Today’s real estate buyer is a shopper and has in mind exactly what they are looking for in a home, therefore your duty as a seller is to make sure your home is precisely the home of their dreams. Buyers today are interested in simplifying their lives and want a home that reflects this as well. They are looking for clean, stream lined homes, with the basic necessities, nothing that screams that the seller went overboard. They want a home that is an excellent investment and a good value. A good value to a buyer means that they will be firm negotiators and will try to get more bang for their buck. Buyers are known to ask for the moon, and appreciate incentives in which sellers offer such as paying closing costs, crediting a buyer at closing for certain repairs and even a paint allowance. They are not interested in fixer uppers, as most buyers in today’s market just don’t have the money to shell out in making major repairs or tackling huge remodeling projects; they want a house to be move in ready and in superior condition.

Buyers can also be pretty picky. They don’t want to see a home that is cluttered with an explosion of furniture and personal belongings. Homes that are seething with excess stuff make it impossible for a buyer to envision themselves and their belongings within the home. Decluttering, depersonalizing, and detaching yourself from your home makes them see it as the potential of it being their home. Buyers also know the importance of nature and are environmentally conscious, and want to see additional living spaces outside such as patios and decks, outdoor kitchens and living rooms. In addition to this, today’s buyer is a ‘green’ buyer and wants appliances such as washers, dryers, refrigerators, dishwashers, HVAC units and windows that are energy efficient. These buyers are economical, savvy and quite practical.

Continue reading this post

Many buyers interested in Hawaii real estate are unfamiliar with the term ‘Leasehold’, but it is of critical importance to understand. Most are familiar with real estate ownership in Fee Simple (also known as Freehold), in which a purchaser owns the land and any improvements and fixtures thereon.

However, in a few states, including Hawaii, there is another form of ownership: Leasehold.

When a landowner enters into an agreement/ground lease with a lessee, it creates a leasehold.

The main differences between ownership by Fee Simple and Leasehold are:

•    A leasehold buyer does not own the land on which improvements are located and, as such, must pay a ground lease.
•    The use, alteration, and maintenance of the premises are subject to conditions/restrictions named on the lease.
•    Use of the land is limited to the time remaining of said lease. At the expiration of the lease, either a new lease must be negotiated or the land reverts (and in many cases, the improvements thereon) back to the landowner, in what is called ‘reversion’.

Why would a potential buyer prefer a leasehold property over fee simple ownership? Continue reading this post

If there’s a base, that’s the place.

Not the catchiest slogan ever created, but the sentiment is something for real estate and mortgage industry stakeholders to embrace. Military communities are driving growth and income expansion across the country, according to a recent study by USA Today.

Sixteen of the 20 fastest-growing metropolitan areas (based on per-capita income since 2000) either have a military base within their borders or are near a military installation. There’s no sign of slowdown in most of these communities. And that means the need for housing solutions is only going to increase.

Scores of service members will return from  Iraq and Afghanistan in the coming weeks and months. Most will qualify for the home-buying tax credits that recently expired for civilian buyers — service members who meet the criteria have until the end of April to purchase and until June 30, 2011, to close.

At the same time, the military continues to meet and even exceed recruitment goals, bringing new faces to these metro areas every month. Sustained growth coupled with the purchasing power and demand for homeownership among military members makes for a dynamic opportunity for RE folks moving forward.

On the whole, American service members are big-time homeowners, with ownership levels that outpace all other consumer groups. Military members are also in increasingly better shape financially to secure financing — the average compensation for military members in 2009 was about $120,000, including pay and benefits.

Agents who can tap into this wellspring have a lot to gain. Getting a solid grip on the scope and inner workings of the VA loan program is often a key step. Continue reading this post

First Look Program

Fannie levels the field

New Incentives
Fannie Mae markets its REO through its HomePath.com Properties. Under the new incentive program, owner occupants and public entities that buy a HomePath Property between now and December 31, can receive up to 3.5% of the purchase price in closing cost assistance. The sale must close within 60 days of acceptance of the offer and no later than December 31, 2010.  The incentive must be requested in the initial offer.

What Is It
Individuals and public entities are given a period of time, generally 15 days after a property is listed at HomePath.com (a Fannie Mae site). HomePath.com is the listing site for about 190,000 properties held by the GSEs. Individuals and public entities (read non-profits) have a lead time over investors to inspect  and submit an offer to purchase. After 15 days, the listing is open to all potential buyers.

The idea is to offer first to those who would live in the home and become stakeholders, adding stability to the community and to avoid  too quickly putting property back into a supply laden market. By offering a sneak preview to owners first, Fannie hopes to encourage home ownership without the edge professionals may have and avoid the pressures of bidding against professional investors.

Why Should I Care
Levels the playing field and it’s working.

Fannie has moved more than 29,000 homes out of its owned real estate portfolio of properties acquired by the  through foreclosure to owner occupants. Some 800 non-profits have also bought an additional 5,000 properties through First Look.

Homeownership is a part of the American dream. As a public policy, it’s been a powerful magnet for talented immigrants. From the early promise of 40 acres and a mule for every man and women who would homestead to the Levittowns of post World War Two, America has always promised its people greater rewards.

I took a short look at some of the institutions charged with public policy that made home ownership easy and how they are still playing a big public role.

The New Deal

President Roosevelt’s New Deal created policy and institutions to encourage people to become homeowners. Facing high levels of mortgage foreclosures during the Great Depression, the Roosevelt Administration, created the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Federal National Mortgage Association. Fannie Mae established the 30-year, fixed rate, fully amortized mortgage as a standard. The FHA was created to insure those mortgages, to cushion the loss and so incentivized investors to take risk. Huge capital markets are created to draw pools of money into the housing industry to fuel a politically mandated public homeownership program. Continue reading this post

It’s Friday evening and there’s a dusting of snow on the ground in Bethesda. The Washington, DC area is supposed to get up to 20 inches over the next 24 to 36 hours, which would be a record snowfall.  I’ve already canceled the 4 showings in Virginia for tomorrow.  Most were new houses and — even if we could safely get there –  no one was willing to promise that driveways and walkways would be shoveled or plowed.

I’m hoping that the roads will be clear enough so that I can get out for the two scheduled showings that I have on Sunday.  The tenacity of many buyers here — despite the elements — reminds me how and why the holiday season can be a fruitful time for home sales.

Motivated Anyone?….

Home buyers who are asking to see homes in the last couple weeks of December with 2 feet of snow on the ground, aren’t going out for “fun” — unless they’re skiing from house to house in Vail or Beaver Creek

In DC and much of the country?  Very few are going to be taking the roads for information gathering.  No, the majority of holiday buyers (at least in my experience) have done their research, and are “pushing on” because they need to buy a home.

And for those who don’t have to brave the elements this time of year (Sarasota, Florida, Austin, Texas…), there are still other commitments of the season.  And those who need/want to sacrifice some of this time are equally committed to the process.

Where Did The Sellers Go? Continue reading this post