2. inspect your property, and better yet hire a professional home inspector

3. inspect the neighborhood

4. inspect for wood destroying organisms

5. investigate, test and verify everything about the property and it’s improvements

6. get a survey and verify zoning if you have development plans

7. buy an owner’s title insurance policy

8. consider obtaining a home warranty

9. establish a fiduciary relationship with a Realtor

9.5 never buy a house in a hole

Got that?

From their site: “The Harbour Bar & Fish House is a casual seafood restaurant designed to give our customers a local place where they can come together to enjoy themselves with family, friends, and co-workers. Harbour Bar & Fish House feels like a Coastal Restaurant that you may have experienced while on vacation in Hilton Head, Charleston, Cape Cod or Newport RI. We want you to feel as if you are on a vacation in your own backyard.

The interior decor is comfortable and relaxing, accented with natural woods and nautical tones of gray and blue. The exterior has outdoor deck/patio seating, two bocce courts and an outdoor bar.

There is a large area in the backyard that can be used for private events when the weather permits.” Some of my fellow Keller Williams Realty metro Atlanta agents hung out yesterday in the outdoor area near the bocce ball arena, and we had a blast.

Check it out!

Curbed.com’s regional real estate reporting is superb. Their site is interesting and they are really on point with the style of their site.

Recently, they reported on a grim forecast that surfaced for Atlanta’s metro economy, bringing up the bad and the ugly that “planners” statewide need to consider.

The article cites ““Atlanta’s persistent unemployment, traffic congestion, a 29% loss in average per-square-foot housing prices between 2000-2010, and the fact that the city is increasingly offering a lifestyle opposite of that desired by the most desirable workers and companies. The opportunities he sees are also legion, though, and many of them simply involve re-embracing our transit roots: i.e. investments in commuter rail, continuing to capitalize on the power of our airport, making The BeltLine everything it can be and getting T-SPLOST passed.”

The AJC reported on the same Brookings Institution report that brought up these findings, stating the following about some of the vibrancy in Intown Hot’lanta:

“ One piece of evidence of the pent-up demand for walkable urban space: The only ZIP codes to actually gain housing value in the past decade were Virginia-Highland, Grant Park and East Lake. All of these were considered slums 30 years ago. Today they are among the highest price per square foot for housing in the region.”

When I decided to move Intown in 1998, I never looked back – isn’t it great to hear those stats about VAHI, GP and East Lake???

On January 17, she published a quick read on technology trends in the business, and featured some cool photos and stories on 4 Tech trends to watch in 2012 that she gleaned from the CES earlier this month.

I decided to repackage her findings a little and add some local color.

1. intuitive combination devices – I am going to kill my Dell laptop after I turn it in for it’s second keyboard in 15 months, and just go Ipad or with a super thin ultrabook or something. I already rely so much on my Iphone, and with apps like GAMLS, Kurio and Trulia’s mobile apps, plus a killer app like Dropbox, field level functionality for agents has never been better

Add KW’s eEdge paperless real estate and client service platform, and a guy like me is highly dangerous.

The .25 calibre ACP that I carry sometimes really isn’t that dangerous – it’s there to “get me out of situations…” I haven’t had to use it yet, and y’all know where I get deployed from occasionally. I do think that my handgun is an intuitive combination device…

2. seamless and instant video sharing – my 4 year old Flip Camera will soon be obsolete. My Iphone doesn’t have enough video portability for longer videos. So, 2012 is going to be the year for me to step up to a new video camera. Stay tuned. Leetaylor.tv is coming…

3. enabled and enhanced on-the-go products and services – I just mentioned a few in the first paragraph, but Emily’s feature on the pocket-sized PowerTrekk really caught my eye. It is coming this Spring and it “uses fuel cell technology to power up mobile phones, cameras, GPS devices, and other electronics. The pocket-size charger provides instant power to your devices by converting hydrogen into electricity. It can produce the power of up to four AA batteries–suitable for powering up your phone for 10 hours. You just insert the fuel pack and add water to start recharging your portable devices.”

How cool is that?

4. thin is in – form is meeting function – Emily talks about the ultrathin notebook in her post. I believe I’ll move to an Ipad sooner rather than later. More and more, agents that I know are working Ipads almost exclusively.Cloud apps are making lightweight dreams a reality.

I have a lot of tech savvy, creative clients and they have always kept me engaged on the latest and greatest devices, tips, tricks, tools, shortcuts, hacks and applications that make my real estate business better. If you know about a tech trend that I should know about too, please contact me and keep me in your loop!

Mortgage Minute and the monthly video review

HARP is an acronym for the government sponsored Home Affordable Refinance Program.  In this month’s Mortgage Minute, Shelter Mortgage President Jill Belconis talks about the latest changes to HARP and how “upside-down” homeowners nation wide will have a better chance of refinancing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans starting this spring.  Who is Fannie Mae anyway?  We also asked people on the street if they knew who Fannie Mae was and their answers might surprise you.

Click here to watch this month’s short video:         http://www.shelter-mortgage.com/Mortgage_Videos.aspx

FHA Contemplating Reduced Seller Paid Concessions

On Friday, FHA released a letter proposing that the maximum allowable seller concessions be reduced from the current 6% limit to something less.  FHA is contemplating this change to “better manage risk” as they feel the current level exposes the FHA and borrowers to excess risk by creating an incentive that inflates the appraised value.  FHA first mentioned this as a possibility all the way back on July 15, 2010.  After bringing up the possibility of such a reduction a full year and a half ago, nothing has been heard from FHA again on the subject, until now.  Reducing how much of the buyer’s costs that the seller can pay at closing would be a major blow to the real estate industry.  Reducing this limit from 6% to say 3% would require most FHA buyers to bring more money to the table, to the tune of several thousand more $’s.  This is money they simply don’t have in many cases.  The official proposal will be finalized soon and then there will be a 30 day comment period in which we’ll be able to make lots of noise.  Hopefully, our industry lobbyists will show up in a big way and keep this limit from decreasing!  I will send you more info on how you can make your feelings known about this once the proposal is officially issued.

In the same announcement, FHA also mentioned they may soon require indemnification for “serious and material” violations of FHA originated loans.  This means that any inaccuracy in a loan file could be interpreted as fraud or misrepresentation and cause the lender to have to repurchase the loan.  A few of these repurchases could put a small lender out of business.  Stated another way, FHA is proposing to make it harder for lenders to make FHA loans.  Just what we don’t need right now!

What Every Lender Wants the Realtor to Know When Writing a Contract: Tip #8

When writing a contract, be thorough and make sure you complete all of the applicable Exhibits.  If your buyer is obtaining an FHA or VA loan, be sure to include the FHA or VA Exhibit.  Be aware that these forms cannot be dated after the binding contract date!  Also, always make sure the Community Association Exhibit is complete and accurate, especially the HOA initiation and monthly fee.  Be aware that the lender is closely analyzing the information on this form, so if you just wing it and all of the info is not accurate, there could be problems later.

One additional good tip:  if the property is a condo, proactively give the lender the person’s contact information who can complete a Condo Questionnaire on the front end of the transaction.  Every lender needs a variation of this form completed if the property is a condo.  The sooner you get the contact information to the lender, the quicker they can identify any potential problems!

Rate Update: Good Economic News Bad for Mortgage Rates

An improving US economic outlook was negative for mortgage rates over the last week.  Reduced concerns about Europe also caused a partial reversal in the “flight to safety” trade.  As a result, mortgage rates ended the week higher.

Early in the month, the December Employment report showed a larger than expected increase of 200K jobs, and the Unemployment Rate continued to move lower.  Last week, Weekly Jobless Claims fell to the lowest level since April 2008.  The labor market is one of the most important factors in the health of the economy, and many investors now view the outlook as brighter than it has been since the financial crisis began.  If this is the case, it will be great news for the economy, and job gains will increase the willingness and the ability of people to purchase homes.

The Housing sector data released last week was encouraging as well.  January Existing Home Sales increased 5%, while the inventory of unsold homes declined 9%, to the lowest level since March 2005.  December Housing Starts for single-family units increased 4%, and Building Permits for single-family units rose 2%.  Finally, the January NAHB Home Builder confidence index rose for a fourth consecutive month to the highest level since 2007.

Improving economic conditions, high affordability levels, and low mortgage rates are three solid reasons to be optimistic about the housing market.

Looking Ahead
The most significant economic report will be Friday’s GDP data for the fourth quarter.  GDP is the broadest measure of economic activity.  Before that, Pending Home Sales will be released on Wednesday and Durable Orders and New Home Sales on Thursday.  Leading Indicators and Consumer Sentiment round out the schedule.  In addition, there will be Treasury auctions on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday

Please call me if you have questions about real estate financing – I’ll point you in the right direction!