It feels like it has been a long time coming, but  there is new hope available for homeowners that are underwater on their mortgages. Introducing the newly revamped, Home Affordable REFINANCE Program, or more affectionately known as HARP.

With numerous other mortgage relief options out there, the real estate industry and homeowners alike have been buzzing with the question of  when we will see a refinance program for underwater mortgages? The HARP program provides an answer to that question, offering upside down homeowners that are CURRENT on their mortgage, the ability to obtain a fixed rate mortgage, with a new lower interest rate.

The program does not provide a solution for principle reductions, or to those that are already delinquent on their mortgage. Listed below are the requirements and guidelines of the program that were issued by CAR.If you would like more information on the program, or help finding out if you qualify, I would be more than happy to help. I would love to see more people be able to stay in their homes! Call Dave Werth at 619-955-8949 or visit our contact page.

The basic eligibility requirements for an enhanced HARP loan are as follows:

Existing mortgage loan must be owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.  To check whether a borrower has a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan, go to MAKING HOME AFFORDABLE LOAN LOOKUP

• Existing mortgage loan must have been sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac before June 1, 2009.
• Existing mortgage loan cannot have been refinanced under HARP previously (except for Fannie Mae loans refinanced between March and May 2009).
• Current loan-to-value (LTV) ratio must be more than 80%.
• Existing mortgage loan must be current, with no late payments in the past six months, and no more than one late payment in the past 12 months.

Selling a Home in San Diego, CA: Successfully Marketing Your Home Online

Selling a home in San Diego is always an important task that has a lot of risks and rewards involved with it.

With more than 89% of home buyers using the internet to do research and look at homes, the online marketing of homes for sale in San Diego, CA is critical.

In this article we will look at the 3 most important factors in online marketing of real estate and how they can be used to better market your property and get more people to contact your agent and then physically see your home.

According to the National Association of Realtors 2010 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, the 3 most important features of a real estate website for buyers are:

1.     Photos of your home

2.     Detailed information of your home

3.     A Virtual Tour of your home

The key to successfully marketing your home online is to get potential buyers off the computer and into your home is using proven strategies of online marketing that are so often missing in real estate!

The first goal is to get buyers to contact your agent about your home; the second goal is to get buyers to contact your agent period so that the agent can schedule a showing of your home with the buyer.

Marketing Your Home to attract buyers

1.     Make sure that good pictures of your home are taken so that when buyers see your home online, that the pictures show your home to its’ fullest potential. Tips for this include to make sure that there is good outside lighting and that interior lights are turned on, that everything is picked up so that there is no clutter in the kitchen, bathrooms, living room, etc. and that multiple pictures are taken of every room so that the best of each can be selected for the marketing of your home.

2.     Be sure that all the details of your home are given to your Realtor and that they use this in their marketing. More and more, buyers want information and data, and making sure your Realtor and buyers have all the information and data for your home is critical.

3.     Bring both the great photos and information about your home alive by having a virtual tour created that lets buyers get a sense of your home in a way that is impossible except to actually be there themselves.

A serious flaw that most Realtors make when creating a virtual tour is including music with it!

Many people look at homes while at work or while doing other things, and having unwanted music blasting over their computer while they are just trying to look at the photos and information of your home is a great  way to lose them immediately the one time they will see your home’s photos and information! Do not risk getting the dreaded back button clicked or the internet browser closed all together during the best opportunity you have for showing off your home to potential buyers.

Get on the Buyers Short List….or at least get them to contact your agent!

Buyers will look at hundreds of homes online and it is impossible for them to see every one of them, even ones that might be exactly what they are looking for. By the time even a short number of homes have been viewed, it is easy for buyers to miss the fact that your home is one they should schedule a viewing with to see!

This is where using the principals of online marketing can help sell your home.

By offering buyers more information they likely want, your agent can get buyers to contact them and then schedule a showing with the buyer for your home. If the buyer never contacts your agent in the first place, then it is impossible for your agent to even attempt to schedule a showing of your property with potentially the perfect buyers!

This is why offers of other important information should always be made in the Virtual Tour and the other online marketing tools your Realtor uses.

Imagine a typical case of buyers looking at homes online in San Diego, CA.

Having looked at 25 other homes for sale in San Diego, CA, a buyer sees your home online, but is tired from seeing so many homes and quickly glances at a few pictures and almost instinctively clicks the ‘next’ button. Does this sound familiar?!

A way to get the buyer to stop and make contact with your agent is to make a number of offers for other information that will then allow your agent to schedule a showing of your property with the buyer.

Offers such as a list of homes for sale that meet their profile in San Diego, CA a free list of foreclosed homes for sale (buyers in all price points love deals and do not realize the issues with buying foreclosures and most quickly give up the notion and buy listed homes for resale), a home market analysis (most people selling are doing so to buy another!) and so on.

By combining good photos of your home with all the information about it and creating a virtual tour and then putting that virtual tour all over the internet via the MLS and other online marketing channels available to Realtors combined with additional offers prompting buyers to contact your agent, the process of selling your home can be made easier and faster than otherwise possible.

And since so few real estate professionals market homes this way, you will be at an advantage over all the other sellers currently in the market trying to sell their homes!

Additional Credit: Scott Pierce, CEO/Founder, Listings-to-Leads

I received a mail marketing piece from a fellow real estate agent yesterday, at my personal residence, and I have to say that it truly inspired this blog.

The mailer was a personalized letter to my wife, with large block letters in the header that read, “It is US versus the BANKS!”

The letter continued below with proclamations of this agent’s “hardball-fight-to-the-death” approach to handling short sale transactions, and that she would be willing to take on the big banks…blah blah blah.

As a distressed homeowner that is facing foreclosure, I can certainly see how this hard stance, fight for the client approach, would sound amazing. This being said, I cannot tell you how strongly opposed I am to this approach, and how dissapointing it is that agents are marketing to distressed homeowners this way. Here is why…..

Homeowners that are facing foreclosure tend to already think that the big banks are against them. In every pre-foreclosure consultation that I have conducted, the clients start out with a standoff-ish attitude, and rightfully so.

Their guarded demeanor is usually masking a deep frustration with their situation, and quite often anger.  When presented with the choice of having an agent in their corner with a “UFC fighter-style” attitude, or that of a “brain surgeon”, their emotions direct them toward someone that is going to “FIGHT” for them.

I understand why this may seem more appealing, but the reality of the situation, is that short sales are not transactions where brute force is the key to success. Instead, short sales are highly technical transactions that require systems, timing, thoughtful negotiation, and continuous education on behalf of the agents involved. More like a brain surgeon right?

Residential real estate agent versus corporate giant, is a lot like David versus Goliath. While tenancity is certainly a quality that comes into play when navigating a short sale transaction,  it shouldn’t be the platform for your agent’s approach. Goliath may never fall, but it doesn’t mean you can’t get him to go in the direction you want him to.

The bottom line is that there are a lot of agents getting into the short sale arena right now, but they may not be up to speed, experienced, or educated on how to handle them properly. Instead they are appealing to the emotions of panic stricken homeowners. The moral of the story is homeowner beware.

If you or anyone you know may be facing foreclosure, contact Dave Werth with The Versa Team at Keller Williams Realty for a free, confidential consultation regarding your alternatives to foreclosure. 858-926-9181