NILES: Rental Home Needed

I have a client who is in need of a home in the Niles, Illinois. If you know of someone who is thinking about renting or has a home available to rent, please contact me.

Happy Independence Day

This one will send chills up your spin!




May you and your family have a safe and Happy 4th of July!

Recipe for Success

Don't Allow Your Property to Get Lost!

What are you talking about? I'm in the Multiple Listing Service, the Sign is up, it's on my agent's company website and I make sure that it's in the Chicago Tribune at lease once a month, oh and they put it on Craigslist as well!

Were you aware that the Multiple Listing Service does not allow syndication on the internet with the exception of Realtor.com? Does your For Sale Sign have your Realtor's direct number only on it so that responses are quick for questions or requests for showings? The company website - great idea but as they are sifting through looking at the other properties on the company website, they may go in a different direction then your property! Chicago Tribune is great but better as an online service.
I was recently interviewed by Bernice Ross, the owner of http://www.realestatecoach.com/ who met me years back when I first went deaf and working with Coldwell Banker. I readjusted through hearing aids and am greatful that I can pay to hear. Bernice wanted to know how I convert Expired Listings and FSBO's (For Sale By Owners) into signed business.

This is what I told her. These are excerpts that will be coming out in print online:

I regularly work with FSBO's and Expired Listings. Why? These are the people who need a highly skilled REALTOR who communicates well and can get their property sold and closed in today's complex market. These sellers are knowledgeable and use the internet as their informational highway to understanding. Yet REALTORS often fail to give sellers credit for understanding. Furthermore, many agents lack the ability to help sellers correctly position their property in today's marketplace. Others lack a business plan that they can follow to successfully close transactions. Where does that leave the Seller? Expired or FSBO. Then that's when the rash of "obituaries" start arriving at the Seller's door. You know the letter:

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Expired,
Your home has expired and is no longer on the MLS. Your REALTOR, the real estate company or your pricing may be the cause. I have a sure fired way to get your home sold in the least amount of time with the most amount of money. My plan will guarantee your success.

Who are you kidding? Not the seller!

FACT: There is too much competition; don't allow your property to get lost in the marketplace.

FACT: Just because it is a Buyer's Market, it doesn't mean that you can't sell your home!

How can you be found then? Google your agent's name. Go ahead. Google! If you can't find your agent's name, how is the buyer going to find your property? See it's about being local. The agent market's locally within certain neighborhoods.

Don't make assumptions that your Realtor knows how to market. Better yet, are they full time or are they working a part-time job to carry them through this difficult time in the marketplace?

The Bottom is: this is the best time to sell and market as there are fewer and fewer Realtors out there and hence, it would give the Realtor who is full time and carries an inventory of listings to get the best positioning for your property to sell.

What do I look for in a client? I want them to be loyal to me. It isn't about satisfying that client, because there is no loyalty in satisfaction and I let my client's know that I am loyal to them!

Barb was also interviewed recently by Chicago Magazine. Click here to read more.
Client Attraction In Action

New Competition for Homes

TOP STORY: Rates creep up
A recent survey and a rate increase could mean more competition for homes.
Recent indication is that first time home buyers are getting tired of sitting on the sidelines. According to a recent online poll taken by the National Apartment Association, 17 percent of renters plan to make the jump to home ownership in the next year; 41 percent of the 2,041 respondents planned to be home owners within two years. Only 31 percent planned to still be paying rent five years from now.
Another factor that could very soon contribute to an increase in home buying could be rising mortgage costs. Fixed-rate mortgage rates rose to 6.32 percent, the highest it has been since October. After months of aggressively dropping interest rates, many lenders are worried that the Fed will be forced to raise rates back up. As interest rates rise, so do mortgage rates. According to a press release on freddiemac.com, Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist said that, "Mortgage rates jumped this week after a number of Federal Reserve officials, most notably Chairman [Ben] Bernanke and Vice Chair [Donald] Kohn, expressed concern over a threat of inflation." We may very well be seeing the beginning of the end of the super-low mortgage and potential buyers may realize that with rising rates, now may be the time to jump in. Nothaft added, "Moreover, pending home sales for April unexpectedly rose by 6.3% and mortgage applications for home purchases ... were also up last week."

A Reflection of Father's Day

Me at 4 getting ready to do real estate with Opa

Opa

My parents

My two brothers and myself
my sister wasn't here yet

My father with the first great-grandchild

Four Generations of Van Stensel Men



My Family


Sunday, May 15th is Father's Day and like most men, well, the men in my family usually get cards, hugs and kisses and the badly needed socks, new t-shirts, etc. Father's Day in my family just isn't about my Dad but my brothers, my nephews and great-nephews, the men in my earlier childhood such as my Grandfather's, Uncles and the men at church, who replaced my Grandfather's when they passed away. Those men, like Ferris Morningstar, is my day of reflection for that strong impression that all of these men, combined together, helped mold me and make me what I am today.

My father - well my sister and I are both "Daddy's Girls" and he loves us but we also share him and have taken a backseat, as most do, to our nephews and nieces. Our nephews, when they got married, took a backseat because "Gramps" put the women first and made sure that they are respected and given the proper attention. When the Great-Grandbabies started rolling in, the women still have the attention and the new Great-Grandbabies are getting fishing poles earlier in life from Great-Gramps then the Grandchildren did. Now, when I'm talking fishing poles and reels, we are talking serious money.

My Grandfathers, my Father and my brothers have been there for me, all along. Encouraging me and telling me that "Yes, do it!", "Yes, you can do that" when at sometimes, my father told me that it was literally physically impossible for me to do something but the most valuable lesson he learned was that when a parent believes in a child, encourages them, even though the physical limitations may be there, because those men believed in me, encouraged me - I was able to do it and did it! To them I love you and always will. You are the heros in my life.

With all my love and gratitude,


Maizie, Bucko, Garmie, Bebo

a/k/a Barbie

10 Ways Your Real Estate Agent Can Kill a Deal

Recently, I had a buyer reach out to me and share with me that he had made several calls to Realtors, asking them if they would help him buy a home. Most didn't return his calls. Why? I can't respond for these Realtors but the buyer was serious and not too many took this buyer serious. That's a first clue. They don't respond.

My top ten list:

1. They may not have the experience or training to handle the transaction;

2. They bring in an offer that is offensive to the seller and may not have told their buyer that it is possible that the seller won't even look at the contract;

3. The Selling Realtor doesn't explain the contract or the process to the buyer and hence, the buyer is confused;

4. The Realtor may not have gotten the buyer pre-approved with a lender, with all the documentation into the lender and hence, it is only a pre-qualification letter and most listing agents, like myself, will put the offer on hold until there is a qualified pre-approval letter;

5. The Selling Realtor has the client drop off the earnest money, the revised contract to the listing agent (hence, creating a risk for problems down the road as the buyer may asks questions of the listing agent) when the Selling Agent should be involved with the contract and running the errands for her/his client;

6. The Selling Agent doesn't explain or have control over her buyer and hence the buyer is reaching out to everybody for answers because their may not be a trust factor with the Selling Realtor;

7. The Selling Agent doesn't understand or know how to respond to the issues at hand and tells the Listing Agent information that she doesn't want to hear;

8. The Selling Agent faxes information that the Listing Agent shouldn't see and it puts a "red flag up" for the Listing Agent right away;

9. The Agent doesn't understand the marketplace; financing issues; the Federal Guidelines and Underwriting Guidelines that could possibly hinge on mortgage fraud; and

10. The Selling Agent doesn't convey the information but uses his/her own interpretation to the parties involved and hence; a delay and possible cancellation of a contract because the Seller, the Buyer or the Bank didn't understand.

Just because a real estate agent responds to you, whether buying or selling, don't make assumptions that they qualify. Have a list of questions to ask them and qualify them. A Realtor has fudiciary responsibilities to you, their client.

So when you are in the real estate market again, interview the Realtor and find out about their experience, knowledge base and ability to negotiate. How they respond to you with their answers and the ease at which the information flows from their mouth, will tell you if that is the Realtor for you but also know that while you are interviewing them, any good Realtor will be qualifying you as well.

Until Next Time,

Short Sale Symptoms

A short sale is when the Lender will accept less the existing mortgage owed based on hardship. Hardship doesn't mean you owe or own a Mercedes, have a 401(k) plan still in existence, own a few Rembrandt paintings, you catch the drift. All kidding aside, as we need some sense of humor in this difficult time of financial crisis, what I just mentioned is true and people who have alot of assets can't all of a sudden hide them or forget them, thinking, nobody would know, when in fact they do know.



As I reviewed a list of two to four flats in one zip code in the City of Chicago last night, I was blown away by the information that I saw and approximately 400 more properties will qualify shortly as a short sale in Chicago or a foreclosure.



What happened? The Mortgage Brokers and Banks allowed for expanded ratios under a stated program and those programs were out there, but no longer are because of the mess some of these programs have created. It just wasn't the programs, it was our own desire to keep up with our friends and pretend we had the money to spend when we actually didn't have it. Pretending to me, is defined as, if you can't pay cash for it, then you have no business doing it, buying it or enjoying it! Yet, there are those who have been responsible but have fallen behind because of a loss or losses of a job, major health problems within the family unit that has really taxed the financial stability of the home. Parents try to stretch the life out of their childrens shoes, who don't eat so that there children have a meal in front of them, who work three jobs to try to keep up with the outragious medical costs and expenses that consume every last penny that you bring home.



Then there is the closing - when you purchased your home. Maybe there was a credit for repairs to the home that actually went towards your closing costs. Or the issues of fraud where the price of the property was increased for "under the table cash back" from the seller. The value of the property was falsified, possibly, to support that false sale price which all it did was increase the property values when that was not the true sale price! Ah, let me go back to the fraud issue for a moment. Yes, it did and still is happening. Recently, I had a file where the attorneys said a check would work for the buyer (but it wouldn't be disclosed on the HUD - btw, which is fraud and a "no, no"! ) from the seller on a deal with little or no money down. What you, the consumer may or may not know is that, you cannot get back more money then what you are putting down on the house and right now if the property you are buying is in an area where the market trend is on a downward scale, then the lender may ask for an additional 5% downpayment or may reduce the price by an adjusted 5% to make sure that they have a secured loan, versus the 100% financing or 3% down payment products. Oh, the 100% and 3% financing programs are still out there but under the FHA or VA programs, but that is it!



So, a short sale can happen to anyone. Take Ed McMann (Johnny Carsons side kick) for instance, he broke or hurt his back and hasn't been able to do any commercials for 18 months and the lender has started proceedings against him because he is in default. This is a man that is up there in years - who is supposed to be enjoying his life and instead, because of an accident, it is effecting him.



I was amazed at the conventional adjustable mortages that are out there with an equity line right behind it for a good portion of homes. That's another sympton.



The negative amortization program - I saw 10 properties on that list of 400 that have gthe 1.25% interest rate tacked right behind the mortgage amount and lender's name.



Then there are those who were in trouble just because of spending habits and kept taking the equity out of their homes and there are certain lenders in the C or D Paper that pop up all over saying "this homeowner is so far in debt up to his ears that we can charge him 10 or 11% on his mortgage until he can prove that he is responsible. "

Know this, that there are answers to these problems but the answers to resolve do take time and it is like working a puzzle, piece by piece. Don't fall for the "bankruptcy can save you" story until all options are resolved. There are a lot of different avenues that can be pursued even before a short sale. I know it is difficult and how can anybody understand what you are going through! You are angry, hurt, feel betrayed, scared to go home to find out what is next, or just plain want to give up.

Focus on resolution to the problem. Not the whole problem but take it piece by piece and take control of your life by asking questions. You are not the only one in the boat! You'd be surprised how many people are struggling out there.

Have a question? Need Answers? Ask away. Do not think of your questions are dumb because the only dumb question, is the one not asked!

Reach out to us at 773.564.4268 or email us at shortsalesymptoms@gmail.com