WASHINGTON – July 25, 2011 – Nearly 34 percent of real estate professionals say they have felt unsafe on the job “occasionally,” according to an online survey of more than 450 real estate professionals conducted by Moby, a company that develops personal safety mobile applications.
Female agents reported feeling the most unsafe. Forty-two percent of women said they felt unsafe on the job at least occasionally compared with about 18 percent of men.
The top job safety concerns, according to the survey: Viewing vacant properties, hosting open houses and viewing REOs, short sales and foreclosures. Survey respondents also considered private showings and first meetings with clients as potentially unsafe.
Also among the survey’s findings:
• One of the most common safety precautions respondents reported taking is keeping others informed of their location, such as by sharing their itinerary (73.3 percent), checking in repeatedly (42.8 percent), and even attending appointments with a colleague, family member or friend (26.9 percent).
• Slightly more than 20 percent of survey respondents say they meet prospective clients at the office to photocopy their ID. About 13 percent of respondents, however, say they don’t take any precautions at all.
• The most common safety devices respondents say they carry while on the job were phones (95.5 percent). About 20 percent say they carried mace or pepper spray and 7.5 percent carried guns. About 2 percent of respondents reported taking dogs with them to showings for added security.
Source: “Lessons Learned from Real Estate Dangers,” Inman News (July 11, 2011)
© Copyright 2011 INFORMATION, INC. Bethesda,
Monday, July 25, 2011
Gov’t in talks to rent out foreclosures
Gov’t in talks to rent out foreclosures
WASHINGTON – July 25, 2011 – The Obama administration is considering a plan that would take foreclosed homes off the market and rent them out – in a move aimed at clearing the glut of unsold foreclosed homes and preventing home values from falling any more, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The talks come at a time when national rents are on the rise and home prices have been falling. By taking advantage of higher rents, lenders would be able to cover the costs of holding the properties until the homes can be resold after the market stabilizes – and maybe even make a profit on it later, experts note.
Nationally, sales of distressed homes, which are often sold at steep discounts, continue to pull down home values. Removing some of the high number of foreclosed homes for sale is “worth looking at,” Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said last week in testimony to Congress.
Just reducing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s foreclosed property sales from its current rate of 50,000 each month to 30,000 could lessen total distressed sales by one-third and help avoid a further 3 percent to 5 percent decline in home prices, analysts at Credit Suisse estimate.
However, turning foreclosed homes into rentals could place lenders and the government in an unknown role of playing landlord.
Another idea being tossed around, according to The Wall Street Journal: Federal officials selling thousands of foreclosed properties to private investors who would agree to rent them out, and who could then work with property management firms and handle the day-to-day tenant demands.
Source: “Uncle Sam Weighs Landlord Role to Ease Housing Slump,” The Wall Street Journal (July 22, 2011)
© Copyright 2011 INFORMATION, INC. Bethesda, MD
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Simplifying the Real Estate Transaction from Contract to Close
RISMEDIA, July 23, 2011— By Paige Tepping - As advancements in technology continue to provide real estate professionals with the tools they need to work smarter and stay connected no matter where they are, the focus on eliminating the copious amounts of paper involved in a real estate transaction is greater than ever before. Not only is transitioning from the tried and true pencil-and-paper system to an online system good for the environment, it’s also the way of the future, according to Tom Groom, chief technology officer, PropertyInfo Corporation, a Stewart company. As the primary technology provider for the tools Stewart Title offices use in production and sales operations, PropertyInfo Corporation provides all the technology that a title operation would need if it were to open its doors and get started today, including online quotes and ordering, title search services, policy production, document management, mobile applications, fraud prevention, customer-facing technologies and services, and more.
Creating an Online Footprint
“PropertyInfo Corporation was formed to focus on providing solutions to the real estate and title industries, both in their back office and their front office—all in an effort to improve the end-customer’s experience,” says Groom. While the company offers numerous technology services that complement the day-to-day operations of title companies, it has focused its attention on products that help make the process from contract to close—and beyond—as seamless as possible.
“For Stewart Title, we have invested a lot of time and effort into our online workflow and document management system Stewart Online™, powered by SureClose®, which enables our clients to work smarter and more efficiently,” says Groom. “The program allows real estate professionals to get rid of all the paperwork associated with a transaction and work completely online, providing a seamless process for all parties involved.”
As real estate professionals continue to become increasingly mobile, being able to easily access transaction information is more crucial than ever. “Our REALTOR® and lender clients need to be able to access information about transactions anytime, anywhere,” says Groom. “Not only does SureClose give real estate professionals the ability to always know what’s going on when it comes to specific transactions, it also enables them to provide magnificent customer service to their home buyers and sellers by giving them access to their transactions via Stewart Online.” By getting rid of the entire paper trail and storing all the pertinent forms in an online folder, real estate professionals can access the information 24/7—while at the office or on-the-go.
PropertyInfo also works directly with real estate brokers, MLSs and associations to further develop and offer its SureClose platform to brokerages and associations across the U.S. so that they can provide their real estate professionals and membership base with the online experience. “At every layer of the real estate transaction and with every party—title operation, real estate professional, lender, home buyer and seller—we are changing the real estate experience,” Groom continues.
Working Smarter
“As the needs of real estate professionals continue to evolve, it is important that we stay ahead of the curve in terms of being accessible and transparent,” says Groom. Building a good mobile interface is one way PropertyInfo Corporation is keeping up with the needs of today’s busy real estate professionals. “While our mobile apps for iPhone and Android (launched in June) are very popular, we have to reach out to our clients in a lot of different ways since not everyone is going to read an email or visit a website to get information.”
While PropertyInfo Corporation has spent the last 30 years—in some shape or form—systematically building the systems, people and processes to make them the best at delivering title information, the last four years have been instrumental in growing their offerings.
“We have spent the past four years actively consolidating our technologies into the company so that we can offer all these services under one umbrella,” says Groom. This hard work and determination has enabled PropertyInfo Corporation to build an operation that focuses on the core technology that isn’t necessarily a part of the typical day-to-day title operations.
In addition to its popular document management system, the company also offers its title and escrow production systems to the title industry—AIM®. “We put a lot of effort into the latest version of our title production system AIM+—literally decades of experience building title production systems—so we have a good understanding of what needs to get done and how we can build efficiencies into the software to continuously improve the product.”
AIM is the company’s title and escrow production system that is designed to efficiently execute real estate transactions for residential and commercial properties. “By listening to our clients and implementing the features that would help them the most on a daily basis, we have built a system that allows them to create forms and keep things up-to-date, all while minimizing the number of key strokes it takes to get the job done.”
Looking Toward the Future
As we continue toward the future, PropertyInfo Corporation’s vision is to eliminate paper entirely from the beginning of the real estate transaction through the closing process. “By taking the time to work closely with our clients and listen to their needs, we have built a system that gives REALTORS® and lenders the information they need, when they need it, ensuring that the real estate transaction be completed in a timely manner,” concludes Groom. “As the real estate industry continues to evolve online and Internet-based systems maintain their prevalence, we are positioned in a great place when it comes to providing our clients and our clients’ clients with the tools and technology they need to improve their customer service and find success well into the future.”
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Market Results to Build Your Brand
RISMEDIA, July 14, 2011—All too often we have a success and move quickly on to the next item on our agenda. It’s easy to forget these happy client comments, homes sold and other professional achievements, but they are some of the most important pieces to your brand puzzle you will ever have to market yourself.
While slick websites, brochures and the technology you use are important aspects to your business, developing credentials or “earning your chops” and marketing them is really the core of what matters in building your brand and selling it effectively.
Recognizing and taking note of these events is the first and most important step to utilizing them in a manner that will help you build your brand in a variety of ways. You’ve heard “content is king.” Well, it’s really true and it’s hard to consistently develop unique content for your own use. Asking happy clients, vendors and other business contacts for testimonials is an important step to developing great, original content for your website and other communications.
Facebook and other social media attract positive comments and you can use these too, but remember you must give them to get them. Don’t let these comments go to the bottom of the page and disappear; extract and use them in your communications and on your website. In other words, be your own brand fan.
As you start your collection of credentials, you will be able to respond quickly or answer a prospect immediately when they ask you about your experience and past clients. Use them in video, listing or other presentations and speaking engagements, too.
If gathering testimonials sounds like a difficult task, get started by keeping notes on what you want to ask for and who you want to ask. Then create a schedule and make these requests and updates on a regular basis. The point is to consistently showcase your testimonials, credentials and achievements to build confidence and trust in you, your brand and your capabilities.
Chris Kaucnik is chief marketing officer for Home Warranty of America. For more information, please visit www.hwahomewarranty.com.
Fort Lauderdale sales prices up
Fort Lauderdale sales prices up
July 21, 2011 09:45AM
The median sales price for condominiums in the Fort Lauderdale metro area jumped 11 percent in June, with single-family sales prices rising 26 percent, according to a report from the Miami Association of Realtors. Condo sales in Broward County rose 7 percent in June, accompanied by a 6 percent increase in single-family sales compared to the same period in 2010. "Healthy sales levels in Broward County have resulted in reduced housing supply, which is indicative of a well-performing market," said Terri Bersach, president of the Broward County Board of Governors of the Miami Association of Realtors. "Prices have now caught up with rising sales, which is a very positive sign for the local real estate market." -- Alexander Britell
South Florida home sales rose again in June
South Florida home sales rose again in June, while prices were more uneven, the Florida Realtors said Wednesday.
Broward County had 1,274 existing homes change hands last month, up 6 percent from a year ago. In Palm Beach County, 1,184 homes sold, a 9 percent increase from June 2010.
Sales in the two counties have increased in every month since January.
Broward’s median price in June was $196,000, up 26 percent from a year ago. The county’s median has been up and down so far in 2011, while Palm Beach County’s median has been down consistently during the first half of the year.
Palm Beach County’s median price was $204,900 in June, down 12 percent from a year ago.
Statewide, sales rose 4 percent from a year ago, while the median price of $138,000 was off 2 percent. The median means half the homes sold for more and half for less.
“Promising signs continue for a slowly strengthening economy and housing market,” Florida Realtors President Patricia Fitzgerald said in a statement.
Analysts agree that the Florida housing recovery will be gradual, with some months better than others. Still, prices aren’t expected to hit bottom until 2012.
http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/business/realestate/housekeys/blog/2011/07/south_florida_home_sales_surge.html
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
June Existing-Home Sales
Washington, DC, July 20, 2011
Existing-home sales eased in June as contract cancellations spiked unexpectedly, although prices were up slightly, according to the National Association of Realtors®.
Sales gains in the Midwest and South were offset by declines in the Northeast and West. Single-family home sales were stable while the condo sector weakened.
Total existing-home sales1, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, declined 0.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.77 million in June from 4.81 million in May, and remain 8.8 percent below the 5.23 million unit level in June 2010, which was the scheduled closing deadline for the home buyer tax credit.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said this is an uneven recovery. “Home sales had been trending up without a tax stimulus, but a variety of issues are weighing on the market including an unusual spike in contract cancellations in the past month,” he said. “The underlying reason for elevated cancellations is unclear, but with problems including tight credit and low appraisals, 16 percent of NAR members report a sales contract was cancelled in June, up from 4 percent in May, which stands out in contrast with the pattern over the past year.”
Yun cited other factors in the sales performance. “Pending home sales were down in April but up in May, so we may be seeing some of that mix in closed sales for June. However, economic uncertainty and the federal budget debacle may be causing hesitation among some consumers or lenders.”
The national median existing-home price2 for all housing types was $184,300 in June, up 0.8 percent from June 2010. Distressed homes3 – foreclosures and short sales generally sold at deep discounts – accounted for 30 percent of sales in June, compared with 31 percent in May and 32 percent in June 2010.
According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage was 4.51 percent in June, down from 4.64 percent in May; the rate was 4.74 percent in June 2010.
NAR President Ron Phipps, broker-president of Phipps Realty in Warwick, R.I., said home sales should be higher. “With record high housing affordability conditions thus far in 2011, we’d normally expect to see stronger home sales,” he said. “Even with job creation below expectations, excessively tight loan standards are keeping many buyers from completing deals. Although proposals being considered in Washington could effectively put more restrictions on lending, some banking executives have hinted that credit may return to more normal, safe standards in the not-too-distant future, but the tardiness of this process is holding back the recovery.”
Phipps added that lower mortgage loan limits, due to go into effect on October 1, already are having an impact. “Some lenders are placing lower loan limits on current contracts in anticipation they may not close before the end of September. As a result, some contracts may be getting cancelled because certain buyers are unwilling or unable to obtain a more costly jumbo mortgage,” he said.
Total housing inventory at the end of June rose 3.3 percent to 3.77 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 9.5-month supply4 at the current sales pace, up from a 9.1-month supply in May.
All-cash transactions accounted for 29 percent of sales in June; they were 30 percent in May and 24 percent in June 2010; investors account for the bulk of cash purchases.
First-time buyers purchased 31 percent of homes in June, down from 36 percent in May; they were 43 percent in June 2010 when the tax credit was in place. Investors accounted for 19 percent of purchase activity in June, unchanged from May; they were 13 percent in June 2010.
The balance of sales was to repeat buyers, which were a 50 percent market share in June, up from 45 percent in May, which appears to be a normal seasonal gain.
Single-family home sales were unchanged at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.24 million in June, but are 7.4 percent below a 4.58 million pace in June 2010. The median existing single-family home price was $184,600 in June, up 0.6 percent from a year ago.
Existing condominium and co-op sales fell 7.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 530,000 in June from 570,000 in May, and are 18.0 percent below the 646,000-unit level a year ago. The median existing condo price5 was $182,300 in June, up 1.8 percent from June 2010.
Regionally, existing-home sales in the Northeast fell 5.2 percent to an annual pace of 730,000 in June and are 17.0 percent below June 2010. The median price in the Northeast was $261,000, up 3.1 percent from a year ago.
Existing-home sales in the Midwest rose 1.0 percent in June to a pace of 1.04 million but are 14.0 percent below a year ago. The median price in the Midwest was $147,700, down 5.3 percent from June 2010.
In the South, existing-home sales increased 0.5 percent to an annual level of 1.86 million in June but are 5.6 percent below June 2010. The median price in the South was $159,100, down 0.1 percent from a year ago.
Existing-home sales in the West declined 1.7 percent to an annual pace of 1.14 million in June and are 2.6 percent below a year ago. The median price in the West was $240,400, up 9.5 percent from June 2010.
The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1.1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries
Mortgage Applications See Biggest Increase in 4 Months
Mortgage Applications See Biggest Increase in 4 Months
Reuters | July 20, 2011 | 07:11 AM EDT
Applications for U.S. home mortgages surged last week, racking up the biggest increase in four months on a flood of refinancing demand as interest rates remained low, an industry group said on Wednesday.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, spiked up 15.5 percent in the week ended July 15.
It was the largest increase since early March.
"Ongoing turmoil in the financial markets primarily due to the sovereign debt crisis in Europe has brought mortgage rates back to their lowest levels of the year," Michael Fratantoni, MBA's vice president of research and economics, said in a statement.
"Refinance applications have surged in response." The MBA's seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications soared 23.1 percent, but the gauge of loan requests for home purchases dipped 0.1 percent.
The refinance share of mortgage activity rose to 70.1 percent of total applications from 65.6 percent the week before.
Fixed 30-year mortgage rates averaged 4.54 percent, easing from 4.55 percent.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
FSBO Calling Scripts
Strategy 1 of 9
This strategy comes from a soft-spoken lady who nearly took over her real estate market with an original, but not new, approach: she was nice!
When you meet her, however, don't let her humble and sincere spirit fool you...because after 29 years in the business, she's competed shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the toughest agents anywhere, and always seems to come out on top.
From 1987-2000, she was Coldwell Bankers #1 agent in America. She's one of the best coaches and trainers around, teaching agents how to make hundreds of thousands of dollars.
So she's more than qualified to share her secrets with you.
Without further delay...
One thing that plagues a lot of agents in this business is the uncertainty or inconsistency of income. It's been called "the Bungee Cord income." Up, then down. Up, then down.
Joan Pate learned early in her career that if she was going to last, she had to create a consistent income.
Through her 29 years she discovered 4 things that helped bring a balance to her income:
1.Follow up consistently with FSBOs
2.Prospect everyday
3.Always ask for business and referrals
This next secret is where many agents disagree with Joan, but experience proved that by doing this one simple thing, she tripled her call backs from FSBOs. What was her secret? Nothing more than this...
4.She left messages on FSBOs' answering machines! This guaranteed her at least 2 listings a month. (Weird, isn't it, something so small could have such a major impact? As the proverb goes, "Little hinges swing big doors.")
Now, if you've got call-reluctance here are a couple of pointers from Joan to help you get over that:
•Memorize some soft openings to build confidence and deflect the ire of the FSBO (Question Based Selling by Tom Freese has several)
•Practice with a friend who is a good speaker and is not afraid to tell you what you are doing wrong (again, the point is to build your confidence)
•Don't procrastinate - the longer you wait, the more stressed out you will become thinking about it
•Prospect during a time of day you are at your peak (for larks, it's usually first thing in the morning after a cup or two of coffee, owls prefer later in the afternoon)
And if all fails to subdue your fear, then JUST DO IT AFRAID!
It would be a terrible thing to miss becoming successful simply because you failed to do the necessary things to make money and confront your fears.
This strategy comes from a soft-spoken lady who nearly took over her real estate market with an original, but not new, approach: she was nice!
When you meet her, however, don't let her humble and sincere spirit fool you...because after 29 years in the business, she's competed shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the toughest agents anywhere, and always seems to come out on top.
From 1987-2000, she was Coldwell Bankers #1 agent in America. She's one of the best coaches and trainers around, teaching agents how to make hundreds of thousands of dollars.
So she's more than qualified to share her secrets with you.
Without further delay...
One thing that plagues a lot of agents in this business is the uncertainty or inconsistency of income. It's been called "the Bungee Cord income." Up, then down. Up, then down.
Joan Pate learned early in her career that if she was going to last, she had to create a consistent income.
Through her 29 years she discovered 4 things that helped bring a balance to her income:
1.Follow up consistently with FSBOs
2.Prospect everyday
3.Always ask for business and referrals
This next secret is where many agents disagree with Joan, but experience proved that by doing this one simple thing, she tripled her call backs from FSBOs. What was her secret? Nothing more than this...
4.She left messages on FSBOs' answering machines! This guaranteed her at least 2 listings a month. (Weird, isn't it, something so small could have such a major impact? As the proverb goes, "Little hinges swing big doors.")
Now, if you've got call-reluctance here are a couple of pointers from Joan to help you get over that:
•Memorize some soft openings to build confidence and deflect the ire of the FSBO (Question Based Selling by Tom Freese has several)
•Practice with a friend who is a good speaker and is not afraid to tell you what you are doing wrong (again, the point is to build your confidence)
•Don't procrastinate - the longer you wait, the more stressed out you will become thinking about it
•Prospect during a time of day you are at your peak (for larks, it's usually first thing in the morning after a cup or two of coffee, owls prefer later in the afternoon)
And if all fails to subdue your fear, then JUST DO IT AFRAID!
It would be a terrible thing to miss becoming successful simply because you failed to do the necessary things to make money and confront your fears.
Mortgage Rates Fall This Week: 30-year FRM Drops to 4.51 Percent
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) is down to 4.51 percent (with an average 0.7 point) this week and 15-year rates dropped to 3.65 percent (with an average 0.6 point), according to MarketWatch. While neither drop is incredibly drastic, it is believed that the falling rates may be connected with weak job gains and rising unemployment ratesA year ago, the 30-year FRM was at 4.57 percent, and the 15-year rate was marked at 4.06 percent.
In the first week of July, mortgage rates and applications were climbing upward, with a 30-year FRM of 4.6 percent and 15-year FRM of 3.75 percent.
“Long-term bond yields and mortgage rates fell this week following a weak employment report. The economy added 18,000 jobs in June, well below the market consensus forecast, and the unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent, the highest since December 2010. In addition, employee wages stagnated. These factors may lead to less consumer spending, which in turn, reduces the threat of inflation in the near term,” said Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist of Freddie Mac in a news release yesterday.
The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable rate-mortgage (ARM) averaged 3.29 percent (with an average 0.6 point) this week, and 1-year ARM slid down to 2.95 percent.
Last week, the 5-year ARM was 3.30 percent and the 1-year was 3.01 percent; last year, the 5-year ARM was 3.85 percent on average, and the 1-year ARM was 3.74 percent.
MarketWatch added that foreclosure activity is also down 29 percent in the first half of the year
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Ways To Get Buyers Talking
4 Ways to Get Buyers Talking
1. Learn about their circumstances. To be a true partner, you must understand buyers’ problems and goals. Are buyers sad about the move? Do they regret that they can’t afford a bigger place? Do they have to move on a tight time frame? Ask them about their reasons for moving and help them set priorities. You may have to dig deep to find out what buyers really want in a home. It’s never smart to assume what they want.
2. Ask to see their list. Most buyers have a pretty good idea of what they like before they really start looking. At one of the first meetings, ask buyers to see a list of the homes that piqued their interest on the Web and, with each listing, ask what about the home makes it special. Find common attributes of the homes, and ask questions about inconsistencies to clarify their preferences.
3. Know their deal-killers. No central air? No attached garage? Some things just aren’t negotiable. But customers aren’t always forthcoming about their pet peeves, which can prolong the home search and frustrate everyone. Practitioners should ask buyers up front what features their new home must have or must not have.
4. Show them something they don’t know about. When searching for a home that fits perfectly with buyers’ needs, don’t just rely on the low-hanging fruit. Prove your value and demonstrate that you’re really listening to buyers’ needs by doing some investigative work to find good matches for them. Use your networking skills and scour public records to find properties with potential.
Source: Dennis Cahill, marketing director with AdWriter Inc., a Sandusky, Ohio-based company that creates software for writing real estate advertising copy.
Monday, July 11, 2011
South Florida home prices rose 0.6 percent
South Florida home prices rose 0.6 percent during the first six months of 2011, according to a new report from Clear Capital.
By TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA
tolorunnipa@MiamiHerald.com
At the halfway point of 2011, the predicted slide in home values in South Florida has not materialized, at least by one estimate that looks back at pricing trends over the first six months of the year.
A new report from data analysis firm Clear Capital of Truckee, Calif., shows that South Florida home prices were up 0.6 percent between January and June, a sign that the market may have stabilized.
Still, prices remain below where they were last year and there are numerous signs that values could still slide further. Clear Capital predicts that prices will fall 1.2 percent over the next six months. At the beginning of the year, Clear Capital’s forecast was much gloomier: a 6.5 percent decline in home prices.
“It looks like the Miami market has hit a stable point,” said Alex Villacorta, director of research and analytics at Clear Capital. “This is the traditional spring, summer buying season and, from a buyer’s point of view, it’s a great time to get in the market.”
The report is the first of many that will track the housing market’s performance at the halfway point of 2011. Others will look at sales pace, foreclosures, inventory and delinquency rates.
The results are likely to feature a mixed bag of positive and negative news, but general trend lines for the first half of 2011 are likely to look better than the first half of 2010, said Villacorta.
Sales are up considerably through the first five months of the year, and 2011 is on pace to set a record for the strongest sales volume in the region’s history. In Miami-Dade, 10,439 homes and condos traded hands between January and May, up 61 percent from the same period in 2010, according to the Miami Association of Realtors. In Broward, there have been 12,851 home sales, an increase of 53.9 percent over 2010’s first five months.
Anthony Askowitz, a Miami Re/Max agent, said he has experienced strong sales levels this year, but prices have slipped about 5 percent from last year.
“For the first half of the year, we’ve had more sales than we did last year, but our average [sales price] has gone down,” he said.
Prices, as of May, were down compared to last year, but have been rising every month since January. On the year, prices are up between 14 and 36 percent in the condo and single-family sectors of Broward and Miami-Dade.
Data on June sales and prices are scheduled to be released later this month.
The foreclosure crisis remains the great unknown in the real estate market’s road to recovery.
Foreclosures have slowed to a trickle—there were only 226 in Broward in June, down from 1,659 last June, according to data on the Property Appraiser’s website. But the slowdown is due to procedural issues, not an improving real estate market. Nearly one in six local homeowners remains delinquent on their mortgage, and the length of time it takes to foreclose has risen to more than two years, in part due to overloaded courts.
That timeline could grow even longer over the second half of this year, as state funding for additional judges expired on June 30. In 2010, a $6 million infusion helped pay for dozens of retired judges to hear foreclosure cases, helping to ease some of the burden on the courts. Those funds dried up on June 30, and were not renewed by the Legislature, sending most of the judges back into retirement
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/08/2304198/new-data-shows-tiny-rise-in-housing.html#ixzz1RqsIUkV5
By TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA
tolorunnipa@MiamiHerald.com
At the halfway point of 2011, the predicted slide in home values in South Florida has not materialized, at least by one estimate that looks back at pricing trends over the first six months of the year.
A new report from data analysis firm Clear Capital of Truckee, Calif., shows that South Florida home prices were up 0.6 percent between January and June, a sign that the market may have stabilized.
Still, prices remain below where they were last year and there are numerous signs that values could still slide further. Clear Capital predicts that prices will fall 1.2 percent over the next six months. At the beginning of the year, Clear Capital’s forecast was much gloomier: a 6.5 percent decline in home prices.
“It looks like the Miami market has hit a stable point,” said Alex Villacorta, director of research and analytics at Clear Capital. “This is the traditional spring, summer buying season and, from a buyer’s point of view, it’s a great time to get in the market.”
The report is the first of many that will track the housing market’s performance at the halfway point of 2011. Others will look at sales pace, foreclosures, inventory and delinquency rates.
The results are likely to feature a mixed bag of positive and negative news, but general trend lines for the first half of 2011 are likely to look better than the first half of 2010, said Villacorta.
Sales are up considerably through the first five months of the year, and 2011 is on pace to set a record for the strongest sales volume in the region’s history. In Miami-Dade, 10,439 homes and condos traded hands between January and May, up 61 percent from the same period in 2010, according to the Miami Association of Realtors. In Broward, there have been 12,851 home sales, an increase of 53.9 percent over 2010’s first five months.
Anthony Askowitz, a Miami Re/Max agent, said he has experienced strong sales levels this year, but prices have slipped about 5 percent from last year.
“For the first half of the year, we’ve had more sales than we did last year, but our average [sales price] has gone down,” he said.
Prices, as of May, were down compared to last year, but have been rising every month since January. On the year, prices are up between 14 and 36 percent in the condo and single-family sectors of Broward and Miami-Dade.
Data on June sales and prices are scheduled to be released later this month.
The foreclosure crisis remains the great unknown in the real estate market’s road to recovery.
Foreclosures have slowed to a trickle—there were only 226 in Broward in June, down from 1,659 last June, according to data on the Property Appraiser’s website. But the slowdown is due to procedural issues, not an improving real estate market. Nearly one in six local homeowners remains delinquent on their mortgage, and the length of time it takes to foreclose has risen to more than two years, in part due to overloaded courts.
That timeline could grow even longer over the second half of this year, as state funding for additional judges expired on June 30. In 2010, a $6 million infusion helped pay for dozens of retired judges to hear foreclosure cases, helping to ease some of the burden on the courts. Those funds dried up on June 30, and were not renewed by the Legislature, sending most of the judges back into retirement
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/08/2304198/new-data-shows-tiny-rise-in-housing.html#ixzz1RqsIUkV5
Here are five ways you can brand yourself and stand out from the crowd:
Here are five ways you can brand yourself and stand out from the crowd:
1. Identify what makes you unique. Ask yourself the question, “Why choose me?” Once you can pinpoint your key strengths, experience and skills, write them down and use this as your base line for all your marketing.
2. Create a memorable slogan. Use your name, your skills, talents or even your area of expertise and develop a memorable slogan to help people remember you.
3. Develop your marketing brand. Include colors, logos, banners, and a slogan that represent you and your image and brand. Create marketing materials to match, including a website, business cards, and even social networking sites such as a blog, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube channel with the same unique look and feel.
4. Elevator speech. Write and memorize a 30 second “elevator speech” that includes your slogan and tells people who you are and why they should use you. Use this every time you meet someone at an open house, in the grocery store and around town.
5. Let it shine! Don’t hide your brand, show it to the world. When you get a listing, don’t just put the required pictures online and send the standard “Just Listed” postcards. Instead, create a virtual tour with personal narration and include your agent banner, your logo and your brand colors. Use a virtual tour provider that includes a YouTube video uploaded to your personal YouTube channel and connects to your social networking sites.
Branding is simple, but it’s not easy! It requires thoughtful self-evaluation and a determination to stand out from the crowd. It requires dedication to being the best and not just one of the rest! And last but not least, it requires consistency. Use your brand in everything you do and with everyone you meet.
Remember, the most recent National Association of REALTORS® statistics show over 90% of home buyers say they looked online for their home before purchasing! In the field of real estate professionals online, are you standing out as the Purple Cow or blending in with the herd?
Tim Denbo is president/CEO of VirtualTourCafé, LLC.
VirtualTourCafe, LLC is based in Dublin, California and was co-founded by Timothy Denbo and Hannele Rinta-Tuuri. The business is operated as a limited liability company and has an advisory board made up of professionals in the real estate, technology, and marketing fields. VirtualTourCafe donates 10% of all net proceeds to charity.
Low vacancies, rising rents for apartments
Low vacancies, rising rents for apartments
WASHINGTON – July 11, 2011 – Reis Inc. reports that the average effective rent – the amount paid after discounting – was $997 in the second quarter of the year – an increase from $974 a year ago. Second-quarter rents, meanwhile, climbed in 80 out of 82 markets surveyed.
According to Reis, monthly rent levels rose fastest in San Jose, Calif., to $1,501.
Apartment vacancies dipped in 72 of the 82 markets Reis tracked during the April-through-June period, dropping the U.S. vacancy rate to 6 percent. That is the lowest since 2008 and down from 7.8 percent in 2010’s second quarter, notes Reis.
“Rising rents and falling vacancies are the perfect situation for landlords,” says BMO Capital Markets analyst Rich Anderson. “It’s like drinking without the hangover.”
However, some warning signs are popping up. For instance, apartment owners and managers filled a net 33,000 rental units in the second quarter, a slowdown from the 45,000 units they filled in the first three months of the year. Around 8,700 new apartments opened during the second quarter, the second-lowest quarterly total for new completions since Reis started collecting data in 1999.
Source: “Rents Rise, Vacancies Go Down,” Wall Street Journal (07/07/11)
© Copyright 2011 INFORMATION, INC. Bethesda, MD (301) 215-4688
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Job growth when housing rebounds
OMAHA, Neb. — Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said Friday the nation's employment picture will improve significantly once residential housing construction rebounds.
Buffett spoke to Bloomberg Television on Friday morning as the Labor Department released a weaker-than-expected monthly jobs report. He said the report shows the economy is still a long way off from where it should be, but Buffett remains optimistic about the recovery and sees no danger of a second recession.
"I would bet very heavily against that," Buffett said. "How fast the recovery will come I don't know, but I see nothing that indicates any kind of a double dip."
Most of Buffett's comments were focused on the long-term outlook. Buffett said he expects unemployment to fall to about 6% within a few years, and the 2.5 million jobs lost in the recession will be replaced. The June unemployment rate rose to 9.2%.
STORY: Economy adds a weak 18,000 jobs; unemployment rate is 9.2%
The chairman and CEO of the conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway said he thinks people will be surprised how quickly employment improves once the excess houses are bought and normal levels of construction resume.
"We will come back big-time on employment when residential construction comes back," Buffett said.
For a time, Buffett said the housing industry was building about 2 million homes a year while roughly 1 million households were being formed, and the nation is still working off that excess created during the housing bubble.
Buffett said an increase in housing construction will prompt a variety of businesses to hire more workers, including such Berkshire units as Shaw Carpet, Acme Brick and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad.
Buffett was in Sun Valley, Idaho, attending the annual conference hosted by investment bank Allen & Co. that attracts Wall Street and media moguls.
Buffett's Omaha-based Berkshire owns roughly 80 subsidiaries, including railroad, clothing, furniture and jewelry firms, but its insurance and utility businesses typically account for more than half of the company's net income. It also has major investments in such companies as Coca-Cola and Wells Fargo.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2011-07-08-Warren-buffett-job-market_n.htm
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Fastest Way to Sell a Home?
Fastest Way to Sell a Home? Underprice By 10%
Home sellers probably won’t be too happy, but housing experts in an article at CNNMoney say that underpricing a home by 10 percent may help it sell faster. And while sellers may lose out on thousands from the sale, they likely will avoid months of carrying costs from the home lingering on the market to offset that loss.
The high inventory of foreclosures on the market is making it difficult for sellers to compete against these ultra-low prices. Therefore, “listing your home for less than comparable ones in your neighborhood is the best way of unloading it as quickly as possible,” according to the article.
You could even attract a bidding war, says Steve Murray, editor of the Real Trends newsletter.
Furthermore, it may take the property a lot less time to sell. For example, a home underpriced by 10 percent in Somerdale, N.J., may sell in a few days rather than in the average four months, says Denise Riordan, a Sotheby's International real estate professional.
Rate on 30-year fixed mortgage rises to 4.6%
The average rate on the 30-year loan increased to 4.60 percent, up from 4.51 percent a week ago, Freddie Mac said Thursday. It hit its lowest level of the year three weeks ago, at 4.49 percent.
The average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage, a popular refinancing option, rose to 3.75 percent. It reached its low point of the year two weeks ago, at 3.67 percent.
Rates typically track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which has been rising. And mortgage rates could rise further now that the Federal Reserve’s $600 billion bond buying program has ended.
The Fed has purchased around $75 billion worth of bonds each month since November. That drove the yield on the 10-year Treasury note lower than 3 percent this spring. As a result, rates on mortgages and other loans also fell.
Still, low mortgage rates and plummeting home prices have done little to boost the troubled housing market. Tougher lending standards and bigger downpayment requirements have prevented many people from taking advantage of the ultra-low rates. Many people who can qualify are holding off, worried that prices have yet to bottom out.
Most economists say home prices will keep falling through the rest of the year. Many forecasts don’t anticipate a rebound in prices until at least 2013.
To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac collects rates from lenders across the country on Monday through Wednesday of each week. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a single day.
The average rate on a five-year adjustable-rate mortgage rose from 3.25 to 3.30 percent. Last week’s rate was the lowest on records dating back to 2005. The average rate on a one-year adjustable-rate loan rose to 3.01 percent, just above the record low of 2.95 percent.
The rates do not include extra fees known as points. One point is equal to 1 percent of the total loan amount.
The average fees for the 30-year and 15-year fixed loans were 0.7, according to Freddie Mac’s survey. The average fees for the five-year and one-year ARM were 0.6.
Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Foreign buyers help housing market
MIAMI – July 6, 2011 – Foreign buyers are helping to stoke home sales in U.S. vacation hot spots decimated by the real estate crash, especially in southern Florida.
For the 12 months ending in March, 31 percent of Florida’s home sales were to foreign buyers, up from 10 percent in 2007, according to a survey by the National Association of Realtors.
In Arizona, 6 percent of sales in the same period were to foreigners. That was down from 11 percent last year but still up from 5 percent in 2007, the data show.
Foreign buyers are being enticed by low U.S. home prices, down 30 percent nationwide since peaking in 2006, and the weakened dollar, which makes their money go further. Since the start of 2006, the Canadian dollar has soared 18 percent against the U.S. dollar, while the euro has gained 22 percent, says data tracker Oanda.
U.S. home prices, meanwhile, have fallen far more than the national average in some places, down 55 percent from their peaks in Miami-Fort Lauderdale and Phoenix, and 36 percent in Los Angeles, says Zillow.com. Those are three of the most popular areas for foreigners searching for real estate on Trulia’s website, that company says.
Sales are so brisk in the Miami region now that more houses and condominiums could sell this year than in 2005, the peak year, says Ronald Shuffield, president of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors in Coral Gables, Fla.
“International buyers have been the fuel for the Miami recovery,” Shuffield says.
About 40 percent of buyers are international vs. less than 35 percent before the bust, he estimates. Many buyers are South American investors snapping up condominiums to rent out, says Peter Zalewski of market researcher Condo Vultures.
In the Phoenix region, there are at least 20 percent more foreigners in the market now than usual, says Don Hammer, manager of Realty Executives in Paradise Valley, Ariz.
One of those shoppers is retired hedge fund manager Peter Duerr of Austria. He’s planning to buy a home in Scottsdale, having sold one there in 2005. “The U.S. is a great buy right now,” Duerr says.
The largest share of foreign buyers, 23 percent, come from Canada, the Realtors’ survey found. China followed at 9 percent. The survey includes foreigners living abroad, those in the U.S. with long-term visas and new immigrants.
© Copyright 2011 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc., Julie Schmit
http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?p=2&id=261902
Tips for selling your Listings
CHICAGO — The home next door is in foreclosure. The neighbors down the street just put their house up for sale at a ridiculous discount. And "For Sale" signs litter lawns all over town.
Welcome to the toughest selling conditions in years.
The bright side of selling a home in a down market is you get to seek your own bargain if you're going to buy after you're done. Closing a sale, however, can be teeth-grindingly slow if you don't do everything right — and maybe even if you do.
"It's probably the worst time you could find to sell a house since the late '70s or early '80s," says Loren Keim, professor of real estate at Lehigh University.
Sales of previously occupied homes continue to sag after hitting a 13-year low last year. Even real estate professionals can be flummoxed by this market.
"Realtors sometimes shake our heads at the perceived randomness of it all," says Katie Severance, a broker for ReMax in Upper Montclair, N.J.
A house that's in a good location, fully updated and seems perfectly priced might sit on the market without a nibble.
Meredith Gray is leaving nothing to chance in selling her four-bedroom colonial in Norwalk, Conn. A freelance fashion stylist and writer, Gray, 53, has taken every action she could think of to get an offer for the house she and her ex-husband bought 17 years ago.
She researched and interviewed four brokers before hiring one, made a YouTube video showcasing the house, and created a hardcover book of comments and photos of the house in all four seasons to display for open house visitors.
She even brought in a shaman to cleanse the house of any negative vibes, figuring it couldn't hurt.
"If you really want to move your house in this kind of a market, you have to do everything," she says. "It's a lot of effort, but people shouldn't leave it all in the hands of their broker."
Unfortunately, all that work still doesn't guarantee a sale, particularly when many buyers feel little urgency to act and assume they will get a better deal by waiting.
Lowering the price can be a home seller's most painful move. It was for Gray, who reluctantly dropped her asking price 5% to $649,230 after eight weeks.
"Selling is really emotional for me because I've put a lot into this house. It's now exactly as I like it," she says. "I don't want to give it away at a huge discount. It's kind of my nest egg."
The best tips for selling underscore how the market has changed:
1. PRICE AGGRESSIVELY.
Even if you're fully aware that prices have plummeted, it can come as a shock when a real estate agent advises you to slap a low-low price on your home.
The reality is that only 4% to 10% of homes on the market nationwide sell in a given month right now, according to Keim. A typical selling time for a home the last two years has been eight to 10 weeks. But that timeframe makes selling sound easier than it is, because it doesn't factor in all the homes that never sold, or were pulled off the market and later relisted. With that in mind, Keim says you need to ask for at least 1% less than competing homes.
Holding out for a higher price generally doesn't work well in this market, either. Among homes that took at least four months to sell, nearly half the owners accepted less than 90% of their asking price, according to the National Association of Realtors— many far less.
Days on the market can be a helpful statistic. Available through most multiple listing services, it shows the average time it takes to sell a home. The specific sales data can provide valuable insight. When reviewing comparable homes it will become clear which list prices led to fast sales and which were set too high and prolonged the sale.
But don't focus on the overall average for a specific location. This can be misleading because it accounts only for homes that sold. Also, homes that were pulled off the market and relisted start the clock back at zero.
Sellers often like to look at the ratio of list price to sales price. Your local ratio gives an idea of the latest price trend and indicates how much a typical seller came down from the list price.
Be wary of using that to justify refusing to lower your price, however. For example, homes sold across the country in April went for an average of 96% of their list price, according to data compiled by Zillow, the real estate listing and information service. But it, too, does not reflect all the homes that failed to sell that month — by far the majority.
2. STAGE LIKE A PRO.
You may not be able to compete with the price of homes in foreclosure, or with short sales — those in which a lender is allowing the seller to list for less than is owed on the mortgage. But you can outshine them when it comes to the condition and appearance of your house.
"Staging is no longer optional," Severance says. "It's like a boot camp that the seller and listing agent go through together."
It can be an intense period of planting flowers, painting and depersonalizing the house so buyers can envision themselves living there. Getting rid of clutter and rearranging rooms to highlight the best features also are essential.
What's new this year is that many sellers are willing to go beyond the basics of staging to make physical upgrades.
"They'll do whatever it takes to look better than the house down the street now," Severance says.
One of her clients this year hired a contractor to turn a three-bedroom, one-bathroom home into a four-bedroom, two-bath. The month-long, $15,000 renovation paid big dividends: The house sold for at least $50,000 more than it was expected to otherwise.
After learning a valuable lesson about today's persnickety buyer, Michael Ayalon went the extra mile in renovating the kitchen of his house in East Meadow, N.Y.
Recognizing that their '70s-era kitchen looked dated, he and his wife, Jennifer, first spent $2,000 on stainless steel appliances before putting the three-bedroom home on the market in April for $399,000.
After 15 showings, he says, they realized that "nobody could get past the fact that a project was waiting for them in the kitchen." So it was do-it-yourself time for Michael, 35, a website designer. They pulled the house off the market for two weeks while he installed a new floor, ceiling, cabinets and granite countertops. Then they put it back on the market in late June at the same price. They hope to justify the additional $10,000 investment with a quick sale.
3. GO ALL-OUT ONLINE.
Sellers used to post photos of their homes online only sparingly to entice buyers to visit. No longer. With about 90% of buyers starting their search online, according to the National Association of Realtors, you can't just tease and hope.
"That whole strategy is thrown out the window, because all listings are online and there are so many that you have to compete for people's attention," says Amy Bohutinsky, chief marketing officer of Zillow.
Agents recommend putting lots of high-resolution photos and as much information as possible online, including citing upgrades and what you love about living in the home. If you don't show a photo of a key area — kitchen, bathrooms, backyard — prospective buyers may assume there's something wrong and move on.
It's important to remember that buyers are going mobile, too. The use of smartphones and apps to review listings has exploded.
Nearly 1.8 million homes are viewed daily on Zillow's apps alone, and the service says 30% of its weekend traffic and 20% overall come from mobile devices.
So, make sure your listing agent markets your home in as many places as possible — from AOL Real Estate to Zillow — with a special emphasis on sites that work well for mobile access.
4. BE FLEXIBLE WITH BUYERS.
The single biggest change in the real estate market since the Great Recession is tighter financing, according to John Vogel Jr., real estate professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. Banks once freely dispensed loans for 95% of a home's value, but a requirement of 20% down is becoming the new normal in many cases. And any perceived imperfection in a credit record can spell denial.
"As a seller, you have to be very conscious of how hard it is now to qualify for loans," Vogel says.
If you're about to accept an offer, make sure you inquire about the down payment and are informed about the buyer's financing status. Consider accepting an all-cash offer, even if it's not your highest. If your buyer is hitting a roadblock, consider talking with the lender to help structure a deal.
Don't be afraid to speak directly to the prospective buyers. If they say they're leery about committing to a home in this environment, you can help make the case. Be ready to show them any recent local statistics indicating that owning is better financially than renting, as is the case in many areas. And if you don't accept an initial offer, share information to encourage a counteroffer and be ready to bridge the gap to close the sale.
5. DON'T RUSH TO RENT.
The fallback for many homeowners who can't sell is to rent the property. That's the case with Gray, who wants to be out by winter.
But it's a strategy that carries risk. With so many foreclosed and underwater houses on the market, Vogel says there's at least a 50-50 chance that any given house will be worth less in a year than it is now.
Not only that, you may be planning to move out of town, so renting would entail being a long-distance landlord.
Vogel says homeowners may need to take a deep breath and treat their house as a sunk cost — money that has been spent and cannot be recovered. "The house today is worth what it's worth," he says. Accepting that advice may bring perspective and help you sell in the worst market in years
By Dave Carpenter, Associated Press
Welcome to the toughest selling conditions in years.
The bright side of selling a home in a down market is you get to seek your own bargain if you're going to buy after you're done. Closing a sale, however, can be teeth-grindingly slow if you don't do everything right — and maybe even if you do.
"It's probably the worst time you could find to sell a house since the late '70s or early '80s," says Loren Keim, professor of real estate at Lehigh University.
Sales of previously occupied homes continue to sag after hitting a 13-year low last year. Even real estate professionals can be flummoxed by this market.
"Realtors sometimes shake our heads at the perceived randomness of it all," says Katie Severance, a broker for ReMax in Upper Montclair, N.J.
A house that's in a good location, fully updated and seems perfectly priced might sit on the market without a nibble.
Meredith Gray is leaving nothing to chance in selling her four-bedroom colonial in Norwalk, Conn. A freelance fashion stylist and writer, Gray, 53, has taken every action she could think of to get an offer for the house she and her ex-husband bought 17 years ago.
She researched and interviewed four brokers before hiring one, made a YouTube video showcasing the house, and created a hardcover book of comments and photos of the house in all four seasons to display for open house visitors.
She even brought in a shaman to cleanse the house of any negative vibes, figuring it couldn't hurt.
"If you really want to move your house in this kind of a market, you have to do everything," she says. "It's a lot of effort, but people shouldn't leave it all in the hands of their broker."
Unfortunately, all that work still doesn't guarantee a sale, particularly when many buyers feel little urgency to act and assume they will get a better deal by waiting.
Lowering the price can be a home seller's most painful move. It was for Gray, who reluctantly dropped her asking price 5% to $649,230 after eight weeks.
"Selling is really emotional for me because I've put a lot into this house. It's now exactly as I like it," she says. "I don't want to give it away at a huge discount. It's kind of my nest egg."
The best tips for selling underscore how the market has changed:
1. PRICE AGGRESSIVELY.
Even if you're fully aware that prices have plummeted, it can come as a shock when a real estate agent advises you to slap a low-low price on your home.
The reality is that only 4% to 10% of homes on the market nationwide sell in a given month right now, according to Keim. A typical selling time for a home the last two years has been eight to 10 weeks. But that timeframe makes selling sound easier than it is, because it doesn't factor in all the homes that never sold, or were pulled off the market and later relisted. With that in mind, Keim says you need to ask for at least 1% less than competing homes.
Holding out for a higher price generally doesn't work well in this market, either. Among homes that took at least four months to sell, nearly half the owners accepted less than 90% of their asking price, according to the National Association of Realtors— many far less.
Days on the market can be a helpful statistic. Available through most multiple listing services, it shows the average time it takes to sell a home. The specific sales data can provide valuable insight. When reviewing comparable homes it will become clear which list prices led to fast sales and which were set too high and prolonged the sale.
But don't focus on the overall average for a specific location. This can be misleading because it accounts only for homes that sold. Also, homes that were pulled off the market and relisted start the clock back at zero.
Sellers often like to look at the ratio of list price to sales price. Your local ratio gives an idea of the latest price trend and indicates how much a typical seller came down from the list price.
Be wary of using that to justify refusing to lower your price, however. For example, homes sold across the country in April went for an average of 96% of their list price, according to data compiled by Zillow, the real estate listing and information service. But it, too, does not reflect all the homes that failed to sell that month — by far the majority.
2. STAGE LIKE A PRO.
You may not be able to compete with the price of homes in foreclosure, or with short sales — those in which a lender is allowing the seller to list for less than is owed on the mortgage. But you can outshine them when it comes to the condition and appearance of your house.
"Staging is no longer optional," Severance says. "It's like a boot camp that the seller and listing agent go through together."
It can be an intense period of planting flowers, painting and depersonalizing the house so buyers can envision themselves living there. Getting rid of clutter and rearranging rooms to highlight the best features also are essential.
What's new this year is that many sellers are willing to go beyond the basics of staging to make physical upgrades.
"They'll do whatever it takes to look better than the house down the street now," Severance says.
One of her clients this year hired a contractor to turn a three-bedroom, one-bathroom home into a four-bedroom, two-bath. The month-long, $15,000 renovation paid big dividends: The house sold for at least $50,000 more than it was expected to otherwise.
After learning a valuable lesson about today's persnickety buyer, Michael Ayalon went the extra mile in renovating the kitchen of his house in East Meadow, N.Y.
Recognizing that their '70s-era kitchen looked dated, he and his wife, Jennifer, first spent $2,000 on stainless steel appliances before putting the three-bedroom home on the market in April for $399,000.
After 15 showings, he says, they realized that "nobody could get past the fact that a project was waiting for them in the kitchen." So it was do-it-yourself time for Michael, 35, a website designer. They pulled the house off the market for two weeks while he installed a new floor, ceiling, cabinets and granite countertops. Then they put it back on the market in late June at the same price. They hope to justify the additional $10,000 investment with a quick sale.
3. GO ALL-OUT ONLINE.
Sellers used to post photos of their homes online only sparingly to entice buyers to visit. No longer. With about 90% of buyers starting their search online, according to the National Association of Realtors, you can't just tease and hope.
"That whole strategy is thrown out the window, because all listings are online and there are so many that you have to compete for people's attention," says Amy Bohutinsky, chief marketing officer of Zillow.
Agents recommend putting lots of high-resolution photos and as much information as possible online, including citing upgrades and what you love about living in the home. If you don't show a photo of a key area — kitchen, bathrooms, backyard — prospective buyers may assume there's something wrong and move on.
It's important to remember that buyers are going mobile, too. The use of smartphones and apps to review listings has exploded.
Nearly 1.8 million homes are viewed daily on Zillow's apps alone, and the service says 30% of its weekend traffic and 20% overall come from mobile devices.
So, make sure your listing agent markets your home in as many places as possible — from AOL Real Estate to Zillow — with a special emphasis on sites that work well for mobile access.
4. BE FLEXIBLE WITH BUYERS.
The single biggest change in the real estate market since the Great Recession is tighter financing, according to John Vogel Jr., real estate professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. Banks once freely dispensed loans for 95% of a home's value, but a requirement of 20% down is becoming the new normal in many cases. And any perceived imperfection in a credit record can spell denial.
"As a seller, you have to be very conscious of how hard it is now to qualify for loans," Vogel says.
If you're about to accept an offer, make sure you inquire about the down payment and are informed about the buyer's financing status. Consider accepting an all-cash offer, even if it's not your highest. If your buyer is hitting a roadblock, consider talking with the lender to help structure a deal.
Don't be afraid to speak directly to the prospective buyers. If they say they're leery about committing to a home in this environment, you can help make the case. Be ready to show them any recent local statistics indicating that owning is better financially than renting, as is the case in many areas. And if you don't accept an initial offer, share information to encourage a counteroffer and be ready to bridge the gap to close the sale.
5. DON'T RUSH TO RENT.
The fallback for many homeowners who can't sell is to rent the property. That's the case with Gray, who wants to be out by winter.
But it's a strategy that carries risk. With so many foreclosed and underwater houses on the market, Vogel says there's at least a 50-50 chance that any given house will be worth less in a year than it is now.
Not only that, you may be planning to move out of town, so renting would entail being a long-distance landlord.
Vogel says homeowners may need to take a deep breath and treat their house as a sunk cost — money that has been spent and cannot be recovered. "The house today is worth what it's worth," he says. Accepting that advice may bring perspective and help you sell in the worst market in years
By Dave Carpenter, Associated Press
Top 5 Characteristics Home Buyers Want in a Real Estate Agent
1. Honesty and Credibility
Win them over with the truth!
When these buyers talked about honesty and credibility, it often came with stories about past negative experiences with agents. The stories were about agents trying to push them towards a more expensive purchase and a strong dislike for the false sense of urgency they feel agents create when it comes to placing an offer on a house. Buyers have expressed how hard it is to trust anyone in today’s real estate market so it’s even more important for agents to help them feel comfortable.
2. Area Familiarity
Do your neighborhood homework!
These buyers place a high importance on finding an agent who not only sells homes in a specific neighborhood, but also knows that neighborhood well. They want an agent who knows all about the schools, local parks, safety, restaurants and even the secret gems the neighborhood has to offer.
3. Good Follow Through
You say it, you do it.
During the conversation our buyers constantly verbalized their frustration with agents who didn’t do what they said. Email me, call me and send me the things you say you will. It seems like such a small thing to ask for. Do what you say, combine it with some honesty, and you’ll be an agent buyers feel comfortable working with.
4. Organization
Keep it in order.
You’re honest, you know the area like the back of your hand, and you try your hardest to follow through but it’s just so hard to keep track of your to-do lists and return every phone call. Buyers are expecting agents to be organized and put together. There are a ton of tools out there to help with this. (We love Evernote!)
5. Good Listener
Everyone is unique. Treat them like it!
Users want an agent to listen to them with a blank mind. I heard phrases such as “pigeon hole”, “judge”, “they aren’t listening”, “tell me what I want”…etc. come up in our discussion. Users don’t want an agent to assume they need A just because they hear B. They want an agent who listens to what they want and will ask as many questions as required to really understand who they are and what they are looking for.
Make sure you get those references too- recommendations and testimonials followed closely in the 6th position.
These characteristics come straight from prospective home buyers searching on Trulia. We hope these tips help you communicate what matters most to homebuyers to further your relationships and connect with more prospects
Guest Blogger: Cassy Rowe, Lead Mobile Interaction Designer at Trulia.com
http://pro.truliablog.com/grow-business/top-5-characteristics-home-buyers-want-in-a-real-estate-agent/?ecampaign=anews&eurl=pro.truliablog.com%2Fgrow-business%2Ftop-5-characteristics-home-buyers-want-in-a-real-estate-agent%2F
Win them over with the truth!
When these buyers talked about honesty and credibility, it often came with stories about past negative experiences with agents. The stories were about agents trying to push them towards a more expensive purchase and a strong dislike for the false sense of urgency they feel agents create when it comes to placing an offer on a house. Buyers have expressed how hard it is to trust anyone in today’s real estate market so it’s even more important for agents to help them feel comfortable.
2. Area Familiarity
Do your neighborhood homework!
These buyers place a high importance on finding an agent who not only sells homes in a specific neighborhood, but also knows that neighborhood well. They want an agent who knows all about the schools, local parks, safety, restaurants and even the secret gems the neighborhood has to offer.
3. Good Follow Through
You say it, you do it.
During the conversation our buyers constantly verbalized their frustration with agents who didn’t do what they said. Email me, call me and send me the things you say you will. It seems like such a small thing to ask for. Do what you say, combine it with some honesty, and you’ll be an agent buyers feel comfortable working with.
4. Organization
Keep it in order.
You’re honest, you know the area like the back of your hand, and you try your hardest to follow through but it’s just so hard to keep track of your to-do lists and return every phone call. Buyers are expecting agents to be organized and put together. There are a ton of tools out there to help with this. (We love Evernote!)
5. Good Listener
Everyone is unique. Treat them like it!
Users want an agent to listen to them with a blank mind. I heard phrases such as “pigeon hole”, “judge”, “they aren’t listening”, “tell me what I want”…etc. come up in our discussion. Users don’t want an agent to assume they need A just because they hear B. They want an agent who listens to what they want and will ask as many questions as required to really understand who they are and what they are looking for.
Make sure you get those references too- recommendations and testimonials followed closely in the 6th position.
These characteristics come straight from prospective home buyers searching on Trulia. We hope these tips help you communicate what matters most to homebuyers to further your relationships and connect with more prospects
Guest Blogger: Cassy Rowe, Lead Mobile Interaction Designer at Trulia.com
http://pro.truliablog.com/grow-business/top-5-characteristics-home-buyers-want-in-a-real-estate-agent/?ecampaign=anews&eurl=pro.truliablog.com%2Fgrow-business%2Ftop-5-characteristics-home-buyers-want-in-a-real-estate-agent%2F
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
LISTING TIPS STRATEGIES
LISTING STRATEGIES
Why do we want take more listings? Think of the following benefits.
• Schedule Management: You can work with a buyer for hours, days and even months, and never get a sale. When you are working with buyers, you are working for all the other agents in your marketplace trying to sell their listings. When you work with sellers, all of the agents in your marketplace are working for you. Which one seems more productive to you?
• Self Marketing: When you work with a buyer and sell them a home in a neighborhood, does everyone on the street know that you sold that home? How about if you take a listing, you sell it and put a sold sign on that property? Does everyone in the neighborhood know that you sold that home?
• You Don’t Have to Be There: You can only sell a buyer a home when they are in your car and going in and out of houses. You can be in another country on vacation and sell a listing.
• Build Your Business: A listing will generate buyer calls, you can mail out just listed and just sold postcards, you can hold open house to attract buyers and potential listings….pretty simple, a sign in the yard is one of the best forms of advertising yourself.
Your next tip will outline the most important needs of a seller. If you would like to get them today, give me a call!
3.8 percent Medicare tax A Must Read
The following is the interpretation of the new medicare tax on real estate sales
in 3 words or less there will be an extra 3.8% on sales to those seller how have a capital gains tax that exeed there limit
The health bill included a provision that imposes a new 3.8 percent Medicare tax for some high-income households that have “net investment income.” Any revenue collected by the tax is dedicated to the Medicare hospital insurance program.
This new tax applies only to households with Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of more than $200,000 for individuals or more than $250,000 for married couples. Since capital gains are included in the definition of net investment income, an additional tax obligation might result from the sale of real property.
Even if the AGI limits are met, the new tax would not be applied to capital gains that result from the sale of a home, since the existing home sale capital gains exclusion rule still applies – $250,000 (individual)/$500,000 (couple). So if the gain from the sale of the primary residence is below that amount, then NO Medicare tax will have to be paid on the gain. The new Medicare tax would apply only to a home sale gain realized in excess of the $250K/$500K that pushes the filer’s AGI over the $200K/$250K income limits.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Banks Easing Terms on Loans Deemed as Risks ?!?!
Big Banks Easing Terms on Loans Deemed as RisksBy DAVID STREITFELD
As millions of Americans struggle in foreclosure with little hope of relief, big banks are going to borrowers who are not even in default and cutting their debt or easing the mortgage terms, sometimes with no questions asked.
Two of the nation’s biggest lenders, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, are quietly modifying loans for tens of thousands of borrowers who have not asked for help but whom the banks deem to be at special risk.
Rula Giosmas is one of the beneficiaries. Last year she received a letter from Chase saying it was cutting in half the amount she owed on her condominium.
Ms. Giosmas, who lives in Miami, was not in default on her $300,000 loan. She did not understand why she would receive this gift — although she wasted no time in taking it.
Banks are proactively overhauling loans for borrowers like Ms. Giosmas who have so-called pay option adjustable rate mortgages, which were popular in the wild late stages of the housing boom but which banks now view as potentially troublesome.
Before Chase shaved $150,000 off her mortgage, Ms. Giosmas owed much more on her place than it was worth. It was a fate she shared with a quarter of all homeowners with mortgages across the nation. Being underwater, as it is called, can prevent these owners from moving and taking new jobs, and places the households at greater risk of foreclosure.
“It’s a huge problem,” said the economist Sam Khater. “Reducing negative equity would spark a housing recovery.”
While many homeowners desperately need help to keep their homes and cannot get it, the borrowers getting unsolicited relief from Chase sometimes suspect a trick. Cutting loan balances, even for loans in default, is supposedly so rare that Federal Reserve economists wrote in a paper in March that “we could find no evidence that any lender was actually reducing principal” on mortgages.
“I used to say every day, ‘Why doesn’t anyone get rewarded for doing the right thing and paying their bills on time?’ ” said Ms. Giosmas, who is an acupuncturist and real estate investor. “And I got rewarded.”
Option ARM loans like Ms. Giosmas’s gave borrowers the option of skipping the principal payment and some of the interest payment for an introductory period of several years. The unpaid balances would be added to the body of the loan.
Bank of America and Chase inherited their portfolios of option ARMs when they bought troubled lenders during the housing crash.
Chase, which declined to comment on its program, got $50 billion in option ARM loans when it bought Washington Mutual in 2008. The lender, which said last fall that it had dealt with 22,000 option ARM loans with an unpaid principal balance of $8 billion, still has $33 billion of them in its portfolio.
Bank of America acquired a portfolio of 550,000 option ARMs from its purchase of Countrywide Financial in 2008. The lender said more than 200,000 had been converted to more stable mortgages.
Dan B. Frahm, a spokesman for Bank of America, said it was using every technique short of principal reduction to remake its loans, including waiving prepayment penalties, refinancing, lowering the interest rate, postponing some of the balance and extending the term.
“By proactively contacting pay option ARM customers and discussing other products with better options for long-term, affordable payments, we hope to prevent customers from reaching a point where they struggle to make their payments,” Mr. Frahm said.
Chase, Bank of America and the other big lenders are negotiating with the Obama administration and the nation’s attorneys general over foreclosures. Debt forgiveness and the moral hazard question of who deserves to be helped are among the most contentious issues.
The banks say cutting mortgage balances would be unfair to borrowers who remain current as well as impractical because so many loans are securitized into pools owned by investors. Bank of America’s chief executive, Brian T. Moynihan, told the attorneys general in April that cutting principal for current borrowers would send the wrong message to all those who have struggled to pay their bills. His counterpart at Chase, Jamie Dimon, bluntly said it was “off the table.”
Having an option ARM loan, however, apparently qualifies the borrower for special help. The loans, with their low initial payments and “teaser” interest rates, were immediately popular with buyers who could not afford or did not want to pay the soaring prices on houses. The problem was, eventually the rate would reset or the loan balance would have to be paid in full. “Nightmare Mortgages” they were called in a 2006 BusinessWeek cover piece.
Option ARMs were never quite as bad as predicted, partly because the crisis pushed down interest rates so far that the resets were relatively mild. Many owners did default on them, but others, like Ms. Giosmas, were quite happy to pay less for years than they would have under a conventional loan. She used option ARMs on her investment properties too.
“They saved me,” she said. “Why would I want to pay a lot more every month? I’d rather have it in my pocket.”
The concern the banks are showing for those who might get in trouble contrasts sharply with their efforts toward those already foreclosed. Bank of America and Chase were penalized last month by regulators for doing a poor job modifying mortgages in default.
Adam J. Levitin, a Georgetown University law professor, said these little-publicized programs were more evidence that the banks were behaving in contradictory and often maddening ways.
“Loan modifications that should be happening aren’t, while loan modifications that shouldn’t be happening are,” he said. “Homeowners of any sort, whether current or in default, would rightly be confused and angry by this.”
The homeowners getting new loans, however, are quite pleased. In effect, the banks are paying the debt these owners accrued as the housing market plunged.
Ms. Giosmas bought her two-bedroom, two-bath apartment north of downtown Miami for $359,000 in early 2006, according to real estate records. She made a large down payment, but because each month she paid less than was necessary to pay off the loan, her debt swelled to about $300,000.
Meanwhile, the value of the apartment nosedived. By the time Ms. Giosmas got the letter from Chase, the condominium was worth less than half what she paid. “I would not have defaulted,” she said. “But they don’t know that.”
The letter, which Ms. Giosmas remembers as brief and “totally vague,” said Chase was cutting her principal by $150,000 while raising her interest rate to about 5 percent. Her payments would stay roughly the same.
A few months ago, Ms. Giosmas sold the place for $170,000, making a small profit. Having a loan that her lender considered toxic, she said, “turned out to be a blessing in disguise.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/business/03loans.html?_r=2&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2
Pending home sales rise
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pending sales of existing homes rebounded from a seven-month low in May but demand for mortgages sank last week and the market is still struggling under the weight of a glut of unsold properties.
The National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday its Pending Home Sales Index increased 8.2 percent to 88.8. Pending homes sales lead actual sales of homes by a month or two.
The rise in contracts was merely a correction after an 11.3 percent fall in April and the market will continue to bounce along the bottom, economists said.
That subdued outlook for a sector, which is helping to constrain economic growth, was illustrated by a Mortgage Bankers Association report showing applications for loans to buy homes dropped 3 percent last week to a four-month low.
"Although today's number could bring some cheer to investors who are on the prowl for good news, the fact of the matter is that the housing sector is still a long way from a meaningful recovery," said Peter Buchanan, a senior economist at CIBC World Markets in Toronto.
While the rise in contracts suggested a bounce back in home sales in June, economists cautioned against expecting a strong increase as many planned deals get canceled.
Demand for loans to buy a home has been modest so far this month. Existing home sales fell 3.8 percent in May.
WEAK HOUSING HURTING ECONOMY
Investors on Wall Street cheered the rise in pending home sales, which beat economists' expectations for a 3.8 percent gain, and bought stocks for a third straight day.
Sentiment was also buoyed by the Greek parliament's approval of austerity measures, an important step in the country's bid to gain access to international funding to avoid default. Prices for U.S. government debt fell and the dollar was down against a basket of currencies.
The housing market is grappling with an oversupply of homes, which is keeping prices subdued, and economists do not see a recovery any time soon.
According to the NAR, there were 3.72 million used homes on the market in May, excluding the so-called shadow inventory of homes which are at risk of being foreclosed upon or have been seized by lenders.
The housing market collapse helped to push the U.S. economy into its worst recession since the 1930s. The sluggish economic recovery has been marked by a 9.1 percent unemployment rate and on Wednesday, President Barack Obama called for new job creation measures.
"It makes perfect sense for us to take a look at, can we extend the payroll tax, for example, an additional year, and other tax breaks for business investment that could make a big difference in terms of creating more jobs right now," Obama told a White House news conference.
Economists are cautiously optimistic that home sales will gradually improve later this year and chip away at the huge inventory. Data on Tuesday showed a moderation in the pace of decline in single-family home prices in April.
"What is emerging is that we have hit some bottom level of activity and that's a good thing," said Steve Blitz, a senior economist at ITG Investment Research in New York.
"When you take that and marry it to the fact that you are not getting much new home construction, it means you are selling out of inventory of existing homes ... and you start to get new home construction. The industry is slowly moving in the right direction."
A slightly hopeful note was also sounded by KB Home, the fifth-biggest U.S. homebuilder, which said net orders for new homes fell 11 percent in the second quarter, compared with the same period of 2010 but jumped 53 percent from the first three months of the year.
"Although a broad-based housing recovery remains stalled, it appears that the worst of the crisis is behind the homebuilding industry as select markets for new homes are showing signs of stability," said chief executive officer Jeffrey Mezger.
(Editing by Andrea Ricci)
Copyright © 2011, Reuters
The National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday its Pending Home Sales Index increased 8.2 percent to 88.8. Pending homes sales lead actual sales of homes by a month or two.
The rise in contracts was merely a correction after an 11.3 percent fall in April and the market will continue to bounce along the bottom, economists said.
That subdued outlook for a sector, which is helping to constrain economic growth, was illustrated by a Mortgage Bankers Association report showing applications for loans to buy homes dropped 3 percent last week to a four-month low.
"Although today's number could bring some cheer to investors who are on the prowl for good news, the fact of the matter is that the housing sector is still a long way from a meaningful recovery," said Peter Buchanan, a senior economist at CIBC World Markets in Toronto.
While the rise in contracts suggested a bounce back in home sales in June, economists cautioned against expecting a strong increase as many planned deals get canceled.
Demand for loans to buy a home has been modest so far this month. Existing home sales fell 3.8 percent in May.
WEAK HOUSING HURTING ECONOMY
Investors on Wall Street cheered the rise in pending home sales, which beat economists' expectations for a 3.8 percent gain, and bought stocks for a third straight day.
Sentiment was also buoyed by the Greek parliament's approval of austerity measures, an important step in the country's bid to gain access to international funding to avoid default. Prices for U.S. government debt fell and the dollar was down against a basket of currencies.
The housing market is grappling with an oversupply of homes, which is keeping prices subdued, and economists do not see a recovery any time soon.
According to the NAR, there were 3.72 million used homes on the market in May, excluding the so-called shadow inventory of homes which are at risk of being foreclosed upon or have been seized by lenders.
The housing market collapse helped to push the U.S. economy into its worst recession since the 1930s. The sluggish economic recovery has been marked by a 9.1 percent unemployment rate and on Wednesday, President Barack Obama called for new job creation measures.
"It makes perfect sense for us to take a look at, can we extend the payroll tax, for example, an additional year, and other tax breaks for business investment that could make a big difference in terms of creating more jobs right now," Obama told a White House news conference.
Economists are cautiously optimistic that home sales will gradually improve later this year and chip away at the huge inventory. Data on Tuesday showed a moderation in the pace of decline in single-family home prices in April.
"What is emerging is that we have hit some bottom level of activity and that's a good thing," said Steve Blitz, a senior economist at ITG Investment Research in New York.
"When you take that and marry it to the fact that you are not getting much new home construction, it means you are selling out of inventory of existing homes ... and you start to get new home construction. The industry is slowly moving in the right direction."
A slightly hopeful note was also sounded by KB Home, the fifth-biggest U.S. homebuilder, which said net orders for new homes fell 11 percent in the second quarter, compared with the same period of 2010 but jumped 53 percent from the first three months of the year.
"Although a broad-based housing recovery remains stalled, it appears that the worst of the crisis is behind the homebuilding industry as select markets for new homes are showing signs of stability," said chief executive officer Jeffrey Mezger.
(Editing by Andrea Ricci)
Copyright © 2011, Reuters
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