L Dean Davidson

The government bailout of Fannie and Freddie had a great impact on Conforming Fixed rates today. Conforming Fixed Rates dropped by .25 to .5 depending on the loan size and type of loan quoted. Many experts are predicting they will continue to drop in the next few weeks. This is great news for well qualified clients wanting fixed rate loans of $417,000 or less.

The tightening of guidelines is expected to continue however. So although rates are great, prospective buyers will pass an even higher bar of standards to qualify.

This improvement on the fixed rate loans had no effect on ARMs which are funded entirely differently. In fact I saw some Conforming ARM rates increase.

It is my hope that the lower Conforming and Jumbo rates we've seen this week will help your clients realize NOW is the time to buy a home. Let me know when your client is thinking about making an offer and needs a loan pre-approval.

Ashleigh Sumlin Bradford Mortgage Company 6000 Fairview Rd, Ste 1410 Charlotte, NC 28210 704-373-2289 office (if you get the automated attendant, choose #1 then #5) 704-307-9908 cell

Interest rates are low; incentives for buyers are abundant, property values in the Charlotte Area market have increase in spite of national news. So, where are the buyers? Opportunities for instant equity are plentiful. What is driving the reluctance or fear to take advantage of these market conditions?

My take on all this is lack of education, and listening to outer voices that know no more about the real estate market than they. We have a healthier than most climate for purchasing homes, new or resales. Our unemployment numbers are average for our area, and people continue to spend in other areas. Yeah! I know, and especially at the gas pump.

Those that have a home to sell are in a little more different situation than those that don't. The same incentives that appeal to buyers by new home builders, are competing with the resale market. People that have a home to sell, and don't have to, won't and shouldn't. While they wait for more favorable conditions to sell their homes, another buyer is taken out of the market. Even they however, can offset any sacrifice in equity from the sale of an existing home, with the incentives gained in the purchase of the new home.

But the financially qualified buyer without a home to sell is missing the boat if they don't take advantage of the current benefits to buy now. It is a buyer's market, and it is going away in the near future, especially in the Charlotte area. Builders are already reducing some of their inventories left from 2007, and their prices will begin to creep up, and the healthy incentives will be gone, to say nothing of interest rates which will also rise again.

That's what I meant by "waiting will cost you money."

In my last blog post, we talked about selling your home in a challenged market, as many are experiencing today. When such a climate exist, it requires us to do things a little more intentionally than usual, unless of course, we are in a position to put the home on the market for significantly less than market value. That's not where most are however.

Following are just a few helpful hints to make the most of your initial listing offering:

1) If you don't have to sell when the market is less than favorable, don't. Wait for the shift, it will come.

2) Make sure the pricing on your home reflects comparable home sales in the area in recent months. This is what you have to defend to an astute buyer, or competent buyers agent.

3) Hire a good agent and listen to them. An attorney will tell you if you represent yourself, you have a fool for a client.

4) Talk about the marketing plan with your agent, and share your concerns, but leave the details to the pro. They are better at what they do, just like you are better at what you do, than they are.

5) Stage your home to present its best features. This is your storefront, and your featured product is your home. Get rid of clutter, and all those personal things no one else cares about. Let light in and be sure there are no odors that may be offensive to the general public. Yes, sometimes it may require a new paint job or floor coverings.

6) Keep pets contained. Not everyone shares out love for our animals.

7) Do not talk with prospective buyers. That is what you have an agent for. Chances are you may say more than you need to, and you really don't want to put yourself in the position of negotiating. You will probably give up more than your agent. It's human nature.

8) Leave personal property out of the offering.

9) Pay attention the the feedback from those who have viewed your home. This is the buyers perception, and we may be able to correct something we never dreamed would be an obstacle to the sale.

10) Your agent will probably not be the one who brings your buyer. Therefore, you should ask before you hire, exactly how they intend to market your home to give you the most looks.

Do what the other sellers aren't willing to do.

Are we in a challenged market right now in North Carolina, and our own Charlotte market? Sure we are. But it is not near as bad as in other areas of the country, or as bad as some of you may remember from the late 70's. We had double digit inflation, a fuel oil crisis, and in some areas, like Texas, both. On top of that they had a usury law that forbade mortgage interest rates from exceeding 10%. When the par fixed interest rate was at 18%, home sellers were paying 16 discount pts. to get their buyers to closing.

We're not even close to that. We are over inventoried, but even that is beginning to be relieved. Builders still have some leftovers from 2007 that they have some handsome incentives on new inventory homes. Have you noticed they haven't stopped building?

Our general economic indicators are pretty good. We still have healthy demand for our market, and as these inventories work down, prices will begin creeping back up, and the pendulum swings back more to the sellers.

If you are putting your home on the market now, it's important to approach the task with a mindset of having to work a little harder than usual to bring your home to market, and chose a realtor that has a unique approach to overcoming the market conditions. If you don't have to put your home on the market now, wait.

Putting it simply, when the times get tough, the tough get going. The winners are usually willing to do things the losers won't do. More on this subject in my next post, as we look a ways to keep your listing from reaching the expiration date.

Time For Fence Sitters to Jump Off

Inventories are beginning to drop with builders in the area and sales are starting to improve. Why is this coming about when the press still talks doom and gloom? Market forces. Interest rates have showed signs of creeping up an little bit, and when inventories go down, prices adjust as well. Speculators of further interest rate declines will notice the reversal and begin buying before they lose the advantage they have been waiting for.

As builders inventory from last year fall, their prices will see the normal annual adjustments we have always come to expect in the begining of a new year. These inventory homes will no longer be in significant competitions with resale homes, and this will begin a gradual shift in what is now a very weighted buyers market.

I've asked this question before...If you are in the market for a new home, pre-qualified, what are you waiting for? If you have a home to sell, get it on the market for the spring season. Nothing last forever, and we are going to see an end to this slow period. I hope you can benefit from it in the best way.