Exit Real Estate 540

You Are Not a Lead…

Ben Roberts — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:47:38 +0000

I think this video sums up my thoughts fairly nicely. If you’d like to read some great material you can visit 1000wattconsulting.com for lots of commentary on real estate, brokerage, and more. Remember, you are not a lead…

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you want to work with someone who doesn’t look at you as just a ‘lead,’ contact me.

Tricks for Buying a Home at the Bottom from the Today Show
Advanced Home Marketing Stategies – A Primer | Day 1: How a Good Real Estate Pro Uses Social Networking to Help Sell Homes

8 Items Homeowners Need to get a Loan Approval in No Time Flat

Ben Roberts — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:46:49 +0000

Getting a loan these days is a bit harder than it has been in years past. Lenders are now subject to much more regulation so they are quite a bit more careful in the way they do business. Here are 8 Items Homeowners Need to get a Loan Approval in No Time Flat…

1. Two months’ most recent mortgage statements (if applicable)

Lenders want to see what you are paying currently.

2. Two months’ checking account statements (all borrowers if separate)

Lenders will look at how much is going in and out of your accounts as well as what kind of balance you keep in each account.

3. Two months’ savings account statements

These help the lender determine your level of savings.

4. Two months’ other investment or asset account statements

If you have other investment or asset account, these will raise your borrowing power and possibly lower your interest rate.

5. Last two paycheck stubs (all borrowers)

Your pay stubs are a 3rd party record of your income. They verify what you have told the lender.

6. Last two years’ tax returns

This will show your income over the past couple of years and help lenders determine your reliability.

7. Hardship letter (if applicable)

This outlines any credit issues, payments or situations the borrower is in. This is really only needed in the case of a loan modification.

8. Financial worksheet of assets and liabilities

It’s good to have your finances mapped out. Also know your monthly expenses other than the biggies, like groceries, savings, luxury items, etc.

If you have your ducks in a row with all these documents…. getting a loan should be no problem. If you need some help or advice compiling this list of documents to get your home loan, please contact me for more information. I can give you a list of very reputable lenders that will do everything in their power to see that your dream of home ownership is realized.

Tricks for Buying a Home at the Bottom from the Today Show

Ben Roberts — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:25:10 +0000

I think it’s safe to say that buyers seem to be looking for a ‘deal’ these days. Whatever that means. Here are a few ways to make sure you purchase a ‘deal’ from Barbara Corcoran with my own bit of frivolous commentary thrown in…

Click here to view the embedded video.

A lot of this advice brings to mind a couple of points…

You’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t have representation, on either side.
If you aren’t in a hurry and want the best price for your home… keep it up!
If you are looking for a deal, look for a deal…
- contact local real estate companies and banks to get their foreclosure lists.
- Search for homes with a low price per square foot compared to comparable properties

Realtors can help you with that. Contact me and my team today to see what the best deals are in Northwest Arkansas right now.

Mortgage Rates in Northwest Arkansas for the Third Week of October 2009

Ben Roberts — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:11:11 +0000

Below is a sampling of mortgage rates from several local lenders in Northwest Arkansas. I’ll be posting these rates (sometimes with different lenders) every Friday so keep coming back if you are shopping for rates or are interested in rate trends. Of course, rates and APR are based on borrowers with high credit scores and 20% down payment. If you would like a full list of all lenders in Northwest Arkansas you should email info@mortgagedatareport.com and request that NWA be added to their daily list.

Mortgage Rates for October 23rd, 2009

Lender	30yr APR	15yr APR	FHA APR
Arvest	5.132	4.599	not calc.
Meridian	5.047	4.542	5.044
Wells Fargo	5.191	4.700	6.245

This weeks rates come from two local lenders, Arvest and Meridian Mortgage, who graciously provide their rates anytime. The third set of rates is provided from Wells Fargo online rate sheet… which you can find here if you are looking for other types of loans. Arvest’s rates for today are based on a 50 day lock.

I hope you find these rates helpful. Here is the contact information for all the lenders listed this week.

Arvest – Kirk Johnson – (479) 271-1446 Sugar Creek Branch

Meridian Mortgage – Kelly – (479) 582-LEND

Wells Fargo – (479) 636-2245 x13

Disclaimer:

No warranty is made as to the accuracy of the information provided herein. All conventional rates are quoted based on a 740 FICO score with 20% down payment, 30 day lock unless noted, and a purchase amount of $200,000. FHA rates are quoted based on a 740 FICO score with 3.5% down and a purchase amount of $200,000. Lender rates will change depending on the borrowers actual down payment, credit score, and market volatility. Contact the lender directly for the most current rates.

What is Title Insurance? Don’t Worry, Most Professionals Don’t Even Know.

Ben Roberts — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:19:44 +0000

On average 40% of home buyers every year are first-timers. That’s hundreds of thousands of buyers that have no clue what title insurance is, why they need it, or why they should even care. Let’s get a definitive answer as to what is title insurance shall we? Then, all you first-timers (and most of the rest of us home owners) can rest easy knowing what the heck this is and why you need it.

Ask a Title Company, not a Realtor

Before you say anything, touche’, I am a Realtor explaining title insurance… but in my defense, I’ve learned what it is from qualified closing agents within reputable title companies. My point is this, when you hire a Realtor, let them explain agency to you but let a Title company explain a title policy and title insurance. Let it ‘come for the horses mouth’ so to speak.

What is Title Insurance?

The definition of title insurance is this:

Indemnity insurance against financial loss from defects in title to real property and from the invalidity or unenforceability of mortgage liens.

Title insurance arose out of a deficiency in land records laws. Basically, poor records have been kept, and poor systems have been in place over the years that allowed for previous owners and lienholders to capitalize on a transfer of ownership. Title insurance protects (for the most part) the owner from things that a title search or abstract may miss.

Note: Most institutional lenders require a title insurance policy to protect their interest and allow a mortgage on the property.

Types of Policies

Owner’s Policy

An owner’s policy insures that the title is vested in the purchaser and that it is free from defects, liens and encumbrances. Unfortunately, like most insurance policies, title policies come with exceptions. This means that you should read your policy carefully to determine what types of liens, encumbrances, and defects may NOT be covered by the policy. There are some newer policies available that companies call “enhanced title policies” which have less exceptions. These generally cost about 10% more than traditional policies. While it may be customary for a certain party to pay for the title policy… it is negotiable.

Lender’s Policy or Loan Policy

This is issued only to mortgage lenders. It usually follows the assignment of the mortgage loan so it benefits the purchaser of the loan if it’s sold. This helps to facilitate the sale of mortgages on the secondary market.

What’s It Cost?

Most states regulate the price of title insurance premiums. My experience has been in Arkansas so I will tell you what our policies cost but I recommend calling a local title or closing company directly if you want to know.

In Arkansas, if one title company handles the closing then you can save money by purchasing a combo title policy. You can also save a good deal of money if the seller can bring the previous policy to closing. Here are some example prices:

$50,000 policy = $350
$100,000 policy = $560
$200,000 policy = $805
$300,000 policy = $990
and so on…

What are my rights?

RESPA (The real estate settlement procedures act) entitles homeowners to choose their title insurance company when making a purchase or refinancing residential property. Typically, homeowner leave it up to a bank or attorney but they do have the choice. Commercial real estate transactions are not within the scope of RESPA so they are the exception to the rule.

If you have further questions about what title insurance is, what it covers, and exactly how much it will set you back you need to contact a title professional who can tell you the specifics. If you need a short list of reputable and friendly title professionals, contact me, and I will email you some local closing agents’ information.

FSBO in Rogers – Great R-0 Zoned Property Just East of Downtown

Ben Roberts — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:25:11 +0000

Available now! Picture perfect detailed renovation with updates in east Rogers. This two bedroom, one bath property is close to historical downtown Rogers and outdoor recreation. Zoned for Residential Office, this property is well priced at $135,000. See the rest of this charming property’s details below…

420 East Walnut, Rogers

Original hardwood floors, all appliances, central heat and air, and a rare extra-long tub are just a few features that make this property a charming location for a professional office, photo studio, any small professional location or a residence. The property has a detatched non-refurbished studio apartment or workshop with a full bath and kitchenette with gas heat, window air conditioning, and cable. All this on a large corner lot. The bonus unit also has a large attached deck.

Great location for investment…

Located just east of historic downtown Rogers, this property is in the midst of major planned city renovations and a proposed museum attraction coming in 2011. You truly have to see this property to appreciate the work that has been done. Original hardwood flooring has been preserved along with the antique tub. The window treatments and colors lend themselves to a bright and happy atmosphere for your home or office.

To schedule your private tour today or find out more information call us at (479) 633-7044. Reference ID#0010 or 420 East Walnut.

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If you have chosen to try to sell your home yourself why not get a leg up with some free exposure? Call us at (479) 633-7044 to add your home to the list and check out our For Sale By Owner’s First Aid Kit™

Disclaimer:

The properties listed on this page are not represented by EXIT Pro Realty or Team 540™ unless otherwise noted. 540FSBOS.com listings are kept as up-to-date as possible but price and availability are not guaranteed to be accurate until verifed. All property owners agree to the terms and conditions set forth in the For Sale By Owner First Aid Kit™.

Is Your Home Being Marketed Everywhere Possible? Probably Not By Your Agent…

Ben Roberts — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:28:31 +0000

It takes exposure to get a home sold… a lot of it. Exposure with yard signs, newspaper ads, open houses, MLS listings, and most recently online… where 87% of buyers begin their home search. If you’re home isn’t being properly marketed online, I have to ask you, “What the heck are you doing?” You sure aren’t getting your home sold. Let’s look at what should be going on with your property online and what you can proactively do about it…

Property Exposure

I went to a short ‘class’ at our regional MLS office today. The class was about ListHub (more in a minute) and all the ways they can help syndicate our brokerage’s listings online. To give you a little background, the Arkansas Regional MLS does not syndicate listings without a broker’s permission. Up until now, our company, EXIT Pro Realty, has been manually entering our listings into a proprietary EXIT software called EXIT E-listings. E-listings then syndicates the listing out to many of the same sites that list hub does. FYI, other real estate companies (I’m speaking generally so don’t get offended if you are an agent) don’t offer a listing syndication solution like E-listings. It’s truly an amazing system and allows EXIT agents and their clients to get a definite leg up on the competition.

Enter ListHub, Stage Right

Back to the class… ListHub has partnered with the ARMLS to syndicate listings in the database free of charge. FREE? Yes, free. All a broker has to do is opt-in to the arrangement and their listings will appear on dozens of real estate websites like Zillow, Trulia, Hotpads, Yahoo Real Estate, and many more. How many people were in the meeting? Five. Including yours truly. Frankly, the idea of ListHub is awesome. Get your listings exposed to 28 million online buyers a month all over the world on every major real estate search portal…. and it’s all done automatically.

Proper Property Marketing for 2009

As a marketing professional that realizes the power and value of that, I signed our company up on the spot… we’re even going for the premium version with agent accounts and a complete suite of metrics to help ourselves and our clients see where we should be focusing our marketing efforts.

Is your agent marketing your property like that? The sad fact is, probably not.

Now I’m not knocking real estate agents, It’s just a matter of understanding where your efforts should be focused. Many agents (especially in our market) have their nose to the grindstone and simply aren’t investing in the ideas and technology that will help their clients today. Many are stuck in an advertising quandary with no clear idea of how to focus their marketing efforts for their clients. This has never been more apparent to me than when I attended this ListHub meeting and find fewer than 5% of agents in our marketplace represented.

Now that I’ve said my piece, I’ll just say this:

When you interview an agent to list your property, one of the questions I would ask is, “Exactly where is my property listed online?” If your agent doesn’t seem to have a very clear and concise understanding and answer to that simple yet powerful question, I would go interview another agent… I’m just sayin’.

The fact is, just like a business needs a business plan to grow and prosper, so too does a home. If your agent doesn’t have a detailed written marketing strategy that they will follow to exposure your property to the world, you need to find one that does.

You can find a sample of our general EXIT written marketing plan (and a humorous presentation) if you go here and fill in your information. We don’t simply give that kind of proprietary information out for nothing…

I hope you enjoyed my article (a bit of a rant) and feel free to contact me or any of our agents to learn more about the specific ways we market properties to sell for the highest possible price, with the best terms and conditions, in the shortest amount of time.

Top 10 Home Improvements for Your Buck

Ben Roberts — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:16:15 +0000

Everyone is trying to squeeze every dollar, dime, and cent out of their property these days. Modest home improvements can make a big splash on the saleability of your home as well as your bottom line when it comes time to sell… in no particular order, here are the Top 10 Home Improvements for Your Buck to help you get the most out of the sale of your property…

1. Lighten and Brighten

Typical cost: $233-$370
Average increase in sales price: $1,178-$1,566

2. Clean and De-Clutter

Typical cost: $190-$318
Average increase in sales price: $1,505-$1,937

3. Home Staging

Typical cost: $403-$584
Average increase in home price: $1,936-$2,431

4. Landscaping front/back yards

Typical cost: $378-$546
Average increase in home price: $1,718-$2,158

5. Repair Damaged Flooring

Typical cost: $628-$878
Average increase in home price: $1,633-$2,061

6. Fix Plumbing, Electrical

Typical Cost: $436-$621
Average increase in home prices: $1,205-$1,590

7. Update Kitchen and Bathrooms

Typical Cost: $1,404-$1,828
Average increase in home price: $3,216-$3,934

8. Replace or Shampoo Carpeting

Typical cost: $562-$808
Average increase in home price: $1,532-$1,950

9. Paint Exterior Walls

Typical cost: $663-$938
Average increase in home price: $1,757-$2,205

10. Paint Interior Walls

Typical cost: $651-$920
Average increase in home price: $1,741-$2,179

These modestly priced renovations and repairs can help you net a significantly higher amount of money for the sale of your home or take a home that is difficult to sell or ‘unsaleable’ and make it a hot commodity.

The above data was taken from a 2007 HomeGain survey of over 2,000 real estate agents nationwide. If you need suggestions for reputable vendors for any of the projects above, give me a call and I will be happy to tell you who I have worked with in the past and who you should consider to help with your property renovations.

1.35 Years of New Foreclosure Inventory Coming on the Market? How Will It Affect Northwest Arkansas?

Ben Roberts — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:54:02 +0000

I just read a couple of thought enticing (possibly horrifying) articles about the ‘next wave’ of foreclosures. There’s been a lot of speculation since Bloomberg released data explaining that 7 million more foreclosure were sitting in bank inventory. Then, Rob Saxe wrote a bit pessimistic (not that I can blame him) article about the same. Now, Check out my 2 minute video on the ’shadow inventory’ coming on the market…

7 Million Properties…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks for watching/reading. Stay tuned for more on this hot topic in the coming weeks. You can also contact me for specific information about your area or neighborhood.

Note: FYI, my office doesn’t have fake wall paneling if you were wondering about the video background… I was working one of our subdivision open houses when I recorded the video.

15 Simple Open House Tips That Will You Sell Your Home

Ben Roberts — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:25:37 +0000

Open houses seem to be all but dead these days… or so some people would have you think. If you’ve ever driven around Northwest Arkansas on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon you already know that the open house is alive and well. Unfortunately, most open houses don’t get the results the Realtor or the homeowner intended. Here’s 15 Simple Open House Tips That Will Help You Sell Your Home…

Schedule your open house at least one week in advance.
Look in the local real estate section of your paper to determine the popular day(s) of the week and times for an open house.
Restrict the total hours of the open house.
Place directional arrows from 3-4 blocks away. (Check your city’s ordinances for sign restrictions)
Place a visible open house sign in your front yard.
Leave space for buyers to park.
Your front walkway should be clean and clear of debris.
Turn on all lights… open drapes and curtains.
Bathrooms must be spotless.
If your closets are very organized, open a few.
Tune in soft music on the same radio station in each room.
Remove valuables from sight.
Place your property brochure in the entry area, if possible.
Consider a guest registration book for your prospective buyers to sign. It makes it easier to follow up with them.
Be sure the house smells great.

There are lots of other great tips that can really make an open house shine but I save those for my own! I will tell you one great one that I saw a few months ago and have had great success with since… Invite your neighbors. Create about 25 (or more depending on your neighborhood) business card sized flyers with the date, menu (if you are serving anything), price, prizes, etc. You’re neighbors probably aren’t going to buy your home but they are generally nosy so some of them will show up. Then, when a real buyer comes in they can see how many people your home has attracted! There’s nothing like a little friendly competition. Below is the video explaining more.

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you want more Open House tips contact me or stay tuned for additional articles like this one.