While the continuing changes in lending are creating challenges for buyers, here are a few simple things each of us can do to help improve our credit scores....
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Changes in Federal Regulations means BIG delays for Home Buyers and Home Sellers
Now, more than ever, it is imperative to ensure that you are dealing with experienced, knowledgable professionals!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Home Staging: Professional Service Slashes Time and Increases Profit
It's time to put your home on the market. You've hired a real estate agent. You've signed all the papers. You've been given the typical remarks about keeping your home neat and ready for potential buyers. And now you wait. Or do you?
Instead of waiting the typical 4+ months and then taking a reduced price on your home, why not invest in a home staging professional! Doing so will drastically decrease the amount of time your home spends on the market - up to 20 times faster - as well as increase the amount you get for your home - six percent over listing is typical!
What is Home Staging?
Home staging is simply the art of preparing your home for sale. Basically, there are five steps to home staging:
- Cleaning
- Getting rid of clutter
- Depersonalizing
- Decorating and accessorizing
- Maintaining
In days gone by, home staging consisted of advice by your real estate agent to "clean up" and "de-clutter." If you had a savvy agent, you may have even been told to add fresh flowers or fresh linens in the bathroom. However, being a real estate professional is not the same thing as being a design professional.
Professional home stagers know exactly what to do to create the right atmosphere. They not only tell you to de-clutter, but know exactly what to do in order to create a clutter free environment. They can walk through your home and know immediately if you need to remove or rearrange furniture. With just a quick visit, they can tell you what will enhance your homes curb appeal.
Why Does Home Staging Matter?
When it comes to sales, first impressions are everything. A potential homebuyer will often decide to enter a home based on the outside appearance. And once inside, they make up their mind about a home within about 10 seconds. This means that you have 10 seconds to create an atmosphere that entices the imagination and creates a longing in the buyer.
Home staging is the way to create that desire and longing. Through home staging, you can put your home's best foot forward.
Professional or Do-It-Yourself?
Professional home staging services are not free and many people believe that they can save money by doing it themselves. However, there are many pitfalls to the "do-it-yourself" mentality.
1. You obviously like the look of your home or you wouldn't have created it, right? Making changes can be downright difficult when you love your things and feel that your home is comfortable "as is." A professional can help you step back and see your home in the same way that a potential buyer will see it. They help you take yourself out of the home so that the homebuyers can see themselves in it!
2. What do you know about color, lighting, and traffic flow? If you are like most people, you know very little about these things. Although the colors or the traffic pattern worked for you and your family, a professional can see issues that will keep your home from having that "instant appeal." Remember, buyers are not buying "your" house - they are buying "their" house!
3. Can you walk through your home and instantly list 10 inexpensive ways to increase the value of your home? Home stagers can. They know how to make the changes in a timely manner so that you can get your home on the market quickly. They view your home from the buyer's point of view and can tell you what to store, what to keep, what to move, and what will add that pizzazz that will make your home sell.
Is Home Staging Cost Effective?
One of the most important things you can do to sell your home quickly and for the highest possible price is to "stage" it. The proof is in the pudding:
- According to the National Association of Realtors, for every dollar sellers put into staging, they get $4 back- The average increase over the listing price is 6.32%. On a $500,000 house, that is nearly $32,000 and will more than pay for your professional real estate agent! Think of home staging as a way to get your real estate agent for free!
A real estate professional has the knowledge, experience, and qualifications to sell your home. A home stager has the knowledge, experience, and qualifications to prepare your home for the sale. Although professional services are not free, the cost of the services more than exceeds the benefits received!
Selling your home can be a trying time. Why wouldn't you want to decrease the time your home spends on the market while increasing your sales price? Relying on a home stager can make all the difference.
Author BioTeri B Clark is a professional writer and published author. Her most recent book, 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought, explains these tips in more detail and offers many, many others. To learn more about Teri's latest book, visit http://staging-your-home.blogspot.com/
Instead of waiting the typical 4+ months and then taking a reduced price on your home, why not invest in a home staging professional! Doing so will drastically decrease the amount of time your home spends on the market - up to 20 times faster - as well as increase the amount you get for your home - six percent over listing is typical!
What is Home Staging?
Home staging is simply the art of preparing your home for sale. Basically, there are five steps to home staging:
- Cleaning
- Getting rid of clutter
- Depersonalizing
- Decorating and accessorizing
- Maintaining
In days gone by, home staging consisted of advice by your real estate agent to "clean up" and "de-clutter." If you had a savvy agent, you may have even been told to add fresh flowers or fresh linens in the bathroom. However, being a real estate professional is not the same thing as being a design professional.
Professional home stagers know exactly what to do to create the right atmosphere. They not only tell you to de-clutter, but know exactly what to do in order to create a clutter free environment. They can walk through your home and know immediately if you need to remove or rearrange furniture. With just a quick visit, they can tell you what will enhance your homes curb appeal.
Why Does Home Staging Matter?
When it comes to sales, first impressions are everything. A potential homebuyer will often decide to enter a home based on the outside appearance. And once inside, they make up their mind about a home within about 10 seconds. This means that you have 10 seconds to create an atmosphere that entices the imagination and creates a longing in the buyer.
Home staging is the way to create that desire and longing. Through home staging, you can put your home's best foot forward.
Professional or Do-It-Yourself?
Professional home staging services are not free and many people believe that they can save money by doing it themselves. However, there are many pitfalls to the "do-it-yourself" mentality.
1. You obviously like the look of your home or you wouldn't have created it, right? Making changes can be downright difficult when you love your things and feel that your home is comfortable "as is." A professional can help you step back and see your home in the same way that a potential buyer will see it. They help you take yourself out of the home so that the homebuyers can see themselves in it!
2. What do you know about color, lighting, and traffic flow? If you are like most people, you know very little about these things. Although the colors or the traffic pattern worked for you and your family, a professional can see issues that will keep your home from having that "instant appeal." Remember, buyers are not buying "your" house - they are buying "their" house!
3. Can you walk through your home and instantly list 10 inexpensive ways to increase the value of your home? Home stagers can. They know how to make the changes in a timely manner so that you can get your home on the market quickly. They view your home from the buyer's point of view and can tell you what to store, what to keep, what to move, and what will add that pizzazz that will make your home sell.
Is Home Staging Cost Effective?
One of the most important things you can do to sell your home quickly and for the highest possible price is to "stage" it. The proof is in the pudding:
- According to the National Association of Realtors, for every dollar sellers put into staging, they get $4 back- The average increase over the listing price is 6.32%. On a $500,000 house, that is nearly $32,000 and will more than pay for your professional real estate agent! Think of home staging as a way to get your real estate agent for free!
A real estate professional has the knowledge, experience, and qualifications to sell your home. A home stager has the knowledge, experience, and qualifications to prepare your home for the sale. Although professional services are not free, the cost of the services more than exceeds the benefits received!
Selling your home can be a trying time. Why wouldn't you want to decrease the time your home spends on the market while increasing your sales price? Relying on a home stager can make all the difference.
Author BioTeri B Clark is a professional writer and published author. Her most recent book, 301 Simple Things You Can Do To Sell Your Home NOW and For More Money Than You Thought, explains these tips in more detail and offers many, many others. To learn more about Teri's latest book, visit http://staging-your-home.blogspot.com/
Friday, December 18, 2009
Network's new show looking for Denver Area Homeowners..
NETWORK SHOW LOOKING FOR DENVER AREA HOMEOWNERS
*Have you messed up your home renovation project?
*Don’t know what comes next?
*In over your head?
Share your struggle and get some help!
Producers are searching for Denver-area homeowners with stalled out home renovation projects for the next hit Network show. Homeowners chosen to appear on the show will share their incomplete, flawed and never-ending renovation with Network’s contractor, in order to pinpoint exactly where things went wrong and formulate a plan to turn the project around. The Network’s expert team will spring into action and get to work, using tried and true renovation methods as well as some new modern twists to help the homeowners finally complete the project in 48 hours.
If your grasp of remodeling exceeded your reach, we’d love to hear from you!
They'd would like to hear from homeowners who:
*Live in the Greater Denver area (Fort Collins to Colorado Springs OK)
*Have started, but have not finished a remodel of one area of the home (demo stage preferred)
*Have a compelling story about why they started the renovation and why they can’t proceed
*Have an appropriate budget already set aside for the renovation (we’ll help with labor and know-how)
*Are enthusiastic about being on TV and are ready to enhance their skills and finish the project once and for all.
Please e-mail Cynthia@CynthiaMParker for an application and more information:
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Citi to suspend foreclosures for 30 days
WASHINGTON (AP) - Citigroup Inc. will suspend foreclosures and evictions for 30 days in a temporary break for about 4,000 borrowers during the holiday season.
The New York-based bank said Thursday the suspension will run from Friday through Jan. 17. It applies only to borrowers whose loans are owned by Citi. Borrowers who make payments to Citi but whose loans are owned by other investors are out of luck.
"We want our borrowers to have a much less stressful time, to spend their time with their families during the holidays as opposed to worrying about their homes," Sanjiv Das, head of the company's mortgage division, said in an interview.
The suspension means Citi will halt foreclosure sales and stop evicting homeowners from properties it has already seized. The company projects it will help 2,000 homeowners with scheduled foreclosure sales and another 2,000 that were due to receive foreclosure notices.
Das also said the company is working on "some long-term fundamental alternatives" to foreclosure, but declined to be specific. "We know that moratoriums are not permanent solutions," he said.
Most major lenders suspended foreclosures last winter while the Obama administration developed its $75 billion loan modification program. Foreclosures picked up again after those suspensions lifted. In recent months, they have fallen as banks evaluate whether borrowers qualify for the government program.
Citi has enrolled about 100,000 borrowers in the Obama program, but had made only about 270 of those modifications permanent as of the end of last month, according to a Treasury Department report. But Das said the low number resulted from a "reporting error" and said it will rise dramatically by year-end.
"I have put a lot of pressure on my team to make sure that there is almost nothing left in the pipeline," he said.
~ALAN ZIBELPublished: Today
The New York-based bank said Thursday the suspension will run from Friday through Jan. 17. It applies only to borrowers whose loans are owned by Citi. Borrowers who make payments to Citi but whose loans are owned by other investors are out of luck.
"We want our borrowers to have a much less stressful time, to spend their time with their families during the holidays as opposed to worrying about their homes," Sanjiv Das, head of the company's mortgage division, said in an interview.
The suspension means Citi will halt foreclosure sales and stop evicting homeowners from properties it has already seized. The company projects it will help 2,000 homeowners with scheduled foreclosure sales and another 2,000 that were due to receive foreclosure notices.
Das also said the company is working on "some long-term fundamental alternatives" to foreclosure, but declined to be specific. "We know that moratoriums are not permanent solutions," he said.
Most major lenders suspended foreclosures last winter while the Obama administration developed its $75 billion loan modification program. Foreclosures picked up again after those suspensions lifted. In recent months, they have fallen as banks evaluate whether borrowers qualify for the government program.
Citi has enrolled about 100,000 borrowers in the Obama program, but had made only about 270 of those modifications permanent as of the end of last month, according to a Treasury Department report. But Das said the low number resulted from a "reporting error" and said it will rise dramatically by year-end.
"I have put a lot of pressure on my team to make sure that there is almost nothing left in the pipeline," he said.
~ALAN ZIBELPublished: Today
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