It has become apparent that this is the year of the slow loan process.
Yes. There are government loans out there where you do not have to put any money down but if you take advantage of this? You will pay in other ways.
Right now, today, I have two such deals going where buyers are getting a USDA loan. No money down and that's fantastic. But....
Be prepared to wait and be prepared to do extraordinary things.
First case is a Fannie Mae house with a USDA 100% guaranteed loan. These used to sail right through but over the last 24 months? Nope.
Just. Nope.
The process has become a lengthy one. First with home inspections. Then with "fixes" then the bank sends an appraiser. That appraiser will fill out forms for USDA. Appraiser will "ding" the property for things like gutters, pressure relief valves on water heaters, GFI's near water (kitchens and baths) and outside, CO detectors, battery life in CO detectors and smoke detectors. This is a small list of things but these things keep coming up.
So....sellers...if you want it gone, do these things! If you aren't handy, call a Mr. Fix-it and get it done!
These 'issues' can hold up the loan. These fixes have to be fixed before the loan gets sent to processing.
In Springfield.
Allow 14 business days.
These are the things your banker should be telling you but, nope. That's left up to me to be the bearer of bad tidings.
People, these loans are a good product. They allow you to get into your house with no money down but, sweetie, honey, baby, lovey, you are going to have to wait for that loan.
Argh.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Posts from now and forever
Holy crap its July and this is my first post to you! So...
It is a passionately cloudy day today with more blustery and lusty storms approaching. Its dark, the winds are starting to howl and there are rumbles of thunder. <sigh> ((fun fact: this type of sentence structure is called 'puffing' or 'puffery' in the real estate business...so those little 'fixer-uppers' that need "TLC" but have warnings about rotted floors and black mold forests on the walls??))
A lot of the houses I had contracts on have closed or started down the "pending" slopes. Still working a few corrections-inspections with USDA and more than one stubborn seller. Had a contract collapse because a buyer's job disappeared. And then it was July.
May and June were more moderate this year than last with temps staying out of the 90's for the most part which I believe aided getting things done. Then we hit a wall at the end of June with every living banker in SoIL going on holiday with at least 67 percent of the title company closers.
Now into July with strong storms -- really wet this year! -- and hot, humid days. Plus the wrinkles of higher interest rates. Yes, we had a good long run with next to nothing interest rates but now they have started to pop up a couple of points overnight sending some buyers into panics.
This happens. The housing market in SoIL is rebounding. We had BIDDING WARS on properties last season and started the early spring with more of the same. Yet...there are those buyers who insist they know better. That housing markets are still dropping, that we haven't bottomed out yet, that we are living in some other state than Illinois, apparently.
I will say this once again. Slowly so you can repeat it to your foolish, dullard friends: STOP. WATCHING. NATIONAL. (ESPECIALLY FOX!! WHICH IS NOT NEWS BUT TALK/ENTERTAINMENT/OPINIONS!!). Again...STOP. WATCHING. NATIONAL. NEWS. FOR. YOUR. LOCAL. ECONOMIC. NEWS. Especially about real estate markets. Just quit.
Ask a local real estate broker. Even the most silly, fluffed-up, over-inflated, drama-mongering, and negative of the bunch will be able to pull up reliable and recent data from the LOCAL MLS system to give you the real, accurate and daily rundown of what's for sale, what's pending, what's sold, how long it was on the market, who bought it and for how much. Remember, too, as braggarts are so fond of telling me...not all sales are recorded in the MLS. Yes, Charlotte, there are private sales recorded at the courthouses that are not in the MLS. For that my office has to trot on down the courthouse and take a peep once or twice month. In some counties, like Jefferson, you can buy a print out of last month's recorded deed transactions. TaDAAAAAAHHHH...all the info your little heart desires.
Private sales. I do watch these with interest. Between friends and family the price of land/houses can be as little as you can imagine but there is also some tough love transactions out there. I'd bow out of a family that raked me over in some of these deals. That's because the average citizen doesn't know squat about what their property is worth.
Oh, I know they know what they'd like to get. Which is very different from what it will bring in the open market. Yes. I do comparable searches to see what's what. It is not pulled out of my butt. I've actually had several classes by some very "accredited" and "learned" specialists. You have to compare APPLES to other APPLES. Not apples to imagined golden apples from heaven. Using actual and accurate information gleaned from actual and accurate sources very unlike Cousin Bubba or Freddy down at the Circle K.
Which is actually kinda sad, really. I come across folks all the time who proceed to tell me how the real estate market is because Bubba down at the bar told 'em so. Or they heard from someone, who knows someone, who was dating someone who read something somewhere about it.
Hopefully one of those someones will stumble across this blog.
<sigh> I had no pictures of apples by the way.
It is a passionately cloudy day today with more blustery and lusty storms approaching. Its dark, the winds are starting to howl and there are rumbles of thunder. <sigh> ((fun fact: this type of sentence structure is called 'puffing' or 'puffery' in the real estate business...so those little 'fixer-uppers' that need "TLC" but have warnings about rotted floors and black mold forests on the walls??))
A lot of the houses I had contracts on have closed or started down the "pending" slopes. Still working a few corrections-inspections with USDA and more than one stubborn seller. Had a contract collapse because a buyer's job disappeared. And then it was July.
May and June were more moderate this year than last with temps staying out of the 90's for the most part which I believe aided getting things done. Then we hit a wall at the end of June with every living banker in SoIL going on holiday with at least 67 percent of the title company closers.
Now into July with strong storms -- really wet this year! -- and hot, humid days. Plus the wrinkles of higher interest rates. Yes, we had a good long run with next to nothing interest rates but now they have started to pop up a couple of points overnight sending some buyers into panics.
This happens. The housing market in SoIL is rebounding. We had BIDDING WARS on properties last season and started the early spring with more of the same. Yet...there are those buyers who insist they know better. That housing markets are still dropping, that we haven't bottomed out yet, that we are living in some other state than Illinois, apparently.
I will say this once again. Slowly so you can repeat it to your foolish, dullard friends: STOP. WATCHING. NATIONAL. (ESPECIALLY FOX!! WHICH IS NOT NEWS BUT TALK/ENTERTAINMENT/OPINIONS!!). Again...STOP. WATCHING. NATIONAL. NEWS. FOR. YOUR. LOCAL. ECONOMIC. NEWS. Especially about real estate markets. Just quit.
Ask a local real estate broker. Even the most silly, fluffed-up, over-inflated, drama-mongering, and negative of the bunch will be able to pull up reliable and recent data from the LOCAL MLS system to give you the real, accurate and daily rundown of what's for sale, what's pending, what's sold, how long it was on the market, who bought it and for how much. Remember, too, as braggarts are so fond of telling me...not all sales are recorded in the MLS. Yes, Charlotte, there are private sales recorded at the courthouses that are not in the MLS. For that my office has to trot on down the courthouse and take a peep once or twice month. In some counties, like Jefferson, you can buy a print out of last month's recorded deed transactions. TaDAAAAAAHHHH...all the info your little heart desires.
Private sales. I do watch these with interest. Between friends and family the price of land/houses can be as little as you can imagine but there is also some tough love transactions out there. I'd bow out of a family that raked me over in some of these deals. That's because the average citizen doesn't know squat about what their property is worth.
Oh, I know they know what they'd like to get. Which is very different from what it will bring in the open market. Yes. I do comparable searches to see what's what. It is not pulled out of my butt. I've actually had several classes by some very "accredited" and "learned" specialists. You have to compare APPLES to other APPLES. Not apples to imagined golden apples from heaven. Using actual and accurate information gleaned from actual and accurate sources very unlike Cousin Bubba or Freddy down at the Circle K.
Which is actually kinda sad, really. I come across folks all the time who proceed to tell me how the real estate market is because Bubba down at the bar told 'em so. Or they heard from someone, who knows someone, who was dating someone who read something somewhere about it.
Hopefully one of those someones will stumble across this blog.
<sigh> I had no pictures of apples by the way.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Fabulous Older Homes
Let's recap what's popping this month:
June 1st -- my first ever, most wonderful radio open house broadcast live on MAGIC 95.1.
This is what a closing looks like. The people change and the venue changes but its always a group sitting around signing papers. This is a life event for a lot of people. One of the biggest ones; like marriage or the birth of a child. And it looks pretty much like this.
Two other closings happened in short order for me this month. A couple sold their first house on Friday and bought their second house yesterday, Wednesday. You hear a lot of about deals where the closing on the first house and the second house happen on the same day. I really tried to get this done. Had it scheduled but the second house was a short sale, and, you guessed it: one of the big banks was involved so dragged it out.
Even my best efforts couldn't get them everything they wished for. <sigh>
June 1st -- my first ever, most wonderful radio open house broadcast live on MAGIC 95.1.
I really got a lot of calls, texts and emails from the radio broadcast. Still getting a lot of wash from it and that's the point. I have listings that need to be sold, people.
Watch for more radio...we're going to do more with MAGIC and Z.
Geesh...lots of rain this year to offset the drought from last year! Farmers having a hard time getting in the fields and home sellers are having an awful time trying to keep the lawns mowed around properties.
The listings in SoIL are scarce and, mostly, the majority are older homes. Some in great shape but need a touch of paint.
Still, its a good time to lock in the deal before interest rates really zoom up.
For the most part I've been kept jumpin' this month trying to close a deal in Scheller with a contract I wrote in December. See? That 45 days to close your contract looks sweet now, doesn't it?
The Scheller deal involved a lot of survey/non-survey issues - Plat Act and Warranty Deed - ugh. I did tell you I got into this business not to do paperwork and I am not a lawyer!!
We closed it Monday, June 24, and the buyers and sellers couldn't be happier.
This is what a closing looks like. The people change and the venue changes but its always a group sitting around signing papers. This is a life event for a lot of people. One of the biggest ones; like marriage or the birth of a child. And it looks pretty much like this.
Two other closings happened in short order for me this month. A couple sold their first house on Friday and bought their second house yesterday, Wednesday. You hear a lot of about deals where the closing on the first house and the second house happen on the same day. I really tried to get this done. Had it scheduled but the second house was a short sale, and, you guessed it: one of the big banks was involved so dragged it out.
Even my best efforts couldn't get them everything they wished for. <sigh>
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Real time real estate
Life is not a reality TV show.
In real estate I hear about HGTV all the time. I even started watching the channel so I could better estimate what expectations were.
In House Hunters we have a thirty minute search of properties which yields a "find" and a "decision" but we don't follow that purchase to the closing table. We have no idea how many days, weeks, months were consumed while filming the search as I totally doubt that only three properties were viewed. It is good TV to show us the final three but in real life? Depending on the market, buyers will have more options or no options at all.
I like Love it or List it because the realtor on that program does start to show you how difficult it is to find some one's dream location. That program also starts to show how difficult it is to reconstruct a house. The contractor almost always finds some major "issue" that needs to be solved eating away much of the reno budget. But, see...that's what real life is really like. In reno jobs you must expect set backs and budget sucks. Otherwise you are just living in Oz.
Property Brothers shows us some real life negotiations and how they fall through, plus, more importantly, this program shows some hard reality with pricing....sometimes you have to pay more than you wished to get the house you want. I'm actually partial to this show, too, because we always see a diva whining about the cost of the fixer-upper they are going to buy. "Why's it so expensive? I don't wanna pay more than this. This place is a dump." Yeah, well, that's what the market will bear, sweetie, so either pay up or keep renting.
If you aren't an HGTV watcher but want to buy some real estate, I do suggest you start to watch these. Also take the time for House Hunters International -- there's a wake up for you. Other countries where people live without central air and heat, where water heaters have to be turned on, where there is no such thing as a Master Bedroom much less a Master Suite. This show, I like to point out to my clients, is more like house hunting in SoIL. Because there are plenty of little houses in our small towns and cities that have a lot of charm but no master bedroom and no dining room. You have to make do with what's there in your price range.
Especially now.
Interest rates took a big leap up over the weekend. Starting about Wednesday of last week they started to climb and now they are hovering around 5%. This is going to be the new norm. These low interest rates where not going to last forever and those who waited? Maybe waited too long.
If you keep waiting; riding that fence waiting for even lower prices: ((foreclosures and short sales are getting scarce and, although you will still get a steal, you will not get a $200,000 house for $20,000 anymore)) AND you will pay a higher interest rate for the money you borrow. Housing prices are going up.
Bidding wars are a real thing now, not just in California, but here in SoIL.
Interest rates bottomed and are rising again.
If you want that house -- be prepared to buy it.
In real estate I hear about HGTV all the time. I even started watching the channel so I could better estimate what expectations were.
In House Hunters we have a thirty minute search of properties which yields a "find" and a "decision" but we don't follow that purchase to the closing table. We have no idea how many days, weeks, months were consumed while filming the search as I totally doubt that only three properties were viewed. It is good TV to show us the final three but in real life? Depending on the market, buyers will have more options or no options at all.
I like Love it or List it because the realtor on that program does start to show you how difficult it is to find some one's dream location. That program also starts to show how difficult it is to reconstruct a house. The contractor almost always finds some major "issue" that needs to be solved eating away much of the reno budget. But, see...that's what real life is really like. In reno jobs you must expect set backs and budget sucks. Otherwise you are just living in Oz.
Property Brothers shows us some real life negotiations and how they fall through, plus, more importantly, this program shows some hard reality with pricing....sometimes you have to pay more than you wished to get the house you want. I'm actually partial to this show, too, because we always see a diva whining about the cost of the fixer-upper they are going to buy. "Why's it so expensive? I don't wanna pay more than this. This place is a dump." Yeah, well, that's what the market will bear, sweetie, so either pay up or keep renting.
If you aren't an HGTV watcher but want to buy some real estate, I do suggest you start to watch these. Also take the time for House Hunters International -- there's a wake up for you. Other countries where people live without central air and heat, where water heaters have to be turned on, where there is no such thing as a Master Bedroom much less a Master Suite. This show, I like to point out to my clients, is more like house hunting in SoIL. Because there are plenty of little houses in our small towns and cities that have a lot of charm but no master bedroom and no dining room. You have to make do with what's there in your price range.
Especially now.
Interest rates took a big leap up over the weekend. Starting about Wednesday of last week they started to climb and now they are hovering around 5%. This is going to be the new norm. These low interest rates where not going to last forever and those who waited? Maybe waited too long.
If you keep waiting; riding that fence waiting for even lower prices: ((foreclosures and short sales are getting scarce and, although you will still get a steal, you will not get a $200,000 house for $20,000 anymore)) AND you will pay a higher interest rate for the money you borrow. Housing prices are going up.
Bidding wars are a real thing now, not just in California, but here in SoIL.
Interest rates bottomed and are rising again.
If you want that house -- be prepared to buy it.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Happy Anniversay to Me.
I'm starting my 5th year as a realtor.
It is a career path I'd never imagined for myself but one that sorta chose me. I had a good run as a news gatherer and I enjoyed (mostly) that lifestyle. Never knowing what the day would bring, having lots of irons in the fire all at once and everything seeming to "pop" at the same time.
I liked that. NO. That's not right. I cherished that. Was proud of my ability and agility -- able to stir all the pots at once, decide on the spot what was priority and what could stew just a minute longer for a fuller flavor.
I held on to that career fearing a very dull life without it. I really didn't know what my particular skill set could be used for once the hunt for news was over.
In real estate I have found a home for my skills. I didn't think I'd enjoy this career; had felt I was settling for a lesser life. I was...more than reluctant...I was recalcitrant, contumacious. All those steadfast, hard, and stubborn reactions usually reserved for uncooperative or hostile interviews. I girded my loins; marching into this new career prepared to do what was required and no more.
Surprise!
I really do enjoy this game. A new friend has told me I am a finder: Someone who finds what others lack, what others need, what others hide.
Because real estate is so much more than finding a house for a buyer or a buyer for a listing. Real estate is about finding a home for someone; finding a way for them to actually close the deal.
This new career of mine, one that I've finally embraced, is about solutions to problems.
Now, I have never liked being the go-to for 20 questions. Ask my friends who pepper me with their questions! I shut the whole thing down; will clam up to the point of either leaving the room, or, if unable to escape, I will fall asleep. ((One of my friends told me this was passive-aggressive)) Personally I believe folks get caught up in asking questions, not hearing the answers, so over stimulate themselves by asking more questions. Watch your over-questioning ((passive/aggressive)) friend/family sometime and see if they don't just get more and more giddy/gleeful/rabid as they ask over and over and over and over....zzzzzzz...huh? What?
I steadfastly believe if you can't get some answers within 3 questions you are -- Asking the wrong questions. I am faithful to the query of Why? But with real estate I've learned to branch out to the arena of What?
As in: What are you looking for? What have you done to secure financing?
If you can answer those, I'm your realtor. We'll find you home.
If you're a seller I ask: Why and when. Then we move into how much and how long. Pricing a listing to sell quickly is different from pricing it to get what the seller wants. I get to explain the market, the trends I see. I take the pulse of the market all time -- I chat with people in supermarkets and gas stations. Strangers will tell me the most personal details; while queued up, waiting for a cashier.
These past few weeks I've been working the phone as four deals were teetering on closing this month. One I have been working since December and I'm pleased to report I have a close date next Monday! Two deals where penciled in for Friday. One has been moved to next Wednesday. <sigh> One was scheduled for the last Friday of this month and has been moved into July.
All the while I've been showing some property to three different clients, working the marketing on all my listings, negotiating sales contracts on several deals, and adding a listing last week.
I like this pace. Its almost newsroom quality timing.
It is a career path I'd never imagined for myself but one that sorta chose me. I had a good run as a news gatherer and I enjoyed (mostly) that lifestyle. Never knowing what the day would bring, having lots of irons in the fire all at once and everything seeming to "pop" at the same time.
I liked that. NO. That's not right. I cherished that. Was proud of my ability and agility -- able to stir all the pots at once, decide on the spot what was priority and what could stew just a minute longer for a fuller flavor.
I held on to that career fearing a very dull life without it. I really didn't know what my particular skill set could be used for once the hunt for news was over.
In real estate I have found a home for my skills. I didn't think I'd enjoy this career; had felt I was settling for a lesser life. I was...more than reluctant...I was recalcitrant, contumacious. All those steadfast, hard, and stubborn reactions usually reserved for uncooperative or hostile interviews. I girded my loins; marching into this new career prepared to do what was required and no more.
Surprise!
I really do enjoy this game. A new friend has told me I am a finder: Someone who finds what others lack, what others need, what others hide.
Because real estate is so much more than finding a house for a buyer or a buyer for a listing. Real estate is about finding a home for someone; finding a way for them to actually close the deal.
This new career of mine, one that I've finally embraced, is about solutions to problems.
Now, I have never liked being the go-to for 20 questions. Ask my friends who pepper me with their questions! I shut the whole thing down; will clam up to the point of either leaving the room, or, if unable to escape, I will fall asleep. ((One of my friends told me this was passive-aggressive)) Personally I believe folks get caught up in asking questions, not hearing the answers, so over stimulate themselves by asking more questions. Watch your over-questioning ((passive/aggressive)) friend/family sometime and see if they don't just get more and more giddy/gleeful/rabid as they ask over and over and over and over....zzzzzzz...huh? What?
I steadfastly believe if you can't get some answers within 3 questions you are -- Asking the wrong questions. I am faithful to the query of Why? But with real estate I've learned to branch out to the arena of What?
As in: What are you looking for? What have you done to secure financing?
If you can answer those, I'm your realtor. We'll find you home.
If you're a seller I ask: Why and when. Then we move into how much and how long. Pricing a listing to sell quickly is different from pricing it to get what the seller wants. I get to explain the market, the trends I see. I take the pulse of the market all time -- I chat with people in supermarkets and gas stations. Strangers will tell me the most personal details; while queued up, waiting for a cashier.
These past few weeks I've been working the phone as four deals were teetering on closing this month. One I have been working since December and I'm pleased to report I have a close date next Monday! Two deals where penciled in for Friday. One has been moved to next Wednesday. <sigh> One was scheduled for the last Friday of this month and has been moved into July.
All the while I've been showing some property to three different clients, working the marketing on all my listings, negotiating sales contracts on several deals, and adding a listing last week.
I like this pace. Its almost newsroom quality timing.
Crafty Red Fox
As summer solstice approaches....
Uh, oh..and yikes! Solstice is tomorrow! And not a minute too soon 'cuz right now I can use the extra daylight! Yes, my days are that long!
Here's my newest listing:
http://www.visualtour.com/applets/flashviewer2/viewer.asp?t=3079995&sk=1
Uh, oh..and yikes! Solstice is tomorrow! And not a minute too soon 'cuz right now I can use the extra daylight! Yes, my days are that long!
Here's my newest listing:
http://www.visualtour.com/applets/flashviewer2/viewer.asp?t=3079995&sk=1
Monday, June 10, 2013
Rally 'round
Not a whole lot of real estate info in this offering. Over the weekend my Rotary club put on a Youth Rally.
We had severe competition for the weekend: sunny day, fishing, boating, a circus was in town, several towns had festivals, carnivals and car/vehicle shows, the local motorcycle shop had a huge promotion involving...what else? Helicopters! With motorcycles! Sheesh.
But we had a strong showing for a start up event. Kids from 11 - 17 showed, signed in and selected their choices of workshops.
Watch out for next year's event: Jackson Williamson County Sunset Rotary Rocks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)