Get it checked out by a pro. Perhaps the most essential point: Never go by looks alone as an indicator of whether a foreclosure is a good buy. A $2 million mansion may look gorgeous on the surface but might have toxic mold hiding beneath, which will require extremely pricey, lengthy repairs. On the other hand, a Mission fixer may look dilapidated but may have excellent bones and can be repaired at reasonable cost. Stipulate to your client that a certified professional home inspector must be contracted to check out a property before making a deal on it, to determine what repairs need to be done — so they can truly assess whether it’s worth it for them. Don’t rely solely on previous inspections, even if relatively recent – a vacant home can deteriorate quite a bit in a short time, especially in an area with climate extremes.

Don’t abandon common real-estate logic. Too many people, when shopping for a foreclosure, abandon their real-estate sense and focus on price alone. Remember, things like a sub-par location, poor light, terrible view, below-average school district, high local crime rate and other negatives might be part of the reason why a home went into foreclosure in the first place. Don’t assume that financial problems of the previous owner are the main reason for every foreclosure. The last owner may have bought the home ignoring some of the aforementioned problems, and seen value sink because of them. Don’t ignore those problems, especially if your client is considering selling in the next 5 to 10 years. Let your client know how long the home has been empty; the longer it has, the more of a chance this isn’t a good deal. Also, if there are plenty of other foreclosures nearby, that’s also a bad sign.

Skip or, at least, very strongly re-think, the flip. “House-flipping,” i.e., buying at bargain-basement pricing, updating, then selling for much higher – is very 2006… and hasn’t exactly been hot since. Even if a house looks like an incredible flipping opportunity, beware of this temptation unless your client is a pro, with incredible contractor connections. Tell them to automatically triple the amount they think they’ll be spending to fix up the home. Clients should avoid the temptation to make fast money unless they think it through and talk to their real-estate professional, a home inspector, contractors – and possibly even a therapist!

Go over the budget. A fixer-upper means nothing if you can’t afford to fix it up. That’s especially true for foreclosures, where those repairs can cost a pretty penny. Before buying, make sure your client has an ample budget to do all the repairs needed after truly taking stock (with the help of a home inspector) of what those needs are. Make sure they have at least half of that money in cash, and preferably all of it. They don’t want to take more loans than needed, especially private loans, which shouldn’t be taken at all – the interest on them will, little by little, chip away at the initial foreclosure bargain.

Do your homework on lenders. Fewer people are getting financing for home-buying than they did before the recession, but good financing is luckily still available to many qualified buyers. Just make sure, as with regular home buying, that you enlist a reputable lender. A good lender will take the time to do a review of your client’s financial life and long- and short-term goals, to truly pick the best solution for them, rather than just spitting out options. Also ask about hidden costs, rate locks, prepayment penalties, origination fees and whether underwriting is done in-house. Make sure everything is explained to them clearly, and recommend that they review all of the answers with a real-estate attorney, who will also be able to check out the lender’s overall reputation. These are things that many people do during the standard home-buying process, but might gloss over when lured by a low foreclosure price tag.

See it in person. Finally, advise buyers never to buy a house without going in person to see it. Ever. Foreclosure or otherwise.

bedrooms   2
pool   no
type   House
baths   1
hot tub   no
community
sleeps   6
pets allowed   yes
rates (USD) $125 – $135 / night
$750 – $850 / week
$1,500 – $1,500 / month

Description:

This sweet little home is located in the heart of Southport. Owner has
taken great strides in transforming “The Calypso” into an ideal getaway with lovely furnishings and all the comforts you want.
Conveniently located near the Cape Fear River – take a ferry to Bald Head Island or take a ferry to Carolina Beach. Nestled in the shade of this residential community, the quiet will be very noticeable!
The Calypso has a full kitchen and is well-equipped for the chef! Large bathroom w/laundry facilities and roomy clean bedrooms…one queen, one full. Also queen sleeper, if needed.

Enjoy morning coffee on the sunny rear deck and your evening beverage in a rocking chair on the front porch!

Calpyso has many new plants throughout the property that reflect the
owner’s pride that flows from the inside to the outdoor landscape!

This home is pet friendly. House-broken pets ONLY. We thank you for
being considerate of others who will occupy this lovely home. We also
thank you for making our cleanup simple.

If you need to spend a little time in the office, bring your laptop -
wireless service & wireless printer ready for you to use.

Walk or bicycle to local shops and excellent restaurants. Fish from the pier. Watch the boat traffic and birds. Historic sites and parks abound. For beach goers, – Oak Island is only about seven miles away. Both Fort Fisher Beach and Bald Head Island are a scenic ferry ride away…and yes, you can ride your bicycle from here!

Nightlife, shopping and restaurants of Wilmington are only a 30-minute drive.

Call us or email us for more information…

Amenities

• Wireless service & wireless printing capabilities – currently no fax – sorry.
• Cable TV in living room and master bedroom
• DVD player, stereo system.
• Two bedrooms – 1 queen/ 1 full & 1 full bath /sleeper sofa.
• Nice antiques throughout and clean, clean, clean!
• Full kitchen – laundry facilities in large bathroom.
• Fenced back yard & deck – covered front porch with rockers!
• Gas fireplace.
• Grill on the back deck.
• Beach chairs, towels, umbrella and small cooler.

Activities

• Spring and early summer is nesting season for thousands of white ibis on Battery Island — right across from Southport’s waterfront park. You’ll also see herons, egrets, oystercatchers, and the occasional gannet. Bird lover paradise!
• Sidewalks & bike paths for all to enjoy. Walk to local shops and excellent restaurants. Fish from the pier. Watch the boat traffic and birds. Historic sites and parks abound.
• For beach goers, – Oak Island is only about seven miles away. Both Fort Fisher Beach and Bald Head Island are a scenic ferry ride away. Nightlife, shopping and restaurants of Wilmington are only a 30-minute drive.
• Boat access is convenient at the Southport Marina with boat slips available. The Calypso has room to park your boat if daily launch is preferred.

Rates

• In Season (April – September)
  $135 plus taxes per night — 3 might minimum.
  $850 per week

Sorry, no monthly rentals, but ask about discounts for multi-week rentals.

• Off Season (October – March)
  $125 plus taxes per night — 3 night minimum.
  $750 weekly rate (can start on any day, not just Fri-Sat)
  $1500 monthly

Sales & Occupancy Tax – 11.5% (does not apply to multi-month rentals)
Cleaning Fee – $65
Pet Fee – non-refundable $125

1. Check your credit. Take my word for it: there is no bad surprise worse than a bad credit surprise. Okay, maybe there is one thing worse – a credit surprise you receive while you’re in the midst of trying to buy a home!

Recent studies have revealed that a record high number of real estate transactions are falling out of escrow, and that credit “issues” are a leading cause of these dead deals. Your best chance at catching and correcting score-lowering errors and other derogatory items before they destroy your personal American Dream is to start checking and correcting while you still have time on your side.

2. Do your research. The more rapidly the real estate market changes, the more it behooves smart buyers to study up before they jump in. And now’s the time – you can start doing online and in-person research into topics ranging from:

• Target states, cities and neighborhoods. Whether you’re relocating or simply trying to narrow down the local districts to focus on during your 2012 house hunt, now is a great time to start your online research into decision-driving factors like tax rates, school districts, neighborhood character and even prices in various areas. Resident ratings and reviews sites like Trulia and NabeWise can help you make the neighborhood-lifestyle match.

Once you narrow things down and start speaking to local agents, ask them to brief you on the local market dynamics, including how long homes typically stay on the market and whether they generally go for more or less than the asking price, so you can be smart about how you search. (And yes, Virginia, there are areas where homes sell for more than asking, even as we speak!)

• Real estate and mortgage pros. If you don’t already have your pros picked out, now is the time to get on the horn or drop an email or Facebook message to your circle of contacts, asking them for a referral to a broker or agent they love. Follow up by: checking whether these pros are active in answering questions on Trulia Voices, searching for their name and seeing what sort of feedback on them you can cull from the web, then giving them a ring and launching a conversation about whether you and they might be a good partnership.

• Short sales and REOs. Distressed property sales are not for the unwary. If you want to target upside down or foreclosed homes, or are planning to house hunt in an area where many of the listings are described as short sales or foreclosures, get educated about what you can expect from a distressed property purchase transaction before you get your heart set on a short sale.

• What you get for the money. Online house hunting is a powerful tool – especially when it’s cold and wet! But there comes a point in your house hunt where you’ve got to just get out into the actual physical homes you’re seeing online in order to get a strong, accurate sense of what home features, aesthetics and location characteristics correlate with what price points.

• Mortgage musts. You can read a bunch of articles about mortgages and get yourself pretty far down the path toward qualifying for a home loan, but you can only get a personalized action plan for a smooth road ‘home’ by talking with a local mortgage broker and having them assess your basic financials. They might say you need to move funds around, pay a bill down or off or produce some sort of documentation from your employer. And the time to start all that is now.

3. Fluff up your cash cushion. So, you’ve saved up your 3.5 percent down payment. Perhaps you saved a little extra for closing costs. Or maybe you’re even managed to put away 20% or more for your down-payment. No matter how much you’ve saved, you’ll find that you could use more once you activate your home buying action plan. Mark my words – after closing, you’ll crave extra cash to do some repairs, upgrade a couple of things, buy appliances or even just to hold onto in order to minimize your anxiety about depleting your savings!

4. Shed some stuff. Sell it. Donate it. Physical clutter creates mental clutter; clearing the physical clutter also clears the mental clutter and helps prepare for your move in advance.

5. Sit very, very still. Sometimes, the best way to further our goals is to stop tripping ourselves up. In that vein, commit right now to refrain from making any major financial moves until you buy your home. Don’t quit your job to start that personal chef business (yet), don’t pull a bunch of cash out of your savings account (without getting clearance form your mortgage pro first), and don’t start buying cars and boats on credit – even if you do love the idea of putting the red bow on the car you give your wife, like in the commercials.

I assure you, the bow you’ll be able to put on that house or condo will be much bigger, redder and more tax-advantaged!

The winter season has fewer units on the market, and sellers tend to need to move from their property. You can use that to your advantage to get a favorable deal.

Winter has fewer buyers in the market. Looking for a home in the winter can be inconvenient, and people are less likely to move. Families also tend to be on a September to June cycle because they are unwilling to move their children to a new town in the middle of the school year. Fewer buyers means less competition.

Lenders also usually have fewer loans to process and less paperwork to deal with. With lenders less hassled, you can expect a smoother process to get approved for a mortgage. But, as reported in Bankrate.com, there are exceptions to this rule, most notably in warmer parts of the country (especially Florida), ski towns, and in parts of the country where demand is so strong that it will not slacken during the winter months.

Finally, as all savvy shoppers know, after the holiday season comes the season of bargain opportunities. This includes houses, as well.

That was school. Today’s real estate market is the real world.  However, the same rule should still apply.  Whether you are a Seller or a Buyer of Oak Island NC homes, Southport NC homes, Boiling Spring Lakes NC homes or St. James NC homes, you should be able to confidently ask an Agent to “show your work” when discussing the value of the property you are selling or buying.  No matter how experienced or “successful” an Agent may be, simply sitting at your kitchen table and or at their desk and stating a value for the property should not suffice. A higher standard should be met.  After all, Buying or Selling real estate is not determining a price for an old Coke bottle at a yard sale.

Here are three major items a seller should look for when meeting with an Agent to discuss selling a property:

• The Agent works hard to determine the market value. Market value is the highest price a buyer may be willing to pay. Working hard means he has done his computer research and actually visited all of the comparable properties, making notes to share with you. The assessed tax value really shouldn’t be part of this discussion. The market value should be based primarily on sales activity of like properties in your immediate vicinity.  Other current listings should be provided and discussed but today’s real estate world is all about the sales.
•  The Agent analyzes that information to recommend an initial asking price.
•  The Agent puts all the information into a form that makes it easy to share with you; so that it is easy for you to understand why the Agent is making their initial asking price recommendation. The Agent should be confident and persuasive about their recommendation but in the final analysis be clear that the decision of what price to ask is up to you, the Seller.
• After you have confidently reached an initial asking price you should have the discussion about marketing; if the price is wrong all of the marketing in the world won’t sell the house.

Now, let’s talk about the standard a Buyer should set for their Agent.  After all, the Buyer is bringing the money to the transaction and buying real estate is one of the most important financial transactions a person will ever be a part of.  Thus, the standard for a St. James NC Buyer’s Agent should be as high as that set for a St. James NC Seller’s Agent, maybe even higher.

Here are several items that should be part of your Buyer’s Agent standard:

• Discuss, in detail, the process of house hunting, looking at homes, making an offer, negotiating the initial price and terms, completing inspections and negotiating issues that arise from the inspections; the attorney’s role and the current issues that may arise in the mortgage approval process; final inspections and closing process. In other words you want to have every question answered by the agent, even ones you didn’t know to ask until the Agent raised your awareness.  You should feel comfortable knowing the Agent is representing your interests (they’re watching your back).
•  The Agent should ensure that you have met with a mortgage lender so that you are confident and clear on the type of mortgage, the amount you can borrow, the payments, and the cash needed to complete the purchase.  In today’s market, having a pre-approved mortgage is an absolute requirement when considering placing an offer on a home.  Very few, if any, sellers will consider an offer if it does not include pre-approved financing or proof of funds available for a cash purchase.
• The Agent listens closely so he fully understands your needs and wants as you discuss the type of property you are looking for.  When searching for homes to show you, he should have these needs and wants at the top of his mind.
• While showing you the homes, the Agent should ensure you are comfortable in taking the time to thoroughly look at the home, answer your questions, and alert you to any issues or problems that come to the agent’s attention. When you find a home in which you are interested the Agent should provide information on other homes sold and for sale in the immediate vicinity to give you real data and discuss any other factors on which to base the price you will offer. The Agent should provide a square foot comparison, different features and location, etc.

How does a Buyer or a Seller choose an Agent with this level of competence?    Warning: Do not simply take another person’s recommendation; consider the recommendation but still look for the level of service and attention described here. Whether they are a friend, referred to you, contacted at an open house, over the Internet, or you walk into their office, review the above criteria and ask how the Agent works. Listen and ask questions to discover whether providing the level of service described here is their normal way of doing business.  If the Agent is not prepared to show his work, perhaps it is time to interview another Agent.

When you find the Agent that does measure up to this standard you will have found a professional that will be valuable to you for as long as you live in the community.

As anyone who knows me will attest, I’m not one to pat my own back or toot my own horn.  However, I will tell you that I do my very best to provide this level of service to each client that I am privileged to work with.  If you are considering buying or selling real estate in Southport, St. James, Oak Island, Boiling Spring Lakes or anywhere else in Brunswick County NC, please call (910-538-4270) or send an email so we can have a thoughtful, factual conversation about your needs.