Property – Page 2 – The Real Estate Beat

Offer Subject to Inspection – What Does That Mean?

As a Realtor I have a whole dictionary for just real estate jargon. One of the most confusing terms, and often buyers will get the wrong idea about their agent, is “offer subject to inspection.” So allow me a moment to explain what on earth this means.

“Offer subject to inspection” is a typical hurdle for buyers to overcome when shopping for homes that are tenant occupied. The term means – the buyer can physically go in and SEE the home AFTER an offer is accepted. Sounds a little backwards right?

And no – your agent is NOT trying to strong arm you and force you to buy a home without evening seeing it!

Generally this clause is for homes which are tenant occupied. In order to preserve the rights of the tenant to have the quite enjoyment of their home – the tenant has the right to refuse prospective buyers to come in and see the home. That is – until an offer is accepted by the seller, then the buyers has the right to inspect the home.

How does this work you ask? The buyer must write a REAL offer since the terms are binding once accepted. When the seller accepts the offer, the buyer will have a certain amount of days which is written into the contract to actually go in and see the home for the first time. If the home is to their liking and the buyer wants to proceed with the contract – they do. If the home is NOT to the buyers liking – for just about any reason – during the agreed upon days – the buyer will have the right to cancel the deal and walk away without any harm to both buyer and seller.

So you found a home you like – how do you write an offer? If there are inspections available before hand – it makes our job of writing the offer a bit easier since we have a good idea of what the condition is. If there are no inspections, and we haven’t seen the home, we drive by and gather as much info as we can with our eyes from the safety of the car. We write the offer as best we can with the information provided and once the buyer has seen the home and had inspections we proceed with the new information – either by moving forward or discussing the new information with all parties and find a common and suitable outcome for all parties.

As strange as it seems – it happens more than you know. For some buyers, they cannot imagine writing an offer for a home without ever seeing the home. For investment buyers, this very typical and generally have no issues writing up a fair offer to get in. Of course, what happens after a buyer gets to see the home is a far different story. I have experienced both follow throughs on the contract and recessions – so truly we cross that bridge together when we get to it.

Which is truly at the root of what us Realtors do. We are the buyers and sellers guides through Real Estate – what can The Caton Team do for you?

Got Questions? – The Caton Team is here to help. Email us at:

Info@TheCatonTeam.com

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Home Buying – Much Cheaper than Renting in 2012…

On the San Francisco Peninsula I have to agree with this statement – Buying makes more sense than Renting these days.

I’ve had many requests this year to help clients find a rental. Sadly, when I get the budget and what they need – the search results come up nill. These days, for a studio (that means one room / no bedroom) rents on the peninsula start at $1500 and go up from there. Looking to rent a two bedroom? Better fork over at least $2000 a month – want a house, $3200+ easy – in choice areas. My eyes jump out of the head – $3000 a month – now that’s a mortgage payment!

Why are rents increasing? With the local Real Estate market hit with short sales and bank owned homes, many buyers are afraid to take the purchase plunge since buyers are unsure if we hit bottom. So instead of buying – they are renting. When demand for rentals rise above the supply of rental property – we see an increase in rents. It changes all the time. Real Estate is truly cyclical. As a Realtor – I can certainly say that Yes, on the SF peninsula we hit bottom in 2009/2010 for the single family homes market. Condos and Townhomes are on a different level – though they too will recover.

With the future changes in FHA lending, more up front mortgage fees, buying a home now will truly be less expensive for a buyer than in the near future. Right now Interest Rates are lovely and low – and as they increase, a buyers purchase power decreases.

So if you are on the fence, come in and chat with us. We’ll connect you with a lender who can give you your purchase price and then The Caton Team takes it from there – finding a home where your mortgage interest is tax-deductible, instead of a renting and paying too much!

Don’t just take my word for it – below is great article from CNN Money.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/21/real_estate/homes-buy-rent/index.htm?iid=HP_LN&hpt=hp_t3

Got Questions? – The Caton Team is here to help. Email us at Info@TheCatonTeam.com or visit our website at: http://thecatonteam.com/

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5 Things Home Buyers Hate… oh this is a funny read especially if you are selling your home…

I had to laugh when I read this article. Would love to hear what my readers think of this – please comment or share your stories at info@TheCatonTeam.com

5 Things Home Buyers Hate

1. Images that lie

Stretching photos to make rooms appear much larger than they actually are would be banned by listing services, if buyers had anything to do with it. And if your home is pristine and staged during the photo shoot (which it should be), it should still be pristine and staged when buyers come to see it in person.

Taking a photo of just one corner of a room that is shaped strangely or stuffed full of personal items is another way to confuse and irritate buyers, who hate nothing more than to feel like they were misled and tricked into wasting their time to see a place that is nothing like the photos.

* The Caton Team does not stretch our photos on our listings. We do add extra photos from different angles so internet clients get the best idea of the home before they come and see it

2. Listings with no useful images at all

Listing photos of the piano or a piece of beautiful furniture that is not included in the sale is irritating to online house hunters, who might assume that the house had no other attractive features to furnish. Even worse: Home listings with no photos at all.

Nine times out of ten, when the listing has no photos buyers simply scroll or click right past those homes — even the ones that might perfectly meet their expectations.

Sellers, let’s be clear: Skilled listing agents who are getting homes sold in today’s market are putting 10, 20 even 30 photos of each listing online. That’s your competition. If a buyer only has time to see seven homes on a Sunday, and there are 20 listed in your area and price range, chances are good that those with the best, most numerous pictures will capture those valuable showing slots.

Often, listings with no photos are that way because of technical difficulties. Check on your home’s online listings on various real estate search sites and alert your agent if there’s a problem with the pictures.

* Our MLS allows 25 photos and I add them all.

3. Misleading marketing

Problems in the condition of the home that will be obvious when buyers enter, like a shifting foundation or clearly leaky roof, should be disclosed as such in the listing to minimize the inconvenience to you and those buyers who wouldn’t have bothered to visit if they knew. Disclosing such problems upfront will maximize your chances of finding the right buyer, who is willing to take them on.

Phrases like “immaculate” and “better than new” set you (and your home) up for failure when the buyer walks in and sees even normal wear and tear, or the smells and clutter of daily living.

* The Caton Team provides full up-front disclosures online so any interested party has all the information they need at their fingertips.

4. “Stalkerish” sellers

Sellers who are intrusive or follow buyers around during a showing were No. 1 on my own list, and on the lists of buyers. A seller might love the murals they’ve painted on your kids’ walls or the custom living room crafting area they’ve set up, and want to share their love with prospective buyers.

But the fact is that most buyers just aren’t interested, and would rather be able to discuss their plans to get rid of crazy customizations freely with their spouse and their agent than feel obliged to feign appreciation. (I’ve even had some buyers say they liked a house, but kept looking because they would have hated to pull out the sellers’ beloved personal touches.)

* The best way to sell your home is to not be there when buyers come through. They are not buying YOUR home, they are buying THIER home.

5. Bizarro showings

Dogs, kids and sleeping residents all made recurrent appearances in the comments to my article. Nothing worse than showing a home and finding dog “leavings” on the interior carpets, and even once joined my out-of-shape clients on a foot chase to catch a wily little dog whose owner had left explicit instructions not to let “Fido” out (but left him roaming around the house, poised to dart out the front door the second I opened it). One reader related a showing in which she opened a hall closet door and out popped a dog that had been cooped up there for the occasion.

A short-sale buyer related the depressing tale of an 8-year-old boy who showed her the whole house, while another distressed property viewer told of the kid who ran after her and her husband, screaming, “You can’t have my house!” Multiple buyers told of walking into rooms where people were changing clothes, eating, frying up food or sleeping during the showing. I’ve personally walked into a man coming out of the shower – and he was NO Brad Pitt – the scene still burns my retinas.

My heart does go out to the Short Sale Sellers – it is the hardest sale. But I must be blunt – if you have your home on the market and truly want to get out from under your property – please treat your home as an equity seller would. Present it in the best possible fashion and when an agent comes through to show this home – please leave. They’re is nothing more uncomfortable than showing buyers a property and the buyer feeling bad for the sellers situation. They can’t get excited and write an offer if they feel uncomfortable.

Showing bizarreness is tough for buyers to get past, even if the place is a palace.

I would love to hear your silly real estate stories – don’t be shy! Email us at Info@TheCaton Team.com

Got Questions? – The Caton Team is here to help. Email us at Info@TheCatonTeam.com or visit our website at: http://thecatonteam.com/

Visit us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sabrina-Susan-The-Caton-Team-Realtors/294970377834

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Please enjoy my personal journey through homeownership at: http://ajourneythroughhomeownership.wordpress.com/

This article is shared from Inman News – Tara-Nicholle Nelson is author of “The Savvy Woman’s Homebuying Handbook” and “Trillion Dollar Women: Use Your Power to Make Buying and Remodeling Decisions.” Tara is also the Consumer Ambassador and Educator for real estate listings search site Trulia.com.

3 ways Homebuyers kill their OWN real estate deals…

Hello again! Below is a great article I read in Inman News that I thought I would share. I truly see this often….

Got questions – the Caton Team is here to help. We are a click away – email us at Info@TheCatonTeam.com

3 ways homebuyers kill their own real estate deals

Mood of the MarketBy Tara-Nicholle Nelson

I recently bought a couple of spa treatment packages for a friend’s birthday (as much as a gift to myself as to her, to be sure). The package included a pedicure and a massage for the price of the massage, but had a bizarro restriction that required I pick the gift cards up at least one day prior to spa day.

The problem: The spa was across a bridge from my town. Despite my very best calculations, I hit unexpected traffic and it took me an hour’s drive just to pick them up.

It’s a good thing for the spa that I was literally stuck on that bridge, unable to turn around; otherwise, that would have been an undone deal. I was very clear that the value of my hour far exceeded the value of those two “pedis.”

In the end, the conditions I had to surmount to take advantage of the bargain negated the value of the deal — and then some.

And that happens much more frequently than you’d think in the world of real estate. Today’s ridiculously low prices and interest rates, combined, seem like the perfect storm for finding a great deal.

But some buyers run into — or even unwittingly create — circumstances in an effort to cash in on the bargain that deactivate or diminish the full value they otherwise stand to gain from buying at the bottom of the market, for both home prices and interest rates.

Here are three ways homebuyers are defeating their own deals in today’s market:

1. House hunting too long. As many as 60 percent of the homes for sale in some markets are short sales. Many other listings are bank-owned (also known as real estate owned or REO) properties, and those homes tend toward two extremes: terrible condition, or so nice at such a low price they receive multiple offers.

Even the nicer, nondistressed homes on the market can end up in and out of contract over and over again due to appraisal or other lending-related issues.

As a result, it is not at all bizarre to hear homebuyers today say they’ve been house hunting for a year, 18 months, even two or three years. When you house hunt that long, you become susceptible to house hunt fatigue, which causes irrationally extreme overbidding out of sheer exhaustion.

Alternatively, it can cause you to settle for whatever house you can get, even if it doesn’t actually meet your needs — then spend the next 10 years obsessively spending to upgrade, improve, repair and furnish the place to try to make it more like the home you actually wanted.

Both of these outcomes negate and deactivate the bargain you stood to score.

To avoid house hunting too long, it’s uber-important to get and stay clear on the differences between what you want and what you need, and to work with a local real estate professional you trust.

Look to your agent to get and keep your expectations centered in reality, so you can make more strategic decisions throughout your entire house hunt, like house hunting in a price range where you’re likely to both find homes that will work for your life and be successful in your efforts to obtain one.

2. Making lowball offers way too low. Overbidding seems like an obvious way to cancel out the bargain potential of your deal. But making excessively low offers — offers sellers couldn’t afford to take if they wanted to — can have the very same result.

Buyers who think they can operate strictly on the basis of buyer’s market dynamics — without realizing that most sellers will need to make enough to pay off their mortgage or at least receive the fair market value for their home — are cutting off their own noses to spite their faces, all in the name of trying to score an amazing deal.

Note to “lowballers”: If you don’t actually secure the home, the superlow price you offered is no deal at all.

3. Freak-outs, stress, drama and mayhem. Once was, it was mostly the buyers uneducated about the homebuying process who tended to freak out and stress the most, especially at the top of the market. These were the folks who found themselves defeated at every turn by buyers who knew what they were up against and were prepared to make their best offer on their first offer.

Fast forward, and now the norm is for buyers to spend much more time reading up on what to expect, but the inundation of information can create brand new mindset management challenges.

Almost every buyer is stressed about whether they can qualify for a loan, and about buying into a down market. Some buyers try to apply national headlines about home prices being depressed to the superlocal dynamics of their neighborhood market.

This is unwise if you happen to be, for example, trying to buy a home in the boomtown real estate markets of Silicon Valley. Others go the opposite direction and deny that the basic truths about, say, buying a short-sale listing will actually apply to them (attention homebuyers: buying a short sale usually takes a long, long time).

The emotional freak-outs that result from having your expectations shattered, sometimes brutally, in the course of buying a home often lead to panic-based and fear-based decisions, which can be costly in the short and long term. Additionally, the stress itself can take a toll on your ability to be productive at work, and can even impair your relationship with your mate, neither of which are worth any deal you think you stand to strike.

Again, managing your expectations by working with a trusted broker or agent you feel comfortable relying on to understand the market in your neck of the woods and the type of transaction you want to pull off is essential to downgrading the role emotion plays in your real estate decision-making.

Got Questions? – The Caton Team is here to help. Email us at Info@TheCatonTeam.com or visit our website at: http://thecatonteam.com/

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6 Tips for a Successful Loan Modification

Below is a great article I read from Inman News that I thought I would share regarding loan modifications. Please enjoy…

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6 tips for a successful loan mod

Avoid rookie mistakes when preparing, submitting your document packageMillions of mortgage borrowers who can no longer afford their mortgage payments but can afford a lower payment can avoid foreclosure by getting a modification of their loan contract. While the path to a modification remains torturous, it is not quite as bad as when I wrote addressed the issue in a 2009 column.

Are you unqualified?

It is not possible for borrowers acting on their own to determine whether they qualify for a modification because they don’t have access to all the criteria. Some is kept under wraps by loan servicers. However, borrowers can determine that they are not qualified for a government-supported modification by accessing aquestionnaire provided by the U.S. Treasury Department.

Bear in mind, however, that servicers also offer modifications outside of the government’s program. You might qualify for one even if you don’t meet the government’s requirements.

Compiling the information the servicer wants

The single most important step in obtaining a loan modification is providing the servicer with the exact information the servicer needs to make a decision. Each servicer has its own set of forms that must be completed, and its own requirements for the documentation you must provide.

In my first stab at this problem, I placed the information required by each of the major servicers on my website. Now borrowers can access the DMM Document Wizard, provided at my request by Default Mitigation Management LLC, which is a lot better. Based on your answers to the questions it asks, you will be provided with a customized list of forms you must complete and documents you must provide. It is free and will take the guesswork out of what you need.

Don’t exaggerate your financial shortcomings

Warning: The servicer will examine your statements of income and expenses to determine whether you can afford a reduced payment. Exaggerating your financial weaknesses may open his heart but close his purse, if it makes you appear to be a lost cause.

Assuring accuracy

Having the right form is one thing, but filling it out correctly is something else. Some industry executives estimate that about 95 percent of all packages submitted are incomplete or contain errors. A package with obvious errors may fall to the bottom of the pile, or it may lead the servicer to conclude that you do not qualify for a loan modification when, in fact, you do. Remember what you were taught in second grade: Neatness counts!

In addition:

1. Use a cover sheet that identifies all documents in your package.

2. Write your name and loan number on every page.

Assuring delivery

Preparing an accurate and complete set of documents is one thing, but delivering the package to the servicer is something else. Servicer systems have been overwhelmed by requests for help, and documents routinely get “lost.” You want to minimize the chances of that happening to you.

Using fax or certified mail: Make sure you have the correct contact information. Treasury providesaddresses and fax numbers of every mortgage servicer. Certified mail is more reliable than fax, but neither guarantees prompt attention by the servicer, or even that the documents won’t subsequently be misplaced or lost.

Using the DMM portal: The best way to deliver documents to servicers is to use the DMM portal, available through the DMM Document Wizard by clicking on “Submit,” or visit www.dclmwp.com. I have no financial interest in DMM.

Using the portal, your documents are delivered to the servicer electronically, and the portal then becomes a direct communication channel to the servicer. The servicer uses the portal to acknowledge receipt of your documents and to request additional information or documents. You use the portal to make corrections, to send additional information, and to update yourself on what has been completed and what remains to be done.

Questions by you are automatically directed to the specific employee who can answer them. All communications are time-stamped and remain in the portal as a record of borrower/servicer exchanges.

Unfortunately, not every servicer subscribes to the DMM Portal. The list of those that do is shown on the DMM Wizard.

Follow up, and then follow up again

Because the process of modifying mortgages remains slow and error-prone, you may need to nudge the servicer. If you faxed your documents, you should follow up to make sure the papers haven’t been lost and the case is in an active queue. But even if you use the DMM Portal, you should follow up with the servicer regularly to make sure your application is on track.

By Jack Guttentag Inman News®

Got Questions? – The Caton Team is here to help. Email us at Info@TheCatonTeam.com or visit our website at: http://thecatonteam.com/

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How to Write a Great Offer on a Short Sale Property…

So you’ve found your dream home only to find out it is a short sale. Nuts. Now what?

A short sale is a pre-foreclosure property. Perhaps the seller has stopped paying their mortgage and are in default, or perhaps the seller is on top of paying their mortgage, but are forced to sell when the market is down. Either way it comes down to one thing – the seller owes more than the home is worth and in order to sell the property free and clear of any liens the seller must ask the bank to take less than they are owed – thus the term short sale.

For a seller to qualify for a short sale they must be in financial distress and prove this to the bank.

For a buyer in requires great patience while the offer package and seller financial documents are reviewed by many many many investors.

Because of the tedious review process – a buyer must be wise when writing their initial offer.

How to write a good offer on a short sale home…

To be frank, when writing an offer on a short sale property you only get one shot. Once and if the bank accepts the short sale offer – that price is firm. During the buyers contingency period – if they find out there is an expensive issue – there is no going back to the bank and re-negotiating. The buyer can either walk away from the deal due to the new information – or the buyer can take a look at their other options on the market and decide what is best for them. Of course, as your Realtors – the Caton Team will try to renegotiate the price and if an appraisal comes in low – that’s ammo.

The good news – since generally the owners still occupy the home, it is not in too bad of shape and disclosures can be provided up front.

So, how do we write a good offer? Buyers and their agent will take into consideration the pro’s and con’s of the home and write their best offer after taking a look at comparable properties on the market. The short sale bank will conduct one or more appraisals of the home and if the buyers offer price is in line with market price – generally the bank will move forward with that offer.

Price is important but sometimes it is not everything. When writing any offer, a buyer will need to have a bank pre-approval letter, copy of their bank statements and pay checks to show their financial security. The short sale bank wants to be sure the purchaser is strong.

The terms of the contract are equally important. Time is always of the essence in Real Estate – it is even a term in the contract. When dealing with a short sale bank – a buyer and their Realtor have got to think like a bank – that means moving fast when the bank is ready. Close of Escrow should be a 30 window – shorter if possible. Longer than 30 days tends to turn the bank away. As for as contingency periods (time for the buyer to conduct their inspections and appraisal) the short sale bank will give the buyer the standard window of time – generally 10-17 days after acceptance. Having a tight contingency period will make the short sale bank a bit more happy. Also, the bank doesn’t move at anyone’s pace except their own – so giving the bank at least 3 months to review the short sale package is acceptable, longer is better if a buyer doesn’t mind.

Now on my end, as the Realtor – I want to make sure I send the bank your offer and all the paperwork by mail instead of fax so the bank has everything it needs and hopefully cutting down on the back and forth.

In the end, a buyer must write THEIR best offer, and whether they get the house or not, be comfortable with their purchase.

Got Questions? – The Caton Team is here to help. Email us at:

Info@TheCatonTeam.com

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Loan Limits Have Changed… check out this site…

For more information on the change in loan limits – visit the Fannie Mae webiste at: https://www.efanniemae.com/sf/refmaterials/loanlimits/

-Sabrina

Got Questions? – The Caton Team is here to help. Email us at:

Info@TheCatonTeam.com

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How to Write a Great Offer on Bank Owned Homes (post foreclosure)

Point Blank – Writing a good offer is writing a good offer. Price is most important, then close of escrow, contingency terms and then buyer qualifications. Just about in that order. So when a buyer is faced with writing an offer on a Bank Owned home – it is just about as easy as writing an offer on a home where the buyer is working directly with the seller.

The Caton Team Realtors, will provide the buyer with comparable market information – homes of similar condition and size – and what they are selling for. Armed with this info, the buyer can decide a fair market price to offer. Since the home is bank owned – the bank is very aware of the homes market value and has elected to sell the property in the open market instead of an auction – most likely because the bank will get more money in a normal sale versus an auction. So our advise to a buyer – be realistic in your offer price. Too low and the bank will move on, there can be some back and forth counter offers – but generally it is cut and dry or the bank will hold onto an offer till a better one comes along. (At least that is how it feels to the waiting buyer.)

Next are the terms. A bank owned home can move MUCH faster than a short sale. A buyer will want to keep their property and loan contingencies tight – 10 – 17 days and generally a 30 days close of escrow is acceptable – if not shorter since the home is already vacant.

The downside bank owned homes – no disclosures except for the CA State Mandatory Disclosures – but those pertain more to the area than the actually home. Why? The bank has NEVER lived in the home and cannot disclose if there are neighborhood nuisances, or if the downstairs bathroom floods every years. So it is more buyer beware – however – once a buyers offer is accepted, they will have their contingency time frames (stated in the offer) to conduct any and all inspections they want and to make sure the home appraisals for their loan.

Sounds like any offer right? Right. Bank Owned homes are like normal sellers. The turn around time for an offer response in a couple of days – a week max. Meaning, when the buyer get’s the offer accepted phone call – the clock starts ticking for contingencies and in 30 days I hand them the keys 🙂

Got Questions? – The Caton Team is here to help. Email us at:

Info@TheCatonTeam.com

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