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Market Update from the Realtor’s Assocation of Edmonton – January 4th, 2012

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Image via Wikipedia

The following is the monthly press release from the Realtor’s Association of Edmonton in its entirety. If you have any questions on this or would like further detailed statistics, information or analysis, contact me at www.kevingrenier.com

2011 Edmonton real estate market provides stable and healthy base for 2012

Edmonton, January 4, 2012: The REALTORS® Association of Edmonton reported that the all-residential average price for real estate sales through the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in December was up 1.7% ($316,415) from a year ago. The average price of a single family detached home was also up 2.0% to $364,803 from December 2010. Relative to last December housing prices were up overall as well. As typical for December when sales usually fall off, month over month sales were down 27% and prices dipped 1.5% as compared to the November figures.

January 16, 2012

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“Amid the heightened economic uncertainty spreading globally in the past several months, Alberta’s steady progress toward full recovery from the recession is

refreshing.”

Here are RBC’s forecasts for Alberta’s economy created by RBC Economics Research.

To view the report in its entirety click here.

January 16, 2012

I am often called upon to do market evaluations for people looking at selling their homes but I’m getting a growing number of requests from past clients wanting to know how much their planned renovation will cost and what the increased value of the property would be too.

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There are a number of factors I look at when doing a market evaluation and I haven’t found any program that is more accurate than I am in figuring out what your property is worth, in fact some of the programs although well intentioned give inaccurate results and if relied upon could cost you a lot of money and time.

That said, I’d like to share with you a tool that I’ve frequently used to get a rough idea of how much a specific renovation like a bathroom or kitchen renovation might increase the overall value of your home by.

It is called the “Renovation Guide” put out originally by an appraisal company called Henderson and Butt. The latest version is 2009 but it still works as a general reference. I’ve included it here for your benefit:

Now to answer the above question, the “Renovation Guide” using a 1200 sq’ bungalow indicates that a remodeled bathroom will cost you about $10-16k and will increase the value by roughly $6-12.8k. Whereas a kitchen can run you $20-32k for average quality with an immediate increase in value of approximately $14-27.2k.

There are a few things that are important to note when renovating a house or preparing one for sale.

• The first is who are you renovating for, yourself or a prospective buyer? If the answer is a buyer, then try to isolate who that buyer might be, age, lifestyle, etc.

• Secondly, is budget – did you know that the cost equals or out weighs the immediate increase in value on every renovation if you are having it professionally done except for interior painting, which will give you an R.O.I.(return on investment) of 110%.

However, cleaning and decluttering win out by far with as much as a 500% R.O.I.

Before you do any preparation for sale, contact me at kevin@kevingrenier.com to arrange an appointment with myself or one of my associates in your area for a free no obligation consultation.

Kevin Grenier Realty Executives Polaris REALTOR®, ABR® (Accredited Buyer’s REALTOR®), SRS® (Seller Representative Specialist)

P.S. make sure you “like” my Facebook page http://on.fb.me/BuySmartSellSmartwithKevinGrenierRealtor

This e-mail is not intended to solicit anyone who is contractually represented by another REALTOR®

January 16, 2012

I’ve just added a powerful new property search tool to my arsenal which will allow you to search for properties for sale all across the globe from wherever you are in the world.

This has been in the works for some time and involved cooperation from many different real estate boards. You asked for barrier free access to MLS listings and this is what came of that. Check it out and comment on how you feel about it below, I’d love to hear your feedback as we strive to further improve this valuable tool.

Watch the Video & then try it out at www.RealtyExecutives.com/KevinGrenier

Kevin Grenier

REALTOR®, ABR® (Accredited Buyer’s REALTOR®), SRS® (Seller Representative Specialist)

P.S. make sure you “like” my Facebook page

This e-mail is not intended to solicit anyone who is contractually represented by another REALTOR®

January 16, 2012

Living near a vacant home doesn’t have to mean putting up with overgrown grass and unshoveled snow. Does your community use these eight common local laws, programs, and regulations to force owners to maintain vacant homes?

With the foreclosure crisis, you may have noticed a vacant home or two on your block. Rather than see the home free-fall into disrepair, push local officials to take action before the untended house lowers the value of your own home.

Here’s a list of common vacant-home laws, rules, and programs. Call your local elected official’s office to find out what your community has in place and how you can get those laws enforced:
•    Special assessments charged to owners of vacant homes to cover the cost of added police and fire protection.
•    Mandatory fire, safety, or code inspections of vacant homes.
•    Laws forcing a foreclosing lender to maintain vacant homes during the foreclosure process—especially important in states where foreclosure takes a year or more.
•    Rules that let your local government make repairs to vacant homes and charge the owner for the work.
•    Vacant-home registries listing contact information for owners of vacant properties.
•    Housing courts that hear cases filed against owners of vacant homes.
•    Programs that transfer vacant homes to community development corporations, housing nonprofits, or government housing agencies.
•    Property codes that make owners of vacant homes secure their properties and add exterior lights.

Mariwyn Evans has spent 25 years writing about commercial and residential real estate. She’s the author of several books, including Opportunities in Real Estate Careers, as well as too many magazine articles to count.

Visit Houselogic.com for more articles like this. Reprinted from HouseLogic.com with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.

With foreclosure rescue scams widespread as more homeowners fall behind on mortgage payments, be smart if you seek help.

A record high 2.8 million properties were hit with foreclosure notices in 2009, putting even more Americans at risk of facing foreclosure rescue scams. Homeowners who fall behind on mortgage payments need to tread carefully when seeking assistance, since foreclosure rescue scams come in many guises. A day spent researching legitimate options, from a mortgage modification or principal forbearance to a short sale or deed-in-lieu, could keep you from becoming a scam victim.

Foreclosure rescue scams run rampant

Homeowners facing foreclosure are prime targets for scam artists. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission identified 71 companies running suspicious foreclosure rescue ads, and the Better Business Bureau counts foreclosure rescue rip-offs among its top 10 scams. Understanding how these scams work can help you avoid becoming a victim.

The variations are seemingly endless, but one popular foreclosure scam involves a representative of a so-called foreclosure rescue company promising to negotiate a deal with your lender. The rep, vowing to take care of everything, will instruct you not to contact your lender, lawyer, or credit counselor during the supposed negotiations. The more brazen ones will even tell you to pay your mortgage directly to them.

Once you pay an upfront fee or hand over a few months’ worth of mortgage payments, the scam artist will disappear. You’ll be left with an emptier wallet and a mortgage that’s in even deeper trouble because no deal was cut and no payments were made on your behalf. According to John Riggins, chief executive of the Fort Worth, Texas, office of the Better Business Bureau, upfront fees can range from $500 to $5,000.

Rip-offs come in many forms

A bankruptcy foreclosure scam can involve a promise to fend off foreclosure in exchange for an upfront fee. Instead of getting you legitimate relief, the fraudster will pocket the fee and secretly file a bankruptcy case in your name. The scam may seem to work initially, because a bankruptcy filing will stop foreclosure proceedings temporarily, but they’ll resume. Compounding your problems, a bankruptcy can mar your credit report for 10 years.

Another common scam, called the bait-and-switch, results in a scam artist taking ownership of your home. You sign documents supposedly for a new loan that will make your mortgage current. What’s really happening is you’re signing over the deed of your house. In this scenario you would still owe on your mortgage but no longer own the home.

In a rent-to-own scheme, you’re told to surrender a home’s deed as part of a deal that lets you stay put as a renter. The scam artist, perhaps claiming to be able to refinance at a better rate with you off the title, promises to sell the house back to you in the future. However, terms of the deal may make it all but impossible for you to repurchase the home, or the scammer may get you evicted by raising the rent beyond your means. Either way, you end up losing the home while remaining on the hook for the unpaid mortgage.

Look out for red flags

Being aware of the warnings signs can protect you from foreclosure rescue scams. Red flags include:
•    Demands for high upfront fees.
•    Guarantees to stop a foreclosure.
•    Instructions to make mortgage payments to someone other than your lender.
•    Pressure to sign over a deed.

Legitimate foreclosure counselors won’t put on a full-court press, nor will they guarantee that you won’t lose your home to foreclosure. What they will do is review your financial situation and offer up options. Foreclosure counselors approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development won’t charge you a fee either.

Legitimate ways to get foreclosure help

There are a number of legitimate ways to contend with foreclosure. If you’ve missed mortgage payments, start by getting in touch with your lender. Ask to speak with someone in the Loss Mitigation Department and explain your situation.

Your lender may be able to arrange a repayment plan, called a special forbearance, based on your current economic circumstances. The lender could even give you a temporary reduction in your monthly payment or suspend payments for a period of time.

With a principal forbearance, the lender will reduce the amount of your mortgage, thus reducing your monthly payments. However, the amount of the principal reduction doesn’t disappear. Rather, it’s tacked on to the end of the loan, effectively creating a balloon payment.

A federally facilitated mortgage modification could also help. The Making Home Affordable modification program pays lenders to re-work loan terms and lower monthly payments. Be prepared to gather lots of paperwork and undergo a trial modification.

If all else fails, you may need to give up your home. If so, look into the federal Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program. HAFA offers lenders financial incentives to opt for a short sale or deed-in-lieu rather than a foreclosure. In a short sale, a lender agrees for a home to be sold for less than the outstanding mortgage, and then considers the debt paid off. In a deed-in-lieu, a homeowner turns over the home to the lender, and the mortgage is closed.

Donna Fuscaldo has written about personal finance for Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal, and Fox Business News for more than a decade. Like many homeowners, her mortgage is precariously close to being underwater.

Visit Houselogic.com for more articles like this. Reprinted from HouseLogic.com with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.

Foreclosure counselors can make the difference between losing your home and keeping it. Here’s how they work and how to choose one.

If you’re facing foreclosure, your foreclosure counselor will be a key part of your foreclosure team. As you start looking for one, however, you need to know what exactly they do, what they don’t do, and how to choose one who’s legitimate and qualified.

What a foreclosure counselor does
•    Reviews your finances
•    Helps you establish a budget
•    Explains your non-foreclosure options, such as loan modification, short sale or deed in lieu of foreclosure; helps you navigate the process with any chosen option
•    Advocates on your behalf with lenders and loan servicers

Counselors should also be upfront about discussing their own track records as well as the track records of the agency they work for.

Expect to spend two to 24 hours with a counselor, depending on the complexity of your foreclosure situation, including how many lenders you have to provide documentation to and negotiate with.

“Be sure the counselor is looking at your entire situation,” and not just your foreclosure, adds Martha Viramontes, director of housing at ClearPoint Credit Counseling Solutions in Los Angeles. “When counselors focus only on your mortgage, they’re fixing only one aspect of your financial situation.” They should give you an action plan containing the tasks you are going to perform to change your financial situation.

What a foreclosure counselor doesn’t do
•    Give tax advice
•    Give legal advice
•    Give guarantees regarding a particular outcome
•    Create miracles

For additional advice, add a tax adviser and attorney to your team.

Finally, “don’t expect a counselor to be a genie,” says Douglas Robinson, a spokesperson for NeighborWorks America, a nonprofit community development corporation in Washington, D.C., that provides foreclosure counseling. “If you’re in a home that under the most aggressive scenario you can’t afford, but maybe you got into it because of some toxic loan that should never have been available in the first place, you’re probably going to have to move. It’s best you get out smoothly.”

How to choose an agency
Seek only HUD-approved agencies. HUD makes it easy:

 Type in your state or ZIP code at www.findaforeclosurecounselor.org or call HUD’s foreclosure counseling hotline at 800-569-4287 or its foreclosure prevention hotline at 888-995-HOPE (4673). HUD-approved agencies are all nonprofit, community-based organizations that have administered a housing counseling program for at least a year.

HUD-approved agencies also are required to:
•    Employ counselors who are knowledgeable about federal housing programs
•    Have a staff of counselors of which at least half must have two or more years of counseling experience. At least half must also have received housing counseling training in the past two years
•    Provide you with certain documents, such as a privacy agreement explaining how your personal information will be handled

In addition, at the agency you work with, see if you can find a foreclosure counselor who has certification through the NeighborWorks Center for Homeownership Education and Counseling Look (NCHEC), which has a Foreclosure Intervention and Default Certification Program. Certified counselors must follow NeighborWorks counseling standards and code of ethics and conduct.

They also are required to:
•    Have at least one year of experience in foreclosure counseling
•    Attend three foreclosure prevention courses

G.M. Filisko is an attorney and award-winning writer who has seen the sad effects of foreclosure on friends and neighbors. A frequent contributor to many national publications including Bankrate.com, REALTOR® Magazine, and the American Bar Association Journal, she specializes in real estate, business, personal finance, and legal topics.

Visit Houselogic.com for more articles like this. Reprinted from HouseLogic.com with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.