New Jersey Real Estate

Copyright 2006 Geff Long

The problem most people make (including real estate agents), is trying to do too much in the ad. They try to sell the home in that one ad and it just can't be done. It will cause the ad response to drop dramatically.

As backwards as it seems, the more information you provide in the ad, the lower the response rate. Now, I'm not saying don't give any information... I'm saying pick and choose the information you will include carefully. There is only ONE job the ad should have... and that is to get the reader to take ONE action.

That's it. Nothing more.

You see, people are reading those house ads to try and ELIMINATE homes to call on or look at. That changes your perspective a little bit, doesn't it? Common sense would tell you that they are searching for houses to look at, but that isn't the case.

There is no way they can visit all those homes listed in the newspaper, so they have to eliminate some of them. If you give them a big ad with all the information and show them a picture, they are quickly able to eliminate it and cross it off their list. Don't give them that option.

There are 4 important and essential parts to your ad. You must grab the reader's attention, capture their interest, create a desire, and get them to take action. And believe me, it is not rocket science and if you stick to that plan, the response will surprise you. Let's look at each part individually.

1. Grab Attention

To grab the reader's attention, you need to show them that the ad pertains to them. The easiest way to do this is by starting your ad with the name of the city or neighborhood your home is in. It's that simple. Anyone looking for a home in your area will start reading your ad.

2. Capture their Interest

The easiest, fastest way to capture interest is to give the reader some financial information. People are starved for this information, but the real estate industry rarely gives it to them. Simply get in touch with a Bank or Loan Officer and ask for a Good Faith Estimate for your home. They will be able to show you some exact financial numbers that you can use. You will use Down Payment, Monthly Payment, Loan Amount and the APR (Annual Percentage Rate) information in your ad.

3. Create Desire

Part of this is already done by the low down payment and financial information. It creates a big interest and starts creating a big desire. You can continue on and push some "hot button" issues to really create desire in the reader. Use terms that give a positive emotion. Quiet Street, Fenced Back Yard, Fireplace... these types of terms are "feel good" terms.

4. Getting the Reader to Take Action

What is it you want the reader to do? Only give them ONE option. You can have them call a phone number, go to a website, or attend and open house. Choose ONE option and make that the focus. Having them call a phone number will generally get the biggest response.

There you have it. Four ridiculously simple steps that will skyrocket the response from your "For Sale" ad.

This article is authored by Geff Long, author of the book "Open House Secrets". His book can help you get a massive response to your advertising and sell your home FAST. You can find more information at: http://www.openhousesecrets.com

There are basically a lot of things that makes you a successful real estate agent and one of them is to create an effective list of leads, that is, essential details of potential customers.

Coming up with a list of leads should not be a strenuous task for several machineries allows individuals to acquire one.

The following provides you with a brief insight on some of the most important aspects of generating real estate leads and what you as an individual agent can do to augment your sales-per-lead-effectiveness index.

Ø Estate Leads Instruments - Companies working on selling and buying lands and other valuable properties are equipped with machineries on generating a list with details about a potential customer in a specific area.

These leads may come from a third party lead generating agency or a result of an accumulated data from a certain site that caters to mortgage and real estates.

Choosing the right real estate broker host is critical to your success. You should be empowered to setup your lead preferences depending on your approved area of interest.

Ø Web Hosting - Websites are the number one resource among people who have access to an Internet connection. In a national survey conducted in 2003, practically more than 67% seek help for securing mortgage applications and allow lien transactions online while the rest of the population engages in a more conventional intermediary real estate broker.

Ø Fully Customizable Web Page Templates - Websites are an effective lead generator if you are already given the option to change your site interface settings right there when you need it. A customizable site desktop which permits individual users to change the way their site looks like, provide selections and choices to add features for sale enhancement and the like.

Ø Newsletters - While building your personal portal for potential clients in the marketplace is essential in all your real estate selling concerns, it is important not to forget that management programs should be treated on equal footing with web hosting and webpage template customization.

Stuff your site with informative agenda and provide a way where individual site visitors express their concerns regarding a particular offer. Issuing a newsletter to visiting customers is also one sure way of collecting details about their individual needs and tailor your future real estate offers according to their needs, which in turn, increase your active leads.

Ø Search Engine Ranking - Popular search engines like Google and Yahoo operate on a more simple yet direct search result platform. These search tools allow links from websites which bears the same name as the topic listed on their site thereby realizing the importance of pages and headline content naming.

About the Author:
Jay is the web owner of Illinois Homes, a website that provides information on real estate buying, negotiating, financing, and more. You can also visit his website at: http://www.real-estate-in.net/Illinois.html

By Andrew Cassel
Inquirer Columnist

I keep trying to put Ben Franklin back on the history shelf, but he just won't go. For somebody 300 years old, Philadelphia's favorite Founding Father has some awfully contemporary things to say.

Check out this passage from Franklin's autobiography, for instance:

"There are croakers in every country, always boding its ruin. Such a one then lived in Philadelphia; a person of note, an elderly man, with a wise look and a very grave manner of speaking; his name was Samuel Mickle.

"This gentleman, a stranger to me, stopped one day at my door, and asked me if I was the young man who had lately opened a new printing-house.

"Being answered in the affirmative, he said he was sorry for me, because it was an expensive undertaking, and the expense would be lost; for Philadelphia was a sinking place, the people already half-bankrupts, or near being so; all appearances to the contrary, such as new building and the rise of rents, being to his certain knowledge fallacious; for they were, in fact, among the things that would soon ruin us.

"And he gave me such a detail of misfortunes now existing, or that were soon to exist, that he left me half melancholy. Had I known him before I engaged in this business, probably I never should have done it.

"This man continued to live in this decaying place, and to declaim in the same strain, refusing for many years to buy a house there, because all was going to destruction; and at last I had the pleasure of seeing him give five times as much for one as he might have bought it for when he first began his croaking."

Just like today

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Shift forward a couple of centuries. Imagine the young Franklin setting up shoppe in Old City, say around 1980.

Now imagine a latter-day Samuel Mickle, putting the new kid straight about the city's sorry-looking prospects.

(You don't have to imagine hard. Just recall the infamous billboard posters of those years, which tried to attract tourists with the arresting-yet-pathetic message: "Philadelphia isn't as bad as Philadelphians say it is.")

Anyway, suppose Ben were reflecting in 2006 on that chance meeting a quarter-century ago and wondering what Mickle had paid for that Center City condo he finally gave in and bought.

Turns out Franklin had it right, as usual.

Assuming the price of Mickle's new pad was typical of house prices here, it would have cost him about five times as much as a typical Philadelphia house in 1980.

That's according to the index of local housing prices compiled by researcher Kevin Gillen at the Wharton School.

Indexing the price increases

Gillen's index shows that the median price for a city home rose from the low $20,000s in 1980 to about $110,000 last year.

That's more real estate appreciation than in the nation as a whole, where home prices since 1980 have multiplied a bit less than fourfold.

One could conclude, then, that, over the long term, Philadelphia hasn't done so badly. But of course, the story is far from finished.

Markets, as Franklin also knew well, go up and down, and yesterday's boom can be the source of tomorrow's bust.

If anything, Philadelphia has recently suffered a shortage of Samuel Mickles. Croakers were scarce as prices for lofts and townhouses broke records. Not long ago, I heard a Center City broker brag that, for the city's trendiest digs, "$2 million is the new $1 million."

But that could change. Prices are no longer soaring, if not actually falling, both in Philadelphia and nationwide. Sales have slowed, and the inventory of unsold homes and condos is rising as mortgage rates rise and buyers turn cautious.

Some market-watchers say we should expect the flat prices and slow sales for some time. And they're the optimists.

The croakers may yet have their day.

Recently revised appraisal guidelines and price caps should make it easier for many home buyers to secure a favorable mortgage through the Federal Housing Administration's lending programs, but word is just starting to reach the market.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development on Jan. 1 removed many of the appraisal barriers that kept sellers from entertaining FHA-loan structured offers for fear of needing to make costly repairs and left first-time buyers struggling to find an affordable home.

The FHA ditched a decades-old system of requiring the seller to repair minor cosmetic flaws, like chipped paint, missing handrails and cracked window panes. Instead the agency's appraisers now use the same appraisal sheets as most conventional lenders, focusing instead on mechanical and structural defects that could pose a safety threat

The housing authority also increased by more than 15 percent the maximum price allowed on an FHA loan. FHA mortgages are attractive to first-time buyers because of low down-payment requirements, relaxed rules on applying gifts to the purchase and managable interest rates on the loan

Agents, lenders and appraisers all agree the new rules will put more buyers into affordable homes and add more loft to the already soaring local market.

“It's going to develop exceptional opportunities for rehab properties and fixer-uppers,” said Mary Lou Ferry, owner of Ventnor-based Farley and Ferry Realty. “Buyers will able to acquire properties at better rates and with less upfront expense and we'll keep that momentum in the market.”

She said sellers and agents also will stop looking at an FHA loan as a deal-breaker.

“FHA is not really an obstacle anymore,” Ferry said.

A spokesman for the New Jersey office of HUD said opening doors for home buyers was the point behind changing the rules. He said while the old guidelines were meant to protect both buyer and lender, the agency admits they often proved too cumbersome for sellers.

“What they did is give the market a good reason to stay away from FHA loans and properties,” the spokesman said.

Jim Malamut, vice president of Atlantic Coast Mortgage, in Pleasantville, said both buyer and seller will now find FHA loans attractive.

“The new guidelines put more risk on the lender than on the appraiser, but if the house is worth the price it's going to be easier to get them in it,” he said. “And anything that helps people afford a home is a great thing.”

HUD also increased its price caps to better reflect local markets. Last year, the maximum price allowed on an FHA purchase was $172,632 for standard areas and $312,895 for high-cost areas. Today, those figures are $200,160 and $362,790. Locally, the price caps for Cape May, Ocean, Cumberland and Atlantic counties all now exceed $300,000.

Malamut said even though the guidelines have been in place for several weeks, agents and lenders are just now seeing the interest.

“Now that it's been a month or so, people are familiar with it. You've got people who went under contract in January just finishing up closing, so word's just getting out,” he said. “Plus you've got agents just starting to learn what's going on with the FHA guidelines so they're just now telling their clients about it, too.”

An FHA letter sent to mortgage lenders in December said the agency would also start accepting “as is” appraisals and remove several mandatory inspections, including for termites, on wells and septic systems, and for homes near heavy agriculture areas or near dumps, junkyards, landfills, factories, gas stations or dry-cleaning operations.

Mike Brennan, managing member of real estate appraisal firm Brennan Colangelo Appraisals LLC, in Galloway Township, said removing those inspection requirements allows appraisers to focus on more important concerns.

“It loosens up a lot on cosmetic stuff, stupid things that on a conventional loan you wouldn't worry about,” he said. “Before, with FHA we would have to write down a tripping hazard because a dog or pet clawed at the carpet near a door. That would have to be fixed before it could be sold. That kind of thing just made it harder on everybody.”

Brennan, who also is a real estate agent, said some agents would steer clients away from FHA loans because of the stringent guidelines. But, under the new rules, he expects more people to lean that way when they can.

Drew S. Fishman, president of the Atlantic City and County Board of Realtors, agrees, saying the local market's growth over the last few years left many buyers out of the running.

“Even if they accepted the old FHA guidelines, the (asking prices) went up so high that you weren't even in the FHA loop,” he said. “These are all positive changes, now. We probably won't see it out on the islands because of median prices there, but mainland properties certainly could fall into these categories.”

Real estate agent Eileen Raynes said her recent move to Rosenthal Realty, in Margate, has her working more with first-time home buyers and the new guidelines make finding them a home easier.

“It certainly removes some of the stigma of an FHA loan. Once we get over that, we can really start to look at different properties,” she said. “It's a whole new market for the buyer, the seller and me, as well.”

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/index.html

by: Nathan Dawson

Buying your first home can be exciting but there is a lot to know. Buying a home will depend on real estate laws and customs where you are located but there are basic steps that every first homebuyer needs to accomplish.

Step 1- Your Finances

Establishing credit is very important especially when you are looking to purchase a large investment like a house. Your credit reports reflects how you manage your finances. Study your credit report and your financial history so you are familiar with it before applying for a mortgage. These reports will be needed for the mortgage approval process in finding out the interest rate and other loan terms.

Step 2- Familiarize Yourself with the Mortgage Industry

Do your research. Finding the right loan and lender is extremely important to your home buying success.

Choose the lender that is best for your needs but be sure to understand the loan process as much as you can before talking to a lender so you don’t feel completely lost.

Step 3- get Pre-Approved for a Mortgage

Once you talk with a lender, you should be given an estimate of how much you can afford for a house.

Being pre approved can help you in a variety of ways. So if a home seller gets two offers, one being yours with a pre approved letter from your bank saying you have been approved for the amount offered, and then there is the other person with no letter, your chances of getting the house are much better.

Step 4- Determine what you Want and what you need

Buying a home isn’t as challenging as most think. If you familiarize yourself with the real estate market and narrow down what you want and need before buying a house the process will run a lot smoother.

Be sure to understand agent duties and devotion because some real estate agents represent buyers, sellers, or both or depending on the state they can work as neutral facilitators for either party.

Step 6- Start Searching for your New Home

Your agent will most likely give you multiple listing sheets to review. You might have also picked up a real estate magazine in your area and found a house through that, shop online, or find ads in the newspaper. Other ideas can be driving around the neighborhoods that have houses for sale. Either way you look, consider these home buying search tools in your search.

Home Buying Search Tools

1. Consider houses that others may overlook
2. Get out there to see what’s out there
3. Look into public versions of multiple listing service web sites
4. Search for real estate agent web sites
5. Browse real estate search engines and networks
6. Find for sale by owner properties
7. Look at magazine and newspapers in print
8. Find foreclosed homes

Step 7- Handle Pre-Offer Tasks

When looking at houses be sure to look at its structure and features which can help determine if its something you want or not.

Step 8- put in an Offer

There's no one specific set of instructions that cover all the differences in real estate laws and customs that exist throughout the United States, so when putting in an offer on a house, it will depend on your location.

Step 9- House Inspections and Other Tests

Some states allow home inspections before the final contract is signed where as in other states inspections take place after the contract is signed. No matter when you have to do them, it's very important to decide which inspections and tests you want done.

Discuss with your real estate agent or if you don’t have one, then an advisor to find out when inspections should happen and if additional types of testing are needed for a specific area.

Step 10- Avoid having to Correct Last Minute Problems

As the closing date approaches, everyone involved in your real estate transaction should be checking the progress on a daily basis. That way if a problem arises it can be taken care of right away.

Step 11- Closing

Closing, also called settlement, is the event that transfers ownership of the property from the last owner to you.

Happy house hunting!

by: Chris Cates

Whether you are planning to buy or sell a property it is important to become familiar with the terminology of real estate. In real estate the three terms that are commonly used interchangeably are value, cost, and price. Although, all are concepts relating to value, they are not the same. Let’s begin by differentiating between the terms.

Value deals with something that will happen in the future; whereas cost relates to past events, and the amount of money actually paid for the property is the price. Depending on circumstances, the value of a property may be the same, more than, or even less than the price. Several things determine the value of a property: the degree at which it satisfies a need, ratio of supply to demand, transferability, and whether a perspective buyer with need for the property can financially afford the property.

Value is a term, which should be used when speaking of what you think the future benefits will be from the ownership of a particular property. There are several questions that might be asked when trying to assess the value of a property:

1. What is the zoning code? What’s the possibility of it changing in the next 10 years?

2. If the zoning changes, would it impact the use of the property?

3. What are the plans for the surrounding area (a highway, shopping center, amusement park)?

4. What impact if any do the topography, climate, and location have on the value?

5. Will the value be influenced by the interest rate or property taxes?

Market value is the projection of the price the property should bring when the real estate market is competitive and open. Remember – there is a difference in value and price.

Market price describes an activity that has occurred and, as stated above, is the amount a buyer actually paid for the property. The price paid for a property is dependent on several things: motivation of the buyer or seller, location of the property, needs of buyer, and price of similar properties.

The reason to sell or buy a property is as varied as the seller or buyer and can impact the sales price. If a seller is highly motivated he may be more willing to adjust the price of the property toward what the buyer is asking. Reduction in income, financial inability to pay the mortgage, a change in marital status, too many similar properties for sale, and the desire to be removed from the responsibility of the property are conditions that could motivate a seller to adjust the sales price; thus creating an environment conducive to bargaining for the buyer. However, a less motivated seller may not be willing to negotiate his asking price, which probably is in line with the market value described above—not good for a buyer looking for a deal!

A seller’s ideal buyer is a motivated one. If a buyer, for whatever reason, is determined to purchase a particular property and is financially able, the asking price will be similar to the sales price. A situation such as this can mean little negotiation is needed and we have a satisfied seller.

The amount a property sells for has a direct relationship, normally, with the location of the property and how well the location satisfies the needs of the buyer. The more the gap is closed between how well the location of the property addresses the needs of the buyer the greater the chance the sales price will reflect the asking price and market value. A property 20 miles from the closest major highway will not be a good fit for a buyer needing to be in closer proximity to the highway. Before beginning a search for a property a buyer should identify his needs and motivation. By doing this, he positions himself for effective negotiations.

The closer the needs of the buyer matches the features of the property to be sold the greater the chance the sales price will reflect the asking price and maybe even the market value. As a seller, to identify serious and motivated buyers prepare a couple questions that will outline the buyer’s needs:

1. What features are you looking for?

2. What’s the purpose of your move? (This question will help you assess the buyer’s motivation.)

3. When would you like to close?

Today with the downsizing of many companies, some homeowners have been forced to file bankruptcy. Bankruptcy influences the price at which houses eventually sell because in calculating the asking price of a property a comparison of the sale prices of similar properties should be made. The sale prices of these homes often are lower than the market value and the asking price. If the home you are preparing to sale or buy is located near surrounding communities with high bankruptcy rates then the sales price will more likely be adjusted closer to those sale prices.

Remember: whether buying or selling a home, do not confuse the sales price, which is the actual price a property sells and the market value –merely a projection and may not reflect the selling price.