I sometimes feel that it is helpful for consumers to hear about the different situations other buyers and sellers find themselves in. This can be used to educate yourselves when you decide to buy or sell real estate.
Story 1
I recently had the opportunity to get to know a very sweet family living in the Ocean Beach area. They had contacted me completely distraught. The father is currently in the midst of a job change, they MUST move....their home has been on the market for month after month after month. This already sounds a little frightening, but let me just add that the real estate agent who had listed their home was a commission cutting loan officer who had never communicated with them in regards to showing of their home and was now in the hospital for a projected 3 months! The sellers were clearly scared, worried, frustrated, and disappointed. We set up an appointment to meet.
The day of the appointment I received a phone call at 7 a.m. (a Saturday morning no less!) from the wife to confirm our appointmen, she was absolutely overjoyed that they could finally list their home. I went to the appointment, we concluded that they must cancel the agreement with the loan officer in real estate agent's clothing....
and then....
it all became a nightmare...the loan officer refused to allow a cancellation of the agreement. From a hospital bed, he told this sweet family that he would take the property off the market, but he would NOT cancel the agreement.
Can you guess how long the agreement went for?
From May of 2007 to May of 2008.
Please remember in the future to ask your Realtor if they have a Seller or Buyer Service Pledge allowing them to cancel agreements. Century 21 Award is the most successful Century 21 franchise in the world (more than Century 21 All State, Century 21 Carole, Century 21 Solymar, etc. etc.) with the most closed transactions for 2006. We would not THINK of not offering our clients the courtesy to rescind from a working agreement.
Story 2:
I've been working with a single woman, very typical of many buyers these days. As a professional, she makes a reasonable living - but the number falls short when buying a home in our fair city! With little savings, she has good credit but no down payment. She is in the category of rapidly changing mortgages where she needs 100% financing with no money down. These programs have not completely gone away, but they are shrinking rapidly - and are ONLY available to buyer with credit scores over 700, which this fortunate woman has.
The ‘subprime mortgage' affected all buyers with credit scores under 680. If you don't have that score, then you absolutely need to spend time cleaning up your credit. That often involves going to accounts where you owe money, and paying them off.
Also when possible, starting stashing some money in your savings every month! If you would like help with your finances, your credit, or obtaining a pre-qualification, please let me know and I will direct you to a professional loan officer. If you want to take advantage of this current buyer's market, it's time to start preparing, and doing your homework!! Let me know how I can help!
Thinking of buying? Ask me to set you up with a PASSWORD to shop the MLS!:) krista@realestatedeals4you.com
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