Historic downtown Clinton has become known far-and-wide as a destination for antique shoppers.  The stores that call downtown Clinton home are as unique and impressive as the beautiful old buildings that line Market and Main Streets.  This weekend (May 3-4,2013) is the annual Spring Antique Fair presented by the Antique Merchants Guild of Clinton and the city of Clinton.  Not only are the shops and eateries open for business, but the streets are lined with antique vendors from across the region.  This Fair as well as the Fall Antiques Festival in October have become two of my favorite weekends to be in our lovely hometown!

After a very rough day in the real estate business yesterday, I decided to share some of my views about the mortgage business with anyone that might read this.  First, this program instituted by the government to help home owners reduce their mortgage payments is actually a joke!  I am now in the process of helping a good friend do a modification and we have now submitted the paperwork 5 times!  It’s the same paperwork, sent in a provided envelope, faxed, emailed, fedexed and sent UPS.  They call her each week asking for more stuff…stuff we have already sent!  We call to verify they have rec’d it, if we can leave a message (the mailboxes are usually full), they never call to confirm.  It is understandable why home owners let their houses get foreclosed on!   It is ridiculous!  They give up from all the stress!  I would give up and I do this for a living!  This is the 4th time that I have assisted someone with trying to get a loan modification.  Each time I have prepared them for what is to come and after about the 4th or 5th time of sending the same paperwork in (which in the last fax was 57 pages), they tell me, without my help they would have given up.  It is a joke!  You would think they would be trying to assist these people that actually want to try to keep their homes but instead they make it so blasted hard on them that they lose the will to even try to keep it!  THE LOAN MODIFICATION PROGRAM IS A JOKE! 

Next, when they say there are banks out there wanting to lend money.  That is a joke too!  For example, I have a young couple, getting married this month, wanting to buy a house.  They paid down their debts to qualify on their debt to income ratio.  We were supposed to close this week and then we found out they have to pay off one more debt to satisfy the underwriter plus get a letter from a contractor stating the roof has at least 2 years of life.  First, the home inspector or appraiser, neither of them, asked for a letter on the roof.  The underwriter sitting in who knows where but not our area, asked for it.  She has never seen the house but because we have had storms on the news, she wants the letter.  The roof is less than 5 years old!  Does she think that contractors go out and do these letters for free?  If so, in these days of everyone trying to protect themselves from getting backlash, contractors wouldn’t have any time to do their actual jobs for writing all these letters.  Just because of her wanting this letter, the seller will now have to pay the contractor to go out and write this letter.  Lending has tightened up and I warn my buyers and sellers that in all actuality about 25-50% of the loans get turned down or the houses don’t appraise out.  I understand that the standards needed to be tightened.  At one time, if you could breath and had a credit score, you could get a loan!  But do we actually need to require all of this extra stuff?  Give me a break! 

The moral of this story…play the lottery and buy your house with the proceeds!  Just kidding!  I know a good lender if you need one! 

Well, that is my venting for the week.  It’s a much better day today.  I’ve enjoyed seeing some of my clients today and am looking forward to a wonderful 4th of July!  Hope you have a great 4th too!

While driving home from the office today, I couldn’t help but smile. What a fantastic community we live in here in Clinton, Tennessee! The past few weeks have been extremely stormy – lots of wind and RAIN! Today, however, was sunny with blue skies and perfect temperatures. As I drove down Riverbend Road, I waved to my neighbors – most of them outside mowing and manicuring their lawns. All that rain has turned everything green! I really appreciate days like today. A simple drive home for lunch reminds me of the blessings of living in a city like Clinton: friendly neighbors, lovely homes, a naturally beautiful environment in the Tennessee Valley. I’m glad I live here! And one of my favorite things to do as a REALTOR (R) is to meet a newcomer to the community – or a potential newcomer. I’m proud of my city, my county, and my state. I would love for you to be a part of it! If you are looking for a place to call home – maybe a new start in a new place – come see Clinton and Anderson County, Tennessee. I truly believe there’s no place quite like it anywhere else. It’s home to me…and it could be home for you too!

Congratulations to 6 year old, Kaleb Hanna, who was chosen as the winner of our Easter Coloring Contest!  Kaleb won a shiney, new bicycle! 

It’s the week of the Easter celebration and I’m getting prepared to enjoy the holiday.  My church, Antioch Baptist, is having an Easter Egg hunt at Jaycee Park on Saturday.   Other area churches are also having egg hunts so look for advertisements around Anderson County.  I remember as a child, how I enjoyed participating in egg hunts.  I was never lucky enough to be the “golden egg” winner but it was just so much fun running around looking for eggs.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate this weekend to make it enjoyable for everyone!  Also, Friday is Good Friday.  Sellers Realty will be open and available for all your property calls! 

This morning, Joey Smith, Bobbie Sellers and myself, Melissa Davis, attended an Anderson County Chamber of Commerce event which was sponsored by AT&T.  We were able to listen to Senator Randy McNally and Representative John Ragan.  Two of the main topics of the meeting were jobs and education.  Tennessee is one of the lowest states in the amount of debt, which is great for us!  On the job front of course, we are still lagging behind in several counties in our area such as Scott, Morgan, Campbell but Anderson County seems to be doing well given our current economic times. 

On Thursday, I’ll be very excited to attend the Anderson County Chamber Coffee, which is hosted by Remotec.  This is a very exciting event and we are given the opportunity to tour the facility and see what is going on in the area of remote technology. 

Lastly but most important to my business, on the real estate front, we are very pleased to have a full pending board.  Our pending board in our office is the way we measure our current success.  For the past several weeks, the board has been full of approaching sales.  Looks like the end of April  is going to be a very busy month for Sellers Realty with at least 9 proposed closings for this month!  With interest rates still low, even with inflation starting to appear, it is a great time to buy a house!  We are starting to see prices creep up on items we purchase on a daily basis.  With that increase will eventually come an increase on the interest rates.  Also, lending is going to tighten up.  In a recent article from NAR, it stated that 1 of every 4 mortgages is denied and that will get even harder as buyers are going to be required to pay more money down.  There are still 100% loans available for qualifed buyers.  So it is still a great time to buy!

I wish you and your family and friends a very Happy Easter!  I’m so very fortunate to have a wonderful group of coworkers, church family and special family to spend the holiday with!

Yesterday was a busy day in Anderson County.  Holiday gatherings are gearing up; some might say “piling up!”  Sellers Realty agents Melissa Davis, Joey Smith, Beverly Alvis, and Jo Suggs attended a joint networking coffee at Methodist Medical Center in Oak Ridge sponsored by Anderson County Chamber of Commerce Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce, Lake City Chamber of Commerce, and Roane Alliance.  Anderson County is blessed to have several strong communities, and events like this bring them all together in one place.  Many thanks to MMC for providing the location and the beautiful entertainment!

The assortment of homes for sale in our county gives a buyer a great opportunity to find the house that best suits their needs and wallet!  At this very moment, there are 586 homes in Anderson County for sale.  In the $100,000 to $200,000 price range there are 237 homes for sale.  Look at all the choices you have as a buyer!  Interest rates are at an all time low!  If you were prequalified for a home last year, with the rates even lower now, you can afford more home for the same payment.  At a seminiar I attended earlier this week, they emphasized that home ownership was the best retirement plan you could have.  Doesn’t that make sense?  You have to pay someone to live somewhere, so why not pay yourself?  If you have credit issues, take the time to sit down with a credit counselor at one of the mortgage companies (we can help with suggestions) and get your credit on track.  Start saving some money, cut out the little things and see how quickly your savings add up.  Home ownership is still possible…it is a goal we should all be looking to achieve.  If we can be of assistance to you, please call, email or stop by and we’ll help get you moving in the direction of home ownership!  We’ve been in Anderson County for over 38 years….you are more than clients to us…you are friends that we have built relationships with!  Put our years of experience to work for you….times are tough but we’ve been there before and we’ll be there afterwards too!  Let us help you!

Well, it’s Monday morning…and once again I’m here waiting to here back on a short sale.  Over 14 days ago an offer was submitted on a house in Anderson County, Clinton to be exact and the lender has yet to respond to phone calls or emails.  Is it any wonder that so many homes are going into foreclosure?  As a buyer, you get approved to short sale your house…you submit a ton of paperwork including personal taxes, letters from realtors, anything describing why you cannot pay for this house any longer.  It gets lost 2 or 3 times and you keep submitting it.  You finally get approved and get the house ready to sell.  A few days after it is listed, if it is a good deal, you find a buyer.  Then once again, the offer gets submitted to the mortgage company, you fill out more paperwork along with the buyer filling out extra paperwork and you wait…and you wait…and you wait.  You call the mortgage company daily to hear “don’t leave more than one message or your call will not be returned in a timely manner”.  Well, over 2 weeks later, we are still waiting for a return call. 

If you are wanting to buy a short sale, expect 2-3 months to close and a lot of paperwork.  Is it worth the deal you are gonna get?  You have to weigh that in…and be patient…very patient.  If you are selling in a short sale, be prepared to fill out lots of paperwork over and over again.  As a seller, you are getting rid of the monthly debt without have a “foreclosure” on your credit but you are also accepting a lesser amount and actually recieving a “gift” from your mortgage company that could be taxed. 

There is so much involved in a short sale but the major thing to remember is that you have to have patience.  This is my 3rd short sale deal and my patience is wearing thin.  It is very hard to represent a buyer and feel like you are actually doing your job in their best interest when you go weeks without anything to tell them other than “no news”.  I’m very lucky that my clients know me very well and they know that I’m looking out for their best interests (Thanks Mike and Olivia).

We just have to all remember to be patient!  I understand why the average person just lets their home go back.  It is so disheartening to be in a bad financial situation and have so much paperwork (half of which you don’t even understand) to fill out over and over again and then to wait months and months to even find out anything.  I can’t imagine being in that situation, even I get frustrated and I’ve been trained in it! 

Patience..patience..patience!

I just went through a short sale on a home and it was definitely a learning experience.  A short sale in my opinion, is the sale of a property for less than what is owed on the property, thus preventing the owners from going into foreclosure.  It was a very long process which actually started with an offer to purchase in April and we closed in July.  Buyers need to understand this is a very long process.  Are you willing to wait a long time to get a deal?  That is basically the question we as agents need to ask our buyers.  Yes, the buyers did get quite a bit of equity in this house but they had to be patient and wait almost 4 months for the process. 

I learned that you must fax documents to the sellers lender a minimum of 3 times to be sure they get them!  The selling agent must call at least twice a week and sometimes every other day to be sure the process is moving along! And be prepared that it won’t close on the date you expect!

It was a very stressful process for all parties involved, a lot of paperwork for all parties involved (about 3 times the normal transaction) but in the end all the parties were happy! 

Just be prepared if you are buying a short sale…it’s gonna be a long process!

The Anderson County Chamber of Commerce held their Annual Recognition Dinner last night.  The event was headlined by guest speaker, Hallerin Hilton Hill, local radio personality.  One hundred forty people attended the dinner which was catered by Catering by Delora.  Fox Toyota graciously hosted the event and First National Bank sponsored the dinner.  Music was provided by the Clinton High School Concert Band.  Several individuals received awards including Derek Keeton of Ameriprise Financial, Debbie Sellers of Mary Kay Cosmetics, Kristin Olsen of Small Paws Bed & Biscuit and Roger Houck of the City of Clinton Parks & Recreation Department.  There was a silent auction and I was lucky enough to be the winning bidder on an item!  Sellers Realty sponsored a table at the event with myself , Patrick Slone, Joey and Susan Smith, Debbie Sellers, Marty and Kim Stooksbury and Victoria Bowling seated at the table.  It was a great time!  I invite local businesses and individuals to join the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce…it’s a great organization and a great network!

We don’t have a bad market,  we  just have a different market.