Introduction to The Real Estate Sales Career

Of course, any profession has its challenges and the Real Estate Career is no different.  However, when weighed against the numerous advantages afforded by this career choice, the privileges greatly outweigh its challenges! 

Freedom:

I personally know what its like to be a slave to the time clock.  Impatiently waiting for each tick of the clock to shorten my required stay on the job, while simultaneously shortening my--life!  The Real Estate Sales profession sees me rising each morning, looking forward to the day ahead.  I am free to work when I want and to rest (vacation, play…) when I want, no 9-5 job can really compare.

Flexibility:

I got my start in Real Estate while being a single parent.  This career allowed me the ability to see my children off to school, attend baseball games, basketball games, dance recitals, PTA events, etc.  What other profession would allow me this kind of flexibility?  All the while, I was able to pursue other personal interests as well! 

Be Your Own Boss:

No more ‘answering to the Man’!  Of course, we still need to practice competent service, however no need to worry about a Foreman ‘looking over your shoulder’ or readily pointing out everything you do wrong at every waking moment!  Being self employed is a dream-come-true for every person possessing an entrepreneurial spirit.

Company Support:

This Real Estate Firm offers excellent support and guidance for your career.  You are building a “Business within a Business” and the right firm offers both the atmosphere and training you need to achieve this.

The Satisfaction of Helping Others:

Home-ownership is an important part of the American Dream.  The Real Estate Professional is a vital part of that Dream!  Additionally, the purchase of a home is most likely the most expensive purchase an individual or family will ever make and to make this experience a delightful one is very fulfilling!

Virtually Unlimited Income Potential:

Because the Real Estate Sales profession is commission-based, you are not limited to ‘trading dollars for hours’.  Instead, as your skills develop and you build your business, your income increases right alongside!  A good Real Estate Agent brings in an income that rivals the most highly trained professionals in most any other field!

Ease of Entry:

To gain this kind of Freedom, Flexibility and Income Potential doesn’t require 7 years of college and not even 5 years!  It merely requires completion of a 90 hour (!) pre-licensure course, coupled with proper guidance by a caring Real Estate Brokerage. 

                       If you’re interested in hearing more, please contact me! 

Harley Greninger                 360-533-1900                   harleyg@prgraysharbor.com

Grays Harbor Economic Development

Tremendous economic development continues to grace our county!

* The Port of Grays Harbor has launched an $11 million rail construction project!

http://www.portofgraysharbor.com/news/Increase-Rail-Capacity.php

* AGP continues Port expansion of its soybean meal exports, following a record year!

http://www.portofgraysharbor.com/news/AGP-Expand.php

* The Port of Grays Harbor has generated 385 jobs this Spring, with its rail construction, silo construction and cargo related jobs!http://www.portofgraysharbor.com/downloads/newsletters/PGH_Newsletter_2011-04.pdf

* Chrysler continues extensive exporting from the Port of Grays Harbor!

http://www.portofgraysharbor.com/news/chrysler-pasha.php

* Ford and Toyota are also looking at the utilizing Port Terminal for future exporting!

http://kxro.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/auto-makers-tour-port-site/

* The Satsop Development Park is now home to BMT-Northwest, with its twin cranes capable of lifting 1 million pounds in a single lift-- a stunt that even Superman is incapable of!

http://www.satsop.com/sites/default/files/news-files/Satsop%20Newsletter%20-%20May%202011.pdf

* Cosmo Fibers has re-opened the Cosmopolis (formerly Weyco) mill, generating over 200 jobs!

http://www.paperage.com/2011news/05_23_2011cosmo_fibers.html

* Walmart is conducting a multi-million dollar expansion of its Aberdeen store!

http://kbkw.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1687

* The SR 520 Pontoon Construction project is in full swing! Watch them work here!

http://oxblue.com/pro/open/SR520Pontoon

Our beloved county, which has lagged economically in past years (& I've been living here for more than 40 years), is quickly evolving from Grays Harbor county to Grace Harbor county!

Great Time to Purchase in Grays Harbor County!

I've been working this market now for more than 20 years and never have I witnessed a better time to purchase Real Estate here on the Harbor! The average sales price thus far this year is a mere $145,000 and interest rates are still hovering around 4.75% for a 30-year fixed. There's a great selection of homes to choose from as well. Whether you're looking for a primary residence, second home or investment property, you may want to 'strike while the iron is hot'!

2008 Reverse Mortgages

Submitted by Kim Lewis:

With the recent change of Mortgage opportunities, the Reverse Mortgage market is showing another option available to the senior segment of America. These loans are customarily used to allow the homeowner to convert a portion of the equity in their home to cash. They may need to use this cash for living expenses, or the borrower may need to defer the payment of their mortgage to lower monthly expense. The borrower remains in their house as long as possible, while the mortgage will not require any payments during this period. Repayment of the loan will occur when the borrower is no longer resident of the house, when it is sold, or refinanced by the borrower.

Reverse Mortgages offer financial freedom for many reasons:
A more comfortable retirement
Plans to travel
Help your grandchildren pay for college
Medical bills or other expenses
Home Improvements
Worry less about money

If you own your own home, as long as you live in it, you will maintain ownership, with no time limit. You will never make a payment on this loan, as long as you live in the home. You will never owe more than the value of your home at the time of loan approval. You can refinance whenever you want with no penalty. The cash you receive from this loan is tax-free.

To qualify for a Reverse Mortgage loan, you must own your own home, you must be 62 or older, and you should have a good amount of equity built up in your home. The homes that are eligible are single-family homes, condominiums, townhouses, manufactured homes, and 1-4 family owner-occupied residences. There are no medical or income requirements, no risk of default, and no restrictions on how you use your money.

You can choose payment options that suit you:
A lump sum upfront payment

Tenure- equal monthly payments

Term- equal monthly payments for a fixed period of months selected

Line of Credit- unscheduled payments or installments, at times and in amounts of
borrower's choosing until the line of credit is exhausted.

Modified Tenure- combination of line of credit with monthly payments for a fixed period
period of months selected by the borrower.

The amount of the loan is based on the appraised value of the house, the current interest rate, and the age of the borrower, or FHA mortgage limits in your area; whichever is less. The older the borrower and the longer you have owned the house, allows for a larger amount of cash available.

Surprisingly, the value of the house and the monthly payments are not adjusted during the course of the loan. The monthly payout does not stop, and the repayment of the loan is never more than the value at the time the loan is due. The “Tenure” payout seems to be the choice which allows continuous cash monthly as long as you reside in the home. The other payout options have limits on the time payout occurs. There is no obligation for the borrower to have the property re-appraised or a requirement of repair in future years.

The FHA Insured products are the most secure. These federally secured loans assure the borrower that changes in the home value, over the course of time, will not fluctuate the payout amount the borrower receives. Nearly 99% of the loans are based on adjustable rates of interest. The actuarial goal is to average 5.5% interest rate over the length of the loan. These changing rates are not directly affecting the borrower, as there are no payments required during the course of the loan.

But, be aware that as the loan ages, the interest will continue to accrue over time. When you no longer occupy your home as your principal residence, the loan becomes due. The amount due will be the total funds you received from the mortgage, the initial fees and closing costs financed as part of the loan, plus accrued interest. The repayment amount will never be more than the value of your home at the time the loan is due, for your protection. Should any equity remain after the debt is paid, this amount would become part of the estate for beneficiaries.

There are a few concerns you may want to consider:

The borrowers must be age 62 or older. If the qualifying spouse passes away, the younger spouse will not have the benefits of the loan. This means, the loan will become due. For security, you may want to wait until both are age eligible, before applying for the loan.

The fees charged for this type of loan could be up to 2x greater than normal loan closing costs, due to FHA Insurance and other factors. In most cases, the fees and costs are capped.

The equity in your home gradually disappears due to the accrued interest on the loan. So, as you receive payouts from this loan, you are charged interest on this obligation, which will be due at the end of the loan period.

The amount of cash you may draw from this loan may be greatly limited by your age, current interest rates, appraised value of your property, FHA mortgage limits in your area, and any current mortgage obligations outstanding on the property.

Many homeowners who have been conditioned to pay their debts, find that the obligation of this loan is uncomfortable for them. Those who have satisfied their original loan on their home, now have burdened their property with another debt.

The Federally insured reverse mortgages offer safeguards:
Advanced counseling to ensure that you understand fully about reverse mortgages and
your other options

Limits on the interest rate and origination fee

A ceiling on the repayment amount – it can never exceed the value of your home

Federally mandated consumer disclosures

The National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association ( NRMLA) can provide information on where to find a Lender: Web site, http://www.reversemortgage.org. or call
NRMLA, 1-866-264-4466.

Common Mistakes Home Seller Make

Submitted by Lorrie Pierce

Selling a home is an experience many people look forward to with about as much enthusiasm as a root canal or an IRS audit. Perhaps it is because they know that with such an important investment, one misstep or wrong turn could be more than a “learning experience.” Making a mistake in selling a home can be a costly blunder that not only jeopardizes the sale, but also can mean hundreds or thousands of dollars in lost profit.

What many people do not know is there is an easy way to avoid making the mistakes most commonly involved in selling a home. In fact, many homeowners make some of the same errors when selling their home, no matter how many homes they’ve sold in the past. In some cases, the mistakes just make the selling process more tedious. In others, they are fatal to the sale. By understanding these mistakes, home Sellers can arm themselves with information and gain a better chance of achieving a profitable sale.

1. Using a “Convenient” Realtor instead of an “Experienced” Realtor:
When working with a real estate Agent, it's critical that you have full confidence in that Agent's experience and education. A skilled, knowledgeable Agent should be able to explain to you exactly why your home needs to be priced at a certain level - compared to active listings and recent sales of homes similar to yours. Experienced Agents also know exactly what the current pool of Buyers are looking for in relation to particular styles and price ranges of properties. A skilled Agent can recommend changes that will enhance the salability of your home, thus increasing the price - and/or decreasing the length of time before a sale.

2. Asking Too Much by Basing Asking Price on needs or emotion rather than market value:The single biggest mistake folks make is setting their asking price too high. In today’s down market, homeowners need to price conservatively or they risk turning off potential Buyers. Gone are the days when you can expect to sell your home for as much as your neighbor did just six months ago. Many Sellers base their pricing on how much they paid for their home. If your home is not priced competitively, home Buyers will prefer larger or better homes in the same price range, increasing your time-to-sell. When your price is later lowered, Buyers may be wary because they suspect other reasons the house has remained unsold so long.

3. Forgetting about health and safety issues:
Be upfront and disclose to your Realtor any problems with the property. The problems are going to be discovered anyway. A decade ago, health and safety issues were rarely a part of the typical real estate transaction. Today, however, it's common for inspections relating to health, safety, and even environmental concerns to be a part of most sales contracts. Moreover, in many states, the Seller must disclose to the Buyer any knowledge of existing property problems. In many cases, these issues have been or can be factored into the home's listing price.

4. Failing to Prepare Your Home for the Buyer's Eye:
Buyers look for homes, not houses. Buying a home is an emotional decision and they end up buying the home that makes them most comfortable. Often times, Buyers walk in through the front door and gasped "Ah-ha," and immediately fall in love with the house. Owners who fail to make necessary repairs, who don't spruce up the house inside and out, who don't do all the little things that make a house show like a million bucks will suffer from lower offers and longer market time.

5. Paying for a Home Stager:
In a depressed market, it's more important than ever that your property stands out from the competition. But unless you're trying to sell a multimillion-dollar mansion, you don't need to pay a professional to stage your home. There are a number of free or inexpensive things you can do on your own to get your house into show-room condition. Most importantly, paint the walls. Next, get rid of all the clutter, excess furniture and family knickknacks. Finally, make all the necessary repairs before your first open house. If a Buyer sees a small problem, say, a leaky faucet, he's likely to wonder about larger issues like the furnace or roof.
.
6. Complacent marketing when selling a home:
When selling your home there are no guarantees that the ultimate buyer of your home will have simply walked through the front door. In many cases you may have to bring your home to the Buyer. Effective marketing will help ensure that your property receives maximum exposure to attract a ready, willing and able buyer in the shortest period of time. Ask your Realtor to list for you all of the ways he/she intends to market your home and on what time-line. Also, be sure to ask about the home being advertised on the Internet.

7. "Hard Selling" During Showings:
People buy homes on emotion, not logic. Buying a home is always an emotional decision. People like to get a feel for a house to see if it is comfortable for them. It's difficult for them to get comfortable in a home if you follow them around, telling them all of the things that you've done to the house and pointing out every improvement that you've made. It may even have the opposite effect that you want to accomplish by making the prospective buyer feel that they are intruding into your private space. Another good idea is to have a photo album on the kitchen counter with photos of the home during other seasons.

8. Questioning the First Offer:
Too many sellers reject their first offer, even if it's close to or at full asking price. Holding out for more money is a strategy that rarely works, especially at a time when credit is tight, lending requirements for mortgages are in flux and potential buyers have less purchasing power. The reality is that in any market a home's first offer is often its best.

9. Failing to Respond to All Offers
What if you get an offer that's simply too low? Don't reject it outright. See if you can negotiate. First of all, you can't blame someone for testing the market — after all, in today's market, many buyers are confident that they have the upper hand. Secondly, by entering into negotiations with one party, you'll gain leverage with other potential buyers.

10. Picking the Wrong Buyer
Now more than ever, Sellers need to select their Buyers carefully. As we mentioned earlier, thanks to all the defaulted loans in the sub-prime market, Lenders are tightening their lending practices, making it more difficult for consumers to qualify for mortgages. So it's critical to find a Buyer with a recent prequalification letter (issued no later than four to six weeks ago) for a loan.

11. Not knowing your rights and obligations:
The contract you sign to sell your property is a complex and legally-binding document. An improperly written contract can allow the purchaser to void the sale, or cost you thousands of unnecessary dollars. Have your Realtor fully explain the contract or have your Lawyer review it before acceptance.

12. Not Using a Written Purchase Agreement:
Many Sellers think their home is sold, only to find out weeks or even months later that the Buyer was not able to obtain a home loan. Other Sellers find out too late that dozens of items such as surveys, title insurance contingencies, assessments, tax pro-rations, pest inspections, structural inspections, and a host of other details can come back to haunt them if not properly addressed right at the very beginning.

13. Not planning your move early enough:
Many sellers simply don't plan their move early enough and then feel totally overwhelmed at the time of moving out of the house. If you are able to move at any time of the year, don't wait until summer, the peak-moving season. Consider also that the first and last few days of the month are extra busy. If you plan to sell your house, get it on the market as soon as possible.

Rehabbing For Profit

Submitted by Shawna Harlin

So you've decided that it might be a good idea to rehab a house for profit! Congratulations on your new adventure. If this is your first time, or your fiftieth time, these are some things you will want to consider.

1. The neighborhood--a neighborhood can be absolutely critical when choosing a property for rehabbing. Ideally the home you are looking at should be one of the worst homes in the neighborhood. Take into consideration any negative comments you hear about a neighborhood. In small towns especially, a bad reputation can make a huge difference in net sales price, holding times, and market exposure. It is especially important to remember that location is much harder to overcome than fixing a problem. Remember to fix the home only to what the neighborhood will bear.

2. Know the cost of your money! How much is it going to cost to get the loan, pay interest on materials, pay holding costs, etc. One never knows how long they will need to hold a property. It is easy to underestimate the amount of time it will take to accomplish fixing and selling your property. Knowing the average days on market is an important tool for planning how many payments may need to be made.

3. How much is it going to cost for fix up? I'm not talking about how much you think it will cost, please do yourself a favor and get bids from qualified contractors to help guide you. When you open up something to fix it, chances are that something else may come up that was unexpected, so carefully weigh what things are most important to accomplish.

4. Know your market! Is the market in an upward, or downward trend? If it is going down, can you get rid of the property once it is finished? Also take into consideration what times of the year are slower times for exposure and sales.

5. What kinds of permits are going to be needed? Are there any restrictions as to how much can be done to the home without having to bring it up to the current code? Do you need a licensed contractor to perform the work? Who will be getting the permits? These things affect how much time and money certain projects will cost you.

6. When figuring your holding costs, have you figured in the property taxes and insurance/flood insurance? Getting caught with these bills can make things very difficult as you wait for the property to sell.

7. Are there any "Big Things" that need to be done, so that the next consumer will be comfortable with and able to finance their purchase? This includes roofing, electrical, heating, foundations, and plumbing. If there are you should have a plan for mitigating the buyer’s concern. This could include a credit to fix the problem, or having the problem taken care of before entering the marketplace.

8. Material choices should be neutral in color so that they will appeal to a wider range of consumers. They should also be consumer friendly when it comes to cleaning, etc.

9. Take the time to imagine how the home will be lived in and come up with creative choices for fixing and small quirks with the home. (i.e. enough closet space, room for furniture, etc)

10. What type of user are you marketing to? Are you fixing it up to sell, lease option, or rent? Different users need different finishes and different things to be completed.

11. What is the most effective way to use your money? Don't forget that you need to be able to wait out the market to get the most from your investment.

12. When you need to hire a contractor, please do yourself a favor and check his credentials. An inexpensive handyman is no good if the work he does is below standards. Checking on someone's license, bond and insurance is a MUST. Three important things to remember are price, reliability and quality. If a contractor is not reliable, holding costs and time to get the property to market could be adversely affected. Also, please remember to get all bids in writing BEFORE beginning work.

13. When placing an offer on a bank owned property please remember a few things to help your offer be considered more successfully.

A: Make sure the earnest money is substantial enough (many banks want to see at least $1000 minimum on this)
B: Make sure you have a pre-approval, or proof of funds (many banks will ignore an offer without this)
C: Make sure that you can close on time. (many banks charge a steep per day penalty if you must get an extension.

14. Remember which projects will get you the most for your money. Curb appeal will bring you in more buyers and cause you greater market exposure. Staging can be another valuable project because it is easier for the consumer to imagine how they will live in the home. Kitchens and bathrooms will also help in the appeal of your home. These rooms are especially important for families.

15. Hire a Real Estate Professional! A good real estate professional can bring in 15% more for your property on average. A real estate professional should be active in their local community and market as this helps with the amount of exposure your property receives. Also, ask what types of services they offer. Virtual tours, flyers, newspaper and internet are all valuable advertising avenues to get your property the exposure it will need for a quick sale.