Pickens County Lines

Who Is Buying Real Estate?

Ron Barnes — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:06:31 +0000

Do you have a ListingBook.com account? Call me and I’ll set one up for you!

Sometimes it’s hard for sellers to believe there are people actually buying homes. The National Association of Realtors performs a consumer survey every year. Here is some information from 2009 transactions that might help you tailor a marketing approach for your property. (more…)

Be Creative to Sell Your Home

Ron Barnes — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:26:55 +0000

Search Foreclosures and Short Sales at www.RonBarnesRealEstate.com

As recently as a couple of years ago, I generally would not pursue most owner finance transactions. There were two reasons. Up until that time money was obscenely available, so if the prospect couldn’t qualify for a bank loan, they should have been more concerned with finding a pulse in their arm than buying a house. The second is that homes were selling well, so there was no incentive for sellers to tie up their assets in owner financing the sale of their homes. Times have changed, to say the least. (more…)

Activity or Accomplishment?

Ron Barnes — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:41:49 +0000

View all MLS listings at www.RonBarnesRealEstate.com

The late basketball coach John Wooden is attributed with the saying “Never confuse activity with accomplishment”. It is advice that can serve us all well. Simply flailing around looking busy does not in itself solve the challenges of life. With that in mind, let’s examine some of the current developments in real estate. (more…)

Didn’t Your Mother Teach You Anything?

Ron Barnes — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 12:18:46 +0000

Two phrases come to mind when describing the state of the real estate market lately.

The first I attribute to Dan Forsman, President of Prudential Georgia Realty, which goes like this: “As the pieces of the pie get smaller, the table manners get worse”. I cannot recall so many people, both real estate professionals and their clients, having such a bad attitude toward other people. Just because it’s a “buyer’s market” does not give anyone the right to forget what their mother taught them about common courtesy. (more…)

Mortgage Rates - Interesting

Ron Barnes — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 12:06:32 +0000

Search all MLS listings at www.RonBarnesRealEstate.com

A couple of weeks ago, I made a statement reflecting analyst predictions that interest rates would reach 6% by year end. I’m not even sure the ink is dry on that one, and now interest rates are trending lower. Now before you make fun of me, I can explain. (more…)

Bye-Bye Tax Credit – Hello Reforms

Ron Barnes — Tue, 04 May 2010 11:55:54 +0000

You can search all MLS listings at www.RonBarnesRealEstate.com

So as of last Friday, the home buyer tax credit can rest in peace. I never got the feeling that it ever really took off like we expected. I had some clients that took advantage of the $8,000 credit to provide or beef up down payments, but I think they would have purchased a new home anyway. The credit just helped them along. That means that in many cases, all we did was spend tax dollars for a non-stimulus, which is typical of government intervention. Now that we have a largely unpopular healthcare reform bill in place, we are moving on to “financial reform”. It seems to be a popular notion that we need to hack up the rules regarding lending practices so the “fat cats” don’t rip us off again. At the risk of taking an unpopular position on this, I disagree. (more…)

We Don’t Need Financial Reform!

Ron Barnes — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 14:35:32 +0000

Now that Washington has “fixed” health care, they are setting their sights on financial reform. What caused the current problem with the economy was not a lack of regulatory rules. It was a lack of enforcement of those rules that was promulgated by a failed policy. The FDIC simply looked the other way, or actually forced financial institutions to make loans that were totally stupid. (more…)

Foreclosures and the Market

Ron Barnes — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:33:06 +0000

Search all the MLS listings at www.RonBarnesRealEstate.com

The Oval Office has revamped the foreclosure rules yet again. Maybe this change will work since the program has been largely a failure prior to this. Effective April 5, 2010 the following rules will apply to HAFA short sales. (more…)

New Rules For MHA Short Sales

Ron Barnes — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 21:30:32 +0000

Effective April 5, 2010 the following rules will apply to MHA/HAFA short sales.

The Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Short Sales Program (with a few new “tweaks”)

Allows the borrower to receive pre-approved short sale terms from the Servicer prior to the property listing. These terms are clearly spelled out in a standard Short Sale Agreement form (SSA) provided by the Servicer and agreed to by the seller. The SSA includes the list price or identifies acceptable sale proceeds which are expressed as a net amount after subtracting allowable costs that the Servicer will agree to. The minimum net amount in the SSA may not be increased until the initial Short Sale agreement termination date is reached (this is not less than 120 days). Servicer may choose to extend the Short Sale Agreement up to a total term of 12 months.
Requires that borrowers be fully released from future liability for the first lien mortgage debt.
Uses standard processes, documents, and time frames.
Provides a $1,500 relocation allowance to the borrower following a successful short sale. Servicers and investors receive government financial incentives as well.
Within three days of receipt of an executed purchase offer, the borrower/listing agent submit to the Servicer a Request for the Approval of Short Sale (RASS) form complete with
- Executed sales contract and addenda
- Buyers documentation of funds or lender preapproval or commitment letter
- Information on status of negotiations with subordinate lien holders
The Servicer must approve or disapprove the sale within ten business days by signing the RASS and mailing it to the borrower. This should speed things up!
Here’s the specific language from the new directive as it applies to commission, “The Servicer may not require, as a condition of approving a short sale, a reduction in the real estate commission below the commission stated in the SSA.” (The commission cannot exceed 6%.)

The Cost of Waiting

Ron Barnes — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 14:30:41 +0000

View all the MLS listings at www.RonBarnesRealEstate.com

I’ve been doing a little reading lately, and a little listening too. There is this guy named Stephan Swanepoel, who is supposed to be the Grand Pooba of real estate forecasting. Most people have never heard of him, which makes him even more mysterious. Like most of the gurus, he never seems to remember when he was wrong, but he is right most of the time. There is another guy named Dan Forsman, who happens to be the CEO of our company, and is also a CPA and pretty shrewd number cruncher. If you pay attention to them you can learn some things. (more…)