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

This is a pretty common question this time of year. I think the answer depends on your personal situation. I met with two homeowners within the last week that want to list their homes and both couples asked this same question.

My advice was that there is no reason to wait because it was not going to disrupt either of their holidays.

If either of them were having visitors for the holidays or was a large family with kids running around the house all day I probably would have advised them to wait.

Here are 5 reasons to list your home during the holiday season:

1.  This time of year many Realtors are taking time off or advising their sellers to wait until January to put their home up for sale. That means fewer listings are coming on the market. Wouldn’t you rather be 1 of say 10 new listings versus 1of 40? Your listing will be noticed more to those who are actively looking. There are always buyers on the sidelines waiting for new listings. Many of them receive new listings daily via email. Listing your home during the holidays might mean that you stand out more amongst all of the other new listings.

2.    If a home buyer is looking during the holidays there is a strong chance that they are motivated to purchase.

3.    The first time home-buyer tax credit has been extended. This might have created a sense of urgency and motivation for some to buy. Continue reading this post

Last Friday (November 6), President Obama signed legislation into law that both extended the existing $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit and added a new tax credit for some existing home buyers.

Here is a summary of the extended and expanded tax credits:

First time buyer tax credit:

This was extended to May 1, 2010:  A tax credit of 10% of the purchase price of a home, up to $8,000, may be claimed by first-time buyers for the purchase of a primary residence. As long as you are under a binding purchase contract by April 30, 2010 – and close on the transaction before July 1, you can probably claim the credit.

A first-time buyer is defined as someone who has not owned a home in the past three years.

Income limits were increased to $125,000 for singles, $225,000 for married couples filing jointly.

The purchase price of the home can not exceed $800,000.

Existing home owner credit:

If you have lived in your home for five consecutive years out of the last eight years and are buying another primary residence, you may qualify for a tax credit of 10% of the purchase price, up to a maximum of $6,500.

The May 1 / July first time limits apply to the existing buyer credit as well.

The $125,000 / $225,000 income limits and $800,000 max purchase price limits also apply.

The existing home owner credit became effective “on the date of enactment” – November 6.

Of Note: Continue reading this post

After seeing a Senate vote of 98-0, the House approved the extension & expansion of the home buyer tax credit by a vote of 403 to 12.  The overwhelming bipartisan support was applauded by the NAHB and the National Association of Realtors® (NAR).

The new bill extends the expiration of the current $8000 tax credit to first time home buyers purchasing a principle residence.  The bill further expands the credit to include existing purchasers who have owned and occupied a primary residence for the past five of eight years.  Existing purchasers will receive a credit of $6500.

The income restrictions on qualifying buyers have also been increased.  Single filers earning up to $125k/year are eligible for the full credit, and those earning up to $145k/year are eligible for a partial credit.  Joint filers are eligible for the full amount with a combined income of up to $225k, and eligible for a partial if earning up to $245k.

The new law has seen wide support, especially from the real estate blogging community. Continue reading this post

These are the words that my first broker had for me after I closed my first deal. As luck would have it, I was in for quite the ride for my first deal and at times I thought there was no way I could actually get it closed and even worse, there was no one or nowhere I could turn for all of the answers.

It involved foreign terms to me at the time like elevation certificates, flood plains and settlement statements. Most of us who have done this for a while have had transactions where we just thought the changes would never end, but, when my broker told me “every deal was different,” I thought twice before continuing on in my real estate career.

Surely things wouldn’t always be different and if they were, I would never be able to learn enough about how to be a great real estate agent so I might as well quit now!

If you are a new agent, there is no need to have the fear I had. Instead, think of the fact that every deal is different as a blessing. Every new transaction will open up for you new and creative ways to make transactions work.

Even as real estate agents (not brokers) what we are really doing is “brokering” a transaction between a buyer and a seller.

In today’s market, things can often times become more complicated than in the past because of fickle buyers, short sales, foreclosures and wounded sellers who have seen their retirement accounts slide away right alongside the equity in their homes. These situations can make real estate in today’s environment tricky and deals harder to hold together.

Frequently, less than usual situations risk tearing apart transactions that sometimes seem only to be held together by our will. Continue reading this post

It’s a typical scenario: you get an email from a couple wanting to see a home. Adrenaline surges as a closing check flits across your mind. You eagerly set up an appointment, drive across town, show the property at the appointed hour then set up another appointment to show them more homes on the weekend.

Friday comes and you get an email with 17 MLS numbers they’d like to see. A small gnawing feeling starts working at corner of your stomach as you realize you need to do some educating. You dive into the list and quickly discover that 14 of them are short sales that can be shown by appointment only. That uncomfortable feeling in your tummy is expanding into a minor digestive disorder as you get ready to start making the calls to set up the appointments.

I could go on with scenarios all too common for too many REALTORS® … ending with the unreturned calls, failure to respond to emails and finally the devastating realization that the clients you’ve been carting around for the past three months have just purchased a home from another agent at an open house.

You’ve just been managed.

From the first moment you come in contact with a prospective client, they have expectations. In many cases, these expectations are not based on reality: they’ve been garnered from conversations with their friends, reading posts on sites like HomeGain, Zillow and Trulia and by watching HGTV. Often, their expectations are way out of alignment with reality. It’s up to you to manage their expectations and direct them forward in a positive manner. You’d think it would be easy, yet statistics state that by the time a buyer gets to you, they’ve already been in contact with numerous other Realtors. How do you get this food chain to stop with you?

Bottom line: if you don’t mange your buyers, they will manage you. Right out of business.

In reality, I’ve discovered that most buyers want to be “managed.” Used in the right context, the word “manage” is a good thing. Continue reading this post