Realtor Babble
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Are You A Social Networker?
- Approved Short Sale: Most Banks won't even look at the file until there is an offer in on the property. Normally and approved short sale means that there was an offer in that the Bank/Investor approved and for some reason the Buyer backed out. It means that if you offer full price you will not have to go through the months of approval. If you try to go in lower than the approved sale price the process can start all over.
- Professional Negotiator Hired: This means that the Seller has hired a third party negotiator to work with the Listing Agent and the Bank on getting the process completed more efficently. This can be an Attorney that specializes in this field or there are many companies that have the staff and systems in place to help get an accepted offer approved.
- Request information about Selling my home
- Request Help With Financing
- Request Buyer's Agent Information
- Request A Copy Of My Deed
- Free Listing E-mail Alert Service
- Your Neighborhood Market Watch Service
- Request A Customized Open House Schedule For This Weekend
- Request For Sale By Owner Assistance
- Request Assistance: My Listing is Expiring
- Contact Mike With Another Question
- You can't make an offer on the first home that you see.-- WHY? In most cases the first few houses that you look at are the ones that best fit your original "dream house". We sit and go over what it is you want and don't want in a house and how much you want to spend and then find the active homes that best fit for you. It is this "rule" that makes you continue to look in the second and third tier of homes that might be missing a few "wants" and may have a couple of extra "don't wants". Hopefully when you realize that you liked the first house the best, it is still available.
- Banks will accept anything just to get the property off the books: This could not be farther from the truth. I have had a few recent cases where the bank has foreclosed and re listed the property higher than what the short sale agent was trying to get.
- You should never pay more than the assessed value: Cities and Town assessments are only physically done about every 5 years and even then the assessor rarely enters the property. They are however adjusted every year either up or down depending on the market. My home's assessment has gone down the last 2 years but my taxes have gone up. The appraisal that the bank will have you do, will be a much better indicator of market value because it is based soley on comparable recent sales and does not rely on public records like the assessments.
- Always get pre approved before looking at any houses: Too often will guess what their price range is and start looking before speaking with a lender. This isn't a big deal if you guess right. If you don't, however; you could be disappointed with the properties that you see in your price range because you are comparing them to the ones that were priced higher. (request mortgage help)
- Get a copy of your credit report from the first lender that you meet with: you may even want to make sure that they will give you this before giving them permission to pull your credit. This will allow you to shop around for the best rate without having your credit pulled numerous times. Each time this is done it effects your score in a negative way. It is for this reason that you should avoid the big online loan services that just take your information and send it out to multiple lenders that all then pull your credit.
- Get on a listing alert service with a local Realtor: This system will allow you to set up a property profile and choose what Cities/Towns you are interested in. You will then receive an entire list of active listings that match your profile. Every day you will receive one e-mail alerting you to any new listings or status changes on existing ones. This is a great way to keep your eye on the market and stay ahead of the competition. If you are looking North of Boston you can feel free to use my listing update service
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Find Out What Is Happening In Your Neighborhood
Golden Opportunity With Sweat Equity!
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Beverly Single Family Activity-- Last 3 Months
How is the Beverly Market doing? This is a question that I hear often. Here are the numbers over the last 3 months. http://pdf.mlspin.com/results/2009100313052268285850.pdf This information is directly from the MLS and is the most current. If you have specific questions about the data, please contact me and I will help in any way that I can.
If you would like to know what is selling and not selling in your immediate neighborhood you can get a market snapshot with this link.
I hope you find this information to be helpful!
Database Management Systems
Can we all agree that managing your database is the best referral system that you have? Why is it then that we have such a hard time choosing a system to help us?
We have a group of Agents in our office that meet every Thursday as an accountability group to make sure that we are doing the things that need to be done to help our business grow. At the end of each meeting we go around the table and set our goals for the week. Last week two of the Agents vowed to research and have a database system ordered by the next meeting. When the next meeting came around and we were going over our goals, they had both researched several systems and could not find one that worked for them.
I use TopProducer. It helps that Keller Williams has it's own version, but honestly I usually compose my own messages. Is it a perfect system? No. But guess what? There is no perfect system! If you are waiting for one to come along, good luck! Find one that you can work with, use the features that help you keep in touch with your network and reap the profits.
An hour of your time will save you 50 hours in the end!
The one thing you learn quickly in Real Estate is that time is valuable. It is for this reason that I have vowed not to take another Buyer out before we have met to go over their situation and the process in general. This sounds simple, but as you all know, when a potential buyer calls and wants you to meet them at a $450k property this simple vow goes out the window. NO MORE!!
It has been proven to me time and time again that no matter how confident they sound, even if they like the $450k house, they either can't afford it or aren't ready to make an offer on it because they have never been explained how the process works.
I was talking to one of out top producers today about my new found approach, it seems he has been doing this for quite some time now. He will not take a client anywhere until they have met in his office and have not only been pre approved but explained the true cost of buying a house.
By using the initial consultation to pin them down on what it is they are looking for, he claims he rarely has to take them out more than three times before they have found a property to put an offer on.
This is a win win situation. You are giving great service by showing the client only properties that they are really interested in. and you are saving yourself the time it takes to show them the rest of the inventory that they have no interest in.
It is going to take discipline, but I am taking this approach from now on. I'll let you know how it goes!
Price Reduced on Short Sale in Great Beverly Location!
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Buying and Selling? Get A Realtor, Make A Game Plan and Stick To It!
Everyone that needs to sell in order to buy wants to have their next house picked out before they put theirs on the market. Unfortunately, even in this market it is nearly impossible to get a seller to take an offer with a sale contingency. While it may give you a comfort level to have your next dream home chosen, the odds of being disappointed are high.
The best way to approach this is to meet with a few local Realtors and choose one that you have confidence in. Set up a meeting at their office initially to go over the entire process. Have all questions ready and bring anyone along that is going to have influence in the decision making (spouse, mom, dad, rich uncle louie!) This will insure that everyone is on the same page before the process starts.
Have the Realtor set up a time to view the property that you want to list. This will give them a better idea of how your home compares to comparable homes that have sold recently. Having the correct listing price should get you an offer quickly which will allow you to know at what price point you should be looking at for your upgrade or downsize.
You will be looking at potential homes and may have a short list of desirable properties but it is best to have a pre-planned living arrangement in the event of a quick sale. If this can't be arranged you need to make sure that your offer is contingent upon you finding suitable housing. Most buyers want to get in quickly but you can try to push the closing date off a week or two in order to get you more time to find the right home.
I try to encourage my buyers not to have the closings on the same day. ideally you want to close on your sale on one day and your purchase the next. This allows any last minute problems to be taken care of and will make for a less stressful transaction.
While the whole industry seems to be focused on the first time home buyers, there are many of you out there that are ready to downsize or have outgrown you first time purchase and want to take advantage of the lower market prices on an upgrade. Obviously a lot depends on when you bought and how much equity you have in your current home. If you can swing it, now is a great time to be purchasing a home!
Great Location! Short Sale in Beverly, MA
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Things are picking up! Now is the time to stay accountable.
It is easy to be accountable to your lead generation when things are slow, but it is more important to stay accountable while things are moving! I'm tired of the roller coaster! Lead generation turns into more business which turns into no time to lead generate which turns into no business. How do you break the cycle?
A group of four other agents and I, have decided to meet for an hour and a half every week to make sure that we are all staying accountable to our lead generation regardless of your current work load. Our first meeting was today and it went very well.
We basicly brainstormed different marketing strategies and shared things that have worked for us in the past. You find out real quick where your comfort zone begins and ends. Some love to get on the phone and call hot and cold leads while others feel more comfortable walking around knocking on doors.
Our goal is to keep doing what comes easy and start breaking through the zone and become more comfortable with the methods that we fear the most.
At the end of the session, we go around the table and set our goals for the next meeting. For example one agent said she would call five people a day from her database in an effort to get referal business. I said that I would have two new listing appointments either done or scheduled by next week. (I'm stronger at generating buyers).
We will start next week by reporting on how we did with our goals and that should lead to the discussion. How did we reach or exceed our goal or why did we not reach our goal. Being the competitive people that we are, not reaching our goal is not an option.
It is our hope that this will keep us from slacking off when things are busy and keep the pipeline going. I'll write a blog in a couple of weeks to let you know how it is going. Feel free to comment with ways you keep from taking the dip in the wave.
No Deadline? Take advantage of the short sale market!
There is less competition in the short sale market.
With the deadline fast approaching (Nov.30th) to take advantage of the Federal Tax Credit, first time home buyers are not paying attention to the short sale market. This creates a great opportunity to make a deal for those who are not pressured to buy.
The short sale market was booming with multiple offers in on many properties earlier in the year. This is because, although Banks will not give them away, you do tend to lower than market value sale price. The fact that they can take 3+ months to get done has taken many of the first timers out of this target market.
Short sale properties generally are in better condition than the bank owned properties, because the sellers are still living in them and understand that they need to keep them up in order to get a deal done and save their credit.
You can never be assured that a Bank/Investor will approve a short sale, but if you do your homework and make a reasonable offer, your odds will increase. Here are a few other tips for buyers looking to have a short sale transaction.
Being aware of the elements that make a short sale transaction go smoother can help you determine which properties have a better chance of not only closing, but getting done quicker than others. Here are two terms to look for.
Get your offer accepted, have the home inspection, and sign the purchase and sales agreement as if it were a normal transaction: "Why would I pay for an inspection before the bank approves the sale?"-- For a couple of reasons. First of all, Why would you want to be off of the market for 3+ months and then find out their is deal breaking problem with the property? Secondarily, once the Bank approves the final HUD1 Statement it can not be changed at all! By addressing any inspection concerns prior to this stage, price reductions for necessary work still have a chance of being approved. It will be an easier decision for the Bank/Investor to make a decision knowing that the inspection is done and will not effect the outcome of the transaction.
Get a buyer's agent familiar with short sale transactions: In Massachusetts, we have a Contract to Purchase prior to the P&S. Using the proper language and addendums with these contracts will protect your interests in the event that the approval is not attained. Having access to the most recent sold comps will help you make a ligitimate offer that has a better chance of being approved than a low ball offer.
If the Tax Credit gets an extension or once the deadline has passed, these will again become the focus of many first timers looking to get more for their money. Now is the time to make your best deal without having to compete in a multiple offer situation.
Get A Short Sale Negotiator In Your Network!
Take the stress out of your short sales!
I don't know about you, but I find using a professional short sale negotiator to be a no brainer when taking on a short sale listing. My job is to market the property and negotiate the best market value deal possible for my client. I don't have time to waste trying to convince the lender that I did my job. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of classical music, I just prefer to hear it through my stereo and not my phone.
The negotiator that I use will come right to the listing appointment to answer all of the questions that arise when trying to explain a short sale to your client. This really enforces the fact to the Sellers that they have a team working together to achieve the best possible outcome for them. They know to call me for the sale relatied questions and to call him for the bank related questions. The more the work is split up the less of a mountain it seems to be to get the situation resolved.
I am alerted when the BPO will be done, so that I can be there with comps in hand. They fight hard for my commission, knowing that there will be more business down the road. They prepare the final HUD that the bank approves, and are instrumental in helping with the Buyer's Agents that aren't quite up on how a short sale should work. Most negotiate their fee with the bank as well, meaning it doesn't cost the Seller or you anything to take these burdens away from you.
Am I Missing Something?!
I don't think anyone enjoys the fact that people are losing their homes. I wrote a previous blog about how miserable a short sale listing appointment can be. It is impossible to be in this business and try to avoid them all together. Get a negotiator in your network and give the best possible service to your clients.
Great Location. Short Sale in Beverly
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Short Sale Listing Appoinments Never Get Easier
Despite the stigma, your doing the right thing.
Most people that don't understand the business, think that short sales are for those who bought over their heads in the first place and deserve to lose the property. While this is true for SOME, the majority of the short sale clients I am meeting with are hard working people that have fallen victim to this economy.
If you have lost your job, modifying your loan is no longer an option. For those of you that have never had to make the call to your lender to look for options only to hear "well can't you borrow the money from someone?" or "why don't you sell your car?" (I didn't make these up.), you wouldn't understand the frustration of trying to do the right thing.
Short Sales are not new and not a result of the current economy. They are a creation of past recessions and were developed to be a win,win for all involved. Believe me when I say, if they didn't benefit the banks in some way, we wouldn't have them as an option.
The basic trade off is that the consumer gets out from under the loan with limited(although there is some) damage to their credit while the bank can recoup fair market value without having to go through the expense of foreclosure.
I guarantee that you would have a different opinion as to the value of the short sale option and the people who are forced to use it, if you came to just one listing appointment with me. They are always very emotional meetings that range from sadness to frustration to anger. Most have worked and paid their way all of their lives and never thought they would be in this position. They are swallowing their pride and DOING THE RIGHT THING!
More Eyes Save Lives!
HAVE AMBER ALERTS SENT TO YOUR CELL PHONE! Anyone who has ever had a child walk off in a crowded place knows the feeling of instant fear and helplessness. Amber Alerts were put in place to get citizens involved when a child has been abducted. Obviously the more people that are aware of the alert, the better the chance of finding the child.
WirelessAmberAlerts.org is a government sponsored site where you can sign up to receive Amber Alerts from your area. Simply type in your cell # and choose up to 5 zip codes. Once there is an alert in one of the Cities/Towns that you have chosen, you will be alerted with a text message.
What a great way to possibly make a difference in a child's life!
How Can I Help You?
I am a full time Realtor that works primarily in the Essex and Middlesex Counties of Massachusetts. I have extensive experience with both Buyers and Sellers. I have created these inquiry forms to help you get the specific information that your require. The Request forms are designed to alert me of your inquiry so that I can get back to you as quickly as possible with the information that you need. The Service forms allow you to take advantage of specific free services without having to contact me to set it up for you. I hope that you take advantage of these and that they help to make your transaction easier. --Mike Giles
The First Time Home Buyer Rules (or are they myths?)
With the rates very low and the Federal Government waving the $8000 tax credit in their faces, the first time home buyers are out in force. This is a good thing for everyone concerned with the Real Estate market.
There are certain unwritten rules that most home buyers in general like to use as a guideline while searching. I find that these rules really have no merit and sometimes stop a buyer from making an offer on a property that they like. I hope that reading this will help you with your search and keep you from missing out on a great deal.
Here are the three common rules of thumb that I often hear and have to disagree with.
I have also put together a few tips to help you while you search.
Again these are meant to help you with your search. The pride and accomplishment of buying a home whether it is your first or fifth, should not be out shadowed by frustration and stress. Do your homework, use professionals and don't forget great deals are made, not found! If I can be of any help to you, please don't hesitate to contact me today!
Cleaning out the drawer!
Every once in a while I need to just get all of the little things out of my brain to make room for some new ideas. I suppose it fits in with the title of the blog. So here goes!
When I am talking listing price with sellers, I often wonder if they understand that the more I sell it for the more I make. If I thought I could sell it for $20k more, I would.
I will never understand the thought process of the banks as far as short sale and foreclosed properties go. I have run in to three cases recently where the bank has foreclosed on a property and then put it on for substantially more than what the short sale agent was trying to get for it.
Remember the days when you would buy a two/three family home to start out and use the rent to buy down the mortgage and then buy a single family ? What ever happened to that concept?
Craigslist is getting so scam ridden that I actually have to use purell after posting
I'm the head of the technology committe in my office, which means that I can use the copier as a scanner!
How many times will a buyer have to ask "is this listing still available?" before they determine that the site they are on doesn't have the most updated information?
With all of the internet marketing,bloging, tweeting and facebooking that I do, nothing gets a better response than picking up the phone!
Sellers have finaly figured it out! I haven't had a Zestimate thrown at me in quite some time.
You know things are getting better when you have plenty of comps for your market analysis
How great is google? How did I get through life without it?
I've got to get away from this computer and go to more Broker Open Houses.
Well that is enough for today. I think I have opened up enough space to take on the day. Thanks for letting me vent and feel free to get any thoughts out of your brain via the comment box!
Could This Be The Best Time To Upgrade or Downsize?
The Final Quarter of 2009 Could Be The Best Time To Sell Your Home.
Home sales are upand first time home buyers are taking advantage of the $8000 federal tax credit. If you have equity in your home, and are considering downsizing or upgrading, this could effect you in a positive way.
As of now, first time home buyers have until December 1st to gain the benefits of the tax credit. Unless the Federal Government continues this program or devises some other version of it, the next three months are going to give you the best chance to sell your home and take advantage of the lower sales prices on your purchase.
Short sales have proved to give a buyer with the time to wait an opportunity to get a home at under market value. This has been frustrating to Sellers that can't afford to take the losses that a big bank can. The average short sale can take 3-4 months to get done from offer to closing. If you are looking now, it would be very risky to focus on a short sale in the hopes that it is done by December 1st.
Multiple offer situations are being seen on a more frequent basis with homes that are priced correctly. Sellers for the first time in a long time are enjoying a little leverage during the negotiation process.
If the Federal Government does not continue the tax credit program, it could have a huge effect on the first quarter of next year. The uncertainty is enough to fuel the need for first timers to get into the market NOW. I believe that this last few months of 2009 will prove to be a very busy time in the Real Estate business.
If you are planning on selling for any reason, you may regret waiting until next year. If I can be of any help to you or if you have any questions about Real Estate in general please contact me.
Social Networking or Addictive Behavior?
I am all for the advancement of communication and fully understand the benefits that sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn offer. I just see some people taking it to a level that borders addiction. While most of my Friends, contacts and followers seem to use the systems as needed, there are others that must be on the computer all day long sending 5-6 posts an hour. I also don't think that most people understand how easy it is to access your profiles and probably don't want EVERYONE to view some of the things that they post on their pages. It is a fact that Company Owners and Human Resource personnel are scanning these sites to gain information on current and potential employees. I have friends on facebook that I know have jobs and must just keep facebook open all day while they"work". Is it really that important that we all need to know that you are going to lunch again today at @12:15? I usually check everything out first thing in the morning and again in the afternoon. If I have something important to say or want to announce an event I will post to all. Mostly I hit people individually or comment on things they have posted. I don't get involved with any of the games, surveys, or "Answer these questions to find out what make and model car you would be". How often do check your favorite social network site and how addicting do you find it to be?
Sometimes You Have To Laugh At Yourself!
If You or someone you knows needs a Real Estate Advisor, I promise I'll do better than this guy:) !
Has Your Home Been Lead Tested? You May Be Surprised!
Of all the paperwork that goes with a normal Real Estate transaction, the most overlooked form could prove to be the most costly. Fortunately, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a very consumer friendly State and makes it fairly easy to stay out of lead paint trouble.
Our office recently had this scenario occur. Our agent was listing a home that the Seller said she was unaware if it contained lead paint or not. This is very common because, unless you have had a lead paint inspection, or the prior owner has told you that they had knowledge of lead paint, you have no way of knowing. Here is where a few minutes of work can save a huge legal mess not to mention save someone from being poisoned by lead paint.
A quick check of the archives in the MLS showed that indeed the property was purchased with the lead declaration being "Unknown". The current owner had no inspections done. A check of the property in the Massachusetts Lead Safe Home Database showed that the prior owner had not been as forthcoming with thier agent as they should have been. There was an inspection done during the prior ownership period that was positive for lead paint and no action was taken.
The current Seller must now disclose that there is lead paint present and should try to get a copy of the inspection to determine how much and where the lead paint was found. Had this not been caught at this point, and someone ended up getting poisoned, you would hope that the original owner that had the inspection and failed to disclose it would be held liable. As we all know, in these situations it is usually a case of; sue everyone and see who is left standing.
If you have not already used the link above to check your current home address or a home that you may be thinking about purchasing, you will be shocked as to how easy it is. This site should be bookmarked on every Realtor's computer and used in every transaction.
***TIP*** Be careful with Streets that have odd spellings. I ran a home on Greene St that showed up under Green St. Be careful with words like Olde, and Towne. more times than not they will drop the odd vowel.
"Big Sites" are great for information, not for search and home values!
As a Realtor that understands today's technology I encourgage all of the "Big Sites" that empower buyers and sellers with Real Estate knowledge. None, however; have found a great way to keep their listings up to date or to give you relevant information in order to determine a selling price for your home.
I love being part of Trulia Voices and have met and helped many people that have posted questions about Real Estate. The problem is that for every one question about a specific real estate problem there are five asking "Is this property still available?". More times than not the answer is "No".
The majority of these sites pull the listing information from other third party listing sites or rely on the listing agent to post the property information themselves. This is great, except most agents never go back after the initial posting to update the status (UAG, SOLD). Craigslist does about the best job by having agents/owner have to post their listings every seven days or they expire. Unfortunately, it has become a contact source for scam artists of all kinds.
When Zillow first came out with the Zestimate Tool, allowing a potential Seller to type in their address and get an estimate of what their home would be worth, it was a big hit with the public. It took a while for Sammy and Sally Seller to understand that the information was based heavily on public records and Sales data that is six months old or more. Even Zillow has more disclosures than you can imagine explaining the accuracy of their Zestimate.
How does one go about getting the most up to date information on homes in the areas that they desire? I know some hate to hear it but, if you contact a local Realtor, they can get it to you and simplify the process. For example if you are in Massachusetts and would like to Search the MLS Inventory you can click and use the direct search tool from my website.
If you are tired of logging on everyday to search for properties and would like them to come to you for a change you can try my FREE Listing Update Service . Simply create a property profile, choose a desired price range and pick the Cities/Towns that interest you. Within 24 hours you will have a complete list of Active properties that match your requested criteria. You will then receive one e-mail a day alerting you to any new listings or status changes to ones that you have already received. This is a great way to keep your eye on the market and stay ahead of the competition.
The only way to get a reasonable idea of what your property may be worth in your local market, is to first find out what is and isn't selling within your local market. For this, I invite you to get your FREE Pinpoint Market Watch Report . As a potential seller, you can type in your address and get a full report of the Active and Sold properties in your neighborhood over the last 3 months. As a Buyer, you can view the activity in a specific area of town that you might have interest in. You will be sent an updated report every 4 weeks until you decide to unsubscribe from the service with a click of a button.
The search and pricing of homes should not be the toughest part of the transaction. I hope these free tools will help anyone in Massachusetts that may want to ease the burden. Not from Mass? Find a local Realtor that has invested in these tools in order to provide a valuable service to his/her clients or contact me and I will find one for you!
Renter Beware!!!!
Make Sure You Research Your Future Landlord!
I want to alert you all to a couple of situations that have occured lately on the North Shore. Both cases were a direct result of Craigslist advertising. As a Realtor, I find Craigslist to be a very good way to advertise my clients properties. It is unfortunate that it has become a breeding ground for scam artist of all levels.
The first case has been very well exposed by the local media. A man that was evicted from an apartment in Beverly decided to advertise the unit himself on craigslist and used his spare key to show prospective buyers the property. He took first, last and security deposit from multiple applicants and has yet to be found. RENTER BEWARE!
Next we have a more sophisticated scam where the predator takes a home that is listed "for sale" and puts them up as "for rent". As you may imagine the monthly fee is at a "too good to be true" price. They go as far as to set up an e-mail account that matches the names on the deed (public record) to respond to. One claimed that they were the owners and were called overseas for an extended amount of time. They welcome people to view the property from the outside but, they were not using the sales agent as a rental agent and they could not be there to show the inside. Of course this is sent with a rental application attached, "just in case".
Make sure that you are dealing with the owner of record before handing over any money or finacial information.
PinPoint Home Value Reports.
Whether or not you are planning on buying or selling a home in the near future, this is a cool way to keep your eye on a specific neighborhood's home sales activity. This is a Free Service and you can view a sample report prior to signing up. Give it a try!
