Homebuyers getting cold feet are backing out of contracts in these US cities….. 3 min read

With mortgage rates exceeding 6 percent and housing prices rising with them, homebuyers in the Sun Belt region are backing out of purchases at a higher rate than anywhere else in the United States.

Cities including Phoenix, Las Vegas, Tampa and Austin attracted homebuyers at a higher rate during the height of the pandemic when mortgage rates were low — driving housing costs to new highs as a result. But according to a report released Monday by Redfin, those Sun Belt cities are now cooling the fastest, and are the most likely to see homebuyers pull out of a deal before it’s certified.

Approximately 800 home purchase agreements were called off in Jacksonville, Florida, last month, equal to 26.1 percent of homes that went under contract in August — the highest rate among the 50 most populous areas in the United States. Jacksonville was followed by Las Vegas at 23 percent, Atlanta at 22.6 percent and Orlando at 21.9 percent, according to Redfin.

The Sun Belt includes Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, California, New Mexico Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas, according to the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University.

Nearly 64,000 deals fell through nationwide in August, according to Redfin, or 15.2 percent of homes that went under contract that month. That’s up from 12.1 percent in August 2021, and comparable to July’s rate of 15.5 percent.

As the market has slowed, it has allowed more buyers to back out of deals because less competition has resulted in fewer buyers waiving contract contingencies like inspection, financing and appraisal, meaning more buyers can cancel purchases if they find something wrong with the home, if they can’t get a mortgage, or if the appraisal is different from the agreed upon rate, the report states.

“House hunters today are taking their time and exploring their options, whereas six months ago, they had to act quickly and pull out every stop to compete because homes were selling almost immediately,” Tzahi Arbeli, a Redfin real estate agent in Las Vegas said in a statement. “Homebuyers now will agree to buy a house and be doing the inspection, and then back out because they found another home they love more.”

Surging mortgage rates also play a key role, with buyers suffering from sticker shock and backing out of purchases.

“Some homebuyers are finding that by the time they go under contract and lock in their mortgage rates, rates could be much higher than they were when they toured the home and/or got pre-approved. That can kill the deal because the buyer is no longer financially comfortable with the purchase,” Sam Chute, a Redfin real estate agent in Miami said in a statement. “I advise sellers to price their homes competitively based on the current market because deals are falling through and buyers are no longer willing to pay pie-in-the-sky prices.”

Article by Ben Verde

How to Take Your Home’s Measurements and Estimate Value

It seems something as concrete as square footage shouldn’t be up for interpretation. It’s math. There should be one correct answer, right?

… But it’s not so simple. It’s variable and complicated and there’s more than one way to do it.

Measure the Square Footage of a House Yourself

Fortunately there are some general rules. If you want to measure the square footage of a house yourself, here are a few guidelines:

Grab a piece of graph paper and sketch out the layout of your home. Create a separate drawing for each floor. This doesn’t need to be to scale and you don’t have to be a Pictionary champion.

Though you might be inclined to just pace out the rooms and call it day, estimating to this extent won’t get you anywhere good. This project was made for a tape measure.

To take you through the steps, let’s use this obscure architectural wonder as an example. OK, fine, it’s no Frank Lloyd Wright but it works for this purpose!

1. Divide the house into shapes. Rectangles and squares are easiest and most common, but maybe you have a circular breakfast nook, or a triangular closet under the stairs.
2. Measure the length of each wall and write down the dimensions. For the circular room, measure the length across (diameter). And for the triangular room, measure the length from one corner to its longest side.
3. Do some geometry. (You thought you’d never use this stuff again, huh?)

Here’s how you find the area for each of the rooms:

For rectangular and square rooms:

Area = Base x Height

Blue room = 22 feet x 10 feet = 220 square feet

It’s easiest to treat the green room like two rectangles.

Green room =

• 20 feet x 10 feet = 200 square feet
• 14 feet x 5 feet = 70 square feet

For circular rooms:

Area = π x Radius2

Radius is half the diameter = 7, and one-quarter of the circle is gone.

Yellow Room = 3.14 x 49 = 154 sq ft x .75 = 116 square feet

For triangular rooms:

Area = (Base x Height) / 2

Purple Room = (14 feet x 7 feet) / 2 = 49 square feet

4. Add them together. Once you have the area for each room, add them all together to get the total square footage.

For this house = 220 + 270 + 116 + 49 = 655 square feet

Hire a Professional to Measure the Square Footage of a House

That seems like a lot of work, you’re saying to yourself. The good news is that you don’t actually have to do it yourself. In fact, you shouldn’t, at least not in an official capacity. It’s nice to be able to estimate, double check and generally know what counts and what doesn’t, but when it comes to putting your house on the market, it’s important to get a professional.

Angelina Keck, a top-selling agent who ranks in the top 1% of agents in Houston, says you should call an appraiser and ask for a measure. It’ll cost you about $150. “They’ll put their stamp on it so it’s official. This is the best and most reliable way to estimate square footage.” An appraiser will likely take measurements from the exterior.

You should hire an appraiser to measure because:

You might count something that doesn’t count.

Square footage gets a little murky. Areas like your patio, your garage, your basement and your attic… even though they are clearly parts of your home, are not necessarily considered part of your “gross livable area” (GLA). There are some exceptions to this though.

• Your garage doesn’t count as part of your square footage.

• If your attic has seven feet of ceiling clearance and it’s finished, you can count it.

• A good litmus test for whether an area counts as GLA is whether the room is heated or cooled by the same means as the rest the house. If your house is on central A/C but your enclosed patio has a swamp cooler, you can’t count the patio in your square footage.

• Basements are only sometimes counted. It depends on the area, as well as if it’s finished or not. (Is it mostly old boxes, or does your son live down there?)

Say you measured everything yourself and you tell your Realtor that your house is 2,200 square feet. She puts this into MLS. It’s highlighted on your house flyers. It’s plastered across the internet. Eventually, someone puts in an offer. But during the vetting process, their appraiser comes up with a lower number — only 1,600 square feet. Uh oh.

You counted your giant garage in your measurement and now the sale could fall through because their offer was based on a 2,200-square-foot house. A good agent will look for that appraiser stamp, but it’s still good to look out for yourself too.

You can’t always depend on tax documents.

Why pay to have someone measure when your tax documents already have your square footage? Because you can’t always trust what they say. When builders make plans, they send them to the county assessor. As a development sells (or doesn’t), builders and architects may make adjustments to those floor plans but they don’t necessarily update the city. This means tax reports sometimes reflect the wrong square footage for houses.

You might already have all the information.

Don’t sign up for more work than you have to. If this isn’t the first time your home has sold, someone had to have an appraiser measure the last time it sold. Locate that report. Unless you constructed an addition, that appraiser stamp on the measure is still accurate and valid.

 

 

Written by:

How to Take Your Home’s Measurements and Estimate Value

Columbus -“best city to live in right now”

I already knew this of course & that is one of the reasons I became a Columbus Tourism Ambassador (CTA).  Columbus is exploding with culture, yummy restaurants, cool places to live, JOBS and yet the cost of living is still relatively low!  Here is Travel & Leisure’s top 10 picks for Best Cities to live in.

#10 COLUMBUS, OHIO

• Average Family Income: $61,513
• Median Home Price: $185,000
• Projected Job Growth (2017-2022): 5.7%

Columbus is one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S.—and in the Midwest—with a population increase of nearly 11% in the past eight years and job growth of 14% in roughly the same period.

Big 10 Ohio State University is the city’s biggest employer, and you can take advantage of the college town’s vibrant culture by attending a football game at Ohio Stadium, which seats over 100,000 people. Following the game, head to the Thurman Cafe and indulge in its massive, double-patty Thurmanator burger for $21.99.

If college athletics aren’t your thing, check out one of the area’s 96 museums, such as the hands-on Center of Science and Industry, or the Columbus Museum of Art, featuring modern and contemporary works. Oh and don’t forget The National Veterans Memorial & Museum!  

If you are a student: 

For college graduates looking for that first career job, Columbus is where academic excellence turns into career opportunities. You’ll find urban cool next to groundbreaking artists and technology entrepreneurs, innovative startups and global superstars. The best and brightest minds are coveted in Columbus. It’s been ranked as one of the most intelligent cities in the world. Not in the country, in the world! In recent years, Time ranked Columbus among the top 10 places to start a career, and Forbes not only gave Columbus an A rating as one of the top cities for business but also included the city in its Best Places for Business and Careers.

If you are a business:

The Columbus Region is one of the fastest growing major metropolitan areas in the Midwest—ranked #1 for Population Growth (US Census), #1 for Job Growth (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), and #1 for Wage Growth (U.S. Labor Department). A region flourishing with innovation, Columbus’ research and technology institutions are attracting the brightest minds from around the world. Our smarts, energy and vibrancy are fueled by a workforce that’s younger and more educated than the national average. And our youthful, progressive nature is matched by a top-ranked location within a day’s drive of 47 percent of the U.S. population.

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MONEY teamed up with realtor.com to leverage its knowledge of housing markets throughout the country. We put the greatest weight on economic health, public school performance, and local amenities; housing, cost of living, and diversity were also critical components.

Article Credit to Travel & Leisure/Money

Images credited to Brandi J. Newland

http://www.BrandiNewland.com | SpecialAgentBrandi@hotmail.com | Visit my YouTube channel -> https://goo.gl/C4XL3F

Special Agent for 15 years, helping families with one of life’s greatest investments.

Boost Your Homes Value!

 

8 Excellent House Garden Design Ideas – Exterior Design Ideas

We hear this all the time I know BUT I bet you haven’t heard this one.   ADD A GARDEN!

Adding a garden can help increase not only a home’s value, but also the value of a neighborhood, which can help a home sell for more. According to Zillow, curb appeal is one of five of the most important factors to consider when selling a home.

Great landscaping will guarantee a positive first impression for potential buyers, and landscaping investments could see returns of up to 215 percent, making them one of the most valuable home improvements your clients can invest in. This is one of many reasons it’s important to add and maintain a home garden before getting ready to sell a property.

If your sellers are considering adding a garden to their property, don’t let them miss out on these three nuggets of wisdom:

1. Make maintenance easy on the buyer

Always consider the city’s local habitat when choosing plants. Adding native plants and trees to a garden will benefit the environment and make the garden (and entire yard) easier to maintain — and easy upkeep can attract a bigger pool of buyers. Potential buyers might consider it a drawback to have to maintain a difficult, albeit beautiful, home garden.

It’s also important to consider the environmentally conscious home buyer who is likely to lose interest if landscaping requires a lot of water or harmful pesticides.

2. Increasing neighborhood value

Because gardens increase the value of a home, they can also help add value to a neighborhood — and when the value of a neighborhood goes up, the amount a home will sell for also goes up.

Homes in desirable neighborhoods sell for much more than homes in undesirable neighborhoods. There has also been research completed that suggests communities with gardens experience a decrease in crime; and homes in neighborhoods with less crime will also sell for more.

When communities make their neighborhoods more appealing to live in, the buyer market for homes will increase. Many buyers prefer to purchase homes in neighborhoods where there is a strong sense of community. When buyers find the right home in the right neighborhood, they’ll be willing to pay a lot more than they would for the right home in the wrong neighborhood. This is a good reason to complete the landscaping a considerable amount of time ahead of selling — your neighbors might even follow suit!

3. Quality of life

Most buyers think about how a home is going to affect their quality of life — so if an interested buyer imagines a happier life in a home with a garden, they might be inclined to pay more for the property.

Adding a garden to a home will increase its value not only because of visual appeal but also because the potential buyer might see their quality of life improving.

Despite the initial investment, sellers will see a big return. This addition can benefit the local community, improve a new homeowner’s quality of life and add overall value to a property — all leading up to an increase in the dollar amount a home will sell for.

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Article credited to Elena Elisseeva/Matt Edstrom

Images credited to Brandi J. Newland | http://www.BrandiNewland.com | SpecialAgentBrandi@hotmail.com | Visit my YouTube channel -> https://goo.gl/C4XL3F

Special Agent for 15 years, helping families with one of life’s greatest investments.

2017 Tentative Market Value Assessment

Did your house get appropriately appraised?  Is it too high? Or to low? Well here is what you need to know. This is courtesy of the Franklin County Auditor.

Informal Value Reviews

The Franklin County Auditor’s Office will be sending out a tentative value mailer in August 2017. This letter will offer the opportunity for a Franklin County property owner to meet with an appraiser to offer additional information pertinent to the value of his or her property.

These Informal Value Review sessions will take place from Tuesday, Sept. 5 through Thursday, Sept. 28. Owners can then present information to support a different value. If you have paperwork to bring forward to justify a possible change in your 2017 tentative value, please bring the suggested information listed below to an Informal Value Review. Please submit copies of your documentation as the documents submitted will not be returned.  Submit ONLINE HERE!

You can bring one or more of these supporting documents:

• Any evidence of detrimental property conditions.
• Any sale of a comparable property in the past two years that is considered an arms-length transaction. Please note that we do not utilize Short Sales, Foreclosure Sales, Sheriff Sales, or any other type of distressed transactions.
• If you have recently had your property for sale, bring evidence of any listings or offers that were made.
• A property appraisal that was done within the past year by a certified or licensed appraiser.
• A copy of the conveyance form and/or the final purchase agreement if you recently purchased the home.
• If your property is a rental property, please bring evidence of the rental amount.

All property values will be finalized in November for use in the December tax billing. We cannot calculate your taxes until after the November election results are finalized and the new tax rates are released in December.

2017 Reappraisal Timeline

August 2017
Tentative values released
September 2017
Informal Value Review sessions
October – November 2017
Franklin County to finalize values
December 2017 – April 2, 2018
Open filing period for Board of Revision

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Upcoming Informal Reviews

If you would like the opportunity to meet with an appraiser to offer additional information pertinent to the value your property, please attend one of our Informal Review sessions in September.  The location for GROVE CITY is

Monday, Sept. 11 
Tuesday, Sept. 12 
11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Grove City Church of the Nazarene
4770 Hoover Rd
Grove City, OH 43123

 

NEED MORE INFORMATION AND SEE A LIST OF FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS? CLICK here! 

 

Zillow says your house is worth “say what”?

4 minute READ  Inman News Article

Brandi J. Newland – RE/MAX on Stringtown Road | 2051 Stringtown Road Grove City, Ohio 43123 |614.778.4520 | SpecialAgentBrandi@hotmail.com

You’re in the listing presentation, showing your potential clients the comparable listings in their neighborhood and making a recommendation about price, and it comes — the statement you’ve been dreading: “But Zillow‘s Zestimate puts our house at $X higher than that price.”

Clearly these sellers didn’t read the company’s own fine print on its value calculation mechanism — so you can point them to that, or respond as Anne M. Rubin suggested in a session at Century 21’s One21 conference this year:

“Are you familiar with how Zestimates work?

“Zestimates take the deed recordings in a geographic area to determine the number. They don’t include the condition of the home or any upgrades. They can often be too high or too low.

“I will supply you with accurate information from the MLS, which includes interior photos, of the properties that are most likely to be seen by buyers when they are also looking at your house. In addition, I can show you the recent sales in the area that appraisers will look at when they’re determining the value of your house from the buyer’s mortgage company.

“Don’t you want the best information available when you decide how to price your house and when to place it on the market?”

And here are a few more options for how to tackle that objection, sourced from a discussion on Inman’s Coast to Coast Facebook Group.

What’s included — and what’s not

The data sets used to create the Zestimate are cleaned up before numbers are crunched, explained Zillow senior managing economist Skylar Olsen — for example, any properties transferring ownership to and from people with the same last name (indicating a family deed transfer) or involving an unusually high or low sales price will get flagged.

Foreclosures, auctions and quit claims are also removed, and the Zestimate algorithm uses the remaining property data and relevant prices to come up with the magic number — which, Olsen notes, is an estimate.

“The estimate is going to have an associated band of error,” she said. “If there are more transactions in their area, good data in their area, if the homes are more similar to each other, if all homes are in a similar place and similar quality, then the Zestimate is usually pretty close.”

However, “quality is very hard to capture,” Olsen added, “which is why we’re pursuing major machine-learning techniques to elicit new signals.”

‘Have you claimed your house on Zillow? Because if not …’

Olsen notes that the Zestimate data comes from primary sources like the assessor’s office. “We use a lot of public records to power and estimate the statistical models,” she said, “and then what we use to score your Zestimate is not just those public record details but also user-inputted data.

“Incomplete information is really where we see the largest error,” she added. “When we have to infer how many bedrooms or bathrooms there are because the county didn’t put in that data.”

And sometimes, Olsen says, the records are coming from two different sources that record different features of the property.

So if the client has simply pulled up her address on Zillow without claiming the home, she may have no idea what Zillow “knows” about the property — and whether that’s accurate information.

‘Has Zillow been inside your house?’

Most reasonable humans will understand that in order to accurately value a property, it should be visited and examined — inside and out.

“Zillow has never been in your home,” suggested Gaithersburg, Maryland-based agent Scott Leidner as a potential response.

“Has anyone from Zillow ever actually been inside your house, or did they do a property tour?” added Lakeland, Florida’s Bill Kilpatrick.

Ashley Dortch, an agent in Locust Valley, New York, took her suggestion a step further: “Has Zillow been inside of your house and all of the homes it’s using for comps? Well, I have.”

Fullerton, California, agent Erica Boisvert suggested asking sellers whether they’d updated their home’s information on Zillow and reminding them that it’s a mathematical guess in addition to throwing in the statement, “Zillow has never walked your home, the comps or the neighborhood.

“Have you updated Zillow as a homeowner?” she added. “No? Then it’s just a mathematical guess.

“This is what I’ve seen in your neighborhood …” (A beautiful segue to demonstrate your value to potential clients, if we do say so.)

And Philadelphia agent Dennis McGuinn threw in a mention of the inexact nature of house pricing, which can never hurt when it comes to a discussion about Zestimates and other automated valuation models (AVMs).

“There’s no perfect science to pricing a house. But at least I’ve been to your house to see what it offers a buyer. Has Zillow been here?” he recommends asking. And closing with: “And what happens to Zillow if the Zestimate is wrong?”

“Ultimately we’ve never been inside the house,” noted Olsen, “and there’s so much nuance to what’s valuable to a home and cues people to think ‘Gosh, I really like this — I want to bid more.’”

‘Is Zillow going to put in an offer?’

Twin Cities broker Teresa Boardman put it pretty bluntly: “Zillow isn’t going to buy your house, now, are they?”

“Sell it to Zillow!” chimed in Scott Geller of Bensalem, Pennsylvania.

Homing In CEO Todd Miller had an even more tongue-in-cheek way to phrase it:

“You should accept Zillow’s cash offer for your house immediately!”

‘Doesn’t matter what Zillow (or I) think — it’s what buyers think’

Michael Tessaro in San Jose, California, gets straight to the heart of the matter with his objection handler.

“Doesn’t matter what I think or what Zillow thinks,” he suggests telling sellers. “All that matters is the offer you receive from a buyer. You sign it and we close the sale — that’s what your house is worth.”

Not the only AVM in town

Flagstaff, Arizona, agent Emmy Simpson offers a simple, “Let me show you how AVMs work …”

This can be effective because many different brokerage and other real estate companies now offer AVMs — and often they are backed by a big brand that the consumer will recognize.

Explaining how and why each valuation is different can help build trust with your sellers (and show that you really do understand the nuances of pricing).

Point out the numbers game

Marblehead, Massachusetts-based agent Jack Attridge uses math to illustrate how difficult it is to land on the right price at the right time.

“I have a hard enough time pricing homes one at a time,” he tells sellers. “And it is impossible for the local assessor to accurately price the 9,000 homes in my market.

“That is why they tell you that when you get serious, you should reach out to a local agent like myself.”

Get under the hood

Chicago-based team lead Leslie Ebersole points out that this conversation is an opportunity to “validate the work the client is doing on their own behalf and then to demonstrate agent expertise.”

It’s a bad idea to argue with the Zestimate or bash the company behind it, she adds. “Millions and millions of consumers trust Zillow more than they do real estate agents.”

She suggests using this script: “Millions of consumers visit Zillow every month. Most understand that the Zestimate is exactly that — an estimate of the value of the home. Let me show you how the Zestimate is calculated and the Zestimate Data Accuracy table.”

This gives the agent a chance to explain why a Zestimate is “a good starting point as well as a historical reference, but should not be used for pricing a home,” Ebersole noted.

Anne Marie Vespo in Chicago points out to sellers that the Zestimate is based on numbers — namely, the property’s physical attributes, tax assessments and prior and current transactions.

“So if you have a neighborhood of older, smaller homes with a few teardown, new-construction homes, it may bring the value of one up and the other down — but it doesn’t mean it’s accurate as they’re not taking into account what is inside the home,” she pointed out.

Zestimates might be more accurate “in planned-unit developments with cookie-cutter homes, or townhouse and condo communities,” she added, but the Zestimate still doesn’t encompass updates or improvements.

‘Great place to start!’

Your seller has gone to the trouble to educate himself or herself about the potential price of the property in question — so applaud their impulse and use that as a jumping-off point to showcase what tools you have that could help.

Kailua-Kona, Hawaii-based Lance Owens usually begins with, “Great place to start, Seller! I love clients who do their homework and actually put effort into selling the home.”

Then, he says, he pulls up Realtors Property Resource (RPR) and offers to go over the comparative sales in the area, showing sellers with their own eyes what’s happening in their market.

Figure out why the Zestimate doesn’t align with your price

For Jim Weix in Palm City, Florida, the Zestimate is an opportunity to show your clients how much you know (and how much a computer can’t) about their property and area.

“If the Zestimate is off, it will normally be easy to see why,” Weix said. “Zillow doesn’t know the difference between a deep-water ocean-access canal and a glorified ocean-access drainage ditch, since both show up as ‘ocean access canal’ properties.

“Rather than attack or simply reject a Zestimate, it is quite simple to show the errors in it,” he noted.

And showing instead of telling always wins fans, no?

Dig up the past

When Spencer Rascoff sold his Seattle home for significantly less than the Zestimate price, he “may have … given real estate agents a gift they won’t soon forget,” wrote Teke Wiggin at the time.

A few agents revealed that they haven’t yet forgotten the gift and are still using the sale to showcase the potential pitfalls of relying solely on a Zestimate to their clients.

Bottom line: Never take an overpriced listing

“Are there any reasons besides the Zestimate why you think your house is worth that amount?” offered Juan Gabriel Molina of Oxnard, California.

“Tackle the objections, present the data and market facts.”

One thing you should never do, though, is agree to take on an overpriced listing, he added.

“If they’re unrealistic and not motivated, simply tell them you cannot assist them at this time,” he advised.

 

Inman News Article

Brandi J. Newland – RE/MAX on Stringtown Road | 2051 Stringtown Road Grove City, Ohio 43123 |614.778.4520 | SpecialAgentBrandi@hotmail.com

 

Agent Bonus Information & Form

Real Estate selling agents (agent for buyer) get $500 extra for every HUD home purchased with a FHA Rehab Loan. This is an FHA product. On the HUD bid you will click 203(k). In order to qualify for the broker bonus, the bid must have been awarded on or after October 1, 2016 and the purchase must be made with an FHA 203(k) loan. There is a form that must be turned in with your contract.  The form is below and I have also put a link for you to be able to print it out.
Click here for a printable version —>   philadelphia-broker-bonus-10-4_52376031

I can be reached at SpecialAgentBrandi@hotmail.com with any questions pertaining to HUD, whether it is my HUD Home or not!

Broker Brandi J. Newland

Tips for Purchasing a Foreclosed Home

We never set out with the intention of purchasing a foreclosure home, but we ended up buying one, and we certainly learned a lot along the way. Today I am sharing my tips for purchasing a foreclosure based upon our experience, with the hopes that some of you might find it helpful if you ever find yourself in this situation. If you are thinking about buying a foreclosure, read this first!

When we fell in love with our house, we didn’t even realize it was a foreclosure at first. That type of thing can definitely deter some buyers, and I totally understand why.

Tip #1: Be Patient.

And I mean really patient. Delays happen. Sometimes it can take weeks just to get the bank or asset manager to sign paperwork. It’s not a quick process, period. If you have a deadline and need to be out of your current home quickly with nowhere to go in the meantime, then buying a foreclosure probably just isn’t for you. It worked out for us since we were renting and we had a very flexible landlord, but I realize this is not always the case.  If you have to be out of your home by a specific date, then make sure you’ve arranged for a place to stay in the meantime while you wait for the deal to close. Foreclosure situations are unpredictable, and delays can and probably will arise. Which brings me to my next tip …

Tip #2: Expect Delays.

Just when you think everything is smooth sailing, something may pop up to delay the process. In our case, our closing date got delayed because of a discrepancy with the deed to the house. It turned out that the bank that owned the property had to get a “corrective foreclosure deed” so that they would have the correct deed to hand over to us. This in and of itself can take a long time. Our asset manager was located in California, so aside from the time zone difference, it takes a while for the paperwork to go through the chain of people necessary to get it to the proper contact, have them sign it, then get it processed.

Tip #3: Get a thorough inspection.

Often with foreclosures, there is no disclosure involved, and usually the bank will not make any necessary repairs or knock any money off the price to compensate for work the home needs. Know what you are getting yourself into, and decide whether any possible damage or issues with the house are deal breakers or not. There usually isn’t a lot of room for negotiation. I also highly recommend getting a mold inspection too!

Tip #4: Make your “best and final” offer early on in the process.

Bidding wars are common, particularly if the home is in a sought-after area. We narrowly avoided this situation but if we hadn’t accepted the bank’s counter offer, we likely would have gotten into a bidding war. We found out another buyer was getting ready to make an offer that day.

Tip #5: Have all of your “ducks in a row” ASAP, but fully expect that the seller won’t.

Make sure that you have everything in order throughout the entire process. Don’t make an offer before having your preapproval letter (it’s typically required anyway), have your earnest money ready, and down payment funds easily accessible and ready for a quick close (even though it probably won’t be quick). You want to be prepared for any possible scenario. That said, know that the bank selling the house probably won’t have all of their ducks in a row even though they expect you to. The bank selling our home was very strict about every little detail, but in the end it was their fault the closing got delayed.

Tip #6: Go for the enhanced title insurance.

You will have a choice between standard and enhanced title insurance. I personally recommend going for the enhanced, because even though it costs a little more, it offers more protection which is important in a foreclosure situation. For example, when the bank took ownership of our home, they built a new deck. The enhanced title insurance protects us against any code issues or lack of permits or anything that they may have dropped the ball on, and we won’t be held accountable. The enhanced insurance obviously covers more than the standard, and I’d rather have ourselves covered “just in case.”

Tip #7: Talk to the neighbors.

This is helpful in any home buying situation, but especially with a foreclosure I think it’s helpful to meet the neighbors and ask for any information they may have about the house before you buy it. (For example, does the basement flood frequently? Has there been any past damage you should know about? Is the neighborhood quiet? etc.) Our realtor recommended this and I did it before we put an offer on the house.

Tip #8: Have a Backup Plan

Know that there’s a chance that the purchase just won’t work out. Sometimes things fall through for a variety of reasons, as is the case with any home purchase. Everything is just a bit more unpredictable with a foreclosure. I know it can be disappointing, and our deal came close to falling through on multiple occasions. Have a game plan in place in case the sale just doesn’t pan out.

There are definitely perks to buying a foreclosure too. Obviously a purchase price below market value is a plus. You really just have to weigh the pros and cons and determine if it’s the right decision for you. I don’t want this list of tips to deter you from buying a foreclosure, because it can definitely be a good investment if it works out. I just don’t want anyone to go into it blind without knowing what to expect. If you are considering purchasing a foreclosure, I hope these tips will help you prepare for the process!
Written by a home Owner in Waxahachie, TX

3 ways to keep your home Realtor® ready

If you’re the type of person who can keep a house neat and spotless 24/7, hats off to you! For the rest of us, living in a home that’s on the market (and might be shown at a moment’s notice) can be a challenge. Luckily, once you’ve taken all the major steps to declutter, clean and repair your home for sale, there are a few simple strategies you can use to keep it looking its best for buyers.

1) Make a list of your hotspots—the parts of your home that are hardest to keep clean and most noticeable. Some examples might be dishes in the kitchen sink, wet towels in the bathrooms, unmade beds, pet messes, kids’ toys, or mail on the dinner table.

Each morning before you leave home, or any time you get a call to warn you of a showing, pull out your list and spend a few minutes tackling those problem areas. For super short-notice showings, be ready to bundle clutter into a laundry basket or storage tub and take it with you in your car.

At the end of the list, add these often-overlooked items if they apply to you:

• Take out the trash
• Close toilet lids (parents: flush if needed!)
• Open drapes/blinds to let in light
• Turn on lights (if showing will happen soon)
• Turn off TVs
• Open interior doors to invite exploration
• Make sure your key is in the lock box
• Take pets with you (or kennel them)
• Put away personal info, such as bills or statements
• Set the thermostat to a comfortable temperature (especially if you’ve programmed it to save on heating or cooling when the home is unoccupied)

2) Build a quick-cleaning kit. Move from room to room faster with a portable kit of cleaning essentials, like:

• Rubber gloves
• A duster or dust cloth
• Stain-erasing pads
• Disinfectant wipes
• Wood and stainless-steel polishing wipes
• Glass wipes
• Spray mop
• Dustpan and whisk broom
• Lint brush (for pet hair on upholstery or drapes)

Why wipes? Besides the obvious advantage of a lighter, smaller cleaning kit, wipes could also help you minimize harsh chemical smells, since you’re not spraying the cleaner into the air and you won’t leave a fragrant pile of cleaning rags in the laundry. Alternatively, you could choose low-odor cleaners, or cleaners with a pleasing scent.

3) Ask for help (and make it easy for people to help you). If you’re not the only person living in your home, you shouldn’t be the only person trying to keep it clean. Goodness knows, you’re not the only one creating the mess! Give your housemates, spouse and/or children helpful daily tasks and provide the tools they’ll need to get their jobs done. For example, set aside a basket for each child to fill with their toys or other clutter, a tasteful box for unsorted mail, ample hampers for linens, etc.

Looking for more articles about selling your home? Check out my page on Pinterest!