Murfreesboro Information and Resources

John goes through some common strategies with pricing your home and gives his advice on what is the better option.

   In this week's edition John busts some myths when it comes to buying a foreclosure

In this week's edition of TMC John explains what to do when dealing with insurance adjusters and how it could affect you when you later try to sell your home.

In this week's video John goes over the statistics of 2011's production and how they compare to 2010.  Also, he covers what these numbers mean for 2012 as well.

 Hey, guys.  John Jones here with an edition of Tuesday Morning Coffee.  Today, we’re going to talk about 2011 numbers.  First, we’re going to talk about the month of December.  The month of December, sales were up 27% over December of 2010, which is a very positive sign.  Pendings were up 11% over 2010.  Our inventory right now is as low as it’s been probably in the last three years.  It’s at 6.7 months’ supply, which is low compared to where we’ve been.  So all those are encouraging signs.

Our total numbers year to date were down slightly 5% from 2010.  Now that is the smallest drop we have had since this thing’s been turning south on us a little bit, probably since ’06 actually.  It’s the smallest number we’ve had.  Our average sales price dropped only 3.6% from last year.  This year, average home sales were around 159,000.  The year before, it was 165,000.  I say all that to say this, I do think we have hopefully hit the bottom.  There’s some encouraging signs in the marketplace.

One is our 4th quarter of this year was quite a bit better than the 4th quarter of last year.  Another thing is our unemployment numbers have dipped into the 7% range, and we haven’t seen 8 or 9 for a while, which is encouraging.  Another thing that I like to see is, if you’ve noticed in the papers and local media outlets, we do have some good job creation going on with Nissan adding jobs, having a third shift, Amazon coming on over on Joe B. Jackson, adding I think 1,200 jobs.  So those are all very encouraging signs to the market.

It’s going to be a slow, slow ride.  Another thing I heard, new construction’s actually picking up a little bit.  And I would say a lot of the reason that is is because of our inventory’s getting lower and people are needing a home and a good quality home.  I talked to Ole South Builders, the largest builder in our area, and they had 46 contracts in the month of December.  That was the biggest month they’ve had since in the ‘07 months. 

So all this stuff’s very encouraging.  I’m looking forward to this year.  If we can help you in any way at John Jones Real Estate, please give us a call at 867-3020.  And once again, I wish everybody a prosperous 2012.

John takes a look at the new year, as well as explains why 2011 was the best year for John Jones Real Estate to date.

John explains why it is so important to price your home right the first time you put it on the market to make sure you get top dollar.

JOHN:  Hey, guys.  John Jones.  I hope everybody had a Merry Christmas.  Welcome to Tuesday Morning Coffee.  Today guys, I pulled up an interesting thing, and I want to talk about it.  And it’s probably the most important thing I’ll talk about to sellers.  It’s why pricing your home is so important to getting top dollar for your home.  I just pulled up some statistics from the last year in Rutherford County. 

If you take homes that sold between 100,000 and 200,000, the homes that were priced right, meaning they had no price changes, sold on an average of 53 days.  The homes that had to have at least one price change or more sold on an average of 130 days, almost triple.  The same homes that never had to have a price change sold for an average of $82 a square foot.  The homes that had to have at least one price change or more sold on an average of $78 a square foot, $4 difference, guys.

Is that just by happenchance?  No.  These are great statistics and they show us what we try to tell sellers every day.  And that is that is pricing your home right on the front end is your best chance at getting the most money.  Sellers tell me every day, “But John, we know we can come down.  We can always just price it here.  We can always come down.”  Here’s the problem with that philosophy in real estate.  There’s three things.

One is technology.  Buyers know the market as well as anybody.  They’re looking at it every day online.  So when a home comes on the market and it’s not priced right, they know it.  They go, “Next.”  So your first impression is so important when you put your home on the market.  That’s usually the best time to sell it.  Also, we’re still in a declining market, meaning our home today is worth more than it probably will be in six months.  So obviously, the longer it takes to sell, the lower the value of the home. 

And the third thing, even if you dropped it three times let’s say but you’ve been on the market for seven months, the longer it stays on the market, it encourages a behavior of buyers making a lower offer and encourages a behavior of sellers accepting a lower than what they probably should have accepted for the home because they’re tired and they’re desperate.  And they just take it.  So those are three reasons why pricing your home too high on the front end will kill you in this market.

Another myth I hear all the time, “John, we know that it might take a while.”  Well, you just heard the statistic.  If you price your home right, this home is going to move through the market in 53 days in Rutherford County.  If you’ve got a while and you need to sell in six months, don’t put your home on the market.  Don’t poison that property by putting it on the market too early at a high price. 

Homes that are priced right are moving through the market in under 60 days; however, 60% of the homes that were put on the market last year didn’t sell period.  And those are the homes that people see.  “Well, that one’s been on the market for two years.  I’ve driven by that one for two years.”  You don’t want to be one of those homes.  Guys, the best advice I can give you to pricing your home correctly is (a) enlist a good real estate agent who’s honest and is going to show you the numbers and justify whatever he tells you or she tells you. 

Secondly, be objective.  Forget that it’s your home.  Forget that you raised kids there.  The buyers don’t care.  Forget that you’ve got granddaddy’s oak tree out in the front yard.  They don’t care.  Walk through other homes like yours, go to open houses, and pretend like you’re a buyer.  That will help you more than anything in pricing your home.  Another thing that you’ve got to remember when selling a home, buyers buy by comparison.  They’re not just looking at your home.  They’re looking at seven, eight, ten other homes.

So that is how they’re determining what is the best value.  Even though they may want your home, if you’re 10,000 above the one down the street that’s almost exactly identical to you, they’re the ones that are going to receive the offer rather than them even low-balling you.  It’s just how the buyer’s mind works.  They buy by comparison.  If we can help you in any way, please call us at John Jones Real Estate, 867-3020.  Have a Happy New Year.

In this edition Joe explains the relief offered during the holiday season on foreclosures.  As wells as explains how you need to be vigilant while dealing with a possible foreclosure.

JOE:  Hey, Joe Hafner here with another episode of Inside Distressed Property.  I want to talk to you today, folks that are facing foreclosure, there’s some things that you need to know.  You know, every week in America, there’s 89,000 foreclosure auctions scheduled on average.  That’s according to RealtyTrac, and several of the big players in the mortgage market have announced a freeze on foreclosures through the holidays. 

So December 19 through January 2, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are both postponing any foreclosures.  December 22 to January 2, Chase is stopping and Wells Fargo is stopping them.  Bank of America says they’re going to try to “avoid them” during thanksgiving and the Christmas holidays, but here’s what you need to know.  Even though they’re putting a freeze on them, they’re still doing paperwork and moving towards foreclosure.

You’re getting a couple week reprieve.  You can’t rely on this as a plan for getting out of foreclosure.  Something to keep in mind, Wells Fargo, they’re only freezing foreclosures on loans that they own.  So they service a lot of loans for other investors.  So all those are still in play and could be foreclosed if the investor wants them foreclosed.  So real quick, if you want to find out if Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac owns your loan, go to FannieMae.com and on the right side of the screen it says, “The Fannie Mae loan lookup tool.”

And if you go to FreddieMac.com on the bottom right there’s a little box that says, “Do we own your mortgage?”  Click on those and you can find out if Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac owns your mortgage.  Even if you’re with a bank, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not going to be the people you pay your mortgage to.  They are an investor.  You could be with any bank paying your mortgage to them and Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac could own that loan.

But here’s the bottom line.  If you get a reprieve during the holidays, that’s great news.  But you need to do something.  You can’t sit back and wait.  You need to find an expert who knows how the foreclosure process works.  And as these banks develop their foreclosure short sale processes, it becomes more important than ever to have an agent who knows how the process works.  If you have an agent who doesn’t know how it works, you could find yourself in a lot of trouble.

So take your reprieve if you get it, but get in touch with somebody.  Even during the holidays, you can call us.  We’ll help you.  We’ll talk you through it.  But find someone who knows what they’re doing; learn about the process; learn what your options are.  You probably have more options than you realize.  And start the new year by attacking this problem instead of avoiding it.  And who knows?  You may be able to get out of this without losing your home to foreclosure.

We’d love to help you, and we’ll see you next time.  Merry Christmas.

A Christmas greeting from John to you and your family.

JOHN:  Hey, guys.  John Jones, Tuesday Morning Coffee, Christmas edition.  I’ve got my gifts out here.  Guys, I just want to take a second to wish everybody a Merry Christmas.  I hope that everybody has just a special time this weekend with their families and friends.  For all those traveling, be safe.  Come back to us safe.  And let us not forget the reason for this day is the birth of our savior Jesus Christ.  And I just want everybody to just have a wonderful, wonderful Christmas season.

Thank you so much.  If we can ever help you in any way, 867-3020.

Here are some things to remember when buying a Foreclosure in the great state of Tennessee.

Transcript

JOHN:  Hey, guys.  John Jones, Tuesday Morning Coffee.  Going to talk to you real quick today about foreclosures.  I get a lot of questions every day.  What is a foreclosure?  How do you buy them?  What do you do?  What’s a HUD home?  All these things.  So real quick, I’m going to give you the really quick definition of buying foreclosure in Tennessee.  We are a substitute trustee state, which means all foreclosures to first to be foreclosed on have to be sold at the courthouse steps. 

Ninety percent, probably 95% of every home sold at the courthouse steps is usually going to end up back in the bank with a lender.  But you as an individual can go up there and bid on these homes.  Typically, the benefits are you can buy a home quickly right there.  The downfall is you have to have to have money cash that day and you very rarely have a good chance to inspect the house before you buy it, and there could be delays sometimes in receiving your deed.

The other foreclosures that aren’t bought or aren’t purchased on the courthouse steps end up going back to the lender who at that point will disperse them out to REO companies (real estate owned companies) to help them get rid of their assets.  They’re basically going to end up with a local realtor in your area.  A HUD home, everybody asks me about a HUD home, all a HUD home is is an FHA loan that was foreclosed on.  So it’s a foreclosure too.  It was just an FHA loan.

Those are also sold through a local realtor.  A little bit different scenario.  It’s a bid process in buying those, but they are also going to be on your MLS at some point.  And the best way to find any of these foreclosures is just find a good realtor.  They have access to all the MLS information, and they can find any foreclosure for you that is on the market. 

Things to remember.  Usually, these homes are going to be sold as is.  So know that going in when you make your bid that banks typically aren’t going to do any work to them if you find something.  There are also sometimes charges.  If you want to have the home inspected, definitely have the home inspected.  But if you have the home inspected, sometimes they may charge you to have someone come out there and turn on the utilities, dewinterize the property.  Know that going in.  Usually, it’s a couple hundred bucks.

Generally, these homes are going to need a little TLC.  I’m not saying every one of them, but I would say 80 to 90% of them are probably going to need paint and probably going to need some flooring done.  So of course you’re going to see the home.  Those are things to also consider when you make your offer.  The last thing I want to mention about buying a home from a bank is banks are very inhuman, so don’t be real sensitive about the negotiation or anything like that.

You’re dealing with an asset manager who probably has another thousand homes on his desk that he is trying to get rid of, so everything is done via e-mail, computers.  It’s a very inhuman experience.  So don’t get sensitive if they seem a little bit direct or harsh sometimes.  That’s about it.  If you have any more questions about foreclosures or anything in regards to real estate, call us at John Jones Real Estate, 867-3020.  Thank you.