ALPHARETTA GA HOMES FOR SALE – Alpharetta, Ga Real Estate

Get a Hot Deal in a Cool Market

Buying or selling a home? Here’s how to strengthen your hand in rough times.

Birth, death, marriage, divorce. Throw in new careers and lost jobs, and you’ve got the reasons most of us fail miserably at timing the real estate market. We sell and buy because life — not market conditions — drives the decision.

It’s how you manage the deal that dictates whether you’ll give up too much of your profit in a fire sale or forsake future profit by paying too much — especially now that the housing market has taken a chilly turn. In the fourth quarter of 2007, the median home price in the U.S. fell 5.8% over the same period 12 months prior, according to the National Association of Realtors. And 13% fewer homes were sold last year than the year before. Below, we have tips for both buyers and sellers to help you strengthen your hand in these rough times, no matter what side of the transaction you’re on. (Hint: It wouldn’t hurt to read both sections so you know the other team’s strategy, too.)

Buyer Tips

Buyers definitely have the upper hand in a cool market. You can press your advantage to negotiate the best price possible. However, bear in mind that today’s credit crunch has lenders tightening their belts, so you’ll need to make the right moves to get a good deal on a mortgage. Also, dust off those negotiating skills that went unused during the seller’s market of the past few years.

• Have a down payment. A 100% financing deal is much harder to get. So be prepared to put at least 5% down. Lenders also want you to have at least two months’ worth of PITI (principal, interest, taxes and insurance) in reserve.
• Boost your credit score. Based on current interest rates, the average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is about 1.3 percentage points lower for someone with a credit score of 760 to 850 than for someone with a score of 620 to 659. On a $200,000 loan, a borrower with a top-tier score would pay $173 less per month — a saving of $2,076 per year — than a borrower near the bottom, according to MyFICO.com.
• Do your homework. Learn as much as you can about the local housing market and the seller’s motivations. For example, find out what similar homes in the neighborhood are selling for at Zillow.com. Ask questions about the sellers, such as why they’re selling, how long the home has been on the market, when they bought the home and how much they paid. Once you zero in on a property, hire a home inspector to find any defects in the home.
• Sharpen your negotiating skills. Just about everything is negotiable when buying a house, especially in a buyer’s market. When making an offer, it can include contingencies that protect you, such as requiring that the home pass an inspection, appraises for at least as much as you’re paying for it and that the seller accept your offer by a certain time.

You also can ask that the seller pay part of your closing costs, include a redecorating allowance or remove an above-ground pool you don’t want. The trick, though, is to prove to the seller you’re a serious buyer without looking too eager. And you’ve got to be willing to walk away from a home if the seller refuses to negotiate in price or make concessions to your satisfaction.

Seller Tips

A cool market means it may take you longer to sell your home, and you might not get as much money as you’d like. Those are two tough pills to swallow. But if you make the right moves, you can increase your odds of striking a good deal and getting the most from your sale.

• Pick the right agent. You want somebody who is going to market the place, not some slacker who talks you into setting a low-ball price and then waits for a bargain hunter to trip over the house on the MLS. Your best bet is to find someone who was in the business during the last downturn. That’s a survivor who knows how to sell when others can’t. Interview several agents.
• Shop the market yourself to get a feel for prices. Ask your agent to show you listings that are competing with your own.
• Buy down the interest rate. It’s not a sales price that people are buying — it’s the mortgage payment. And buying down the buyer’s interest rate is a smart way to attract buyers without giving up your profits. For example, lowering the buyer’s interest rate from 6.5% to 5.5% on a $150,000 loan reduces the monthly payment by almost $100 per month. The buy-down would cost you about 4.75% of the loan amount, or $7,125 in this example. Alternatively, if you lowered your sale price by that amount, the buyer would save only $45 a month. You can also offer to buy down the interest rate for the first year or two for less money. Either way, you’re allowing buyers to get more home than they would have otherwise been able to afford.  

   

   

• Dress up the house. Agents call it staging: Haul out the oversize furniture; get rid of clutter; break out the touch-up paint; polish the glass; buff brass fixtures; eradicate smells. “Things you were willing to live with are not necessarily something you want a buyer to see,” says Kevin Cook, president of the Cottage Realty Ltd. in Berthoud, Colo.
• Hire an inspector. Most buyers make their purchases contingent on a home inspection. But hiring your own inspector before placing your house on the market can help you identify things to fix ahead of time and make your home more attractive to the buyer. For example, you’ll find out if your roof needs replacement or if any electrical or plumbing work should be done.

Copyrighted, Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc.

Would you like more information on homes for sale in your area? Call me at 678-575-6735 or search the Georgia MLS. CLICK HERE to be directed to the Georgia MLS

Consumer Reports
Recession’s bright side? Bargains for brave consumers

Lets say you have some cash on hand, your job (or other source of income) is secure, and you love a good bargain. What opportunities might a recession bring?

First a disclaimer: Nobody, including us, knows whats ahead for this economy or, indeed, precisely whats happening now. (Recessions are officially determined after the fact by the National Bureau of Economic Research.)

However, the battle-scarred veterans of our Money team have seen our share of recessions, and some of us even took notes. Based on our collective judgment, here are some of the possible buying opportunities that consumers with cashand the guts to spend itmay find:

Homes. Home prices are already down in many parts of the U.S. Where they go from here is anybodys guess, but few of us would expect them to rise at a steep pace anytime soon. So if youre in the market for a home, now could be a good time to start looking and get a baseline feel for the marketeven if you decide to hold off buying for a while.

Mortgages. Interest rates are already relatively low, averaging 5.42 percent for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage as we write this. Credit standards have been tightening, though, so expect higher hurdles in getting the very best rates.

Stocks. Some are sure to become bargains, but unless youre a stellar stock picker, consider a no-load stock index fund and hope to benefit from an overall rise in the market. Keep in mind that stock prices will often start upward well before a recession ends, as investors look ahead to better times.

Credit cards. Our resident credit expert thinks people with good credit scores should have a golden opportunity to negotiate for lower rates. Issuers will want to hold onto creditworthy customers more than ever.

Cars. If demand continues to drop (sales for 2007 were down compared to 2006), carmakers and dealers will have to do something to move their wares.

Appliances and electronics. Ditto.

Luxury goods. Sales are already slowing, we hear, so high-end goods may carry less-high prices.

EBay stuff. People eager to raise cash may be auctioning off knickknacks and whatnots in record numbers. So that Pee-wee Herman doll or first edition of Proust youve long wanted could be yours for the clicking.

Home remodeling. Lower demand should mean more room to bargain and, possibly, less wait to get the work started. If you need to finance your home improvement, you might also find favorable borrowing terms if your credit score is high. ? ? Travel. Our travel expert says to expect fare cuts from the airlines, but beware of the carrier going bankrupt before you can use your ticket. Hotels and rental cars should see cuts too.

Other services. If its something consumers can put off until the economic clouds clear (cosmetic dentistry vs. an aching tooth, for example), demand should drop and prices along with it. And it rarely hurts to haggleeven in the best of times.

Copyright © 2004-2008 Consumers Union of U.S., Inc

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I was recently asked whether a home should be sold “by owner” or listed with a real estate agent. I replied that it depends on the seller’s circumstances.

In today’s world of real estate, a seller has more options than ever. You can list with a traditional real estate agent and pay a typical commission of 6 percent or 7 percent of the purchase price, or you can go it alone and try to save the commission. In addition, many brokers offer services somewhere in between, charging different fees for various services you might select.

If you are trying to make the same decision about how to sell your house, here are some relevant topics. You will likely want to list your home with a traditional real estate agent …

If you are in a hurry to sell your home. Let’s say your spouse has been transferred to Chicago, and he’s already there living in a hotel. The only thing keeping you here is the house, and you need the full benefits of a full-time professional to get your home sold as quickly as possible.
Remember that a significant part of the buying market is being transferred into Atlanta, and those buyers work almost exclusively with agents. These are the hottest buyers in town, with a high motivation to purchase quickly, and cash in their pockets. And those buyers usually don’t view homes listed by owner.

If you have never sold a house before and simply don’t have a comfort level with the transaction and the steps needed to make the sale happen. Getting a buyer to agree to pay a certain price is just the beginning. And if you’ve not sold a home before, you can easily miss an important part of the process, putting your entire sale in jeopardy. Effective agents specialize in getting the sale to the closing table.

If you’re uncomfortable with the prospect of showing your home to strangers and would welcome the agent’s presence when your home is shown. Reports of crime associated with home sales and open houses are rare, but any time you open your home to the public, it’s smart to anticipate potential problems. You’ll want to screen prospective purchasers, and make sure you are not alone when showing your home to interested parties.

If you are trying to sell in a slow market, like the one we are in now. Even a small advantage in marketing may make the difference between a sale and another 60 days on the market. For example, agents are members of the local multiple listing services, and that’s where other agents go to find prospective matches for their buyers’ needs. Having your home listed in the MLS is a huge advantage over simply having a “for sale” sign in the yard.

In addition, many MLS listings are automatically placed on national listing Web sites like realtor.com, where out-of-town buyers are more likely to view them.

If your time is better spent doing whatever it is you do than answering lots of unqualified callers’ questions about your house and how low you might be willing to go. Some folks are simply so busy with their job that they really have no business trying to sell their own home. Answering calls and returning inquiries is time-consuming, not to mention the obligatory open houses you will want to hold on the weekends. In contrast, agents are set up to handle this type of volume and have systems in place to convert leads into buyers.

If your skin is so thin that you will be personally offended when a prospective buyer makes fun of your decorating. In that case, you need someone else to handle the sale. Buyers come from all backgrounds and walks of life, and everybody’s got an opinion about your paint colors and your furniture. To make matters worse, they will want to poke their head into every nook and cranny of your house. Part of the selling process is encouraging buyers to visualize themselves living in your home, asking them how they might make changes to better reflect their own likes and dislikes. If that process will offend you, call an agent.

And finally, if the idea of negotiating prices back and forth with the purchaser is distasteful to you. If that’s so, you should probably hire an agent. Agents receive training in how to handle back-and-forth negotiations, trying to bring the parties to a meeting of the minds and getting to an acceptable price.

Contact the “best Realtor in Alpharetta” Traci Morreale Strub 678-575-6735 or e mail me at huntforhouses@yahoo.com

CNN MONEY 101

Picking a team:

Dont buy a home without professional help 

With all the tools and advice available today ranging from books and magazines to online advice like this lesson – it would be possible for you to buy your home almost completely without the aid of real estate professionals.

That’s not necessarily recommended. The housing market, like politics, is basically local, and each state, city, and even neighborhood has a thicket of local laws or customs that you need to understand. For that, it helps to have a team of professionals to guide you.

You might want to start by finding an agent who can represent your interests in the search. This is not as simple as it sounds. Sure, 85 percent of sellers list their homes through an agent – but those agents are working for the seller, not you. They’re paid based on a percentage, usually 5 to 7 percent of the purchase price, so their interest will be in getting you to pay more.

What you need is what’s known as an “exclusive buyer agent.” Sometimes buyer agents are paid directly by you, on an hourly or contracted fee. Other times they split the commission that the seller’s agent gets upon sale. A buyer’s representative has the same access to homes for sale that a seller’s agent does, but his or her allegiance is supposed to be only to you.

To complicate matters, there are hybrid agencies called either single-agency or dual-agency brokers. In both cases, an individual agent in the firm may represent either sellers or buyers, sometimes both, in the same transaction. Potential conflicts of interest abound in this situation, so if you are seeking a buyer agent but no exclusive buyer agent is available, make sure to ask the agent about conflicts of interest.

There are now about a dozen Web sites that help connect buyers with buyers agents, among them HomeGain.com, House.com, RealEstate.com and Reply.com.

Next start looking for a mortgage lender. Take your time, since you could be paying this loan for 30, even 40, years. Start on the Internet at places like LendingTree.com and E-loan.com. You may also want to check out the rates at CNNMoney.com, Bankrate, or HSH Associates. These sites carry nationwide listings of mortgage interest rates and other related information.

Don’t limit your search to the Web, though. Once you have an idea of the best rates from national lenders, get on the phone to your community banks and any other institutions with which you may have a relationship. Ask if they can beat the national rates. Often, the local lender can offer a better deal simply because he or she knows the local market and wants to keep your business.

You might also consider using a mortgage broker, a middleman who keeps tabs on rates from a multitude of lenders. The mortgage broker isn’t paid directly by you but gets paid by the bank. However, the fee – usually 1.5 to 3 percent of the loan amount – may get transferred to you in the closing costs. Most search engines have extensive listings of mortgage brokers. There’s also a trade group, the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, which can put you in touch with a broker in your area.