Oklahoma City Homeowners should not list their house unless they have to

July 29th, 2010

If you are an Oklahoma City homeowner and you are putting your house on the market right now, I have to ask why? In a few days we are into the month of August, school is starting in three weeks, mortgages are hard to come by and when they do they take usually 60 days and that is too late for the start of school. Unemployment in Oklahoma City is not bad compared to many areas but it is rising. The first time home buyer tac credits from last year and this year took a lot of buyers out of their normal buying patterns, and that has reduced the number of available buyers especially under $200,000, but even higher price ranges are affected becasue if these owners cannot sell, then they do not become move up buyers for higher price ranges.

Simply put, we have too many houses coming on the market right now adding to an already excessive supply. So I go back to my original question, why? I am seeing the answers daily in the expired listings. Many people are not in good financial condition. The amount they owe on their Oklahoma City area home is too high, and in order to sell the property without bringing money to the closing table, the price of the home is out of the realm of buyer possibility. Buyers are not just hunting for a home right now, they are hunting for a deal, often looking at short sales and foreclosures.

If you are one of these distressed homeowner finanically, and a REALTOR® comes to call and says I will list your house based on what you owe, I believe you are in for trouble. 4 months later without a sale you are getting closer to foreclosure and you should have looked at a short sale based on a financial hardship. If you don’t need to sell but want to, don’t look at comparable sales 6 months old and think that you can get the same price. The market conditions of time of year and oversupply means that unless you are willing to part with a lower price you may be wasting your time and adding to negative market statistics which helps no one. Back to the expired listings, I see these kinds of homes listed for too long, with mortgage amounts too high, and that is the proof. A day doesn’t go by where I don’t see 3 to 10 homes that this describes. I look at the sheriff sale list and I see foreclosures that should never have happened if the owner had consdiered a short sale. We live in a time of economic uncertainty and if you can make your payments and you can live comfortably in the home you are in, then stay there for now. That makes the best economic sense, and when the market turns toward a sellers market you will get your price. It does not matter whether the home will appraise becasue the appraiser is not the one who buys your Oklahoma City home. For that you need a buyer.

If you are distressed Oklahoma City homeowner and need help deciding whether to short sale, do adeed in lieu, or see if you are eligible for a refinance or loan modification, please call us and we can help you with that decision. If you need some immediate answers you can go to our Oklahoma City short sale and foreclosure information site, www.avoidforeclosureoklahoma.com and you will find answers there.

Oklahoma City Real Estate Investment Return on Investment

July 26th, 2010

For the last few days I have been touting Oklahoma City investment real estate as a conservative place for getting a great reutrn but not having great risk. We talked about affordable prices, low expenses like insurance and taxes, and the stability of the Oklahoma City economy whiich is the envy of many metropolitan areas. Today the focus is on what would constitue an internal rate of return  on your investment with Oklahoma City real estate.

We will use an available property to focus and define the parts that go into the IRR. In this case it is a duplex, already rented on both sides, and avialable at $129,500 with a current market value of $132,000. I will be posting an analysis that you can download the PDF to see how this calculates out. First, lets go over what goes into the analysis.

1. Purchase Price  Any reduction from market value will obviously increase your ROI. Our anlysis Excel Sheet takes this into account

2. Improvement Allocation. Investment ral estate give s you a 27.5 year depreciation schedule on improvements. Oklahoma has always been greast because our imporvements are typically around 85%, so on the subject investment the depreciation exceeds the income and offsets taxes.

3. Down payment and acquisition cost.  On paper, a high income with a low out of pocket will yeild you a better ROI. On Paper. In real life Fannie Mae requires at least 20% down, and even higher after 4 mortgages. You also want enough equity for any downside movement in value so low down payment could carry higher risk and often does. Higher down payment also reduces monthly expense which enhances cash flow.

4. Monthly Income. If you can get 1% or around there for rent in realtionship to purchase price you should be very interested in buying it. The bubble days of appreciation covering up a bad business decision are gone, so make sure you have a good income rental rate.

5. Vacancy Rate. Don’t trust anyone who sells you on a zero vacancy. Can’t happen. Even in a brisk rental market that will be lapses on new move ins, or at times you will need to do some interior work that will delay entry. We ususally use 5% on already occupied property, and 10% when it isn’t.

6. Holding Period. How long you keep you property will determine the final rate of return. Of course there is a 1031 tax deferred exchange which allows you to sell and buy more with paying taxes, but I normally use 5 to 10 years for analysis.

7. Your Tax bracket. I think this explains itself. Lower the better.

8. Appreciation. You should be conservative on this one. Naturally if we were in the double digit days like old annual returns would be over 30%, but my suggestion is for a conservative market go with 3% to 5%.

9. Projected cost of sale. Seller closing cost and commission will of course reduce the final return, but also a good REALTOR® should be able to get premium price for your investment.

10. Operating Expenses. You will be paying taxes, insurance, maintenance, and if you don’t handle the renter yourself, management fees, all of which are included in our analysis.

The final figures will be reflected as before tax and after tax returns. Before tax would be for a 1031 tax deferred exchange, and after tax is when you want to pay recapture tax on depreciation which is a 25% rate, and capital gains currently at 15%. Two other measures of return can be used. A Capitalizatioin rate is primarily a commercial factor, but cash on cash is a bit more important. In this example cash on cash rate  is 11% which means you could have this investment paid off fairly quickly. The final analysis shows that the before tax rate is 20.52% and the after tax rate is 14.77. The beofre tax rate should be used to compare a real estate investment to any other investments. You should be asking the question, what is my stock market or mutual funds return in comparison and what are the comparitive risk? Bank savings rates are so low and they are taxable which can mean a negative investment. In this time I believe that real estate investments are an absolute must for your portfolio, but as with everything caustion is urged and risk are involved. As a specialist in Oklahoma City real estate investment for the last sixteen years I can do the math, show you on paper the return, and inroduce you to professionals including property managers who can make your investment a passive investment, not one that keeps you involved daily or keeps you up at night.

For a more detailed analysis of the above pictured duplex you can Duplex Invesment Analysis analysis.

Oklahoma City is a stable real estate investment market

July 25th, 2010

I have been a real estate investment specialist in Oklahoma City for the last 16 years of my 20 year career. Yesterday I talked about the types of excellent cash flow investments you can make here, but today I want to give you the reasons why Oklahoma City should be a prime target for your investment needs.

We are all aware of whay happened after 2001 in the real estate market. many areas where going up faster that the Apollo rocket that took men to the Moon, and everyone including people like Alan Greenspan believed that we has conquered the market cycles, and it would keep going. That as we know know did not happen. In fact that rocket ship came down faster than it went up.

I know this happened because in 2004 to 2007 I was going out to California to meet with investment groups, and doing wenbinars with out of country investors hungry to invest. people who bought in Oklahoma back then have gheld their values, while those who purchased in Flroda, Arizona, or Nevada lost upwards to 80% of their values. Why?

Oklahoma was coming into recovery while much of the rest of the country was overheating with unsustainable increases in prices. Wall Street and the big banks wanted more profit, so housing values were propelled by easy money, over speculation, and subprime loans designed to be given out like free candy to children. Oklahoma values were under market value in 2005 the ultimate bubble year, so housing prices did not fall. Maybe we were lucky to be coming into recovery but I would rather be lucky in this situation. It was our time to be lucky.

Since then Oklahoma has led the country in income growth, had a surge in the energy and agricultural values, had an unemployment rate at least 3% below the national average, and had a surplus in government money along with stimulus spending to offset huge budget cuts that other states have had to face. Add to that population increases, the rise of rental rates due the difficulty in obtaining mortage loans, stability in home values and you have a conservative market where you can feel that your money has less chance of evaporating as it did in the bubble states.

I am not saying that you should not speculate in Phoenix for instance, it is just that the risk is higher. and you should not play with real estate the way some gamblers play the roulette wheel. it is oklay to play with some “mad money”, but you need a solid basis of investment, and Oklahoma City real estate investment sure fits the bill.

The next post will show what a conservative Oklahoma City real estate investment looks like. I use a program to calculate the internal rate of return and this will demonstarte the value of our real estate.

Oklahoma City Real Estate Investment pays off

July 24th, 2010

I have specialized in Oklahoma City investment real estate for the last 16 years of my 20 year career. Even in the peak pricing years of 2004-2006 the investment property we sold here had as a rule positive cash flow becasue of three factors. First was the fact that Oklahoma City was not a part of the artifically created real estate bubble and we were priced affordably. Second, we had low taxes and insurance which did not eat up your investment. Third, we had a growing real estate market for renters, and we had some excellent property managers who helped investors have a normally worry free home regardless of nwhether you were in state, out of state, or out of country. Now we are in 2010 which affords even better investments with outstandinhg cash flow. I want to go through what you can buy today and why you should buy them.

Owner Carry Mortgages. The mortgage market is not kind to experienced investors with at least 4 mortgages. If that is you Fannie Mae not only requires 25% down, they want 6 months PITI in reserve not only for the new property, but also the exisitng ones. We have numerous duplexes and single family homes available that the owner will carry the mortgage for 25% down with no loan closing cost. Not only do you not have to do a loan app, you also get a renter that comes with the home. About all of these properties have rental rates about 1% of purchase price, strong cash flow, and are priced from $50K for single family homes to $130K for the duplexes.

Short Sales. This is where you can get newer homes at a really great price. For instance, we have a 2009 built 4 bed, 2 bath, 2 car garage home in Mustang, OK schools, that is currently priced at $129,900 and negotiable. The home was originally purchased at $150K, and the rental price would be $1200 to $1300 a month. This gives you the ability to not only have positive cash flow and a home with warranties still in effect, it also starts you at positive equity. Wouldn’t you think that $20,000 or more equite and $250 a month or more positive cash flow sure beats the volitaility of the stock market? I would.

Fixer-Uppers. Sometimes the “basket cases” are the best. Homes if rought condition, but with a good structure and workable floor plan sell for the most off the market value price. If you are not local and want one of these, we do have the crews here to do the work. In some cases you may want to rent them because the cash flow is very large, sometimes there is enough equity that you may ant to “flip” them. My bias is toward long term hold and income, but flipping can be a way to build up capital to buy more, and if they don’t sell at the price you want, then they can be rented.

I will be blogging more about Oklahoma City real estate investments. We are also working on some small commerical properties of interest that soon we will be listing. If you do want to buy in the Oklahoma City area for real estate investment we have the knowledge and resources for you. We can also tell you about short sales before they ever hit the market so call or email us to be on the list. We also have great propertiy managers, loan professionals who understand investors, as well as insurance people, and CPAs to advise you or to set up a local LLC for you. We have currently over a hundred properties to choose from and more on the way. Tomorrow I will blog about the stability of our values and why you can depend on them.

Oklahoma City home for sale at 3108 NW 61st Pl

July 23rd, 2010

Sometimes when I list an Oklahoma City home for sale all the important value guidelines are right. Home updated and in excellent condition? Check. Located on a quiet street? Check. Has an excellent school system and the elementary school nearby? Check. Has great shopping close by? Check. First class hospital 5 minutes away? Check. Easy access to close by freeways to get downtown, the airport, or out of town? Check again.

3108 NW 61st Pl  in Oklahoma City  fits this description. The two samller living areas have been opened up into one open living space with new hardwood floors and firplace. The kitchen is a total remodel, and bathrooms and carpet have has updates. The exterior is red brick with a new roof, siding, and garage doors. The home is in the Putnam City School System  and the elementary school D.D. Kirkland is just blocks away. The home is 1/8 mile and under a 5 minute drive from the Baptist Integris Hospital and one mile from the Penn Square Shopping area. Another big plus is the Lake Hefner recreation area which has sailing, bike and walking trails, resuarants, and golf and it is just two miles away.

Many other attractions surround this area, so whatever your needs are can be met close by. To view more information about the home and see a slide show presentation and virtual tour you can click on this multimedia flyer.

Marketing Oklahoma City Homes for Sale

July 20th, 2010

Yesterday, I talked about how crucial pricing a home for sale  is in 2010 even in Oklahoma City where the market is farily stable, but slowing. The second part of a successful home sale is marketing. Now I hear REALTORS® ask the question all the time, do you market more when business is slow or fast?  This is the wrong question because what they are really saying is how do I promote myself when they should be asking about marketing you. The answer is all the time and in the same way, with the media that is most important and the most visits. That would be the internet.

Up to 90% of all real estate searched begin with the internet. Special real estate sections have disappeared from all newspapers including The Daily Oklahoman, magazines devoted to real estate now have more revenue form REALTORS® on their internet versions, amd mail is becoming incresingly expensive, and mostly spam oriented. Plus the internet is convenient and search can be precise. Let’s go over a few of the ways to get a listing exposed.

Web Site Marketing. I have had two websites that even though they have changed through the years, and will be changing again in the next two weeks, have been in existence for 13 and 1o years running. They are highly ranked on Google the Number one visited site on the internet, they have 11 extra landing pages for local suburbs and specialized sales search, almost 300 blog pages a piece, a robust search site for Oklahoma City listings with Hi Resolution pictures, street views, mapping, and school and community information. The listings on the site or Google mapped, and each listing have keyword phrases and metatags used for Google ranking. They can add the local information, and I am about to add a special function that automatically creates a unique web site for each listing.

Facebook. Facebook is building in importance and in fact is Number Two as the most visited and is threatenening to overtake Google. The marketing there is a bit more complex in that the first order for my business is to connect with people in a non real estate way. Most of the folks on Facebook are not thinking about real estate so engaging them is first, then you get them to Like you business pages. I currently have two with a third in production. Facebook is becoming more relevant, and is important to your exposure.

Multimedia. When we do a listing we do two things for it. First we use a multimedia flyer and secondl a virtual tour. The multimedia flyer goes to 18 sites with a slide show, mapping, and can be put on Craig’s List with a special flyer format that really shines. The virtual tour is also multi-site listed and has stiched together panoramas that can show a room or a street view that a single shot cannot get. Some of the important sites this goes to also are Google Base, Yahoo Real Estate, Oodle, Trulia, and Zillow to name a few.

Video. Video has become second to only large static pictures in polls of what is important to a real estate consumer. Part of my latest site change is to emphasize video both with a video blog and for listings via youtube.com. Youtube.com is now ranked a the 4th or 5th most visited site, and this is one of the reason that besides purchasing a new Digital SLR for enhanced quality pictures, I am buying a new HD video camera to be able to do better video. Expect to start seeing this in a few weeks.

Twitter. Shakespeare once said “Brevity is the soul of wit”. Maybe we should give him credit for Twitter. Twitter has grown faster than even Facebook and is a 140 character masterpiece when done correctly. Twitter can also be used with URL shorteners to hyperline say a blog post or a multimedia flyer so that your listing can be amplified throughout a network of people who want to hear about it. It can be set up to be hyperlocal with the ability to organize lists of people. For instance I can do a list of people wanting to hear about new listings and Tweet them specifically, and do a general one to see it spread. I would add that all of these functions can be interlinked. So a blog post can go to Twitter and Facebook and a video the same.

The other other ways we market on the net just to add to the exposure and we don’t ignore the traditional methods either. As the Presidient of the local Board next year I have a good standing in the real estate community, as do my team members. We also believe in spending marketing money direcly for you, not with making a franchise richer. I can point out where $10,000 goes to markeitng our clients versus marketing a national sign. You are our most important responsibility that we will focus our efforts on you.

If you are an Oklahoma City home owner who wants to sell we would love to talk to you. If you are in a distressed financial situation and want immediate answers to you questions and what options you have you can go to www.avoidforeclosureoklahoma.com and we are also there to help you.

Pricing an Oklahoma City home for sale is even more crucial now

July 19th, 2010

It was 1989 when I took my initial real estate course and what hasn’t changed is the two services we do as REALTORS® to market a home for an Oklahoma City homeowner. The first is pricing and the second is marketing to build awareness.  If these two basics are done wrong then out ability to act as a master negotiator never happens. Today I want to tackle the first part which is pricing, and tomorrow I will do another post about marketing in the 21st Century information age.

In my almost 21 years of real estate pricing coreectly has always been the number one skill we should possess. After over 2000 transactions, numerious designations achieved, and being certified as an appraiser I feel that I have that ability. In fact I lose listings because I do not take on homes where to get the price the seller wants would make me more of a miracle worker than a professional real estate person. What really prompted me to do this two part series though is an article I read in Time magazine where it was reported that 21 of the country’s 50 largest markets had average price cuts of 30% in June alone. This was up from 10 in May. Clearly we still have a supply issue, a credit issue, and a mortgage issue all playing into this. That being siad lets go into the basics of pricing.

1. Market Conditions  Every market is different and even when we drill down into submarkets we find differences. A house in one area at a particular price may be going for maximum value while another is not. Overgeneralizing about market conditions is not something that should be done. However, some factors do affect a broad spectrum. Higher interest rates may dampen demand for one. The recent expiration of the tax credit is another. So it is okay to look at macro conditions byt micro will tell you the most about a single home pricing.

Absorption Rate As a REALTOR® I don’t leave home without it. This is where you take a representative sampling of homes like the one to price, total the active and pending listings, then take a 3,6, and 12 month sold stat and find out how long it takes to sell exisitng inventory based on closed properties. If it is under 6 months, it is a sellers market, over 6 and it is a buyers market. Just this week I listed two homes. One in central Oklahoma City I saw a 2 months rate, and one in Moore I saw a 2 year rate. If was not hard to say which was put at the upper end of appraisal value and the one not. Do not list your Oklahoma City home without knowing this.

Condition of Property  So many first time buyers have limited funds, so if a home needs large capital improvements it is not going to sell unless it is a bargain. Also, since first time buyers and even 2nd and 3rd time buyers are typically FHA buyers so this becomes hugely important since an appraiser like with VA loans also can set reuqirements. You should always get advice on what needs to be done upfront and what will not pay. You should also know that replacing a roof that is 16 years old and uninsurable doesn’t make the house more valuable, it just makes the house sellable. People expect a premium priced home to have all in good working order and updated.

Time of Year This is really market conditions but it is important enough to have its own category. For instance, the schools sytems in Oklahoma City and surrounding suburbs will start school on August 19th this year. Knowing that this is only one month away today, then if your house is not priced properly especially in popular school districts, it may be too late. People want to be in their homes before the start of school so this deadline is looming and getting a loan closed under 30 days from contract is next to impossible. Thsi doesn’t mean that your home won’t sell, it just means that you lost the largest available pool of buyers in many areas of Oklahoma City where schools are a big draw. Don’t expect people to want to close around times like Christmas Day either.

Tomorrow I will go into what constitutes your best marketing plan in the internet age. You just might be surprised where your listings are found.

Obstacles to a successful Oklahoma City real estate short sale

July 18th, 2010

Many distressed Oklahoma City homeowners who opt for a short sale instead of a foreclosure have the mistaken idea that they can not only stop making house payments because of their hardship, they can quit making other payments also related to the home. First in the case of FHA and VA loans it is expected that you will maintain the property as you live there during the short sale process, and they can eliminate you from a short sale if you move without their acceptance of a cause, or that you stop maintaining the property.

What I do what to address is Oklahoma City real estate investors who stop renting the property, and Oklahoma City prinicple residence hemeowners who leave the property even with permission.  If you don’t have someone mowing the lawn and the grass begins to grow high, then the city can slap you with an expensive mowing lien. Same goes for excessive trash that makes the home unsightly. These fines can range up to $500 in some cases, and the mortgage company will not pay for these liens in a short sale. I am also not going to pay for your lien because in agreeing to rescue you from foreclosure I committed to al least three times the work of a normal sale. If you neeed help finding someone I have the crews to do it and often at just $40 a time. It is also July so unlike the Spring we don’t need to mow every two weeks. It is a small price for you to pay.

The second obstacle is a bit more complicated and that is homeowners dues. They will slap a lien on your property for nonpayment even faster the the city government. Sometimes the monthly adds up like in my old neighborhood that had lawn maintenance included, a security gate and $110 a month dues. Most associations in Oklahoma City I find to usually be $250 to $350 a year so again unless you have no job at all in the family and no savings please pay attention to this.

Other types of liens are with credit cards, professional services, or taxes.  Actually the IRS is easier to deal with than something like a Discover Card or a divorce attorney. Both will attach to anything they can find that you own. I understand that you have a financial mess that normally was not created or wanted by you and payment may be difficult. In these cases I would recommend constant communication with them It sometimes sounds ridiculous to cal on a regular basis that you do not have the money to pay, but people get angry more for what they don’t know. We also try to explain to them that forcing a foreclosure of a home that has no equity to latch onto makes it even more probable that you won’t pay since a further reduction in your credit score makes borrowing almost impossible. Let us help you tackle these problems early. Oklahoma City area real estate short sales take longer to get to closing than a sale that is not distressed so a lot more can happen in that extra few months.

If you need the services of real estate professionals skilled in keeping you from a foreclosure we are the team that can help you. For more answers to your questions and a resource center visit our Oklahoma City area short sale site or contact us at your convenience. Our site is Http://www.avoidforeclosureoklahoma.com.

New Short Sale Listing in Mustang Oklahoma

July 17th, 2010

Mustang Oklahoma is a suburb west of Oklahoma City but this listing is actually in Oklahoma City so it is closer in and only 15 minutes from dowtown Oklahoma City, 5 minutes to the airport, and 20 minutes from Tinker Air Force base. The home was built in 2009 and is listed as a short  sale subject to lender approval. The home is 1535 square feet (mol) and has very little wasted space. There is a front bedroom and a back master bedroom with no hallway, and two side bedrooms with little hallway. The backyard has a covered patio, 6 foot wood privacy fence and is ample in size. The school system is excellent, and Mustang Public Schools are considered one of the best. For more information and interioe pictures you can click on the multimedia flyer .

If you are havfing trouble making your mortgage payment and want to know more about the benefits of a short sale over a foreclosure, please go to our website www.avoidforeclosureoklahoma.com for answers or contact us through this website for a private consultation.

Oklahoma City real estate short sales can be Pro Bono work

July 16th, 2010

Today we closed a Newcastle Oklahoma short sale listing. After 4 buyers and 16 months from the date of listing we felt a great relief at the closing. When it comes to short sales large and small we act like a bulldog with it’s jaw shut tight over a playtoy, he is not going  to let it go. The problem is we spent over 500 hours on this project at a sale price of $86,000. Even if you value the time at $30 per hour you can see that the math doesn’t work in our favor. What does work in our favor is that we saved another family form foreclosure and a credit rating disaster.

When we make a committment on a short sale we do not add up the hours we have spent in continous education about them, nor the hours we will spend in the process. If we did that and placed prime importance on it, then we would never do them in the first place. So why do we do them? First, we are really good at it. Not everything is about money alone, yes we need to pay our bills but have an expertise that less than 1% of all REALTORS® possess is special. You want to use it and the success is great, even when it takes as long as this one did. Second, even if it is pro bono work which is using expertise where you are not compensated for its full value, we believe that as successful REALTORS®, especially me who has done over 2000 transactions in my career, we have a responsibility to the public who has enriched us. Okay, I know what you are thinking, their must be an ulterior marketing motive and yes you are correct. Rescuing a family from foreclosure, protecting and limiting the credit report hit, helping them to look with hope to the future rather than regret the past is a marketing coup. Why? Becasue we create the most loyal fans who will recommend us. Loyalty is not common in real estate so we appreciate it. Plus speaking from experience I have had dark financial times. I know what it feels like to not being able to pay my bills and have the creidtor qolves at my door. I swore that once I got out of that mess I would help others and I am doing exactly that.

We do ask for something in return. If we are willing to forego easier real estate sales we ask for your full cooperation in return. I know that sounds like a normal request but it isn’t. When you are in finacial distress you don’t always think clearly. Not only do we need extensive fiancial documents, we need you to focus on not letting your emotions run amok, rather on the result we are trying to achieve. You make a committment to us, we promise to try to move heaven and earth for you.

If you need help deciding what to do when you are behind on your mortgage payments and you have a harship created by job loss, loss of income. medical, or divorce we are here to help you. For answers you can go to our short sale website www.avoidforeclosureoklahoma.com and get some answers you seek.