Real Estate Blog

It is human nature to want more than you have today? The desire for more isn’t a problem, but the habit of going full-tilt is, when it means extending yourself beyond your current means.

Sounds simple, right? If it’s so simple, then how come there aren’t many good examples to turn to? Look at our national debt and credit card craze. Even Hollywood stars who have had the cash have spent beyond their means. A close call on the Neverland Ranch earlier this year is proof in the pudding. Meanwhile, some stars haven’t been as lucky.

Enter Kathie Anderson, a Connect2Agent member and real estate agent in Libertyville Illinois, who has worked in the real estate industry for 33 years. Anderson recognized a change in the tide of real estate two years ago. Not only a real estate agent, but a homeowner, she decided to sell her house while she could still profit from it. She did just that and purchased a townhouse.

Anderson downsized her house to save her lifestyle.

Looking back, Anderson has no regrets about her decision. Real estate certainly took the tumble that she had anticipated and as a result, many real estate agents selling in the Libertyville Illinois real estate market left the business.

Many people just didn’t have the financial means to weather a slower real estate market.

Currently, there is eight months’ worth of inventory on the real estate market in Libertyville Illinois. Anderson advises homeowners in her local market not to sell unless they really need to. She tells them, “Let’s just wait and see what happens.” Homeowners who do have to sell need to have their house in the best condition it can be, at the lowest price it can be.

They will be competing against REO and short sale properties.

Why the abundance of REO and short sale properties? Because of that supersized lifestyle–the lifestyle that allowed consumers to refinance and take out the equity in their houses, and then use that money to buy things like cars and boats, which lost value on the day of purchase. The lifestyle that allowed people to get interest-only loans to purchase houses they couldn’t otherwise afford.

Sometimes our appetites are bigger than our wallets.

Does that mean people shouldn’t buy real estate right now? Anderson doesn’t think so. She informed me the time is right for a buyer who has saved for a downpayment and has worked on their credit. You won’t be able to get 100 percent financing, but you can get an FHA loan with a 3 percent downpayment.

Any there any rewards for being especially dollar-savvy? Anderson says if you have saved 20 percent down, the Libertyville real estate market is your oyster, with literally hundreds of choices to accommodate your needs and desired lifestyle.

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Do foreclosures seem to be muddying the waters of your local real estate market? Have you been thinking about buying a house, but are leery of making a move toward these REO (bank owned) properties for fear of having your investment crash in around you?

Not all foreclosures are alike. They don’t all come with boarded up windows and 5-foot, sky-high weeds and grass. Many serious deficiencies with a bank-owned property have to be repaired in order for the bank to sell it. It is a bank’s goal to get these houses sold, not keep them on the books to eat a bigger hole in their balance sheets.

Is your appetite hungry for more information about foreclosures? I might have just the entree you are craving. I recently spoke with Andrew Capuano, a Connect2Agent member and Realtor who sells Fairfax County real estate. Capuano migrated his business to specialize in REO properties and lended some great insight into the foreclosure market.

Read on and learn more. Carpe diem–Forclosures can be a great deal for real estate buyers.

Some people conceive that foreclosures are the worst kind of properties. Images of boarded-up windows and dilapidated buildings come to mind. Is this the case with all foreclosures? In the bank-owned world, there are all sorts of properties that get foreclosed on and become REOs.

Capuano informed me that in the Fairfax County real estate market, you can find some foreclosures that are new, beautiful properties. You can also find some that are really awful. They have mold and are considered “contractor’s homes.” Some of the foreclosures in the worst condition are not able to be financed.

A real estate buyer’s best bet is to pick a house in good condition. There’s no need to waste your time with bad houses. You can still get a good deal on the ones that are in good shape. In northern Virginia, Washington D.C., Loudoun and Prince William counties, the REO and new houses are the ones that are moving.

Not quite like gaping at a car accident, but more like watching a comet soar through the sky … that is how I felt when I spoke recently to Dave and Sharon Wilkinson, Connect2Agent members and real estate agents in Tulsa Oklahoma, as they described the steady uptick in their local real estate market.

In Part I of this post, I spoke with The Wilkinson Team about how they got started selling real estate in Tulsa and how they have structured their business. Part I ended with this cliff-hanger, courtesy of Dave:

“In the entire five-county area surrounding Tulsa, the number of houses sold is down 5 percent, whereas the average sales price is up 15 percent.”

I explained the shock and awe of this statistic: It means Tulsa real estate is really OK–better than OK.

In fact, the Tulsa Association of Realtors is working on a major marketing campaign to educate consumers on the health of the Tulsa real estate market, which, according to Dave and Sharon, is unlike any other real market in the country. The campaign is necessary because consumers come into the Tulsa real estate market with the misconception that they can pick up a steal–a real Wal-Mart rollback. This is a misconception.

Commerce is skyrocketing in Tulsa. Google is building a big data center, American Airlines has a large center and Tulsa has recently been named by a large relocation company as the fifth best city to relocate to.

The difference in this market is that Tulsa never experienced the high appreciation the East and West Coast real estate markets did. They were completely out of control, according to The Wilkinson Team. Slow, steady growth is better because the market won’t sustain an unreal appreciation.

There are several other reasons why the Tulsa real estate market has avoided hardship. Here’s the long and short list provided by Dave and Sharon Wilkinson:

• The lending institutions have been more conservative in their offerings.

  

The funny thing with real estate these days is you just never know when you might turn the corner and find a diamond in the rough–a really good story about a market that is actually showing steady growth and appreciation; a market where the banks are not the majority of real estate sellers.

I found such a gem during my interview with Connect2Agent members and Tulsa Oklahoma real estate agents Dave and Sharon Wilkinson. Speaking to them felt like being connected to an oxygen tank. Refreshed and giddy from the rush of pure positive air to my lungs, I eagerly inquired about what’s happening in Tulsa real estate and rejoiced and delighted in each response they gave.

It’s not an easy task to sell real estate these days. Open information on the Internet–accurate or not–and advice from non-professionals–warranted or not–run rampant.

What happens when you combine a truckload of experience with a willingness to engage in new practices? If you are lucky enough to find that winning combination, you end up with a real estate professional who has true market mojo.

Marie White, Connect2Agent member and real estate agent in Knoxville Tennessee, oozed sincerity in my recent interview with her. Everything about our conversation–from real estate in Knoxville to sage advice for newer agents–was as transparent as it gets. Father Time might have moved the clocks into warp drive, but Marie’s old school values make her one ‘Cuil’ persona in a Web 2.0 real estate world.

Rebecca Levinson: How long have you been in the real estate business and what keeps you in it?

Marie White: I’ve been working in the real estate industry since 1984. I have a book of friends that would blow your mind; these are ongoing relationships that I have developed through selling houses. I tell my clients, “Your smile at closing is the icing on my check.”

What happens when you combine a truckload of experience with a willingness to engage in new practices? If you are lucky enough to find that winning combination, you end up with a real estate professional who has true market mojo.

Marie White, Connect2Agent member and real estate agent in Knoxville Tennessee, oozed sincerity in my recent interview with her. Everything about our conversation–from real estate in Knoxville to sage advice for newer agents–was as transparent as it gets. Father Time might have moved the clocks into warp drive, but Marie’s old school values make her one Cuil persona in a Web 2.0 real estate world.

Rebecca Levinson: How long have you been in the real estate business and what keeps you in it?

Marie White: I’ve been working in the real estate industry since 1984. I have a book of friends that would blow your mind; these are ongoing relationships that I have developed through selling houses. I tell my clients, “Your smile at closing is the icing on my check.”

What happens when you combine a truckload of experience with a willingness to engage in new practices? If you are lucky enough to find that winning combination, you end up with a real estate professional who has true market mojo.

Marie White, Connect2Agent member and real estate agent in Knoxville Tennessee, oozed sincerity in my recent interview with her. Everything about our conversation–from real estate in Knoxville to sage advice for newer agents–was as transparent as it gets. Father Time might have moved the clocks into warp drive, but Marie’s old school values make her one Cuil persona in a Web 2.0 real estate world.

Rebecca Levinson: How long have you been in the real estate business and what keeps you in it?

Marie White: I’ve been working in the real estate industry since 1984. I have a book of friends that would blow your mind; these are ongoing relationships that I have developed through selling houses. I tell my clients, “Your smile at closing is the icing on my check.”

What happens when you combine a truckload of experience with a willingness to engage in new practices? If you are lucky enough to find that winning combination, you end up with a real estate professional who has true market mojo.

Marie White, Connect2Agent member and real estate agent in Knoxville Tennessee, oozed sincerity in my recent interview with her. Everything about our conversation–from real estate in Knoxville to sage advice for newer agents–was as transparent as it gets. Father Time might have moved the clocks into warp drive, but Marie’s old school values make her one Cuil persona in a Web 2.0 real estate world.

Rebecca Levinson: How long have you been in the real estate business and what keeps you in it?

Marie White: I’ve been working in the real estate industry since 1984. I have a book of friends that would blow your mind; these are ongoing relationships that I have developed through selling houses. I tell my clients, “Your smile at closing is the icing on my check.”

What happens when you combine a truckload of experience with a willingness to engage in new practices? If you are lucky enough to find that winning combination, you end up with a real estate professional who has true market mojo.

Marie White, Connect2Agent member and real estate agent in Knoxville Tennessee, oozed sincerity in my recent interview with her. Everything about our conversation–from real estate in Knoxville to sage advice for newer agents–was as transparent as it gets. Father Time might have moved the clocks into warp drive, but Marie’s old school values make her one Cuil persona in a Web 2.0 real estate world.

Rebecca Levinson: How long have you been in the real estate business and what keeps you in it?

Marie White: I’ve been working in the real estate industry since 1984. I have a book of friends that would blow your mind; these are ongoing relationships that I have developed through selling houses. I tell my clients, “Your smile at closing is the icing on my check.”

Pardon my blunt tone, but honestly, do hardworking American citizens need more debt on their shoulders? Congress, the Senate and now President Bush apparently think so.

The signing by President Bush of the new housing bill is supposed to help keep 400,000 homeowners from foreclosure by refinancing them into lower-interest FHA loans, backed by $300 billion in federal aid. This funding may be funded federally, but it will be coming from taxpayers’ pockets.

My beef? I did not gamble on an adjustable rate, low interest/no interest loan. I did not choose to purchase a house that was hundreds of thousands of dollars beyond my means. I certainly did not choose for my children to be saddled with more national debt and for my family to take a hit in taxes.