Understanding Short Sales- A Buyer’s Perspective (PART II)

Short Sales seem to be the buzzword of the day for prospective home buyers.  Between Short Sales and Foreclosures, I would say about half of the calls I get are about one of the two terms.  See part one here.

What Does A  Short Sale Mean To A Buyer?

The short sale, from a buyer’s view usually means a property that is being sold below current market value.   It CAN mean that you will get a great deal on a home.

On the downside, the short sale for a buyer can be a frustrating experience due to lack of communication and long wait times and possible multiple offer competition.  It’s a trade off….patience to save some money. Read more

Understanding Short Sales — A Seller’s Perspective (Part I)

One of the hottest buzzwords in real estate right now is “SHORT SALE” . You can not turn on CNN, FOX News, or CNBC without a real estate story and SHORT SALE coming up. Today we will look at Short Sales from the perspective of the home seller. In a later article I will cover the short sale from the buyer’s perspective!

The term, in a nutshell, means that the property is being sold for less than the current loan amount and must have the banks blessing in order for the sale to occur. The term is not new, but it has become more common as banks attempt to stem the flow of foreclosure properties back on to the market. The foreclosure process is an expensive one for banks to undertake as well as time consuming and this is the main drive behind the concept of a “short sale”. Read more

Down Payment Assistance Back on the Table!

There has been a lot of talk about how the Down Payment Assistance programs may be coming back in a modified form before too long.

I spoke with a lady last night who is TRULY who the DPA programs were developed to help. This lady has been working and trying to get her credit and debt in line so that she can qualify to buy a home. However, on her income as a teacher, it’s very difficult to save up the amounts of cash needed to put the down payment down and the costs associated with closing. Read more

Should I Buy Now to Get the Homestead Exemption?

Well, here we are with about 6 weeks until the end of 2008!  I get asked a lot, is now a good time to buy and has the market bottomed out?

I don’t know if the market has bottomed out…no one does and if someone tells you it has or hasn’t, then I’d be very wary of their advice.

What I do know (and I like to deal in certainty), is that if you are planning to buy a home in the first part of next year (say the first quarter), it can certainly make sense to Read more

Don’t Fall For All Free Credit Reports!

We’ve all seen the commercials…Free Credit Report!  Often with a jingle to help remember the website or a funny story to help you remember the website.

But do people misunderstand that this is NOT the FTC regulated free credit report that you are entitled to once a year?  The other sites often come with the caveat that you must sign up for their credit guard service or some other service that they are selling in order to obtain a Read more

How Will the Fallout from Hurricane Ike Affect Current Homes Being Sold? Patience.

In my business, I talk to a lot of people.  As a residential specialist in Katy, people want to know how things that happen affect their property so I get asked all kinds of questions.

With the recent events, specifically Ike coming through, most people want to know how that affects their home sales.

First, let me say that if you have your property under contract already in the Katy area (anywhere in Houston for that matter), whether you are a buyer or a seller, the keyword right now is PATIENCE.  Please have patience as the city and surrounding area begins to recover.  One thing that IS happening is that lenders and title companies that have corporate offices located further east (like in  Downtown Houston) are unable to proceed with business as usual even though their Katy offices appear to be fine. Read more

I Want to Sell My House. What Kind of Closing Costs Should I Expect?

Coming to the decision to sell your house and either move up, move down or move out can be a stressful decision.  It’s stressful because there are often so many unknowns involved.  What is my timeframe?  What will my house sell for?  Will I have to bring money to closing?  Oh, closing…what will my closing costs be?

Well closing costs when selling a house don’t have to be shrouded in mystery.  Most good agents can come reasonably close to being able to tell you what to expect for your particular house but here are the basics of what goes into closing costs. Read more

So How’s the Katy Real Estate Market?

That’s a question that I get asked just about every day. It’s a complicated question though. You see, real estate is LOCAL. Real Local. So comparing the reports of huge sales declines and price drops nationally to the Houston Market doesn’t make much sense. It may not make much sense to compare areas of the Houston market either.

Recently, the Houston Association Of Realtors released their statistics for the month of July. It made for some interesting reading because it showed a general Read more

FHA Guidelines Changed as of 7/14/08

For the last few months, buyers have been able to obtain loans despite their FICO scores through FHA manual underwriting.  In changes that were enacted to the FHA programs beginning 7/14/08,  a minimum FICO score of 580 is now required.

Other changes include: Read more