We Are Constantly Working to Make Your Life Easier!
We’ve recently teamed up with ACN to create a concierge service for our clients to give you the best discounts that we can for preferred services, essential services like email, internet, TV, home/cell phone and utilities. We’ve created a separate website, www.leetessier.acndirect.com. This is just to provide discounts to you; we’ve saved around 8%. We know this time of year can be costly and figured that everyone could afford to save a few extra dollars.
If you have any questions, email me at lee@leetessier.com or call me at (410) 638-9555. Thanks and have a great day!
Happy Holidays and Thank You!
The holidays are approaching and with that comes the special time of year where we want to give thanks and show love to our family, friends and people who have helped us this past year. I hope my family, clients and business partners feel the same way and offer thanks to the people who have made you the person you are today.
I want to wish you all a happy and safe holiday. Thank you!
Are You Ready to Prepare Your Home for the Market?
Are You Ready to Prepare Your Home for the Market?
This time of year always brings the question of whether you should sell now or wait until spring. The good thing about this time of year is the fact that there are not as many homes on the market causing buyers to make fast decisions. You may be hassled a bit during the holidays and if you are selling a vacant home this may not be an issue but if not, you have to deal with showings before Thanksgiving. With Christmas decorations, I wouldn’t do a “Griswold’s” display, but it would be tasteful to lightly decorate your home. The market is still stable and we haven’t seen any decreases but we also haven’t seen any substantial increases either.
Interest rates did spike in the beginning of July, but they’ve recently come back down. People also use this time of year to prep their home for the spring market. You can call us and set up an appointment with our staging specialist. She will give you a list of things she recommends doing and we will go through the list. This will give you a head start to enter the spring market.
You can reach us at the office at (410) 638-9555 if you have any questions. We’ll be happy to help! I hope all is well and wish you all a happy Thanksgiving. Thanks and talk to you soon!
Reserve Your Thanksgiving Pie!
Reserve Your Thanksgiving Pie!
I wanted to reach out to all my current and past clients to tell you that if you didn’t receive one of our postcards, we are giving away Thanksgiving pies as a way to say thank you. Just let us know if you would like apple or pumpkin pie and they will be at MaGerks in Bel Air. We will be having lite food, drinks and an open bar tab. The event will be on November 26, 2013 at 4-7pm, we would like to see everyone!
Please RSVP by November 15 and have a great evening. We look forward to seeing you!
Checklist for All Your Needs
Checklist for All Your Needs
Selling your home can be a very chaotic time, from getting it ready to list to moving out of it. That’s why we have a checklist of every process to help make everything more fluid.
When you get your home ready to list we cover staging, pricing, and hiring a professional photographer.
When you go under contract we help how to set up appraisals and home inspections. If you want me to send you a list, just shoot me an email lee@leetessier.com
Thanks for watching!
Government Shutdown Risks Hurting The Housing Recovery
Government Shutdown Risks Hurting The Housing Recovery
From: http://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrennan/2013/10/01/heres-how-the-government-shutdown-will-affect-housing/
By: Morgan Brennan, Forbes Staff
The government shutdown is here. Whether it’s not being able to get a new Social Security card or visit a national park, Americans will immediately feel the effects. But there’s one bright spot of the economy that stands to be affected as well: housing.
One of the biggest questions regarding the shutdown and how it will affect housing has revolved around the mortgage market, specifically prospective buyers’ access to new home loans. After all, more than 90% of all loan activity is underwritten, insured, or owned by the government and its affiliated entities.
Initially at least, the mortgage market is likely to be only minimally impacted. New loans will continue to push through most government agency pipelines. What will change is how long the process takes, as many agencies expect to experience delays.
Mortgages purchased and securitized by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be unaffected because their operations are paid for by fees charged to lenders. And the Department of Veterans Affairs will continue to guarantee mortgages for Americans that have served in the military since these loans are funded by user fees as well.
But if the government shutdown of 1995-1996 is any indicator, the process will take longer than usual. “Loan Guaranty certificates of eligibility and certificates of reasonable value were delayed,” the VA warned in its September 25th contingency plan.
Where there has been mounting concern is the Federal Housing Administration, which currently endorses about 15% of the entire single-family mortgage market. Several media outlets recently reported that the FHA would be unable to endorse any single-family loans and that no staff would be available underwrite and approve new loans.
That prospect would be somewhat worrisome – if it were actually true. The FHA’s Office of Single Family Housing will indeed remain open for business, albeit with a smaller staff. “FHA will be able to endorse single family loans during the shutdown. A limited number of FHA staff will be available to underwrite and approve new loans,” the report now states. In other words, other lenders’ loans will continue to be insured and some in-house lending will continue to take place at a reduced rate.
The reason for that mix-up: the initial draft of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s contingency plan mistakenly stated that single-family loan operations would cease. The report was amended over the weekend.
The FHA’s single-family loan operations are funded through multi-year appropriations, meaning their budget is not tied to the government’s standoff over funding for the new fiscal year that starts in October. On the other hand, what will be more affected is the agency’s Multifamily Housing Office, which is funded through yearly appropriations.
“Because we are able to endorse loans, we don’t expect the impact on the housing market to be significant, as long as the shutdown is brief,” continues the HUD report. “If the shutdown lasts and our commitment authority runs out, we do expect that potential homeowners will be impacted, as well as home sellers and the entire housing market.”
One government lender that will indeed suspend its home loan activity, however, is the Department of Agriculture. The USDA says that no new housing loans or guarantees will be issued through its Rural Development programs in a shutdown. The department also warns that such a scenario could cause “a setback in construction start-up,” and if the shutdown lasts for an extended period, “a substantial reduction in housing available in rural areas relative to population.”
“The government doesn’t generally approve loans, they basically just insure them,” says Don Frommeyer, president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers and a vice president at Amtrust Mortgage Funding. “For the most part you aren’t going to see much of a hit in the mortgage market unless it goes for a long period of time.”
If it does stretch on, he adds, the worry will be what mortgage rates do in a market shrouded in fiscal uncertainty and how that will affect the home buying, especially in light of recent rate spikes.
Home lending aside, many economists and real estate experts are keeping a close watch on how Americans will react to this shutdown. “Administratively everything should keep moving along, but it’s more about the confidence of consumers and whether they perceive that the government shutdown could lead to a recession,” says Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors.
Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi recently told the Senate Budget Committee that a partial shutdown could shave as much as 1.4 percentage points off of fourth quarter economic growth if it drags on for several weeks.
Americans’ confidence in their ability to buy and sell homes hit a record high in May, according to a Fannie Mae survey. Since then, as mortgage rates jumped more than a percentage point, that confidence level has plateaued. If prospective homebuyers fear that the country’s economic recovery will stall, or worse slip back into recession, they will pull back on purchases, worries Yun.
“Home sales is always the first housing variable that changes so one would see sales declining and that would naturally lead to more inventory on the market and eventually put pressure on prices,” he says. But that would be a worst-case scenario based on a long-term shutdown.
Jed Kolko, chief economist at Trulia TRLA +6.43%, notes that if the shutdown lasts longer than a few days, the first places to feel the impact will be local economies with large concentrations of federal government workers. Metro areas like Washington, D.C. and Bethesda, Md., where 19% and 13% respectively of total local wages go to federal employees, would be the feel the negative effects of unpaid furloughs and with them, tightened consumer spending and weakening local economic growth. Though not all will be equally affected, other metro areas like Virginia Beach, Va., Honolulu, Hawaii, and Dayton, Ohio are areas that Kolko is keeping an eye on: “Whether there is a big effect depends on how long the shutdown lasts, how long people think the shutdown lasts, and whether people get back-pay. All those things matter for the impact.”
Still others are worrying even more about the next fiscal standoff, in mid-October, surrounding the debt ceiling debate and its accompanying threat of debt default by the U.S. ”With the threat of an impending partial government shutdown and yet another battle over the nation’s debt ceiling, in particular, we are really messing with fire right now—even if it doesn’t seem to bother some legislators,” says Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow.
“But the effects of a government default associated with the impending debt-ceiling deadline would be more pronounced because of its greater impact on domestic and international markets. This will rattle consumers and investors alike, slow down the overall economic recovery and further slow the housing recovery, which is already undergoing a moderation in the pace of home value gains due to rising mortgage rates,” he warns.
Staging Your Home
Staging Your Home
Hey, guys! When you’re selling your home, you want to get the most money possible. There are a few, inexpensive things you can do that will tremendously impact the sale of your home.
• ‘Declutter’ and depersonalize. Take down family photos, religious relics, anything that would prevent a buyer from envisioning living in the home.
• Neutral colors. Color is very taste preferential. While you may love your fluorescent green bathroom, it could be a serious turn off for a potential buyer.
• Modern fixtures. If you have any brass plating, doorknobs, etc. get them replaced.
• Staging. Getting your home professionally staged is almost a must. It can make a huge difference especially when putting pictures online to showcase your home.
• Professional Photographer: More than 90 percent of buyers start their search online. You need photographs that make a great impression.
If you have any questions about how to get your home ready for the market, please give me a call. We offer a complimentary staging appointment to help you.
Thanks for watching!
Moving Tips
Moving Tips
Selling a home is stressful from the time you put it on the market, to moving day. There are some things you can do, though, to make the move less stressful.
One of the most important things to do is be prepared on moving day. Box up most of your belongings in advance; a lot of the time sellers underestimate just how much stuff they have in their home.
You also want to try and roughly figure out how much time it will take to move. How many trips will it take to move all your furniture? Can family members and friends help you to make sure you get out in time?
I also wanted to make all our clients aware that we have a moving truck you can use! If you are interested please give us a call at 410.638.9555
Thank you for watching! Have a great day!
What’s happening in our local market?
Hi everyone. I want to give you a market update!
We are seeing a lack of inventory. We are seeing buyers making decisions much faster because of multiple offer situations. We are also seeing appraisal issues; buyers are willing to pay more and the banks are capping it. So, on the selling side you need to worry about any appraisal contingency. If the buyer is doing FHA financing, that appraisal typically lasts 120 days.
What else is going on in the market? Interest rates are increasing. Because the bond market is ticking up, they increase interest rates. I have spoken with a couple lenders and both believe that rates will not drop back down. So if you are looking to buy, now is the time. For every one percent interest rates increase, you pay 10% more for a home.
If you have any questions please call me at 410.638.9555!
Investment Properties
Welcome back to my video blog! I wanted to help you if you are considering purchasing an investment property. We have a few investors who buy quite frequently, so it is an area we are definitely experienced in.
If you’re a first time investor we like to walk through the property with you to make sure you don’t under or over improve. You want to make sure you have a reasonable profit margin. One of the terms we use is ARV which stands for After Repair Value, how much is the property worth after you have updated and renovated?
We are able to give you a price within $5,000 of what you will receive for the property. We are very familiar with the process and would love to help you. If you have any questions on how to buy an investment property or how to look for one we can help with that also!
It is a great time to be an investor. We are seeing multiple offers, sometimes up to 20-25 offers and many of them are cash offers! We also see a lot of the time the price is bid 10-15% above the asking price!
So if investing is something you want to know more about, give me a call at 410.638.9555!
Team Tessier Joins Keller Williams– New Direction, Same Great Customer Service
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We are very excited to announce our move to join the Keller Williams team. The Keller Williams America Premier Realty Team is our new brokerage home and we look forward to bringing you years more of our signature customer service that you have come to know and expect from us!
More Technology, More Innovation, More Service
Why the change? We wanted to be able to bring you more. It started with more space to grow our team. We also wanted to continue and strengthen our commitment to giving you the best service in the industry. As Gary Keller and the entire Keller Williams’ team believes, better service comes with personal and professional growth.
Among our goals of improving and increasing our business, we expect to hone in on all the education opportunities provided to us through this great organization. Quarterly masterminds, a broader based way of thinking and new, innovative technologies that will help us to grow and serve our valued clients.
We Continue Our Pursuit of Continued Excellence
We appreciate having served through RE/MAX all these years but our penchant for keeping up-to-date and on top of things includes being willing to change for the better. That’s exactly why we made the decision to join Keller Williams!
During our time with RE/MAX we have enjoyed being at the pinnacle of success for years as #37 in all RE/MAX teams in the US, #3 in the state of Maryland and previously #5 in the state of Maryland. Though that clock will reset, our pursuit and achievement of excellence will not change; it will only get better and before you know it, we will be #1.
Please contact us today if you’d like to visit our new offices or talk about selling or buying your home. Email at Lee@LeeTessier.com or call 410 638 9555.
8 Secrets to Getting Your Offer Accepted in a Multiple Offer Situation
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With our shifting real estate market comes new (and in many cases) welcome problems to have to deal with. Take the relatively new occurrence of multiple offer situations in our area lately. After months (and years) of a buyer-controlled market, we are finally seeing fewer homes available and more buyers interested in the choice properties that are out there.
So what do you do if you are a buyer faced with multiple offer competition? You BEAT that competition! Here are eight ways to get around those other offers, make yours stand out and GET the home of your dreams!
Avoid a Bidding War in the First Place
One of the easiest ways to avoid a bidding war is to act fast on your interest in a home. If you see it, like it and want it – make an offer on it! There is no reason to delay things because eventually you will have a chance to look back on the purchase while it is under contract and iron out any details. But if you don’t want other buyers fighting for the same house, beat them to it.
Keep The Emotions Out of It
Some overzealous buyers that don’t have their offers accepted lash out and retaliate against the sellers. Expressing anger and disappointment through a letter or via their agent is not a smart way to handle the situation. Often the first offer on a home is not even realized, where the seller revisits other bids received, going to their next choice. If you handle rejection gracefully, maybe with a thank you letter expressing regret but that you’re interested in the home should they change their mind, you may walk away with your dream home after all.
Bring Some Personality to Your Offer
While some agents prefer to make offers on behalf of their clients in writing and other impersonal ways, the best way to do it is by bringing an element of personality into your offer. Write a handwritten letter expressing what you love about the house and that you’ll take care of it just like they have for so many years (if applicable). This will show your sincerity in wanting the house and it will also stick in their minds when they go back to review all offers received on the property.
Choose a Communicative Agent
As mentioned in the previous point, some agents choose lackluster means of communication. When hiring your agent, be sure to select someone that is warm but also on the ball and quick.
Accessibility is key for the buyers’ agent as much as it is for the sellers’. If the seller is to gauge the level of your enthusiasm then they must be getting those signals from your agent.
Know Your Numbers
Sometimes the final sales price doesn’t matter. There will be an appraisal before the home is financed, which is the value that you will end up paying on the home. Knowing in advance gives you a head start over other buyers since you will be armed with knowledge ahead of time and can anticipate a reasonable offer accordingly. You should be aware of price per square foot as well as other comparable sales in the area. Keep in mind, there may not even be a need for a bidding war because the price might be capped by the appraisal anyway.
Don’t Stray From the Straight and Narrow
Offers that are simple, cleanly written and to the point are the ones sellers respond to the most. Especially in a multi-offer situation, sellers do not want to have to rifle through endless pages of contingencies, conditions, minor detail mongering and other unnecessary things. The easier you make it for the seller, the better your chance to get the home of your dreams. Remember that at the end of the day you can go back and identify any specific wants you may have but just wait until you have an accepted offer.
Choose Your Priorities Carefully
A common request these days is for FHA buyers to request assistance from the seller with closing costs. If you are a buyer that is faced with a multi-offer situation and you have the choice to not ask for closing costs – you may just be able to win your bid after all. Most sellers today are selling their homes after 10, 20 years and they have no idea of the recent trend of closing cost sharing. To avoid this and the potential of losing your bid on the home overall, don’t ask the seller – make alternate arrangements for closing costs. Borrow from someone. Accept a gift from a family member. Tap into your savings.
Do Better Than the Rest
An excellent tool used by buyers in these situations is to offer more than everyone else. Everyone wants more money and in today’s market sellers are already getting less than what they had expected to get. If you have found the home of your dreams pay extra money to make sure your offer is the one that is accepted and it will offset any costs you may have needed to put into a less-than-perfect property otherwise.
~
Remember, this is a time when more buyers are vying for fewer available homes. So nothing is foolproof and there is always the potential of not winning your bid. The best defense you can have against that happening is to be prepared in advance. Get ready to be disappointed. If the home you are looking at is perfect, chances are there are others looking at it with the same eyes too. Aside from putting into our secrets into play, the best thing you can do is to stay realistic. When the right house comes along – things will fall into place. Good luck!
FSBO Sales Just Don’t Cut It – Sellers Lose Time, Money and End Up Exhausted
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It’s a natural reaction of most homeowners looking to sell to reject the idea that any real estate agent would support a For Sale By Owner transaction. And for the most part, they would be right -- but not for the same reasons. The truth is that real estate agents usually end up selling most of the homes that were not successfully sold on their own, once the home is back on the market again. But when a top executive of a website company called ForSaleByOwner.com supports hiring a real estate agent to sell his home, THAT should get people listening, right?
So why is it that the CEO of this top national company that is based on facilitating FSBOs hired an agent to sell his property?
Because hiring an agent is the smartest thing you can do.
In fact, he was able to sell his condo in New York City for $150,000 OVER the asking price! Trust me, that was not the doing of an (usually) inexperienced homeowner. That was largely as a result of his agent’s knowledge, expertise, and track record plus of course, hard work. This wasn’t before he tried to sell his property on his own, but he figured out quick enough that if he was going to get anywhere then he better hire a professional. So he did.
Now, as a homeowner looking to sell your property, what do you need to know before deciding to hire an expert or go it alone?
Here are five solid reasons you want to call a Realtor to get your house sold:
FSBO Buyers Are Expecting a Deal Before They Even Set Foot In Your House
We all know that sellers putting up yard signs and using other avenues to self-market their home, are doing so in order to save some money. Why then, is anyone surprised that buyers who end up looking at FSBOs are also looking to save some money. In a real estate transaction when agents are used on both sides, usually the commission is split evenly between each. This means that the potential of savings is on the side where an agent is NOT being used. Ironically, statistics show that during most FSBO transactions as much as 10% is left on the table.
Only 2% of the Population Attempt To Buy and Sell Real Estate On Their Own
In other words, ninety-eight percent of the real estate buying and selling population heads for a Realtor to assist them in their property endeavors. There is a good reason for this figure too – which is that the process of selling on your own is often unsuccessful, resulting in a lot of time wasted, not to mention a good amount of high hopes dashed when the sale falls through.
Forty Out of Every One Hundred FSBO Sales Do Not Even Come Close to Closing
The main reason that For Sale By Owner transactions do not pan out is because the parties were inexperienced. Whether this means they were unable to effectively negotiate, credit qualifications were not done prior to making an offer or issues came up during the home inspection stage – there are myriad reasons that these deals fall through. Interestingly, about 20% of these fallouts end up in the hands of real estate agents, who usually sell them successfully.
Top Agents Yield As Much as 98.5% of the Asking Price for Most Properties Sold
Even more so than the market average of 94%-96%, top agents’ performance means more money ends up in your pocket – and in less time. When you factor in the fact that other agents can cause you to lose up to 2.5% to 4.5% through a lower final negotiated selling price, imagine how much you stand to lose during negotiations as a FSBO seller.
Sellers Walk Away With More Cash When Using an Agent – 3 to 5% More
Statistics demonstrate that those homeowners who opt to use a real estate agent often end up with three to five percent more than if they had sold the property without a Realtor. On a $200,000 home, this amount can add up to anywhere from $6,000 to $10,000 more cash in your pocket!
~
The bottom line is that real estate agents want to help you sell your home and they will do what they can to help you save as much money as possible. Far more important to them than a few extra commission dollars is the long-term relationship and hard-earned referrals that they seek from you when you are a happy customer with a house sold at a great price.
The Spring Real Estate Market Has Arrived!
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We just turned the corner into March and things are already picking up at warp speed in our marketplace. Sellers are jumping off their fence and deciding to sell, while buyers continue to seek out the nicest looking properties, located in great places at good prices.
But that doesn’t mean that it will be easy. There are some things that as both sellers and buyers you will need to do to get the upper hand on your competition.
Sellers Have the Upper Hand
Consider this: we recently picked up two listings that had expired after not being sold despite being on the market for considerable time. One of the homes had been available for sale for 155 days. When we took on the challenge to sell it, we simply applied our techniques and the seller followed our suggestions, creating the perfect home for showings. This resulted in the house being sold in 14 days. We requested the homeowner to remove any clutter, create a neutral environment with décor that would likely appeal to most anyone and then we used a professional stager followed by having professional photographs done.
In the second recent scenario, the home had been on the market for a total of 215 days before we took the listing on. Once again, we made some suggestions to the homeowner, had the home professionally staged and photographed. In one week there were multiple offers on the property and 32 days later the seller received full price for it!
Increased Buyer Competition Expected
Buyers will continue to be met with more and more competition, particularly as we see fewer homes on the market. Keep in mind historically low interest rates that we are seeing right now will not last forever. In fact, we are predicting rates will start to rise by the middle of this year.
Just as we have our unique list of things we do with our sellers to ensure optimum results, we also have some strategies in place to help our buyers get the home that they want.
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Contact us today to see how we can help you to make your real estate dreams come true this spring! Call 410.638.9555 or email lee@leetessier.com
The FHA Announces Two Big Changes That Will Cost Borrowers Thousands More
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For
the longest time homebuyers have relied on FHA loans to obtain mortgages using
just 3.5% down. These government-backed loans have historically helped
borrowers that otherwise might have had a hard time getting a loan to become
homeowners. All FHA loans require the borrower to pay Private Mortgage
Insurance, a premium paid each month by the buyer to insure the lender against
default. FHA covers the insurance.
In light of financial troubles and exhausted reserves, the FHA recently announced that it would be changing its program. The two biggest changes have to do with the amount of premium due each month as well as the length of time these premiums are due.
Increased PMI Premiums To Take Effect April 1, 2013
In light of financial troubles and exhausted reserves, the FHA recently announced that it would be changing its program. The two biggest changes have to do with the amount of premium due each month as well as the length of time these premiums are due.
Increased PMI Premiums To Take Effect April 1, 2013
Right
now, all borrowers that put less than 20% down on their FHA loan are expected
to pay 1.25% of the loan amount each month but effective April 1 of this year,
the monthly premium amount goes up to 1.35%. On a $200,000 home that increase
amounts to about $17 each month.
PMI To Be Charged for the Life of the Loan For Minimum Down Payment Borrowers
PMI To Be Charged for the Life of the Loan For Minimum Down Payment Borrowers
The
second change will have a lot more impact on borrowers. As of right now, all
FHA loan holders are required to pay PMI until they either have 22% equity on
their home or for the first five years of the loan (with a minimum PMI payment
period of 5 years). As of June 3rd 2013, borrowers that put less
than 10% down will be required to pay PMI for the life of the loan.
Furthermore, if borrowers do pay 10% down, they would have to continue with PMI
for at least a minimum of 11 years.
Buyers Must Be Under Contract By March 25, 2013 To Avoid Lifetime PMI
Buyers Must Be Under Contract By March 25, 2013 To Avoid Lifetime PMI
The
mortgage industry expects a flood of new FHA applications, especially prior to
April 1st since for FHA loans that have a case # assigned by April 1st,
the lifetime PMI change will not apply. What this means to you as a buyer is
that you should aim to be under contract by March 25th
so that you can get your FHA case # back by April 1st. This does not
mean that you need to close on your loan prior to April 1st of this
year.
Conventional Loans Will Likely Become More Popular
Conventional Loans Will Likely Become More Popular
With
these adjustments to the program, conventional loans will likely become more
popular. Consider this comparison of a FHA loan with a conventional on a home
priced at $200,000, once the changes have taken place:
Type
of Loan
|
Down
Payment
|
Monthly
Mortgage Insurance
|
FHA
|
$7,000
|
$220
|
Conventional
|
$10,000
|
$113
|
Looking
at the above example, there would be a savings of $1,300 each year by opting
for a conventional loan.
Changes Being Made to Rebuild FHAs Financial Reserves
Changes Being Made to Rebuild FHAs Financial Reserves
There
are two reasons for these changes. First, the FHA is trying to recover its
reserve and second, the organization expects to reduce the number of FHA loans
it insures with the expectation that more borrowers will turn to conventional
loans.
~
~
If
you would like to find out more about this, or better yet if you want to avoid
having to pay month after month for the life of your FHA loan, contact us today
and we will help you find your new home. Don’t wait – this one is huge.
Baltimore and Harford Counties Market Update January 2013
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The spring market in real estate is well under way and we are seeing lots of activity to show for it! As expected, things are picking up and we are very busy as a result. Buyers are out there, eager to lock in the still very low interest rates and with decreased inventory levels the better homes are going fast!
In terms of the number of homes available on the market for sale, we are reporting a 15% decline, with a good portion of the homes for sale being foreclosures. We are still dealing with the challenges of having about one fifth of our inventory being short sales.
As a buyer, keep in mind that this will be a test of your patience. Since despite getting some great deals on bank-owned and short sale homes, the process will inevitably take anywhere from two to four months at least, to get responses back from the banks.
The good news is that the distressed properties for sale are largely in good condition, with banks and owners doing much to prepare them with fresh paint, new flooring and other remodel or renovation done. Not only does this help our property values in the area in general but also it helps to steer the marketplace and drive activity.
If you’re considering buying a home – we strongly suggest that you act fact. With inventory levels dwindling fast and the market picking up the pace, you will find more and more buying competition as the season goes on.
It’s also a great time to sell your home with so many buyers out there looking to make an offer in time for the warmer months of the year.
As always, we welcome your calls or email and look forward to assisting you with your real estate needs!
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