So … this is another video in my “real estate questions” series that I will send to my buyer clients as they approach closing. Better informed, better educated clients are better for everyone.

Big thanks to Tim Kelsey with Boyle, Bain, Reback and Slayton in Charlottesville for dropping some title insurance knowledge and advice.

I tell my clients that title insurance may seem to be worthless, but … if you end up having a claim against your property, the cost of title insurance will be far outweighed by the cost of hiring an attorney.

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Why not to get credit cards in the time leading up to buying a home.But … apparently lenders wont’ have to run a second full credit check before closing on a mortgage:

Despite earlier reports to the contrary, it turns out that your mortgage lender will not have to pull a second full credit report on you hours before closing on your home purchase or refinancing.

In a clarification of a policy announced earlier this year, mortgage giant Fannie Mae now says that applicants will need to come clean about any debts they have incurred since they submitted their mortgage application — or debts they never disclosed on the application. But a formal pre-closing credit report will not be mandatory to confirm creditworthiness.

The chances of everyone in the lending pipeline (underwriters) actually getting this memo: slim to none. Best advice: be careful with your credit when you’re buying a home.

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Youtube:

Viddler:

Ubertor:

Transcription:

Hey, it’s Jim Duncan with Nest Realty and RealCentralVA.com here finishing up an afternoon of showing houses in Charlottesville, in western Albemarle County. A couple of thoughts after looking at a number of houses and trying to look at a number more: if you’re a seller and your house is on the market now, be as accommodating as possible to let buyers/agents in because if I’m calling one, two, three times and you keep either not returning my call or refusing to let us in within a four to six hour window, you might not get a second chance.

I’m out here working with active, good buyers who are looking to purchase a home and if they can’t see your house, guess what? They’re not going to buy it. Another thing, first impressions are crucial. I’ve seen far too many homes in the last several days that just aren’t ready for showing whether it is just from a mess on the interior or a stinky house.

See my link at the bottom about why sellers shouldn’t have stinky houses. My personal favorite today: it was almost like a haunted house; this is a $555,000 house – asking $555,000 give or take and there was a note from the gas company on the front door that said: “open immediately” and it was virtually plastered to the door itself because of all the spider webs. The lock box had so many spiders and spider webs on it that I almost got my clients kids to open it for me because I might have been a little bit scared.

First impressions are crucial. So if you’re a seller and your house is on the market, you have to be ready and you have to be sure that your Realtor is checking on your house with relative frequency. I say that as a Realtor who finds it really hard sometimes to check on vacant houses, but it is part of the business that we’re in.

So, take-aways: first impressions count. If you’re a seller, please let people see your house. If you have any questions, RealCentralVA.com.

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The more I think about it, if a house is not priced right from Day One, and under contract in the first thirty days, that seller’s prospects of selling are greatly diminished.

Transcription:

Hey, Jim Duncan, Nest Realty, RealCentralVA.com here. Clearly, desperately in need of a hair cut. Talking about price. It’s all about price in the Charlottesville market, in any market, but again I’m specifically speaking about Charlottesville, Virginia and the surrounding counties. I wrote two offers yesterday on Monday, June the 1st , both of which were in competitive offer situations. One was in the sub $250,000 price point and one was in the sub $375,00 price point. One had at least two offers and one has at least three offers.

So it’s about price and location folks. It’s really that simple. I remember reading a story a number of years ago saying that there were five different components that could make your house sell: location, condition, price, smell, touch, I don’t know. It all comes down to price. If it’s priced well in a crappy location, it will sell. If it’s priced well in a great location, it will sell.

So when you’re thinking about putting your house on the market, price. That’s all I have to say. Price.

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Michael at FlexMLS wrote a few months ago that:

70% of consumers would be more likely to list with an agent if they used video as part of their marketing effort. In contrast, only .33% (that’s one-third of one percent) of agents use video.

Transcription:

When looking at Property Videos, What do you see?

Hey Jim Duncan with Nest Realty and RealCentralVA.com here. I have a question for people who are searching for homes on the Internet. What do you want to see? We have the point of diminishing returns with photographs. Our local MLS allows up to 50 pictures and while we do take really good pictures, we think, we’re using video a lot more. Video is something that expands our reach as far as what we can show, but if you’re searching for homes online, I have a question. What do you want to see?

One of my favorite clients the example I use is last year, “If I were using video, what would you want to see?” He said: “You know, I want to see what the view is from the bathroom.” And I thought that was a really insightful comment because when you’re looking online from California, or London, or Seattle, for homes in Charlottesville, you might not know the area and so there is more to a house than what you see in the kitchen. You want to see what the view is from looking inside out.

So my question for you is: What do you want to see? If I were to take a video of a house for you, what would it contain?

Thanks so much. Please feel free to leave comments here or give me a call or an email anytime. (434) 242-7140. Jim@RealCentralVA.com Thanks so much for your input.

Related discussion: Realtors versus the MLS and the Real Estate Board.

Copyright RealCentralVA.com, LLC. If you like this post, please, visit RealCentralVA.comwhere this was originally posted.

It’s about community and building friendships, not self-serving extraction of something from others.

Copyright RealCentralVA.com, LLC. If you like this post, please, visit RealCentralVA.comwhere this was originally posted.