CHRISTINE LIBRACH's Blog

HUD Homes are For YOU!

CHRISTINE LIBRACH (KELLER WILLIMAS REALTY) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 21:02:50 -0700

I know you're saying to yourself, "Why would I want to buy, or represent a buyer, on a HUD Home", but I'm here to tell you, HUD Homes are the Bomb, in so many ways.

First, as an agent, it's only a 1 page contract, there's an FHA appraisal already on the home that your client doesn't have to pay for, there's a property condition report that details repair issues with the home, and you deal directly with the asset manager. HUD also pays a generous commission, and closing costs up to 3% of the purchase price. AND the biggest bonus is that you can advertise these homes on your website, flyers, internet marketing, etc and don't have to ask the listing agents permission!!!

Second, as a buyer, there's lots of good reasons to choose a HUD Home, the first being that these homes offer financing, special purchase programs, and pricing that other sellers don't. These homes will often be newer homes in nice areas that were recently developed and that have significant infrastructure surrounding them. You can take advantage of the unique financing program that allows for repair costs added into the loan so that you can get the home fixed and able to choose materials of your liking. How about buying a home for 50% less than the asking price, well it's possible, if you fall into the career category of a teacher, firefighter, EMT, or Police officer. Pest inspections and Section 1 repairs are normally paid for by HUD, or are determined on a case by case basis.

Realize that 30% of all loans written in the U.S. in the last 5 years were FHA loans. and that HUD homes are homes that were financed using an FHA loan, but have been foreclosed on by the bank issuing the loan. So there is a good chance that we will start to see a large inventory of these homes hitting our markets soon, so be prepared, get educated and look for them in the MLS, and at the HUD's website at: www.HUDHomestore.com where you can find available HUD homes throughout the U.S.

Because these homes must be purchased using a real estate agent, it's important that you find an agent who is familiar with the HUD purchase process, as it is an entirely different animal than how we do business currently. So if you are an agent looking for some training on how to represent a homebuyer, please give my office a call and we will help you find your local listing broker and set up a training for you in your office. Our number is 916.283.7427

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND GOD HELP US ALL!

CHRISTINE LIBRACH (KELLER WILLIMAS REALTY) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 10:24:25 -0800

It's been a shaky 2009 for many homeowners and real estate professionals alike and we're not seeing a great deal of support from the Feds, as they're substantially increasing our taxes in 2010, and in fact, may be imparing our recovery and total economic outlook.

Unfortunately, no one has a crystal ball to see what's going to happen next, but with Freddie and Fannie's sudden decision a couple of weeks ago to foreclose on their short sales, it looks like it's going to be another challenging year for our industry. The information from the REO conferences concur that we're going to have an increased forclosure market for 2010. I analagize it as "pulling off the bandaid fast" - it will hurt alot initially, but it will be over that much quicker.

As I said, our market will be challenging but not impossible, that's important to remember. Increasing our work effort/ethic will pay off. If you're not an REO agent, thinking outside of the box, holding open houses and real estate seminars to meet buyers, networking with our peers will all help to support us through this unique and somewhat difficult time.

There will be a preverbial "light" at the end of the tunnel, we just need to adjust our way of doing business for awhile, which will ultimately help us all become a better and more knowledgable professional in our field.

ARE TITLE COMPANIES GETTING OVERWHELMED OR ARE THEY JUST CRANKY?

CHRISTINE LIBRACH (KELLER WILLIMAS REALTY) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 14:51:22 -0800

I've surpried recently with the upsurge of cranky escrow officers, and title people, especially from the Southern California area where title and escrow are separate. They no longer want to go out of their way for you and in fact, don't even seem like the want to do their job these days. I realize many title and escrow companies have vanished along with our economy, so you'd think that the remaining ones would be more than happy to do what's necessary to keep the clients and us going forward on our files, but my experience is that they are indifferent to the issues that come up delaying the closing of the escrows. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe they are just flat out over worked, but then wouldn't you expect that the heads of the title and escrow companies would gear up their staff to handle the volume if that was the reason for the problems that we've all been experiencing. Love to hear your views and experiences.

large land deals - as buyers agent anything to look out for??

CHRISTINE LIBRACH (KELLER WILLIMAS REALTY) — Sat, 17 May 2008 00:13:13 -0700

I'm assiting a client in a large land purchase and wanted some suggestions on anything more to look out for other than the potability & productivity of the wells, soil testing around septics, appraisal, eir, biological, botanical, archaelogical surveys - anything specific I should be asking for from the seller in protecting my client. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

FORECLOSURE BUSINESS IS WHERE IT'S AT FOR THE NEXT 2 YEARS

CHRISTINE LIBRACH (KELLER WILLIMAS REALTY) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 17:17:53 -0700

As a resident in the Sacramento area I find it an unfortunate state of affairs when the real estae forecast shows continued increase in foreclosures for the next 2 years, but that is the general concensus of opinion that I have found after attending a recent conference on the foreclosure market. This prediction has been based primarily upon the many short sales and NOD's that have been filed on homes. Every market is apparently experiencing homes that are going into default and subsequent foreclosure, even the highly affluent neighborhoods in El Dorado Hill and Folsom are just starting to see the signs going up.

What I would like to caution my fellow real estate agents managing these REO properties is to avoid the "Bank Owned" or "Foreclosure" signs on the homes, as that tends to open up the door to vandalism and squatting issues that we've been expeirencing. My team has been managing Foreclosure properties for the last year and some banks are better than others with respect to adhereing to neighborhood CC&R's and maintaining the appearance of the properties. It is our desire and goal to keep our REO properties looking like regular sales, to help property values and reduce the embrassesment of the mortgagor.

LLC's - Does anyone have any feedback?

CHRISTINE LIBRACH (KELLER WILLIMAS REALTY) — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 07:20:48 -0700

I'm condsidering creating an LLC for my real estate business but I don't know much about them and the books on them are thick! Has anyone had any positive or negative experiences with an LLC and how did you go about creating one. I've heard that you can actually put one together yourself, but not having enough time to even do my nails most times I worry that I won't cover all the details necessary and miss something. Am just in the information gathering stages at this time so if any of you guys can help it would be much appreciated.

How to tactfully change a buyers lender, when they're friends

CHRISTINE LIBRACH (KELLER WILLIMAS REALTY) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 14:20:44 -0700

I've had this happen to me at least 5 times and every time I'm mad at myself for not being more assertive in telling a client that their "friend" or "relative" in the lending business is screwing them in the program or fees they are trying to put them in. It's difficult to tell a buyer that they're family member isn't looking out after their best interest. I also know how difficult it is to work with family, but a choosing the right home loan for someone is an extremely important task. Has any one come across this problem and how do you handle this very precarious situation?

Why are the buyers waiting is this market???

CHRISTINE LIBRACH (KELLER WILLIMAS REALTY) — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 15:34:29 -0700

Why aren't there more buyers moving into the market given the price reductions?? Knowing that interest rates may escalate at any time you would think there would be more activity. I gues what I mean to say is that, there is buyer activity but many of them are still sitting on the fence and no matter how much information you give them, with regard to the natural "cycle" of the market and how the cost to wait doesn't make sense, they persist in just looking and missing opportunities that present themselves. It's as if they are not listening well to those that are actually working in the industry on a daily basis, but rather listen to the media's take on the market. What becomes extremely frustrating for me is when you show your clients lots and lots of properties and advise them to make an offer on their first choice, but they choose to wait a little longer with hopes the purchse price drops a bit more, instead of just offering the price they'd like to buy the home for and then negotiating from there, and then the property goes pending, ahhh! This seems to be happening more and more these days and what's most disconcerting is the amount of time vested with the buyers, and their time in searching with me, and the subsequest missed opportunities.