The Choice (281)-910-2001

Below all single family residential dwellings in location 19 - Clear Lake City
 0 to 10 days on the market
31 - available
4 - option period - pending
7 - pending continue to show - pending
9 - pending - option period over - seller says no more showings please
31 available - 20 under contract
This does not include homes that are on the market more than 10 days
The hot off the press listings are moving FAST in Location 19
No time to dilly dally on offers in Location 19

April proved to be better for home sales in Clear Creek ISD

http://www.debbierussell.com/April%202012-marketreport.pdf

With less than 6 months of inventory for price bands of
$100,000 to $300,000

In my opinion .... the "Buyer's Market" appears to have ended in location 19
From my own recent experience in trying to buy a home
there have been multiple offers on every home I have tried to buy

Use this information for your own benefit when trying to buy
some locations and some price bands are HOT!

And you are just NOT going to get more than one SHOT!

My husband and I are trying to buy a home.  We submitted an offer on a home that we really wanted to buy.  The listing broker received our offer Monday and by Wednesday evening we were told that the terms of our offer were considered to be OK by the seller.

We had submitted the offer via email, we expected that the offer would be signed the next day.  We were making arrangements to FedEx the option money to the Title Company.

You can never tell what will make a seller happy.
When they resopnded to our first offer they never asked for more money.
They wanted to have our financing 100% approved within 10 days versus 20 days.
They asked for other things that we said yes to.
But we held our ground on the 20 days.
It's not always about money - sometimes it's about time or TERMS!

Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock went the Clock!  The listing broker fell off the face of the earth. 
We sent emails - we received no response - we left voice mail messages.
All to no avail - we waited from approximately 8:30 p.m. Wednesday evening until just afternoon on Friday only to be told that another offer been submitted and the seller liked the fact that the other buyer was putting down more money.

We were heart broken that we lost all opportunity to make our offer better.  
The real pain came from the 40 hours of Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock went the Clock!
Unfortunately it is the seller's right to simply disregard any offer.
Even after the seller has indicated the offer is acceptable - in the State of Texas

The seller never asked for more money.
The seller did want tighter terms.
We would have been willing to pay more.
We would have been willing to re-negotiate other terms.
We would have been willing to put down more money to make the seller feel better.
I think it is silly that the seller never gave us a second chance.
At the end of the day if the transaction does close the seller made the right decision.
If it does not - perhaps they alienated the next best buyer.
Time will tell.

If you are a buyer having a tough time buying.
Or a seller having a tough time selling.
Understand that Realtors too sometimes have a tough time when trying to buy a home!
We would not be having this conversation 6 months ago.
Much has changed in the last 6 months.
The market is heating up in some areas of town and for some price bands.
When the market runs HOT - You may not get a second SHOT!
I know I sure did NOT!

Consider this when making offers of your own this could safe someone from a regret.

Money Builder on Forbes

Personal Finance

3/09/2012 @ 10:23AM  

The Perfect Loan File

Mark Greene, Contributor

The media has it all wrong – securing mortgage approval and satisfying credit underwriting guidelines are not the difficulties plaguing mortgage consumers. It’s in meeting the rigorous documentation requirements that most people fall flat. The good news is, the fix is simple. Just scan, photocopy, fax, and deliver every aspect of your financial life. Then, shortly before closing, check everything again.  

Mortgage consumers who enter the mortgage approval process ready to battle their chosen mortgage lender will come out with a nightmare story to tell. As the process, requirements, and guidelines are the same for everybody, your mindset is the game-changer. Accepting the redundant documentation necessary for lender approval will make everyone’s life easier.

When I was a kid, my father occasionally issued directives that I naturally thought were superfluous, and when asked why I needed to do whatever it was he wanted me to do, his answer was often: “Because I said so.” This never seemed to address my query but always left me without a retort, and I would usually comply. This is exactly what consumers should do during the mortgage approval process. When your lender requests what seems to be over-documentation and you wonder why you need it, accept the simple edict – “because I said so.” You will find the mortgage approval process much less frustrating.

So, what’s the perfect loan? Well, it’s one that (a) pays back the lender and (b) pays back the lender on time. Underwriting the perfect loan is not the goal that mortgage lenders aspire to today.

The real goal is the perfect loan file.

Mortgage lenders have suffered staggering losses and gone out of business because of the dreaded loan repurchase. As mortgage delinquencies increased, FannieMae and FreddieMac began to audit mortgage loans they had purchased and discovered substandard and fraudulent underwriting practices that violated representations and warranties made, stating these were high quality loans. Fannie and Freddie began forcing the originating lenders of these “bad” loans to buy them back. So a small correspondent mortgage lender is forced to buy back a single mortgage loan in the amount of $250,000. This becomes a $250,000 loss to a small mortgage business for a single loan, because it will never be repaid

 It doesn’t take many of these bad loan buybacks to close the doors on many small mortgage operations. The lending houses suffered billions of dollars of losses repurchasing loans from Fannie and Freddie, and began to do the same thing for loans they had purchased from smaller originators.

The small and medium sized mortgage originators that survived created underwriting guidelines and procedures to eliminate the threat of future loan repurchase losses...the answer? The perfect loan file!

It’s no longer necessary to have excellent credit, a big down payment and stable employment with income sufficient to support your debt service to guarantee your loan approval. However, you must have a borrower profile that meets the credit underwriting guidelines for the loan you are requesting. And, more importantly, you have to be able to hard-copy-guideline-document your profile.

Every nook and cranny of your financial life has to be corroborated, double- and triple-checked, and reviewed again before closing. This way, if the originating lender has created a loan file that is exactly consistent with published underwriting guidelines and has documented while adhering to those guidelines, the chances are that your loan will not be subject to repurchase.

Borrowers also need to prepare for processing and underwriting. Processors and underwriters are the people trained and charged with gathering (processors), all of your required-for-approval financial documents, and then approving (underwriters), your loan. You can assume these people are well trained and very experienced, as they are tasked with assembling and approving a high-quality-these-people-will-pay-us-back loan file. But just how do they go about that?

The process begins with the filter – the loan originator (AKA loan officer, mortgage consultant, mortgage adviser, etc.) – tasked to match the qualifications of a particular mortgage deal to the appropriate underwriting guidelines. It is the filter’s job to determine if a loan scenario is approvable and to gather the documentation to support that determination. It is here, at the beginning of the approval process, where the deal is made or broken. The rest of the approval process is just papering the file.

The filter determines whether the information provided by the borrower can be validated and documented. This is simple, since most mortgages are approved by automated underwriting engines such as Desktop Underwriter, and the automated approval generates a list of the documents needed to paper the loan file. An underwriter can, at this stage, request additional supporting documentation evidence at their discretion, as not all circumstances neatly fit into the prescribed underwriting box. If the filter creates a loan file with accurate information, then secures the documentation resulting from the automated underwriting findings, the loan will close uneventfully.

So, let’s begin with the pre-approval call. Mortgage pre-approval is typically accomplished with a telephone interview. A prospective borrower calls a mortgage rep (filter), and the questions begin. There will be lots of questions as this critical phase of the process is akin to the discovery period in a trial – you’ll need to disclose everything. Expect to answer queries on what you do for a living, how long you’ve been employed in your current field, and what your salary is. If there is a co-borrower, they will have to answer the same questions.

Every dollar in checking, savings, investments and retirement accounts, also known as assets to close, as well as gifts from relatives and non-profit grants, has to be accounted for. Essentially everything appearing on a borrower’s asset-radar-screen has to be documented and explained.

If you were previously a homeowner and sold your home in a short sale, or if you own a home now and plan to keep it as an investment or rental property, there are new and specific underwriting guidelines created just for you. In these cases, full disclosure of your credit and homeownership past can potentially eliminate unforeseen mortgage approval woes. For instance, FannieMae has a new underwriting guideline called “Buy-and-Bail,” for current homeowners’ planning on keeping their existing home as an investment/rental property. Properties not meeting the 30% equity test for “Buy-and-Bail” result in additional asset requirements to purchase a new home. Buyers with a short sale history may have to wait two to three years before they are eligible for mortgage financing again. Full vetting of your previous mortgage life will save you the dreaded we-have-a-problem call from your mortgage lender.

It all comes down to your proof. If the lender asks for a specific document, give them exactly what they are asking for, not what “should be OK,” – because it won’t be.  This is where the approval process tends to go off the rails, when the lender asks for specific documentation and the borrower supplies something else. Here, too, is where both sides get frustrated. So if the lender asks for a bank statement and there are 5 pages for that bank statement, send them all 5 pages, and not just the summary. If you send them the summary page and they ask again, don’t complain that the lender keeps asking for the same thing when you never sent it in the first place. This may sound elementary, but the vast majority of mortgage approval process woes stem from scenarios just like this.

The reason the mortgage approval process is now so rigorous is simple. Avoiding defaults and loan buybacks has become the primary goal of mortgage lenders.   Higher standards are reducing loan defaults, which should mean fewer foreclosures in the future. Government data shows that less than 2% of loans originated in 2009, that were resold to Freddie Mac and FannieMae went into default after 18 months, down from more than 22% default rates for 2007 loans.

So when your lender requests specific documents from you, give it them just “because they said so.”

You can thank my dad for that.

…Flat Fee Listing $495.00…

The current state of the “Real Estate” economy is difficult.   Many homes are not worth what they once were, but still must be sold.   I hate to see so many caught up in the “no win” situation of their current mortgage being the same, or less, than their home is worth in today's market. Paying a full commission just isn't an option for many.  That's why I've created my Flat Fee Listing. While it may not be the best option, it can help if you're “upside down,” and owe the same or more than your home is worth due to the market decline.  If a full service listing isn't possible for you, take a look at the Flat Fee Listing. It may be just what you need.    A full service listing is always the best way to sell your home, but many simply can’t afford to go that way.   My Flat Fee Listing is an effort to help those in a difficult position.

Flat Fee Listing services are limited, but could be all that are needed to sell your home if you’re willing to do a little of the work.   No, you won’t get feedback on all showings, flyers, open houses, or “hand holding.”   Flat Fee Listings are “don’t call me, I’ll call you.”   I’ll call you if anything is going on with your listing.   What you will get with a Flat Fee Listing follows:

Services provided:

·         On-going sales data – seller will receive an automated email each time a similar home in their subdivision is listed, changes status and or changes price; this will include actual sales price.

·         Entry into MLS – putting the right information into the MLS about your home to attract the right buyer.  I’ll put my 19 years of experience to work for you in just the right way.

·         Take and upload professional photographs to MLS.   VERY IMPORTANT.  That’s why I use a professional photographer. 

·         Provide 1 sign – with appropriate rider(s) 1 time – pool – 5 bedrooms, etc.  If the sign or rider(s) vanish seller will have to pay listing broker $75.00 for sign and $7.00 for rider(s) for each occurrence.  I’ve only lost two signs in 10 years so this should not be an issue.

·         Provide electronic lock box.

·         Up load pertinent documents to HAR such as floor plan, survey, last 12/months of utilities (these documents to be provided by seller at listing appointment or via email in PDF Format.

·         Set up with CSS for appointment co-ordination scheduling.  (If) the buyer’s agent does provide feedback it will be sent to your email address via CSS website.  Many of the agents will not provide feedback.  If the seller has an issue with any of the appointment times they will call CSS 713-977-7469 to address the issue.  The seller will not call me to co-ordinate and or to change a showing time(s).

·         Present written offers.

·         Assist in negotiating written offers.

·         Follow the transaction to closing.

·         Assist with staging by providing my expertise for free and or providing lists of professional stagers and or reputable dependable and affordable contractors to ready home for sale.

Other Terms of Flat Fee Listing:

·         Seller may terminate listing at anytime.  The fee is due one time at signing of listing agreement.  The listing will be for 9 months. 

·         The $495.00 fee is not refundable and it is paid up front payable to Debbie Russell.

·         The $250.00 fee will only be paid when the transaction closes and funds.  This fee will be taken from the seller’s proceeds at the closing table and will be made payable to United Texas Realtors.

·         Seller to pay United Texas Realtors 3% of sales price commission at closing and funding.   United Texas Realtors will pay the full 3% to any Texas Broker who sell’s the home and represents the buyer and or any agent with United Texas Realtors who sell the home. 
...Traditional Full Service Listing Also Available...

Most months and in most areas more homes failed to sell then did sell.
Lots of sellers have given up.  These homes are no longer shown in the MLS.
Yet these homeowners would like to sell. 
AND I know who they are.
If you have not been able to find that perfect home call me. 
Perhaps there is a match for you in my "what's not ont he market file"?
Like a good squirrel I know where the acorns are hid.
To see an example of number sold versus number not sold take this link.....
http://www.debbierussell.com/Novembermarketreport.pdf
Scroll to page 5 for this report
How many homes sold
How many listings expired
How many listings terminated
How many homes leased 

Call Debbie Russell (281)-910-2001 see all months of all monthly market reports at www.debbierussell.com

Where the buyers are?  Go to www.debbierussell.com click on market reports to see months of inventory for the Greater Clear Lake area and Clear Creek ISD

See the following reports

1.  Months of Inventory by price band in Clear Creek ISD
2. Months of Inventory by Zip Code for greater Clear Lake and surrounding areas.
3. 12 Year Market Snap Shot for home sales in Clear Creek ISD
4. 12 Year Market Snap Shot for home leases in Clear Creek ISD

Under construction is Months of Inventory for Master Planned Communities.

Findo ut which Master Planned Communties offer the best dealsl at this time.

Most sellers know to clean out closets and the garage in order to increase the visual size of the space.

Most homes require a thinning of furniture and accessories too.

A home should have clean smooth lines....less is more.

Never block a window with furniture.

Never clutter bathroom or kitchen counter tops.

Rent a storeage shed . . . thin your home by 25 - 30 percent of all extra's.

You want the home to appeal to a broad range of buyers. 

The more you remove the wider the range of buyers.

Due to Federal spending cuts there NASA has had several spending cuts and layoff's with more to follow this has also affected local related industries.

This is a good time to move to Clear Lake.  There are some good deals to be had here.  I moved to Houston in 1976 and I have lived just outside the loop and in Conroe then 20 years ago I discovered Clear Lake and made it my home.  I love living near the water, who would not?   

Smart buyers are taking advantage of that right now. 

Compare the total number of January sales for the following signle family residential dwellings, i.e. no townhouse or condo included.

Closed sales for January 2010 = 092
Closed sales for January 2011 = 128
Closed sales for January 2006 = 162
Closed sales for January 2000 = 127

Please check out my water front listing www.har.com/80422723

Come to Clear Lake today.....

There once was a home in Seabrook in a subdivision named Lakepointe Forest that had been listed for 245 days with ABC Company.  After ABC Company failed to sell this home the seller listed it with XYZ Company who subsequently had the listing for another 148 days. 

I had shown this home to two different sets of buyers during both listing terms.  I offered comments and feedback to the listing agent.  The owners of this property did not initiate the feedback that I provided at their request.  Eventually the listing expired again and I was free to pursue the listing.

During the listing interview I shared with the owners my thoughts on what needed to be done prior to their placing the home back on the market.  They took my advice and initiated the changes.

I had the home listed for 16 days when a buyer was procured.  In any market there can be a particular thing about a house that keeps it from selling.  This home had one particular thing about it that was all wrong to every nearly buyer that had seen it. 

The Problem:  This home had wood flooring in the main living/breakfast/kitchen areas.  The formal dining room had a raised floor about 8” high, this raised floor was carpet in contrast with surrounding wood.  This raised floor was only in what would be considered the formal dining room.  To compound issues the raised platform floor area was not that large an area and the formal dining room table and chairs were large in scale to the raised platform floor. 

Nearly every buyer that I had ever seen the home prior to the alteration was hyper concerned about having a dinner party and having a family member and or a guest back their chair up and fall straight off the platform.  Their second concern was that if you removed the platform thay you would never get the wood to match the surrounding area.

For 393 days they were passed over time and time again.

The Solution:  I convinced the owner to remove the raised flooring and to install new carpet and pad.  There was no reason to mess with the expense of installing the wood and that it would look very appropriate with fresh new carpet and that no one would imagine the strangeness of it again.  We also removed a leaf or two from the table and several of the chairs and it was then all to proper scale.

This project was completed before the home was placed back on the market . . . the home sold in 16 days. 

I have endless stories just like this.  I know what to do to get your home sold.  In any market there are homes with similar but different problems that keep these homes from being sold.  Nearly every home is unique in some way.  You just have to have the imagination to figure out what it is and to call out to that particular buyer on the internet.

Although my primary market is in the greater Clear Lake I have listed and sold properties in Baytown, Pasadena, Conroe and the Inwood Forest area.  As long as the home is within the geographical areas of the Houston Association of Realtors I can gather and harvest any information required to list and sell your home.  It’s all in the MLS.

Please call Debbie Direct (281)-910-2001

Recent Success Story Mystic Village – Seabrook, TX this home was listed for sale for 189 days by another real estate company.  After several communications with the owners I convinced them that with better pictures, better description and some staging that they should put their home back on the market.  We had a viable offer the first 14 days but the buyer and seller were pretty far off on possession dates due to a previously arranged 3 week vacation.  Unfortunately we could not come to terms with the first buyer.  But 11 open houses later we had an offer that we were able to come to terms with a close please take a moment to check these out http://www.har.com/AWS/AWSF.cfm?tgt=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch%2Ehar%2Ecom%2Fidx%2FdoSearchSold%2Ecfm%3FsiteType%3DAWS%26cid%3D422888