#Selling#Pricing#Home#MontgomeryCounty

You raised your family there. You remember the friends, the parties, the conversations, the memories. The truth is that when it comes to selling your home, it’s a financial decision AND an emotional one, too. However, when it comes to cashing in on your most valuable asset, there are emotional pitfalls that you may want to avoid. Pricing your home for sale: The Realtor suggests a listing price—and you panic because you don’t think the listing price is high enough. After all, the improvements that you made were expensive and you think you should be able to recover 100 percent of the costs (especially the sweat and tears you put into it yourself). Work with your agent to understand the reason for the suggested listing price, how quickly you want to sell your home, and what would be your bottom line. Being emotionally attached: This is where the “memories” may cloud your thinking. Your baby took her first steps. You carried your bride over the threshold. The holiday memories. However, here are some of the “emotional attachment” signs to look out for: a. You want to list the home for more money than the market data suggests b. You ignore your Realtor’s advice to update the décor or make minor improvements c. You become irrational during negotiations or terms of the contract d. You refuse to respond to requests in a timely manner e. You refuse to show your home in a timely manner Negotiating with your heart and not your head: This is the tricky part — especially if you receive multiple offers on your home. Some agents will write an offer and ask the buyer of the home to write an accompanying letter as to why you should sell them the home. Or, you may get an offer that is higher than the listing price — you are thrilled, but when you read the fine print, the buyers wants you to pay their closing costs— which nets you less money in the long run. Or, you accept the offer, and go out and buy a new car in “advance” of closing the deal. While I totally understand the emotional attachment that you may have to your home, think about it this way—when you buy your next home, you’ll be making new memories, too!

#Home Inspection - #Listing the property

The real estate process is one that is fraught with pitfalls. The buyer or seller may get cold feet. Another buyer may swoop in with a better offer. The finances may sink the deal. Or, as often happens, the inspection may come back with some unforeseen problems that sink a deal or cost the seller an arm and a leg.

One strategy for avoiding the latter scenario is to have your home inspected even before you put it on the market. Yes, it will be some upfront expense that you won't be able to roll into closing costs, but it could help you avoid a sticky situation down the road.

On the plus side, an inspection will allow you to make sure your home is in the best possible condition before you list it - which means you can get the best possible price. It also means the buyer's inspection, which will have to happen after an offer, can't catch you off guard or seek to take advantage of you with fabricated problems.

On the downside, however, once you know about something and it's listed in a report, you are obligated to disclose the problem before you sell the house. This is annoying with small problems that you don't have time to fix, or with big problems you had no idea about - or budget to fix.

A pre-inspection gives you, the seller, a heads-up if there are problems that a potential buyer will likely want repaired. Once you know what's wrong, you can have those issues fixed before you list. The cleaner and more problem-free you can make your home, the faster it's likely to sell.

On the other hand, let's say you don't have a pre-inspection. During the process, the buyer's inspector discovers problems you didn't know about. You can be sure the buyer will try to negotiate a lower price, which will cost you money and can delay the sale. The buyer might even cancel the contract.

All that being said, the home inspection you do may not always be the same as the home inspection the buyer's inspector reveals. The pre-inspection may miss something. It's not always 100% accurate.

A pre-inspection still is a good idea to know of issues that may come up and being able to take care of those items before listing the property.

 

#Real Estate News!

The Government Wants People to Buy Homes  And to encourage that, they’ve made it a bit easier to do so. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac offer a 97% LTV program for first-time buyers — that means only a 3% down payment, and that money can come from a gift. The 3% down program is now in competition for clients with the FHA’s 3.5% down payment program. This is actually a long-standing offer for first-time buyers, made sweeter this year by the reduction in annual mortgage insurance premiums, ultimately making home buying less expensive. Plus, FHA loans accept credit scores as low as 580 (and possibly lower, for a higher down payment). So there are several programs for Millennial first-time home buyers to choose from. But What Do Millennials Want in a Home? Location, location, location. The location of the home can be almost more important than the features of the home itself. These twenty- to early thirty somethings consider the home’s neighborhood and its proximity to their place of employment to be just as critical as the number of bedrooms. Less space but the right space. Bigger is not better; many Millennials spend little time actually in their homes, which means a smaller property is just fine for them. Because of this, it’s important that spaces in the home have multifunctional purposes. Smaller spaces are also easier to repair and keep clean, which works well with this generation’s desire to minimize upkeep and spend more time enjoying life. It’s not forever. Millennials aren’t getting attached to homes like older generations did; they look at them as a stepping stone and an investment. They don’t plan to stay in the home they’re buying now for more than five to seven years, in most cases (think repeat customer!). A first home is a chance to increase their credit scores and build their borrowing profile for the next property purchase. To these young home buyers, a home is an investment: Keep this in mind as you work with your clients. In a Nutshell  Lower credit scores and less cash for a down payment, but a high motivation factor and a willingness to start small and buy up over time are the general characteristics of the Generation Y home buyer.

Maryland Real Estate by Pamela DuBois: #Real Estate News for first half of #2015

Maryland Real Estate by Pamela DuBois: #Real Estate News for first half of #2015: Homes sold : During the first six months of 2015, homes sold at a fairly brisk pace. For the mid-Atlantic region as a whole, an increase of...

#Real Estate News for first half of #2015

Homes sold: During the first six months of 2015, homes sold at a fairly brisk pace. For the mid-Atlantic region as a whole, an increase of 13.9 percent versus the first six months of 2015. All of the counties reviewed also showed solid growth with Anne Arundel +14.8 percent, Baltimore +22.3 percent, Montgomery +10.6 percent, Prince George's +14.4 percent and Howard +15.4 percent.

But, as a word of caution, much of this growth is due more to an unusually weak start in 2014 than  a reflection of a strong 2015. Word on the street is that sales for the first half of 2015 are just so-so.

Median prices: Even though the number of home sold is up, median prices are essentially flat. For the first half of 2015, the median price in the mid-Atlantic was $300,667. That compares with $300,483 for 2014, an increase of only 0.1 percent. With the exception of Prince George's County, all the other counties were also flat: Anne Arundel -0.8 percent, Baltimore -0.4 percent, Montgomery +0.1 percent and Howard +2.2 percent.

Conversely, the median price in Prince George's was up 7.1 percent. Price appreciation in PG County has been outperforming most other counties for a while now. However, a deeper dive into the data reveals that it's primarily due to a change in the mix for what type of homes are being sold.

One of the problem areas in today's market is a lack of inventory. The number of homes available for sale isn't keeping pace with the rate of sale. For example, as we said, the number of homes sold in the mid-Atlantic region was up 13.9 percent versus the first six months of 2014. But the number of active listings only increased by 9.1 percent.

The same imbalance exists across most all of the counties we reviewed. The exception was Montgomery County. For that area, home sales were up by 10.6 percent; however, the number of active listings was up by 18.3 percent. Howard County was also close with sales up by 15.4 percent and listings up by nearly the same amount at +14.0 percent. The largest discrepancy was in Baltimore County, where the rate of sale (+22.3 percent) was almost 3 times the growth in inventory (+7.9 percent).

For the remainder of 2015, we don't expect things to change much from the first half. The Federal Reserve has signaled that they will begin to raise rates toward the end of 2015, but they also said that any rate increases will be gradual.

Nevertheless, this will cause mortgage rates to rise, and that will probably have the biggest impact on the market since buyers have become accustom to rock bottom rate. Plus, if the cost of a mortgage does start to go up, that could actually spur a short-term burst in sales, as buyers rush in to beat rising rates.

And it all tends to get wrapped up in how the economy is performing as a whole. We'll have to wait and see, but we don't see any shift in the market for the rest of the year.

#Montgomery#County#Maryland#Homes - #Fewer Homes on the Market.

Higher prices and tight supply continue to stifle the market. "Pending sales showed solid gains last month, driven by a steadily-improving labor market," said Lawrence Yun, the National Association of REALTORS® chief economist. "However, the underlying obstacle—especially for first-time buyers is the low inventory. In a Bloomberg interview, Mortgage Bankers Association CEO David Stevens stated that home prices are rising twice as fast as wages and he expressed concern that inventory will drive up prices, discouraging many would-be home buyers. Total housing inventory at the end of March was slightly lower than one year ago, and new listings are not coming on at nearly the pace needed to meet demand, according to an April CNBC housing report. The Bottom Line is low rates makes it an exciting time to become a new homeowner or moving up to a dream home.

#Mortgage rates remain low for home purchasing in the Spring

http://ht.ly/LKqgl

Purchasing a home - changes coming August 1, 2015 with loan disclosures

The Good Faith Estimate and the HUD-1 settlement statement will go away on most closed-end consumer purpose loans secured by residential real estate. These documents will be replaced by the “Loan Estimate” and the “Closing Disclosure.” These new documents are referred to as the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosures (TRID for short). The purpose of these changes is to improve the mortgage loan settlement process for consumers. They are being implemented by regulations issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a federal government agency set up to look out for the interests of consumers seeking financial services. WHY? The reason for the change is two-fold: 1) to provide the consumer with simpler forms to explain the loan transaction and 2) deliver the forms in a manner that gives the consumer time to review that will lessen last minute “surprises” during the settlement (consummation). How will this affect my settlement? For purchasers, it will be important that you work closely with your lender regarding approval of the loan and coordination of final walk-through with the realtor. Some contracts may increase from a 30 day requirement to settle to a 45 day requirement to settle which means move-outs, subsequent settlements and other relocation tasks may need to be adjusted to ensure a seamless transition into your new home. For consumers refinancing, you will need to ensure any loan changes such as adjusting the loan amount or changing loan products is discussed in advance with the lender to avoid re-disclosure of the Closing Disclosure once issued.

#Real Estate News#Montgomery County#Maryland

Interest rates falling for four straight weeks early this year, prospective home buyers had an easier time purchasing new homes. Low rates also prompted a spike in refinance applications from many Americans pursuing lower monthly payments, which will help free up extra cash to spend or save. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), purchase applications are 3 percent higher than a year ago, with most of the gains coming from Federal Housing Administration (FHA) financing. Government-insured FHA loans provide low down payment and rate options and are typically sought after by first-time buyers. A strong January Jobs Report also showed Non-farm Payrolls growing, and that many Americans have returned to the job search pool. Builders Optimistic for Spring Construction on new homes continues to grow; even though January's numbers slipped slightly from December, they were up nineteen percent from a year ago. Builders began construction on 1.01 million new houses and apartments in 2014, the most in nine years and 8.8 percent more than in 2013, according to a January CoreLogic report. At the end of December, builders had 218,000 homes listed for sale that were either under construction or completed, 17.2 percent up from a year earlier, according to Commerce Department data released in early January. The data indicated that builders are optimistic about the upcoming spring housing season, which can be seen from their commitment to building speculative, or "spec" homes. Spec homes are newly constructed homes built in the anticipation of buyers to sign purchase contracts. According to a realtor.com report, last year's total at 435,000 for new-home sales was an increase of only 1.4 percent from the 2013 total, and stands at roughly 58 percent of the annual average since 2000. The spring selling season typically starts after the Super Bowl and hits its stride around March and April. The Bottom Line Low rates, new homes and demand for first-time home loans make this an exciting time for the Spring market.

#Interest rates stay the same - time to buy or sell

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/01/28/federal-reserve-leaves-interest-rates-unchanged/

Buying Real Estate after a distressed sale - #You can buy Real Estate sooner than you think.

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/3746819-returning-buyers-foreclosure?sf7152069=1

Maryland Real Estate by Pamela DuBois: #First time home buyer - Obama making it easier

Maryland Real Estate by Pamela DuBois: #First time home buyer - Obama making it easier: http://rismedia.com/2015-01-08/obama-plan-makes-it-easier-for-younger-first-time-homebuyers/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&...

#First time home buyer - Obama making it easier

http://rismedia.com/2015-01-08/obama-plan-makes-it-easier-for-younger-first-time-homebuyers/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=eNews

Maryland Real Estate by Pamela DuBois: Buying versus renting - Mortgage rates are still ...

Maryland Real Estate by Pamela DuBois: Buying versus renting - Mortgage rates are still ...: Mortgage rates are (still) low During the recession, the rate on the 30-year, fixed-rate loan averaged 4.32 percent. Now, rates are close t...

Buying versus renting - Mortgage rates are still very low!!!

Mortgage rates are (still) low During the recession, the rate on the 30-year, fixed-rate loan averaged 4.32 percent. Now, rates are close to that, and there’s no recession! Granted, rates are not expected to skyrocket overnight, but don’t think that a small uptick would not affect your budget. In fact, if rates were to go up by just 1 percentage point, your purchasing power would be reduced by a whopping 11 percent. To put this in further perspective: If you could afford a $400,000 loan at 4 percent mortgage rates, you could afford a loan of just $356,000 at 5 percent. An even smaller rise in rates — say from 4.5 percent to 5 percent — would add $75 to the monthly payment on a $300,000 house with $50,000 down. Home prices are (still) affordable While home prices, nationally, continue to rise, up nearly 7 percent from July 2013, they are still 11 percent below their 2007 peak. And get this: Home buying is more affordable now than ever before. According to a recent analysis, U.S. home buyers at the end of the second quarter spent 15.3 percent of their incomes on a mortgage, far less than the 22.1 percent share homeowners devoted to mortgages in the pre-bubble days. This situation won’t last forever, especially as mortgage rates continue to rise. Buying is (still) cheaper than renting No doubt, buying a house is a significant purchase, but in a majority of the country, it’s (still) cheaper than renting. In fact, in half of metros in the U.S., buying beats renting after only two years. This can be attributed to historically high rental prices that have helped skew the rent vs. buy decision toward buying for those who can afford it. So if you can afford to buy, now is the time as rents are not getting any cheaper!