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'Think outside the hammock'

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Tuesday, June 30, 2009.

As one of the few other real estate broker/writers on the scene, I've consumed much of what Barbara Corcoran has written since I laid eyes on the mere title of her first book, "If You Don't Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails" (Portfolio Trade, 2003), full of the homespun wisdom she used to create one of the country's most profitable real estate firms (located, counterintuitively perhaps, in New York City).

Years before she became the "Today" show's resident real estate guru, Corcoran grew to believe that the "real measure of (her) success … was (her) innate ability to match up the right person with the right place based on his or her unique needs and personality." more...

Getting a feel for sensory homebuyers

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Monday, June 29, 2009.

Between my husband and my son, I'm outnumbered by boys at home. What that means in terms of my daily living experience is that often I'll wake up, stumble to the espresso machine, and realize that every single kitchen cabinet, half the drawers and sometimes even the fridge and freezer doors are standing wide open -- even though no one is in the kitchen! My family knows that about that time is when I yell, "What is this -- the Sixth Sense?!"

(In the Bruce Willis film, the young Haley Joel Osment, who "sees dead people" sits down to breakfast and, in the seconds it takes his mom to leave and return to the kitchen, Haley Joel's deceased cronies manage to leave every kitchen door gaping wide, prompting the boy's mom to have an "a-ha" realization that perhaps things ain't as they seem.) more...

Lowball offers fail buyers

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Friday, June 26, 2009.

Q: My wife and I are getting frustrated by sellers who seem like they don't really want to sell their homes -- even in this market!

This scenario has happened several times: We see a place we like listed at $499,000. We write an offer at $445,000. The seller doesn't even respond. Then, six weeks later, the place is still on the market and the price is reduced to $449,000 -- if they had issued us a counteroffer at $449,000, we'd have bought it back then. We're still interested, but we're not paying the full price, so we offer $425,000 -- and they still don't even respond. We've done this on several houses, over the last four months, and ALL of those houses are still on the market! We think these sellers are just crazy. more...

First-time buyer clueless about costs

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Thursday, June 25, 2009.

Q: I'm a first-time homebuyer and I don't have money for a down payment of $8,000. I have only $2,000. (I pay $1,570 for rent right now.) Prices are so low right now that I really would love to buy a house. How can I get into a house without putting so much down for the closing costs?

A: There are certainly strategies for finding money to bolster your down payment and accelerate your ability to buy a home, and we'll get there in a minute. First, though, I want to caution you about rushing into homeownership while your finances might be immature for the responsibility. more...

Title overcharge doesn't void mortgage

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Wednesday, June 24, 2009.

In the case McCutcheon v. America's Servicing Co., the homeowner (M. Clark McCutcheon) signed the closing documents to effect a cash-out refinance mortgage on his home, despite the fact that his eyesight and lighting prevented him from reading the terms.

Several days after signing, the homeowner (an elderly man on a fixed income) realized that the stated income, the payments and the title insurance fee were all higher than he had believed.

After using the cash from the refinance to make several payments, the homeowner defaulted on the mortgage and issued a demand to the mortgage company to rescind the loan. more...

Get money matters on the mend

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Tuesday, June 23, 2009.

Image courtesy <a href="http://www.sterlingpublishing.com/catalog?isbn=1402747349" target=blank>Sterling Publishing</a>.

This book is not new. But the concept and the content are so refreshing against the backdrop of finger-pointing, financial anxiety and knee-jerk non-solutions to our individual and collective financial dramas, I thought it warranted some exposure, especially to the real estate-minded folk of America. "Why Smart People Do Stupid Things with MONEY," by Bert Whitehead, is a 100 percent timely, holistic and insightful guide to understanding and rehabilitating financial dysfunction and setting the stage for long-term financial wellness.

At the outset, Whitehead, one of America's loudest proponents for noncommissioned, fee-only financial planning, discusses the beginnings of the current national financial crises, without excessively blaming either institutions or individuals. more...

A case for tax credit extension

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Monday, June 22, 2009.

I heart the stimulus plan. Specifically, I love the $8,000 first-time homebuyer ("FTH") tax credit. I won't bore you; if you read my columns, you know that I've deemed this credit "the stimulus that, gasp, actually stimulates!" because it made my real estate brokerage phone ring with buyers wanting to take advantage of it, unlike the other dozen stimulus measures that have had no obvious, direct results on the consumers I work with. (Though they might be effective at some higher, less direct level. Or not.)

If you've been wedged underneath a real estate-free rock for the first half of the year, let me brief you on the details of this program. Folks who (a) haven't owned a home for the past three years, (b) earn a "modified adjusted gross income" (don't even ask -- check with your tax pro) of $75,000 or less for singles/$150,000 or less for marrieds filing jointly, and who (c) close escrow on a home purchase no later than Nov. 30, 2009, can qualify for the tax credit. more...

'Rigorous' inspections becoming de rigueur

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Friday, June 19, 2009.

Q: My buddy bought this incredible house on the beach for more than $1 million. It was really stunning and had awesome views -- he fell in love with it at first sight, and closed the deal pretty quickly. He did have inspections by a contractor friend the seller was able to get to come out really fast.

My friend bought the house in the summertime, but when it started to rain, the rain literally poured inside the house. In the course of getting the roof replaced, he started to discover all these other issues wrong with the place that the seller had to have known about and concealed, including the fact that the whole foundation has some kind of dry mold issue. To make a long story short, the place needs to be torn down. more...

Making your purchase offer stick

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Thursday, June 18, 2009.

Q: The house we want to buy was listed for $110,000. We offered $108,000, but asked that the sellers pay our closing costs. Our Realtor said that the sellers might respond by saying they have other offers, and she needs to know whether that's our final offer. Should we say that's our final offer or offer more?

A: Probably the toughest conundrum in the real estate universe is the question of how much to offer for any given home. Probably the reason it's so tough is that there are a dozen different ways to approach the question. In a multiple-offer situation, the uncertainty about what you're up against, the desire not to overpay and the auction-style atmosphere of competitiveness only up the ante -- and the puzzlement. So you've really got two questions going there: (1) Should you stick at your current offer or offer more, and (2) What should you tell your Realtor? more...

Seller sues over point-of-sale law

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Wednesday, June 17, 2009.

In the case Walker v. Calumet City, the homeowner (Ayanna Walker) wanted to sell her home and discovered that she would first have to comply with the city's point-of-sale (POS) ordinance, which required various inspections; fees; correcting property conditions that didn't comply with the building or zoning codes; and obtaining transfer stamps.

(The local association of Realtors had already challenged the ordinance in court, but the case was dismissed because the Realtors lacked standing. The homeowner was then brought in to the case.)

The homeowner's claim against the city alleged that the POS ordinance improperly restrained her from being able to sell her home and deprived her of due process. more...

Secrets to selling in soft market

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Tuesday, June 16, 2009.

Cover image courtesy <a href="http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470447125.html" target=blank>Wiley</a>.

Never have listing agents and sellers so needed a leg up as they do now. This is especially true for Realtors representing individual home sellers, who might not be able to compete with foreclosures and short sales on price, and so need some other way to create a compelling value proposition for the buyers who do visit their homes. Enter home staging.

According to author Barb Schwarz, who markets herself as "The Inventor of Home Staging," even in a down market staged homes sell in 35 days or less, on average, while those that are not stagedtake an average of 172 days to sell. Schwarz paints a vivid, data-backed picture for why and how real estate agents who list homes should master the key tenets of home staging. more...

List price isn't the 'real price'

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Monday, June 15, 2009.

Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dno1967/3228875700/" target=blank>dno1967</a>.

When I was a kid, my parents (as all good parents do) did something that embarrassed me on a regular basis. My Dad's particular recipe for mortification was his insistence on negotiating prices -- everywhere and on everything. In fact, I distinctly remember trying to disappear once when he was trying to work the guy in the electronics department at Sears down on the price for our big-screen TV.

Fast forward 20 years and, like all good children, I have become my father's daughter. In my daily shopping life, especially on big-ticket items, I consider the price-tag price akin to the speed limit: a good jumping off point for a discussion of what price I'm really going to pay. more...

Careful buyer regrets home purchase

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Friday, June 12, 2009.

Q: Help me out here. I bought a condo in 2006. It's way too small for me, and I didn't really love it, but it had some things going for it. It's in what was supposed to be an up-and-coming area, but it's pretty industrial and commercial still and a number of the big businesses in the area have gone out of business, so there are lots of boarded-up buildings around. We just got word that one of them is being converted into almost 200 units of low-income housing -- I'm not looking forward to that.

Anyhow, I saved for years in order to buy, and bought a very low-priced, one-bedroom unit so I didn't live outside of my means. I thought I was making a very reasonable investment, even if my home didn't appreciate at all. Now, all the people in my complex who overpaid, put nothing down and lied about their income are in foreclosure, and the value of my home has dropped by about 20 percent -- plus the homeowners association (HOA) is going broke, so they are looking to the few responsible owners to cover all the bills. I don't even like my place that much -- it's just all I thought I could afford. more...

HOA defaults ruin resale values

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Thursday, June 11, 2009.

Q: Times are tough. I work for my state, which has budget problems and is requiring me to take one day per pay period off work -- for no pay. I'm barely keeping up with my adjusting mortgage payments on my condo. Some months I struggle to pay my HOA (homeowners association) dues. What will happen if I can't keep up with them?

A: If your mortgage payments have begun to adjust already, you really should talk with your lender about the possibility of a loan modification, to make ends meet a little bit easier. more...

Lender violation benefits borrowers

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Wednesday, June 10, 2009.

In the case Rand Corp. v. Yer Song Moua, the homeowners (Yer Song Moua and Manisy Moua) obtained an adjustable refinance home loan from Rand Corp. in order to redeem their property from foreclosure. At the closing table, the Mouas were required to sign a) a notice of the statutory three-day rescission period, which was set to begin the same date of the signing, b) a document stating that the three-day rescission period had already elapsed and was waived by the homeowners, and c) a statement the homeowners were required to reproduce in their own handwriting to the effect that they were waiving the three-day rescission period in order to meet the deadlines of the foreclosure redemption period.

Several months after the refinance loan closed escrow, the homeowners stopped making payments on the loan and, a year after closing, attempted to rescind it. more...

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