Monthly Archives: January 2014

Home Buying, Home Selling, Interesting Facts, real estate

Learn These Real Estate Terms

These terms are handy to know terms when you are involved in either buying or selling real estate:

Disclosure Statements
These are most often prepared by the person selling a property. They can include a property condition disclosure, a lead based paint disclosure (for properties built prior to 1978), and a septic disclosure to name a few. You should ask for copies prior to preparing a written offer.

Good Faith Estimate
A lender is required to provide a borrower this document at loan application. It provides the borrower a breakdown of their loan costs, closing costs and downpayment required. It also gives an estimate of the total monthly payment. The numbers from the Good Faith Estimate and the closing statement should align fairly close, if not you should ask questions.

MIP
This stands for Mortgage Insurance Premium. If your obtaining a mortgage with a loan to value greater than 80%, then the lender will require mortgage insurance in most cases. The premium is usually paid as part of your monthly house payment. For some loan programs a portion of the premium is collected when the loan is funded. 

Lien
This is a claim by someone or a company on a property, usually for money owed. In Tennesse a Deed of Trust is filed with the Register of Deeds in the county where the property is located. This document reflects the terms of the loan, and is a matter of public record. 

Buyer’s Market
This is a a term used when the market is in the buyer’s favor. The buyer usually has the advantage when it comes to negotiations. A buyer’s market occurs when there are more homes for sale than there are buyers to purchase them, thus forcing sellers to me more aggressive with pricing. Usually homes take in excess of six months to sell in this type of market.

Seller’s Market
This term is used when there are not enough homes available for the number of buyers looking to purchase. This environment gives the seller the advantage when it comes to negotiations. In this type of market you will see home prices on the rise as many properties will receive multiple offers. In this kind of market, homes that are priced right and in good condition may only be on the market for a few weeks.

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Home Selling, housing, Interesting Facts, real estate, real estate market, Realtor

Most For Sale By Owners Lack Success

Selling a home For Sale By Owner (FSBO) is not an easy task, that’s why most FSBO’s end up hiring a REALTOR®. Nationally the success rate of FSBO’s is very low. Over 80% of all FSBO’s end up hiring a REALTOR® to get their home sold in the end.

Why is it so hard to sell without a REALTOR®?

1. Determining the right listing price – Pricing a property correctly is probably the most important step when placing your home up for sale. If your home is not priced right, then you stand a slim chance of selling in a competitive market. A REALTOR® will have access to the sales data, plus their experience to best advise you on a proper listing price.

2. Buyer’s want your commission savings – One of the things most sellers don’t understand when deciding to go the FSBO route, is that many buyers know you are marketing you own home in order to save the commission, and they want a part of that savings. Many of the buyers will take 5% right off the top regardless of whether the home is priced well or not.

3. Availability for showings – It’s hard for many homeowners to be available to show their home at the time buyers want to look. Buyers can come at all hours of the day and night. Most serious buyers are looking at a number of homes within a given time period and are not willing to rearrange their schedule to accommodate an unworkable seller. One advantage of having a REALTOR® is they can take care of all showings, thus freeing you up to keep your life as normal as possible during the selling process.

4. Showing to unqualified buyers – It’s a waste of your time and the buyers if they are unable to obtain the financing needed to complete the purchase. If a REALTOR® is involved, in most cases only pre-qualified buyers will be looking at your home.

5. Negotiations & inspections – This is an area where an inexperienced seller can put their self at great risk. When your dealing directly with the buyer you can be put of the spot with answering questions and making decisions without thinking them over carefully. You might unknowingly commit to something without understanding all of the cost and time considerations. Negotiating buyer inspections on your home can be tricky as well. These are areas were a REALTOR® will look out for your best interest.

While it’s not impossible to sell your home on your own, you can see there are many pitfalls along the way if your not experienced. By hiring a REALTOR® studies have shown that you will usually sell your home for a higher price, and you will have someone on your side to make the process much easier.

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Interesting Facts

Increase Your Productivity in 2014

Productivity is about managing your priorities and time. The skills and habits needed to be productive can be learned with dedication and effort.

Here are some tips to start you on a road to being more productive:

Know what’s important – Learn to tell the difference between important tasks and ones that just keep you busy. Spend the most time on the ones that are important.

Plan your day – Take some time at the end of the previous day or at the beginning of the day to plan what you want to get accomplished that day. A handy tool might be creating a to-do list each day, and refer to it often. This will help to keep you on track and focused.

Know your priorities – It’s not about just getting things done, you want to get the right things done. Learn to delegate tasks that others can do for you. This will free you up to work on higher priority items. Also learn to say no. Protect your time, energy and focus. 

Solve problems – Take the responsibility for solving problems both at work and home. Once things are resolved it will relieve you of some undue stress and free-up your mind for more productive activities. 

Focus – Concentrate on the task that you are engaged in at the moment and tune out distractions. 

Get organized – Keep your work and home space in order. This will cut down on wasted time looking for things, plus it will help reduce stress.

Be disciplined – Be accountable for your goals. If you aren’t focused and disciplined on what you want to accomplish, you’ll wander aimlessly.

Keep learning – You’ll never know everything. Keep you mind open and actively seek opportunities to learn new things in life

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