Designations

You may wonder about the alphabet-soup acronyms that real estate agents use after their names. Real estate agents like doctors and lawyers, earn professional designations and certifications and thus put a series of initials after their name. Here are a couple of the most common designations.

e-Pro requires an agent to become educated on advanced computer skills. As 80% of sales originate from the internet, this is a must.

GRI stands for Graduate Realtor Institute dedicated to furthering the fundamental knowledge and skills of REALTORS® with less than five years experience.

ABR stands for Accredited Buyer’s Representative is the benchmark of excellence in buyer representation. This coveted designation is awarded to real estate practitioners who meet the specified educational and practical experience criteria.

CRS stands for Certified Residential Specialist. This is the most difficult designation to obtain and is a measure of a high degree of formal education and real world transactional experience.

EcoBrokers assist buyers in working through issues that may arise in real estate transactions, such as mold, radon, and poor indoor air quality providing green solutions.

A Realtor is different from a real estate agent in that a realtor must follow a higher code of ethics; only a NAR designation means they are a realtor.

When choosing a real estate agent to work with be sure that they have additional training and expertise to make the transaction as seamless as possible. Designations certify the holder has a solid grasp of the real estate fundamentals.

Short sales

 

Let’s talk about short sales. What are they and how do they work? A short sale is when an owner needs to sell their house and can prove that the owner’s are incapable of making the originally agreed to mortgage payment and if these owners were to sell, they’d have to bring money to the table. In most cases if the owner is having difficulty making the payment, they also would have a tough time bringing in thousands of dollars to closing. So, they ask the lender to take the loss.

The process starts by putting the house on the market at a price that will quickly sell. This is tricky because the real estate agent and seller might list the house at a low price but the bank may not accept this offer. The seller signs the contract because they don’t really care what the price is because it’s the bank that takes the financial hit but you’re not really under contract until the bank signs off. This is where the real work starts and this process could take anywhere between 4 to 6 months. The banks are currently being inundated with short sales so once the offer comes in with a HUD, the bank orders an appraisal and/or BPO to determine value. The biggest hurdle is getting the file assigned to a negotiator – nothing can happen without this decision maker. Once the negotiator has been assigned and value determined, then they decide if it’s more advantageous to just get rid of it or hold on and go thru the process of foreclosure.

In the industry, the best deals are with short sales but the time it takes for someone to tell you whether you’re truly under contract or not make a lot of buyers antsy and they move onto another property. As an instant gratification nation, waiting for months to find out if the bank will accept your offer is difficult but prosperous.

Credit and Identity Theft

Understanding your three credit scores is crucial now while identity theft is on the rise. Below are some tips to reduce your risks and lower costs.

A credit report contains information on where you work and live, how you pay your bills, debt ratio to available limit which should be under 40%, legal filings and inquiries.

All consumers are eligible to receive a free annual credit report. This is the number one way to stay to stay educated. The information in your credit report is used to calculate your credit score, a number generally between 300 and 850 that rates how risky a borrower you are. The higher your score, the less risk you pose to creditors.

When it comes to identity theft, you can’t entirely control whether you will become a victim. But there are certain steps you can take to minimize your risk.

Analyze your credit report annually for accuracy.

Place passwords on your credit cards and bank accounts that would be difficult to decipher.

Secure personal information in your home if you employ outside help or are having work done in your home.

Ask about information security procedures in your workplace or at businesses, doctor’s offices or other institutions that collect your personal information.

Don’t give out personal information on the phone, through the mail or on the Internet unless you’ve initiated the contact or are sure you know who you’re dealing with.

If you’re planning to be away from home and can’t pick up your mail, call your post office or go online to request a vacation hold.

Always shred your charge receipts, copies of credit applications, insurance forms, physician statements, checks and bank statements, expired charge cards and credit offers you get in the mail.

Contact me anytime for a complimentary credit analysis!