BlogEasy Real Estate

Figures on delinquent U.S. mortgages for Q4 of 2009 were not encouraging. Almost 14 percent of all US mortgages were in some kind of trouble in that quarter. This was according to Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision.

This number included 4.7 percent of all mortgages more than 90 days past due. This number was up 21 percent from one year earlier.

Major lending institutions expect foreclosure numbers to increase in the coming months as these troubled mortgages work their way through the system.

Source: Reuters News

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• Households Facing Foreclosure Rose in 4th Quarter (nytimes.com)
• Mortgage delinquencies rise to nearly 14 percent (yzerfonteinchronicles.blogspot.com)

blogeasy :: Mar.29.2010 :: Uncategorized :: 1 Comment »

The State of California has allocated $200 million to extending the $10,000 home buyer tax credit. The program will run to the end of Aug, 2011.

Half the funds will go to 1st time home buyers purchasing already existing homes. The other half will go to people buying new homes. The intention is to encourage both the renovation and new building industries at the same time as getting old foreclosed inventory off the market.

The tax credit plan is part of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s California Jobs Iniative.

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• Gov. signing new homebuyer tax credit (lansner.freedomblogging.com)
• Calif. Legislature extends homebuyer tax credit (sfgate.com)
• California To Home Buyers: Here’s $10,000 (blogs.wsj.com)

blogeasy :: Mar.29.2010 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

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Your 0 realtor has just suggested that repainting could help sell your house. You question, “Is there an easier way?”

Maybe there is. You might not escape painting completely, but painting to resell is often easier than painting to decorate.

Time Saving Tips

- If the room already has a high-quality paint, try sponging down the walls first. That just might freshen up the look of the area.

- If only one spot in the room is unattractive, just paint to the nearest corner and not the entire room.

- Use paint in the same color so that it will take a single coat.

- If the walls are in fair condition, retouching the woodwork around the doorways and windows can make the room look clean as new.

- Remember that it is faster and easier to remove switch plates, doorknobs, and outlet covers than it is to avoid getting pain on them. It also leaves a more professional look.

If you do choose to repaint the entire room, pick the proper rollers and brushes for the job so that you won’t create extra troubles with streaks an roller lint. A good quality paint is easier to use than a economy-grade quality one.

Copyright AgentMapIt AgentMapit BlogEasy

blogeasy :: Mar.29.2010 :: home improvements :: No Comments »

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If you are wondering if you should buy one of the thousands of foreclosed properties out there in order to save a whole lot of money, here is a video with some very valuable information.

A number of real estate specialists and home loan experts discuss how to discover the most advantageous opportunities when trying to find distressed or repossessed properties.

The experts in this video explain key terms such as foreclosure, short sale, and pre-foreclosure and explains why certain opportunities involve more risk than others.

If you want to explore foreclosure or short sale opportunities in My City, be sure to give us a call. We know where to look for the most promising opportunities and can advise you on how to deal with owners, banks and mortgage companies.

Copyright AgentMapIt Real Estate Advice

blogeasy :: Mar.26.2010 :: real estate advice :: No Comments »

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Most of us like to grill from time to time, and some of us use our outdoor grills just about every day. Unfortunately they get messy and have to be scrubbed down often.

Getting the grime off your outdoor barbecue is a job nobody likes to do. Here are some tips that make it a breeze. Your grill will practically clean itself.

Copyright AgentMapIt BlogEasy

blogeasy :: Mar.26.2010 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

Just living produces stuff. A lot of it. But messiness is the one important thing you don’t want when you are attempting to sell your house for top dollar. In fact, nothing can turn a prospective MyCity buyer off more quickly or send him fleeing farther than a house that looks like a bulging landfill. The single most cost-effective means of boosting the resale value of your home is to scrap the mess.

To get you motivated, here is a video clip that provides some useful decluttering tips. Before you know it, your home will have a delightfully open feeling and the house shoppers will be taking a second look.

There are many ways to do this, but each of them start with a doggedly focused attitude and a garbage bag. If your house is a total disaster zone, it will be worth it to rent a dumpster.

“But what about yard sales?” you ask. “Couldn’t I sell my stuff for cash?” Perhaps, but only if you have excess time on your hands. For most busy, it is better to donate recyclables to charity, have those picked up and then have the rest hauled away.

Here’s another idea. For free removal of reusable items, log on to freecycle to find the information for My City. There are other My Town agencies and charities that are happy to take your unwanted stuff and dispose of them for you. Just do a Google search for My City decluttering.

blogeasy :: Mar.25.2010 :: real estate advice :: 2 Comments »

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A really bad aspect of the tough times we’ve been going through is how millions of homeowners now own homes with extended mortgages that are bigger than their likely resale value.

Sections of the U.S. are worse than others, but this has happened in My City too. If you find yourself in this predicament, then to put it in popular terms, your home is “underwater”. Some people call this being “upside down in your house.”

In this video a knowledgeable real estate agent offers an explanation some of the key things you must be familiar with concerning this circumstance. She discusses the most important concepts such as short sale, foreclosure, loan modification , etc. And she offers her recommendations on the most advantageous ways to tackle this serious problem.

Perhaps most critical is to find an effective real estate agent. That means finding an agent who is active in the market – someone who has first hand experience in problems like yours, and knows how to get the best outcome.

If you find yourself in this kind of situation, give me a call. You may be pleasantly surprised that things are not as bad as you think.

But just as the agent in the video says timing is very important if you want the best possible resolution.

Copyright AgentMapIt Real Estate Advice

blogeasy :: Mar.25.2010 :: mortgages :: No Comments »

On Monday, March 22 2010, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) announced it has passed amendments to the rules governing the use of the MLS system in Canada.

CREA has been the subject of a recent complaint from the Canadian Competition Bureau concerning the use of the MLS system – which CREA owns. According to the filing by the Bureau, CREA’s MLS policies are restrictive resulting in forcing people who want access to the MLS system to pay for other services they don’t want.

According to other reports, the changes passed by CREA will have an effect on their longstanding policy which dictates that the selling agent must act as the agent “throughout the entire time” of a listing contract.

In addition, the rule changes remove the stipulation which disallows listing a property without providing further service. These changes should make it easier for individual agents to negotiate more flexible terms with home sellers.

CREA claims the MLS rule changes passed on Monday address the Competition Bureau’s concerns. But a spokesman for the Bureau disagrees. According to CBC News, Greg Scott of the Competition bureau claims, “The rule changes passed by CREA amount to a blank cheque allowing CREA and its members to impose and enforce rules even more restrictive than the existing ones.”

There was no comment on this issue available on the CREA website.

AgentMapIt Real Estate News

blogeasy :: Mar.24.2010 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

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If you are wondering if you should buy a recently foreclosed property to save a pile of money, here is a video with some very valuable information.

Various real estate specialists and financial experts discuss how to locate the best deals when searching for distressed or repossessed properties.

This video discusses key terms such as foreclosure, short sale, and pre-foreclosure and explains why certain opportunities are more risky than others.

If you are interested in exploring foreclosure opportunities in MyCity, be sure to give me a call. We know how to find the best opportunities and can help you deal with owners, banks and mortgage companies.

Copyright AgentMapIt Real Estate Advice

blogeasy :: Mar.24.2010 :: real estate advice :: No Comments »

In MyCity, and for that matter any other city in the country buying a home is the biggest investment decision that most of us will face. The roof of your MyTown house plays an important role in preserving the condition of your house and maintaining its value in the resale market.

The life of your roof depends on the type of roofing components you use, the weather in your local community, the way it is installed and the type of maintenance it gets on a regular basis.

Asphalt shingle roofs will typically last from 30 to 40 years. The same applies to wood shingle roofs – 30 to 40 years. Roofs covered with clay tiles usually last for a period of 20 years. Metal roofs can last for in excess of 40 years.

Exposure to the sun has a major impact on your roof, irrespective of the materials used. The direct rays and heat from the sun cause virtually all materials to become weaker because of expansion, contraction, warping and curling. Other weather factors including water from rain, high winds, snow, hail, etc. lead to more damage to the already weakened roof resulting in the form of leaks, splits and cracks, mildew and the growth and spreading of fungus.

If an initial overview of your roof it is often advisable to have those problems dealt with as promptly as you can. Many times an inspection of a roof reveals that there is a leakage problem at a number of spots and that the shingles are not capable of being repaired. When that is the case having the roof replaced is often a better course of action than trying to repair it.

When you need a competent roofing expert for your MyCity home, contact me. I have dealt with many home maintenance contractors in the MyCity area and almost certainly will be able to suggest someone who can do the job for you at a good price.

blogeasy :: Mar.23.2010 :: home improvements :: No Comments »

Homes that are odd because of design or the materials used to build them are more difficult to put a price on because of recent lending rule changes. That tends to make them harder to finance.

To some degree that has always been the case. But now banks, mortgage companies and other lenders are are being less lenient when it comes to home appraisals than used to be the case just a couple years ago.

Green homes, custom-designed by their owners, are getting caught in the more demanding standards because there is simply nothing to compare them to. A house made of recycled tires is a typical scenario. Often these homes are located in a rural area making it even more difficult to evaluate.

In addition to that new rules instituted by major mortgage companies such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, make things even more dicey. These rules are intended to make the appraisal process more predictable and impersonal. But that calls into question established relationships between mortgage brokers and evaluators, and may not allow agents and brokers to call on the experience of individual evaluators who have more experience in pricing odd homes.

If you have a MyCity property with these kinds of challenges, get in touch with me for the best evaluation.

Copyright AgentMapIt Real Estate Tips

blogeasy :: Mar.18.2010 :: Uncategorized :: 1 Comment »

It’s something we can’t avoid. As we get older, the reality of joining the ranks of the retired in MyCity becomes more imminent.

For sure your retirement years can be a beautiful time. But there are also a number of decisions to come to grips with. One of the biggest is whether and when to move into a smaller home.

Here are some suggestions why you might consider downsizing sooner rather than later.

1. Now that we appear to be clawing our way back from the real estate slump of the last while, there are still a good number of inexpensive alternatives. In many sections of the country home prices are still low and so are interest rates. If you need to borrow money to afford a newer, lower maintenance place to live, this is the perfect time to do it.

2. You got into your roomy house with the over-sized yard to have lots of space. Now that your children are gone the space is not so useful anymore. There’s no sense continuing to fork out good money for heating, cooling, maintaining and paying taxes on more space than you need.

3. These days it is not difficult to find arrangements that are designed to support any style of living you can think of. What you should be trying to find is a less roomy home with reduced upkeep. It will cost less and you will have much more free time where you can do the things you especially want to do.

4. Think about the activities you like the best and make changes accordingly. If you enjoy having a garden, be sure to have enough space to plant a garden. If you like traveling, you should have a home with enhanced security to allow you to go traveling for extended periods of time. If you want to regularly entertain friends you should have a place with a roomy deck.

Eventually most of us find a smaller, more comfortable situation. And there are many excellent reasons why waiting is probably not the best approach.

blogeasy :: Mar.17.2010 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »

In this part of the world we have grown so accustomed to hearing reports of the rapid expansion of the Chinese economy that we would be surprised if it should suddenly come to an end.

One perspective on this growth we seldom hear much about is the significant increase in Chinese real estate values. In some parts of Shanghai real estate prices in upscale areas have jumped by more than 50 percent in the last year.

According to a current story in Speaking of Real Estate, “The Great Bubble of China”, the meltdown in the US a few of years ago is not likely to repeat itself China any time soon.

For one thing most of the price increases are taking place in upscale areas, as the Chinese high roller class is getting larger and buying to impress.

It is equally important that lending practices in China are quite different those that held sway in the US back in 2007 and 2008. Subprime loans do not exist in China, and equally important the down payment requirements are much higher: 30 percent for primary residences, buyers of second homes need 40 percent down, and 50 percent for raw land.

So things in China are a lot different and much less likely to collapse. With down payments that high the effect is to reduce speculation and not a lot of property flipping happening, simply because there are a lot fewer speculators able to afford the entry fee.

Nevertheless we have reason to watch the Chinese economy closely, since the economic stability of the world is now very much dependent on a stable Chinese economy. If there were a significant slump in the Chinese real estate market it would have a dampening effect on the chinese economy as a whole. And almost everyone would be impacted by that.

blogeasy :: Mar.15.2010 :: real estate trends :: 3 Comments »

Just about everyone selling their MyCity home asks how much effort and cost they should sink into their home to get the best selling price.

Of course not all homes are the same. But most real estate experts agree that no matter what condition your home is in, relatively inexpensive cosmetic improvements can make a big difference. But they also agree you are not nearly as likely to recover the costs of doing major renovations.

Let’s take a closer look at this. First, you have to realize that the price of your home is largely set by your location. That price is arrived at by comparing similar homes in your neighborhood and the values assigned to other homes with similar amenities. The result is that an exquisite home in a lower priced district in MyCity will not get the same kind of offers as it would in a higher priced neighborhood in the same town. Yes, you can try to increase the selling price of your home by adding high-priced extras, but it doesn’t usually work.

Just think about it for a minute. Say you were a buyer and you had a choice of buying two MyCity homes with roughly the same features, and the only difference being the neighborhood. Same price, same features, different neighborhood. Most of us would choose the one in the better neighborhood? Well, most people would, and that’s why you should not count on significantly increasing the resale value of your home by building in high-priced features. And it’s also why expensive updating of things like kitchens and bathrooms may not be worth doing – because the value of your home will tend to be pre-determined by its location.

Instead, focus on improvements that will increase your home’s curb appeal and give the impression that you have taken care of your home, while keeping it fresh and clean – things like painting, cleaning and landscaping. By all means add improvements to your home for the sake of your own enjoyment.

But don’t assume you will get the cost of those improvements back when you go to sell your home. Kitchen and bathroom renovations will almost always improve your home’s appeal, and often increase the resale value of your home in the MyCity area, or anywhere else for that matter. But those renovations may cost quite a bit and you have to take that into consideration. You’ll probably find you will not recover the full cost, and you might be better advised to simply sell for a bit lower and let the new owners do the renovations.

blogeasy :: Mar.15.2010 :: home improvements :: No Comments »

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When you decide to list your MyCity home for sale you want it to “present” in the most appealing and inviting way. That is what “staging” does. Being objective about the way your home looks involves looking at it from the point of view of a prospective buyer.

Usually the best person to give advice on home staging is someone who understands what motivates and impresses buyers.

In this video a staging expert rearranges a single room in a condo to make it much more open, less cluttered, and more inviting. She discusses the principles she applies – principles that anyone with some imagination can use to make their own home more appealing to prospective buyers.

Copyright AgentMapIt Tips for Homeowners

blogeasy :: Mar.15.2010 :: Uncategorized :: No Comments »