Filed under: Helpful Hints, Home Sales Data, Useful Information | Tags: Home Sales Data, Listing Agent, Olympia Realtor, real estate, real estate loans, Realtor, Selling A Home, Thurston County Real Estate, Why do I need a Realtor?
As you consider selling your home, you might be thinking… “Why do I need a Realtor, what value does a Listing Agent bring to the table?” There are five main areas where a licensed Realtor can help you in your home’s sale -
SETTING THE PRICE
Pricing your home is a careful balance. Set the price too low and you leave money on the table. Set the price too high and your home will be on the market a long time, which just compounds the problem as it raises questions about it’s sale-ability.
As a Realtor, it is their job to know what properties like yours have sold for recently, and can utilize the detailed history of area sales to tell whether your home – with it’s unique features, location and condition – will bring more, or less, than similar listings. And they always have the pulse of the local and regional Real Estate market, so they know whether the market is heating up or cooling down, and can stay ahead of the trend, pricing your home to get you the highest possible price in the least amount of time.
BEING OBJECTIVE
Selling a home can be an emotional experience. After all, it’s been a part of your life, perhaps the center of your life, for years. As a third party, a Realtor can keep you focused and provide independent feedback on things you should do, or changes and repairs that should be made, to help the home sell. They will also act as a buffer during negotiations. As a licensed Realtor, they adhere to a strict code of ethics, and they work to represent your best interests.
PROVIDE MARKETING MUSCLE
Attracting interested people to view and buy your home does not happen automatically. They will market your home to the widest audience of potential buyers through a well-coordinated multimedia campaign. Of course, They will use Signs, Newspaper Ads, Internet and open houses, but you’ll also be placed in the Multiple Listing Service where local agents can bring it to the attention of their buyers, and then to Realtor.com and Yahoo Classifieds Real Estate where it can be viewed by anyone in the world that is relocating to this area.
PRE-QUALIFY BUYERS
Your Realtor can help separate the serious buyers from the “lookie-loos” and thus save you a lot of time and frustration. They will determine if buyers are serious by getting answers to questions about their motivations and purchasing power and by ensuring that they have been pre-approved for a mortgage loan by a reputable lender in the amount needed to buy your home. When they bring you an offer on your home, you can be sure that the buyers’ finances are sound and the deal is ready to be done.
FOLLOW THROUGH and CLOSE THE DEAL
Selling your house is complicated and there is a mountain of paperwork. First there are offers and counter-offers. Then come the inspection reports, disclosure forms, deeds, mortgage documents. They keep track of it all and see to every detail. Their value is in avoiding delays and mistakes, and coordinating the timing of the sale of this house with the purchase of another, so that you make a smooth transition to your new home.
SUMMARY
The value that a licensed Realtor brings to someone selling a house is, in the end, peace of mind. The marketing, the details, the paperwork, the coordination. They do it every day, and they enjoy the process. So relax and leave the details to a licensed professional. You’ll find that having a knowledgeable Realtor beside you throughout the sale of your home is priceless.
Like this:
It is recommended never to represent yourself as your own lawyer and Real Estate is quite the same. Let a professional represent you. You will be glad you did.
Filed under: Daily Mortgage News, Helpful Hints, Home Sales Data | Tags: Buying a Home, CU Mortgage Division Olympia Washington Mortgage Lender, First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit, Olympia Washington Mortgage Lender, Olympia Washington Real Estate Lender, Pre-Approval, Tax Credit, William Tuning - Olympia, Washington
As the federal home buyer tax credit nears its April 30 end-date, there’s a lot of would-be home buyers in Olympia still working to get under contract.
A piece of advice for all of them : If your pre-qualification and/or pre-approval letter is more than 8 weeks old, it would be prudent to have your lender “re-pre-approve” you. Mortgage guidelines have been in flux and your original lender letter may now be invalid.
For example, over the past half-dozen months, the majority of mortgage lenders have reduced their risk tolerance with respect to:
- Maximum debt-to-income ratios
- Minimum allowable credit scores
- Calculation of “assets in reserve”
For buyers of condominiums and co-ops, even the subject property itself is coming under tougher scrutiny.
Today’s mortgage applicants need to be a complete package. It takes more than just good income and credit to get approved anymore and today’s buyers should revisit their qualifications. What passed underwriting in January may not pass in May.
Being pro-active brings other advantages, too. If a mortgage re-pre-approval does unearth an issue, it’ll be easier for every party to the transaction to address and correct it up-front versus trying to clean up a mess once a home’s already under contract.
Call CU Mortgage Division at (360) 539-4687 about your pre-qualification/pre-approval letter before you bid on a home or visit our website at www.cumortgagedivision to apply online for a pre-approval 24/7.
Filed under: Daily Mortgage News, Home Sales Data | Tags: Buying a Home, Credit Union Mortgage Division, CU Mortgage Division Olympia Washington Mortgage Lender, Home Affordability, Olympia Washington Mortgage Lender, Pending Home Sales, real estate, real estate loans, tumwater real estate lender, William Tuning - Olympia, Washington
As expected, the Pending Home Sales shot higher in February, boosted by the federal home buyer tax credit’s April 30 deadline.
Versus the month prior, February’s index rose 8 percent but remains well off the highs set last October.
For today’s home buyers and seller, the Pending Home Sales Index is an important measurement. This is because a “pending home” is a property that is under contract to sell, but not yet closed.
According to the National Association of Realtors®, 80% of homes under contract close within 60 days, historically. Therefore, a higher Pending Sales figure in February projects that April’s Existing Home Sales will be higher, too.
If you’re a Olympia home buyer today, no doubt you’ve noticed the extra market activity.
On right-priced homes, multiple offer situations are more common; sales prices are settling closer to listing price; Days on market is falling. These are the signs of a buyer-heavy market. It drives home supplies down and home prices up.
It’s a good time to be a seller, in other words. Especially as buyer activity looks poised to peak.
When the home buyer credit faced its last expiration in November 2009, we saw a pattern of buyers rushing to beat the deadline. There’s no reason to expect that won’t happen again. And as it does, Pending Home Sales should continue to climb. Average home sale prices should rise.
Home buyers may find it smart to go under contract sooner rather than later. Pending Home Sales is a warning shot. Higher home sales figures are ahead.
Filed under: Home Sales Data | Tags: Buying a Home, Case-Shiller Index, CU Mortgage Division Olympia Washington Mortgage Lender, Home Affordability, Home Price Index, Olympia Washington Real Estate Lender, real estate, real estate loans, tumwater real estate lender
Standard & Poors released its Case-Shiller Index Wednesday. The report shows that, on a seasonally-adjusted basis, between December and January, home prices rose in more than half of the index’s tracked markets.
The strength of this month’s Case-Shiller report, however, should be put in context.
For one, the report is on a 2-month delay; it’s showing data from January, before the start of the Spring Buying Season and before the rush to beat the tax credit. Anecdotally, buyer interest has been strong since, leading to the types of multiple offer situations that drive home prices northward.
In other words, home values may be even higher than what’s reflected in the January Case-Shiller data above.
Furthermore, the Case-Shiller Index measures home values in just 20 cities nationwide and they’re not even the 20 biggest cities. Houston, Philadelphia, San Antonio and San Jose are specifically excluded from the report and each ranks among the country’s 10 most populous areas.
Despite its flaws, though, the Case-Shiller Index remains important. Much like the government’s Home Price Index, the private-sector report helps to finger broad housing trends and housing is still considered a keystone in the U.S. economic recovery.
Even if it’s two months slow.
Filed under: Home Sales Data | Tags: Buying a Home, CU Mortgage Division Olympia Washington Mortgage Lender, Existing Home Sales, First Mortgage Loans, Olympia Washington Real Estate Lender, real estate, Tax Credit, Thurston County home sales, tumwater real estate lender, William Tuning - Olympia, Washington
As expected, Existing Home Sales fell in February, slipping 30,000 units versus January’s numbers. It’s the 4th straight month in which Existing Home Sales were lower, month-over-month.
An “existing” home is one that is previously owned and lived-in (i.e. not new construction).
Existing Home Sales peaked in November 2009, just as the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit was set to expire. Immediately thereafter, according to the National Association of Realtors®, monthly sales plunged 17 percent in December, then another 7 percent in January.
Comparatively, February’s dip is a modest 0.6 percent and is more in line with the pre-tax-credit Existing Home Sales trend. The real estate market is rediscovering its normal.
But “normal” may not last for long.
When the federal home buyer’s tax program was extended last year, the new rules stated that home buyers must be under contract for their new, respective homes on, or before, April 30, 2010 in order to claim up to $8,000 in federal money. That deadline is approaching and many markets — Lacey included — are experiencing a surge in buyer traffic as April 30 nears.
The Existing Home Sales data doesn’t reflect this new demand, nor the number of new contracts written. It only accounts for home closings and, in February, closings were down.
For today’s buyers, the market looks favorable. The federal tax credit is in place, mortgage rates stubbornly stick near all-time lows, and home prices are staying in check.
Existing Home Sales should gain through March and April, pressuring home prices higher. And, by the time the press reports the gains, the best deals in the city may already be gone. Consider acting sooner rather than later.
Filed under: Daily Mortgage News, Home Sales Data | Tags: CNNMoney.com, CU Mortgage Division Olympia Washington Mortgage Lender, Home Values, Olympia Home Loan Lender, Olympia Washington Mortgage Lender, Real Estate Is Local, William Tuning - Olympia, Washington
CNNMoney.com recently published its 2010 forecast and projections for home prices in the country’s largest metro markets.
Listed as “Top 25″ and also comprehensively by state, CNNMoney.com’s home price forecasts puts Santa Rosa, California at the top of 2010′s home appreciation list and Hanford, California at its bottom.
The 10 cities projected for highest home appreciation in 2010 are:
- Santa Rosa, CA : +6.0%
- Cheyenne, WY : +4.7%
- Kennewick, WA : +4.6%
- Merced, CA : +4.4%
- Bremerton, WA : +4.2%
- Fairbanks, AK : +4.2%
- Corvallis, OR : +4.1%
- Tacoma, WA : +3.9%
- Anchorage, AK : +3.8%
- Bend, OR : +3.3%
The Pacific Northwest is the region most heavily-represented among price gainers. The Southeast and Middle Atlantic are most represented on the under-perform list.
However, just because a city’s homes are expected to appreciate (or depreciate) in 2010, that doesn’t mean that every home within its limits will follow suit. Real estate cannot be grouped on a city level like CNNMoney.com tries to. There will always be areas in demand within city limits in which prices rise, just as there will be out-of-demand areas in which prices fall.
Real estate data can’t be grouped by city or even by ZIP code, really.
Real estate in Tumwater is more local than that.
When we say “real estate is local”, it means that every street in every town has a distinct set of traits that drives its home values. Homes that are one block closer to the train; or, homes that are facing north; or, homes that are made of brick. Each of these characteristics can affect a home’s desirability which, in turn, can affects its sales price.
National surveys can’t capture “essence” like this. They only report on the aggregate.
For local real estate data, look to established, publicly available websites and to active, local real estate agents. Both will have data and insight that can help you. National surveys often make for good headlines, but do little to help homebuyers find good value.
Filed under: Daily Mortgage News, Home Sales Data | Tags: Buying a Home, CU Mortgage Division Olympia Washington Mortgage Lender, Home Sales Data, Housing Starts, Olympia Washington Real Estate Lender, Tax Credit, William Tuning - Olympia, Washington
Single-family Housing Starts idled last month, dropping just 3,000 units from the month prior, or 0.2%.
According to the Commerce Department’s report, February marked the 8th straight month in which Housing Starts straddled the half-million marker, dating back to June 2009.
This is a different slant on the Housing Starts story as told by the press.
Most publications are reporting that Housing Starts fell 5.9 percent in February. Technically, this is true. Housing Starts did fall 5.9 percent last month. However, the Housing Starts data is comprised of three parts:
- Single-Family Housing Starts
- 2-4 Unit Housing Starts
- “Apartment Building” Housing Starts (i.e. 5 or more units)
The press tends to lump all 3 together but that’s not relevant for everyday homeowners and buyers.
2-4 unit homes, and apartments and condos are a different housing class as compared to single-family homes and are notoriously volatile, too. Single-family starts are more steady and better reflect the country’s housing stock.
Single-family housing starts are up 32 percent over the last 12 months.
Meanwhile, the pace of new buyers has not kept up with the pace of new housing stock. Therefore, because home prices are based on supply-and-demand, the price for a newly-built home was down, on average, 7 percent nationwide in January.
With the federal home buyer tax credit expiring soon, home buyers in Olympia will likely create new demand for homes. And with Housing Starts holding steady near 500,000, that should push prices higher through the spring months.
Filed under: Home Sales Data | Tags: CU Mortgage Division Olympia Washington Mortgage Lender, Foreclosures, real estate, RealtyTrac, Tumwater Washington Mortgage Lender, William Tuning - Olympia, Washington
According to foreclosure-tracking firm RealtyTrac, foreclosure filings topped 300,000 for the 12th straight month last month as 1 in every 418 U.S. homes received a foreclosure filing.
It’s a small improvement from January and a just 6 percent increase over February 2009.
On a per-capita basis, foreclosure density varied by state:
- Nevada : 1 foreclosure filing per 102 homes
- Florida : 1 foreclosure filing per 163 homes
- Arizona : 1 foreclosure filing per 163 homes
- California : 1 foreclosure filing per 195 homes
Also, as in January 2010, foreclosures across the country were concentrated. 10 states beat the national Foreclosure Per Capita average; 40 states fell below. Like everything else is real estate, it seems, foreclosures are local.
For today’s Tumwater home buyers, foreclosures represent an interesting opportunity.
Homes bought in various stages of foreclosure are often less expensive than other, non-foreclosure homes. It’s one reason why distressed home sales account for 38 percent of all resales. However, less expensive doesn’t always mean less costly. A foreclosed home may be in various stages of disrepair and they’re often sold as-is, as policy.
Buying new or used in Pierce County can be cheaper than buying broken-down.
Therefore, if you’re in the market for a bank-owned home, make sure you know what you’re buying before you sign a contract. Have qualified professionals review and inspect the property, as needed. Damage to pipes or the property’s structure, for example, may not be so obvious on a walk-though and you’ll want to know about it before you buy.
Also, foreclosed homes are federal tax credit-eligible. Buyers must be under contract by April 30, 2010 and closed by June 30, 2010.
