During soft markets that favor buyers, sellers are usually more willing to pay for pest repairs than they are when houses sell quickly. However, in a hot seller’s market, buyers are more likely to overlook these defects and buy properties in their “as is” condition, without asking the sellers to pay for repairs. Even if a seller doesn’t have to do pest repairs in order to sell, there are times when it makes sense to do so. Buyers look favorably on a house that has little, if any, pest damage. It’s one less thing for buyers to worry about after moving in. A pest report with little or no damage is a big draw. Although it’s not custom everywhere, it’s wise for sellers to have their homes inspected for wood pests before selling. Actually, it’s a good idea for homeowners to have their homes inspected every few years, even if they’re not planning to sell, so that problems can be dealt with before they become major.

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search for : pest repairs, pest report

“The biggest mistake for-sale-by-owners make is pricing their home too high,” Nichole said in an e-mail interview. If the home subsequently ends up sitting too long on the market and the asking price is lower, a potential buyer might speculate that something is wrong with the property, she said. Use Web sites such as Zillow.com and HouseValues.com to get a starting idea of what a house is worth, said Colby Sambrotto, chief operating officer of ForSaleByOwner.com. A look at a listings site, such as Realtor.com, will reveal what sellers are asking for in the neighborhood, he added. If the home is unique and difficult to compare to others, consider having it appraised, Nichole said.

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search for : for-sale-by-owners

The home buying season is quickly approaching and it’s time to think about ways to improve the “curb appeal” of your home. With all the recent activity in the real estate market and with long-term rates at near historic lows, it’s a buyers market. There is a surplus of homes available for sale on the market and home buyers can take their sweet time choosing which home they like best. That’s why you need to get a competitive edge over other home sellers in your area by making your home look better than the rest.

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search for : home buying, curb appeal

Taos NM is truly a solar capital and is very much into sustainable living. Even our local radio station is solar powered. This house isn’t off the grid, but when I converted it to solar power, I effectively removed it from dependence on the local utility. I invested $50,000 in the project and took out a second mortgage to do it, but I didn’t go solar expecting that I would ever recoup all of the costs. It was driven more by who I am and how I want to represent myself. That said, I do save $1,500 to $2,000 a year on electricity and propane bills.

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It’s confusing that the North Carolina real estate and contractor lobby is fighting what seems like a very logical alternative of benefit to North Carolina residents as well as themselves. For example, do agents really believe a one-time 1% tax is worse than not having funds for enough good quality schools, water, sewage treatment, roads, police, fire, libraries, courts, etc? Don’t prospective home buyers think about these things in addition to just home price?

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search for : North Carolina real estate, quality schools

If you think you might like to become a real estate appraiser, first read “How to Get Started in the Real Estate Appraisal Business” by Daniel J. Nahorney. After you learn how difficult it is to get started and the very low pay for trainees who must acquire 2,000 experience hours, plus taking training courses to qualify for the basic appraiser’s exam, you might consider another career. The author is not an appraiser, but he interviewed many longtime successful appraisers who responded with glowing reports about the wonders of the appraisal profession. However, Nahorney doesn’t hesitate to emphasize the negatives of being an appraiser, such as the very low starting pay, and extreme pressure from some mortgage lenders and borrowers to “hit the mark” and appraise for a specific home valuation.

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search for : appraiser, appraisal profession

What’s a Boomer? This question seems more correct than “who is a Boomer?” since this statistic-laden collective term is usually applied to group reactions and behaviors. Don’t let the hype about Baby Boomers distract you from what is really important — you and what you want to achieve. Instead of following others, adopt self-leadership and lead yourself, your family and your community toward a brilliant future.

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search for : Boomer, Baby Boomers

When evaluating a builder’s lender know what kind of loan you can get from at least one outside lender before you talk to the builder’s preferred lenders, including specifics on interest rates, points and fees. Before you pay a loan application fee, read the Good Faith Estimate of loan costs. If a loan officer says anything to the effect of “don’t worry, you can always refinance,” walk away from the deal. It’s hardly a ringing endorsement of the loan. And if the recent wave of foreclosure troubles has taught anything, it’s that you can’t always refinance.

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Have inflated appraisals helped to fuel the current surge in foreclosures by credit-strapped borrowers? Are they at the core of many mortgage-fraud schemes? The four largest trade groups representing appraisers say yes — and they’re asking federal financial regulators to crack down on lenders and loan officers who pressure appraisers to raise valuations to allow overpriced deals to go through. ed by the 22,000-member Appraisal Institute, the groups told regulators on April 11 that subprime lenders experiencing high rates of foreclosures often have been guilty of “systematic inattention” to the accuracy and the sources of the valuations backing the mortgages they funded.

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Finally, good news for homeowners. Under a new law, certain borrowers who take out a mortgage for purchase or refinance in 2007 are eligible to write off all or a portion of their mortgage insurance premiums for the year. It’s a tax break many in the industry have sought for years because the insurance is often regarded as a cost akin to mortgage interest or points. Mortgage insurance is required for borrowers who make less than a 20% down payment; its purpose is to protect lenders from losses if the borrower defaults on the loan. The insurance is cancelled when there is enough equity built up in the home.

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search for : mortgage, refinance, mortgage insurance premium

You just spent thousands of dollars to get into your new home. You were able to negotiate a lower price, closing costs and a buy-down on the mortgage from the homeowner, who at this point is more than willing to hand over thousands of dollars to you to convince you to buy his house. Then — against all the common sense that I can understand — you don’t ask them to lay down $300 – $500 to put up a home warranty that’s going to protect all your appliances, heating/air conditioning, plumbing, electrical, garage door opener, door bell, sump pump, well pump, swimming pool or spa, or washer/dryer.

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search for : mortgage

The risk of living next to a body of water is obvious and should be considered when buying or building. Where the risk isn’t obvious is on drier ground, where there is no watercourse within several miles of the house. That seems to be more of an issue at times such as this. If you live in a house in an area where the water table is high, you either forgo a basement or build a whole series of safeguards into the cellar to keep it and whatever you are storing there dry.

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search for : water table, basement, cellar

As the number of foreclosures rise around the country, the number of companies offering help is increasing, too. Many are negotiating terms the homeowner could fairly easily obtain on their own, while others are doing even less and simply exploiting vulnerable homeowners. Experts recommend that homeowners screen offers carefully, and take the following precautions: don’t pay upfront fees to any person or organization promising help, don’t sign anything without having an independent lawyer review it, seek out accredited financial counselors, using lists such as those kept by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

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search for : foreclosures, financial counselor, Department of Housing and Urban Development

About 80 percent of all home buyers begin their quest online, according to the National Association of Realtors. Usually, they visit sites such as Realtor.com, which contain most of the listings available within a specified area. Those sites, however, usually answer only a few of the myriad questions that prospective buyers have about houses. They often don’t address subjects like: How is the neighborhood? Is it on a busy street? Is there any nearby place for the kids to play? Zillow is attempting to expand the conversations centered around the home listings by providing an online forum for exchanging that kind of information.

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search for : National Association of Realtors, Zillow

Even though builders have cut back on the number of new homes they’re starting, they are finding themselves saddled with an unusually large inventory of finished or nearly finished homes. Those empty houses are expensive for builders to carry, thanks to construction loans that won’t be paid off until the home is sold. So builders are getting serious about unloading them. Why should you care? Because if you are thinking about selling your house, new-home builders are your competition. And if you are thinking about buying a house, you should be aware of what is out there.

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search for : construction loan, selling your house

The things inside our homes are getting bigger, as a trip to an appliance store will quickly confirm. Like those colossal baby carriages, appliances are being pumped up to SUV-like proportions. Many washing machines and dryers, for example, are now raised up on huge pedestals for “convenience,” not to mention being slathered with enough fake chrome to shame a Lincoln Navigator owner. The typical wall oven, which used to be made in a modest standard width of 24 inches, has been incrementally larded up to 27 inches and now 30 inches. Presumably, this is necessary because turkeys are now 25 percent larger. And where single ovens were once widely thought to be up to most baking tasks — my father is still happy with his, and he’s a professional baker — nowadays double ovens are considered de rigeur.

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search for : Lincoln Navigator, wall oven, double oven

Why buy a house when you can build one? At first, that didn’t occur to Keith Strand. After all, who builds a house in Manhattan? But when he could find no affordable houses to renovate, he did what an architect would do. He abandoned the hunt for a house and instead went looking for a plot of land to build on. Mr. Strand, 53, who grew up in Colorado Springs, first came to New York in the 1970s with the group Volunteers in Service to America to work on Bronx housing projects.

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search for : affordable house

Property line issues have suddenly cropped up in the emails I’ve received in the past few weeks. It appears that homeowners are more aware of their property lines (specifically if a neighbor is violating it) during the spring and summer months than at other times. As we get out there and trim limbs (from the neighbor’s big oak tree), mend the fence (which is actually the neighbor’s), and try to clean up unsightly encroachments on the line, we become aware that the guy next door hasn’t kept up with his property and now the problem is personal. Keeping up with local fence laws, good neighbor regulations, even your local home owners’ association rules can keep relations between you and your neighbors a lot more healthy.

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search for : Property line issues, property lines, good neighbor regulations

Are you leaving the nest and becoming a first-time renter? He’ll have lots of company. According to the 2005 U.S. Census Community Survey, more than 36 million rental units are rented out in the United States. That’s a lot of first-time renters who have found a place to call home. Leaving home to become a tenant is a big step towards adult responsibility. For many, it’s the first time their behavior impacts permanently on the future — from credit and personal reference history to negative legal possibilities. What do landlords look for? “I like to meet the parents,” explains Jim Stilton, who manages more than 500 units in Los Angeles. “Meeting the parents gives me a sense of their involvement and responsibility.”

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search for : first-time renter

Britain’s wealthy are looking to the U.S. for real estate opportunities. Luxury homes values in London’s most expensive neighborhoods rose 24% last year and have already risen 27% this first quarter over last year’s first quarter. The price surge is expected to continue, driven by foreign real estate investors, record-breaking bonuses paid to London bankers, and a housing shortage. According to a recent Bloomberg article, homes valued at over $10 million have increased in value by an average of 50 % over last year.

British homeowners are faced with new tax laws that have doubled property taxes for some homeowners while absolving foreign investors from having to pay British taxes. Faced with exorbitant home values and stiff tax penalties, many British home buyers are taking advantage of the pound’s strength, which has been worth almost twice as much as the U.S. dollar in recent months. Add to this mix the security concerns and language barriers many are finding in other countries, and American properties quickly become an affordable and exciting option. For the savvy luxury home agent, this provides a clear opportunity to target a potentially fruitful demographic of international buyers. (more…)

search for : foreign real estate investors

“The 55+ market is becoming an increasingly important focus of the nation’s housing industry as members of the baby boom approach the traditional retirement years,” says the National Association of Home Builders. “But builders hoping to entice households into new homes may find the going tough because older Americans, by and large, are happy with where they currently live.” Those above age 55 — an age which hardly seems ancient — play an important role the real estate. As people age they tend to earn more (because they’ve built up their business and job experience over time) and owe less (because their mortgage has been paid down or paid off and the children have finished school).

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search for : baby boom

The appraisal can be a part of the real estate process that is both time consuming and anxiety building — as you wait to find out what your home is worth, according to certified experts. While the emotional experience of the latter can’t be completely removed, the first part can be aided significantly. “We dispatch an appraiser from our appraiser network to drive by the home, pull relevant comps based on that local market and actually create an appraisal form for you and then it will be uploaded into our system. We will email you and also send one to you in the mail,” says Damian Scott, President of Eppraisal.com

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Learn enough to pursue your own tax strategies and direct your accountant, writes Sandy Botkin in “Real Estate Tax Secrets of the Rich.” , otherwise you can lose thousands in deductions and write-offs. “A solid knowledge of real estate taxation can increase most people’s rate of return on their homes and investment property by 10 percent to 20 percent per year.” There are few subjects less exciting than taxes, even if a financial bonus is the potential payoff. Luckily, Botkin, a former Internal Revenue Service attorney, seems to understand that. This primer on maximizing real estate tax savings is broken into bite-size chunks and livened up with whimsical illustrations and boldface headings.

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search for : Real Estate Tax Secrets of the Rich, Internal Revenue Service attorney

Members of The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing are knowledgeable professionals who have undergone extensive training in analyzing the luxury home market, providing quality service, and achieving effective results in the high-end residential market. Choose a member of The Institute as your real estate professional and you know you are getting someone who actively seeks out the latest training in marketing strategies, stays on top of the changing market conditions, and knows how to handle the special needs of elite clientele.

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search for : The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing, real estate professional

The many reasons for buying a condo instead of a house include (1) usually less expensive than buying a similarly sized single-family house; (2) exterior maintenance is the responsibility of the condo homeowner’s association; (3) the security of leaving your condo for an extended period without worry (called “lock and leave”); (4) homeowner tax benefits similar to houses; (5) pride of ownership from being an owner rather than a renter; and (6) potential resale profit as the condo appreciates in market value. However, local supply and demand greatly affects this last potential advantage.

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search for : buying a condo, single-family house, homeowner tax, pride of ownership

A recent survey revealed that “green” home had at least three of the five following elements: incorporation of energy-efficient products; features that address indoor air quality; attention to resource management (including use of recycled materials in building); attention to site management (including the location of the home and its surroundings); and increased water efficiency. A home could also be considered green in the survey if it was certified as such, or had a major green feature incorporated into it, such as solar heating. Last year McGraw-Hill Construction estimated only 2 percent of the residential construction market could be considered truly green by those standards. The new research says only 0.3 percent of all existing U.S. homes are truly green, constructed using several different green building design features and products.

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search for : energy-efficient, water efficiency

Buying into a development before construction has begun is not a new phenomenon, but with the slowdown in the real estate market — and in condo sales in many areas — the rules are changing. A few years ago, the incentive to condo buyers was clear: You would buy early, sit back and, by the time the building was in place, be pretty certain that the unit’s value had increased substantially. But the days of buyers lining up for a condo in a building that might be years from completion are long gone — and developers are facing a new reality.

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While agents no doubt will inundate you with fancy presentations when you decide to put your house on the market, all of that is simply window-dressing. You need to find an agent who won’t just go through the motions of selling your house, but will follow through with every query from everyone who calls about your listing or walks through your front door. Most of all, you need to find an agent who’ll ask the critical question I never heard during three months of intensive home shopping: “Do you want to buy this house?”

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search for : selling your house, home shopping

My wife and I are in the process of getting divorced. We have agreed that two rental properties currently in our joint name will be transferred solely into my name. I know that I can file appropriate forms at the office of the Recorder of Deeds to have the titles changed into my name, but my question is about the mortgages on the two properties. One mortgage note holder told me that I have to refinance the balance on our mortgage in order to get my wife’s name dropped. Another loan officer told me that I would only have to pay a $200 fee and the mortgage would remain in my name.

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search for : getting divorced, rental properties, Recorder of Deeds, mortgage note holder

Buyers nationwide are choosing homes built to Energy Star standards. Introduced in 1992 by the Environmental Protection Agency, Energy Star is a partnership between the federal government and business — suppliers, manufacturers and installers — that focuses on reducing energy consumption. Energy Star’s emphasis on new-home construction began in the late 1990s. Today, more than 2,500 builders and a half-million homes nationwide have earned Energy Star certification. By the end of the decade, Energy Star expects to have certified more than 2 million homes. Although many buyers have yet to fully grasp the Energy Star twist on new-home construction, builders are poised for when the light clicks on. As emphasis on reducing energy consumption grows, experts say, buyers will be looking for more efficient homes.

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search for : Energy Star standards, Environmental Protection Agency, Energy Star, new-home construction