The Power of the MLS

Have you ever tried to sell your home yourself? Often the only thing missing is the power of the MLS or Multiple Listing Service. The MLS is what takes your homes listing information and distributes it to the hundreds of real estate agents selling homes each and every day.

But there's more to it than the MLS. Sure, the MLS makes life much much easier. But it's not all about the MLS. If it were, there would never be a home that didn't sell when it was listed with a real estate agent. The truth is, selling a home takes the MLS, but it also take a special recipe of marketing, communication, and condition. Without all these things working together to sell the home, it will expire - MLS or not.

If you're considering selling your home you must consider several agents - even agents from the same agency. Because while many of us have the same tools available, we may use them differently.

Here's what you get when you list your home with me.

You get the MLS. It's an automatic. But from there, your home is Actively Marketed through the MLS to agents within the local association. And if your home is close to another MLS association, I send the information to the agents of that group too. After all, we don't really care who brings the buyer, right? Just so long as we have a well qualified ready and willing buyer.

I won't give away all my trade secrets here, but you also get listed on over 350 other websites including Realtor.com, Trulia.com, Zillow.com and Craiglist.

I tell everyone in your neighborhood about your home for sale. I try to get a team of people working to find you a buyer.

I keep in contact with you on a weekly basis so you know how many showings you've had and what people thought of the home. We might need to reduce the price or make some repairs to get the home sold. But if we don't know what people are saying, it's hard to know what to do. Buyer feedback is a great tool and I work hard to get it for you.

When we receive an offer, I'm going to negotiate it with you. There's never a simple yes or no to an offer. A lot goes into the decision to accept an offer and I help you weed out all your options so that you can make the right decision for you.

You don't have to feel alone when selling your home. Hire a great agents, such as myself, to get you set off on the right foot and get your home sold quickly.

Call me at 402-239-9668 or visit my webpage at www.shellyn.net for more information.

The Cost of Opening a New Credit Account Before You Close

A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in a Buyer's Closing. My clients were the sellers, but as a sellers agent, I like to attend the buyer's closings as well. And it's a great place to hand over keys. But that's not the point of this blog.

When the Closer (the person from the Title/Escrow Company that would be notarizing everything) got to the lender's form that essentially said the Buyer had not opened any new credit accounts, we got a little delayed. The closer said with a smile on her face, "You haven't opened any new credit accounts have you? You haven't bought furniture or a new car or anything, right?" And the Buyers smiled back and shook their heads and signed the form.

Then Mrs. Buyer said, "Would a charge account at Target count? It's only $200 and I did it to get the 5% discount." BRAAAAAAAAAKE!!!!! Everything came to a halt. Luckily, the buyers lender did show us just seconds after this admission. But closing couldn't move forward until the matter was figured out. The lender had to determine whether this little $200 credit account would be enough to put their funding in jeopardy. They had to review all their financials and verify balances on other accounts.

We were in jeopardy of loosing this deal. At the last minute this might fall through and we'd have to start all over again with selling the house. Luckily within about 10 or 15 minutes everything was straightened out and that was the only glitch we had during the closing.

If you are buying a home and have an accepted offer - so you're Under Contract - DO NOT OPEN ANOTHER CREDIT ACCOUNT! It does require you to be very good and diligent for 30 to 60 days. But imagine the heartbreak if that $200 was enough to loose financing on the home.

For more information about how to buy a home, check out Eight Steps to Buying a Home

And as always feel free to visit www.Shellyn.net anytime for more great resources.

Get What You Want

According to KW research, the majority of home buyers saw fewer than 11 houses. In fact, folks who saw thirty or more houses only accounted for 5% of all sales.

One of the first things I like to do with buyers is find out what they want. There are varying levels of wants. There's what you actually need (like a kitchen) 3 bedrooms, and 1 bathroom. Those are needs. Do you want a garage? Do you want 1 stall or 2? Do you want it attached or not? Maybe detached is okay, but attached is preferred.

We're going to start our search with absolutely everything you want. All your preferences will be included. Then we'll start discerning "would be nice" from "want" from "need".

Finding a great agent who can help you narrow your focus can go a long way to getting exactly what you want. My goal is to be your great agent.

Call Shellyn Sands to be your great agent
402-239-9668

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Writing an Offer to Purchase a New Home

After you've looked at a few homes and you've fallen in love with one (often the first one you looked at), it's time to sit down and write up an offer. Each association and/or state will have a different purchase agreement. You might ask your agent for a copy of the purchase agreement to read over before you fill it out. There are a lot of decisions to make.

A few things you want to think about before sitting down to write the offer are:

1. The price you want to offer. And the highest and best offer you're willing to make. You may get a counter offer and you need to be ready and know how you're going to want to handle it.

2. You can ask the seller to pay a portion of your closing costs. Each loan has different limits and you'll want to ask the lender what your limit is. If you don't have enough cash to close the seller can help you out. Often the amount is 3-6% of purchase price. But be sure to ask your lender what your limit is. You'll also want to know the difference between closing costs and down payment.

3. What inspections do you want to have done? You can have just about anything inspected by a professional. The typical inspections include a Whole House, Furnace & Air Conditioning, Termite or Wood Destroying Pests, and a Radon Test. But if you're questioning the roof or foundation you can have a licensed contractor take a look at those specific things. If the home has a fireplace, you can have that inspected individually as well. All inspections costs money, so be prepared to pay $100 to $500 for each one. Your agent will know what's typically charged for each.

4. Is there anything in the house that you want to include in the sale? It's fairly standard in the Lincoln, Nebraska area to leave the carpet and window coverings. But it's a good idea to write in the stove, refrigerator, microwave oven, etc. Those items are often offered by the seller and listed in the data sheet your agent has access to. But what if there is some beautiful bedroom furniture that you'd love to have as well? It's okay to ask for it. Your agent will know the best way to make that request.

5. Closing date. Do you have a lease that's expiring? Have you sold your home already and need a quick closing? Your closing date is also determined by your type of loan and lender. Each lender has different underwriting processes and timelines. You need to ask your lender how much time they need. You can write in any closing date you want, but being realistic will help keep everyone calm and on track. An unrealistic closing date will only upset the seller and cause more stress for everyone if it doesn't close on time.

Now that you've filled in all the blanks consider how your offer looks to the seller. If you've offered thousands below market value and asked for thousands in closing costs and the washer and drying and lawnmower, you might offend the seller. They have the 3 options. Accept your offer, counter your offer, or decline your offer. The best case scenario is that they accept it. So you want to write an offer that is worth them accepting. The second best option is that they counter your offer. Be prepared for a counter and know what it is you're willing to give and take on. And finally, they can just outright decline your offer. If you're asking for too much, they just might do that. You can always right a new offer, but be prepared for the seller to stand their ground.

My advice for buyers is that the more you ask for in an offer, the more you should be willing to give. If you want the washer and dryer and the lawnmower, you might have to consider giving more than asking price. And if you're requesting a significant amount of assistance with your closing costs, you may have to make a full price or more offer. Just remember, if you're asking for a lot, you're also financing those things for 30 years (or whatever loan term you have). You might be better off bringing your old rickety lawn mower to the new house rather than financing this one for a long period of time.

If you have questions about making an offer, call me any time at 402-239-9668 or visit my website at www.Shellyn.net

This Month in Real Estate (Spanish) Feb 2014

Selecting Properties

Selecting your new home is the most exciting part of the process. But this should not be a 6 month project. If you have chosen the agent you want to work with, done your pre-qualification, and participated in a buyer’s consultation, your agent will be able to find homes that meet your criteria. All of this requires you to be open and honest about your wants and needs and freely discuss items that are deal breakers.
When you and I discuss the type of home you’re looking for, I’m going to ask you basic questions about the number of bedrooms and bathrooms you want and what would be ideal. I’ll ask about a garage. I’ll ask you if a basement is important to you, and what type of basement and how much finish you want. These are all very black and white questions/answers. What’s harder to identify is the emotion you’re looking for in a home. But through discussion, I’ll be able to determine what you’re looking for. If you’ve been open and honest about what you’re looking for, you should be able to pick out a perfect home with fewer than six showings.
So, what if you don’t really know what you want? I’m going to give you free passes to go to open houses. This is a card you can give to the showing agent at the open house to let them know we’re working together and that you’re doing some research. You can attend several open houses each weekend to help you determine what style of home you can envision yourself living in. I’ll also recommend you drive around some neighborhoods that you think you’re interested in. Spend some time in the local park. Even talk to people you meet on the sidewalk. Ask them what they like and don’t like about the area. This will help you narrow down the areas you’d like to consider.
When you’re looking at a home you’re thinking of buying, you need to walk through the house as though you own it. Open doors, make sure things work, look at rooms from different views. Envision your furniture in the home. Does it fit? And listen – be still and listen. Can you hear anything? Are you comfortable with what you hear or don’t hear? If everything meets your criteria and you like the home, let’s sit down and write the offer!
Call me at 402-239-9668 if you’d like to start shopping for a home.

The Buyer's Consulation

"This is Shellyn Sands, How can I help you?" This is what you'll hear when you call me. If you're looking at buying a home, you should answer with, "I'd like a buyer's consultation." A buyer's consultation is a chance for you and I to sit down together without the stress of house shopping. The consultation will accomplish several things for both of us. First, you'll get to decide whether you like me and trust me to take you through the home buying process. After all, you don't want to be knee deep with an agent that you can't stand to be in the same room with, right? During the consultation, I'm going to ask you a series of questions. Together we'll determine what type of home, in which area, and which price range you are comfortable. We'll do and initial search together and you'll get a chance to see all the search criteria we can use to narrow down your search. You'll get to see all the homes that are currently on the market that might meet your needs. We'll discuss them and discuss the pros and cons of each. Next we'll visit about the home buying process. You'll learn more about my duties to you and what to expect during the shopping and closing periods of buying a home. We'll discuss various inspections and companies that provide them. This way you'll be ready to schedule inspections when you make your first offer. We'll also discuss your lender and type of loan. It's important that your lender and I are able to work closely together to get you through the closing period. I will ask your permission to contact your lender so they know you and I are working together. Finally we'll decide which homes to look at first and we'll schedule a time to go out for our first showings. The buyer consultation is a very relaxed no-pressure time to ask all the questions you have of me and the process of buying a home. To schedule your buyer consultation with me, just call me at 402-239-9668.