Unexpected Consequences - Insurance woes.

Earlier this year, I helped a very nice lady sell her home in Stockbridge.  She had lived there for 20 years.  She was devastated about the sale.  It was a very hard decision for her.  She had taken care of the home, lovingly.  It was in excellent condition.  The reason she sold – she no longer felt safe.  A new “element” had moved into the nearby apartments and into this cute little subdivision.  Now, there were numerous rentals in her sweet little subdivision and she was no longer sure of who belonged or didn’t belong in the subdivision.  She had been broken into twice – horrifying for someone who lives alone.  As anyone would, she placed two insurance claims to cover the damages and the loss of her valuables.

So, we put the home on the market and it sold almost immediately.  It was purchased by an investor; it, too was going to be a rental.  We got through the next few weeks without incident until the day of closing. 

My client had moved out of the home early, even though she had a couple of days after closing to actually move.  She had been moving a little at a time.  The day before closing, she took some things down from the attic and left them on the counter.  They were the last things that she was going to move out on the day of closing.

So, the day of closing, she went to her house for the last time and her key no longer worked. There was a mechanical (non-Realtor) lockbox on the door. The locks had been changed.  She called me in a panic. I immediately called the selling agent to see what she knew about this.  Apparently, the buyer’s staff had mistakenly gone to the house and changed the locks.  But, the most horrifying thing was that her possessions had been taken as well.  She was devastated and in tears. 

When an investor buys a home, they hire people to go in and empty the home - they call this a "trash out".  The good news is that we tracked the workers down and I insisted that they come to closing with her items with an admonition that if anything was missing, we were not going to close.  They came with everything and we closed – end of story, right?

Not so fast.

We started looking for her new house after about a month or so.  We eventually found the cutest home.  She worked with my preferred lender and everything was going along just beautifully.  Until… She started to arrange for her homeowner’s insurance. 

Typically, insurance for such a well-qualified buyer on a purchase price of just over $200,000, should have been between $750 to $1,000.  Imagine her surprise when she couldn’t get insurance from her previous company, nor the next several “big names” she tried.  Imagine her greater surprise when she was quoted $1,800!  Why, because she had had two claims in the same year.  Imagine what this cost would do to a less qualified buyer.  That additional $65 per month could have easily derailed her purchase.

Moral of the story – if you are planning to buy a home and have had recent insurance claims, you may be rendered uninsurable or may have to pay much more than the going rate. This could impact your qualification and force you to buy a smaller home.

To avoid this problem - when you get pre-qualified for your mortgage, don't wait to get a quote on your insurance.  Usually, you only have a set number of days, per your contract, to get full approval for  your mortgage.  Since the amount of your insurance will impact what you are qualified for, you should check on your insurance within your financing contingency period.  

What do Phoenix, AZ and McDonough, GA have in common?

Planting at Phoenix Airport - cycad surrounded by geraniums

 I didn't have a whole lot of time in Phoenix. I was there to attend the Certified Residential Specialist's annual convention, Sell-a-bration. Going to this event helps me stay up-to-date with what's going on in the real estate industry.

It didn't escape me that there were palms and cycads and bougainvillea everywhere, even some lantana. These are all plants that grow in Florida. With the exception of the cactus, these plants reminded of my time in Florida.



Welcome Center in McDonough, GA

 What I didn't expect was geraniums. Yes, just like McDonough, which has a geranium plant in the center of the city seal, they were in huge beds in lovely shades of pink. Interesting to see that a plant that does so well for us in McDonough, GA, in the summer, will also grow in Phoenix in the winter.

But that was not my only surprise. I sat at lunch with a lovely agent from Sedona, by the name of Beth Larsen. I asked her if Arizona had any industry an she said they grow cotton. Big shock for me! What about you?

Let me know what plants you see when you travel and I'll let you know if they grow in our area.

Things you see when you don’t take the train.

My husband and I took a short trip earlier this month to visit with my sister and her husband while they were in Myrtle Beach. We flew. It was a great, short trip. We can do that because our daughter, Jennifer, flies for Delta and we have flight benefits (Thank you, Jen).

We always take the people mover train at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. Especially when going to our gate – gotta get to the gate early and all that. And besides, it’s a quarter of a mile between terminals not to mention the long concourses!

So, when we came home, we landed and debarked at terminal “D”. I was getting down on myself because I hadn’t walked at all on our short trip (I'm in weight watchers). So, when we got down into the lower level to take the train back to baggage claim, I saw a lady, about my age in a wheel chair. I thought to myself, God gave you two good legs, use ‘em. So, I told my husband I’d meet him at baggage claim shortly and took off.

Important questions to ask when listing your home.

It’s about you, it’s not about me.

Have you ever seen it? You know what I’m talking about…that insipid, smiling picture of a salesperson on a billboard or bus bench or grocery cart. Maybe they’re even winking.

It’s funny, about 15 years ago when I got in the real estate business, it wasn’t too hard to represent a seller. In the good old days, we could list a house and be closed in 45-60 days and the owner would get what they asked and actually put a few dollars in their pockets. You could actually put a sign in the yard, put it in the MLS, put a lock box on the door and pray and it would sell. No additional marketing required.

Not so easy today. Now, we have to tell people that not only won’t they see the price they paid for the house, but it’s likely they’ll get considerably less. Try explaining that to someone who paid $660,000 and barely squeaked by with a $400,000 sales price or paid $380,000 and sold for $280,000. Sadly, this phenomenon is found in all price ranges. Wouldn’t you want to know that this was likely before you put your house on your market? Wouldn’t you want to know the market trend? That prices are going down? That the offer that’s below your list price is really good? That if you don’t take it, we might get less next month? And we’ll be lucky if the house APPRAISES for THAT lower price?

Foreclosures down in Metro Atlanta




Information provided by Data Intelligence Corporation

  The chart above shows data for the metropolitan Atlanta area.  It charts the number of properties involved in foreclosure notices; the number of foreclosures; and the number of bank-owned sales. 

As you can see, the number of foreclosure notices as well as the number of foreclosures is down dramatically from a high of 12,739 and 6,097, respectively, compared to September of last year.  

Trash to treasure in one easy loan

This home was dirty and had been stripped! It was missing the entire kitchen, the 2 AC compressors, 17 interior doors, one furnace, the pull down attic stairs, lots of electrical fixtures, 1/2 of the master bath vanity, the hall bath vanity. And, it had termites.

YOU DID WHAT?!?! Five ways to disapprove your own mortgage

As most of us know, there are several basic criteria that are used to approve or disapprove a mortgage application. These include income, employment history, credit rating, debt-to-income ratio, property appraisal, etc. In metro-Atlanta, the typical mortgage application takes 3-6 weeks to process and, during this period, it is crucial that borrowers fully understand the process. If they don’t, they could inadvertently undermine their own application. Here’s how.

There are three principal players at the mortgage company – the loan officer (or mortgage originator), the loan processor and the underwriter. The loan officer takes the initial mortgage application from the borrower, reviews the credit report and other basic qualifications, provides information regarding loan programs, interest rates, etc. and advises the buyer of their loan options.

Once the application is complete, the packet is passed to the loan processor. This person is responsible for verifying information provided by the borrower, analyzing documentation, obtaining missing documents and generally ‘packaging’ the file. When the file is fully ‘packaged’, it is then sent to the underwriter.

The underwriter represents the final, and sometimes the most difficult, hurdle in the process. While all lenders want to lend (after all, it’s how

The Big Downpayment Myth: Buying a home with little (or nothing) down

I was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and, like all other major metropolitan areas, we had three television stations to watch – the ABC affiliate, the CBS affiliate and the NBC affiliate. Back then, kids played outside constantly because, frankly, there wasn’t much television that was worth watching. In the late 1960’s, cable entered the marketplace, followed by satellite. Suddenly, there were literally hundreds of channels to watch. Big improvement? Perhaps not.

Today there are hundreds of channels available to every household ,greatly increasing the flow of information. Unfortunately, much of it is inaccurate. To illustrate, let’s consider home mortgages.

Tune to CNBC, Fox Business Channel, MSNBC, Bloomberg TV or any other channel with a business orientation and within one hour, someone will tell you that the days of buying a home with little-or-nothing down are long gone. Absolutely not true! Here are three outstanding mortgage programs to consider.

Stockbridge City Detail

Stockbridge City Hall - Still under construction 6/2010

The City of Stockbridge is located in the northern part of Henry County, Georgia. It was founded May 15, 1821. The county has an area of approximately 331 square miles located in the Piedmont Section of northern Georgia and is surrounded by the counties of Butts, Clayton, Dekalb, Rockdale and Spaulding.


Stockbridge is conveniently located off of I-75, exits 228 and 224. Stockbridge is only 20 minutes to the airport and about 30 minutes to downtown Atlanta. Conyers in Rockdale County is less than 15 miles to the east.

The City has recently built a brand new City Hall in the heart of town.

Community pride runs strong with the annual Olde Stockbridge Days Festival in the summer where vendors will display and sell handcrafted jewelry, baskets, crochet items, and wooden roses to name a few. There will also be plenty of activities for the children such as pony rides, train rides, sand art, candy art, inflatables as well as a climbing wall.

Relax on those steamy summer nights with music in the park. Music In the Park is held in Memorial Park located at 106 Jennings Way, Stockbridge, Georgia from 7:00 – 10:00PM monthly April through October.

City information - Source:

http://www.cityofstockbridge.com/

To search for homes in stockbridge - click here.