home buying: The Bait and Switch. By Dan Polimino.
- 09/23/13 07:43 PM
When I came out of college, I got a job selling cars and some of my fellow car salesmen were involved in the old “bait and switch” tactics of selling. If a customer came in and it looked like they were not going to be buying that day, the salesman would let them leave the dealership with a monthly payment that no one in town would be able to match. The price was so low it was almost hard to believe. Of course, the customer would go and shop around for the same car, but as expected, no other dealer could … (54 comments)
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home buying: Pre-Qualification Letters. By Marc Bayes.
- 09/17/13 07:32 PM
A pre-qualification letter from your lender is the only way a Realtor can tell that you’re absolutely serious about purchasing a home. In today’s market buyers are scouting the internet for home purchasing 18 months before being ready to buy. The first thing they do is go to the major sites to look at homes and even contact agents from those sites. They want to see this specific home as soon as possible. This is great and any Realtor is more than happy to help. However it’s a problem when they haven’t contacted a lender.
A pre-qualification letter is the only … (1 comments)
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home buying: Hard Money Lending. By Dan Polimino.
- 09/16/13 08:10 PM
If you have been following this column all month, you would know that I have been writing about the fix and flip business as well the fix and rent business. If you would like to re-read any of those columns, you can do so at www.coloradodreamhouse.com/blog.
This week, I want to write about a sub business that has developed in the last few years to help the fix and flip guys buy property without all the lending hassle. It’s called “hard money lending” and it’s been around for years, but it just recently gained enormous popularity because of the new stringent … (0 comments)
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home buying: Online Home Search. By Marc Bayes.
- 09/10/13 11:03 PM
It’s September 11,2013 and you’ve decided today is the day you’ll being your online home search. You’ve dabbled with the idea of buying a new home but you’re ready to go online and see what homes are for sale right now. I’m writing this because as of 2013 online home searches are up 253% over the past four years and 90% of the people buying today begin their search online.
Twenty years ago no one would have thought of doing an online home search for their new home. Today it’s how people search for homes. Most buyers only rely upon the … (0 comments)
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home buying: Hello Second Selling Season. By Dan Polimino.
- 09/09/13 08:33 PM
You have heard me say for years that the best time to sell a home in Colorado is between April 1st and July 31st. We call this the First Selling Season. The second best time to sell a home in Colorado is from September 15th though November 15th. If you did not get your home on the market this past summer, do not worry; your next best chance is only a week away. If you decide to put your home on the market, you may just be timing it perfectly.
I expect the August numbers to come out on the first … (0 comments)
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home buying: D.I.S.C. By Dan Polimino.
- 08/19/13 10:41 PM
Chances are, if you own a business or were ever an employee, you may have been asked to take a personality assessment. As an owner of Keller Williams Realty DTC and a partner of The Colorado Dream House Team, we often have the new recruits take a D.I.S.C. (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Conscientiousness) assessment test. It‘s a quick personality test that will tell me a lot about how someone communicates. I also get to know their likes, dislikes, and how I might relate to him or her.
After a short series of questions, the test is scored and an individual will come … (0 comments)
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home buying: The Eighty to Eighty-Five Rule. By Marc Bayes.
- 07/31/13 03:23 AM
Every buyer wants the perfect house. It doesn’t matter if it’s their first home or their fifth home. The only difference between both of those buyers is experience. Typically the buyer on their fifth home knows what to expect out of the home buying process where the first time home buyer still feels for the amount of money they are paying for a home it should come with one hundred percent of what they want.
First time home buyers in this market are quickly learning that if the home has eighty to eighty-five percent of what they are looking for they … (0 comments)
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home buying: Who Wins? The Husband or The Wife? By Dan Polimino.
- 07/29/13 08:50 PM
Over the last few years, I have been out showing homes to couples with very different priorities. The husband is all about the deal. He could live in a variety of homes as long as they all are a good deal. Sure, his wife would like a good deal, but more than anything else, she wants a home. Something she has dreamed of, envisioned her family in, and could see herself being happy in for years to come. The problem with this scenario is that they are looking to buy with very different priorities. There are plenty of instances where people … (20 comments)
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home buying: Will There Be Balance Again In The Market? By Dan Polimino.
- 07/22/13 11:16 PM
At the beginning of the month, I wrote an article about the S&P/Case Shiller numbers that were released at the end of June. The data showed a robust real estate market for the nation and Denver. In fact, the market started to turn into the sellers’ advantage about 24 months ago. The question is: how long will it stay this way? Four years ago, it was a buyers’ market. Now the pendulum has swung completely the other way to the sellers’ market. Will there be balance? To answer this question, let’s take a look at a few key issues.
1) Federal … (0 comments)
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home buying: Put In A Back Up Offer. By Dan Polimino.
- 07/08/13 09:56 PM
When there is a shift in the market to a seller’s market there can be a frenzy to buy homes quickly before some one beats you to the punch. I have had my share of buyers that wanted to go see a house only to find out the house was sold in two hours. In this case I recommend to the buyer that if that house really meets their criteria we should go see it anyway and put in a back-up offer. Here is why I am suggesting this:
1) In a frenzied market buyers will throw caution to the wind and … (0 comments)
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home buying: The Latest Case Shiller Number. By Dan Polimino.
- 07/01/13 11:38 PM
The S&P/Case Shiller numbers came out on June 25th and it’s no surprise that it shows the real estate market recovering nicely around Denver and the nation.
The Case Shiller Index is a leading indicator used to measure the value of residential real estate on a monthly or quarterly basis using a specific methodology of “repeat sales comparables.”
The data shows that home prices across the nation rose by 12% from April of last year to April of this year. In Denver, prices rose by 9.91% from last year. Most experts predicted that the nation would see a 10.6% increase, so … (0 comments)
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home buying: Our Future Home Owners. By Dan Polimino.
- 06/17/13 08:42 PM
Did you know that the freshman class of 2017 that is just about to enter college is our future home buyers? You may have guessed that, but are you ready for them, their mindset, and will you be able to communicate with them?
Here are a few interesting tidbits about the class of 2017 from Beloit College’s annual mindset list. Did you know that today’s freshman has been brought up with technology their entire lives? Having instant access to information at their fingertips has been the norm since they were able to push buttons. Today’s 18-year-olds have never used a phone … (0 comments)
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home buying: Who’s Your Lender? By Marc Bayes.
- 06/11/13 09:16 PM
Just about everyone who’s buying a home today needs a loan to purchase. There are a ton of different types of loans a buyer can choose from when looking to purchase their new home. The problem is lenders got a pretty bad rap after the housing crash and buyers don’t trust their lenders as much as their real estate agent. Let’s take a moment to discuss what you should be looking for in a lender and what they should be doing for you.
The first thing to understand is how the process of lending you money to purchase a home works. … (2 comments)
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home buying: Home Search Applications. By Marc Bayes.
- 06/05/13 07:43 PM
If you’re considering purchasing a new home then you and I both know you’ve been on Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, and probably one or two Realtor’s webpages using their IDX search to find your new home. There are quite a few apps that exist and I wanted to take a moment to discuss the pros and cons of each since you and I both know you’ll be using them to start your search.
Zillow is probably the number one most used app for finding a new home. Why do people love Zillow? It not only shows you what’s for sale but it … (1 comments)
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home buying: Tying Up the Property. By Dan Polimino.
- 05/13/13 08:23 PM
In a seller’s market, there is a practice known as ‘tying up the property’. When a good listing comes on the market, there can be a bit of frenzy. Everyone wants to get a look at it. The realtors want to do a good job and make sure that they secure the property for their client. No one really wants to get into a bidding war (except the seller of course), but everyone wants to be the winning bid for the property. Thus comes in the idea of tying up the property.
What this means is that some buyers will throw … (0 comments)
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home buying: Love at First Site. By Dan Polimino.
- 04/15/13 09:08 PM
Love at first sight: it only happens in the movies, right? Some believe it, while some do not when it comes to finding a mate; but what about when it comes to finding a home?
Surely, in today’s real estate market, you would be foolish to buy the first home you see, right? Maybe not! There is no hard and fast rule about how many homes you need to see before making an offer. You could see three homes and find the exact one you are looking for then turn to your realtor and say, “I don’t need to see … (71 comments)
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home buying: Which Realtor Is Right For You? By Marc Bayes.
- 03/27/13 02:47 PM
Sooner or later everyone asks one of two questions: Should we buy and should we sell? It’s inevitable. The American Dream is to own a plot of land, build a home, and share that home with your family. If you’ve rented your entire life sooner or later you’re going to want to own your own home. If you’ve purchased a home sooner or later you’re going to need to upgrade into something larger for your expecting child to be or maybe it’s time to down size since the kids went off to college. Sooner or later you’re going to want to … (0 comments)
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home buying: 2013 The Year of The Investor. By Marc Bayes.
- 03/19/13 08:11 PM
In 2012 first time home buyers were seeing interest rates of 3.5% and less marking 2012 as having the lowest interest rates in recorded history. While a lot of the first time home buyers didn’t appreciate these incredible rates those that have purchased in the past sure did. As 2012 began to wrap up and buyers decided to wait out the winter home search for the summer home search the investors began to prowl.
Investors come in all shapes and sizes. Some are looking to buy homes that are in dire need of some TLC so they fix them up … (1 comments)
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home buying: Should I Use An Agent When Buying New Home Construction?
- 03/18/13 11:10 PM
The better question is, “Why would you not use an agent when purchasing new home construction?” It costs you absolutely nothing to have an agent representing your best interest when buying a new build. Some people are going to say, “But Dan, won’t I get a better deal on the price if a builder doesn’t have to pay my agent?” Answer: “No and no.” When builders frame their pricing structure, they do so with the anticipation that they will have to pay a buyer’s agent on every house. The buyer’s agent’s commission is already figured into every deal no matter what … (0 comments)
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home buying: Builders Are Not Negotiating On Price. By Dan Polimino.
- 03/11/13 09:07 PM
I recently represented a couple in buying a new construction home south of the city of Denver. When we went in to negotiate the price, terms, lot, and model of the home, here is what we heard from the on-site sales manager:
"There is no negotiation on price, earnest money or deposit of 4% of the purchase price (Wow), there are no contingencies, there are no "outs" in the contract for the buyer, and there is a $25,000 to $100,000 lot premium. There is only have one lot left in this first phase and once you sign the contract, there … (2 comments)
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When I came out of college, I got a job selling cars and some of my fellow car salesmen were involved in the old “bait and switch” tactics of selling. If a customer came in and it looked like they were not going to be buying that day, the salesman would let them leave the dealership with a monthly payment that no one in town would be able to match. The price was so low it was almost hard to believe. Of course, the customer would go and shop around for the same car, but as expected, no other dealer could … (54 comments)
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