okREblog - It’s All REALative

As usual, Richard Mize hit a home run with his recent review of the Housing Tax Credit. 

Personally though, I don’t see a huge problem with the increased down payment requirements for FHA loans.  Sure it makes it tougher for those looking to jump into home-ownership, and it slows sales to some degree, but a large part of the foreclosure problem in this country is due to homeowners’ lack of vested interest in their homes, making it far too easy for them to walk away when the going gets tough.  A correction is in order, and will make a stronger market in the long run.

In addition, I have to take Yvonne Mitchell’s statement, “If you price your house just a little bit below market value, it’ll sell quickly,” to task.  Very simply put, your home’s market value is dictated by what buyers are willing to pay for it.  Therefore, if you have to price it lower to sell, then the market value has dropped. 

While I’ll argue all day against the idea that Edmond and/or Oklahoma City is in a metro-wide decline, we have to be honest that some pocket areas are experiencing a downtrend.

Kenneth Wohl of SpiritBank recently put together this explanation, and I thought it’d be useful to you, my clients, so with his permission, here it is.  Hopefully it’ll help us all understand things a little better.

Spotlight– How Interest Rates are Set
 
One of the most commonly misunderstood facets of Mortgage lending is how rates are arrived at daily.  While many think that a lender simply sets a rate arbitrarily, the exact opposite is true.  In fact, mortgage rates are simply a function of the free market– Good Old Supply & Demand are at work setting prices and rates.
 
Every day Billions of dollars worth of Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) are traded back and forth in the Capital Markets.  As these are Bond/Credit instruments their rate or yield moves the opposite direction of their price.  When a bond price goes up, the rate or yield goes down.  When a bond price moves down then the rate/yield increases because a higher rate should attract a buyer to purchase that bond.
 
Every morning and through the day, we receive rate updates on each of our programs from our secondary market investors who purchase our loans after closing.  Their rates are set based on the activity in the Bond/Credit markets for that day.  Typically, when economic news and outlook is gloomy, like higher unemployment; that is actually good for rates because bonds are seen as safer than stocks.  Good economic news tends to push rates higher as Stocks become more attractive to investors and bonds are not as attractive in terms of investment return.  Bonds are somewhat safer than stocks since they have a claim on the issuer’s assets.  As such, they benefit from when money flows out of stocks looking for a safe haven to set while they await their next investment move.
 
As investors want more and more of a particular mortgage bond, like those backed by FHA loans, we have seen the FHA rates fall faster than that of conventional loans.  There are many different factors that can move the markets from the price of Oil to political events like terrorist attacks and elections, to natural disasters and economic supply shocks.  However one thing remains true, in the good ol’ USA the market still reigns supreme in setting the price of money– Interest Rates
 
Call your Mortgage Banker for more information on our exciting mortgage programs!

One of the things I enjoy being able to do is connecting my clients with great service providers.  From contractors to carpet cleaners, we all need a referral now & then, so we can avoid teh frustrations of just picking someone in the phone book and possibly getting stuck with some lazy, incompetent boob.

With that in mind, I’ve begun creating different pages on our main Edmond real estate website, and will soon be creating one that lists some of the top insurance agents in Edmond.  Yep, that will be a great resource.  However, I have a few clients that need that information now, and don’t have time to wait for the new page to be complete, so here we go:

• Larry Hukill - Farmers Insurance (405) 340-8585
• Gary Baccus - State Farm  (405) 844-6300
• Oklahoma Farm Bureau (405) 340-5071

Hope this helps get things started.

I really pride myself in being able to post valuable information here to help home buyers and sellers avoid many of the pitfalls that are out there when buying and selling homes in Edmond.

But when it comes to buying, there’s one piece of advice that I think may be more important than anything else I could ever suggest… get a REPUTABLE, RELIABLE mortgage broker or banker.  Don’t just bite on the one with the dream deal.  Chances are, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  Secondly, if you have a gut feeling that something’s not right with your broker/banker, by all means, check around.  Get recommendations!

As a very active Realtor, I get the chance to experience the good, the bad & the ugly, and you can bet that when a buyer asks me where to get their mortgage, I’m going to send them to the ones I know to be honest and reliable.  Your move is on the line, and so is my income!  If I connect you with a shady or unreliable broker, you don’t get to move on time, and I don’t get paid on time.  How’s that for honesty?

There are plenty of clowns out there, so please take the advice of your trusted advisors and use a lender that has a good reputation with those of us who sell homes every day!

p.s. this post was inspired by a good friend/client of mine who was just told today, 4 days before closing, that his lender can’t get the deal done for him… now we’re scurrying to get him with a guy that can be counted on and trusted

Yep, I hear it all the time… ‘Why do I need a Realtor?’

Well, it’s one of those questions that can’t be answered in a nutshell, but the fact is, experience counts, you get what you pay for, <insert your own cliche here>.

While they are overused, these cliches do have some validity, IF you’re dealing with the right agent.  I won’t go into right vs wrong agents here, but I do like to share when I find a good example of one of the many small things that the right agent can/will do that can/will save you big bucks and/or big frustration down the road.

If you’re thinking about going it alone, I might ask ‘How many title commitments have you read in your lifetime?’ or ‘Would you have caught that?’

The big buzzword these days is ‘recession’ but I heard a term this morning that I like even better.  On Jeff Click’s new blog, he shared the Forbes story that lists Oklahoma City as the #1 Recession-Proof city in America.

All the discussion about the Oklahoma City and Edmond real estate market should soon be put to rest in the minds of anyone that’s paying attention.  There are just too many positive indicators to ignore.  On the fence?  Time to get off.

Tonight I’d planned on blogging about a great new listing I just picked up over the weekend, but before I even had the chance, it’s sold!  I knew it’d be a quick one, but it’s always a surprise when you sell a home in just 3 days.

We had 2 couples take a look at it over the weekend, and both were ready to make an offer right away.  Just another example of why it’s so important to be prepared to buy when you go looking at Edmond homes.  When it comes to the prime properties, the early bird definitely gets the worm, and if you’re not approved and ready to make an offer, that other couple will get to it first.

In this case, the first couple that looked was already prepared and they got the home.  Congratulations to everyone involved.  Now START PACKING!

Well, if you’ve noticed my lack of posts lately, you’ve probably wondered if I fell into a pit somewhere.  Actually, that’s exactly what happened.  I fell into the same pit that so many of my clients do.  Yep, you guessed it… I moved.

I’ve spend the past week or so in moving hell, and it’s refreshed my memory of the pains that so many of you have felt recently, or may be about to feel.  With that in mind, I think I’ll post a few pointers:

• Be organized - pack each room carefully marking boxes with specifics of what’s in them, and where they belong in the new home.
• Keep your friends close - buy the beer, pizza, or whatever you have to, to motivate your friends to help you. 
• Be efficient - it’s really easy to get distracted as your loading or unloading, and turn a 2-hour job into a 6-hour job.  Stay focused.

I have a lot more, but those are the basics to keep in mind, and let me say a BIG HUGE THANK YOU to all my friends and family who put their weekend on hold to help us get things taken care of.  We’re not settled yet, but we’re far closer than we ever could have been on our own.

Now, just so you all know, I won’t be moving again for many, many, many years! 

As rapidly as things are moving and changing in the mortgage industry, I’m relying heavily on my trusted mortgage advisors these days; moreso than in months past, simply because keeping up with the changes truly is a full-time job and, obviously, my full-time job is selling homes, not mortgages.

I recently got an update from Cody McCollom of Grandmark Mortgage and felt I should share this with my clients:

Effective immediately, 100% conventional mortgages have been eliminated from the mortgage market. This is an industry-wide guideline change. Regardless of credit score, income, or debt ratios, 100% conventional mortgage financing has come to an abrupt end.

A 3% minimum down payment will be required by all borrowers. FHA loans with down payment assistance from the seller (if seller is willing) still exist. This type of loan allows the seller to pay the borrower’s down payment of 3%. Seller must be willing to participate in this type of transaction and we will likely see fewer sellers willing to do so as a result of uncertainty in real estate markets.

There are still great mortgage programs for borrowers and rates are still low. However, it is more important than ever for borrowers to have their credit, assets, and down payment in the best shape possible if they expect to qualify for a mortgage, especially if they expect to qualify for the preferred programs with the lowest rates and fees.

Make sure you are working with an experienced and reputable Realtor. Also make sure you are working with an individually licensed loan officer. Ask for their individual license number. Don’t accept a blanket license for everybody in the office. Get theirs, and match it with the Department of Consumer Credit’s database to make sure that they are current on licensing as well as continuing education.

If you have any questions specific to this, or any other mortgage topic, please feel free to get in touch with Cody.

I’m always looking for ways to offer more value to my clients, and technology is usually the best way I find to do it.  Sometimes it’s as simple as adding something to our Edmond real estate website that will help you find what you need more easily.

Yes, our website’s a constant work in progress.  A few months back, a real estate magazine wanted to do an interview with me about how I use the internet in my business, and they said ‘call us when you’re website’s complete.’  I couldn’t help but laugh.  It will never be ‘complete.’  There’s always a new something I could add that will help you, the end user, and with that in mind, I spend many hours each week tweaking.

The hardest part of the tweaking is knowing exactly what I can do that will REALLY help.  Most times it’s a gamble.  However, I got an email a few weeks ago from a gentleman looking for very specific information on several Edmond neighborhoods.  After paying me several compliments, he mentioned that he was able to find bits & pieces about certain Edmond communities all over the place, but that it would really help him if there was one place he could go to find all that information together.  Obviously, that would save him A LOT of time.  He even took the time to go into great detail about specifically what he’s looking for in a website, and attached a spreadsheet example of how he’d been compiling his information.  Thanks a million Steve!

Needless to say, this type of input and help from a real-life home buyer is priceless.  I’m so thankful to him for taking the time to outline for me exactly what many of you out there need.  My goal is always to simplify the home buying and home selling processes, and what better way to do it than to get a true glimpse into a consumer’s mind.

With all that said, I’ve begun the lengthy process of compiling detailed information on the over 300 different neighborhoods in Edmond, and putting it all into an easy-to-read format, and I’m now offering this information to all interested home buyers who might find it useful.  It’s not complete yet, and probably never will be truly complete (another work in progress), but it’s a good start.

So, if you’re looking for information on Edmond neighborhoods’ price ranges, amenities, locations, school districts, etc, go to the new section of my site to get your own copy of what I’ve compiled.