Peggy Magnanelli

We are definitely seeing a pick up in the local market in Frederick, County Maryland. I've been involved in 3 multiple offer situations in the last 3 weeks with 3 different buyers. I am amazed at the lack of inventory in the under $300,000 range. I looked at the available townhouses in and around Frederick City yesterday ( or should I say lack there of) and was astonished. But also pleased. things are looking up. We have been enjoying very pleasant mild weather for this time of year.

The first time home buyes seem to be coming back out. The income limits for USDA loans fro Frederick and Washington Counties have just been increased. The FHLB down payment assistance money is back as of the end of February. The CDA program is still available with great interest rates.

It may not last, but the activity in the market in what is traditionally a very slow time is very encouraging. Frederick County is expecting an influx of jobs in the next few years so that coupled with the low inventory of homes available should mean prices will be headed in the right direction in the near furture.

What great news for Frederick County MD.

Well it looks like I am starting another rant on the REO agents. I am sorry I know tha tyou have a thnakless job.. but... When the listing agent puts in the listing "Slight Discoloration in lower level" and you see THIS! REALLY? Are you serious? SLIGHT DISCOLORATION? Seriously?

Are we as buyer agents missing some code book? After getting that exact verbage I walked in to a foreclosed home today to show it to a buyer. The smell hit us as soon as we walked in the door. I knew right away what that "Slight Discoloration" was. Then we go down stairs (no electricity on) with our flashlights and see this on 5 out of 7 walls.

Can't they just say Probable mold issues in basement. I still have a headache. This is the part of my job that I hate.

So its 203K, or cash. Oh and please take a RECENT picture of the house. The Agent used the 2006 picture (from the mls) of the house and in that picture the house had a garage. The previous owner enclosed the garage and truned it into 2 tiny rooms with a bath in between. My buyer wants a house with a garage. That listing agent wasted my time and my buyers time.

Please REO agents, If there is mold... tell us. and...Please take a current picture of the house.

I am going insane. I have a purchase that should have settled last week and the bank is making me crazy. The house is titled in a Trust. The disclosures that the listing agent had online did not reflect that, it just had the sellers name on it. So as a buyers agent I downloaded the disclosures from the MLS and put my offer together accordingly. So now the loan has been through underwriting 3 times and each time they caught something else. And each time it has a mandatory 48 review period. No such thing as a rush.

We are now already 1 week past closing date and underwriting is requiring that the appraisal and contract match the title name. (we did an addendum in 1 day got it to the lender) and the lender spent another day hunting down the appraiser. so hopefully we get the corrected appraisal back to underwriting today and start the 48 hour wait to see if there are any other issues.

So I have one question. The title company sent the title work to the lender 3 weeks ago with the correct title information (which did not match the contract or appraisal). Should the title company contact the agents and let them know that the title and the contract don't match? Should the lender have checked this out? Should underwriting have caught this the first time?

The title company and the lender have been going back and forth assigning blame. I want to avoid this in the future so will be checking the tax records first and seeing how properties are titled first.

So as buyer agents we try to do our best to prepare our clients for as many problems and contingencies as possible. But I missed a really big one. We are so close to getting our foreclosure to settlement and the bank puts it on hold. So what does that mean "put it on hold"? Well no one can really tell us. It may be on hold for a couple days or a couple months. Nobody will give us a straight answer. How so I manage my buyers expectations when they are telling me that this is the worst experience of their lives. (thank heaven they still like me) The irony is that the buyer works for a Major Mortgage Lender in the REO department.

I am at the point that I really do not want to deal with foreclosures anymore. I was getting really good at dealing with the REO agents (anticipating what they needed from me/us) and managing the buyers expectations. But with this new development I really do not want to deal with it again.

But I will. More than one third of the sales in my area are Foreclosures. Most of them to first time homebuyers. I specialize in First Time Homebuyers. So NOW I have to make sure that the buyers understand what is going on in the market and how it is changing every day. Managing expectations was challenging and now even more so.

So the best thing that I can do is keep myself educated and educate my clients.

So you finally find the property for your clients and it is a foreclosure. Well you pretty much have a 50-50 chance of that happening here in Frederick County MD because at least half of the listed properties are either Foreclosures or Short sales, and they have the best prices.

Here's what can happen, and this is happening to my clients now.

We now have an accepted contract on the property and start the home inspection. We get two thirds of the way through the home inspection and turn the water on. There is a leak. Since the house is Oil heat with a boiler we are pretty much done with the home inspection til the bank gets the leak fixed. That was 6 weeks ago. so they fix that leak only to find that there are more. Because there are more the bank wants multiple bids on fixing it. during this time the appraisal comes in with repairs needed (FHA loan). The house is 100 years old and has peeling paint and cracked glass. I had already discussed this with the listing agent before we wrote the offer so I was prepared for them to fix the issues.

The listing agent sent all the info plus bids on getting the repairs done to the bank, and we waited, and waited, and waited, and waited. We waited 2 and a half weeks for an answer from the bank. They wanted my clients to help pay for the repairs. we agreed to help a bit, and the work finally got started. We were supposed to close today. Well I just got word that the plumbing repairs are completed so we can finish the home inspection. I just hope there is Oil in the tank so we can check the heating system

Saga to continue...............