Tag Archives: Home Ownership

6 Tips for Buying a Home in a Short Sale

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By: G. M. Filisko
By preparing for a real estate short sale, you can emerge with a great home at a favorable price.

Short sales can be lengthy and difficult, but if you know what you’re doing, you can end up with a great deal. Image: fotog/Getty Images

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 When sellers need to sell their home for less than they owe on their mortgage, they’re shooting for a short sale. Short sale homes can sometimes be bargains, but only if you do your homework, stay patient, and remain unemotional during the sometimes lengthy and difficult short sale process.

Here are six tips for protecting yourself emotionally and financially when bidding on a short sale.

1. Get help from a short sale expert

A real estate agent experienced in short sales can identify which homes are being offered as short sales, help you determine a purchase price, and advise you on what to include in your offer to make the lender view it favorably. Ask agents how many buyers they’ve represented in short sales and, of those, how many successfully closed the transaction.

2. Build a team

Ask agents to recommend real estate attorneys knowledgeable in short sales and title experts. A title officer can do a title search to identify all the liens attached to a property you’re interested in. Because each lienholder must consent to a short sale, a property with multiple liens, like first and second mortgages, mechanic’s and condominium liens, or homeowners association liens, will be harder to purchase.

A title search may cost $250 to $300 up front, but it can help weed out less desirable properties requiring multiple approvals.

3. Know the home’s fair market value

By agreeing to a short sale, lenders are consenting to lose money on the loan they made to the sellers to purchase the home. Their goal is to keep those losses as low as possible. If your offer is dramatically less than the home’s fair market value, it may be rejected. Your agent can help you identify the price that’s good for you. The lender will determine whether approval is in its best interest.

4. Expect delays

There are two stages to a short sale. First, the sellers must consent to your purchase offer. Then they must submit it to their lender, along with documentation to convince the lender to agree to the sale.

The lender approval process can take weeks or months, even longer if the lender counteroffers. Expect bigger delays if several lienholders are involved; each can make a counteroffer or reject your offer.

5. Firm up your financing

Lenders will weigh your ability to close the transaction. If you’re preapproved for a mortgage, have a large downpayment, and can close at any time, they’ll consider your offer stronger than that of a buyer whose financing is less secure.

6. Avoid contingencies

If you must sell your current home before you can close on the short-sale property, or you need to close by a firm deadline, your offer may present too many moving parts for a lender to approve it.

Also, consider ordering an inspection so you’re fully informed about the home. Keep in mind that lenders are unlikely to approve an offer seeking repairs or credits for such work. You’ll probably have to purchase the home “as is,” which means in its present condition.

This article includes general information about tax laws and consequences, but isn’t intended to be relied upon by readers as tax or legal advice applicable to particular transactions or circumstances. Consult a tax professional for such advice; tax laws may vary by jurisdiction.

More from HouseLogic

What you need to know about the homebuyer tax credit

How to claim your homebuyer tax credit

Other web resources

Real-life discussions of short sales

G.M. Filisko is an attorney and award-winning writer who luckily has avoided the need for a short sale on her properties. A frequent contributor to many national publications including Bankrate.com, REALTOR® Magazine, and the American Bar Association Journal, she specializes in real estate, business, personal finance, and legal topics.

“Visit HouseLogic.com for more articles like this. Reprinted from HouseLogic.com with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.”

Read more: http://buyandsell.houselogic.com/articles/6-tips-buying-home-short-sale/#ixzz36t28OOhJ
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6 Reasons to Reduce Your Home Price

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By: G. M. Filisko

While you’d like to get the best price for your home, consider our six reasons to reduce your home price.

Home not selling? That could happen for a number of reasons you can’t control, like a unique home layout or having one of the few homes in the neighborhood without a garage. There is one factor you can control: your home price.

These six signs may be telling you it’s time to lower your price.

1. You’re drawing few lookers

You get the most interest in your home right after you put it on the market because buyers want to catch a great new home before anybody else takes it. If your real estate agent reports there have been fewer buyers calling about and asking to tour your home than there have been for other homes in your area, that may be a sign buyers think it’s overpriced and are waiting for the price to fall before viewing it.

2. You’re drawing lots of lookers but have no offers

If you’ve had 30 sets of potential buyers come through your home and not a single one has made an offer, something is off. What are other agents telling your agent about your home? An overly high price may be discouraging buyers from making an offer.

3. Your home’s been on the market longer than similar homes

Ask your real estate agent about the average number of days it takes to sell a home in your market. If the answer is 30 and you’re pushing 45, your price may be affecting buyer interest. When a home sits on the market, buyers can begin to wonder if there’s something wrong with it, which can delay a sale even further. At least consider lowering your asking price.

4. You have a deadline

If you’ve got to sell soon because of a job transfer or you’ve already purchased another home, it may be necessary to generate buyer interest by dropping your price so your home is a little lower priced than comparable homes in your area. Remember: It’s not how much money you need that determines the sale price of your home, it’s how much money a buyer is willing to spend.

5. You can’t make upgrades

Maybe you’re plum out of cash and don’t have the funds to put fresh paint on the walls, clean the carpets, and add curb appeal. But the feedback your agent is reporting from buyers is that your home isn’t as well-appointed as similarly priced homes. When your home has been on the market longer than comparable homes in better condition, it’s time to accept that buyers expect to pay less for a home that doesn’t show as well as others.

6. The competition has changed

If weeks go by with no offers, continue to check out the competition. What have comparable homes sold for and what’s still on the market? What new listings have been added since you listed your home for sale? If comparable home sales or new listings show your price is too steep, consider a price reduction.

More from HouseLogic

How to ready your home for sale at little cost

How to review offers on your home

Other web resources

More on setting the right price

G.M. Filisko is an attorney and award-winning writer who made strategic price reductions that led to the sale of a Wisconsin property. A frequent contributor to many national publications including Bankrate.com, REALTOR® Magazine, and the American Bar Association Journal, she specializes in real estate, business, personal finance, and legal topics.

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“Visit HouseLogic.com for more articles like this. Reprinted from HouseLogic.com with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.”

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Owning A Home: A Noble Goal

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Are you currently renting or living with family or friends, but want to buy a home? This is a noble goal to have. As a REALTOR®, I would be happy to help you execute a plan to put yourself in a position to be a first time home buyer. This is something I have experienced, and would love to help you experience as well.

Currently in the real estate market we are seeing an increase in listings, but not an increase in qualified buyers and renters. The economy has not been kind in the past 5 years, and many individuals have impaired credit. Criteria for qualifying for a mortgage has been strengthened due to the problems seen over the past 5 years with people getting mortgages they could not sustain due to lax mortgage underwriting. In a nutshell, it is a bit harder to qualify for a mortgage than it used to be.

If you find yourself in this position, do not despair! You can realize the dream of home ownership. The first step to qualifying for a mortgage is to know where your credit stands. You can obtain your credit reports annually without charge at https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action. You can also monitor changes in your credit scores for free at www.creditkarma.com.

Once you obtain your reports, review them carefully. Are there inaccuracies? Are there accounts listed that do not belong to you? You can dispute errors on your credit report. For more information on how to do that see: http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0151-disputing-errors-credit-reports. for a printable brochure on disputing your credit report information see this link: http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/pdf-0038-how-to-dispute-credit-errors.pdf.

Once you have disputed inaccuracies, set up a plan to pay all delinquencies off, bring all past-due accounts current, and ensure that all bills are paid on time for the next 12 months. This will require discipline, and may require adjusting your lifestyle so that you can live well within your means. The key to success is keeping your eye on the prize. You want to improve your credit so you can buy a home, car, or other item and you do not want to continue to pay more interest for credit and loans than folks with good credit do. You will increase your buying power and save money now and over time by focusing on repairing your credit.

Review your living situation, bills, entertainment expenses, dining out expenses – all variable expenses and see if you can live more cheaply, and use the savings to repay debts and pay bills on time. Also think about starting or expanding a savings account. You will need some savings to purchase a home, so you should start now planning how you can save painlessly. Can you increase 401k contributions? Does your bank have a “keep the change” function that helps you automatically save? Can you give up one luxury and save that exact amount every week or every month?

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Home ownership has it’s advantages. There are tax breaks, the ability to decorate your living space without restrictions, the ability to build equity, and the fact that most home owners have a higher net worth than most renters. Add to that the fact that you can own a home for less than rent, and you have many good reasons to make home ownership a goal for quality living.

Ready to buy, sell, or rent, or ready to plan to do so? Give me a call at 540-710-4205. I have mortgage lenders who will help you get pre-approved, and then we can go shopping for your home!

Know someone who is ready to buy or sell or needs to plan to do so? – Give them my number or my email: MichelleSmithRealtor@gmail.com. I can help them plan no matter where they live in the world. I can also help them execute the transaction if they are within the state of Virginia. If they are in another state, or another country, I will  or refer them to a local agent in our network.

Best Regards,

Michelle Olivia Smith

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