If your home is currently on the market, you may be considering whether or not to work with your real estate agent to host an open house. You may have heard that open houses are ineffective or "old fashioned" in today's world of online marketing.

As a Member of the Top 5 in Real Estate Network®, however, I know first-hand that it takes a combination of different marketing strategies to sell your home quickly and for the best possible price. While online marketing and mobile technology are certainly critical parts of the equation, an open house can have a tremendous impact on a successful sale -- when done correctly, that is. Here are my Top 5 tactics for a successful open house. Make sure your agent is incorporating all — or at least some — of these strategies for your home's open house:

1. Staging well in advance - Don't bother having an open house if your home is not properly staged both inside and outside. Now is the time to work with a professional landscaper because curb appeal will never be more important -- prospective buyers won't bother coming in if they don't like what they see from the outside.
2. Proper advertising - These days, people are so inundated by life and media that unless your open house is promoted far and wide — and frequently — they will never even know about. Your agent should be: advertising in newspapers; using social media to promote your open house; networking with other agents in the area to make them aware; circulating direct mail to neighbors and nearby communities; and personally inviting key prospects.
3. Enlist the neighbors - Start polling your neighbors on what they like best about your neighborhood: the schools, the convenience, the community services, the people, etc. Compile this into a handout for your agent to distribute at your open house. After all, what better testimonial could you ask for than the next-door neighbor?
4. Consider a theme - Some of my fellow members in the Top 5 Network have hosted some unbelievably creative open houses. Consider inviting local restaurants to set up food stations so visitors can experience a "taste" of the community; ask a local antiques shop to stage the home with their showcase items; invite a local gallery to create an art exhibit throughout the home; or highlight something of interest about your home. One Top 5 member, for example, listed the home of an antique car collector and put all the owner’s cars on display and invited car enthusiasts.
5. Have the right materials on hand - Your open house will be for naught if you don't have the proper materials on hand, such as: a guest directory that asks for names and e-mails (find a creative incentive for guests to leave their e-mail addresses, such as entry into a drawing for a local restaurant gift certificate); professionally done photo brochures of your home or even a DVD of a video tour; payment and financing information.

Be sure to ask your agent how he or she intends to follow up with open house visitors -- this is the most important factor of all. Without a quick and effective follow-up system in place, you could very well pass over a potential buyer.

If you'd like more information on creating an effective open house, please e-mail me. Feel free to forward this e-mail on to any friends and family who might be planning an open house in the near future.

June not only marks the commencement of the summer season, but more importantly for homeowners, National Home Safety Month. While our thoughts turn to smoke detectors and child safety locks when considering a safe home, many homeowners often overlook the risks of poor indoor air quality—especially important as the temperature and humidity rise with summer.

As a Member of the Top 5 in Real Estate Network®, I’ve worked with many clients who have suffered from health-related issues due to poor air quality in their homes. Yet rarely do people think about the quality of their indoor air. Service experts recommend using the following checklist to ensure your air is as healthy as possible:

• Do you smoke in your home?
• Do your kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room have ventilation and exhaust fans?
• Do you change your air filters once a month?
• When cleaning or doing laundry, do you use bleach, ammonia, or aerosol spray cans?
• Is your gas fireplace and/or gas stove checked yearly for emissions?
• Was your home built before 1978? If so, has it been checked for lead-based paint?
• Do your bathrooms have carpet where moisture and dust can build up?

If you have answered "yes" to any of these questions, it’s time to consider making some changes. Many of the quick fixes to improve one’s indoor air quality at home can be accomplished through a few simple adjustments to your regular maintenance practices.

Others, like checking for lead paint, can often be handled through local, county or state programs that are partially or wholly subsidized, and heating source emissions checks can often be done through one’s own utility provider.

For more information on home safety or for a referral on companies that can help you with home maintenance, please e-mail me. And feel free to pass this email on to friends and family members who may have concerns regarding their indoor air quality.

We just received this from the Kentucky Association of Realtors regarding a new $5000 Home Tax Credit for New Home Buyers.

The Kentucky General Assembly adjourned Sine Die Wednesday, June 24, 2009.  During this special session a $5000 New Home Tax Credit was added to the economic incentives bill.  Below you will find the language and fine point regarding this New Home Tax Credit.  We are working with the Home Builders to gather the details of Tax Credit and will notify you once we have this information.

To view the bill, continue reading or Click Here and go to page 227. 

SECTION 104.   A NEW SECTION OF KRS CHAPTER 141 IS CREATED TO READ AS FOLLOWS:

(1)           As used in this section:

(a)  "Approved time" means three hundred sixty-five (365) days beginning thirty (30) days after the effective date of this Act;

(b)  "New home tax credit cap" means a maximum of twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000) allocated to qualified buyers on a first come, first served basis;

(c)  "Purchase" means a point within the approved time when escrow closes between the qualified buyer and the seller of the qualified principal residence;

(d)  "Qualified buyer" means a resident who:

1.      Purchases a qualified principal residence; and

2.      Is not eligible to receive the first-time homebuyer credit allowable under Section 36 of the Internal Revenue Code; and

(e)  "Qualified principal residence" means a single-family dwelling which is:

1.      Either detached or attached;

2.      Certified by the seller as having never been occupied; and

3.      Purchased to be the principal residence of the qualified buyer for a minimum of two (2) years.

(2)  (a)        There is hereby created a one (1) time, nonrefundable new home tax credit against the tax imposed by KRS 141.020, with the ordering of credits as provided in Section 30 of this Act.

(b)  The credit shall apply to the tax liability of a qualified buyer who purchases a qualified principal residence within the approved time.

(c)  Within seven (7) calendar days after the purchase of a qualified principal residence, the qualified buyer shall submit via fax a completed application for the new home tax credit on forms provided by the department.(d)        1.         The new home tax credit allowable to the qualified buyer shall be equal to five thousand dollars ($5,000), unless the new home tax credit cap has been reached.

2.      If the new home tax credit cap has been reached, the qualified buyer shall not receive a credit.

(e)  The new home tax credit is not refundable and any unused amount in the taxable year of the purchase cannot be carried forward or back to another taxable year.

(f)   Any credit that reduced the tax imposed by KRS 141.020 shall be repaid in total if the qualified buyer does not occupy the new home for at least two (2) years immediately following the purchase.

(3)           To administer the new home tax credit and new home tax credit cap, the department shall:

(a)  Create the application required to be filed by a qualified buyer;

(b)  Promulgate administrative regulations to administer the new home tax credit, including but not limited to:

1.      The process of recapture of the credit if the qualified buyer does not maintain the new home as his or her principal residence for two (2) years; and

2.      How to allocate the new home tax credit between unmarried co-purchasers or between married individuals who file separate returns;

(c)  Create a Web site containing the amount of the total credit allocated to date, the date the last processed application was received, and the remaining credit available to qualified buyers;

(d)  Establish a dedicated telephone line to receive faxed applications;

(e)  Allow the date and time stamp from the faxed application as the order within which the application was received; and

(f)   Notify the qualified buyer of the allowable credit available to the qualified buyer by a credit allocation letter, which shall be submitted by the qualified buyer with his or her return.

(4)           The application for the new home tax credit shall be void if:

(a)  The home has been previously occupied;

(b)  The application is not received within seven (7) calendar days from the purchase; or

(c)  The application is received after the new home tax credit cap has been reached.

I am a big fan of the TODAY show and often they have real estate expert Barbara Corcoran on to talk about real estate.  Recently she wrote this article about the Five Big Mistakes Overanxious Homeowners Make and I just had to share it with you.....it's right on!!! Check out the video from the TODAY show as well.  It's very informative.

So, you need to get rid of your house and you need to do it quick. Perhaps you have an adjustable rate loan that is about to skyrocket, or maybe you just got a job in another city. Whatever the reason, don't panic. This may not seem like the best time to dump your house, but if you follow my advice, it's possible.

Below are the five biggest mistakes struggling homeowners make when selling their home. I'll also show you some foolproof home-selling tactics that will get you the highest sticker price for your house.

The five big mistakes overanxious homeowners make

Making small price reductions again and again
Nothing smacks of desperation more than incremental price drops. The longer a property is on the market, the more jaded the buyers become. The more times the price is cut, the staler the offering appears. Buyers reason that a lot of people must have seen it and that a lot of people must have rejected it. And if that is the case, then why even bother to consider it?

Instead, slash the price. Find out what your house is worth by looking at similar properties in the neighborhood and price it 10% below them. The most enticing houses on the market are the newest and the cheapest. If you can be both, you'll offload yours in no time at all.

Hiring the wrong broker
There are many ways of finding a good broker. Personal recommendations from friends and colleagues are often the best way to go. If someone outside the real estate business with nothing to gain is bringing up a broker, you can be pretty sure you're on to a winner. The best brokers -  the top 10 percent -  do 90 percent of all the business. So don't get stuck with a lemon. You want someone with enthusiasm and drive, someone who will give you the attention you need and steer you through the whole messy process with courtesy and professionalism.

Waiting it out
If you decide to wait, you are joining the thousands of other homeowners who have also decided to wait. When a few decide it's time to take the plunge, you are already too late. If you need/want to sell now, then sell now. There will never be a better time.

The following article was in the Columbus Dispatch on Saturday, May 31, 2008, written by Sarah Pulliam.  It was forwarded to us by an attorney Terrance R. Monnie.  He explains that if the buyer mentioned in this article "had purchased a title insurance policy the loss would not only have been covered but the insured buyers would have been provided with legal counsel to defend the claim."

Clerk's error jeopardizes family's home

Undetected lien against seller haunts buyer

Zanesville, Ohio - A spelling error by a government worker might cost Andy Mateja his house. 

When he bought a home worth at least $400,000 for $320,000 in 2001, he thought it was a good deal.  He moved in with his family of six and paid his mortgage on time, according to his records.

So he couldn't understand why the Muskingum County sheriffs office served him with foreclosure papers in August 2007.

"My wife literally broke down and cried.  She thought we were going to lose the house," Mateja said.  "If we were going to be evicted, I didn't know where we were going to turn."

When Mateja bought his house, he paid for a title search that found no liens on his property.  It turns out what wasn't true.

JPMorgan Chase had placed a $150,000 lien on the house in 1998, when it was owned by Dr. Subbarayudu Koppera.  But the lien was mistakenly entered into the public record under the name Koppera, so it did not not show up when the title company searched for liens by the owner's last name.

Muskingum County Recorder Karen Vincent, whose office made the spelling mistake, testified that a correction was made in 2006.  Vincent told the Dispatch that to her knowledge, it was the first time an error has been made, but she declined to comment further.

In buying the house, Mateja did not take out title insurance that would have protected him from claims against a previous owner.

Now JPMorgan Chase is going after the Matejas' house.  The Matejas have countersued the bank and Koppera.  The case is scheduled to go to court June 19.

Tom Kelly, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, said that if the lien is paid off by Koppera, the bank will not pursue foreclosure.  He declined to check how much Koppera has paid or whether there is an agreement to pay back the money, citing privacy issues.

"Our goal for all of this is to be paid what we're owed, and the security to that is the mortgage lien on that property," Kelly said.  "Our preference is to be paid the money, not to own the house."

Former homeowner Koppera, 61, modified the lien in 2004, even though he no longer owned the house.  Koppera, who bought a $682,000 house in New Albany is 2000, said he is paying the bank $2,000 each month on the lien of his former home.

"We are paying now.  Somehow they got mad and they want everything."  Koppera said of Chase.

Koppera, a kidney specialist, and his wife have faced numerous civil judgments for unpaid debts and federal, state and county tax liens for unpaid taxes.

He believes the title company made a mistake.  "They should've known it and stopped right there so the lien was clear.  Instead of me taking the cash, I would've paid the lien," Koppera said regarding the sale of the house.  "They didn't do their job, and they should pay for it."

Koppera declined to comment further.

Mateja, a 53-year-old father of four, moved to his Zanesville home from Chicago.  The four-bedroom, red-brick house sits on a manicured hill in a quiet neighborhood northwest of Zanesville.

He has incurred mounting costs since he left his job as vice president of sales for Robinson Ransbottom Pottery before the company went out of business in 2005.  He worked as a consultant for two years before getting a full-time job in October with Gale Pacific.

Because he was struggling financially, he refinanced his mortgage in May 2007 at a higher interest rate in a loan that gave him extra cash.  His lender would not give him an equity loan.

Then, he was hit with foreclosure papers, and he has incurred about $10,000 in legal bills since.

"My first inclination was, 'Do we just let them pull the plug and go rent?'  We didn't want to try to rent, but we couldn't buy again if we had been foreclosed on," Mateja said.  "It definitely put me into shock and put my wife into deep despair."

This article was written in the Chigago Tribune regarding what to do if you are running behind on your mortgage payments.....

Options exist for homeowners behind on their mortgage payments—if they act quickly. Lisle attorney Steven Bashaw and Michigan real estate broker Ralph Roberts offer these:

·         A forbearance agreement may help borrowers with short-term financial problems, Roberts said. It’s a payment plan with a set pay-back period, and the bank will want proof you can live up to it. “If you owe $3,000 in back payments, for example, the bank may allow you to pay an extra $250 per month for 12 months,” he said.

·         Reinstatement entails paying all past-due payments, costs and fees to bring the account current. This may be a good short-term solution, Roberts said, but homeowners have to make hard decisions about whether they can keep paying the loan in the long haul.

·         Mortgage modification means working out a new loan, with many possible variations. The bank may agree to roll the amount owed in missed payments, penalties and interest into the total loan amount, for example, Roberts said. Or a modification might lower the interest rate or change the loan’s term.

·         Sell the house in a timely manner, pay off the loan and fees, and end the problem, Roberts and Bashaw said.

·         A short sale occurs when a lender agrees to take a loss by selling the house for less than the amount owed. “I don’t encounter those as much as you’d think,” Bashaw said. “They’re not the panacea that speculators and investors and real estate agents want you to think they are.”

·         Bankruptcy. “It can give you more time to restructure your debt,” Roberts said. “Bankruptcy takes you off the market, the collection proceedings can’t keep going. The clock just stops running.” But it’s extreme, and a lender might get court approval to proceed with the foreclosure anyway, Roberts said. Plus, it poisons your credit-worthiness.

·         Redemption. In Illinois, a foreclosed borrower has a certain amount of time after the house is sold at auction to redeem it by reimbursing the purchaser for the sale price and other costs.

·         Rescue plans can come from all manner of folks. They are too varied to describe here—except to say that homeowners must be wary of scams.

Bottom line: Don’t sign a quit-claim deed to someone who says this will “fix your problem,” Roberts says. It may be a ruse to steal the house. Check with a lawyer before you sign.

This was originally posted by Ralph Roberts but we thought it was such great information, we just had to share it. 

If you or someone you know is currently facing foreclosure, you have options, including:

1.    You are not alone. Foreclosure knows no geographic, racial, ethnic, or socio-economic boundaries. We have seen real estate agents, attorneys, and others face foreclosure. Michael Jackson recently filed for bankruptcy. Foreclosure is much more prevalent than you think.

2.    Most people facing foreclosure have at least a dozen options. (Many people falsely believe that they have only two options – pay up or move out.) You can reinstate the loan, refinance (consolidate debt), list the home for sale with an agent, sell to an investor (if you have insufficient time to list the property), offer a deed in lieu of foreclosure, declare bankruptcy, negotiate forbearance or a mortgage modification, to name several of the most common options.

3.    Banks and other lending institutions do not want to foreclose. They make more money if you can make your payments. When they foreclose, they not only lose your monthly payments, but they also have the expense of foreclosing, rehabbing the home, and then selling it. In today’s market, there’s a good chance they’ll have to sell the home at a loss. This is all good news for you – it means the bank is highly motivated to make a deal with you.

4.    Given the current mortgage crisis and resulting foreclosure epidemic, the federal government, your state government, and consumer protection advocacy groups have put more pressure on mortgage lenders and provided them with additional resources to help homeowners in distress. In a way, people facing foreclosure now may be in a much better position to avoid it than they would have been, say five years ago.

5.    If you own the home with your spouse or life partner, tell them immediately. Far too many people try to keep their partner in the dark. Eventually, the person will find out. It’s always better if they find out from you earlier rather than from someone else when they have little or no time to do anything about it. Couples that work as a team almost always see much better results.

6.    Call your lender – the sooner, the better. As soon as you stop making payments, the foreclosure clock starts ticking. The earlier you know your options, the more time you have to pursue those options.

An Advertorial Presented by Frost Brown Todd LLC

Written by: Kyle R Grubbs

I'm interested in purchasing a parcel of Real Estate, but the property owner just filed for bankruptcy?  Can I still purchase the property?  Is there anything special I need to do?

Yes and Yes.  The Bankruptcy Code permits a debtor-in-possession to sell its real estate and other assets based on its reasonable business judgment.  As with other purchases of real estate, as a potential purchaser, you should conduct standard due diligence including title, survey, environmental, zoning, and building inspections prior to purchasing the property.  In fact, since there will be virtually no representations or warranties made by the seller, the purchaser's due diligence is even more important in the bankruptcy context.  In addition, because the property owner is in bankruptcy, additional precautions are warranted.

First, the sale of the real estate must be authorized by the bankruptcy court if the sale of the real estate is outside of the debtor's ordinary course of business.  In almost all cases, sales of real state will be outside of a debtor's ordinary course of business.  To ensure the debtor obtains prompt bankruptcy court approval of the sale, the purchase contract should require the debtor to immediately file a motion seeking the bankruptcy court's approval of the sale.

Second, the sale of the real estate should be free and clear of any interest or lien of the debtor's creditors.  Because the seller of the real estate is in bankruptcy, the property is likely encumbered by mortgages, mechanic's liens, judgment liens, and other encumbrances.  Unlike a typical real estate transaction, liens and other monetary encumbrances are not necessarily paid at closing.  To ensure your purchase is free from the claims of the debtor's creditors, the order authorizing the sale of real estate should provide, among other things, that the (a) sale is free and clear of all liens, claims, encumbrances, and interests and that any liens will attach to the sale proceeds only; (b) purchaser is a "good faith purchaser" under the Bankruptcy Code so that the validity of the sale is not affected by an appeal of the sale order; and (c) ten-day stay set forth in the Bankruptcy Code is waived and the sale order is effective immediately to avoid any post-closing challenges to the sale.  You should work closely with your title company to ensure that the sale order is sufficient in all respects for the title company to issue you a clean title policy at closing.