Today almost everyone will begin to search for their new home on the internet. There are many different sites to visit - Trulia, Redfin, Homes.com, and the very comprehensive Realtor.com, which is the most up-to-date and accurate site other than using a Realtor's own website which is usually linked directly to the local Multiple Listing Service.

Whichever site, or sites you use, you will always need an actual Realtor to show you homes that he/she have found along with the ones you have found. Despite advertising claims to the contrary, the internet alone is not an experienced Real Estate Professional. It cannot consult, counsel, advise, have knowledge of local laws and market conditions. Nor can it make judgements, 'own' the results, negotiate or most importantly understand your goals and needs and care about you as a client!

To obtain an accurate interpretation of any information you're receiving online, please contact your Realtor, or better than that, contact me!

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The following steps describe the functions that your REAL ESTATE TEAM will perform (Your Realtor, lender, and the title and escrow company) so that your transaction is successful.  After each description you will see the team member(s) associated with that action, labeled in brackets!

Pre-approval and evaluation of your financing options                   (Lender/Loan Officer)

Choosing the desired property, and presenting the purchase

offer and the initial good faith deposit                                         (Realtor)

The transaction is started at the Title and Escrow Company            (Title and Escrow)

The loan application form is completed                                        (Lender/Loan Officer)

Property Inspections are ordered                                                 (Realtor)

Credit report and property value assessment are ordered               (Lender/Loan Officer)

The contract is reviewed with particular attention to the

steps with specific dates                                                             (All team members)

The preliminary Title report is reviewed and sent to the lender

and the Realtor                                                                         (Title and Escrow)

The disclosure reports are delivered to the buyer                           (Realtor)

The preliminary title report is reviewed                                         (All team members)

The desired loan is selected                                                       (Lender/Loan Officer)

The inspections are reviewed and/or the contingencies

are eliminated                                                                          (Realtor)

The contingencies are removed from the loan and the deposit

is increased if necessary                                                            (Realtor)

Final gathering of documents for loan approval                            (Lender/Loan Officer)

The Escrow Officer ensures that the title report is free

of errors and that it complies with any additional instructions          (Title and Escrow)

The package is sent to the lender for final approval                      (Lender/Loan Officer)

Discussion about the selection of an agent for property

insurance                                                                                 (Realtor)

The loan is approved and the loan documents are ordered            (Lender/Loan Officer)

The loan documents are sent to the title company                        (Title and Escrow)

Property Insurance is ordered                                                     (Title and Escrow)

The closing date, any required final balance needed to close

the transaction are confirmed                                                    (Realtor)

The Realtor gives final instructions for closing                             (Realtor)

Final conditions of the loan are reviewed with the Escrow

Officer                                                                                   (Lender/Loan Officer)

Escrow instructions are formulated                                             (Title and Escrow)

Escrow instructions are signed by BOTH buyer and seller,

and the loan documents are signed by the buyer                       (Title and Escrow)

Signed documents are returned to the lender along with the

property insurance policy                                                        (Title and Escrow)

Final visit to the property                                                        (Realtor)

The loan file is reviewed                                                         (Lender/Loan Officer)

 The documents are registered (The Deed) at the county office   (Title and Escrow)

The transaction is closed, a final statement is produced and

all parties are notified of the closing                                        (Title and Escrow)

The keys are handed to the new owner                                    (Realtor)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM7oWKgCVo4

This past week has been somewhat unusual.  Here in San Diego we are having a repeat of the multiple offer situation we last saw back in 2005.  We submitted an offer on a home, an REO, only to find out we were one of 63 - yes 63 - offers.  Nothing unusual about the home, priced in the mid $300,000's, in a suburban neighborhood, no outstanding features, no pool, just a 3 bed, 2 bath 1200 square foot house.

Later in the week I was in the middle of writing an offer on another listing, just 2 days on the market, only to be called by the listing agent that there was already a verbal acceptance, we submitted the offer nonetheless as a back-up.

Over the past week I have shown over 30 properties to 3 different clients, written 6 offers, every single one of which was one of multiple already submitted on the properties.

Is the market picking up?  That's a silly question now.  It's not even pricing strategy, the condition of these homes, or location.  Just simply that buyers know when it is a good time, along with everyone else thinking of owning their own home.

Crazy, busy times!!

ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES - THE WAY TO GO!          

If you are not using electronic signatures for your offers - can we say multiple submitted for short sales on behalf of our buyers, then your fax machine is working overtime and the paperwork is getting more and more distorted as it is received.

Now, obviously with foreclosures/REO's the banks probably need a real life signature which forgives us all back to the old days, but with electronic signature the client can keep the whole file to review with which you can go over with them, if you have not done so before (which I highly recommend by the way).

But, if your client is at work, at home, on vacation, out of state, they no longer need to access a fax machine to get your paperwork back to you, which could mean acceptance or not, especially with REO's or a final short sale acceptance if time is of the essence.

Electronic signatures are not the be all and end all, but they do make life simpler for you, for your client, and for the agent on the other side as the paperwork now comes through clear enough to read, decipher and pass along to their client for any signatures needed - no more smudging of ink, hard to read requests, etc., etc.,

Just a thought!

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Are your buyers working full time?  Do they work after 5pm?  YES!

How many times do you turn your phone off to have dinner, relax with your family?  In this day of internet marketing your answer should be NEVER.  Most buyers spend their day at work searching for homes (yes they do!).  And when they can make phone calles about homes, have questions, when are they going to call you?  IN THE EVENING!

It is optimal to work FOR your buyers and sellers, no matter the olde days when it was usual for everyone to finish at 5pm or 6pm, now it is up to us to be available at all times (up to a certain point, I am not going to answer my phone at 1am) but to work until a certain time point that is convenient to our clients is a MUST.  

Most buyers are wanting information yesterday, and if it takes you until tomorrow to answer their questions it could be too late, they may have found the agent who will respond in real time - I know I am working in the evenings and even though I may not like it, my clients love the fact I can respond immediately.  And being able to text is A MUST - that's another blog!

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When the housing inventory (for sale homes) drops below the 6-month mark here in San Diego it becomes a "sellers" market.  We now have under a 5 month supply.

What that means is, if all homes currently for sale are sold, we will have none left after 4 ½ months.  Even if banks decide to unload more foreclosed homes, it will not affect this by much at all.

With new regulations on listing a home on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) here in San Diego coming into affect at the end of May, we will only have a 2 month supply.

For homes priced under $500,000, there is the situation of multiple offers (my client just won out from 11 other offers) which means property is moving quickly, even with short sales.  And talking of which, the new regulations mentioned above now require that short sales are placed into a ‘contingent' status, between for sale and pending, as many of the short sales already have offers submitted to the lenders, with back-up offers being accepted only.

Is the bottom of the market here?  What do you think .... If you are waiting for prices to drop further, look no more, they will be dictated by the sellers now, it's a cycle, and we enjoyed the buyers market up until earlier this year, the wheels have turned.

Here in San Diego we are experiencing (what is not usually known either in our local press or the national press) a very, very busy buyers' market with investors who usually peruse the stock market, now buying real estate.  So what does that have to do with Property Virgins to coin a phrase from HGTV?!

  Well, pretty much everything. With investors not taking stock in the stock market, they are taking leaps and bounds into our real estate market and buying with cash the best buys they can find.  It is not unusual to find a property, call on offers in advance (we are a multiple offer market here now) and find you are gazumped (does anyone remember that phrase) by an all cash buyer.  

It is inherent in this economy to look for the best investment for your dollar.  First time homebuyers are beginning to get on the bandwagon, only to find in a lot of cases that investors are beating them to the post.   I frequently call ahead to ascertain if there are any offers on the table, at or above asking - no actualy figures quoted - only to be asked if I am representing an investor (all cash) or a home-buyer.   What is going on????  

I now tell my buyers NOT to listen to the media, read the press, listen to the news, because in reality we are in the middle of a crazy, frenzied situation. 

Tonight I showed 6 properties, of those 3 we had to wait for the key to be returned as it was already being shown and this is within a 1 hour window in the middle of the week - goodness knows what is happening with the rest of the hours in the day.  One property was already in escrow - YIKES!  

So my take... my point ... we need to educate buyers as to what to expect in REAL LIFE, not in the media, and to be on top of all offers they think they need to make, give their highest and best, and have realistic expectations that the bargain is no longer there. 

Tomorrow may be too late, yesterday was right and today was a competition.....

My buyers (young couple) identified a home this past weekend, fell in love with it and decided to write an offer that very day.  Two days later we are in competition with at least 4 other offers, all very similar - full asking price, some closing costs - so what should we do to make ours the best?

We could not go up much higher because the question of whether it would appraise was already an issue with the sellers, we didn't have much more for the initial deposit, but we wanted this home.

2am in the morning and I've got a brainwave, not a new idea but a great idea.  First thing next morning I had my buyers write a personal letter to the sellers explaining why they had fallen in love with their home and also a bit of brief  personal history!  I also sent the counter offer back with a letter of my own and another from their lender supporting their ability to afford this home.

Meanwhile 4 other offers were submitted for this same home, and after a tense wait on my buyers part, we got the wonderful news that our offer was accepted.  After a while I asked the agent what it was that made us the lucky ones - it was the letter!

Sometimes just the little things can make such a huge difference, and emotions are always at the center of any transaction.  Making it just that more personal can really help.

IT'S A FEEDING FRENZY !!

Homebuyers can be likened to pirahnas right now when given so much coice, so much opportunity and the surplus of affordable housing right now.  BUT ARE THEY?  Not here in San Diego where the availablity of housing is dropping like flies!

Every home I've shown this weekend - to three buyers, has at least one, if not more, offers.  What began as a regular search, with a set pricepoint, has now become the feeding frenzy buyers are facing - multiple offrs, many above asking price, frustration, effort, constant internet searching for the home they can afford which is habitable (or not) has become the norm and encouraged a new type of market here.

It's not what you want to pay, but can you go above the next offer, are you willing to up your price point, can you beat out the competition?

This has created a reaction known to us all back in 2005, and which is now happening at a much lower price point here in 2009.  I don't know where this will take us, our prices are going up because of this, and low-balling is NOT working anymore - your highest and best is what it is all about.

I hope for the rest of the country you will soon encounter this, and prepare your buyers for what is to come, it's hard, and a lot more work than you have ever done before, but for those that can actually get an acceptance on a home, be it a short sale, foreclosure or, goodness, pray for a regular sale, it is worth it for our clients.  We work for them and now we are truly working!

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