Marc Guzman
By Marc Guzman
We all know how important your credit score is when it comes to borrowing money for credit cards, auto loans and home loans. But how many of us really take the time to educate our clients on the benefits of preparing their credit score before they buy a home?
Buying a home can be very exciting and a daunting process. Home buyers do a lot from preparing paperwork for the loan officer, research and viewing properties with their REALTOR®, reviewing disclosures and signing paperwork, to saving enough money for the down payment. But in working with many buyers, both first-time and experienced, it is amazing to me how many buyers overlook the importance of their credit score. Many buyers think saving the down payment is sufficient as long as their credit score is above 620. You know that question, “What is the minimum credit score I need to qualify?”
But the truth of it all is, no matter what the credit score, it is important to begin working on improvements 6 months to 1 year before buying a house; longer in other cases. It takes some time to significantly increase the score. You may also want to partner with a company that specializes in credit counseling. Now why place so much emphasis on improving an already qualifying score?
- Average score for buyers using conventional financing is 760
- Average score for buyers using conventional financing in which the loans were purchase by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac was 755
- Only 1 percent of loans were offered to buyer with less than 620 credit score
- 75 percent of loans were offered to buyers with credit score of Continue reading »
Jared James
By Jared James
Did you know that cash buyers have made up over 30 percent of the overall buying market for five consecutive months? To give you some context, only two short years ago cash buyers only accounted for about 12 percent of the market. More importantly, do you know how to leverage them to make more money this year? The housing affordability index was just released and shows housing affordability is at its best level in the history of its reporting, which started back in 1971!
Watch my latest vlog to learn about these things and much more.
Jared James is the CEO and founder of Jared James Enterprises (JJE) and travels around North America speaking to and coaching REALTORS®. Connect with Jared at www.jaredjamestoday.com, on facebook.com/jaredjamestoday, or follow him on Twitter @jaredjamestoday.
Brooke Wolford
By Brooke Wolford
I have gone through a recent run of buyers who seem to take an extremely long amount of time to purchase a property. I began to feel pretty frustrated. I understood that this was happening with many buyers outside of my own, but it still seemed to frustrate me.
I then found what seemed to be a perfect buyer. She was approved, knew what she wanted, and had a deadline of when she wanted to move. I couldn’t have been more excited.
I began to show her properties. We would find something she loved. She would take her parents and boyfriend through the property. I would expect her to put an offer in and then she wouldn’t return my phone calls or emails for days. This repeated itself several times before I finally sat down and had a talk with her. (I don’t know why I waited so long).
After speaking with her about this issue, she told me that she has a mental condition. This condition is called kainotophobia (Fear of change). I immediately felt horrible. Here I was getting all frustrated for months and all along she hand this condition that could completely prevent her from purchasing a property at all. Besides that, I had concerns about her feeling like she could or would make a poor decision.
This type of thing has to pretty common, right? Maybe we as agents need to get some of of specialized training in mental illness?
What I can say is that we need to be empathetic to our clients. We need to be able to communicate to them better. In my case, I should have spoken with her sooner.
Brooke Wolford is a real estate practitioner with Edina Realty, Hastings, Minn. Follow her blog at adventuresinrookierealestate.com.
Jared James
By Jared James
Spring is the time when more people will be making a decision about who to use as their REALTOR® than at any other time of the year. So is there a magic bullet to create more transactions in the next couple of months?? Watch the video below and you decide. I look forward to your feedback and connecting with so many of you. Good luck!!
Jared James is the CEO and founder of Jared James Enterprises (JJE) and travels around North America speaking to and coaching REALTORS®. Connect with Jared at www.jaredjamestoday.com, on facebook.com/jaredjamestoday, or follow him on Twitter @jaredjamestoday.
Subhi J. Gharbieh
By Subhi J. Gharbieh
A week or so ago, I was approached by a long time friend who I have known since elementary school. We grew up in the same neighborhood, went to the same high school, and even graduated from the same university. I remember as kids, we would always talk about how successful we wanted to be when we grew up, and how we were going to help each other become successful.
He called and asked me a few real estate related questions. He said that a relative of his had a property in mind that he was ready to move on, and needed some consultation. I thanked him for the referral, and gave his relative a call. We met, discussed the whole buyers representation process, and everything went pretty well.
A day or so later, I received a call from this friend of mine, saying that his relative was going to approach this property representing himself, without a REALTOR®. I respectfully accepted that and didn’t think too much about it. Immediately following that, he calls me again, this time saying he would convince his relative to purchase the property with myself as his REALTOR®, only if I gave him 50 percent off my commission. (The subject property listed at a little over $2 million dollars.)
Just remembering the friendship that this person and I had as kids, this “offer” felt like a slap in the face (I’m 22, it wasn’t that long ago). I explained to him that it might seem like he is dropping a large amount of money in my lap, but the process to acquire a property of this value takes a lot of time, knowledge, negotiation, and liability. He wasn’t convinced. Long story short, I declined to represent the buyer. Continue reading »
Lynn Minnick
By Lynn Minnick
Although I’ve been in real estate for 10 years now, I just closed on my first HUD foreclosure. We haven’t had that many in my market (yet!) and so far I’ve somehow managed to avoid them. I almost fell out of my chair at the closing when the HUD attorney handed me a survey to complete regarding my experience selling the property! Really? I had a lot to say about not getting answers from the transaction management company when I asked, but mostly my beef was with the additional expenses incurred by the buyer.
1. When the information lists a repair escrow, it’s not the same as you’d think. In this case, it meant the buyer has to mortgage the amount listed ($2,000 in our example) which is held in escrow by their lender, and paid out to the contractor upon completion after the closing. This was unclear to me, the buyer, the lender and the attorney involved. There really should be some type of disclosure/explanation attached regarding this on the offer documents or somewhere in the paperwork.
2. In the case of a condo, as mine was, HUD does not provide resale packages. At $100 a pop, this was another surprise expense to the buyer, and there is no clause for condo document review. There was no ability to add such a clause either.
3. Not only are there no keys to the property, which of course I expected, but there was no remote garage door opener, and no mailbox key. (Looking back, I suppose none of that should have come as a surprise – we imagined we’d be able to get an extra mailbox key from the association – that wasn’t the case – the buyer has to install a new lock there as well. That’s more of an annoyance than an expense.) Continue reading »
Jason O'Neil
By Jason O’Neil
Are the two at odds with one another? I say yes. I begin each buyer consultation with the simple question: “Do you want a great deal or do you want a great home?” The responses are typical:
“Both! Ha Ha Ha…I mean, can’t we get both?”
“Uhhhhh. Great home?”
“Somewhere between.”
“Great home. Good deal. Is that possible?”
Most home owners forget what they paid for their home the instant after they move their stuff in. And while most of them get a monthly reminder about how much they owe on their home, very few remember the asking price, let alone the prices of the other 10 homes they looked at before they found “The One.” The hang up on the good deal is so over emphasized that I predict it will fade in the next 12 months.
I know that there are naysayers out there, but I am having some serious deja-vu. In 2006, home sellers had the golden tickets. Price? Price had nothing to do with selling a house, heck, if you missed the mark on price the market would quickly appreciate so fast that the market would catch up with the price. Sellers didn’t have to negotiate and buyers were at their mercy. My how the tables have turned. But have they really? I am starting to see the same type of overreaction in buyers. I had a buyer ask the seller to fix the neighbors house during an inspection negotiation!
Sellers are saying enough is enough and our market is normalizing. The great homes sell and sell quickly for close to their asking price…some get multiple offers. The homes that languish on the market are the ones that have been over looked, or been rejected by other buyers and the market as a whole. Do you want a great home or a great deal?
Jason O’Neil is a broker and an owner of McKenzie Real Estate in Indianapolis. Visit his Web site: www.McKenzieListings.com
Dave Robison
By Dave Robison
According to NAR’s report about real estate professionals, the majority of us came from admin jobs rather than sales jobs. There is a high probability that the majority of you reading this are order-takers. The good news is you can change that. You can become a better sales person.
I admit it, I was an order-taker and learned this lesson almost 11 years ago. I was showing a friend of mine houses so he could buy his first home. No luck in writing an offer though because he couldn’t make up his mind and he was reluctant to put in an offer. (It was his fault, right?) My dad came out with me to show my friend the same homes a second time around. My dad said, “This is a great house, Kelly. Lets write an offer.” My friend said, “Okay,” and I got my first sale. (Oops, I blamed it on my client but it was really my fault!)
What was the difference? I was just showing homes, I was an order-taker. My dad was a salesperson. Here is how you can know what an order-taker will do versus someone who is a salesperson:
Example – Listing Client: “I’m not in a hurry. We don’t have to sell. We will move if that one buyer comes along.”
Order-Taker: “Okay, I will keep you updated with showings and whether we get any offers.” *Tries to smile while they feel frustrated with their client.*
Salesperson: “What do you mean by that?” “Tell me more about that.” “What is your timing on when you want to move?” (A salesperson will ask more questions so that the seller can come to a better conclusion. Being a salesperson means being a counselor, too!) Continue reading »
Nobu Hata
By Nobu Hata
An article recently came across my Twitterstream from Wired.com which, punditry (and ‘Granted, I live in Manhattan…’ caveat) aside, is a pretty good read.
Go ahead, it’s a short one, I’ll wait for you right here. (http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/11/st_essay_ownership/)
Where my and the writer’s opinion splits is that to me, a home DOES have sentimental value. A house is something everyone connects with emotionally. A house becomes a home, a member of the family. The rentorship attitude is a copout – if I was a writer in New York City, I’d want everything on the cheap, without commitment too. But I digress.
Was it a horrible essay? No. But what it does is epitomize the current state of consumer confidence in home ownership, as does the 90 or so comments, many rebutting the article itself, and that’s the key to remember.
Our generation agent is working in a time of unprecedented backlash from both our buyers and sellers, and the media. We live amidst a “throwaway” and non-committal culture. Simply stated: Home ownership isn’t for everyone. But what I like saying is that everyone knows someone who wants to buy or sell. Naysayer aside, I’ll take a few of those folks sticking up for homeownership rebutting him any day.
Our job will be to find those 90 people; our client base, those buyers and sellers who see value in home ownership, and give them the service they want and need. So what do you say? How will y’all be reaching these people in 2011?
Nobu Hata is a sales associate for Edina Realty in Minneapolis, and a founding member of the Minneapolis YPN group, the YoPros. Visit his Web site at www.nobuhata.com.
Consumers who’ve been through foreclosure may think their days of owning a home are over. Not true. Share the “5 Steps to Owning a Home Again After Foreclosure” from the November “Foreclosure Resource Guide” now available at the REALTOR® Content Resource. Here’s just some of the information:
1. Rebuild your nest egg. Establish a safety net. Since you’re coming out of foreclosure, having six months of living expenses in a liquid account is a minimum to show stability and that you’re able to pay your bills if you lose your job.
2. Raise your credit score. After foreclosure, your credit score, according to myFICO, probably dropped by about 150 points. Raise it with perseverance. Pay bills on time, and keep your credit card balances below maximum levels. The foreclosure will stay on your credit report up to seven years, but it will become less of a red mark as years go by.
With new enhancements to the REALTOR® Content Resource, you can now share this and other articles with consumers via Facebook, Twitter, and e-mail directly from the REALTOR® Content Resource.You can also search more easily for content by themes (formerly “Collections”) or keywords.
While you’re at the REALTOR® Content Resource, log in to enter the REALTOR® Build-Your-Business Sweepstakes, featuring monthly drawings for an iPad and weekly drawings for a $150 Visa gift card.
The REALTOR® Content Resource, brought to you by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, is an exclusive member benefit that entitles you to download free home ownership content from HouseLogic to your marketing materials.
HouseLogic is the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS’® comprehensive consumer Web site geared to helping home owners make smart decisions to enhance, maintain, and protect the value of their home.
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