The National Association of Home Builders' list of improving housing markets nearly doubled in January, as more cities showed signs of a real estate market rebound.

The list, now including Denver and Greeley, contains 76 improving markets in 31 states and DC. "The fact that the list of improving housing markets nearly doubled this month shows that a significant, positive trend is developing," NAHB Chairman Bob Nielsen said in a statement

For the complete list of all 76 metro areas on the Improving Markets Index list go to www.nahb.org/imi.

photo credit: Charles & Hudson

Posted in Real Estate Investing, Real Estate Market Conditions, New Home Builders, Home Selling Services

"Generally, it's more difficult to qualify for a loan now than it was a year ago," writes Dian Hymer for Inman News.

Banks have stricter guidelines and some qualified buyers can be turned down for seemingly illogical reasons.  A frank conversation with your lender can help you figure out where you stand in the loan approval process.

The bottom line is that "most conventional lenders require a 20-25 percent down payment, your credit score needs to be in the 700 range and you need to have verifiable income and cash reserves, in addition to down payment and closing costs." writes Hymer.

What to Do Before Negotiating on a Contract to Buy a Home:  

Plan ahead:  Find a reputable lender, ahead of time, to assist you.  "Closing the deal should be your primary goal," writes Hymer, "don't make your decision based on interest rates alone, a good track record counts for a lot."

Be Honest:  Make sure you disclose anything in your finances that might impact your loan qualification.  "A good loan agent or broker will be able to assess your financial situation and anticipate what you'll need to do to satisfy the underwriter." says Hymer.

The Appraisal is Key:  Hire an appraiser that is familiar with the area.  It needs to come in at or above the purchase price.

Jumbo Loans:  The conforming jumbo mortgage limit has dropped in most expensive housing markets but there are more options available now. Hymer says you can expect to pay 25 percent more for a 30-year fixed jumbo loan.

Cash Reserves:  Banks will look at your available cash reserves; your retirement account counts towards this.

A little advanced planning will help the mortgage approval go faster. 

Read the full story at Inman News.

photo credit: UGA College of Ag

Posted in Mortgage, Real Estate Market Conditions, Home Selling Services

Builders Magazine released the Top 20 list of healthiest markets for 2012 and Colorado Springs ranked 7^th in the nation.

"The Department of Defense's major presence in the Colorado Springs area - which includes Fort Carson, Peterson Air Force Base and Schriever Air Force Base - will serve as a catalyst for the local housing market, Builder suggests." reports Rich Laden for the Colorado Springs Gazette.  It is predicted that the return of troops from Afghanistan may further stimulate the housing market.

The prediction is based off of Moody's Economy.com data which states that home prices in the Springs area will climb 2.6 percent next year, jobs will grow 1.4 percent, numbers of households will increase 1.8 percent and median incomes will jump 2.9 percent.

Read the full story at the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Photo: USmilitary.about.com

Posted in Real Estate Industry Trends, Home Selling Services

You are blogging, you are on Facebook, and you are wondering if all the effort is worth it.

Sure. Daily (or every other day) posts are a great way to reach out to customers but the key element (read: problem) is that the customer has to "choose" to follow you and not that many people are signing up to read blogs these days. There's too much competition.

So what do you do? How do you keep connecting with new customers and increase traffic to your website? Blogging is still a viable way to be "found" on the web, but competition on search pages is getting tougher by the day.

Treat your blogging posts as landing pages. Sell! Let's say, you are the expert in $1 million properties in Greenwood Village and you are blogging about 5 ways to sell your luxury home. Sell your business! Every blog post should end in a call-to-action.

What is a Call to Action? When someone visits your blog or your website, get them to sign up for more information. Offer a free market analysis, free newsletter or something else to capture their email address.

Newsletters are a great way to sell your business. A professional e-mail newsletter, sent out monthly or quarterly is a great way to keep in touch with customers and get referrals. Using sites like Constant Contact and MailChimp make setting up a newsletter platform easy.

Target your news to your client base and always ask for their business. Ask your existing customers to pass along this great information to someone they know who is interested in buying or selling.

Focus on your expertise. Whether it's on your blog or in your newsletter, position yourself as the go-to expert in your field.

A well targeted email newsletter is worth the effort. It may not land you on page 1 of Google, but a newsletter offers all the benefits of blogging with a high return.

photo credit: MattHurst

Posted in Real Estate Industry, Technology And YOU, Home Selling Services

The real estate world is a mobile world and REALTORS® need to be productive "on the go".

There are the usual free apps that everyone uses to search for listings, such as Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia and CraigsList, but here are the top 10 paid apps for your smartphone to make your life a little easier.

The top 10, most popular, paid real estate apps for your smartphone are:

1.      My Measures and Dimensions: To store and share object dimensions  

2.      Sign My Pad: A PDF reader that allows you to add data and sign and send to your email.

3.      D-Measures: Draws and measures dimensions on photos and then share the results with others.

4.      The Landlord App:  To help landlords efficiently run their properties

5.      12c Financial Calculator: A financial app to calculate loan payments, interest rates and conversions, standard deviation, percent TVM (time value of money), NPV (net present value), IRR (internal rate of return), cash flows, bonds and more!

6.      Real Estate: The most comprehensive app for real estate. Includes a dictionary of real estate terms and user-friendly reference tools.

7.      Spanish Real Estate Dictionary: Including more than 250 Spanish and English real estate terms

8.      Suburb Scout:  This app allows you to search for possible negative nuisances near a potential real estate purchase, such as sewage plants, airports, nuclear plants, landfills, prisons and rail crossings.

9.      200 Real Estate Quiz Questions:  Review and learn 200 real estate terms.

10.  Foreclosure Search by USHUD.com (Free)  

Sources: Android Market, TopAppCharts.com, Inman news Special Report

photo credit: SapiensBryan

Posted in Foreclosure, Real Estate Industry, Gen X-Y, Technology And YOU, Home Selling Services