Peak Home Loans announcing a limited time home refinance loan program for the people with less-than-perfect credit, listed 5 most common mistake people make when they refinance their homes:

1. Choosing a home loan lender for the wrong reason (i.e., the lowest rate, your existing lender.) People choose home loan lenders for all the wrong reasons. Getting a low rate is important, but it’s not the only consideration. Lenders may offer the lowest rate but charge extra fees (loan fees, origination fees, copy fees) so that in the end you’ll pay more for the refinanced home loan even though your rate may be lower. The only way to protect yourself is to wait for the Good-Faith Estimate which should list all the closing costs. Compare the Good-Faith Estimates from a number of home loan lenders. But comparing Good-Faith Estimates is not the only story when you want to refinance your home. If time is important, you want to choose a mortgage company that is capable of acting quickly. Ask each company to give you their average closing time for loans similar to yours. Ask around among your trusted friends. Find out who refinanced lately and ask them what they thought of the company. Don’t assume that your existing home loan lender is any better than a new lender. Since most home loans are sold in the secondary market, everyone has to meet certain criteria, and your existing lender will probably require the same documentation as a new lender. However, once you have a commitment from a new lender, it doesn’t hurt to ask your existing lender to beat it. Often times they will.
2. Not getting everything in writing about refinancing your home loan. Get everything in writing. No matter what the Loan Officer tells you, ask him to confirm it in writing. Don’t believe someone when they tell you that your refinance rate is guaranteed. Get it in writing.
3. Not knowing the appraised value of your home. Many people go ahead and try to refinance their home without knowing the true value. There are many places you can get an estimate of the true value of your home for purposes of refinancing. Many Realtor sites have home value estimators on their site. For the price of listening to a mortgage company try to sell you a mortgage, you can get an approximate value for your home. Check the recent sales in your neighborhood and try to find a comparable house in a comparable location. Or you can ask the appraiser to do a drive by and give you a verbal estimate of the value of your home. If it’s in the right ballpark, you can order a thorough appraisal. Know the value of your home before you seek to refinance your home loan.
4. Not doing the math when refinancing your home loan. Do the math. Refinancing your home has a cost. You need to see what the cost is, and then determine how long you are going to stay in your home. For example, if you are going to stay in your home for 5 more years, and the cost of refinancing your home is $5000, you need to save at least $1000 a year in order for the deal to make sense. If you only save $50 a month as a result of refinancing (that’s $600 a year), you’ll be loosing money.
5. Not considering a 2nd Mortgage. When you refinance your home, you are refinancing the total amount. Suppose you have a home that is now worth $400,000, and you only owe $250,000 on the home and you want to take out $50,000. If you refinance and take out $50,000 in cash your new loan may be for $310,000, ($250,000 owed + $50,000 cash out + a total refinance cost of 3% or $10,000). It may be better to take out a 2nd mortgage for $50,000 and pay a slightly higher interest rate and slightly higher points, but only have a basis of $50,000 instead of the $310,000.

Have you ever made these mistakes?

Founders and creators of www.buyhomesontour.com have incorporated Google maps technology into their website to help buyers to find homes. According to a press release, the website offers real estate agents to list unlimited number of listings on Buy Homes on Tour for $19.99 a month. Low price comparing to other advertising avenues available for real estate agents and brokers to advertise their listings. While the website is currently features limited listings in Arizona, the idea is quiet brilliant and if it catches up, website can become a good place to advertise real estate properties.

The website of Steve and Sylvia Crossland, an Austin, TX Real Estate Brokers have cut our attention. If you are thinking to move to Austin, TX there no one more qualified than The Crossland Real Estate Team to help you find your new home.

Both Steve and Sylvia had been practicing real estate in Austin since the late 1980s. Their background speaks for itself. Before entering Real Estate, Sylvia was a very successful Interior Designer in San Antonio and Austin. The Real Estate is a living tradition in Sylvia’s family. Her grandmother has built many of the vintage homes that are still stand in Austin. Steve has been active in Real Estate since 1985 and is a graduate of Texas in a Management Information Systems, which may explain their great website along with a blog (not too many real estate gents discovered power of blogging yet!)

On their website not only will you find great choice of Homes and Real Estate properties in Austin, but on their blog you will find an incredible amount of information when it comes to Austin Real Estate. The Crossland Team should be first to consider whether you need to sell your property, buy a new home or if you are thinking about real estate investments.

The Foxtons real estate agency have been in business since 2000. With it’s headquarters in Monmouth County, New Jersey, Faxtons within very short time have become a Tri-State phenomena, offering sellers to put their properties on the market for Commission of only 3%. While it was not a welcomed news to many well established real estate agencies in NJ, Foxtons quickly became very popular and generally a “first” choice real estate agency in the state of New Jersey where most of the agencies ask for 4-6% commissions in order to list your property on the market.

Foxntons are one of the very few companies that offers a base salary to the new agents in addition to a company car as well as a personal computer. If you are considering a real estate career you may find more about career opportunities at Foxtons here.

Foxtons Real Estate Web Site Review.

Company’s website can be found at http://www.foxtons.com and it is probably one of the best real estate websites. When you arrive at their front(home) page of Foxtons website you have an option to chose one of the three states of the Tri-State area: New Jersey, Connecticut or New York. The navigation of the website is very clear and is straight to the point, you know right away that you are on a real estate website. The website provides helpful information to buyers and sellers alike. You can also find information about mortgages and real estate attorneys as well. The Foxtons website is indeeed a “one stop shopping destination”.

If you have sold or bought property using Foxtons please tell us about your experience.

By Raynor James

When selling your home for sale by owner, you will be handling your own marketing. This leads us to the issue of what you put in your marketing materials in relation to your home.

The real estate industry is somewhat like the used car industry when it comes to certain areas. Each is known for using terminology that could be considered to perhaps stretch the boundaries a bit. “New paint job” in a car add can often be translated to “new paint job because the car was damaged in an accident.” When it comes to real estate, a unique set of terminology also applies. “Cozy” is often a term interpreted as meaning small. “Very cozy”, of course, means a home that is basically two closets hammered together!

As a FSBO seller, you need to give some thought to the terminology you will use when marketing your property. I am not so much referring to legalities as I am to common sense truth in advertising. It is tempting to list the possibilities of a home despite the fact the property offers no such basis for doing so. Such phrases I often see are things like “potential for view” without mentioning the buyer will need to add two stories to the property to get a sliver of a view! In my opinion, such advertising is a bad approach.

When marketing your property for sale, it is important that you be accurate. Yes, you can use terms that promote the strengths of the property. You should not use terms that are not based on how you use the home. If you have a two bedroom property in which you sleep in one bedroom and your child in the other, language regarding a home office, game room and such is probably misleading unless you have other rooms that specifically are being used for that purpose.

The problem with stretching the boundaries with your marketing has to do with expectations. If a potential buyer reads your ad and thinks it matches what they are after, they expect to see the attributes when they arrive. If they do not, they certainly will not be making an offer. This will lead to negative commentary among buyers regarding you and your home. You should never require a buyer to have a vision of the far reaching possibilities of a home.

As a FSBO seller, being accurate in your marketing materials is critical. Yes, you may get fewer buyers visiting your property, but you will get a better quality of buyer, to wit, a buyer more like to make an offer. At the end of the day, that is the point after all.

Raynor James is with FSBOAmerica.org – real estate articles on selling your own home.

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