Increase your chances of getting your dream house in a competitive housing market, and lower your chances of losing out to another buyer.

1. Get prequalified for a mortgage. You’ll be able to make a firm commitment to buy and your offer will be more desirable to the seller.

2. Stay in close contact with your real estate agent to find out about the newest listings. Be ready to see a house as soon as it goes on the market — if it’s a great home, it will go fast.

3. Scout out new listings yourself. Look at Web sites such as REALTOR.com, browse your local newspaper’s real estate section, and drive through the neighborhood to spot For Sale signs. If you see a home you like, write down the address and the name of the listing agent. Your real estate agent will schedule a showing.

4. Be ready to make a decision. Spend a lot of time in advance deciding what you must have in a home so you won’t be unsure when you have the chance to make an offer.

5. Bid competitively. You may not want to start out offering the absolute highest price you can afford, but don’t go too low to get a deal. In a tight market, you’ll lose out.

6. Keep contingencies to a minimum. Restrictions such as needing to sell your home before you move or wanting to delay the closing until a certain date can make your offer unappealing. In a tight market, you’ll probably be able to sell your house rapidly. Or talk to your lender about getting a bridge loan to cover both mortgages for a short period.

7. Don’t get caught in a buying frenzy. Just because there’s competition doesn’t mean you should just buy it. And even though you want to make your offer attractive, don’t neglect inspections that help ensure that your house is sound.

Begin your home search on MarshaMarsh.com today!

Reprinted from REALTOR® magazine (REALTOR.org/realtormag) with permission of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®.

Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.

As a team and family business, Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services is changing the face of real estate in Erie. By consistently surpassing goals of real estate transactions, they continue to work hard to make Erie the best place to live.

Marsha Marsh Real Estates Services value's their clients and make them their  #1 priority and they are proud to say that approximately 86 percent of their business originates from “word of mouth” and referrals. Their reputation for excellent service and honest hard work helps to consistently surpass their goals each year. "It’s rewarding to work as a family with our independent agents," Marsha commented, "helping clients with their real estate needs, purchases and sometimes just questions about the “shifting” market conditions. It is a real “team” effort." 

Let Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services be “Your trusted advisors in buying and selling real estate in Erie County.”

Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services proudly supports
the United Way of Erie County.

United Way of Erie County plays a unique role both as a leader in the health and human services sector and as a major resource to the community. This bond of trust goes far beyond legal or regulatory requirements to include our core values and ethics. Invest in your community. Give to United Way. United Way is working to advance the common good by focusing on education, income and health. These are the building blocks for a good life – a quality education that leads to a stable job, enough income to support a family through retirement, and good health.

Marsha serves as a member of the Campaign Cabinet: Resource Department – a cabinet dedicated in helping increase financial support for the 2010 United Way Campaign and enthusiastically advance the mission of improving lives and building a stronger community.

Help Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services in raising $10,000 by making a donation to the United Way of Erie County.

Drop off or mail your donation to:
Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services
C/O: United Way
8840 Peach Street
Erie, PA 16509

Families helping families, Friends helping friends.
Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services are committed to supporting Erie County’s communities. Making contributions towards research, education, community services, are just a few of the many ways Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services help improve the lives in the community.

Begin your home search on MarshaMarsh.com today!

Register today and join Presenting Sponsor, Marsha Marsh, at the March of Dimes 17th Annual Signature Chef’s Auction on Nov. 1, 2010.

Enjoy the Tasting Extravaganza, Silent Auction, and Live Auction to raise much-needed funds in the fight to give every baby a healthy start. This unique and fun dining experience – where top local chefs present their signature dishes in a tasting format – has raised more than $114 million for the March of Dimes since the first Signature Chef’s Auction in 1989. Register today by visiting MarshaMarsh.com!

Families helping families, Friends helping friends.
Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services are committed to supporting Erie County’s communities. Making contributions towards research, education, community services, are just a few of the many ways Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services help improve the lives in the community.

Begin your home search on MarshaMarsh.com today!

6 Tips for Buying a Home in a Short Sale

Published 2010-03-19 11:47:04

Short sales can be lengthy and difficult, but if you know what you're doing, you can end up with a great deal. Image: fotog/Getty Images

When sellers need to sell their home for less than they owe on their mortgage, they’re shooting for a short sale. Short sale homes can sometimes be bargains, but only if you do your homework, stay patient, and remain unemotional during the sometimes lengthy and difficult short sale process.

Here are six tips for protecting yourself emotionally and financially when bidding on a short sale.

1. Get help from a short sale expert

A real estate agent experienced in short sales can identify which homes are being offered as short sales, help you determine a purchase price, and advise you on what to include in your offer to make the lender view it favorably. Ask agents how many buyers they’ve represented in short sales and, of those, how many successfully closed the transaction.

2. Build a team

Ask agents to recommend real estate attorneys knowledgeable in short sales and title experts. A title officer can do a title search to identify all the liens attached to a property you’re interested in. Because each lienholder must consent to a short sale, a property with multiple liens, like first and second mortgages, mechanic’s and condominium liens, or homeowners association liens, will be harder to purchase.

A title search may cost $250 to $300 up front, but it can help weed out less desirable properties requiring multiple approvals.

3. Know the home’s fair market value

By agreeing to a short sale, lenders are consenting to lose money on the loan they made to the sellers to purchase the home. Their goal is to keep those losses as low as possible. If your offer is dramatically less than the home’s fair market value, it may be rejected. Your agent can help you identify the price that’s good for you. The lender will determine whether approval is in its best interest.

4. Expect delays

There are two stages to a short sale. First, the sellers must consent to your purchase offer. Then they must submit it to their lender, along with documentation to convince the lender to agree to the sale.

The lender approval process can take weeks or months, even longer if the lender counteroffers. Expect bigger delays if several lienholders are involved; each can make a counteroffer or reject your offer.

5. Firm up your financing

Lenders will weigh your ability to close the transaction. If you’re preapproved for a mortgage, have a large downpayment, and can close at any time, they’ll consider your offer stronger than that of a buyer whose financing is less secure.

6. Avoid contingencies

If you must sell your current home before you can close on the short-sale property, or you need to close by a firm deadline, your offer may present too many moving parts for a lender to approve it.

Also, consider ordering an inspection so you’re fully informed about the home. Keep in mind that lenders are unlikely to approve an offer seeking repairs or credits for such work. You’ll probably have to purchase the home “as is,” which means in its present condition.

This article includes general information about tax laws and consequences, but isn’t intended to be relied upon by readers as tax or legal advice applicable to particular transactions or circumstances. Consult a tax professional for such advice; tax laws may vary by jurisdiction.

The Senate on Wednesday approved a three-month extension, giving buyers until Sept. 30 to close, but it's attached to another bill that still has to be passed by the House.

The extension would apply only to buyers that met the April 30 deadline to have signed purchase contracts in hand.

The tax credit is worth up to $6,500 for repeat buyers and up to $8,000 for first-time buyers.

Many pending deals are in danger of not closing by June 30 because of delays that aren't the buyers' fault. Some appraisals are taking longer to complete, and some lenders have been overwhelmed by a crush of mortgage applications that landed before the tax credit expired April 30.

Up to 180,000 buyers who were hoping to close by June 30 and get the tax credit are likely to miss the deadline, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

"We are hopeful," says Paul Bishop, vice president of research with NAR. "We've heard a lot of concern from Realtors out there. There seems to be a sense of fairness. The tax credit was essentially promised" to those buyers.

But some Realtors say even if a three-month extension is granted, that still won't be enough time for buyers pursuing houses through short sales, which can take many months to close.

"How are you going to close a short sale in two months?" says Edward Goldfarb, a Realtor with Keller Williams in Fort Lauderdale. "Hundreds of people are not going to close and are going to lose their tax credit. September is not any better. A short sale can take a year and a half."

Another concern is that buyers who face losing the tax credit could pull out of pending deals altogether. Any extension must be passed this week, or buyers will start canceling deals next week, before the deadline hits, says Richard Smith, president and CEO of Realogy, parent company of Century 21, ERA, Coldwell Banker and Sotheby's International Realty.

"We're concerned, as many people are, that this will force people to cancel their contracts," Smith says.

Brian Bonime, 33, has a contract on a home in Margate, Fla., but is worried the short sale won't close in time to get the $8,000 tax credit he was counting on.

"It'll put a dent in things financially," says Bonime, who works in management at a supermarket. The sellers "had brand new appliances they're taking with them, and we were going to get the money now so we can get appliances."

5 Tips for Buying a Foreclosure

Published 2010-03-29 09:29:32

When selling a foreclosed home, set a price well under market value so the home will sell quickly. Image: Image Source/Getty Images

When lenders take over a home through foreclosure, they want to sell it as quickly as possible. Since lenders aren’t in the real estate business, they turn to real estate brokers for help marketing their properties. Buying a foreclosed home through the multiple listing service can be a bargain, but it can also be a problem-filled process. Here are five tips to help you buy smart.

1. Choose a foreclosure sale expert. Lenders rarely sell their own foreclosures directly to consumers. They list them with real estate brokers. You can work with a real estate agent who sells foreclosed homes for lenders, or have a buyer’s agent find foreclosure properties for you. To locate a foreclosure sales specialist, call local brokers and ask if they are the listing agent for any banks.

Either way, ask the real estate professional which lenders’ homes they’ve sold, how many buyers they’ve represented in a foreclosed property purchase, how many of those sales they closed last year, and who they legally represent.

If the agent represents the lender, don’t reveal anything to her that you don’t want the lender to know, like whether you’re willing to spend more than you offer for a house.

2. Be ready for complications. In some states, the former owner of a foreclosed home can challenge the foreclosure in court, even after you’ve closed the sale. Ask your agent to recommend a real estate attorney who has negotiated with lenders selling foreclosed homes and has defended legal challenges to foreclosures.

Have your attorney explain your state’s foreclosure process and your risks in purchasing a foreclosed home. Set aside as much as $5,000 to cover potential legal fees.

3. Work with your agent to set a price. Ask your real estate agent to show you closed sales of comparable homes, which you can use to set your price. Start with an amount well under market value because the lender may be in a hurry to get rid of the home.

4. Get your financing in order. Many mortgage market players, such as Fannie Mae, require buyers to submit financing preapproval letters with a purchase offer. They’ll also reject all contingencies. Since most foreclosed homes are vacant, closings can be quick. Make sure you have the cash you’ll need to close your purchase.

5. Expect an as-is sale. Most homeowners stopped maintaining their home long before they could no longer make mortgage payments. Be sure to have enough money left after the sale to make at least minor, and sometimes substantive, repairs.

Although lenders may do minor cosmetic repairs to make foreclosed homes more marketable, they won’t give you credits for repair costs (or make additional repairs) because they’ve already factored the property’s condition into their asking price.

Lenders will also require that you purchase the home “as is,” which means in its current condition. Protect yourself by ordering a home inspection to uncover the true condition of the property, getting a pest inspection, and purchasing a home warranty.

Be sure you also do all the environmental testing that’s common to your region to find hazards such as radon, mold, lead-based paint, or underground storage tanks.

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Pending home sales are at the highest level since last October when the index reached 112.4 and first-time buyers were rushing to beat the initial deadline for the tax credit. The data reflects contracts and not closings, which usually occur with a lag time of one or two months.

Lawrence Yun , NAR chief economist, said this second round of surging sales from the tax credit extension looks as strong as the original tax credit. “There were concerns that only a small pool of buyers were left to take advantage of the tax credit extension. But evidently the tax stimulus, combined with improved consumer confidence and low mortgage interest rates, are contributing to surging sales,” he said. “The housing market has to get back on its own feet and now appears to be in a good position to return to sustainable levels even without government stimulus, provided the economy continues to add jobs.”

NAR expects a net of 1 million additional jobs in the second half of this year and about 2 million in 2011.

“The home buyer tax credit brought close to 1 million additional buyers into the market, which is now helping the trade-up market and has significantly improved the inventory situation. This stabilized home prices more quickly and has preserved about $900 billion in home equity; in turn, that is keeping additional households from going underwater and risking foreclosure,” Yun said.

Pending Home Sales Index by region:

• Northeast: jumped 29.5 percent to 97.9 in April and is 24.5 percent above a year ago.
• Midwest: rose 4.1 percent to 104.2 and is 17.9 percent above April 2009.
• South: slipped 0.6 percent to an index of 123.9, but is 31.3 percent higher than a year ago.
• West: increased 7.5 percent to 107.9 and is 12.0 percent higher than April 2009.

“A big concern surfacing recently is insufficient time to close the deal at the settlement table. Under normal circumstances, two months would be enough time from contract signing to settlement date,” Yun said. “However, the recent housing cycle has brought long delays related to the short sales approval process by banks, and from ongoing appraisal issues."

He added that there could be a sizable number of home buyers who responded to tax credit incentives, but may encounter problems meeting the settlement deadline by June 30. Because of these market challenges, NAR has asked Congress to provide flexibility on the deadline for closing.

Source: NAR

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• Provide equal professional service without regard to the race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin of any prospective client, customer, or of the residents of any community.
• Keep informed about fair housing law and practices, improving my clients' and customers' opportunities and my business.
• Develop advertising that indicates that everyone is welcome and no one is excluded;, expanding my client's and customer's opportunities to see, buy, or lease property.
• Inform my clients and customers about their rights and responsibilities under the fair housing laws by providing brochures and other information.
• Document my efforts to provide professional service, which will assist me in becoming a more responsive and successful REALTOR®.
• Refuse to tolerate non-compliance.
• Learn about those who are different from me, and celebrate those differences.
• Take a positive approach to fair housing practices and aspire to follow the spirit as well as the letter of the law.
• Develop and implement fair housing practices for my firm to carry out the spirit of this declaration.

Congratulations to Jim Hasselman of Summit Township!
Our Grand Prize winner of a 32” Vizio flat screen HDTV(1) and leather reclining chair (2), provided by Schultz Furniture Superstore!

Featured in photo: L to R: Jonathan DiPrinzio (Vice President – Sales, Schultz Furniture Superstore), Marsha Marsh (Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services), Jim Hasselman (winner), Frank Iacovetta (Sales Consultant, Schultz Furniture Superstore) and Laban Marsh (Broker, Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services).

(1) 32” Vizio 720p HDTV. MSRP $368.00
(2) Leather Lane Recliner, provided by Schultz Furniture Superstore. MSRP $899

As a team and family business, we are changing the face of real estate in Erie, Crawford, Venango, and Warren Counties. We closed more than $35 million in real estate transactions in 2009 and continue to work hard to make Erie the best place to live. Start your search at www.MarshaMarsh.com

Marsh Madness Open House Tournament starts this weekend!

Sign in for a chance to win a $25 gift card (March 7, 14, 21, 28). Provide your name, e-mail and phone number at any Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services OPEN HOUSE to become eligible. On March 29, all registered OPEN HOUSE attendees are entered to win the Grand Prize of a 32” flat screen TV* and leather reclining chair!**

Ask your Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services real estate agent for an OPEN HOUSE VIP pass.

Open House Schedule

*32” flat screen TV, Retail price $500
**Leather Lane Recliner, provided by Schultz Furniture Superstore. MSRP $899

When: Tuesday, January, 26 at 6pm
Where: Marsha Marsh Real Estate Services • 8840 Peach St. • Erie, PA 16509

If you would like to attend, please e-mail Laban.Marsh@MarshaMarsh.com

Short sales allow the distressed homeowner to repay the mortgage at the price that the home sells for, even if it is lower than what is owed on the property. With plummeting property values, this can save many people from foreclosure and even bankruptcy. More and more lenders are willing to consider short sales because they are much less costly than foreclosures.

Today, more than 13 percent of homeowners are delinquent on their mortgage or in the foreclosure process. This is occurring across all price ranges, and the fastest-growing category of homes in foreclosure is the luxury home market.

“The CDPE designation has been invaluable as I work with homeowners and lenders on complicated short sales,” said TJ. “It is so rewarding to be able to help families save their homes from foreclosure.”

Alex Charfen, co-founder and CEO of the Distressed Property Institute in Austin, Texas, said that agents such as Marsha and TJ with the CDPE Designation have valuable perspective on the market, and training in short sales that can offer homeowners real alternatives to foreclosure, which can be devastating to credit ratings.

“These experts better understand market conditions than the average agent, and can help sellers through the complications of foreclosure avoidance,” he said.

The Distressed Property Institute provides live and online courses to train real estate professionals how to help homeowners in distress, with a particular emphasis on handling short sales.

“Our goal is to help as many homeowners as possible, by educating as many real estate professionals as possible,” Charfen said. “Marsha and TJ have demonstrated a commitment to the struggling homeowners, and will provide much-needed assistance in stabilizing the community.”

For more information about CDPE Designation, visit www.cdpe.com.