Home

Resale value high on buyers' minds

By Dian Hymer, Monday, June 1, 2009.

There's not much you can do about keeping a down market from having some impact on the value of your home. But, you can carefully choose the home you buy so that you end up with a property that holds its value well, even in a slow market.

Gerry and Patty Montmorency have lived in their Oakland, Calif., home for 11 years. Prior to this relatively long period of ownership, at least for them, they bought and sold seven homes in six different cities. It took them between 12 hours and two weeks to sell the last six homes, even one they owned in Nashville, Tenn., for less than four months.  more...

Beware of 'wraparound' mortgage

By Benny Kass, Monday, June 1, 2009.

DEAR BENNY: I have a full-price offer on my duplex that involves a wraparound mortgage. I am a little leery of a small down payment with high-interest payments for a few years with a balloon at the buyer's refinance later. I'm told they are quite legal, but I really need to know the pros and cons. Can you enlighten me please? --Bobbie

DEAR BOBBIE: Here's how a wraparound mortgage works. Let's say that you sell your house for $500,000, and have an existing mortgage (deed of trust) on the property for $300,000. Title is transferred to your buyer, who pays you $10,000 in cash, and you take back a mortgage in the amount of $490,000. This is a second mortgage, because your existing mortgage is not paid off at the closing (escrow).  more...

Today's buyers need thick skin

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Monday, June 1, 2009.

Before I came into this business, my mental reference images for the home-buying process lived at two equally ridiculous extremes of a fully unrealistic spectrum. On one end were my selective memories of house hunting as a child, in which my brother and I got to run into a single, perfect house and choose our rooms (I'm pretty sure my parents had already closed escrow on the place before we got there). On the other end were scenes from that last of Richard Pryor's PG-rated films, "Moving," where his family showed up after closing to realize that the doorknobs, sinks and even the in-ground swimming pool had been jacked up and hauled off by the sellers.

Then, I started selling real estate, in a booming seller's market.  more...

Secrets of a master negotiator Premium Content

By Bernice Ross, Monday, June 1, 2009.
Flickr image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lumaxart/2136953043/" target=blank>lumaxart</a>.

Negotiation is the No. 1 skill that you need in real estate to succeed. Are you ready to master the secrets of becoming a master negotiator?

Whether you are a newbie or a 30-year real estate veteran, growing your negotiation skills is one of the best ways to improve your conversion ratio and to close more business. In his book, "Create a Great Deal," Tim Burrell provides the strategies you need to maneuver through virtually any tough real estate negotiation. Here are some of Burrell's top tips.  more...

New bill gives prime borrowers a pass

By Jack Guttentag, Monday, June 1, 2009.

A competitive mortgage market that would work for borrowers requires an effective system of mortgage disclosures and a set of transaction simplification rules to equalize the playing field between borrowers and loan originators.

As indicated last week, an effective disclosure system would require that Congress remove itself from disclosure operations, eliminate all existing congressionally mandated disclosures, which are largely useless, and entrust sole responsibility to one agency that would set and revise the required disclosures as needed. Last week, I lamented that HR 1728 did not fix any of the deficiencies in the system of mandatory disclosures, but simply added more disclosures to an already excessive pile.  more...