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Thursday, September 27. 2007
According to the UW Extension's Economic Snapshot and realtytrack.com, Wisconsin fared much better than the rest of the nation in the number of foreclosures in the first half of 2007. The national average for foreclosure is stated as 1 out of every 143 homes The Wisconsin average for foreclosure is stated as just 1 out of every 422 homes The Dane County average for foreclosure is stated as 1 out of every 460 homes. Milwaukee County was the closest to the national average with average foreclosure rate of 1 out of every 171 homes.
Thursday, September 27. 2007
If you are in the position to pay extra on your mortgage each month, by all means do it! Every little bit extra applied to your principal balance can make a big difference. There are several ways to prepay (But first make sure there is not a pre-pay penalty on your mortgage) SELF-DIRECTED Add $50-$100 and up to your payment each month, depending on your cash flow situation, and apply it to the principal balance. You need self discipline to do this. Learn the concept of "pay yourself first" and it will benefit you in the long run SIGN UP FOR A BI-WEEKLY PROGRAM I got a solicitation in the mail offering "bi-weekly payments to pay off your mortgage faster". Maybe you have received some too. I was curious and checked it out with my loan officer. It is true with a system like this in which you pay every two weeks, you will end up making a whole extra payment over the course of the year. That's good. But, often these services charge a fee to set you up - sometimes as much as $800. Both systems work- you just need to decide which is best for you. If you have got a little self discipline, you can pre-pay on your own, save any set-up fee, and have the freedom to decide how much extra to pay each month.
Monday, September 24. 2007
TOP TEN REASONS TO LIVE IN WISCONSIN Above is what the wisconsin.gov web site says are the ten best things about living in Wisconsin - I would add #11 The change of seasons - we complain about the weather all the time it seems. But what if all we ever had was hot? Wouldn't you get sick of it? The changing landscape of Wisconsin that comes with the change of seasons is a wonderful thing in my opinion. I just planted 100 bulbs this weekend... can't wait until spring! But I want to experience fall and winter first...
Monday, September 24. 2007
The following article hits the nail on the head - so I will just link for the first part of this post. Top 10 Ways to Make Home Buyers Hate Your House It rings true to me - I remember looking at houses a few years ago. One was very interesting and tempting, had a great big yard but it had a "dog room". Stinky. We didn't buy it. The dogs were gone for the showing, thankfully. There's probably nothing more distracting than being barked at by the home's canine owners as you take a tour.
To attract the most buyers, be clean, clean, clean and in good repair. Obvious. But, you do only need one buyer, one who may see a bigger picture. I am a good example of a buyer who found the perfect home for herself, even though the houses definitely were not perfect - they were perfect for me so I bought them anyway. Once I fell in love it was all over.
- Even though the front door wouldn't open on the condo, I bought it and was happy. (why didn't the seller fix it? They were lucky I was interested enough to come back a second time! I can't image how many people walked away and never looked back.)
- And even though the next house I bought had a wreck of a swimming pool in the back yard, I bought it and am happy. (The pool is now gone... and when I sell, I won't be turning off people who don't want a pool.)
So, do your best to attract the most. But in the end, you just need one buyer
Monday, September 24. 2007
There is a $29,000,000 dollar home for sale in Ellison Bay, Door County. I have driven by this house before - it is over the top. It can be found on this web site http://propertiesofdoorcounty.com/index.htm- but be warned, they have one of those "register and we will give you information" kind of web sites. I didn't register. Why have a web site and keep the door locked?
Friday, September 21. 2007
While I work at First Weber Group and have for a long time, I sure don't know all there is to know about about the ins and outs of Relocation. I have seen the impressive list of corporate clients First Weber works with, I know we do enough business in Relocation to have quite a large department. I was happy to learn that recently our Relocation Department has been re-certified with the RELO Quality Certification, a national recognition - the only real estate broker in Milwaukee and one of just a few in the state to receive that. They know what they are doing and are good at it. I do not know what it is like to be a transferree or what it feels like to drive these transferrees across the city and show them the sights and various housing styles, explain the area's major attractions, major employers, the many communities. I would imagine that would be pretty stressful for the incoming transferee, yet probably pretty exciting too. New job, new home, new start. For the Realtor, it is an intense few days, concentrating on the transferee's needs while they are in town , yet still attending to daily business duties. Relocation brings talent & new businesses to Wisconsin. (That's all good.) Real Estate agents who specialize in relocation act as part tour guide, real estate agent, ambassador to the state of Wisconsin, counselor. (We're good at it, but, hey, it is just part of our job.)
Wednesday, September 19. 2007
Do you want the good news or the bad news first? Let's do the bad news first: It was reported in the Sept 10 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Business section that , "33% of home loans failed to close last month (August, 2007)." Getting a mortgage and having it funded didn't use to be a big deal. But now? You had better chose a solid lender to work with to be sure of a close on your home. The fall of the sub prime market and increased foreclosures has many lenders tightening their purse strings, often failing to provide previously promised loan dollars to home buyers at the last minute. Many went out of business because they had all their eggs in the basket of "risky loans." So...What's a home buyer to do? What's a home seller to do? LOOK FOR AND USE REPUTABLE MORTGAGE COMAPNIES! Even sellers pay attention to the lender their potential buyer has selected as an indicator of the strength and solidity of the offer being made! Now for the GOOD news: First Weber has for years partnered with mortgage companies we had good experiences with. One of these, an affiliated business of First Weber Group Southeastern Milwaukee, is Priority Mortgage Corporation. Guess what? Priority Mortgage funded 100% of their loans in August 2007. The real estate agent matters, the lender matters. Most of all, maybe, experience matters. Experienced mortgage companie and agents can sometimes salvage a failing transaction. We've got both. Can we help you?
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