Homeowners Concept

TOP 5 TRENDS IN REAL ESTATE

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Mon, 14 May 2012 18:38:00 +0000

Top 5 Trends in this Real Estate Environment:

1) The amount of commissions agents charge. Reduced commission models such Homeowners Concept's are sweeping the nation. Our 1.5% listing offers sellers more marketing than is normally provided by a traditional 6% agent. Couple that with the fact that our agents sell many more homes/year than the average agent and have been in business 17+ years vs 4.5 and you have a winner. On the other hand, we understand that some people do prefer the traditional model where the agent does all the showings and that is why we offer the 3.9% program.

2) The use of technology as a means to do more for less. Companies like ours have used technology and the economies of scale provided by a high-volume based business model to offer homeowners massive exposure at lower costs to market their homes. Sellers who are savvy and who want to remain empowered during the home selling process naturally gravitate to this model, because they are knowledgeable enough to know that it gives them the best chance of selling.

3) Flexibility to allow clients to participate in the home selling or home buying process. Another great component of this growing realty model, is that we allow our sellers to show their own properties and if the buyer comes in without an agent, pay just the 1.5% just like thousands in Metro Milwaukee have done. Sometimes the thousands of dollars saved in commissions could make the difference between a home selling or not. In this market, a seller can afford to price the home outright better than the competition or offer concessions to the buyer to make the transaction work.
4) The number of inexperienced, unethical and just plain inept agents being culled from the ranks of the real estate industry is on the rise because the effects of a prolonged, tightening economy. The part-timers, novices and those agents that really don’t know what they are doing are being forced out of the business by market constraints allowing having more proficient professionals being left to steer and grow the industry as a whole.

5) The power of the Internet is vital in marketing properties. The first time someone sees your property is not when they visit it in person anymore. The first time they see a home is on the web. To make a great first impression and to entice buyers to come to your home you must have great pictures. If you are listed today and you think the pictures your agent has provided are ugly and make the house look unattractive, so does everyone else. Just another reason why it is essential to have your home in as much exposure on the net as possible and make sure it appears as the best product it can be.
The new and more innovative ways of getting out the message and the flexibily one can have by not paying a high commission can mean the difference between a home selling in a reasonable time and for a decent price and one languishing on the market.

MOST HIGH COMMISSION BROKERS CHARGE HUNDREDS MORE IN ADMINISTRATIVE FEES!

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:52:00 +0000

Did you know that most high commission companies charge an administrative fee of anywhere from $195 to as high as $595 at closing? THIS is above and beyond to the 5%, 6% or 7% commission one pays with these companies. Traditional brokers have imposed or increased this additional fee over the last few years.

It is a travesty that so many sellers blindly pay these fees on top of an excessive commission. These sellers either do not know any better or they are in a frame of mind of paying over $12,500 in commission for the average priced home in Greater Milwaukee that they figure what's a few hundred dollars more. We have heard from sellers that have objected to the outrageous administrative fees with no satisfaction since companies cover these extra costs in the fine print of their listing contract. Most of the time the fee is buried in the total commission so it's not as obvious.

Here at Homeowners Concept we have taken the high road and do not burden our smart sellers with additional administrative fees.

Bottom line: a few hundred dollars on top of the thousands ONE SAVES BY USING HOMEOWNERS CONCEPT adds up to a substantial amount of money. Furthermore one not only saves thousands in commissions and hundreds of dollars in administrative fees but they ALSO get to work with on of the many top agents in Metro Milwaukee (facts that have been covered in many other posts).

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SHORT SALES.

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:11:00 +0000

For a homeowner that owes more money than the home is worth and needs to sell now, short sale is the best route. In a “normal” sale, the seller has money left over after paying closing costs, proration of taxes, liens and the outstanding balance of any loans/mortgages against the property. This money is known as “net equity”. Unfortunately, there are a growing number of sellers who, due to a variety of reasons, find that they owe more on the property than it is currently worth. They are “upside down” or have “negative” equity.

There are two ways to handle “negative” equity. First, if the seller had the funds available, he could pay off the negative equity by bringing money to closing. This way the lender gets paid in full and there are no adverse consequences to the seller’s credit rating. The second way is with a “short sale”. The assumption here is that the seller does not have the funds to make up the deficiency. It is also often that a seller in this situation has stopped making payments on his mortgage(s) and is suffering from a degraded credit rating because of this. Foreclosure would be the end result, if neither of these options are available.

Foreclosure should be avoided as it is worse than a short sale for the seller and the lender. The short sale closing impacts the seller's credit much less than a foreclosure. FNMA guidelines require a minimum of 2 years before one becomes eligible for a mortgage with a short sale on their record. It is 5 years minimum with a foreclosure. For the lenders, selling a property short is better than foreclosure because of time and cost savings.

You might wonder why lenders are so eager to take such a huge discount, so you have to consider the nature of the banking business. Some lenders report that if the home goes into foreclosure by the time the home actually closes with the new buyer the lender will be lucky to have netted 50% of the original loan balance.

What‘s the bottom line from the lenders perspective? They are in the business of lending money, not owning homes. If they can accept a short sale offer and rid themselves of the bad loan AND net more versus the home going into foreclosure…they will do it every time. It‘s simply smart business for them.

There are a number of hoops however one has to jump through in order to get the short sale approved by the bank and ultimately close. For a successful short sale, it is necessary to employ a veteran agent - as all the Homeowners Concept agents are. There is technical skill involved in knowing how to price the property, write the contract, and ultimately assemble and deliver a good “package,” providing all the information that the lender will need to make their decision. Each lender has a different “punch-list” of documents that they require. All of the agents at Homeowners Concept have been trained and are quite capable of short sales due to our high volume. There's definitely more work involved in a short sale but it is good for all: sellers, buyers and lenders.

WHERE'S THE BEST PLACE TO GET A MORTGAGE?

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 13:25:00 +0000

Getting a mortgage for a home purchase can be a daunting task to the uninitiated, but it pays to understand the process upfront and pick the right mortgage company to work with to ensure a successful and quick closing.

When getting a mortgage, there are three key individuals in the process: the loan officer, the loan processor and an underwriter. Your interface to the lender is a loan officer, sometimes called an account manager or mortgage banker. Their job is to collect a complete and accurate loan application package from the borrower, and provide quotes and estimates of your loan terms. Loan officers usually have a processor that helps them to gather, submit and track application status along the way. The other key person in the mortgage process is the underwriter. The underwriter reviews loan files to see if they fall within the lender’s lending guidelines and are the ones who will ultimately approve or deny a loan application.

Choosing the Right Mortgage Professional

You have countless choices of loan officers, but many buyers make a critical mistake and simply walk into their local bank or credit union branch to apply for a home loan. In-branch loan officers often wear many hats taking loan applications, opening checking accounts and processing deposits. Anything not mortgage-related is a distraction, and you are best served by loan officers who do mortgages for a living. Moreover, many of the loan officers at bank branches are on salary or salary plus commission so are not as dependent at trying to complete each loan timely.

Mortgage brokers do not originate loans, but simply act to broker your loan application to an appropriate mortgage lender. Mortgage brokers have an advantage over banks or credit unions because they can place the loan with any of the lenders in their portfolio. Having the ability to shop the loan and not be bound by the underwriting criteria of one particular bank or credit union is a clear advantage these days. Furthermore all mortgage brokers have to be individually licensed by the state while loan officers working at a bank do not have to (they work under the bank's license). In other words you find more experienced and more seasoned loan officers at a mortgage company which results in not only knowing upfront that the loan can be funded but also how it should be processed so that it is underwritten and eventually funded at closing.

Ask the Right Questions Before Applying for Your Mortgage

Nothing is more painful than loan delays when closing the purchase of your home. One way to avoid them is to ask the right questions, which almost no one does.

Where is my loan going to be processed and underwritten?
What is your current turnaround time for loan underwriting?
Do you have a mechanism for escalating files that are in jeopardy of being delayed?
Can you provide statistics on what percentage of loans you close on time?
Will you provide any guarantees or fee reductions if my loan is late?

By asking the right questions upfront, you can avoid painful loan delays at the back end of the home buying process.

TIPS TO MAKE SURE YOUR HOME DOES NOT SELL.

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 22:31:00 +0000

Many articles and web sites exist that give sellers tips on selling their home. With thousands of properties in SE-WI on the market for over a year now we thought it was appropriate to put forth a list of 5 major tips to make sure your home fails to sell.

GO AT IT ALONE. This one is a no-brainer and we have written extensively about being FSBO in previous posts. Despite the great odds (less than 10% of properties sell this way, in this market), some people still try this route wasting money and time. The very reason Homeowners Concept exists and has been so successful for 27 years now is because we bring the missing link to FSBO sale. The vast majority of these FSBOs will gladly pay a broker a commission (usually 2+%) if they bring the buyer which is more than our 1.5% commission. Amazing!

USE A FLAT FEE BROKER. This is another avenue of selling with very low odds of whereby sellers pay hundreds fo dollars UPFRONT. Past blog posts explain why the reputation of “list them and forget them” exists in the industry. Most of these outfits are doing just MLS data entry, and they could care less whether the home sells. Thousands of sellers have fallen victim to paying the hundreds of dollars upfront, wasting months or years on the market and having to turn to another broker or Homeowners Concept to eventually sell.

CASUALLY CHOOSE YOUR AGENT/REAL ESTATE COMPANY. The third biggest mistake out there is thinking that all real estate companies (and all real estate agents) are alike. HUGE mistake. The fact is, real estate is an industry that is easy to enter and many people do so every year. This results in the majority of agents been mediocre at best. You see, there are way to many agents in the various real estate offices for the existing real estate sales. At Homeowners Concept we hire only experienced full time agents that have been in business for many years. Of all the major real estate companies in Metro Milwaukee we are the only one with the least amount of turnover. As a result, our agents sell 3 to 4 times as many homes as the average agent and have been in business for 17 years vs the average of 4.5 years.

Selling a home is typically a very important, and costly event for most people. It involves their most expensive asset, so it always blows my mind when sellers pick their friend who “also does real estate.” Think about it, in every profession you have the “best in the business,” and then you have everybody else. Why trust this most precious asset to somebody who cannot deliver the very best for you? How can anybody who does real estate part-time and for a just a few years compete with those of us who do it full time and are veterans in the business? Also lets not forget that those same friends and relatives who happen to be agents still sock you with a 6% commission.

PRICE YOUR HOME TOO HIGH. Up until the 2005 peak in sales, a common method for marketing a home was to put a high price on it and then “let people bring you offers.” This made great sense, as you know everybody wants a deal, so you might as well build in some wiggle room. Another reason that this method was not so bad is that real estate always appreciated! No matter what price you put on the home, eventually the market would catch up to it and you would be able to sell your home. But not now. Prices have been dropping. If you are overpriced today, the market is not catching up, it is leaving you behind.

IGNORE BUYER FEEDBACK. If you listen really closely, the market will tell you everything you need to know. First of all, when a great agent lists your home (which all of Homeowners Concept agents are), he or she will tell you on how best to position and price the home to attract an offer. Also a great agent will also get good feedback from the buyers that view your home. How does the home show? How does it compare to other similarly priced homes? So the key to not selling your home is to either not ask the questions, or at least ignore the answers.

Selling a home is not rocket science, paying attention to the above tips and using a company such as Homeowners Concept where an expert Realtor costs much less can aid tremendously.

ANOTHER TOP AGENT JOINS HOMEOWNERS CONCEPT!

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 18:23:00 +0000

This past week, Jules Kaulfuerst previously with Exit Realty, RE/MAX and Realty Executives joined our company. Readers of this blog and people familiar with Homeowners Concept know that we only hire experienced agents with many, many years in business, in other words the cream of the crop. Our agents sell 3-4 times more homes per year than the average agent and have been in business 17+ years vs 4.5 for the avg agent. Jules has been in real estate for 30+ years and has been a top agent for most of those years.

Jules offered: "I am excited that I was able to pass the stringent requirements and join Homeowners Concept. This is a company with a 28 year history of providing real estate expertise, superior marketing without charging a premium. They have figured out a system that best serves buyers and sellers and I am glad to be a part of such a progressive company. I love that I can give sellers real options, that I can assist them for 1.5% or give them the same service just like I did at the other companies for just 3.9% but with more marketing."

Our clients can be rest assured that they are in very good hands with any of our Real Estate Professionals at Homeowners Concept. You see, unlike most traditional companies that hire just anyone with a license, we are very selective. We continue to offer our clients much more service and real estate expertise than one can expect from paying 6%. The savings in commissions is a bonus!

4 STAGES OF THE SELLING PROCESS.

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 15:01:00 +0000

If you are thinking of selling a home in Metro Milwaukee, what stage of the home selling process do you currently find yourself? You see, we have found that most homesellers go through several important stages, and if they are lucky, they meet a highly experienced real estate agent who can help them make a proper decision for their important housing needs (you may already know that Homeowners Concept agents rank in the top 5% of all agents with many more sales/year than the average agent) .

Homeowners need or want to sell a home for various reasons, and with the right counseling, they can make the best decision on what to do. We know that “knowledge is power,” but the application of knowledge to a set of actions designed to attain a goal is far more important than just being informed.

Many people would like to move but the current state of the housing market (low values and reduced sales activity) forces them to stay put in their current home. The group of people who are moving up, downsizing, relocating or for any other reason have to sell the following might enlighten you as to the stages you are about to encounter in your decision making process.

4 Stages Of The Home Selling Process

“It’s all about me” – The first stage starts with simple reasoning. Homesellers determine their current situation and then consider the optimal outcome. They start doing some simple “me” math … “I need to get $X from the sale to buy my next home, and I currently owe $Y on the home, so I’ll go ahead and sell it for $Z and that will get me what I need.” It is simple, it is logical, but unfortunately it has nothing to do with the current market value of the home. If a seller in this stage of the process consults with a weak real estate agent, then the house goes on the market for $Z and it will fail to sell.

“What’s wrong with my house” - If the homeseller has hired a great real estate agent, this stage is never encountered. But with about 45% of the homes failing to sell in Metro Milwaukee in the first 6 months, many homeowners hit this stage. Some spend a lot of time here, as they do not know how (nor are they enlightened by a great real estate agent) to proceed to the next stage. This stage is the beginning of depression for the home seller. They do not understand why little or few people are looking at their home, and they start to wonder what their real estate agent is doing to get the home sold. Ultimately, it is during this stage that many home sellers start to do the research about selling a home that they should have done before hiring their real estate agent. Sadly, many find that they are in a world of hurt.

Homes fail to sell because they are not being marketed correctly and/or because they are overpriced. Homesellers usually do not put a lot of thought into hiring a highly qualified real estate agent because it never dawns on them that it matters. But it does. Today, 94% of homebuyers are using the internet, so home sellers who hire a real estate agent that does not have a dominant internet presence will most likely be ineffective at getting the home sold. This stage continues until the seller’s pain threshold has been met, and then they decide to get serious.

“I need to get serious” – When sellers get serious, they have reached the stage in which they have a chance to sell their home. Up to this point, they usually have given the market very little consideration in the pricing and staging of their home. Serious homesellers are focused on what BUYERS are thinking and what options BUYERS have in the market. After all, selling a home does not occur in a vacuum, it happens in a market where supply and demand dictate property values. Real estate prices go up, and real estate prices go down. The only factor the seller controls is whether or not the house will sell and how much they pay in commission. Buyers determine value.

A serious homeseller will take a look at the likely value the home will fetch under current market conditions. Factors such as “what I need to buy the next home,” and “what it appraised for 2 years ago” are no longer considered, the serious home seller finally “gets it.” If this stage is reached soon enough in the home selling process, then the seller either decides to sell and prices the home accordingly, or the seller chooses one of the three other options.

“It just doesn’t matter” – Sadly, this is the stage that home sellers reach when they take too long to reach the previous stage. Exhaustion and apathy set-in and the seller typically takes the first offer that they receive. After being on the market far longer than they ever expected, sellers at this stage often make poor decisions. And of course, they are at this stage with an agent who did not do much to enlighten them, so the agent will only further this apathetic response in the hopes of getting paid a sales commission. It just doesn’t have to be this way.

Our Promise To Homesellers

If you are thinking about selling a home in Metro Milwaukee, we will meet with you and spend enough time with you to help you move immediately to the third stage. There is no need to lose money in a market where values are stagnating or dropping simply because you do not understand the market or the process of selling a home. We will show you with great precision the value most likely to be attained in the market and save you thousands of dollars in commissions. I find it terribly sad that there are homeowners in this market who have not been given this very basic help, and they find out far too late that their hasty choice in selecting a real estate agent is going to cost them tens of thousands of dollars.

You will be able to take this information and make a decision. Whether or not you choose to sell your home should be based upon real information and an understanding of your most likely outcome. Do not just work with a friend or the first agent you meet, rather sit down and first become informed. Remember, knowledge is power!

IF YOU'RE PAYING MORE THAN 3.9% TO SELL YOUR HOME, YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH!

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:01:00 +0000

Real estate brokers collected $42 Billion last year in commissions. But it could've been much less if all sellers used a program similar to Homeowners Concept. It's a statement we can make with certainty having sold upwards of 23,000 properties since 1984.

Our program has been proven unequivocally to be extremely successful and actually work better than paying a 6% commission. There have been hundreds of instances over the years that our lower commission made the difference in the sale of the home. The thousands in savings and no excessive administrative fees at closing have helped considerably. Couple the savings with all the expertise we bring to the table (only full time, seasoned, incredibly knowledgeable Realtors) and one can see that paying more than our top of the line 3.9% program is a pure waste of someone's hard earned equity.

27+ YEARS OF SAVING YOU THOUSANDS IN COMMISSIONS!

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:37:00 +0000

A client recently commented of how impressed she was at the fact that we have been offering a reasonable alternative to the high 6% commission for such a length of time. Indeed, Homeowners Concept is nearing the 28th year of operation in Metro-Milwaukee. Obviously, we are proud of our record, having sold tens of thousands of properties and saved well over $94 MM in commissions. That is $94 million dollars that Greater Milwaukee sellers are richer for not having to pay an average of 6% commission!

We have done this by providing more in marketing properties (the largest homes magazine and a great website with the most photos per home, among others) and having highly skilled, full time, long term agents who are truly dedicated to real estate.

This is so different than the way traditional high commission real estate works. You see, the traditional 5, 6 or 7% commission office is like a revolving door. Agents enter and leave the business constantly (ever wonder why the larger offices have to continually hire and train new agents, even in down markets?). They count on each agent to at least attract a relative/friend or spend enough money of their own to attract a client outside their sphere of influence. It takes a lot of time and money for traditional agents to convince the consumer to pay the exorbitant commissions and to differentiate themselves from the competition. Sellers for the most part end up working with a mediocre agent and paying a hefty commission.

On the flip side, our agents are all full time, high volume with many years of experience before they even start at Homeowners Concept. We have become the company that not only saves the sellers thousands of dollars in commissions but provides exceptional real estate expertise. Our long term success speaks volumes.

ALL OF OUR PROPERTIES NOW HAVE VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE!

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:14:00 +0000

Besides the additional marketing we do for all the properties we have for sale via our exclusive magazine, we now also post a video of each home on You Tube. You Tube is the second most visited website after Google and is gaining traction as a gateway for real estate. All of our property videos can be found at www.youtube.com/HomeownersMKE. Barely 2 weeks old and a number of these properties have multiple unique hits.

As one can see, paying thousands of dollars less in commission to Homeowners Concept vs a 6% broker gets you not only more advertising but also a much more experienced agent. All of our agents sell 3 to 4 times more homes per year than the average agent and have been in business for 16 years vs only 4.5!

EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS, the savings was our bonus. Testimonial

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:48:00 +0000

When we decided to sell our house in this current uncertain housing market we knew we were taking a risk, however, after our first meeting with Mary Skanavis from Homeowners Concept we knew we were going to have a knowledgeable and experienced professional by our side.

From the beginning Mary gave us straight-forward facts about our home sale. Unlike some of her competitors, she wasn’t telling us what we wanted to hear; she gave us a clear understanding of what our house was worth and how best to get the maximum price for the home. Together we came up with a “game plan” for how we were going to tackle our home sale. We also felt very comfortable after finding out that she is in the top 1% of agents as most of her coworkers are.

Like a good coach, Mary had almost daily correspondence with us informing us how showings went, how other houses in the market were doing and advice on how we could improve the success of selling our own home. Through that dedication we were able to sell our house remarkably fast and we sacrificed very little in the process. I cannot stress enough how thorough and involved Mary was, especially with answering all of our questions.

When it came time to buying our new house the decision to use Mary as our buying agent was an easy one.We ended up buying the house of our dreams and she negotiated the price saving us a substantial amount of money.

Working with Mary goes way beyond her expertise in the real estate industry. You can easily tell she enjoys her job and the challenges that come with it. She is very encouraging and charismatic and I would encourage anyone to work with her for buying or selling a home and the savings in commissions was a bonus.

Lisa and Mike G.

Sold in Wauwatosa/Bought in Pewaukee Using Homeowners Concept

SELLING REQUIRES THE PROPER STRATEGY.

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:41:00 +0000

Metro Milwaukee home values appear to have stabilized despite a daunting inventory of homes for sale. Although this is certainly good news for anyone trying to sell their home, it can prove to be quite tricky when it comes to developing a pricing strategy.

If you are unsure about the changes in home values, and how this may affect your pricing strategy, you’re not alone. Most sellers want to price their homes aggressively, and also price them to reflect the changes in buyer habits; but they also don’t want to price themselves right out of the market.

How to Develop an Accurate Pricing Strategy:

Hire a qualified, seasoned real estate agent – This is one area of selling your home that you don’t want to skimp on. Find a top-notch agent who understands the market and will advise you on how best to present your property to the buyers. Such an agent sells a lot of properties (far more than the average), works full time and is a veteran in real estate. As many of you know, all of Homeowners Concept agents fit these requirements.
Price it right – Although this may seem like a no-brainer, many sellers, absolutely sure of their ability to sell their home at a higher rate than other comparables in the area, find themselves sitting on their property without an offer in sight. The bottom line is that your pricing strategy should accurately reflect neighborhood home values, not your idea of what you think your home is worth.
Develop a realistic sales strategy – Decide upon your sales strategy beforehand so that your game plan is put in place. More importantly, however, make sure your sales strategy is flexible so that you can react according to the market and according to home values.
Make it ready to sell – Most buyers of today are looking for turn-key properties, so make sure your home is in excellent condition before you list it for sale. It is important to realize that all the pricing strategizing in the world can’t make up for a home that doesn’t compare to other homes in the neighborhood. Clear out the clutter, stage it to sell, and perform any repairs or upgrades that will allow it to compete with other homes for sale in the neighborhood. Homeowners Concept expert agents can assist you with recommendations.

SHOULD ONE REMODEL BEFORE SELLING?

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:03:00 +0000

One of the biggest questions sellers ask agents when selling their home is: should I remodel my home before I sell?

You may have heard a number of stories about people who were able to command top dollar for their properties because they remodeled them. Although remodeling can, in fact, yield a higher asking price for your home, you must be careful when spending money on remodeling projects, as you may not always see sufficient return on your investment.

Generally a remodel will pay off but don’t assume that you will recoup all of your expenses, or even that you will see any of your investment returned to you. An experienced agent will be able to guide you on this (stick with experienced agents such as the ones employed by Homeowners Concept).

Below are some common mistakes to avoid when remodeling your home for sale:

Remodeling to suit your tastes – When remodeling, think like a buyer. In other words, you are remodeling to suit them, not yourself. Don’t remodel with taste-specific components; instead, keep it simple and neutral, thereby attracting the largest audience of buyers.
Overpricing yourself out of the area – You must pay very close attention to the high end of prices for your neighborhood. You will not be able to get any more money for your house, regardless of what improvements you have made if you go over the price ceiling. Before remodeling, look closely at recently sold properties and the updates they had. This will provide you with a good gauge when deciding which remodeling projects to undertake and how much to spend.
Emphasize kitchen or bathroom(s) remodel – Bottom line: the most important rooms of a home in today’s market are the bathrooms and the kitchen. These rooms have been shown to have the biggest influence on the price of a home; so, if you're on a budget, consider spending your remodeling dollars to update these rooms. They will yield higher returns on investment, provided you don’t go overboard in your remodeling efforts.

ONE OF MANY PRAISEWORTHY TESTIMONIALS

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:25:00 +0000

I never considered selling my home with anyone other than a full service realtor with the usual 6% commission. It was my mindset and I didn't think of any alternatives. Because of that I called a 6% realtor and had one of their best known realtors come to my home. The price was a true low ball that she suggested I make the asking price. I was concerned about the service. I felt like just another potential commission. Then, believe it or not, a friend told me that her parents home was sold by Homeowners Concept. I called and talked with Mary who immediately made an appointment to come and see my home. Talk about day and night. First, she answered my questions candidly on the phone. She came to my home and explained the service to me. We listed shortly thereafter. I could not believe the work she put into the sale of my home. Seriously, ALL I had to do was show my home to the buyers without a realtor. We had a lock box for agents to use. Mary fielded all the calls, took care of the listing, put the sign in my yard, took wonderful pictures that were on her website & MLS, listed my home on the MLS and scheduled all the showings. Mary, while realistic, did not encourage me to lowball the price on my home. I would recommend her to anyone selling. She was meticulous, professional and incredibly efficient. All this and fun to work with as well. There is no one better!! Janet P.

EVEN THE FOUNDER OF ForSaleByOwner.com SELLS USING A BROKER!!

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 14:57:00 +0000

Former FSBO CEO sells home using a Realtor (reported in the AGBeat website: http://agentgenius.com/real-estate-news-events/forsalebyowner-com-founder-gives-up-on-own-listing-hires-real-estate-broker)

Founder and former CEO of ForSalebyOwner.com, Colby Sambrotto listed his 2,000 square foot New York condominium on his own through online classified ads and FSBO sites, but after six months, he opted to hire New York broker Jesse Buckler who immediately advised a price change as the listing was not attracting the right buyer.

After giving up on the FSBO route, Sambrotto’s decision to hire a broker led to attracting multiple offers, closing for $150,000 over the original asking price. The Wall Street Journal reports the listing sold for $2.15 million including a 6% commission.

Many FSBOs turn to Realtors

The news stands as an enormous validation of the real estate profession and while some may tease, it is no laughing matter and the former FSBO CEO made a good financial decision.

AGBeat columnist Herman Chan said, “If people want to take a stab at For Sale By Owner (ie FSBO), go for it. But well over 90% of FSBO’s eventually have to list with a real estate agent to get their house sold. It’s harder than it looks!”

The inability of FSBOs to sell completely on their own was the foundation of Homeowners Concept when we began in 1984. 27 years later and 23,000+ properties sold, Homeowners Concept has given home sellers a program they can successfully sell their property without a hefty commission.

5 YEAR ADJUSTABLE RATE MORTGAGES AT 3%!

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 22:48:00 +0000

Many buyers are not aware of the extremely low Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARM) available, specifically the 5 and 7 year. As of this writing one can lock in for a 7 year ARM for 3.4% rate. The 5 year is even better at 3%. These are conventional rates although FHA which offers lower downpayment and more flexible underwriting criteria is also offering low ARM rates. The rates are quoted by Netcentral Mortgage (netcentralmorgage.com/414-258-7833) which is located in the same building as our central office in Wauwatosa.

In the conservative environment of Southeast Wisconsin most buyers refuse to even consider the ARMs. Yet, if one had been in an ARM for the last 25 years, they would have enjoyed tremendous savings over a fixed mortgage (and would not have to incur refinancing charges AND would have paid off the loan much sooner). As the rates adjusted lower the ARM would have adjusted lower and ARM rates are lower than 30 year rates.

Most buyers have been reluctant to purchase or refinance with an adjustable rate having this fear that rates will go up, yet if one looks at Japan the fixed mortgage rates are close to 2%. In the economic environment we are in, it is very conceivable that fixed rates can continue to move lower to the 3-4% range. Adjustments to the ARM rates at the end of 5 or 7 year anniversary would then translate into a new rate in the 2-3% range.

HOW PAYING LESS COMMISSION MAKES THE SALE POSSIBLE.

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:13:00 +0000

This Cudahy home on Rosewood Dr had been with Homeowners Concept for a number of months but had switched to a 6% broker after it expired unsold. During the time it was listed we had 3 offers from 3 different buyers but all where for a price that was unacceptable to the seller.

The first offer was the highest for about $205,000 but sellers felt that "they were not going to give it away" (they were priced at $219,900). A couple of months later sellers reduced the advertised price to $209,900 and another offer came in for just under $200,000. Again sellers rejected it as inadequate. After a period of time a third offer came in even lower than the first two offers. Despite the writing on the wall, the sellers refused to accept reality. About this time the listing came up for expiration and to our amazement sellers wanted to try a "high commission" broker and pay thousands of dollars more in commission and administrative fees.

After a few weeks with the new broker, sellers reduced their price to under $200,000 (and willing to pay 6% on top of it). The buyer with the 3rd offer was made aware of the reduction and was willing to redraft the offer now that the sellers had come to grips with pricing. The new offer was finally accepted and because buyer had been found during the time with Homeowners Concept, the commission to seller fell under our 1.5% commission (buyer was an exclusion to their new listing with the high commission broker). Sellers were very lucky that the buyer had not found a property and as a result we were able to put the deal together and save them a big chunk of the 6% commission.

In summary, most sellers rely on our expertise (and we do have much more expertise than the average high commission agents) especially important in the real estate environment that we are in. Every so often though some sellers refuse to listen to facts and market data. And by paying much more commission makes absolutely no difference to a buyer as these sellers found out. Cases such as this have happened to us before (we have been saving sellers the huge commission for 26 years now and sold tens of thousands of homes). We even have had a few situations whereby Homeowners Concept brought the buyer to the table after the sellers had switched to a 6% broker. In those cases sellers paid 6% and Homeowners Concept was paid MORE than our low fee (we got paid the co-broke commission since we brought the buyer - 2.4% on average -).

PAYING 6% RESULTS IN MANY BROKERS LAUGHING ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK.

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 22:34:00 +0000

Real estate brokers collected $42 Billion last year in commissions. But it could've been much less if all sellers used a program similar to Homeowners Concept. It's a statement we can make with certainty having sold upwards of 23,000 properties since 1984.

Our program has been proven unequivocally to be extremely successful and actually work better than paying a 6% commission. There have been hundreds of instances over the years that our lower commission made the difference in the sale of the home. The thousands in savings and no excessive administrative fees at closing have helped considerably. Couple the savings with all the expertise we bring to the table (only full time, seasoned, incredibly knowledgeable Realtors) and one can see that paying more than our top of the line 4.4% program is a pure waste of someone's hard earned equity.

Bottom line is that if you're paying more than our top of the line 4.4% program you are absolutely paying too much to sell!

UNBELIEVABLE!

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 18:04:00 +0000

Paying $500 Upfront PLUS $100 per month until the home sells, THEN pay another 3% at closing. That's exactly what some sellers are doing by listing with this local limited service turned into a full service company. A client of ours at S108 W39570 Oregon Trail in Eagle paid $500 upfront in April of 2010. At the end of April 2011 she was on the hook for another $1,200 and no sale (a total of $1,700 with no results)! That's when she had enough and quit the service.

Unfortunately for this seller and many others she was hoping for a quick sale and she figured that maybe the $500 upfront and another $200 to $300 accumulated by the time of a sale would be enough. What sellers do not take into account is the fact that this company is running about 70% expiration rate. In other words 7 out of 10 properties expire unsold. All the hundreds or thousands of dollars each and every seller pays upfront is lost. Gambling at a casino has much better odds.

Even the lucky sellers that sell via this method they still have to pay 3% additional at closing. Assuming 6 months of selling time ($1,200) plus 3% (for an average priced home of $200,000) the total is around 3.6%. Since the company makes money regardless, there is little incentive to try to move the properties expeditiously. One though MUST factor in the 70% that do NOT sell and the money invested by those sellers.

There is a great amount of ignorance on the part of the sellers that sign up for this outrageous selling plan. One can see paying hundreds or thousands of dollars upfront and maybe pay a few hundreds more at closing provided one had the same chance of selling as competing methods. But to pay all this money upfront without any guarantee of a sale whatsoever and get hit with a 3% additional at closing makes absolutely no sense.

You know someone who's a Realtor but do not want to list w/them.

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 15:56:00 +0000

We recently had a seller that was absolutely getting the value and savings of our program but was in a quandary on how to deal with a sister in law who is also in real estate and wanted his business but of course was charging more and offering less than Homeowners Concept.

As we have written in the past, it is quite common for sellers to know someone in real estate (there are way too many agents for the amount of sales). This could be a relative, a friend, or even the agent that sold them the home. However, the more sellers (or buyers, for that matter) investigate Homeowners Concept, the more they want to work with us. The savings in commissions is certainly a consideration but the fact that we bring to the table many more years of expertise and a high volume of sales than the average agent trumps the competition.

In this case, the sister in law has only been in business for 4 years and last year only closed 4 homes - a little less than average - and much, much less than an average Homeowners Concept agent. With our suggestion, the seller offered his sister in law an incentive that if she rounds up a buyer for him he will pay her a bonus commission (which in effect will be double the commission cut she was going to receive from her broker). This works like a charm and sellers get to keep the relationship/friendship intact and enjoy listing commission savings plus higher expertise! Of tens of the times this has been offered by sellers in the past it has never come to pass. Nevertheless, true friends/relatives understand business and the fact that you need the profit for themselves and family.

MORE BUYERS ARE DITCHING THEIR AGENTS AND SHOP ON THEIR OWN

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Tue, 24 May 2011 14:43:00 +0000

Home Buyers go hunting alone by rejecting the services of a buyer's agent.

The buyers who purchased a property through a real estate agent just 57% had buyer representation in 2010, according to a report by the National Association of Realtors. That's down from 62% in 2009 and 64% in 2006, before the housing bust.

Also, fewer buyers are first learning about the home they purchase from real estate agents: just 37% are reporting real estate agents as their first source of information on the home they purchased, down from 50% a decade ago, according to NAR.

Bottom line: The trend is that U.S. home buyers are doing it themselves with the help of the internet and smart phones.

After years of trepidation, home buyers are finally beginning to wade back into the housing market. But as they do, many are making the surprising choice to hunt alone, rejecting the assistance of what's known in real estate as a buyer's agent. Smart home sellers that use companies like Homeowners Concept benefit the most from this trend by not having to pay a buyer's agent.

SELLER LEVELS OF MOTIVATION

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Thu, 19 May 2011 16:18:00 +0000

Understanding Home Sellers

With nearly 55% of the homes on the market failing to sell in the first 6 months on the market, it is important for a prospective home buyer to understand that there are home sellers out there with different levels of motivation. Choosing the sellers with the highest motivation will allow the buyer to make a safe purchase in today’s real estate market.

I like to classify seller motivation levels in three distinctly different categories:

Considering Selling – This homeowner does not really need to sell the home. If they can get their price, they will sell. If not, they will stay in their home. This type of homeowner will not sell their home in today’s market, so home buyers who actually view the property are just wasting time.
Want to Sell – This homeowner has a real need to sell, but has not priced the home correctly for one of many possible reasons. Often times, this homeowner feels as if they have plenty of time to sell, so they are “starting high and will lower the price if it does not sell.” Due to the extreme glut of homes on the market, this homeowner will most likely join the ranks of the 55% “Failed To Sell” group.
Must Sell – This homeowner absolutely must sell the home, and the asking price of the property for sale demonstrates this. It is the best buy in its category, and all realistic home buyers view the house. This home has an excellent chance of selling, even in a difficult real estate market.

LIMITED SERVICE BROKERS ARE DISAPPEARING AS SELLERS WISE UP.

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Tue, 10 May 2011 23:24:00 +0000

In just a few years we have witnessed the birth, explosion and demise of the Limited Service brokers. Limited Service is just that. They put your home in MLS for hundreds of dollars UPFRONT but you're still selling the property on your own. If another agent brings the buyer you must pay the other agent in addition to having someone else like an attorney or another agent represent your side. The sellers that sold homes this way paid, on average, about 3.6% when all said and done. What became evident rather quickly though, was that very few sellers could sell this way (only 1 in 4 sellers were successful in the last 3 years) for various reasons that I have explained in past blog posts.

As more and more of these homes listed with limited service would go unsold, home sellers started to wise up. Why pay hundreds of dollars UPFRONT when you have such a low, low probability of selling via this method? Unfortunately a lot of sellers found out the hard way that the limited service model does not work after wasting months and years on the market without success. We have estimated that sellers have spent well over $1.1 million dollars in upfront fees in Metro Milwaukee, without selling their home this way.

As a result, a number of these outfits have closed doors and the rest have considerably less home sellers willing to part with hundreds of dollars Upfront. One of the top 2 outfits completely converted to a full service model. The other offers full service in addition to limited but suggests right on their website that limited service decreases the marketability of the home!

So, it appears that the explosion in limited service way of selling a home was merely a fad just like we saw with the advent of the internet and the For Sale By Owner websites. It proves once again that selling a property requires proper marketing and a skilled agent to make it happen (most of the time).

HOW DAYS ON THE MARKET CAN BE MISLEADING.

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:32:00 +0000

We often hear “how long does it take to sell a home?” This is a touchy subject. The short answer of course is that with appropriate liquidity in the market it is “a couple of weeks”, but there's more to that.

First of all, selling a home is not rocket science. All you really have to do is tell the people who are ready to buy a home that you have one that they will like. If it is better priced compared to the competition, buyers would want to see it. If it shows well, one or more buyers would most likely write an Offer. With the right agent a sale will ensue. So the key to selling a home is to know where the buyers are, price the home to be attractive, promote the home to those ready buyers and have an expert agent on your side to negotiate and iron out issues so that the sale happens.

We know that 94% of homebuyers are using the internet to identify a home, and we know the processes that they are undergoing in their efforts to buy a home. So the market time (which is the answer to how long does it take to sell a home) is the time that it takes to fully expose a home to this buying audience (not shoppers or lookers but actual BUYERS). Thanks to the internet, this is usually 5-10 days.

Liquidity Matters When Selling A Home

There are times and price ranges where liquidity in the market might extend this market time, sometimes considerably. For example, if you have a $1.5M home to sell, and your market area only sees two sales in this price range every year, it might take a while for that buyer to come along. But when you see multiple buyers in a price range each month, enough liquidity exists for a quick sale.

You can determine liquidity by examining the active listings and the number of recent sales in your market area for your type of property. A good agent can provide that information and any of our agents excel at that. Supply and demand is a critical component of any market, and one should not try to sell a home without a solid understanding of where they fit into the market.

So to summarize, with proper liquidity and a targeted marketing plan, market time (or days on the market) for most homes is 2-3 weeks. For most properties, anything longer than that is due to a lack of information or lack of motivation on the part of the home seller (and anybody involved advising them on the sale of their home).

Measuring Days On Market (DOM)

It is misleading when a real estate agent reports “it takes 75 days for a home in this price range to sell.” Most agents look at “average market time” and think it is a valid measurement of how long does it take to sell a home. It is not.

When somebody gathers up a group of properties and determines an average of this, what they are really reporting is the average marketing time it took to sell a group of houses based upon the last time the property was listed in the MLS. Maybe an example would make this clear:

Mr and Mrs Miller listed their home “For Sale By Owner” for 30 days to try to sell it on their own. They had no luck (as one would know reading this blog) so they hired Broker A to sell their home. The home was listed for 6 months with Broker A and the property failed to sell. The Millers listed with Broker B and probably after some reduction in price, the property sold in 50 days. So, the MLS report would show a market time of 50 days!

Total time on the market for the Millers though was:

30 days “For Sale By Owner”
180 days with Broker A
50 days with Broker B
This is a total of 260 days, yet the MLS would report it as “50 days.” There is a way to find out the cumulative Days on the Market but an agent has to do a more comprehensive analysis of the MLS data (of course, our agents do this more intensive step).

Worst of all, what about the days on the market for all the homes that failed to sell. What if in our scenario the Miller’s home never sold? How would those days be factored into the mix? The facts on market timing are just a bunch of mis-measured time frames thrown into a pot and boiled. If liquidity is abundant, the home will sell when enough of the buying market sees it, and a well run marketing campaign will achieve that in a couple of weeks.

TAX BENEFITS OF OWNING VS RENTING.

noreply@blogger.com (Homeowners Concept) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 18:46:00 +0000

When it comes to the tax benefits of renting vs buying, the benefits of buying far outweigh the benefits of renting.

Home mortgage interest deduction: The interest paid on a mortgage or mortgages of up to $1 million for a principal residence and/or second home is deductible as an itemized deduction. In the early years of a home loan most of the payments consist of interest, so this deduction is particularly substantial during the first years of homeownership.

In Wisconsin and depending on a buyer's bracket, this deduction can reduce the cost of borrowing by one-third or more.

Home equity loan deduction: Homeowners can borrow up to $100,000 against the equity in their home and deduct the interest as an itemized deduction. The money can be used for any purpose, such as paying off high-interest credit card debt. In contract, the interest on credit card debt is not deductible.

Property tax deduction: Homeowners also get to deduct from their federal income taxes the state and local property taxes they pay on their home. This is another itemized deduction that renters don't get.

Deductible homebuying expenses: Various closing costs ordinarily involved in a home purchase are also deductible as itemized deductions, including loan origination fees (points), prorated interest on a new loan, and prorated property taxes paid at settlement.

$250,000/$500,000 home-sale exclusion: Perhaps the greatest tax benefit of owning a home comes when a person sells it at a profit. Homeowners who lived in their home for two of the prior five years prior to its sale need pay no income tax on a substantial amount of their profit -- $250,000 for single homeowners and $500,000 for married homeowners who file jointly. This exclusion can be used once every 24 months.

14 days of free rental income: Another little known tax benefit of owning a home is that the owner can rent it out for up to 14 days during the year and pay no tax at all on the rental income. In contrast, a renter who sublets his or her rental must pay income tax on all the rental income he or she earns.

Tax benefits of renting:

The only tax benefit that a renter can qualify for by virtue of being a renter is the home office deduction. This is a business deduction available to renters who own a business and have a home office they use regularly and exclusively for business purposes.

Some employees can qualify for this deduction as well. The deduction is limited to the amount of profit earned from the business each year. If a renter pays a lot of rent, this deduction can be substantial. Homeowners who are in business and have a home office can also qualify for the deduction.

Of course, the value of the tax benefits of buying a home depends on the state the buyer lives in and his or her tax bracket. Buyers who live in higher tax states like Wisconsin get the most benefit.