Janice Styles-hall

I am Realtor who is also an Accredited Staging Professional. I have seen first hand that the statistics are true that properly stages homes sell much faster and for more money. Staging doesn't have to cost a lot and in fact, it is usually much less than the first price reduction that is done when the house hasn't sold. But it is important to use an experienced stager, and since anyone can call themselves a stager, you might insist than the stager have the ASP credential. Decorators and stagers work very differently. A decorator makes the home personal and usually add things to the room. A stager on the other hand, is depersonalizing the home to appeal to the widest range of buyers and show off the best features. The saying "how you live in a home and how you sell it are two different things" is oh so true. So decide if you are going to sell it and if so look for a stager on the website Staggedhomes.com or get a referral from a local realtor who has used them. If you decide not to sell, then hire a decorator to personalize it. - Mon Oct 13 2008, 17:22

The process works as follows: The buyer puts in an offer without any contingencies. This means that they need to have the property inspected first (at their expense). They cannot have a contingency of selling their house or even setting the closing date. When they submit an offer, they need to apply for the mortgage right away....before knowing if the bank will approve their offer. That is because the bank will be unpredictable on when they give an answer re accepting the offer but when they do accept it they will want to close right away and there will not be time to go through the mortgage process at that time. So you could spend hundreds of dollars and not get the house. But if you can deal with the uncertainty, you can get a good price. 25-30% under fair market value is not a bad target, of course, every deal is different. My advice is to work with a buyers agent who has experience with short sales and have a lot of patience! Good luck - Sun Oct 12 2008, 14:03

It is a great time to buy a house if: your credit is good (mortgage rates are still historically low if your credit is good), you plan to stay in it for at least a few years, and you have shopped around enough to know what you want and have a local realtor helping you who knows the local market and can help you get the best price. Get qualified for a mortgage first so that when you find the home you want, you can look very appealing as a buyer and get a good price. Don't over extend your self on the mortgage...be conservative. If you have to sell your current home first, do it first. I would not put an offer on a new place until I had a contract on my old one even if you have to rent for a while as you search. Good luck! - Tue Oct 7 2008, 13:46

The median price is the price where half of the listings sold for more and half for less. It is considered a more accurate representation of sales. The average price is determined by adding all the sales prices and diving by the number of sales. - Fri Oct 3 2008, 09:29

From what I have read and seen first hand, it seems to be a combination of things including remortgaging/taking out a home equity line of credit and unusual expenses like medical bills. Home equity lines have adjustable interest and that has caused some problems but most of what I have seen in this area is that the homeowner got over extended and just can no longer meet the payments. The bank doesn't really want to foreclose and take the house back and may be willing to work out a short sale....meaning they will accept less than the amount owed on the mortgage as payment in full when the house is sold. The homeowner has to demonstrate to the bank that they have no resources to pay off the difference. - Wed Oct 1 2008, 12:20