Like Jillayne’s original comment…I almost, but didn’t, write a post when I got the email on this Bothell auction.

Year’s ago, and like still to this day, many are dragged into overpaying and outbidding Foreclosures and other “auction” type properties, being fooled into thinking that they are all bargains. Often the true bargain is hiding quietly in the corner.

Zillow, in some area, is high. In others, low. In some, “spot on”. It is of value to identify those scenarios by comparing the comps to the Zillow value. Knowing which way Zillow is leaning in “this” neighborhood is of value.

Say every home that sold, sold for 20% less than the Zestimate. When a seller puts “the Zillow Zesitmate” as the asking price, you will know it is likely too high and 10% under list price is not a “bargain” but paying too much.

Zillow does not have to be “accurate” to be “of value” as one of the tools used to determine price.

Same is true for an appraiser/appraiser. Every agent knows they will have more trouble getting a property to appraise if it is the best home in the area, than if it is the worst. If it is the worst…then all of the comps will be higher. If it is the best…then all of the comps will be lower.

c.

Stay away from lender recommends agent scenarios. Not because there is money involved, as there is not allowed to be money involved. The reasons you should stay away are:

1) It is part of the agent’s job (IMO) to recommend best lender for you, given your particulars, and that may not be the lender who referred you to the agent. It is very hard for an agent to tell you to switch lenders, if necessary, if you were “a lead” from the lender in the first place. Don’t reduce yourself to “a lead”. Be someone’s client by choosing them…and not their “lead” by having been referred to them.

2) Another reason a lender likes you to use an agent from their “preferred list” is that the agent will “close you out quickly”. Lenders (not Rhonda, of course :), but lenders who like are anxious to choose your agent, got caught in qualifying people who did not buy quickly. Maybe the buyer changed lenders by the time they found a house due to time passed. Maybe the buyer didn’t qualify on the same basis anymore, by the time they found a house. For these reasons, some lenders want to choose an agent who gets a lot of leads from them who will close you out as quickly as possible…so they are both assured they will make money off you…and SOON!

Choose your own agent. It’s not about a referral fee, as agents and lenders cannot connect via referral monies in any way by RESPA, but there are still problems with a referral, even when money does not change hands. The above two are the biggest reasons, but there are other minor ones.

On the other hand…agent choosing lender is often a good thing. Lender choosing agent is not unless it is just a list of suggestions of people you should consider.

Every standard auto insurance policy has different kinds of coverages. This applied to majority of the auto insurance policies that are made available for you by the thousands of auto insurance providers in the market. In general, these terms can be flexible depending on the type of auto insurance coverage you choose and the amount that you are willing to shell out for the auto insurance.
However, almost all of the states passed on an insurance law that requires drivers to have at least one auto insurance policy.
There are even other states that require drivers to present a a proof of insurance before they can register their car. Therefore, regardless of your car’s worth, you will definitely need to secure an auto insurance for your car.

A liability insurance are required for drivers from every state.
Almost all auto insurance policies provide a liability coverage section that serves as a financial shield from the liability claims against you when you cause injury to other people or properties due to a car accident. There is a required minimum level of coverage for this area in almost every state. The reason for this law is that drivers who are at-fault must have the capacity to cover expenses of victims who encountered accident-related losses. But the minimum coverage required in most states do not even compensate for the costs incurred during a serious accident. So if you wish to be fully protected by your liability claims, your liability coverage must then be more than that of your state’s requirements.

There are coverages that are required in some states and optional for others.
Medical payments coverage and uninsured/under insured motorist coverage are two of the coverages some states require as optional. Medical payments coverage covers the medical expenses that you, your family and the other non-family passengers have incurred during the accident. Uninsured/under insured motorist coverage, on the other hand, covers the losses you and the others suffer in an accident caused by a driver who is not insured or has an insurance policy that is not sufficient to support you and cover the damages. If these insurance coverages are not required in your state, it is better to just get an auto insurance that is based on your needs, on the circumstances, and the environment you are in. Moreso, it is advisable to first consult your auto insurance agent or provider for a more in depth knowledge on these types of coverages.

Collision and comprehensive insurance is not required in virtually every state.
The collision and comprehensive coverage provided in your auto insurance policy covers any physical damage your car may have incurred in collisions and other kinds of accidents that can cause damage to your car; this could be fire or falling objects. This collision and comprehensive coverage may also cover losses associated with car theft. But still, the worth of your car still plays a big part in gouging if you need this type of auto insurance coverages or not.

“Zillow’s “zestimate”, which everyone has an opinion on”

Zillow is inaccurate. here is you proof.

Fact: for Seattle, the probability Zillow will be within +/-5% of the sales price is a dismal 36%. Within +/-10% dismal 60%

by: Phillip Gilliam
Even people that know virtually nothing about finance and Wall Street are talking about the serious impact the subprime mortgage catastrophe has had on our economy. While the incredible number of failed subprime mortgages may have started the economic tumble, the continued financial problems and people's inability to obtain a mortgage or mortgage refinancing of their home is exacerbated by poor credit scores.
To make matters worse, with the horrifying increase in foreclosures across the country, the mortgage, and mortgage refinancing problem for mortgage brokers is just going to grow.
When an individual's credit score goes down, so does their choices for mortgages and mortgage refinancing options. Also, tell your clients to beware of untrustworthy credit repair companies and other scams in the marketplace today promising to "repair bad credit”.
Good credit is an absolute must for a loan originator to be able to put through most reasonable mortgage and mortgage refinancing deals, and with the problem not going away anytime soon, it behooves the loan originator the help their clients with ideas for the credit repair process of improving their credit scores.
This type of credit repair advice is the way that a mortgage broker can turn a potential client into the "real deal" and close their mortgage or mortgage refinancing deal. Also, if done properly, more often than not, the process can take place in a relatively short time span.

Step 1
Realize that rebuilding an individual's credit score is an ongoing process and requires thoughtful preparation to successfully rebuild his or her credit to an acceptable level to obtain a well structured mortgage or mortgage refinancing product.
Encourage your client to be conservative on any new monthly credit score building budget that they will be able to make the payments and never be late on anything. Caution your client not to structure a program with monthly payments that they cannot comfortably make, because being late on any payments will further reduce their credit score and may make a new mortgage or mortgage refinancing of their home impossible.
If there are extenuating circumstances such as divorce, insist that they review their credit program with their attorney before agreeing to anything.

Step 2
If your client's credit card companies have not reported or have understated their credit limits on their credit cards, it can hurt their credit score. For this reason, have your client determine if their credit card companies are understating their credit limits on their cards. Often credit limits are reported as lower than they actually are and frequently may not be reported whatsoever.
While we are on the subject of credit cards, make sure that your client has a minimum of three credit cards or other sort of revolving credit. Many people mistakenly believe that if they have credit cards it actually hurts their credit score and because of this, they cancel some or all of their cards. Their credit score can be more harmed and the possibilities of not obtaining new mortgage refinancing on their home or a new mortgage is greater by simply canceling existing credit cards.
Furthermore, if they do not have any credit cards, have them obtain at least three. If they have trouble with getting typical cards like Visa, Master Card, Amex etc, tell them to try a local department store, or a Home Depot or Lowes. Quite often these types of stores are more lenient in granting revolving charge accounts.

Step 3
Make sure that your client reduces any outstanding credit card balances to under 30% of their credit limit on each of the individual cards. Some people mistakenly think that the 30% figure is based on their overall revolving credit card balance, but this is false. A single card over the 30% balance can nullify the benefit of the effort of having the revolving credit cards in the first place.
If your client has one card over the limit and several others under the limit, if they are limited on cash and cannot pay down the high card, have them see it they can transfer some of the higher card's balance to the lower cards. Have them check first before doing this to see if this type of transfer creates a higher interest rate or any other adverse effects on their credit.
Thus, if an individual has 3 credit cards with a total of $12,000 credit, but two of them have a $2,000 limit and the other has an $8,000 limit, make sure that they keep the $2,000 limit cards under $600 each and the $8,000 card to under $2,400.
Implementing this simple process will cause credit scores to rise, along with the possibility of obtaining that desired mortgage or mortgage refinancing program.

Step 4
When helping your client to raise their credit scores, make it a point to frequently pull their credit reports for them to determine their status as well as any errors on their reports.
Errors are so common on credit reports that over 75% of all credit reports have a minimum of one or more mistakes on them. Just by their being diligent and carefully insuring that any incorrect reporting information is removed, their credit score will quite often go up incredibly. This is certainly one of the easiest and most effective things that your client can do immediately to improve their score dramatically along with the possibility of them obtaining a new mortgage or mortgage refinancing of their existing mortgage.

Step 5
If your client's credit has been damaged to the point of having been sent to a collection agency, they probably will not want to immediately pay off the credit card debt. As incredible as it may seem, this situation can actually be more harmful than having credit card debt sent to a collection agency on their credit record.
When one of your clients have been sent to a credit collection agency, the effect on their credit is low after about two years and is virtually wiped out after four years.
Insure that your client receives a written promise from the collection agency for a "letter of deletion" before they do anything toward satisfying the old credit card debt, because without a letter of deletion, they may hurt their credit problem more than help it. Stress to your client that they should not pay anything on the bill until they receive in writing the agreement for the letter of deletion from the collection agency.
Most people trying to improve their credit to obtain a mortgage or mortgage refinancing on their home think that they need to pay off everything as quickly as possible, but this is one case that paying before you obtain the proper documents protecting your situation can actually seriously hurt your credit. People have in reality completely paid off a debt or negotiated a settlement to learn to their dismay that they now have no leverage to get the collection agency to send the letter of deletion.

Step 6
Finally, if your client does not make paid installments on a car or a boat, have them take out some sort of installment loan with someone like Best Buy or Sears on some needed appliance or with Staples or Office Depot for some business equipment. Credit bureaus look carefully not only at the fact that you have credit, but also the blend of the types of credit that you have. Having just credit cards only is not as advantageous as having credit cards and some sort of installment payment loan.
Be sure that your client watches out for the rates on their new installment loan. Some of these rates can be "out of the roof" and create undo stress on the monthly budget.
Also, unlike the credit cards which you should keep in perpetuity, obviously, revolving credit comes to some point at which the loan is satisfied and the monthly payment ceases. Tell your client that this is not a "license to spend", but if they are wanting to increase their credit score, they should not pay cash for larger ticket items, but instead, put a large cash down payment on the item and obtain an installment loan to finance the remaining balance. Financing a smaller amount can actually lower loan interest payments thus lowering the monthly payment; all of which makes your client more likely to improve their credit score and get a new mortgage or mortgage refinancing of their home.

About The Author
Phillip P Gilliam is 58, and currently lives in Florida with his wife and youngest daughter, and is a native of Ohio. He went to Wright State University and has over 37 years experience in marketing, software development, business management, and finance. You can contact Phil at http://www.home-mortgage-refinancing-mortgage-company.com

Hi Justin,

I think the value of starting at a market price (that you have determined) like you are is very interesting, and a good idea AS LONG as you get lots and lots of exposure.

This means that you have to launch it on the market to as large a buyer pool as possible (listed on the mls nets you the largest possible exposure…baring the evening news!), making sure that plenty of buyers will come early on to see you house in person, AND that they know to watch the weekly price reductions (by signing up for your emails) so that when it’s a price they would pay, they make an offer ASAP, knowing that they may be competing with other buyers at that new price.

You have very good online marketing and photos, and are offering to work with agents with buyers, so it’s just a matter of getting the widest exposure possible to find the buyer who will make the best offer.

I think you are doing a very good job! I think the novelty of your idea, your pre-market preparation to get your property ready to compete on the market will get you some good results. However, I think that will while this will work for you, it’s probably due to the fact that you will have gotten much more exposure (as a novelty) than others who may do in the future.

The fact that you are willing to let the public know that you will be dropping the price by a regular amount, on a schedule is the KEY thing on top of having made sure the property looks appealing. Even though sellers and their agents do price reductions on listings, no agent (that I know of) has gotten their sellers to market that they will be reducing the listing price by a regular amount on a weekly schedule…that’s your innovative edge!

Good luck and keep us posted!

I’ve chatted with a couple mortgage lenders and they were suspiciously eager to recommend particular agents when they heard I didn’t have one. Do they get referral fees?

-

btw I’m stunned to read above that home-made birthday cakes aren’t “real.” Both my parents are talented cooks and I grew up with way better and more creative cakes than what you could get from a bakery.

www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sat-short-selling-may31,0,5516817.story

chicagotribune.com

Break for sellers: Banks settle for less

As values tumble and more foreclosures loom, homeowners get chance to sell out for less than the amount of their mortgages

By Mary Ellen Podmolik

Special to the Tribune

11:29 PM CDT, May 30, 2008

Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune

I’ve seen flippers mow next door neighbor’s yards.

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