6 tips for Choosing the Best Offer for Your Home!

6 Tips for Choosing the Best Offer for Your Home

Have a plan for reviewing purchase offers so you don't let the best slip through your fingers.

1. Understand the process

All offers are negotiable, as your Realtor Tami Winbury will tell you. When you receive an offer, you can accept it, reject it, or respond by asking that terms be modified, which is called making a counteroffer.

2. Set baselines

Decide in advance what terms are most important to you. For instance, if price is most important, you may need to be flexible on your closing date. Or if you want certainty that the transaction won’t fall apart because the buyer can’t get a mortgage, require a prequalified or cash buyer.

3. Create an offer review process

If you think your home will receive multiple offers, work with your Realtor Tami Winbury to establish a time frame during which buyers must submit offers. That gives Tami time to market your home to as many potential buyers as possible, and you time to review all the offers you receive.

4. Don’t take offers personally

Selling your home can be emotional. But it’s simply a business transaction, and you should treat it that way. If your agent tells you a buyer complained that your kitchen is horribly outdated, justifying a lowball offer, don’t be offended. Consider it a sign the buyer is interested and understand that those comments are a negotiating tactic. Negotiate in kind.

5. Review every term

Carefully evaluate all the terms of each offer. Price is important, but so are other terms. Is the buyer asking for property or fixtures—such as appliances, furniture, or window treatments—to be included in the sale that you plan to take with you?

Is the amount of earnest money the buyer proposes to deposit toward the downpayment sufficient? The lower the earnest money, the less painful it will be for the buyer to forfeit those funds by walking away from the purchase if problems arise.

Have the buyers attached a prequalification or pre-approval letter, which means they’ve already been approved for financing? Or does the offer include a financing or other contingency? If so, the buyers can walk away from the deal if they can't get a mortgage, and they'll take their earnest money back, too. Are you comfortable with that uncertainty?

Is the buyer asking you to make concessions, like covering some closing costs? Are you willing, and can you afford to do that? Does the buyer’s proposed closing date mesh with your timeline?

With each factor, ask yourself: Is this a deal breaker, or can I compromise to achieve my ultimate goal of closing the sale?

6. Be creative

If you’ve received an unacceptable offer , ask questions to determine what’s most important to the buyer and see if you can meet that need. You may learn the buyer has to move quickly. That may allow you to stand firm on price but offer to close quickly. The key to successfully negotiating the sale is to remain flexible.
Tami Winbury Keller Williams Realty  Ojai and Ventura  805-798-3412 
http://www.liveojai.com/      http://www.venturacountyhomesforsale.net/

By: G. M. Filisko

2 Steps to Fixing Your Credit After Fraud

2 steps to fixing credit after fraud: report and repair

It's up to consumers to take action, follow up
There is so much credit card fraud happening.  I think every one of us knows at least one person who has been targeted.  Read on to learn the actions you need to take to repair you credit report.
Stuart, 60, took all the right steps to report the fraud and notified the police, credit card companies, his local bank and the postmaster. Just when he felt he was back on track, he discovered some incorrect information on his credit report, dating back more than three years. He also had some repair work to do.
Credit fraud and credit repair, although not on the same level of loss and anxiety, are two separate challenges: report and repair. Don't wait until you need a clean credit report to check it. Credit blemishes could delay your home loan or refinance.
If you are trying to repair your credit report and if have protested incorrect information on your credit report, check with your state's consumer protection division or the state's attorney general's office if you are having difficulty.
In Washington State, a credit bureau has 30 business days to investigate any contested blemish on your credit report and then contact you with the findings. If the credit bureau cannot verify the delinquency in question, the delinquency must be removed.
The laws are in place to get creditors and reporting agencies to clean up their files and speed up processing. Many laws also require that the credit-reporting agency contact the creditor within five days to verify the debt.
Problems with credit reporting occur most frequently to consumers with extremely common last names -- like Smith. For example, when a reader ("Miss Smith") applied for a mortgage several years ago, she received a credit report showing two delinquent payments to department stores.
The "30-day lates" were more than a decade earlier, and she determined that they occurred when she was moving into a new home. Smith wrote to the stores, explained what happened, and both companies told her they would remove the delinquent notices.
However, the letter from one store was never received by the credit bureau. Three years later, it happened again: The same delinquent notice showed up on her report when she was considering a refinance. Smith dug out the original letter, called the company and demanded the flaw be removed.
Credit reports are powerful vehicles. Jobs, homes, reputation and future credit often depend on them. When a lender obtains a credit score for a basic transaction, it usually contains information from three major bureaus.
There's a difference between a credit agency and a credit bureau. Bureaus collect data from banks, court records, department stores, etc. Agencies research what is in the bureau and report the findings.
Here are phone numbers for the three major national bureaus: Trans Union, 800-888-4213; Equifax, 800-685-1111; and Experian, 800-682-7654.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) allows consumers to obtain all information in their file from each credit bureau. Requests must be made separately to each bureau.
If an incorrect item appears on a credit report, it's up to the consumer to see that it is corrected. For example, I once had two mortgages with the same lender. Both payments were credited to one account, and I got a delinquency notice on the other. It took two letters and numerous phone calls to get the 30-day delinquency removed from my credit report.
Merely telling the agency is not enough. You should submit the explanation or proof in writing. Consumers sometimes don't understand that a credit agency cannot remove anything from a credit report without the authorization of the company filing the delinquency.
So the consumer must contact the company that filed the delinquency. Delinquencies include tax liens, judgments and repossessions.
A company's willingness to delete a past mistake or delinquency often depends on who answers your letter or call. Many credit reps have heard a variety of excuses and explanations (because people try to say their bad credit isn't their fault) and are uncooperative. An innocent person can be looked on as a guilty party. The attitude seems to come with the territory.
If you have not been given a fair shake on your credit report, ask a real estate broker Tami Winbury, local banker or an attorney about creative suggestions for a next step.

Call Tami Winbury Keller Williams Realty  Ojai: http://www.liveojai.com/    Ventura: http://www.venturacountyhomesforsale.net/  805-798-3412
Tom Kelly's book "Cashing In on a Second Home in Mexico: How to Buy, Rent and Profit from Property South of the Border" was written with Mitch Creekmore, senior vice president of Stewart International. The book is available in retail stores, on Amazon.com and on tomkelly.com

Keller Williams Realty Top Real Estate Franchisor!!!

Keller Williams top real estate franchisor in annual list

Franchise 500 report:
Austin, Texas-based Keller Williams Realty led among real estate brokerage franchises in an annual survey by Entrepreneur Magazine, and ranked 78th overall out of 500 franchises.
Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC ranked second among real estate franchises, and was also ranked as the fastest-growing real estate franchise, placing 14th overall out of 100 franchises on that list.
Keller Williams ranked 66th overall in a list of 200 top global franchises -- higher than any other real estate franchise. Keller Williams had 672 franchises in the U.S. and 15 in Canada in 2010, according to the magazine.
Overall, eight real estate franchises were chosen among the Franchise 500. Financial strength and stability, growth rate, size of the system, number of years in operation and total time franchising, startup cost, litigation, percentage of terminations, and other statistics factor into the franchiser rankings, according to Entrepreneur.com.
The rankings are based on data from July 2008 through July 2010.
Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC ranked 90th in the complete Franchise 500 rankings. The company ranked 75th overall among 200 global franchises. In 2010, Coldwell Banker had 2,091 U.S. franchises, 256 Canadian franchises, 431 other foreign franchises, and 668 company-owned franchises, according to Entrepreneur.com.
Real Living Real Estate LLC was ranked 168th overall among the Franchise 500. The company also ranked 86th among fastest-growing franchises and 36th overall among a list of 100 low-cost franchises -- the highest ranking among real estate franchises on that list. In order for a franchise to be included in this list, an entrepreneuer must be able to start the business for less than $50,000.
In 2010, the company had 597 29 Canadian franchises and 11 other foreign franchises.
Home management and staging company Showhomes ranked 214th overall among the Franchise 500. The company also tied with Advance Realty USA for the No. 100 ranking among the fastest-growing franchises. Showhomes ranked 45th among low-cost franchises and was the only real estate company to rank among the top home-based
Re/Max LLC ranked 359th overall among the Franchise 500, down from its 84tfranchises, with a ranking of 62.
Weichert Real Estate Affiliates Inc. ranked 322nd among the Franchise 500, down from its No. 236 ranking in 2010.
Advance Realty USA ranked 323rd among the 500 franchises. The company also ranked 71st overall out of 100 low-cost franchises.h-place ranking in 2010. The company was also ranked 81st overall among low-cost franchises.
United Country Real Estate ranked 378th overall among the 500 franchises, down from its 78th-place ranking in 2010. The company was also ranked 86th among low-cost franchises.
I work for Keller Williams!  Are you ready to Buy a home or Sell a Home in Ojai or Ventura County? Call Tami Winbury 805-798-3412
http://www.liveojai.com/   http://www.venturacountyhomesforsale.net/

New Real Estate Disclosure Announced Today!

PG&E DISCLOSES PIPELINE PROXIMITY TO MILLIONS OF PROPERTY OWNERS
SAN FRANCISCO (APRIL 20)-Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E) today launched its pipeline proximity disclosure to 2.5 million homeowners and businesses in California located within about 2,000 feet of a natural gas transmission pipeline.
The utility company committed to the disclosure campaign in a meeting with Congresswoman Jackie Speier last month in voluntary compliance with the property disclosure element proposed in Speier's H.R. 22 — a mandatory "Notice to Property Owners and Resident."
The disclosure notification is in the form of a special mailer to the current resident within the 2,000 feet radius of a PG&E gas transmission pipeline.  It includes (1) a safety letter with the prominent headline, "This letter provides information for homes and businesses located within about 2,000 feet of a natural gas transmission pipeline", and (2) a two-page "Natural Gas Safety" brochure.  PG&E operates in 49 of California's 58 counties.
Material Fact in Real Estate Transactions
Most important for California's real estate professionals, the letter is a property-specific notice to the current residents about an important material fact:  "Your home or business is located within about 2,000 feet of a gas transmission pipeline."
Both the letter and the brochure direct resident to PG&E's online map of pipeline locations, and to the Public Viewer of the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Pipeline Mapping System (NPMS) website. The brochure also educates property owners about the free "Call before you dig — 811" service, to identify pipelines on a property and avoid costly accidents during any excavation.
Potential Liability for Agents and Home Sellers
Once disclosed to a current resident or property owner, PG&E's pipeline proximity disclosure would become "actual knowledge" which, under California law, the owner must disclose to prospective buyers upon resale of the property.
To minimize the potential liability from non-disclosure of pipeline information, or faulty disclosure from a misinterpreted pipeline map, the 2,000-foot pipeline proximity disclosure is now included in the Industry Standard Report from First American NHD (FANHD) and JCP-LGS Disclosures.com (JCP-LGS).
FANHD and JCP-LGS have amassed a GIS database (digital map) of transmission pipelines throughout California that are used to transport natural gas, crude petroleum, and refined petroleum liquids such as gasoline, jet fuel and ethanol. All major gas utility providers and oil companies, and numerous smaller pipeline owners and operators, are represented in the database — among them PG&E, Southern California Gas, San Diego Gas & Electric, Sacramento Municipal Utilities District, Tuscarora Gas, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Kinder-Morgan/SFPP, BP West Coast Products and the U.S. Department of Defense.

Why Am I Charged Mortgage Loan Fees?

A minefield of mortgage charges: What's 'nonshopable'?

Understanding the 360-day year and other industry oddities
Last week I discussed the various mortgage charges for which borrowers could shop. It is also important for mortgage borrowers to know the charges they can't shop, if only to avoid wasting time trying to shop or negotiate them.
Private mortgage insurance (PMI): On a conventional (not a Federal Housing Administration-insured or Department of Veteran's Affairs-insured) mortgage, you are required to purchase PMI if you put less than 20 percent down on a purchase, or have less than 20 percent equity on a refinance. Because the insurer is selected by the lender, PMI has never been "shopable" by the borrower, who pays the premium quoted by the lender.
This will change in a few months when a major mortgage insurer will be quoting premium rates on my website. The quotes will cover both monthly premiums and single premiums financed in the mortgage, offering borrowers a choice they do not now have. Until then, however, PMI will remain "unshopable."
Appraisal: On most mortgage loans, lenders require that the property be appraised in order to make sure that the purchaser is not overpaying, or that a refinancing borrower has the equity (value less loan balance) that is required. The appraisal company is selected by the lender and paid by the borrower. The fee generally ranges from $300 to $600.
Recording fee: This is a fee paid to a local governmental entity to record the mortgage or deed of trust, and title documents, in an official registry. The fee is whatever the entity charges. While it varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, it is never negotiable.
State and local transaction taxes: These taxes may cover the mortgage transaction, the property transaction or both. They vary greatly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but are never negotiable. They are what they are.
Escrows: Lenders generally require that an escrow account be established with funds the borrower provides at closing, from which the lender makes payments for property taxes and homeowners insurance as they come due. Lenders usually get to keep the interest on escrow accounts. Borrowers can usually opt out of this requirement if they pay a special fee, called "waiver of escrow."
Since lenders have an incentive to make the escrows as large as possible -- they keep the interest on the account -- the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has imposed a ceiling on the size of escrow accounts, which in turn limits the amount the lender can ask the borrower to deposit at closing.
If you know your property taxes and insurance premium, you can calculate the required escrow at closing by following the procedure at "How Do I Figure Escrows?" on my websites. http://www.liveojai.com/ or http://www.venturacountyhomesforsale.net/
Keep in mind that the escrow deposit continues to be your money, can be used only to pay your debts, and any unused portion will be returned to you when you pay off the mortgage.
Daily interest: Because mortgage payments are due on the first day of a month, regardless of when the loan is closed and funded, borrowers must pay interest for the period between the funding date and the first day of the following month.
The amount of daily interest due at closing is calculated by dividing the annual rate by 360 to get a daily rate, multiplying this by the loan amount to get the daily interest, and multiplying that by the number of days for which interest is due. To simplify the costs and how to buy a home call Tami Winbury in Ojai or her Ventura office.
For example, the loan is for $200,000 at 5 percent and it is funded on April 16, which requires an interest payment for the 15 days until May 1. The daily interest is thus 0.05 divided by 360, then multiplied by 200,000. That equals $27.78. Multiply that total by 15, and you get: $416.70.
Why 360 days rather than 365? No justifiable reason. It is a self-serving convention of the industry that has never been challenged by regulators. It is of no interest to class-action lawyers because the amounts involved have been so small. Using a 365-day year in the example, the amount comes to $410.96, for a difference of $5.74.  Rates in Canada differ.

Tami Winbury  Keller Williams Realty     

805-798-3412

http://www.liveojai.com/

http://www.venturacountyhomesforsale.net/

DRE#01878369

Jack Guttentag