People searching for homes - Page 4

novamc1 · ‎07-02-2015

@151949

It is standard procedure and good advice for the seller to NOT allow this type of inquiry to result in a showing of the house by the seller. I know, from experience, that many of these "door-knockers" should be told to contact either their own agent or the seller's agent to handle the showing.

No way in the world would I open the door of my own home to someone who does not respect the sign in my yard , call the number on it, and set up an appointment with a licensed salesperson.

That door-knocking and bullying type of behavior by random house-lookers is exactly why the for-sale-by-owner method of selling is risky on many levels.

Let your agent deal with people who just want to bully you...........I've met many of them.

ccassaday · ‎10-21-2010

wrote:
@151949

It is standard procedure and good advice for the seller to NOT allow this type of inquiry to result in a showing of the house by the seller. I know, from experience, that many of these "door-knockers" should be told to contact either their own agent or the seller's agent to handle the showing.

No way in the world would I open the door of my own home to someone who does not respect the sign in my yard , call the number on it, and set up an appointment with a licensed salesperson.

That door-knocking and bullying type of behavior by random house-lookers is exactly why the for-sale-by-owner method of selling is risky on many levels.

Let your agent deal with people who just want to bully you...........I've met many of them.

The son of the people we bought our land from in 2016 was showing his parents house as a for sale by owner. They got robbed. Someone he showed the house to cleaned them out. It wasn’t long after that they had a realtor instead of trying to sell it on their own.

PinkSunset · ‎09-01-2016

wrote:
Most of the people buying homes here in Florida are paying cash so there is no reason to need to get preapproved for mortgages.We have been looking for about a year and never got any preapproval because we are paying cash.

not true.

Cash sales peaked in the first quarter of 2011, when more than seven out of 10 deals didn’t involve a loan.

“The market has dramatically shifted,” said Mike Pappas, president of Keyes Co. in Miami. “Cash drove the market in the bottom-feeding and opportunistic times, but today we have a real market with real buyers, and they need mortgages.”

Investors descended on South Florida in 2011 and 2012 as the six-year housing bust was ending. With prices hitting bottom, bargain hunters with fistfuls of cash scooped up foreclosures and short sales for pennies on the dollar.

The competition was so fierce that some real estate agents were telling clients who needed mortgages that they had little hope of winning bidding wars for the homes. Sellers much prefer cash to financing because they know the deals are likely to close more quickly and with fewer hassles.

Today, though, with values rising and distressed homes in short supply, investors who remain in the market are all competing for the same few properties, said David Dweck, founder of the Boca Real Estate Investment Club.

“The days of the high-profit flip are over, for sure,” he said. “There will always be foreclosures, but they won’t be at the level we experienced in the past.”

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

wrote:
wrote:
Most of the people buying homes here in Florida are paying cash so there is no reason to need to get preapproved for mortgages.We have been looking for about a year and never got any preapproval because we are paying cash.
not true.

Cash sales peaked in the first quarter of 2011, when more than seven out of 10 deals didn’t involve a loan.
“The market has dramatically shifted,” said Mike Pappas, president of Keyes Co. in Miami. “Cash drove the market in the bottom-feeding and opportunistic times, but today we have a real market with real buyers, and they need mortgages.”
Investors descended on South Florida in 2011 and 2012 as the six-year housing bust was ending. With prices hitting bottom, bargain hunters with fistfuls of cash scooped up foreclosures and short sales for pennies on the dollar.
The competition was so fierce that some real estate agents were telling clients who needed mortgages that they had little hope of winning bidding wars for the homes. Sellers much prefer cash to financing because they know the deals are likely to close more quickly and with fewer hassles.
Today, though, with values rising and distressed homes in short supply, investors who remain in the market are all competing for the same few properties, said David Dweck, founder of the Boca Real Estate Investment Club.

“The days of the high-profit flip are over, for sure,” he said. “There will always be foreclosures, but they won’t be at the level we experienced in the past.”

Most RETIREES are not going to buy a home on credit. They either have sold a home elsewhere to buy in Florida or they have the means to buy one outright for cash.The % of people who are below retirement age buying homes in Fl. is VERY SMALL. My small town is about 90% retirees and about 3/4 of them only come here in the winter. That's why villas are so popular in Fl. - most people are not looking for a full size home to live in full time and store everything they own.

Boehm Collector · ‎03-09-2010

wrote:
Bank preapprovals mean very little. They basically just give someone an idea how much they can afford to pay for a house. We got preapproved while we sat in the bank managers office for a few min. Anyone can get one - all they look at is your credit score.

You are so right @151949... I am a Real Estate attorney so I am well aware that a pre-approval means nothing. But people always seem to think that if there is a pre-approval it means that the mortgage application will definitely be approved. Not so!

Boehm Collector · ‎03-09-2010

wrote:
wrote:
Bank preapprovals mean very little. They basically just give someone an idea how much they can afford to pay for a house. We got preapproved while we sat in the bank managers office for a few min. Anyone can get one - all they look at is your credit score.
That is not true. Pre qualified and pre approved are two different things. You can go into the bank and get pre qualified. They just take your info. Pre approval means you have submitted all your documents.

Not so @ccassaday.. I am a Real Estate Attorney and always get pre-approval letters from lenders. They mean absolutely nothing. I can't cound the number of mortgage applications that have been denied in spite of there being a Pre-approval letter.

ccassaday · ‎10-21-2010

wrote:
wrote:
wrote:
Bank preapprovals mean very little. They basically just give someone an idea how much they can afford to pay for a house. We got preapproved while we sat in the bank managers office for a few min. Anyone can get one - all they look at is your credit score.
That is not true. Pre qualified and pre approved are two different things. You can go into the bank and get pre qualified. They just take your info. Pre approval means you have submitted all your documents.
Not so @ccassaday.. I am a Real Estate Attorney and always get pre-approval letters from lenders. They mean absolutely nothing. I can't cound the number of mortgage applications that have been denied in spite of there being a Pre-approval letter.

Of course things can. You have a bad loan officer who don’t do the correct work, you have a job or income change, or simply something is discovered during underwriting. But as a seller to keep busy bodies away I am not going to accept any offer unless that letter or proof of cash for a cash sale is in my hand. Your odds are greatly improved that seller is serious. We had the first offer with our house fall through with a letter. Because they failed to tell the agent they had a job change. Five hours after accepting the offer they backed our and realized they couldn’t get the loan.

novamc1 · ‎07-02-2015

Conversation here continues to seem surreal to me. Now we're hearing about "bad loan officers".

It doesn't really matter if a buyer has preapproval for a loan. This preapproval occurs before the buyer has even negotiated a price with the seller, gone through a home inspection, and the house has been appraised by the lender's appraiser. Then it has to meet with a value that the buyers can and are willing to pay. After that little wrinkle.....

No lender will lend on a home that doesn't appraise for the amount agreed to in the sales contract. In that case, buyer and seller need to decide which one is going to put up more cash or reduce the price. Really fun wading through that negotiation!

Doesn't sound like many people here remember even slightly harder times in the real estate market. Those times can easily roll around again. Interest rates are on deck to rise substantially in a changing environment.

We might find that the pool of eager buyers dries up and the inventory of unsold homes goes up.

Just because housing inventory is low in many parts of the country (for now!) and deals seem to be made easily, more challenging and complicated times have and probably will come. Everyone---buyers and sellers-- then are probably going to need to drastically reduce their expectations of how things are going to go in their transactions.

And by the way, where I just moved from, even buyers purchasing multi-million dollar homes have been taking out mortgages just to get the mortgage interest deduction. Not everyone who HAS the cash wants to pay it up front to buy a home if they can save some money on their tax returns.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

wrote:
wrote:
wrote:
Most of the people buying homes here in Florida are paying cash so there is no reason to need to get preapproved for mortgages.We have been looking for about a year and never got any preapproval because we are paying cash.
not true.

Cash sales peaked in the first quarter of 2011, when more than seven out of 10 deals didn’t involve a loan.
“The market has dramatically shifted,” said Mike Pappas, president of Keyes Co. in Miami. “Cash drove the market in the bottom-feeding and opportunistic times, but today we have a real market with real buyers, and they need mortgages.”
Investors descended on South Florida in 2011 and 2012 as the six-year housing bust was ending. With prices hitting bottom, bargain hunters with fistfuls of cash scooped up foreclosures and short sales for pennies on the dollar.
The competition was so fierce that some real estate agents were telling clients who needed mortgages that they had little hope of winning bidding wars for the homes. Sellers much prefer cash to financing because they know the deals are likely to close more quickly and with fewer hassles.
Today, though, with values rising and distressed homes in short supply, investors who remain in the market are all competing for the same few properties, said David Dweck, founder of the Boca Real Estate Investment Club.

“The days of the high-profit flip are over, for sure,” he said. “There will always be foreclosures, but they won’t be at the level we experienced in the past.”
Most RETIREES are not going to buy a home on credit. They either have sold a home elsewhere to buy in Florida or they have the means to buy one outright for cash.The % of people who are below retirement age buying homes in Fl. is VERY SMALL. My small town is about 90% retirees and about 3/4 of them only come here in the winter. That's why villas are so popular in Fl. - most people are not looking for a full size home to live in full time and store everything they own.

I'd like to see some actual statistics about Florida in particular, as to the demographic buying homes, what percent are financed etc. Might be interesting.

I know (from family experience) there are a ton of retirees in Florida. But there is a huge population of younger people and young families. Are they mostly renting? I would think that the state in it's entirety wouldn't be a lot different than many others.

flickerbulb · ‎03-09-2010

@Mominohio

No, not EVERYONE pays cash for houses in Florida. I did not, nor did anyone that I know.

I have lived here a very, very long time. There have always been retiree communities, but there are also lot of OTHER places with diverse populations and neighborhoods. SOME come here with a boatload of cash, but not everyone.

I live in a regular, non-retiree neighborhood where people go to work every day. I go to work every day!

SOME people are retired, and some are not.

My school has 2700 students. Are their parents retired? There are dozens of other schools in my district. Their parents must work! Where do working families get cash to pay for a house?

It is important not to generalize!