Archive for September, 2008
10 Important Things to Know when Selling
September 25th, 2008 categories: Sellers' Tips
Negotiating, reducing the price, paying the buyers’ closing costs, offering incentives, such as vacations, new appliances, furniture, and so on are all part of the hoops that sellers in this slow market have to jump through in order to get their homes sold.
And yet, in my career as a real estate broker for the last eight years, I have not witnessed so many escrow fall outs, which is why I wanted to create a quick 10 rule self- help guide for the sellers to ensure a smooth closing after accepting an offer on their house.
- Read the contract and the offer to make sure that the net price of the offer matches your plans, since a $205,000 offer asking for $6,000 in closing costs is worse than a lower offer of $200,000, which in reality is higher.
- Ask for a detailed estimate of closing costs before accepting the offer from your agent or the title company you’re working with.
- Pay attention to the cost of repairs, and make sure to put a limit on pest repairs, since otherwise you could be liable for thousands of $$$ in case the house is in need of many repairs. Try to go for the As is sale, especially if the price received is much lower than your asking price.
- Decide whether you’re all right paying all the escrow and title fees, or whether you want to split those fees depending on the offer received, but do know that buyers expect sellers to pay these fees, since they have their own closing costs fees for getting their loan, which in most cases can add up to 3 percent of the purchase price.
- Decide on the close of escrow date to avoid any unwanted and unpleasant surprises when it comes to moving. For instance, closing escrow during the week would mean moving out the previous weekend, which might not give you enough time to do it.
- Always try to get a bigger earnest money deposit to discourage flaky buyers. The rule of thumb is 1 percent of the purchase price, so do insist on an adequate deposit.
- Try to leave personal items out of purchase agreements and addendums that will get into the lender’s hands to avoid a loan scrutiny for your buyers and risking the sale.
- Be adamant about the 17 day removal of all contingencies in writing, because otherwise these contingencies keep on going and if the buyer defaults or simply changes his/her mind, then the buyer can ask for the deposit back and most likely get it. Make sure that you or your agent go for the square on the page that show clearly all contingencies removed, which means that the buyers are serious and that they re ready to lose their deposit if anything happens.
- Leave the house during the home inspection and give the buyers the necessary privacy and intimacy.
- Plan your moving only after you know for sure that the deal is pretty much secured and that the buyers acted in good faith and have complied with their time frames for inspections, contingency removal and so on.
Enjoy the sale and do not stress over all the details, and choose instead to look at the grander picture.
For more information on foreclosed list of homes, as well as any other real estate questions, please feel free to e-mail or call me at 916-342-2446.
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Happy Ending Short Sale Scenario
September 25th, 2008 categories: Short sales
The approximate translation of a Romanian proverb goes like this: “Don’t drown right before reaching the shore,” which of course has to do with someone’s ability to follow through and be persistent in achieving his/her goal, even though it might seem impossible to accomplish and one is ready to give up.
In saying this I have to tell you that sometimes not getting an offer accepted as a short sale after months and months of waiting can be good thing, as most of the times the house will end up in foreclosure and you might be able to get it cheaper, so don’t lose hope. Read the rest of this entry »
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Buyers-To buy a short sale or not?
September 25th, 2008 categories: Short sales
Sacramento real estate has become an oasis of hot deals, especially the bank repos and the shorts sales, but needless to say most buyers prefer the bank owned properties, as they are faster and less frustrating to deal with than the dreaded and time consuming short sales (short sales are as the name denotes a short pay off accepted by the bank, or a loss that the bank is willing to take in order to avoid an expensive foreclosure process).
Therefore, if you’re trying to buy a short sale, it’s going to take for ever to obtain the bank’s final approval, and sometimes not even six months can give you enough time to get the offer accepted, which is why most agents advise clients to run as fast as they can in the opposite direction when coming across the dreaded, but so enticingly priced short sales. Read the rest of this entry »
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Mortgage rates lowest since February of this Year
September 25th, 2008 categories: Mortgage news
Following the take over of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by the Government on September 7th interest rates have dropped to a seven month-low fueling a brisk refinancing activity, as well as getting buyers sitting on the fence serious about buying.
Moreover, rates have dropped consecutively in the last two weeks, going from 5.93% last week to 5.78% this week for a 30-year fixed rate. Read the rest of this entry »
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