KCM Blog

From the category archives:

For Sellers

It Is Hard to Buy a House If You Don’t Have a Job

March 10, 2010

One of the biggest challenges to a housing recovery is the current rate of unemployment. It is obvious that a person without a job can’t get a mortgage. An additional impact is that many people who are currently employed are afraid to commit to buying a home because of the uncertainty of the job they [...]

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What is Today’s Luxury Buyer Thinking?

March 9, 2010

Whenever you are selling anything, it helps to have an idea what your customer is thinking. I had the opportunity to attend a session at the Luxury Portfolio Summit in Las Vegas which covered the findings of the Survey of Affluence and Wealth in America 2010 produced by American Express Publishing and the Harrison Group. [...]

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Buyers and Sellers Team Up on Financing- Part 2

February 18, 2010

Last week, we began with a premise…that Buyers have a WANT (the lowest monthly payment, even more than the lowest Sales Price) and Sellers have a NEED (to differentiate their home from all the others on the market), and that creative approaches to financing is a method to satisfy both Buyers and Sellers.  Part I [...]

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Buyers and Sellers Team Up on Financing

February 11, 2010

Let’s start with the premise that buyers do NOT buy big ticket items (like a home or a car) based on its sales price; rather, they buy based on their proposed monthly payment (or cost).
Additionally, when looking to sell your home with so much availability of homes on the market, the biggest challenge a seller [...]

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Homeownership: Still the American Dream

February 9, 2010

There seems to be a long held American belief currently under attack. For over two hundred years, homeownership in this country was a desire of almost every American family.  Recently however, more and more people have been pontificating on the fact that owning your own home should never have been held in such high regard.
I [...]

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Fed Flip-Flops on House Flips

February 3, 2010

Finally, some good news from the FHA. Effective February 1st, the FHA is waiving their requirement of the “90 day holding period” before home sellers (predominantly real estate investors and speculators) can resell a piece of real estate to a buyer who uses FHA Insured financing.  Given the recent increase of the UFMIP, coming reduction [...]

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What Happens When the Fed Exits the Market?

January 26, 2010

The Fed is scheduled to exit the housing market this spring. The Home Buyer Tax Credit ends on April 30, 2010 (the date the house must be in contract). The Fed has already announced that their program purchasing mortgage-backed securities will expire on March 31, 2010. Most anticipate a quick and dramatic rise in interest [...]

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New FHA Rules

January 21, 2010

Today, after weeks of speculation, the FHA announced their plan to secure the solvency of the Insurance Fund.  And it is NOT good news for Homebuyers, and therefore, NOT good news for sellers either.  I’ll discuss the particulars in a minute; but first, let’s look at how this is the THIRD nail in the coffin [...]

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Are Foreclosures Coming to the Luxury Market?

January 12, 2010

There is no doubt that prices in the lower end of the market have fallen rather dramatically over the last several years. Much of this loss in equity occurred as people were unable to pay their mortgages, and the homes went to foreclosure. Many were quick to dismiss this dilemma as the result of questionable [...]

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Is Your Deal Dying? Find a Real Estate Doctor.

January 7, 2010

Operating in the current real estate market is no easy task. Whether you are selling a house, buying one, or doing both, it requires the skill of a surgeon to carefully slice through the layers of information available in order to get to the core issues. At the same time, you must have the insight [...]

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