- Underwriting requirements are significantly more strict which means lots of details to take care of. I had a closing last week and the lender uses an outside service to verify previous job history. They had to verify a job my buyer had over a year ago. He quite and moved on so the employer had no reason to ever respond. Now we are being help up at closing because we are waiting for this to be verified. We ended up having it waived by the underwriter but still a headache.

- Appraisal issue. The appraisers are more skittish then ever and it is not uncommon for homes to not appraise, which puts a real brake on a transaction.

- The lender just not doing there job on time. Some lenders can be swamped and just don’t close on time

- Extra layers of review by the lender. Due to tighter loan requirements loans have more reviews. The originator starts the loan, the processor handles the paperwork, the underwriter reviews it and approves it, the closing department works the closing and it still has to go thru audit. Having an experienced loan originator who knows how to work the system can make the difference between closing on time or not.

No matter how strong the buyer these issues can still crop up. If you are a seller I would be extra careful about agreeing to possession at closing, especially if a delay will cause a lot of problems. I had a listing and the buyer became irate that we didn’t trust him about closing on time.It pays to be prudent and not emotional. It may not be the buyer who is at fault but it still means the problem may occur.

The districts want the property values raised so they can collect more tax dollars. To show that property is undervalued, they hire lawyers who seek out commercial and industrial properties that were sold at a price higher than the value set by Auditor Clarence Mingo.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/03/11/schools-push-up-property-values.html

“Buyer activity has been up while seller activity has dipped slightly,” said Jim Coridan, President of
the Columbus Board of REALTORS®. “Given the market conditions over the past couple years,
sellers have been a bit reluctant to engage. But that could soon change as we head into the stronger
spring selling season and the shifting landscape begins to register with well-informed homeowners
looking to move.”

http://columbusrealtors.com/NewsDetail.aspx?article=51675136

For example, the biggest negative with the home is being adjacent to a busier street, which is why it was value priced. The buyers agent used this as a reason for her offer. This is hollow because you are either willing to live in the house or not and saving another $10,000 or so won’t make the issue go away or be worth it.

Instead of going back and forth we countered at our bottom line price of $250,000. The buyer comes back at $247,500 and says “This is the highest they can go because they want to put 20% down and they only have 20% of $247,500″. First of all I don’t believe it and think they are just making it up. But I called their bluff and said “There is no reason to drop the price by $2,500. Instead we will give you 20% of $2,500 which equals $500. All you need is another $500 down payment on the extra $2,500 on the purchase price.” The buyers agent tried to portray this as a $2,500 problem but it really was a $500 issue and for $500 I was willing to contribute it and be done with the deal. They ended up agreeing and we are in contract.

The lesson is when negotiating a real estate deal don’t make up a silly reason for your actions. If you are making an offer that can’t be defended then your agent is just better off saying “My client instructed me to write this up and they can be somewhat difficult to deal with.” This is something the other agent can wrap their hands around and it will make for a smoother negotiations.

Read more from this Article

Home sales in central Ohio home have exceeded 2010 for the last four months according to the Columbus Board of REALTORS®. The 1,543 homes sold in October marks an 8.6 percent increase over the 1,421 homes sold in October of 2010. Home sales in September were up 16.6 percent compared to the year before. Year-to-date, home sales (January through October 2011) are only 2.1 percent behind 2010 and closing the gap. Homes put in contract last month (1,379) were up 46 percent from a year ago making October the sixth straight month of increased contracts.

“The number of homes put into contract have been up for the last several months,” said Rick Benjamin, 2011 President of the Comumbus Board of REALTORS. “However, contract failures – cancellations caused largely by declined morgtage applications or failures in loan underwriting from appraised values coming in below the negotiated price continue to be a problem for central Ohio buyers.”

Total housing inventory at the end of October fell 23.3 percent to 13,827 existing homes available for sale, which represents an 8.1-month supply at the current sales pace, up from an 8.7-month supply in September. The average sale price for single family homes and condominiums year to date is $157,327, down 2.4 percent from homes sold January through October 2010.

“Affordability conditions this year have been the most favorable on record since 1970.” said Benjamin. “As mortgage interest rates continue to remain low, more first time home buyers, investors and move up buyers are being drawn into the housing market.”

http://www.10kresearch.com/sortable/Columbus-OH/2011-10/Main.htm

“I would like to respond to your feedback from your showing this morning in my home.  I appreciate you taking the time to show our home to your client; however I must tell you how unprofessional I felt your comments were.  I made a point to let you know this morning that we had been out of town until late last night, and that I really didn’t have the time to get my house as I prefer it to be.  As a realtor, surely you can tell when you walk into a home whether or not the homeowners take pride in their property.  When someone is out of town, clearly the home is closed up, etc.  By looking at my house, you should have been able to see that I had clearly taken the short amount of time I had to have the house more than presentable for you and your client.  I’m not sure that the “house is well kept” is very congruent with it “smelling like dog”.  For what it’s worth…..your comments are the only ones we have received of this nature.

I’m certain you don’t particularly care whether or not your comments are offensive, but I must tell you that they were.”

Homeowner

There was a short sale listed at $195,000 that needed some but not a lot of work. It didn’t sell and we purchased it at sheriff sale for a lot less then $195,000, did around $8,000 of work and then sold it for $230,000. Buyer’s didn’t recognize a good deal at $195,000 and were inflating the amount of work that was needed. The work was manageable and buyers were now willing to pay top dollar for the same property improved.

When buying a home don’t dig in your heels and make emotional decisions. Learn to work with your agent so they can talk you thru the choices and recognize a good deal when you see it.

The market doesn’t care about these issues. If anything it can devalue your home if you are too motivated. Besides, it won’t help you focus on what matters most, how your home competes.

One thing I do for my sellers is to literally show them some of the homes they are competing with. We take an hour or so and view 3 to 6 homes. It can be an eye opening experience to walk thru the competition. This helps sellers be more in control and to price their home more effectively.