Recently Solds In Middle TN

Recently Solds In Middle TN
Posted by The Goodman Group on Saturday, September 12, 2015

Whats Your Property Really Worth In Todays Market???

Assessed Value Vs Market Value Market Value Definition: Market value is the most probable price as of a specific date (the date of sale) that a property with all its rights should sell after reasonable exposure to buyers in a competitive market with the sellers under no undue duress (meaning the sellers aren't forced to sell). At its most basic form, house market value is usually the highest price that the home would bring on the real estate market if a reasonable length of time is allowed for the home to sell. In this scenario the buyer will have complete knowledge of the legal uses and purposes of the home. Assessed Value: How the Assessed Value Differs Assessed Value Definition: Assessed value is the value of a property as of a certain date (usually January 1st) according to the tax rolls of your local government jurisdiction (county or city). This value can be higher or lower than market value based on the assessment ratio, which is a percentage of market value. What is an Assessment ratio? The assessment ratio is the percentage that each state uses to determine the property taxes. A state will also determine whether you will be assessed per hundred or per thousand dollars. What does this mean? Example - Your property's market value is $100,000 as of January 1st according to your county. Your neighborhood market activity is normally monitored by a county tax assessor over the course of one year. The assessment ratio in your state is 60%. You take $100,000 x 60% = $60,000. Now that $60,000 is your assessed value. If you want to figure out the actual dollar amount in taxes you will pay, you take that $60,000 and divide it by 100 or 1,000 depending on your state (you can call your local jurisdiction and ask if your taxes are calculated per $100 or per $1,000). In this example your state assesses per 100. Take $60,000 / 100 = $600 x (your county tax rate) = the total amount in property taxes you pay per year!If you need a free CMA on your property please give me a call and I would be glad to assist you.



Real Estate Reality Check!
Sometimes, the real estate market can play games with our minds. At the top of the market, home buyers imagine that sellers frolic through fields of cash, rubbing their hands together megalomaniacally as they flip through hundreds of offers.

At the bottom of the market, the tables turned, and sellers might have visualized buyers sitting on top of truckloads of cash, while deigning to offer them only a paltry few pennies for their Most Precious Asset.

Reality check: neither of these images are anywhere near reality. At the bottom of the market, even the most bargain-hungry buyers are riddled with grave concerns about whether and when to buy, as well as how to get through the maze of tight mortgage and appraisal guidelines. And the opposite is true, too. Even on today’s market - which is much more active than it has been in years - sellers fear making missteps and mistakes that will cause their home to lag or will result in them leaving money on the table, so to speak.

Here are five of the mistakes I see sellers make when the market heats up and buyers start biting - and some tips for avoiding them.

1.  Overconfidence.  Overconfidence is super serious, because it’s not a single mistake. Rather, it’s a mindset that can spawn a pervasive pattern of errors in judgment. No matter how hot or how cold the market is, as a seller, your task is to get a single home sold: yours. Until you have done that, you should take care not to make assumptions like:

• any buyer would be grateful to have your house
• you can now charge a premium for your home
• if that house got multiple offers, yours will definitely get more, higher offers, or that
• because relatively few homes are listed for sale in your neighborhood, you can get away with little or no staging or other property preparation.

Okay - so these might be (slight) exaggerations, but they’re not far off from the thoughts that can run through a hot market seller’s head, especially if you’ve been waiting for the market to thaw for a long time.

Keep overconfidence from fouling up your home sale experience by keeping in mind that:

(a)  Market dynamics are intensely local, down to the neighborhood, so even if your cousin across town sold her home in 10 minutes, that doesn’t mean you’ll automatically have the same fate.

(b) Markets change quickly, and the annual summer home buying uptick might be set to slow down a bit as the kids go back to school and the weather cools.

(c ) Most homes that sell fast or for more than asking are carefully prepared to do so, with above-average staging and very strategic pricing. If you want to create the same situation for your home, you’ll need to work with your local agent to put that same level of strategy and work into your listing.

2.  Overpricing.  Do prices go up when buyer demand goes up?  Yes, over time. That does not mean, though, that a few months’ (or even a couple of quarters’) uptick in the market gives you the power to overprice your home without expecting to see the pricing reduce buyer interest in your home, the number of buyers who come to see the place and, ultimately, the number of offers you receive.

Again, the listings that perform well in hot markets are listings that are competitively priced. The homes that appear to present a solid value for the list price are the homes that buyers will be most excited to go see and make offers on.

To boot, what makes for a “hot” market at any given time is different from state to state, city to city - even neighborhood to neighborhood. The hard, cold truth is, in your area, demand might not have increased all that much. Or, increased demand might simply give you a better chance at getting your home sold - period - than you would have had a year ago.  Don’t automatically assume that a recovering national real estate market justifies cranking up the list price on your home. 

Overpricing is one of most costly strategic errors sellers make in any market.  Avoid making this mistake by working through the data on what similar homes have been selling for in your area with your agent.

3.  Insufficiently vetting the offer before accepting it. An offer that will never close is a bad offer, no matter what price it has on the front page. And, unfortunately, the occasional ‘bad apple’ buyer is out there making extraordinarily high offers, beyond what the home will ever appraise for, with the intentional plan of demanding a price reduction when the appraisal (predictably) comes in low. There are a number of other offer flaws that are highly likely to get in the way of closing which agents can detect fairly easily, but which hot-market sellers are sometimes tempted to overlook when the offer price is sky high.

Savvy sellers take a pause, no matter how frenzied their offer process is, to work with their agents to vet offers before accepting one, taking care to:

• assess whether the offer price is within the realm of reality as an appraisal value of their home by reviewing the comps - unless the offer is an all-cash offer or waives the appraisal contingency;
• vet the buyer’s offer to ensure that a reputable lender has checked their credit, income and assets, and approved them for a home loan (again, unless it’s a cash offer); and finally
• where the buyer’s offer is all-cash or waives the appraisal contingency, reviewing account statements to ensure that the cash truly exists to close the deal (including the cash to make up the difference between the list price and the agreed-upon purchase price, if the buyer is trying to waive the appraisal contingency on a way over-asking offer).

4.  Prematurely accepting an offer.  Listen - if the first attendee that walks in the door to your Open House throws a stack of cash on the kitchen table on the condition that you take their offer RIGHT THIS SECOND, far be it from me to suggest that you should hold out. But I’ve never seen that happen. What I have seen happen a number of times is for a seller to list a home one day and take an offer the next day, not realizing that a large pool of other buyers who would have offered even more had simply not had a chance to physically get to the home.

In order to get top dollar for your home, you want buyers to compete with each other on price, not on sheer speed.

Sellers, you should definitely have a sense of urgency in responding to offers as they come in - especially if you get one (or more) that passes muster in terms of being highly close-able (see #3, above) and also comes in at or above the price you want. As well, some buyers do have an urgent need to know whether you’re planning to take their offer or not, and will disappear if you stall on their offer too long.

That said, I believe it’s premature to accept an offer before the property has been fully exposed to the market, meaning at any time before the average target buyer who would be qualified and interested in the property has had the opportunity to actually see it. So, if you had 200 people show up to the Open House and got 4 offers the next day, accepting one of the four might not be premature - the exposure to the market is clear from the facts that so many people saw it and that multiple offers were received.

Similarly, if your agent enters a note in the MLS that you would be taking offers at a certain time and date, that puts interested buyers in a position to see it and make an offer before the cutoff.

However, if you have had your home on the market for a very short period of time (less than a couple of days) and you get an offer that you’re inclined to take, best practice is to first ask your agent to ring the other agents who have shown or have expressed an interest in showing the place to let them know that you have an offer in hand and find out if any of them are serious about making an offer. (If so, give them a firm deadline for receiving offers.) If you do this, make sure you respond to the offer you have in hand before its expiration deadline, or get an extension, if you feel you’ll run late.



5. Failing to course-correct before it's too late. It's essential to know what milestones you should be expecting to hit at various points in your listing's timeline, based on how well-priced, well-staged listings move in your current market. And it's just as essential to have a plan of action for what you'll do to course-correct things if they don't move along as planned.

Your agent can brief you on such data points as the average number of days a home in your neighborhood stays on the market before it goes pending (days on market, or DOM). From there, you can work together to put a plan in place around what you'll do, as a team, if:

• no one comes to see the place,


• tons of buyers come to see the place and no one makes an offer,


• buyers and agents all unanimously say they like the place, but it's priced too high, or


• your home otherwise lingers on the market much longer than average with no bites.

Sellers who fail to make an advance plan of action for auditing the agents who have shown it to get their feedback, revisiting the idea of professional staging, lowering the price or otherwise responding to market feedback at a certain point in time tend to course-correct too late - after the place has been on so long that buyers have started to catch a whiff of desperation. And yes - this can happen, even on a market like today's.If your unsure about what your property is worth please give me a call at 615-476-2963 for your free CMA-Comparative Market Analysis.

Joseph Goodman *ABR*GRI*SRES*

The Goodman Group

C21 WMRA

615-444-7100 office

615-476-2953 direct

thegoodmangroup@me.com email

www.PossessTheLands.com Web

www.thegoodmangroupcrs.blogspot.com

http://www.possessthelands.com/Web/AR297151/WebForm/index/10564http://www.possessthelands.com/Web/AR297151/WebForm/index/10564

Tips To Bring Out Hidden Curb Appeal

A New Front Door 

For potential buyers, the first stop on the tour of your home is waiting to be let in at the front door. In order to make a great first impression, replace an aging door with an affordable new steel door. A recent study found that you can recoup up to 102 percent of the cost of a new steel door, which means that this home improvement will likely pay for itself. In addition to looking better, a new, solid door conveys a sense of security, a huge selling point for most buyers.

Replacing chipped and faded exterior paint with a fresh coat is pretty standard for sellers looking to move their homes in a competitive market. However, the mistake many make is choosing the wrong colors. Those bright, playful hues that catch your eye might turn off some buyers. This isn’t the time to showcase your personality. Selling a home should be all about the buyer. By choosing more muted tones, potential buyers can better imagine themselves settling in and making it their own.
If you’ve got siding rather than paint, you can still beautify your home with a good scrubbing. Rent a power washer to strip off years of grime, which can send a signal of neglect to potential buyers. 

Low-Maintenance Landscaping

Weeding and replacing dead plants in the garden should be one of your first steps to improve curb appeal. However, while dressing up a garden can make it look good, you can also go too far. Ornate, high-maintenance gardens can frighten away those looking for low-key landscaping. A yard crowded with flowers can also turn off homeowners who would rather use the space for entertaining friends or playing with their kids. So keep the flower beds contained, trim back the rose bushes, and make the yard look spacious. 

 Your Messy Neighbors

It’s an unfortunate truth, but messy neighbors could be scaring away potential purchasers. No one wants to live next to slobs, so if the houses around you look pretty rough, it can cause buyers to steer clear of your place. While it can be a little tricky to get your neighbors to clean up their acts, a little diplomacy, and perhaps a modest bribe of freshly baked cookies, could get them to help you out. Explain your situation and offer to lend a hand. An afternoon helping your neighbor pick up trash and mow the lawn could make all the difference for you.

 

Brighten Things Up

Many potential buyers might come by in the evening hours, and a home with poor exterior lighting can really turn people off. To start, make sure you’ve replaced any burnt-out bulbs. To take things a step further, add new fixtures along walkways and by the front door to make the walk up seem more inviting. Finally, replace harsh flood lights with softer lighting options. While you want to give people a good look at your home, you don’t want your yard to feel like a  enclosed yard.

 

         FIND OUT HOW MUCH YOUR HOME IS WORTH HERE

Joseph Goodman *ABR*GRI*SRES*

The Goodman Group

C21 WMRA

615-444-7100 office

615-476-2953 direct

thegoodmangroup@me.com email

www.PossessTheLands.com Web

www.thegoodmangroupcrs.blogspot.com

Nashville TN Real Estate Marketing Services

Seller Services

Here is our seller services for real estate selling success in the Nashville TN Real Estate housing market.....

We assist in the sale of the real estate selling process from pre-listing till after closing...every step of the way.We have a very defined home selling process that every MLS listing goes through to ensure that you have all the necessary real estate tools for successful and quick home sale. The Goodman Group & Century 21 WMRA is a company like no other, because of these tools and in our international marketing platform we provide to our homesellers.We understand that in today’s ever changing real estate market, home sellers expect a high level of realtorservices.Therefore we utilize technology and world class service to keep our home selling clients up to date at all times and provide added value to both home buyers and sellers in the real estate transaction.

Today’s real estate buyer can come through a lot of open portals. That’s why we connect with so many different open channels to reach a buyer for your home. We position your home more prominently with more compelling copy, more photos than most agents so it grabs the prospects attention. We have you covered locally, nationally and globally with internet lead generation. We are able to convert the buyer to a click….a call…and then a closing so you get moved.

The effective use of these tech tools allow our team to focus more of their time on servicing our clients and getting their home sold, while still providing the most comprehensive real estate marketing program available. In the end, you get the perfect combination of online real estate tools and personal service when selling your home.

Personal Consultation With The Team Leader Joseph Goodman & The Goodman Group: We provide homesellers a comprehensive home value analysis(CMA) to ensure accurate pricing when selling your home, a pre-listing plan so you know the order of events and what will be happening.A key part of your marketing plan is setting the list price. Quite simply, if a home is priced too low, you miss out on potential profit. If a home is priced too high, qualified buyers will look elsewhere....We also do a complete pre-listing walk through of property to see what needs to be done to property if any to maximize curb appeal.

• Professional Photographyand Video:Our team creates stunning real estate photography and video with high end cameras to set your property apart from the properties on the market ensuring that your property is showcased in its best light and qualities.We use professional photography and video effectively catching all the unique features of your property to draw buyers to your home versus comparable homes and turn "lookers" into "buyers".

• Your Home For Sale Launch: Well-targeted, high-profile marketing makes all the difference in helping us reach your goals, draw more buyer attention.We have one of the most comprehensive internet marketing campaigns through the Century 21 global marketing platform, which ensures that your home gets the exposure it needs from day one to get it sold quickly and for as much as possible.

• Providing You Trackable Home Marketing Results: The Goodman Group has developed a leading edge in servicing our sellers with lots of information on your house than the traditional MLS just cant bring.In addition, you will get weekly reports on internet traffic to your house for sale from The GOLDEN RULER a Century 21 power tool.
  

  The Golden Ruler is truly a significant benefit for you, the seller in two different ways. First, it provides us instant real time communication and feedback on our progress. You will be informed about our marketing efforts. You won’t ever wonder what we are doing to market your home. You will be emailed a report every two weeks. Secondly, with all these web sites to manage, different marketing strategies to implement, variations based on type of home, time of year, buyers groups totarget, economic conditions, market trends. I want you to know am I making good decisions for you and if we make adjustments are we making them correctly.The Golden Ruler is a service that only Century 21 has.90% of all home buyers use the internet first to search for a new home. A home listed with Century 21 can be found on OVER 800 Real Estate search websites! 38 million buyers visit our websites each and every month!

• Offers and Negotiations Process: After all the back-and-forth on price, concessions and repairs, it’s finally over and your offer to purchase the home was accepted. While you may think that your work is done at this point, think again.Granted, you and the seller are no longer front and center on the home purchase stage; there are some details you’ll need to attend to after the offer is accepted. For the most part, however, this is the point where real estate agents really earn their money and a good one proves that he or she is worth every penny
• Coordinating The Transaction:Most large and many small real estate brokerages employ a transaction coordinator. This is the person who coordinates all of the details on the road to the close of escrow.Once you sign the purchase agreement our team checks it over for accuracy and ensure signatures and initials are in the proper places.Most of the time a real estate transaction is held at two different title companies or also known as a split closing.

• Title Company:The next step in the process is to order a title search on the property and the issuance of a Preliminary Title Report. Our team delivers or emails it to the title company who checks it over for any issues not addressed in the purchase agreement. A common item found in a preliminary title report is a lien or an additional loan on the property that wasn’t previously reported to the buyer. This is brought to the attention of the buyer and the seller must clear the cloud on the title or the buyer can cancel the agreement.

• Buyers Contingency Removal:While all of the above is happening on your behalf, without your involvement (other than to review the Preliminary Title Report and sign off on it), the next step in the process requires your involvement.It’s time to remove the contingencies in the purchase agreement. Contingencies are events that must occur, according to the date listed in the contract, before the sale can close. Typical contingencies include:
• Final loan approval: Failure to obtain a loan will kill the deal.
• Inspections: Repair issues that arise from the home inspection are typically open to negotiation between the sellers. If the seller refuses to remedy any concerns, you have the right to cancel the contract with the full return of your earnest money deposit.
• Home sale: The successful sale of your current home.
• Appraisal: If the home fails to appraise for the amount you are borrowing from the lender, you can negotiate with the seller for a lower price, pay a larger down payment or walk away from the sale.Once the contract contingencies are removed you can still walk away from the deal but you will forfeit your earnest money deposit and be liable for liquidated damages if your contract includes such a clause.

• Buyers Final Walk Through:The final walk-through is typically scheduled within the week leading up to the close of escrow and is your opportunity for the buyer to look at home one last time before they buy.This is not the time to bring up new issues, but to ensure that the home is in the agreed-upon condition before they purchase it.

• Closing & Settlement Statement:The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) dictates that the parties to the transaction must receive the settlement statement (typically called the HUD-1) within 24 hours of closing. This statement is an itemized accounting of all charges imposed on both parties. These charges include the real estate broker’s fees, buyers earnest money deposit, appraisal fee, transfer taxes, loan payoff and more. The statement clearly outlines from whom the money is taken and to whom it is credited.Closing attorney and our team will be there with you to go checking it carefully for errors.

• What to Bring to the Closing:The escrow officer can answer any questions you may have about what documents to bring to closing. The following list does not cover everything, but here are the basics of what you will need to bring with you:
• Photo identification,keys,garage door opens etc

Be prepared to sign lots of papers than you ever imagined was possible to sign but when its all said and signed YOUR HOUSE IS SOLD!! From contract to close we are with you every step of the way

For most of us, our home is our biggest investment. When it's time to sell, get the value you deserve with the help of our professional team at Century 21 WMRA & The Goodman Group If you'd like to discuss your next home sale today please fill out the form on the right hand side in blue for your free home evaluation:

Middle Tennessee Real Estate Area Coverage Map We Serve

Area 1 – Antioch TN Real Estate, Berry Hill, South Nashville
Area 2 – Belle Meade TN Real Estate , Bellevue TN Real Estate, Forest HillsTN Real Estate , Green Hills TN Real Estate
Area 3 – Bordeaux, West Nashville
Area 4 – Northwest Nashville
Area 5 – Joelton TN Real Estate, North Nashville, Goodlettsville TN Real Estate , Whites Creek
Area 6 – Inglewood TN Real Estate, Madison TN Real Estate, RivergateTN Real Estate , Goodlettsville TN Real Estate
Area 7 – Hermitage TN Real Estate, Donelson TN Real Estate, Percy Priest Lake, Old HickoryTN Real Estate
Area 8 – Percy Priest Lake, Antioch, Airport area, Hickory Hollow
Area 9 – Sumner County TN Real Estate – includes Hendersonville TN Real Estate, Gallatin TN Real Estate, Portland TN Real Estate , White House TN Real Estate, Bethpage TN Real Estate, Castalian Springs TN Real Estate and Cottontown TN Real Estate
Area 10 – Williamson County TN Real Estate – includes Brentwood TN Real Estate, Franklin TN Real Estate, Fairview TN Real Estate and Nolensville TN Real Estate
Area 11 – Wilson County TN Real Estate – includes Lebanon TN Real Estate, Mt. Juliet TN Real Estate and Watertown TN Real Estate
Area 13 – Cheatham County – includes Pegram TN Real Estate, Kingston Springs TN Real Estate and Ashland City TN Real Estate
Area 14 - Robertson County – includes Springfield TN Real Estate, Ridgetop TN Real Estate, Greenbrier TN Real Estate and White House TN Real Estate
Area 15 – Dickson County TN Real Estate – includes Dickson TN Real Estate, White Bluff TN Real Estate, Burns TN Real Estate and Charlotte TN Real Estate
Area 16 – Maury County TN Real Estate – includes Columbia TN Real Estate and Spring Hill TN Real Estate
Areas 21-32 – Rutherford County TN Real Estate – includes Murfreesboro TN Real Estate, Smyrna TN Real Estate, LaVergne TN Real Estate And Eagleville TN Real Estate

Area 93 Smith County TN Real Estate(not on map

Nashville TN Real Estate Buyers...Things To Remember

Things To Remember When Buying a Home in Nashville TN

 

When considering a new home purchase in Nashville TN area there certain things you'll want to consider. Some things are obvious, and some are easy to overlook in the excitement of a new home purchase. For instance, your considerations may be:

1. How much can I spend? That's something you will need to know before you ever get in the car to look at a property. There is no sense in looking at a $500,000 house on a $125,000 budget. How much can you spend? You will want to talk to a loan officer before you get to far into your search. He/she can help you determine how much you can afford to spend on a new home. Our team  will need to know that information when you meet.

2. What do I really need? Want? How many bedrooms, bathrooms, etc., will you need? Then, if you had the option, what do you want that exceeds your needs?  Our team at Century 21 WMRA &The Goodman Group can help you discover the house you need or want and is available in your price range.

3. If you have kids, you will want to ask, "What schools will my children attend?" Go by and take a look. Are they schools you want your kids to attend? If they aren't, that will likely mean more decisions. If you found the perfert house with a poor school district, you may consider and search out private schools, or you may even consider homeschooling.

4. Do you want neighbors? If you love the idea of neighborhood get-togethers - you will want to look in town or in the suburbs. If you really don't want to see a neighbor everytime you walk outside, you will likely need to look at country living. Both locations have their advantages.

5. Where is the closest shopping? Do you want to drive 5,10, 20, 30 miles to buy groceries? Location, location, location. What's the best location for you?

6. How close do you need to be to your work? If your work demands immediate response to a distress call, that may affect your decision. You can't afford to be an hour away if that's the case. 
 
7. Do you have health issues that may be potentially dangerous if  you live too far out? 
 
8. Do you need to be near a major highway?

9. Would bad weather make it difficult to get to local services, school or work?

10. Will this be a long term purchase, or are you  just looking for a starter home? If you have a vision of a much bigger home with land or other amenities, but your budget isn't there yet, you will want to look at homes that are easy to turn around and sell in any economy. Buy what you can afford that will be easy to sell?
There are a lot more issues that you need to consider other than price when buying a home. When the time comes to start that process, call the Century 21 WMRA & The Goodman Group at 615-476-2953 and we will help you get started.

 

Joseph Goodman *ABR*GRI*SRES*
The Goodman Group
C21 WMRA
615-444-7100 office
615-476-2953 directthegoodmangroup@me.com 
emailwww.PossessTheLands.com
Webwww.thegoodmangroupcrs.blogspot.com

Reverse Mortgage Pros & Cons

Reverse Mortgage Pros:

The Easy Way to Tap Home Equity
After several years of economic turmoil and tightening of underwriting guidelines, for many it may not be a matter of weighing reverse mortgage pros and cons, but this may be the only way to tap into home equity. As there are no repayments required to pay off reverse mortgages, and borrowers may be receiving funds from their loan on a regular basis, credit and income are not factors in loan approval. Providing you are over the age of 62 and have a significant amount of home equity, you should be a good candidate for a reverse mortgage loan.
Live Like a Hollywood Star Now
Even with a solid equity position, many U.S. homeowners can find it extremely difficult to sell their homes for near what they paid for them. No one likes taking a big loss. So if you need a lump sum of cash now to cover medical bills, help out a family member, or just need to increase your monthly income to cover everyday living expenses or maintain the lifestyle you are accustomed to, a reverse mortgage may be just what you need.
Flexibility
The reverse mortgage offers flexibility. For example, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) offers five different options for accessing home equity. The borrower can choose between:

• Tenure: The borrower receives monthly payments for life.

• Term: The borrower receives monthly payments for a fixed amount of time.

• A line of credit: The borrower can make withdrawals, up to a maximum amount, whenever he or she chooses.

• Modified tenure: A combination of the tenure and line of credit options.

• Modified term: A combination of the term and line of credit options.

Peace of Mind
Perhaps the most important factor of all to consider when weighing reverse mortgage pros and cons is peace of mind and financial security. By choosing an option that includes fixed monthly payments, you will never have to worry about not having the steady income you may have lost when you retired. If you don’t need the extra cash to spend now, it could come in handy for life’s small emergencies or beginning to gift your assets to your heirs with minimal tax consequences and ensuring that it really gets into the hands of those you care about the most.

Reverse Mortgage Cons:

Fees and Costs
When it comes to reverse mortgages pros and cons, many point to the front-end loan costs as a negative, , especially when opting to take regular income payments over a long period of time. However, before homeowners allow this to scare them off, they should weigh the true cost of other options like selling and paying a real estate agent commission or refinancing. In reality, a reverse mortgage will still often be the most cost effective choice.
What Will I Leave the Kids?
Many seniors worry that by tapping into their home’s equity they deplete assets that can be left to their children. Loan expenses due at the end of the loan, either when the homeowner dies or sells the house, can significantly eat into whatever equity remains. This is a valid concern and one that should be discussed with your accountant.
The Mortgage Interest Deduction
One of the benefits of reverse mortgages which lenders frequently highlight is the mortgage interest deduction, which can essentially makes proceeds from these types of loans tax free and can help to offset other tax liabilities. However, as the government struggles to reduce the national debt and spending, many fear that the mortgage interest deduction could be one of the first things to go. So you may want to speak with your accountant if this is a factor in your decision to pursue a reverse mortgage.
Effects on Government Assistance
Robert Wagner may never have to worry about having to apply for Medicaid, but you might. Depending on your circumstances, the income from reverse mortgages could affect eligibility for various forms of government assistance and is definitely something that should be taken into consideration.
Unveiling the Cover-Up
Tapping into your equity now can obviously have effects on your financial future. However, there are some skeletons in the closet too. In the past some reverse mortgage lenders have developed notorious reputations for predatory prepayment penalties. Some homeowners who lived longer than they expected and wanted to cash in on surging equity during the recent boom found clauses in their loan documents that entitled lenders to a large percentage of any increase in property value when the loan was closed out. In some cases this amount was hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Preperation Is Key To Selling Your Property

Disassociate Yourself With Your Home.

• Say to yourself, "This is not my home; it is a house -- a product to be sold much like a box of cereal on the grocery store shelf.
• Make the mental decision to "let go" of your emotions and focus on the fact that soon this house will no longer be yours.
• Picture yourself handing over the keys and envelopes containing appliance warranties to the new owners!
• Say goodbye to every room.
• Don't look backwards -- look toward the future.

De-Personalize.
Pack up those personal photographs and family heirlooms. Buyers can't see past personal artifacts, and you don't want them to be distracted. You want buyers to imagine their own photos on the walls, and they can't do that if yours are there! You don't want to make any buyer ask, "I wonder what kind of people live in this home?" You want buyers to say, "I can see myself living here."

De-Clutter De-Clutter De-Clutter....YES DE-CLUTTER
People collect an amazing quantity of junk. Consider this: if you haven't used it in over a year, you probably don't need it.

• If you don't need it, why not donate it or throw it away?
• Remove all books from bookcases.
• Pack up those knickknacks.
• Clean off everything on kitchen counters.
• Put essential items used daily in a small box that can be stored in a closet when not in use.
• Think of this process as a head-start on the packing you will eventually need to do anyway.

Rearrange Bedroom Closets and Kitchen Cabinets.
Buyers love to snoop and will open closet and cabinet doors. Think of the message it sends if items fall out! Now imagine what a buyer believes about you if she sees everything organized. It says you probably take good care of the rest of the house as well. This means:

• Alphabetize spice jars.
• Neatly stack dishes.
• Turn coffee cup handles facing the same way.
• Hang shirts together, buttoned and facing the same direction.
• Line up shoes.

Rent a Storage Unit If Needed
Almost every home shows better with less furniture. Remove pieces of furniture that block or hamper paths and walkways and put them in storage. Since your bookcases are now empty, store them. Remove extra leaves from your dining room table to make the room appear larger. Leave just enough furniture in each room to showcase the room's purpose and plenty of room to move around. You don't want buyers scratching their heads and saying, "What is this room used for?"

Remove/Replace Favorite Items.
If you want to take window coverings, built-in appliances or fixtures with you, remove them now. If the chandelier in the dining room once belonged to your great grandmother, take it down. If a buyer never sees it, she won't want it. Once you tell a buyer she can't have an item, she will covet it, and it could blow your deal. Pack those items and replace them, if necessary.

Make Minor Repairs Or Else......

• Replace cracked floor or counter tiles.
• Patch holes in walls.
• Fix leaky faucets.
• Fix doors that don't close properly and kitchen drawers that jam.
• Consider painting your walls neutral colors, especially if you have grown accustomed to purple or pink walls.
  (Don't give buyers any reason to remember your home as "the house with the orange bathroom.")
• Replace burned-out light bulbs.
• If you've considered replacing a worn bedspread, do so now!
• If you dont fix things then the home inspection will show them.

Make the House Sparkle!

• Wash windows inside and out.
• Rent a pressure washer and spray down sidewalks and exterior.
• Clean out cobwebs.
• Re-caulk tubs, showers and sinks.
• Polish chrome faucets and mirrors.
• Clean out the refrigerator.
• Vacuum daily.
• Wax floors.
• Dust furniture, ceiling fan blades and light fixtures.
• Bleach dingy grout.
• Replace worn rugs.
• Hang up fresh towels.
• Bathroom towels look great fastened with ribbon and bows.
• Clean and air out any musty smelling areas. Odors are a no-no.
• If it doesnt smell good,look good and feel good it wholesale pricing instead of retail pricing.

Scrutinize as if YOU were buying it:)

• Go outside and open your front door. Stand there. Do you want to go inside? Does the house welcome you?
• Linger in the doorway of every single room and imagine how your house will look to a buyer.
• Examine carefully how furniture is arranged and move pieces around until it makes sense.
• Make sure window coverings hang level.
• Tune in to the room's statement and its emotional pull. Does it have impact and pizzazz?
• Does it look like nobody lives in this house? You're almost finished.
• Pretend like your a buyer.....WOULD YOU BUY IT???

Curb Appeal Is Your Bait To Get em In The House!

If a buyer won't get out of her agent's car because she doesn't like the exterior of your home, you'll never get her inside.

• Keep the sidewalks cleared.
• Mow the lawn.
• DONT smoke and if you have....time to fumigate it completely or else.....it may cost you $$$ or even the sale of your home...people hate smoke!!
• Kick the animals OUT....that is if you want your property to show above the rest.
• Paint faded window trim.
• Plant yellow flowers or group flower pots together. Yellow evokes a buying emotion. Marigolds are inexpensive.
• Trim your bushes.

Please feel free to contact me for your FREE pre-listing consultation

Joseph Goodman *ABR*GRI*SRES*
The Goodman Group
C21 WMRA
615-444-7100 office
615-476-2953 direct
thegoodmangroup@me.com  email
www.PossessTheLands.com  Web
www.thegoodmangroupcrs.blogspot.com

Happy New Year!10 Real Estate Trends To Watch For In 2013

May this new year find you healthier and happier, peaceful, content, satisfied, looking forward to fresh, revitalizing interests, a variety of pleasures, interesting new people, spiritual ,family,material and personal successes to make this new year the best one yet. Happy New Year! HAPPY NEW YEAR from all of us at The Goodman Group & C21 WMRA! We hope you have a healthy and prosperous New Year! Blessings to you all!!!

10 Real Estate Trends To Watch For In 2013

1. Rising home prices. The slow pace of new-home construction is pushing prices up, a pattern that will continue in 2012, according to several sources. Calvin Schnure, an economist at the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, says construction of new homes and apartments needs to be between 1.25 and 1.5 million a year just to keep up with population growth. But since the housing crash, new construction has been at 500,000 units or fewer for 6 years running—that’s actually created a shortfall in available homes. A National Association of Realtors (NAR) report in October showed a 5.4 months’ inventory of homes for sale at the current pace, 22 percent below where it was a year ago and the lowest inventory since February 2006. (A 6-month inventory is generally considered the sign of a healthy market).


“I think we’re going to look back three years from now and say that 2012 was the year the housing market turned the corner in America, says Mark Dotzour, chief economist at Texas A&M’s Real Estate Center. Overall, the NAR forecasts average home prices to rise 5 percent next year, after a projected increase of 6 percent this year.

2. Rising rents as more young people enter the market. Schnure says there’s a shadow demand in the rental market—the 3 to 5 million people, most in their twenties and thirties, who have been riding out the shaky economy by moving back in with their parents or staying with friends. Now, as they start to get jobs, they’re looking for their own apartments. Schnure says they represent a pent-up demand for rentals that’s twice as big in percentage terms as the country has ever seen. For next year, “that means that for people looking to rent, good luck… it’s going to be a challenge,” he says. This year, average rents have been rising nationally at about 4 percent a year and in many metro areas by 7 to 9 percent, says Barry Habib, chief market strategist for mortgage lender Residential Finance Corporation. A recent Zillow analysis also found that buying beats renting in 59 percent of markets after three years or less.

3. Fewer foreclosure bargains. The chance to snap up a bargain-basement foreclosure could be fading. Sales of those homes fell to about 11 percent of all sales in June 2012, down from about 28 percent in March 2011. In part that’s because the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and banks have been selling off hundreds of distressed home loans in bulk to purchasers who agree to work out new terms with borrowers rather than simply foreclosing, says Philip Feder, chair of real estate practice at global law firm Paul Hastings. Foreclosures have also dropped because the equity position of thousands of borrowers has improved with rising home prices, righting many upside-down loans.

4. More short sales. Short sales are deals in which a home sells for less than what the borrower owes on the mortgage, with the bank agreeing to accept the sale in lieu of going through an expensive and time-consuming foreclosure. On November 1, the FHFA issued new rules on short sales for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—among other measures, those reduce the documentation that borrowers have to show to demonstrate hardship, and borrowers now aren’t necessarily required to pay the difference between what they owe on the mortgage and the final sales price. So while foreclosure sales will keep falling, the number of short sales should rise, says Polyana da Costa, senior mortgage analyst at Bankrate.com.

5. More first-time home buyers. A report from consulting firm Deloitte & Touche on key issues in commercial real estate for 2013 predicts that growth in demand for single-family homes next year will likely be driven by first-time home buyers. That trend is visible in an NAR survey of buyers and sellers released in November—39 percent of borrowers were first-timers, up from 37 percent in the 2011 survey.

6. Higher home construction costs. Building materials like sheet rock, lumber, and copper are at high prices even though levels of home construction remain low, says Dotzour. The same is true for construction labor costs—after the crash, many qualified construction workers migrated out of the country or into other industries, he says. As a result, “you’ve got the possibility of some pretty potent price increases in [the cost of constructing] new homes,” Dotzour says.

7. Property management boom. It’s a great time to be a property manager. Earlier this year, the FHFA began selling foreclosed properties in bulk to large institutional investors who agree to hold and manage them as rentals. That intensified the trend already underway toward investors snapping up distressed properties to rent--the number of homes purchased as investments rose 65 percent in 2011 over 2010, according to real estate data provider RealtyTrac. Many of those investors are now using professional property management companies to rent and maintain their purchases, which has created huge demand for their services.

8. Rising mortgage interest rates. Mortgage rates have been at historic lows this year, so there’s only one direction for them to go. The NAR predicts that rates will gradually rise to average 4 percent next year, up from about 3.5 percent in September of this year. The Urban Land Institute’s 2013 Emerging Trends report, which surveys industry experts, concludes that “’there’s no way the low-interest-rate environment lasts,’ and your low-rate mortgage could be a ‘huge future asset’ as soon as interest rates begin to pop.” Greg McBride, senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com, agrees there could be minor increases in the coming year since the market drives rates, and economic growth or rising inflation would allow bond holders to command higher rates, but “I don’t think anybody is expecting a shoot-the-lights out type of economic environment that would cause a more pronounced increase.”

9. Easier credit standards. On average, would-be borrowers now need a FICO credit score in the 760s to get a mortgage, much higher even than the years before the easy-credit housing boom began, according to the FHFA. That should start changing next year--qualifying scores will start dropping as more qualified buyers come into the market and lenders compete to offer them loans, says Luis Vergara of Mission Capital Advisors in New York City. That downward shift in standards will be strengthened if the Obama administration, as has been rumored, replaces FHFA head Ed DeMarco, a Bush-era holdover and advocate of tight credit standards, says Richard Green, head of the University of Southern California’s Lusk Center for Real Estate.

10. Two-tiered home-building industry. Banks have been reluctant to make construction loans—only 22 percent of the country’s largest banks are making them, according to a 2012 survey by the Office of Comptroller of the Currency. That, says Dotzour, is producing a “bifurcated market”—a few publicly traded large builders with access to capital who are able to tackle big projects, and many medium and small builders who rely on loans from regional and community banks but aren’t getting the capital they need to launch projects. The result could be more consolidation in the home building industry next year and, ultimately, less competition and higher prices for everyone.

Joseph Goodman *ABR*GRI*SRES*
The Goodman Group
C21 WMRA
615-444-7100 office
615-476-2953 direct
thegoodmangroup@me.com email
www.PossessTheLands.com Web
www.thegoodmangroupcrs.blogspot.com