Cindy's Blog

In the second installment of the "bringing your "A Game" conversation, I'd like to talk a bit about loans, and how they've changed from the gold rush "glory days" of a couple of years (or even a year) ago.

"No doc" loans really are history.

If you are getting a loan, and the lender or underwriter asks for documentation of what you said- income, retirement account, etc.- provide it, because they wouldn't be asking for it if they didn't need it.

There are still some creative financing options out there, but it is more important than ever to get that info together before hand (meaning, before you really start looking at homes) and let the lender get the ball rolling. This has always been the case, but moreso now than ever.

Why? First of all, you don't (trust me) want to look at homes that are $400,000, only to discover that you can afford $300,000. This seems obvious, and it also seems possible that you might have spoken to a lender, told them what you make, how much you owe, and they tell you that you can indeed afford $400,000. What you often don't see when that's as far as you get in the process, is the actual payment.

So often lenders will approve you based on the numbers, but sometimes those numbers are not really based on real life (at least your real life). Better to actually sit down with a lender and go through the process beforehand. What are you going to find out there?

• How much can you really afford? (The important, payment part)
• What documentation do you need to provide the lender? (You can start looking for it now, rather than waiting until you've found something, and can't find the tax returns from 2 years ago!)
• Are there any anticipated hiccups or are you ready to go? (Do you have to correct anything on your credit, pay off a bill, etc.?)
• Are you getting a monetary gift from your parents, etc? This may make a difference depending on the type of loan you're going to be getting. Again, knowing in advance makes all the difference in the world!
• How much are your closing costs going to be? Even if your downpayment is all saved up, you may be surprised to find that closing costs are often about 3% of the purchase/ loan amount. Do you have that? Or do you need to step down what you're looking for/ ask the seller to provide some closing costs in the contract on the house you do find. You definitely don't want to get surprised with this!
• Make sure, though, that when you discuss all of this with a lender, they give you a good faith estimate. They are required by the state to provide this info to you, and it should be pretty close to what you'll actually pay.
• Most importantly, if you do all of this in advance, you really can focus on finding the home that ideally fits your needs, and after you write the contract, you can spend more time imagining where your furniture will go than you will scrambling for bank statements and tax returns!

There's one thing I'll definitely say about the Richmond area (particularly the West End)- the real estate market may be a bit slow, prices down, and so on right now, but there really does seem to be loads and loads of renovation going on, everywhere you look! There are at least three homes in our very small neighborhood undergoing major renovation, and I seem to drive past at least one home that's doing a "pop the top" every day. (If you're not familiar with this term, it's where one day there's a ranch, and the next there's a huge colonial, or some other multi storied behemoth).

With all of this renovation, it definitely makes me question the practices, or at least wish, that we were all a bit more sustainable in our building, particularly, perhaps, when renovating an older home. Most of the time people think that "green building" is just for new homes, and they don't think about all of the things they can do in a renovation that can be more sustainable.

I may have mentioned that my husband and I completed a major renovation on our home just over a year ago. During the course of that process, I learned a tremendous amount about the good, the bad, the ideal, the expensive, the available, and the unattainable. There really are so many ways to make the renovation process cleaner, more efficient, and healthier, that I'd love to share a few resources that we even have (or will soon) here in Richmond.

Perhaps most exciting- the long awaited opening of Ecologic at 1606 W. Main Street. Check out their progress at their website! They will have loads of green building supplies, sold retail- from sustainable wood products, to flooring, and even AFM SafeCoat paints (already available, even before they open, if you give them a call!). It's going to be terrific!

If you're looking for a great green builder/ renovator, give Cityspace Construction a call. Blue Crump and his team have a great commitment to changing the landscape of Richmond building- they do solar and so much more, and really know what they're talking about.

My next post will be about ways that you can renovate/ restore or decorate more sustainably- in Richmond, or anywhere!

Well, hope you had a great holiday weekend. As you can imagine, the real estate business this weekend is a little slower than it has been. Everyone is barbecuing and on vacation, so there haven't been many showings, for buyers or sellers, at least in my world.

However, with all of the cookouts and parties we've attended in the last few days (I have eaten more burgers in the last few days than I would think I was able! Sort of makes me ill to think about it!), I've had more conversations with people that I know a little, well, or not at all, who are agents, market watchers, sellers, buyers, or wanna be's.

In all of these conversations, the refrain is pretty much the same. So, unfortunately, this post is probably going to be similar to others I've posted before.

There doesn't seem to be any absence of stories in the media about the "horrible, dismal" real estate market. While markets are absolutely, positively, local, it's no secret that the market here in RVA is not really cooking right now... In addition to the typical summer slump we're heading into.

Houses are selling, though. Here is the problem- we are not in the market of 2 years ago. We are not even in the market of 1 year ago. The days of "well, we need to make ___ on our house" are over, in many cases. The average days on market have jumped quite alot, to 90 or so, and buyers are definitely feeling no pressure to jump when they do see something they like. They are shopping more, taking longer, and making lower offers. That's just the fact.

Sellers, though, despite their acknowledgments that they know the market is not what it was, still seem to want to price it like it's a year ago, if not more. I don't know what to say, except- that ship has sailed. It's not like we don't want our sellers to get the most for their homes, but as I've said before, the more realistic we all are with the pricing at the beginning, the closer we are to the reasonable price, the quicker it will sell, and the closer the sales price will come to it.

Most importantly, you have got to bring your A game to this market. What am I talking about, you ask? If you are thinking you'd like to put your home on the market, and you talk to an agent (for example, me!), we should be telling you what, if anything, you need to do to make your home more saleable.

Unfortunately, so many people think that these are just suggestions, or recommendations- that when we tell you that things need to be done, we don't really mean they "need" to be done. Or, you determine that we're being overly critical, and that a few of those things could be done, but you just don't have time, money, interest, or you just plain don't feel like it.

Case in point- I was speaking to someone the other evening whose home has been on the market for quite a while (not with me), and has just done all sorts of things- flooring, windows, decluttering, etc. Unfortunately, even though they've sunk a load of money into the house, they've had only a few showings since then.

The funny thing about the market is that it really is like a parade. If you don't get the main part of the parade when it comes by, it doesn't come by again. There will always be a few stragglers (this is not to say at all that stragglers don't buy homes- they do) but your buyer pool is obviously much more limited after those first few weeks on the market, when you have the pent up buyers who have been looking, plus the ones just getting into the market. After this, you only have those getting into the market, and that (especially right now) is not a tremendous number of people.

So, if you are bored, and I'm rambling, I apologize, but here is the part you can skip to:

Listen to your agent! We really have done this before. If we tell you your house smells like pets, trust us- it does. That is not easy to say to someone, and we would not say it if it wasn't important. (The same is true with many of these things!)

If your carpet is old, clean it, stretch it, or replace it, if at all possible. If it would only cost $1000 to replace, do it- a potential buyer is going to mentally deduct far more than that!

If your kitchen is out of date, freshen it up- sometimes cleaning and decluttering will do, sometimes it will take new hardware, flooring, or appliances...

If your bathroom is out of date, same thing.

CLEAN! Again, this is very hard for us to say! I'm not the best housekeeper, but I can live with my family's clutter- I know other people don't want to. Imagine you are having the best, most important party in the world, and the queen, the president, Sting, whoever, is coming over...and keep it that way!

Pick up the cases of beer, water, juice, or anything else that came from Costco and move them out of the way- if you don't have room for your water, where are potential buyers going to put theirs?

Mow the grass, or have someone else do it. Curb appeal, and the instant "flash and sparkle" that people see and feel as they first arrive, are a huge part of the battle.

I could go on, but I think you get the picture. It will probably, unfortunately, be a while before the market really rebounds. Until then, you have got to price your home right, and make it look that much better than ever home in its price range. Who's not going to want to buy yours??