Clustrmaps
Archive for July, 2009
Mistakes to Avoid When Selling your Home
When you are planning on selling your home, there are many things to think about. There is what price to sell at, how to fix up your home, show your home to buyers, not to mention thinking about moving and going to your new home. It can be a very exciting but also a very stressful time. There are some mistakes sellers can make when selling their home that just make things a little harder. Here are some tips of things to avoid when selling your home. This way the process can go smoother and everyone will be happy.
Consult with your real estate agent
Trust in your agent. They do have experience in how to sell homes and they can offer you with some good advice. So talk with them before making major decisions.
Avoid Overpricing your Home
This is one of the worst mistakes a seller can make. If the price is too high, no buyers will bother looking at it, but if it’s too low, a buyer may get too good of a deal. Ask your real estate agent for some advice when pricing your home.
Market Your Home Properly
Many sellers may wonder why their home is not selling. Well, looking into the market and conditions may be a good idea first. You need to market your home in the best environment possible and ask your agent for advice.
Update the condition of your home
Make any updates or repairs needed, so your home will have a better chance of selling or getting potential buyers.
Make sure to take Quality Photographs of your Home
Take pictures of the master or largest bedroom. Avoid getting yourself in any pictures if possible. Take several photos of the kitchen. Finally, make sure living room photos show space and include the back yard and any side yards in photos. Consider hiring a company to take photos for a virtual tour of your home.
These simple tips will help you to avoid some common selling mistakes and make your home selling process easier for everyone. This way you can move on to your new home and bright future with less to worry about.
Number of Views :35Maintaining Vacant Property Can Be Expensive
Anyone who turns down an offer to sell a house should consider how much it will cost to maintain the home while waiting for the next opportunity to sell.
Here’s just one example of a home seller who has felt the pain of a delayed sale.
Ed Tuttle, who has been trying to sell his unoccupied brick rancher in Oklahoma City for nearly two years, spends an average of $500 a month for utilities and maintenance along with the $1,600 mortgage payment. He also has repaired a hole in the roof caused by squirrels, hired an exterminator to trap the squirrels who had moved into the attic, and replaced portions of a fence that blew down.
“It’s an absolute nightmare maintaining it,” says Tuttle, who has moved to Rockville, Md., for a job. “It’s absolutely the most frustrating and demoralizing thing in the world.”
Source: The Associated Press (07/12/2009)
Number of Views :37No-Doc Loans Could Return
Bank attitudes toward risky lending is making it very difficult for the self-employed, even those with high incomes, to secure mortgages.
No-doc loans are particularly hard to get, locking out people whose incomes are derived from investments or who are able to tax-shelter significant dollars.
The California Mortgage Bankers Association spokesman Dustin Hobbs says the industry understands that banning most alternative financing isn’t the long-term answer.
“It’s a reaction to the current environment,” he says. “There’s such a lack of appetite for risk right now in general that any product viewed as having any sort of risk at all has a tough hill to climb.”
Chris George, president of CMG Mortgage, predicts that no-docs and other nontraditional loans will be back within the next six months as lenders gain confidence. “As with injuries, as with your credit, as with the economy, time heals all wounds,” he says.
Source: The San Francisco Chronicle, James Temple (07/09/2009)
Number of Views :52Foreclosures Continue to Flood Market
The U.S. housing market is being flooded with foreclosed homes held by trusts managing pools of securitized mortgages.
The trusts sold six times as many properties as banks during the six months ending March 31. The average property sold for 69 percent of the original loan amount, according to data compiled primarily in the Atlanta area by Data Intelligence Corp., a real-estate analytics firm.
The dump isn’t over yet with thousands of properties still awaiting sale.
“While the banks are trying frantically to get loans off their books, they face the problem of large shadow inventories of housing being dumped on the market, which would depress prices further,” says Anthony Sanders, real-estate finance professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.
Karen Weaver, global head of securitization research at Deutsche Bank AG, says the steepest losses involve subprime mortgages in which lenders generally are recovering just 26 percent of the original loan amount.
From a home shopper’s standpoint, there are bargains galore in many areas. Tim Hamill, an associate with RE/MAX Greater Atlanta, who is handling sales for an asset-management firm on behalf of a trust, says his mandate is to do what it takes to sell in 30 days.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Carrick Mollenkamp (07/09/09)
Number of Views :35Travel Around Syracuse: Howe Cavern
If you are looking for some ideas of what to do this summer besides the same old make crafts, run in sprinkles, or have a cookout and you are looking for some excitement, why not try touring a cave. It will be an adventure for the whole family. Seeing rock formations and traveling on a boat through a cave and hearing all about how those caves came to be, there is truly nothing like it. If this seems interesting to you and exciting for the whole family, a visit to Howe Cavern may be just right for you!
Each tour of Howe Cavern takes on an elevator to one hundred and fifty-six below the surface of the earth. From there, you travel by boat through limestone corridors, cavernous galleries and under massive boulders. Then deep within the cave you will experience seeing strange rock formations, flowing streams of water, and mysterious grottos that lead off into the distance. Eventually through twists and turns you will end up at an underground lake that leads to the darkness of the cave.
Also, each tour is guided by a specialized trained tour guide that will help through the cave, tell you history and answer any questions you may have. There are three different tours offered: the traditional tour, lantern tour, and adventure tour. For the traditional tour adults are eighteen dollars and children are only ten dollars.
After your tour, you can also tour the mine and mine for gems as well as enjoy a meal at their café. There is also a museum of mining and Geology that is open on the weekends from noon to five. At Howe’s Cavern there is also a sweet shop, where you can buy fudge, truffles, coffee, and aged cheeses (http://www.howecaverns.com/tours).
There is really something for everyone at Howe’s Cavern, so get out of the house and away from the same old summer routine and experience caves and rocks in a whole new way, you will be glad you did and the kids will love it too!
Number of Views :53Remodeling Can Ease Home Sharing
When President Barack Obama’s mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, 71, moved into the White House, she joined 3.6 million other adults who live with adult children. That’s up 67 percent from 2000, according to U.S. Census figures.
Remodeling can make sharing a home with senior family members much easier, says Barry Goggin of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry.
Goggin won a regional award for remodeling a colonial-style home on Long Island to accommodate a retired couple who wanted to share their home with their senior parents.
He created an addition that included a cathedral ceiling and lots of windows, universal design elements and some simple ways to switch the apartment for seniors to a space for entertaining.
Source: National Association of the Remodeling Industry (07/06/2009)
Number of Views :42Apartment Vacancies Highest Since 1987
The vacancy rate for U.S. apartments rose to 7.5 percent in the second quarter, the highest rate since 1987, according to a report from researcher Reis Inc.
Second-quarter asking rent fell 0.7 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago to $1,040 a month. Including incentives, effective rent was down 1.9 percent from the prior year and 0.9 percent from the first quarter to $975, Reis said.
In some areas, including Las Vegas, San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., effective rents were down 2 percent from the first quarter.
“With general expectations of an economic recovery pushed back to early 2010 at the earliest, it seems likely that apartments will have to endure a few more quarters of distress, lower rents and higher vacancies,” said Victor Calanog, Reis director of research.
Source: Reuters News, Ilaina Jonas (07/08/2009)
Number of Views :52