Please stop by and check it out.  Don’t miss the Special Offer page.  If you have a business, blog or website you would like to promote, please leave a link with description in the comment section of the special offer page.

Thanks for the continued support,

Wendy

If you live in Michigan and are thinking about purchasing a home, here is just one more reason that now is a good time to buy.  The Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) has a grant program in place called the Homebuyer Assistance Grant Program.  This grant is for individuals who are interested in purchasing a single-family, owner occupied, principal residence.

The program supports non-military as well as military homebuyers.  Non-military homebuyers can receive up to $3,000 and Active military and veterans can receive up to $5,000.  Neither grant can exceed 25% of the sales price of the home.  The best part of this offer is that there is no lien and no repayment required!  There is also no sales price or income limit to qualify.

Cash back at closing is limited to the amount the buyer pays into the transaction outside of closing.

To get more information on the Homebuyer Assistance Grant Program, please go to: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mshda/Terms_Guidelines_Homebuyer_404166_7.pdf

Basically, if you went through a foreclosure with a participating bank in 2008-2011, you may be eligible for a cash payment.  If you are a current borrower serviced by one of these banks, you may be eligible for a loan modification or another refinancing option.

The five participating banks are:

• GMAC/ALLY
• Bank of America
• Citigroup
• Wells Fargo
• JP Morgan Chase

For more information on this settlement and to see if you qualify, Please call:  1-866-946-7432 or go to http://www.michigan.gov/mshda/0,4641,7-141-45866_45868-285879–,00.html

Short Sale vs Foreclosure, 10 Common Myths Busted.
http://www.kcmblog.com/2012/05/09/short-sale-vs-foreclosure-10-common-myths-busted/

If you are interested in buying or selling a home, please contact Wendy McCance at:

Real Estate One
26236 Woodward Ave.
Royal Oak, MI 48067
(248) 414-1248 x: 119
wendymccance@realestateone.com
http://www.wendymccance.realestateone.com/

I like to go through my social media sites and make sure all of my information is correct and freshened up.  This is also a great time to take a few classes and get them out of the way before the season really goes into high gear.

What I like to concentrate the most on is how to get more clients.  I do a lot of research on the internet, read books, get involved with different networking groups and talk with other realtors.

While doing some browsing on the internet, I found a few sites that I feel might be of value to you as an agent.  there are several things you can do to increase your client base.  I’m sure some of what you read will be information you have heard before.  I’m also sure that there will be some information that will come in handy.

Take a look through the links.  I hope this year brings you twice the success of the year before.

http://www.realestatesalesleads.net/marketing/39-ways-to-generate-new-real-estate-sales-leads/

http://www.salespractice.com/forums/t-1700.html

http://realestate.about.com/od/marketingforrealestate/Marketing_for_the_Agent_Brokerage_and_Client_Properties.htm

http://neilschwartz.net/

If you are interested in buying or selling a home, you can contact Wendy McCance at:

Real Estate One

In general this can be a great way of making sure you have money coming in and aren’t at risk of losing your home.  It seems like every other person these days is renting out their home and honestly, rental homes are in huge demand these days due to people having poor credit or not enough money to buy a home.

An ideal situation is when you can get a tenant who would like to sign a rent to own deal.  You are renting the home out, but the possibility of those same people buying your home after a certain length of time increases due to the lease you put together.  If the renters decide not to buy, you get an amount of money that is non-refundable because the renters changed their mind.  It’s more of a win-win situation.

The problem arises when you have a renter sign a long-term lease (say for two years) and then want to sell the home before the lease is up.  Sure you might be able to sell the home depending on the way the lease is written up, but the renters can still stay in the home until their lease is up (unless you wrote something in the lease to the contrary).  This means that any potential buyer has to agree to be a landlord for a particular amount of time before they can take over the property.

There are times when this might not be a bad solution.  If you have a starter home that would make a great investment property, having a renter occupying the home might be a plus.  If you have a bigger home though, you won’t attract the investors and most buyers will look elsewhere.

I encourage you to always contact an attorney and have them write out a lease if you decide to rent out your property at any time.  Make sure you understand all of the issues that could arise if you want to sell at some point down the line.  Just because every other person is becoming a landlord these days doesn’t mean they understand all of the implications of what they are doing.

Research as much as you can.  Get expert opinions and make sure you fully understand what you are about to undertake before you decide to rent out your home.

Being a real estate agent, it is important to know who is serious and who will just spin your wheels.  I have had some back to back situations recently where I began working with some people who were in no way able to seriously consider moving.

How do you know when a person is not a good client to take on?  Below is a quick list of signs that might give you pause in deciding to work with someone.

1.  The customer is unwilling or continuously puts off getting their pre-approval or credit report.

Serious buyers will make sure everything is in place before they begin to look.  They know that if they find their dream home, they will want to put in an offer right away.  The market is moving quickly.  Homes won’t last until you have been pre-approved.

2.  You only get an email or a phone number, but not both.  

I have found that these are people who really just want some quick information, but aren’t serious about looking for a home.

3.  The customer’s list of expectations in a home isn’t reasonable.

I have spoken with people who want a 5 bedroom, 4 bathroom home in an upscale neighborhood for less than half the price of what any home in that neighborhood would go for.  I have also dealt with the people who think they can pick up a foreclosure at a rock bottom price in perfect move in condition.

4.  There is no time line and they are incredibly vague,

They don’t know what they will do with their current residence, how much they are able/willing to spend and what area they are interested in looking at.

5.  They are working with a realtor, their family is full of realtors or their friend is a realtor.

I have been surprised when during the course of a conversation, I am able to find out they already have a realtor.  I will hear the excuses that the realtor is dragging their feet or they just want to look at this one property.  If you have a realtor, I will not be able to help you.

I also get the customers who let me know how many realtors they know.  They won’t say why they won’t work with them, but they tend to challenge what information you give them and after finding out about a specific question (how much their home is worth, or just wanting to check one property) they end up with the realtor they already know.

I was talking with one of the agents at work about the cycle of real estate.  It seems that I will have a dry spell, then get a bunch of potential clients that fall into the above range and then finally get a group of serious buyers. The agent I spoke with put it this way, real estate is a numbers game.  Expect to go through 12 customers before you hit on the serious buyer.

As someone who is used to traditional sales where each person lost is money lost, I have had to change my perspective.  I can’t look at each interaction that falls through as money lost, but instead I must look at it as each lost person brings me closer to the serious client.

For anyone out there who is just starting out in real estate, I hope this information is not only helpful, but will help to take some of the pressure off of you.  I would also like to mention that for every example above, there are clients that will pan out.  The important thing is to be able to ask valuable questions and really pay attention to not only the words, but also the actions of the potential client.  It doesn’t matter if they are serious or not, people will reveal themselves.  The tips above just might move the process along faster for you.

Here’s another great article you might like:

http://www.trulia.com/email/anews/pro.truliablog.com/sellers/7-psychological-red-flags-to-sellers-that-will-cost-you-money

Let’s say that you are looking to buy a home.  You come across a home that looks like it might be “the one.”   You put in an offer and it is accepted.  Before you start the celebration, you decide to get an inspection done on the property.  This is the typical scenario that most potential buyers go through.  Getting an inspection is an incredibly important part of the entire buying process.

The reason to get an inspection is to find out what may be a potential issue that you might have to deal with.  Are there issues with the foundation, evidence of water damage or an infestation of termites?  There are so many potential problems in a home to know about up front.  Maybe a problem is found and you renegotiate the price or decide to walk away.  Thank goodness you found out about the problem before signing those final papers.  Although inspections are highly recommended, they don’t cover everything.  There are other people who should be contacted to look over the home you are interested in.  Another inspector to contact would be an inspector to check out your sewer.

A sewer inspector can find out if there are clogged pipes or pipes that are falling apart.  To get a sewer dug up and fixed is so outrageously expensive, spending on average of $95.00 for the inspection is well worth the money.  (Important) That general inspector that you hire will not look at the sewer system.  It’s important to know there is a specialist who works specifically with sewers that will have to look at your sewer for you.

Long before I became an agent, our family bought a home that had been inspected.  Our real estate agent never mentioned getting the sewer inspected, and it wasn’t something that occurred to us either.  We moved into the home and put all of the boxes in the basement.  We would bring them up one by one to unpack.  The basement was beautifully finished and carpeted.  Within two weeks, I went downstairs to the basement to do some laundry and noticed a big stain on the carpet.  A while later, that stain became a puddle and then a sloshy mess in our basement.

Our sewer lines were clogged.  We had been doing a ton of laundry and dishes.  The sewer lines had tree roots in them and the water backed up.  That stain (it turned out) was where our drain was located and it was under the carpet.

$1,200 later and a basement that had torn up carpet and damp floors, our sewer was fixed.  Thank goodness those boxes hadn’t been placed on the ground.  They were all on tables and shelves.  We truly got lucky.  I wish we had known to have our sewer checked out.  We would still have a great looking basement and a lot more money.

Other inspections that you might want to consider are a radon test and a check of your septic system.  If you have a septic system, you might want an inspector to come out and check your septic system if you aren’t connected to your city’s water system.

The bottom line is to over think the problems that could go wrong.  Get picky and make sure you get the inspections you need while you still have an opportunity to negotiate or walk away from a home that carries any issues that concern you.

If you are interested in a free consultation with Wendy McCance, you can contact her at:

Real Estate One

First let’s go over the positive reasons for selling a home on your own.

1.  You will not be giving a sellers agent a commission.

2.  You will meet any potential buyers yourself.  I’m not sure if this is a positive reason, but it might mean a lot to some home owners.

3.  You are in control of the entire process.  For those of you who like to have their hands in the entire process from meeting buyers to the negotiation process directly with those buyers, this might be a plus.

4.  You decide when to show the home and will be present for those showings.

Now, let’s go over the negative aspects of selling your own home.

1.  You pay for any advertising.  On top of that, you will not have access to the MLS which all agents have access to.  That means that instead of agents emailing their clients your home information when it appears on the MLS, you have to find the interested buyers yourself.  Agents are also more adept at only showing clients who have a definite interest in the features of your home.  You could have people looking at your home that aren’t pre-approved, are just window shopping or truly are not looking for what your home has to offer.

2.  You will need to understand all of the paperwork needed to sell your home.  It is also highly recommended that you hire an attorney to write-up the paperwork and make sure everything is included.  An attorney might be more expensive to use.  Another consideration is that an attorney doesn’t typically write-up paperwork to sell  homes as part of their job and might miss something along the way.

3.  If you aren’t available to show your home, your home won’t be shown if you sell it on your own.  When you work with an agent, it doesn’t matter if you are on vacation.  The home can still be viewed and an offer can still be made.

4.  Knowing what to price your home at.  Why waste your time if you price your home to high?  You also have to worry about what an appraisal will decide your home is worth.  You could get an interested buyer who is willing to pay the price you are offering.  If the appraisal comes back and is lower, the bank will not finance the buyer at that price.

5.  When a buyer knows you are selling a home yourself, they know you aren’t paying a sellers commission.  Because of that, the buyer will typically bid extra low to cover the difference.  Meaning you might still be out the same amount of money or more.

6.  If you don’t offer a buyer’s agent a commission, many real estate agents won’t be enthusiastic about showing your home verse a home that is similar with a commission included.  (Although this is ethically wrong, it has been known to happen quite frequently).

7.  It will take much longer to sell your home on your own.  This is because of the amount of advertising needed. Also, the less you are available to show your home, the longer it will take to sell.

8.  When you take into account fees for advertising and the lawyer, you might end up paying more money, than if you used an agent.

9.  You will have to make sure you understand the laws.  You aren’t exempt from getting in trouble for lack of knowledge.  You must understand the laws regarding who you decide to sell to and why.  You will need to understand how to get a clear title before the closing of the home can occur.  Some cities require a city inspector to view your home and there is a fee.  You must also understand that any defects in the home must be disclosed to anyone who views your home.  Not mentioning that there was a flood in the basement several years ago, for instance can result in a lawsuit if the buyer finds out after purchasing your home.

Many people try to sell their home themselves.  A good majority of these same people end up using a realtor after a lot of frustration and money spent.  If you decide to go it alone, make sure you truly understand what you are getting into before putting up a sign in your yard.

If you are interested in a consultation with Wendy McCance, you can contact her at:

Real Estate One

When I took the classes and worked with a mentor, sales was what was discussed.  There were strategies and outlines.  There were even scripts you could use.  It wasn’t until I really got off the ground that I realized that sales has nothing to do with being a good real estate agent.

I’m sure there are agents out there that will argue that this is a sales job, but let me tell you why I think it’s not. My feeling is that if you are a good agent, you are not a salesperson but a consultant.  This is one of the few jobs where it doesn’t matter how hard you might try to sell someone on a home.  Buying a home is incredibly emotional.  It is also one of the biggest expenses you will have in a lifetime.  I don’t know anyone who is casual enough to allow a salesperson to come in and twist their arm to buy a home that might not be right for them.  Let me state it another way.  I could never be that person who puts pressure on a client.

My personal feeling is that if you are a good real estate agent, you will treat your client like you would treat a good friend.  There is respect, understanding and help in figuring out what type of home might suit that particular client best.

As a real estate agent, you are there to guide your client.  You must be knowledgeable and able to teach them the steps in home ownership.  You are the person that a client will go to for consultation.  Maybe the time is right for a customer to buy, and maybe it’s not.  The goal is not to sell a home, but to help a customer decide what’s right for them.

If you go about your job in this manner, the rewards will come.  A customer might use you later down the road because of your honesty and integrity.  You will gain a good reputation, and yes, you will sell homes and make a good living.

It’s all perspective.  I know that I would be turned off by an agent who felt like a salesperson.  On the other hand, an agent that acted as a consultant would impress me and leave a lasting good impression.

For those of you just starting out in real estate, this way of looking at your job might be of enormous benefit to you.  If you are an agent, how do you approach your job?  Are you a salesperson or a consultant?