Real Estate Investing

Referral.

The company where I work has a massive relocation department.   Relo - as it’s called - provides buyers transferring from out the area with maps, cost-of-living information, temporary housing if necessary, and much more.

Big companies sometimes contract with relocation service providers for transferring employees.  These services are monitored so that the employees get top-notch help from wherever they’re about to call home.

However another form of referral is agent-to-agent.  When I know of a client or customer moving out of the area, I do usually refer them to our company’s relocation department.  But when it’s a member of my family or a close friend, I try to contact an agent directly for referral.

Often the person being referred already has an idea of who they want as their agent in their new home.  With agent-to-agent referrals, the Realtor working with the client (either buying or selling) will pay the referring agent a fee after closing. When I’m on the receiving end of a referral, I might flinch (but just a little) at paying that referral fee.  But when I refer someone and my broker two or three months later receives a fee, I like referrals just fine.

What does this all mean?  If you’re close to someone in the real estate business and are moving, don’t think they can’t help you if they don’t live in the area.  They *can* help you.  In fact, if you move across the street, they can still help.  Referrals are not uncommon and during this time of a turbulence in the housing market, they’re also appreciated.

Photo by AshleyV via Flickr Creative Commons.  And it’s only the most awesome moving truck logo I’ve ever seen.

I attended a class today about working with buyers and the instructor told us a true story about someone from our company.  This agent worked with a single female and finally narrowed the houses to four.  On the day she was to make her decision, the agent made appointments for second showings with all four homes.  When they met at the first house, the buyer was holding something - a big ol’ fluffy cat.

In all four of the houses, the cat - which I assume was on a leash - was gently placed on the floor.  In three of them, the cat turned around and walked out the door.  In the fourth house, the cat looked around, stretched, and found a place in the sun to sit.  That’s the home the buyer chose.

So how much do you love your own Fido and Fluffy?  Enough to let the dog or cat or chimp or snake or whatever pet you fancy pick your home for you?  I can certainly understand when buyers want a fenced back yard to allow the dog to run outside without a leash.  I can understand when there are specific needs for *children* … for example, the adult may want the master bedroom on opposite side of the house from other bedrooms to allow for privacy.  Or maybe they want the bedrooms all together so they can hear the baby cry.  But to allow a cat or dog to actually pick a house?

But pet owners do love their companions.  Even reluctant owners.  Curt Canada, a personal growth coach and Realtor in Washington, D.C. tells about his search to adopt Lucky after he and his wife lived through a break-in,

I wandered through three websites where we came upon a dog that looked us both in the face. I sized him up, he looked like he had a bark and reminded me of a setter . I saw the spark in my wife’s eye when she noticed that affirmative look on my face. She mentioned to me to read his story, I did, he had been left at an abandoned farm somewhere in West Virginia, and to top it off he had found a home at a kill shelter , if you know what i mean, his days were numbered! It said that he would be put down by the end of the week.

Sandy Shores of Melbourne, Florida tells about how her dog Bailey is her daughter’s guardian angel.  When Stephanie is sick, Bailey watches over her.

When I leave the room, he jumps up on the bed, right next to her and stays close. When she leaves the room, he comes to get me in my home office. He nudges me to tell me that she’s up and to go check on her.  He watches her or he wants me to be sure that I know exactly where she is at all times.

Sometimes, words aren’t needed to describe how people feel about their animals.  Kristen Johnston of Waukesha, Wisconsin knows how to treat her kitties right!  I have a feeling she’d definitely treat her clients with care!

My home isn’t worth what I owe on it.  But I’m not ready to refinance at this point so I’ll keep making my monthly mortgage payments - shuffling around this mortal coil until a door hits me in the backside.

CNN Money is reporting that home prices have dropped 18.2 percent the last quarter, news that could be devastating to a real estate recovery.  Why?  Because when the amount you owe on the home is far far away from the amount it’s worth, people sometimes think they’re better to just walk away.  That will lead to foreclosure, which will lead to a low-ball sale by the mortgage lender, which will drop values in the neighborhood - neighborhoods that are all around us.

It’s important to note that - according to the article - the prices plunging the steepest are also the ones that increased most rapidly during the years before the bubble popped.

“Those markets were driven by subprime lending expansion from the summer of 2003 on,” he [Wellesley Economist Karl Case] said. “After the [Federal Reserve’s lowered interest rates] to fight against the recession of 2001, subprime took off like gangbusters.”

But all is not lost for many homeowners.  While these low rates last, it could be a good time to refinance.  There *are* loans available contrary to what many would have you believe.  One of my readers asked about refinancing when the value of her home had droped about $10,000 from when she purchased it in 2006.  Fortunately, she had an FHA loan and is able to refinance through a “streamlined” loan which doesn’t require a new appraisal.  Her interest rate is dropping from 6.8 percent to 5 percent - saving her mega bucks each month!

If you want to know more information about whether refinancing is in your future, find a lender and/or a Realtor who have some experience and know what questions and loan products to look for. The money is out there, the interest rates are available, all it takes is a phone call from you to see where you stand.

Photo by Woodley Wonder Works through Flickr Creative Commons.