The Happy Client: Finding the perfect clients everyday

Hot'N'Scratchy.

As I'm eating my breakfast of coffee and granola bars, this is the only food-chain moniker I can think of that would provide healthy sustenance for the "on-the-go" worker.

And with more "muffin top" prevention that the Keebler Elf Human Resources Department (Hang in there, Elmer!), Realtors would be the perfect client for this business.

We would understand the long term and short term benefits of visiting Hot'N'Scratchy, what the competition offers (the elusive McRib), what we're going to need to do to get in line ($4.05 for a Groot, as we'd be going Dutch), and what a great outcome would be.

And it helps both sides. Nobody wants to be known as the client from hell, and no agent wants to push the "hater" button on their phone; you know the one that sends someone straight to voicemail so they know you've ignored their call?
Didn't know about that one?
Never mind, then.
They were probably going through a tunnel. In Iowa. Happens all the time.

My perfect client would be happy, open, optimistic, excited, curious, responsible, realistic, and a bit of a visionary. And alive. Very important on that last one, as the undead are sticklers for detail, and love to low-ball. And they torpedo property value in neighborhoods. But I digress.

The perfect client has to be happy, because we're about to go out and shop for their new home! Whatever has happened in the past that could be bringing them down, they've left it there, and are realizing today's a new day. I'm about to spend the next couple hours focused on your needs, you, you, you! It's like a spa day, but at the end, instead of some nice tea, YOU GET A HOUSE! Plus, it's your time off, and your time to be miserable while shopping was when you were 14, and all the Corey Haim/Feldman Trapper Keepers were already taken (c'est la vie). If you're a buyer, be happy that the market might be in your favor for the first time in five years, and that you've kept yourself financially stable enough to qualify for a loan that doesn't originate from a guy in a Yankees hat who "dabbles in insurance and the import/export" business?

The perfect client is happy to be seeing that there are options out there, or the potential for options. Yes, matching goldenrod sinks, stoves, and fridges are a bit out-dated, and three inch shag carpeting wouldn't be as snazzy if it weren't purple, but the schools are great, the home is solid. And those things are replaceable, like a Menudo member, or the cheesy contractor who installed them in the first place.

And the perfect client is happy that there is someone in their corner on this one. And while the world turns, they're happy to have their own personal Sherpa making the lists, checking them twice, organizing a tour of eight homes, remembering there's a dog in the garage, bringing a first aid kit in case you don't. Someone willing to take every bit of stress out of it they can to make what could be a circus a beautiful Cirque du Soleil. But one of the family friendly ones. Not the ones that made my dad afraid of Vegas.

Tune in next time for why the perfect client is open and optimistic. I've combined the two to get points for alliteration. And if I see a chain of Hot'N'Scratchy's pop up locally, I'll be smiling.

Because I'm going to sue you, and retire at 36.

Low Offers in a Declining Market: Whatcom County

Anyone been in a cave? In the outback of Alaska? Both, possibly? Good, thanks for the show of hands.

If you haven't heard, read, or had suth-sayed (past tense of sooth?) for $1.99 a minute, nationally the housing market is experiencing a "management restructuring." This is a politically savvy way of saying that the earth is righting itself, lending has returned to Planet Earth, and bidding wars on Mike Brady's home that reached half a million might have gone the way of the McRib (you'll be missed).

It's hurt, but not like Apollo Creed hurt, more like Rocky Balboa hurt, and not including the last two Rocky's. My apologies to the other three guys in the world who saw Rocky 5, and to the nation for the last one.

And while the national market is down, anxiously awaiting a song by Survivor, parties interested in investing are stepping forth: relocators, first time home buyers who are recognizing affordable prices while the last few years kept them in rentals, investors, flippers, floppers, moms and dads looking to see at least something come out of 5 years (sorry! rugby) of college, Greasers, Soch's, and basically anyone who's read a book by Robert Kyosaki.


And in the blue corner, the most ferocious of opponents: sellers. It's not the most optimal time to put one's home on the market, and yet, they stand in the face of adversity due to need, want, requirement, short sale, or foreclosure, when the bank ACTUALLY sells the shorts. Third-rate puns aside, the inventory is out there.

From the borrowing, begging, or stealing that occurred to get us here, and I include "US" like the royal "us", we still have the ingredients for a viable market: Buyers and Sellers.


The last time it took someone this long to get to a point, there were a few base camps involved but: Low Offers are going to happen. People are anxious to see what will be taken, how large a barrel a seller is over, and how creative they can get with an offer.

People with extra income from a strong base of equity are investing their dollars in homes that would normally be out of their price range....sound familiar? Almost as if this will build as more and more people become confident in the market, until suddenly there are multiple bids on the same property. It's the Circle of Real Estate, Simba.




So buyers, if you put in a low offer expect the following:

1. A harsh counter-offer the first time around (you've just taken the porch their grandfather built with his two hands from a tree they grew up swinging on, and erased its value)
   


2. No help with items on the inspection (they'd rather walk you through a plate-glass window than the workings of the radiant floor heating system)
   


3. Utter silence. Absolute ignoring of the offer. As actions speak louder than words, and ignoring doesn't require a fax machine.

Sellers, here's your chance to sell your home!

1. You've captured the elusive unicorn of this market, an interested and pre-qualified buyer, don't let it go because the coloring looks "splotchy".
   
   
2. Take a deep breath. This helps the life process. Then figure out what a good counter offer would be. While offers at listing price are happening, they might not be happening to you for a reason, whatever they may be.
   
   
3. Take it as a compliment: they liked your home/condo/yurt/78 Gremlin! So much that they took the time to write an offer. Think of other offers in your life that might not have been the best you'd expected....if you were lucky enough to not have been raised by Neanderthals (sorry, Thag), you'd politely decline, or offer another option, or keep trying until you reached an agreement.

As a Buyer's Agent, I've written my share of low offers, and bore the brunt of the hell that do hath fury much like a woman's scorn. I've also had clients who've passed on writing offers on a home because they thought their offer might have been to low, only to see the "Pending" or "Sold" for a number close to theirs.

"Well, we would've paid THAT!" doesn't keep them cozy. Your home might have. This first offer could be their "toe in the water" and you're response could be the difference between their moving forward, and "I'll just watch from the side, while my waterwings deflate from shame and cowardice." Strangely enough, waterwings are symbols of both, but that's for another blog.

Low offers are going to happen. But the difference between an emotional response and a seasoned and skilled negotiator could be the sale of a home.

Which is why you might need an agent. I'm here when you need me.

Chris McNamara
BuyerTours Realty, LLC
chris@buyertours.com
360-303-1034
Read about Whatcom County
http://www.realestate.bellingham.net/
http://www.bellinghampowersearch.com/

FHA Downpayment Assistance Soon To Be Gone

Now that both the House and Senate passed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, and with President Bush likely to sign the Bill, you can wave goodbye to Downpayment Assistance Programs (DAP) like Nehemiah and AmeriDream for FHA loans. This law will go into effect Oct 1 2008.

If your a Buyer thinking of using a FHA loan, now is the time to buy! Along with baring the use of a DAP, the Buyer now will have to put 3.5% down.

Below is an excerpt from the H.R. 3221 Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (highlighted text done by me):

SEC. 2113. CASH INVESTMENT REQUIREMENT AND PROHIBITION OF SELLER-FUNDED DOWN PAYMENT ASSISTANCE.Paragraph (9) of section 203(b) of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1709(b)(9)) is amended to read as follows:
(9) CASH INVESTMENT REQUIREMENT-(A) IN GENERAL - mortgage insured under this section shall be executed by a mortgagor who shall have paid, in cash or its equivalent, on account of the property an amount equal to not less than 3.5 percent of the appraised value of the property or such larger amount as the Secretary may determine.

(C) PROHIBITED SOURCES.—In no case shall the funds required by subparagraph (A) consist, in whole or in part, of funds provided by any of the following parties before, during, or after closing of the property sale:
(i) The seller or any other person or entity that financially benefits from the transaction.(ii) Any third party or entity that is reimbursed, directly or indirectly, by any of the parties described in clause (i). This subparagraph shall apply only to mortgages for which the mortgagee has issued credit approval for the borrower on or after October 1, 2008.’’