Real Estate

Friday, December 14, 2007

Credit scores and your mortgage rate

It has overtones of Judgment Day, sitting before a loan officer and applying for a mortgage. Are you credit-worthy? And to make that judgment, mortgage lenders will review your all-important records, namely your credit reports and credit score.

4 steps to a good mortgage rate
1. Factors beyond credit scores
2. Scrutinize your credit reports
3. Bump up your credit score
4. Don't close any accounts

Each of the three major credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, collects data from your lenders about your history of borrowing and paying back credit. They compile that information into your credit report, which any lender can access whenever you apply for a loan. The Fair Isaac Corp. is the major producer of credit scores. They take the information from those credit reports, apply their own trade-secret formula and, based on the three credit reports, distill three credit scores for you into one score ranging from 300 to 850.

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source: updatere.com

Ottawa real estate booming

A new report from Colliers International says investment in Ottawa's commercial real estate market surpassed $1.1 billion last year, a level not seen since 2003. According to the report, office transactions led the way in 2005, the most notable being CPP Investments' purchase of a 50-per-cent interest in OMERS' Class A Constitution Square complex for $118 million.

Following a year of government uncertainty the Ottawa office leasing market rebounded in 2005, with vacancy dropping from 12 per cent to 9.6 per cent. The biggest drop was seen in the suburbs, while the downtown core saw a minimal decrease to 4.2 per cent from 4.6 per cent a year ago. The completion of a number of large deals over the year created a shortage of large pockets of space (deemed as spaces over 100,000 square feet) in the region. When the dust settled, at year-end 2005 there were only two available options in the region over 100,000 square feet, according to the report.

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source: updatere.com

Foreclosure.com’s top nationwide foreclosure database in demand

HomeGain.com — a leading provider of online marketing solutions for real estate agents — announced today that it relaunched HomeScout.com, which the company originally acquired back in 2001.

According to a recent press release, the new launch adds instant home values, recent home sales and several real estate listings databases to HomeScout.com.

One of those databases contains foreclosures. And, with the most accurate and up-to-date foreclosure database in the nation, Foreclosure.com is proud to announce that we will provide the listings for HomeScout.com.

Here’s a snip from Jeff Miller, Director of Advertising Products and Sales for HomeGain:

“We have compiled a comprehensive set of real estate listings from multiple partners and sources. Combining HomeGain real estate listings with homes for sale from other top real estate sites creates a more compelling offer for consumers. HomeScout.com makes finding homes for sale on the Internet easier. It also provides additional reach and more highly qualified traffic for subscribing HomeGain real estate agents and partners.�?

Foreclosure.com has many other partnerships and agreements with top-tier real estate and news sites of which you may or may not aware. For example, RealEstate.com and USAToday.com leverage our database of more than 1.2 million nationwide real estate listings to the benefit of their visitors each day.

These innovative partnerships enhance user experiences for millions of visitors to the respective sites and underscore our reputation as the top foreclosure data provider on the Web.

It’s more great news from Foreclosure.com.

Like all our other partners, we are excited to work with HomeScout.com and share our information. Head over to the site and check out the site when you have some time — it’s got some truly unique features.

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source: foreclosure.com

Zillow Misses the Mark Completely in Utah

It’s no secret within the real estate industry that Zillow, and it’s Zestimates are not accurate, and really- they aren’t even supposed to be. Accuracy doesn’t even fit into Zillow’s core objectives. Their business model is not about being accurate at all- its about selling ads. But Zillow does create a real problem for many people who believe the ridiculous Zillow price estimates.

Zillow’s business model is simple;

1- Assign a price estimate for every home

2- Generate interest by showing how “fun” it is to see what it says other people’s homes are worth and satelite images of celebrity houses

3- Sell advertising on the website

Nowhere in that business model is accuracy. They want to be accurate enough that people will go to the site, but that’s about it. The state of Arizona’s lawsuit against Zillow only feeds them more exposure. And I’m a supporter of Zillow’s. I have been from the beginning and I advertise with them. But it’s important that home buyers and sellers realize that Zillow doesn’t know anything about real estate. It’s not a real estate company- and that’s the thing that most people don’t realize.

It’s a technology company disguised as a media company disguised as a real estate company.

The people who own and run Zillow have no experience in real estate, and most of the people working for Zillow have no experience in the real estate industry. They are computer programmers, PR and media people.

Apart from how ridiculous it is to actually believe that a computer program can determine the value of something that is as much about feel and flow as it is square feet and bedrooms, the idea that you could take an algorithm to determine values without even seeing what you are evaluating is absurd.

I haven’t put enough thought into the lawsuit the state of Arizona has filed against them to have an opinion, but I do think it’s a shame that consumers would be so fooled by the website that I do believe they need to make their disclaimers more obvious so people realize that zillow is simply a fun place to check out your neighbors house.

It’s like trying to put a value on a person based on a pre-set group of data points and an algorithym that places value to different attributes you possess. Sure, it might be fun and entertaining, but would you actually believe the values?

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souece: wordpress.com

Comparative Market Analysis for Home Buyers

Anyone who has ever bought a car knows you must first find out the cost of similar cars in the marketplace. It's easy to gather the information you need from newspapers, the Blue Book, or online used car sales sites. Your research will provide you with the range of prices you might pay and you can an informed purchase decision as a result. It's really pretty simple and requires very little pricing expertise.

If you want to buy a home, it's not so easy and certainly not simple. The value of a home is much more difficult to predict and the information available to homebuyers can be untrustworthy. Online home values sites are fun to play with, but they are based on past sales, not current market factors. Newspaper listings give you some information, but houses are usually so different that it's hard to compare. And, you don't know how many other buyers want to buy the same house. Competitive bidding can drive a house's price up beyond what you thought it was worth.

The best resource available to homebuyers to learn the current value of a home they might wish to purchase is a CMA, or Comparative Market Analysis. CMA is the term real estate agents use when they conduct an in-depth analysis of a home's worth in today's market.

The best part about a CMA is that it's usually free!

When should I ask for a CMA?
If you don't get a CMA you might offer a price that's more than the home is worth; conversely, you might submit a price that's too low and lose out to another, better informed homebuyer. Every real estate agent in the country will want to complete a CMA on the home you want to buy before helping you buy it. Buyers who haven't yet chosen a real estate agent often ask several agents to complete CMAs so there is opportunity to meet different agents and to see how they work.

How is a CMA prepared?
First, an agent will walk through the home you're thinking of buying. The agent will point out needed improvements that you might have to pay for after purchasing the home, or that you may ask the seller to address before buying the home.

Second, the agent will research information about comparable properties in the area, usually using a real estate industry resource called the Multiple Listing Service. This includes:

* Properties that have sold and closed within the last 12 months
* Active listings – properties currently for sale
* Pending sales – listings that have sold but not yet closed
* Expired listings – properties that did not sell during the listing period
* Lastly, the agent suggests a probable selling price. Don't be surprised if a CMA results in a price range rather than a set price, particularly in markets were there are price differences due to property size, age, architectural style or physical condition.

What can you expect to see in a CMA?
A completed CMA is presented in the form of a report, which includes the selling price, detailed information about the home, and the comparable properties that were researched to determine its value. Because the price derived from a CMA is somewhat subjective, some agents may include brief statements on the perceived selling points your home.

A CMA is not an appraisal.
A real estate appraisal is a comprehensive evaluation performed by an independent professional appraiser. With a CMA, the agent's experience in the business and familiarity with the local area can affect the accuracy. Typically, a CMA prepared by an experienced agent with good knowledge of the local market is right in line with the home's appraised value. A CMA can therefore be a very useful tool in a real estate transaction.

When buying your car an incorrect price might cost you a few hundred dollars. If you offer the wrong price for a home, you could lose tens of thousands of dollars, or not get the home of your dreams. Do your homework and ask a real estate professional for a Comparative Market Analysis to ensure you get the most value for your money.

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source: homescout.com