Real Estate Blog Now

For many homeowners suffering financial difficulties during the current economic crisis, a loan modification is their only shot at staying out of foreclosure and keeping their home. During this stressful time, completing the process quickly and accurately is absolutely essential, since homeowners only have one shot at getting it right. Unfortunately, some homeowners make mistakes that either bring the process to a standstill or result in non-approval. The following are the five most common mistakes homeowners make, as well as how they can be avoided.

1. Refusing to admit that they need help — Borrowers who are falling behind on their mortgage payments with nothing in the foreseeable future–such as a new job or increase in salary–that could help them catch up should contact their lender as soon as possible to begin the loan modification process. Getting the help of a reasonably priced assisted loan modification program to help guide them through the process is also essential at this point.

2. A badly written hardship letter — The hardship letter is a signed statement detailing exactly what circumstances have made it difficult for you to make your payments, the reasons why you are requesting assistance, and what you are planning to do to resolve your situation. Failing to clearly address each of these issues in your letter can cause your modification to be denied before the process truly begins, so make sure that you do so! An assisted loan modification program that provides samples and guidance in writing an effective hardship letter will help tremendously.

3. Failing to follow directions — It is absolutely essential that you follow the directions for submitting your loan modification package to the letter. That means submitting everything your lender asks for, making sure each document is properly signed and dated, etc. Failing to follow directions can stall the process or cause your modification to be denied. Again, an assisted loan modification program is essential, as it will guide you through the process, as well as provide tips, reminders and checklists to help you make sure you’ve completed your package thoroughly and accurately.

4. Being untruthful — Always start with the truth. There are ways to provide the facts and be truthful without divulging information in a manner that could cause the lender to over scrutinize your case or allow them to think there is no need to offer the lowest payment possible. Never submit false documentation or lie to the lender. This is considered fraud; it is illegal and punishable by law.

5. Failing to remain diligent throughout the process — Borrowers need to be persistent and constantly follow up on their file with the lender. Always be polite and courteous, never impatient. The goal is a resolution; it is important to remember that borrowers need help from their lender, not vice-versa.

Again, using an assisted loan modification program will help you avoid these common mistakes, ensure that your loan modification is approved, and help you keep your most important possession–your home.

Maybe you are in the process of selling your home; it may be best that you seek the help of a licensed real estate agent. It is possible to sell the place on your own, no doubt about that. However, without the knowledge of how to sell real estate and all the paperwork as well as the procedures that are involved; you could be doing yourself more harm than good. With the help of a real estate agent in selling your home, it will limit the amount of headaches and ensure the appropriate steps are followed. Moreover, all the documents necessary are will surely be handled properly and completed.

Just like selling a house, trying to hire an agent is also a difficult task to carry out. No matter how hard it may seem, always keep in mind that this move will help you find the perfect house. This is why you do not want to take the decision-making process lightly. Be a wise home buyer and do your share of homework. Keep in mind that not all agents are the best at what they actually do. Consider some points when choosing.

Ask around- If you have never had encounters with agents or even deal with anything-real estate, a good place to start would be by asking your friends and family if they can recommend an agent within your area. It is better to choose an agent who is backed with a personal recommendation, than having to choose one from nowhere or out of the blue.

Another person you can ask would be your neighbor. See if they know of any good agents, especially if they are new to the area and have also acquired the help of such individuals. By asking around, you will likely find some of the better agents available and you also get to know about whom to stay away from.

Go to an open house- Going to random open houses may not be your type of thing. But know that if you want to meet bankable and trustworthy agents in the real estate world; you should definitely check out open houses.

These local agents know what they are doing and can tell you if a deal is good, depending on the state of the house and such aspects. They can also provide you with an insight which maybe, out of the area agents would not know about. Go ahead and visit a few local open houses, speak to various agents who are hosting them, and find the best one. If for some reason, that specific person cannot take you on as a client, do not worry; he may be able to refer you to someone who is as good.

Find a reputable real estate office- Agents work out of real estate offices. These types of agents work with the office as an independent contractor to help sell homes. When you pick an agent, stick with the ones who work in larger offices. It is because larger and more established offices often have a network of agents, as well as other real estate professionals.

Get names and ask questions- You should pick the agent; don’t let it go the other way around. Meeting one does not cut the deal, so do not be ‘forced’ to go with the very first one you encounter. Do a little window shopping so to speak; write down names and information of the better real estate agents that you meet. After, sit down and pick three or four agents whom you like and begin analyzing.

Getting into the real estate business could be one of the most fulfilling career decisions you can make in this lifetime. Given, of course that you have understood what the job entails and how you can be good at doing it.

What is a Real Estate Agent?

A real estate agent is a professional who comes in between buyers and sellers where properties are involved. He is the link between a home buyer and a home seller whose job is aimed at creating a successful and satisfying deal for both parties. Some agents are also involved in the maintenance of properties for rent, overseeing the properties in behalf of their owners.

Not everyone who wants to can become a real estate agent in a snap. In most areas, agents are required to be educated and licensed professionals who adhere to the rules and regulations of a governing body. Agents can also become realtors, considering that they are able to adhere to the specific requirements and codes of ethics of the profession.

Basically, realty agents earn by commission. In case of facilitating a home sale, they charge a certain percentage off the sale price as their income. In case of seeing through maintenance of a property for rent, a specific percentage off the rental fee is charged to the landlord as the agent’s salary.

Who Needs an Agent?

Home sellers who have properties to sell but do not have substantial marketing expertise to make a good deal seek real estate agents. They are also hired by home buyers who are seeking to find a good buy but do not know the proper avenues to look it up.  A real estate agent may be a representative from the seller or the buyer’s end but never both. He is either hired to find a good customer for a property for sale or to scout for a good buy for a prospective home buyer.

Naturally, agents are equipped with important information about the property they are working on. They are the most reliable source for anything and everything that concerns the property in whole. They make the information available to anyone who might be interested in snatching the deal made.

Agents are highly regulated by certain rules. They work based on a code of ethics that ensure they work around on a fair ground. That is one of the best reasons people usually resort to hiring an agent to handle their property or properties in a competitive mortgage market.

What Makes a Good Realty Agent?

In a real estate business, knowledge is power. You have to be well-informed about the goings on in the market as well as the needs of your prospective clients. An effective real estate agent is one who is able to meet the demands and the current standards of the market. You will never be able to sell a property or find a good property for sale and earn your commission in the process if you are not in touch with the market you are working on. Therefore, a good real estate agent must operate closely with his market.

Real estate industry has been one of the volatile sectors in the economy. It is greatly affected with several issues that are hitting the global market. And this can be seen in the buyer’s market latest trend. During the start of this year, the demands for realities have been slowing down. Thus, sellers are compelled to give reasonable discounts and lowered their prices to be able to survive in the sea of competition. As for buyers, this is the best time for them to make their investment.

Lenders have been rigid in giving out their credit approvals. This is simply due to the uncertainties happening in the economy. They are making sure that every buyer should have enough capability to completely pay off their loans. As for hopeful home buyers, they have a hard time materializing their plans of owning a house. Not all of them have the ability to produce instant cash to pay the sellers. Majority of these struggling home buyers will seek for financial assistance in most of their ventures.

This actual scenario made a domino effect to other areas in real estate sectors. Prices have gone down which caused the sellers to look for more ways to attract frustrated home buyers. They started to consider giving allowance or huge price adjustments. In fact, they even go as far as offering low ball prices just to eliminate their properties and not stay in the market for years. Breaking even has usually been their option in these times. All of such are favorable to the buyers.

Moreover, sellers resulted to doing major home improvements and other upgrades on their properties. In this way, their houses can be competent enough among others. They are conducting thorough research on how they can surpass the volatility of the trend. The sales of houses have significantly went down which brought various effect on lenders, buyers and sellers.

One of the major effects of the economic turmoil that boosted the buyer’s market is that mortgage interest rates have been considerably lowered down to revive the drowning real estate market. Since the industry is already starting to lose its hope for recovery, there are organizations that remained hopeful in uplifting the sector by formulating several strategies. Lenders thought of giving incentive such as lowering the closing cost to entice new consumers avail their products.

With all these factors affecting all parts of the real estate sector, it is apparent the most of these cases are favorable to the buyer. Thus if you are having second thoughts about buying or investing in these times, now is a great time to do it. Grab every opportunity that is available since the trend of the buyer’s market is unpredictable. But if you are yet on the verge of evaluating you financial capability, then better prepare everything you need before embarking into acquiring a house. Bear in mind that chances such as these are not always available for you, so think again and invest wisely!

This article is written as a response to the Miami Herald article, “For Home Buyers, rock bottom prices tough to pinpoint.” The media manipulates the data to create confusion, rather than explaining the reality of the real estate situation. While they are professionals that understand the market, it may not be in the best of their interest to help a consumer get the best deal in the market, since their professional fees are based on different parameters. To clarify, there is not only one “rock bottom price” or a date in which the “rock bottom price” is going to be reached, and it doesn’t necessarily depend on an area or a building. Just like the market value of any given unit in the marketplace is what an individual buyer is willing to pay for it, the infamous “rock bottom price” is the relationship between the lowest price negotiated for the best price-positioned property model that matches the individual need of a consumer.

Based on the previous analysis we get to the conclusion that there are many “rock bottom prices”, even within a single building there will be the “rock bottom price” of the 01, 02, 03, 04, etc. models and additional “rock bottom prices” of high floor units within the same models. There also will be different “rock bottom prices” of furnished and unfurnished units. There cannot be and a cookie-cutter “rock bottom price” approach that is useful for one consumer. The idea of “rock bottom price” is being misinterpreted and branded by the media creating confusion and undecided consumers. The real “rock bottom price” of an industry or a city cannot be defined with accuracy. The existing analysis only measures information from different sources in large economies of scale. Real estate analysts cannot accurately pinpoint the “rock bottom price” of a single unit in any given property.

A more accurate method from a consumer’s perspective would be to hire an appraiser to give a consumer a closer idea of the current market value of a property. Real estate analysts rely on different types of considerations for their market analysis. Just like most analysts generally consider a market healthy when there is a housing supply of about six months because it indicates a balance between buyers and sellers. The Realtor association relies on an index, based on the relationship of units for sale and units that change hands in the last 12 months which is roughly 3%. This means it would take three years to work through the supply. What analyst are not taking into consideration is that approximately 70% of the properties listed in the marketplace are overpriced. Those units are owned by misinformed, resilient owners and shouldn’t even been considered in the market because of being unmarketable. That leaves approximately 30% of the units of realistic property available in the marketplace. Based on those figures the same Realtor Association index for the same period could be 10%. But what will happen down the line with the rest of overpriced units listed in the MLS? Most of them will eventually catch up with the market and will give way to yet another index figure.

In today’s marketplace, consumers buying unique waterfront properties must take advantage of the oversupply of properties available in the Miami Metro area, since it lowers the prices of the unique properties that match their search criteria. Oversupply allows consumers to have the opportunity to acquire unique property at bargain prices like we’ve never seen before. The real market size for the average consumer of unique waterfront properties is about five or ten best-priced properties located in two or three buildings of their preference. The rest of the property in the marketplace does not apply to their search criteria because of location, style or price. The “rock bottom price” for these consumers is identified when they negotiate the lowest price for the best price-positioned unit type in the building that they wish to buy. Will the market go any lower? Yes and No. The overpriced units will continue to reduce in price until they become marketable by today’s standards. But in every building there are units that have reached the “rock bottom price” or are very close to reaching the bottom. The trick is to find an experienced Realtor that knows how to identify the correct opportunities in every building.

For savvy consumers this should not be about indexes of industry averages, look for the unique properties that are priced-to-sell, they exist in every city, in every building and in every model type of property in the marketplace. We all know by now that real estate is a cycle. The consumers that buy early in the cycle, when the supply is strong will always obtain the best equity and future resale value. There are only a handful of unique properties for any particular search criteria that are available at a bargain price and for a limited time. Consumers today have the luxury to choose from a whole selection of properties that can be purchased today at “rock bottom prices” so why wait?

Hunting for a new house can be thrilling, yet it is also stressful now and again. If you are in the market for a new home, then naturally you understand there’s a good deal to keep in mind. Sadly, it’s not just as easy as picking out a home and giving over a cheque. One of the simplest ways to ensure you buy the house you’ve always wanted and get the best price is to utilize a property records check.

Determining how much to spend on a house is ordinarily the first step. You must figure out a location that you are happy to live in. Do you desire a big kitchen. The list goes on!

When you have decided on all the elements you’re looking for, you can go out and start exploring! And eventually, you’re going to discover a couple homes that interest you. This is when it becomes fun, however you can’t just make the purchase. Here it’s important that you do your investigating and look more into the place you are considering.

This is where it’s important to use a property background search to get full information on the property you’re looking at. Making use of this type of property check is one of the greatest ways to get find additional information on any home you’re interested in.

A property records search will teach you plenty of important info including current and prior owernship info, prior sale prices, property tax information, mortgage records, house purchase and current assessment info, neighbor details – it’s a long list!

If there is a lien on the house, you can have the home snatched away from you, even if you weren’t aware of it when you bought it. Naturally it’s the very last thing you want to have happen, and simply by using a property background check gives you the security you need to not stress over it.

The information you gain from a property records check will also give you a big edge when the final price. This alone could potentially save you thousands of dollars.

Running a property records check is a snap thanks to the internet. There are now websites that offer records searches online. When you utilize a background check website, you just punch in the home address and you are then given access to the info. The cost for using a check does not cost much – usually you can even pay a one-time fee for unlimited searches to help you if you are considering more than one place.

If you’re anticipating being hunting for a house anytime soon, make sure that you take the right measures to get the best price and your dream house! A property background check will give you the piece of mind of learning all the important details about the house you decide to purchase.

Introduction

Paradise Cay is a waterfront community of about 200 homes (including a few newly-built town homes and free standing homes) on the North-East edge of the Tiburon Peninsula.

About thirty-nine of the homes front directly onto San Francisco Bay and have spectacular views. The rest are situated on canals approximately 90 ft wide and have docks capable of berthing cruisers some of which are up to 60ft in length.

Waterfront and Canal-front Homes

In common with many other Bayfront homes the ones in Paradise Cay do not have docks because permanently berthing a boat directly on the Bay is not practical due to wave motion. Nevertheless these absolute waterfront homes have excellent views of the Bay. The boats on the canals and in the Paradise Cay Yacht Harbor, which is part of the development, all have direct access to the Bay.

The canals are a little tight for maneuverability of large cruisers but that will just improve your boat maneuvering skills won’t it? There is also a minor matter of fairly steep gangplanks at low tide but that is a small price to pay for a protected berth with direct access to the Bay. The canals are currently being dredged (October 2009) and dredging will be repeated about every five years.

The Yacht Harbor and Tiburon Yacht Club

The new, six acre Paradise Cay Yacht Harbor (marina), at the Northern end of the Paradise Cay development, can accommodate boats up to 115 feet with up to 24-foot beam on the end ties. It has two pump-out facilities, lots of parking and new restrooms.

The nearby Tiburon Yacht Club (400 Trinidad Drive) has about 230 members (about 40% of them from the Cay) but has no berthing facilities of its own given the close proximity of the Paradise Cay Yacht Harbor. It is an active sailing club with over thirty scheduled races per year – not just a social venue.

Community

However, the Tiburon Yacht Club does also serve as a gathering place for the community which has a number of notable residents. These include the Moseleyes (Tim the “patriach” being responsible for the Paradise Cay development in the sixties) and the interestingly controversial radio personality Michael Savage of the “Savage Nation”. There is a good community spirit evidenced in various activities throughout the year.

Summary

Paradise Cay is one of the very few localities in Marin County where you can have a big boat safely berthed at your back door. Although it may appear a bit isolated on a map, it is only ten miles from the Golden Gate Bridge and a few miles away from a good (some say excellent) supermarket (Paradise Market) and the two extensive shopping areas of Corte Madera – “Town Center” and “The Village” either side of Hwy 101.

Route 113 Golden Gate buses run between Paradise Cay and Redwood High School on school days. The Cay lies in the highly rated Tiburon Reed School district.

There are very few localities in Marin that offer the variety of water views, boating options, a good school district and good shopping not too far away, that are to be found in Paradise Cay.

Further Information

Of course, as with any residential property, there are some secrets of location that are known only to those who do diligent research. Let us be your guide to finding the ideal property for you in this unique locality – or elsewhere in Marin.

We can give you expert help in sorting out all your housing options in Marin – especially when it comes to waterfront properties.

If you are seeking honest, dedicated, personal assistance in finding your dream home in Marin County please contact me.

Cheers,

Nicole Burton

Licensed Realtor

Making money as a real estate agent boils down to one thing: Hard Work.

Agents I’m coaching say, “OK, I get it. But what should I be doing to get the best results?”

Here is an example of how one experienced agent works hard:

How do I work hard?“Well, in addition to managing my own escrows, I knocked on 380 doors last week and 250 the week before. I hold open houses every Sunday. I call every expired in my market every day. I faithfully call at least three people from my database every day to ask for referrals. I attend sales meetings, but don’t have time for caravan. I try to blog daily, but don’t always have something to say. Once a week I try to host or attend a networking event–like dinner or my book sales. Sometimes I won’t see any business at all from my efforts for a month or two. Then all of a sudden I’ll get three calls in one day from people asking me to help them buy or sell. Sometimes they’re not even people I’ve contacted. I think my hard work just attracts business.”

This agent is super-busy and has the results to show for his efforts. While his marketing activities may seem scattered, he is in fact following a carefully designed plan that works for him.

We each have to define hard work based on our own interests, strengths, personality, and goals.

Newer agents often go through a “let down” when they realize that real estate is not an “instant gratification” business. You may not see the fruits of your labor for months or even years. That lack of immediacy makes it challenging to prospect every day. You start to wonder if you’re wasting your time.

It Takes Faith

At first it takes faith to believe your actions will pay off eventually. Once you start to see some pay-off, you start to understand which efforts to keep doing and which ones to stop. It’s different for everyone depending on your personality, sales skills, marketplace, prospecting methods, etc.

Find Your “One Thing”

The trick to longeveity in real estate sales is to find your “one thing.” That’s the thing you enjoy doing so much that it makes prospecting enjoyable. I’m not saying you won’t have challenges or that you won’t resist prospecting when you don’t feel like it.

What I’m saying is that when you think about doing that kind of prospecting, you feel only good feelings in your stomach. You don’t feel anxiety. Instead you feel excitement. You don’t feel hopeless. Instead you feel powerful.

Try this Coaching Exercise to Evaluate Your Level of Prospecting Reluctance:

Think of the kind of prospecting you commonly do right now. How do you feel inside when you think about doing this prospecting? (It could be a physical feeling or an emotional feeling.)

If prospecting has been difficult for you, you might not feel good inside. You might feel anxiety, helplessness, sick, or frustrated.

On the other hand, if prospecting is something you enjoy, you should be feeling joy and a few butterflies of excitement.

Find the Joy in Prospecting:

If you feel anything but joy when you think of prospecting, here’s a process for you to begin changing that feeling:

1. If you could do (__your prospecting method____) better than anyone else in the world, would you want to spend 2-4 hours a day doing it?

2. If the answer is NO, then you might want to think about other prospecting methods. For each method, ask yourself, If you could do it better than anyone else, would you want to spend 2 hours a day doing it?

For example, I love giving workshops. One of my core prospecting methods is running real estate workshops. I can run any kind of workshop, anywhere, for very little expense and find one or two good prospects from my efforts. I love standing up in front of the group and helping make their dreams of buying/investing/selling come true.

3. After you’ve gotten a bit clearer picture of what you would enjoy–if you knew how to do it well–ask yourself another question: What barriers are slowing you down, standing in your way, or stopping you from creating that result?

Often what causes discomfort is a psychological barrier (fear, procrastination, lack of results, etc). Other times what causes discomfort is a skills barrier (converting clients, using sales skills, etc.) Which one or more of these is slowing you down, standing in your way, or stopping you?

Get a Guide

As you begin to get a handle on your prospecting psychology, you’ll figure out how to work hard effectively. I recommend finding a guide, mentor, or coach to provide objective counselling as well as a solid kick in the seat to keep the momentum.

The persistent home and property real estate agent has a wide range of options at hand to choose from in presenting their product to their potential buyers. Open houses are one of the most effective tools that most of them choose to utilize to be able to set sales forward. The concept of an open house as the name implies involves the activity wherein the potential buyers are toured around the home for sale in the actual neighborhood. This leads to a better decision making process for the buyer having been given a closer opportunity to have an actual feel of the house.

Recently, a lot of sellers are turning away from the traditional method of open houses thinking that such is just a complete waste of time and money. It is also perceived that it makes the seller very exhausted in the entire selling act. With the advent of online communities and social networking sites, selling real estate properties has been much easier when done online as well. They are presented through websites but still, the actuality that open houses offer to its potential buyers is incomparable.

The honesty and genuineness of the seller are also weighed more effectively during any open house since it is a person to person approach. With such, this approach is still considered of great value in doing the negotiation and selling part. A lot of buyers are still interested to attend such events since it gives them the reality of what the property can offer to them and what they can make out of it. When you decide to host your own, you must be aware that there are steps to be taken into consideration to ensure you of a sure fire success. Home staging should be done appropriately for the home for sale to be entirely presentable.

Find the time and spend a bit more in redoing some things around your home like the landscaping and the rest of the exterior setting. You must also give special attention to a repainting job for old, chipped and worn out paint can really de-motivate your potential guests to buy. If your house looks a bit old, then there is also a great chance that your potential buyer would even argue with you to purchase it in a lower cost.

These days you may be perceived to be too desperate in selling your properties once you hold an open house, except for those who are huge groups of brokers and landowners. This perception was mainly triggered with the immense influence of the Internet over the world of business and real estate. Somehow it gives people a feel that those who still opt to settle for open houses are the ones who are not up to date with the latest trends of the technology.

Hence, it is advisable that when you decide to conduct an open house, be cautious as not host numerous ones all in one time. This would lessen the desperate image it could project to the buyer that might affect some prices as well. It is also important that you remember to make and set arrangements properly to avoid further complications in terms of scheduling.

Setting the perfect time is important especially since everyone is busy nowadays, you would not want to be an interruption to their careers and personal life. The most ideal time or day to conduct and organize them is on Sundays, preferably in the afternoon. Make sure to inform all your interested buyers with all the necessary details and be ready to give trusted answers to their every query and questions.

If you want to do a currency transfer, maybe pounds to euros because you are buying a property, then you will definitely get the best exchange rates when you use a Foreign Exchange (FX) Broker. A good FX Broker will not make ANY charges and should also be able to save you on receiving fees in the destination country (in Spain for example this could save you 0.5%).

However a lot of clients, probably the majority, have no idea that when they use an FX Broker for their currency transfer that their money could be at risk if the Broker was to go in to liquidation. At the moment these foreign exchange brokers are not regulated by the financial services authorities (FSA) – amazing BUT true.

The norm with an FX Broker is that your money would be held in a “segregated” account where it is pooled with that of all other clients. Now if the FX Broker was to cease trading you are only covered for a maximum of £50, 000. So if you are transferring any amount larger than 50k you could potentially lose the excess!

From November 1st 2009 new EU regulations will require most foreign currency brokers to become authorized by the FSA. But they will not be regulated immediately – they have two years to comply. There is a transition period until November 2011.

Firms that are approved as money-handlers by the FSA, can hold their clients’ money in trust, ring-fencing those funds against any claims should the firm go bust. Funds will then be safe from administrators.

In a world where all financial institutions are under scrutiny and where major companies have suddenly overnight become financially insolvent it obviously makes sense to make sure that your funds are safe with the Broker that you use. When approaching a Broker ensure they are FSA authorized. If they are then you can be certain that your money will be protected in the vent of any insolvency. It’s a simple check but it could save you an absolute fortune.

We work as property finders in Spain and recommend Global Currency Exchange Network to all our clients. As of November 1st 2009 they are fully FSA authorized and regulated. They will get the very best exchange rates and make no charges for their services.