About Grand Traverse County, MI

Even after 20+ years buyers still amaze me. In a market with record low prices, readily available financing, record low rates and mountains of foreclosures all there for the picking... Buyers are still sitting on the fence waiting. Waiting for what I ask?

It seems that despite how good a buy something is, buyers are always looking for a catch. I say a program on television (20/20 I believe) where a man in a suit was standing on the street corner handing out crisp $20 bills and almost no one would take one. I was amazed. It just goes to show how most people believe the saying that "if it's too good to be true".

I am convinced that the same applies to real estate today. I am seeing some fantastic deals selling in our area everyday. How do people get such great deals? Simple...THEY GET OFF THE FENCE and write an offer. No other time in the past 20 years have I seen so many sellers willing to practically give away their property.

To all buyers I say... WRITE AN OFFER.... Please! It seems that I tell every single buyer that same thing and what do I generally get? Nothing... no offers. Now I recognize that there has to be some interest to begin with but what is holding everyone back I wonder?

If I were in a position to buy a home or property, the first thing I would do is get in touch with a REALTOR who is an expert in the area I am looking and sit down with him or her and devise a game plan. I'd enter into a buyer broker agreement and I would get them out hunting for me.

The key to success is as simple as:

1. Have your financing or proof of funds lined up in advance
2. Do your homework and know the market
3. Learn what is actually selling and for how much (learn the comps)
4. Go look at a lot of properties so you'll know the good one when you see it
5. Don't be afraid to write and offer... if its not accepted you are under no obligation and have little to no risk
6. Write your offer carefully leaving yourself an out for financing and inspections

If you take those 6 steps you will find that you will eventually find yourself laughing all the way to the bank. In 10 years (at least in this area) you'll be so proud of yourself because on the grand scheme of things... everything is a bargain now.

Feel free to contact me for assistance in buying or selling in the Grand Traverse Region at jules@julesyates.com.

Even after 21 years in this business it amazes me how many time I get a phone call about a property and the person on the other end sounds terrified to even give me their name. It immediately tells me I am dealing with a new buyer or someone who has had a bad experience buying a home. Maybe people are just afraid I will try and sell them something they don't really want.

I learned a long time ago that it is nearly impossible to talk or pressure someone into buying a property. There is just way to many opportunities for a buyer to back out of a deal even if I could persuade them to sign a Purchase Agreement. There are inspection clauses, financing contingencies, etc. Heck, I don't even carry purchase agreements with me anymore.

When I get one of these calls I try and nicely offer some friendly advise and suggest they come in and talk with me (or someone they are comfortable with) so that we (ad I did say we) can help them determine what the best course of action might be. I always start with financing of course.

I have learned that too often buyers really have no idea what they can afford. Financing is certainly the key to any home purchase. Why? Well especially right now, many home buyers are looking to buy foreclosed homes.

Most Banks who are selling a home will require a preapproval letter to be submitted with any offer. Since many of these homes are priced well below market value and many times there are multiple offers, it is vital to have your lender lined up.

In addition you don't want to find out that you are looking at homes either below or above your ideal price point. It is a lenders job to help guide you through the mortgage process. Most mortgage professionals will make suggestions on what is the best program for you or if financing is not possible at the time they may recommend ways to improve your ability to get financed in the future.

Another important reason to know the type of financing you may need seller concessions. Seller concessions are funds that a seller will contribute toward closing costs, pre-paids, etc. Many first time home buyers need these funds in order to close on a loan. If you need these funds, it is important to make sue your REALTOR includes them in the original offer. Going back later can be a difficult thing to do.

For more tips and advise, pleas visit www.JulesYates.com.

Over the past 21 years I have always believed that the best pricing strategy was to make the price appear as low as possible. For example if I had a property which I felt was worth $150,000 I would list it at $149,000 in the hope that a person would think it was a better value. I had been taught that my entire career.

I have recently changed my strategy to meet the current market conditions. If you have ever searched for a home I am sure you have noticed that all websites allow you to choose a price range for the property you are searching. If you use the prior example ($149,900) and you were to search for a home in the $150K range you might search $140,000 - $150,000 and it would show up in your search results.

In that case it would be in the high end of the range you were searching and in that were the range you were looking at, you may be more apt to want to make a low offer should you decide to purchase the home. Let's assume another buyer was looking at slightly more expensive homes in the $150,000 - $165,000 price range. In that case your home would not show up as it is below $150K... right?

With my new strategy of listing at an even round number of say $150,000, that same home would in fact show up in both searches. By showing up in the low end of the higher priced search, the buyer is less likely to make a low offer as it is at the low end of the search criteria. Naturally if there are few homes in any given price range the search parameter may be much wider but I am sure you get my point. For this and other tips visit my website at www.JulesYates.com.

As a full time REALTOR I am constantly asked a lot of questions about searching for a home on the internet. For example: "Where is the best place to search for a home?", "Which website will give me the best information?", "Why are so many homes sold when I finally do call on them?"

The first thing that you need to understand is that all the information for a given area is generated by the local MLS or Multiple Listing Service. The MLS is a database of all properties listed by local REALTORS. These MLS's can be local, regional or statewide depending on the organization. Here in Traverse City, the Traverse Area Association of REALTORS covers the 5 county area including: Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Benzie, Antrim and Kalkaska Counties. In many cases area MLS's will overlap and you may find listings in one or more MLS.

Each association will generally have their own website which offers individuals the ability to search the members listings. For example in Traverse City you would go to www.TAAR.com to search our listings. Once a listing is loaded in the system the local MLS uploads (usually every night) any changed data to any other site which has a data feed. For example all of the major franchises will get a data feed so that their website has all of the area listings. The idea is that every Broker has the ability to show everyone else's listing on their website.

With that in mind choosing a website to search is often more of personal preference than lack of data. Ech Broker can customize how the data is displayed but each listing has to show the name of the actual listing broker. You may notice the words "This property listed by ABC Broker" at the bottom of the page. If so this is a listing that does not belong to the company who's site you are searching.

Other websites like Yahoo, Google, Realtor.com, Trulia, etc. may charge agents to enhance or showcase their listings. Realtor.com for example will charge anywhere from $30 per month to $1,200 per month to have a REALTORS listings showcased or enhanced to draw more attention.

Other websites may require you to sign up in order to view listings. This information could be for the agent who owns the site or it could go to the broker. The advantage of signing up is you have the ability to log in and save specific listings or easily request information. My website (www.JulesYates.com) requires you to sign up but no on else will get your personal information. Only a name (real or otherwise and an email address) is necessary. In addition you can set up automated listing alerts which will allow you to get emails as new listings are entered by any agent in the MLS.

As to the final question as to why many homes are sold when a buyers finally does call, that is simple... there are lots of buyers in the market and the good deals will not last long. My advise is to establish a good relationship with a local REALTOR who has a good website and work together. Those who are prepared will get the best deals since they are ready to write offers when the right home comes along.

While the deadline for the First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit is November 30, 2009, you may need to act now in order to take advantage of it. Why you may ask? If you are in need of any type of government financing (Rural Development, FHA, VA, etc.) you may find longer than expected delays in getting financing approved due to a last minute rush to close.

For those of you hoping to build or in the process of building, keep in mind that you will need to get your certificate of Occupancy (COO) no later than November 30 as well. With even entry level homes taking 90 days average to complete, there is little or no time for delays if you need to take advantage of this government program. As an industry, we are seeing a lot of buyers looking to cash in on this tax credit.

I have to imagine that there is going to be a lot of people rushing to get deals closed as early as possible so if you have not found that perfect home yet, it may be in your best interest to find something soon. If you are going to use some sort of conventional financing then you can basically buy yourself a few more weeks.