Thursday, March 22, 2007

Sneak Preview



New Listing coming next week and it is adorable! It's a three bedroom ranch, drop-dead gorgeous located in Henrietta with a Pittsford mailing address. That is all I can publish here but call me if you want more details.....585-414-5513.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Why Do People Hate to Get Pre-Qualified???

When ever I talk with a new buyer, I always encourage them to call a bank or a mortgage loan company to get pre-qualified before they start looking at property. And very often my suggestion gets lots of resistance.A couple of weeks ago I got a call from Chris in New York City. He wanted to buy an investment property in Rochester. When I urged him to get pre-qualified, he told me he had excellent credit and had just bought another property in Schenectady. He ordered an air line ticket and when I reminded him that I needed a pre-qual letter in order to take him into listed property, he forwarded a letter from an internet mortgage company that was pretty worthless. The letter did not identify how much Chris could borrow nor did it acknowledge that he would not be occupying the property.

Long story short….I convinced Chris to call a mortgage consultant that confirmed that Chris had excellent credit BUT Chris didn’t have the necessary cash required for a down payment and closing costs. In other words, Chris didn’t qualify for a mortgage for income property! Fortunately for Chris, Mother Nature was kind to him. The big snow storm in New York City last week canceled his flight and so he will be receiving a refund for his airline ticket!

I know first hand how intimidating it is to get pre-qualified. My husband and I are in the process of purchasing an income property in Rochester’s South Wedge. I know the feel of glowing cheeks when the loan officer inquires about a long-forgotten medical bill for $25 that was sent to collections. I’m a firm believer in the philosophy that a poor credit score is usually an indication of poor character. But mortgage loan officers are not judgmental! If they were, they would never, ever survive in that line of work.

Please, people, make the call! Get pre-qualified before you start to look at property. Even if you have cash in the bank and good credit history, verify that there has not been identity theft, there are no forgotten bills or other surprises that will stand in the way of you achieving your dream of home ownership or landlord-ship! If you need the name of a friendly loan officer or two, contact me and I will make some recommendations.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Culv-Wint - Another Hot Rochester Neighborhood

It's been a couple of crazy real estate days.....typical real estate feast or famine. It started Sunday evening when I received a call from an agent saying she was very excited to be faxing an offer for one of my listings. I was excited too until I learned that it was $19,000 less than asking. My sellers were not too excited either and refused to respond to the offer.

Then Monday morning I got two offers in on a multi-family listing located near Rochester's Public Market. One was a low ball offer from an out-of-town investor that has never visited the property and the other was a decent offer from local investors. I'm pleased to report that the hometown boys got the deal!

Monday afternoon featured a long anticipated offer on a listing in Livingston County. Shocks of all shocks, this offer was $30,000 under asking and contingent on a rehab loan! This is not a rehab house. It was built in the 1960 and is dated but it is not a rehab house. Needless to say, this house is still on the market.

Monday ended with writing an offer on a new listing for a single family home in the Culv-Wint (northeast Rochester) neighborhood. Unfortunately, two other agents also wrote offers and one was significantly over asking (not ours!) We were lucky to even get in to see this home. Three others that we called about were all sold within 48 hours of listing.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Happy New Year

In many ways, March first is the beginning of a new real estate year in Western NY. With spring right around the corner, the phone starts ringing with buyers wanting to go look at property or sellers wanting to put there house on the market. And since it is the real estate new year, I'm going to make a new year resolution to get this blog up and going, finally! For those of you that have stopped by and checked it out, thank you for your patience and encouragement. And, please, please, please leave a comment so I know you visited and let me know what kinds of real estate news you would like to read about.

There are a couple of "hot markets" right now, with Rochester's South Wedge as one of the hottest. This past week, I've shown 3 South Wedge properties, (2 multi-family and one 1 single family) and each time there have been numerous other agents there and multi-offers the first week on the market. Check back often as I plan to do a brief profile of the South Wedge, complete with currently listings and neighborhood photos.