Last night I got a call from a home-owner I worked with at the end of March to pick up some props. When I staged their house I left some items behind and told them to give me a call when the house sells so that I can pick them up. In today’s market houses usually sit for a few months before an offer is made so you can imagine my surprise when I got the call.  What happened? Why did they ask me to come pick up the props? Surely the house could not have sold so fast.

Orange County home sells 4 Days after staging – accepted offer was above asking price!!!

Let’s look at how much this staging saved them. For each month that a house is on the market a seller has to pay mortgage, utilities, insurance, taxes and any other owner related bills. Assuming the average mortgage is around $2,000 that is a lot of money spent each month the house is on the market. Knowing that, how much would you be willing to pay for a service that can help sell your house faster? Would it be worth $1000 to save months of those expenses? My services for this house cost these owners well under $1,000 and we used only what was already there. The owners were still living in the house and had everything we needed on hand.

If you are considering selling your house make the investment in Staging. It will save you so much money in the long run, and get your house sold much faster.

For more information check out our website dedicated to Orange County Staging!

1. Make sure buyers, sellers, and agents are all on the same page as far as expectations go. Everyone needs to understand that the process is complex, and things don’t exactly happen overnight.
2. Homeowners should complete all necessary financial hardship documentation. It is important to update these docs on a consistent basis.
3. Get the sale property up on MLS and market the heck out of it.
4. Come to an agreement regarding any external third party fees before submitting HUD (agreement should be valid for 60 days). Possible external fees include short sale negotiation, reconveyence, document preparation, and notary.
5. Before submitting short sale documents and/or images, go over them with a fine tooth comb for accuracy.
6. Lagers can cause some serious delays. So make sure customers and agents complete all necessary tasks in a timely manner.
7. Do your best to get a purchase offer that reflects the best possible fair market value and highest return for investors.
8. Submit fully executed purchase offers, making sure all addenda have been signed by buyer and homeowner. Provide any supporting documentation with offers.
9. Get busy and obtain a release on outside liens as early in the process as possible.
10. Be on the lookout for any of the following situations, as they invite delays:

a) A change in buyer, agent, or terms
b) Customer files for bankruptcy or divorce
c) Changes after approval letter is issued (please note expiration date)

If you’d like to learn more about short sale opportunities in the Orange County Real Estate market, I’ll be delighted to help.  You can connect with me at 949.338.7408 or  angie@askangie.com,  @AngieWeeks or @WeeksTeam.

Most home owners do no have that scale of problem on their hands. Many however do have a less offensive version of it. Most buyers may not say anything, but will definitely cross your house off the list of potentials to buy. So as a seller with a pet odor problem, how do you remedy it? The answer that will help the majority of homeowners is paint. Get enough paint to repaint the inside of your house. Go to a store that sells essential oils and get one vial of Cedar-wood and One vial of Orange. Mix 5 drops each of the oils per gallon of paint and paint your walls.

This should solve many of your problems. If it does not fix the problem, call a Stager who is experienced with this process for the next steps. You are at a point where you may need much more than basic staging advice.  They will be able to help you resolve the toughest of issues. As a home Stager I am very familiar with this remedy, and the next steps should they be needed.  No matter who you use, a Stager along with your Realtor are your best allies in getting your house sold.

http://www.bassettfurniture.com/tools/room-planner.asp

Take the measurements of the room and the measures of the furniture and your on your way to having a great fitting room for your new home!

Mary Jayne Barnett, expert stager and owner of Revamp Your Home, has some fantastic advice on staging your home to look its irresistibly best, using only what you already have.  Have a look!

If you’d like to learn more about staging your Orange County home to look its best, Mary Jayne will be delighted to help. You can connect with her at –

e mjb@revampyourhome.com

t 949.922.5357

f 949.459.6118

When it comes to selling a home, it seems that you just can’t disclose too much. Yes, certain details matter a great deal. In fact, from a legal standpoint, sellers must make these details available to prospective home buyers. And it is the responsibility of every agent to dig deep and make certain these facts come to the surface in a timely matter. 

One of the facts that must be disclosed concerns a death that occurs on the property up for sale. The law states that a death must be revealed if it has taken place within three years prior to a home being offered for sale. This is an important piece of information to bring to the surface, is it potentially carries a lot of emotional weight for a would-be buyer. If you’re not sure about disclosing such an occurrence or any other fact you think might be relevant, it’s best to follow the simple, time-tested guideline of ‘when in doubt, disclose it out’.

I can’t stress the importance of over-disclosing facts such as these enough. I mean, think about how you would feel if you were on the other side of the fence and some important detail like this was left out of the picture. Remember, it’s an agent’s job to sell a property honestly – in all its aspect. So you as a home seller should disclose EVERYTHING to the person representing your property. Complete information will help your agent price your home appropriately for all matters involved.

If you’d like to learn more about California home sale disclosure requirements, I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have. Feel free to contact me at 949.338.7408 or angie@askangie.com. And be sure to follow me @AngieWeeks or @WeeksTeam. Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Right now you can take advantage of a Home Improvement Loan program that combines the sale price of a home and the cost of home improvement into one convenient loan.

These are the basics:

• Basic Explanation:  the Home Sales Price plus all clients’ home improvements get wrapped into one, low fixed rate loan!
• Loan Limits = same as FHA County Limit  (1 Units: $729K in Orange & LA County, $500K in Riverside.  2-4 Units higher)
• Low Down Payment – only 3.5% required!  (plus normal closing costs carried by seller or buyer)
• Possible Renovations to home include:  (Remodeled rooms such as kitchens, bathrooms, etc.  Additions, alterations, or structural changes to home.  Repair or replace plumbing, heating, air, roof, foundations, etc!)
• Also available for Refinances
• [Gov’t Insured Loan, 1-4 Unit SFR (no condos), 620 Min FICO]

Cori Hillis of Best Rate Financial has helped many individuals secure one of these dream loans.  With his assistance, great things like this happen:

BEFORE HOME IMPROVEMENT LOAN                                     AFTER HOME IMPROVEMENT LOAN

You can liven up that special living place, too. Learn more about how this new loan program can make your Orange County dream home happen. Or get started with a quick pre-approval.  Just contact Cory Hillis at 888-299-4484 or cory@bestratefinancial.com . He’ll be more than happy to assist you.

Whether you’re buying, selling, or staying put in your amazing Orange County home, one thing’s for sure – you want it looking its best, inside and out.  Alright, before visions of major makeovers start dancing in your heads, know something right from the start – no major action is required.  In fact, taking your residence from ho-hum to ooh-wow! is simply a matter of following a few basic steps.

Alisa Moffet, home staging, designing, and color specialist with Domani Designs, offers these insider tips and tricks guaranteed to work wonders for that place you call home sweet home.

1. Remove all family photos.
2. Add simple, single-panel drapery to warm a space instantly. Hang em’ high to make the room feel larger.
3. Remove as many nick-knacks as possible. Less is more!
4. Replace bathroom mirrors with framed mirrors. This is the least expensive way to update your bathroom — without remodeling.
5. Add plants. These will create an inviting atmosphere.

If you’d like to learn more about making your home the best it can be, Alisa will be happy to help. You can reach her at 949.293.3858 or amoffett@domanidesigns.com .

B of A  Short Sales – What every party needs to know!

Today I’m taking a few hours out of the busy day to listen to Allen Seelenbinder, a VP with Bank of America, tell Realtors how to work better with B of A to get our short sales closed quicker.  Definitely good use of time, because short sales take waaaaay too long!!!  For Realtors looking for Equator tips, check this post.

Allen said the goal of the bank is to help preserve homeownership, they WILL attempt to modify your loan & help you stay in your house if you want to.  It’s part of being on the HAFA program, and you can even try multiple times if you get denied on your first loan mod request!  Good news if you’re late on the mortgage & want to keep your home, but you have to keep communicating & trying.

BUT…Did you know 60 percent of all loan modifications fail in the first 9 months?  Yikes, make sure you are working with a professional modification specialist so you are not a statistic!   Most times if you default on your modification, you’re not going to get another one, and its time to short sale.

For those who can’t afford the mortgage, & don’t see light at the end of the tunnel soon, you have options…

1.  Deed in lieu – leaving your home and giving the deed back to the bank willingly
2.  Foreclosure – defaulting on payments until the bank is forced to take your property back
3.  Short sale – selling your property for less than it is worth

Short selling your property will allow you to buy again sooner than if you get a foreclosure, so its a good option.  BUT, its complicated, so you need a good Realtor who knows what they are doing to help.

If you’re drained on the process, please keep trying.  If you allow foreclosure, your credit will have a huge hit, and you know how important your credit is!  Allen warned many times employers are looking at your credit as a gage on your responsibility, fight to keep it in tact as best you can!!

Short sales are the new normal!  Buyers, sellers, investors, Realtors, & banks need to work together   There are over 6 million homeowners late on their mortgage right now, and many more projected in the upcoming months.  Short sale will continue to be a household term for the next few years, unfortunately.

Why is the short sale process so long?  Well…theres a lot of hoops to jump through:

• the process doesn’t begin until an offer is received, you could have a sign in the yard for months.
• an appraisal & bpo must be done
• the offer must reasonably meet current market value
• the buyer must qualify
• the seller must demonstrate hardship & provide documentation
• arms-length has to be proved (that means sellers aren’t in cahoots w buyers)
• the mortgage investor must approve the offer
• 3rd party approvals (mortgage insurance, helocs, second liens.)

Unfortunately, there is a lot of red tape to untangle.  Buyers need to be prepared for at least 60-120 days for close, and agents from both sides need to constantly keep communication lines clear and all parties in the transaction updated.

What is financial hardship? Its better to say what it is not.  Financial hardship is NOT that you are under water on the property, that is simply a bad investement.  Its also not hardship if you can’t get a renter.  If you are widowed, but have assets, death is not financial hardship, its emotional hardship   there are a lot of people now trying to claim hardship when they do not have truely have one.  You need to be able to show your hardship on paper.

One of the biggest challenges right now is getting 2nd loans, liens, and MI to reasonably come in line with the short sale loss.  Sellers, be prepared for agents to ask questions about ALL loans & liens on the property, and please offer up front and honest answers.  There’s going to be some back & forth necessary between the parties you owe $$ to.

Want to know if you are eligible for HAFA?  Check bankofamerica.reo.com/hafa to make sure you qualify!  B of A is also working on a program similiar to HAFA, but with better guidelines, called the Cooperative Short Sale.

B of A Cooperative short sale

Yes, its still in the works, but its pretty good!!  It will:

• proactively outreach to customers
• offer preapproved short sale pricing
• promise offers reviewed/approved within 2 weeks
• be similiar to hafa, but wider scope
• rollout hopefully August 1st

Banks including B of A are all trying to make the best of our current market, and short sales are a huge percentage of it.  Look for more posts (and videos!) soon to help you through the short sale process.  If you or someone you know is late on their mortgage, The Weeks Team keeps everything confidential and we will be happy to discuss options!  877-230-3211 or info@successinweeks.com

New Year, New Opportunities in Orange County Real Estate

First let me wish a ‘Happy New Year’ to all.  Yes, folks, 2010 is here.  And with the new year, there promises to be a wealth of new opportunities emerging in the bustling world of Orange County Real Estate.  So get up off  your comfy couch and do what you’ve been wanting to do for a long time. Don’t let opportunity pass you by.  Add that to your list of New Years resolutions right now.

So maybe you’re thinking about buying your first home. Perfect!  If you’re an Orange County first time home buyer, the time has never been better. A major reason for such bright prospects is that there currently are a number of available incentives created to improve your overall experience.

If selling your home for the first time is on your mind, optimism is in order.  Buyers are returning to the marketplace. So sellers rejoice! The market is definitely moving in the right direction. In fact, there are a number things going on that will make selling easier, from listing to close. If you’re worried about Uncle Sam taking a chunk, be aware you might be able to reduce your tax obligation with a few easy and yes, legal steps.

Perhaps you’re opting to make your first Real Estate investment.  Believe it or not, there are well-focused ways to improve your financial future without getting an advanced degree from the school of hard knocks.

Indeed, the door of opportunity is opening wide in 2010.  If you’re ready to learn more about the diversity of emerging Orange County Real Estate opportunities, I’ll be happy to help.  Contact me at 949.338.7408. Or follow me @AngieWeeks or @WeeksTeam.

Thought you’d enjoy this real estate update from Suze Orman – feel free to post questions below!

 BUT….if your house is on the market right now….are you chasing the market down?  What if your Realtor is doing it for you?  Are you AND your agent strong enough to take the truth?  I read this sad story on a popular Realtors ”hub” online, its from a Realtor working out of Florida.   

OC Sellers and potential sellers, you often choose to work with the agent who says your home is worth the most money.  I want to encourage you to question the pricing method, not just get “sold” on potential dollar signs.  Question the marketing strategies, your agent better have the money to do traditional marketing or they better be able to kick butt online.  ASK how many contacts they have in their database, how many listings they have had expire, how many buyers they have searching on their website.  If the agent at your listing appointment has a dog and pony show, and you buy into that without question, it could be a nightmare for everyone in the end.

Also, expect to be QUESTIONED yourself.  A good agent is mostly questions, tayloring their strategies to your specific needs and situation.    A good agent will listen to and really hear what you have to say, but they will also be strong and smart enough to TELL you things you may not want to hear. 

So what’s your real estate story?  Are you one of those lucky people that had a stress free buying or selling process?  Or did your Orange County home buying or selling experience leave you thinking you would never buy or sell again?  I would love to know and want you to add your Orange Countyreal estate story to our blog so that other buyers and sellers in the market can learn from your experience – good or bad!

And remember, if you’ve had a great experience, there are still some rules you should follow when you buy or sell the next time around.  And if you’re still getting over your bad OC real estate experience, try to remember that it can be better – just follow these simple rules!

1)      Choose an Orange County realtor that is honest and experienced.  Some realtors will simply tell you what you want to hear – and believe me, that will not make your experience a good one.  Your realtor should give you honest feedback, even if it’s tough to hear.

2)      Make sure your buyer is pre-approved for a mortgage before you accept their bid.  Unfortunately there are times when buyers have not done their due diligence and make an offer on your home without first making sure they can afford it.  This will only frustrate all parties involved, so its better to insist that all buyers be pre-approved before you sign on the dotted line.

3)      Have realistic expectations.  Sure, maybe a few years ago you could sell your Orange County home for a ridiculous amount of money and within days of listing it on the market, but that’s just not the case these days.  Ask your realtor for an honest forecast.  This way you won’t be disappointed if it takes a time to sell your home.

It’s tax time, and your property tax bill is one of many.  Because the market went down, your taxes can go down, too.  To see if you are eligible, do a few simple things: 

1.  Contact the Orange County tax assessors office at 714.834.5400. 

2.  Let them know you purchased before 2006, and you are requesting to have your bill reviewed, for this year. REMEMBER, if you want THIS year’s bill reduced you MUST CALL BEFORE APRIL 1st. http://www.oc.ca.gov/assessor/pdf/RequestForInformalAssessmentReview%203-08.pdf

3.  The assessor will initiate a re-assesment of your property, and hopefully lower your taxes – saving you potentially thousands of dollars!  

There are some circumstances in which this can not be done, however if you think your taxes on your property are too high, then you are probably right.  Its worth giving it a try – you can comment on how it works out! 

By going to the following link and filling out the form, you can start working on reducing next year’s bill right now.

Please enjoy the report.

Gary Watts 2008 Report

Anyone buying or selling a home in the Orange County real estate market is probably already aware that the Federal Reserve has cut interest rates – not once, but twice!  This is huge news and is really a great thing for the Southern California real estate market. 

So what does this really mean for you?  Well thankfully it’s news for you.  If you’re a buyer, these new interest rate cuts can help you afford the Orange County home you’ve been dreaming of.  Since lower interest rates translate to lower monthly mortgage payments, you can actually afford more home then you could have just a few weeks ago.

If you’re a seller, the Federal Reserve’s cutting of the interest rate has come at a great time for you.  The spring is normally a busy season for Orange County real estate (even though the market is slow right now, the spring is still busier then other times of the year).  These interest rate cuts will help draw even more buyers into the market – meaning your home will hopefully sell quicker and for more money.

If you’re still on the fence about whether or not now is the best time to buy or sell, talk to your Orange County Realtor and get their expert opinion.  Or shoot me an email at Angie@AskAngie.com.

Hope you had a great weekend – ours was very nice!  We went to a baby shower for a couple of our past clients, which was so fun.  (Did you know like 50% of our closed clients have a baby within a couple years of moving in???  OMG!) 

There were gifts galore – the place was littered with pink and fuzzy everything.  One awesome gift that Grandma-to-be got for our friends was 3 months of cleaning services.  Way to go Grandma!!  She mentioned she wasn’t sure of any cleaners in the area, though, and I felt bad that I have not done a better job of telling people all the resources we have available on our website (like cleaners and painters and CPA’s).  Bad Realtor, Angie, BAD!!!

 Mike and I do a ton of networking in Orange County, and we come across all kinds of businesses and business people in our line of work.  One thing we do as a service to our past, present, and future clients, is keep a database of these community services.  We even put many of them online right here on our website, on the Local Services page:

 http://www.askangie.com/communitynetwork.htm

I want to encourage all of our past and future home buyers and sellers to use our experience to save time and money on Orange County services.  Mike and I take feedback from our clients and add / remove businesses regularly from our website.  We keep only the best people on there, and if you have a bad experience we WANT TO KNOW, we will take the contractor or business off of our website, AND warn others. 

We would love nothing more than to advertise all the best businesses in Orange County based off of YOUR feedback.  Please help us be a better resource to you by giving us your good and bad stories on some of the people you used from our site. 

I hear many complaints from buyers and sellers who bought with another Realtor…they say that agent just dropped off the face of the earth after the deal closed, never to be heard from again.  We feel that quickly and painlessly providing good info and direction to our clients  is ALWAYS our job, whether we are in escrow or not.  We understand all our clients are busy and we want to make life easier for them all the time. 

Every Realtor should be a RESOURCE, and we are happy to be your Orange County, CA business connection   Don’t hesitate to email us if you ever have questions about someone on our website.  Another great way to find “the dirt” is to Google the business name you are considering using, or check the Yahoo local ratings.  Hope this helps

 Just wanted to give you some quick stats from my CAR newsletter on the California real estate market.  Its nice to see the median home below 600K again.  Now is a great time to buy.  I saw a really cute 2/2 in Rancho available for 370 today – nice :)

 Calif. median home price – June 07: $594,260(Source: C.A.R.)

Calif. highest median home price by C.A.R. region June 07: Santa Barbara So. Coast $1,375,000 (Source: C.A.R.)

Calif. lowest median home price by C.A.R. region June 07: High Desert $306,310 (Source: C.A.R.)

Calif. First-time Buyer Affordability Index – Second Quarter 07: 24 percent (Source: C.A.R.)

Mortgage rates – week ending 8/31: 30-yr. fixed: 6.45%; Fees/points: 0.5% 15-yr. fixed: 6.12%; Fees/points: 0.5% 1-yr. adjustable: 5.84%; Fees/points: 0.8% (Source: Freddie Mac)

I also wanted to give a shout out to one of our favorite lenders, Derek Besiner, for keeping everyone up to date on the mortgage market / crisis so we’re informed.   He’s been sending out great informational emails about what’s going on in California mortgage land.  At times like this, people need unbiased updates, so its much appreciated!

 It started out with great, level-headed buyers who knew exactly what they wanted.  They were educated on comps, the current market, and had an excellent understanding of important buying strategies. 

Then, it snowballed with a perfect property, and great sellers.  The sellers openly disclosed and discussed any problems with the property.  They were awesome with letting our inspectors in, honoring reasonable repair requests, and just open communication in general.

I want to give credit to all the people who ROCKED THE HOUSE with this smooth deal   I met one of the nicest Orange County real estate agents I have ever worked with, Susan McDonnell.  A fellow midwesterner, Susan totally was out for her clients’ best interests, and represented them flawlessly.  She worked hard, and was always available by phone and email.  She expedited her responsibilities promptly, even ahead of time.  She was trained on her technology AND knew the paperwork well, which is honestly a rarity around here (I am not sure why)!  I only wish I worked in a world of Susan McDonnells.  It was a pleasure doing a deal with her

ALSO, I have to give props to Barbara Johnson with Legacy Home Loans.  Lenders are dropping like flies right now, and this was one I had never met (buyers knew her previously).  Barbara exceeded all expectations – she PROACTIVELY handled situations - like scheduling the appraiser to walk in while I was on the inspection (thanks for saving me the extra trip, and the sellers the extra privacy invasion).  She called ME to let me know docs are already in escrow a week EARLY.  (wow, I am usually babysitting lenders about this!)  Barbara called me back same day, always, and offered me her cell for weekends.  I didn’t need to use it, though, because the woman is on the ball

Then we had Janice A, our lovely transaction coordinator.  We never have to worry about paperwork, Janice handles all of it.  She had the entire completed file in to our corporate Newport Beach office a day early, and we so THANKFUL for her looking over all the paperwork.  We would really rather make eye contact and engage in full conversation with our clients, and when we’re doing that sometimes an initial or checkbox gets missed.  Janice always gets the sigs where we need them, when we need them.  If any of you Realtors out there need an awesome Transaction Coordinator, Janice A is your girl.  She gets a perfect file, every time. 

There’s still more – we want to thank Mike Cantor of 20-20 Home Inspections for doing a very thorough inspection.  Mike ALWAYS takes time to tell our buyers details about the home they are buying, and make them aware of any potential safety or upkeep issues with the property.  He’s so thorough, that he guarantees his inspection for a whole year.  Mike takes twice as long as other inspectors, because he leaves no stone unturned.  This Foothill Ranch property actually returned his BEST  inspection report yet…this is a SOLID property for our buyers…woohooo!

Finally I would just like to say thank you to Kandy over at Hartford Escrow, Danny Atkins for fixing the roof tiles, and anyone else I forgot to mention.  Brad Coleman (Metro’s VP)gets the last shout out for his forever solid real estate advise.  Brad helped me with a great new way to counter for services.  After going back and forth about the buyers and sellers choice of escrow and title services, Brad suggested that we counter back “Escrow & Title to be buyer’s OR seller’s choice, whichever company offers the best price.”  Well, how can ya argue over that?  Nobody did, and the deal came together easily.  Brad’s always coming up with creative ways to help me best serve our buyers and sellers - gotta love it!!   

Thanks again to everyone involved – there are so many complaints about businesses and people on the internet…especially blogs… I just wanted to remind everyone to be thankful for your positive experiences and blog about those too

Have a SAFE and FUN Labor Day everyone!!!!

 Just wanted to remind our favorite Laguna Hills neighborhoods about the websites we sponsor for them:

Laguna Village – http://www.LagunaVillageInfo.com

Laguna Terrace – http://www.LagunaTerraceInfo.com

The websites above are for community members to post activities, information, and even plug your businesses for FREE!  You can find active listings in your community and what they are priced at, AND you can easily see what the neighbors sold for. 

Mike and I bought our very first condo in Laguna Village, in Laguna Hills.  We still love those properties and highly recommend them.  Why?  A few reasons:

1. Some of the largest square footage for your dollar
2. We love the extra storage “caves” especially the upgraded caves turned to wine areas, offices, etc.  (Yes you have to go see one to understand what we’re talking about but its cool, promise)
3. Surrounding scenery, parks, amenities
4. Views – city lights or hills – but prices are for first time buyers

Laguna Terrace is right next to Laguna Village, and we used to walk Smokey in that neighborhood.  We used to dream one day of having our own yard so the dog didn’t always have to be on a leash.  One day before we were Realtors, another agent came to our door and told us we had made money on our condo, did we want to upgrade?  I thought of Laguna Terrace and the detached house with the yard…so we moved right around the corner   We lived in Laguna Terrace for 4 years and we MADE more money on that house than we PAID for it.  So I have to say I think its a good neighborhood to have your own home or investment in.  Why?  A few reasons:

1.  Great elementary San Joaquin in walking distance to most of the homes in Laguna Village
2.  CUTE Detached houses for some of the lowest prices in Orange County. 
3.  Plus there are no HOA’s or Mello Roos. 
4.  Laguna Village is tucked back into its own little corner (no busy streets) with great parks and views too.

Both neighborhoods are centrally located in South OC, and are just 5 minutes from the Irvine Spectrum, 5 freeway, and 405 freeway.  If you are interested in either of these neighborhoods call us at 877-230-3211 or visit one of the sites above - we’re experts to say the least