Lehigh Valley Homes & Real Estate - Tips for Buyers & Current Homeowners

Lehigh Valley Real Estate & Homes - Free Upcoming Home Buying Seminar / Workshop being held in Allentown PA - Learn before you buy - Not only First Time Home Buyers - Repeat Buyers welcome too.

UPDATE 12-13-09: Added New Workshop Date & Question & Answer Session now Confirmed

FREE Home Buying Workshop

       WHEN: January 9, 2009 February 6, 2010
       What Time: 10am to 1pm
             Guest Speakers: 1pm to 2pm see below

       WHERE: RE/MAX real estate Office

        3021 College Heights Blvd Allentown, PA 18104

          Go to MapQuest to Get Door TO Door Directions

 
Registration is a MUST click HERE!

Seating is Limited to 22 10
We decided to give more attention to our students and limit seating to 10

We will hold a cancellation List
 If you register and can not make it please contact us

Refreshments will be served

Future Workshops - scheduled by Demand

WHAT WILL YOU LEARN?

• Down Payment & Closing Cost Assistance Programs (state & local)
  
• How do you get the 8K Tax Credit or 6500 for Repeat Buyers
  
• How to Determine how much a home is worth to make an offer.
  
• How to make an offer on a home
  
• Negotiating Your offer with the Seller
  
• How to get the seller to give you... $5000 toward your closing costs
  
• No down payment Loans & 3.5% down payment loans
  
• How much are closing costs?
  
• Common Inspections to get on a home
  
• How to get Full Detailed Listings of Homes that fit your specific needs
• and MUCH, MUCH MORE.
  

ALL Students will be given full written presentation materials to take home

Local Professional Instructors Include

Moriah Martin, Real Estate Agent
RE/MAX real estate, Allentown PA

John M Obleschuk
Mortgage Consultant & Renovation Specialist
Wells Fargo Mortgage

Special Guests for Question & Answer Session
this may include lunch for our students

12:30 to 1:30pm 1pm to 2pm F

From

Jenique Jones, Lehigh Valley Credit Repair
Joe Poplawski, Advantage Home Inspection Services

Other Lehigh Valley Real Estate and Home Buying and Selling Questions
10 Top Home Buyer Questions
Top 5 Lehigh Valley Seller Questions
What is a buyers Agent?
10 Things you should know about Buying a Foreclosure

*Lehigh Valley Real Estate - FREE Home Buying Seminar / Workshop in Allentown, PA * Moriah Martin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

Lehigh Valley Homes & Real Estate - The Home Inspection 4 Things Buyers and Sellers should know - When selling a home in Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton or the surrounding area..you should be prepared when it comes to the home inspection.

Tips for Lehigh Valley Buyers and Sellers about the Home Inspection.

This information will apply to you ONLY If you plan on working with a Real Estate Agent to buy and or sell a home in the Lehigh Valley PA area.  If you plan on selling your home as a For Sale By Owner..this may not apply to you. This ONLY applied to those who will be using the PA State regulated Residential Standard Agreement of sale for the Sale of Real Estate.

These Tips will help Buyer's Make stronger offers that will stand up against other competing offers and give Seller's ideas of key areas that they should consider with negotiating the offer they get on their home. In my opinion these Tips are beneficial for the buyer and the seller.

1) Buyers & Sellers - You have two options when negotiating the Home Inspection condition of the agreement of sale.

OPTION 1: Says "Mr. Seller I am a smart buyer and I am going to get a home inspection and no matter what the home inspection report says, I have the right to walk away and get my deposit money back"

OPTION 2: Says "Mr. Seller I am a smart buyer and I am going to get a home inspection and no matter what the home inspection report says, I will be forced to negotiate with you first BEFORE I walk away and get my deposit money back"

MY Opinion: Option 2 keeps everyone communicating and while the intentions of both sides is for the buyer to buy and the seller to sell...this is just a much better way to sign an agreement of sale with a home inspection condition in my eye's.

2) Buyer's & Seller's - When the offer is being negotiated be familar with the Home Inspection Exclusion Clause area of the Agreement of Sale...you should be keeping in mind if the home is being listed and sold with the roof needing to be replaced as an example or the buyer knows that the Furnance is at it's end of life and they plan on replacing it and this is the reason for their offer at lower than current market value...items that are not being considered to be conditioned on the home inspection should be written as an exclusion in the home inspection condition section.  This is really important when negotiating...because if a seller is going to give a buyer a large discount due to replacing the roof or doing any major mechanical items...then the buyer comes back and says..after the home inspection..well, the inspector says the roof needs to be replace...anything that is NOT in writing is NOT in writing.  Keeps everyone honest and also makes a buyer's offer stronger against other competing offers...because very few people use the exclusion field of the Agreement of Sale.  I have beat many competing offers due to adding exclusions to this area.

3) Buyer's & Seller's - You should know that there are a few different types of inspections that will be conducted the home for the buyer during the execution of the agreement of sale. Which can cause reasons for re-negotiations 2 to 3 times over before settlement.  There may will be the following inspections on the home depending on the Home Buyers Type of Mortgage, The inspection conditions requested by the buyer, Home Insurance Company selected, the Muncipality the home is located in.

Who may inspect the home which can cause a reason for future negotiations due to repair requests

1) The local municipality for a CO resale inspection
2) The Typical Home Inspector
3) The Mortgage Appraiser - Could be for FHA or Conventional apprasial
4) The Septic Inspector (unless it's public water)
5) A Water Test if it's well water (unless it's public water)
6) A Radon Inspector
7) The Homeowners Insurance Company
8) A Termite Inspection

All Inspections must be conducted within 15 days ACCEPT the appraisal. The appraisal needs to be completed prior to the Mortgage approval Date which is another deadline within the Agreement of Sale.

4) Buyers & Sellers - The Typical Home Inspection time Frame and Who should Attend? A Home Inspection for a home that is 2000 sq ft takes about 3 hours.  Seller's you really should not be home - Buyer's you should be there ...not only to learn about your new home, but to make sure the inspector is doing what he is suppose to be doing and I even believe the Buyer Agent should also be present just in case there are issues ...so everyone can get a visual of the problem and negotiations can be conducted in a clearer and more professional manner.

Other Lehigh Valley Real Estate and Home Buying and Selling Questions
10 Top Home Buyer Questions
Top 5 Lehigh Valley Seller Questions
What is a buyers Agent?
10 Things you should know about Buying a Foreclosure

* Lehigh Valley Homes & Real Estate - The Home Inspection 4 Things Buyers & Sellers should Know* Moriah Martin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

Lehigh Valley Foreclosure & Real Estate - 10 Things to know about Foreclosures in the Lehigh Valley Area - Thinking about Buying a Foreclosure, Bank owned, REO or Short Sale Property? Things you need to know first.

Foreclosure's can be a great opportunity for a Home Buyer to get a property at a discounted Price. 

BUT Before just jumping into this head first and ONLY looking for a Foreclosure to purchase...let's make sure you know some details about buying a Lehigh Valley Foreclosure.

1) Typically a Foreclosure has been vacate for about 1 year BEFORE it has become available on the MLS for you to purchase. Typically, Foreclosures are sold & Listed at 20 to $30,000.00 under current Market Value.  Some are more and some are less. 

2) Over 75% of the Time the Utilities in the property have been turned off and the home has been winterized. So, Bring a Flash Light to your showing :-)

3) Not all Foreclosures can get financed by the standard FHA or Conventional Loan BUT can get financed by using an FHA 203K Streamline Loan.

4) The buyer will be responsible for turning on all the utilities in their own name to conduct any Buyer requested home inspections and leave the utilities on for the Mortgage appraisal, Homeowners Insurance Company Inspection and Municipal Resale inspection, if required.

5) The buyer will be responsible for ordering and paying for the Municipal Resale inspection for the purpose of getting a clear certificate of occupancy from the Local Municipality and also be responsible for any repairs that come up on this report.  These repairs do not need to be completed prior to settlement but usually will need to be completed and the property reinspected between 30 days and 1 year from the purchase date.

6) You can have your Real Estate Agent setup a search on the Lehigh Valley MLS to ONLY search for Foreclosured properties if you would like.  Just ask them to search the special condition of Bank Owned and this will accomplish your goal.  Today: 11-7-09 there are 247 Bank Owned Properties for sale in Lehigh and Northampton county.

7) Foreclosures come in the form of several different names: Bank Owned, REO "Real Estate Owned" , Foreclosure, HUD owned.  Depending on the type of Foreclosure and the Bank who owns the Home, will depend on the process in which you will be required to make your offer and also the additional addendum's you will be required to sign.

8) Foreclosures can take anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks just to get a reply from the bank.

9) Banks do prefer to have cash transactions, then conventional loans, then FHA loans.  But, do not be afraid to give it a shot if you are interested in a foreclosure...the worst thing that could happen is that your offer does not get accepted.  When your offer is going through the reply process and You are waiting on an reply to your offer from the bank...I suggest you keep watching the market just in case your offer does not get accepted.

10) Not all Real Estate Agents like working with Selling Foreclosed Properties.  So, make sure when you are looking for  a Buyer agent that you find out what types of properties they will help you purchase.

LAST NOTE: A Short Sale is NOT a Foreclosed Property.  A short Sale is a pre-foreclosure...this is when a homeowner trying to avoid the foreclosure process by conducting a short sale on their property.

Other Lehigh Valley Real Estate and Home Buying and Selling Questions
10 Top Home Buyer Questions
4 Things to know about the Home Inspection
Top 5 Lehigh Valley Seller Questions
What is a buyers Agent?

* Lehigh Valley Foreclosure & Real Estate - 10 Things to know about Buying Foreclosures* Moriah Martin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

Lehigh Valley Real Estate & Homes - Top 5 Lehigh Valley Seller Questions when selling a home in the Lehigh Valley PA Area.  Lehigh Valley Real Estate selling techniques and suggestions including Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton.

When thinking about selling a home it can be a very stressful and overwhelming time for you.  If you get 3 Different Real Estate Agents to give you a CMA (current market anylasis) Bascially, Tell you what you can list and sell your home for...you may get varied answers, but each one should be within the same range...unless they are just tell you what you want to hear.  But, hopefully with the following information it will give you a bit more knowledge about selling your home in the Lehigh Valley and a few of the Top Questions most Seller's have in today's market.

1) What is my Home worth?

The only way to find out what your home is worth is to have a local real estate agent come out to your home to conduct a walk through and then return to the office and research the Lehigh Valley MLS for properties that have SOLD in your community recently (3 to 6 months) max if possible and by comparing features, updates/upgrades, lot size, bedrooms and Baths (within a 1 plus or minus) and sq feet (within 300 sq ft plus or minus) and see how they compare to yours. This is the way a Mortgage Appriaser for the Buyer's Mortgage Company will establish value to your property and the Buyer's Agent will establish market value for the buyer when they are making an offer. See about Blog about establishing market value by using Online Consumer Resources like Zillow & Trulia.

2) What if I owe more on my home than it is worth right now AND you want to SELL?

If you are a seller who NEEDS to sell your home due to a financial hardship which is or will cause you to fall behind on your mortgage at sometime in the near future you can wither sell your property and bring the difference between what your home sells for and what your loan amount/Closing costs area OR you can work with a local Real Estate Agent who is educated in the Short Sale Process and conduct a Short Sale on your property.

3) Is Today a Bad time to sell?

For those sellers who have owned their home prior to 2004 the average appreciation in the Lehigh Valley Typically has been between 3 to 5% annual.  Most capping about 4% So, if you look at what you purchased of your and added 4% appreciation every year...the final number should be right around what your home should be worth if you have maintained your home and added average updates.

Those who have purchased and/or Refinanced their homes between 2004 and 2007 may find it difficult to sell their home in 2009 through 2012.  The reason is because the value's of homes during 2004 and 2007 where inflated and frankly properties where appraised for values they should have never been valued at.  Values where increasing 20 to $30,000.00 just over a few months.

So, the issues with the Housing Market are all steaming around the time period of 2004 to 2007 and if you where not involved with the purchase or refinance during this time period, this should be a good time to sell.

4) What should I do to get my home ready to sell?

This is something that can not be answered as everyone's situation is different.  It will depend on what your home is worth in it's current condition compared to other properties sold and currently on the market.  It depends on what the numbers are.  The important point you should know is a home can be sold outdated and needing TLC but it just needs to be priced correctly in the market place.  The key is - You should be watching the market daily like you are a buyer looking for homes just like yours, in your School District, price range, sq foot and bed/baths...think like a buyer and have a search setup like a buyer...if the buyer is seeing other homes like yours that are showing nicer for a lower price...then your home that is currently listed on the market.  All you are doing is helping sell the other homes.  You NEED to compete with the other homes on the market as you are in a compeition to make your home be the best overall value fixed up or not.  There are many people in today's market that need a home that is larger but NOT updated/upgraded with all the highend stuff...because they can better afford purchasing the home without the $20,000.00 in updates and then do the updates slowly as they have the money.  You see? So you just need to price it fairly and they will come. Price it over market value and you will get no showings and the home will just sit on the market wasting time while all the other homes get sold.

5) Shouldn't we Add 20 or $30,000.00 to the current market value price when we list it so we have room to negotiate with the Buyer?

ABSOLUTELY NOT! I know this seems like a common sense approach to selling a home and this may have worked many years ago before buyers where being represented by Buyer Agents and before 1999 when there was no such thing as the Lehigh Valley MLS.  But, now. This is HANDS DOWN the worst thing you can do when selling your home.  Let me give you a few reasons why.

Reason #1: The current market value of your home is proven by other homes that sold recently (3 to 6 months) so, The buyer's setup their search with a Professional Buyer's Agent Guiding them.. for the price range of homes current market value and what they can afford for homes like these.  Let's say you are selling an semi updated Cape Cod in South Whitehall/Parkland Schools.  Homes like these are worth currently 179,000.00 needing just a bit of work to $200,000.00 all updated...Your home is worth max 190,000.00 because the homes at $200,000.00 have double the size lot, Central Air, Finished Basements and 2 car Garages. You list your home at 210,000.00. Well, The problem now is the Buyers price range for homes is caped at 200,000 or under because that is the current market value for a home like yours.  But, BECAUSE you have OVER priced your home...your home is not even coming up in their search results.

Reason #2: Because you have decided to over price your home so you can "negotiate" with the buyer who never even views your home because it is not within their price range...or even the price range of other homes like this..you will not even get an offer on your home from this buyer because they will not be looking in that price range.  The price range you have selected to put your home in is for homes that are bigger and better and your home will now be helping the other homes sell faster.  Remember, when buyer's search for homes to view they conduct searches by area, schools, bed/baths and sq feet - sometimes lot sizes.  You need to be right in the middle of the search conducted for the type of home you have OR you will never come up in the MLS and thus your home will never be seen and never sold. Think of it like a beauty compeition....weather it be an upscale or average compeition...everything needs to be equal or better and on the same playing field to compare and sell againts other "like" properties.

Reason #3: The longer your home is on the market - The Buyer's think...what is wrong with that home? Why didn't it sell? Now, if they are working with a Buyer's Agent...the Agent will explain typically, the reason why homes do not sell is because it was not listed at current market value when they are initial listed on the market..they are over priced.  Eventually, when the seller realizes this...after being with 2 or 3 Agents...they end up at the price that the 1st Agent told them to list at which is current market value for the property! If you look at all the homes that are listed at current market value and SOLD..you will notice the days on market are all 27 to 45 days..this means they actually sold within a week or two.  Because, they where in the right search for the buyers and the buyers evaluated all the homes in this price range for this type of home and it sold BECAUSE IT WAS PRICED RIGHT.

Reason #4: Save Time, Money and Frustration by just listing your home at current market value.  Yeah, it takes time & money to clean for showings, it is frustrating to have a showing request when you are not feeling well....selling is not easy...but, you are not doing yourself any favors listing your home wrong...yeah...you can find a Real Estate Agent that will tell you what you want to hear and then just sit and do all the work for nothing...when you will end up selling for current market value anyway...or even worse...less than current market value because you are just sick and tired of showing your home or you have already found your next dream home and you do not want to loose it.  JUST Do everyone a favor and DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME.

Reason #5: True Professional FULL TIME Real Estate Agents will not agree to listing your home over current market value without getting a pre-signed agreement within 2 weeks of listing your property reducing the property to current market value upon no showings and no offers.  Remember, You hire a Real Estate Agent to sell your property for Fair Market value nothing more and nothing less...then in order to accomplish this goal we must do what needs to be done right the first time.

Other Lehigh Valley Real Estate and Home Buying and Selling Questions
10 Top Home Buyer Questions
4 Things to know about the Home Inspection
What is a Buyer Agent?
Buying a Lehigh Valley Foreclosure, 10 things to know

*Lehigh Valley Real Estate & Homes - Top 5 Lehigh Valley Seller Questions * Moriah Martin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

Lehigh Valley Real Estate & Homes - What is a Buyers Agent? Okay, so we have Real Estate Agents - Some are called Seller's Agents and Some are Called Buyer's Agents, What is the Difference and why should I care?

In the State of PA you can have many different relationships with a Liscensed Real Estate Agent.

I am going to talk to you about working with a Lehigh Valley Real Estate Agent for the purpose of selling or buying a Residential home in Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton or a 35 mile radius of this within PA (not including New Jersey)

The Real Estate Agent and WHO they represent in a Transaction (think of it like a Doctor or Attorney relationship)

The Seller - When a Real Estate Agent helps a Seller sell their home and they place a FOR SALE sign in the front yard.  This Real Estate Agent is know as the Listing Agent and/or Seller's Agent.  Their job is to represent the seller in selling their home, make sure they work on behalf of the seller to negotiate and protect the best interest of the seller at all times.  Main Objective to get the most money and best conditions for the seller when a buyer makes an offer on their home.  Usually, this is the Real Estate Agent you are meeting at the Open house BUT not always...many times other Real Estate Agents help the listing agent by hold open houses for them.

The Buyer - When a Real Estate Agent helps a Buyer - Buy a home - meaning help the buyer with searching for a home - finding a mortgage on a home and evaluating current market value for the home they are interested in making an offer on...The Agent's main objective is to represent the buyer in purchasing a home, make sure they work on behalf of the buyer to negotiate and protect the best interest of the buyer at all times. This Real Estate Agent is known as a Buyer's Agent.

A word of Caution - It is not in the best interest of a buyer to call a FOR SALE sign and request that the seller's agent show them the home.  There are complicated reasons why....but one really good and simple reason is the seller's agent works for the seller NOT the BUYER.  You need your own agent to show you the property AND this agent should be someone you have interviewed or researched as the home you are interested in looking at may be your dream home and since this is one of the most important decisions in your life...don't just pick an agent out of a hat.  This person is just as important as choosing your doctor or attorney...trust me.  Do you research and compare agents...do a search on google and see what comes up.

Side Note: A Real Estate Agent "Buyer Agent" can show you any home that is listed for sale in the state of PA.  Although most work in certain territories...as an example I primarily work in the Lehigh Valley area which includes Lehigh & Northampton counties  But, from time to time I also cover just over the lines of Bucks, Berks, Monroe, and Carbon county too.

A surprising Fact - How much do you pay to have a Buyer Agent?: When a Home Buyer requests the assistance of a Buyer Agent to purchase a home that is listed on the Lehigh Valley MLS - The Buyer pays nothing for this Buyer Agent to help them through out the home buying process.  which is typically 3 to 6 months from the time you start looking for a home to the time you go to settlement on a home.  Depending on your needs of course.  Once a Listing is added to the Lehigh Valley MLS this actually makes a contract between the Listing/Seller's Agent and ALL of the Buyer Agents in the Lehigh Valley that when the Buyer Agent helps sell the property by helping their buyer purchase the home listed by the seller's agent...the seller's agent will share the commission paid to them by the seller at settlement. Pretty cool huh?!

Other Lehigh Valley Real Estate and Home Buying and Selling Questions
10 Top Home Buyer Questions
4 Things to know about the Home Inspection
Top 5 Lehigh Valley Seller Questions
Buying a Lehigh Valley Foreclosure, 10 things to know

* Lehigh Valley Real Estate & Homes - What is a Buyers Agent?* Moriah Martin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License

Lehigh Valley Real Estate and Homes: 10 Top BUYER QUESTIONS in the Lehigh Valley PA Area. Are they your's too? Lehigh Valley Real Estate including Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton plus the Pocono's too...can be quite confusing.

I am thinking that these would be good Questions to Answer during my Lehigh Valley Home Buying Workship? Can you let me know if you would prefer a different question get answered? When you work in a career it is almost impossilbe to be BASIC.  So, help me out here, would ya? My students will appreciate it.  I want to have FUN classes. So, we will need to play a game and stuff...when the classes get to 5 hours long.  Right now the classes are 2.5 hours...so no playing around yet :-). anyway.

The Questions....Top 10 Lehigh Valley Home Buyer Questions

1) Who Do I talk to FIRST? Real Estate Agent or Mortgage person?
2) Can my Real Estate Agent do a Search by Property Type? Like, I just want her to send me the Foreclosures and Short Sales? Can she do this?
3) The Difference between Estate Property, Foreclosure, Short Sale, REO, Bank Owned, and HUD Properties.
4) 4 Reasons to Get Prequalified BEFORE you start "just looking," IF  you do not listen you may loose the home of your dreams...I have seen it happen.
5) 4 Things to do in the "Just Looking" Stage.
6) 4 Situations where can I get my Deposit Money Back.
7) How much money do I need to put down with my offer to the seller?
8) Who gets to keep my deposit?
9) How much are closing costs?
10) How do I sell before I buy?

Okay, That is what I think are the most important.  What about you?

NOTE: I will be answering these questions in future Blog Posts.  If you would like the answer to any of these questions before I turn them into links...just post a comment here and I will gladly answer them within 24 hours.

It's your turn....

Thank you ahead all Real Estate Agents and consumers for helping me with this important part of just getting out there and doing all I can to make a difference...please come check it out.  Infact I am going to make up Tickets and the  only way you can come is if you get a Ticket. "Complimentary Ticket" You gotta come though ... cuz if I reserve a seat THE SEAT IS FOR YOU.  I don't know...I must think about the Marketing concept more...but, I have 50% done with the Power Point presentation...we are going to add music and back ground stuff...LOL

Got any MORE Questions?

Other Lehigh Valley Real Estate and Home Buying and Selling Questions
Top 5 Lehigh Valley Seller Questions
4 Things to know about the Home Inspection
What is a Buyer Agent?
Buying a Lehigh Valley Foreclosure, 10 things to know

*Lehigh Valley Real Estate and Homes: 10 Top Lehigh Valley BUYER QUESTIONS * Moriah Martin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License