Money Back for First-Time Homeowners

Article by Wendy McCance

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

 

Good News for People who Have Faced Foreclosure or are Looking for a Loan Modification

With all of the bad news associated with foreclosures and loan modifications, it’s nice to hear some good news. The Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) received federal funds from the attorney general for settlements with several bank mortgage servicers.

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, What you Need to Know

A friend passed along an excellent article which does a good job of explaining what the myths and facts are about short sales and foreclosure.  I just had to share the link with you, my readers.  If you are struggling with mortgage payments, this is an article that you really should read.

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/

 

Best Ways to Get More Real Estate Clients

This is the perfect time of year to review your last year as a real estate agent.  While the weather is cold and the client’s aren’t coming out of the woodwork, you should be organizing your papers, planning new advertising strategies and finding new ways to increase your prospects.

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

26236 Woodward Ave

Royal Oak, MI 48067 

248-414-1248 ext. 119
wendymccance@realestateone.com

http://www.wendymccance.realestateone.com/

 

 

 

What you Need to Know if you Decide to Rent out your Home

The economy has changed the way people are handling their homes.  Most specifically, many people have not been able to sell due to an upside down mortgage so they rent out their home and wait it out.  People often decide to rent out their home until they have enough equity in the home to sell.

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.

 

Real Estate is a Numbers Game

So it’s January and I am starting to see some movement again.  People are looking towards the future and planning moves for the spring (once it gets a little warmer).  Mixed in with clients who are serious about looking at buying a new home are the dreamers.  These are the people who wish to move, but because of any number of personal issues, now is just not the right time for them.

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

 

The Inspections you Need Before Buying a Home

Article by Wendy McCance

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

26236 Woodward Ave

Royal Oak, MI 48067 

248-414-1248 ext. 119
wendymccance@realestateone.com

http://www.wendymccance.realestateone.com/