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We are starting a Darwin-like award for the building and contracting industry.  Here are the nominee’s for Worst Contractor of 2009, so far.  If you have an entry, please email your picture to the address shown below.  Believe me, we need all the chuckles we can get!!

Entry #1:

Look honey, the two car garage you’ve always wanted.

No, we’re not kidding and someone even hung drapes.  Ugh, I’m getting seasick just looking at it.

Can anyone say surveillance contractor for the government?   Hey, we’ve spotted a spider web in zone 5.

Do you want a printed receipt?  Click Yes or No.

Unless you can top this, we may have the Winner of the Bad Contractor Award for 2009.  But, we are still accepting entries until December 31st. 

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net homes for sale and rent FREE WEBSITE.  If you have an entry for our Bad Contractor Award for 2009, please email your pictures to tommi@infotube.net.  We find that in a bad economy, laughter helps.

Click Here to see the latest news on new home sales.  The easy to read charts, with comments, give instant insight to the housing market.  

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net homes for sale and rent website.  If we can assist you with a Free Webpage for your Property, MLS listing or Internet marketing blitz package, visit the site or call 1-800858-6000.

The housing recession/depression and the long number of days on the market, means that many people need to move to a new location, before they sell their home.  If you are facing this situation, please be aware of some special problems and concerns regarding vacant property before you decide to move on and leave your home behind.

1. Insurance.  Insurance companies place a higher risk, therefore cost, to insure vacant property.  As many owner’s have also discovered, vacant homes are targets for thiefs, vagrants and vandals.  In addition, vacant properties are more likely to suffer damage from fire and water.  Add in the higher liability of “No one lives there…let’s play” and it is no wonder that the cost to insure a vacant home is substantially more expensive.   Talk to your insurance agent, before you move out, to determine the best protection for the money.
2. Protect Your Property.  It’s a good idea to install a monitered security system in a vacant property.  If the service moniters fire, smoke and theft, it can lower your insurance premiums.  Also, don’t forget to install new batteries in all smoke detectors.   You should also have a friend or neighbor check the property on a regular basis. 
3. Create the Illusion of Occupancy.  Ask a neighbor to park their car in your driveway.  Stop mail and newspaper service, or make sure someone collects it.  Install timers on lights.  Leave some window treatments and furniture in the home.  Keep the lawn, landscape and home exterior maintained at all times.   
4. Rent it Out.  Renting the home will insure it is occupied and the rent will offset the costs of carrying the property.   The insurance will need to change to a rental policy, but rental insurance is much cheaper than the premium for vacant homes.
5. Let a Friend Live in the Home.  If you don’t want to tie the house up by renting it, consider letting a trusted friend or family member live in the home until it sells.  If you don’t know anyone, hire a housesitter.  Either way, the home remains occupied and vacancy problems are averted.
6. Don’t Sneak.   If your home is vacant for longer than your insurance policy allows, you could save a ton of money by sneaking.  But, don’t.  First, insurance fraud is a serious matter.  Secondly, if your vacant home is damaged or totaled, the insurer can and will challenge your claim.   Don’t commit fraud.  The little bit of money you may save is just not worth it.

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net, a Free Homes for Sale and Rent website.  The market is certainly showing some positive signs.  We have better than expected sales across the entire country, price declines have lessened, rates are low and banks are lending.  If you need to buy or sell, InfoTube.net is the place to be.

InfoTube has been blogging that Something is Wrong with real estate appraisals for quite some time now.   A new rule, called “Home Valuation Code of Conduct”, which went into effect on May 1st, has derailed sales and wrecked havoc on homeowners and buyers, with the worst possible timing.

The intent of the new rule for loan funding was to eliminate inflated appraisals.  Lawmakers found that lenders, such as Washington Mutual, pressured appraisers to inflate values in order to make more money on higher priced loans.  Although accurate appraisals are necessary to prevent fraud, the policy has had unintended, devastating effects on the entire real estate industry.

Take the case of the Mann family from San Jose, CA.  David and Penny Mann decided to sell their downtown Victorian home in order to move to a retirement community closer to their children and grandchildren.  They knew the market was tough, but they priced the home to sell and they were rewarded with back to back offers.   They accepted an offer for $560,000 from an excited young couple, buying their first home.

The Mann’s home appraised for full value, but it was deemed to be invalid, because it was done before the new rule took effect.  The second appraiser,  sent by an appraisal management company, came in $100,000 below the contract price, resulting in the buyer being turned down for their loan.  After the initial tears and panic, both parties did some frantic research.  They discovered that the appraiser didn’t live in San Jose and had never worked there.  Both buyer and seller decided to take action versus lying down and rolling over.

The buyer’s, a lawyer and student, toured at least 40 homes before buying the Mann’s house, and had lived in San Jose their entire lives.  They knew that the 100 year old home was perfect for them and they insisted that the management company send an appraiser, from the 408 area code to value the property.  The 33 year old lawyer said, “I am an educated person.” …”I’ve lived in the Bay Area my whole life”.  “I had no question it was worth $560,000, plus.  Neither did my agent or the mortgage broker or the first appraiser.  “Nor, as it turned out, did a third appraiser”,… who valued the property at the full sales price.

After all the drama, buyer and seller recently celebrated their victory at the Mann house.  The first time buyer’s brought the wine.  The Mann’s provided fresh peaches from the tree in the backyard.   Finally, a happy ending.

Unfortunately, not all victims of the new appraisal law are as fortunate as these couples.  75 percent of Industry professionals said they have had at least one low appraisal problem since May 1st, with the average loss being around $13,000.  In addition, 90 percent of real estate professionals site that at least one transaction had fallen apart because of the new law.

Something is definitely wrong, but you can take action:

To read more about what you can do if you are the victim of a low ball appraisal, Click Here.

To sign a petition to repeal the law, Click Here.  Gary Miller, Rep from California is co-sponsoring legislation.

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net homes for sale and lease website. If you have experienced a financial loss due to the new law, please leave a comment in the space below. Your identity is completely confidential.

Homeowners can always place a Free Property Listing on InfoTube.net. Thousands of home buyers search our site for their dream home.

For those of us searching for signs of a bottom in the housing market, the writing is now on the wall.  The charts are bottoming out and leveling off.

10 Noteworthy observations and signs include:

1. The rate of REO’s (real estate owned by the bank) coming onto the marketplace has slowed across the country.
2. In May, sales prices for existing homes rose 3 percent from April levels.
3. The number of Sold Homes surged in California, Nevada, Arizona and other hard hit area’s of the nation.
4. Even in Las Vegas, the epicenter of the crash, sales prices are firming and seller’s are receiving near full asking price, albeit at a 50 percent discount to pre-crash levels.
5. Inventory levels of existing and new homes has fallen in recent months.
6. The doomsayers were wrong about runaway inflation and rising rates.  30 year fixed interest rates remain at a very attractive 5.5 percent and banks are lending money.
7. Stocks of pubically traded home building companies have moved off their bottoms and are trading within a sustainable uptrend range.
8. The number of housing starts increased for the first time in months.  Since financing for speculation homes is hard, if not impossible to obtain, we assume these homes are already sold before construction begins, signaling demand.
9. Large home builders are starting to acquire select tracts of land for future development.
10. The rate of borrowers receiving notice of foreclosure has seen a meaningful decline of late.

Finally, we have a glimpse of light at the end of a long tunnel.  While the market will surely continue to experience difficulties, news indicates that the worst may well be behind us. 

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net.   The summer home selling season is rapidly getting away.  If you need to sell a home, nothing beats the power of the MLS to get you noticed.  To learn more about the advantage of selling by owner and taking advantage of the MLS, Click Here.

A frequent question we receive about correctly pricing a home is “Should we use Comparable Listing Prices or Comparable Sales Data to correctly price our home?”

The answer is overwhelming, Comparable Sales Data.

Looking at the prices of listed property is a big mistake, when determining the correct asking price for a home.  Take a moment and think about it.  If the neighbors list price was motivating, the property would be Sold, not Still for Sale. 

Always use accurate a Comparable Market Analysis (CMA) to correctly price your home.   A CMA features only properties that have sold for all cash or a funded loan.  This is important because many properities aren’t appraising or closing for anything near their “under contract” price.   In our declining market, a home that is worth $250,000 today, may only be worth $220,000, 60 days later when it closes.   Appraisers are aware of this fact and generally appraise very conservatively these days.

Click here To Read more about Appraisal Problems and What you Can do About it.

To obtain accurate Sales data about competing properties in your neighborhood, visit your local county tax assessor website.  Or, research MLS data which can be viewed at sites like zillow.com.

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net.  We are here to help you sell your home.  Feel free to place a free property listing on our site or search for a great value on your dream home.

Question:  What is the worst home selling strategy ever???

Answer:  ”Let’s test the market”.   “Let’s throw it up for sale at a high, unrealistic price and just see what happens…”

Testing the market…whatever that really means is the worst idea, ever.  Buyer’s don’t live in a fantasy world.  And, if they did, their home buying fantasy is finding a mansion for $100.  

“Testing the market” by overpricing a property means that the listing loses its ”honeymoon” period.  As a rule, properties receive more interest and more showings in the first 30 days, than they will ever see again.   Why?  Buyer’s who haven’t found the right home, rush to see new listings as soon as they appear on the market.  And, new buyer’s coming into the market always look at new listings first. 

If you overprice your home during the honeymoon, chances are high that it will sit on the market for a long time, eventually becoming a “stale” listing.   It is possible to stir up more interest later by substantially dropping the price, but seller’s can never again recreate the attention the property would have received, had it been priced right when it made its debut.

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net.  One GREAT IDEA for buying or selling real estate…Place a free property listing on our site or browse through thousands of great deals from the leisure of your home.  Don’t be afraid, we never sell or distribute information to anyone, for any reason.

To place a property on the MLS, Realtor.com and a dozen other websites for real estate, CLICK HERE.

Big Mistake.  A big mistake that home seller’s make is that they often set their asking price, based on what they paid for the property.  For example, I hear frustrated, unsuccessful sellers justify overpricing their homes by rationalizing that ”We are asking $265,000 because we paid $250,000 and want to break even.” 

The truth is, what you paid for your home doesn’t matter to anyone except you.  While it is painful to admit a financial loss, don’t dig yourself in even deeper by thinking that someone else will pay for your mistake.  They won’t.  And, their lender and appraiser won’t, either

Real estate is just like the stock market.   The Buyer determines the price they will pay, not the seller.   For example, if you bought Citibank at $120 per share and its now trading at $3.00, then $3.00 is what the asset is worth.   The fact you paid $120 a share is irrelevant to buyers in the marketplace.   The situation is exactly the same for real estate.

If you want or need to sell a piece of real estate, forget about what you paid for the asset.  The only thing that determines today’s value is what a buyer would be willing to pay today.   To determine the realistic, current value of your home, research what other homes like yours have actually SOLD for by searching on your local, county property tax database or websites like Realtor.com or Zillow.com. 

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net.  House are selling, but only the homes in the best location, condition and price.  The summer selling season is rapidly passing by and its time to get serious.  If not, you may find that home values are even lower next year.  To reach 10 million home buyer’s each month, call us for an MLS and search engine listing for your property.  You won’t find a better way to let the world know your home is for sale and time is passing you by.

An accusation of fraud is a serious matter, but some home buyer’s and their agents are accusing the listing agents of bank owned property exactly that.

In a traditional sale, which is a rare event these days, the buyer’s agent presents an offer to the listing agent. The listing agent, in turn, presents the offer to the seller, who can reject, accept or make a counter offer to the buyer.

In contrast, REO (Real Estate Owned by the bank) contract negotiations take place with a bank, lender, or a representative hired to represent the lender. In contrast to a “normal” seller to buyer transaction, neither buyer or agent has the opportunity or ability to meet with the seller. Therefore, the buyer and their agent have no way of knowing whether their offer was actually presented to the lending institution, at all.

So you ask, “Why would a listing agent hide offers from the bank?” The answer is sadly cliche…”follow the money”.

Buyer agents allege that often, listing agents for the banks are also working with their own own buyers. If their buyer’s offer is accepted, the agent is paid two commissions, one as the selling agent, another for listing the property. So, if the listing agent holds back a higher offer in order to leave their client in the number one position, the agent “double dips” and earns double the money.

What can you do? Unfortunately, not much. The bank is unaware that other offers have been presented. Other buyer’s and their agents have no way of knowing if their offers were really presented, either. Usually buyers and agents are just told that their offer was rejected. Only after the closing can they see that their offer was better than the one the bank accepted and that the listing agent was also the selling agent.

If you suspect that you have been a victim of fraud or underhanded dealings, you can try to contact the lender. But, be prepared that most lenders want no contact with the public and even their own fraud departments show little interest in helping “would-be” buyers or their agents. And, as for the “listing agent for the bank”, it is highly unlikely that the  of the fraud will suddenly get a change of heart and confess.

Thank you for visiting InfoTube.net. We are here to help you buy and sell property. Please place a Free Home Listing on our Site or Search our Database for Great Deals.

This seller certainly knows that complete disclosure about any property problems is essential in the purchase or sale of real estate.  

Happy Monday and thank you for visiting InfoTube.net homes for sale or rent website.  Good luck on your sale…whatever the reason for your move (: