I hope you find this advice helpful. I couldn't agree more with the author's recommendations. Consumer confidence is improving and many are anticipating housing prices may start to rise again.  The GSE released its March National Housing Survey of just over 1,000 Americans and found more citizens expect rents and home prices to increase in the coming months, making today a better time to purchase a residence. If you are thinking about selling or buying, please give me a call.

5 Things to Avoid When Selling Your Home this Spring
By Paul Owers RISMEDIA, Monday, April 09, 2012

Home sellers find that interest from prospective buyers heats up in the spring as many families look to get settled in a new place before the school year starts in August. But the traditional March-through-May buying season can be a dud for sellers who don’t deliver what they promise or who stand over buyers as they open cupboards and peek in bedrooms.

“Some sellers are their own worst enemies,” said Michael Citron, an agent in Broward County, Fla.

Here are five things that turn off prospective buyers:

-A cluttered house or one that smells. When sellers have too many possessions, buyers have a hard time imagining themselves living in the home. Sellers should put their stuff in storage—or move out altogether, if possible.

Pet odors are also a big turn-off, as is a house that reeks of cigarette or cigar smoke. “If buyers smell smoke, they’ll walk out immediately,” said Jon Klein, an agent in Coral Springs, Fla.

-False or misleading advertising. Sellers and their agents stretch the truth by claiming a home has four bedrooms, but the fourth room isn’t a bedroom because it doesn’t have a window and closet. Joanne Caouette, a Canadian looking to buy in Broward, said one home was advertised as waterfront but only had a water view. “It’s a waste of our time,” she said.

-Sellers not committed to selling. Some sellers want to test the market, then waffle when buyers show serious interest. Others ignore offers or are insulted by what they consider low bids. “No offer is insulting,” said Bob Melzer, an agent in Boynton Beach, Fla. “It’s a point to begin.”

Wishy-washy sellers don’t use lock boxes that give agents quick access, or they’re not accommodating when it comes to scheduling showings. “If you want to sell your house, there should be very few times when you can’t show it,” said Cathy Prenner, an agent in northeast Broward.

-Overpricing the house. Many sellers are too attached to their homes and think they’re worth more than they are, agents say.

Even though prices are beginning to stabilize, a seller who misses the target likely won’t generate much interest.

Before hiring an agent, interview several. They almost certainly will have documentation that shows what comparable homes in the neighborhood are selling for.

“If you set the home at market price, you’re going to get that property sold,” said Summer Greene, a real estate manager in Fort Lauderdale.

-Sellers who stay for the showing. This is a pet peeve of buyers and agents, who say sellers should be long gone when prospective buyers show up.

Prospective buyers want to be free to tour the home without the owners present. They don’t want to carry on a conversation or listen to why the sellers think they should buy the house.

Citron strongly opposes sellers talking to buyers before they’ve signed a contract. By revealing their motivation, for instance, sellers can inadvertently give buyers more power in negotiations. “The only thing you can do if you talk to the prospective buyer is hurt the deal,” Citron said.

©2012 the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
Distributed by MCT Information Services

After selling real estate for 20+ years you'd think I'd jumped every hurdle out there. I wish! Most snags are somewhat predictable, however there have been plenty of unexpected curve balls thrown at me. Before you read the following article, I thought you might like to hear about some...

Recently I helped a client (Eric D.) buy a house and we encountered 3 common road blocks with; Credit, Financing and Appraisal. I worked my way through each issue and now he and his wife are happily in their new home. Here's what happened.....

Credit:
Eric wanted to buy a terrific 4 Bed, 3 Bath house I had advertised for $1,700/month that would have rented for $2,700/month. He really liked the place, however his credit score was a little below the 620 minimum requirement. We chose Quicken Loans which has a computer program that analyzed his credit and recommended paying down/off particular debts which quickly improved his credit score to 620!

Eric's contract was accepted but I began to worry, "What if his credit score drops below 620 again?" He called me to say Quicken advised he pay one credit card down from $1,000 to $250. I remember saying,"Oh, this will work, he'll get a 33 point jump from doing this, I've seen it happen before." But guess what, his credit score soared to 733! Suddenly he had better than average credit, much better. Sometimes something little can make a big difference. Well that was not all...

Financing:
During underwriting, Quicken encountered a "problem" with an old tax debt. They thought it had become a lien (although it had not) which disqualified Eric from getting an FHA loan. I called in a very capable lender from Wells Fargo I had dealt with on numerous occasions and explained the situation. He assured me his bank would not have the same problem. I knew I could trust him on his word and we switched the loan. That was still not all...

Appraisal:
Unfortunately the house under appraised by $7,000. The sellers had bought it for $425,000 a few years earlier and were selling for $370,000 but it only appraised for $360,000. We approached the seller and said,"Look, the only way we can do it is if you drop the sales price."

I suggested the sellers take less even though (and this is the best thing) Eric had agreed to a clause stating the buyer would make up the difference by putting up more down payment. They realized the buyer's loan was otherwise approved and decided closing the deal was more important than the $7K.

Thankfully my experience, creativity and tenacity help me figure out a solution to each obstacle. It's often very difficult, but once overcome it's so rewarding to have a happy buyer move into their much deserved home. I hope you find this article helpful. Please let me know how I can help you.


5 Ways to Save a Failed Home Sale
See what the common glitches are — and what you can do about them.
By Marcie Geffner of 
Bankrate.com

Home sales get hung up for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes a buyer can't secure approval for a loan or a seller won't make repairs the buyer insists are necessary. Appraisal issues often result in delays or failed deals, as do complexities arising from short sales.

These problems are common, judging by a recent survey by the National Association of Realtors that found that 33% of real-estate agents surveyed had experienced one or more contract failures in 2011. That figure was up from 8% a year earlier.

These problems can be stressful. Granted, some sales are doomed never to close, but others can be saved with a little creativity and a lot of patience. Here's how:

Buyer financing fails
Many prospective homebuyers enter into a purchase contract with the best of intentions only to discover they can't qualify for a loan as easily as they had expected. Instead, "they get turned down," says Carolyn Hastings, a broker associate at J. Rockcliff Realtors in Blackhawk, Calif.

Documentation snafus, job losses and credit-score hiccups are but three examples of the types of problems that can derail a buyer's financing. Seemingly inexplicable delays by lenders can also stall a buyer's financing.

In some cases, the process "seems like it takes forever," dragging on so long that the buyer gives up and abandons the deal, says Phyllis Yanagihara, a certified senior escrow officer at Master Escrow in Glendale, Calif.

Still, many borrowers eventually do get a loan approval. Buyers need to stay in touch with their loan officers and buyers, and sellers need to be patient while the slow wheels turn.

"Sometimes," Hastings says, "the banks just make it a living hell for all of us — and then they end up closing it."

Short sale stalls
Another common problem is the slow pace at which lenders approve short sales, which occur when a seller is allowed to accept a sale price that's less than the loan balance, leaving the bank with a loss. These deals can be painfully slow if the seller has multiple mortgages, Hastings says

A lot of borrowers have second mortgages and sometimes third mortgages, "and one of the major problems with closing is that you can't get the first and the second on the same page," Hastings says. "The first will approve (the short sale) and the second won't, and then the second will approve it and the first approval will expire."

Many short sales linger beyond the point of salvation, but in other cases, patience and persistence are rewarded. Hastings recalls one short sale in which the seller had two loans held by the same lender, but the approvals were still out of sync. Time passed, the paperwork came together and eventually the deal closed.

'Low' appraisals
Often, home sales are victims of the "low appraisal" trap, which occurs when an appraiser's opinion of the home’s value is less than the agreed-upon sale price. This situation can be a major headache, especially for sellers. If they refuse to reduce the price, the buyer might cancel the sale through an appraisal or financing contingency. But if another deal is then subsequently struck with a backup buyer, the result might be just another low appraisal.

To overcome a low appraisal, the seller must persuade the appraiser to reconsider or negotiate a price that's acceptable to the buyer. This is rarely possible, and if the property is a foreclosure that's owned by an out-of-state bank, these negotiations can be even more difficult, says Jan Baron, an agent at HomeSmart Real Estate in Temecula, Calif.

The solution is "going back and forth, trying to justify the price," Baron says. "Or the seller is going to have to lower the price. If it's a bank, that's a big deal. They're going to drive a hard bargain. Moreover, if the bank is located in a different city such as Dallas or Minnesota, they have no idea what's happening in California."

Repair credit disputes
Buyers naturally want to purchase a house that's in good condition, while sellers usually don’t want to spend a lot of money to fix up a house they've put on the market. In some cases, the list of repairs is so long that buyers become nervous about the condition of the house, and that puts the sale in jeopardy, says David Moody, a broker at Sunrise Realty in Athens, Ga.

They start asking for a lot of things," he says. "There is no meeting of the minds, and it ends up squashing the contract."

One strategy to remedy this situation is for buyers and sellers to get estimates of repair costs and "start nibbling away" at what might seem like an insurmountable list of defects, says Patti Ketcham, owner of Ketcham Realty Group in Tallahassee, Fla.

"Don't let it overwhelm you," Ketcham says. "Get prices. I'm always amazed at the number of times (a repair) is not nearly as much as either party thought it was going to be."

REO title delays
Buyers who want to purchase a bank-owned property, also known as real-estate owned or REO, sometimes run into glitches in the chain of title or ownership, Moody says. This gap occurs when a home is put on the market and readied to be sold before all the last details of the foreclosure have been finalized.

"There is a gap in the title chain," Moody says. "It causes delays and a lot of buyers get frustrated and drop out."

The solution, again, is patience — and a lot of it. Moody recalls one sale that stretched out for four months before the problem was resolved and the transaction closed.

"It was a cash deal," he says, "and I was surprised they hung in there, but they did."

Mortgage deduction limits:
per residence, not per person
Real Estate Tax Talk By Stephen Fishman
Friday, March 9, 2012. Inman News®

Last week brought bad news for wealthy unmarried couples who own homes together. The U.S. Tax Court held that the $1.1 million limit on the mortgage interest deduction must be applied per residence, not per taxpayer, even where the co-owners are unmarried and file separate tax returns.