I recently got pre-approved with my loan officer in preparation for an offer I was planning to make. I applied on Friday, by Tuesday of the next week I had an offer in my mailbox from a mortgage broker in town that assured me that he could get me a better deal on my mortgage with what he said was my credit score of 735 (which it is). When I got this I immediately realized this was a solicitation that was fired off because my credit was pulled by my loan officer and therefore shows that I'm in the market for a … [Read more...]
Bank Owned, REO, Foreclosure, Pre-Foreclosure, Short Sale, Sheriff’s Sale – Explained
March 1, 2007 by 2 Comments
Buyers are seeing many more homes for sale today with terms like REO, foreclosure, short sale, and others. All these terms have something to do with a bank, but here's an explanation for each: Bank Owned The bank has aquired title (ownership) to the property. The bank is the seller. REO or "Real Estate Owned" Can be read simply as "bank owned" Corporate Owned Many times this is just another way to say "bank owned" Foreclosure This is the process by which a lien holder aquires the property … [Read more...]
Townhomes and Condos – They can be Easier to Sell Right Now
February 26, 2007 by 4 Comments
With the dramatic increase in inventory in recent years, the number of townhomes and condos for sale has risen dramatically. Where once there may have only been 1-2 units for sale in a development, there are now likely 1-2 other units (or more) with the exact same floor plan. Given that builders typically do several developments in the same or neighboring cities, there can be a large amount of competition within just a couple miles. While everyone would agree that it is a boon for buyers, almost all of those … [Read more...]
How Many Houses are Too Many for Buyers?
February 26, 2007 by Leave a Comment
In this slower housing market, there's a huge supply of housing available for buyers to look at. The problem with this amount of supply is that it is hard for some buyers to make a decision on what they want and go forward and make an offer. In the days when houses sold in days, if not hours, and there was a huge undersupply of housing, buyers had to act quickly to make an offer on the house the liked the most. In today's market there's no urgency and no scarcity, so the buyer has no outside encouragement to … [Read more...]
Bad Lender Almost Ruins Closing – Good Lender Saves the Day
February 22, 2007 by 1 Comment
Here's a recent experience I had with a client... may the tale help you avoid the same troubles. The buyer interviewed several lenders of his own choosing and settled on one that had appeared competent and had the lowest fees/interest rate and was supposed to close at 1pm on Wednesday. At 3:45pm on Tuesday, I got an email from my buyer saying that the loan officer could not get the loan closed because of further documentation he needed to provide that was never asked for up until now. This … [Read more...]
Radon Gas – What You Should Know
February 16, 2007 by 1 Comment
Most people have heard the word radon before, but many probably do not understand what it is. As found in the EPA's "A Citizen's Guide to Radon": Radon is a cancer-causing, radioactive gas. You can't see radon. And you can't smell it or taste it. But it may be a problem in your home. Radon is estimated to cause many thousands of deaths each year. That's because when you breathe air containing radon, you can get lung cancer. In fact, the Surgeon General has warned that radon is the second leading cause of … [Read more...]
Banks Tell Sub-Prime Mortgage Originators to Take Back Their Garbage
February 15, 2007 by Leave a Comment
A colleage of mine forwarded me an article entitled "Mortgage Hot Potatoes" from the Wall Street Journal that discussed how banks like Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan Chase, and HSBC Holdings are excercising clauses in their purchases of sub-prime loans from mortgage originators to make the originators take them back. These clauses apparently state that if a borrow defaults early in the repayment period or if the loan had underwriting defects, such as bad appraisals, that the originator must buy back the loan. … [Read more...]
Why a Web Site is Like an Open House
February 6, 2007 by 1 Comment
Four years ago I started my web site and started promoting it on my business cards, brochures, etc. About two years ago I realized that I needed to spend more time promoting my web site online than offline and slowly saw an increase in traffic. Then about a year ago I redesigned my site, started participating in forums, and blogging in earnest. Today I now average more than 200 visitors per day to my web site, but alas, I'm lucky if I get one inquiry per day that comes through it. Then I thought about it... … [Read more...]
Minneapolis Housing Inventory Begins its “Spring Market” Climb
January 17, 2007 by Leave a Comment
January 1st 2007 marked the low point for Active Listings in the market for at least the next 10-11 months. As is typical for our market, new listings will hit the market in ever-increasing numbers each week and will add to our supply of Active listings until sometime this summer, when the number of listings will likely peak for the year. In fact, since the 1st of the year the number of listings in the Twin Cities has gone up by over 2000! While the number of listings in the market will rise dramatically, … [Read more...]
West Metro Cities Post Crime Data Online
January 15, 2007 by Leave a Comment
As the Star Tribune recently reported, many of the western suburbs have released online interactive crime maps for their residents. While many cities have published static maps with crime data for years, the new maps allow you to zoom in and toggle different crimes on and off the display. The maps show approximately 90 days of information. Here's a few of the cities that have released the interactive map: Golden Valley St. Louis Park Plymouth Minnetonka New Hope Crystal Maple Grove Richfield Robbinsdale … [Read more...]
