Once a buyer has been found for your home, the part of the transaction that takes the most care and attention is the closing.  As Realtors, our responsibilities do not end when the buyer says: “Yes”, we want it”!  As your Realtor, a number of important details must be coordinated, confirmed and finalized before the sale of your home can be successfully completed.

As an example, there is the purchase contract that must be signed by all parties, disclosure documents that need to be prepared and signed, the loan for the buyer needs to be overseen, all contingencies have to be addresses and removed and any title matters that crop up during the escrow period need to be addressed.

Any and all of these details are essential elements in the successful sale of your home.  The experience our office has in dealing with these matters can make a big difference in bringing the sale to a successful and timely closing.

Feel free to contact us for your real estate questions or needs at 760-743-0057, 1-800-250-8766 or lnfo@AnthonyRealEstate.net.  There is no cost, obligation or pressure.

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A property inspection contingency, converts an ironclad purchase agreement into an option that gives purchasers time to examine the property and decide whether or not to buy it.  It also ties up the property so that it cannot be sold to anyone else until the purchaser has made a decision.

Will a seller accept a home inspection?  Some sellers will refuse but most sellers will encourage home inspections to prevent future litigation. Their reasoning is:  that by hiring an independent inspector, a buyer cannot later claim to have relied only on the seller or the broker for the overall condition of the property.

Property inspections are keenly important to most buyers because they are not qualified to judge a home’s physical aspects and working systems.

For your real estate questions or needs, feel free to contact Jay Anthony at Jay@AnthonyRealEstate.net, 800-250-8766 ext 20 office or 760-705-4529 mobile.  There is no cost, obligation or pressure.

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The housing recovery has picked up speed, as home prices posted their highest year-over-year gain since February 2006, according to the latest housing data from CoreLogic.

CoreLogic’s home price index climbed 12.1 percent in April over year-ago levels. Home prices have been on the rise for more than a year.

“The pace of the housing market recovery quickened in April as home prices rose across the U.S.,” says Anand Nallathambi, CoreLogic’s chief executive officer. “We expect this trend to continue, bolstered by tight supplies and pent-up buyer demand.”

CoreLogic economists predict home prices will rise another 2.7 percent in May.

The following five states had the largest price gains over the past year:

• Nevada: +24.6%
• California: +19.4%
• Arizona: +17.3%
• Hawaii: +17%
• Oregon: +15.5%

Source: “April home prices see biggest yearly gain in seven years: CoreLogic,” Reuters (June 4, 2013) and “U.S. Home Prices In April Jumped Most in 7 Years,” The Associated Press (June 4, 2013)

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Some buyers are solving their house-searching woes through prose. They’re not writing poems or romantic novels — just notes to sellers, telling them how happy they’d be to buy their homes, 

The simple gesture is paying off in today’s ultra-competitive market, where inventory is tight and bidding wars are typical.

“Money talks, but a letter gives a human element to an offer,” said Michael Citron, a real estate agent in Broward and Palm Beach counties. “Sellers want to sell to a buyer who they’re comfortable with and can relate to.”

Cynthia Kelley said she fell in love with a four-bedroom home on Northwest 99th Way in Coral Springs as soon as she saw the “doggy doors” and the big back yard.

But four other buyers also wanted the home. So her agent suggested she write a letter, explaining to the seller how much the home would mean to her — and to her dogs.

“I have three golden retrievers myself and know they would be in heaven with all that fabulous space to run and play,” she wrote.

Kelley, 48, included a photo of herself with the pooches and also explained that she is a reserve army nurse who is ready to buy after enduring some financial hardships when she was called to active duty from 2005 to 2007.

“I was hoping to appeal to their personal side,” Kelley said.

She submitted a strong offer, which was the most important factor, said Clayton Banks, the seller. But her note confirmed for him that she was the right buyer. The deal closed Friday.

“It made us feel better about selling to her,” Banks said.

Writing a letter probably is one of the easiest things buyers have to do to land a home these days, said Samantha DeBianchi, a Fort Lauderdale real estate agent.

Buyers also have tried to be more accommodating to make sure a deal works out. In some cases, they’re giving sellers more time to move by allowing them to stay in the homes after the closing. Lawyers typically advise against these post-occupancy agreements, but buyers are willing to do it because so few properties are available, agents say. If that’s what it takes to get a deal done, then so be it.

Sometimes even pets are part of the deal. One of DeBianchi’s clients had to adopt the seller’s cat as part of the purchase. The client was a dog owner, but she agreed to the deal.

“This is just how it is,” DeBianchi said. “Sellers are completely in control.”

A letter from a buyer probably won’t make a difference if the offer is considerably lower than others that the seller has received, agents say. Nor will a letter sway a lender, which wants the highest price and the easiest closing possible and rarely lets a home sale get personal.

But many traditional sellers feel attached to their properties and don’t want to unload to just anybody, said Judy Trudel, an agent in Lighthouse Point.

“Sellers want to know the buyer will live in and enjoy the home as much as they did,” Trudel said.

Heather Cameron found a quaint, three-bedroom home in Coconut Creek, but the sellers had received multiple offers.

Cameron, a fan of HGTV’s “House Hunters,” saw that an eager buyer on the show wrote a letter to a seller, so she figured it was worth a try.

Cameron began by complimenting the sellers on the home and explained that she and her fiance, a Fort Lauderdale police officer, hope to buy before they get bogged down in wedding plans.

She added that they want to start a family, and the home would be perfect because her sister lives in the same community.

Within hours of receiving the letter, the sellers accepted the offer.

“Everyone told us horror stories about buying a home,” said Cameron, 23, an event planner. “But this was the easiest process.”

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Uncertainty over federal actions remains a big hurdle

Home sales are on a sustained upswing, with solid gains in volume and price predicted for the next few years thanks to improved market fundamentals. But whether the federal government will derail further improvement remains a question, REALTORS® heard Thursday.

Existing-home sales are expected to hit 5 million at the end of this year and then grow to 5.3 million in 2014, up from 4.3 million in 2011, National Association of REALTORS® Chief Economist Lawrence Yun told a packed audience at his residential economic forum at the 2013 Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo in Washington.

View slides from Yun’s presentation.

Price appreciation will be strong, too. Yun said he expects gains of 8 percent this year and 5 percent next year.

The strong price growth reflects the overly tight inventory conditions in many markets, Yun said. And that’s not a healthy condition. What’s needed is a return to the market by small builders, but they can’t get financing because community banks, leery of banking regulations coming out of Washington, aren’t lending.

Until that regulatory uncertainty clears up, only the country’s largest builders, which have access to Wall Street bond financing, will be building. As a result, although building has picked up in the last year after years of flat-lining, the number of new units is barely at replacement level. To meet the pent-up demand that’s in the market right now, builders need to get some 1.5 million units on the market. They’re only getting about 1 million right now.

The good news is that the housing recovery is based on deep-seated improvements in market fundamentals. So as long as the economy stays on track, which economists generally say will be the case, the housing market should continue to improve well into the future.

To the extent that there are market risks, they largely stem from the federal government, which continues to look at ways to reduce its budget deficit. Washington is also writing rules to protect against future mortgage market problems.

Will the government pare back the availability of Federal Housing Authority financing through tightened lending rules? Will it require banks to meet stringent capital standards and underwriting requirements under Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform rules?

Another unknown is whether the government will it impose strict limits on the points and fees lenders charge for loan originations–what Yun called a kind of price control that could end up dampening loan availability.

Until these and other uncertainties are cleared up, the improving market will face headwinds, Yun said. As a result, although the market should continue improving, its gains are unlikely to be as robust as they otherwise would be.

—Robert Freedman, REALTOR® Magazine

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