38002.com
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February 2014
Page 7
Amen’s Angels Of Real Estate
Michelle Amen Keller Williams
Realtor® Associate ABR, GRl, ePro, CPPS
Hey Ya’ll! How are ya? Already the first of
February. If you haven’t taken down your
Christmas decorations, may as well leave them
up, ‘cause Christmas will be back before we
know it. LOL. Can’t really do that though
because if you or your neighbors are selling their
homes this year, it will cost you or them money.
But that’s another article. This month, we are
going to talk about what’s coming on this page
this next year and how I have designed it as a
RESOURCE for you. If you are considering
buying or selling, cut the page out and put it in
your “Home Buying/Selling” book as over the
next 11 months, you will be getting a phenomenal
amount of information about the process. It won’t
be anything that you can’t get on the Internet, but
then, oh, wait….is the internet always accurate? I
know in Real Estate, it is absolutely NOT;
particularly when it comes to the syndicated site
feeds like ZILLOW, Trulia, Realtor.com,
Homes.com, etc. Here’s the deal. There is a
massive, massive amount of data from all of the
MLS’s that are fed into these sites daily, or
hourly. Most are fed through 3rd party sites.
Hmmm, now didn’t that just make it a little bit
more convoluted? (kind of like the gossip game,
get those next people involved and whoops, the
story just got different) So, in the real world, life
changes at 123 Smith Street which has been for
sale for X number of days. It SELLS, It goes
under ACTIVE/INSPECTION CONTINGENCY,
the Inspection goes ok, so it goes to PENDING, it
goes from one of those back to ACTIVE because
1 or 2 of a zillion things could have gone wrong
with the buyer’s financing or life changes and it
went wrong. Now, I’m not going to take the
statistics from all of the country and do the
extrapolation of the numbers because in just an
hour that number will be wrong, but why don’t
you, just for a second, imagine this: As of today
(1/23/14), at 7:56 a.m. there are 5,458 available
properties in Shelby County. These 3rd party
“bots” are running all over the country in all of the
MLS’s grabbing data to feed to the primary
sources that you use as a resource to check out
the housing market. That’s millions of property
changes these “bots” are trying to make on the
primary sites right now. How in the world can it be
WendyiThompson Patriot Bank NMLS # 504814
correct? It’s not. Because the integrity of the data
can at times be questionable, there is a HUGE
“brouhaha” over it with many of the larger
companies and larger markets: to syndicate
listings through or to not syndicate. HOWEVER,
the top resources for you, John Q. Public to do
Real Estate Research are ZILLOW, Trulia,
Realtor.com or Homes.com. So, all of that being
said, just proceed with caution and make sure
that you have a Realtor who UNDERSTANDS
this when buying or selling. I was the 2nd agent
in Shelby County on Zillow back in 2010. I GET
how this “internet” thingy works as I talk to
hundreds of people a year about properties
posted for sale, either correctly or incorrectly on
these sites. I know how to get the caller past the
incorrect information and give them correct
information and convert them to a buyer or seller.
The process of buying and selling has changed
incredibly in just the last couple of years. To
serve you, we will be giving you an enormous
amount of information from beginning to end. I
am here to answer questions for you. If you can’t
get me; call a member of my team. We are all
here to serve you! Grab your scissors and start
cutting!!
Interest Rate trends since 1/2013 (Avg. Prime Offer Rate)
Hey there! I know the interest rates have risen in the past
year, but don’t wait around in hopes they will come back
down! Most of the economic indicators are showing the
economy is gradually getting better…which means interest
rates will continue to rise. See the interest rate chart at right
for Fixed-Rate loans. If you follow the trend lines it basically
says you should do something NOW. If you are thinking
about purchasing a new home or even refinancing, there is
still time to get in on the low rates!!!
Neal Hanna
Attorney
at
Law,
Jeff Kuehn & Jayme Boyle
Saddle
Creek
Title
What is the benefit to using a closing attorney
or attorney-owned title company?
In Tennessee a title company does not have to be
owned or operated by a licensed attorney. A nonattorney owned title company can do certain things
that an attorney owned title company can do, such as
act as a title insurance agent and can close purchase,
sale and refinance transactions using documents
which have been prepared by an attorney specifically
for such purposes. A title company can also serve as
the escrow agent for closings and can receive and
disburse closing funds relating to a closing. However,
only an attorney or attorney operated title company
like Saddle Creek Title can provide legal advice, draft
legal documents such as deeds or contracts, assist
with contract review and negotiation as needed, or
advocate a legal position for his or her clients in
connection with a closing. Because real estate
closings involve so many varied technical legal issues,
it is very important that buyers and sellers carefully
consider these difference when selecting a title and
closing agent to assist with their closing.
Paid Advertisement
Perl Mortgage
NMLS # 757306
NMLS # 777505
Everyone knows that buying anything on the
internet is cheaper….right….right?
WRONG!
It is true that web sites like Amazon and
others have made purchasing many items more
affordable but that just isn’t true with mortgages. In
looking for a home loan, the worst thing a person can
do is only compare rates and fees on the internet. Or…
only go to an internet lender assuming because they
are on the internet….they are the “Best Deal”! That is
the furthest thing from the truth. If you compare the
internet mortgage companies to local mortgage
companies, you will usually find that local mortgage
compani \