My Long Beach Home Wont Sell-Are YOU Chasing the Market Down?

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Are YOU ˜Chasing the Market Down?

So many Long Beach properties are sitting on the market, no showings, no offers.  They were priced at or near market at the time of the listing.  Do you know what the current market price of your Long Beach Home is? Or are you ˜chasing the market down?

When you listed your property a CMA (comparable market analysis) was presented to you.  Fair market value was established and your price was determined.  You priced it at market knowing that market prices have been declining.  Several months have passed, you have not reduced your price, do you know what the market price of your Long Beach Home is today?

Let me explain what ˜Chasing the Market Down is.

You priced your home at $650,000 on February 1st, which was market value then.

Between then and April 1st (60 days on market) several homes in your area sell, your market price drops to about $625,000.  You do not realize the impact this has on you and are still convinced your property is worth $650k.  Your agent has mentioned a price reduction, you have resisted.  You really believe your home is worth $650k, after all, it was worth over $700k last summer.

On April 15 you agree to reduce your price to $635k, which seems like a considerable reduction, after all $15k is a lot of money when it is coming out of your pocket.  But is it?  You are now priced at $635k and the market value is $625k.

You sit for another month, no showings, no offers, what the heck is that agent doing to sell my home?  Your agent has mentioned several times that another price reduction is in order, but you JUST reduced it $15k what the heck is going on here?

You finally agree to reduce your price to $625k on May 1st, but another month has gone by since market price was established at $625k.  Has your agent showed you the CURRENT market prices?  Are you aware that the market dropped another $10k in that month?  Market is now $615k and here you are again sitting over market at $625k.

You and your agent go through this dance for several more months until your listing contract finally expires.  Market price is now $610k, you are still priced at $625k.

If you had reduced your price on April 1st to $620k or $625k, your property probably would have sold.  Instead here you are, 6 months later, no sale and market value is $610k.

You just lost a lot of money.

The scenario I just described is so common it is really sad.  This is what is going on in our market.  Sellers who are slow to adjust their price to the current market end up losing a lot of money on the sale of their home.

Last summer I watched sellers who did not want to believe, list their homes for what they believed they were worth and ride the market down through 2 listing contracts and still not sell.  Some of these sellers lost around $100k in sale price.

The Long Beach real estate market is flooded with properties right now.  More inventory than we will be able to sell.  There are buyers out looking, but not as many as were anticipated and they are all looking for a deal.  Many properties are just not going to sell.

If you ˜need to sell, be smart.  Price your home below market value.  Offer value!  Value is what is selling right now.

˜Chasing the market down is a seriously bad gamble, please do not fall victim to it.  This is not the market to speculate in.  If you do not need to sell, this is the wrong time for you to be on the market.

If you are in trouble, seek advice from a professional financial advisor.  Do not wait until it is too late.

From:  Inman News – Tuesday, June 19, 2007 (see article for full details)

California and Florida are expected to dominate a list of areas where a private mortgage insurer expects home prices are the most likely to decline in the next two years.

The markets with the greatest risk of decline share a history of price volatility rapidly rising rates of price appreciation above the long-term average, followed by a recent sharp slowdown in the rate of appreciation, said Mark Milner, PMI Mortgage Insurances chief risk officer.

PMI reports that affordability remains ˜extremely challenged in California after a prolonged period of rapid price appreciation.  Current low levels of unemployment continue to support Californias housing market, PMI concluded, but weakening housing demand and prices have resulted in high risk scores.

The 15 MSAs with a greater than 50 percent chance of price declines were:

• Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif. (652)
  
• Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. (646)
  
• Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev. (614)
  
• West Palm Beach-Boca Raton-Boynton Beach, Fla. (607)
  
• Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif. (586)
  
• Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, Calif. (577)
  
• Oakland-Fremont-Hayward, Calif. (572)
  
• Orlando-Kissimmee, Fla. (563)
  
• Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, Calif. (560)
  
• San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, Calif. (555)
  
• Ft. Lauderdale-Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach, Fla. (542)
  
• Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Fla. (524)
  
• Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla. (506)
  
• Boston-Quincy, Mass. (501)
  
• Washington D.C.-Arlington-Alexandria, Va. (500)

Also Read:  Chasing the Market Down – Are You Guilty?

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My Long Beach Home Wont Sell-Are YOU Chasing the Market Down?

Downtown Long Beach Loft Living – Its a Lifestyle

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Downtown Long Beach Loft Living

 

Its a Lifestyle

Living in a Downtown Long Beach Loft affords the owner a sense of success.  The wide open spaces of the Walker Building, Kress Lofts, The Temple Lofts and The Insurance Exchange provide the resident with many desirable amenities.  Some of the most desirable traits of lofts are the high ceilings and abundance of streaming sunlight which provide the resident with a feeling of openness and freedom never felt in a home, or a condo, with an over-abundance of walls pressing in. 

 

Our world moves so fast around us these days, how nice it is to come home and have a large, private open space to patter around in,  often without the need for window coverings.  

Most Downtown Long Beach Condos are 4 stories or less.  Buildings which were converted to lofts are taller, therefore can provide sweeping skyline views from large windows, of the ocean or the city, ergo-the higher prices.  Many of these conversions are historic landmark buildings, which greatly increases their desirability. 

The lofts in Downtown Long Beach are very desirable, but often out of the financial reach of many of todays home buyers.  The higher prices these fabulous loft-homes fetch has really honed the market down to those who can afford that metropolitan urban lifestyle which has become so very desirable.  The lofts do not sell quickly, but they do sell.  The Downtown Long Beach Condo market is flooded at the moment due to the explosive growth resulting from the re-development of the area, affording buyers with many choices. 

The loft buyer is usually an urban minded professional or couple who want the more cosmopolitan, Downtown Long Beach lifestyle.  Lofts are usually located in busy metropolitan areas, Downtown Long Beach is definately that. 

 

Wonderful coffee shops abound nearby, great shopping, entertainment and area beaches-all within walking distance provide a very desirable lifestyle, if you can afford it. 

 

 

Valuable Long Beach resources:

 

Long Beach Home Seller Tips:

 

Long Beach Home Buyer Tips:

• Home Buyer Tips – Dont Make Any Major Purchases
• Home Buyers Tips – Changing Jobs Affects Your Ability to Purchase a Home
• Home Buyer Tips – Things to Avoid Before Purchasing a Home

 

Home Loan Tips:

• Loving Your Home Loan
• How To Find Your Way Through The Home Loan Jungle – Part Two
• How To Find Your Way Through The Home Loan Jungle – Part One
• How To Get The Best Home Loan – Neatness Counts When You Want a Home Loan

 

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Downtown Long Beach Loft Living – Its a Lifestyle

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs in the news

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Bill Gates – Microsoft & Steve Jobs – Apple

 

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Bill Gates and Steve Jobs in the news

Self-Healing Homes

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Self Healing Homes

 

The Wave of the Future?

 

 

The University of Leeds’ Nano Manufacturing Institute (NMI) is involved in the European Union funded project which will develop special walls for a high-tech villa being built on a mountainside in Greece.  Along with other advanced technology the walls will contain nano polymer particles and sensors to monitor the stress levels on the building.  When the building is placed under stress, the polymer particles liquify, fill the cracks and then harden. 

Nanotechnology involves making things with useful scientific properties on a tiny scale – less than one-hundred thousandth the width of a human hair.

What a great inovation this is. 

More details can be read in the original article at Science Daily.

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Self-Healing Homes

Long Beach Home Purchase – Financing Rip-Offs To Avoid

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Long Beach Homes, Realtors…

… and Lenders Oh My!

 

As a Long Beach Realtor many buyers contact me in need of other services.  We Realtors generally have a group of vendors that have become valuable team members.  Vendors who have proven themselves over the years to provide great customer service and care for our clients. 

 

The sub-prime problems have really shaken up the industry and have changed not just the way loans are approved but relationships between Realtors and their preferred lenders. 

Recently I sent a buyer to a local Long Beach Lender, who we have used occasionally on and off for several years.  The client needed credit cleaning so they would be in the lenders hands until such time as they were ready to begin their house hunt – about 2 months was estimated.  I made a follow-up call to the lender, about 5 weeks into the 2 months, to check on their progress and asked “How are things going with Mary and John?”  He replied “Who?”.  I was stunned!  He quickly remembered who I was referring to and then told me that the credit cleaner had some personal issues and it didn’t work out.  HUH?  No calls to me and my buyers were left unattended.  The lender apparently didn’t understand the level of trust that was placed in his hands. 

 

 

 

He called the buyers, brought them into his office for a 3 hour meeting and arranged a loan for them, then called me to let me know what he had done and the terms of the loan.  He complained about a collection on Johns credit for $130 and one on Mary’s for $30.  Both were items in dispute that they did not owe, minor junk that should not have mattered.  As a result he quoted them an additional 2% interest on both the first and second, jacked their fees up to over $14,000 plus a $6500 origination fee and told both the buyers and myself this was the best they could hope for.  When I asked him if he was actually going to be able to close this loan he said “I hope so?”.  Well folks, that is just no-where near good enough for me or my clients. He is soooooo fired!  I call this kind of work shlock and there is no place for it in my business, not now, not ever!

 

Mary and John came to my office the next day.  We spent the entire day together.  They called Brian Brady, Americas Most Opinionated Mortgage Broker who laid out a very do-able financial plan for them.  They were treated with respect, loans were arranged for them-at very reasonable interest rates, pre-penalty’s were done away with, a financial plan was put into place for the buyers to re-finance both loans in 6 months and make their dream of owning a Long Beach Home come true, without getting raped financially.   (There is enough equity in this Long Beach property to allow this strategy.)

Mary and John opened escrow yesterday on a Long Beach Home that they are ever so excited about. 

 

Brian provided us with a loan-commitment letter immediately.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with this term let me explain this in simple terms.  Unlike the run of the mill loan brokers, Brian is a Direct Lender.  That means that the actual lenders trust him so much they have given him the power to approve the loan, based on their guidelines, himself.  Brian is the end of the line.  If Brian says you are approved, you are approved!

I would like to explain the value of a Loan Commitment letter (or lock-in letter).

 

• It tells the buyers they definately have the loan that was quoted to them and provides them with security and negotiating power. 
• It tells the buyers agent that the loan will close and their work will not be in vain.  In todays market this equates to negotiating power folks and I just love to negotiate. 
• It tells the seller that they have a secure escrow that will close without any loan problems, worth giving up a few dollars for, especially if you have fallen out of escrow once or twice already. 
• It tells the listing agent that they are dealing with professionals and a secure transaction.  A smart listing agent will advise their seller that this is a ‘best possible scenario’ situation and worth giving a bit for. 
• It provides a transaction in which everybody WINS. 

Any lender who cannot provide you with a LOAN COMMITMENT LETTER within a couple of days, has not secured the loan on your behalf.  No matter what they are telling you!

This is the reason so many Long Beach Homes are falling out of escrow.  Agents do not know enough about the loan process to demand lock-in letters, or loan commitment letters from the buyers lender. 

 

 

Listen closely Buyers:  If you have a loan commitment letter, you do not have to worry about being Baited and Switched.

Bait and Switched, hmmmm, how does that happen?  Well a realistic lender quotes you a rate that makes you gasp for air.  Your FICO is not great but it’s OK, you have had some late payments, your salary is OK but not really outstanding, and you want a better rate, so off you go shopping. 

 

 

Be careful they are waiting for you. 

 

You speak with several lenders who assure you that the big bad OTHER LENDER was just ripping you off, but they can get you such a deal:”  (”Do you know that old saying?  If it sounds too good to be true…. it probably is.”) So you go ahead and sign on for the lower rate.  Don’t feel bad, a lot of other people have fallen into this same trap.  These lenders are charismatic and convincing.  But they do not provide you with a LOAN COMMITMENT LETTER, because they cannot, they have not secured the loan. 

 

 

A couple of weeks into your escrow the big bad lender calls the poor little buyer and states “You know that loan I mentioned (no commitment words being minced here) well that program has been discontinued, but I have this other program that is a good fit and will only cost you a tiny bit more in interest.  He never mentions the fee schedule for this loan and you don’t know to ask.  When it comes time to sign your loan documents, the lender is nowhere to be found, the fees are double what you were originally quoted, the lender will not answer his phone, neither will his manager and you are faced with a nightmare decision to make.  Either pay the undisclosed outrageous fees, or back out of the escrow within days of closing, possibly losing your good faith deposit, maybe the seller will extend the escrow a month so you can try to secure another loan?  Never a good situation to be in.  

• Protect yourself.
• Hire a great Realtor.
• Hire a great Lender.
• Demand a Loan Commitment Letter.
• If you don’t get one – RUN!
• Go find your home with secured financing.

***Clients names are fictitious, but you know who you are.

 

Long Beach Home Seller Tips:

• Seller Tips – Choosing Your Long Beach Realtor
• Seller Tips – Preparing Your Long Beach Home For Sale
• Selling Your Long Beach California Home? Its A Whole New Game!
• E-MARKETING Getting “OUT OF THE BOX” to sell your Long Beach CA Real Estate!

 

Long Beach Home Buyer Tips:

• Home Buyer Tips – Don’t Make Any Major Purchases
• Home Buyers Tips – Changing Jobs Affects Your Ability to Purchase a Home
• Home Buyer Tips – Things to Avoid Before Purchasing a Home

 

Home Loan Tips:

• Loving Your Home Loan
• How To Find Your Way Through The Home Loan Jungle – Part Two
• How To Find Your Way Through The Home Loan Jungle – Part One
• How To Get The Best Home Loan – Neatness Counts When You Want a Home Loan

 

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Long Beach Home Purchase – Financing Rip-Offs To Avoid