Spring Real Estate Notes

Here in sunny and warm Minnesota we have had a fabulous past few days With record breaking warm termperatures, we also have an early start on selling houses too.

 Note for sellers:

Sellers need to take advantage of this break in the weather and spruce up the outside of the home. Add some mulch, pressure wash

It’s been a fabulous few days and many of the trees and flowers are blooming. This means an early start on selling houses too.

Note to sellers: 

Sellers need to take advantage of this break in the weather and spruce up the outside of the home. Add some mulch, pressure wash the exterior,clean the windows-replacing any broken glass, wash down the doors and scrape any chipping peeling paint and paint if needed.

 Nore for buyers:

Exciting times for buyers now!

Mortgage applications are up 4% over the last 4 weeks and the search for property is on. It is crucial to get a pre-approval BEFORE you go out and look at homes.

 

You will need to know how much you can spend and what type of loan you qualify for.

This will determine the homes you should tour.

Call or email me if you need a lender recommendation. I have several that know their stuff and are great to work with.

 

If you go to open houses,please be loyal to your Realtor.Let the attending agent know that you are working with someone and give them your agent’s card.

 

Call your Realtor instead of the listing agent if you see a house you want info on. We research the properties and arrange a showing for you.

 

Our job is to see you through a trouble-free home buying process to a successful closing.

 

The buyer does not pay for a Realtor’s services, the seller pays both commissions at closing.

This is an amount that was agreed upon with the seller’s Realtor when they listed their property for sale.

 

Why wouldn’t you want free representation to get through the offer, contract, inspections, appraisals, repairs, paperwork, scheduling and closing?

 

Call or email me if you need to get started.

I’m happy to help.

Kathleen Lordbock

Broker Keller Williams Professionals

Brainerd Lakes area of Minnesota

www.ExploreLakeProperty.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 Tips for buying Real Estate Owned Property-Foreclosures

5 Tips to consider before buying REO property!!

1.   Hire an experienced agent!!  Experienced doesn’t mean how long an agent has been in business or how many traditional sales they have done. It means how many SUCCESSFUL bank owned transactions have they completed!! This is extremely important.  Ask the agent for names and phone numbers of former REO clients, call them and ask some questions on their transaction experience. Know that some issues with REO properties may occur regardless of how great an agent you have hired, but how it is handled and resolved takes experience.
2.   Get your financing in place- This is extremely important.  Make sure your lender is experienced with foreclosures as well.  If not you will never make it to the closing table.  Make sure you understand the type of loan you are qualified for, what types of property that loan will finance and what your closing costs will range.  Your lender should also be able to provide you with a pre-approval letter.  Without this letter your offers mean nothing!  Get this letter BEFORE you start looking!!
3.   Budget Carefully -Figure out how much repairs will cost after your purchase. Foreclosed properties generally have deferred maintenance issues. Most of the time when people lost their home to foreclosure, they typically didn’t have the money for regular maintainance on the home.  You must budget properly for repairs once you get in the property.  Keep in mind these homes have sometimes been sitting vacant for 6-12 months.  The mechanicals such as: furnace, a/c unit, hot water tank, etc.) may need some love and care once you start living in the home!
4.   Educate yourself on the types of foreclosures – Self education is always important.  This will give you the confidence to make a decision when you find the right home.  With bank owned properties you have to make a quick decision sometimes.  If you are  educated on the process and have an awesome realtor, this will be a smooth transaction. You are buying “as is”- consider the wisdom of hiring a home inspector to help find out what the issues are.
5.   Check for liens and DOUBLE check the property taxes-  Have your title/closing company perform a title search on the property to make sure that the home doesn’t have any hidden liens,  pending or levied assessments or unpaid property taxes. Strongly consider purchasing a title policy to protect your investment. If you are borrowing money the lender will usually have you purchase one to protect themselves. You need to do the same.

Get to Know Me

Can you think of a better way to check out the knowledge of a REALTOR than in the comfort of your own home? My goal is to restore the excitement to buying and remove the fear from selling. By reading over 200 blogs that I have posted or comments on Active Rain or Trulia, where I am a featured agent, you can get a sense of my expertise and my opinions on various subjects. Of value also is that you get a sense of my interest, likeability and personality all without even a phone call. Of course, a phone call or face time together would seal the deal.Even better you could get a referral from a previous client.
More and more Internet savvy buyers are looking to the Internet for advice and stability. Give this some thought and take the big step to look me up. I want to be your AGENT Kathleen Lordbock A Top Realtor with Keller Williams Realty Brainerd Lakes and an out of the box thinker for 2011-2012 home buying season.

Office- 218-454-4300

Interest Rate Update for November 2011

Mortgage rates were down again, from 4.35% in September of last year to 4.11% this September. While the Federal Reserve continues to put downward pressure on interest rates to spur sales, Congress’s recent action to lower loan limits has further tightened lending among banks. This had the biggest impact in the Western states, which experienced an 8.8% drop in sales. This was mainly due to the concentration of more expensive properties in California, where buyers rushed to purchase properties in August before loans limits dropped on the October 1 deadline.

November 2011-Update on Foreclosures Stats

Nationwide, nearly 40 percent of homeowners in foreclosure had not made a payment in two years, and 72 percent had not made a payment in a year or more, according to LPS.

LPS estimates that there were 2.17 million homes in some stage of the foreclosure process at the end of September. That’s 4.18 percent of all homes with mortgages and an 8.9 percent increase in the foreclosure rate, which stood at 3.84 percent at the same time a year ago.

Another 4.2 million homeowners were at least one payment behind on their mortgages. That’s 8.09 percent of all homes with mortgages, down 12.7 percent from the 9.27 percent delinquency rate a year ago.

A bright spot in this report was that the number of seriously delinquent loans — mortgages in arrears by 90 days or more but not yet in foreclosure — continues to decline. While 1.84 million homeowners were seriously delinquent, that’s down 39 percent from January 2010, when 3.06 million mortgages were on the verge of foreclosure.

The government is standing behind about half of seriously delinquent loans, either through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (19 percent) or Federal Housing Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Veterans Affairs loan guarantee programs (32 percent).
If you are in Central Minnesota and falling behind or soon will, on your mortgages payments- contact me about a Short Sale. The lender pays the comissions and closing costs and you get to avoid a foreclosure and mpve on with your life.
That is certainly worth the effprt!
Kathleen Lordbock
Keller Williams Realty Brainerd Lakes
218-831-8001
KLordbock@kw.com

Why Buy Real Estate Now?

Image via Wikipedia

“If  prices may continue to fall, why should I buy now?”

Answer: While price is the major concern for anyone selling a home, overall cost should be your primary concern as a buyer. That means you have to take into account what your monthly payment will be, considering not only the price of the home but also the interest rate of your mortgage. Waiting for prices to bottom out while rates are increasing can wind up costing more over the life of the mortgage. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, PMI, and the Mortgage Bankers Association are all projecting interest rates will increase over the next several quarters. It’s best that you meet with your  REALTOR®  and mortgage professional to help you determine what an interest rate increase will cost you based on the expected size of your loan. Informed decisions are always the best ones to make.

Spring Real Estate- Now is the Time!

Image via Wikipedia

While ideal weather is one of the main advantages to selling your home in the Spring, another advantage is that the children do not have to be moved in mid-school year. When a buyer purchases a home in the Spring, they are most likely to move in during the early summer. That means plenty of time for the kids to adjust and adapt to the area before the new school year begins. They may even make a friend or two with the neighborhood kids before the first day of school.

Interest rates are low, properties that are ready for the market and properly priced are selling.

Call today to list or to start the search for your dream home 218-831-8001.

March Winds Roar

Image via Wikipedia

The March wind roars

L

The March wind roars

L

The March wind roars like a lion in the sky

And makes us shiver as he passes by.

When winds are soft.

and the days are warm and clear,

Just like a gentle lamb,

then Spring is here.

Like a lion in the sky,

And makes us shiver

As he passes by.

When winds are soft,

And the days are warm

and clear, Just like a

gentle lamb, Then

spring is here.

ike a lion in the sky,

And makes us shiver

As he passes by.

When winds are soft,

And the days are warm

and clear, Just like a

gentle lamb, Then

spring is here.

ike a lion in the sky,

And makes us shiver

As he passes by.

When winds are soft,

And the days are warm

and clear, Just like a

gentle lamb, Then

spring is here.

Fannie and Freddie- splitting up?

Image by Dru Bloomfield - At Home in Scottsdale via Flickr

Check out this partial article from The New York Times:

How might home buying change if the federal government shuts down the housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage loan, the steady favorite of American borrowers since the 1950s, could become a luxury product, housing experts on both sides of the political aisle say.

Interest rates would rise for most borrowers, but urban and rural residents could see sharper increases than the coveted customers in the suburbs.

Lenders could charge fees for popular features now taken for granted, like the ability to “lock in” an interest rate weeks or months before taking out a loan.

Life without Fannie and Freddie is the rare goal shared by the Obama administration and House Republicans, although it will not happen soon. Congress must agree on a plan, which could take years, and then the market must be weaned slowly from dependence on the companies and the financial backing they provide.

from Tim and Julie Harris at the HREU:

Think lenders are tough now? Just you wait!

Remember, most mortgages are ‘sold’. The banks don’t keep them. Many believe this is one of the reasons that so many risky mortgages were issued during the housing bubble. The banks didn’t have the risk…the buyer of their mortgages had the risk. Fannie and Freddie acted as insurance on those mortgages. With Fannie and Freddie potentially being out of the picture, banks will become MUCH more stringent.

No more Fannie and Freddie may lead to…no more 30 year mortgages. The ramifications of that truly concentrates the mind.

….No more 30 year mortgages, replaced with 15-20 year loans. (Imagine what will happen to mortgage payments.) By the way, 30 year loans are a uniquely American thing. In the rest of the world 15 year loans are normal.

Mortgage Interest rates WILL increase. Its just a matter of time. Think months, not years.

Related Articles

• A Plan to Phase Out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (nytimes.com)
• Geithner Wants Fannie, Freddie Reform Bill In 2 Years (huffingtonpost.com)

If you want to make a trophy catch!

If you want to make a trophy catch- right now you can get Gull Lakes homes in the Brainerd Lakes area of Minnesota for under One Million dollars. This is one of the most desirable areas in the state, home to sports stars and movie stars and regular folks too. There are trophy fish waiting for you and waves to play in, quiet nights by the campfire or inside book reading by the glow of a fireplace. Our fine area dining choices may just get you out of your gourmet kitchen. Shopping, championship golf courses, skiing and snowmobiling- year around fun in the Brainerd Lakes area.
There is always something fun to do here.
There are races at the Brainerd International Speedway, formerly and famously known as Donneybrook, and also at the North Central Speedway. BMX fans have their own courses as well as skateboard dare devils.
There are many lakes here and properties for sale on most of them. Give me a call today and you will see why those stars are so excited to make their second homes in the Brainerd Lakes area of Minnesota.