Posted by Annalisa Burgos | June 25, 2009
Here at FrontDoor.com, nuestra casa es su casa.
And today, we’re happy to welcome millions of new members to the FrontDoor family — more than 60 local TV station affiliates throughout the country and their viewers!
Now you can get real estate listings and valuable homebuying and selling tips and advice from HGTV’s FrontDoor.com on some of your favorite local stations’ Web sites. This is just another example of how FrontDoor is reaching out to consumers in their local markets.
So, for example, Atlantans who tune in to WSB-TV and Denverites who watch KMGH, the Denver Channel can go to these stations’ Web sites and search for homes in the area and get great articles and videos from FrontDoor.com.
We’re bringing the tools you need for your home search and sale at a hyperlocal level. How awesome is that! Pretty awesome.
For more details, check out the news release.
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | June 16, 2009
Despite its name, a short sale is by no means a “short” process. But unlike what you may have heard, getting a short sale approved by your lender is not as hard as you may think — if your real estate agent knows what they’re doing.
In order to orchestrate a successful short sale, you need a master negotiator, says Troy Huerta, short sale division leader at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in San Diego. “Many agents forgot how to negotiate. There was no negotiating in the past. You would list a home at a ridiculous price and someone would pay it.”
Those days are long gone. Home values are falling. Unemployment is at 9.4 percent. And according to RealtyTrac, there were more than 321,000 foreclosure filings in May, 18 percent higher than a year earlier. That’s expected to get worse.
But there’s a way to help ease this flood of foreclosures, Huerta says. Do more short sales.
In the past, lenders have been reluctant to do short sales. And why would they? They stand to lose a LOT of money. But the reality today is that if a lender doesn’t do a short sale, it may get stuck with a property that is harder to sell or will sell for less than it could have gotten. (A buyer is more willing to buy a short sale in good condition than a bank-owned foreclosure that needs a lot of work.) Not to mention the cost of pursuing the foreclosure process.
Even Fannie Mae felt short sales could help reduce foreclosures. It launched a pilot program pre-approving short sales for homeowners in Phoenix and Orlando.
Now, lenders should be more motivated than ever to get these deals done — as part of President Obama’s economic stimulus plan, the federal government will pay lenders up to $1,000 for each completed short sale or accepted deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.
READ HUERTA’S TIPS FOR BUYING AND SELLING A SHORT SALE…
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | June 12, 2009
With so much drama in the world, there’s no better time than now to step back and take a breath. It’s easy to get caught up with the stress and emotion of buying and selling a home. That’s why FrontDoor Insider Tara-Nicholle Nelson is sharing her solutions and strategies to deal with today’s frustrating real estate situations, like getting rejected for a mortgage or facing foreclosure after losing a job. It’s all in Tara’s Drama-Free Real Estate Guide at www.frontdoor.com/dramafree.
To spread the word about these great tips and advice, Tara and the FrontDoor team took it to the media — with the important message that now is not the time for consumers to panic (and it’s easy to with all the negative headlines), but rather they should be proactive.
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | June 11, 2009
RealtyTrac’s May foreclosure report is out, and as usual, the news is grim. Foreclosure activity is up 18 percent from a year ago. Even worse, most real estate experts are warning us about “shadow foreclosure inventory” which is set to hit the market later this summer. Oh yeah and the unemployment rate is at 9.4 percent. So if you think we’ve hit the so-called “bottom,” think again.
The good news is that President Obama’s stimulus plan seems to be working. Lenders are now more willing to work with struggling homebuyers to refinance or modify their loans or negotiate short sales, in which a house is sold for less than what the borrower owes and a portion of the loan balance is forgiven by the lender. Why would they do this? Because the federal government is giving them money to do this, and besides, better to sell and write off the loss now than deal with the foreclosure process and try to sell a property in crappy condition. I spoke to a short sale expert for Coldwell Banker in San Diego, Troy Huerta, who has some great insight and advice on the subject. Stay tuned for my blog post on that.
Meanwhile, FrontDoor Insider and Freak Out Prevention Specialist Tara-Nicholle Nelson is spreading the word about her Drama-Free Real Estate Guide, which provides concrete solutions to some of the most common issues consumers are facing today. Just in time! Situations like losing your job and trying to make your mortgage payment. Or you got preapproved and suddenly your lender says “no money for you.” Yours truly will post a vlog later taking you behind the scenes of our media tour.
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | June 9, 2009
It’s no secret that listing agents typically charge a commission of about 4 percent to 6 percent of the home’s selling price. Most sellers will price that commission into their asking price so they can walk away from the sale with the profit they want.
So if you sell your home for $300K and you agree on a 5% commission, your agent will get a nice $15,000 paycheck and you get $285K minus your selling expenses.
I know what you’re thinking — $15,000 seems like a lot. Why not skip the commission and sell the house yourself? After all, your home is in good condition in a good neighborhood, you’re well connected with a marketing background, you have the time and patience — what’s the big deal about going FSBO?
Well, today’s real estate market is very different from the one a few years ago when homes practically sold themselves. And you can’t just plop a “for sale” sign on the lawn, post an ad on Craigslist and wait for buyers to show up. (Maybe if people are clamoring to get into your neighborhood or you price the home way below market value.)
Today, homes can take as long as 6-9 months to sell. Listing agents are paid a commission once they find you a “ready, able and willing buyer.” And in this market, that’s no easy feat. Sure buyers are everywhere, but a serious buyer who’s got financing? Kinda like finding a single guy at a movie screening of “The Proposal.”
Before you decide to take matters in your own hands, weigh the pros and cons. Do you really have the time to market your listing, show your home to buyers, coordinate inspections and close the deal? $15,000 may seem like a lot, but when you add up the value of the time and effort it takes to sell in this market, it may not be so unreasonable. Besides, commissions are negotiable, and many agents are willing to work with you to get your business. If you’re just wary of working with a real estate agent, try these tips for finding the right agent for you.
And to help you get a handle on the selling process, check out FrontDoor’s Guide to Selling a Home. You’ll get a better sense of what the process entails so you can decide whether you can take this on yourself or would rather leave it up to a professional.
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | June 8, 2009
HGTV has always been about enhancing your home and home life. So it makes sense that FrontDoor.com, the real estate site powered by HGTV, is about enhancing your search for the place you call home. That means bringing you valuable tips and advice to help you make smart decisions. So in addition to our blog and large library of articles and videos, we’ve created a vlog.
Real estate topics can be dry and boring, and most of the real estate news videos I’ve seen out there are just that. As the host, I want this to be informative and fun. And as a journalist, I want this to be relevant, since today’s buyers and homeowners don’t have time to sift through all the information that’s out there.
The vlog is not meant to be fancy or flashy. It’s our way of connecting with you as that smart friend “in the know.” Future episodes will feature different topics and occasionally a special guest. If there’s something you’d like to know or have an idea or pitch for the vlog, we want to hear it. Post a comment here and we could feature it in our next episode!
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | June 4, 2009
We’ve all heard about the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers — the government’s carrot to spur buying and help reduce unsold inventory.
How it used to work: A first-time buyer would complete the homebuying process, file their tax return with the IRS in January and the credit would be applied to the taxes owed. If you don’t owe anything, you get the full credit.
How it works now: A new federal program will let you use the tax credit immediately — during closing. This is an even sweeter carrot, because the down payment and closing costs are typically the biggest obstacles to overcome when buying a home.
In today’s uncertain economy, people would rather hold on to their cash. With lenders charging higher fees, this program lightens the burden of closing costs. Average fees for a $200,000 mortgage in 2008 with a 20 percent down payment were $3,118, according to Bankrate.
The catch or two…: How much your credit will be depends on your income, tax-filing status and home price. You have to get a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage and put down at least 3.5 percent of the purchase price. Of course it doesn’t hurt to use the credit to boost your down payment, which could help lower your interest rate.
Also it’s important to note that like conventional loans that require private mortgage insurance (PMI) when the down payment is less than 20 percent, FHA loans require what’s called a mortgage insurance premium (MIP). With the FHA loan, you pay an up-front premium (1.75 percent of the loan) which is financed into the mortgage and a monthly premium for at least the first five years (0.50 percent to 0.55 percent).
The bottom line: Any time you can get money upfront as opposed to waiting for it, it’s a good thing. Too bad I still own a condo in Knoxville, or else I’d be all over this.
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | May 27, 2009
I never bought a Snuggie. I saw the informercial and laughed at such a ludicrous idea. A year later, Snuggie’s creators are the ones laughing, having sold more than 4 million of those things. Everyone I know has one and raves about them.
I didn’t see that coming.
So it dawned on me, if an infomercial can sell blankets with sleeves, chopping devices, a metal bar you hang on your doorway (Iron Gym) and other random stuff, it can sell houses.
Now bear with me, I’m going somewhere with this.
I was up late one night and one of those “make millions in real estate” commercials came on. You’ve seen these ads — some self-proclaimed millionaire investor goes on TV to hawk their book about how to strike it rich. This particular night a guy named Dean Graziosi was on. I had never heard of him before, but he claimed to have the secret to cashing in on our turbulent housing market. Normally I would have changed the channel. But he must have said something right cause I ended up listening to what he had to say.
What struck me about Dean’s pitch was that he didn’t approach it like “Hey! This is your chance to make money off of people’s misery. Go buy a foreclosure now!” Instead, he talked as if the viewer was a homeowner in financial distress or in danger of losing their home. Sure he’s an investor trying to make a buck, but his testimonials were from people who had major debt and were able to overcome it. I did some research on him, and he generally got good reviews. In a market like this, where so many are frozen with fear, it was nice to hear a positive message of empowerment.
Okay, no, Dean wasn’t actually selling homes on his infomercial, but he was selling a strategy for buying bargain-priced homes that most people are unaware of. And doesn’t that help reduce inventory? The National Association of Realtors (NAR) says housing inventories are up 8.8 percent to nearly 4 million units. Normally, you should have no more than a six-month supply of inventory. At the current level, it would take more than 10 months to sell all these houses.
This week’s batch of housing data shows things are not as bad as they could be, but we’re in no way near recovery. (A few “positive” reports and some economists are throwing that word around again). NAR said April’s existing home sales rose 2.9 percent, with distressed properties, including foreclosures and short sales, accounting for 45 percent. That’s still putting pressure on home prices, which according to NAR, are down 15.4 percent year-over-year.
Meanwhile, the S&P/Case-Shiller National Home Price Index says home prices in March fell 18.7 percent from a year earlier, in the 20 major cities it tracks. Furthermore, home prices have fallen 32.2 percent since the market began its decline in mid-2006.
Oh and did I mention that a new wave of foreclosures are expected to hit the market through the end of this year? More ARMs are about to reset and more properties are moving through the foreclosure process, so expect the number of foreclosures to continue to rise.
Bottom line: There are so many houses for sale out there and not enough buyers to buy them. So maybe an infomercial isn’t such a bad idea. If more people knew how cheap a house can be, more people would buy one, especially if there’s an $8,000 tax credit and tax benefits. I mean if it worked for the Snuggie, maybe it’ll work for real estate.
And yes, I did buy Dean’s book. I’ll let you know how it is after I read it.
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | May 18, 2009
I’d say I moved a lot in the past 10 years (LA to Dallas and back, LA to NYC, NYC to Knoxville and back). Lucky for me, I haven’t had any major moving nightmares, though I’ve heard many a story from friends and family. Lost belongings. Shipped cars arriving months later. Movers breaking things. It’s safe to say that moving comes with risks.
But with proper planning, moving to a new city can be more exciting than stressful. And in the spirit of that thrill of beginning a new stage in your life, we unveil FrontDoor.com’s new “Major Move” series!
Each video is packed with helpful tips for every stage of your move, from planning to purging to packing. Plus, get worksheets and pointers to help you save time and money.
And don’t forget to check out FrontDoor’s Moving section for more inspiration!
Posted by Annalisa Burgos | May 7, 2009
During the height of the real estate boom, pricing a home was more like a technicality in the selling process, a suggestion to buyers. More often than not, the home would sell for more than what it was listed for, especially in hot markets. Back in the good ‘ol days, selling a home for at least your asking price was a sure thing.
Welcome to 2009. Pricing is no longer just a technicality. It means the difference between getting multiple showings or none. A home’s price can make or break a deal and affect whether your home will sell quickly or languish on the market for months.
FrontDoor’s new Pricing Guide (www.frontdoor.com/pricing) breaks down the various pricing strategies and factors you should consider to determine what your home is worth and get it sold.
One of the most common pricing faux-pas sellers make is getting emotionally involved. Sure, you may have invested a lot of time, sweat and money into your home, but if you’re selling in this market, forget about getting any love back. Pricing it below your competition will help you get it sold quickly. Learn how to avoid six common pricing mistakes and get solutions to four pricing dilemmas.
Also, special thanks to Nancy Spearrin, a seller from Solon, Maine, who shared her selling nightmare. Read her story in “My House is Worth What?” And if you’ve got a story to share, let us know by posting a comment.
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