Six Musts Before You List Your Home
by Carla Hill

Deciding to list your home for sale is a momentous time. It means you will be moving on to a new stage of life, no matter if you’re moving up or sizing down. Take a moment to look over these tips for what every seller should do before they put their home on the market.

1. Organize Your Paperwork: Every homeowner should have a detailed list of all past repairs, updates, and upgrades they’ve made. This will help your agent know what should be mentioned on the MLS. Did you put on a new roof in 2010 or a install a new water heater in 2009? These are great selling features because they mean less work in the future for the prospective buyer.
Also included in this list should be any home warranty information. These warranties will most likely transfer with title of the home.

2. Get Ready to Declutter: Even before you’ve officially listed your home for sale, you should start getting rid of things you don’t need. Starting now will mean a more thorough and less rushed job of clearing things out.
Start with one closet and work your way through the entire home. Sort items to toss, keep, sell, and donate.
Having a yard sale is a wonderful way of making a little extra pocket change while reducing the amount of things you’ll have in your home during showings and that you’ll need to pack up and move. It’s a win-win!

3. Clean, Clean, and Clean Some More: Dirty homes are a real buyer turnoff. Now is a great time wash down walls, spruce up paint, and give your entire home a thorough cleaning. Do your carpets need refreshing? Consider renting a carpet shampoo machine or hiring a professional carpet cleaning company to come in and revamp your carpets.
Chances are buyers will ask for this anyway come closing time. You’ll beat them to the punch and have a shiny, sparkling home to show for it.

4. Get an Inspection: Did you think inspections were only for buyers? Having a pre-sale inspection can mean identifying problem areas. Perhaps you’re unaware that your foundation needs repaired. This will severely affect your listing price. It’s best to be prepared and realistic in today’s market.

5. Make Repairs or Get Estimates: Your inspection will likely leave you with a list of repairs, large and small, that need made. Keep in mind that prospective buyers will also get an inspection of your home and will find these same issues. Head them off at the pass and do some fixing up. You may wish to go ahead with large repairs. If not, be sure to at least get estimates so you are fully prepared for negotiations (you’ll know what the real cost should be) or so you can provide the estimates for buyers.

6. Start Staging: Staging is like prepping your home for its first date. You want to have it clean and well-dressed. This means amping up curb appeal with neat landscaping, fresh paint, and flowers. It means rearranging furniture and removing clutter.
Congratulations on deciding to list your home for sale. Be proactive about making a good first step by following these tried and true tips.

Most buyers have a wish list of features they’d like to have in a home. Often missing from that list is how salable the home will be when they later decide to sell.
Generally, buyers deal indirectly with resale value. They want a home they can buy at market value or less. They want to buy a home that will retain its value. They want to buy a home that will suit their needs. They want to buy a home they can make their own.
A listing that’s priced low to sell fast may be one that will have good resale value only if you use this marketing strategy. The low price may offset an incurable defect, such as a location on a busy street.
There’s nothing wrong with buying a home on a busy street as long as (1) you buy it at a price that reflects the location issue; (2) it suits your long-term needs; and (3) you understand that you will probably have to discount the price accordingly when you sell, depending on the market at the time.
In a hot seller’s market, buyers are desperate to buy. They often overpay, and they are more likely to overlook defects that they would shun in a sour market.
Resale value has become a bigger issue since the housing recession began five years ago. Buyers are more cautious in their home buying decisions. They don’t want to buy just any home; they don’t want to make a mistake and end up wanting to move in a slow market in which they might lose money.
The homes that hold their resale value well are the ones that appeal to a broad cross section of buyers; offer a good floor plan that works for different lifestyles; have a good amount of space but are not enormous and expensive to maintain; and exhibit a pride of ownership. They should also be in good condition.
Location is also a critical element of resale value. There are market niches that are always in demand, in both hot and soft markets. That’s not to say that every listing in these areas sells quickly. To sell, it needs to be priced right for the market.
It’s easier to recognize a home with good resale value in the current market than it was in the bubble market of 2005 and 2006 when virtually all homes sold in many areas. In a soft market, the homes that sell within 30 to 60 days are either good homes or good deals.
Ideally, you want to buy a home that has good resale value. Not one that’s just a good deal. There’s no urgency to buy now in many areas, although it would be nice to take advantage of record-low interest rates. But you shouldn’t buy a home that won’t work for you long term just to lock in a great interest rate.
Even though there are a lot of homes for sale on the market, in many areas there is a not a surplus of quality inventory on the market. One reason for the lack of quality homes on the market is that many sellers are waiting for a better time to sell. Another reason is that homes with good resale value don’t tend to change hands that often.
THE CLOSING: There may be good news ahead. Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist for the California Association of Realtors, predicts that sellers who have been waiting for a better time to sell may decide they’ve waited long enough and list their homes for sale in 2012.
Copyright 2012 Dian Hymer
All rights reserved. This article may not be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, in part or in whole, without written permission of Inman News. Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright law.

The most significant trend based on the sales data released by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service has been the dramatic increases in pending sales. Kitsap County led the Puget Sound region with a 34.67 percent increase (March 2012 compared to March 2011).

Considering the increased pending sales, the 11 percent decrease in inventory, a balanced absorption rate, and the minimal changes in the median price, we are very encouraged by the improved marketplace conditions.

- Kitsap County Association of REALTORS

April 6, 2012 By Patti Shannon Leave a Comment

The March 2012 MLS report for Pending Houses and Condos shows 62 on Bainbridge Island in some form of pending status (pending inspection, pending short sale, pending). This must be some sort of record! And the pending homes are in a wide range of price points, not predominantly the low end as we’ve been seeing for months if not years. In comparison, the March 2011 Pending Sales report showed 30; the same report for 2006 (when everything was selling) showed 48.

Buyers are obviously tired of waiting and are anxious to take advantage of the lowest interest rates in history while they’re still available.

If you haven’t secured your deal yet, there is still a lot to choose from and more choices coming on the market every day. As of this writing, there are 250 Active properties on the island, 45 of them $1 million or more, 42 condos, so 164 homes priced under $1 million. But I encourage you to work with a Buyer’s agent; properties are coming onto the market and under contract within 48 hours. If you do not have a professional working on your behalf you are more likely to miss opportunities.

30-year fixed-rate mortgage dips back below 4 percent.
The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs) was 3.99 percent, with an average 0.7 point, for the week ending March 29, down from 4.08 percent last week.

Last year at this time, the average 30-year FRM interest rate was 4.86 percent, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly “Primary Mortgage Market Survey.” The average rate on the 15-year FRM was 3.23 percent this week, with an average 0.8 point, also down from last week’s average 3.30 percent rate, and down from 4.09 percent a year ago.

“Mortgage rates slid this week amid weaker housing economic indicators. The S&P/Case Shiller 20-City Composite home price index slid in January to its lowest reading since December 2002,” says Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist of Freddie Mac.

The 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.90 percent this week, with an average 0.8 point, down from 2.96 percent last week. The 5-year ARM averaged 3.70 percent a year ago.

Finally, for the week ending March 29, Freddie Mac reported the 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM at 2.78 percent this week, with an average 0.6 point, was also down from last week’s 2.84, and down from 3.26 percent a year ago.

By Tom Kelly Wednesday, March 7, 2012.

Inman News®

Homebuyers may be attracted to the big bargains that foreclosures and preforeclosures can offer. But distressed properties can involve tricky, lengthy transactions, and there’s a lot to think about before jumping in.

In fact, some home shoppers have shunned short sales altogether, preferring a more reliable process to a reduction in price. Getting all parties to agree to a short-sale price can be problematic, and lenders have been known to change their minds when more bidders surface.

Given the difficulty and uncertainty of negotiating a short-sale transaction, you would think lenders would bend over backward to make things easier for the consumer once the deal is finally done.

But it appears some lenders are seeking an additional pound of flesh long after the frustrated, exhausted and often financially drained seller has moved on.

Short sales occur when owners, often in distress, sell their homes for less than the amount they owe their lenders. The lender may then write off the remainder of the debt and receive tax benefits.

Some lenders, however, will also assign or sell the remaining debt obligation to third-party debt collectors, often for pennies on the dollar. The third-party debt collector can then use the legal system to continue to pursue the former homeowner for the balance owed.

This has become such an issue that legislators in Olympia, Wash., have taken action. Senate Bill 6337, proposed by David Frockt, D-Seattle, would protect short-sale sellers from being pursued by lenders or their assignees for the difference between the sale price and remaining loan balance.

“The banks will basically have to make a choice,” Frockt said, “to either write off the amount and take the tax benefit, or pursue the owner — but they cannot do both.”

When a lender agrees to a short sale, it can either retain the ability to collect from the short-sale seller the amount of mortgage debt owed by the seller that is not satisfied by the purchase price, or it can discharge all or a portion of the unsatisfied debt amount.

If a lender discharges debt, it reports this discharge of debt to the Internal Revenue Service on a 1099-C Cancellation of Debt Form. The issuance of the 1099-C allows the lender to take a tax deduction for the loss represented by the amount of debt discharged, and this same amount of debt discharged becomes taxable income to the short-sale seller.

After the taxpayers bailed out the mortgage industry, many borrowers are still unable to get a loan modification to stay in their homes. Now the industry has a sketchy-to-lousy national reputation, and more stringent qualifying standards are not helping their case.

In light of all this, how can some lenders knowingly seek both a tax deduction for the mortgage debt not paid while also seeking to collect that same mortgage debt?

“Yes, we have heard of this happening,” said Deborah Bortner, director of consumer services for the Washington state Department of Financial Institutions.

“I hear it mostly from attorneys or others who assist those in obtaining a short sale. I understand that the documentation provided by the institutions doesn’t always make it clear whether they will pursue a short sale or not. The consumer only finds out later when contacted by someone trying to collect the deficiency.”

In some instances, mortgage debt collection rights have been referred to third-party debt collection companies, even though short-sale sellers have paid income tax on the amount of this discharged debt.

“This is another step to help the short-sale process that is keeping many homeowners from the tragedy of foreclosure,” said Faye Nelson, president of the Washington Association of Realtors. “Nearly 40 percent of the inventory in the Puget Sound region right now is short sales. State legislators recognize that protecting this process is critical to homeownership and the housing market.”

By an overwhelming margin, American voters strongly value homeownership and believe tax
incentives are appropriate and reasonable. Three-fourths of voters who took part in a new
nationwide survey affirmed their belief in homeownership, saying owning a home is the best
long-term investment they can make.
Survey respondents also said they object to efforts to weaken or eliminate the mortgage interest
deduction or diminish a federal role to help qualified home buyers obtain affordable 30-year
mortgages.
“The American electorate is sending a clear message that owning a home remains a cornerstone
of the American Dream and preserving a federal commitment to homeownership is essential to
maintain a thriving middle class and get housing and the economy back on track,” said Neil
Newhouse, a partner and co-founder of Public Opinion Strategies. His company conducted the
survey in early January to gauge likely voters’ attitudes toward homeownership and housing
policy issues.
Among the poll’s other key findings:
• An overwhelming number — 96 percent — of home owners are happy with their decision
to own and 84 percent who are “underwater,” or owe more on their mortgages than their
home is worth, expressed the same sentiment.
• 79 percent of home owners would advise a family member or close friend just starting
out to buy a home, and 69 percent of those who are underwater on their mortgage would
offer the same advice.
• 74 percent said that despite the ups and downs in the housing market, owning a home is
the best long-term investment they can make.
• Homeownership and a retirement savings program are considered by voters to be their
best long-term investments.
• 78 percent of respondents said that owning their own home is very important to them.
• Nearly seven out of 10 voters who are not currently home owners (68 percent) said it was
a goal of theirs to buy a home.
• Job uncertainty and saving for a downpayment and closing costs are the biggest barriers
to buying a home. (Northwest Reporter)

There’s a moral component to that decision, of course. People naturally feel embarrassed about
breaking a contract and not paying their bills; no one wants to be branded a deadbeat. But
remember that companies default on their obligations when it makes financial sense for them to
do so, via the bankruptcy process. Even the Mortgage Bankers Association itself, in a flourish of
irony, arranged for a short sale of its Washington headquarters.
It’s not personal; it’s business. So think of strategic default as a business decision, and do a coldeyed
cost-benefit analysis of whether it makes sense for you, advises Carl Archer, an attorney
with Maselli Warren in Princeton, New Jersey.
“People think it reflects on their integrity, and say ‘I wasn’t raised this way,’” said Archer. “But the
more businesslike attitude is to say that there’s a contract, there are penalties for violating that
contract, and sometimes it just makes financial sense to break it.”
The penalties largely revolve around your credit record, which admittedly gets blown up in the
near-term. For a few years you can likely forget about qualifying for a mortgage or a car loan.
When lenders are ready to take a chance on you again, you’ll have to pay for the privilege, with
stiff interest rates due to your default history. An excerpt from an article by Chris Taylor-Reuters