Category

Sellers

Sep 24
0

Your credit score, how do you improve it?

By | Buyers, Economy, Sellers, Sonoma County info, Visit WineCountry | No Comments

We all live our lives and don’t think to much about our credit score, however it is important to have a good credit score and it is important to keep track of it for many reasons: when you want to buy real property, make sure you are not a victim of identity theft and many more… Something we just need to do, if your credit is ruined, there is no easy fix to increase it. But there are things you can do to stay on top and to start with in case your credit score is ‘not that great’:

1. Pull your reports online — get them for free, no strings attached, at the government-authorized website AnnualCreditReport.com. This doesn’t get you your actual FICO scores, but it does get you the content of your report.

Look for errors that could be lowering your score: accounts that don’t belong to you, balances that are actually lower than reported, old debts that are paid off that should have been removed entirely (seven years for credit cards, 10 years for bankruptcies).

2. Consider reopening accounts you thought were open but have been closed because you haven’t used them in so long — it will help boost your utilization ratio, one element of your credit score that is dependent on how much available credit you have.

3. Pay down some debt. This both decreases your debt-to-income ratio (36 percent is the goal, including the proposed mortgage payment) and increases your credit score, if you do it right (see the next tip).

4. Don’t close any accounts. Instead, spread your debt out. The ideal utilization ratio is about 20-30 percent of your available credit overall, and on any given account. Closing accounts reduces the amount of credit that is available to you, so it makes it look like you’re closer to being maxed out.

So if you have one card that’s near its max and several others that have zero balances and you’re trying boost your score a bit, quickly, consider balance transfers to spread our your debt more evenly, aiming for 20-30 percent of the available credit on each card.

5. Use your credit regularly — and pay it on time, every time. FICO scores are not simply about making sure you have no debt. They are meant to be a measure that shows that you have a history of responsibly using and managing and repaying your debt.

6. Finally, if you are thinking to buy property in the coming years: check in with your mortgage broker. Have the broker pull your report and score, as the report she pulls is the one she’ll have to go by in the final analysis. If you’re really close to a score level that would empower you to qualify for a lower rate, the mortgage broker can actually run a credit diagnostic on your score and generate some recommendations for which actions you could take to raise your score by the needed few points.

None of these tips will get someone with a 500 credit score to a 700 (other than a massive debt reduction program). But if you’re trying to get a little boost to get you over a credit score hump, these can be potent and save you beaucoup bucks in interest.

And… don’t forget to smell the roses, grape crush is starting, many wineries have events going on in the coming time. Fall colors are beautiful!

Mirjam

Sep 11
0

Open House!

By | Buyers, Sellers, Visit WineCountry, Windsor, Wine Tasting, Winery with picnic place | 10 Comments

It used to be that doing an open house wasn’t that effective for selling a home. A few years ago the numbers showed that less than 0.5% of the houses was sold as result of an open house.

But the market is constantly changing and recently I have been noticing a shift. Buyers go to open houses to look at them without their agents and homes do get sold that way. I am wondering what the current percentage is, I haven’t seen any research from the NAR yet, if it comes out, I will keep you posted.

And this weekend I will do an open house at 7922 Fox Hollow Place in Windsor CA. Great property, it burned down in 1992 and was rebuilt and the owner put about $80,000 in upgrades in the house. This is for sure not a distressed property, if you know someone looking for a home that is ready to go, no worries about maintenance, here it is.

Also this weekend, lot’s of fun at the Francis Coppola winery in Geyserville . Harvest has begun, and they are celebrating with a weekend of winery events. The festivities kick off today  with Festival Vendemmia, our annual Wine Family Harvest Party, and continue on Sunday with an Italian Street Fair (11am-2pm), Kid’s Grape Stomp (12-2pm), and a live performance by BROTHERCAT (4-7pm).

Have a great weekend,

Mirjam

Sep 09
0

A short sale is a dignified solution…

By | Foreclosure, Making Home Affordable, Sellers, Short Sale | No Comments

CDPE logo

With   millions of homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages, you or someone you know may need the best information on what steps to take next. Before deciding this, it’s important to understand the consequences of and alternatives to foreclosure.

A short sale is a dignified solution to foreclosure with less effect on finances, future loan eligibility, employment, security clearance and other factors. I’ve created a free report explaining the different results of short sales and foreclosure, which you can download here:

http://hosted.cdpe.com/14365/

As a CDPE-designated agent, I can assess all of your available options and help you move in a positive direction. I’m here to help, and only a phone call or an email away.

Mirjam

Aug 29
0

Wondering why a loan modification is so dificult?

By | Economy, Foreclosure, Making Home Affordable, Sellers, Short Sale | No Comments

This was earlier this week on Inman’s website:

“Nearly half of the 1.3 million homeowners who have accepted loan modifications under the Home Affordable Modification Program have washed out of the program, according to the latest report from the Treasury Department. At the end of July, there were 421,804 homeowners enrolled in permanent HAMP loan modifications, and another 255,934 borrowers in active trial loan modifications.All told, a total of 677,738 homeowners were in permanent or trial HAMP modifications. But almost as many borrowers had already washed out of the program — 629,751.
Many analysts expect that more than half of HAMP loan mods will end up redefaulting. With fewer homeowners entering the HAMP pipeline — only 24,577 new trial modifications were reported in July — it’s considered unlikely that the program will meet its initial goal of helping up to 3 million borrowers avoid foreclosure.
In releasing its “Housing Scorecard” for August, the Obama administration nevertheless offered a positive outlook on the overall housing picture, saying the HAMP program represented “just one, targeted piece of the administration’s larger efforts on housing.”
From April 2009 through the end of June 2010, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has also entered into 472,000 loss mitigation and early delinquency interventions, and loan servicers modified 1.4 million mortgages outside of the HAMP process, the scorecard noted.
The 3.15 million mortgages modifications started during the period was more than double the 1.24 million completed foreclosures.”

Time will tell, right now I see longer times with the trial payments. It is of utmost importance to keep your trial payment, you miss one, you are out.

When BofA started with their loan modifications 2 years ago, they had an 80% default rate. As it looks right now, the default rate will stay high, around 50%.  On the bright side, the other 50% is able to stay in their house and they would have lost their house otherwise.

Usually when I sit down with my clients I can pretty much tell whether a loan modification is doable or just an extension in staying in the house. For some people, going through the loan modification process means that they can stay longer in their house and that was what they wanted. As a whole I see that as part of a ‘strategic short sale’. My website has a link with more information about short sales.

Have a great day!

Mirjam

Aug 22
0

I want the house BUT….

By | Buyers, Disclosures, Sellers, Sonoma County info | No Comments

Have you read a California purchase agreement lately? Probably not, come to think of it, when a home owner decides to sell his house, part of the homework might be to ask your realtor for a sample contract, just to familiarize your self with the important stuff. Buyers should do the same. This agreement is a legally binding agreement once signed but all parties involved.

About 99% of buyers will make an offer with what we call contingencies… what was that? Yes, I call it the ‘buts’. I’d like to buy the house but: I need a mortgage and the house needs to qualify, I want to make sure the house doesn’t have serious flaws, I want to make sure I really want to live in that neighborhood, I want to….

The list if reasons can be different for everyone. Some of you might say, wait a second, you cannot have an endless list of ‘buts’. Basically the main ones are: Financing, Inspections and Title.

Financing: the house needs to appraise and the bank needs to agree.

Inspections: buyer can do any and all inspection as to satisfy himself as to the condition of the property. This covers a wide range if subjects, even the neighborhood is involved. That’s why the list is endless: depending on property and buyer. Everyone has different priorities.

Title: once the escrow is opened,  the title company provides a preliminary title report, stating the legal owners, the liens against the property, the easements etc etc. A problem with title can severely delay the sales process.

In our area, in general,  the contingency period is 17 days. This period gives a buyer the time to have all ‘contingencies’ taken care of. Should something seriously pop up you can either ask for an extension to do more inspections, ask for money to remedy the problem, sign of on the contingencies and move forward with the sale or decide that this is not your house and cancel the dale. You can say, when inspection period is up you have to really decide (what is that expression again?).

There is a lot more to say about the subject but this is the basics to remember about the ‘buts’.

Have a great Sunday!

Mirjam