I am all for the advancement of communication and fully understand the benefits that sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn offer. I just see some people taking it to a level that borders addiction. While most of my Friends, contacts and followers seem to use the systems as needed, there are others that must be on the computer all day long sending 5-6 posts an hour. I also don't think that most people understand how easy it is to access your profiles and probably don't want EVERYONE to view some of the things that they post on their pages. It is a fact that Company Owners and Human Resource personnel are scanning these sites to gain information on current and potential employees. I have friends on facebook that I know have jobs and must just keep facebook open all day while they"work". Is it really that important that we all need to know that you are going to lunch again today at @12:15? I usually check everything out first thing in the morning and again in the afternoon. If I have something important to say or want to announce an event I will post to all. Mostly I hit people individually or comment on things they have posted. I don't get involved with any of the games, surveys, or "Answer these questions to find out what make and model car you would be". How often do check your favorite social network site and how addicting do you find it to be?

If You or someone you knows needs a Real Estate Advisor, I promise I'll do better than this guy:) !

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Of all the paperwork that goes with a normal Real Estate transaction, the most overlooked form could prove to be the most costly. Fortunately, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a very consumer friendly State and makes it fairly easy to stay out of lead paint trouble.

Our office recently had this scenario occur. Our agent was listing a home that the Seller said she was unaware if it contained lead paint or not. This is very common because, unless you have had a lead paint inspection, or the prior owner has told you that they had knowledge of lead paint, you have no way of knowing. Here is where a few minutes of work can save a huge legal mess not to mention save someone from being poisoned by lead paint.

A quick check of the archives in the MLS showed that indeed the property was purchased with the lead declaration being "Unknown". The current owner had no inspections done. A check of the property in the Massachusetts Lead Safe Home Database showed that the prior owner had not been as forthcoming with thier agent as they should have been. There was an inspection done during the prior ownership period that was positive for lead paint and no action was taken.

The current Seller must now disclose that there is lead paint present and should try to get a copy of the inspection to determine how much and where the lead paint was found. Had this not been caught at this point, and someone ended up getting poisoned, you would hope that the original owner that had the inspection and failed to disclose it would be held liable. As we all know, in these situations it is usually a case of; sue everyone and see who is left standing.

If you have not already used the link above to check your current home address or a home that you may be thinking about purchasing, you will be shocked as to how easy it is. This site should be bookmarked on every Realtor's computer and used in every transaction.

***TIP*** Be careful with Streets that have odd spellings. I ran a home on Greene St that showed up under Green St. Be careful with words like Olde, and Towne. more times than not they will drop the odd vowel.

Make Sure You Research Your Future Landlord!

I want to alert you all to a couple of situations that have occured lately on the North Shore. Both cases were a direct result of Craigslist advertising. As a Realtor, I find Craigslist to be a very good way to advertise my clients properties. It is unfortunate that it has become a breeding ground for scam artist of all levels.

The first case has been very well exposed by the local media. A man that was evicted from an apartment in Beverly decided to advertise the unit himself on craigslist and used his spare key to show prospective buyers the property. He took first, last and security deposit from multiple applicants and has yet to be found. RENTER BEWARE!

Next we have a more sophisticated scam where the predator takes a home that is listed "for sale" and puts them up as "for rent". As you may imagine the monthly fee is at a "too good to be true" price. They go as far as to set up an e-mail account that matches the names on the deed (public record) to respond to. One claimed that they were the owners and were called overseas for an extended amount of time. They welcome people to view the property from the outside but, they were not using the sales agent as a rental agent and they could not be there to show the inside. Of course this is sent with a rental application attached, "just in case".

Make sure that you are dealing with the owner of record before handing over any money or finacial information.

We all know by now that a short sale can be a very frustrating transaction for all involved. There are way too many variables to guarantee a positive outcome once an offer is made. The bait is that more times than not you are getting a house at below market value. If you have the time to wait (usually 90-120 days)and prepare properly you can get a real deal.

Biggest mistakes made by Listing Agents:

1. Pricing the property way below market value
2. Thinking that bank approval means the bank should decide what the best deal is.
3. Not using a third party negotiator to work with the bank
4. Holding off the process until approval is obtained.
5. Not monitoring the Liens and title issues that could be a problem down the road

How can you use these to help bullet-proof your offer and increase the chances of you having a successful transaction. First of all, find a buyers agent that has experience and doesn't shy away from Short Sale properties. Knowing how other agents work and the right questions to ask to get an idea of how they plan on conducting the process can help you decide if this is going to be a lost cause.

Have your agent do a CMA on the property to make sure that it is not priced too high or too low. As part of the process the bank is going to perform at least one and sometimes multiple BPO's. A BPO is a Broker Price Opinion. This means that a neutral Agent goes out and does a CMA for the Bank to assure that the price is relevant to the market. If you find a property that is on for $189,000 and your agent can show you that it is worth $250,000 in the current market, you are going to hit a snag when the BPO comes in to the Bank. Banks are willing to take less than the BPO, but only within reason. Contrary to popular opinion, Banks will foreclose on a property before giving it away.

You want your Agent and the Listing Agent to treat this as a normal transaction. The dates and time lines should be the same except of course the closing date. Most agencies have a Short Sale addendum that they will add to the contract explaining that the offer is being accepted subject to third party approval. IT IS NOT UP TO THE BANK TO ACCEPT THE OFFER A sure way to slow down the process is to have a listing agent send every offer they get into the bank to review. If this is how the Listing Agent chooses to work, you are increasing your risk factor and time line. As a Buyer, you want to get the offer accepted, have your inspection done and get the P&S signed as quickly as possible so that the accepted offer can be presented to the Bank for approval. Any other offers at this point would be back up offers in the event that yours does not get approved.

Be leery of a property that has a Realtor trying to work with the Bank themselves. Make sure that they at least have a Real Estate Attorney working with the Bank on behalf of the Seller. There are companies that specialize in dealing as third party negotiators on the Seller's behalf. Normally they negotiate their fee with the Bank as well, meaning that there is no additional cost to the Seller. If your Agent has a company that they use you can write into the offer that it is subject to using the third party negotiator.

Getting back to the contract time line, the number one question is "why would I want to pay for an inspection on a property prior to getting third party approval?" Remember that in this situation the Home Inspection is going to be informational only. The Bank is not going to negotiate any problems that may arise. It is a much easier decision for a Bank to accept an offer that has all potential road blocks already addressed. It is also beneficial to know if there are any major problems that might scare you away before you take yourself out of the market for 3-4 months. Typically. once approved the bank gives you 10-20 days to get the deal closed. This is not a lot of time if you need to schedule an inspection, have a P&S signed and get the buyer's financing through underwriting. Do not have a Home Inspection if the Listing Agent is submitting multiple offers to the Bank.

Nothing will be more frustrating than getting through the entire process of having the bank approve your offer only to find out there is an outstanding lien on the property. Your agent should do a quick search of the property through the local registry of deeds prior to making an offer to assure that all leans are accounted for in the final numbers. You also want them to monitor the property to make sure that no new leans are put on the property during the process. The bank will not change the final approved numbers. Any unknown costs will need to be paid by the parties involved in order to close the deal.

Every short sale has it's own set of problems. A little homework and understanding of the process will take away some of the risk and shorten the amount of time needed to get to closing.