Choosing a real estate agent to represent you through the home-selling process is just as important as staging the space to attract prospective buyers and listing it for the right price so that it sells in a timely manner. While you may have heard nothing but good things about an agent from your friend down the street, it’s still a good idea to put in some time interviewing agents so that you end up choosing one who’ll have your best interests at heart throughout the process.

Before agreeing to hire an agent, here are five questions you should ask.

1. Do you work alone or with a team? Nowadays, many agents work as part of a team, therefore, you’ll want to know going into the process if the person you hire will be the one doing the work or if the support team will be showing the house and handling the marketing of your home. You may like a particular agent because they have a trustworthy quality that you think will help when it comes to getting your home sold, but if they farm the work off on people you haven’t met—who may not have as much of an interest in your particular transaction—it might put a damper on the process. On the other hand, having more people working for you is never a bad thing, as long as everyone is sticking to your agreed upon game plan.

2. What is your marketing plan for selling my home? This one question will provide an in-depth look at what your agent plans to do in order to get your home sold. In today’s competitive market, just holding an open house and placing the home in the MLS isn’t enough. You’ll also want to ask about their online presence and whether or not they’ll be incorporating videos into their marketing strategy. In addition, find out if there’s anything unique they’ll be doing to get the word out about your house. Try to find someone with a diversified approach who does what it takes to get the home sold while maintaining a clear vision for getting what you want out of the relationship.

With Halloween right around the corner, the last thing you want is to scare away potential buyers with a spooky decorating theme. However, just because you’re in the process of getting your home ready for sale doesn’t mean you need to give up on the decorating altogether. In fact, thinking outside the box and taking advantage of a few unique decorating ideas will provide a festive feel, rather than one that keeps prospective buyers at bay.

As a seller, if you’re planning on decorating your home for Halloween, one of the best ideas is to hang orange and green exterior lights. Not only will this provide a festive feel, it’ll help your home stand out at night. Additionally, exterior lights go a long way toward creating an inviting atmosphere.

Curb appeal is still very important, so don’t overdo it when it comes to the outside of your home. A bale of hay on the porch accented with a few pumpkins can make a festive display. Or, create a little pumpkin patch in the corner of your yard with a cut-out of Snoopy and Linus. This creative touch will bring a smile to any prospective buyers who come to tour the property.

Lining your driveway or walkway with interesting carved-out pumpkins can also go a long way toward making your home memorable. Try to stay away from ghoulish images and focus more on interesting characters and shapes (like a local sports team logo), or pumpkins carved to look like famous individuals.

Whether you’re buying or selling a home, adding deadlines to the real estate contract process is a tricky subject. After all, if someone makes an offer on your house, you may think they’ll go to any lengths to buy it. On the other hand, a buyer may think that just because they’re putting a bid on a house that’s been sitting on the market, their bid will be accepted regardless of what it is.

That’s why many real estate agents discourage their clients from putting a deadline within the contract because when they aren’t met, it becomes a frustrating endeavor.

And what happens if you place a deadline on your offer and the seller doesn’t meet it? Are you automatically going to withdraw your bid? Probably not. Bluffs don’t play very well in the real estate game, so if you set a deadline and then no consequences come from not meeting it, you may find the rest of the negotiations going the other person’s way.

Additionally, when you place an offer that must be decided on by 9:00 p.m., this will be seen by the other party (buyer or seller) as a hard-sell. While it might seem like a good negotiating strategy on your end, it might be the exact opposite from the perspective of the other party. If you want to include deadlines like this in your offer, you must be willing to walk away if they aren’t met.

That doesn’t mean the deal can’t be worked out down the line, but if you’re not going to stand by your deadline, it’s probably better to leave them out of the equation altogether. Speediness is the essential strategy here on both sides of the transaction.

When in the midst of a seller’s market, it may make sense for a seller to set a deadline for reviewing all offers, as this will alert all interested buyers that they need to have their best offer in to compete with any other offers. This type of deadline is actually helpful because buyers can view other homes and put together a bid before the deadline, understanding that the seller isn’t going to make a decision prior to it being submitted.

For buyers, negotiation techniques typically recommend that you add a drop-dead date so that the seller can’t shop your offer or drag things out forever. This will protect you from losing out on other homes that might interest you.

If you’re making an offer in the evening, be sure to make the expiration early the next afternoon so no competing offers are likely to roll in. Have your agent express that there are other homes on your list that you’re just as happy with, that you’re ready to make an offer on. In this case, a deadline can be used to your advantage.

Contact our office today to learn more about the pros and cons associated with incorporating deadlines into real estate transactions.

With foreclosure sales in rapid decline nationwide and in high demand in many fast-rising markets, a report released this week by mortgage technology company FNC indicates that housing demand by trade-up buyers is rising as the home equity available to these prospective buyers is improving.

According to FNC’s Foreclosure Market Report,  the foreclosure market has rapidly improved in recent months with foreclosure rates approaching pre-crisis levels—an indication of strengthening supply-side conditions. On the demand side, steadily rising home prices and an expectation of continued recovery have stimulated housing turnover by prospective buyers who are in a position to take advantage of low home prices. In the meantime, higher home prices are bringing out trade-up demand from existing homeowners who are experiencing rising home equity, which supports a down payment on their next bigger house.

“We’ve seen hard data from the past 18 months that shows rising home prices and a foreclosure market with diminished impact due to decreasing foreclosure inventories and fewer new foreclosure filings,” said FNC Director of Research Yanling Mayer. “Meanwhile, a very encouraging trend that has been developing is the rising participation of trade-up buyers who are seeing improving home equity position and positive capital appreciation on existing homes.

In the coming year, more than 1.5 million consumers will purchase their first home. How do they do it -- and how can you be one of them?

"First-timers now represent nearly 30 percent of all existing home purchasers," said Ray Brousseau, executive vice president of a nationwide lender. "That's a big percentage, but it could be a lot higher because there are many ways first-time purchasers can finance with little down and little hassle."

Many of these buyers are able to afford a new home because they know that the mortgage marketplace has two separate ways to help them: First, there are traditional loan options. Second, there are more than 1,500 mortgage assistance plans for buyers purchasing a first home.

No Need For 20 Percent Down

A total of 291 metropolitan areas across the country now qualify as improving housing markets, according to the National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index (IMI) for September, released today. This reflects a gain of 44 markets from August and marks the index’s highest level since it was initiated two years ago.

The IMI identifies metropolitan areas that have shown improvement from their respective troughs in housing permits, employment and house prices for at least six consecutive months. In September, 242 housing markets retained their existing positions on the IMI while 49 new markets were added and five were dropped from the list. Recent additions include such geographically diverse locations as Macon, Ga.; St. Cloud, Minn.; Brownsville, Texas; Spokane, Wash.; and Milwaukee, Wis. “Just over 80 percent of the 361 metros tracked by our index are showing consistent growth in three key measures of housing market strength – prices, permits and employment,” explained NAHB Chairman Rick Judson, a home builder from Charlotte, N.C. “While there is still plenty of room for growth, this is an excellent indication of how the housing recovery has begun to take hold across more geographic areas.”

“The dramatic increase in markets qualifying for the IMI in September was partly due to a recent improvement in the way that Freddie Mac measures home prices, which resulted in stronger gains than previously reported,” notes NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “Even so, the broadened list of metros on the IMI continues to demonstrate the slow but steady gains that individual housing markets are making to bolster the national outlook.”

If you’re tired of shelling out hefty service fees, consider that many of the most common home repair needs can be fixed easily – and cheaply – even by people with only a passing knowledge about tools and cleaning fluids.

From a consumer blog at ABC News, here are seven easy home repair solutions you should be willing to try yourself:

Clogged drains – Pour a cup of baking soda down the drain, followed by a cup of vinegar. As they bubble down the clogged drain, follow with at least a teapot full of boiling water.

Mice – If you can spot the opening where mice are crawling in, stuff it with a rag saturated with peppermint oil. Mint planted near doorways, or spraying door frames with peppermint oil will also deter mice from entering.

Ants – Ants hate peppermint, too, the solution for mice infestation should work for ants as well. Other solutions? Sprinkle baking soda where you have seen ants congregate. Leave it for 24 hours, then brush or vacuum away. Or try cinnamon sprinkled in the doorway where the ants are seen to be coming from.

U.S. existing-home sales rose strongly in July, jumping to their highest level in almost four years—with the median price maintaining double-digit year-over-year increases, according to data released yesterday morning by the National Association of REALTORS®.

Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, increased 6.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.39 million in July from a downwardly revised 5.06 million in June, and are 17.2 percent above the 4.60 million-unit pace in July 2012; sales have remained above year-ago levels for 25 months.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says changes in affordability are impacting the market. "Mortgage interest rates are at the highest level in two years, pushing some buyers off the sidelines," he says. "The initial rise in interest rates provided strong incentive for closing deals. However, further rate increases will diminish the pool of eligible buyers."

Despite higher mortgage interest rates, Yun identified compensating factors that can sustain a continued recovery. "Although housing affordability conditions will become less attractive, jobs are being added to the economy, and mortgage underwriting standards should normalize over time from current stringent conditions as default rates fall."

Economic growth continues to gain momentum in the second half of the year, as expected, despite the slow start at the beginning of 2013. Fannie Mae’s Economic & Strategic Research Group’s full-year forecast for both the economy and housing market remains on track, with GDP expected to come in at approximately 2.0 percent in 2013 and to accelerate to 2.6 percent in 2014. Fiscal drag is waning, the housing recovery continues, and manufacturing and business investment are rebounding, helping to boost growth.

Furthermore, consumer spending and the employment sector appear to be growing sustainably, which may help to offset downside risks from the expected tapering of the Federal Reserve’s securities purchases.

“Our macroeconomic and housing forecast shows very little change from July, and the steady pickup during the past few months validates our expectations for the second half of the year,” says Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan. “The biggest risk to this forecast is the expected reduction in the Federal Reserve’s asset purchases, which would likely put additional upward pressure on interest rates and lead to some volatility in capital markets. Although the nature and timing of the tapering are still to be determined, we continue to expect the Fed will scale back its asset purchases and end the program by spring. In addition, we may see some fiscal tightening this fall as the debate over federal spending and the debt ceiling takes place.”

Nationwide housing starts rose 5.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 896,000 units in July as multifamily construction rebounded from a dip in the previous month, according to newly released figures from HUD and the U.S. Census Bureau. Meanwhile, single-family construction recorded a modest decline from a rate that was upwardly revised for the previous month.

“Builders are making every effort to keep up with the rising demand for new homes and apartments, and construction in both sectors is running well ahead of the pace we saw at this time last year,” notes Rick Judson, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Charlotte, N.C. “However, ongoing issues with accessing credit and limited supplies of finished lots and labor are making it tough to do that, particularly for single-family builders.”

“Today’s report is in line with our forecast for continued, gradual strengthening of housing starts and permit activity through the rest of the year,” says NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “The double-digit bounce-back on the multifamily side was in keeping with typical month-to-month volatility in that sector,” he noted, “while the sideways movement in single-family was a result of unusually wet weather in the South and West.”