The recent annual National Association of Realtors® get-together opened with a grand gathering to hear what some economics heavyweights would say about coming conditions in the country.

You could hear a pin drop through most of it – despite the huge size of the auditorium. Our Rehoboth Beach real estate market is never in total lockstep with the national picture – but it certainly is affected by it. Economists are forced to play a guessing game, but the best are pretty good at it.

Wells Fargo’s senior economist Mark Vintner had good news and bad news. For those who have Rehoboth Beach real estate already in their ‘owned’ portfolio, despite the downturn of recent years, he thinks they own one of the few top-notch inflation-proof investments. “Real…

1719 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Rehoboth Beach REO (Real Estate Owned by a lender) houses have been a substantial part of the real estate conversation for some time.  Whether or not we ever need to delve into an REO transaction ourselves, well-informed local homeowners are familiar with some of the basic terms that come up when REOs are discussed:

  • Arrears: a home that is delinquent on payments – being there is red flags a possible future foreclosure.
  • Decree (short for decree of foreclosure): the ruling that declares a property should be sold to pay its mortgage.
  • Default property: a home behind in payments to a mortgager. May describe a property in (or close to going into) actual foreclosure proceedings.
  • Power of Sale: a legal decree giving the mortgager or lien holder the…

1977 Views, 1 Comments

Read Full Post

FSBO: “For Sale By Owner” -- it can be a siren’s call when you first mull over the prospects for selling your house.  A Rehoboth Beach FSBO listing promises to allow a homeowner to sell without even consulting any local real estate agents! Depending on a home’s final sale price, the commission saved looks to be substantial.

While there are certainly theoretical attractions to the idea of working on your own, time and again statistics prove it is not only more efficient to work with a real estate agent -- it also frequently nets sellers more at the bottom line. There are logical reasons why it works out that way. They are the same reasons why only one in ten homes are successfully sold as FSBOs.

First off, while it may seem easy to arbitrarily pick a…

2798 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

I think every Lewes real estate agent shares my overall sense of optimism as national housing prices continue to revive. While the nation’s economy could definitely be in better shape, this growing stability in the residential market is one of the few economic indicators to provide a steady stream of positive news. The rest of the economy can certainly use some of that: since the real estate market is so massive, upbeat reports from our industry provides a steadying influence on the others.

Real estate agents nationwide know that the current basement-level interest rates for home loans are part of the reason. Especially because of the public commitment to hold rates down into the future, other outside influences (like widely fluctuating gas prices) have…

1726 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

When you have survived a career loss or made it through a foreclosure, it can take a while before you have picked yourself up and dusted yourself off. At that point, you may have been momentarily relieved to find that you have a lot of company. Nevertheless, sooner or later, it’s time to bounce back.

One of the universal hurdles almost everyone in this position faces is how to go about stepping up to secure their next home. One of our Rehoboth Beach rentals is always a choice, but for many, an unsatisfying one. As always in any other than boom times, cash is king -- and if you don’t have it, your options are limited.  Today’s would-be buyers who lack funds for a down payment (or have a credit deficit) do sometimes have another alternative: a lease…

2094 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

Rare is the Lewes property owner who doesn’t remember at least one budget-busting maintenance emergency. It may have been a roof problem; perhaps a plumbing or electrical mishap…whatever the cause, unforeseen cratering of the household bank account can furrow brows and send blood pressures soaring.

For the very wealthy, it’s a non-issue. For all the rest of us, there is one foolproof method of avoiding the problem: create an emergency fund.

Everyone does his and her best to save for the future – for everything from the great events in life to more modest occasions, like family vacations. But making a clear distinction between those kinds of savings and a special emergency fund is worth the effort. For one thing, you remove the temptation to reach for…

2254 Views, 1 Comments

Read Full Post

The other day I was with a client -- together we were going over some of our Rehoboth Beach listings. She had emailed me a few possibilities that had caught her eye, and from that I had earmarked some others that shared features with her original picks.

We take it for granted at this point, but digitized listings have to be the greatest of all the advances technology has brought to real estate. For both prospective Delaware Beach homebuyers and sellers, the ease and efficiency that has resulted puts past practices back there with horses and buggies. 

There are some unintended side effects, too (isn’t it always so?)

The way the search features work, future home owners find themselves thinking objectively much sooner than they used to. In order to…

1730 Views, 0 Comments

Read Full Post

When you want to sell your house, you want it to bring in top dollar. That means you want to find a REALTOR® in the Rehoboth Beach area who has the characteristics of a top performer. He or she may or may not have last month’s highest sales volume, may or may not have page after page of onscreen MLS listings. However, there are characteristics you can look for that are bound to point to the best candidate to represent your home in your neighborhood.

1) Understanding You: the Client:

I agree with REALTOR® Magazine: "One of the strongest ways to increase likability and foster a connection is to demonstrate that [the REALTOR®] understands someone else's needs, and is happy to help fulfill them.”

A great REALTOR® is inherently a great salesperson, and…

1805 Views, 1 Comments

Read Full Post