Ugly House? Maybe Not as Big a Deal as You Think

Let's face it...some of us live in homes that are downright ugly. If that's where you're at, here are some tips:

1) Clean it up, and make it clutter free. If you're dealing with an odd floor plan, this is one of the best things you can do. Don't add messy & dirty on top of things!

2) Change the carpet, paint the walls. If there's wallpaper, get rid of it! Depending on your skill level, these are things you may be able to do yourself. If you're not competent in those sorts of endeavors, hire a professional, or friend/family member who can do the job well.

3) If you can afford it, have professional staging done. People who stage homes professionally are able to see the best your home has to offer. They can accentuate the selling points, and will be able to downplay the not-so-appealing aspects of your home.

4) Price accordingly. If your home needs a lot of work to make it more...appealing...you may end up having to lower the price. Especially when there's a slow market, there are lots of homes to choose from, so make it sellable with a reasonable price.

5) Agent incentives.  This won't directly attract buyers, but it does give agents more reason to show your home more frequently. More traffic = higher probability of a sale.

6) Be honest in your ad. Don't overstate things. That doesn't mean you need to make the place sound like a dump, but don't call it a parade-of-homes house if it isn't. There are people who specifically look for fixer-upper homes.

7) Hire the right agent. If you're talking to an agent who typically deals in brand new model homes, you might want to talk to someone else. Find someone with experience in selling unique homes.

Life After Foreclosure?

Think you're doomed after a home foreclosure? There may be some good news for you.

While you'll probably have to wait seven years to obtain a conventional mortgage, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and the FHA say they only require a three-year waiting period post-foreclosure. Granted, this is dependent on the circumstances surrounding the foreclosure, but there may be some hope for you. Some requirements may include a large down-payment [20% or more], and you may be required to pay higher than market interest rates, but there's still the potential for homeownership in the near-er future than you may have expected. Lease-purchase options are another possibility if a foreclosure lies in your more recent past, but you still want to buy a home. A knowledgeable realtor will be able to talk to you about these options in more depth.

Pre-Approval or Pre-qualification

If you’re like most potential home buyers, you’ll need a mortgage. That said, as complicated and often lengthy as the whole process is, there are a few things you can do ahead of time to make the whole thing go more smoothly. One of those things is a mortgage pre-approval (not to be mistaken for a pre-qualification). 

First, let’s talk about loan pre-qualification. The simpler of the two, a pre-qualification looks very broadly at your financial situation and gives you a general idea of how large of a loan you may qualify for. It doesn’t look at your credit report, or your financial situation in-depth. It can be a helpful step, and an opportunity to talk to a lender about your financial and home-buying goals. Since the pre-qualification process is so simple, and doesn’t take all of your financial information into account, it carries a lot less weight to a seller than a pre-approval.

A pre-approval is a much more involved process, which includes an extensive financial background and credit rating. You’ll fill out a mortgage application, and generally have to pay an application fee. This gives a specific mortgage amount for which you are approved, and at times you are able to lock in a specific interest rate. After pre-approval, you’ll receive a conditional commitment from the lender, which will allow you to look at homes at or below that price level. This is obviously a huge advantage with a seller, since you’re automatically one step further along in the process.

Another advantage to completing either of these steps is that you’ll know in advance how much you can afford, and you’ll be able to move quickly when you find the right place. In a competitive market, pre-approval can be the difference between getting the house of your dreams, or losing out. 

Periodically, we’ll write posts on some basic economics—some will be mini history lessons, so you know how we got to where we are now, others will be about things you hear on the news (which is especially important as we’re coming into an election year!), and still others will be about economic principles we think everyone should be familiar with.

Our goal is simply to give you access to understandable information, and hopefully help you to become a more confident decision-maker.

Stay tuned!