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Crofton Real Estate Q&A: What Are Buyers Looking For?
February 25th, 2011 Categories: Questions and Answers
Q. What are Crofton home buyers looking for in a house? I’d like to start preparing now to sell my home this summer.
A. Crofton MD home buyers aren’t much different from buyers everywhere… they want it all!
Today’s home buyers are looking for…
1. A Great Deal- Home buyers want the most bang for their buck. You have to price your home aggressively and offer incentives such as closing help, a warranty, or even pre-paid HOA fees in this competitive buyer’s market.
2. Now – If they’re shopping for a home now, they probably want an answer to their offer now, and they want to move in now. They don’t want to wait weeks or months for an answer from a 3rd party. If you’re underwater, begin the HAP or short sale process now and don’t wait for an offer on your home.
3. Clean – No one wants to clean other people’s dirt. You need to de-clutter and then clean and polish everything in sight.
4. No Repairs – The last thing home buyers want to do is move into their new home and start spending more money to fix a leak, patch a wall, or replace a roof. If you’re not much of a do-it-yourselfer, hire a licensed home improvement contractor.
5. Beige – Most home buyers prefer a neutral palette so they can add their own decorating taste to their new home. They’ll cringe at the sight of wallpaper, so start stripping.
6. Updates – From light fixtures in the bathroom to a high-efficiency furnace, they want 2011 features in that 1970’s house. Many updates are inexpensive and easy to do.
7. Upgrades – Granite, not laminate counters; stainless steel, not white kitchen appliances; hardwood flooring, not carpet; a deck or patio, not a concrete slab.
8. A Garage – NOT a storage locker and NOT a converted garage now used as a hobby room. They want to park their car in the garage. Rent a storage unit for your stuff so prospective buyers can imagine their car in the garage.
9. Safe – Why not order a radon test, well and septic tests (if applicable), and even a home inspection in advance, and make any recommended safety repairs to give your home a competitive edge.
10. Easy – Like you, home buyers want a smooth and pleasant real estate transaction with minimal hassles. That’s the primary reason most home buyers prefer to work with a buyer’s agent rather than purchase “by owner.”
Some home sellers are limited by time and/or financial resources and can’t offer all of these “wants” to potential home buyers. That’s okay… very few homes can. (Any that do will probably sell more quickly and for more money.)
Just do what you can and understand that #1 is the most important item on the list. Buyers will forgive the absence of items #2–10 if you adjust your price accordingly.
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Can I use HAP to sell my Crofton rental property?
February 18th, 2011 Categories: Questions and Answers
Q. When I got PCS orders to another part of the country, I rented my Crofton townhome. Can I use the Department of Defense Home Owner’s Assistance Program (HAP) to sell the property, even though it’s no longer my personal residence?
A. Yes, you can use HAP if the property is rented, provided it was your primary residence at the time of your PCS orders.
There are some additional requirements, as well:
- Your permanent reassignment to a new duty station or home port must be outside a 50-mile radius of your former duty station or home port.
- Your reassignment must have been ordered between 1 February 2006 and 30 September 2010.
- Your property must have been purchased before 1 July 2006.
- You must have a decline of at least a 10% home value from the date of purchase to date of sale.
- You must not have previously received these benefit payments.
In addition to active duty military personnel with PCS orders, HAP is also available to some civilian government employees, surviving spouses of military personnel, and wounded military personnel.
The best way for you to confirm your HAP eligibility is to download the application packet and complete the application. Be sure to carefully read all instructions, complete your application, and then mail it to the HAP Field Office in Savannah, Georgia, the district responsible for Maryland. It’s not necessary to wait until you have an offer on your home… in fact, it’s a good idea to get started right away even if your home isn’t on the market for sale yet.
You will need to know the current market value of your property, and that’s where I come in… researching that information for you is a service I’m happy to provide without any cost or obligation. Contact me by phone (301-346-2923) or email (MWoda@mris.com) if you believe you may be eligible to sell your Maryland home with HAP.
Posted originally by Margaret Woda
Maryland Real Estate Blog, 2/15/11
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Crofton Real Estate Q&A: Buy After a Foreclosure?
February 11th, 2011 Categories: Questions and Answers
Q. I’m probably going to lose my Crofton MD home to foreclosure in 2011. Will I ever be able to buy another home?
A. You’ll be happy to know the short answer to this is “YES.” My friend from Cary, N.C., lender Eleanor Thorne, will tell you about the timing under different mortgage programs, and what you should do to qualify for a mortgage in the future – information you need to know, as you negotiate a lease and start making long-term plans.
If you are one of the millions of families that lost their home in the last couple of years to Foreclosure… you might think…
Been There – Done That
You might not want to own a home again!
But if you’re one of those folks who truly does want to purchase again, here’s some potentially good news.
USDA says that they will allow you to purchase a new home to owner occupy, after foreclosure if you’ve done the following things:
- Wait 3 years from the date of the Foreclosure.
- Re-establish Credit
- Have Credit Scores that meet the guidelines (as of the date I am writing this, that means you need a 620 score.)
Here’s the other part… you need to DOCUMENT what happened, and why you ended up in a Foreclosure.
“FHA insured mortgages are generally not available to borrowers whose property was foreclosed on or given a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure within the previous three years. However, if the foreclosure of the borrower’s main residence was the result of extenuating circumstances, an exception may be granted if they have since established good credit…
This does not include the inability to sell a home when transferring from one area to another.” So you MIGHT be able to buy after two years.
My “real life” answer to this question is… in today’s credit environment, it’s going to be HARD to get a Bank to loan you money for a home if you had your home foreclosed upon less than 3 years ago. I know what the guidelines say, but Bank’s do not have to follow guidelines set by FHA.
FHA does not say you have to have a 620 credit score, but there are VERY few lenders who will allow you to purchase a home without at least a 620 score! There are some Banks that will not allow you to purchase with FHA if you have ANY lates on ANY accounts in the last 12 months! That’s not an FHA guideline, that’s a BANK rule, so again – I’d say - you might still be forced to wait 3 years, and have all of your documentation in order!
These guidelines are different from the Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac Conventional Guidelines… And these foreclosure guidelines are changing OFTEN… so I would not rely solely on information you get from an online site.
Call a loan officer.
Re-published with permission of the author.
I echo Eleanor’s recommendation that you check with a lender as the time draws closer to find out if the rules change between now and then, rather than rely on information online which could be outdated. Whether you’re in North Carolina or Maryland or Anywhere USA, you couldn’t go wrong checking with Eleanor Thorne. She’ll update you on the answer to this question and refer you to a lender in your own neck of the woods.
You can reach her at First Financial Services, Inc (919-649-5057).
Watch for real estate questions and answers
every Friday at Focus On Crofton.
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Crofton Real Estate Q&A: Carpet or Hardwood Floors?
February 4th, 2011 Categories: Questions and Answers
Q. Should I refinish the hardwood floors in my Crofton home or recarpet?
A. If you live in the Crawford section of “Old Crofton” in Crofton MD – the E’s, F’s, and D’s – beautiful hardwood flooring may be hiding under your carpet. Rather than replace that carpet, consider exposing those floors. I believe you will not only enjoy them yourself, but also experience a quicker sale and higher price when you put your home on the market.
We refinished the oak flooring on the main level of our previous home on Elwyn Avenue, and we couldn’t have been more pleased with the results. Yes, they had to be refinished due to damage from carpet strips around the edges, but we never regretted our decision to make the investment.
To this day, I’m pretty sure this home sold for $9,000 more than expected for one reason: those beautiful hardwood floors!
That’s my opinion from the perspective of a Crofton REALTORÒ, and this is what Debbie Gartner, President and Owner of Floor Coverings International in Westchester NY/ Stamford CT has to say on this topic: I have hardwood flooring underneath my carpet. Should I refinish the hardwood or recarpet?
Watch for real estate questions and answers
every Friday at Focus On Crofton.
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New Feature – Real Estate Questions and Answers for Crofton Home Buyers and Sellers
January 28th, 2011 Categories: Questions and Answers
Prospective home buyers and sellers in today’s Crofton real estate market are do-it-yourselfers.
You like to search online for homes at your own pace and find answers to your questions online without engaging with a real estate agent. It might be a few weeks or months until you’re finally ready to take the step from “just browsing” to “Let’s get serious!”
I respect that – and it’s one of the reasons you’re going to start seeing a weekly feature of real estate questions and answers on this blog.
Q. I’m confused by all those letters real estate agents use with their names in advertising. What do they mean?
A. Most people don’t give a second thought to initials following the names of medical doctors (MD), accountants (CPA), professors (Ph.D.), and nurses (RN) because we’re accustomed to seeing them used.
Initials indicating membership in professional organizations and advanced training for real estate agents are less familiar, however, so consumers are not always sure what they indicate. While it’s perfectly okay for you to ask your agent about any unfamiliar terms, including the initials following their name, here’s a tutorial to help you make sense of the alphabet soup of various REALTOR® designations (Just click on the link next to the bowl of alphabet soup):
Margaret’s Maryland Real Estate Blog
Some real estate professionals who have earned professional designations don’t advertise them.
While many agents proudly display these badges of advanced training, others are concerned that consumers may be confused or intimidated by this alphabet soup of letters. Still other agents may have completed the training but don’t consider it a priority to invest limited time and resources in the sponsoring organizations. In fact, these are two reasons you rarely see a list of letters following my name in advertising.
Additionally, there are other resources for advanced training that do not offer a professional designation, including most of today’s technology classes.
In the end, I suspect your choice of a Crofton real estate agent will probably be very personal – someone you know, like and trust – and probably not depend at all on the list of letters after their name.
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