Q: What is the 1st step to buying a home?
A: Calling the KellySellsAtlanta.com Team, of course!

Seriously, though, we do hope you call us 1st!  And in the event you do, we’ll tell you that the very best 1st step is to be Pre-Approved by a Mortgage Lender.  We refers our clients to THE BEST Lender in the Metro Atlanta area, and he proves it time & time again.  Our clients rave about his service & his mortgage rates So even if you have a lender picked out, we advise that you speak with our lender as well, at least to get a 2nd opinion.  His loan packages are 2nd to none & you’re doing yourself a favor by at least giving him a call.  He can also do loans in other states, so if you’ve been transferred or planning to purchase a vacation home, he’s able to help with that too.

There are a couple of reasons that getting Pre-Approved with a Lender is the best 1st step to buying… the #1 reason is so that you know what your budget is.  Our Lender will be able to help you come up with a price range that will fit the monthly payment you need.  He can work backwards, based on the payment, county, estimated taxes, mortgage interest rates, etc & help you find the price range that actually fits into your budget.  He will also provide you with an interactive estimation tool that will re-calculate as you manipulate the data (i.e. mortgage rate, purchase price, down payment amount, etc) so that you can play around with it and see how your monthly payment, etc would look if you changed your price range, etc.  Just please don’t be fooled by the online mortgage calculators that generally don’t take into account (or do so inaccurately) the property taxes & insurance payment, etc.  You need advice from an actualy human being and starting with our Lender is definitely one step closer to reaching your goal of Buying a Home!

And the 2nd most important reason to call a Lender & get pre-approved is that you want the Seller to view you as a serious buyer and one that has has the backing of the bank/lender (i.e. money in hand).  Every Seller questions whether the Buyer has been pre-approved for a loan, and when you provide the Pre-Approval Letter with the offer to the Seller, that question is already answered.

Recap: Call The KellySellsAtlanta.com Team 1st & let us help you through the process of Buying a Home.  We’ve been in business for over 10 years & have aligned ourselves with some of the best in the industry… So rather than piecemeal the homebuying process on your own, come to us & let us align you with our partners (lender, home inspector, home warranty company, closing attorney, contractors, vendors, etc) so that you can focus your time and energy on YOU & living life.  Our Team is leveraged internally as well with an administrative assistant & marketing specialist, a Buyers Specialist, a Closing Coordinator & 2 Listing Specialists to help you efficiently & effectively reach your goals of buying or selling a home.  After all, our goal is to help you reach YOUR goal.

In the meantime, if you just want to browse homes for sale, you can view ALL metro Atlanta MLS listings HERE on our website.

With gratitude,

The KellySellsATLanta.com Team
Keller Williams Realty Premier Atlanta
404-863-8680 | hometeam@kellysellsatlanta.com

your 1 stop Real Estate Shop…

TODAY’S RATES:

30 Year FNMA: 4.375% with a .500% Origination Fee or 4.500% with a .125% Origination Fee

15 Year FNMA: 3.75% with a .750% Origination Fee or 3.875% with a .125% Origination Fee

30 Year Jumbo: 5.00% with a 1.00% Origination Fee or 5.125% with a .375% Origination Fee

30 Year FHA: 4.250% with a .250% Origination Fee or 4.125% with a Zero Origination Fee

5 Year FHA Arm: 3.00% with a Zero Origination and the lender paying -.875% of Closing Costs! This would be $1,750.00 on a $200,000.00 Loan Amount!

7 Year FHA Arm: 3.250% with the Lender paying -1.500% of Closing Costs! This would be $3,000.00 on a $200,000.00 Loan Amount!

Disclaimer: Rates are subject to change and are also based on the strength of the borrowers pre-qualification.  The above rate info was provided by Bank of America on Tuesday, 8/17/10…

Let us know how our Team can help you reach your goals in Buying or Selling.

With gratitude,

Aaron Allen & The KellySellsAtlanta Team
www.KellySellsAtlanta.com | 404-863-8680
For Sellers | For Buyers | For Results

Zillow.com is actually the #1 site for Home Owners to check their home’s value.

What most don’t realized is how inaccurate that Zestimate really is. Check out this chart below from Zillow.com (go to www.Zillow.com, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page & click “Zestimate Values & Accuracy” and you’ll see this chart as well). You can also drill down by Counties for a better look at your metro Atlanta area.

Basically, Zillow’s Zestimates Home Values are not calculated by a Real Estate Market Specialist and they apparently aren’t very accurate at all. If Zillow has a 20% error rate in your area (Atlanta’s is 24% off) then that’s a potential 40% swing (20% higher & 20% lower) than what they “Zestimate” your home is worth. With that said, if we are 20% off in either direction, we wouldn’t still be in business, and our Team has been selling homes in the metro Atlanta area for 10+ years now! And as a side note: of the last 5 listings we’ve taken & sold, the Average Days on Market is ONLY 18 days and the Average List Price to Sales Price Ratio is 98%!! That’s a statistic that we’re very proud of and even get excited about!! We’re getting our sellers more money faster. That puts smiles on faces!

Based on Atlanta area market statistics, if you overprice your home (even by a little bit) it will likely take you 250+ days to sell your home & you reduce your price until you only get around 80% of your original list price. But if you price it correctly, you can sell within 30 days and even net yourself more money by pricing it properly rather than overpricing. And don’t worry so much about leaving “negotiating room” because that’s how you price yourself out of the market… the hot properties sell so close to list price that if you price it right, you won’t have to negotiate much at all. And another way to look at it: if you overprice, you’re likely not going to get an offer to negotiate anyways, so you’d be best off pricing it correctly and having a really good offer in hand in a short amount of time. The alternative can be a long, drawn out, frustrating and defeating process, without a better way of putting it.

Our job is to look at the market from a practical perspective and advise you on price based on actual comparables for your home, whether it be an Active Listing, a Pending Sale or a recently Sold home in your neighborhood or immediate area in the last 3-6 months.

It’s a simple strategy: we help you price it right, stage it, a professional photographer takes GREAT photos and from this (especially the price) you’re able to draw quick attention, and that’s what you want! A feeding frenzy! That’s when you get your BEST offer(s). You want an offer within 30 days and hopefully multiple offers, and you’re not going to get that being 20% off on pricing by using Zillow Zestimates.

So don’t trust Zillow to price your home for you… go to a Real Estate Agent you trust and you’re on your way to your selling and buying goals. Go with the pros on this one… “do what you do best and let an expert do the rest.”

And if you’re still just wanting to get a glimpse of the market before calling an agent, click here use this FREE Market Snapshot tool to view market data (including home sales), analysis & trends in your area. It will send you bi-monthly updates so you can keep up w/ the market until you’re ready to speak with a Realtor (like us!).

Hope this was helpful and thanks for reading!

The KellySellsAtlanta.com Team of Keller Williams Premier Atlanta
404-863-8680 | hometeam@kellysellsatlanta.com | www.KellySellsAtlanta.com

Listed below are a few of the most common issues that can arise during the process of a Real Estate Transaction, which usually last 30 to 60 days from the Contract Date (aka Binding Agreement Date) to the Closing Date. Our Team’s job is to avoid these scenarios, along with the help of our preferred lender & closing attorney. Let me know if you need a referral to them & hope you find this info helpful:

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR REAL ESTATE CLOSINGS:

A) FHA Condo Considerations:

a. Condominiums must be covered by hazard and liability insurance and, when applicable, flood and fidelity insurance.
b. No more than 15 percent of the total units may be in arrears (defined as more than 30 days past due) of their condo association fee payments.
c. Condo associations must have a reserve account which holds an amount equivalent to at least 10% of the condo association budget.

B) Furniture Sold as Part of the Contract:

a. Be cautious when including personal property, such as furniture, in the contract. Appraisals are consistently coming in lower than the sales price, and an inflated sales price due to personal property can exacerbate that issue.

C) Seller Mail Aways/Seller Signing Early:
a. Be aware of whether the buyer has an FHA loan. If so, the lender will send documents that must be signed by the seller with the loan package. The seller must have access to a fax machine on the day of closing so that they can sign the FHA docs and fax them back to us as these docs are usually required for funding authorization.

D) Closing Costs:

a. Make sure to prepare both the buyer and seller that closings costs can change. The lender can put a cap on the amount of seller concessions allowed or a minimum on what the buyer must contribute. Therefore, the closing costs listed in the contract will not always be the closings costs allowed to be paid at closing.

Again, our Team’s job is to avoid these issues – whether we’re the Buyer’s Agent or Listing Agent. Our Preferred Lender and Closing Attorney are with you every step of the way to ensure a seemless closing & experience for our clients. I’m serious – they’re fantastic, and our business woulnd’t be where it is without them. We’re definiltey blessed to have found them & our clients have always felt the same.

Hope this was helpful! Let us know if you need us…

The KellySellsAtlanta.com Team of Keller Williams Realty
404-863-8680 | www.KellySellsAtlanta.com | HomeTeam@KellySellsAtlanta.com