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Here are 4 important reasons you’d better hurry if you plan to buy a home this year:

1. Inventory is tight in most areas.
2. Prices are stable and rising.
3. Interest rates are expected to rise.
4. Closing costs are rising and closing time will be longer.

Inventory is tight in Mebane, Elon, Burlington, Graham and Alamance County. Many homes sell in hours or a few days. Even homes that need some work are being picked off the market. If you find a home you think you might want, act quickly.

There are less homes to sell, and more buyers wanting to buy. Inventory has dropped 30% since 2012. This has stabilized prices, and in many cases, caused increased prices. Remember the supply VS demand equation?

Mortgage interest rates are on the rise. The 3′s are gone, and moving higher in the 4% range. Next will be 5%….you’d be surprised how much a 1% increase in interest rate will add to a house payment! Smart buyers are rushing to take advantage now.

The biggest change is expected in 2015. You will have to pay more and wait longer to close your new home. Lender rules are facing a major change that will increase your closing costs, and extending the closing dates. We are warned that attorney fees and other loan fees will cause you to pay more to get your mortgage. Added paperwork and security measures could extend the closing time frame by at least 25%.

If you are a seller in North Carolina, you can get top dollar quick! It’s best to list with a very experienced agent within a large company who handles most of the real estate sales in your city or town.

If you are a buyer in North Carolina, a buyer agent with a lot of experience and neighborhood knowledge will find you the right home quickly.

www.TeamKHomes.com …..find all homes for sale here….largest and most accurate list available.

Buyer or sellers find all the homes for sale in Mebane, Elon, Burlington, Graham, Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, Greensboro and cities east or west on my website.

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Home buyers in North Carolina are “getting it!” Following tried and proven steps to buying a home is helping buyers get their offer accepted first!

The supply of homes for sale has dropped in the Triad area of NC, however cities such as Greensboro, High Point, Winston-Salem, Burlington, Mebane,  Elon and surrounding communities continue to have an ample supply of available homes and townhomes in all price ranges.

The problem?  There is also an abundant supply of home buyers looking and wanting a great deal! It’s a race to the finish with many homes having multiple offers!

Smart home buyers are finishing first by following these six steps to buy a home:

1) Consultation…. with an experienced and knowledgeable buyer agent. This is basically a planning session to determine what your home buying goals are and whether they are feasible, and to make a workable game plan.

2) Financing…..loan approval with a reliable lender means “power-negotiating” and  ”money in your pocket.”  In this economy, sellers are demanding and they choose the best buyer first.

3) Shopping……Don’t waste time looking at homes you can’t afford, or homes that do not meet your needs. See the best homes first! Don’t let another qualified buyer purchase your dream home!

4) Offer and Contract ….. The paperwork and negotiations to buy a home are intensive. A good buyer agent will take care of all the paperwork, contract negotiations and all the details for you.

5) Inspections……Buying any home is risky when you don’t know what repairs it may need. Your buyer agent will help you get inspections to reveal the condition the house is in, and help you negotiate any necessary repairs.

6) Closing……Your buyer agent and lender will organize the final closing, making sure every detail is in order to make your home yours.

 

Video of Six Steps: I explain these six steps in more detail in the following video. Click here: Kay’s Videos

A final note:

Choosing a real estate buyer agent who has extensive experience and extreme knowledge of homes and communities in the areas you want to live is imperative to be successful when you follow the above six steps to buy a home.

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Kay Hunkins, Realtor, has sold homes in the Triad area of North Carolina since 1988. She is also a Certified Residential Appraiser, an investor, and has extensive experience in rehabbing. She has 16 years experience as a buyer agent, and is a master negotiator.

 

 

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Many think that the lowest price is always the best price for homes for sale. However, home sellers in the Triad area of central North Carolina are often selling their homes quicker and for higher prices by staging!

“You don’t get a second chance” is ringing true in Mebane, Burlington, Graham, and Elon. Serious homebuyers will not pay top dollar for properties for sale that are not clean, uncluttered, and somewhat modernized. The good news is that serious homebuyers will pay top dollar for top-condition homes.

Let’s get serious! What is staging, and what are the results when homesellers make the effort?

Sometimes staging is as simple as a thorough cleaning and a preliminary pack-up that opens living spaces and de-clutters. Other times, a professional stager is a better choice. These educated and experienced professionals ”do it for you” by arranging furniture and accessory items to attract today’s buyers. The cost ranges from a few hundred dollars to an extreme make-over, which can depend on your finances. Doing something is always better than doing nothing.

3 reasons why staging your home for sale is smart:

1) More showings……your Realtor can market your home better and attract more serious buyers, more often.

2) Less hassle…… Staging your home (and getting a home inspection) can relax the buyer and remove the haggling during contract negotiations.

3) Quicker Offers, Higher Prices……Well-kept and well-priced homes sell quicker and at higher prices. It is a fact, regardless of the economy.

When it’s time to sell, choose a real estate agent who has extreme knowledge of the local market, high negotiation skills, and one who can take care of all the details for you. Your Realtor has a network of people such as real estate stagers, home inspectors, attorneys, and others to help you.

4) The best reason……Staging almost guarantees a house will sell. Some homeowners say they have reaped as much as a 6% return from staging their home. Whether you profit or not, your home can sell before all the others, and you can move forward to your next life!


Kay Hunkins
has sold homes in the Triad area of NC since 1988. She is a native of Burlington and she knows the local market well. Kay’s clients also benefit from her 26+ years experience as a Certified Residential Appraiser.

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4 Things to Consider Before You Decide Not to Buy a Home!

*  104 Homebuyers in Alamance County were H-O-M-E for the Holidays.

*  80 homebuyers will get their Home-Sweet-Home in early 2012.

* Almost 80% of potential homebuyers believe this is a good time to buy a home.

* 75% of renters still want to own a home.

Thanks to local Realtors, 104 homebuyers bought (closed) their dream home in Alamance County during November and December of 2011…And, 80 more homebuyers hope to close (now under contract) the home of their choice in early 2012, per the Alamance MLS.

Low interest rates coupled with affordable home prices add up to a win-win for homebuyers in the first quarter of 2012.

But wait……I mean, don’t wait!  Word is out that 2012 will be the end of the blue light specials on homes! Be one of the smart buyers:

Click on these offers:

Free List of Foreclosures at  www.TeamKBargains.com

Free List of New Homes at www.TeamKNewHomes.com

Find out what your house is worth now?  www.TeamKMarketWatch.com

Search all homes for sale in Alamance County and Surrounding area at

www.TeamKHomes.com

Have a great new year!

 

 

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A large percentage of foreclosures and ruined credit could be avoided if homeowners thought about this option before foreclosure. Many who choose foreclosure or a short sale are finding it’s not an easy way out. This option is simple, and the smart thing to do for several reasons.

Apparently, a large number of homeowners faced with difficulty making their house payment become fearful, and just wait for the foreclosure to happen. A small number actually contact a Realtor to discuss the possibility of selling the house in lieu of foreclosure.

So, you think homes are not selling in Alamance County? Read this list:

* 758 For Sale Today, December 27, 2011

* 778 Sold in Past Year To Date

We have sold more homes in the past year than we have available today!

More homes have been listed and sold in Alamance County by Realtors over the past year than we have for sale today!

I know that simply selling your house sounds too easy, but there is no catch.  Buying a smaller house or living in a rental while you still have the good credit to do so could be a better option than having to recuperate from the effects of a foreclosure or short sale.

What’s the best alternative?  Sell it!

Is there a buyer for it? Yes! (refer to above)

There is good news!

Click here to find your next home:  www.TeamKHomes.com

Click here to find out what your house is worth  www.TeamKMarketWatch.com

I’ll be happy to talk to you confidentially about your situation…….  Kay@TeamKHomes.com   or Cell 336-686-2177

 

 

 

 

 

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Emails and articles are beginning to contain a common thread that could weave a net and trap you from ever owning a home. Clip that thread now while you still can.

It seems that some are questioning whether our nation is supposed to make it easy to buy a home. Others wonder if it’s the nation’s job to assure homeownership to all.

Are we going back to the day that singles live with parents much longer, and newly marrieds must rent for years to save enormous downpayments before they can afford to buy a home of their own? Ask your grandparents about that!

My question is: If minimum or no downpayments and lower credit scores have created huge numbers of foreclosures, why didn’t FHA and VA financing reveal that many years ago?

(A high percentage of my brokerage work since 1988 has been with first-time and move-up homebuyers.)

Since their inception, both FHA and VA have successfully assured home mortgage loans requiring small or no downpayments, lower credit scores, and all the while loaning higher amounts than conventional financing.

Lowering the nation’s commitment to homeownership could directly affect you. Requiring huge cash outlays could automatically throw a lot of “starters” like you into the net, and assure your hard-earned money increases the landlord’s slice of the cash flow pie.

What was the problem really, and is anything reliable being done about it?

Most agree that many bought homes they could not afford, thus foreclosures grew like an uncontrollable germ.  Both the following changes could directly immunize that virus:

Let’s think about lenders (1) increasing the debt-to-income ratio, and (2) adding a “home maintenance” monthly amount as a “debt.”

Yes, both these changes would lower the buyer’s maximum price, but they would assure he can afford the payment and have some extra cash for unexpected expenses.

I often tell my buyer clients this, “There is life after the closing, be sure you can live it!” It has always been amazing to me that clients tend to find houses they love in the price range they can afford, regardless!  How interesting!

Lenders can make these rule changes, or you can make them for yourself. Take control of your financial life. Don’t let anyone push you into a mortgage loan you are not comfortable with!

Buy less than you can afford. You’ll be able to find a home in your “best” price range, and rest assured you can pay for it, and keep it maintained. There is sufficient inventory in the Triad area where I work.

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Consumers of real estate risk walking a high wire act when they go online to find a home for sale.  With no interpreter for real estate internet data, your search for a home is unbalanced. You’ll be lucky if there is a safety net to catch you when you fall.

Slow down, sit down, and get some reliable information before you begin.

Here are two true stories:

Recently, while watching a demonstration of the latest phone “apps,” the excited cell phone salesperson said to me, “Look at this new real estate application. You can look up homes for sale around here, and it even displays three comparables to tell you what price you ‘oughta pay for the house.”

Those words “comparable” and  ”price” sent my ears up like a mule!  (Uh, those are the funny looking horses we have around here!)

A real estate broker for 22 years, I wondered how any internet program could reliably determine true comparables and the price of a home? Oh well.

I squinted to see the results. The house for sale was $179,900. The three sold “comps” had closed prices from $75,000 to $129,000, with no other information. One would assume from this data that the list price of the home for sale was grossly overpriced, which is the assumption many uninformed and misinformed buyers have in our local market.

Story #2? After confusing and frustrating themselves, irritating the seller and losing the possibility of a second negotiation, a couple in an adjacent city called me asking for help. “The internet said the house was worth $150,000,” he explained. The list price was $200,000. (Numbers changed to protect the misinformed) He continued, “I don’t know what to do now. I don’t want to pay too much. I’m confused.”  Relying solely on internet information caused this potential buyer to miss out on a really nice and well-priced home.

Beginning your search with a qualified real estate buyer-agent by your side can balance your desire to “not pay too much” with making sure your offer is accepted.

How to do it right:

Interview three local real estate salespersons to find one who

1) has a lot of experience in your local market

2) has specific knowledge in the price range and home style you want

3)  has good communication and social skills for the inevitable difficult contract and inspections negotiations ahead

4) has complete and up-to-date market data in your area, and the ability to interpret internet facts along with true local market data to help you determine what you should offer for a home

5) most importantly, can represent you as a buyer exclusively. Note: a listing agent is already working for the seller.

From professional sports players to musical performers, all successful people know the value of a “coach.” As in performance, your coach has one goal: to make you the star, to be sure you win. It’s all about you.

A good real estate buyer-agent should have the same goal as they coach you through the maze of internet information, guide you to the reality of local market data, share their extensive knowledge of the market, and exhibit successful negotiating when you buy your first home, or your tenth!

A buyer-agent is on your side.

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Potential homebuyers in Burlington, Greensboro and the Triad area of North Carolina are figuring out the number one reason to fear buying a home today, and they are wisely doing something about it!

Witnessing friends lose their homes to foreclosure and wake up in financial devastation has been a sobering and eye-opening event to many who would like to own a place of their own.

Those wanting to take advantage of a buyers’ market are figuring out what the real problem was, and they are finding better ways to approach buying a home. Careful is the pace; knowledge is the key. 

They ask the right questions:

* What exactly is an ARM mortgage? What is a “fixed” rate? How can I be totally approved for a loan and be sure I get the money?

* What price home can I afford? What do I “want” to afford? Exactly how much will my payments be?

* Where are the homes that will increase in value over the next ten years? How do I negotiate the best offer on the home I like?

Getting some real estate counseling is an avenue that first-time homebuyers are using to get on the right track. An hour with a local real estate consultant is worth it’s cost in gold, they say. Here are some nuggets of advice they hear:

* Buy 20% less home than you can afford.

* Put $100 per month into a separate “Home” account, for unexpected expenses and “capital” improvements, ie, a new roof, floorings, etc. It will come in handy many times.

Buy now IF

1) you can own the home for the next five years, and

2) you will not need to refinance during that time, and

3) there are no known major repairs required on the house in the next two years.

Despite your fears and all you hear to the contrary, we may never see better interest rates and lower prices on homes for sale in our area. So now actually is a good time to buy.

Owning a home can be a hole to pour money in, and owning a home can still be a wise financial move to stabilize and advance your future like the American dream promises.

You can win in the current real estate market. It’s your choice.

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