Indy Home Marketing - December 2008 Newsletter

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December 2008 Newsletter

Volume 2, Number 12


		As 2008 comes to a close, we want to take this opportunity to wish our clients, friends, and associates all the joys of the holiday season... and to express our sincere wishes to all for a happy and prosperous New Year!

	Selling Your Home During the Holidays Has Advantages As temperatures come down and holi- day decorations go up, home sellers in most parts of the country turn their attention away from real estate. Year in and year out, the real estate market begins to slow after Halloween, drops off drastically a week or two before
	Thanksgiving, and doesn't start picking up again until until after Super Bowl Sunday in late January. Obviously, the tasks of listing a home, selling a home, packing up everything you own, and moving is not popular during the winter season. Continued


		RECIPE OF THE MONTH Turkey Waldorf Salad Here's a great solution for using some of your leftover holiday turkey. This Waldorf salad recipe is quick and easy

to make, nutritious, and you may even find your kids will act-
ually enjoy this salad. Recipe courtesy of: The Food Network

INGREDIENTS:

•	2 tablespoons mayonnaise	•	1 teaspoon honey
•	2 stalks celery, sliced	•	1/2 cup non-fat yogurt
•	2 cups shredded turkey meat	•	Freshly ground black pepper
•	1/2 cup pecans, toasted, and coarsely chopped
•	1 crisp apple, such as Gala or Macintosh, cored and chopped
•	1 small celery root, peeled and cut into matchsticks
•	1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more as needed
•	1 cup red seedless grapes, halved
•	1/2 cup celery leaves, coarsely chopped, plus more
	whole leaves for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl, gently toss the turkey, celery, celery leaves,
apple, grapes, and pecans until combined. In a small bowl,
whisk together the yogurt, mayonnaise, honey, and 1/4 tea-
spoon salt until well combined. Put the celery root in a small
bowl, add 2 tablespoons of the dressing, and toss to coat
completely. Add the remaining dressing to the turkey mix-
ture, season with salt and pepper, and toss gently to evenly
dress the salad.

To serve, spread the celery root evenly onto a serving platter,
top with the dressed salad, garnish with celery leaves and
serve immediately.

	What You Need to Know When Shopping for a Loan Whether you're buying a home or refi- nancing an existing home loan, you'll quickly find that lender requirements are more stringent then in the past. Even well-qualified borrowers may be expected to jump through fairly high hoops to qualify for financing. So, just as job-hunters may wonder what top
	employers want to see on a resume, prospective borrowers may be curious about what lenders currently look for on a loan application. Many of today's lenders use a quadrant method with "income," "credit," "assets" and "property" in the four corners. Neither a high income nor an exemplary credit report alone is enough to make your loan application stand out. What lenders want to see is strength and stability in all four corners. Continued

Selling Your Home During the Holidays... (continued)

It's not just the cold weather and hectic holiday schedules that
deter many sellers. Families with children tend to list and buy
homes in the spring and summer months to avoid moving their
kids to a new school in the middle of the school year. For these
and other reasons, it's been routinely recommended that sellers
hold off putting their homes on the market until February. But,
that wisdom may not hold true this season!

Over recent months, higher than normal inventories of houses
for sale have contributed to dramatic increases in the average
time required to sell homes. So, there may be a real advantage
to being in and staying in the real estate marketplace over the
holiday season when fewer homes are normally for sale.

Buyers who are actively searching for a home during the holiday
season tend to be highly motivated and often want to conclude
a purchase quickly. Families being transferred by businesses,
persons whose leases end at or near the end of the year, and
even buyers who want to take advantage of seasonal vacation
time to find a home are just a few examples of motivated
seasonal buyers.

Also, buyers' agents are often more aggressive during the holi-
days because they have more time to spend with clients than
during the busier times of the year. The same is true for lend-
ers, home inspectors, appraisers, title companies and others
involved in the transaction of sales. That can speed sales and
be good news for sellers as well.

In any market, a little holiday cheer never hurts. Tasteful holi-
day decorations can move buyers to overlook a home's flaws
and imagine living in a house. Homes decorated for the holi-
days usually look great, just don't overdo it.

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What You Need to Know When Shopping... (continued)

Borrowers who are qualified but whose down payment will be less
than 20 percent of the purchase price of the home must withstand
a second level of scrutiny. That's because mortgage insurers also
have to approve such loans, and they have completely different
qualification ratios.

Lenders rely on a pile of paperwork to verify and document the
borrower's financial position. At a minimum, most borrowers
are required to submit the following paperwork:

•	One month of paycheck stubs.
•	Two years of W-2 forms.
•	Three months of bank account statements.

Additional paperwork may be required, including:

•	If you're self-employed or earn more than 25 percent of your income from commissions or bonuses, you'll need to hand over two years of income tax returns.
•	If you're divorced, the lender will want a copy of your settle- ment to ascertain how much alimony or child support you're obligated to pay or entitled to receive and the duration of those payments.
•	If you've filed for bankruptcy within the last seven years, you'll need to show your bankruptcy papers.
•	If you've deferred repayment of student loans, you should bring your deferral agreement as well.
Here are some other wise precautions:
•	Don't increase your debt burden. The biggest error a borrow- er can make is to file their application; get pre-qualified; pick out their home, and then go out and buy furniture, cars, boats, etc., that ramps up their debt. Since credit is often rerun be- fore closing, that additional debt can cause the borrower to no longer qualify for their loan.
•	Don't open new credit accounts, even just to transfer a credit- card balance. "If you transfer a balance to a new zero-interest card, your FICO score will drop because all of a sudden you have more credit.
•	Don't challenge the lender's requests for more documents. Ask- ing, "Why do you want to know?" or refusing to provide certain documents may arouse suspicion that you have something to hide.
•	Don't float your interest rate unless you can afford higher monthly payments. "If your rate isn't locked and rates go up, your debt-to-income ratio will change.
•	Don't change your employment. Right before closing, every lender verifies that the borrower is still employed in the same position.
•	Don't delay payment of your bills or rent. Paying what you owe is important, but not enough. You also have to pay on time.
•	Don't skip your mortgage payment. Some homeowners don't bother to make what they believe will be their last payment on their existing mortgage because they know that loan will be paid off when they sell their home or refinance that loan. That's a "huge" mistake, because a late payment can destroy your credit score.
•	Don't overextend yourself. If your monthly rent is $1,000, but your new mortgage payment will be $3,000, that's a huge payment shock.

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