The New F.A.D.

Source: RISMedia.com, Article: Be Market-Smart: Dos and Don’ts for Home Sellers and Buyers

It's not an iPhone. It's not the South Beach Diet or the Twilight series. It's a new way to get ahead of the game... the real estate game that is.

The newest "fad" in real estate is the Flexible, Adaptable and Diligent buyer or seller. The ones that are walking away on top are the savvy ones, determined to make things happen even in today's real estate market. They're not lazy or overly emotional. They're committed to buying or selling even though they're most likely faced with the same challenges as everyone else - for instance, getting the best price when selling, or securing financing when buying.

To get with the newest "fad," there are some simple dos and don'ts for today's buyers and sellers:

For Sellers:

DO...

• Be flexible. Often it’s the little things that push a buyer into the “yes” zone. If the buyer goes on and on about how much they love your patio furniture, throw it in. If the closing has to be pushed ahead more than you expected, try to be as flexible as possible and pack the moving van a little quicker.

• Clean up. One person’s prize doll collection is another person’s cluttered nightmare. Similarly, a living room filled with Beanie Babies could elicit a reaction of fear, rather than “Aw, how cute!” from a buyer. Put away any personal collections that not only cause clutter, but also make it hard for a buyer to see the home as his or hers, rather than yours.
  

DON’T...

• Don't be greedy. The market—not your emotions—dictates your home’s price. If comparables in the area and several trusted real estate agents tell you your home is worth $300,000, you’re not fooling anyone by pricing it at $400,000—and you’re only doing yourself a disservice. Pricing it at market, even a little below, could generate a bidding war, and ultimately get you more money.

• Don't get personal. If you’re selling your house for a certain amount, and someone offers something much lower, don’t take this as a personal affront and refuse to counteroffer. Letting your emotions get in the way can potentially ruin the deal. What’s the harm in making a counteroffer?

• Don't procrastinate. In the current climate, you might be scared to try to sell your home, as you may have to face a lower selling price than you may have gotten before the recession. But remember, the house you buy might be even lower, commensurately. It’s all relative. So if you’re serious about selling, consider doing it now. Also, acting before the cold months come is a good idea, as the winter months are historically harder for home sales.

For Buyers:

DO...

• Get a home inspection. It’s important to hire a trusted home inspector to check out the house’s potential issues and problems. Don’t skip a home inspection because you’re afraid of what you might hear—many issues sound more serious than they actually are, and can be fixed easily. And if something deal-breakingly serious is turned up, as disappointing as that is, it can save years of heartache and financial outlay. Better to walk away from a clunker.

• List your place before you look for another. If you’re truly serious about looking for a home, list your own home first. In the current economy, banks want to make sales as uncomplicated as possible—and contingency sales, which can be very complicated, are often rejected.
  

• Talk before you act. Don’t ever start a home search without a firm budget not only in mind, but literally written down. Mutually agree with yourself—or with your partner, if you’re buying with someone else—long before you start seriously searching. Going out of that zone because of a place you just “gotta have,” or are emotional about, could put you in dire financial straits later. You don’t want to buy a house that isn’t affordable for you, and then be worried about paying for dinner and a movie on Saturday night.

DON’T...

• Don't be a design snob. If someone’s enormous bathroom has wallpaper border containing frolicking kittens and pastel flowers, or a wall that’s a nuclear shade of green, we understand this can send you into style shock. But stand fast and ignore bad décor. Instead, try to envision the space raw. Besides, you can always redecorate once the home is yours.

• Don’t make a silly offer. There’s nothing wrong with making an offer below asking price—it’s no secret that today, many homes are selling for under the asking price. But going 40% below the asking price may anger the seller. Some sellers, especially more emotional ones, won’t even bother counter offering an outrageously low offer. Feel free to make a deal—just don’t make an offer so low that you’ll be kicked off the table.

Source: RISMedia.com, Article: Be Market-Smart: Dos and Don’ts for Home Sellers and Buyers

2010 Grant Park Candlelight Tour of Homes

When: Sat. & Sun., Dec. 11 & 12, 6 PM - 10 PM

Where: Tour starts at St. Paul United Methodist Church at 501 Grant Street.

Tickets: $10 from Red Robin Group, $12 online, $15 at the door

Now in its 30th year, the Candlelight Tour will feature 10 stunning homes all dressed up for the holidays, and will once again raise thousands of dollars for the Grant Park Cooperative Preschool, the Grant Park Parent Network and the community ministries of St. Paul United Methodist Church.

Among the homes selected so far this year are:

• 368 Atlanta Avenue - A newer construction brick home, his one has all the charm and character of yesteryear. Make sure you check out the pool out back!
  
• 829 Cherokee Avenue - A Victorian-Craftsman Transitional bungalow brought back from the brink of disaster by a local agent, this one has recently been turned into a 2-story masterpiece on the park and will open to the public for the first time in nearly 100 years.
• 328 Georgia Avenue - This home impresses with its huge tapered columns and fine attention to detail inside.
• 623 Grant Street - One of of the largest homes in the park, this late 1800's Shingle Victorian is a sight to see. With 6 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and nearly 5,000 square feet, there's almost to much to see on one night!
• 318 Georgia Avenue - Another home brought back from the depths of despair, this Folk Victorian is sure to impress with all its original woodwork, high ceilings and its huge, wraparound front porch.
• 352 Hill Street - A true Single-Gable Craftsman with all its original parts and pieces, this home will warm your heart this holiday season with the help of the homeowners eclectic mix of Southwestern flair and historic European iconography.
  

Red Robin Group is selling tickets for $10 each! To purchase from us, visit us at our office located at 749 Moreland Avenue, M - F 9 PM - 6 PM, email chelsea@redrobingroup.com or call, (404) 254-5206.

"How's the Market?": A Snapshot of Our Neighborhoods

The most often asked question these days is, “How’s the Market?” With all the media focus on foreclosures, the slow economy and the local buzz about the drop in home prices, sometimes it’s hard to get a good picture of exactly what’s going on.

At Red Robin Group, our objective is to give a clear picture of what’s happening right in our target area, which is often quite different than the bigger picture of Atlanta or even the rest of the country.

Since the end of the Home Buyer Tax Credit on April 30, our local market has seen a fairly significant slowdown. This is demonstrated by a couple of key indicators.

First, let's take a look at something we call "Month’s Supply Inventory", or MSI, to see how many homes are actually on the market in relation to real buyer activity. The "MSI" number is simply a snapshot in time that shows how many months it would take to deplete the current inventory of homes given the current rate that buyers are closing on them.

To put it in perspective, 6 MSI is considered a “normal” market. MSI below 6 is considered a seller’s market, meaning inventory is low and getting snapped up faster. MSI above 6 is considered a buyer’s market, meaning a surplus of inventory; not surprising, the numbers demonstrate that we are currently in a pretty strong buyer’s market in our target neighborhoods:

In general, we can see that in every category, the inventory is up significantly over last year. This means that buyers have more homes to choose from and, in times of high inventory, we typically see prices fall.

Second - and speaking of prices - let’s take a quick look at two other important factors: prices and number of homes sold.

Based on the chart above, we can see that our neighborhoods are down in both sales price and the number of homes sold.

Why?

Well, we have a couple of theories on that.

1) Neighborhoods south of I-20 have typically been considered the most affordable intown neighborhoods that are safe, revitalized, have acceptable school options and some commercial development and green space. Many neighborhoods that are north of I-20 have generally been out of reach for many first-time home buyers, who represent a vast majority of buyers these days. But now, prices in those neighborhoods have adjusted down and have become more affordable, and buyers are choosing to get a little less house in a neighborhood they couldn’t afford before.

2) Since Ormewood and East Atlanta, in particular, were very attractive to first time buyers, these neighborhoods have been hit particularly hard by the “post tax credit” phenomenon. Many buyers rushed to buy prior to the end of the tax credit and we’ve been left with a pretty sluggish market locally.

While this market update may seem daunting to our neighbors thinking of selling their home, there is a sliver lining:

1) It’s never a buyer’s market and a seller’s market at the same time. While it's difficult for sellers right at this moment, many of our clients are finding that it is worth taking a loss on the sale of their current home to be able to take advantage of the incredible deals on the buy side. These savvy sellers realize that this is the best buyer's market most of us have seen or may see again in our lifetime. While the general feeling is that a home should be a solid investment that always appreciates, we’ve seen very clearly that sometimes the market is down. However, fortunes are made when the market is down – those savvy investors who buy low typically do well financially. So, don’t be afraid to take a loss to get an even bigger gain.

2) There are buyers out there and homes are selling. You just have to be priced right and your home must be in exceptional showing condition. At Red Robin Group, we're starting to work with our sellers much earlier to get them prepared to sell their home – often 6 months or more earlier. We work with sellers to get their home ready by doing a consultation to determine what repairs or improvements need to be done and how to stage the home. And, we also work with our sellers to get them financially ready to sell (see our “Getting Right with Red” article). Because most sellers are looking at a loss if they bought their home in the last 5 years, we work closely with our clients to help them prepare for that.

If you are thinking of selling your home in the next year, don’t wait until spring to call for an appointment for your consultation. We really can help sellers understand the market, how to get their home ready and how to prepare financially. To schedule a seller consultation, call Red Robin Group at 404-254-5206 x 2.

How Atlanta Home Sellers Are "Getting Right with Red"

These days, sellers in metro Atlanta are finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the idea of a potential "loss" when selling their homes.

Sellers are coming to us months before actually putting their homes on the market to talk about creative ways to make the best of a situation that they didn't necessarily sign up for when they bought their home. They're finding that they have to rethink the reasons why, and the real necessity for, selling their home.

Let's say you have an adorable, picture-perfect 2 bedroom, 1 bath home in Ormewood Park that you bought 5 years ago at the height of the market for $215,000. You still owe $205,000 because you only put 3% down with an FHA loan. When you first started thinking about putting your home back on the market a few months ago, you envisioned selling it for $225,000 so that you'd have $20,000 to cover marketing costs, buyer's closing costs and some minor repair requests.

Knowing we're not going to sell it for $225,000, let's say we list it for $189,900 instead. After a few weeks, we receive an offer and go under contract for $185,000. After paying real estate sales commission, half the buyer's closing costs and some minor repairs, you're down to $170,000.

You're basically short $35,000. What do you do?

In the past few weeks, we've spoken to many other real estate agents in the market about their clients' challenges, and have also asked experts in the financial and lending world to add their perspective on the matter. Here's what we heard:


1. Sell At A Loss, Buy At A Discount

If you're looking to "move up," one of the best ways to overcome the long-term effects of selling at a loss is to make sure you buy your next home at a discount that is equal to or greater than the loss on your home.

How does one determine the discounted value of their next home?

That's a tricky question, as the hard numbers can only be proven over time. But let's take the following situation into consideration for example's sake:

Suppose you and your family wanted to move from your 2/1 in Ormewood Park to a 3/2 in Candler Park that needs a little TLC. Your budget is $350,000, and you want to do the FHA program again (which will soon require 5% down). Will you still have enough in savings to cover the down payment and any closing costs after absorbing your $35,000 shortfall on the house you sold?

First, you can get some incredible deals right now in Candler Park. Chances are, you might even find something for well under $350,000.

Second, if you play your cards right, you may get a significant amount of your closing costs covered by the seller, depending on their own level of anxiousness about market activity and their motivation for selling.

In the end, if you have the funds to cover the $35,000 loss on the sale and on, let's say, the $25,000 cost of buying a new home, that's a total of $60,000 you'll need to make that happen.

So for a $60,000 investment, you get you and your family into a larger home that's in the neighborhood and school district of your choice. Perhaps the home was sold to you at a price that was below market value because it was a short-sale, a foreclosure, or perhaps it just needed some updating. You plan to stay in the home for 10 years, which will get you through the remainder of your children's time in school. You'll renovate and remodel at your own speed. You may even add an addition to the home in a few years when the economy picks up, knowing that the neighborhood values will support that rationale when the time comes.

Is it worth spending $60,000 to get your family into a larger home that's in the neighborhood and school district of your choice, considering you may get the home at a greatly discounted price and your new mortgage interest rate may be significantly lower?

Do you feel that you would have "bought low" today, and would you have set you and your family up to "sell high" later?

If the market conditions were to stay the same over the next 6 months to a year, would it be worth it to you and your family to set an appointment today to speak with your financial advisor or lender today to see how you're going to make this happen over the next several months?


2. Relocating? Negotiate!

Putting your home on the market because of a job transfer or a relocation? Be sure to talk to your Red Robin Group agent as soon as you get off the phone with that hiring manager or that recruiter.

Before you begin negotiating salary and benefits, remember that the time your home is on the market and the final sale price are both going to have a significant impact on your ability to enjoy all the perks of a new career path.

Some people avoid the conversation with their new employer about selling their home, thinking it's not their employer's problem, opting instead to rent the home out and become long-distance landlords. This leaves you on the hook for the mortgage and the maintenance of a home you may never return to, making the process of selling the home in the future even more difficult.

Instead, be up front with the recruiter, your hiring manager or your new boss. Tell them that you have a home to sell, and if they value you enough to hire you, that there's a cost associated with getting you from point A to point B. This won't be the first time they've heard this, and trust us, they've had time to think it.

Just short of a full relocation package where an employer ultimately takes on a more significant responsibility and liability for selling your home, many employers are getting inventive. In the example where we are coming up short $35,000, there may be a number or ways an employer could help you absorb that loss:

• Not really anxious to buy in the new city you're moving to? Ask the employer to help cover some of your housing costs for the first year.
• Negotiate a sign-on bonus that may help absorb the loss.
• Can the employer not afford a sign-on bonus? Negotiate a year-end bonus for 2 to 3 consecutive years, which your employer may tie to job performance or, at the very least, job retention.
• Negotiate an agreed-upon reimbursement amount that's to be paid when the house sells.

Whatever you negotiate, talk to your Red Robin Group agent to see if it makes sense before putting your home on the market. For more information on relocation negotiation tips, click here.


3. Short-Term Loan. From Yourself.

If you're selling to "move up" and you're staying with your same employer, one of the last options you may consider to help absorb a short term loss is taking a loan against your 401(k).

Before doing this, talk to your HR benefits manager, your financial advisor or your lender to get the scoop on both the penalty that may be incurred and the long-term effect this loan may have on your retirement plans.

Be sure you understand the difference between a loan and a withdrawal, the tax implications of both, and the cost/benefit of using this money as a "stop-loss" versus allowing it to continue to earn interest for your retirement plan.

If you're taking out a loan, make sure you understand and can afford the repayment plan that your employer will set up by withholding money from your paycheck until the loan is repaid.

Fall Home Maintenance MUSTS

Fall weather is perfect in so many ways. That’s why there are so many great festivals and outdoor activities happening all over the city of Atlanta. Not only is it a great time to spend with family and friends, but It’s also the perfect time to get to those home maintenance tasks that you don’t want to sweat to in the heat of the summer or freeze to in the chill of the winter. We recommend a couple easy tasks to make sure you get done this Fall.

Clean those gutters out! - It’s one of those things we only think about when we’re sitting on our front porch enjoying a rainy afternoon and we see water spilling over the edges of our home, leaving trenches around the yard and garden. It’s a little bit of work, but it will be a BIG payoff in the end.

Buy a hose bib insulator – while they’re still cheap! - This is super simple and something you should do every fall, before the freeze of winter sets in. Make sure to insulate your hose bib (outdoor hose faucet) to prevent the splitting, which can be a significant plumbing repair job.

Inspect your attic. – Now that it’s not reaching 100+ degrees up there, you will want to do a thorough inspection to check for things like rodent intrusions and cracks. Make sure to have those problem areas professionally sealed off, especially if you’re living in an older home.

Inspect your crawl space. – Another one you probably don’t want to do in the heat of the summer… or the cold of the winter for that matter. Head on in there and make sure your crawl space is secure from critters and cold. You’ll see energy saving benefits by screening necessary openings and covering huge openings with bricks or blocks.

Call for an HVAC checkup. – This is something that really should be an annual occurrence. Get a technician in to your home to check your gas furnace before you run into problems and end up freezing your you-know-what when the cold of winter rolls on in. The technician will want to check for leaks at joints, make sure your burners are clean & efficient and if you have a heat pump, a check to make sure it’s even operation should do the trick. If your home is 10 years or older, you’ll want to make sure to have an HVAC check-up once a year. Likewise, if you have a new HVAC system, you’ll want to do it to simply maintain the warranty. That’s a pretty expensive piece of equipment to neglect!

Check these tasks off your list this Fall and you’ll be ready to transition into Winter without any hiccups.

If you need recommendations on inspectors/technicians, we have a great inventory of those fixer-upper types here at Red Robin Group. Just give us a call @ 404-254-5206!

Red Robin Group Works Overtime

Red Robin Group is known for our innovative marketing, our smart selling strategies and our ability to network to get buyers and sellers to the closing table faster.

And we're not about to let the current market conditions get the best of us.

Marketing your home to its full potential is a top priority for us and we’ve definitely stepped it up to make your home relevant to today's buyers.

Here’s how:

• Agent Referral Incentives – We're currently offering incentives to agents who can connect us to other agents who may have buyers who may be interested in your home. Whew - sounds like a mouthful, right? Here's how it works: a a seller, you may have several agents bring buyers through your home over a period of time, yet not submit an offer. However, those agents may know OTHER agents who have clients that would be a perfect fit. So if that agent who showed your home can connect us to another agent, and we eventually get to the closing table as a result, we'll pay the referring agent a referral fee.

• Higher Commission Splits for Buyer Agents – Plain and simple, money talks. When we have a challenging property to sell -- like a home that has many substitutable equals at the same price, like a condo or town home -- one rabbit we're pulling out of the hat is a higher sales commission to the buyer's agent. Our theory is that agents will want to show your home over others like it if they’re getting a larger “piece of the pie.” And it works!

• Pocket Listings – We’re working more and more now with more sellers who want to do a "pocket" listing before jumping into a full-service listing. Basically, we sign a listing agreement then network with our current buyer prospects and other agents to generate interest. A pocket listing allows us to "try it out" for a few days while testing some valuable variables -- is our price too high, do we need to work on staging, or better yet, do we have someone who wants to buy it right away before it's listed? And while a pocket listing certainly does not allow us to expose your home to the widest audience of buyers possible, it may make your home appear much more exclusive to the few buyers that do come through.

• Staging & Photography Consulting – At Red Robin Group, we pay a lot of attention to the little details that can make or break the sale of a home. And we believe that when it comes to showing a home at its best, there are two essential elements that go hand in hand: good staging and great photography. Now more than ever, we're getting serious with our sellers on staging advise to get their homes ready for market by giving them to-do lists, asking for progress reports and even connecting them with home staging consultants and all-out stagers. When the home is its best, we hire a professional photographer to do the rest. Afterward, if there's a room or two that's needs a little extra attention in the photography department, we may offer "virtual staging" to turn an empty living room or an appliance-shy kitchen from “shabby” to “chic.
• Full-Time Client Service Manager. For the past year, we've had a full-time client service manager dedicated to communicating with agents to help get our listings sold, as well as communicating with our sellers on agent feedback, market conditions and new strategies to get their homes sold. What's more, our client service manager is instrumental in "cross-selling" our listings: if a home didn't work out for someone else, maybe another one of our listings would be better.
  

• Early Intervention – In the old days (like, 2 years ago), a seller would call us just a couple of weeks before putting their home on the market to talk about pricing, staging and general expectations. Now we're encouraging sellers to call us months beforehand so we can help them prepare financially and "get their house in order” so that when it comes time to market it, everyone's on the same page.

If you have any questions about these and any of our other strategies that get homes SOLD, email us at info@redrobingroup.com or give us a call at 404-254-5206.

Add "Credit Score" to Your Fall To-do List

The changing of the seasons means your "To-Do" list is inevitably growing. It probably goes something like this: 1. Switch out summer clothes, 2. Paint the fence before it gets too cold, 3. Make holiday arrangements, 4. Check my credit score.... wait, what was that last one? Yes, check your credit score. Add that to the list now and you'll be good to go for the next 6-12 months. Here's how you can make sure to stay on top of your credit score...

Need Credit or Insurance? Your Credit Score Helps Determine What You’ll Pay
Ever wonder how a lender decides whether to grant you credit? For years, creditors have been using credit scoring systems to determine if you’d be a good risk for credit cards, auto loans, and mortgages. These days, many more types of businesses — including insurance companies and phone companies — are using credit scores to decide whether to approve you for a loan or service and on what terms. Auto and homeowners insurance companies are among the businesses that are using credit scores to help decide if you’d be a good risk for insurance. A higher credit score means you are likely less of a risk, and in turn, means you will be more likely to get credit or insurance — or pay less for it.

What can I do to improve my score?
Credit scoring systems are complex and vary among creditors or insurance companies and for different types of credit or insurance. If one factor changes, your score may change — but improvement generally depends on how that factor relates to others the system considers. Only the business using the scoring knows what might improve your score under the particular model they use to evaluate your application.

Nevertheless, scoring models usually consider the following types of information in your credit report to help compute your credit score:

• Have you paid your bills on time? You can count on payment history to be a significant factor. If your credit report indicates that you have paid bills late, had an account referred to collections, or declared bankruptcy, it is likely to affect your score negatively.


• Are you maxed out? Many scoring systems evaluate the amount of debt you have compared to your credit limits. If the amount you owe is close to your credit limit, it’s likely to have a negative effect on your score. A good rule of thumb is to always keep your balances at no more than 30% of your limit.


• How long have you had credit? Generally, scoring systems consider the length of your credit track record. An insufficient credit history may affect your score negatively, but factors like timely payments and low balances can offset that.


• Have you applied for new credit lately? Many scoring systems consider whether you have applied for credit recently by looking at “inquiries” on your credit report. If you have applied for too many new accounts recently, it could have a negative effect on your score.

How many credit accounts do you have and what kinds of accounts are they? Although it is generally considered a plus to have established credit accounts, too many credit card accounts may have a negative effect on your score.

Improving your score significantly is likely to take some time, but it can be done.

Credit scores and credit reports:
Your credit report is a key part of many credit scoring systems. That’s why it is critical to make sure your credit report is accurate. Federal law gives you the right to get a free copy of your credit reports from each of the three national consumer reporting companies once every 12 months (some state laws allow for you to get a free copy of your credit report 2-3 times a year). I personally recommend you check your credit report every 6 months.

To order your free annual report from one or all the national consumer reporting companies, and to purchase your credit score, visit http://www.annualcreditreport.com/, call toll-free 877-322-8228, or complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P. O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.

For more information on credit scoring and how it could impact your ability to purchase and or refinance a home contact Brandon Byrd with LoanSouth Mortgage at 404-915-8252 or by email at bbyrd@loansouth.com.

Source: MyFico.com and FTC.gov