Feng Shui, The Art of Selling Your Home

Try a little Feng Shui when preparing your home for sale!

While there are many conflicting schools of feng shui, some of the basic principals are just common sense and good design.

Feng Shui ( meaning wind and water) has been used for centuries to create good energy (chi) in homes and businesses. When the 5 elements of Feng Shui are used in balance, good energy is created.

The five elements are Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood. If your home decor has an imbalance of any of these elements, the good energy may be affected.

The most important principals of Feng Shui are a clutter free and clean home. Every home stager will agree that a clean and clutter free home is the basis for good staging. Also rearranging furniture to create an easy flow throughout the home is also an important feature to both Feng Shui and home staging.

People also have individual elements. Just for fun, find your element by going to http://www.chiquiz.com/. If you are a fire, wood or water element you are considered a linear thinker and your best direction is East. If you are an earth or metal elemnt, you are considered a conceptual thinker and your best direction is west.

Many students of Feng Shui will say they feel more comfortable or are more productive when facing their best direction. And this may explain why someone may be attracted to a East facing home as opposed to a West facing home.

Remember, Feng Shui is not a religion or cult. In regards to Real Estate, Feng Shui is merely the art of arranging furniture within a home or designing a pleasing landscape to create a good energy flow throughout the property. And whether you call it staging or Feng Shui, these principals will definitely help to sell your home!

Successful Short Sales

Every day I talk to someone who wants to know more about short sales in Real Estate. Here is my post of April 26, 2009 on Short Sales.


A Successful Short Sale!
The key to negotiating a successful short sale is to price the property correctly to obtain an offer the lender is willing to accept. This means the offer must be more finanacially feasible for the lender to accept a short sale rather than foreclosing and selling the property themselves.Once you get a reasonable offer submit that to the lender with the following information:
Purchase and Sales Contract
Prelim HUD-1
Buyers Pre-Approval Letter or Proof of Funds
Listing Agreement
Authorization Form
Sellers Financial Statement
Sellers Last Two Pay Stubs
Sellers Last Two Bank Statements
Sellers Last Two Years Tax returns
It is important to send a complete package to the lender as opposed to "piece-mealing" it one document at a time.
Also, put the account number on each page. Send the entire package to the second mortgage company if applicable.
Each lender will have certain methods to process the short sale once it is recieved, but the general procedure for short sale approval is the package is reviewed to determine whether the price may be acceptable and completeness of all documentation. It is then sent to another "handler" to order an appraisal or BPO (broker price opinion). Many lenders are requesting 2 BPO's to verify fair market value. If offer falls within acceptable range of fair market value, it is then sent to the "investor" for final approval or counter offer.
Once you recieve an approval, the lender will require closing in 30 days. Most lenders will grant one extension if necessary, but don't count on it.
As I mentioned in my last blog, this process will take approximately 90 days.

My Listing Expired! Again!

If you are currently listed with a brokerage (or have been), chances are you realize that it can take several months to sell a home in Brevard County. And if you are like most home owners, your listing has expired at least once, if not twice or three times!

The dilemma for sellers is whether to re-list with the same agent or search for another agent in the hopes a different agent might be able to produce a ready and willing buyer.

Well, of course there are no simple answers, but perhaps I can shed some light on how to make a decision when re-listing your home.

First of all, do you really need to sell your home? or are you just "testing the market"? If you do not need to sell your home, then spare yourself the agony and take it off the market. Wait until the market starts to rebuild some upward momentum before listing again.

Secondly, assuming you interviewed 3 really good agents before selecting one to list your home, did you price the home in the range your agent recommended? or did you decide to list "just a little higher, you know, for some wiggle room to negotiate"? If you listed higher, then you are chasing the market downward and probably losing equity each month.

Thirdly, did you insist that your agent hold open houses, advertise in the newspaper and glossy magazines and put out flyers in front of the house? Well, your agent is probably absolutely frustrated and possibly lost interest in trying to sell your home, since those marketing techniques are a thing of the past!

And lastly, when your agent gently recommended that you de-clutter, clean your home and spruce up the landscaping, did you say it really isn't that important, buyers can see past all that?

What? Your Real Estate Agent didn't tell you that there are only three things that sell a house: Location, Condition and Price? Then you probably need to interview a couple of more agents that truly understand today's market.

And then heed their advice and get your home SOLD!

For Sale By Owner

I know many of you want to sell your home without a realtor, but I'm here to give you several reasons why you should hire a Realtor.

In the current real estate market, 40% of the buyers are first time home buyers. A significant percentage are investors. Both categories can spell trouble for the home owner trying to sell their home on their own.

First of all, first time home buyers are the least experienced and more likely to get "cold feet" and pull out of a deal. There is a great deal of coaching required to help a first time home buyer wade through the complicated process of buying a home. Because most first timers lack confidence in buying real estate, they usually turn to a Realtor to help guide them through the process. (recent surveys show that approximately 86% of buyers use a realtor). Since the majority of buyers are using a Realtor, that means the majority are finding the home they purchase on the Multiple Listing Service.

On the other end of the scale, you have investors who usually have much more experience buying and selling real estate than the average home owner. The investor is definitely looking for the best deal which means the lowest price so that they can maximize their profit potential. Without the aid of a Realtor, it will be difficult at best to achieve the best price for your home. The number one reason that Buyers and Sellers hire a Realtor is to fight for the best price possible for their client.

Studies have been pretty consistent over the years showing that For Sale By Owners (FSBO's) are only successful selling their own home 12-15% of the time. 85% of the sellers in this county sell their home through a Realtor.

Some of the other benefits of hiring a Realtor:

• Accurate pricing of your home
• Professional presentation (or staging) of your home
• Access to Qualified Buyers
• Handling extensive paperwork
• Reduced Liability
• Overseeing transaction from start to finish
• Multiple Listing Service and other Internet Marketing

Talk to your friends and family and neighbors and ask them who they use as a realtor and whether they would recommend that Realtor. Interview at least three full time, experienced agents before making a decision. I think in the long run you will be happy you chose a Realtor to sell your home!

Luxury Homes Sell At Auction

Let's face it, the longer it takes to sell your home, the more holding costs you incur and less profit you will make on the sale. There for, it makes sense to get your property sold as soon as possible!

That being said, I would like to discuss a marketing strategy that is often overlooked. Real Estate Auctions can be very successful and will get a home sold in record time.

Some of the Benefits of an Auction:

• Quick closing, usually 30 days after the Auction
• Qualified buyers, all sales are Cash, sold As Is
• No lengthy negotiations, Seller determines the terms of the sale
• Advertising program specifically designed for your property
• Auction atmosphere creates a sense of urgency, forcing a buyer to bid
• Multiple bidders can drive a price higher
• No Real Estate Commission, winning bidder will pay a 10% premium

Many sellers that I talk to are concerned that will have to sell their home for the lowest bid. That is not true, all sellers have the right to set a minimum bid and reject any bid that the seller considers too low.

Consider the financial advantage of having your home sold in less than three months when many homes sit on the market for a year or more. How much does it cost you in mortgage payments, insurance, taxes, utilities and HOA fees to carry a home for more than three months?

Visit my friend Jim Accursio's website at http://www.theauctioncompany.info/ for more information on Real Estate Auctions or my webpage at http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs006/1101520700187/archive/1102528073124.html.

You can also call me at 321-360-8051 or Jim at 1-877-747-4336 for a confidential, no obligation discussion about real estate auctions.

Monetize Your $8,000.00 Tax Credit

You can now use your $8,000.00 tax credit towards closing costs and/or down payment on the purchase of your home! Remember, if you have not owned a home in the past 3 years, you probably qualify for the $8,000.00 tax credit.

Read the official HUD press release: http://http://www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr09-072.cfm

Although mortgage lenders may take a couple of weeks to get up to speed with this change, it will be available very soon.

There are several reasons I think the time frame between July 2009 and October 2009 will be the optimum time for a first time homebuyer to purchase their new home.

1. $8,000.00 tax credit will expire on December 1, 2009 (meaning you MUST CLOSE by Dec.1!!)
2. $8,000.00 can be used to offset closing costs until Dec. 1st.
3. Interest rates are at record lows, but already starting to rise and are anticipated to continue to rise.
4. Rock Bottom real estate prices this year. Multiple offers and bidding wars are happening every day and this will start to increase real estate prices!
5. Large inventory to choose from, however the numbers are decreasing which will eventually mean an increase in real estate prices.

Even if you are not a first time home buyer, why not upgrade or downgrade this year as well? You may not make as much money on your current home when you sell, but you will pay less taxes and insurance and closing costs on a home purchased this year and be assured since you are buying at the bottom of the market that your home will appreciate in value over the next few years!

Start looking for that deal of a lifetime right here: http://sthomson.servingbrevard.com

My Short Sale Seminar

I held my short sale seminar today at the Spacecoast Board of Realtors. Initially offered for just agents in my office, we decided to open up the room and invite any Brevard County agent. Despite the late notice we were pleased with the turnout.

This is the fourth short sale seminar I have given/participated in this year. I think most agents who have attended these seminars have come away with a better understanding of the short sale process and maybe less hesitant to assist either a buyer or a seller with a short sale.

We all benefit as a community if all professional real estate agents acknowledge that this is a once in a lifetime real estate market and the tools used to buy and sell in the past no longer have any use in this distressed market. By taking the extra time and effort to assist sellers who must sell their property short, we can go a long way toward creating a "normal" market.

June is Home Ownership Month

Interest rates are creeping up and home prices are leveling off. You can use your first time homebuyers $8,000.00 tax credit towards closing costs and down payment. It seems like the right time to buy, but is it?

Sign up for our free public webinar hosted by Exit Realty http://exitrealtypress.blogspot.com/2009/06/to-dream-american-dream.html

Tami Bonnell will discuss the current real estate market exclusively for folks who are considering buying or selling this year.