Downsizing is a fact of life for many people these days. If you have customers who are facing what can be a traumatic situation, here's some advice you can pass along from Jim Henderson, president of William C. Huff Co., a moving and storage company that specializes in affluent home owners.
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The Watson Group Realty
Re/Max Galleria Associates
4703 Richmond Ave Ste. B2
Houston, TX 77027
Office: 281-797-3841
Direct: 281-797-3941
E-mail: thewatsongorup.remax@gmail.com
www.cincoranchkatytexasnewhomes.com
www.houstongalleriahomesforsale.com
As an active full time Katy and West Houston, RE Agent, I want to point out a buy now or later decision effects some but not all. Many people are moving in to the area, marrying/divorcing/expanding their family, etc and they may need to buy now regardless of what may be happening in the market. For those that are contemplating but don't have a specific requirement, it's a question of trying to time the market similar to the stock market. The problem with that is, the general public info lags behind on both up and down swings. For example, this report references October, fully 6 weeks behind us. It was slower than average as was Sept but Nov & early Dec have picked up steam again in the Inner Loop. Builders have burned off some of the new home inventory that was building up and permits for new construction are down so it should keep supply and demand in check for most price points in most Inner Loop markets. Many articles being published now are looking at national trends in RE. Even local articles can be deceiving as they are lumping Houston and surrounding area statistics together. Most Inner Loop markets, with few exceptions, are still very strong and not expected to have the fall out that is being seen currently in some outlying suburbs. The downturn in these markets may never materialize or be inconsequential and trying to time the market where info lags behind may only force a buyer to pay more if they are betting on a downturn. Rates continue to be great for qualified buyers and the Inner Loop in general appears to be stable and steady. Get with a qualified Realtor you trust to get further in depth questions answered or I'm happy to help and provide specific area statistics and answer questions. laurawatson@remax.net
Brought to you by!
The Watson Group Realty
Re/Max Galleria Associates
4703 Richmond Ave Ste. B2
Houston, TX 77027
Office: 281-797-3841
Direct: 281-797-3941
E-mail: thewatsongorup.remax@gmail.com
www.cincoranchkatytexasnewhomes.com
www.houstongalleriahomesforsale.com
www.houstoninnerloophomesforsale.com
www.houstonmedicalcenterhomesforsale.com
If you owe more than your house is worth and can't afford your payments, you might be able to sell it for less than you owe -- without having to pay the lender the difference.
If you can no longer make your mortgage payments and your home is now worth less than you owe on it, foreclosure may not be your only option.
A short sale, in real-estate terms, is a sale of a house in which the sale price is less than what the owner still owes on the mortgage. It is a procedure sometimes agreed to by lenders, who often would rather take a small loss than go through the lengthy and costly foreclosure process, in which the lender allows the sale of a home for less than it is worth and forgives the rest of the note.
While there are some significant negative consequences to a short sale, an ever-increasing number of properties are being advertised as short sales.
Short sale: Win-win-win situation
The beauty of short sales is that they can be a win-win-win situation for seller, buyer and lender. Here's how:
While it may seem surprising that lenders would agree to accept less than what they are owed, they benefit from the process, too. The lender benefits by not having to go through the protracted process of foreclosing on the borrower and then having to put the property on the market and go through the whole marketing process.
A market saturated with foreclosures can cost lenders billions -- and as much as $50,000 per foreclosure -- according to a study released earlier this year by the congressional Joint Economic Committee.
When you go into a short sale, you have an institutional lender that are most concerned with the financial situations of the seller when they ultimately make their decisions. If a seller can handle the mortgage payment, there's no motivation for the lender to let the seller out of the mortgage at a lower price.
A lot of lenders aren't even going to consider a short sale unless it seems like (the homeowner) is in financial distress.
Last gasp only
While getting a lender to agree to a short sale may seem like an answer to the prayers of homeowners who want to unload a house, it's not a good move if you're merely looking to find a new place. It's generally a last-ditch effort when the only other option is foreclosure.
Should you go for a short sale? It depends on how deep a financial hole you're in and how likely it is you'll be able to overcome those financial difficulties. If you're just having a short-term problem -- short-term disability or maternity leave or layoffs, but they have good prospects to find something soon and they can weather the storm and hold on to the profit through that -- obviously they wouldn't want to think about a short sale. But if the choice is foreclosure or short sale, generally a short sale is going to be a better idea.
Before you think about asking your lender to consider a short sale, it would be a good idea to get your paperwork lined up.
Be ready to document your need and to show the lender you are serious about your situation, including a hardship letter (an honest explanation of your financial situation and how it occurred), pay stubs, bank statements, tax returns, an appraisal and documentation of your debts.
3 critical safeguards
If you're considering a short sale, experts advise you to take the following steps to meet potential negative consequences head-on.
1. Get it in writing. Make sure the lender agrees in writing that the short sale will absolve all debts.
"If they owe $300,000 on the house and the short sale is for $280,000, is there any possible way that the lender's going to come after them for the $20,000? Most lenders will put that in the agreement that they're not going to come after the deficiency.
2. Protect your credit rating. Ask the lender how it will report the short sale on your credit report.
Most of the time, a short sale shows simply that a debt is satisfied, but theoretically, a short sale could reflect on the credit report as 'settled for less than the full balance. Such a designation is a negative mark on your credit report, though it wouldn't hurt your credit as much as a foreclosure would.
3. Get professional tax advice. Short sales often have tax repercussions since lenders can claim the forgiven debt as income that they provided you.
That means if you agreed to a short sale for $50,000 less than what you owed the lender, the lender could issue you a 1099 for $50,000, which you would have to pay taxes on. If you meet the IRS' definition of insolvency at the time the debt was forgiven, then you generally don't have to pay taxes on it.
We hope that the information we have provided for you helps give some insight on how the short sale process works. However if you are behind on your mortgage payments and are facing foreclosure we recommend you talk to an experienced foreclosure prevention specialists.
Here at The Watson Group we are trained and certified (HRC) Home Retention Consultants that are experienced with negotiating short sale transactions. The Watson Group are the PREFORECLOSURE SPECIALIST you need on your side! We understand that sometimes bad things can happen to good people.
We are a family of caring professionals working together to help you stop foreclosure and save your home. Our home foreclosure intervention offers highly experienced and effective assistance to homeowners faced with the possibility of losing their homes. By providing alternative solutions, using government and non-government programs, we can tailor a mortgage work out plan to meet your specific family needs and circumstance. Our services are free so pick up the phone and contact us today!
To Find out more on how we can help you, gives us a call at 281-797-3841 or visit one of our sites below.
Brought to you by!
Laura & Rod Watson
The Watson Group Realty
Re/Max Galleria Associates
4703 Richmond Ave Ste. B2
Houston, TX 77027
Office: 281-797-3841
Direct: 281-797-3941
E-mail: thewatsongorup.remax@gmail.com
Use Color Psychology on Your Listings - The science behind color can guide your color decisions.
Take care when giving color advice to home sellers. Their color choices might be sending the wrong message to potential buyers.
Many salespeople and stagers say neutral beige or off-white walls are what sells listings-but a touch of color may be just what you need to revive buyers' interest in a languishing listing. And although beige may offend no one, the right color on a home's walls or spotlighted in the accessories can trigger positive physiological and psychological responses among potential buyers.
"Color can change how you feel; it has an instantaneous effect," says design psychologist Constance Forrest, principal of Forrest Painter Design in Venice, Calif., who incorporates psychological techniques in the design of interior spaces. "If people walk into a space and sense a warm color, they immediately get a sense of a cozy home and will probably reactive positively."
White, on the other hand, "makes the room invisible," Forrest says. "White is a missed opportunity to create a feeling in the space. It doesn't help buyers imagine themselves in the home." (Not to mention, in Asian cultures, white is associated with death and can add a certain doom to listings.) Forrest says that pastel colors-which have a mostly white base-can have a similar, invisible effect.
Responsive Hues
Research on color responses has shown that warm colors, such as orange and red, can increase excitement and energy, whereas cooler hues, such as blue, can be calming and relaxing. Indeed, research shows color can influence a person's senses-even body temperature-and make scenes more memorable. Knowing the responses colors evoke offers insight into where and when you should use color in a home to appeal to buyers.
Go Green, Cautiously
"Many studies have been done on the impact of color in packaging on purchasing decisions," says Debbie Zimmer, spokeswoman for The Rohm and Haas Paint Quality Institute, a research and education group on decorating and color techniques. "You can take that concept of color and paint and apply it to a space to create a mood in a home."
So what color can lift a buyer's spirits? The most potent color is green, Forrest says. In light-spectrum research that focused on treatments for season affective disorder, she notes, subjects exposed to green colors were in better moods than any of the other subjects tested.
But before you start splashing green on all your listings, take caution. Not all shades of green are a safe bet. For example, lime greens-or any yellows with green undertones-"look sickly to most buyers," says interior designer Jeanette Fisher, an author of 22 books on design psychology. Fisher has used color techniques to redo and sell homes for more than 20 years. Medium shades of green such as sage-and bedrooms painted in creamy tones of green-can be a good choice, she says. Fisher also favors buttery yellows inside and out, complemented with white trim accents.
4 Steps to Selecting a Color
To select the right color for each room of your listing, design experts recommend applying the following strategies.
1. Coordinate with the room's use. Certain colors lend themselves to certain activities. For example, studies show that kitchen and dining areas painted in "food colors"-such as celery green or red-increase appetite, whereas blue acts as an appetite suppressant. On the other hand, the tranquility evoked by blue makes it ideal for bedrooms, Fisher says.
2. Paint for the season. Color directly impacts your senses, making a room's temperature feel cooler or warmer. For example, bring in warm colors-such as reds, oranges, and yellows-in the fall and winter months, and cooler colors-greens, blues, and purples-during the spring and summer. To save yourself some hassle, paint just one accent wall in a room, or bring out the season-appropriate colors using accessories such as throw pillows or a vase of flowers.
3. Use a directional approach. The effect of color on perceived temperature also means that the direction a room faces should influence color choices. North-facing rooms may not feel as warm and inviting to buyers because they don't get as much sunlight, an impression that can be lessened by painting them a warm color. "If you have a very warm room that is facing south, and you want to cool it or calm it down, use cooler hues of blue or green," Zimmer suggests.
4. Harmonize. You can also use color to provide a sense of order and balance in a home. Using variations of the same color throughout a house, rather than painting every room a different, contrasting color, provides a sense of flow from one room to another and doesn't distract buyers' eyes.
"Color is always a very personal choice, "So color choices can be subtle. A color doesn't have to be McDonald's yellow or Red Roof Inn red to be noticed. It can be a derivative or a subtle tint or tone of those particular colors to create the warming effect buyers want in a home."
Use the Color Wheel to Mix & Match
Remember learning about the color wheel in grade school? This 12-step circular rainbow graphic shows the relationship among colors and can serve as a helpful guide in choosing what colors to mix and match in a home to get pleasing results. Here's a refresher.
The color wheel is broken down into three main categories: primary (foundation colors used to create all other colors), secondary (created by combining two of the primary colors), and tertiary (formed by combining a primary and an adjacent secondary color).
To mix and match colors easily, you can use the color wheel in one of two ways:
1. Complementary Two colors that fall directly opposite one another on the color wheel (e.g. red and green, blue and orange, and yellow and purple). They create a maximum contrast and can be visually intense.
2. Analogous Color schemes that consist of any three colors located side by side on the color wheel (e.g. yellow, yellow-orange, and orange). One of the three colors usually dominates. This color scheme can add depth and energy to a room.
Brought to you by!
The Watson Group Realty
Re/Max Galleria Associates
4703 Richmond Ave Ste. B2
Houston, TX 77027
Office: 281-797-3841
Direct: 281-797-3941
E-mail: thewatsongorup.remax@gmail.com
www.cincoranchkatytexasnewhomesforsale.com
http://www.houstongalleriahomesforsale.com/Galleria_Home_Evaluation/page_2167302.html
http://www.houstoninnerloophomesforsale.com/Home_Evaluation/page_163208.html
http://www.houstonmedicalcenterhomesforsale.com/Home_Evaluation/page_163208.html
Agents if your client is in default, don't let their home go into foreclosure. A Preforeclosure with their bank, can give you more time to sell it, and protect your commission.
The Watson Group Realty offers mitigation services to negotiate with banks and stop foreclosure. On Feb 3, 2009 another wave of homes will be auctioned off at the Family Law Center located in downtown Houston. Even if your home is one of the thousands to be auctioned off, it is still possible to stop the process.
Some home owners have already tried to negotiate with the banks, and were turned down. We have contacts for most banks, and we have the experience dealing with them. It doesn't matter if you are behind on your payments. We can still help.
For more information please contact us at 281-797-3841. If you already know you want our help, please visit our website below and submit your home for review.
Brought to you by!
The Watson Group Realty
Re/Max Galleria Associates
4703 Richmond Ave Ste. B2
Houston, TX 77027
Office: 281-797-3841
Direct: 281-797-3941
E-mail: thewatsongorup.remax@gmail.com
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The Watson Group Realty specializes in: Residential Listings, Foreclosure Prevention, Short Sale Listings, REO Properties, and New Home Sales in Katy, Cypress, Galleria, Medical Center, and Inner Loop
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