Archive for the 'Helpful Tips' Category
Submit your Comments to the State on the Aqua Virginia Rate Increase
February 5th, 2010 categories: Helpful Tips, Lake Monticello, News
If you live at Lake Monticello, then chances are, you’ve heard about the rate increase being requested by the water and sewer provider, Aqua Virginia. You can read the request here.
What does this mean for Lake Monticello Residents?
Here is how the rate increase would affect Lake Monticello Residents:
- Lake Monticello residents’ current charge for water service is $12 (base) plus $4.07 (per thousand gallons usage). Aqua Virginia’s proposed rate for water is $20.77 (base) plus $4.78 (per thousand gallons usage)
- Lake Monticello residents’ current rate for sewer service is $26.49 (base) plus $7.95 (per thousand gallons usage). Aqua Virginia’s proposed rate for sewer is $40.77 (base) plus $12.19 (per thousand gallons usage),
What can residents do about it
If you are a Lake Monticello resident who is concerned about the rate increase, the good news is that you can make your voice heard to the State Corporation Commission. The SCC is going to hold a hearing to decide whether or not to approve the changes. The deadline for public comments on the increase is February 17th.
If you want to send a comment to the SCC, we’ve got instructions on how to do that:
1) Visit the SCC website for public comments. On that page, look for the case number that references Aqua Virginia. It will look like this:
Look for this case reference about Aqua Virginia
2) Next, click on the “submit comments” button. It will open a form that looks like this:
Once you click on the link, you will be taken to this form.
3) All you have to do is fill out the form and leave your comment. It will be sent directly to the SCC. You should note that if you decide to leave a comment, you will have to leave your name and other information, which will be available for public review.
If you need any help submitting a comment, just let us know.
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3 Things You Should Know About Buying a Short Sale in the Charlottesville Area
January 20th, 2010 categories: Financing, First Time Buyers, For Buyers, Helpful Tips, Info, STR Market Info Blitz
This post is part of the Strong Team REALTORS Market Info Blitz. We’re heating up the Winter market by giving you three-months worth of the information you need, November through January. Check out the latest posts in the blitz, here.
There are many short sales in the Charlottesville Area
Over the last year, there has been a surge in a type of sale that was previously unknown to most people who were interested in buying a home– the short sale.
Now, if you are looking for a home in the Charlottesville area, it is a good bet that at least one of the homes that you want to consider is a short sale. A few years ago, this would not have been the case. The reality is that short sales are here to stay for the foreseeable future in the Charlottesville real estate market, so it is a good idea to know what to expect when you come across a short sale property.
If you want to buy a short sale property, then there are some things that you need to know so that you can give yourself the best chance for success.
What is a short sale?
Because of the downturn in the real estate market, and falling property values, some people owe more money on their mortgage than their house is currently worth. Sometimes, those people need to sell their homes now, and can’t wait for property values to rebound.
When a person needs to sell their home and the amount that they owe on the mortgage exceeds the value of the home, they are sometimes able to proceed with a short sale. When someone asks their mortgage bank to do a short sale, they are basically saying to the bank, “I can no longer afford to pay my mortgage. I need to sell the house, but I can’t afford the difference between the value of the house and my outstanding loan balance.”
If the homeowners are able to prove to the bank that they cannot afford to continue to pay the mortgage, and prove that the house is worth less than the remaining mortgage balance, the bank might approve a short sale.
So, what should you do when you are looking at homes, and you find out that the one you want to buy is a short sale? What should you expect? What should you know?
3 Things to know about buying a short sale
Navigating through the process of buying a short sale can sometimes be frustrating. There are 3 things that you need to know before you go into the process that can help you avoid some of the frustration that can occur and get you in the right frame of mind for successfully buying a short sale property.
1. Be very patient. The short sale process can take a LONG time. In a typical buying transaction, you would identify the house you want to buy, submit a contract to the owners, negotiate the contract, come to an agreement, and then go through the normal steps before closing. Usually, this might take 30-60 days. The short sale process adds another step that can significantly increase the amount of time it takes to successfully close on the house– the bank.
In a short sale, you will still submit the offer to the sellers, and you will still need to reach an agreement with them. Once that is done, however, the contract will still need to be approved by the bank (or banks) that hold a mortgage on the property. Banks are being flooding with short sale requests, and as of yet, they haven’t committed a lot of resources to processing these requests. That means that simply getting bank approval can sometimes take months, and this is after you have already agreed to a price with the sellers.
There is very little you, or the sellers, can do to speed up the process. Once the bank has all of the required paperwork, they will take however much time they want to either approve or deny the sale. If you are in a situation where you need to close on a house in 30-60 days, you are probably not going to be successful buying a short sale. Short sales routinely take twice that long, or longer. If you are in a short sale, then the best thing you can do for yourself is to remain patient. If it really is the house that you want, and you have the time to wait it out, then all you can do is wait.
2. Don’t expect the sellers to fix any home inspection items. If you are buying a short sale property, you already know that the seller cannot afford their mortgage payments any longer. Obviously, this indicates that the sellers are cash-strapped. If you are going to have a home inspection on the property, and you should, then you need to go into the home inspection assuming that you are going to be responsible for addressing any of the items that are found. Sure, you can ask the sellers to fix items, but don’t be surprised when they tell you that they don’t have the money to fix any of the items.
You should also keep in mind that you probably won’t receive any credits for home inspection items. Doing so is usually frowned upon by the banks involved, and getting approval for such credits merely serves to delay the process even further.
If you are going to have a home inspection on a short sale property, your best approach is to understand that you will be responsible for anything that is discovered, if you choose to go through with the purchase of the house.
3. You are negotiating with a bank, not a person. Sure, the sellers still own the house, and you submitted your offer to the sellers, and they are going to sign it. The reality, though, is that the bank is calling the shots. If the bank denies the short sale, the sellers can’t sell the house, and you can’t buy it from them.
All of this means that patience once again becomes paramount. Because the bank is the party that is really in control, there is going to be more paperwork involved. The bank may want you to sign agreements that wouldn’t be included in a normal purchase transaction.
Appeals to humanity probably won’t get you very far, either. Sometimes, you can endear yourself to a seller by telling your story, helping them get to know you so that they know where you are coming from in the process. The bank doesn’t care about you. For the bank, this is purely a financial transaction. It is purely a business decision that must go through the prescribed process. That is it.
Don’t get frustrated because you think the bank is ignoring you, or not considering your point of view. That might be true, but the bank really doesn’t care that you are frustrated. They just don’t.
Buying a short sale can be worth it
We’re not telling you these things to discourage you from buying a short sale property. We just want you to understand that buying a short sale property is different from going through the normal purchase transaction.
We have helped many buyers and sellers, from Lake Monticello to Albemarle, navigate the sometimes turbulent short sale waters. All of them felt that the process was worth the time and effort that it required. It might be worth it for you, too. It is just important to understand what you are going to be going through before it actually happens. That way, you are prepared for the success that you want achieve.
If you have any questions about buying a short sale or what to expect during the process, just let us know. We’re always happy to help people and prepare them for success.
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thetruthabout/ / CC BY-SA 2.0
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10 Things to Know About the Charlottesville Area Real Estate Market in 2010
January 4th, 2010 categories: Albemarle County, Charlottesville, Communities, Financing, First Time Buyers, Fluvanna County, For Buyers, For Sellers, Helpful Tips, Info, Lake Monticello, News, STR Market Info Blitz, Uncategorized
This post is part of the Strong Team REALTORS Market Info Blitz. We’re heating up the Winter market by giving you three-months worth of the information you need, November through January. Check out the latest posts in the blitz, here.
10 Things to Know About the Charlottesville Area Real Estate Market in 2010
We recently came across a very interesting article published a few weeks ago by U.S. News & World Report that was all about the national real estate market. The article was called, “10 Things to Know About Real Estate in 2010.” The article is well done, and definitely worth reading.
We thought that the predictions in the article were spot-on. All 10 of them, in fact. We realized, however, that the article focused on the national real estate market. Since you aren’t buying or selling all over the country, but rather buying or selling real estate right here in the Charlottesville area, we though it might be a good idea to adapt the 10 things from the article to the Charlottesville areal real estate market.
In fact, the article itself mentioned the need for local real estate analysis:
“. . .anyone interested in buying real estate next year can’t just read the national headlines. Instead, find a good blog that covers the local housing market and consider speaking with a real estate agent with experience in the area. “
We’d like to think that we fit squarely into that category. 
So, let’s get started. . .
10 Things to Know About the Charlottesville area Real Estate Market in 2010
1. Prices to bottom: We think this will be true in the Charlottesville area. In a few days, we will be releasing our 2009 Real Estate Year-in-Review Market Report. The data in that report should give us a good idea as to how prices will react in 2010. Given the trends that we saw in the 4th quarter of the year, it appears that prices have stabilized. It is important to note that reaching a bottom is very different from climbing. While we expect prices to stabilize, we certainly don’t expect to see a tremendous appreciation of prices. As we’ve been saying for a long time now, the days of 10% appreciation per year are over for the foreseeable future.
2. Mortgage delinquencies up: This is unfortunate, by probably true. We expect to see more foreclosures and short sales in the market this year than we saw in 2009. The state of the economy is a major factor in the rise in delinquencies, as is the fact that many homeowners owe more than what the home is worth. Those two factors inevitably lead to a rise in delinquencies. That being said, the Charlottesville area has fared much better than many parts of the country. While their may be increased foreclosures and short sales here in 2010, it will be much less than other areas, even in our own region.
3. Foreclosures move upstream: This is a rather interesting prediction that is made in the article. Basically, economists are predicting that foreclosures will increase among “prime” borrowers, and homes in higher price ranges. Remember how everyone was saying that the chief cause behind the mortgage meltdown was the “subprime” borrowers? Well, many of those borrowers are already in foreclosure, or have been through foreclosure. There are a lot of “prime” borrowers out there who might now be in danger. Most economists think this is due in large part to the number of Adjustable Rate Mortgages that are set to have interest rate resets in 2010. It is difficult to predict whether or not this will be true in the Charlottesville area. It stands to reason, however, that if there a high number of ARMs in the area, we might see increased foreclosure numbers in higher price ranges.
4. Mortgage rates to rise: Since mortgage rates are not geographically dependent, any national prediction about mortgage rates will be just as true here in the Charlottesville area. Mortgage rates have remained at historic lows, thanks primarily to programs put in place by the Federal Reserve. As those programs expire throughout the course of the year. Expect rates to rise. Their is a very good chance that rates could be at or near 6% for 30-year mortgages by the end of 2010.
5. Buyer’s market remains: With prices at the bottom, and mortgage rates at historic lows, this is obviously a buyer’s market. That most certainly will continue throughout 2010. As previously mentioned, however, mortgage rates are sure to rise, and prices probably won’t continue to fall in the Charlottesville area. This means that the leverage buyers currently have will probably decrease as the year goes on. One factor that will play a big part in the market shift will be inventory. If inventory numbers remain high, buyers will have continued leverage just because they will have a greater selection, and more competition among sellers. If inventory numbers start to fall, that will erode that leverage more quickly. By the end of 2010, the market should still favor buyers, but things will be much more even than they are now.
6. Modification plan could be modified: The Federal loan modification program is a mess. It simply hasn’t done what it was intended to do– keep borrowers in their homes. The program doesn’t address two of the key factors that lead to loan delinquencies– negative equity, and job loss. While job loss hasn’t been as big a problem in the Charlottesville area as it has in other regions, negative equity is certainly a concern. Only a relative handful of people have been helped by the program. If the government really wants to do something, the program is going to have to be modified. If that does happen, it could stem the tide of foreclosures and delinquencies predicted by numbers 2 & 3.
7. FHA lending standards may increase: This one is pretty much guaranteed. Loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration have been very popular. Unfortunately, that popularity has meant that FHA loans have also been hit hard by foreclosures. This has lead the FHA to push for increased standards. Increase the standards might have the effect of eliminating potential buyers from the marketplace. While such an increase should help stabilize the market in the long-term, it could have a short-term chilling effect.
8. Tax credit available through June: We’ve talked about what extending and expanding the tax credit might mean for the Charlottesville area before. November certainly saw an increase in closings due to the originally proposed expiration date for the tax credit. It is difficult to determine if the extension and expansion will have the same effect of bringing more buyers into the marketplace. Overall, we feel that the impact made by extending and expanding the tax credit program will have only a slight positive effect on the Charlottesville area real estate market.
9. Markets will vary a great deal by region: This is true every time, all the time. It is true on a macro level, and also on a micro level right here in the Charlottesville area. The different localities have been effected differently by the market changes. Albemarle has been effective differently than real estate in Lake Monticello or Fluvanna. Even different neighborhoods have been effected differently. As the article suggests, it is extremely important to find an agent who is knowledgeable about the market conditions in the area and/or neighborhoods in which you are interested.
10. Mobile maps can help: This one was a bit of a stretch by the author of the article, but it is still applicable in the Charlottesville area. Both Trulia and Zillow have iPhone apps that will allow you to search for homes by your current location. It is a neat feature, to be sure. We have found that our clients appreciate the visual feedback that map-based searching can provide, which is why our Charlottesville area real estate search engine has a map-based element to it. Since all three of us are dedicated iPhone users, never hesitate to ask when you have questions about mobile real estate applications. Between the thee of us, we’ve tried just about all of them.
Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23727257@N00/ / CC BY 2.0
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If you want to sell your house, there are 2 resources you ABSOLUTELY MUST use. . .
December 15th, 2009 categories: FAQ, For Sellers, Helpful Tips, STR Market Info Blitz
This post is part of the Strong Team REALTORS Market Info Blitz. We’re heating up the Winter market by giving you three-months worth of the information you need, November through January. Check out the latest posts in the blitz, here.
A little while ago, we told you about the NAR 2009 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. This document is the result of data gathered from over 9000 people who recently purchased homes.
As you can imagine, the data is extremely useful to agents, since it shows what types of people are buying and selling, what types of homes they are buying and selling, and how they navigate through the buying or selling process.
While this data was gathered from buyers and sellers all across the country, it is certainly representative of what happens right here in the Charlottesville area. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be going over some of the more interesting and important information from the survey. You’ll learn exactly what we’ve learned.
How are buyers finding my house?
The first question we are going to address is one we hear from just about every seller we work with– “how are buyers finding my house?”
Obviously, this is an important question. It is important for one big reason: if you know where buyers are looking for your house, you can concentrate your marketing efforts there.
Luckily, this very question is answered by the data in the NAR 2009 Survey of Buyers and Sellers. The survey asked buyers where they found the home they purchased. There are two very important aspects to this question. The first is that this question was only answered by people who actually bought a home. No browsers or looky-loos in the mix. The second important thing is that the question refers to the where they found the home they purchased. This means that the source the buyers site was obviously very important to them. The answer to this question is one of the major reasons that they bought the house they chose.
The results are displayed by year, starting in 2001 and ending in 2009. Let’s take a look:
72% of buyers found the home they purchased either through the Internet or their real estate agent
Direct your attention to the last column, which contains the survey results for 2009. Notice that the two most popular answers were “Real estate agent” and “Internet” (36% each). That means: 72% OF PEOPLE FOUND THE HOME THEY PURCHASED FROM THOSE 2 SOURCES.
Why is this important?
Marketing your home isn’t a game of chance. There are some ways that work better than others. After looking at the results of the survey, it is obvious that your home needs to marketed on the Internet and to real estate agents. The most common way to market to real estate agents is through listing the home through the local MLS (Multiple Listing Service).
If you are planning on selling the home yourself, you can market it on the Internet through various outlets. You wouldn’t have access to the MLS, so you would have to come up with other methods of getting the home in front of real estate agents.
If, like most sellers, you are going to use a Realtor to assist you in the sale of your home, you want to make absolutely, positively sure that your Realtor has a plan for marketing the home on the Internet and through the MLS.
Things to remember. . .
Most people enjoy seeing their home advertised in print. You need to be smarter than those people. Only 2% of buyers found the home they purchased through a print ad. Your time, effort, and money is better spent elsewhere.
If you really want to sell your home, you need to make sure that it is marketed effectively to prospective buyers. For 72% of buyers, this means that the home needs to be on the Internet and/or in the MLS. Doing those two things, and doing them exceptionally well, will give you the best chance of selling your home for the highest possible price. This is true whether you are selling a home in Lake Monticello or Charlottesville, Albemarle or Louisa.
When you are evaluating Realtors, make sure that your Realtor has a good understanding of how Internet and MLS marketing works, and a solid plan for using both outlets to your advantage.
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7 Ways to Grow Your Bank Account for 2010
December 11th, 2009 categories: Financing, First Time Buyers, For Buyers, For Sellers, Helpful Tips, STR Market Info Blitz
This post is part of the Strong Team REALTORS Market Info Blitz. We’re heating up the Winter market by giving you three-months worth of the information you need, November through January. Check out the latest posts in the blitz, here.
Fatten your piggy bank for 2010
2009 is almost over.
With the coming of the new year, most folks look forward to a fresh start. That is probably just as true for your bank account. 2009 was a tough year, economically; but that doesn’t mean that you can’t get things together so that you can start the year off on the right foot for 2010.
We’re always on the lookout for information we can share with our clients and customers that can help them improve their financial situation and help them reach their goals.
Technology website, Lifehacker, recently published a great list of things you can do that will help put you on sound financial footing in 2010. Here is a summary of their list of “Essential Year-End Money Moves:”
- Set up or review your automatic savings plans.
- Max out your retirement savings.
- Get your last tax deductions in.
- Get your 2009 free credit report.
- Jot down your accomplishments at the office this year.
- Calculate your net worth and get a 2010 budget set up.
- Get your will and insurance ducks in a row.
All seven of these items are very important for your financial future. We also know first-hand that one of the best ways to achieve success in your real estate goals is to have a firm financial foundation. We think these 7 things will help you establish a foundation that will help you reach your personal and real estate goals. To read the entire article and all the tips on the list, click here.
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