Bob's Blog

If you have ever thought of owning a piece of land and custom building your dream home - today may be your best opportunity!

The Obama administration has announced they will stop buying mortgage backed securities on March 31, 2010.

What good are they?

Many people wonder why there are restrictions on their property usage and do I have to abide by the rules. The answer is restrictions are good for everybody and yes it is important for you to abide by the regulations.

If there were no restrictions, your neighborhood could put Winnebago's in the front yard, run an office out of their home, have pink polka dot shutters, raise livestock stack junk cars as they please. These unsightly activities reduce everyone's enjoyment of their home and are a quick way for property values to erode and decline.

Yes! If you do not abide by the covenants legal action can be taken by your neighbor to enforce your compliance. When you live on an island you can do whatever you want to do - when you live in a neighborhood you must live by the rules set forth by the community so everyone can enjoy their home and not be limited by having unsightly activities occurring in their community.

Our recommendation is to read the community covenants in detail prior to moving in. Make sure the rules are right for you, if not you should not move to this community.

Covenants are there to protect each homeowner, read them carefully and be prepared to be flexible because the restrictions are not intended to be flexible and accommodating for one - they are for everyone!

Posted by Geri Anderson of The Bob Lucido Team

After living in a home for years, most homeowners have put off taking care of various home maintenance items. Because there's usually no urgency, they procrastinate. It takes an emergency, such as a roof leak in the heavy rainy season, to motivate owners to get the problem fixed.
 
However, when you decide to sell your home, deferred home maintenance can suddenly become an issue. Most buyers want a home they can move right into without having to make a lot of repairs. And so, sellers have to decide whether to make the deferred repairs before they put their home on the market, or to leave the work for the buyers to fix.
 
If sellers have the time, money and the inclination, they'll come out way ahead by fixing any problems before listing their house for sale. If your house is in move-in condition it will appeal to a wider group of prospective home buyers. For example, first-time home buyers, and buyers with busy lifestyles, often won't even consider buying a home that needs a lot of work. That's because they don't have the time, funds or the experience to deal with the problems.
 
Listings that command the most attention are those that are in the best condition. If a home looks sharp and is priced right, more than one buyer may make an offer. When multiple offers occur, the price may get bid up. Even if there aren't multiple offers, experience has shown that a house in good condition will sell more quickly than one that needs work. A quick sale often means that the sales price is very close to the list price.
 
Today's prospective home buyers are very particular, and few are willing to buy "fixer-uppers." If sellers don't make repairs before putting their home on the market there'll be less interest in the property, and it may take a long time to sell. Usually the longer a listing sits on the market unsold, the lower the ultimate selling price.
 
Remember that every home buyer has a professional inspection done to determine the condition of the property. So, when selling a home that needs a lot of repairs, the closing could be delayed if the buyer requests repairs or the lender requires the work to be completed prior to funding the loan. Skilled workers are very busy today and it may be difficult to schedule major repairs to close on time.
 
MORE HINTS:  Sellers may not be able to fix everything that's wrong with their home before listing it for sale. (It's a good idea to have a Home Inspection done before you put your home on the market)   It's really important to spend your money on those repairs that will have the most impact on prospective buyers. An experienced real estate agent should be able to walk through your home with you and prepare a written list of all the improvements to be completed before listing. They can guide you as to which items are the most important. Ask how much difference it will make in the selling price if you complete none, some or all of the recommended repairs.

I spend a lot of time with my clients working out a pricing strategy that will sell their home quickly in today’s “seller’s market” and net them a price they can live with. Starting too high often creates unrealistic expectations and is a tactic we never use here at The Bob Lucido Team. Instead, we set a realistic pricing strategy that will peak buyer interest in the market and create showings to serious, qualified buyers. However, with all this focus on pricing, we can’t overlook pricing’s counterpart: staging the home. If the right pricing creates buyer interest, it is proper staging that turns buyer interest into real offers. The key to good staging is pretty simple. First and foremost, get rid of the “homey” lived in look and replace it with the “open and clean” look of a model home. A little polish and paint, along with the elimination of clutter and personal items will do wonders to any home’s “wow factor” at showings. AT BLT, we always bring in a professional stager as part of the sales and marketing effort. Getting offers on the high end of your pricing strategy is very often a direct result of following the advice of the professional stager. Putting your grandparent’s heirlooms in temporary storage can be emotionally difficult, but the payoff can be getting a higher price for your home.

In the course of my three decades in real estate, I’ve represented a lot of new home builders from the seller’s side. My job was to get the best possible deal for the builder and still keep the new home buyer happy and content. As a seller’s agent, it was not my job to help the buyer negotiate the best deal for themselves. It was my job to negotiate the best deal for the builder. I could never understand why so many home buyers visit a new home sales center without realtor representation. After all, most builders factor in the commission of the buyer’s agent right into the base price of each new home. Now that I’m serving as a buyer’s agent, I can bring all my knowledge of the new home buying process from the sales side to the buyer’s side and give my clients the wise counsel they need to make the best decisions for their unique circumstances, and to negotiate the best deal for them. This is especially critical when they are about to make quite possibly the biggest purchase of their lives. Here are six good reasons to use a buyer’s agent when purchasing a new home from a builder.

• Remember, the sales agent in the model may have an incredible smile, a winning personality, and a pocketful of free upgrades but one fact is more important than anything else: he or she is working for the builder, collecting a paycheck from him, and looking out for his best interests first when negotiating the deal with you. By the way, this doesn’t take away from her ability to bake up a great batch of chocolate chip cookies for the kids.
• When you select a real estate agent, it is their job to get to know you, your unique circumstances and lifestyle needs. Beautifully decorated models and option-rich incentive packages can get you emotionally involved before you make a checklist of the pros and cons of the deal. Your real estate agent will keep you grounded.
• In all candor, you need the market knowledge that a buyer’s agent brings to the table. They know current housing values, the best neighborhoods and schools, and most important the track record of the builder.
• It doesn’t cost you anything to bring your own real estate agent into the negotiations. Most home builders have this built into the cost of constructing each new home they build. However, you need to have an agent before you visit the model the first time. They don’t need to be with you. You just need to give the information to the builder’s sales agent to place your realtor’s name on the record.
• New home contracts can be complicated and full of confusing fees. A buyer’s agent will carefully read through these mountains of documents and recommend the changes that keep the final transaction fair to you. Meanwhile, you can spend your time reviewing home features and options. Deciding between granite and tile in the kitchen is a lot more fun than reading a 100 page community association document.
• Finally and most important of all, you go to the bargaining table with an advocate, someone who will look out for your interests and craft the best new home deal for you.
  

The process of buying a new home can be a daunting task, even for the experienced buyer who may be going through it for the second or third time. Here is a good “First Step Checklist” of the things you need to do to keep you in the driver’s seat throughout the process. Remember, it is always best to have a good game plan so you can be “proactive” when buying a home. Quite often, it is when you start “reacting” to the demands of other parties in the process that you begin to lose control and sight of your ultimate goal: to buy the home you want at a price you can afford.

First Step Checklist

• Find a good lender, find out exactly how much home you can afford to buy and get pre-qualified for a loan
• Have a clear vision of the home you’re looking for including those “must have” features. Be sure to include neighborhood, schools and other lifestyle needs in your “new home vision.”
• Hire a seasoned, talented real estate agent who understands your vision and can negotiate a good deal for you on your next home once you find it.
• Have your CPA help you evaluate the benefits of buying a new home to make sure it makes sound financial sense.
• Find a way to become a non-contingent buyer. This means looking into a good guaranteed sale program if you have an existing home to sell. Being non-contingent gives you and your real estate agent a lot of extra negotiating power when finalizing the deal on your next home.
• When you finally make an offer on your next home, make an aggressive offer but remember to still be fair to the current home owner.

Happy home hunting,
Bob

After the all the “gloom and doom” press coverage of the real estate and housing market this year, it is finally refreshing to be getting a large dose of good news. Here are a few of the highlights:

• HUD says it plans to allow first time home buyers to turn their $ 8,000 tax credit into a down payment on their first home. Since cash for the down payment is still a big hurdle for a lot of first time buyers, this is terrific news. We’ll keep you posted on the final timing of this.
• The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) reports that home builders and developers across the country are more optimistic about the housing market. Their Housing Market Index rose to 16 in May after reaching any all time low of 8 in January. This bounce back of builder confidence is just another indicator that we’re climbing back out of the economic downturn. My prediction: this year will just keep getting better. By spring 2011, home building, buying and selling are back in full swing.
• Meanwhile, the NAHB’s Housing Opportunity Index, which measures home buyer purchasing power, rose to its highest level in 18 years. The index shows that a family earning $ 64,000 (the median family income in the United States right now) could afford to buy 73 percent of all homes sold in the first quarter of 2009. What does this mean to today’s homebuyer? Buy now while you can get the most home for your money.

Before I sign off, I’d like to offer my two cents on the “gloom and doom” approach by most of the traditional media to the current economic downturn. This is a self fulfilling prophesy and will only net us more “gloom and doom.” We need to remember that consumer confidence and optimism is the driving force to success in any industry. It is still all about the power of positive thinking. Opportunity and preparation are key ingredients to success. But without a positive attitude, nothing good is going to happen.

Working with home buyers every day, I get asked the same question over and over again: Is it smart to buy a new home right now? One couple was so perplexed by the current economy that they were ready to put buying their dream home on hold until the economy fully recovered. This couple both had good jobs, great credit scores and little debt. It took me less than a minute to answer their question: Yes, if you are in a position to buy a new home, buy it now. The truth is, there may never be a better time than this to buy a new home. All the real estate “stars” are aligned in the buyer’s favor:

• Low interest rates
• Sellers willing to take a lower price
• An $ 8,000 government tax credit for first time homebuyers

Best of all, the evidence is there that the real estate market has “bottomed out” and prices are starting to rise. Standing inventory is beginning to sell faster. In Howard County for instance, homes are selling in days or weeks, instead of months and months. It is also good to remember what has happened in past real estate slumps. Once sales and prices begin to rise again, pent up buyer demand takes over and the pendulum quickly swings back to a seller’s market. My advice: buy now when you can get the best deal on a home with record low interest rates as well.

If you’re military personnel and you are starting to think about relocating here with your family, there is an abundance of neighborhoods to choose from, and a wide range of housing prices to meet any homeowner’s criteria. Howard and Anne Arundel counties, the closest locations to Ft. Meade, may give you sticker shock if you are coming from the Mid-West. These counties have neighborhoods that are just great for raising young families, excellent public school systems, and an emphasis on extracurricular sports and cultural activities.

With the $8,000 first time buyer tax credit in full effect, I thought I should share my thoughts about this topic, and divulge some information for those scanning our website who may becoming first time buyers themselves, or who are simply curious as to what the tax credit entails.

First of all, this tax credit is HUGE for buyers as well as for real estate agents. Anytime you can give buyers cash back, it’s an incentive that is sure to work. To pair this credit with the current low mortgage rates is unprecedented, and it’s a shame this wasn’t around earlier. An offer like this should be available at all times, or at least made available when there is a need to stimulate a market or the economy. If housing is in a slump, the rest of the economy suffers.

The credit not only benefits homebuyers, but the government as well. While on the surface it appears that the government is decreasing its revenue, however, it actually won’t cost them anything. The $8,000 is not just a handout—you have to do something in order to receive it, which is to buy a house for the first time.

The obvious positives to this program are that it will increase employment, increase tax revenue, and it will give money back to the government in the long run. For first time buyers, the number one positive is that it is $500 more than the original tax credit offered last year, and this one doesn’t have to be paid back!

There has never been a better time to buy, especially buying for the first time.  Do not fear the current market, rather embrace the opportunities being presented and take advantage of them!