Top 5 Things You Should Know to Sell Your Home Fast.

By Sharon Snyder Print Article

RISMEDIA, August 8, 2011—While many markets around the country continue to experience challenges as the market makes its slow turnaround, Ann Arbor real estate is selling fast, and it’s because we follow some simple rules.

1. Curb appeal is key to selling your home
If it looks rundown from the outside, then it probably is on the inside too. Curb appeal is all about first impressions. Buyers want to feel like they could live in a home from the moment they pull up in front of it. Basic improvements such as exterior painting, cutting the grass and planting some flowers improve the look of a home from the outside tremendously.

2. Deodorize
Every home has a unique odor, especially if pets are present. Be sure to professionally clean the carpet and the furniture and replace carpets if necessary. Keep pets clean and the home free from dander. Consider taking pets and pet cages if present in the home with you when you leave for showings.

3. Really want to sell your home? Repair and repaint
A little putty and paint can make all the difference. Repair damaged dry wall, gouges in wood surfaces and paint the walls. Bright colors such as those in children’s rooms should be repainted with a neutral color. We like to repaint our Ann Arbor homes with a neutral shade that will be attractive to a wide variety of buyers.

4. Put away your personal collections
Here, the old saying that one man’s treasure is another man’s junk rings true. De-clutter your home by packing up knick-knacks, heirlooms, personal collections, and even family photos. After all, they are special only to you and your goal is to make the home presentable to the widest number of people possible. Expensive collections should be packed away as well to keep them safe.

5. No guns, drugs or valuables
If you own a gun, be sure it’s unloaded and lock it away. Don’t leave it accessible to anyone viewing your home, especially anyone with children. The same is true for prescription drugs, fine jewelry, valuable art work, money and anything else you want to keep safe.

5 Questions to Ask Your Mortgage Lender

Everyone knows you’re supposed to be proactive and assertive when you take out a mortgage, carefully collecting and evaluating all sorts of information before you make the biggest deal of your life. But when the mortgage broker starts shooting sheaves of papers (OK, PDF documents) at you, it’s easy for your eyes to glaze over at the sight of so many zeroes, and tempting just to start signing whatever it takes to get that house!

Here are 5 questions every smart buyer (or refi-er) should add to the list of issues to cover with your mortgage professional:
1.Are you a bank, a broker, or both? Generally speaking, mortgage lenders that are banks or have their own banking divisions (which many reputable brokerages do) have more control over the appraisal process, including the ability to submit your file to a pool of appraisers they know have some knowledge of your local neighborhood. Given the fact that non-local appraisers and the inability to communicate with appraisers under relatively new guidelines for brokerages are responsible for killing loads and loads of deals, working with a company that is or has a bank could be a deal-saving move, especially if the property is in an area that hasn’t had many recent sales or is otherwise challenging to appraise.



Also, some broker/banks that originate loans and sell them straight to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac under the FHA loan programs offer the same benefits of an FHA loan - low down payment and moderate qualification guidelines - without the “overlays” imposed by some larger banks, which actually place a more restrictive set of guidelines on FHA loan programs. For example, FHA guidelines do not impose a minimum credit score, but many banks overlay their own 640 minimum FICO requirement. Broker/banks that sell straight to Fannie and Freddie often mirror the FHA minimum guidelines precisely.



Finally, brokerages with their own in-house bank and a large roster of lenders and programs provide the advantage of offering a wider range of fallback options than plain old banks or plain old brokerages - Plans A, B, C and D, if you will - which many borrowers need these days, in the (increasingly common) case your first choice bank or loan program doesn’t work out.

2.Will you explain my Good Faith Estimate to me? May I also have a fee sheet or estimate of funds to close? The current, national standard Good Faith Estimate (GFE) is pretty clear, clarifying all sorts of deal points, from the broker’s commissions to the costs associated with the loan, but as a point of customer service, you should ask your mortgage pro to explain it to you (if they don’t do so under their own initiative).



The one shortfall of the the latest edition of the GFE is that, while it clearly shows the costs associated with a particular loan scenario, it does not always show so clearly the actual amount of funds you’ll need to close the transaction (which might be more or less than those costs)! So, ask your mortgage representative to prepare a fee sheet or an estimate of funds to close as early in the transaction as possible.

3.How long will it take to close my loan? How much time will I need for loan and appraisal contingencies? The time frames for closing your mortgage - which often drive the time frames for closing your home purchase - often vary widely depending on the type of loan and even the type of lender you work with.(Large bank loans originated by the bankers who sit inside the branch are notoriously slower to close, on average, than loans originated by brokers.) Similarly, the time it takes to get through the FHA loan appraisal and underwriting process might be much longer than it would take, all things being equal, to clear those hurdles and remove your loan and appraisal contingencies on a Conventional (i.e., non-FHA) mortgage.



When you first meet with your prospective mortgage pro, talk with them about these time frames, so they can help you set realistic expectations and insert realistic time frames into your offer when you make it, to minimize the drama of a contingency clock that ticks way faster than your mortgage process.

4.Are there any fees for the mortgage loan application/approval process? Some lenders charge for credit checks up front, and most require that you pay for your appraisal in advance (although the latter happens only after you find and get into contract on your property. One of the first questions you should ask, when you sit down with a new mortgage broker is how much cash you’ll have to come up with just for the privilege of having them run your application and take the first steps down the road to loan approval.

5.How long have you been originating loans? And how long have you been with your company? Mortgage pros who have been around for a long time have the knowledge of advance troubleshooting, workarounds and backup plans, and the current underwriting practices it takes to get a loan closed in this restrictive mortgage market. If you found them in some way other than a referral, you can even ask for references from a few clients. Most mortgage pros who have been in business for awhile will be able to give you names and numbers of clients they’ve worked with on multiple purchases and/or refis: that’s a very good sign. You’ll rest a lot easier if you know that your loan is in the hands of a seasoned pro who others like you trust with their largest asset - and largest financial obligation.

3 Tips for the First-Time Home Seller

RISMedia, June 14, 2011—Today’s buyer-take-all bonanza is a boon for fence-sitters and buyers with great credit and deep pockets. But sellers are steeling themselves to new realities that include paying (rather than making) money at the closing table, providing extras to sweeten the deal, and spending more time and cash making the home camera-ready.

For first-time sellers who have never been through the process before, it’s a different world. One where the value of the house isn’t measured in the profit made on the sale, but by the enjoyment the owners had from living in the home.
Here are three things experienced sellers would tell you, if they could.

Price it realistically from the start

“Your largest number of showings will occur in the first two to three weeks,” says Mark Ramsey, a broker in Charlotte, N.C. One reason: “The (multiple listing service) systems and the Internet tend to drive the majority of showings,” he says. Many buyers are plugged in electronically. So the minute something new pops up that meets their criteria, they want to see it.

Take advantage of that sweet spot by pricing the house competitively right out of the gate, he says.

When first-time sellers James and Emily Foltz put their Oklahoma City home on the market last summer, their agent gave them a comprehensive list of the initial asking prices of nearby homes like theirs, along with the final selling prices. “Some varied by $30,000,” says James Foltz.

It gave them an X-ray of their market.

How you style the price is important. The Foltzes first marketed their home for $155,000. But lowering it to $150,000 meant the listing appeared within the computer search parameters that buyers commonly used in that price range, Foltz says.

The result: A few weeks after the price change, they had a winning offer.

Be prepared to lose some money

Want to sit with a house that won’t move? Be the first-time seller who insists you can get the appraised value, the tax assessor’s estimate or whatever you paid a few years ago.

“It seems like there’s no relationship between your assessed value, taxable value and the actual market value of our house,” says Pat Vredevoogd Combs, past president of the National Association of REALTORS®. “There doesn’t seem to be any correlation.”

The truth is that your house is worth what buyers are willing to pay. No more. “This is a true market that Adam Smith would have loved—totally based on supply and demand,” Combs says. That means many buyers should be prepared to lose some money or hang onto the home until the price rises.

“We did end up taking a loss,” says Foltz, who wrote a check for $3,000 at the closing table. The good news is that the couple sold their home in less than two months.

Beware the agent who promises big profits, Combs says. That person may just be after your business. “Don’t go with anyone who doesn’t use comps,” she says. And study sales prices, not asking prices, for real estate.

Promotion, promotion, promotion

One question to ask yourself and pose as you interview agents: How will you reach the home’s target market?

“You have to consider who your most likely buyers are for what you’re selling and cater to that group of people,” Ramsey says.

Targeting 20-somethings who live on their smartphones? You need to effectively access the networks your buyers are tapping to find their next home. One big trend: QR (or “quick response”) bar codes that allow smartphone users to access property information electronically, he says.

The typical starter home can also appeal to downsizing empty nesters, says Ramsey. To serve their needs, you might also want to have a phone number that instantly reaches someone who can provide details and answer questions, he says.

And don’t neglect the modern version of curb appeal: using lots of photos on real estate listings’ websites. However you market your house, you need a good number of clear, well-lit, professional-quality pictures that show your house at its best.

5 Steps on Deciding on How Much to Offer-Or Ask-For Your Home.

One of the hardest, most important decisions homebuyers face is how much to offer for their home. And the glut of information on the web about real estate only makes buyers even crazier than the decision itself does. Supply, demand, foreclosure rates, mortgage rates – buyers think they need to run spreadsheets and do fancy math to make a smart offer. And THAT can be super intimidating.

But the fact is, there is a pretty short list of steps you need to take to make a smart offer – one that gets you a great value, but is also likely to be successful at getting the property. (A low offer does not make for a great deal if you don’t get the house!) And most of the same steps apply to sellers trying to set the list price that will lure the most buyers (and net them the most cash)!

Step 1: What do the “comps” say? First things first. When it comes to pricing a home, or making an offer to buy one, the ‘first thing” is the home’s fair market value. Both buyers and sellers should work with an experienced, local agent to understand what the home’s value is. Most agents will do this by offering you a look back at similar properties that have recently sold in the neighborhood – i.e., the comparable sales, or comps.


HINT: You can also find comps for a home listed on Trulia by scrolling down to the section labeled Sold Homes near 1234 Merriweather Lane on the property's Trulia listing page.


Ideally, look for comparables that are very recent sales (3 months or less before you’re listing or buying), very similar properties (i.e., same number of bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage; and similar style, condition and amenities). If you do get into contract, these may be the same comparables which will be considered by the appraiser, so looking at them before making an offer can:

(a) provide factual support for a lower-than-asking offer or for the asking price, in a negotiation, and


(b) result in a sale price at which the property will actually appraise, later on - avoiding the common glitch of the deal falling through because the appraisal comes in way below the agreed-upon price.

Also, looking at comps is the first step for locating a home’s seller and prospective buyer in the reality-based universe of current home values. The fact that you bought or refinanced the place at a given value 5 or 6 years ago is entirely irrelevant to what it’s worth today, as is the buyer’s belief that the place was worth $100K less at the trough of the market, in 2009.

Step 2: What can you afford? This step is much more critical for buyers than for sellers. (Unfortunately, sellers, the facts that you need to net a particular amount to buy your next home or pay your existing mortgages or credit card bills off has no relationship whatsoever to the price at which you should list or will sell your home.)

Buyers – it’s a must to make sure that your offer price for any given home falls within the range of what is affordable for you. This includes offering a price within the range for which your mortgage was preapproved, but also includes making sure that the monthly payment and cash you’ll need to close the deal (down payment + closing costs) are affordable in light of the particular house. If, for example, the property will require repairs for which you’ll need to conserve cash, or has HOA dues you hadn’t planned on, you may need to rejigger your offer accordingly.

Step 3: What’s your competition? (And what’s theirs?) This is another step at which it’s critical to check in with your agent. You need to know what level of competition you’ll face – whether you are a buyer, or a seller. As a seller, you can find this out by looking at things like how many comparable homes are listed in your town or your neighborhood in your general price range (your agent will brief you on this). Sellers should also consider what type of transactions their home will be up against – the more distressed properties (foreclosed homes and short sales) with which your home must compete, the more aggressive you must be with your pricing to get your home sold.

The more competition you have, as a seller, the lower you should tweak your list price to attract buyers to come see your home. (And the more buyers come to see your home, the more likely you are to get an offer!)

Buyers should also be cognizant of the competition level they will face for homes. Believe it or not, even on today’s market there are properties and neighborhoods in which multiple offers are the name of the game. Work with your agent to understand the list price-to-sale price (LP:SP) ratio , which lets you know how much under or over the asking price properties are selling for in your target home’s neighborhood; the higher the LP:SP ratio, generally speaking, the less competition there is among buyers.

Your agent can also brief you on:

(1) (1) The number of offers – if any - that have been presented on “your” property (which the listing agent will usually, gladly tell). If there are other offers, you’ll want to make a higher offer to compete successfully against them; and

(2) (2) The number of days the home has been on the market, relative to how long an average home stays on the market before it sells – the longer it has, the more pressure is on the seller, price-wise, and the less competition the buyer is likely to have. (One exception is the sweet spot scenario, when a property that has been on the market for a long time has a price reduction and gets a bunch of offers as a result! )

Step 4: How much do they need to sell (or buy) it? Buyers: Has the listing in which you’re interested been reduced at all? By how much? Has the listing agent informed you that her clients are highly motivated, flexible or have an urgent need to sell?

Sellers – most buyers are not in a high state of urgency to buy these days, given the long-term, high affordability of homes and interest rates, except when they have an urgent personal reason for moving, e.g., buyers who are relocating for work. Of course, all of real estate is hyperlocal, so it’s important to understand how motivated buyers are in your local market, generally speaking, before you set your list price.

Trulia’s new, interactive Price Reductions Map offers a number of clues to critical indicators of buyer and seller motivations in your home’s town and zip code, in just a click on the map - including:
· how many homes in your target property’s area have had at least one price reduction,

· how likely a home in the area is to have multiple price reductions.


The higher these numbers are, the stronger of a buyer’s market it is, and the more bargaining power buyers likely have. And if you’re the seller, the higher these numbers are for your area, the lower you may need to price your home to be successful at getting it sold.

Step 5: How much do you want to buy, or sell, the place? Step #4 was about taking the motivations of the folks on the other side of the bargaining table into account when formulating your offer and your list price. This step is all about you – what’s your level of motivation? Now, buyers, you certainly shouldn’t offer a price way above what the place is worth (see Step #1) just because you really, really want it, unless you have the cash to throw around. But within the range of the home’s fair market value, it may make sense to move higher within that range if you are highly motivated to get that particular property.

Sellers: think of your list price as the most powerful marketing tool at your disposal. if you really want or need to sell, get aggressive about setting your price as low as makes sense for your your home's value and local market dynamics to attract qualified buyers and help your home stand out against all the competition.

Article from Trulia Newsletter

Preparing Your House for the Market

If you're selling your home, make sure your home has "curb appeal." Remember, you can't change a first impression. If your home looks like a diamond in the rough, think about putting a small investment into cleaning up the outward appearance.

Imagine that you are seeing the property as a potential buyer. You'll want to do a little yard work - clear away dead shrubbery, and trim your trees and lawn. Weed the flower beds or plant some flowers that will bloom in season. Make sure the driveway is not stained, and if you can't afford to paint the home entirely, at least make sure the front door and immediate entryway is immaculate.

Fresh and clean are still the keywords to making a good first impression once the potential buyer walks through the door. Unless a particular window is facing an eyesore or a neighboring building, open the drapes and let the sunshine in! Put your dog in the back yard or garage so he's not jumping on the new people who just walked in.... they might have allergies! There is much you can do to improve the look of your home, without investing a great deal of money.

Article from Shane Atwell at Primary Mortgage.

Insider Secrets for the 5 Stages of Buying Your First Home

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.

Article from: Tara @ Trulia

Home Buying Ideas for Young People: Plan Ahead

Here are five recommendations for young people who want to position themselves for homeownership.

By Marcie Geffner

Granted, few young people spend much time day-dreaming about buying their first home. They're naturally preoccupied with academics, athletics, parties, dating and future career possibilities. Nonetheless, there are a number of good reasons to start learning early in life about the costs of buying a home and the responsibilities of homeownership. For example, a college student's misuse or abuse of credit cards can preclude his or her buying a home later on.

Here are five recommendations for young people who want to position themselves for homeownership:

1. Establish good credit habits and a favorable credit history. Get a credit card and use it responsibly. Apply for an automobile loan and make your payments on time every month. If you're renting an apartment, put your own name on the lease and the utility bills and make sure the rent and the bills are paid every month. If you're already struggling with credit card debt or have large student loans, take a free workshop from the non-profit Consumer Credit Counseling Service. Call (800) 388-2227 for information.

2. Start saving for a down payment and closing costs. It's possible to purchase a first home in many parts of the country without much in the way of savings. But in high-cost housing areas, starting to save early can be enormously beneficial because you'll get the advantage of compounding interest and have a longer period of time to grow your investments. Open a savings account or a stock brokerage investment account and make regular deposits.

3. Read some books. Your local library and bookstore probably have at least a few shelves of books about financial management and buying a home. Take notes. Make a financial plan for yourself. You can learn a lot about real estate, budgeting and credit on REALTOR.com® too.

4. Research where you'd like to live. Many young people assume they'll continue living in their own home town when they get older, but people are more mobile than ever and chances are good you'll one day live in another city or even another state. Again, the library, bookstore and Web can be excellent resources for information about housing costs and homeownership opportunities around the country.

5. Tap your real estate agent relatives for advice. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles or older cousins in the real estate business can give you good information about the cost of housing in the area where you want to live and what it takes to buy a home. Questions to ask: Is housing affordable in this area? How much money would I need to save in order to buy a home? What advice would you give me about planning my financial future? Would you recommend some books that I might like to read about buying a home? Don't be shy. If you have a question, ask someone in a position to know the answer.

Good and Bad News Bears Down on Home Loan Rates

"Bad news goes about in clogs, good news in stockinged feet." Welsh Proverb. And there was certainly both good and bad news in last week's Jobs Report. Here's what we saw...and what this means for home loan rates.

The Labor Department reported that just 36,000 jobs were created in January, with only 50,000 jobs created in the Private sector, much lower than the numbers anticipated. However, there were upward revisions to both November and December, which added another 40,000 jobs than previously reported.

But that's not the only bit of good news in the report. The Unemployment Rate fell to 9%, down from 9.4% last month, rather than increasing as had been expected. In addition, the U6 or "real" rate of unemployment, which includes discouraged workers and those who have accepted part-time employment for economic reasons, fell to 16.1%, from the previous month of 16.7%...and reflects the lowest level since April 2009!

So what does all of this mean when it comes to home loan rates?

It's important to remember two things:

First, the Fed's goals for their current Quantitative Easing policy (dubbed QE2) where $600 Billion is being injected into the economy are to (1) boost Stock prices, (2) create inflation, and (3) lower the unemployment rate.

Second, while these goals are designed to stimulate our economy and keep our recovery moving forward, they are also unfriendly to Bonds and home loan rates.

In recent weeks, we've seen evidence of all three goals: Stocks been improving, the unemployment rate has declined, and we've seen an increase in global unrest of late, not just in Egypt, but in other parts of the world as well... and much of this centers around runaway inflation in commodities and food.

This means that the old trading saying, "Don't Fight the Fed" is still ringing true. If the Fed wants to accomplish its three QE2 goals at the expense of Bonds and home loan rates, they probably will.

If you have been thinking about purchasing or refinancing a home, this is a great time to get started! Home loan rates are still very attractive, so call or email me if you want to talk about your situation.

Newsletter from Shane Atwell at Primary Mortgage

"No News is Good News"

It's been said that "no news is good news...." And while that can be true, lately many of the economic reports we have seen have been very good news, as they show signs that our economy continues to improve.

Stocks just enjoyed their seventh straight week of gains, due to the positive economic reports that have been streaming in. While this is certainly cause for celebration, an important question we need to consider is what does this mean for home loan rates in the short and long term?

On the one hand, improvement in the economy is good news on the housing front, as once people feel better about keeping their job or getting a new job, home purchasing activity will rise, and values will follow. But on the other side of the coin, as the labor market and economy improve, home loan rates will have to gradually rise as well. And remember, this all ties in with the Fed's plan to inject the full $600 Billion into our economy as part of their latest round of Quantitative Easing, known as "QE2."

Remember, the three part goal of QE2 is to create inflation, lower unemployment, and boost Stock prices - and we are seeing evidence of these goals occurring. Not only have Stock prices improved over the last seven weeks as we discussed above, but December's Jobs Report posted the lowest unemployment rate since May of 2009. And last week, we saw some evidence of inflation as the Producer Price Index (PPI), which measures inflation at the wholesale or producer level, came in higher than expected. While December's Consumer Price Index wasn't quite as hot as the PPI, going forward our increasing budget deficit could cause inflation to spike down the road.

So what's the bottom line if you have been thinking about purchasing or refinancing a home? Home loan rates are still very attractive right now, so call or email me if you want to get started.

Info from: Shane Atwell @ Primary Residential Mortgage

Rent vs. Buy: Do the Math then Ask Mom

Do the Math

Let’s look at the financial aspects of renting vs. buying. With house prices falling and rental prices rising in many markets, the possibility that owning a home could cost less than renting one is growing.

In an article from CNN Money earlier this week, they looked at this issue as we move into 2011:

Perhaps not surprisingly, it makes more financial sense to rent than buy today in many U.S. cities…

But that may finally be about to change. Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi expects the trend to reverse this year in many major cities.

“By mid 2011 and certainly by end of 2011, buying will be superior to renting in most parts of the country,” Zandi says.

As one person said to us recently: “Rents are like adjustable rate mortgages. They adjust often and most times they adjust upward!”

Talk to Mom

Middle age parents who have owned a home understand its true value. A home has always been a good long term financial investment. However, homeownership also has many other benefits.

As a matter of fact, Fannie Mae just came out with their National Housing Survey which asked the question directly: Is this a major reason to buy a home?

The study broke up the answers into financial and non-financial reasons.

The top four reasons and six of the top ten reasons were NON-

FINANCIAL. The top four are below:

1. It means having a good place to raise children and provide a good education.
2. You have a physical structure where you and your family feel safe.
3. It allows you to have more space for your family.
4. It gives you control over what you do with your living space (renovations & updates).

Should this surprise us? Aren’t these the same reasons our parents bought their home? Aren’t these the same reasons we purchased our home?

These are the same reasons parents have suggested their children buy a home. They want the same things for their grandchildren that they believed to be important for their children.

Bottom Line

Now that the craziness of this housing market is beginning to show signs of settling, people are getting back to the core values that families have always embraced. Homeownership is definitely high on the list.

Foreclosures Fall to Lowest Level in 18 Months!

LOS ANGELES — The number of U.S. homes taken back by lenders dropped to the lowest level in 18 months in November, the result of foreclosure freezes enacted by several banks following allegations that evictions were handled improperly.

Home repossessions dropped 28 percent from October and 12 percent from November last year, foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday.

The 67,428 homes lenders took back last month were the fewest since May 2009.

But even with the decline, it was enough to push the total number of repossessions so far this year to more than 980,000 — the highest annual tally of properties lost to foreclosure on RealtyTrac's records dating back to 2005.

"It's almost impossible to imagine that we won't break a million" for the year, said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at RealtyTrac. "Unfortunately, it's a record that we'll probably break again next year."

'Rapid acceleration'
Several lenders responded to heightened scrutiny over the foreclosure process by temporarily ceasing taking action against borrowers severely behind in payments while they checked to see if their employees made errors in loan documents needed to complete foreclosures.

But activity will likely pick up with in the new year.

"In the first quarter, we really anticipate seeing a pretty rapid acceleration of foreclosure proceedings as everybody catches up," Sharga said.

Banks' foreclosure document problems aside, many of the factors that have contributed to the foreclosure crisis are likely to be present next year and should continue to drive foreclosures.

Among them: high unemployment, a weak housing market, flat-to-falling home values and tighter lending standards making it tougher for buyers to qualify for financing.

..In addition, there are some 5 million mortgages that are at least two months past due, and many of them have yet to even enter the foreclosure process.

Meanwhile, millions of homeowners owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth, which makes it more likely they will default on their loan.

10.8 million homes under water
About 10.8 million households, or 22.5 percent of all homes with a mortgage, were under water in the July-September quarter, according to housing data firm CoreLogic.

The figure is down from 23 percent in the second quarter, mainly because more homes fell into foreclosure and not because home prices increased.

In all, 262,339 U.S. homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice in November, or one in every 492 households.

The notices were down 21 percent from October and down 14 percent from November last year, RealtyTrac said.

The firm tracks notices for defaults, scheduled home auctions and home repossessions — warnings that can lead up to a home eventually being lost to foreclosure.

The decline in foreclosure activity was most pronounced in the more than 20 states that require foreclosures to be approved by judges and where many of the documentation errors came to light.

Initial notices sent to homeowners in those states who fell behind on their mortgage were off 43 percent from last year, while foreclosure auctions were down 38 percent, RealtyTrac said.

Some 37 states recorded a drop in home repossessions from October to November.

Nevada No. 1
The number of foreclosure-related notices sent to homes in Nevada fell 20 percent from October, but the state still registered the highest foreclosure rate in the U.S. last month, with one in every 99 households receiving a foreclosure notice. That's nearly 5 times the national average.

Utah leapfrogged several states to the No. 2 spot, mostly because of sharp monthly drops in foreclosure activity in California, Florida, Arizona and Michigan.

One in every 221 households in Utah received a foreclosure-related notice in November, more than twice the national average.

California posted the third-highest foreclosure rate despite a nearly 14 percent drop in foreclosure activity.

Rounding out the top 10 states with the highest foreclosure rate in November were: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Idaho, Illinois and Colorado.

Information gathered from www.msnbc.com

Rates Hit 6-Month High!

Mortgage rates rose for a fourth straight week to reach a six-month high, as yields on government bonds continue to rise. The average interest on a 30-year fixed loan hit 4.61 percent this past week, up from 4.46 percent a week earlier, Freddie Mac reported. Also, 15-year fixed loans averaged 3.96 percent, up from 3.81 percent the previous week; and rates for variable adjustable-rate mortgages floated higher as well.

[SOURCE: Freddie Mac]

Mortgage Rates Hit Six Month High, Threatening Housing

Rates on fixed mortgages rose for the fourth straight week this week, hitting 4.61 percent. The surge could slow refinancings and further hamper the housing market.

Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on a 30-year fixed loan increased sharply from last week's rate. And it is well above the 4.17 percent rate hit a month ago— the lowest level on records dating back to 1971.

The average rate on a 15-year fixed loan rose to 3.96 percent. Rates hit 3.57 percent last month—the lowest level since 1991.

Rates are rising after plummeting for seven months. Investors are selling Treasury bonds in anticipation of an extension of tax cuts and unemployment benefits that could boost the economy. That is raising the yield on Treasury bonds. Mortgage rates tend to track those yields.

The increase in rates already is discouraging homeowners interested in refinancing their homes. Refinance activity fell for the fourth straight week last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

However, the increase in rates may have convinced some homebuyers who were waffling to go ahead and make a move. Purchase application volume was up for the third consecutive week and is at its highest point since the beginning of May. Mortgage brokers and real estate agents agree that a sustained rise in mortgage rates eventually will sideline potential buyers.

To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac collects rates from lenders across the country on Monday through Wednesday of each week. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a single day.

Rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 3.60 percent, up from 3.49 percent. The five-year hit 3.25 percent last month, the lowest rate on records dating back to January 2005.

Rates on one-year adjustable-rate home loans slipped to 3.27 percent from 3.25 percent.

The rates do not include add-on fees, known as points. One point is equal to 1 percent of the total loan amount.

The average fee for 30-year and 15-year mortgages in Freddie Mac's survey was 0.7 point. It was 0.6 point for five-year and one-year mortgages.

Article from www.cnbc.com

Wondering About The Real Estate Market Conditions Here In Nashville?

HOME SALES DECLINE, HOME PRICES CONTINUE TO RISE

There were 1,745 home closings reported for the month of July, according to figures provided by the Greater Nashville Association of REALTORS®. This represents a 21 percent decrease from the 2,214 closings reported for the same period last year.

Year-to-date closings for the Greater Nashville area are 12,768. That is an increase of 11.5 percent from the 11,454 closings reported through July 2009.

"The tax credit helped drive nine consecutive months of increased home sales," said GNAR President Lucy Smith. "Without it, we are beginning to see the new normal of the real estate market. The good news is there were more than 1,700 closings in July and home prices have increased slightly. The increase in prices shows stability and confirms the value of owning real estate. Until the overall economy strengthens and employment numbers decrease, it is appropriate to expect some softness in the real estate market both nationally and regionally. Fortunately, Greater Nashville remains better positioned to address these trends compared with many other locations throughout the country."

There were 1,667 sales pending at the end of July, compared with 2,147 pending sales at this time last year. The average number of days on the market for a single-family home was 85 days.

The median residential price for a single-family home during July was $181,000, and for a condominium it was $149,990. This compares with last year's median residential and condominium prices of $171,100 and $142,146, respectively.

Inventory at the end of July was 24,258, down from 24,592 in July 2009.

"Though slightly less than this time last year, inventory has increased over the past several months," added Smith. "Buyers continue to have a good variety from which to choose in a variety of locations throughout the region. The strong amount of inventory combined with historic low interest rates makes this a very attractive time to consider purchasing a home."

The Greater Nashville Association of REALTORS® is one of Middle Tennessee's largest professional trade associations and serves as the primary voice for Nashville-area property owners. REALTOR® is a registered trademark that may be used only by real estate professionals who are members of the National Association of Realtors and subscribe to its strict code of ethics.

ZIP Codes: 37211, 37220, 37215, 37204, 37221, 37013, 37205Approximate Location

Boundaries: South Davidson County just north of Brentwood (South Nashville and Antioch)

Location Characteristics: This area of South Davidson County has entry level price homes in some areas as well as luxury homes. If you like being close to everything and be reasonably close to downtown Nashville, Davidson County is a good area. The South and Southwest portion of the county is the most upscale area of Metro Nashville Davidson County

info gathered from: http://realtytimes.com/rtmcrcond/Tennessee~Nashville~lucybillrudolph

What Will the Market's New Normal Be??

In a new study, "Housing in America: The Next Decade," Urban Land Institute senior resident fellow John McIlwain says the housing market will not return to what it was prior to the downturn but rather that a "new normal" will take its place.

He expects another 10 percent decrease in residential prices this year, a jump in the number of borrowers abandoning "underwater" mortgages, and a change in consumer perceptions of homeownership.

"The emotional impact on the children and parents and disillusion about the 'joys' of homeownership will be intense; new attitudes to homeownership and the American dream will emerge," McIlwain writes.

He expects home price appreciation to hover around 1 percent or 2 percent per year after the market recovers and the national homeownership rate to drop from 67 percent currently to 62 percent by 2020.

In the coming decade, McIlwain expects the following:

1. Older baby boomers to move to urban, mixed-use, mixed-age centers near family instead of retiring to Sun Belt communities;
2. Immigrants to snub the suburbs in favor of more close-knit communities;
3. Younger boomers to face the challenges of lost home equity and a smaller pool of move-up buyers;
4. Generation Y to rent for long periods by choice or because they are paying off student loans or have stagnant incomes.