If you or someone you know cannot afford their mortgage payments, consumer credit counselors generally suggest that you contact your lender and request enough time to list the property with a real estate agent and sell it. 

If you are not too far behind on your mortgage payments, the lender may agree to what is known as a short sale. If not, then lender may choose to foreclose.

If the lender agrees to a “short sale” this means that the amount you receive for your home is less than what you owe the lender. Another way to think of it, is you go to the closing short of funds to close on the property.  There are advantages to a short sale.  In the case of a short sale, the lender agrees to accept the proceeds of the sale and forego the remainder of the loan balance.  By accepting a short sale a lender can avoid a lengthy and costly foreclosure and the home owner is able to pay off the loan for less than they owe and since this is not a foreclosure, it may not have the potentially devastating effects on a credit score that a foreclosure will cause. 

If you or someone you know might consider a short sale as a good option for selling property or are interested in purchasing a property in a short sale, I am here to help you. I have a very successful history of assisting sellers and buyers in our community with this circumstance.  To learn more about how I can assist you or someone you know, call me today at 508-212-6511

Why Attleboro? 

Attleboro is a post-industrial city with a charter dating back to 1694.  It’s true, we are not the prettiest of cities, but we have great spirit and geographically it is dynamic.  Attleboro sits 35 miles south of Boston and 12 miles north of Providence, and Route 95 runs along its western boundary, giving those if us who live here immediate access to the major North/South Interstate Highway on the east coast. 

If you live in Attleboro, you can be in: 

New York City in 3 hours

In Boston in 1 hour

In Providence in 20 minutes

At a Rhode Island beach in about an hour

In the Berkshire mountains in 3 hours

On the Maine coast in 2 hours

On Cape Cod in little more than 1 hour 

Attleboro is ideally situated for day trips and short vacations, and between Boston and Providence, there are over 100 colleges and universities and museums of all types, which provide an abundance of cultural and learning opportunities. 

Attleboro residents also enjoy easy access to two excellent airports, Logan International Airport in Boston, and T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island.  The commuter rail line has a stop in Attleboro and South Attleboro.  The line runs from Providence to Boston on a regular schedule, and from Providence’s Union Station, New York City is an easy ride. 

When buying a home, there is a lot of paperwork that must be completed before the closing and it is all date-sensitive legal contracts. This paperwork can include:

• Offers to Purchase
• Home Inspections
• Mortgage contingence
• Septic inspection
• Home inspection reports
• Home appraisal reports
• Mortgage commitment dates
• Fixture lists (items that come with the home and items you would like removed)

Filing the paperwork is not difficult, but can take some time.

Survey Neighborhoods

Another advantage to hiring an agent is that you will not have to do as much legwork in the beginning. You may have a few neighborhoods in mind, but you will be able to leave it to your agent to find homes for sale and setting up appointments to see them.

This is another valuable time saver, especially if you have to work during the week. Taking time from your busy day to call other agents and homeowners to set up appointments will distract you from your other daily duties.

More Reasons To Hire A Real Estate Agent

There are several other reasons to hire a real estate agent. These include:

• Peace Of Mind

The bottom line is that as a buyer, a buyer’s agent is the best resource when it comes to finding and making an offer on a home. While a seller’s agent will be able to tell you the basics about a home, they are working for the homeowner. They will not try to get you the best terms and lowest price for the home.

If you enjoy negotiating, then working with seller’s agents might be for you. But if you are like most people, hiring an agent to work on your side will make the entire process more enjoyable and much less time consuming. Often the agent is the sounding board in the process.

I tell you what the seller wants; you tell me what you want to pay. I relay that to the seller’s agent. and the negotiating begins, with me, the agent, as your experienced and committed negotiator.

Attleboro area Real Estate News ttwombly@jackconway.com 508-212-6511

Memorial Day is but two weeks away, what are your plans for the weekend made to say thank you to all who gave their lives for this Great Nation

INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:

"Strength of numbers is the delight of the timid.
The Valiant in spirit glory in fighting alone."

- Ghandi

COMMITTEE COMFORT!

It has been said that "a camel is a horse created by a committee." You've probably witnessed the process yourself. You put any twelve decision-makers in a room together, and they can't seem to make a decision at all. Worse yet, they create something that is comfortable to all members - a camel of their own making.

Ghandi says numbers are the "delight of the timid." At some time or another, we all want the comfort of being surrounded by others with interests common to us. Maybe it's on sales meeting day when the discussion turns into a gripe session. Maybe it's in the break room, around the proverbial "water cooler," or in a training class we've just taken. Wherever the group meets, the results are often the same - a lack of action backed up by all the reasons that justify the inaction.

Ghandi also says the glory is "in fighting alone." Look around. Do you see one or two individuals who spend little of their time with the group? Sometimes called "loners," these are usually also the over-achievers, the top producers in life and business. They know where they're going and they don't need your approval to do it. The committee says they aren't "team players."

Being human, it is certainly normal to seek the comfort of others. In the case of those few individuals described as "the Valiant in spirit," however, their strength comes from their accomplishments. In each of us, there is also that "Valiant" spirit - the part of us that wants to strike out on our own. You can do that by resigning from the committees of your life. Elect yourself President and Chairman of the Board of your own future - and make it unanimous!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dreaming about a new home - here in the Attleboro area or somewhere else? Check out www.terrytwombly.com here. Or if you're thinking of a dream home somewhere else - call me for a personal referral to a great Realtor through our nationwide network.

If you or someone you know is upside down with your mortgage I may know someone who can help. I can and do what is known as Short Sales if there is a need.

Have a GREAT week!

Terry Twombly ABR, GRI, SFR, CSS

ttwombly@jackconway.com ttwombly@jackconway.com 508-212-6511

I list and sell homes all over Southeastern Massachusetts, and Rhode Island Attleboro, North Attleboro, Norton, Mansfield, Easton, Taunton ,Seekonk, Rehoboth, Foxboro are a few of the many cities and towns where I work.

About Terry Twombly

Most people who sell their homes are also working with an agent. This agent is known as a seller’s agent. If you choose not to hire an agent, you will be dealing with a seller’s agent – who is looking out for the home owner’s best interests, not yours, on most occasions. 

Sometimes, though, the seller’s agent and the buyer’s agent can be the same agent. This means that I am looking after the interests of everyone involved. This is not a rare occurrence. I do it often and know other good agents who will work for the best interest of everyone. There are some agents out there who see you coming in without an agent of your own and will stick their fingers into your pockets right up to the elbows. It is these times when it is best to hire a real estate agent who can negotiate with the other agent in order to get you the best deal on a home.

Negotiating purchase price with agents can take a week or more, depending on how high you are willing to go and how low the owners are willing to go. This can become a complicated game once you introduce home inspectors. Listen to your buyer’s agent, have them do price comparisons on the house, and believe the comps.

I advise almost all buyers to have a home inspection done, so they know just what they are buying. I do not want them to purchase a home and then be surprised it needs work.

After the home inspection, if you feel there are repairs that must be made prior to the sale of the home (or if you want a price reduction because of the repairs you will have to make) you will have to negotiate with the owners to settle on a fair price. Sometimes the owners will say, if you want it, buy it, if you don’t want it, then here is your deposit. Other times they will make the repairs at no cost to the buyer, with a variety of scenarios in between. Without an agent, you will have to do all of this negotiation work yourself.

As a home buyer, your real estate agent is considered the buyer’s agent. While some people will forego hiring an agent when looking for a home, in order to save money on commission costs, they will usually end up hiring an agent to:

• Handle negotiations with sellers
• Do paperwork
• Survey neighborhoods

It is in your best interest to hire an agent in order to make buying a home a much easier and faster process. The agent is working for you the buyer, often being paid by the seller. Do not cut corners with an agent. They can either save you a lot of time and money or cost you a lot of time and money.

Information Realtors Should Tell You

There is plenty of information realtors can tell you about the homes you will be viewing. Things they should include:

• The price of the home
• What the public records show
• The age of the home, if we know it
• Any renovations that have been done, that we know of
• Any other issues with the home that we learn about
• Property taxes
• Plot plan
• Community dues
• Schools in the area
• How you can find out about neighborhood crime rates
• The median age of those who live in the neighborhood

Usually, if I do not have the information you request on hand, I am able to locate the right source of facts once I am back at the office.

You should be able to find out all the information you need in order to make an informed decision about buying a home. Realtors are required by law to give you information concerning repairs, damage, and the history of a home – if they know it and are asked. Remember to ask all your questions. We are not home inspectors but we do get the basic information for you.

This includes any incidents that have occurred inside the home such as criminal activity, fire, and other events, if we can learn about them.

You can also do a little research of your own by using the information you can get at the town hall, library and the internet, which has become a wonderful tool to use when searching for a home. Research past events that have taken place in the neighborhood, the home itself, or the town where you want to live. Knowing a little history may prompt you to look elsewhere or make an offer.

 Some other information realtors can tell you include:

• Home owner price reductions
• Prices of other homes in the area that are comparable to the one you are looking into buying
• How quickly the owner wants or needs to sell their home
• How much you will have to pay in property taxes each year, on average
• Other taxes in the area

A: When an elderly parent or relative gives up their home and moves to assisted living or a nursing home, the transition can be complicated and difficult. Here are eight tips to help you efficiently sell an estate property.

One of the Best Communities to raise kids. 

ATTLEBORO - The city is the second best community of its size and income level in Massachusetts in which to raise kids, and is in the top 2 percent nationwide, according to the national publication Bloomberg Business week.

 The magazine's fifth annual analysis of top child-rearing locales ranks Marlboro as the state's top community in which to bring up children.

 Attleboro was designated the "runner-up."

The publication based its analysis on the number of schools, school performance, cost of living and crime statistics, as well as cultural and recreational opportunities.

Mayor Kevin Dumas said diligent efforts by the city and private groups to improve Attleboro are paying off. "We believe that this honor recognizes the hard work and achievements by the city, as well as all the wonderful quality of life features that the city offers," he said.

 "This is yet another indication that Attleboro is on the right track."

 Bloomberg looked at "small cities, towns and villages," which it defined as those that contain more than the median number of residents per community statewide, but no more than 50,000 population.

 And the publication considered only communities where the median family income was within 20 percent of the state median, which eliminated low- and high-income communities.

 All told, 5,418 communities throughout the nation were considered. Two were picked from each state, putting Attleboro in the top 100 communities or in the top 2 percent of communities its size and income level nationwide.

 Other factors important to the analysis were "job growth, air quality, ethnic diversity and access to parks, zoos, theaters and other recreational facilities." Last fall, the city's nine public schools made a number of gains in state and standardized tests. There are also highly touted private institutions like Bishop Feehan High School and St. John the Evangelist School.

 Activities for children are many and include city-run Capron Park Zoo, which has a number of educational programs. The city boasts both art and industrial museums.

 There are numerous private sports leagues and a very active city-run recreation department that operates a numerous programs, including a popular after-school teen center where youngsters can play, study or just watch TV.

 Last year, the city struck a deal with LaSalette Shrine and the Massachusetts Audubon Society that preserves 100 acres of LaSalette-owned woods and wetlands for passive recreational use. The property borders 360 acres of city-owned land, giving both adults and children opportunities to observe and enjoy nature despite being in the center of a busy commercial and industrial city.

 Meanwhile, the city is on the commuter rail line and Interstate 95, which provide easy access to many big-city attractions in both Providence and Boston.

 And during the summer, the Boston Red Sox Triple A team, the Pawtucket Red Sox, plays just 20 minutes away in Pawtucket and is a low-cost big league alternative for families.

The online Bloomberg Business week story can be found at http://images.businessweek.com/slideshows/20101214/the-best-places-to-raise-your-kids-2011/slides/22

GEORGE W. RHODES can be reached at 508-236-0432 or at grhodes@thesunchronicle.com.

Just want to share an article from today's Wall Street Journal with you.  Mortgage rates are on the rise, which is a two-edged sword.  It causes the cost of buying a home to rise, and at the same time puts downward pressure on what properties will sell for.   

Here is the article from the Journal http://www.smartmoney.com/personal-finance/real-estate/mortgage-rates-jump-will-house-prices-fall-1292541771553/

If you're in the Boston/Providence area and are thinking it's time you act on buying a home, please call me.  508-212-6511  It will be my pleasure to be of service to you.