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Morristown, TN Real Estate News

By Norma J. Elkins, Realtor - Elkins Home Selling Team
( Elite Realty Group)
 You are not going to make yourself look better by blowing out someone else's candles. Don't let your ice cream melt while you are counting someone else's sprinkles.  Stay clapping for other's until it is your turn to be clapped for.I am big on treating people with respect.  (That means even the people that you may not be fond of). As the old saying goes ... kill 'em with kindness! Smile at the world and the world and the world just might smile back! Happy Hump Day Everyone! The Elkins Home Selling Team with Elite Realty Group provides services with Morristown TN Real Estate For Sale and Morristown TN Homes For Sale to home buyers and home sellers in Morristown Tennessee, Whitesburg, Talbott, Russellville, Sevierville, Bean Station, Dandridge, Pigeon Forge and surrounding communities.We...
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By Norma J. Elkins, Realtor - Elkins Home Selling Team
( Elite Realty Group)
Why You Should Not Make Any Major Credit Purchases Don’t go on a spending spree using credit if you are thinking about buying a home, or in the process of buying a new home. Your mortgage pre-approval is subject to a final evaluation of your financial situation. Every $100 you pay per month on a credit payment could cost you about $10,000 in home eligibility. For example, a car payment of $300/month could mean that you qualify for $30,000 less in a mortgage. Even if you have accumulated enough savings, you should consider not making any large purchases until after closing. The last thing you want is to know that you could have purchased a new home had you curbed the urge to spend. The Elkins Home Selling Team with Elite Realty Group provides services with Morristown TN Real Estate For S...
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By Norma J. Elkins, Realtor - Elkins Home Selling Team
( Elite Realty Group)
Where Does the Money Come From for Mortgage Loans? In the olden days, when someone wanted a home loan they walked downtown to the neighborhood bank or savings & loan. If the bank had extra funds lying around and considered you a good credit risk, they would lend you the money from their own funds. It doesn’t generally work like that anymore. Most of the money for home loans comes from three major institutions: Fannie Mae (FNMA - Federal National Mortgage Association) Freddie Mac (FHLMC - Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation) Ginnie Mae (GNMA - Government National Mortgage Association) This is how it works: You talk to practically any lender and apply for a loan. They do all the processing and verifications and finally, you own the house with a home loan and regular mortgage payments. ...
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By Norma J. Elkins, Realtor - Elkins Home Selling Team
( Elite Realty Group)
Understanding Title Insurance What is title insurance? Newspapers refer to it in the weekly real estate sections and you hear about it in conversations with real estate brokers. If you’ve purchased a home you may be familiar with the benefits of title insurance. However, if this is your first home, you may wonder, “Why do I need yet another insurance policy?” While a number of issues can be raised by that question, we will start with a general answer. The purchase of a home is one of the most expensive and important purchases you will ever make. You and your mortgage lender will want to make sure the property is indeed yours and that no one else has any lien, claim or encumbrance on your property. The Land Title Association, in the following pages, answers some questions frequently aske...
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By Norma J. Elkins, Realtor - Elkins Home Selling Team
( Elite Realty Group)
Setting the Price The price is the first thing buyers notice about your property. If you set your price too high, then the chance of alienating buyers is higher. You want your house to be taken seriously, and the asking price reflects how serious you are about selling your home. Several factors will contribute to your final decision. First, you should compare your house to others that are in the market. If you use an agent, he/she will provide you with a CMA (Comparative Market Analysis). The CMA will reflect the following: houses in your price range and area that were sold within the last half-year asking and selling prices of houses current inventory of houses on the market features of each house on the market From the CMA, you will learn the difference between the asking price and se...
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By Norma J. Elkins, Realtor - Elkins Home Selling Team
( Elite Realty Group)
Your Savings and Down Payment Your First Step Toward Buying a Home When preparing to buy a home, the first thing many homebuyers do is look at the real estate ads in newspapers, magazines and listings on the Internet. Some potential buyers read how-to articles like this one. The next thing you should do - before you call on an ad, before you talk to a REALTOR®, before you shop for interest rates - is look at your savings. Why? Because determining how much money you have available for down payment and closing costs affects almost every aspect of buying a home - including how you write your purchase offer, the loan programs you qualify for, and shopping for interest rates. Mortgage Programs If you only have enough available for a minimum down payment, your choices of loan program will be...
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By Norma J. Elkins, Realtor - Elkins Home Selling Team
( Elite Realty Group)
Use a Buyer’s Agent It’s important that you choose an experienced agent who is there for you. Your agent should be actively finding you potential homes, keeping you informed of the entire process, negotiating furiously on your behalf, and answering all of your questions with competence and speed. First, find an agent who represents you and not the seller. This is beneficial during the negotiation process. If you are working with a buyer’s agent, he or she is required not to tell the seller of your top choice. In addition, he or she is also focused on getting you the lowest asking price. Also, when you use a buyer’s agent, you will see more properties. Not only are they plugged into their Multiple Listing Service, but they are also actively finding homes that are listed as FSBO, or homes...
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By Norma J. Elkins, Realtor - Elkins Home Selling Team
( Elite Realty Group)
Land Contract An alternative to a non-conforming loan is the use of a land contract, which is allowed in some states. A land contract is an agreement between a buyer and a seller, where the buyer agrees to make periodic payments to the seller. The title to the property only transfers to the land contract buyer on fulfillment of the land contract obligations. A land contract can be helpful for those who need time to establish or improve their credit rating. There are only small closing costs, and payment can help establish a good mortgage payment record. This can help establish an overall good credit rating, and it is possible for the buyer to later refinance the land contract with a conforming loan. On the other hand, there are risks associated with land contracts. Land contract purchas...
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By Norma J. Elkins, Realtor - Elkins Home Selling Team
( Elite Realty Group)
Understanding Preliminary Reports After months of searching, you’ve finally found it -- your perfect dream home. But is it perfect? Will you be purchasing more than just a beautiful home? Will you also be acquiring liens placed on the property by prior owners? Have documents been recorded that will restrict your use of the property? The preliminary report will provide you with the opportunity, prior to purchase, to review matters affecting your property which will be excluded from coverage under your title insurance policy unless removed or eliminated before your purchase. To help you better understand this often bewildering subject, the Land Title Association has answered some of the questions most commonly asked about preliminary reports. What is a Preliminary Report? A preliminary re...
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By Norma J. Elkins, Realtor - Elkins Home Selling Team
( Elite Realty Group)
Plan of Action Analyze why you are selling - If you understand your motives, you will be able to better negotiate and to get what it is that you want, whether it be a quick sale, high price, or somewhere in the middle.   Prepare your home for the buyer - Maximize the strengths of your property and fix up its weaknesses. You want the buyer to walk away from your home with a lasting good impression.   Find a good real estate agent that understands your needs - Make sure that your agent is loyal to you, and can negotiate to help you achieve your goals. In addition, they should be assertive and honest with both you and the buyer.   Be prepared for negotiation - Learn and understand your buyer’s situation; what are their motives? Can you demand a big deposit from them? Try to lock in the buy...
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By Norma J. Elkins, Realtor - Elkins Home Selling Team
( Elite Realty Group)
Thinking About Buying a Foreclosure? With the housing bubble burst and the subprime mortgage crisis, millions of homeowners found themselves unable to make their mortgage payments. Many found themselves owing more on the house than the home was worth. Many just walked away from their homes. As a result of these complicated issues, millions of homes were foreclosed. While this isn’t the only reason for which homes are foreclosed, it has been a widespread one. With all the foreclosed properties, there has also been extensive interest in buying these properties at a bargain price. It is true that foreclosed properties can be priced at a significant discount, but they are also a much riskier investment. Before making an offer on a foreclosed property, do your due diligence. Things you must ...
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By Norma J. Elkins, Realtor - Elkins Home Selling Team
( Elite Realty Group)
Items You Need When Applying For a Loan Have These Items Ready When You Apply For a Loan It used to be that lenders mailed out verifications to employers, banks, mortgage companies, and so on, in order to verify the data supplied by borrowers. Nowadays, the interest is often in speed and getting answers quickly so alternate documentation has become more widely used. Alternate documentation means that underwriting answers can be obtained with information supplied directly from the borrower instead of waiting around for verifications to come back in the mail. The following is required for most standardized loans as part of alternate documentation processing. Items may differ according to whether your loan is a conforming (Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac), non-conforming (jumbo) loan, government...
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By Norma J. Elkins, Realtor - Elkins Home Selling Team
( Elite Realty Group)
Title Insurance Requirements for Insuring Trusts In today’s world of busy probate courts and exorbitant death taxes, the living trust has become a common manner of holding title to real property. The following may help you understand a few of the requirements of the title insurance industry if title to property is conveyed to the trustee of a living trust. What is a trust? An agreement between a trustor and trustee for the trustee to hold title to and administer designated assets of the trustor for the use and benefit of one or more beneficiaries. Can a trust itself acquire and convey interests in real property? No. The trust is an arrangement between a trustee and the trustor. Only the trustee, on behalf of the trust, may own and convey any interest in real property. The trustee may on...
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By Norma J. Elkins, Realtor - Elkins Home Selling Team
( Elite Realty Group)
Making a Good First Impression If you want buyers to be interested in your home, you need to show it in its best light. A good first impression can influence a buyer both emotionally and visually, thus prompting them to make an offer. In addition, what the buyer first sees is what they think of when they consider the asking price. A bad first impression can dissuade a potential buyer. Don’t show your property until it’s all fixed up. You do not want to give buyers the chance to use the negative first impression they have as means of negotiation. Ask around for the opinions others have of your home. Real estate agents who see houses everyday can give solid advice on what needs to be done. Consider what architects or landscape designers have to say. What you need are objective opinions, a...
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By Norma J. Elkins, Realtor - Elkins Home Selling Team
( Elite Realty Group)
Is Buying a Home Still a Smart Plan? With the burst of the housing bubble, credit crisis, and millions of foreclosures across the country, you may wonder if buying a home is such a good idea after all. However, it’s important to consider all of the facts. The important message to take away from these events is not that buying a home is a bad idea, but that you must be smart about buying your home. The housing market, like every type of market, unavoidably has its ups and downs. That doesn’t mean buying a home is a bad investment. As a long-term investment, homeownership is still one of the best investments for individual households. Historically, real estate has consistently increased in value, despite shorter periods of depreciation due to local markets and/or national economic conditi...
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By Norma J. Elkins, Realtor - Elkins Home Selling Team
( Elite Realty Group)
FICO® Scores and Your Mortgage Years ago, credit scoring had little to do with mortgage lending. When reviewing the credit worthiness of a borrower, an underwriter would make a subjective decision based on past payment history. Then things changed. Lenders studied the relationship between credit scores and mortgage delinquencies. There was a definite relationship. Almost half of those borrowers with FICO® scores below 550 became ninety days delinquent at least once during their mortgage. On the other hand, only two out of every 10,000 borrowers with FICO® scores above eight hundred became delinquent. So lenders began to take a closer look at FICO® scores and this is what they found out. The chart below shows the likelihood of a ninety day delinquency for specific FICO® scores. FICO® Sco...
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By Norma J. Elkins, Realtor - Elkins Home Selling Team
( Elite Realty Group)
Title Insurance - Where Does Your Dollar Go? Title Insurance: As a homebuyer, the term is probably familiar - but is it understood? What is your dollar actually paying for when you purchase a title policy? Title Insurers, unlike property or casualty insurance companies, operate under the theory of risk elimination. Title companies spend a high percentage of their operating income each year collecting, storing, maintaining and analyzing official records for information that affects title to real property. Their technical experts are trained to identify the rights others may have in your property, such as recorded liens, legal actions, disputed interests, rights of way or other encumbrances on your title. Before closing your transaction, the title company will proceed to clear those encum...
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By Norma J. Elkins, Realtor - Elkins Home Selling Team
( Elite Realty Group)
Know Why You are Selling If you know exactly why you are selling then it is easier for you to follow the right plan of action for getting what you want. If you are a seller who needs to close a sale as quickly as possible, then you should know that getting the highest price possible is not one of your priorities. It does not mean that you won’t or cannot get the highest price, but it means that the price is not the deciding factor. A buyer who can give you a quick closing time will appeal much more to you than a buyer who can offer you more money but the negotiation and closing time drag on. It’s always good to know how low you will go, in terms of selling price. This will help to eliminate some of the offers that you find simply offensive or ridiculous. Even though you should consider ...
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By Norma J. Elkins, Realtor - Elkins Home Selling Team
( Elite Realty Group)
Importance of Inspection As a buyer, you are entitled to know exactly what you are getting. Don’t take anything for granted, not even what you see or what the seller or listing agent tell you. A professional home inspection is something you MUST do, whether you are buying an existing home or a new one. An inspection is an opportunity to have an expert look closely at the property you are considering purchasing and getting both an oral and written opinion as to its condition. Beforehand, make sure the report will be done by a professional organization, such as a local trade organization or a national trade organization such as ASHI (American Society of Home Inspection). Not only should you never skip an inspection, but also you should be present with the inspector during the inspection. ...
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By Norma J. Elkins, Realtor - Elkins Home Selling Team
( Elite Realty Group)
FICO® Score - a Brief Explanation When you apply for a mortgage loan, you expect your lender to pull a credit report and look at whether you’ve made your payments on time. What you may not expect is that they seem to be more interested in your FICO® score. “What’s a FICO® score?” is a common reaction. Each time your credit report is pulled, it is run through a computer program with a built-in scorecard. Points are awarded or deducted based on certain items such as how long you have had credit cards, whether you make your payments on time, if your credit balances are near maximum, and assorted other variables. When the credit report prints in your lender’s office, the total score is displayed. Your score can be anywhere between the high 300’s and the low 850’s. Lenders wanted to determin...
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By Norma J. Elkins, Realtor - Elkins Home Selling Team
( Elite Realty Group)
The Functions of an Escrow Buying or selling a home (or other piece of real property) usually involves the transfer of large sums of money. It is imperative that the transfer of these funds and related documents from one party to another be handled in a neutral, secure and knowledgeable manner. For the protection of buyer, seller and lender, the escrow process was developed. As a buyer or seller, you want to be certain all conditions of sale have been met before property and money change hands. The technical definition of an escrow is a transaction where one party engaged in the sale, transfer or lease of real or personal property with another person delivers a written instrument, money or other items of value to a neutral third person, called an escrow agent or escrow holder. This thir...
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