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| BE SAVVY...CALL THE SMART REALTOR! |
Elizabeth Scott, Realtor®, Broker
Diamond Award – High Sales Volume
e-PRO, Strategic Pricing Specialist
Fathom
Realty NC, LLC
Phone: 919.306.9699
Email
Phone: 919.306.9699
Monday, December 29, 2014
Thinking of Moving to the Triangle NC?
Elizabeth Scott, Realtor®, Broker
Diamond Award – High Sales Volume
e-PRO, Strategic Pricing Specialist
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Should I Use A Realtor When Selling My Home?
Should I use a Realtor when selling my home?
Are you thinking of selling your house in 2015? Obviously you want the best possible
price with the least amount of hassles. However, for the vast majority of
sellers, the most important result is to actually get the home sold.
Elizabeth Scott, Realtor®, Broker
2013 Diamond Award – High Sales Volume
e-PRO, Strategic Pricing Specialist
In
order to accomplish all three goals, a seller should realize the importance of
using a real estate professional. We realize that technology has changed the
purchaser’s behavior during the home buying process. For the past two years,
92% of all buyers have used the internet in their home search according to
the National Association of Realtors’ 2014 Profile of Home Buyers & Sellers.
However,
the report also revealed that for the second year in a row 96% percent of
buyers that used the internet when searching for a home purchased their home
through either a real estate agent/broker or from a builder or builder’s agent.
Only 2% purchased their home directly from a seller whom the buyer didn’t know.
Buyers
search for a home online but then depend on an agent to find the actual home
they will buy (53%) or negotiate the terms of the sale & price (31%) or
understand the process (63%).
Stephen
Phillips, the Chief Operating Officer for HSF Affiliates LLC, put it best:
“Home
buyers are more informed than ever with their Internet searches and ongoing
research; however, there’s a critical need to transform that information
into analysis and advice that helps consumers make the best home-buying and
selling decisions.”
The vast amount of information now available has resulted in an increase in the
percentage of buyers that reach out to real estate professionals to “connect
the dots”. This is obvious as the percentage of overall buyers who used an
agent to buy their home has steadily increased from 69% in 2001.
Bottom Line
If
you are thinking of selling your home, don’t underestimate the role a real
estate professional will play in the process. After all, this is the single biggest investment you will make, and a legal contract. FSBOs
accounted for 9% of home sales in 2013. The typical FSBO home sold for
$184,000 compared to $230,000 for agent-assisted home sales. http://www.realtor.org/field-guides/field-guide-to-quick-real-estate-statistics
Realtors really earn their keep
during the offer negotiation and closing process. The paperwork is complex and and the negotiations
can be complicated. The advice of an experienced realtor can ultimately save
you time and a lot of hassle. That is worth the money.
Get in touch and I’ll review my
exclusive marketing program and ways you can save money on the sale of your
home.
Elizabeth Scott, Realtor®, Broker
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| BE SAVVY...CALL THE SMART REALTOR |
2013 Diamond Award – High Sales Volume
e-PRO, Strategic Pricing Specialist
Fathom
Realty NC, LLC
Phone: 919.306.9699
Email
Phone: 919.306.9699
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Only 3% Down for Home Purchase? YES!
Yesterday, HousingWire reported that both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
formally announced their 3% down options on home purchases. Fannie Mae’s
plan will be effective December 13, 2014 while the Freddie Mac plan will
be available March 23, 2015. The HW article quotes FHFA Director Mel
Watt:
“The new lending guidelines released
today by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will enable creditworthy borrowers who can
afford a mortgage, but lack the resources to pay a substantial down payment
plus closing costs, to get a mortgage with 3% down. These underwriting
guidelines provide a responsible approach to improving access to credit while
ensuring safe and sound lending practices.”
This is great news to millions of
purchasers that have been denied the opportunity to own their own home because
of the almost impossible burden of saving for a 20% down payment.
Will
these programs create future challenges?
Mr. Watt also addressed this
concern:
“To mitigate risk, Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac will use their automated underwriting systems, which include
compensating factors to evaluate a borrower’s creditworthiness. In addition,
the new offerings will also include homeownership counseling, which improves
borrower performance. FHFA will monitor the ongoing performance of these
loans.”
Just
last week, the Urban Institute revealed data showing what impact substantially lower down
payments would have on default rates in today’s mortgage environment. Their
study revealed:
“Of
loans that originated in 2011 with a down payment between 3-5 percent, only 0.4
percent of borrowers have defaulted. For loans with slightly larger down
payments—between 5-10 percent—the default rate was exactly the same. The story
is similar for loans made in 2012, with 0.2 percent in the 3-5 percent down-payment group
defaulting, versus 0.1
percent of loans in the 5-10 percent down-payment group.”
Bottom Line
I
believe the Institute concluded this perfectly:
“Those
who have criticized low-down payment lending as excessively risky should know
that if the past is a guide, only a narrow group of borrowers will receive
these loans, and the overall impact on default rates is likely to be
negligible. This low down payment lending was never more than 3.5 percent of
the Fannie Mae book of business, and in recent years, had been even less. If
executed carefully, this constitutes a small step forward in opening the credit
box—one that safely, but only incrementally, expands the pool of who can
qualify for a mortgage.”
I look forward to speaking with you soon, so we can get you
started on your path to home ownership!
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| BE SAVVY...CALL THE SMART REALTOR! |
2013 Diamond Award – High Sales Volume
e-PRO, Strategic Pricing Specialist
Fathom
Realty NC, LLC
Phone: 919.306.9699
Email
Phone: 919.306.9699
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