"Mars vs. Venus" Differences Hold True for Home Hunters, According to ZipRealty Survey

Taken from 6/10/10 Press Release from Zip Realty as shown on Yahoo Finance:

EMERYVILLE, CA--(Marketwire - 06/10/10) - Forget that "man cave" or home theater room: what men crave more than women in a new house is a luxurious bathroom, a guest bedroom, a dining room and views. On the other hand, female house hunters value a home office more than a kids' playroom, dining room or luxurious bathroom. These are just a few of the more surprising findings of a recent survey of 1,000 house hunters released today by real estate brokerage ZipRealty (NASDAQ:ZIPR - News) (www.ziprealty.com).

Other survey highlights:


Both men and women home hunters rated green features higher this year compared to 2008, with 27 percent of this year's respondents ranking a green home high priority.


The percentage of home shoppers ranking a home office as a high priority is up from 35 percent in 2008 to 39 percent in 2010.


The three biggest turn-offs when viewing a home in person are structural damage, bad odors, a busy street and an awkward floor plan. While searching online, lack of parking and few or no photos and low square footage are the biggest deal-breakers.


Male versus Female House-Hunting: Must-Haves and Deal Breakers Differ

"Overall, the same things you would always expect to top the list of 'must-haves' and 'deal breakers' for house hunters still show up, but it is interesting to see men place a higher priority than women on things often characterized as stereotypically female priorities, such as a luxurious bathroom and a dining room," said ZipRealty Vice President of Marketing Leslie Tyler. "Also, women's growing desire for a home office may speak to the fact that more women are working from home these days."


A higher percentage of women reported ample storage and a large yard as a high priority compared to men, and reported that when viewing a home in person they would be turned off by small bedrooms and a lack of common space more often than male respondents. In fact, 60 percent of women compared to 49 percent of men reported they wouldn't consider a home with small bedrooms.


Forty-four percent of men rated a home with a view as a high priority, compared to only 33 percent of women, while 28 percent of men reported a luxurious bathroom as a high priority, compared to only 23 percent of women, and more than 70 percent of men indicated a guest bedroom as a must-have, compared to only 63 percent of women.


A higher percentage of men reported when searching for homes online disdain for outdated furniture or paint and unkempt landscaping compared to women -- and men reported more often than women in person, they're more likely to be turned off by a lack of curb appeal than women are.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles - Trip to L.A for Distressed Sales Conference

Wow - yesterday was quite a day of traveling, as I made my trek across this great nation of ours! I started in Richmond, drove to Northern Virginia, then took the Metro into L'Enfant Plaza (across from HUD's headquarter's by the way). Next, I took a Metrobus to the Dulles airport, all in time to get on the plane with 15 minutes to spare. Despite leaving home at 9am for 2:55pm flight, I never even had enough time to eat lunch and was forced to buy a $10 Turkey sandwich. Then, once I got to L.A. I took a $16 Supershuttle to my downtown JW Marriott hotel for Craig Proctor's Distressed Sales (Bank Foreclosures and Short Sales) Superconference.

I got to my room about 7pm Pacific time and was ready to settle down enjoy all that L.A. has to offer, especially since my room is in sight of the Staples Center and the Grammy Awards. Yeah right, I was totally exhaused and got room service dinner, made a few quick real estate calls and went to bed.

What this experience did for me was to make me think about public transit and the relative lack of it in the Richmond metro area. Yes, we have the GRTC buses and 2 train stations at Staples Mill and Downtown, but in the suburbs of Chesterfield, Henrico, Hanover and beyond you basically must have a car for each working adult. If I can get from a Mall in Northern Virginia to my hotel in Los Angeles, California without a car we have to find a better way to preserve our Earth's natural resources in the Richmond Metro area.

I'll follow up this blog with other's about the architecture here in L.A., as well as the conference. Thanks and enjoy your weekend!

Short sales are becoming even more prevalent!

I have started to notice a shift in our Greater Richmond Metro market. The shift of what I've been noticing in my showings in the last several weeks is that the short sales have overtaken the volume of foreclosures for the largest volume of types of ownership.

This is noteworthy and somewhat surprising given the talk of the foreclosure shadow inventory. I still think that a lot of regular sales transactions are being held up by homeowners/would-be sellers that are either skittish about prices or their own economic situation (a.k.a. job) OR are under water (meaning the value of their home is less than their current mortgage balance). So, much of what's then available for sale are foreclosures and increasingly more short sales. Many of these short sales are still Unapproved by the bank at time of listing and while more of them are closing than in previous years, its still a bit of a gamble on whether it will ever close (only about 30% do).

If you are a tax credit buyer, then steer clear of all unapproved short sales, as they are unlikely to close by June 30th with any certainty. And, no matter what, if you do put a contract on one of these homes, then make sure you build some protective clauses that can get you out of the contract if it starts to drag on.

While these short sales present value on the sales price, they're often not the best value when factoring in deferred maintenance and less favorable terms on the seller-paid closing costs.

Lock those doors when showing homes

Quite the ironic thing happened to me yesterday while showing foreclosures and short sales in Chesterfield and Bon Air. I was remarking to my 1st time home-buyer clients, a happy young couple engaged to be married soon, how I always lock the door behind us, because people tend to show up to foreclosures and just walk in on you. Like many of my clients, they were surprised to hear of a strange story like this. Well, wouldn't you know it that at our next house which had a 2nd home for sale right next door, we came out of the showing and a car pulls up and a thug-like creature wants to know about both homes and know if I'm the owner or my clients or the Realtor and etc.. Truth be told, I was ready to get out of there, because this gentleman (and I'm using that term loosely here) was scary looking indeed. So, I told him that he should call the listing agent from the sign and that we had to get to our next home on our list. He didn't seem to understand the concept and we just left him standing there in the front yard to his thoughts. I was thinking he might follow us to our cars, but he did not.

This is by far, not the worst encounter I've had in my years in real estate, but simply a reality of the world we live in. He could've been harmless or he could've been danger incarnate, but I wasn't about to find out. Just know this, do everything you can to protect yourself as a real estate client or agent and lock those doors when showing homes, because then at least you'll not be surprised by anyone in a closed non-public environment.

Interest Rates set to Rise in April and Beyond?

This message was recently sent to me from my District Director and I thought it pertinent enough to blog about...

The Fed has told us repeatedly that their massive purchasing program of Mortgage Backed Securities is just about over - and this translates to home loan rates rising in the near future.

As you can see in the chart below, the amounts of Mortgage Backed Securities the Fed is purchasing are slowly dwindling, as the program is set to wrap up by March 31st, and are clearly trying to ration out the remaining portion. Last week, the Fed purchased $11 Billion in Mortgage Backed Securities, which leaves them with $66 Billion to spend out of their original $1.25 Trillion allotment. So about 95% of the total has already been spent and has purchased about 3 out of every 4 home loans during the past year. When such a large buyer leaves the market, it is very likely that prices will worsen.

This is very important because as the Fed has less money to last through the remaining months of the program, their ability to keep home loan rates low via their purchasing power will wane. Those who can take advantage of currently low home loan rates do not wait, as the clock on these historically low rates is ticking.

The Fed is also planning to switch their benchmark from the commonly watched and monitored Fed Funds Rate, to a new benchmark based on interest they pay on excess bank reserves they hold out of the monetary system.

Banks have been ignoring the current benchmarks and charging inter-bank rates as they see fit. The Fed wants to fix this by using the amount of interest they pay on excess reserves as the new benchmark, since the Fed has total control of this rate, which should be right at or just under the Fed Funds Rate.

The one major take-away from this discussion is that the Fed is getting their ducks in a row as they prepare to push interest rates higher. And when they do increase rates, the Fed does not want any obstacles that may undermine their plan.

Another strong niche - HUD homes

While I am a GREEN Realtor and am actively pursuing going with a GREEN title company for at least some of my real estate closings, meaning no paper documents, I am also carving out quite the niche with HUD homes as of late.

I have 3 active pending contracts on HUD homes and amazed at the deals that can be found with these US Govt-owned foreclosures. Just last week, I saw where a home in the West End that was appraised at $124,900 and listed at $99,600, sold for $54,000. While this type of deal is not always possible, there are great values to be had. Why?

Well, every HUD home has a government inspection done at time of listing. Most of them are approved for FHA loans, which is often a question for bank-owned homes that you don't know the answer to at time of contract until you've spent $450 with your mortgage lender (that very well could be wasted if it doesn't pass). Also, you can see a Property Condition Report which serves as a poor man's Home Inspection. The best part for agents is that you can make up to a 5% commission and get up to 3% of your buyers' closing costs paid for. You have to be working with a Realtor to buy a HUD home and specifically, a HUD-approved agent/broker. Once you've identified a property you can submit a low-ball bid and then if not accepted, just up the bid every day until it is accepted (unless its sold to someone else in the meantime).

These HUD homes can be great finds/values for first-time homebuyers (depending on the condition), investors (rentals and/or flips), and experienced home buyers alike.

Feel free to give me a call if you'd like to learn more!

How are you doing with your New Years Resolution?

The calendar has now turned to February and many folks have already slipped off the tracks with their New Years Resolution. Is this true for you as well?

Well, if your New Year's Resolution included buying or selling Real Estate this year, then now is the time to get off the couch and call a Realtor! Your best opportunity to sell is now, as I have previously blogged (because of the tax credit extension/expansion). Additionally, your best deal to buy is probably now, because of the combination of low prices, low interest rates, tax credit (if applicable), and likely possibility of higher down payment % with FHA (likely going to 5% soon).

If nothing else, you can start small by checking out Realtor.com or logging onto a Realty website, especially Zip Realty's as its the most user friendly. As you learn the market, you can determine with a Realtor's help (if so desired), what your next steps should be.

Stay on track and accomplish your real estate resolutions in 2010!!!!