Alyse "Aly" Sands

Historic areas of Nashville (East Nashville, 12th South, Germantown, Belmont and Hillsboro Village, to name a few) are so hot these days! Local restaurants, bars, minor shopping and consistently available rehabbed or reconstructed homes are relatively new in some Nashville neighborhoods and I’m finding them to be exceedingly attractive to buyers of all age groups.

Many people are in love with the Victorian, Bungalow or Craftsman style of home found in larger metropolitan areas of the U.S. while others find that they can do much more without using a vehicle than they can if they live in the suburbs.

Although suburban homes can be significantly more affordable than these continually up and coming, trendier areas, many buyers are opting for single home “city living”. What’s missing from many newer subdivisions is that small town “feel” you get when you meet and greet familiar neighbors on foot. In the suburbs you must drive to the market or restaurants; thus limiting interaction with neighbors.

For more information about East Nashville, 12th South, Belmont, Germantown and Hillsboro Village, please email me ASands@RealtyNashville, call me at 615.668.9940 or check my website, www.RealtyNashville.com for quick links to homes in these and other areas or sign up for real time listing updates.

Unless you’ve walked in the shoes of a Real Estate Agent, you may think that what they do is an easy way to make a lot of money. If you think this, you’re mistaken. Here are some common misconceptions about Real Estate Agents:

1. Real estate agents earn 6% commission. Response: Often, commission to list a residential property is 6% but there is no standard, set commission in any area. The listing agent markets the property to buyers’ agents and the public and offers (usually) half to buyer’s agents as incentive to show buyers. Along with the (3%) commission, each agent has a negotiated commission split with their office, depending on experience and/or performance so the brokerage gets a part of that. Sometimes, the agent pays a monthly fee to their brokerage, as well.

2. Real Estate agents are paid a salary. Response: Agents work for 100% commission and don’t get paid until after a transaction closes.

3. The company pays for the agent’s expenses. Response: At least in this area, agents pay for their own signs, gas, advertising, affiliations with clubs and associations, licensing, car insurance, errors and omissions insurance, MLS fees, cards, websites and everything else associated with their listings and marketing themselves to gain clients.

4. MLS is for the public. Response: The MLS (multiple listing service) began as a way for agents to share their listings with agents. It started out as a book and, in the mid to late ‘90s, it was put on the internet. After a while, this information became available to the public. Agents pay for their listings to be in the MLS. In the 2000’s, online “lead generation” companies, started to use the information in the MLS to attract buyers and then sell the buyer’s information (back) to the agents (who, ironically, still pay for the listings to be available to these companies).

As I mentioned before, there's a lot of information here so please check back for part 2 and, as always, if you have any questions about Nashville Real Estate, or Real Estate in Tennessee, I'll be glad to answer them.

Some 300,000 households who otherwise couldn't have entered the market will buy a home this year because of the $8000 tax credit. First time buyers (or those who haven't owned in the past 3 years) cannot afford to miss out on this opportunity. In order to benefit from this, the home purchase must be closed before December 1, 2009.

Buyers must act quickly to:

A. Get a mortgage pre-approval. You must be prepared when you find your dream home. Sellers will negotiate more when they know you CAN buy their home and banks require an approval letter before they will even look at your offer. You will know how much you can afford, the approximate rate and payments. Apply for free here: http://is.gd/2qj3d-

B. Have your agent, Alyse Sands, search for your dream home from thousands of bank foreclosures, resales and new homes, look at the homes that meet your search criteria, fall in love with one and get it under contract.

C. Time to close: Lenders are backed up and it may take up to 60 days to close a loan these days, especially because thousands of first time buyers will be closing right before the deadline of Dec. 1.

ACT NOW! Call me, Alyse Sands. I specialize in educating buyers. I will explain the process before we begin so there are no surprises. I'm a full-time Broker-Agent and Loan Professional for the past 10+ years.

This is a tool for the public to use to justify or check on home values for those who are using it for curiosity's sake. It's fine but it is not viable information to use for market value for selling or buying and this is why:

When I, as a licensed Real Estate Professional, prepare a market analysis, I utilize information on recently sold properties that are similar in size, construction, age and area, starting with the same subdivision...APPLES TO APPLES. I use the MLS information before using the tax records because many times the tax records are not recorded properly and much of the time the square footage is inaccurately listed. MLS listings usually post square footage that was given by a previous appraisal or measured by the agent and is more accurate. Agents and appraisers use price per square foot to come up with market value for a property compared with properties that are most like it in every way. We also search first for homes that have sold within the past few months and, if we cannot find any recent sales, we'll go back six months.

Zillow does not take into consideration the age and construction of the home and it pulls the square footage from the tax records. This is done without human intervention. Nobody is checking to see if these comparable properties are truly comparable to the subject property. Using the square footage from the tax records, it uses all properties close to the size within a radius of the subject property, regardless of age or construction.

You must have accurate information when buying or selling property. This is one of the biggest purchases you'll ever make. This is also just one more reason to use a professional when purchasing a home whether you are the buyer or the seller.

Developers in Nashville, TN are suing 3 buyers who did not close on condos they contracted on spec a few years ago. I noticed a post by a buyers' agent asking why we even have earnest money and that the forfeiture of earnest money should satisfy a breach of contract by the buyer. This was my response:

I'm not sure why you need earnest money explained to you since you are a licensed agent but I will comment. I see that you represent only buyers so I understand that you see it from the buyers' perspective. I work with both buyers and sellers so I'm not taking sides; I'm commenting on your predilection.

We know that earnest money is held in escrow to protect the seller in case the buyer breaches the contract. Since nothing is black and white and many scenarios can occur that can result in a breach, either party has the right to sue for actual damages (depending on the contract's verbiage) caused by the breach. The amount of the damages can differ, depending on the amount of loss. Nobody knows what that will be until the breach occurs so it may end up to be more than the amount of the earnest $. Since the same laws apply for new condos, resales, etc., here is just one example of why we have both earnest money and contracts:

Say that a seller had received a $10,000 higher offer from buyer B right after signing a contract with buyer A yet had to honor the existing CONTRACT. What if the transaction wasn't closing for 3 months so the property is off the market for 3 months but buyer A backed out a week before closing. The seller is entitled to keep the earnest money, depending on the verbiage in the contract, but now the house has been off the market for three months plus however long it takes to resell. The seller now couldn't buy a home that s/he was trying to buy and lost a job because he/she couldn't move because the buyer didn't close. The buyer's decision has caused a domino effect. If the contract states it, in this case it is the seller who has the right to sue for specific performance. A Real Estate expert/guru like you should know this.

Even though the developers didn't lose a job or a home, the same laws apply to this seller. In the case of the condos, nobody could have predicted that the market would change for the worse. Perhaps a buyer decided this price was no longer in their best interests. That shouldn't matter. A contract is a legal and binding agreement and the seller may be able to keep the earnest money but the buyer still breached a contract. However, to win a case, the seller has to prove damages. The bottom line, though, would be what is decided by the courts.