Lisa Toombs's Blog

Love the HVCC Regulations - NOT!!!!!

Lisa Toombs (RE/MAX Associates) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:10:40 -0700

I am being whiny about this but did they do this without thinking about the affect it would have on customers, realtors, and the mortgage industry? The majority of my closing are taking a bit longer than expected and no one likes it; the seller, buyer, or agents. And if you are working with buyers they are getting blamed for the closing taking 15-50 days longer and IT IS NOT THEIR FAULT!!!! I am working with sellers too and waiting on the closings but I am at least telling them that this is not the buyers fault. I give as this is killing my relationships with customers and my BANK ACCOUNT! Everyone complain is all I can ask if it is happening to you. Call your Congressman, call the NAR, call the President - hahaha - not like he'd answer : ) It seems to be affecting mostly the bank here in Louisville versus the mortgage companies so may be until this clears up that is the way to go. Is this happening to you?

Stay Away from Countrywide for Loans and Foreclosures

Lisa Toombs (RE/MAX Associates) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:40:47 -0700

Countrywide STOLE 914.00 from my clients...Yes STOLE!

My clients wrote a contract stating we wanted 4k in closing costs and 5k in repairs for a forclosed home. The work needed was pretty detailed: plumbing, HVAC, gutters, windows, flooring, kitchen cabinets, etc. The 5k would be a nice start. Well, thru the underwriting process the addendums were done to ask for less in closing costs and more in repairs but Countrywide would still net the same amount in the end so they agreed. Well, we get to the closing table and my clients loan officer changed the darn closing cost one last time and asked taht we get an addendum signed to have Countrywide accept. The gentleman representing the title company suggested that I should go ahead and have them close seeing "they accepted all along". Countrywide would still NET the same amount written in the original contract. The agent for Countrywide (selling agent) could not attend closing but asked me to fax it to him which I did and I have the transaction that showed it delivered successfully.

WELL...the agent "never received" the last addendum so I resent a week later. Countrywide stated that since it was closed they would not sign the addendum and of course it was to their advantage since they were 914.00 richer and my clients were paying 914.00 more for the house.

On top of it all they want my clients to sign 4-5 forms before they release their money to them. My clients are 1st time home buyers and it has turned them off from wanting to buy again. I don't blame them.

Oh agents...it took me almost 2 weeks to get paid from Countrywide too - yea I am sure they enjoyed drawing interest off my money.

Countrywide is like an Organized Crime group. They steal and make up their own rules as they go.

To all .... I hope you learn from this and think twice about this horrible company. My poor clients are not even out of school, wanting to live the American Dream of being a home owner but instead were cheated out of hard earned money.

By the way, I did consult with an attorney that sent Countrywide a letter demanding our 914.00. Still haven't heard anything from them and we won't. The attorney stated we could fight but Countrywide has more moeny than my clients and the 914.00 would not be worth it. I figure I would hit it where it counts and let the WORLD know this story. Please pass on as I would hate to see this happen to anyone again.

Say NO to Chase Bank - HORRIBLE

Lisa Toombs (RE/MAX Associates) — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:19:39 -0700

I hope many people read this and Chase sees a decrease in mortgage loans and banking customers. For six months I have tried to work a short sale for my client with them and we are tired of waiting. Apparently one person was working on it at Chase and quit and they don't have a process to transfer the file apparently because the attorney handling this locally had to resubmit all the paperwork to a new person. It took the attorney's office 1 month of to find out who would be the new person handling the account and the fact the old person quit (their voicemail and email was still active).

Now that we have a new person at Chase handling this he is non-existant and at one point said he had no paperwork and the attorney yelled at him and it suddenly reappeared....wow like how that happened.

After 6 months of this and still no answer if they are accepting my contract ...my client needs to get on with his life so we are looking for a new house.

Next case......

I have another case recently where the loan officier told my client she would get 5.75% for her loan and when we closed it was 6.125%. This is not was she was told (and yes we had it in writing). This error had us in a closing room for over 3 hours just for us to have to leave for the weekend and close a few days later after it was fixed.

I know there are bad experiences everywhere but this is horrible. The bank forgets these are PEOPLE not numbers. They are hurting these people's lives. I am mad and I hope all that read seriously think about ever using Chase to bank with in the future

Is it a good time to buy a home?

Lisa Toombs (RE/MAX Associates) — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 21:51:29 -0700

Wow this is a question I am asked alot lately by clients, friends, and family. They are concerned the market is a mess and they shouldn't even try to buy a home at this time.

INSANITY!!!!!

The market is all about the buyer right now and rates are still good so

WHAT

ARE

YOU

WAITING

FOR

There are more houses than ever on the market. In Louisville area we have around a nine month supply of inventory active. Look around almost every street has one or more homes for sale
Sellers are not or should not expect someone to come in and make a full price offer right now so don't be scared to make an offer
Take you time since the houses aren't flying off the market unless your realtor says that the price of home will keep this home from lasting long. I would still make an offer
Want a new home but not sure if you can afford it or all the options? Have you seen all the ads lately from builders: Free options, incentives to buyer up to 10 - 20,000...I have seen them
Sellers are fixing up their home more to stay competitive so you may be getting into a home with all the costly items updated for you

I hope you will make the move to find your new home!!!!!!

A Good Buyer Tip for Today's Market

Lisa Toombs (RE/MAX Associates) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 20:58:16 -0700

HEY Buyers

So you know it's a buyers market and you have all intentions of getting into a home cheap, right? You plan on finding the home you want and coming in with a low offer or you will go to the next one, am I close?

Think about something though. If you lowball the seller and drive down the price of the home aren't you hurting yourself and your new neighborhood? WELL Sure You Are!!! You go into a neighborhood that averages 225k for example and you offer and get in for 190k...ouch your neighbors took a hit to their homes value and so did you. Sure you got a good deal, but I bet it appraised for around 190k too, so did you get a good deal? Did you think it would appraise for 225k and you would have 30k in instant equity? This rarely happens.

Instead think about this. Go in and make a good offer to keep the neighborhood steady or offer full price but ask for a seller incentive. You can ask that the seller pay closing costs, prepaids, or for cash to use as you please. It's a win-win situation. You get a good deal and your neighborhood maintatins its value. You can use the cash to buy down points on your loan or to get that flat screen TV and new carpeting for your new house. Your neighborhood maintains it's 225k average and will continue to appreciate each year over and above the 225k versus 190k. Wow...you win!!!

GOOD LUCK!!!!!

Lisa Toombs, GRI, HSE

RE/MAX Associates

502-767-9043

forsalebylisa@msn.com

Home Staging Expert was good investment

Lisa Toombs (RE/MAX Associates) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 21:35:51 -0700

I reviewed several places online that offered home staging certification and it's not like I plan on leaving real estate to charge for this business, but enhance my business to get the home SOLD!! Right? That is what we will tell our listings we will do. We are hired to tell them the truth and not to sugar coat.

Anyway, right before I received my official certification I had a listing that was priced correctly (other realtors told me the same), getting plenty of showings, but not selling. My people wanted to move and Louisville is like the rest of the country, saturated with listings. If your home doesn't shine the buyers are moving on. I believe the local board president stated we had a 9 month supply of listings on the market...OUCH! So, the homes here need to shine and be priced right. I asked the lady seller if we could just do some minor things and she agreed. It costs NOTHING too. We rearranged the living room to show off the focal point being the fireplace, pulled up a nasty area rug, took down many personal pictures and pushed the TV back into a corner (that was hard for the male seller : )) Next we moved onto the master bedroom and moved the king size bed to the other side of the room so the flow to the master bath was easier. Before people had to walk around the other side of the bed to get to the bath.

THAT'S IT. Two showings later....SOLD!!!

So I am a Home Staging Expert. I received my certification and successfully "dressed" two other homes since and SOLD them.

To realtors - it is a small investment to get this line of expertise and WOW it feels great to get that listing that has been sitting forever to sell

To Consumers - if you have a home sitting and your realtor cannot help stage ask them to hire someone. It really helps. Don't take the changes we suggest personally. Remember you want to move so this isn't really your "home" anymore but a house. Disassociate your feelings and see this as a product that needs to be sold so your agent can find you a "home".

To Louisville, KY area consumers - Call me as I will list and stage your home to sell. What I write is true about the market right now. We are saturated with listings and to get your home sold it has to outshine your competition.

Networking can be fulfilling

Lisa Toombs (RE/MAX Associates) — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 19:58:54 -0700

Hello I am new to AR and a new blogger. I like to talk alot so I should be good at this.

Anyway, I attended a networking lunch today and had a fabulous time. I met a potential client and get to meet alot of interesting people. I have also joined the Women's Council of Realtors (WCR) and get to meet other realtors in the area. We have guest speakers that educate us whether it be about the housing industry, finance, or motivational speakers.

Any of you attend certain networking groups and how do you fill about them? If there are one's in the Louisville, KY area taht you think are beneficial let me know as well