Five Tips for Deciphering Your Home Loan’s Good-Faith Estimate

September 6, 2010 Leave a comment

I recently had an agent in my office who showed me their Buyer’s HUD-1 Settlement Statement form two days prior to settlement that had some inconsistancies when it came to the numbers jiving with the original Good Faith Estimate provided by the lender.  I found this article of the National Association of REALTORS® consumer website, HouseLogic, that provided some good answers to questions about Good Faith Estimates.  The article is reproduced here in its entirety:

Knowing how to read your good-faith estimate can help you save money on your home loan.

When you’re shopping for a mortgage loan, it’s sometimes hard to understand the jargon lenders use in the good-faith estimate explaining the costs and fees you’ll pay when taking out a mortgage.

When you apply for a mortgage, the lender has three days to give you a good-faith estimate of the fees and interest rate you’ll pay, as well as other loan terms.  Here are five tips for using the new three-page form to your advantage.

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What’s Really Happening in the Real Estate Market?

September 2, 2010 Leave a comment

The national media is constantly bombarding its readership and viewership with stories that will scare the you know what out of you.  Here’s a slideshow that presents facts on what is happening right now in the real estate market.  No fluff or unsubstantiated wild statements.  Just facts!

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Considering Selling Your Home as a FSBO? Hmmm – - maybe not.

June 3, 2010 2 Comments

Hmm! This isn't as easy as I thought it would be.

So you’re thinking about putting your home on the market and moving to that condo/farm/new build/quiet neighborhood/high-rise/bigger home/smaller home (select one).  Even though prices on homes seem to be stagnant and you won’t be able to get as much for your home as you could just three years ago, the deals you can get as a buyer after you sell your home seem too good to pass up.

Your natural inclination is to save the commission and try to sell your home yourself which will leave extra cash to put toward your next home.  Simple math says that if you don’t pay a REALTOR® a commission to sell your home, you’ll have more left over to buy your new home.  You may want to reconsider your strategy.

In a recent article posted on FORBES.com, they make the case that going it alone has drawbacks that most potential ‘For Sale By Owners’ don’t even consider.

Here is the article posted in its entirety:

Five Reasons Why You Still Need a Real Estate Agent ¹

The proliferation of services that help homebuyers and sellers complete their own real estate transactions is relatively recent, and it may have you wondering whether using a real estate agent is becoming a relic of a bygone era. While doing the work yourself can save you the significant commission rates many real estate agents command, for many, flying solo may not be the way to go–and could end up being more costly than a realtor’s commission in the long run. Buying or selling a home is a major financial (and emotional) undertaking. Find out why you shouldn’t discard the notion of hiring an agent just yet.

1. Better Access/More Convenience

A real estate agent’s full-time job is to act as a liaison between buyers and sellers. This means that he or she will have easy access to all other properties listed by other agents. Both the buyer’s and seller’s agent work full time as real estate agents and they know what needs to be done to get a deal together. For example, if you are looking to buy a home, a real estate agent will track down homes that meet your criteria, get in touch with sellers’ agents and make appointments for you to view the homes. If you are buying on your own, you will have to play this telephone tag yourself. This may be especially difficult if you’re shopping for homes that are for sale by owner.

Similarly, if you are looking to sell your home yourself, you will have to solicit calls from interested parties, answer questions and make appointments. Keep in mind that potential buyers are likely to move on if you tend to be busy or don’t respond quickly enough. Alternatively, you may find yourself making an appointment and rushing home, only to find that no one shows up.

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The Race For a National MLS is On

November 23, 2009 Leave a comment

 

Within the last two weeks, the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) unveiled its vision of a national property database called the REALTORS® Property Resource (RPR) that would be available to its membership starting in the second quarter of next year.  After I watched NAR’s online presentation of the RPR the first thing I concluded (read my post here) was that they were going to build a national Multiple Listing Service (MLS) even though they stated numerous times during the presentation, “This is not a national MLS.”  I didn’t buy their statement two weeks ago and I’m not buying it today.  I wish they would just call a spade a spade and get on with it.

While the NAR and the oodles of MLS’s serving their membership haggle over how they’re going to tweak or preserve the status quo, Google is busy blowing up the old model and rewriting the rules of the game.

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RPR – Like Watchin’ Deer in the Headlights

November 19, 2009 Leave a comment

Since the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) first unveiled the REALTORS® Property Resource (RPR) at NAR’s Convention in San Diego this past week, I have been intently following and participating in the online conversation so that I can fully understand the breadth of this behemoth.  My conclusion thus far – - – This WILL change everything!  From how individual REALTORS® in the field do business to how local Association’s and MLS‘s operate to how the consumer perceives us.  Trust me; this is the biggest thing to happen to our industry in last twenty-five years.  Nothing even comes close.  What is amazing to me is that most REALTOR® (my guess is 90%) haven’t even heard of the RPR yet.  Mention the RPR and it’s like watchin’ deer in the headlights.  Most have no clue.

Why is that?  Why the indifference?  My guess is that our industry is so focused on pulling itself out of the economic malaise of the past sixteen months that this game-changer has gone unnoticed.  In addition, even though it has been introduced, you can’t get your hands on it yet.  (NOTE: The official release date of RPR is sometime in April of 2010.)  It’s all talk and talk is cheap.  Most REALTORS’® attitudes mirror a line from one of my favorite movies, Jerry Maguire: ”Show me the money!”  Not literally; but figuratively.  They want NAR to, “Show me the product!”.

In case you don’t want to watch the 90 minute NAR webinar or read the press release or read the hundreds of real estate blogs that are covering this important endeavor, here is a condensed synopsis for you.  I’ve added my own thoughts and musings after each bullet point to give you my take and to make you think.  If you think that I’m too far “out there”, feel free to ignore the commentary sections.  I won’t be offended.  WARNING – even though this is condensed, it’s still a bit lengthy: Read more of this post

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Will the National Association of REALTORS Unleash the 800 Pound Gorilla – - – a National MLS?

November 7, 2009 Leave a comment

Late yesterday afternoon, the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) announced that on November 12, they will unveil a new web site called HouseLogic designed to provide home owners with a smart, simple resource to help them manage their homes wisely and to help REALTORS® extend their relationship with consumers through the entire lifecycle of homeownership.  While the specifics are still sketchy at this point, it is clear that NAR’s latest foray into the world of online real estate is not just a simple blip on the radar screen but rather a major trembler within our industry.

For the past couple of years, NAR has been working on a project called the ‘Realtors Property Resource’ (RPR) that has been shrouded in secrecy.  In fact, even the name was a mystery.  It had been called ’Gateway,’ ‘The Real Estate Channel’ and the ‘Library/Archive.’  Those of us in the industry weren’t even allowed to know all the details about the project.  Was it for consumers?  REALTORS®?  Would it provide data on every property in the US?  Was it designed to be a property valuation tool?  Would it take the place of REALTOR.com?  Or, dare I ask – - – Was it intended to be a national multiple listing service?  It was like throwing darts from 50 yards to try and hit an ant – who knew?

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A Primer for the Homebuyer Tax Credit Extension

November 6, 2009 2 Comments

The Lancaster County Association of REALTORS® Government Affairs Department, headed up by Frank Christoffel, IV, passed this Q&A along regarding the latest information on the potential extension of the homebuyer tax credit which includes an existing homebuyer credit that was not part of the first bill.

The House of Representatives passed the extension yesterday by a vote of 403-12 after passing the Senate the previous night 98-0.  The new provisions will take effect as soon as President Obama signs the bill.

Here are some of the specifics regarding eligibility requirements:

1.  Existing homeowner credit:  Must the new house cost more than the old house?   

No.  Thus, for example, individuals who move from a high cost area to a lower cost area who meet all eligibility requirements will qualify for the $6500 credit.  

2.  I am an existing homeowner.  On October 25, 2009, I signed a contract to purchase a new home.  I have lived in my current  home for more than 5 consecutive years and am within the new income limits.  I will go to settlement on November 20.  If President Obama has signed the bill by the time I go to settlement, will I qualify for the new $6500 tax credit? 

Yes.  The existing homeowner credit goes into effect for purchases after the date of enactment (when the bill is signed).   There is no reference to the date of contract for the new credit. The provision looks solely to the date of purchase, which is generally the date of settlement.

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How To Explain the Accuracy of Zestimates® To Consumers

August 15, 2009 Leave a comment

Image courtesy of Flickr

I remember a couple of years ago when Zillow first hit the real estate scene.  Consumers embraced the web site almost immediately because of the web site’s cool, on-line tools.  One tool in particular caught their fancy:  the Zestimate.  This single, funny-sounding word would grow to strike fear in the heart’s of REALTORS® everywhere.

But what is a Zestimate?  A Zestimate is an estimated market value of a home based on Zillow’s proprietary, mathematical formula.  The home data they compile to generate a Zestimate home valuation varies by location.  Some geographic areas provide all the data Zillow could hope for, but others are lacking such key things as the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, or, in some cases, the square footage of the home.  The theory says that the more data Zillow has, the more accurate the Zestimate.  They even made it easy for users of the site to help them improve accuracy by incorporating edited home facts into their Zestimate calculations.  In some areas, Zillow can’t produce a Zestimate at all, but they do have some basic information on the homes.

Why did REALTORS® dispise Zillow?  Because they claimed that the tool that produced Zestimates oversimplified the valuation process and gave inaccurate results.  Regardless, Zillow shot up the popularity charts and in no time at all it was firmly entrenched as one of the top ten real estate web sites in the world.  REALTORS® looked at the new kid on the block as a threat to their own personal fiefdom as experts on property valuation.  They exclaimed, “How dare they hand out FREE property estimates!  They’re misleading consumers.  Why can’t consumers see that the accuracy of  Zestimates is atrocious?”

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