I was just talking to my Mom, and found out indirectly that my cousin keeps track of me by my blog. There probably is a way that I would know if someone besides me is reading this thing, but I don’t know what it is. Over a year ago my son suggested I start practicing by writing in a blog as frequently as I could, because he thought I would be a natural. I have many other friends who over the years have encouraged me to write a book or two. While I do think I will get to that eventually, you can tell by my lack of discipline in writing every day (sometimes it’s weeks, or more), that I have a long way to go.

I never stop to consider that someone may be reading it although every once in awhile, especially concerning the short sale mess, I would get a wonderful note from a reader for whom it seemed to make a difference to know they were not alone in their experience. I even had one from a therapist who recognized, as I did, the need for support in dealing with the emotional ramifications of losing one’s home.

Mostly for me, it is a way to keep track of various thoughts and happenings that someday may flesh out a book, or serve as my notes to myself of my life in and around real estate. I have found, as one friend recently told me, ” Joan, I think you could leave real estate, but real estate will never leave you!” And that is because, as I look back over almost twenty years, it has been all about helping people where they live, with an important foundational block of their life, their home.

Yesterday, I put the finishing touches on the mission statement for the non-profit I have been nurturing for thirteen years. I have laid it on the back burner many times, most recently for about two years. I always recognized that this was something God put on my heart as I was living through it, and that if it was to grow it would be in His timing, not mine. Lately people have come forward saying they felt they were supposed to fund-raise for it, speak about it, get local attention for it….so I have pulled out the corporate documents, reconvened the Board of Directors, and begun to file for 501 C-3 recognition so it can move forward. More about that soon….

By the way, if you’re out there, Hi Cuz!

Timing refers to anything that is necessary to move the contract along to closing on time, as in “time is of the essence” for the buyer to do a timely home inspection, making specific application with a lender for that house,  getting your paperwork and documents in on time,  and ordering your home insurance. For the seller, it may involve ordering the title insurance and the survey, getting repairs done so they can be re-inspected prior to closing, and making sure their closing agent stays on top of everything.

In the larger picture, the timing begins with the Contract for Purchase and Sale, and the terms laid out for a closing time. This is where a quick closing of thirty days or less can be a key element of why a contract is accepted initially by a seller. If that sale doesn’t close within that time frame, it can cause undue stress on the parties involved, because everyone has lined up their future plans based on it. This is often where emotions begin to get heated.

The old saying “time is money…” begins to really make sense when you put it in the context of a real estate deal!

Terms is a catch word for the things you do, or do not, ask for from the seller in a Purchase and Sale contract. They can also be the things you offer the seller to prove your willingness to strike a win/win agreement.

Typically, being ready to close fast, say in 30 days instead of 45 or more, is a great term. Money costs money, and the longer a seller has to wait to close, the more interest he is paying on his present mortgage, so less time is usually better. However, if your agent is aware the seller needs time to find a new home, perhaps in another city, your being willing to wait a month or more might make your offer the most attractive, regardless of a price difference with another offer.

Cash is a term of a contract that definitely catches the eye of the seller and their Realtor. Cash sales are less complicated, less fee ridden for both parties, and tend to close faster. They do not require surveys, inspections, and many other mortgage related costs, although it is always wise for the buyer to pay for and get these inspections to protect their interests in the soundness of their investment. A cash offer is often lower than a financed offer, but still attractive for other reasons.

The type of mortgage a buyer uses is also a term for the seller. If a buyer is using a VA mortgage, for instance, the roof will have to have at least five years of good use left . If it doesn’t the seller may have to put a new roof on to make that deal work. This can be a very costly and/or impossible situation if it arises at the end of the contract period. A seller with a suspect roof will not want to accept a VA contract, even if the price is higher, unless it is enough to cover the price of a new roof.

Asking for the brand new refrigerator, which the sellers purposely left off the MLS listing, or the garden furniture, or anything else that is exempted may also be a ‘term’ to the sellers and could affect their willingness to accept your contract.

A term can also be as simple as you love their home for the same reasons they do, your child goes to the private school down the street, your mother lives in the neighborhood, or you put down a huge binder: all things that show the seller you have skin or heart in the game and are likely to see it to closing.

Finally, terms are usually negotiable items, and the fewer you have of them the better, in most cases.If there are no other prospects you may well get everything you ask for but don’t expect them to like it, or you, for that matter. Just purchase the house and let your Realtor do your talking.

One of the things that greatly affects your monthly mortgage payment is the cost of your insurance. When you bought the house, you probably shopped around for the lowest premium available. However, as the years passed, it might have gone up slightly every year, but you never really noticed.

When money gets tight, we all look for ways we could save. Although you cannot change your taxes, often you can change your insurance premium. You may even be able to do it with the same carrier. But you have to ask! And it would be good to know what others may charge you for the same thing.

Do some homework, make a few calls or go online, then call your carrier. If they can’t meet or come close to other estimates, consider changing. It is very real money that comes out of every single mortgage payment, and if you can cut that by $30-50/ month you may be able to pay down your mortgage sooner , by continuing to make the payment but now applying it to reducing the principle. Yea for you!

Just a word to the wise concerning pricing because it it THE key ingredient in a home sale in this market. When you put the price on it the first time, try to keep from thinking there is someone out there who will be so completely gaga over your house they will pay a little more for it.

Even if they do want to, unless they are paying cash, their mortgage lender will not let them go above its appraised value. With all the scams that were going on in the appraisal arena in the recent past, appraisers are being very tight with handing out extra value. That means you need to stay within recent comparables within a mile’s radius. If those are only foreclosures and short sales, you may need to contact an appraiser for his input. But trust me, when you sell your home in this market you need to disconnect from it emotionally for a minute and see yourself as the buyer in this same market.

Most sellers still want to try and get a little more, but that initial greed costs them more in the long run as they continually reduce their home and finally get less than they would have if they had picked the right  price at the outset. Later they will wish they had, because someone would have grabbed it right up, giving it less of a shopworn feeling inviting buyers (and often investors) to offer a bargain basement price. Trust your Realtor to know the market and weigh their input carefully before you put the For Sale sign out.

As you drive by that sign near your driveway for the fifth month in a row, you will definitely wish you had taken their professional advice at the beginning! The cost of your monthly mortgage, the wear and tear on your family’s nerves, and the cost of “not knowing when” have a dollar value to you as well. Count the cost up front and be happy you did.

Glad you asked! Well priced homes are still selling…..at this year’s prices. If a home is put on the market and the seller has enough equity in it  not to need an exact amount to make it all work, there is still room to negotiate terms,  price and timing. These are all important factors of a sale.

It is still most important for a buyer to fall in love with your home! If they are only looking for the cheap deal, they are probably seeing it as an investment. The people who are looking for a good deal, but also their future and forever home, are the ones you want to see it. Most of them will be looking with a Realtor. They will see everything that comes online in their price range with the features they want (four bedrooms, pool, etc.) and the first picture they see is the one that gets their attention….or not. It will be difficult to get them back if that first listing goes online with no picture. Make sure your Realtor is on board with the importance of that timing!

Keeping your home attractive, for possibly a longer period of time, is the key issue here. Many homes are vacant now. It puts a higher demand on those that are still occupied to look neat and inviting and uncluttered. Get a storage space and put extra furniture and “stuff” there temporarily or have the garage sale and get rid of it before your move! The first 45 days are the most important, so price your home to be a good deal the first moment out of the gate. It sure beats reducing, reducing, reducing over many months to get to the price you knew it should have been at the beginning.

Buying a home is still an emotional decision for most people. They have to make that connection, that your home is where they can visualize their lives happening the way they want. So give them room to see where their furniture might go, where they might put a swing set outside, clear counter tops where they might prepare Thanksgiving Dinner for friends and family. Then they will be hooked and see it through contract to closing!

My home sold this week in a finally closed short sale.

I expected to feel relieved. I expected to feel like one more thing was off my plate. I expected to feel…..something.

At first all I felt was nothing. A big emptiness, a void where a house had been. In fact for a whole day after the final paperwork I kept looking for feelings and couldn’t find any.

The morning after it sold I woke up, sat down with my coffee, and burst into uncontrollable sobs. For about forty-five minutes I cried like I had lost my best friend. Grief hits you like that sometimes. You get through the hard part stoically, then when it’s all over it sideswipes you when you aren’t looking.

Losing a home involves grief and mourning, if only for the good times you shared there and for the times you thought were ahead. My youngest reminded me there were also the middle of the night “I’m losing the farm” nightmares, when reality started to creep through my denial. So after all, in the end you just let it go. Like a divorce, you remember the good times, but you also know it wasn’t going to end the way you had hoped in the beginning, and “all the King’s horses and all the King’s men, couldn’t put Humpty together again!”

I am once again listing another “pre-foreclosure”. Well, it actually starts with a seller who is hoping beyond hope that we will magically time travel back two or three years to when their house was worth what they now need to sell it for.

I tell them the truth(ain’t gonna happen!), but bear with them as we list it for a price that would satisfy all lien holders, even though they would walk away with nothing. That is their first adjustment. The days of a big check at the closing table to help fund their move are gone.

Then after about a month with no calls to even see the property, they will usually move to Phase Two: being willing to drop the price and fill out the Short Sale paperwork. The denial is over and now it is time to start trying to deal with the problem head on. Seeing if we can find a buyer who is willing to pay enough (and wait forever!) to satisfy the bank and let them out of their mortgage.

Phase Three is when we have a contract and after three or four months of frequent calls to numerous people at the mortgage company we feel like we are losing our minds from lack of follow-through and attention. Why is it so difficult to make a decision about this offer? Because it is complicated, that’s why. The lawyers are now involved, the Loss Mitigation team, the second mortgage people (there usually is one….that’s why this is so difficult in the first place), are there going to be tax ramifications?

Trying to make a decision as to where to move your family, when to surrender the property, what  will it do to your credit, will you have to go bankrupt? This is where the family is caught, between a rock and a hard place, for maybe months or even a year of this process.

All I can do is offer comfort, encouragement, keep them up-to-date on what’s happening (or not), and always have a shoulder to lean on for various venting needs against the more than occasional idiots they will encounter, and be a person who understands what they are going through. In the midst of it all is a lot of self-recrimination for getting ourselves in this position in the first place…. I guess that’s why I am able to empathize. I am in the same boat. Anyone else need a bucket to help bail?

Making a living as a Realtor is something most people don’t understand completely. They may think it is just a matter of picking up huge checks at the closing table for very little work. But it is truly a very misunderstood form of income.

It is perhaps one of the very few jobs where you do all your best work up front, never knowing if you will be paid for it. No matter how hard you try you can’t make every deal work. Often there are last minute problems with the house, with the conditions the lender sets for the borrower, a change of job circumstances, and a myriad of other things that can cause a contract to end up not closing and most times it happens within the very last week.

Prior to this time, the Realtor has shown the buyer numerous homes, written possibly more than one contract, negotiated terms and prices, met home inspectors at the house, requested and supervised repairs if needed, worked with lenders, closing agents and other agents to keep everything moving along smoothly, and kept in constant contact with their client. Much time and often a lot of gas and mileage have already been spent.

Then something falls apart, and with amazing skill and diligence the Realtor does their best to salvage the contract for their party if they still want to proceed, always trying to bring about win/win circumstances for both sides. Sometimes it is not possible to save the situation.

Then there is the heartbreak on the part of their client to deal with, all the while the Realtor is bound to notice that after six weeks of hard work, there will be no paycheck for them that month. If the buyers are ready, they will resume the hunt from the beginning and start all over to find another suitable home. When one finally does close, the Realtor is  paid, and many think overpaid for their services. Only the Realtor knows how many times they showed up and basically worked for nothing and why that commission check has very little to do with that particular sale and everything to do with maintaining their skills, education, licenses, and optimism through year after year of many disappointments and some successes.

After all is said and done, everyone else in the transaction still has a paycheck. Everyone except the Realtor, without whom the entire process would have been impossible, because someone had to be available to make all the bits and pieces come together. They have no salary, and their gas and phone time has to be paid for regardless. So if they ever seem a bit weary after things get turned upside down, please appreciate that they are always trying to put others needs ahead of their own, and very few people would show up for work everyday and do their absolute best, with no guarantee they will ever be paid for it.

It takes a certain kind of person, and a lot of dedication to stay committed to a full time real estate career, particularly in a down market as we are experiencing now. But that is exactly the person you want to accompany you on your search for your new home.

The fact that an exclamation point almost always accompanies that word is very telling in itself. As though it is an order! Perhaps because we so often get to the point of near heart attack before we give ourselves permission to slow down and smell the flowers. We burn ourselves out trying to deserve it.

I am sure that isn’t everyone, particularly those who still have grandparents who remember a time when stores weren’t open on Sundays (and nights), where families sat down to a meal together every evening, where the family vacation was to take a camper to the beach, not a flight to see ten cities in five days!

I am wondering if this recession will bring a return to some of the sharing and slowing down of families and friends. Maybe we will find more time to share food and fun. When we cannot go out and spend money, we tend to give ourselves permission to do a puzzle together, have a potluck get-together, have a picnic or plant a garden. It will be interesting to see where we are in a year or two and how we cope with the changes.