Jason Stuyvesant – Des Moines, IA Realtor

Check out this interesting view on mowing our yards and how we go about it. A good yard goes a long way towards selling your home. Ready to get yours sold? Lets sit down and talk about it today!

Original Article

RISMedia, May 26, 2011—(MCT)—Thomas Christopher is a lawn and garden expert calling for a radical revamp of how we approach yard care. “Lawns. I keep struggling with them,” says Christopher, editor of the just-published The New American Landscape: Leading Voices on the Future of Sustainable Gardening (Timber Press, $34.95). “I try to persuade people to do it in an easier, more environmental way, but people are stuck back in the Eisenhower years.

“It’s got to stop,” he adds. “People have to get a grip and break the habit.”

Here are some ways to break turf’s hold on your life, resulting in a greener and “greener” lawn that takes far less time to maintain.

Make sure the mower blade is very sharp. “A dull blade leaves grass looking ragged and encourages disease or lawn problems,” Christopher says.

Set the mower level higher. “Most people set their lawn mowers way too short,” he says, noting too close a cut damages the grass, encourages weed growth and calls for too-frequent mowing. It’s never about how short the grass is but how neat and trim the lawn looks when finished. Grass varieties grown in cooler climes should be 3 inches long or longer; warm-climate grasses, such as Bermuda and centipede grasses, can be cut a bit shorter, to around 1 1/2 inches.

Let your mower “design” the yard. Once you start the mower rolling, do not back up or make, in Christopher’s words, “turns so tight they require slowing down.” When you finish, look around for any areas of uncut grass. “The trick is to eliminate the little corners, peninsulas and island of grass,” says Christopher. “Those patches are time-waster areas.” What to do then? Don’t mow those patches; replace with ground covers or mulch.

Start mowing in the most visible area of the property, like the front lawn. Christopher says the most efficient way to mow is to choose a specific area and mow in a circular motion from the edges toward the center. Mowing back and forth in rows is also acceptable.

Let no single bush or tree be an island in your yard. If there’s something planted in the middle of the lawn that makes mowing hard, like a large bush with overarching branches, Christopher recommends ripping out the grass under the bush. Create a garden bed or plant some more bushes. Use mulch to create a large, even shape that’s easy to mow around. “Don’t drop plants into your yard,” he warns.

Be aware of your terrain, especially any steep slopes. Christopher had a friend who was mowing downhill, slipped, and his feet went under the mower. “He lost a couple of toes,” Christopher recalls. Where the ground goes downhill, mow back and forth across the grade.

Don’t be overeager about mowing. Christopher has encountered a number of guys who can’t cut back on their grass-cutting routine even when their yards really don’t need it. Be honest about whether or not you can give up the mower.

Nice article from Trulia discussing the pains that buyer experience when buying distressed property. As a Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE) I can assist you in alleviating these stresses and others. Lets talk today!

Original Article

Roughly forty percent of the homes for sale on today’s market are short sales and foreclosures! Distressed properties are well known for their value (a reputation which is sometimes accurate, and sometimes not), but they also have a reputation for causing buyers to become distressed, too!

Transactional snafus, last-minute surprises and long, drawn-out escrows that never close seem to be par for the course. Instead of avoiding these properties altogether, get educated about the most common dramas that go down in these deals, and how you can avoid falling victim.

1. Run-on (and on, and on) escrows. When you’re buying a home (or selling one, for that matter), time is absolutely of the essence. And buyers reasonably expect that the big time suck in real estate is in the house hunting process itself; seems like once you find a home you want to buy and the seller agrees to your price and terms, things should move pretty quickly, right?

Not so much, when it comes to some distressed property sales. I’ve heard tell of the occasional, swiftly-moving escrow on an REO (real estate owned – by the bank). But for the most part, these transactions take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks longer than “regular” sales, because of the extra signatures, supervisor-level approvals and even investor involvement required to seal the deal. Banks don’t have the same sense of urgency individual home sellers do, and it’s not uncommon for the people who need to sign on the dotted line to be on vacation or scattered across the country, adding days’ or weeks’ worth of time to the escrow.

And short sales are also an entirely different animal when it comes to escrow timelines. While a standard sale from an individual seller to an individual buyer might take 45 days from contract to closing, a short sale can take anywhere from 45 days to 6 or 8 months (!) to get the deal closed, after the seller has accepted the contract.

Avoid the drama by: expecting your escrow to run long, and being pleasantly surprised if it doesn’t. Expectation management is everything. Make sure you take these extended timelines into account when you’re working with your mortgage broker on the issue of when to lock your interest rate, and how long your rate locks will last. You might even need to plan on and/or set aside an allowance for the cost of extending your low interest rate, if rates are rising rapidly during the time you’re waiting for the deal to be done.

2. Bank won’t take lowball offer. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve received a question from an outraged reader to the effect that a buyer has had their short sale or REO offer rejected on grounds that it was too low, even though the bank has no other offers, I could buy a foreclosure myself (admittedly, it’d be one of those $150 foreclosures in some blighted town with tax liens and no plumbing, but still).

Banks owe their shareholders and investors a duty to get as much as they can for these properties. Just because you see it’s on the market and listed as a short sale or a foreclosure doesn’t mean they’re going to give it to you for a fraction of its worth. The bank’s goal is to get a purchase price as close as possible to the home’s fair market value, as determined by the recent sales prices of similar, nearby homes, with some adjustments made for the property’s condition. Fact is, many banks would rather see the listing agent reduce the price by a moderate amount, and wait to see what offers come in, than to accept an offer 30 percent below the asking price just because there are no other offers on the table.

Avoid the drama by: working with your agent to make a realistic offer, based on recent comparable sales in the neighborhood, not just on what you think you can get away with. You can waste a lot of time, spin a lot of wheels and lose out on a lot of properties making lowball offer after lowball offer on distressed homes. Sit down with your broker or agent, review the ‘comps’ and make a smart offer that reflects a good value for you, is within your budget and is not bizarrely out of the realm of the fair market value of the property.

3. Last minute postponements/cancellations. These transactions have an uncanny way of being delayed at the last minute – or never going through at all, through no fault of the wanna-be buyer. You signed docs yesterday, put your dog in the crate this morning and just hopped in the moving truck, only to get a text from your broker that the deal didn’t close because the escrow company which was selected by the bank flubbed the checkboxes on a single sheet of paper (it happens). Or, you’ve been in contract (with the seller) on a short sale for four months, and the bank refuses the sale entirely because the seller refuses to kick even $1 of their own cash into the deal, despite having a flush savings account.

Avoid the drama by: staying as flexible as possible with your moving plans as long as possible. Best practice is to plan on some overlap between the time you can be in your last place and your scheduled move-in date. Also, if you’re in contract on a short sale, you should take the point of view that you don’t have a firm deal until you get the bank’s approval of the transaction. So don’t even think about starting to make moving plans or paying for home inspections and appraisals until you know the bank has greenlit the deal and that the purchase price and terms they’ve approved work for both you and the seller.

4. The bank’s black box. Make an offer on a normal home and you’re likely to know what the outcome will be within a few hours or a few days, at the outside. If things take longer because the seller is out of town or some such, the listing agent tells you that, and you at least know what’s going on.

Make an offer on a bank-owned property or a short sale? It’s a crap shoot – could be days, but could also, easily, be weeks or months before you know what’s going on. And no amount of calling, pleading, prodding or nudging is likely to get you much information on how your offer or the seller’s short sale application is being handled or what (if any) progress is being made. And that “black box” into which your offer disappears at the benk level is very frustrating.

Avoid the drama by: continuing your house hunt until you have an answer back. Maniacally pestering the listing agent for answers or harrassing your buyer’s broker into spending hours on hold with the bank is highly unlikely to get you any insight. (With that said, it does make sense for your agent to check in regularly – sometimes even daily – with a short sale or REO listing agent to stay updated on any developments with the property and to make sure your offer/transaction stays in the front of their mind.)

Most of the angst in these situations arises when a buyer feels they passed on properties that would have really worked for them when they pinned their hopes on a distressed home. You can only control your efforts and activities, not the bank’s. So, consult with your own broker or agent about staying proactive in viewing and even pursuing other properties until you have a firm “yes” from the bank on your short sale or REO offer. Until that time, and usually for a short time after you get the bank’s approval, you have the right to back out of the transaction if you need to (make sure your broker briefs you on precisely when your right to rescind your offer or exercise contingencies – i.e., bail – will expire).

5. Double standards. In a “regular” equity sale with no bank involvement, both buyer and seller are obligated to meet various timelines. Seller has to provide disclosures by X date, open the property to inspections – with utilities on – by Y, and close and move out by Z. REO and short sale buyers, on the other hand, are often dismayed to find that even though the bank might take weeks or months to sign or handle its deliverables, the bank will insist that the buyer show up, sign or send a check quick-like.

Avoid the drama by: chalking it up to the (admittedly irritating) way things are – the price you pay to buy from the bank. Realize that working with the bank on the bank’s terms is unavoidable when you buy a distressed property. Then, go into the deal with realistic expectations – including the expectation that the bank will drag its feet, despite expecting you to keep every deadline – and you’ll be less frustrated, and less likely to make poor decisions out of frustration.

Also, make sure you do respond in a timely manner to the bank’s requests and your obligations under the contract. I’ve seen banks capitalize on buyer delays in returning signatures and removing contingencies to accept higher offers they received in the interim. Don’t lose your home on a technicality because you assume that the bank’s lackadaisacal timelines apply to you as well.

Author: Tara Nicholle Nelson

Here is an interesting take by Steve Cook at RISMedia about the housing market and its current state. Enjoy! As always, if you would like to discuss this or any other real estate topics I am always available!

RISMEDIA, May 16, 2011—Price declines will end and average U.S. home prices will stabilize by Labor Day. Prices in even the hardest-hit markets will level out by the end of 2012.

That’s the latest prediction from the authoritative Moody’s Analytics and Fiserv, Inc, after an analysis of home price trends in 375 markets tracked by the Fiserv Case-Schiller Indexes.

Fiserv reports that home prices have fallen so far that they are at pre-bubble levels, creating affordable housing relative to income which, coupled with a slowly improving economy, will finally end price declines.

The slide in home prices has greatly improved home affordability. Relative to household income, affordability is at or close to pre-bubble levels in nearly every metro area across the U.S. This dynamic, combined with growing economic strength, leads Fiserv and Moody’s Analytics to project that average U.S. home prices will stabilize in the third quarter of this year. By the end of 2012, home prices in even the hardest-hit housing markets will level out.

However, while Fiserv and Moody’s project the national U.S. home price average will stabilize in the third quarter of 2011, a 3 percent decline is expected in the first half of this year.

“The first step toward restoring confidence in housing markets is an improvement in consumer sentiment, which we expect will increase slowly through 2011 due to stronger job gains and a falling unemployment rate,” says David Stiff, chief economist, Fiserv. “As confidence rises, the decline in home sales that started in 2006 will, finally, come to an end.”

Even as balance returns to the housing market, Fiserv Case-Shiller data forecasts the pace of recovery will be uneven across U.S. metro areas.

“Many metro areas have vast inventories of vacant homes, a consequence of both over-building during the bubble and high rates of foreclosure,” says Stiff. “New data from the 2010 U.S. Census provide estimates of the depth of the overhang of vacant homes in some markets. Between the 2000 and 2010 Censuses, the overall U.S. housing vacancy rate increased by 2.4 percentage points. In metro areas with the largest price bubbles and crashes, housing vacancy rates have jumped by 3 to 7 percentage points.”

The most stressed U.S. housing markets are characterized by unemployment rates that exceed the national average and high housing vacancy rates. Examples include Detroit, Las Vegas and Orlando, where unemployment tops 10 percent and vacancy rates are above 15 percent. Stiff noted the feedback loop that continues to exert downward pressure on home prices in these markets:

“Economic growth in these markets was highly dependent on residential real estate from 2002 to 2006, with many new jobs tied directly or indirectly to booming housing markets. When the bubble popped, these markets suffered the largest job losses. Rapidly falling employment undercut housing demand, causing home price depreciation to accelerate, leading to more job losses in residential real estate.”

The markets that escaped this dynamic are better positioned for more robust recoveries. Examples include Dallas, Milwaukee, Houston, New York, Baltimore and Pittsburgh. Stiff notes that while many of these metro areas did experience double-digit home price declines, their economic growth was more balanced during the boom years, relying less on residential construction. Today, these markets benefit from relatively lower housing vacancy and unemployment rates.

A great set of Q&A posted by RIS Media talks about getting our yards/gardens ready for spring! (Original)

RISMEDIA, May 14, 2011—(MCT)—The sun is shining a bit brighter, the days are getting longer and after a long snowy winter, many people are eager to work in their yards. To help guide you, we talked with Sandra Goeddeke-Richards, the Master Gardener Program coordinator for the Michigan State University Extension-Macomb in Clinton Township, Mich.

Q: What tips do you have for prepping a yard for spring planting?
A: Never work in wet, heavy soil. Now is a good time to start taking off some of the debris that we may have left over the winter to make way for the spring bulbs and spring growth to come through; but not necessarily raking. Leave a good layer of winter mulch for these surprise wintry days that still come. When I say debris, you can start cutting back the top parts of the mums or perhaps the coneflowers, as well as your grass.

Now is a really good time to look at the structure of your trees. Keep your eye out for branches that might be crossing or blocking sunlight. The rule of thumb is if it’s a spring-flowering tree, let it do its spring bloom and do your pruning after the bloom.

Q: Should gardeners get their soil tested?
A: If you’ve never done it before, it is a good place to understand the nutrients of your plants, whether it is a vegetable garden or flowers or turf. Take 6 to 10 random samples from the site about 4-6 inches deep and mix those samples in a bucket. We need two cups of mix dried out and put in a plastic bag. For minimal charge, we send (it) to Michigan State University’s soil testing lab. The results come back in about 10 days to two weeks, customized and interpreted for your use. It would tell you if your soil is too acidic and how to offset that appropriately for your current crop—be it vegetables, turf or perennials.

Q: When is it safe to plant annuals and perennials?
A: You want to watch that soil moisture. In the vegetable department, they’re planting the seeds of peas but only because they’re so tolerant of cold, wet soil. Pansies are often the first things you can plant because they are cold- tolerant and will even tolerate some snow on them.

Depending on the annual—frost and cold hardiness is something you want to watch out for—generally the safest time (to plant) is mid- to late May. Most of us start planting around Mother’s Day. But even then we’re taking a risk. So just be ready with some sheets of newspaper if we have a sudden low that happens at night.

Q: When is the best time to fertilize?
A: When the plant is actively growing and can actively take it up. That is going to vary with temperature. The only bad time to fertilize a plant is if it is really dry or if it is (dormant) or just recently transplanted. For grass, (the best time is) late May early June.

Q: Vegetable gardening is popular. What are some common mistakes?
A: Strangely enough, doing too much. A new gardener should start small and just grow things they really love to eat. And then as we start to expand upon it and learn, maybe try one experiment. Most of the time I see a vegetable garden being unsuccessful because somebody just bit off more than they could chew. They didn’t realize they would have to put some work into it throughout the season. Then they end up with a zillion zucchini and they’re overwhelmed and let them rot. So just understanding what their family will want to eat and start with that. Another one is vegetables need a lot of sun. If it’s shaded most of the day, it won’t be a place to grow vegetables.

Here is the next solution in the series of inexpensive home repairs. Enjoy!

This is a series of tips for the week by HouseLogic about easy home repairs you can do with little expense. I missed posting yesterday so these are the first two. Stay tuned the rest of the week for more solutions!

Below is an interesting read from Inman on the value of buying versus renting in major cities. Ready to stop throwing money away on rent? Give me a call today! I have a variety of lenders with the right loan program for YOU to buy a home. Lets make it happen together!!!

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It is cheaper to buy a home than to rent one in 39 of the nation’s 50 largest cities, according to a quarterly report released today by real estate search and marketing site Trulia.

Trulia’s rent vs. buy index compared the median list price with the median rent on two-bedroom apartments, condominiums and townhomes listed on Trulia.com as of April 1, 2011, in the 50 most populous cities in the U.S. While 72 percent of the cities favored buying in the previous quarter’s report, 78 percent favored buying in this latest report.

“With home prices nearing a double dip and more foreclosures expected to flood the housing market over the next two years, the decision between renting and buying a home across most of the country has clearly moved in favor of buying,” said Ken Shuman, Trulia’s spokesperson, in a statement.

“As we head into the summer buying season, those looking to buy a home should be encouraged by improvements in the market and feel optimistic about their chances of finding an affordable home — much more so than in previous years.”

A price-to-rent ratio of 1 to 15 means that it’s much cheaper to buy than to rent in a particular city. A ratio between 16 and 20 means that it’s more expensive to rent than to buy, but, depending on the family’s situation, buying could “make financial sense,” the site said. Any ratio above 20 indicates that owning is much more costly than renting in a city.

Top 10 cities to buy vs. rent:

Rank City State Price-to-rent ratio
1 Las Vegas Nev. 6
2 Phoenix Ariz. 7
3 Arlington Texas 7
4 Fresno Calif. 8
5 Miami Fla. 8
6 Mesa Ariz. 8
7 Jacksonville Fla. 9
8 Sacramento Calif. 9
9 Detroit Mich. 10
10 Omaha Neb. 10
Source: Trulia

Most of the cities considered saw their price-to-rent ratios fall quarter-to-quarter. Fresno, Calif.; Omaha, Neb.; San Jose, Calif.; Seattle; Cleveland; and Detroit saw the biggest drops.

Rank City State Q2 2011 Q1 2011 % change
1 Fresno CA 8 11 -30%
2 Omaha NE 10 13 -25%
3 San Jose CA 12 15 -21%
4 Seattle WA 19 24 -20%
5 Cleveland OH 14 17 -15%
6 Detroit MI 10 12 -15%
Source: Trulia

Coastal cities dominated among those where renting is cheaper than buying, but consumers will have to decide if buying makes financial sense.

Rank City State Price-to-rent ratio
40 Oakland Calif. 16
41 Oklahoma City Okla. 16
42 Portland Ore. 18
43 San Francisco Calif. 19
44 Boston Mass. 19
45 Seattle Wash. 19
46 Memphis Tenn. 20
47 Los Angeles Calif. 20
Source: Trulia

The index considers the total cost of homeownership compared to the total cost of renting. Calculations for the total cost of homeownership include mortgage principal and interest, property taxes, hazard insurance, closing costs at time of purchase, homeowners association dues, and private mortgage insurance. The homeownership cost calculation also includes tax advantages from mortgage interest, property tax and closing-cost deductions.

Calculations for total rental cost include rent and renters insurance.

The total cost of homeownership was highest, compared to the cost to rent, in New York; Fort Worth, Texas; and Kansas City, Mo.

Top 10 cities to rent vs. buy:

Rank City State Price-to-rent Ratio
50 New York N.Y. 39
49 Fort Worth Texas 30
48 Kansas City Mo. 22
46 Memphis Tenn. 20
47 Los Angeles Calif. 20
43 San Francisco Calif. 19
44 Boston Mass. 19
45 Seattle Wash. 19
42 Portland Ore. 18
41 Oklahoma City Okla. 16
Source: Trulia