Skip to main content

We're Watching . . . And You'll Be Glad


Real estate agents and home buyers alike are feeling the squeeze from the lack of homes on the market.  Don’t despair!  For both real estate agents and home buyers, there’s a great untapped source for finding deals before they ever hit the market: your lender.  If any of you are a bit confused by what I mean when I say “your” lender, I mean . . . well, us.  

How do we do this, you ask?  Two words: equity watch.  For the real estate agent who helped their client buy a home, say, seven years ago, we let them know when their client has reached a certain level of equity in their home and prompt the agent to give their client a call with the good news.  It’s a good excuse for them to call, catch up, deliver the great news, and see if their client is ready to sell their home and either upgrade or downsize, depending on their station in life.  Statistics have shown that almost 70% of people selling their existing homes DON’T call the real estate agent who originally helped them purchase it.  If the agent can get out in front of this and be the one bringing this type of news to their clients, that number is going to swing in the other direction, right?  And with one call, you’ve picked up a new listing AND the chance to help them purchase another house.  You’re welcome!

For home buyers, this could help you get a jump on the huge number of buyers vying for just a small number of homes in a certain price range.  Before doing anything else, come in and get qualified for a mortgage.  Once we know what you’re qualified to purchase, the moment a home comes up on our equity watch that fits your parameters, you can be notified immediately. That sure beats getting three years of spam emails because you entered your contact information on a particular website that shall remain nameless but possibly rhymes with Killow.  

If the benefits to real estate agents and home buyers aren’t enough to convince you of the awesomeness of this service we offer, let me give you an example of what this can do for a home SELLER. Recently, we reached out to an agent who sold a home to her client about seven years ago and let her know that her client now has a decent amount of equity in his home.  With a bit of prompting (none of us is perfect), she remembered the gentleman and gave him a call to let him know.  While the agent was able to pick up an instant listing AND a subsequent purchase for her client (absolutely NOTHING wrong with that!), the client himself did EXTREMELY well: with the money he made off the sale of his home, he was able to use a portion for the down payment on his new (BIGGER) house and use the rest to pay off some debts.  Upshot: not only was he able to upgrade to a bigger house, the elimination of debt increased his monthly cash flow by $1700.  I’m fairly sure we made it onto his Christmas card list for the next ten years.  

In conclusion, let me assure you that there’s nothing creepy or voyeuristic about our equity watch no matter how nicely you ask.  

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Numbers Don't Lie, But Wherein Lies the Truth? (Posted November 21, 2016)

Said with enough conviction, you can make almost anything sound true.   Preface the fabrication with “according to a recent bi-partisan government study,” and you’re three quarters of the way to selling the lie to a lot of people.   Seriously, try this. The next time you’re at a dinner party or having coffee with friends, pepper this little tidbit into the conversation: “I read something really interesting the other day.   According to a recent bi-partisan government study – I think it took them three years to get it all done – middle-aged men who drive either a Toyota Camry or a Honda Odyssey have more testosterone than younger men who drive either a Ford F150 or a Dodge Charger.”   You’ll get some raised eyebrows and looks of mild disbelief, but don’t let that deter you.   Just lift up your hands, palms outward, and say, “I just think it’s interesting, and it makes sense when you think about it” – and then change the subject to something completely u...

The Naked Truth About Home Buying

It’s highly likely I’ve already written about this, but I’ll try to make it entertaining at least.   There’s a guy who works in ou r office who suffers from kidney stones – and from what he’s described, “suffers” might even be a little too tame a word for it.   As an aside, though, when you ask him how painful the experience is, he gets an odd smile and says, “It’s the most intense pain I’ve ever experienced, but it’s hard to describe.   I’ve heard a lot of people compare it to the pain a woman experiences while giving birth.   To that, I must say, those people are big, fat liars!   I’ve been in the presence of a woman giving birth, twice, and her pain has to be 100 times worse.   They’re passing the equivalent of a Buick.   I’m passing a pumpkin seed.”   He’s always been a colorful fellow. He’s had this wonderful condition for over a decade now, and the stones make their appearance about every 18 months or so.   Up until recently, ...

The Waiting (is the Hardest Part)

Full disclosure: this week’s missive is more for the consumer than for the realtor.   I can promise, though, that for all the realtors who read this, you’ll most likely find yourself saying or thinking something along the lines of “preach on, brother”, “testify”, “amen”, or “you got that right”.   W ith that in mind, I implore you ALL to read on.   Recently, I received my monthly wireless phone bill, and it was $20 higher than it should have been.   I had made some changes on my plan a little before that, but my monthly bill’s amount was supposed to stay virtually the same – in fact, my first bill after the changes was a little bit less than my usual amount.   Bonus!   Befuddled, I called the company and asked the operator to help me understand why my bill was $20 higher and then find a way to get it back down to the price I had been promised when I had made the changes to my plan.   Long story short: the operator with whom I had originally m...