FSBO’s, Are you Aware of What Buyers Hate Most?

For Sale By Owners (FSBO’s), are the homeowners who want to Do It themselves and sell their own home. I have nothing but respect for these homeowners because it is what they  chosen to do d it is certainly their right. Since I am here to help, I thought I would spill the beans on a few tips  might help you FSBO’s  prepare your home better for a successful experience.

Homeowners you have to keep in mind buyers n this market are looking for a reasonably priced home and are not willing to pay a sky high price even if they like the home. You may have to put  your emotional and sentimental feelings aside and look at the your lovely home from the buyer’s perspective because they don’t feel the the same way as you do.

Let your nose lead the way. Weird smells will drive buyers away quickly so make sure you  give your home a good, honest sniff and make sure your home doesn’t have any weird smells.

No bugs please. Nobody likes bugs even when we  live in the home but you want t to make a great first impression because you are only going to get  one chance.

Speaking of that first impression, your front yard is the first thing your buyers are going to see  soon  they pull up to the home, so if the yard is messy, you will want to do some maintenance to make it presentable especially if the home is not being lived in. You may want to make it visually appealing to your buyers.

By paying attention to these four items on your list, FSBO sellers may see great success with selling their own home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can You Really Pay off Your Home and Save Interest?

Well, in complete full disclosure here I have to admit I read a book some time ago called the Banker’s Secret. In this book it showed how homeowners could save the interest on their mortgage and by doing this, pay off their mortgage sooner. Well, I thought it was great. I asked alot of folks around me who owned homes had they heard of the book and done any of this stuff and all of them looked at me like I had two heads. They had no idea what I was talking about.

Well fast forward to 2007 and I became a rep for United First Financial. This was a company that believed strongly in that concept and created U1st Financial and called their product the Money Merge Account. I learned about it and read the material over and over and it made sense from a purely financial standpoint that one could use this product and actually save interest payments and pay off their mortgage sooner. Bravo. Yay! United First Financial for investing in America and wanting to help homeowners help themselves.

U1st Financial decided to roll out the business as a network marketing opportunity to allow individuals to create a business for themselves helping homeowners save interest and pay off their home sooner. Well I thought it was great. I became a rep and did not sell one unit to anyone. I wanted to. I thought it was a great idea but it didn’t happen for me. I started looking on the internet at other financial sites that learned about what U1st was doing and charging $3500 for each household to use the software. Well, all hell broke loose when other sites found out about the $3500 fee that was being charged to each family and they ranted and raved and called U1st Financial a scam and started telling homeowners how they can achieve the same goal without spending this god-forsaken $3500.

Granted $3500 is nothing to sneeze at but look at how much interest you will pay at the end of the 30-year period. You can safely say that the interest payments will amount to about buying your home twice so $3500 upfront is really not a lot of money in comparison.

Anyway, U1st Financial got such a negative response it eventually did not last under public scrutiny. However, those homeowners who did use the software did have success.

Now fast forward to 2012 and look at the mortgage meltdown. Now, if half of the homeowners who were turned upside down had the Money Merge Account working for them I believe with every fiber of my being that they would still have their home, saved interest and be in a better financial position overall.

Compared to the mortgage meltdown that $3500 is looking pretty good right now.

I’m just saying. I just checked on amazon about Harj Gill’s book, How to Own Your Home Years Sooner – without making extra Interest Payments. It is temporarily out of Stock. Hmmm!

Comments and feedback are welcome.

 

5000 Acres acquired in Atlantic County by Environmental Protection Agency

13 families who had generational ownership of  a former game preserve said goodbye to their legacy. The NJ Department of Environmental Protection acquired the 5,000 plus acre tract of land for 9.7 million dollars.

Although 500 homes could have been built on this land, the woodlands will be preserved as part of a green belt through central Atlantic County.

The Green Acres Program was started in 1961 and now preserves over 650,000 acres of open space in New Jersey.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20130118_N_J__Green_Acres_program_buys_nearly_5_000-acre_preserve_in_Atlantic_County_for__9_7_million.html

Are you Still Suffering from Superstorm Sandy?

The deadline is approaching for filing your applications: January 30, 2013 for physical damage and July 31, 2013 for economic injury.

Those who have registered for federal disaster assistance may be referred for a U.S. Small Business Administration low-interest long-term disaster loan. These loans can be obtained by homeowners, renters, business and non-profit agencies for disaster-caused damages not covered by insurance.

How to Apply

Via Electronic Loan (ELA) via SBA’s website, https://disaster loan.sba.gov/ela.

Applications can be downloaded from http://www.sba.gov. You may also call 800-659-2955. TTY users call 800-877-8339.

Individuals can register for assistance online or web-enabled mobile device @ m.fema.gov. By phone or 711/BED or call

1-800-621- FEMA (3362) or TTY 1-800-462-7585. You can also follow FEMA on facebook, http://www.facebook.com/fema.

THERE is still help available. Hurry before the deadline!

Are Renters protected when a home is Foreclosed?

In a lot of cases no. However, President Obama did sign “Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009” because most renters lost their lease upon foreclosure. However, this rule changed that stating that tenant leases would survive foreclosure proceedings. This has to be wonderful for tenants because we have heard far too many horror stories of  tenants having no idea that the home they were renting in was being foreclosed and needed to find a new home. What a horrible dilemma for any family to be in. This will help alleviate that.

However, I do believe a new law maybe coming into affect soon that will require homeowners to tell their tenants that a foreclosure proceeding is in process. I will keep you posted.

Should Buyers Know Everything about the House?

Even if someone was murdered there? That is called Full.Disclosure. Does it apply in this case?

Well, if someone were murdered, tortured and cut up in little pieces in a home that you wanted to buy would you want to know BEFORE you made the purchase?

According to a State Supreme court ruling in Pennsylvania the answer is “No”. The realtor is NOT legally obligated to tell the seller such information.

Personally, I would want to know because I believe in karma and telling the whole truth no matter how unpleasant because I believe the buyer has the right to know.

Here is a link to the article, http://wnep.com/2013/01/04/home-buyers-beware/

You decide and share your thoughts please.

New Year New ?

Well, 2013 is here and we’ve avoided the fiscal cliff so they say but what does that really mean for the average Joe and Joanne and their children? How will this all play out for us who work hard everyday on our nine to five or a small start- up who may still be employed or the self- employed? There has been no mention of an increase in payroll taxes, however, but these increases are likely according to this article by Josh Levs of CNN,

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/02/politics/fiscal-cliff-5-things/index.html

If this holds any weight, then those earning a modest $30k maybe bringing home $50

less. Ouch!

As always feedback is welcome.