About Guilford County, NC

A Homes Accessibility Directly Communicates Willingness To Sell!

I was inspired to write this blog by a fellow Rainer's blog Leslie Elbersole's latest blog Dear Listing Agent: Yes I am serious are you? In the blog in the introduction Leslie mentions the fact that she had to wait six hours for the listing agent to return her call for an attempt to get an appointment to show the home to her buyers.

This brings many points to mind on how accessible is your home to potential buyers. These days while it is not a seller's market by any means the home buyers in today's market still have a lot of inventory to choose from. Case in point I have myself in working with buyers lately been instructed to take homes off their list because after two tries we could not get a listing appointment. Accessibility directly communicates willingness to sell.

So does your listing agent use an appointment desk with a toll free number and a staff answering the phones to make those all important appointments. The appointment services will take the requests from agents verify their identity, and call the sellers to confirm the appointments if required, give the showing agent any showing instructions, send out requests for showing comments, and notify the listing agent of all appointments. Then in some cases a agent or small firm may save a few dollars and try to manage this task in house by having ONE agent on "call duty" at their office or home answering the phone to make appointments for their listings. In some cases you may have a one person shop where the agent is on their own and they handle everything. So now your home is at the mercy of that agents life.

Here is a scenario I have experienced: I call Thursday morning to attempt to make a showing appointment for one of five homes my buyers wish to see. My call is not returned until 4:00 PM (because the agent was in a required real estate class and unable to answer their phone). They stated that the sellers wanted 24 hours notice to show the home SO we could not view it tomorrow morning. If I had been able to talk to someone when I called orginally they would have had over 24 hours notice! The next time I called for the same home to make an appointment (I only had to wait for only three hours this time for the agent to return my call) I was told that they were having the deck power washed and they did not want any showings. Well my buyers took it off the list! In their minds they are ready to buy, these sellers are not motivated to sell. Of course much of the issue I place on the agent not the sellers but, my buyers are my clients and therefore my employers. If they want to dismiss that home so be it.

I see a fail on several levels with this listing.

*By not being accessible the agent has hurt the sellers chances

This could have easily been fixed by utilizing an appointment desk that is open 8:00AM to 8:00 PM

*The sellers themselves have limited access by asking for 24 hours notice (which is their prerogative)

Maybe just two or three hours notice on weekdays when they are at work anyway.

*Lastly if you are having work done outside I would have still shown the home. They do not have to walk out on the deck to see the home.

The home will sell itself to the buyers. Do you really want to turn people away in today's market?

By the way this was in the $600,000 to $700,000 range. We all know that the pool of buyers in that market are limited so turning away qualified buyers that are ready to buy is not in their best interest.

Home Buyer’s Are You Aware Of Upcoming FHA Lending Changes?

One of the biggest things a good Buyer’s agent and loan officer can do is to keep you aware of costly changes to the real estate market and home loan process. So have you been notified of upcoming changes to FHA lending guidelines? Well let’s take a look at what you are look at.

The Federal Housing Administration (or FHA) is increasing the cost of their up-front mortgage insurance premiums starting on April 1st. Yes a cruel April Fool’s prank that has no one really laughing. The increase will apply to new 30 year loans. This is in addition to changes to the monthly PMI and the fact that the seller contributions are going to be lowered.

On another note for those elderly clients looking at possibly doing a Reverse Mortgage the Mortgage Insurance Premium is being raised from .5% to 1.25%, and lower principal limits.

This does not give you much time to save but if you have been sitting on the fence trying to decide whether now is a time to buy this is just one more reason to ACT NOW! However, if you are not ready don’t panic buy it is not a change that will break the bank. It is going to impact you and if you can act now that will save you money.

So check with your Home Buyer’s Agent and your Loan Officer to see what the exact differences are going to mean to you at your loan limits.

Whose Schedule Are You Working On When Buying A Home?

Home buyers what is your schedule for buying a home? Is it going to be as soon as you find the right home or is it going to be 6 months to a year from now. Maybe you are just thinking about upgrading to a nicer, larger, newer home from the home you are presently in. We are going to examine these situations to see what you should be preparing to do to be ready to make that big move.

• Immediately

OK you have decided to buy a home. You might have relocated to the Triad of North Carolina by choice or by job relocation. Maybe you are a first time home buyer and are tired of paying rent. Lastly maybe you have been working to sell your present home and now have it under contract.

1. Make sure you are pre-approved for you mortgage. This will give you the parameters of what you can afford and what price range to look in.
2. Choose your buyer’s agent. This agent will represent YOUR best interest. Their job is to look after you.
3. Make sure you communicate all you likes and dislikes to your agent to help narrow the search. In Greensboro alone there are over a thousand single family homes for sale. The more we can narrow down the search the easier this will be on everyone.
4. As buyer’s agents we work for you. So let us help you. At Total Care Realty we pride ourselves on being your Personal Concierge Realtor®. We will take care of everything that needs to be done if you like.
5. Be ready to move. If you find a home that you love and it is the one you want don’t hesitate. You are not the only home buyers out there. I cannot even count the number of time home buyers have lost their first pick because they dragged their feet. There are plenty of protective clauses in our contracts that if something comes up or you change your mind you can change you mind.

6 Months To A Year

1. Choose your buyer’s agent that you wish to work with. This is one of the key first steps no matter what your timeframe to buy is. Make sure your agent has patience you don't need an agent trying to bully you into buying before you are ready.
2. Speak with several mortgage officers and decide on who you will work with. Do not worry about a pre-approval since they are time sensitive and will expire usually after only a month or two. However the loan officer you choose can let you know that at THAT POINT IN TIME what you qualify for. This will help focus your home search.
3. Be patient, if you are looking farther out then in the beginning of your search use this time to decide on the neighborhoods you want to be in. For example if you want to be in town and like older homes start looking at certain neighborhoods depending on your price range: $150,000 to $250,000 classic updated bungalows then Kirkwood, Lake Daniels, Lindley Park and Latham Park would be classic examples. However, If you like newer homes out of the city limits say in the $400,000 to over $1,000,000 price range then you maybe such neighborhoods as Arbor Run, Henson Forest, Henson Farms, and there are many more. Take the extra time to decide on what neighborhoods or areas you want to live in. This will narrow down your search and that way you can start to keep an eye on those specific areas.
4. As time gets closer to you being ready to buy go back to your loan officer and get that pre-approval. You will need that to make an offer on the home. If you wait you may lose. It pays to be prepared.

Just Shopping No Schedule

1. Choose a buyer’s agent to work with. While you are “just shopping” and trying to decide on what to do you will need expert advice and a sounding board to ask questions of. A buyer’s agent can furnish you market reports, let you know your present homes market value and give you insight into what is going on.
2. Please understand your buyer’s agent has to work with many clients. If you start asking to view homes and have no expectation of buying you are just window shopping. Understand that your agent only gets paid if someone buys. I will be the first to admit I have worked with buyers for YEARS before they bought. So I do not mind taking my clients out but if you just want to look inside someone’s home because you are curious that is actually not what a buyer’s agent is for.
3. As buyer’s agents we are sources of information. We are here to provide any and all information you may need in order to help you make a decision. Ask freely but, understand some questions we may be prohibited from answering. We cannot tell you the ethnic make up of an area, and another example is we actually cannot tell you if an area has high crime. We can however provide you with the information you need in order to make the right decision. I can provide you with websites to get the information or any public reports with that information.

UNCG UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA GREENSBORO STUDENT HOUSING MULTI FAMILY FOR SALE GREENSBORO NC NORTH CAROLINA

Spartan Crossing, Reynolds Place and Spartan Square Apartments

700 Granite Street, Greensboro, NC 27403

spartancrossing.com

spartancrossing.com/spartan-square/

200 Units

.5 Miles to Nearest Edge of Campus

18,771 Students (14,940 undergraduate)

Listing Courtesy of Emerson Commercial Properties, LLC

Contact Grant Ancevic of Student Housing Investments, LLC for More Information

Market Highs & Lows

• The most expensive house sold in High Point, NC between January 1, 2012 and January 31, 2012 was for $309,869 and it had been on the marker for 889 days.

• The least expensive house sold in High Point, NC between January 1, 2012 and January 31, 2012 was for $7,500.
• The average sales price for single family detached houses sold in High Point, NC between January 1, 2012 and January 31, 2012 was $112,459 and the average time on market was 141 days.

Market Data

* Data is for Sold Listings

Distressed Market Report

• Foreclosure properties currently listed for sale in High Point, NC: 51

• Sold Foreclosure properties in High Point, NC between January 1, 2012 and January 31, 2012: 16

· Potential Short Sale properties currently listed for sale in High Point, NC: 37

• Sold Short Sale properties in High Point, NC between January 1, 2012 and January 31, 2012: 3

Data collected from Triad MLS on detached single family residential houses in High Point, NC on February 2, 2012 by Adrienne L. Jones, REALTOR®

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*If you would like to be emailed the full listing details on current homes for sale in the Triad, including Foreclosure, please call or text Adrienne at 336-491-2392 or send an email to ALJones@ALJRealEstate.com and the available active listings will be promptly emailed to you.

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Adrienne L. Jones is a Full Time Realtor® with Coldwell Banker Triad, specializing in Homes Sales in High Point, Jamestown, Archdale, Trinity, Thomasville, Kernersville, Greensboro, Winston-Salem and surrounding cities and towns.

If you are looking for a Triad area Realtor, call Adrienne for all your real estate needs!

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Adrienne L. Jones,
Coldwell Banker Triad, REALTORS®
336 491-2392
Email: ALJones@ALJRealEstate.com
Website: www.ALJRealEstate.com