prolongs the sale process
  

I'm sure my colleagues can add more good reasons here....and maybe add any reason why this would not be a good idea?