December 2007

Your REALTOR:
Bonnie Fagoh
December 2007
Buyin' or Sellin'....Call Bonnie Helen! (Fagoh)(813) 390-7606
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Should I Take My Home Off the Market During the Holidays? When you look at your calendar you may find the months already overloaded with seasonal obligations -- shopping, entertaining, children's pageants, charity work, decorating the house, and so much more. If you are also trying to sell your home, you are under extra pressure to keep your home in "showtime" condition. And that could be the last thing you need before the holiday spirit is broken. It is understandable why you would be tempted to take your home off the market during the holidays. And the list of justifications is long. If you are too busy, buyers may be also, and you may find your efforts unrewarded with not
Mortgage Rates U.S. averages as of November 29, 2007:30 yr. fixed: 6.10%15 yr. fixed: 5.73%1 yr. adj: 5.43%30 yr. jumbo: 6.98%-->
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enough showings. And what if you do get an offer? You may be faced with the possibility of packing and moving during the busiest time of the year. Besides, you can give your house a rest, and it will have better momentum after the holidays. Better to
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Wondering What Your Home Is Worth?Let me show you.
How to Handle Low Ball Offers If your house has been on the market for quite a while, you may have already dropped your price and now you're waiting for the buyers to rush in and make wonderful offers on this now-priced right property. And then it happens. The lone buyer does appear, like a bandit in the night and offers you even less than what you just agreed to. Quite a bit less -- about 10 percent less. So on your $350,000 house, that you just dropped to $324,000, you now have an offer for $299,000. With a seller subsidy request of $5,000. At this point, your net is $294,000. So how do you handle such a low-ball offer. Well, first of all -- don't panic, get angry or lose sleep. Especially, don't reject the offer right off the bat and tell them to come back when they're serious. Remember, it's now a negotiation game and the buyer IS serious or he or she would not have made an offer. Several things have happened before this offer came in. The buyer, with his agent, has researched the market,
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Keeping Your Credit Clean Many homebuyers frequently wonder, "If I am shopping for a home loan will my credit be affected each time a credit report inquiry is made?" It's a logical and intelligent question to ask; the answer is: not significantly, if the credit checks are done in a short period of time. When a credit check is made by a potential lender it is called a hard inquiry. When a hard inquiry occurs it does have an impact on your credit score. However, when you're shopping for a mortgage or a car loan, credit bureaus typically cluster the hard inquiries together because the credit reporting bureaus understand that the consumer is shopping for the best loan. "So for example, if you're shopping for a new mortgage and three potential lenders pull your credit score within three weeks, that is looked at as one inquiry for that purpose," says Steven Katz a spokesperson for TransUnion's TrueCredit.com. Keeping your credit clean is critical. Katz offers the following advice to help ensure healthy credit. One card you should not carry. Leave your Social Security card at home. "There is basically no reason that you need to carry that with you," says Katz. Most people have their Social Security card number memorized. If
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Energy Saving is Consumer Key Interest in Green Building Why are consumers interested in green building? A survey conducted for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) confirms that a desire for greater energy efficiency drives consumers to choose a green-built home. The survey, conducted during the week of Oct. 15 by the Public Opinion Strategies, involved asking 800 registered voters nationwide about how important certain items would be in their decision to either purchase a new green home or remodel their current home to be more "green." Nearly two-thirds or 64 percent of the voters polled said that "reduced energy costs" would be the most important. The second-highest scoring reason, at 55 percent, was "because it would be healthier."
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Bonnie Fagoh E-mail: bonniefagoh@century21beggins.comWeb: http://www.BonnieFagoh.com/813-390-7606
Century 21 Beggins Enterprises813-390-76066542 U. S. Hwy. 41 N.Apollo Beach, FL 33572
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