Pensacola Real Estate

Some Buyers and Sellers afraid to Pay...

I encountered a buyer and a seller today, neither whom wanted to pay a Realtor a fee for assisting them with a sale or a purchase. The seller stated that he would only work with Buyer's agents for whom he thought the purchaser (buyer) would be responsible for paying. Typically buyer's agents are agents who's specialty is working with buyers. In most cases the seller still pays the agent's broker a fee for the transaction. The seller in most cases will always be responsible for paying the Realtor fee. Of course everything is negotiable...but the fee will still be there. The buyer whom I showed a property to explained that she had a good friend who is an attorney and that with his help and research she would be able to buy a home without a Realtor. Good Luck! I am not an attorney, nor do I want to be. I believe that attorneys should do what they do and we as Realtors should do our job as well. I will never go to court and prosecute or defend as an attorney. I wish this one, for whom I do not know who he or she is, would stay in the courtroom as well. As for the seller, as I left he said that he wasn't in a hurry to sell. Then by all means take your home off of the market! There are enough sellers who really need to sell and having a bunch of folks on the market that don't have the need to sell only hurts those who do! There are hundreds of reasons I could list as to why a buyer and seller should pay a Realtor to assist them in their purchase. The most important is a Realtor is a licensed professional whose profession is that of real estate sales. Realtors are the oldest organized profession. Realtors maintain standards, ethics and lots and lots of continuing education so that they know how to handle the transaction. You wouldn't go to a mechanic for a broken foot would you?         

Wachovia Tightens Belt on Home Loans!

Wachovia is stepping up and revising the underwriting policies in its mortgage loan business, a step that could make it harder to take out a home loan. the new changes are expected to take affect the end of April. Among the changes the borrower is now required to have a minimum qualifying FICO score. Isn't it about time? Tighter restrictions on home loans is a good thing for us all. It makes us more responsible as individuals. When did the beliefs "that you get what you pay for" and "you earn what you work for" go away? We are accountable. This is a tough time no doubt, but we will make it through it. With rates at an all time low, many lenders in addition to Wachovia are toughening the guidelines for mortages. Although this may seem unfair to many, it is the type of restrictions that will prevent the type of mortgage crisis we are in from occurring in the future. We will be better off in the future if we all tighten our belts and take responsibility for our actions and our spending. We have to manage better personally. We have to stand up to the credit and gas industries which have no doubt contributed to the financial crisis we are in today. Gas prices are still going up and high rate credit cards are still being issued. When will they stop? When will we stop? Maybe when we are disciplined enough to stop driving our gas guzzling cars and smart enough to cut up the cards when we get them out of the mailbox! Think about it...if everyone in the nation did not drive one day a week there would be an automatic surplus of oil. What would they do then? What would the price of gas be with all of that oil sitting off of the coasts of the USA? How much more cash would every American have in thier pocket to purchase goods, cars and homes? If we all used more cash, there would be more cash in the banks to loan to people to buy homes! Good for Wachovia for stepping up and making it tougher to get a loan. Don't worry, the 100% loans and low down payment loans are still out there. If you have good credit and a FICO over 500 you can still qualify to purchase a home. Having restrictions create discipline.  Having qualified buyers will help the home seller and the realtor make more sales in the upcoming year! Want to know more...call!      

Foreclosures, Short Sales and Long Sales TOO!

So what is a Short Sale anyway? By definition a short sale is when the bank agrees to take 80% or less of the selling value of the home for payment. This is a long and arduous undertaking for the realtor, buyer and seller. My most recent experience with a short sale turned into a long sale and then a foreclosure. Assured by the seller that the home was not going to be sold back to the bank I continued to work to sell the property. I recieved a call about a month ago from an investor whom told me the property was going to be sold at auction. She even offered to pay me a referral fee and pay the bank 50 cents on the dollar. I searched around, spoke with the seller and could not determine if the caller was actually correct or just fishing. After working with a seller and his property for over 18 months I recieved a call on the 15th telling me to come and pick up my sign, take down my lockbox and withdraw the listing from the MLS. The property had indeed been sold to the bank. Sigh of relief...AAAAAAHHHHHH! Hopefully having my sign in front of the property for 18 months has at least made me a household name in the neighborhood. I am marking this one up to a marketing expense!       

It has been a year and then some!

It has been over a year since my last entry. Guess I finally awoke from my period of hybernation. Not that I haven't had alot going on or anything but I have learned that if you focus on fewer things you will achive more in the process. Once you have reached your level of achievement you can then move on to the next item of preference. If you have been anywhere at just about any time over the last year you know that our economy is falling apart. A shame for sure that our Presidential candidates fail to talk about the economy or propose anything that will provide a solution. Maybe if we eliminated the greed factor and just focused on helping one another we could fix just about everything that is wrong in our world. Check our LivetoWin.com and you will find some steps to help just about anyone do that.