Interested in Selling Real Estate?

LONG & FOSTER OPENS NEW TRAINING ACADEMY IN ROANOKE

Long & Foster® Real Estate, Inc. is pleased to announce the opening of its new training academy located at 3912 Electric Road, SW.

The Sales Associates Education Resource Center provides the Principles and Practices of Real Estate classes, which are the required coursework for licensing and secondary training for Long & Foster’s newly licensed sales associates. Class offerings also include continuing education classes, Certified Residential Specialist (CRS) designation courses, nationally renowned guest speakers, seminars with a focus on professional topics and skill building seminars.

Long & Foster® Real Estate, Inc. is the largest privately-owned real estate firm in America. The firm has 220 residential real estate sales offices throughout Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia, Delaware, West Virginia, New Jersey, and North Carolina, with more than 15,000 Sales Associates and annual real estate sales for 2004 of $39.1 billion. Sales for all the Long & Foster Companies totaled $56.3 billion for 2004.

If you'd like more information, and plan to sell real estate as your full-time career, call Dolores Farmer at 966-1839 or 520-5444.

Loan Pre-Approval Benefits

by Kimberly Michael

The first stop potential homebuyers should make is at the lender’s office. Pre-approval is an enormous benefit for the client and the realtor. There are so many programs available and it is important to find the best one for the client before the contract is written.

The advantage of pre-approval is knowing exactly which of the many financing options is right for the homebuyer, allowing them to maximize their purchasing power. Many homebuyers find that they can buy more house than they thought they could by exploring their options with a lender for just a few minutes.

Pre-approval does not take long and can help make a real estate transaction go smoothly. It gives the buyer and the REALTOR more negotiating power when the offer to purchase is written. The search for the perfect home will be a more relaxed experience knowing that financing is in place.

Kimberly Michael
Home Mortgage Consultant
Prosperity Mortgage Company
M8646-011
1638 Roanoke Rd. Suite 100
Daleville, VA 24083
540.966-6128
Tel 540.966-1855 Fax
kimberly.b.michael@wellsfargo.com
Equal Lending Opportunity

One Family or Two!
Are you looking for the perfect home for two families? Perhaps a home to accomodate an in-law, returning college student or even teens still at home? Well look no more!! This home has a lower level absolutely ideal for any of these, completely finished, separate entrance and extra parking! This North County location is convenient for schools, shopping, airport or interstate access. Call me for more details.

Ginger Vail, REALTOR
Long & Foster
1638 Roanoke Road
Daleville, Va 24083
(cell) 540-520-4374
e-mail gingervail@cox.net
Licensed in Virginia

Getting Ready to Sell Your Home
By Terri Wright

Probably one of the most important yet most over looked aspects of getting a home ready to market is to go over your home thoroughly and make repairs as necessary. Today most Buyers are being encouraged by their REALTOR to have a Home Inspection.

Sometimes small items such as a loose "switch plate cover" are not fixed prior to the inspection. Once an inspection has been completed, many contracts require that a licensed electrician come out to fix the problem. Therefore, it would be your benefit to have small items fixed prior to marketing the home. However, please remember that any significant repairs to the structure, the heating and cooling systems, the plumbing system, the electrical system, and the roof should always be done by a qualified professional and/or licensed contractor.
Terri Wright
Long & Foster, REALTORS
PO Box 1200 Daleville, Va. 24083
540 966-5700-office
540 871-3927-cell
Licensed in Virginia Website: http://www.terriwright.net/

It's a Good Time to Consider Selling
by Dolores Farmer

Economists often characterize the housing market as a "buyer's market" or a "seller's market" by using a formula. They take the number of average sales in a month, and divide that into the number of homes currently on the market, to find the number of months of inventory available. If the supply is less than 6 months, it's a "seller's market" (favorable to sellers.) If it's more than 6 months, it's a "buyer's market."

I did the calculations for the Roanoke Valley today, and arrived at a supply of 4.3 months, which means the market is favorable to sellers. While not many people want to sell during the holiday season, it can still be a good time. E-mail me if you'd like more market statistics, or if you'd like a detailed report specifically for your neighborhood.

What is a contingency?

Most purchase agreements have "contingencies" in them, to make sure a party only has to perform if certain conditions are met. Here's some help understanding what certain contingencies could mean in a purchase agreement for a home: (These are generalities. Read your purchase agreement, and ask your agent and/or attorney any questions you may have.)

• Financing: The buyer can back out if their loan is not approved, as long as the buyer made their best efforts to obtain the loan. Often, the seller can back out if the buyer's loan is not approved within a specified time period.
• Subject to the sale: A buyer or seller can back out if the buyer's current home fails to sell within a certain time limit.
• Title: The buyer can back out if the Seller can't deliver clear title to the property.
• Inspections: The buyer can back out if specific items in the home inspection are not in safe working order, or if the buyer and seller do not agree on remedies to the problems revealed in the inspection.
• Contract review: The buyer or the seller has the right to have the contract reviewed by (typically) their attorney before the sale can move forward. Not a commonly used clause, but useful in some circumstances.

These are just a few of the contingencies you might see; there are many others.