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Prepare Now to Sell
in The Spring
If you plan on selling this spring or summer, now's the time to start getting your house ready to put on the market.
Home sales typically soar during the spring and summer months because of the more favorable weather in most parts of the country and kids being out of school.
As we enter into spring, sellers should expect the market to begin to recover some of its momentum. Traditionally spring and early summer are
the best selling seasons. Low interest
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rates continue to help the already steady market.
While the thought of an increased pool of buyers in the spring may put you
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Tighten Your Credit Habits
Check your credit report for accuracy, avoid large credit purchases and pay off or pay down as much outstanding credit as possible if you are in the market for a mortgage.
Lenders are tightening credit standards on residential mortgage loans and it behooves you to clean up your credit act.
The fewer reasons you can give your lender to reject your application, the greater the likelihood you'll get the mortgage you need and the cheapest rate.
If the economy remains soft, that could be more and more true.
The Federal Reserve's quarterly Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices -- a survey of 60 large domestic banks and 24 foreign branches -- found, in January, that the share of banks tightening standards on residential mortgage loans inched up to 11 percent from 10 percent in the October survey.
The numbers are relatively small, but the increases were the first two quarterly indications of noticeable tightening in more than a decade. While most lenders -- 88.9 percent -- revealed no change in their standards, there were no lenders that eased credit standards.
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How Your REALTOR Keeps You And Your Home Safer
Sellers, one of the best reasons to hire a REALTOR(r) to represent your home in the marketplace is for security reasons. Realtors are trained to help protect your safety while promoting your home to buyers in a wide variety of mediums from the Internet to the sign in your yard.
Because they work closely with the public in unique ways, Realtors are considered by law enforcement officials to be in a high risk profession. Realtors are mobile, work in a variety of locations, and are often in the company of consumers whom they may not know well. To protect their own personal safety, as well as your property, Realtors have evolved a number of safety guidelines that might be helpful for you as a consumer to know.
Qualifying buyers:
One advantage of working with a Realtor is that buyers won't come to your home without being accompanied by a professional. Realtors make themselves the point of contact so that you don't have to open your door to just anyone who comes along. They also share information about your home in a broker cooperative called the multiple listing service (MLS), so that other brokers may bring their buyers.
Promoting your home with virtual tours and multiple photos:
Realtors promote your home on Internet sites such as Realtor.com, where homes are showcased with virtual tours and multiple photos. According to
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Recycling Your Electronics: What You Need to Know
DVD, DTV, TiVo, MP3. No, it's not a foreign language, but it is one of the fastest growing consumer markets today.
So what of the motto, "Out with the old and in with the new"? As DVD and TiVo replace the VCR, and DTV and plasma replace the TV, what should you do
with your old, outdated electronic equipment?
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, personal computers, TVs, and cell phones are a fast growing portion of America's trash - discarded mobile phones will result in 65,000 tons of waste by 2005. More than 3.2 million tons of electronic waste is laid to rest in landfills each year.
Electronics are made with valuable materials like steel, glass, plastic and precious metals. Yet, the EPA reports that in 2001, only 11 percent of personal computers retired in the U.S. were
Daily News and Advice
Read about the events shaping the Real Estate market today, find current interest rates, or browse the extensive library of advice and how-to articles written by some of the top experts in Real Estate. Updated each weekday.
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