Setting the RIGHT list price

Setting the Sales Price Before we set the sales price of your house, I'll run a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) that will show the listing price of similar houses in the area as well as the prices at which the houses actually sold. Additionally, the analysis will give us information about houses currently on the market and about houses that were on the market but never sold. Next, I'll ask you about your goals in selling the house. Everyone who sells a house has different goals that need to be factored in when calculating the selling price. Is your goal to get the maximum sales price for your house? If so, are you willing to have your house on the market for many months? Is your goal to sell your house quickly? If so, are you willing to sacrifice some of your potential profits to sell more quickly? Would you like to establish a balance between selling your house quickly and selling at the top end of market value? Market conditions will play a role in setting the sales price of your house. I'll factor in how quickly houses are selling in your area, interest rates, the strength of the school system, and finally whether it is a buyer's or seller's market. I'll then recommend a price at which to list your house to meet your goals in the local market.

Are You A Property Virgin?

First-Time Homebuyers   I will . . . > Work at no cost to you! > Provide detailed listing information not available to the general public. > Negotiate the deal to save you money. > Guide you through the avalanche of paperwork. > Commit my time and energy to finding you the right home. Your decision to buy a home is both a sound financial decision and a commendable achievement. As your real estate agent... I will lead you through every single step of the exciting home buying process. I will help you define your "wish list" of features you want in your home, your neighborhood and your ideal school district. I will walk you through the mind-boggling financial details associated with buying a home, including the various mortgages and home buying programs available to you. I will monitor all new listings and alert you to new houses as soon as they are put on the market. I will eliminate the stress involved with buying a home by putting my years of real estate experience to work for you. Finding the perfect home is my business. Contact me today! Jeffrey H. Carter, ABR (978) 717.9015 jeffreyhcarter@kw.com www.jeffreyhcarter.com

4 Things You Must Know When You Are A Buyer & Seller

Once upon a home, buying a home was as simple as saving some dough, spending a couple of weekends visiting Open Houses and writing up a contract. The time frame from house hunt to move-in was a couple of months, max. These days, super-tight mortgage guidelines, market concerns, distressed sales and appraisal dramas complicate and prolong both buying and selling.  

If you need to pull both buying and selling off at the same time, it can seem like you're signing up for these complications, squared. On top of that, the very real prospect of spending some time homeless takes the stress of home buying and selling to an entirely new dimension.

Fortunately, getting yourself educated about what to expect on today's market and knowing all your options empowers you to obliterate panic with a strategic approach, an amazing logistics plan (and backup plan) and comprehensive preparedness for all possible outcomes.  In that vein, here are four need-to-knows for those who want or need to sell their current home and buy a new one, at the same time.

1. Meet with a local agent who actively sells homes in your neighborhood, far in advance of listing or house hunting.  You need them to brief you on items like how long you should expect your home to take to sell on today's market, what (if anything) you can do to move it faster, and whether listing after doing some improvements to your home, at a different time of year or at a different price point than you had planned can realistically be expected to make an impact on your time frame. 

You also need their professional opinion as to what price you can expect to get for your home. This will impact whether you need to consider a short sale (if your home's value is less than you owe on it, for example) which, in turn may affect your ability to qualify for a home loan in the short-term. (Short sales often make it difficult to qualify for a new home loan for a couple of years.)  If you need to buy in the near-term, but your home is unlikely to sell except as a short sale, you'll need to discuss the legalities and logistics with your mortgage pro, attorney and/or a CPA, as well.  

Actually, the information about how long your home will take to sell, how much you can expect to sell it for and whether you're expecting to have to unload it at a short sale is all information you'll need to provide to your mortgage pro, so definitely collect it as early as possible in the process. A year before you need to move is not too soon to have your first meet up with your agent.

2.  Meet with your mortgage broker before your start looking for homes or put your own home on the market. Of course, this is something you would have done eventually in preparation for your purchase, but it's essential that you have them walk with you through both your sell and your plans to buy, before you do either. 

Why?

Well, a good local mortgage broker can work with you and your agent to help you:

• do the math on what you'll net from your home sale;
• help you know how much you (a) can qualify to buy, and (b) will need to come up with for your purchase;
• understand whether the sale will impact your credit at all all and by how much, if so; and 
• time your sale vis-a-vis your purchase.

There are dozens of ways the sequence might need to play out, to be successful at both buying and selling, and you'll need your mortgage pro to be a partner in the process of determining how to order things - before you actually do anything.  For example, you might be under the impression that you can't buy before you sell, because you can't qualify for both, when in fact your mortgage pro could suggest a solution like a low- or no-cost refi first, to bring your payment down so you can qualify to buy before you sell. Or maybe you ARE in a situation where you can't qualify to carry two loans, so you need to sell first and use your own cash to make up the difference between what you owe on your home and what it sells for to avoid a short sale so you can still qualify to buy your next property. 

In any event, you won't know what exactly your capabilities are, from a mortgage and timing perspective, until you hear it from the source.  So, get that meeting on the calendar, too, as early as possible.

3.  Know your options for staying in after closing - or moving in early.  Many homeowners try to buy and sell at precisely the simultaneous moment, with very little overlap, because they don't want to throw money away on rentals.  The reality of today's market is that very, very few sales close precisely when they are expected to, mostly for reasons entirely out of the control of either party.  The seller's bank takes months longer than expected to allow a short sale to close, or the buyer's bank takes eons to sign off on the appraised value of the home.  In any event, if you are selling your home, before your purchase will be complete, know that it's okay to ask for a "rent-back" where you can stay in the property for as long as a month or more after the sale closes by agreement with the buyer to pay them rent on the property in the amount of their mortgage payment, taxes and insurance for the time you remain in the home. 

On the other hand, if you are buying after your sale closes, some sellers will allow you to move in before closing on a similar arrangement - essentially a lease or early move-in arrangement.  They may ask you to sign a document waiving their liability for your belongings and anything else that goes wrong while you're there, before closing - you'll have to negotiate and decide what works for all involved.  Before you start to freak out at the thought that your 'buy' won't close when you need it to, know that this option might be available, and talk with your home's seller to see if they'll consider it. 

 

4.  Plan for gaps - and for overlaps. There is very little in this world we can be sure of, except the high probability of your escrow closing late.  Having a backup plan in place just in case you close one or both transactions off-schedule is essential to avoiding the surprise-induced panic attacks so frequently suffered by those intrepid housing consumers who try to buy and sell homes at the same time. And, frankly, sometimes the best defense against these surprises is simply to plan for gaps and/or overlaps.

So, if you want or need to buy before you sell, build a cash cushion that can cover double payments for a couple of a months - and just plan on that. If that's not in the budget, or if you'd like to try out your new neighborhood or town before you buy, close your home's sale, then plan on renting a place during your house hunt - if you just need a place for a month or two, you might want to consider a suite hotel or a short-term rental.

Source: Trulia.com

5 Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Buy

In most parts of the country, the housing market is good (or great!) for buyers right now - interest rates are bizarrely low, lots of inventory means lots to choose from, and the cost of renting has increased in a lot of markets. But just because the market’s good doesn’t mean it’s the right time for everyone to buy. The decision whether to buy a home is a very personal one; you need to carefully examine your own situation to determine whether it’s right for you.

 

So, what are the questions you need to answer in deciding whether you’re ready to buy? Here are some of the big ones:

1. Do I have enough money for a down payment?
And how much, exactly, is “enough?”  Today’s minimum down payment requirements range from 3.5 percent on an FHA loan to 10 or even 20 percent for conventional loans. That means coming up with anywhere from $7,000 to $40,000 on a typical $200,000 house. While there are still programs that can give you a down payment assist much of the heavy lifting here will need to come from you - in the form of saving up your hard earned cash. And keep in mind there are also closing costs you’ll probably have to pay in cash, which can run as high as 3-4% of your total purchase price.

Talk with a real estate pro and a mortgage broker in your areas to start wrapping your head around how much “cash to close” (i.e., down payment + closing costs) will run, approximately, on a local property that would meet your needs. Can your savings cover this? If not, where will you get the money - what’s your plan for coming up with it?   Putting down as much as you can a) makes you more attractive to lenders, so you might qualify you for better loan terms and b) gives you additional purchasing power, either decreasing your monthly mortgage payment or increasing your purchase price limit for a home.

2. Can I handle the not-so-glamorous aspects of home ownership?
If you can’t even fathom the prospect of having a home maintenance crisis without having a landlord to call to fix it, you might want to reconsider home ownership - or at the very least, buy a lower maintenance condo or town home in great condition, and make sure you get a home warranty!  As a home owner, after all, you essentially are your own landlord. Pipe bursts in the middle of the night? Guess who’ll be up fixing it or calling (and paying) the plumber? (Hint: you.)

There are also some less-than-glamorous bills you’ll have to deal with in your new role as a homeowner that you never laid eyes on as a renter: property taxes and hazard insurance, to name two. When you go from renter to owner, you also need to account for the cost of appliances and maintaining the property’s roof, windows, and landscaping, among other things.

3. How long do I intend to stay in the house?
If you think you might move out of the area next year, then you really shouldn’t be thinking about buying a house (unless of course, you want to play landlord and rent it out after you leave - a prospect which requires its own risk/rewards analysis). For your home purchase to pencil out as a good deal, financially, you’ll shouldn’t buy unless you’re comfortable staying in the house at least 5-7 years - even longer, if you’re buying a home in a foreclosure hot spot or an area with a sluggish job market.. This gives you some time to build up equity and make up for the costs of buying, selling and moving.

4. Are my job and finances stable?
Maybe you just went through a major career change and are in the process of working your way back up from the top. Or maybe you work in a field that has been hit really hard by layoffs and cutbacks. The worst case scenario is to find yourself in a spot with mortgage payment you have no way to make, when you could have avoided that by seeing the writing on the wall. If you feel like there’s a real chance you could lose your job or income tomorrow, you may want to hold off on buying a house - that has the added bonus of giving you the geographic freedom to move, if needed, to get a new job.

Is there really such a thing as 100 percent job security in today’s economy? Probably not. But the best practice is to be confident that your finances could handle a temporary loss of income and still make your mortgage payments, before you buy. One way to do this is to have enough money in the bank to cover 4-6 months’ worth of living expenses, calculating them to include your mortgage payment - before you deem yourself ready to buy. That way, even if you lose your job with no warning at all, you’ll at least have a reasonable window of time to find a new one without digging yourself into a hole - or worse, losing your home altogether.

5. What are my real reasons for buying?
Buying a home is a long-term commitment that will have massive impacts on your lifestyle, your family and your finances. In other words, don’t do it unless you’re really sure you want to and are ready for the lifestyle change - don’t let someone else talk you into it. Worthy reasons renters with home owning readiness give for their decision to buy include some or all of the following:

• You want to build equity instead of paying a landlord. Fact is, if you get a fixed rate mortgage and make the payments for the full term of the loan, you'll eventually pay it off. That's not possible when you're renting.
• You want a place to call your own, where you can paint a wall purple, add a pottery spinning studio or build your dogs an obstacle course (oops - that's my reason for home ownership!), because it's your prerogative.
• You want the tax advantages of home ownership.
• You want a stable place you and your family can live for as long as you'd like.

Ask yourself these questions, and be honest with your answers. If you really want to buy, but your answers to these questions today don’t weigh in that direction, it doesn’t mean you’ll never own a home. It’s usually just a matter of strategically timing your purchase out a year or two when your savings, your career and your lifestyle are in alignment with the implications of ownership - consider working closely with a real estate broker and a mortgage professional to get an action plan in place and start working that plan.

How rising interest rates will impact affordability

In a recent Forbes blog post, multimillionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson declared that today’s record-low interest rates made this the best time to buy homes in fifty years. “If you don’t own a home, buy one,” Paulson said. “If you own one home, buy another one, and if you own two homes, buy a third and lend your relatives the money to buy a home.”  Why should we care what Paulson thinks? Well, he was among the few to accurately predict the subprime collapse and, while no one has a crystal ball, a closer look at the numbers supports his call to action.

Historically low interest rates are the key…and they aren’t likely to hang around for long.

As we wrote in SHIFT, buyers who “choose to wait until prices come down more” are gambling that interest rates will hold steady or drop. The truth is even a 10 percent drop in home prices is nullified by a 1 percent increase in interest rates. The figure below illustrates how this works for a $250,000 home purchase and the relative likelihood of each scenario.

To figure out which was a smarter bet–counting on home prices to fall further or interest rates to rise–our research department took the last ten years of monthly home price and mortgage interest rate data and ran the numbers to see which was more likely: an increase in mortgage rates or a further drop in home prices. Here’s what we found:

1. A one percent increase in mortgage rates is ten times more likely to happen than a ten percent drop in home prices.
2. A one percent rate increase more than offsets a ten percent reduction in home prices.
3. When interest rates fall by one percent, the total interest paid is almost three times more than the interest savings from a ten percent drop in home prices.
4. The probability of both happening at the same time is ridiculously small, and homeowners would still pay 15 percent more in interest over the life of the loan.

Interest rates have dominated the news in recent months as we’ve shattered record low after record low. Potential home buyers need to understand the positive financial impact low interest rates have on the cost of home ownership and the thousands of dollars that can be saved over the life of a typical mortgage loan. For those who can afford to buy, trade up, or invest, our current market presents a lifetime opportunity.

Source: KW

The differences between Condo and Co-ops

Gotten to the point where you just can't keep up with maintaining that single family home? Or maybe your lifestyle is so busy and exciting there's no room in your life for all that stuff.  If mowing lawns, trimming shrubs, shoveling walks, cleaning gutters, painting and repairing the roof make you cringe, a condo or co-op may be right up your alley. Millions of baby boomers are looking for alternative living styles that will let them ease into retirement or just simplify their lives.

By purchasing either a condo or co-op, you still enjoy some tax relief and property appreciation, while someone else cuts the grass and takes care of the pool and grounds. But there's a price attached to it, both in dollars and your sense of independence. The day-to-day life in a condo or a co-op is much the same and the typical resident usually wouldn't notice any difference. However, there are critical distinctions and what you don't know could cost you money and lots of aggravation.

There are significant differences between a condominium and a cooperative, but each is considered a common interest development or CID. The terms 'co-op' and 'cooperative,' are short for 'cooperative housing project.' Cooperatives were in existence and common before the condominium scheme of ownership was fully developed in the United States. They were especially common in New York City and the northeast."

In a cooperative the building containing the residential units or apartments is owned by a 'cooperative housing corporation. In a condominium, each unit owner owns an individual apartment in fee simple. In addition, the buyer owns an undivided interest in the common elements such as the exterior walls, roof, pool and other recreational areas.

Both condo and co-op owners have monthly maintenance fees to pay, but they can vary, depending on what expenses the fee covers. These monthly fees can be significant and should be taken into account when figuring your ability to pay the mortgage or co-op payment.As a practical matter, there is no significant advantage or disadvantage to a cooperative vs. a condominium ownership.

There are pros and cons with both condo and co-op community living. The good part for both is that most of the outside work is done under a contract let by the condo or co-op board of directors. Each unit pays a monthly fee for these services and many associations provide all outside maintenance, including painting, along with water, sewer and cable or satellite TV. Insurance to cover damage to the buildings and grounds -- but not the contents of each unit -- is also standard.

The downside is that the individual cannot cut back on these expenses if times get tough. Owners on a fixed income may find these monthly fees strain their budget. Any home requires a certain amount of maintenance and if you can't or won't do it yourself, you have to pay someone else to do it. But paying for someone else to do it is generally more expensive.

Here's a look at the key differences between condos and co-ops to help you decide which may be best for you.

Form of ownership: The key difference between a condo and a co-op. A condominium owner actually owns the apartment in fee simple, like any other homeowner, and owns an undivided interest in the common areas like parking lots, recreations areas, lobbies and hallways.

In a cooperative apartment complex you don't actually own any real estate. Rather, you own shares in a not-for-profit corporation. As a shareholder you get the right to lease space in the building. The corporation owns the common areas. The effects of this are varied. Real property, for example, descends to your heirs while the co-op's tenant-stockholder's shares pass as personalty to your personal representative and may be subject to securities regulations. Generally, a condo is considered real property and a cooperative is considered intangible personal property.

Property taxes: Because condos are owned individually, they appear in the property tax rolls as separate entities and, accordingly, individual owners are taxed separately.

The entire property co-op is owned by the corporation, so it appears on the tax rolls as a single piece of property. The corporation pays the property taxes and passes along the cost to the tenant-shareholders, usually as part of the monthly maintenance fee.

Property taxes generally run lower in co-ops than in condos. That again goes back to the form of ownership. When condos are resold as separate entities, the appraisals and higher sales prices are recorded individually. This has the effect of producing higher assessed values and consequently, higher property taxes. Co-ops -- as sales of stock -- are not recorded at all and the only way a sale could be reflected in tax rolls is if the entire piece of property were sold, which is rare. Therefore, the rising value of the property usually lags in terms of assessed value and corresponding tax bills.

Financing: Generally speaking, there are two issues of financing when speaking about cooperatives. First, there is the underlying mortgage -- or blanket mortgage or master mortgage or corporate mortgage -- that funded either the original construction or conversion of rental apartments to a co-op form of ownership. Payments on that mortgage are paid by the corporation and then are passed along in the monthly maintenance fee to the tenant-shareholders. Secondly, there is the matter of whether the tenant-shareholder had enough cash to buy into the building or if he had to borrow the money.

Other important points: Most co-op owners cannot get a home equity loan or line of credit and in a co-op each individual is dependent on the solvency of the entire project. If the corporation were to go bankrupt, all shareholders would feel the pinch. Individual condo owners are responsible only for mortgage debt and taxes solely on his property.

Federal tax deductions: In the condo situation, each individual is able, easily, to deduct payments made for mortgage interest and property taxes if he resides in the unit and further deductions for such things as depreciation and maintenance if the condo is used as a rental property. The co-op tenant-shareholder can only easily deduct his proportionate share of the property taxes and interest on the underlying mortgage. If other monies were borrowed to finance the actual purchase of the tenant-shareholder rights, deductibility depends on several different factors and is not done as easily.

Monthly fees: Maintenance fees, paid usually on a monthly or quarterly basis, generally are significantly higher in a cooperative because the corporation is collecting mortgage and property tax payments from each shareholder in addition to the periodic assessment for things like lawn care, pool cleaning, security and insurance. The corporation also frequently includes all utilities.

Co-ops have an advantage when it comes to special, costly repair or capital improvement projects, because they can borrow funds, adding to the amount of the blanket mortgage. The shareholders then pay off the cost of the project in their monthly fees. Condos cannot borrow money as an entity and therefore unit owners often face large assessments for similar projects.

Ownership Transfer: One of the good things about not being considered real estate is when the lease rights to a unit in a co-op change hands (because a seller sold his stock shares to a buyer) there is much less in the way of state and local taxes on the transaction and far less in settlement costs because there's no appraisal, survey or title work to be done. This also comes in handy for celebrities who want to keep their address and purchase price hidden from the public. Again, because it's a transfer of shares and not real estate, the transfer is not recorded in any public place.

Powers of the board: Despite the fact that many condo associations contend that they are empowered to either approve or disapprove the transfer of ownership, the reality is that they have almost no power at all. Co-ops, on the other hand have the right to approve or deny the sale of shares on the basis, for example, of the buyer's perceived inability to make the payments. They can also block the sale to celebrities; for example, who they feel may disturb the peace and quiet of other shareholders. Cooperatives, of course, are bound by federal fair housing laws and cannot discriminate against buyers due to race, religion, sex, nationality, etc., but they can -- and do -- choose people based on financial resources and criminal background. Condos cannot exercise that kind of control.

North Shore Market Update including the towns of Beverly, Peabody, Danvers and Salem

Click below for a great market report on every North Shore community.  Is your towns value declining or is it on the rebound?        North Shore Market Update