Two story with master bedroom on main!  New carpet, paint, & tile!  New appliances that include a refrigerator, microwave, stove, dishwasher, & a washer & dryer! Large loft that over looks the Great Room! Master bath has garden tub, separate shower and dual vanity! Fenced Yard! Hurry! Seller to pay 5% in Closing Costs with acceptable offer!

Immaculate Townhome in Taylor Glen. Shows like a Model. 2 bedrooms upstairs with 2 full baths. Rear load garage. Community features: Jr Olympic Pool, Kiddie Pool, Clubhouse, Tennis Court, Soccer Field & 2 Playgrounds. Very Convenient to Shopping, Dining, Schools, etc.

This incredible five bedroom home offers great space throughout in addition to architectural delights! From the moment you enter, you'll be impressed with the soaring vaulted ceilings, walls of windows and heavy molding and details. The main floor features glistening hardwood floors & tons of storage space. Enormous chef's kitchen featuring a cooktop plus double ovens, walk in pantry, built in desk, granite & more. Full bedroom / bath on main floor could also double as an office. Huge rooms upstairs with ample closets & additional storage options. This home has all the luxuries and details you could imagine. Beautiful, level, private 3/4+ acre cul-de-sac lot! Tons of community amenities including soccer fields, olympic sized pool, walking trails & more. Here's your chance to live in the popular community of Marvin at a great price!

Beautiful all brick custom built two story basement that shows like a model home! A double tier balcony overlooking tons of trees and backs up to the golf course. Privacy galore. Hurry to see this beauty!

Great opportunity!

Don't miss out on this fantastic buy.  New paint and new carpet. Great location close to shopping and dining. Privacy fence! Low Union County Taxes.  Fantastic Amenities! Motivated Sellers!

Beautiful home, move in ready. NO HOA! Kitchen remodeled 2011, solid maple cabinets, DuPont solid surface counters, ALL NEW APPLIANCES, remodeled baths 2011, refinished wood floors 2011, new water heater 07, new Trane HVAC 06, new roof/exterior paint 9/10, interior paint 2011 w/neutral colors, nicely landscaped, fenced yard. The best value in Union County under $200K. Make your appointment today!

No details spared! Move to like new home without paying new construction premiums or waiting to build! Upgrades galore incldg 11' ceiilngs on 1st floor, heavy custom molding & woodwork, gleaming hardwood floors, 2" blinds, custom window treatments & more! Enormous chef's kitchen with all the bells & whistles! Oversized rooms throughout! Luxurious master suite with private terrace! Huge loft/media room. Walk in closets! Great outdoor entertaining! USDA $0 DOWN Financing available!

New Roof being put on by 11/1/11  Formal living room and dining room. Family room is open to kitchen.  Wood burning fireplace.  Established yard.  Large deck and gorgeous pergola.  Side load 2 car garage.  Hardwood floors in kitchen, family room, hall and bath.  Jetted tub in Master.  Trey ceiling in master.  Huge kitchen with chef's island. Finished garage. Don't miss this one!

5 Bedrooms plus bonus room & 3 full baths. Full brick home in Hunter Oaks. You will be delighted with this home inside and outside. 1st FL guest suite, master on 2nd FL with two walk in closets, bonus Rm with closets, premium lot, backyard with screened porch, deck, paved area and small pond. This home is ready for move in. Come see for yourself, you will be glad you did.

Or, you could look at it this way.. The likelihood of one staying in a house for the life of the loan is less than one thousandth of one percent or one out of every 100,000 people. So odds are he would never end up paying the $23,400. But for about the price of a cup of coffee per  day he could be in this house soon with instant equity and start taking advantage of the tax savings that is likely to be more than $65 per month. He could find another house that is in top shape, but for the same amount of money he would get far less house, and likely with no equity for a few years. This is the risk/reward factor that comes along with buying distressed (bank owned) property. Typically you are going to have to spend some money out of pocket on these properties, but typically you still come out like a bandit in the end with equity in the property.

If you're facing this dilemma, have you looked at what your out of pocket investment and the instant equity equates to  a year from now? 5 Year? 10 years? Verses a house with no equity for a few years?

Here's an example: Distressed property sales price $155,000 verses same house in top shape for $180,000. Add $10,000 worth of repairs. Distressed property price is now $165,000. All things considered, down payment and closing costs would be somewhat similar, you would have $15,000 equity in the property immediately!  Let's say out of pocket expenses were similar for both homes $8000. You are $8000 dollars out of pocket with NO EQUITY in the house in top shape, verses $8000 out of pocket with $15,000 in equity in the distressed property! Even at a modest appreciation it would take you a few years to make it to the "break even" point with the house in top shape. Whereas the appreciation in the Distressed property continues to climb every year!

Here's the bottom line, the only thing certain in life is death and taxes. You should never overextend yourself no matter what. There is always that chance you could lose your job and not even be able to find another job. Should you just rent and pay someone else's mortgage? If you lose your job, certainly you could "find somewhere to live". But wait, you could do that if you owned as well!

Mitch Muller is a Certified Distressed Property Expert^®  and a Certified Residential Specialist® with specific understanding of the complex issues confronting the real estate industry, and the foreclosure avoidance options available to homeowners. 

Charlotte NC Real Estate - What does this have to do with real estate? Everything! A lot of people are going back to work which means they will start spending money again which has a trickledown effect on the economy creating even more jobs in which those people spend even more money! According to a government survey, the unemployment rate dropped last month to 9 percent and that more than a half million people have found work. Wow!

Other reports say the economy is picking up with new jobs, and many people are starting new businesses. Retail sales are going up and factories are cranking out new goods! So what does all this mean to real estate? It means more people will be in the market to buy homes and when you start chipping into supply and demand 101, that's a good sign of things to come!

Mitch Muller is a Certified Distressed Property Expert^®  and a Certified Residential Specialist® with specific understanding of the complex issues confronting the real estate industry, and the foreclosure avoidance options available to homeowners. 

Mitch Muller is a Certified Distressed Property Expert^®  and a Certified Residential Specialist® with specific understanding of the complex issues confronting the real estate industry, and the foreclosure avoidance options available to homeowners. 

The answer is, a good experienced Realtor with hard facts from their multiple listing service, specific to your area! Once you expand from that area, be it your street, then your neighborhood, your zip code, then your map area, city, etc, the numbers become less accurate. I've seen home values differ from one side of the street to another!

Also consider this fact, three different type homes sell for $150,000, $200,000 and $250,000. The average sales price is $200,000. Three more similar homes come on the market at the same prices, but this time the one for $250,000 hasn't sold yet. Does that mean all these home values have gone down? No. It means the average sales price for the two that recently sold is $175,000 is all!

Mitch Muller is a Certified Distressed Property Expert^®  with specific understanding of the complex issues confronting the real estate industry, and the foreclosure avoidance options available to homeowners. 

I recently sold a home for a client who had very little assets, but had near perfect credit. I’m not trying to put in a plug for myself here, but the house had been empty and she had been trying to sell it for a year. She thought she was going to have to do a short sale. I asked if she had considered borrowing the money for the shortage? I was surprised no one had thought of this. Long story short, we were able to adjust the price and get it sold quickly, she borrowed $18,000 dollars to bring to closing for the shortage and was ecstatic to have gotten rid of the house! She was tickled to death to now have only a $200 dollar a month payment verses $2000 dollars a month payment on a vacant house. And, kept her near prefect credit rating!

Long and short of the story, there are lots of other options available if you are upside down on your home!

Mitch Muller is a Certified Distressed Property Expert^®  with specific understanding of the complex issues confronting the real estate industry, and the foreclosure avoidance options available to homeowners. 

This past week we are seeing slightly higher rates because we are starting to see inflation and concerns over a double-dip recession have subsided. Now I’m no economic expert but I do know mortgages are bonds, so when bond traders see inflation on the horizon, they raise the rate of return they require so that their profit is not eaten away by inflation.

So in short we could potentially see rates headed up which will start offsetting some of these great deals on homes that are available out there on the market today?

This week 30 yr. fixed rates ranged between 4.125 &  4.375% depending on program, credit and points.  What will they be next week, next month, six months from now? Who really knows. I just call it as I see it!

There are numerous reasons. If you are behind on your payments, most of the damage to your credit has already been done should you decide to go the short sale route. It gets worse if you go into foreclosure. For example, there is a flag for foreclosure on your credit report and this is huge. There is no such thing for a short sale. A foreclosure is a public filing and a deficiency judgment, and can follow you forever. It asks that question on mortgage credit applications (if you’ve ever filed bankruptcy or been foreclosed on). It can affect your getting a job, it can cause your insurance to skyrocket, you can’t get a Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, or VA loan for five years. With a short sale you can in as little as two. There are lots of things other than just trying to salvage your credit. I always ask people when they are in this situation, “Do you want to keep your home, if so have you exhausted all efforts to get a loan modification?” 

Mitch Muller is a Certified Distressed Property Expert^®  with specific understanding of the complex issues confronting the real estate industry, and the foreclosure avoidance options available to homeowners. 

Home sales are down for several reasons. One is the first time homebuyers tax credit expired earlier this year that many first time homebuyers took advantage of. Another is because of the recent foreclosure robo signing debacle.

I personally have several first time homebuyers looking in the low 100’s price range. The homes that work for them and they can afford are mostly foreclosures and short sales. Guess what? This inventory has all but vanished.

This in part is because a lot of the inventory has been bought up, even since the tax credit expired. A lot in part because of the continued historic low interest rates. But a big part of this inventory has been taken off the market and put on hold. In addition to this, very few foreclosures have been listed since as well.

Another piece of the puzzle is the short sales. Many sellers are not listing their homes as short sales right now, thinking they have plenty of time, some thinking something magical will happen and they will not be foreclosed on.

So suddenly many buyers out there are finding no homes that will work in their price range anymore, hence less sales. As far as the average price going up? That’s simple math! Less homes selling in the lower price range simple makes the average sales price go up! And this has nothing to do with values.

What exactly is a short sale?

A short sale is when a seller has a mortgage on their house (say for example $150,000) and they sell the house for less than what is owed on it (say for example $125,000). Barring other expenses, they are “short” $25,000 dollars. The bank agrees to accept the $125,000 as a payoff so the seller can sell his house despite the shortage, hence “short sale”.

This is a pretty simple explanation albeit the process is not that simple and there are of course ramifications.

Watch for upcoming articles about these ramifications and advantages of a short sale verses foreclosure, deed in leiu of foreclosure, etc.

Make it a great day!

Mitch Muller is a Certified Distressed Property Expert^®  with specific understanding of the complex issues confronting the real estate industry, and the foreclosure avoidance options available to homeowners.