TIPS FOR A SIMPLE LOAN APPROVAL

TIPS FOR A SIMPLE LOAN APPROVAL

Here is a list of useful tips to ensure an effortless loan process. These DO's and DON'Ts will help you avoid any delays and costly challenges with your loan approval.

DO’s
...
DO call us if you have any questions.
DO provide requested documentation promptly and in its entirety.
DO continue living at your current residence.
DO continue making your mortgage or rent payments.
DO continue to use your credit as normal.
DO keep working at your current employer.
DO keep your same insurance company.
DO stay current on all existing accounts.

DON’Ts

DON'T change your employment or marital status.
DON'T make any major purchases (car, furniture, jewelry, etc.).
DON'T change bank accounts.
DON'T make any large cash deposits into your bank accounts.
DON'T transfer any balances from one account to another.
DON'T close any credit card accounts.
DON'T consolidate your debt onto one or two credit cards.
DON'T apply for new credit or open a new credit card.
DON'T max out or overcharge on your credit card accounts.
DON'T take out a new loan or co-sign on a loan.
DON'T pay off any loans or credit cards, charge offs, or collections without discussing it with us first.
DON'T finance any elective medical procedure.
DON'T join a new fitness club.
DON'T open a new cellular phone account.
DON'T start any home improvement projects.
DON'T have your credit pulled or dispute any information on your credit report.

If you encounter a special situation, it is best to mention it to us right away so we can help you determine the best way to achieve your goals.

 

Questions? Let me know! 517-4959

Mortgage Tips: 9 Ways to Lower Your Monthly Payment

March 21, 2014 by Guest Author

We often hear information on how homeowners can use tactics like refinancing to lower their mortgage payments. But what about homebuyers? What tactics can you use to ensure you start out with the lowest possible mortgage payment?


Luckily, there’s quite a bit you can do as a homebuyer to keep your mortgage payments low. Here are just 9 ideas to get you started:


1. Boost your credit score


Your credit score is a big determining factor in your mortgage’s APR. And even a tiny difference in APR has a big impact on monthly payments (as well as interest paid over the life of your loan).


According to this FICO chart, average interest rates on a 30-year fixed mortgage range from 4.004% to 5.593% right now, depending on your credit score. On a $150,000 mortgage loan, the difference between the highest and lowest interest rates translates into $144 per month.


2. Save up a hefty down payment


A bigger down payment lowers your mortgage payment in several ways. A larger down payment means you borrow less, which of course lowers the monthly payment. The size of a down payment is also one factor used to determine interest rates. Higher down payments can qualify you for a lower rate. And with a down payment of at least 20%, you can avoid paying for Private Mortgage Insurance.


3. Avoid Private Mortgage Insurance


Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) is added to nearly all mortgages where you put less than 20% down. This third-party insurance helps lenders get their money back if you default on your loan.


Typical PMI payments range from 1-2% of the outstanding principle on your loan, divided into twelve monthly payments added to your mortgage payments. On a $150,000 loan, for instance, PMI can add up to around $125 a month.


To avoid PMI charges, put 20% or more down on your home purchase. Or, if this is impossible for you, shop around for special loan programs that don’t require PMI. They’re relatively rare, but some local banks and credit unions do offer low down payment, no PMI mortgage programs.


If you do have to pay PMI, pay attention to your home’s loan-to-value ratio. As soon as you have 20% or more equity in your home, refinance or cancel your PMI.


4. Shop with at least three lenders


For some reason, many people are more likely to shop around for a good deal on a $100 vacuum cleaner than a $100,000 home loan. But you can save big by shopping with different lenders.


Even with the same mortgage amount, down payment, and credit score, different lenders will give you different mortgage plans. So take time to shop with at least three lenders before settling on the one you’ll work with to buy your home.


(Bonus: If you apply for mortgage approval with all of these lender’s within a 30-day window, you’ll only get one hard pull on your credit, so you won’t ding your score as much.)


5. Check out real estate taxes before you buy


While real estate taxes aren’t technically part of your mortgage, most lenders require that you pay a portion of your taxes with each mortgage payment. The monthly payments are put into an escrow account, and the lender takes care of making your tax payments.


Within a small area, real estate taxes can vary dramatically. So talk to a knowledgeable lender or do some research online to find the area near you with the lowest real estate taxes.


6. Compare homeowner’s insurance prices


Like real estate taxes, your homeowner’s insurance premiums will likely be rolled in with your mortgage payments, escrowed, and paid by your lender. But this doesn’t mean your lender can force you to choose a particular insurance company.


So before you sign on the dotted line for homeowner’s insurance, shop around for a policy that suits your needs for your home, and that features low premiums. Remember, you can often save on premiums if you bundle your auto and home insurance.


7. Pay for points


When you buy a home, you can choose to purchase discount points – which are fees you pay to the lender at closing to get a reduced interest rate. Usually, one point is 1% of your mortgage amount, and one point will lower the interest rate by a few tenths of a percent.


Sometimes, buying points is helpful, and sometimes it’s not. The key here is to talk with your lender about how much each point will lower your mortgage payments. Then, calculate how long it will take you to break even (in a very loose calculation) by dividing the money paid for points by the total monthly savings. For instance, if you pay $3,000 to save $40 per month, your break-even point would be 6 years and 3 months.


8. Consider a longer term


While short-term mortgages are nice for getting out of debt faster and saving a load on interest payments, they also result in higher monthly payments. When you’re shopping for a mortgage, compare 15-, 20-, and 30-year mortgage options. Look at both monthly payments and interest paid over the life of the loan to determine which option suits you best.


9. Downsize your home and your payments


The easiest way to downsize your monthly mortgage payments is to buy a smaller, more affordable home. It’s tempting to buy the most expensive home you can afford. Instead aim to spend no more than 20% of your monthly income on a mortgage payment. If you can also live close to where you work, you’ll save a bundle on transportation costs, too.


Can you think of any other ways to save on your mortgage payments?


Rob Berger is an attorney and founder of the popular personal finance and investing blog, doughroller.net. He is also the editor of the Dough Roller Weekly Newsletter, a free newsletter covering all aspects of personal finance and investing.

Can you afford to wait?

We, at KCM, have often broken down the opportunity that exists now for Millennials who are willing and able to purchase a home NOW... Here are a couple other ways to look at the cost of waiting.
Let’s say you're 30 and your dream house costs $250,000 today, at 4.41% your monthly Mortgage Payment with Interest would be $1,253.38.
But you’re busy, you like your apartment, moving is such a hassle...You decide to wait till the end of next year to buy and all of a sudden, you’re 31, that same house is $270,000, at 5.7%. Your new payment per month is $1,567.08.

The difference in payment is $313.70 PER MONTH!

That’s like taking a $10 bill and tossing it out the window EVERY DAY!
Or you could look at it this way:

• That’s your morning coffee everyday on the way to work (Average $2) with $12 left for lunch!
• There goes Friday Sushi Night! ($80 x 4)
• Stressed Out? How about 3 deep tissue massages with tip!
• Need a new car? You could get a brand new $22,000 car for $313.00 per month.

Let’s look at that number annually! Over the course of your new mortgage at 5.7%, your annual additional cost would be $3,764.40!
Had your eye on a vacation in the Caribbean? How about a 2-week trip through Europe? Or maybe your new house could really use a deck for entertaining. We could come up with 100’s of ways to spend $3,764, and we’re sure you could too!
Over the course of your 30 year loan, now at age 61, hopefully you are ready to retire soon, you would have spent an additional $112,932, all because when you were 30 you thought moving in 2014 was such a hassle or loved your apartment too much to leave yet.
Or maybe there wasn’t an agent out there who educated you on the true cost of waiting a year. Maybe they thought you wouldn’t be ready, but if they showed you that you could save $112,932, you’d at least listen to what they had to say.
They say hindsight is 20/20, we’d like to think that 30 years from now when you are 60, looking back, you would say to buy now…
Agents: How are you preparing to help Millennials understand the opportunity available to them TODAY, to become homeowners? Watch a free replay of our most recent webinar, "Spring Ahead in 2014: KCM's Action Plan for DOMINATING the Spring Buyers' Season" to find out the steps you need to take!

Goodbye Fairway! Hello Opening Day!

Opening day!!! Every baseball team in the majors gets to start on an even playing field. No wins, no losses, no errors and no home runs! Every team is working hard so they can win the last game of the year. What team is your favorite? Who will win that last game of the year?
 

The Jerry Ashford Team has moved out of our offices at Fairway Mortgage in Stillwater. We very much enjoyed our time at Fairway and will always remember the great relationships we had there. Our team is setting up shop in Oklahoma City! Realtors, clients and our referral partners will all have access to us and our offices.  What does this change mean to you? Absolutely nothing. We are taking applications and closing loans just as we always have. Our phone number is still the same: 405-517-4959. Our new email address is Jerry@jerryashford.com. Once we get moved in, we will have our open house where you can come out and meet the team. Start your season on The Jerry Ashford Team!

 

We will not be holding any events this week as we are moving. We are getting into our new offices as well as changing over email addresses, contact info and social media. It will be an exciting week but it will be a busy one!

 

The Jerry Ashford Team is dedicated to taking care of you, your clients and referrals. We are honored to help our veterans, New Home buyers, new builds, FHA…. Well, everyone! We will close on time, get docs out three days early and fund our loans on time! All the great service you have enjoyed with The Jerry Ashford Team over the last sixteen years is still alive and well.

 

Questions or comments? I would love to hear from you!

The Law of the Hook

By Todd Duncan The Law of the Hook says that a captivated audience stays to the end. That’s because the principle that keeps your eyes glued to a screen and your hands glued to a book is the same principle that keeps your prospects glued to you. You see, an audience is an audience whether in a sales office or a theater; and to keep an audience around, the per­formance must be captivating from the get-go.

Think about it this way: When was the last time you finished a book that didn’t grab you in the first chapter? If you’re like me, there are probably several books gathering dust on your shelves that just didn’t make the cut because they weren’t intriguing enough in the beginning. They didn’t grab your attention. And the same is true of salespeople who fail to capti­vate their audiences in the beginning—they are brushed aside for someone more alluring.

On the other hand, when prospects are captivated by what you offer to them and by the way you offer it, they are compelled to give you their business; and not just once. Quality, high trust salesmanship is like a great book or movie; it captivates right away and keeps one coming back for more.

The Hook

What’s your hook? Do you have one? Do you offer your prospects something so intriguing and captivating that they have to know the rest of the story—that they can’t wait to see the deal through to the end? If you don’t have a hook, it’s time you did.

Based on what you initially say, do, hand out, mail out, promote, or distribute to ask for business, can you honestly say that you would be compelled to place an order with you? Would you be captivated by you? Would you do business with you based on the impact of your opening performance? If you’re not sure, it’s time to change the way you sell.

ACT 1: THE APPROACH

This is the process by which you predetermine who your best prospects are, and then initiate high trust relationships with them by effectively setting an appointment to meet.

ACT 2: THE INTERVIEW

This is the process that follows your Approach in which you conduct a high trust interview to secure the shared essence between you and your prospects. It is also in this Act that you establish your prospects’ needs, their buying strategies, and the emotional fulfillment you must offer in order to meet their real needs and gain their business.
And now allow me to introduce you to . . .

ACT 3: THE SOLUTION

The Presentation is about offering captivating, fulfilling solutions to your prospects in order to secure their devoted business. And that’s where applying the Law of the Hook must begin, because even if you’ve made it this far with a client, a poor presentation can quickly make a prospect disappear. That’s why making an early impact is so critical.

Act 4: The Action

The most exciting part of any sales presentation is hearing prospects say yes after you’ve asked for their business. Once you’ve made an impact with your presentation, there will come a point when you must ask for the prospect’s business. If you’ve done everything right to this point of the sales interaction, Act 4 should be easy. In fact, there will even be occasions when you don’t even have to ask for business, but only confirm what a prospect has already made known to you.

The truth is that prospects actually close their own sales if you offer valuable solutions to their real needs and values.

As you’ve already learned from the high trust interview, prospects will tell you the precise benefits they are looking for from your product or service if you take the time to ask them in a professional, strategic manner. That means that when you move to your sales presentation, you can be confident that you’re offering your prospects exactly what they’ve told you they want. That’s what the Law of the Hook is all about.

Ultimately, if your audience is truly captivated—whether immediately following your solution offering or after some effective objection management and follow up—they will want to stay with you to the end. And in the elite echelon of high trust selling that means your business will realize the full value of their relationships. That is the ultimate goal of every sales relationship.

Mortgage approval is a must before house hunting

Great information from Jim Steward


Setting realistic and obtainable goals for the purchase of a new home will make it a much more pleasurable and satisfying experience. In order to confidently know your purchaseing power you need to get pre-approved.

Pre-approval for a mortgage is obtained by applying for a home loan with a Mortgage Lender; providing income and asset documentation, and authorizing a credit report to be pulled. A loan decision will be based on the review of that information.

Don’t assume anything.

Credit scores and credit profile are critical in today’s lending world. Loan programs have specific credit requirements. No lender can accurately quote an interest rate for a specific loan program without knowing your credit score. Also, no lender can use a credit report that was not pulled by their company. It may surprise you to know that if you pull you own credit report and go the extra step of getting a credit score, that score will not necessarily be the same as when pulled by a mortgage company. The credit request from a mortgage lender has a different scoring model. I am not saying that pulling your own credit is a bad thing (in fact it is a good idea to review your credit at least on an anuual basis) but be aware that there are some differences.

Income is analyzed and your qualifying income may be more (or less) than you think. For example, if you are receiving any income which is non-taxable (such as military housing pay, social security, etc.), that pay may be calculated as greater than it actually is due to the fact that it is not taxed. On the other hand, you may get paid over time, receive a car allowance, have rental income, or some other sort of side income that you consider regular income; that income must meet guidelines based on the length of time and the consistency with which you have received it. Job history also matters. A job change or a first job after college can still be considered if your previous experience relates to it. Education and previous similar work is part of the job history. The self employed and commisioned individuals will generally need a two year history of this type of emploment.

Funds needed to meet closing costs and down payment are also reviewed. Some programs allow “gifts” from family members or “down payment assisance” from non-profit organizations. Banks statements must be provided to verify available cash for closing. VA loans for eligible military families (both active duty & retired) do not require a down payment. Also, most mortgage programs allow the Seller to pay a portion (if not all) of the closing costs.

The American Dream of home ownership is very much alive and well. Get pre-approved before you begin house hunting. On top of every thing else this is a powerful tool in your negotiations. It tells the seller that you are a qualified buyer who is not only serious but able to buy their home.

Hire a real estate agent to ease the process of buying and selling properties

Hire a real estate agent to ease the process of buying and selling properties

Buying or selling a property is one of the most important financial transactions of anyone’s life. Real estate offers wonderful options for all those who are looking for a home to live or only for investment purpose. The decision of buying and selling real estate needs to be supported by a good deal of acquaintance and expert supervision. If you are looking for an option that can help you choose th...e right house for you, then going for a real estate agent is always a good idea.

A professional real estate agent is a licensed person, and has significant experience in the home buying and selling process. Thus, he can help you sail smoothly through the whole process. If you are still wondering about the reasons to go for the services of a real estate agent or to spend on the fees of an agent, then mentioned below are some of the points that can surely convince you to hire a real estate agent before you enter into a real estate transaction.

Their experience in the real state sector is the main reason for you to go for their services. As they handle all these things on daily basis, thus they can guide in the best way. In the real estate sector an agent acts as a shield, thus will protect you from all types of spam. They do their work efficiently and perfectly filter the options and wipe out all those options which are of no meaning for you. In this way they narrow down your search process, thus saving your time and energy to a great extent.

A real estate agent is the best source who can guide you about the area, neighborhood and the property. Although you can also gather some data related to these three sectors, but surely the data they have is much more than the information collected by you. Being into this industry, they can provide you the best guidance on pricing. Not only a good real estate agent helps you to get the property at the best price, but they also help you do the negotiations. The negotiation done by the agent is based on the demand, supply and many other factors.

These agents have a professional network which can be of great help when if you are looking for a house in any other area. This network also makes it possible for you to go through the vast options as per your needs and preferences, before you actually make your decision. Last but not the least, is the freedom from paperwork. Hiring a real estate agent makes the whole buying and selling process less stressful, as they are going to do the voluminous paperwork for you.

The real estate business is a ferocious one. However, taking the help of someone who understands this sector quite well is really recommended. So, if you are planning to buy or sell a home, then look for a reliable real estate agent and make this important decision of your life which you can cherish lifelong.

High Trust Selling - The Law of the Bulls Eye

By Todd Duncan The Law of the Bull’s-Eye says that if you don’t aim for the best prospects you will do business with any prospect. That’s because in sales, if you aren’t aiming for the bull’s-eye, you won’t beat your competition very often. On the other hand, when you’re good at hitting the bull’s-eye prospects in your field, you can upstage your competition on a regular basis.

THE PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY OF PROFITABLE PROSPECTING

The fact is that even if you have great interviewing skills, great presentation skills, and great objection management skills, but don’t have the right prospects, none of that really matters. Obviously, nothing is sold without someone to sell it to. Therefore, if you’re not prospecting, your business is dying. Prospecting is the blood that will keep your sales business alive. And not just when you’re starting off. Prospecting is not an on-and-off switch; it is a volume dial that is turned up when you want more business and turned down when business is cruising. But there is a right and wrong way to gaining prospects, and you must understand the difference.

It doesn’t matter how many prospects you see. It matters how you see the right prospects.

To a certain extent, all of us play the numbers game in selling. However, it is erroneous to assume that if you see more people you will get more business. It’s true that you usually need more prospects when you are starting your sales career than when you’re established. But in either case, it’s not the numbers that ultimately count. It doesn’t matter how many prospects you see. It matters how you see the right prospects.

Would you rather see ten prospects and get one sale, or see one prospect and get one sale? Easy answer, right? It never feels good to have nine prospects say no. Your confidence and profits are only impacted positively by how many people say yes, not by how many calls you make. Therefore, prospecting is a productivity game, not a numbers game. And to maximize your prospecting efficiency you must replace the traditional “more is better” quantity concept with a “less is best” quality concept as you master the Law of the Bull’s-Eye in your career. This is especially critical when you consider how much time prospecting can take from your day if it doesn’t produce sales.

All sales presentation success is predicated on hitting the right prospects who will in turn become clients that reap high returns for life.
I am constantly amazed at how many sales are left on the table when salespeople fail to think long-term. But if you prospect with the purpose of landing the right clients for life, you will resolve to be purposeful in securing their initial trust. What you do between the time you meet a person and the time that individual decides to buy deter¬mines whether he or she will become your client or your competition’s.

What I want you to understand to this point is that aiming for the best prospects is not cold-calling everyone and their mothers. It’s not randomly phoning someone whose name you’ve never seen before that moment. It’s not walking into an office that you’ve never been to and trying to meet with someone with whom you’ve never communicated. It’s not leaving a business card on a restaurant table, under a windshield wiper, or on someone’s front door. High trust selling has nothing to do with the luck of the draw or the alignment of the stars.
Prospecting that leads to high trust sales and long-term clients has everything to do with preparation (knowing how to take accurate aim) and execution (knowing when to release).

Why hire a Realtor?

Hire a real estate agent to ease the process of buying and selling properties

Buying or selling a property is one of the most important financial transactions of anyone’s life. Real estate offers wonderful options for all those who are looking for a home to live or only for investment purpose. The decision of buying and selling real estate needs to be supported by a good deal of acquaintance and ...expert supervision. If you are looking for an option that can help you choose the right house for you, then going for a real estate agent is always a good idea.

A professional real estate agent is a licensed person, and has significant experience in the home buying and selling process. Thus, he can help you sail smoothly through the whole process. If you are still wondering about the reasons to go for the services of a real estate agent or to spend on the fees of an agent, then mentioned below are some of the points that can surely convince you to hire a real estate agent before you enter into a real estate transaction.

Their experience in the real state sector is the main reason for you to go for their services. As they handle all these things on daily basis, thus they can guide in the best way. In the real estate sector an agent acts as a shield, thus will protect you from all types of spam. They do their work efficiently and perfectly filter the options and wipe out all those options which are of no meaning for you. In this way they narrow down your search process, thus saving your time and energy to a great extent.

A real estate agent is the best source who can guide you about the area, neighborhood and the property. Although you can also gather some data related to these three sectors, but surely the data they have is much more than the information collected by you. Being into this industry, they can provide you the best guidance on pricing. Not only a good real estate agent helps you to get the property at the best price, but they also help you do the negotiations. The negotiation done by the agent is based on the demand, supply and many other factors.

These agents have a professional network which can be of great help when if you are looking for a house in any other area. This network also makes it possible for you to go through the vast options as per your needs and preferences, before you actually make your decision. Last but not the least, is the freedom from paperwork. Hiring a real estate agent makes the whole buying and selling process less stressful, as they are going to do the voluminous paperwork for you.

The real estate business is a ferocious one. However, taking the help of someone who understands this sector quite well is really recommended. So, if you are planning to buy or sell a home, then look for a reliable real estate agent and make this important decision of your life which you can cherish lifelong.

Tips to build a home offering best resale value

Tips to build a home offering best resale value

All those, who are planning to build a home for resale purpose, it becomes essential for them to make sure that it suits, not only their own requirements but also that of prospective buyers. Many a times, people build homes without giving a thought as what potential buyers might acknowledge and value in an abode. Building and designing a house witho...ut taking into account the resale value of the property could be a very big mistake, and it can even depreciate the value of the home when owners want to sell it. Thus, when building a home it is crucial to design it in compliance to other homes in the locality. The basic requirement is to furnish it with apposite building supplies and consider an enticing landscape for the exterior.

Nevertheless, it is very essential to design a floor plan that matches up with other homes in the vicinity, in terms of size, pattern, and color schemes. One should never try to build the biggest home in the area, as the value of the property would be decided by the price and size of other homes located nearby. Hence, it would be better to design a home that coincides in size and pattern with others in the neighborhood.

Another important aspect is to design a home with appropriate and harmonizing color schemes. One should abstain from using bright colors when all the other houses in their neighborhood feature earthy tones. It would be a good choice to select appropriate building supplies to furnish the interior. For instance, when building a home in a colonial style neighborhood, one should opt for furnishing it with latest flooring materials, or using upgraded closets and wardrobes, and considering contrasting color schemes to satiate the needs and wants of future buyers.

When building an abode in a developing neighborhood, one should opt for furnishing it with low-priced building materials, so as not to override their budget, and ensure maximum profits on home sale. By overspending on a property located in a developing area, it would be very difficult to regain the extra expenses incurred on installing upgraded building materials, when it comes to fixing its resale price in near future.

Although many of the homes are build to perfection, but often they lack proper landscaping and craftsmanship required to entice prospective home buyers. Proper landscaping is vital to ensure a good resale value. Homes with enticing landscaping can be expected to be sold off quickly and at higher price, as compared to those with inappropriate landscaping. Good landscaping would give the home a unique look and represent the sense of style of the owners. When planning the budget, one should include extra expenses of landscaping, which would add value not only to their home, but also to the neighborhood.

Most home owners might have already witnessed how an inharmoniously designed home could become an eyesore for others. It is no surprise that such type of property would take longer to sell and perhaps at much lower price, as compared to others in the locality. Moreover, it could become an unfavorable asset for its owners, and probably damaging for the neighbors. Unappealing homes would also degrade the value of neighborhood and make them less desirable to reside in.

When building a home, it is essential to design it according to archetypal homes in the locality, and furnishing it with apposite building supplies, and considering alluring landscaping, thereby being assured of maximizing returns on investment in future.

Where is your money going?

Tracking spending and expenses
To build a realistic financial budget, start by figuring out where your money goes now.

There are three steps to creating a budget:

1) Identify how your money is currently being spent.

2) Evaluate that spending to see if it meets the financial priorities you specified in Lesson 1.

3) Track your ongoing spending to make sure it stays within those guidelines (or to... understand how your budget needs to be revised).

If you happen to use Quicken, Microsoft Money or other such software, you're in luck. These programs generally make it easy to draw up a budget.

In Quicken, for example, every time you make a deposit, write a check, pay a credit card bill or dispatch an electronic payment you are asked to assign it to a particular category, such as "salary," "clothing," "groceries," "child care" or "health insurance."

You can also create subcategories, dividing "auto" expenses into "fuel," "insurance" and "service." The program comes with a set of categories that handle most of the basics. You can edit the list to create categories that make better sense for your particular household.

The drawback, of course, is that entering and categorizing all of your income and outflow is a tedious chore.

You can reduce the tedium by judiciously selecting categories. Let's say you are only worried about tracking your spending for recreation and leisure pursuits. You could create categories that cover those types of expenses, and let everything else accumulate under "miscellaneous revenue" or "miscellaneous expense."

The problem with that approach is that you forgo the opportunity to spot problems in other spending areas that you may not even be aware of.

A better solution is to track expenses using electronic banking. That way, you can download your payments and deposits directly from the bank, rather than having to enter them by hand.

The downloaded banking transactions generally show up without any categorization - meaning you'll have to add the categories by hand. But if you use a credit card that is issued by a bank that permits electronic access, then the downloaded charges from your card sometimes do come with categories attached (they aren't always right, so check them).

Either way, once you've got your spending tracked by category, drawing up a report requires only a few clicks of the mouse. Even better, such programs often have an automatic budget-creation feature that scans your spending in the past in order to estimate how much you'll spend going forward.

If your finances aren't wired, you can still get a good handle on your spending the old-fashioned way. Start by getting all your records together from the past 12 months, including pay stubs, loan proceeds, withdrawal slips, canceled checks and itemized credit-card statements. Then go through them and compile totals for your income and expenses in a set of categories that makes sense for you.

At the end of this exercise, you may still have a sizable lump of spending that's undocumented - typically, the money you withdraw in cash and then spend on day-to-day needs. If this portion of your budget seems to be getting out of hand, keep a journal for the next four weeks in which you record every nickel you spend. You can use those results to extrapolate how your cash is being spent throughout the year.

Now that you've got a good picture of where your money is going, you can proceed to evaluate which parts of that spending should be raised or lowered.

BECAUSE IT'S UGLY, AND 3 OTHER BIG REASONS YOUR HOME ISN'T SELLING

BECAUSE IT'S UGLY, AND 3 OTHER BIG REASONS YOUR HOME ISN'T SELLING
By Jaymi Naciri

Ever wonder why some homes sell and others don't? There is no magical fairy dust that can turn a loser of a house into a palace. And, in fact, if there were such a think as magical fairy dust, sprinkling it in your home would make a big mess, and that's a big no-no if you want to sell.

Getting your home sold is no...t all that hard if you stick to the basics. But if you've got some of the problems below, you may just be sitting on that unsellable home for a while.
Problem No. 1: Because your home is ugly

Yes, your home is ugly. If your Realtor didn't tell you that, let us go ahead and say what he should have. And just so we're clear, "ugly" can also stand in for:
Cluttered
Outdated
Dirty
Messy
Very few people - investors looking for a deal aside - can walk into an untidy mess of a house and see the potential. If you're not willing to clean it up, clean it out, and maybe make a few overdue updates, you may not get it sold. That goes double for over-personalization that is so in your face buyers can't see past it.
"Everybody's taste is different, so less is more when it comes to decor at sale time. Loud patterns and bold colors can be big distractions," said MSN.

Solution:
You need to de-ugly-fy that house but quick. Pretty places around you are selling. If you have similar plans, similar features, similar lots and they're selling while you're sitting, it's not hard to figure out why.

Take a good long look. If you don't see anything wrong, bring in a few friends for their opinions. But only the ones who might actually tell you the truth.

Problem No. 2. Because your price is unrealistic
This is the No. 1 most common problem with homes that are not selling, says MSN. "If you're guilty of having "a 'what the heck are they thinking?' price tag," they say, you can expect to sit on the market for a while.

"Price is usually the overriding factor in any home that doesn't sell. Whatever its problem, it can usually be rectified by adjusting the price."

Adds U.S. News: "Without question, the No. 1 reason a home doesn't sell is price. Sellers have an emotional attachment to their homes and tend not to be objective about the true value."

Solution:
If it is an emotional attachment that's getting in the way, take the emotion out of the equation and think of it simply as a business transaction. Many times the issue is a seller owes more than the home is worth or simply wants a higher price. But it's the market that sets the price. And if it's telling you your price is too high, it's probably best to listen.

When all else fails, listen to your agent, who should have provided you with comparables that spell out recent sales and market trends. (Also See: It's The Price That Sells a Home)
Problem No. 3: Because it's a 'project' house
Maybe you've made the decision to sell and you just don't want to put any money into a house that's no longer going to be yours. But a house that looks like it's going to take too much work - or too much money - to fix up is a turnoff.

"If a home looks as if it's going to cost half as much to repair or renovate as it does to purchase, it's going to take a long time to move," said MSN. "Today's buyer is a lot more reluctant to take on a 'project,' especially if there are houses around it that don't need as much work. Ditto for homes that have strong pet or mold smells."

The Solution:
"Fix it, or prepare to lop a large amount off the price," said MSN.
Problem No. 4: Because you're not cooperating
This is also the No. 1 reason houses end up overpriced. Uncooperative sellers also tend to ignore other advice from their agent, about keeping the home tidy (see No. 1), being available when needed, being open to price reductions, being able to make the house available for open houses, and agreeing to terms when there is a contract discussion.

"No offense, but maybe you aren't showing your house off enough? If you aren't using a real estate agent and work away from your home, your time might be limited, of course. But you should try to make your house as accessible and available as possible for a Realtor and a potential homebuyer to easily drop by and take a tour (which means having the place clean, too)," said U.S. News. "Having your home be shown only by appointment or only at designated times will severely cut down on the number of showings you get, and if the house isn't getting shown, it isn't going to get sold."

The Solution:
Get in or get out. Or get in to get out. You have to commit yourself to a process that, quite frankly, can be inconvenient and a hassle in order to get your home sold, especially in more competitive markets. Being agreeable and available, however painful, for this finite amount of time, will pay off in the end.

What comes first: House or marriage?

An Article to Share:

What comes first: House or marriage?
By Christin Camacho

Redfin agents have noticed a trend lately; couples are putting off their wedding so that they can buy a home. The reason? Low mortgage interest rates. These practical pairs haven't given up on the idea of marriage; they just can't afford to buy a home and pay for a wedding at the same time, and interest rates are too e...nticing right now.

David Pollock, a real estate agent at Redfin, experienced this personally.
"I bought my house with my girlfriend in October. We will get engaged eventually, but I told her I'd rather spend the money on a house right now. I've had three clients who have made the same decision; they want to lock in a good loan now while interest rates are low," Pollack said. So are these couples making the right decision? Redfin decided to look at what couples could miss out on financially if they put off buying a home to have a wedding, or if you want to look at it the other way, what they gain financially if they forgo the wedding and buy a home.
First of all, we gathered some wedding statistics:
• According to The Knot, the average wedding costs $28,427, not including the honeymoon or wedding bands
• The Knot says wedding bands cost $1,126 for brides and $491 for grooms on average
• The average newly married couple spends $5,111 on their honeymoon trip, according to a Conde Nast Bridal Infobank survey (cited on Bankrate.com)
Altogether, that's about $35,000. If a couple instead used that $35,000 on a 20 percent down payment for a $175,000 home, over the course of five years the home would gain nearly $47,000 in equity, assuming an appreciation rate of 3 percent.
So if a couple spends its savings on a wedding and has to start over from scratch to save for a down payment, it could be losing out on nearly $47,000 over the course of five years.
It's not just the low mortgage interest rates that are pressuring people to buy now. The stricter mortgage lending regulations have some couples worried about qualifying for a loan while spending money on a wedding.
"I have one client – a couple – who put off their marriage so they could buy a home," said Jordan Clarke, a Redfin agent in San Diego. "They've been making some plans for a wedding, but can't put down the reservation fee for their venue until they've secured their mortgage, otherwise it could affect their credit score and would prevent them from qualifying for the loan. They're going to wait to get married until later this year."
Of course not all couples are in the same financial situation; there are some who don't have to choose between a wedding and a home; the low mortgage interest rates are allowing them to do both.
"I've seen a few couples who are engaged and planning their wedding while looking for homes. They wouldn't be able to afford to do both if it wasn't for the low interest rates right now," said Sylva Khayalian, a Redfin agent in Pasadena, Calif.

Tips on reducing your home insurance costs

Tips on reducing your home insurance costs
by Margueritte Rossi

Organising and paying for your home insurance can be a financial nightmare, especially if you’re not entirely sure what you’re doing.
There are lots of little ways that you can reduce the cost of your home insurance but you need to know how.

Here are my top tips.

Increase your excess
By making the decision to increase your excess ...you can make big savings on your premium payments.

Increase your security
Some insurance companies offer better premiums to clients who increase their home security measures.
Consider adding things like external home monitors, alarms and dead bolts on windows and doors. By spending a little extra money on home security systems you can reduce your premiums on your home and contents insurance.

Shop around & compare prices
Many people simply sign up for home and contents insurance, without thinking about how much it costs. Don’t pay the same premium year on year without first checking whether you’re getting a deal which suits you. You could save hundreds of dollars.

Do your research before you move
If you’re moving to a new city, research which areas have low crime rates and look into finding a home in those areas.
High crime risk areas will increase your monthly premiums so if you’re looking to save some cash on your home insurance it’s best to stick to the safer suburbs in your city.

Correctly calculate your insurance needs
When making estimates on what your belongings are worth, be thorough. You don’t want to be paying increased fees for items that aren’t worth as much as you think they are, or accidentally underestimate what they are worth.

Switch from monthly to annual payments
Many companies will offer a discount if you pay your premiums annually rather than monthly. You’re probably going to be paying for home and contents insurance for most of your adult life and you can save a significant amount of money by bulk paying for your insurance.

Combine you home & contents insurance with other products (like car insurance)
Some insurance companies will create bundle packages for you. So, for example, if you have your car insurance covered by the same company that does your home and contents insurance they might offer a multi-policy discount.

Credit Report Error Sinks Short-Sellers Bids for a Mortgage

Credit Report Error Sinks Short-Sellers Bids for a Mortgage
By Scott Sheldon

Need to finance a home this year? If you had a previous short sale, pay very close attention to your credit report, because it might list the home as a foreclosure. It's important to know how this difference can prevent you from getting a new mortgage again, and how you can deal with it so you can get a mortgage.

Maybe you're purchasing another home to live in, or for investment property. Perhaps you're financing your primary home for a specific purpose. Whatever the reason, the credit reporting from the previous shorted lender can make or break your new mortgage. Short-selling allows homeowners to avoid foreclosure. Foreclosure involves defaulting on the mortgage, and essentially giving the house back to the bank, and is typically seen as the worse event of the two, in terms of credit-worthiness. Lenders are obligated to report the true and exact circumstances surrounding a delinquency.
When reporting on a short sale, they will typically report "Settled for less than full balance." This is what the new lender you're working with on your loan will want to see because this indicates the previous property was a short sale. However, while lenders do have a responsibility to report accurately to the credit bureaus, it doesn't mean they always do. It's not uncommon to see a previous lender reporting the property as "Settled for less than full balance, chapter 9." Enter a red flag...

The Credit Report Codes You Need to Watch Out For: If the previous lender includes the following codes on your credit report, you'll need to put the brakes on your new mortgage loan process -- Chapter 5, 8 or 9. These classifications are synonymous with a foreclosure, which can deter your ability from successfully procuring a mortgage two years after a short sale.
For a short sale, a borrower is eligible for conventional loan financing 24 months post-short sale at 80 percent loan-to-value or lower. But for a foreclosure, a three-year window is required to get a mortgage again with as little as 3.5 percent down on a primary home with an FHA loan. Seven years must have passed for the homebuyer to qualify for a conventional loan post-foreclosure (or, four years with extenuating one-time economic hardship circumstances). So the addition of chapter 5, 8 or 9 flags the previous short sale on the credit report as a foreclosure, thereby making the loan ineligible for conventional financing in a shorter time frame.

How to Challenge the Code: All mortgage companies originating run each and every loan through what's called an automated underwriting system, or AUS. It's sort of like Google for mortgage lenders, but it evaluates the credit, debt, income and assets -- the total borrower picture -- and gives a preliminary approval. The chapter 5, 8, or 9 prevents the AUS from issuing the preliminary approval. Here's what you can do to challenge the item:

1.Write to the creditor.

2. Include a copy of the final settlement statement indicating the previous property you owned was a short sale, as well as a copy of the grant deed transferring the property from you to the buyer.

3. Explain to the creditor that there is an erroneous item (the chapter 5, 8, or 9) on your credit report, and that it must be removed to indicate a short sale.

4. Wait about 60 days to receive the confirmation letter.

5. Re-apply for the new mortgage.
Because there were so many short sales processed in recent years -- and this is especially true with the bigger banks -- lenders' credit reporting may not have been as accurate as it could have been. So this is exactly why it's especially important to check your credit reports before you apply for a mortgage. (You can do this for free once a year from each of the three major credit reporting agencies.)

If you find these foreclosure codes listed on your short sale before you apply for a mortgage, you'll know that you need to clear up the error first in order to put yourself on the path to a new mortgage.
If you're working on rebuilding your credit after a short sale, monitoring your credit scores can be a great way of tracking your progress. You can do this for free using the Credit Report Card, which updates two of your credit scores for free every month.

That is Unacceptable-Great Story and Insight

By Todd Duncan Let me tell you a story of audacious courage.

Do you have children? Well, Deb and I have two high-octane, athletic, teenage boys that will climb, jump off of or skateboard over any object known to man. It’s not unusual for us to get a call that one of them is getting stitches or an X-ray. Both kids are on their high school varsity surf team, which in California is better than being on the football team.

Last February the boys were at surf practice at 6:00 a.m. fighting the predawn, freezing cold water. On the very first wave, our youngest son Matthew wiped out. The tremendous wave tossed him around, pulling at the surfboard leash and causing the board to snap back against the side of his head like a giant paddle ball. He surfaced consciously, but blood was pouring from a large wound on his scalp. His older brother helped him get into shore, and his coach rushed him to ER.

I got the call to pick up Matt at hospital. When I arrived, the doctor was stitching up a serious gash on the side of my son's head. As he finished, the doctor called me out into the hallway, saying words no parent ever wants to hear:
“Something is wrong. I want to do a CAT Scan.”

My heart dropped to my toes. This was one of those moments when it doesn’t matter how much money you have in the bank, or how many deals are in your pipeline—in this moment you know that you and everyone you love are mortal. Matthew's skull was broken, and there was nothing I could do.

My son was admitted to ICU at Children’s Hospital in Orange County, and for three hours I sat in the waiting room. I spent the time thinking about my life; not about regrets I have, but about how happy I am for the things I haven't missed.

I haven’t missed my kids' lives. I haven't given up on my own life, even when times were dark. I've done everything I could as a dad, living out new experiences and challenges with my family at my side. And sitting in that hospital waiting for Matthew to come out of life-saving surgery, this was the thought that brought me the most peace.

This is why I want you to learn and grow as fast as you can; so you can work less and make more money. Do not miss your life. Do not miss your children's lives.
After the operation the surgeon explained that the surfboard fin had crushed Matt’s skull, puncturing the sack around his brain, and slicing through the part of his brain that controls speech. The doctors expressed that there was a possibility that Matt would ever talk again.

 As a speaker the idea that my perfect son, with his darling sense of humor and ability to debate, may never speak again was one of the hardest realizations of my life.
“We need Matt to do two things: he needs to talk, and he needs to smile,” explained the doctor.

As Matt began to wake up, I urged him to respond. And as he started trying to move his mouth, tears began welling up in my eyes.

“Am I on the other side?” Matt asked. I howled laughing, and he smiled.
After spending two increasingly uncomfortable nights in a tiny, comfortless room, Matthew plucked up the courage to ask the doctor how much longer he’ll be in the hospital. After consulting his chart, the doctor replied, “A week, maybe two weeks.” To which Matt promptly said, “THAT IS UNACCEPTABLE.”

He’s fourteen years old, and it’s only been 48 hours since he had brain surgery where they put in two titanium plates and twenty-four screws.

He the said, “WHAT HAS TO HAPPEN FOR ME TO GET OUT OF HERE TODAY?”

Matt was released 3 hours later.

The Learning

“That is unacceptable.”

“What has to happen in order for this to change?”

I call these “Power Phrases”. Use them! Take back control! Own your life!

1. What is no longer acceptable to you in business?
2. What is no longer acceptable to you in your life?
3. What needs to happen in order for things to change?

At our Sales Mastery Event this past October, over 50 professionals lined up at microphones and shared with over 1,500 other participants, the answer to the above three questions.

In conclusion, make a list of your top five answers for questions 1 and 2. Then come up with one thing you can do to change your reality. You will find this to be one of the most amazing exercises you could ever go through!

U.S. Homeownership Rate

U.S. Homeownership Rate
By Danielle Hale

In each Economic Update, the Research staff analyzes recently released economic indicators and addresses what these indicators mean for REALTORS® and their clients. Today’s update discusses the homeownership rate.
...
The U.S. homeownership rate remained roughly stable at 65.2 percent in the 4th quarter of 2013 from 65.3 in the 3rd quarter of the same year. It was also roughly the same as the 4th quarter of 2012 when the rate was 65.4 percent. If adjusted for seasonal variation, the rate has remained stable at 65.1 percent since the second quarter of 2013.

The Census Housing Vacancy Survey, the source of this data, shows that there are just shy of 115 million households in the U.S. and slightly fewer than 75 million of those households own the home that they live in. This also means that every one percent change in the homeownership rate at this population size results in a shift of 1.2 million households from renting to owning or vice versa.

The Census bureau actually has several estimates of the homeownership rate which are slightly different and typically show similar trends. This particular data source has been published quarterly since 1965. As shown in the graph below, this is not the first boom and bust that we’ve seen in the homeownership rate. From the beginning of the series in 1965 through 1980 the homeownership rate was on a slow and steady rise from a low of 62.9 percent. In 1980 it peaked at 65.8 percent before falling back to 63.5 in 1985.

From its 1985 low through 1995 the homeownership rate remained in a roughly narrow range of 63.5 to 64.5. In 1995, the homeownership rate began a steady ascent that peaked at 69.2 percent in 2004. Since that time, the rate has receded, but at slightly higher than 65 percent, it remains higher than the 1985 to 1995 norm. With a year’s worth of readings around the 65 percent mark, has homeownership reached its near-term low? Will it stabilize at 65 percent for a long time as it did in the late eighties and early nineties or will it climb again? Only time will tell.

In favor of a stabilizing homeownership rate, homeownership rates have begun to rise in the Midwest and South—regions with homeownership rates already above the US average. By contrast, homeownership in the West continues to slump and the pattern in the Northeast varies substantially from quarter to quarter.

The Law of Dress Rehearsal

By Todd Duncan If you’re serious about reaching the peak of your selling potential, you must acknowledge that mastering your "lines" is very important to your success as a sales professional. You must know your lines. You must know your presentation. You must know the next step.
In the process of selling, you don’t have time to think about it. You don’t have time to flip through the pages of your “How to Sell” manual if you’re interested in earning a customer’s trust. The truth is that if you want to be a world-class sales professional there are two things you should never have to think about:
1. How to sell
2. What to say in a selling situation

Sales Bloopers

Remember the popular prime-time show hosted by Dick Clark and Ed McMahon called TV’s Bloopers and Practical Jokes? For an hour we laughed as we watched some of the best actors thoroughly mess up their lines. We laughed because it’s very human to make mistakes. And seeing actors make bloopers reminded us that despite the flawless performances we saw on their television shows even the very best actors forget their lines from time to time.
Have you ever made a blooper in sales? Ever said something you shouldn’t have said or done something stupid then wished with everything in you that someone would just yell, “Cut!” so you could start again?
I have and it doesn’t feel good. That’s because in sales, unlike television, you don’t get a second chance to retake your lines. You don’t have a production crew to edit out your bloopers and create the impression of a flawless performance.
In sales, once a word or an action is out, it’s out, and you can never reel it back in. You can’t undo the negative impression it may have created or regain the sale it may have lost. Sales is a live performance day in and day out. Like a Broadway play, where most mistakes are noticed, and where one wrong move can jeopardize the entire performance if you’re not careful.

A HIGH TRUST PERFORMANCE DOESN’T JUST HAPPEN

Unfortunately, the truth is that most salespeople are not prepared to succeed when opportunities present themselves. Most salespeople are not sure how to proceed in a selling situation, but they do anyway, right or wrong. They’re not sure what to say in a selling situation, but they speak anyway, right or wrong. They usually end up talking too much and listening too little. And when the curtain comes down, they wonder why the customer didn’t applaud with approval.
Most salespeople are not prepared to earn a customer’s trust, so they generally don’t. That’s why the average salesperson has to make dozens of sales attempts before landing one sale. That’s because high trust doesn’t just happen. While you can haphazardly persuade, manipulate, or con customers into buying your product or service from time to time, you can’t earn their authentic trust and lasting business that way.
The Law of the Dress Rehearsal says that to give a great performance you must be well practiced. In other words, to be highly successful you must know what to say and do when a sales opportunity arises. You must know how to earn high trust initially, then foster high trust permanently. That’s what it means to follow the Law of the Dress Rehearsal.

Building A Trustworthy Sales Business

In sales it’s not enough to be a trustworthy person. While it’s certain that you must have a trustworthy foundation within you (beneath the surface) to be highly successful, high trust selling is still about taking action; the right action. Therefore to become a trustworthy salesperson with a trustworthy sales business you must not only know why you are selling, you must also know how to sell during each act of the process.
You must know how to apply yourself, so to speak. That’s why the Law of the Dress Rehearsal is so critical, because the better you know how to sell, the better you will perform. And every steadfast business is built one sales performance at a time.

SEVEN THINGS SELLERS SHOULD DO BEFORE PLACING THEIR HOME ON THE MARKET

SEVEN THINGS SELLERS SHOULD DO BEFORE PLACING THEIR HOME ON THE MARKET

By Clara Outler

As the Spring time approaches, many homeowners who need or want to sell will make the decision to place their home on the market for sale, since Spring is considered the best time of the year for home sales. However, prior to making that decision to place your home on the market, there are at least 7 crucial ...things that the Seller should do before putting up that ‘For Sale’ sign:

1. Do All Needed Repairs:
You would be surprised to know the number of sellers who put their homes on the market without doing the repairs needed. I guess they think the buyer won’t notice the dripping faucet in the bathroom or the dry-rotted weather stripping on the front door. Guest what? The buyer notices everything! And if they see that you haven’t done minor maintenance on the home, they will assume that you haven’t done any maintenance on major items like servicing your HVAC unit over the 15 years you’ve been in the home. If you are fortunate to receive an offer from a potential buyer, EVERYTHING will be revealed during the home inspection and it will only affect your bottom line in the end or lead to the buyer terminating the offer. It is in your best interest to do the repairs prior to listing your home.

2. Remove any Traces of Wallpaper:
Most buyers absolutely hate wallpaper. Let me repeat that again. Most Buyers “absolutely” hate wallpaper! If you have wallpaper in your home, it is best to remove it prior to listing your home. Not only is wallpaper personal to your taste, it is also dated and makes the house appear older than it is. When buyers see wallpaper, they immediately walk-out in most cases because it is hard for them to imagine their furniture in the home with someone else’s décor. It is best to remove it and paint your walls a neutral color so that buyers can easily envision their furniture working in any of the rooms.

3. Clean Your Home Thoroughly (Interior and Exterior).
Maybe it’s a mild case of OCD that I have but I usually keep cleaning wipes in my car so that I can wipe my hands when necessary after a showing. You would not believe the condition some people leave their homes in when it is on the market. I once showed a home that still had dog poop and poop stains on the carpet—and it was NOT a foreclosure. I get it that some people still live in their home while it is on the market but when you’re selling your home, you have got to keep it clean! Kitchens and bathrooms sell homes, so they especially need to be thoroughly cleaned. Ceiling fans should be dusted as well as light fixtures. One thing that some people tend to forget about are wall plates and light switches that are used frequently. Sellers tend to forget about these and they are often dirty from constant use. Have your home thoroughly cleaned to include windows, wiping down doors and door knobs and cabinets. Also clean the yard for better curb appeal and pressure-wash the exterior if needed.

4. De-Clutter, De-Personalize, and Organize Everything:
Buyers like open spaces and are willing to pay for it. If you have too much furniture, it is best to either get rid of some or rent a storage facility to store it in while your home is on the market. I also advise my sellers to de-personalize the home by removing any personal photos and tchotchkes, and also making it gender-neutral by re-painting colors that would lean towards one particular gender (i.e. pink bedrooms) to a more neutral color. Since you’re going to be moving anyway, it is best to pack these personal items away and put in storage to use in your new home. Organize all your closets, cabinets, and garage if you have one. If you have small closets, take out the clothes that you don't wear very often to create the appearance of spaciousness.

5. Look at Your Home More Objectively Through the Eyes of a Buyer
Once you’ve done all the things mentioned above, look at your home objectively like a potential buyer would and ask yourself. “If I was a buyer, would I purchase this home?” If the answer is yes, then you have succeeded in getting your home prepared for the market. If you have difficulty looking at your home objectively, have a friend or someone you trust walk through and give you honest and constructive feedback.

6. Be Realistic about the Listing Price You Set for Your Home
Homes sell for market value—period. You don’t determine the price of your home—the Market Does. With the onset of technology and so much information available online, most buyers are very savvy and perform their research in advance. They are not going to pay more for your home that what it is worth. And if they are represented by a good Buyer’s agent (like myself) I will not let my Buyers pay more than what it is worth. It doesn’t matter if you need to get a certain amount out of the sale in order to purchase your new home. Your home is only going to sell for what similar homes like yours are selling for at the current time.

7. Choose a Professional Real Estate Expert to Sell Your Home
The final step is to choose a local, experienced, real estate expert who specializes in marketing and selling homes. You will want to interview the agent and ask several questions pertaining to how they will market your home prior to making a decision to list with them. Your agent should also do a comprehensive market analysis (CMA) to determine what your home could possibly sell for in the current market. Once you have selected an agent, follow the professional advice of that agent throughout the listing period.

Sell it or rent it out?

Sell it or rent it out?

 

 By Harriet Edleson

Ryan Severino liked the location of his family's home in Scotch Plains, N.J., but he also thought they needed more space. So in the summer of 2011, they decided to buy a bigger house. Mortgage interest rates were down, and so were home prices. "We were outgrowing our house," Severino says. "We didn't want to wait for prices to go bac...k up."

But one thing he didn't realize was exactly how long it would take to sell the first house or to rent it, if that turned out to be the better option. "It comes down to more than pure economics," says Severino, senior economist and associate director of research at Reis Inc., a real estate research firm.

Finally, in the spring of 2012, eight or nine months later, Severino found a buyer for the first house. In the interim, Severino weighed the pros and cons of renting versus selling, and he reflected on the decision he ultimately made.

"It was tough to sell it in that market," Severino says. "We had the house on the market for sale while we were getting inquiries for renting it." But Severino knew he didn't want to be a landlord, and "didn't want the money tied up in the house."

Determining whether a property is a good investment takes research and analysis, and it's wise to take your time in making the decision because it's a major one, real estate experts say.

"You will break even if you rent out a place in some cases, and in most cases you will be profitable," says Walter Molony, an economic issues spokesman for the National Association of Realtors. "Investors swooped into the markets in 2011, 2012 and 2013 when they could buy up a place at a lower price," he adds.
But the situation in many U.S. markets has changed with housing prices and rents on the rise, depending on the market. If you're thinking of renting your house, condominium or coop, do a comparative market analysis on your own or with the help of a licensed real estate salesperson or broker, he suggests.

"Figure out how much money you will have to spend to get it up to market standard," Molony says.

Evaluating whether a property is a good investment and worth renting is both a monetary and personal decision that depends on your situation and tolerance for risk.

"Figuring your costs – that's the easy part," says J. Frank Barefield, Jr., president of Abbey Residential LLC, in Birmingham, Ala., and a member of the National Apartment Association. "The hardest part is the one variable that we can't control – time."

A second factor is the unknown: Who is the person or people who will occupy your home and, hopefully, pay you the agreed monthly amount? "I would want to know everything I can find out about my potential renter," Barefield says. Whether you do it yourself or work with a management company, make sure you pay for both a financial and criminal background check on prospective tenants, he says.

To evaluate whether to rent or sell your property, here are six tips from real estate experts:

Evaluate current market conditions. Before you decide which way to go, consider the current situation in the area where your property is located. Determine the demand for rental properties like yours is in the neighborhood, Molony says. Through a comparative market analysis, which real estate professionals use, determine the value of existing properties in the neighborhood and the price similar properties rented for within the last six months. You can research online or ask a real estate professional – either a licensed salesperson or broker – to help you.

Consider the longer-term outlook for the neighborhood. "Where is the property located? Is it in an area that is likely to be improving or declining?" Barefield says. It's not always easy to determine which way the property values are moving in a neighborhood. You can find comparables from the last three to four years to detect a trend. If the neighborhood's property values are on the rise, you might want to keep the property and give it time to appreciate. If values are declining, and you will still make a profit, you might prefer to sell and take the profit before the market declines.
Determine your expenses for the property. Calculate your actual monthly expenses or carrying costs for the property: any mortgage payment, real estate taxes, insurance, homeowners association or other common charges such as monthly condominium fees and any assessments the homeowners association may have added. If there are monthly assessments on a property, factor into your calculation how long they are expected to last.

Analyze your cash flow. Determine how much monthly rent you can secure for the property and for how long. Then, compare that to your expenses to determine if the place is "going to carry itself," says Michael Corbett, Trulia's real estate expert and author of the book "Before You Buy!" In addition, he and others advise having a maintenance or emergency fund for the property for "when things break," Corbett says. A key question to ask yourself is what to do if you don't think you can break even or make a profit. "Analyze: Can I carry that extra debt? Is it worth it to me? Is the market appreciating?" Corbett says. Sometimes it's worth taking a shortfall now because you will be able to sell the property down the line at a higher price, he adds.

Weigh personal factors. Renting your home is more than a financial decision. It's a personal time commitment, which isn't for everybody. Be aware that as a landlord, you may receive calls at inconvenient times unless you hire a management company to handle repairs and emergencies for you. In that case, your costs can be higher. Approximately 1 percent to 2 percent of tenants do not pay the last month's rent or fail to pay at some time during the term of the lease, Barefield says, so weigh whether you are prepared for either situation. Ask yourself whether the personal costs are worth the trouble. How much time do you have to spend on a rental property, and is the financial return going to be worth it? Single-family homes tend to require more work and time from an owner than condominiums, but all properties require attention and time.
Get the property ready to rent. Determine how much it will cost you to get your property ready for the rental market. "Do not do anything more than necessary to get top dollar," Barefield says. The basics are painting and cleaning. Most people either don't improve their property enough or go overboard, he says. If you need help, seek out companies that do "apartment turns," Barefield says. They specialize in "turning a unit – taking it from a move-out to a rent-ready unit," he adds.

Renting your home as an investment can be worth it, but be sure to weigh both the financial and personal factors.

For some people, like Ryan Severino, owning a rental property isn't desirable. "It's not just pure economics," he says. "If we rent it, how much difference it is going to make in our lives in terms of day-to-day living? I owned the house I wanted to own, and wanted to put the money into other investments."

FAMOUS REAL ESTATE ALL AROUND US

FAMOUS REAL ESTATE ALL AROUND US
By Jaymi Naciri

he arrival of Punxsutawney Phil on Groundhog's Day in Punxsutawney, PA - a town made famous for its annual visitor and his shadow (or lack thereof) - got us thinking about other famous places. And famous houses. And before we knew it we were looking at pics of homes that were made famous in the movies and iconic TV homes or homes that were notable ...- because of who lived there or because a murder occurred there, or a murder was filmed there and... well, you can read about it all below.
We're exploring it all - the good, the bad, the famous, the ghoulish, and the groundhogish.

1. Punxsutawney, PA's "most famous resident" is Punxsutawney Phil, a groundhog said to predict the weather annually on Groundhog Day (February 2)," said Wikipedia. But there are approximately 6,000 other full-time residents who make their home in this 3.4-square-mile city.
Punxsutawney is filled with "pre-World War II architecture," said Neighborhood Scout, "making it one of the older and more historic boroughs in the country." Properties for sale range from a one-bedroom, 733-square foot home for $24,000 to a five-bedroom home on a 53-acre ranch priced at $425,000.

2. Almost all of the movie Groundhog Day was actually filmed in Woodstock, Illinois).

3. The city of Gotham, as portrayed in the Batman movies, is fictional. And despite the fact that Gotham was described by Batman: The Dark Knight Returns writer Frank Miller as "New York City at night," according to Wikipedia, it wasn't based on New York at all. "It was originally strongly inspired by Trenton, Ontario's history, location, atmosphere, and various architectural styles, and has since incorporated elements from New York City, Detroit, Pittsburgh, London and Chicago," said Wikipedia.

4. Wayne Manor would cost more than $32 million. That is the assessment of The Independent. "Using floor plans from a 1990s role-playing game (and using other famous people's home, such as Michael Jordan's as a guide), they put the value of 1007 Mountain Drive, Gotham, at around $32,100,000, excluding the Batcave and it's cave-front water access which they suggest would probably not be included in the sale."

5. A little too steep? The Independent priced another, more affordable, gem: "Barbie's dream house in Malibu would cost a little under $18,000."

6. Perhaps homes featured in animated films are more your speed. You can own a house that looks just like the real-life Up! House... if you can kick out the current owners.

Or, get in contact with developer Bangerter Homes, who (with permission), built it in Herriman, Utah. "The house, which is a full-scale replica of the home in the Disney/Pixar movie "Up", was originally built... to be part of the 2011 Salt Lake City Parade of Homes but became a tourist attraction that has brought more than 1000 people a week through suburban Herriman," said Jaunted.
You can see more pics of the house here.

7. Sometimes you can get a house for a song, if you're willing to live at the scene of a murder. The "stunning, 2,000-square foot split-level home atop a rocky hill on a two-acre lot deep in the woods near the town of Bath (Ohio)" seemed like a steal at $269,000," said MSN. And it was, for a house that "had been the childhood home of serial murderer Jeffrey Dahmer" and also the place that the serial killer committed his first murder.
Ultimately, a great price for a great home trumped the oogie factor. The buyer made a lowball offer at $245,000, which was accepted.

8. The Beverly Hills house that William Randolph Hearst lived in was also the honeymoon spot of Jackie and John F. Kennedy, was the set of the Godfather, and was also featured in The Bodyguard, said MSN.
Bring your giant family to fill the home's 29 bedrooms (and two guest houses, an apartment, an Art Deco nightclub, a cinema, plus an outdoor terrace with room for 400 guests, in 50,000 square feet, per MSN), and your giant bank account. The L.A. home that was once listed for $165 million today rents for $600,000 a month.

9. You can make an argument about the Brady Bunch house being the most recognizable house in the world. The 2,500-square-foot home in North Hollywood, CA still stands today, looking every bit as brown and suburban and middle classy as it ever did, only now with the addition of a (very necessary) fence around the perimeter. The home, which sold in 1973 for $61,000, was listed for sale in 2008 at $2 million. It was taken off the market shortly after.
10. Still obsessed with the Brady House? You can build your own! Check out the floorplans here. And don't forget the orange countertops.

One thing you should do before refinancing

One thing you should do before refinancing

 It may seem counterintuitive, but sprucing up your home is important. Here's why.

 By Jeff Brown

Thinking about refinancing? Before you do, put some time and effort — and some money too — into sprucing up.
For anyone selling a home, sprucing up is a no-brainer. Repairs, upgrades, painting and landscaping can raise the sales price. But homeowners who are staying put and refinancing often don't bother with these improvements. If you're not looking for a buyer and have years to get around to these things, why bother?
Because the home's condition will be reflected in the lender's appraisal, which will determine whether you get the new mortgage and how large it can be.

Appraisals start with an analysis of comparable sales data — the prices of nearby homes that have sold recently. Homes that have merely been refinanced are not included. Because most home sellers do spruce up, the comparable prices likely reflect homes in good to excellent condition.

In the second step, the appraiser makes adjustments for differences between the home and what he or she believes to be the standard among the comparables. So if you have a kitchen from the 1970s, and the recently sold homes were more up to date, your appraised value will suffer.

After all, the point of the appraisal is to make sure the home is valuable enough to serve as collateral on the loan. The homeowner may perceive the "value" as including all those nagging improvement plans as if they'd be done, as they surely would be before a sale. But the lender wants to know what the home would fetch as is, in case it had to be unloaded after a foreclosure.
A homeowner with enough financial troubles to land in foreclosure is unlikely to spend big money on repairs and improvements.

The risk of a low appraisal is especially serious for the homeowner who wants to replace an older mortgage, because the new loan typically must be large enough to pay off the old one. Despite rising home prices in the past couple of years, many homes are still worth less than their owners paid for them seven or eight years ago. In those cases, homeowners need to squeeze every dollar they can out of the appraisal. At a minimum, a rejected application will cost hundreds of dollars on appraisal fees and other upfront charges.

Homeowners looking for a "cash-out refinancing" have more flexibility, because they can choose to borrow less. Typically, they own the home free of a mortgage or have an older mortgage with a balance well below the home's current value. For them, a low appraisal will not prevent the new financing but will limit the cash they can take out of the home.

Whatever your reason for refinancing, the first step is a little research into recent sales prices in the neighborhood using sites such as realtor.com, Trulia.com and Zillow.com. Because prices have been changing rapidly, try to find sales from the past six months or less.

Then take a realistic look at your home's shortcomings and decide which ones to tackle.

Unfortunately, many improvements fail to add as much value as they cost, so it probably would not pay to install a whole new kitchen just to get a higher appraisal.

Tidying up, painting, trimming the shrubs and other low-cost jobs are definitely worth doing. And looking at your home from a buyer's perspective can help you see it from an appraiser's.

All-cash offers crushing first-time homebuyers

All-cash offers crushing first-time homebuyers
By Diana Olick

Morgan and Tyler Brasfield are "dying" to buy a home, especially since the birth of their second child six months ago. Unfortunately they just don't have the cash to compete in today's San Francisco housing market, so they continue to rent.

"People are coming in with full-cash offers that are significantly higher than asking," said Morgan, as she corralled her two-year-old on the playground. "So if you find a home for a little over a million, which would be a fixer-upper here, you can expect to pay two to three hundred thousand more than asking."

But even if they were looking in a less pricey, less competitive area, Morgan admits they would still have trouble coming up with the down payment; Tyler, who is now working in finance, just graduated from business school a year ago.

"We need to focus on the student loans right now," said Morgan.
While the Bay Area saw the weakest December sales in six years, according to DataQuick, prices there continue to rise. That is largely due to tight supply and investor cash. The median home price in the Bay Area was up 24 percent from December of 2012. Buyers like the Brasfields can't compete with that.

While the numbers are not quite as dramatic nationwide, the story is the same. First-time homebuyers are left out of the housing recovery. They accounted for just 27 percent of sales nationally in December, the lowest since the National Association of Realtors began tracking this cohort in 2008.

First-timers historically account for about 40 percent of the market. Their reasons for dropping out are manifold: High student loan debt, poor employment and poor wage growth, and less-than-pristine credit.

First-time buyers also tend to purchase lower-priced homes, but all-cash investors have cornered the market on those, leaving little behind. All-cash purchases accounted for 42.1 percent of all U.S. residential sales in December, up from 38.1 percent in November, and up from 18.0 percent in December 2012, according to a new report from RealtyTrac.

While the Realtors show a smaller share of all-cash buyers, 32 percent, they don't capture sales of homes outside their "multiple listing services," which would include sales of homes at auctions or by banks. In any case, the share is a, "phenomenal, very, very high percentage," according to the Realtors' chief economist, Lawrence Yun.

Distressed properties made up just over 16 percent of all U.S. home sales in 2013, up from 14.5 percent in 2012, according to RealtyTrac. These homes tend to be priced under $100,000, a sweet spot for first-time buyers. Sales of homes in that price category fell 11.5 percent in December from a year ago, according to the Realtors, while sales of homes priced above $250,000 jumped over 14 percent.

Tough credit is also hitting younger buyers hardest. Today's mortgage lenders require higher down payments, and while first-time buyers used to get help from their parents, that well has dried up for some, as older Americans lost much of their savings in the recent financial crisis.

First-time buyers often turn to FHA loans, the government mortgage insurer, but premiums and fees there have gone up dramatically in the past year, and FHA's share of the market has dropped accordingly.

Credit aside, there is still the simple fact that house prices shot up like a rocket in 2013, well into the double digits nationally.
"Below the surface of last year's market, a number of unsettling trends started to emerge as a result of rapid and ultimately unsustainable appreciation, setting up a bit of a mixed bag for 2014," said Zillow's chief economist, Stan Humphries.

"Affordability issues will help put the brakes on many markets that saw huge appreciation rates, like California and the Southwest, creating volatility that could potentially cause whiplash for homebuyers and sellers."

New mortgage rules aim to prevent risky loans

New mortgage rules aim to prevent risky loans

 Here's a look at what they do and why they matter to potential home buyers.

 By Julie Schmit

 New mortgage-lending rules take hold Friday that federal regulators say will guard against the risky lending practices that fed the housing bubble, which led to the greatest collapse in U.S. home prices since the Great Depression. For most home loan borrowers, the change will have little or no impact on whether they can actually get a mortgage, experts say, but they may have to show even more proof that they can afford one. Here's a look at the rules, what they do and why they matter.

 Q: What are the new rules, and where did they come from?

 A: There are several terms to know. The first is the "ability-to-repay" rule. It was required by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial overhaul legislation as a response to the financial crisis. The rule was crafted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which will oversee its enforcement.

 Q: What does it do?

 A: It requires mortgage lenders to make sure borrowers can actually afford their loans, over the long term, by weighing their income, assets, savings and debt against their monthly house payments. "It really is pretty basic," says Richard Cordray, head of the CFPB. He calls the changes a "back to basics" approach for mortgage lending.

 Q: What else is new?

 A: Another term you need to learn is "Qualified Mortgage" or QM. A QM meets new guidelines, and borrowers who get them are presumed to meet the ability-to-repay requirements. If lenders make QM loans, they have more protections against future lawsuits should the loans later go sour.

 Q: What are the QM guidelines?

 A: QM loans cannot:
• Contain risky features, such as terms that exceed 30 years, interest-only payments or payments that are less than the full amount of interest so that the home loan debt grows each month.
• Carry more than 3% in upfront points and fees for loans above $100,000.
• Push a borrower's total debt load above 43% of his or her monthly income, unless the loan is eligible to be backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, or a federal housing agency such as the FHA, or is made by a small lender that keeps the loan on its books.

 Q: Can lenders still make loans outside those guidelines?

 A: Yes, but they'll still have to make sure borrowers can afford the loans, and they'll have less protection against future legal challenges if the borrower fails — even if they resell the loan after they first make it.

 Bank of the West, for instance, says it'll continue to do interest-only loans. Many borrowers in high housing-cost areas also frequently have debt-to-income ratios that exceed 43% and lenders will likely keep making home loans in those areas, too.
"We're seeing a lot of lenders say they'll keep making" non-QM loans that are "perfectly sound," Cordray says.

 Q: How many mortgages are likely to fall under the QM definition?

 A:The CFPB estimates that 92% of mortgages in the current marketplace meet the QM requirements.

 Q: Why is this needed at all?

 A: Lenders weren't always so careful. Goldman Sachs estimates that 50% of recent home loan defaults could have been prevented had the QM rule been in place when the loans were made, largely before the housing bust.
Over time, should the housing market get superheated again, the new rules will "serve as a barrier," against risky loan practices, says Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates.

 Q: Will the rules make it harder for some people to get home loans?

 A: That's not clear. Goldman Sachs says it may be tougher for borrowers to qualify if they have difficult-to-validate incomes, including those for whom tips, bonuses, commissions, rents or investments constitute a big part of their total income. One in nine Americans are also self-employed, and that income is harder to substantiate than is wage income, Goldman says.
Borrowers above the 43% debt-to-income level will also face more hurdles, but mostly in terms of documentation, says Wendy Cutrufelli, Bank of the West vice president.
That's because lenders have to be able to prove that they exercised extreme due diligence in making such loans, she says. Borrowers should expect to have to produce even more tax records, pay stubs and bank and investment account information.
The 43% standard may also prevent some borrowers from qualifying for the loan needed to buy the house they want, says Roelof Slump, managing director of Fitch Ratings. Others may need bigger down payments to stay within the 43% standard, he says.

 Q: What's going to be the required minimum down payment?

 A: The rules don't set any down-payment requirements.

 Q: Will the rules mean it'll take longer to get home loans approved?

 A: They may, especially early on, says Keith Gumbinger, mortgage expert with HSH Associates. It'll still take lenders more time to get systems up and running that track and handle new documentation requirements. While lenders have had months to prepare, he still expects that loan officers, underwriters and compliance offers will need more training.
"It'll be a muddy mess until the rules settle in," he says.

 Q: What are the downsides to these changes?

 A: Critics say minimum-down-payment requirements would be a good thing. Goldman Sachs' analysis also shows that eliminating loans with risky features would have prevented 59% of defaults that occurred in loans issued in 2007; it also would have prevented 30% of the loans that didn't default, too.