Buying and Selling Real Estate in and Around Southeastern, MA and RI

Oh The Times They Are A Changing...

2011-10-31T12:33:00.000-04:00

The bank owned properties are multiplying before our eyes. Boarded up single family and multi family homes.
No longer do we work side by side with our local realtors. In this market we work with the listing agents who are not from around here, who easily carry 100 listings in Massachusetts and Rhode Island from different banks, who have no idea what the properties even look like because they hired a company to secure the building and put a lock box on it.
We never meet or see this listing agent. We may speak to them on the phone but they don't know who we are as we re-introduce ourselves every time we call. Investors simply give us the addresses of the properties they are interested in and we call each agent, or the new MA pass, to get the lock box combinations. We drive from one property to the next each vacant, colder inside than out from being sealed up with heating systems drained of all water and power turned off.
You wander through unknowingly where each room will lead. No agent is there to tell you about the neighbors or the age of the roof or when updates to the house were done. You are alone wondering what happened to the owners. Sad to know this was someones home.
Each showing only takes 15-20 minutes to show until you are on to the next. No tenants to call ahead of time to get permission to be let in. No smells of cooking or home. Just cold, dark rooms. Low offers are presented and the few that do end up selling usually still take months to close because of the title issues that come up with this or that paper missing at the registry from when the bank took the house.
Sometimes they close....sometimes the buyer gets tired of waiting and walks away.
This is what it is like to sell bank owned property in Southeastern Massachusetts today.

Here's to change!
Karen

Short Sales are Coming to a Close!

2011-10-31T12:28:00.001-04:00

Yes! They are closing!

We have come a long way Baby! Just a few years ago they were taking 6 months to a year and still there was bad news at the end. Not so much today. The banks have gotten much more efficient and brokers as well as lawyers know the routine of each bank, what they need and when.
Oh sure, there are still a few that don't go through.

If you are a buyer make sure you ask the realtor questions like, "Who will be handling the short sale?", and "Who is the bank? Are the sellers being cooperative? Has all of the paperwork been submitted to the bank yet?".

If you are a seller make sure you ask the realtor questions like, "Have you done short sales before? How many? Do you handle them or do you have an Attorney handling them? What is your plan?".

Short sales, they are closing! :)

Karen

Housing Market on The Rise

2011-10-27T18:21:00.000-04:00

Here is some great news from the MASSACHUSETTS ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
HOUSING MARKET TALKING POINTS September 2011:

•It is a positive sign to see three straight months of year-over-year sales increase. Prices continue to be more affordable and interest rates are at historical lows. The combination of these two things makes it very beneficial for people who are in the market to buy.

•Getting approved for financing continues to be an issue. People in the past who would have received the best rates, are having difficulty getting approved for a loan today. While we don’t want to go back to the loose lending standards that got us into this situation. We’d like to see an easing of the requirements to get more qualified buyers into homes.

•In this market, using a local REALTOR® is the key to making the most of your buying or selling situation.

•September home sales went up 10% compared to the year before (third straight month of year-over-year increases)

•September median prices were up 1.7% from last year. (Month-to-month decrease is typical Aug to Sept)

•Condo unit sales up 8.9% from last year, Condo median prices were up 5.4% from last year.

GREAT to finally see some positive news in the housing market!

This may be the beginning of the turn around. We have all noticed that things are picking up and business is starting to grow.

Full steam ahead!
Karen

.

Copper Pipe Theft in Massachusetts

2011-10-26T16:30:00.001-04:00

Copper Pipe Theft in Massachusetts

Copper pipe theft is a real problem for homeowners and home buyers in Massachusetts. Once a house is vacant it is open pray to thieves. They watch and once they see that there is no activity they break in and steal the copper pipes. Some signs they look for are if the windows no longer have curtains, mail is backed up in the mailbox, the landscaping is overgrown or there are no tracks or clearing of ways in the snow.

Once the pipes are stolen the properties are more difficult to sell because most buyers don't have either the time, the money or the knowledge to repair it and they are also more difficult to finance. This creates a spiral effect on the market by bringing sale prices down in turn effecting the values of other property in the area.

In an effort to try and stop this the Massachusetts Realtors are working hard trying to get a bill passed in the Senate that will require metal scrap companies to get information from the people bringing in the metal, including a signed statement, photocopy of their ID, and photo and record of the weight of the metal item received if it's valued over $250. These records will then be turned over to police. Hopefully this will dissuade the thieves by making it more difficult to cash in.

The Bill is S.145 'An Act Regulating Secondary Metals Dealing' and more information can be found at : http://t.co/kMuhyVRt

If you own vacant property it is a good idea to walk around and make sure all of the doors and windows are secure. Keep the property looking occupied by hanging window treatments, keeping the yard cut in the fall, spring and summer and walkways shoveled in winter, collect mail and try to stop in often.

Safe Selling!!
Karen

When will the Real Estate Market Improve???

2011-01-06T18:27:00.001-05:00

When will the real estate market improve? A question on everyone's mind. People can speculate, and they do. They can ask the mortgage originators what they think. They can ask Realtors what they think. They can ask the government officials their opinions and thoughts. Of course we all know that only time will tell but the unknown is frustrating, we want to see positive changes and we want to see them now! One thing that we do know is that it WILL improve, that's good right? We just want to know when. Hopefully we will see positive changes this year. We are putting our faith in you 2011!

Have a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Karen The Realtor

Christmas Time

2010-12-21T16:21:00.001-05:00

Christmas is almost here but don't worry, don't be stressed. It will all get done. Everything will be ready and in just four more days it will be over. Why do we let the holiday get us so stressed? It is supposed to be a time to enjoy and think and reflect. We can choose to make it simpler and more relaxed. Take some time to give to someone less fortunate, whether it be money, a gift or giving your time. That will help you put everything into perspective and make the holiday more enjoyable. Enjoy your family, the beautiful food and the twinkle of the lights!

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Karen The Realtor

Karen The Realtor - Let My Knowledge and Patience Lead You Home!: Septic System Tips

2010-11-19T10:42:00.000-05:00

Karen The Realtor - Let My Knowledge and Patience Lead You Home!: Septic System Tips: "If you have never lived in a home that had a private septic system here are some do's and dont's that you should know. Do: Have the system..."

Septic System Tips

2010-11-19T10:40:00.000-05:00

If you have never lived in a home that had a private septic system here are some do's and dont's that you should know.

Do:
Have the system pumped every year or two.
Think about conserving water by only running the dishwasher and laundry with full loads and install low flow shower heads and faucets.
Divert gutters and surface water away from the leaching field.
Buy septic system safe toilet paper so it will not clog the pipes.

Don't:
Drive over the septic or leaching area.
Do not put large plants too close to the leaching field, roots can cause damage.

Do not install a garbage disposal.
Bacteria is important for the septic to work properly so avoid putting anything down the drain that is bad for bacteria like bleach products, powdered laundry detergent, colored toilet paper or caustic drain cleaners.
Don't put coffee grounds down the drain, they will float and clog up the leaching field.

Take good care of your septic system and hopefully it will take good care of you for years to come! :)

Karen The Realtor

Short Sales in Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island

2010-10-11T15:38:00.003-04:00

The majority of listing appointments in my area are short sales. There was a time when I would go on listing appointments and make the sellers smile with pleasure when I told them what their property was worth. Those days are long gone! All I do is disappoint most sellers today, I even make some cry. It is very sad to find out that you can not sell your property for what you paid for it. This is what many sellers are facing today. So what can they do? They can do a short sale.

A short sale simply means that the owner owes more on a property than what it is worth. The bank calls this "short", like they are "short money". It doesn't mean that the sale will move quickly. It is actually quite the opposite. Short sales can take anywhere from 2 to 6 months, sometimes even up to a year before we have an answer from the bank telling us if they will allow the sale to be short.

In order to request a short sale from a bank the seller would need to have a "hardship". This would be the reason why they need to sell or are unable to make the mortgage payments anymore. It could be a cut in pay, job loss, tenants not paying, an illness, death in the family, a recent divorce or any life situation change that effects their ability to meet the mortgage payments. The seller needs to write a letter to the bank explaining their hardship and asking for a short sale approval.

Once that is done we do a market analysis to find out what the house would sell for in todays market and we list it at that price. We market and show the house as usual and when we get an offer that is acceptable to the seller then we go to a purchase and sales agreement and submit all paperwork to the bank and wait for an answer.

The buyer may choose to wait to have the home inspection and the bank appraisal until the short sale is approved. Once they have word then they move forward quickly. The short sale bank usually only gives the buyer and seller 2 to 3 weeks to close on the house so the buyer usually has everything else ready to go.

When we show short sales most times they are already vacant. The sellers move on so that they won't be looking for a place at the last moment. They take only what they can fit in their new place so often times there is a lot of personal items left behind. It is not uncommon to find rotting food and debris scattered around the house and yard. The buyers look at the things left behind trying to piece together who lived here and what happened to them. Childrens toys left behind that they must have outgrown. Kitchen appliances that they never really used. Pictures of things they want to forget.

We hope that the seller notified the insurance company to let them know that the house is vacant, but we know most times they have not because the insurance will cost much more. Knowing that if anything happened they won't be covered. If the house wasn't winterized, and most times they are not because the seller doesn't have the money, pipes and heating system could be ruined if the house remains empty into the cold months. Some of them already have plumbing and heating damage as well as mold damage from the water on the walls, floors and in the basements. Once the yards overgrow from lack of care vandals notice them and break in to steal pipes. It turns into a real nightmare. And with all of these things happening the price of the property slowly spirals down lower and lower, making the shortage greater and greater.

If the banks would put all of their staff and energy focused on getting the short sales either approved or denied as quickly as possible it would improve the market greatly. Not only would it improve the market but it would improve the chances of them getting the most that they can for the property before it deteriorates. If buyers knew that they would have an answer in a month then we would have so many more buyers willing to look at properties that need a short sale. Many buyers won't even consider looking at houses that are short sales for fear of wasting months waiting for an answer and after all of that time it could be a "Not Approved".

I wish I knew how to make it better. The banks have to figure it out. When they do the market will change and start heading in the other direction and once again people will enjoy a growth in their investment. Until then we just have to keep moving ahead and doing the best we can to help our buyers and sellers and keep them informed.

And just in case you didn't know, it's a great time to buy!

Karen The Realtor
Karen J. Archambault

Unique Selling Proposition!

2010-09-29T13:27:00.000-04:00

Hello again! I am just dropping a blog (I just came up with that one!) because I am very excited about my new USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Here is Wickipedia's definition of a USP:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Unique Selling Proposition (also Unique Selling Point or USP) is a marketing concept that was first proposed as a theory to explain a pattern among successful advertising campaigns of the early 1940s. It states that such campaigns made unique propositions to the customer and that this convinced them to switch brands. The term was invented by Rosser Reeves of Ted Bates & Company. Today the term is used in other fields or just casually to refer to any aspect of an object that differentiates it from similar objects.

A number of businesses and corporations currently use USPs as a basis for their marketing campaigns.

Some unique propositions that were pioneers when they were introduced:
Domino's Pizza: "You get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less -- or it's free."
FedEx: "When your package absolutely, positively has to get there overnight"
M&M's: "Melts in your mouth, not in your hand"
Wonder Bread: "Wonder Bread Helps Build Strong Bodies 12 Ways"

So anyyyywayyyyy.....One of my Mortgage companies is having a contest to find the Realtor with the best USP. The winner will receive 2 New England Patriots Fidelity Club Seat tickets for the 2010-2011 season!!! Crazy right????

Soooooo.....This is what I came up with:

"Let my Knowledge and Patience Lead You Home!"

I hope it's good enough! Wish me luck!!!!

Karen The Realtor

Selling Bank Owned Property in Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island

2010-09-24T12:05:00.000-04:00

They are becoming the norm in my area of Southeastern Massachusetts.

One out of every ten properties on the market today are either bank owned or subject to a short sale approval. We have all been thrown into this new way of doing business whether we like it or not. Each of them has their own challenges.

The bank owned properties are multiplying before our eyes. Boarded up single family and multi family homes surround us. No longer do we work side by side with our local realtors. In this market we work with the listing agents who are not from around here, who easily carry 100 listings in Massachusetts and Rhode Island from different banks, who have no idea what the properties even look like because they hired a company to secure the building and put a lock box on it. We never meet or see this listing agent. We may speak to them on the phone but they don't know who we are as we re-introduce ourselves every time we call.

Buyers simply give us the addresses of the properties they are interested in and we call each agent, or the new MAPASS, to get the lock box combinations. We drive from one property to the next each vacant, colder inside than out in the winter, hotter inside than out in the summer. They are all sealed up with heating systems drained of all water and power turned off. You become accustomed to smells from mold growing and things rotting. You wander through not knowing where each room will lead. No agent is there to tell you about the neighbors or the age of the roof or when updates to the house were done. You are alone wondering what happened to the owners. Sad to know this was someone’s home. Each showing only takes 15-20 minutes to show until you are on to the next. No tenants to call ahead of time to get permission to be let in. No smells of cooking or home, just cold, dark rooms.

Low offers are presented and the few that do end up selling usually still take months to close because of the title issues that come up with this or that paper missing at the registry from when the bank took the house. Sometimes they close....sometimes the buyer gets tired of waiting and walks away.

This is what it is like to sell bank owned property in Southeastern Massachusetts today. I'll be back to tell you more about Short Sales next time!!! Thanks for reading, I would love to hear your thoughts!

Karen The Realtor

New Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Requirements in MA Effective 4/5/10

2010-09-22T12:03:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure if everyone is aware of the new changes to the MA Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Requirements when selling Property with Five or less Units.

It is pretty complicated but in a nut shell this is the deal:

All smoke detectors installed within 20 ft. of bathrooms and kitchens will be required to be photoelectric only detectors. All smoke detectors installed outside of 20 ft. of kitchens and bathrooms must use either; a Dual detector containing both ionization and photoelectric or Two sepaprate detectors, one photoelectric and one ionization.

There are differences in the requirements based on the year built. Before 1975 has requirements that differ from property built between 1975-1997. Then there are separate requirements for homes built between 1997-2008 and then after 2008.

Since March 31, 2006 carbon monoxide alarms have been required in all residences. This law applies to all residences whether or not the residence is being sold or transferred.

For more information regarding what detectors you should have and where the detectors are required to be, visit www.mass.gov/dfs.

I hope this is helpful! If you have any questions please feel free to email me at emailme@karentherealtor.com or call me at 508-677-3233.

Be safe out there!

Karen The Realtor
Karen Archambault
Century 21 Associates Realty

Learning How To Blog

2010-07-23T16:58:00.000-04:00

As you can see by my Blog I am new to posting and trying to figure out what to say that will be useful. I am going to try and post a blog at least once a week with new information that is both informative and fun!

Real Estate is ever changing so I hope that I can keep it fresh. I do hope that more people will be able to use my website and blog to learn about the real estate market in areas surrounding Fall River, MA.

This is it for today but I'll be back with some good stuff so watch for it!

Karen The Realtor!
a.k.a. Karen Archambault

Five easy steps to Short Sale Approval

2009-10-02T16:30:00.001-04:00

I have been working with short sales and the more we do the more we learn.

We started out trying to send the offer over to the bank for approval before the seller signed and it just wasn't working. The last sales that were approved were done completely different.

Here are the five easy steps to short sale approval! :)

Step 1. As soon as you get the listing get the sellers to sign a Third Party Authorization and fax it over to the bank/banks.

Step 2. Present the offer to the Seller and counter-offer to get the best price that you think you can get in this market. Once you feel the price is the best you can get then the Seller accepts the offer and writes in the conditions that it is subject to bank approval, we usually put in the name or names of the banks involved. Don't forget to make sure you have a pre-qualification letter and/or proof of funds from the buyer before you even accept the offer.

Step 3. Draw up the P&S sign by all parties.

Step 4. Gather all of the Sellers financial Information, a Hardship letter, P&S, buyers pre-qualification and/or proof of funds, listing agreement and estimated settlement statement and fax it over to the bank/banks for approval.

Step 5. Close the deal!

Sounds easy right???? We wish it were as easy as it sounds! But honestly even though it is a lot of work and time to get them approved it is working better when we do it this way and the more we do the better we are getting at it!

See you at the closing! :)

Karen J. Archambault
"Karen The Realtor"
Century 21 Associates Realty Inc.

FREE $8000 to first time homebuyers

2009-09-23T16:50:00.000-04:00

HURRY BEFORE TIME RUNS OUT!

First time home buyers be aware that the clock is ticking!!!! If you want to take advantage of the first time home buyers new tax incentive then you have to close before November 30th, 2009!

That means you should have the property under agreement by September to be sure you will close in time.

HOW DO YOU GET THE MONEY???

If you normally get money back from the IRS come income tax time and your finances haven't changed then this is cash back to you. If you don't want to wait until you file your 2009 income tax then your accountant can file an ammended tax return for your 2008 taxes and the money can be direct deposited to your account.

DO YOU QUALIFY AS A FIRST TIME HOMEBUYER???

If you have not owned your primary residence in the last 3 years then you are a first time homebuyer. You can own vacation property, income property or be on the deed to another property as long as it has not been your primary residence for the last 3 years. A FEW DETAILS.... The credit is $8000 or 10% of the sale price, which ever is lower. It can not be a family sale. Multi-family homes may not qualify or may only be a % of the sales price based on the % of the house that will be owner occupied. Call or email me if you need help.

Now get out there and find your dream home!!! :)

Karen J. Archambault
"Karen The Realtor"
Century 21 Associates Realty
508-677-3233