advice: Home Buying Tips for the New Year
- 01/28/09 01:04 PM
There has been a noticeable change in the way homes are bought and sold in the new millennium. Economic changes are affecting the way mortgages are written and the availability of new versus used homes also has shifted significantly in the last decade or two. Navigating your way through the maze of the real estate business does not have to be complicated, as long as you take the time to learn the steps for buying a home in the new millennium. Known as the subprime mortgage crisis, the economy has undergone a radical upheaval that has adversely affected the real estate … (0 comments)
advice: Buyer's Guide to Buying a Bank-Owned or Foreclosured on Property's
- 01/28/09 12:52 PM
In today's market, nearly four out of every five homes sold are bank-owned foreclosure properties. These are commonly referred to as Real Estate Owned (REO) properties Buying an REO property is very different than a traditional buyer/seller transaction. The process is much more taxing and several more entities are involved in the REO transaction. This can create more time and challenges. Many REO homebuyers, especially those buying a home for the first time or their first bank-owned property, get frustrated during the process. Since the REO phenomenon started dominating sales, not coincidently, customer service scores in title, escrow, lending and real … (2 comments)
advice: What will help get your home ready for a speedy sale?
- 01/22/09 12:45 PM
Always remember first imressions are lasting when it comes to houses so in order to do this your home must shine! Do it yourself or hire a professional cleaning crew. While you home is for sale it's probably a pretty good investment to have a cleaner come in every week. Most cleaners do not do windows, so have them professionally cleansed inside and out and be prepared to redo the windows after major storms. The two most important areas are the kitchen and the bathrooms. Deep cleaned all counter and tile surfaces to a spotless condition. Another critical area is the floors - all … (1 comments)
advice: Need to Squeeze More Money From Your Home
- 11/03/08 12:50 PM
Sales of new homes rose unexpectedly in September--2.7% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 464,000 homes. Good news, right? Not so fast. The median price of a new home dropped 9.1% from a year earlier to $218,400, and September sales were still 33.1% behind the numbers posted a year ago. In Depth: How To Squeeze More Money From Your Home If you're a homeowner looking to unload your property and finding few buyers, there are alternatives to dropping the price below what's palatable. These options allow you maximize your cash flow so that you can stay afloat. And if … (0 comments)
advice: First American is lone title insurer bearing good news
- 08/01/08 01:51 PM
First American is lone title insurer bearing good news Other top companies post losses or decline in profits By Matt Carter, Friday, August 1, 2008. Inman News <form enctype="application/x-www-form-urlencoded" method="get" accept-charset="UNKNOWN"></form> It's looking lonely at the top for First American Corp., as the nation's leading title insurer is the only company in the industry to report good news during the second quarter. First American said Thursday that it racked up $42 million in profits during the quarter ending in June, as cost-cutting measures outstripped a 20 percent year-over-year decline in revenue, which fell to $1.72 billion. The results beat analysts' expectations … (1 comments)
advice: Best Cities To Buy A Home
- 07/30/08 02:32 PM
Houston, we don't have a housing problem. The city's $152,500 median home sale price is up 6.6% from 2005. It boasts a low vacancy rate and an oil-rich economy. Throw in a bubbling entrepreneurial tech scene, and you've got four factors that put Houston on the top of our list of best places to buy a home. San Francisco, Charlotte, N.C., Jacksonville, Fla., and St. Louis, Mo., are other areas buyers can feel safe investing in. We examined the country's 40 largest metropolitan areas and looked at cities where home prices have appreciated over the last two years. We also measured … (6 comments)
advice: THE FREDDIE AND FANNIE CRISIS!
- 07/15/08 12:40 PM
WHAT ARE THEY? Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government-sponsored enterprises and the nation's largest buyers and insurers of mortgages. They pool some of the mortgages they buy from banks and sell them to investors, which effectively makes them middlemen between banks and investors. Fannie and Freddie hold or back more than $5 trillion in mortgages, about half the outstanding mortgage debt in the U.S. They are publicly owned and their stock is traded on the open market. WHY WERE THEY CREATED? To give low- and middle-income Americans the chance to buy homes at a reasonable interest rate. The money they … (3 comments)
advice: Benefits of foreclosure rescue
- 07/12/08 12:42 PM
The foreclosure rescue moving through Congress would let financially strapped homeowners who would normally be considered too debt-ridden to qualify for safe, government-insured mortgages refinance their home loans through the Federal Housing Administration to get more affordable loans with lower monthly payments. It would help those who have seen their mortgage rates balloon just as their home values are plummeting, allowing them to keep their homes if they show they can make the payments on a new loan. It also carries substantial benefits for banks and other mortgage holders, which could avoid often-costly foreclosures. After taking some loss on their existing … (1 comments)
advice: Choosing The Best Lender
- 07/09/08 02:22 PM
You're shopping for a mortgage and you've received four offers from four lenders. How do you choose? The first factor most people consider is the interest rate and other costs, but that's only the beginning. You'll also want to think about the lenders themselves, not simply the numbers they're tossing your way. Here are five steps to follow when determining which lender is right for you: 1. Compare fees as well as interest rates Comparing loans based on their annual percentage rate (APR) is a good place to start, but it's not enough. In the case of a mortgage, to get … (1 comments)
advice: Best Times to Buy!
- 07/09/08 02:16 PM
A Conventional wisdom says that you need to stay in a home a minimum of five years to ensure that you recoup your purchasing costs. But with some markets soaring, this advice doesn't always apply. It's All About the Market Market conditions play a huge part in any decision about when to buy. Housing market values have varied widely from region to region in recent years. While the Florida market has seen meteoric rises in home values, Ohio has seen its real estate prices go into negative territory in the last year. Do not buy high and sell low - if … (2 comments)
advice: Power House City!Houston, We have NO problem!
- 06/27/08 06:21 AM
To find a hot spot where soaring oil and commodity prices, and the booming economies of the developing world, are keeping cash registers ringing and construction crews fully employed, you don't have to trek to Dubai or Moscow. You need travel only as far as Houston. In May, the unemployment rate in the nation's sixth largest metropolitan area was a measly 3.8 percent. In the past year, Houston-based companies, which include 26 Fortune 500 firms, added 71,000 jobs to their payrolls. The local United Way closed out its fiscal year with a record $76.1 million in donations. At the Galleria, a … (2 comments)
Having seen a few things go wrong on occasion, you have to be sure you do preventive maintenance to avoid breakdowns.
Farmers know if you grow it, the bugs will come. Their art form can pretty much predict what will arrive when, to do what damage. They spend big bucks and a lot of labor to be there before the bugs arrive with whatever it takes to defend their cash crops. After the fact killing of the little critters is not what works.
Be sure you sell in the upfront training. … (0 comments)
Customer situations are fluid. Things change. On the first call of the day, a sales rep was given a "hard no" (one short of a "H--- no!"). At noon, the competitor's system came apart at the seams. The next contract went to the recipient of that morning's "hard no" by close of business on the same day. Go figure!
In order to keep in touch with "no" accounts, it is always good to regularly schedule callbacks. No one likes to say that it took three, five, or twelve years to crack … (1 comments)
advice: 10 Fastest-Growing Real Estate Markets
- 06/09/08 02:06 PM
The housing implosion is nowhere near over. In 75 of the 100 top U.S. cities, prices are expected to fall in the next 12 months according to Fiserv Lending Solutions. The S&P Case/Shiller Home Price Index, which tracks 20 of the largest housing markets, showed prices plummeting by 12.7% in the 12 months ending February. That's the biggest fall since the index began tracking prices in 2000. Meanwhile, foreclosure filings more than doubled in the first three months of 2008, spiking 112%. So far this year 156,463 families have lost their homes to repossessions. Many markets won't hit bottom till late … (0 comments)
Best Places to Live, Work, and Play: Population: 5,542,048Population Growth Since 2000: 14.9%Percentage of Workforce in Creative Class: 31.3%Cost-of-Living Index: 88.1 (100 being national average)Median Household Income: $50,250 Income Growth Since 2000: 13.1% It's the city of big plans and no rules, beat-the-heat tunnels and loop-the-loop highways, world-class museums and wiry cowboys, humidity that demands an ice-cold martini and the biggest damn liquor store on the planet. How could you not love Houston? You can hardly afford not to. Back with a roar after the oil … (2 comments)
Real Estate News with a Value added punch Clear Lake Texas Real Estate
I think this is a good rule to live by!
"We are not put on this earth for ourselves, but are placed here for each other. If you are always there for others, then in time of need, someone will be there for you."
~ Jeff Warner
There has been a noticeable change in the way homes are bought and sold in the new millennium. Economic changes are affecting the way mortgages are written and the availability of new versus used homes also has shifted significantly in the last decade or two. Navigating your way through the maze of the real estate business does not have to be complicated, as long as you take the time to learn the steps for buying a home in the new millennium.
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