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Some smells make or break a sale

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Monday, July 6, 2009.

When my boys were young, one of our good-behavior mantras for shopping expeditions was to "look with your eyes, not with your hands." As I wrote last week, in the first installment of this series on sensory homebuying, I've been watching and learning as my buyer clients have evolved far beyond looking with just their eyes, and into house hunting with all of their senses, including a sixth sense we'll get to in a couple of weeks.

Beyond sight, which we covered last time, is smell -- not a sense that seems related to homebuying in more than a superficial manner. I take that back: OK, every novice real estate agent has been told to throw some ready-bake Toll House cookie dough in the oven before an open house, to create a warm, yummy aroma (and correspondingly positive associations with the property) to woo attendees.  more...

Sellers think twice about high offers

By Dian Hymer, Monday, July 6, 2009.

Sellers who are lucky and receive more than one offer should carefully consider all aspects of the offers before accepting the one with the highest price. Even if you receive only one offer and it's lower than your asking price, you might want to consider bending some on your price in exchange for a transaction that is likely to close.

Ideally, you want a committed buyer who has a good credit score and financial resources, and who has been preapproved for a mortgage, as lenders have tightened their qualifying criteria considerably.  more...

Steel gives masonry a run for the money

By Arrol Gellner, Monday, July 6, 2009.

For millennia, the only way to build to build a strong building was to pile up lots and lots of stone or brick, forming massive masonry walls that could hold up the weight of the floors and roof. This ancient approach worked well enough as long as buildings weren't more than six stories tall or so. If they were, the lower walls had to be made impractically thick in order to carry the weight of all that masonry above them -- the more stories, the thicker the walls.

By the late 19th century, when American engineers and architects began contemplating structures of 10, 15 or even more stories, the limitations of masonry construction reached a critical point.  more...

Let clients come to you Premium Content

By Bernice Ross, Monday, July 6, 2009.

Are you still relying on old-fashioned "outbound marketing" techniques? If so, it's time to make the shift to the hottest new way to reach today's Web 2.0 consumers: "inbound marketing."

Outbound Marketing
For years, the real estate industry has relied on the old "hunt 'em, tell 'em, and sell 'em" model of marketing. You know the drill. Door knock, cold call, mail to your geographical farm, advertise in print publications, and plaster your face on billboards. When you do get a lead, be prepared with the right scripts that tell them how good you are.  more...

Beazer agrees to pay $50 million Premium Content

By Matt Carter, Monday, July 6, 2009.

Federal prosecutors say they won't pursue criminal charges against Beazer Homes USA Inc. as long as the company remains in compliance with an agreement to pay up to $50 million in restitution to homebuyers who were allegedly victimized by the builder's mortgage company.

The case serves as a dramatic illustration of the Department of Housing and Urban Development's complaints about seller-funded down-payment assistance programs, and homebuilders' affiliated mortgage and title insurance companies.  more...

Preventing another bubble meltdown

By Jack Guttentag, Monday, July 6, 2009.

A major focus of the Obama proposals to redesign the regulatory system is to bring all the major financial institutions that were implicated in the current financial crisis (or might be implicated in the next one) under regulation. These include hedge funds, investment banks and mortgage companies, which have been only loosely regulated.

The general presumption seems to be that if all the major categories of firms are regulated, with clear lines of regulatory responsibility, all should be well. But will it?  more...

Renting to 'tenants from hell'

By Robert Griswold, Monday, July 6, 2009.

Q: I am the owner of a single-family residence and seem to have rented to the tenants from hell. They have been complainers from Day 1. The husband is a contractor, and in the beginning I had him doing some of the repairs to the house, but the list of their needs never seemed to stop.

A few months ago, I received a four-page list of items requiring repairs to the property. The house is more than 30 years old and definitely has had some deferred maintenance issues. I responded to the tenants letting them know that I had received their list and that I was scheduling independent inspections of the property. I live out of state so I made arrangements to travel and meet with the local inspectors. Once I notified the tenants of my plans, they contacted the city and filed a formal complaint.  more...

Bankruptcy filings jump 36.5%

By Inman News, Monday, July 6, 2009.

Consumer bankruptcy filings rose 36.5 percent in the first half of 2009 compared to the same period a year ago, to 675,351 the American Bankruptcy Institute said.

Filings fell 6.8 percent from May to June, to 116,365, ABI said, citing data from the National Bankruptcy Research Center.  more...

Erase black mark from credit report

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Monday, July 6, 2009.

Q: I have had a judgment of $8,600 on my credit report for the past six years. Although the judge ruled in favor of the plaintiff, I never owed that money and I believe I lost only because I didn't have an attorney. Now, I wish to become a first-time homebuyer.

My credit union tells me I could qualify based on my credit score and income, but I would have to pay off the judgment or arrange to make payments with the creditor before the credit union would preapprove me for a loan. I contacted the creditor's attorney, who was sarcastic and said he couldn't force his client to respond to my payment proposal. I asked him to counteroffer if necessary, but I haven't heard from them in two weeks. I really want to buy a home but this presents an obstacle. What should I do now?  more...

Signs of life in jumbo lending Premium Content

By Matt Carter, Monday, July 6, 2009.

Jumbo lending is staging a comeback of sorts, with major lenders once again buying the oversize mortgages from other lenders or allowing independent mortgage brokers to originate loans for them.

Bank of America and Wells Fargo had already been battling each other for market share in jumbo lending this year, with BofA announcing in March it was cutting rates to make more of the loans, which are too big for purchase or guarantee by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (see story).  more...