Mechanicsville, VA

Fannie Mae just announced another change in qualification guidelines. This change includes qualification for 5-Yr. ARMs at the note rate plus 2.0% or fully indexed rate, whichever is higher. Plus, starting June 1, lenders will have to run a second credit report right before closing. Add to other recent changes which include verification of income on FHA Streamline Refis and lenders pouring through tax returns with magnifying glasses to find something wrong.

Bottom line is that not only do we need to verify the income of every applicant, it will be much harder to qualify them when we do. Today you can't afford not to be an expert in tax returns. How can you not go into battle with an underwriter without knowledge on your side? Keep in mind that many underwriters are not well trained with regard to analyzing tax returns. This means that the results are often unpredictable. Adding to our never ending list of new hats as professionals that we have to wear now, it is in your customers best interest to be fully knowledgeable on analyzing tax returns.

How I sold a house using Skype (tm)

My story about how I used Skype with clients that live 14 hours away.

Mr. & Mrs. New Home Buyer closed on their new home and the wife saw it (live) for the first time 15 minutes before closing. Yes, they are still married and she loves the house!

I consider myself to be a pretty good computer nerd, but I never had the need to use Skype until I met Mr. & Mrs. New Home Buyer. Mr. & Mrs. New Home Buyer lived out west, they had sold their home and wanted to move somewhere with definite seasons and wanted to move in 30 days. Mr. & Mrs. New Home Buyer decided Virginia was where they wanted to move. They found my team online and I was thrilled. After a couple of conversations, customized MLS search set up, recommendations marked, Mr. Buyer, Mrs. Buyer and 2 year old daughter were coming to see a few homes we had selected in their range. Great...then they started to look at flights, rental cars, hotels...etc..Change of plans. Only Mr. Buyer was coming. Not so, Great! How am I going to have them in their new home in 30 days? I knew Mr. Buyer and his wife currently use Skype to keep in touch with extended family and had the software installed on their home computer.

Two days later Mr. Buyer flew into Richmond. We had three days to see 30 homes. Mission accomplished, we saw most of them and found the "one." Now, here is where we decided to think outside the box! I had Skype installed on my laptop and we decided to call Mrs. Buyer using Skype. (At the time, I was thinking...I hope this works) I carried my computer with web camera installed all over the house Mr Buyer loved. Wow, Mrs. Buyer was so excited! Mrs. Buyer was able to see what the view was of her back yard from the kitchen window, what the neighbors homes looked like from the front porch, the amount of space in the 3^rd floor that was unfinished, the HUGE master bedroom closet (the pictures from the MLS did not capture.) She knew it was the house for her. We submitted an offer and after a few counteroffers Mr. & Mrs. New Home Buyer had a ratified contract! Then we did the home inspection the same way. The inspector went over the summary and I walked around the computer and showed Mr. & Mrs. New Home Buyer the couple of items the inspector found. They closed on time! Mrs. Buyer and her daughter loved the house Mr. Buyer picked.

The Real Estate Market is changing and so are our client's expectations. I can't wait to see what is next!

I would love to know what you are doing with technology! Please share a success story and we can learn together.

All the Best,

Jennifer James
(Real Estate/ Computer Nerd)
Hometown Realty

Hanover County, Va real estate sales have been strong this year due largely in part to neighborhoods like Oakley Hill. The subdivision is located in the Central part of Hanover County off Walnut Grove Rd.

Click here to view last months report for Oakley Hill

For a complete list of homes for sale in the Oakley Hill subdivision of Hanover County, VA please call or Click here, to request an update.

If you are interested in selling your home for top dollar in the quickest amount of time, please contact me anytime at 804-503-0811 or Click here to send me an e-mail requesting further information.

Hanover County sales have been strong this year due largely in part to neighborhoods like Ash Creek. The subdivision is located in the Northern Part part of the county off New Ashcake Rd.

For a complete list of homes for sale in the Ash Creek subdivision of Hanover County, VA please call or Click here, to request an update.

If you are interested in selling your home for top dollar in the quickest amount of time, please contact me anytime at 804-503-0811 or Click here to send me an e-mail requesting further information.