The View 38002 February 2014 | Page 7

38002.com theview theview 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 \