Energy Efficiency
‘Energy efficiency’ is here to stay. What are you going to do in order to separate your self from the competition? Home buyers and sellers can both make wise choices by reading this.
You can start by auditing your home’s features in a list format to focus your attack.
Energy Star items in the home:
Air conditioner
Ceiling fans
Food disposal
Heater
Refrigerator
Stove and range
Water heater
Next list the energy saving structural features:
Radiant barrier
Insulation rating
Windows
Weather striping
Ventilation
Finally, consider the cost of adding new items based on your own personal budget and goals for how soon you need to sell. Consult a local agent for a list of recent sales statistics to give you an idea of how far you should go with upgrades. The sooner you start adding these upgrades to your home the sooner you will start saving money on a monthly basis. And when it comes time to sell you will have a great list of features to market your home to potential buyers.
Note: Your local energy provider may offer rebates for adding energy saving features to your home. Time and availability is limited on these rebates so act soon to maximize your savings. Our local San Antonio provider is CPS energy.
Krishna Perkins
Hurry up and wait for your loan
Hurry up and wait for your loan home buyers.
The same bad news goes for sellers these days as well so don’t worry you won’t be alone if it happens to you. I’m waiting for a late closing due to loan issues at this very moment. In fact, all but a couple of my closings this quarter have been late (30, 60 and 90 days late).
“So, what’s the deal?” my clients ask.
Well, if we subtract any lost time the buyer contributes to the process we are left with:
1. rookie loan officers (lenders are cutting expensive people to be more profitable)
2. rookie processors (again more expense cutting)
3. new federal regulations (they mean well but they slow the process down with more hoops for loan officers and processors to jump through)
“So, what do we do?” my clients ask.
A. Shop for a lender early. This is not a new piece of advice, it’s just much more important these days because of all the new changes. Not all lenders have sent their studs packing. You can still find a good loan officer, but you have to look. Chances are if you can find a good loan officer you will find a good processor or a loan officer who has a good relationship with the processor.
B. Start a file right away with all your important docs. Ask your lender for a check list and keep your file up to date as you shop. Getting your docs scanned to your self as an e-mail for easy access is also a good idea especially if you work a tight schedule. I can not tell you how many times we needed a docs to be resubmitted because it got misplaced at the lender office. Doing this will make it easier for you to forward any docs to the processor from work via e-mail right away.
C. Finally be as patient as possible. If you start early enough and keep organized this will be much easier. Remember that everyone else wants your deal to close too. I know I do. 
Northeast San Antonio housing market report for August 2009
North East San Antonio housing market report for August 2009 shows most inventory is still selling at 97% of the list price. Consider this average when considering offers on purchases and sales. Both buyers and sellers should know the average percentage under or over the list price homes are selling for in any given area. That’s right! In some cases in certain areas there are homes selling for higher prices than they are listed for. Ask your realtor for the most recent market summary of the area you wish to purchas in to get an idea of how much negotiating room you may find for that area.
