Bob Tettman's (bobtettman) Blog

The Search: "Show Me the Way to go Home"

Bob Tettman (Home Team Gwinnett) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 13:15:14 -0700

Remember "Quint", the salty sea Captain in the movie "Jaws" singing, "Show me the way to go home, I'm tired and and I want to go to bed!" Is that the way you feel after a day of riding around in your car looking for homes that are for sale? Are you one of the home searchers that get in your car without any information along for the ride and go for a "sign hunt". Let me tell you friends.... YOU'RE DOIN IT THE HARD WAY! Today's multiple listing services enable professional real estate agents to create a custom search of all the homes available in your city.... so that the search returns ONLY those homes that fit the parameters of your particular search. Everybody knows you can search by price, city, county, subdivision, etc. But did you know a Realtor can search for only homes in specific school areas, subdivision amenities and kind of cooktop? Want a 4-side brick home for $250,000 to $275,000 in XYZ county with a finished sunlight basement and a side entry garage on a cul-de-sac (with sidewalks, a community pool, tennis courts and street lights) in XYZ elementary school district on a level 1/3 acre lot with gas heat, ceiling fans, hardwood floors and a dining room that will seat twelve? GOT IT! In todays world of search you can be as broad or as specific as you wish to be. But remember... the more you describe your "perfect" house, the fewer homes will be returned for your perusal and ultimately for you to go see. But then again... maybe the one that comes back from your search WILL be your perfect home! Just think of the time and frustration you'll save! And to go even one step further... a really good Realtor will know how to enter all of your search parameters into a search engine and create a link which they can then email to you so that every home that comes back from that search will be exactly what you are interested in seeing. Now THAT'S service! So the next time you think about getting in your car and heading out to drive around and burn up some gas (at nearly $3 a gallon), place a call, instead, to your local real estate professional and have them set up a custom search for you. You'll be saving gas, time and frustration all at once! Bob Tettman is a full time Realtor with Keller Williams Realty in the Atlanta area and specializes in homes in Gwinnett County, Georgia including the cities of Buford, Braselton, Duluth, Lawrenceville, Norcross, Suwanee, Lilburn, Snellville, and Grayson. Visit his website at www.HomeTeamGwinnett.com or http://homesgwinnettcountyga.yourkwagent.com/home .

The next step: Searching for homes through expired listings

Bob Tettman (Home Team Gwinnett) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 02:51:01 -0700

It seemed easy when we started... the buyers want a 2-story home with at least the front of the house in brick, a basement (finished or not), a 2 car garage and a particular middle school area. Their budget is $250,000 to $300,000. The search starts using all the limiting amenities and we find about 20 homes that "fit" the description. We look, and look, and look (extend this out to 20 times). But none of these homes listed in the active area of the local MLS are the right house. We check FSBOs (for sale by owner) and see one house in which the basement is too small. We've exhausted the active listings. Drop the brick front? No, please. A one-story home? No, please. A different middle school area? Absolutely no, thank you. Next step: Today starts the process of looking through the local MLS for homes that meet their guidelines that have expired in the last year that have not subsequently been re-listed as currently active or have already been sold. These are the homeowners that have raised their hand at some point in the last 12 months and said "I'm interested in selling my house"... but for whatever reason that sale has not happened. Might they still be interested in selling their home? We'll see. But at least it gives us a whole new pool of properties to investigate. And who knows... maybe one of these is "THE" house! We'll watch and report. Bob Tettman is a full time Realtor with Keller Williams Realty in the Atlanta area and specializes in homes in Gwinnett County, Georgia including the cities of Buford, Braselton, Duluth, Lawrenceville, Norcross, Suwanee, Lilburn, Snellville, and Grayson. Visit his website at www.HomeTeamGwinnett.com or http://homesgwinnettcountyga.yourkwagent.com/home .

Are the agents considering your listings getting the picture?

Bob Tettman (Home Team Gwinnett) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 04:58:38 -0700

How many times have you entered your search parameters for your buyer and up pop the candidates from which you may select the very best homes that you want to show. You select the top ten and you open a new window to look at the "full" listing, including a link to all of the pictures that the listing agent has uploaded of their client's property. You select a listing and open the photos and you find: 1.) There are only 4 pictures of a possible 20 that are allowed to be uploaded 2.) The pictures are so dark that you can't tell if the room has furniture 3.) The flowers are blooming and the trees all have leaves... in February 4.) You click on the small picture expecting to see a larger version and instead you get a duplicate of the original size. And none of the pictures have agent comments. 5.) The "front" picture looks like it was taken immediately after the rain quit on that day last month with the tornado warning 6.) The quality of the photo (out-of-focus, composition, etc.) looks like something your daughter might have taken with her "Barbie's First Camera" point and shoot Come on people! Are you a professional agent? Aren't you supposed to be providing exceptional service and doesn't that include your ability to market your listing in a professional manner?! Take a look at some other agent's listings (including mine) and find the ones with pictures that really look good. Then go and talk with that agent to find out what they are doing right and copy it. And... if YOU can't do it yourself, hire somebody that can and pay them to do it correctly! Your listings should all contain the maximum number of pictures and be of excellent quality (composition and lighting, blue skies, clean and tidy) in order to best represent your seller's property. Need tips on how to take good pictures? Come see some of my listing's pictures at www.HomeTeamGwinnett.com or http://homesgwinnettcountyga.yourkwagent.com . Then email me and tell me about the problem you need to overcome. I have decades of experience in photography and might be able to answer your questions about taking GREAT marketing pictures that get your homes sold! Next time: Using FREE email tools to promote your real estate listings. Bob Tettman, Realtor Keller Williams Realty - Atlanta Partners Duluth, GA

Employer savings plan provides down payment for home purchase

Bob Tettman (Home Team Gwinnett) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:27:31 -0800

I recently had a good friend that expressed interest in buying a home of her own and getting out of the shared residence in which she was living. She has a good job and a good credit rating but she didn't have a down payment and could not go to family to have them "gift" her a downpayment. Long story short... her boss announced that possible cutbacks and layoffs were on the way and she immediately wihdrew from the buyer's market not knowing what her future income outlook would be. Smart woman! In the course of researching all of the possible ways for her to get into a house I stumbled on what appears to be a great way to make a house purchase a reality for those that currently don't think it is possible. It involves three things: 1.) Employer 401K savings 2.) The 2009 First Time Homebuyer Credit (FTHC) 3.) A rule within the First Time Homebuyer Credit Scenario: Potential homebuyer has good credit, a good job with 401k (or other) plan savings and wants to buy a house but doesn't have the cash-on-hand downpayment. The FTHC program allows the tax credit to be applied to tax returns for 2009 EVEN IF THE HOUSE IS PURCHASED IN 2010! That's right... a buyer that purchases a principal residence home in 2010 under the FTHC program can take the tax credit on their 2009 OR 2010 tax return! They don't have to wait to file their 2010 tax return in 2011! The homebuyer takes a short term loan against their 401k (no more than $8,000) to use as their downpayment. The government allows a loan against a 401k plan without penalty for a home purchase. They make the home purchase while making monthly payments (three or four months) on their 401K repayment loan that supplied the downpayment. They should take the "401k loan" for a longer term (three years for example) to keep the monthly payments as low as possible. Once the sale is closed and the mortgage has been secured the new homeowner completes their tax return including their FTHB tax credit which will generate a refund check coming back to them for the $8000 tax credit. With that money, they repay their 401k loan very early and are left only with the regular mortgage payment on their newly purchased home.

Suwanee, Georgia is becoming the Gwinnett County destination of choice!

Bob Tettman (Home Team Gwinnett) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 03:24:55 -0800

There's a trend developing in the Atlanta market that seems to indicate that Suwanee, Georgia ( a quaint NE Atlanta suburb) is becoming a prime destination choice for many folks relocating from Florida, Michigan, New York and California and other states!Suwanee was recently voted as one of Money Magazine's Top Ten best places to live in the United States. The Gwinnett community of 16,000 was ranked No. 10 for its economic opportunity, good schools, safe streets, things to do and sense of community, among other factors."Money magazine has let the whole country in on our not-so-well-kept 'secret,'" says Mayor Nick Masino. "Our residents have known for a long time that Suwanee is an incredible place to live."The magazine considered 3,000 towns with populations between 7,000 and 50,000.Suwanee has transformed in the last few years into a city with amenities that include the 10-acre Town Center Park, a trail known as the Suwanee Greenway that is popular among walkers and joggers and Playtown Suwanee, a playground that boasts a magical bus, castle, log cabin, boat, elephant and rocket in addition to more traditional offerings, such as slides and swings.The cities that made the top 10 are, in order, Middleton, Wis.; Hanover, N.H.; Louisville, Colo.; Lake Mary, Fla.; Claremont, Calif.; Papillion, Neb.; Milton, Mass.; Chaska, Minn.; Nether Providence, Pa.; and Suwanee. ALL ABOUT SUWANEE, GEORGIA (wikipedia)

HOW TO SELL YOUR HOUSE IN 2007

Bob Tettman (Home Team Gwinnett) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 01:18:30 -0800

HOW TO SELL YOUR HOUSE IN THE 2007 MARKETYou must price your house aggressively in today's market! Conventional pricing no longer applies. (While the following applies in all price ranges, it is less evident in the entry level housing market)In any market there are two types of sellers: compulsory and discretionary. We find sellers who must move and those who are in the market to entertain the option. In a balanced market you can hardly notice the difference. In an extremely unbalanced market (a Buyer's market) the compulsory sellers become hyper-motivated and skew the market significantly. They reduce their price to sell in the next showing or two thus providing what every buyer dreams about... the proverbial "DEAL".Discretionary sellers continue to pull out of the market not willing to compete and take a loss. This serves to further concentrate the market with highly motivated compulsory sellers.Among the compulsory sellers there is a continuum of motivation and tolerance of pain. From the highly motivated seller trying to avoid foreclosure to someone who is merely dipping into his or her equity line every other month to stay afloat. Eventually when the latter get in enough pain they join the former. So the concentration of highly motivated compulsory sellers grows even more such that normal pricing conventions no longer apply. In other words: Only the deals will sell because there are enough of them to serve the low buyer demand.Sellers have but one choice to sell their house in this kind of market. Come to terms with the market and price aggressively or "wait on your buyer". By that I mean wait for the chance buyer who sees your house the way you do. If you have a strong niche feature (handicap access, two kitchens, two master bedroom suites, etc...) you have a better chance. If you have no niche features you might be waiting a long time. Even the presence of niche features is no guarantee if there are negating factors (the stigma of pressboard or stucco siding, a steep driveway, indoor polybutelene plumbing, etc...).Final considerations: 1) consider what a loss actually is and 2) purchasing in this market offsets the loss you experience on your sale. This is the only reason a discretionary seller should stay in this market.Consider the tax advantages of homeownership, what you paid (plus improvements) and find out what your bottom line really is. Balance that against your holding cost and your opportunity cost of missing a purchase in this market. All the while... remember there are those sellers in every price range who are willing to accept a loss because they have no other choice.