Andre's Blog

Any Realtor will tell you that getting a home inspection from a qualified professional is an extremely wise idea regardless of where you live. However, if you're purchasing a home in the Florida, you'll want to be especially careful to look for certain elements. Because of weather patterns in and around my area (Miami, FL) for example, properties can sometimes require a repair or two.

All homes in the southeast region of the United States have likely lived through weather conditions similar to those in Miami. Properties here are subjected to higher levels of humidity than other areas of the country. We can also be affected by heat-induced thunderstorms during summer months that may produce high winds and flooding. A qualified home inspector will be able to walk you through what this might mean with regard to a house you're purchasing. In addition to the usual points of inspection, be sure to ask about the following.

Humidity and Wood

Constant humidity may cause wood windows and doorframes to swell or warp. This may mean that gaps or checks in the wood could develop, causing the windows and doors to be less energy efficient. Likewise, from the contraction and expansion of the wood over time, doors and windows may also become difficult to open.

Your home inspector will also want to investigate the attic of the home you're buying to ensure the wooden structure is in good condition. Extreme heat and humidity in the summer months of the year can possibly create cause for concern in this area of the house as well.

Summer in the south often brings wind in a variety of ways. Heat-induced thunderstorms is one source, and hurricanes and tornados are others.

When wind becomes a factor, roofs can sometimes be damaged. Your home inspector will want to pay close attention to the roof of the home you are considering. Is it in good condition? Do any shingles need to be replaced? Are there any signs of water damage or leakage?

Heating and Air

The heat also plays a factor with heating and air-conditioning units in the south. With highs that can exceed 100 degrees in summer months, air-conditioning units get a real workout. Maintenance of these units is a must to ensure they work properly. Ask to see the history of the unit and also secure a letter from a qualified heating and air conditioning company that states the unit is in good working order.

No one wants to move into a new home only to be faced with a list of unexpected repairs. Taking the time to hire the proper inspection professionals can save you a lot of money and stress in the future. A small investment up front can help ensure you'll be able to enjoy your new home for years to come.

When it comes to choosing professionals to assist you with your real estate needs...Experience is Priceless! Andre' Shambley & Miami's Best REALTOR®. Team, The Keyes Company,                 305-788-6643         . AndreShambley@Keyes.com,
http://www.OnePlaceOpenHouse.com

Ready to refinance or looking for a better rate? For your complimentary rate quote visit Jacinta Shambley, APEX Lending, Inc. JShambley@APEXLending.com . http://www.JShambley.ApexLending.com

You are in the process of trying to sell your house and have your marketing up and running. So, how do you convert callers into offers? Here is one method.

A Tip On How To Get Offers When Showing Your House

Once you have decided to sell your home, there are a couple of steps you have to take. The first is to get the home ready to show by doing repairs, landscaping and so on. Once you are ready to go, you have to start marketing the home. Assuming you have done all of this, the house is in good shape and you are competitively priced, you should start getting calls from potential buyers. These calls then turn into appointments and buyers come to see your home.

At this point, you probably expect that I will start writing about how to negotiate or accept offers. Wrong. The next step in the process is often one of frustration. The frustration arises from wishy washy buyers. They come and see the home, but leave without making an offer. They may come back a couple of times, but they simply never get around to doing the deed as they say. Simply put, this is because you have failed to address the issue of motivation.

Buyers need to be motivated to take action. The more motivated they are, the faster they will move. For instance, consider the holiday shopping season. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is out browsing in the malls. Why? The buyers are highly motivated to buy because there is a deadline and they probably have more than a few people to shop for. Simply put, they are highly motivated to do the deed.

Returning to our scenario above, what motivation do the buyers have to make an offer? Do they feel any pressure to do so? Unless there is something particular to their personal situation, the answer is that they do not. You must provide the motivation. Here is how.

One of the complaints of sellers is that they feel like they are constantly showing their homes to potential buyers without getting an offer. They may show the property three, four or even ten times a week. If this is your situation, you are doing it wrong.

The way to motivate buyers to make an offer on your home is to show it only once a week or two weeks if the market is slow. Set aside an hour or so on a particular day and make all the potential buyers come at the same time. By putting buyers together, you create the motivation that simply does not come with individual showings. In such situations, buyers are much less likely to be wishy washy. If they like the property, they inherently worry about one of the other buyers making an offer. You now have motivation and a perceived time limit.

If you have are getting interest in your property, but no offers, give this a try. You might be shocked how much of a difference it makes.

When it comes to choosing professionals to assist you with your real estate needs...Experience is Priceless! Andre' Shambley & Miami's Best REALTOR®. Team, The Keyes Company,  305-788-6643 AndreShambley@Keyes.com, http://www.OnePlaceOpenHouse.com

Ready to refinance or looking for a better rate? For your complimentary rate quote visit Jacinta Shambley, APEX Lending, Inc. JShambley@APEXLending.com . http://www.JShambley.ApexLending.com

Now that most zero down loan options have been removed from the market, many condo buyers are turning to FHA loans as the next best thing.

At this time, FHA loans require a minimum down payment of 3% and allow the seller to pay closing costs, which can range from approximately 3 to 6%.

One of the issues that can arise from using an FHA loan to purchase a condo is the restriction that FHA puts on which complexes the condo can be located in.

The department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) maintains an "out-dated" list of approved condo complexes where an FHA loan can be used.

Many agents and buyers are unaware of this and can end up wasting time making offers on condos they cannot finance and can also face the disappointment of having to cancel a sale after getting an offer accepted when learning that the complex is not FHA approved.

To avoid wasting time or facing disappointment, it is a good idea to ask the condo association to complete an FHA Approved Condo List Questionnaire for the area you are interested in before looking at condos for sale.

The approval of a complex is based on numerous factors, including the owner-to-renter ratio, the funding and legal status of the HOA, and whether or not the complex has applied to be approved.

Lenders say informally that the use of FHA loans to buy houses has tripled, but certain restrictions are prohibiting FHA condo buyers away.

Also, approvals for condos take eight to 10 weeks, twice the processing time for single-family dwellings.
Let's just say that a lot of lenders aren't able or aren't willing to do loans on condos," said Mark Goldman, mortgage broker and real estate professor at San Diego State University.

Though every bank is different, most want a list of assurances about buyers and the building they want to live in: that a certain number of the units are lived in by their owners (usually 50 percent), that the developers of new buildings aren't going to turn around and rent out the units they can't sell, that the homeowners association isn't suing the builder for any reason.

That helps a bank minimize its risk. If a building has a bunch of empty condos left, the potential exists for lower prices or leased out units. Meanwhile, a lender who made a mortgage on one of the first units could be out money if the buyer ends up upside-down in the unit and walks away.

Before, loan programs were available that didn't require those guarantees. Now, many banks are going back to those standards. And that question is increasingly having as much to do with the health of a neighborhood or a building as with the perceived ability of the borrower to repay the loan.

"You do sit on pins and needles waiting to see if the lender's going to approve your stuff," said Pete Thistle, a real estate agent with 92101 Urban Living who used to be a loan officer in the days of easier-to-get mortgages in downtown. "The guidelines have gotten much stricter. Beyond just getting approved by a bank with good income and good assets, good credit, you've also got to look at the condo building."

When it comes to choosing professionals to assist you with your real estate needs...Experience is Priceless! Andre' Shambley & Miami's Best REALTOR®. Team, The Keyes Company,                 305-788-6643         .  AndreShambley@Keyes.com,  http://www.OnePlaceOpenHouse.com     Ready to refinance or looking for a better rate?  For your complimentary rate quote visit Jacinta Shambley, APEX Lending, Inc.  JShambley@APEXLending.com . http://www.JShambley.ApexLending.com    

Ingredients

24 to 30 pearl onions
4 chicken thighs and legs, or 1 (5 to 7-pound) stewing chicken, cut into serving pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons water
6 ounces salt pork, slab bacon, or lardon, cubed
8 ounces button mushrooms, quartered
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 (750-ml) bottles red wine, preferably pinot noir
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 medium onion, quartered
2 stalks celery, quartered
2 medium carrots, quartered
3 cloves garlic, crushed
6 to 8 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
2 cups chicken stock or broth


Directions

Cut off the root end of each pearl onion and make an "x" with your knife in its place. Bring 2 to 3 cups of water to a boil and drop in the onions for 1 minute. Remove the onions from the pot, allow them to cool, and then peel. You should be able to slide the onions right out of their skin. Set aside.


Sprinkle the chicken on all sides with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place the chicken pieces, a few at a time, into a large (1 or 2-gallon) sealable plastic bag along with the flour. Shake to coat all of the pieces of the chicken. Remove the chicken from the bag to a metal rack.

Add the 2 tablespoons of water to a large, 12-inch saute pan over medium heat along with the salt pork. Cover and cook until the water is gone, and then continue to cook until the salt pork cubes are golden brown and crispy, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the salt pork from the pan and set aside.

In the same pan, using the remaining fat, add the pearl onions, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and saute until lightly brown, approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the onions from the pan and set aside. Next, brown the chicken pieces on each side until golden brown, working in batches if necessary to not overcrowd the pan. Transfer the chicken into a 7 to 8-quart enameled cast iron Dutch oven.

Add the mushrooms to the same 12-inch saute pan, adding the 1 tablespoon of butter if needed, and saute until they give up their liquid, approximately 5 minutes. Store the onions, mushrooms and pork in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Pour off any remaining fat and deglaze the pan with approximately 1 cup of the wine. Pour this into the Dutch oven along with the chicken stock, tomato paste, quartered onion, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, and bay leaf. Add all of the remaining wine. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Place the chicken in the oven and cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until the chicken is tender. Maintain a very gentle simmer and stir occasionally.

Once the chicken is done, remove it to a heatproof container, cover, and place it in the oven to keep warm. Strain the sauce in a colander and remove the carrots, onion, celery, thyme, garlic, and bay leaf. Return the sauce to the pot, place over medium heat, and reduce by 1/3. Depending on how much liquid you actually began with, this should take 20 to 45 minutes.

Once the sauce has thickened, add the pearl onions, mushrooms, and pork and cook for another 15 minutes or until the heated through. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary, remove from the heat, add the chicken and serve. Serve over egg noodles, if desired.

Cook's Note: If the sauce is not thick enough at the end of reducing, you may add a mixture of equal parts butter and flour kneaded together. Start with 1 tablespoon of each. Whisk this into the sauce for 4 to 5 minutes and repeat, if necessary.

When it comes to choosing professionals to assist you with your real estate needs...Experience is Priceless! Andre' Shambley&Miami's Best REALTOR®. Team

Dade County: http://www.miamidade.gov/pa/exempt_homestead.asp

Broward County: http://www.bcpa.net/homestead.asp  

Congress is readying a stimulus package that could include some generous incentives for homebuyers.

The Senate added to the close to $900 billion stimulus bill a home purchase tax credit of $15,000, or 10% of the purchase price. If it's included in the bill that goes to the White House, that would represent a big gain not just for potential buyers, but also for the home builders and real-estate agents' groups that have aggressively promoted such a proposal for months as part of their "Fix Housing First" lobbying effort.

The second plank of that lobbying effort - a proposal for federally subsidized 4% interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages - isn't in the bill, but Senate Republicans are pushing for such a buy-down to spur home sales. Already, the Federal Reserve Bank has tried to lower interest rates by buying up securities backed by mortgages. However, after 10 straight weeks of declines, interest rates have edged up slightly in recent weeks.

Policymakers will also consider increasing limits on loans eligible for financing from government-backed mortgage entities to as high as $729,750 in the nation's most expensive housing markets. The stimulus bill that passed in the House included the provision.

The Senate last week also approved $2 billion for state agencies to finance affordable housing.

Economists are skeptical that a builder tax credit or interest rate subsidies will stimulate the economy. Indeed, some argue encouraging the construction of new homes will only prolong the pain. "It is targeted not to the people who need help but an industry that wants a huge subsidy," said Thomas Lawler, an independent housing economist. "Why give an unbelievable gargantuan subsidy only to people who buy a home? What about renters who are in more dire straits?"

Proponents of a tax credit point to similarly structured subsidies that Congress approved in 1975. The program gave qualified buyers a 5% credit up to $6,000 and brought down interest rates by around 1.5%, to 7%. But critics say that the analogy is misleading because the U.S. was exiting a recession that had been induced by oil prices, not a slide in home values.

Give your feedback: Would a $15,000 tax credit spur you to buy a home?



When it comes to choosing professionals to assist you with your real estate needs...Experience is Priceless! Andre' Shambley & Miami's Best REALTOR®. Team, The Keyes Company,  30.... AndreShambley@Keyes.com,
http://www.OnePlaceOpenHouse.com

Ready to refinance or looking for a better rate? For your complimentary rate quote visit Jacinta Shambley, APEX Lending, Inc. JShambley@APEXLending.com . http://www.JShambley.ApexLending.com

By Marilyn Lewis 

Great neighbors are the answer to a lot of the questions life throws at you, whether you're tearing out your hair over speeding cars, scared of possible drug activity down the block or just need a cup of sugar or a back-fence friend.

"Realtors tell you, 'It's location, location, location.' But really, what makes a great location? Good housing stock, good schools nearby and a neighborhood where, when there's a problem, it's solved quickly by the people who live there, and it's a fun place to live," says Jay Walljasper, author of "The Great Neighborhood Book: A Do-it-Yourself Guide to Placemaking." Great neighborhoods, Walljasper says, both support real-estate values and enrich lives.

The most visible benefits of close neighborhoods are strong property values, good schools and reduced crime. Dennis P. Rosenbaum, director of the Center for Research in Law and Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago, says crime is lower where people say they feel more attached to the neighborhood, more social connectedness, more responsibility for what goes on around them and a greater willingness to intervene when they suspect criminal activity.

"Neighborhoods are everything" when it comes to selling your home, says Lovinda Beal, a real-estate agent with Coldwell Banker Northern California. As property values rise, a strong neighborhood adds to the home's value; when sales are slow and prices flat or dropping, homes hold value better in strong neighborhoods, she says.

There are plenty more benefits to close neighborhoods, including:

· Shared clout to resist bad development and encourage beneficial projects;

· A rich social life and ready friendships; a feeling of connection and belonging;

· Advocacy and support for strong neighborhood schools;

· Kid-friendly streets and parks;

· Cooperative gardens and pea patches;

· Help with your home-repair projects.

Here are tactics and activities that Breskin, Walljasper and others suggest for creating strong neighborhoods:

1. Start next door. Knock on the doors of your nearest neighbors and introduce yourself. Learn their first names. You might want to make up a small list of names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Print copies and distribute them to each household to post on the refrigerator or near the phone. You don't have to like everyone, just be able to wave and say, "Hi." The rest will take care of itself.

2. Pull a lawn chair to the front of the house. Americans invest a great deal in turning backyards into wonderful retreats, Walljasper says, but they forget that when people spend time in front of their houses, neighborhoods are safer, friendlier and more interesting. Where people sit on stoops and porches and in front yards with a glass of iced tea or a cold beer, neighborhoods brim with liveliness. "It's the old eyes-on-the-streets thing," he says. "And you get to watch the parade of humanity."

3. Include food. Make every meeting a social occasion by including a little food or coffee. "Oftentimes the most important outcome of any meeting isn't anything on the agenda," Walljasper says. "It may be the two people who meet in the back of the room and launch an idea for a business or an improvement project or spark a love affair."

4. Embrace everybody. Neighborhoods are vulnerable to factions and infighting. Scrupulously segregate religion, politics and personal animosities from neighborhood-building. Focus on what everyone has in common. When inviting people to meetings and events, include renters, homeowners, friends, enemies, homeless people, misfits and especially the folks in the drug house. "They almost never come," Breskin says, "but it says, 'People are watching.' You don't have to scold them. You just say, 'We're doing this thing and you're welcome.' If they show up, you treat 'em right because they may yet turn around."

5. Focus on safety. Research suggests that knowing neighbors helps prevent crime, says Rosenbaum, the criminologist. In laboratory studies, witnesses to crime were more likely to intervene or call police when they knew the environment or the victim or other witnesses. Start a Neighborhood Block Watch, a national police-citizen crime-fighting program, by calling your police department and asking a speaker to explain the program and train neighbors. You'll learn to spot and report signs of crime and coordinate neighbor-to-neighbor communications. (The National Crime Prevention Council explains more here.) Another crime-fighting program teaming neighbors, police and local merchants is National Night Out, sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch. Neighborhoods hold parades, flashlight walks, cookouts, block parties and other events with a public-safety focus. You can designate a special "Project365" to tackle - eradicating graffiti, for example, or cleaning up a dangerous park. In Breskin's neighborhood, when a drug ring was burglarizing homes, police showed residents how to reinforce deadbolts so doors couldn't be kicked in and urged people to report the slightest suspicious activity. Eventually, someone spotted a light on in a home where residents were known to be gone, and phoned police, who busted the ring.

6. Celebrate everything. It's summer? Throw a neighborhood picnic. Winter? Hold a soup social (cook up big batches of several soups and invite neighbors to bring bread and drink). Celebrations may just feel like fun, but they help prevent crime by strengthening what Rosenbaum calls "informal social control" over your surroundings. After the drug ring was shut down, Breskin's neighbors thanked police with a "cookies for cops" party. They brought homemade treats and cards and homegrown flowers to a central location, then volunteers carted the bounty to the police station. "It wound up taking three of those fold-down banquet tables to hold everything," Breskin says. "I've never seen so many cops with tears in their eyes."

7. Start a publication or e-mail list. There are many approaches to neighborhood communications. Whatever you do, keep names and addresses strictly confidential. On group e-mails, put addresses on the BCC: (blind copy) line so they can't be seen. Also, Breskin advises against unedited community forums, as they can become a platform for neighborhood feuds. She uses e-mail to distribute a weekly newsletter and occasional alerts to 900 of the 1,700 households in her neighborhood. She includes news about developments, community meetings, city government issues, hospitalized neighbors, lost pets, houses for rent and for sale and other goings-on. She takes no money and sells no ads. Neighbors give her their addresses and she guards them fiercely. Madison's East Buckeye Neighborhood Association, which Hamilton-Nisbet helps run as co-president, uses a Web site and distributes a four- to six-page quarterly paper newsletter (no e-mail) to all 770 households whose addresses were purchased from the city and are treated as confidential information. Businesses buy ads, which cover costs. Other neighborhoods around the country use i-neighbors, a free social-networking site, for communicating; sharing photos, directories and documents; conducting polls on local issues; reviewing neighborhood businesses; and faxing government officials. The site is run by professor Keith Hampton and his students at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. They track the site's usage patterns for research purposes.

8. Plant a community garden. Cut grocery bills, show your children where their meals come from and bond with neighbors by participating in a community garden, sometimes call a "pea patch." (Find one in your neighborhood here, at the American Community Gardening Association's site.) Or start a garden yourself. (Read guidelines here on choosing a site, setting up an organization and managing the garden.)

9. See what's cooking at city hall. See if your town has a department or office of neighborhoods - usually found in the planning department. Tallahassee, Fla., for instance, has a council of neighborhood associations, Las Vegas has a neighborhood services department and Austin, Texas, has a neighborhood resources office. Some cities sponsor neighborhood councils, newsletters and celebrations, give grants and listen carefully to neighborhood voices, especially about land use, transportation and zoning. In Seattle, the city's reLeaf program gives neighborhoods free trees and encourages residents to adopt and plant traffic circles and parking strips, build trails and restore native habitat.

10. Focus on disaster preparedness. Many neighborhood groups across the country are training to take care of themselves during a disaster, with the understanding that in major emergencies, it may be hours, days or weeks before overwhelmed emergency personnel can help. Neighborhood group training is offered by the American Red Cross and the Homeland Security CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams) program (search for a CERT program by ZIP code). Contact your city or county department of emergency services to learn what's available near you. See the National League of Cities' publication Preparing for Pandemic Influenza.

11. Encourage walking. When people can walk safely, the atmosphere is lively and the whole neighborhood becomes safe, community activists say. If you must travel a block to get to a crosswalk or it's unsafe to cross the street, neighbors are cut off from each other. Numerous organizations help communities encourage people to walk and ride bikes. Among them:

· The National Pedestrian Safety Campaign and the National Center for Safe Routes to School help communities improve pedestrian access.

· The Institute on Traffic Safety has a searchable online database of information about traffic calming.

· Many state and local governments encourage citizens to help build trails and footpaths. This Texas Department of Health Services manual (.pdf) tells how to organize, plan, construct and promote a community walking trail. The Active Living Resource Library has articles telling how to promote biking, walking and safe routes to school in neighborhoods. For example, hold a bicycle rodeo.

12. Focus on kids. Neighborhoods have a great effect on children's lives. And neighborhoods that are safe and attractive for children boost property values. Neighborhoods organize to build swimming pools and offer day care, after-school programs, arts and recreation classes and computer labs. Check out offerings for children in Seattle's Phinney neighborhood. Algiers Point neighborhood, in New Orleans, has a children's organization, Confetti Kids, that sponsors or supports play groups, arts classes, parks, a food drive and a holiday toy drive. Madison's Waunona Neighborhood Association raises scholarship money so all children can attend the neighborhood summer camp for children.

Ingredients:
fettucine noodles
2 pounds shrimp
1 medium onion
5 cloves garlic
2 sticks butter or margarine
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce
1/2 cup green onions
1 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
3 cups whipping cream
1 pound cooked bacon
salt, pepper, garlic powder,onion powder, and red pepper to taste


Directions:

Cook fettucine noodles. Saute onion and garlic in butter until transparent. Add shrimp, seasonings, and Tabasco sauce and cook for five minutes. Take shrimp out and add green onions, Parmesan cheese, and whipping cream until thick. (About 10-20 minutes). Add bacon. Pour shrimp and sauce over noodles. NOTE: For a less spicy version, omit the Tabasco sauce and red pepper.

Real estate research might start with a look at the U.S. Census information about a city.  It can include inspections of specific properties, too. There are many statical tools

and information that can help, but don't forget one of the easiest and most useful research tools: talking. Let me explain with a true story.

Several years ago, My wife and I were on vacation, and stopped in Charlotte, North Carolina for a few days. We were about to buy a house for a winter project. The plan was to fix it up and sell it in the spring for a profit.

Just prior to making an offer, we took a last walk-through. As the owner showed me around, my wife started to talk to the woman who was renting the home. She told Jacinta that half of the outlets in the home didn't work, as well as other useful information.

This got me thinking, and I went down to the basement for a second look at the wiring.  Not only did the house likely need all new wiring, but I found a garden hose attached to a natural gas line. The owner shrugged and said, "You can just cut that off."

To this day, I don't know what that was about, but for these and other reasons, we didn't buy the house. It helps to talk to anyone you can when looking at a house or other real estate investment. Neighbors and renters are especially helpful.

Real Estate Research - Choosing a City

Talking to a lot of people isn't just useful for information on individual properties. It is also a great way to research a city. I once called the Chamber of Commerce of another city in Arizona. The chairman casually commented that the city was using up the water faster than the aquifer was being replenished. They had no back-up plan. This was enough for us to cross that city off our list.

If you want to know about a city, use the phone first. Find any excuse to call anyone from a real estate agent to a random resident. Ask about crime, whether the local government welcomes new businesses, what the climate is like. Have houses been sitting for sale for a long time, or do they go fast? What are the good and bad things about the city?

Before we moved to Miami, Florida, part of our real estate research was to call people in potential cities to see how they rated their city and why. If some of the same sentiments continued to come up in various conversations, we crossed that city off the list.

Once you're in a city, a good local bar can be a great place to do your research. After a beer, patrons will tell you what big employers are about to move in or out of the city, how fast homes are selling, whether there are gangs, and much more. Talking to people is a good way to do real estate research, but verify what you hear. People do sometimes exaggerate.

When it comes to choosing professionals to assist you with your real estate needs...Experience is Priceless! Andre' Shambley & Miami's Best REALTOR®. Team,                                                                               The Keyes Company,  305-788-6643 . AndreShambley@Keyes.com,   http://www.OnePlaceOpenHouse.com    

Ready to refinance or looking for a better rate?  For your complimentary rate quote visit Jacinta Shambley, APEX Lending, Inc.  JShambley@APEXLending.com . http://www.JShambley.ApexLending.com        

Whether buying or selling a home, the real estate transaction process can be seriously stressful. Hey, no pain, no gain. Getting pre-approved for a mortgage can seriously reduce stress levels.

Lender Approval

Many people make the mistake of going house hunting without knowing exactly how a large a mortgage they can get. This leads to incredible frustration when a dream home is found, but you can't get a loan. For some shoppers, the frustration and stress leads them to throw their arms in the air and give up on the process. While an understandable reaction, the stress and frustration can be greatly reduced by getting pre-approved for a mortgage loan .

Getting pre-approved by a lender involves going through the full mortgage application process. You are going to fill out all the forms, provide tax returns or salary verification, have your credit run and so on. The bank will do a full analysis regarding whether you are mortgage worthy. It will also lay out the specific requirements it expects you to meet including the down payment amount and the specifications your potential home must meet. To this end, the pre-approval process is always contingent on the appraised price of the prospective home and any defects found in the home inspection.

Once a lender approves you for a loan, a magical thing happens. The lender will issue a pre-approval letter. The lender letter indicates the bank has approved you for a loan, the specific amount of the loan and often how long the pre-approval will last.

The pre-approval letter is the golden egg in the home purchasing process. It gives you a significant advantage over other people bidding on the same home. Imagine you are a seller who receives to bids within a few thousand dollars of each other. One bid has a pre-approval letter from the lender and the other does not. Which are you going to choose?

Getting pre-approved also has additional benefits. As you go through the process, the bank may alert you to problems. You can then go ahead and take the necessary steps to fix the loans. Compare this to trying to get a loan while in escrow. You are under a lot of pressure to get the loan in a thirty or sixty day period. If you fail to get the loan, you lose your good faith deposit, which is often thousands of dollars. Obviously, that is a disaster.

Whenever possible, get pre-approved for a mortgage before shopping for a home. It will save untold amounts of stress and make the buying process much easier.


When it comes to choosing professionals to assist you with your real estate needs...Experience is Priceless! Andre' Shambley&Miami's Best REALTOR®. Team, The Keyes Company,                 305-788-6643         , AndreShambley@Keyes.com,
http://www.OnePlaceOpenHouse.com

Ready to refinance or looking for a better rate? For your complimentary rate quote visit Jacinta Shambley, APEX Lending, Inc. JShambley@APEXLending.com . http://www.JShambley.ApexLending.com