Mark Hasha

8 Tips to Save Your Sanity
June 3, 2009 · · 5 Comments

I received some great advice from one of the great lenders I work with and I wanted to share it with you. Timely loan approval is critical in today’s real estate market and I wanted to share his tips with you.

frustrated-home-buyer8 Tips to Save Your Sanity

A buyer’s guide to the loan approval process.

 

Guidelines and requirements for loan approvals have recently become more rigorous and each transaction is processed with much more scrutiny. Keeping just a few things in mind could save your sanity, stress level and funding schedule.

1. Be expedient and thorough. When initiating a loan, and throughout the loan process, it is imperative to provide complete documentation to your Mortgage Advisor as quickly as possible. For instance, if all pages of the bank statement are requested, it really means all pages. While you and I might not think it’s necessary to include the reconciliation page of the statement, the lenders do. And, when they receive only five of the six pages of said bank statement, the loan process can become inefficient and stalled. Read more

Kathy Wall

Negotiation Skills – The Most Important Reason to Hire a Professional Realtor
December 13, 2008 · · 5 Comments

Today has been a nerve wracking day.  I have a home listed here in Brisbane that has been on the market for a couple of months.   During that time, there have been 2 people who have consistently expressed serious interest.    Earlier this week, one of them finally stepped up to the plate and brought us an offer.   We went back and forth with counter offers and then yesterday, when my Sellers were all set to sign the most recent counter, the phone rang.   Of course, it was the agent for the other interested party!   He finally had his ducks in a row and was ready to bring an offer.    Would we wait until today at noon before accepting the other offer?  Alrighty, then.  After conferring with my clients and weighing our options, we decided to wait.  

It is now almost 4:30 and, needless to say, the noon deadline has long since passed.   I know that the agent met with his client at 1:00 p.m., but I still don’t have an offer in hand and his calls are going straight to voice mail.   Aaaaaaah!   Read more

Nicole Machado

Mixing Business with Pleasure… does it actually mix?
November 19, 2008 · · 1 Comment

Have you ever felt obligated to use a family member when it came to a business deal? While most of us have, has it ever left you wondering if that was the best decision? In some cases, it is an ideal circumstance. While in others it may be an uncomfortable situation that you were strong armed into. Read more