Offering over asking price on a house often makes buyers wince. But let’s face it, paying above list price is just a reality in certain circumstances—at least if you really have any hopes of getting that house. ( From Realtor.com)
 
So when exactly should you aim high and offer over asking? Check for these signs below that suggest this pricey move is essential.

1. It’s a seller’s market

A seller’s market is when there are more home buyers than sellers—meaning demand outpaces the supply of homes for sale. As a result, home buyers in a seller’s market face a tough challenge: Due to increased competition, they often have to act fast and bid high to woo sellers into accepting their offer, says Seth Lejeune, a real estate agent with Berkshire Hathaway in Malvern, PA.

Looking at a couple of key factors can help you determine whether you’re in a seller’s market, Lejeune says, starting with the average days on market. 

A good rule of thumb: “If houses are selling in your neighborhood in less than 10 days, it’s a strong seller’s market,” Lejeune says. You can find what the average days on market is in your city using realtor.com’s Local Market Trends tool.

 Purchasing a home will most likely be one of the costliest endeavors of a buyer’s life. It can also be emotional, unnerving and bewilderingly complex. However, Identifying and avoiding expensive mistakes can help smooth the experience. Here are some of the most expensive mistakes home buyers make and some tips for how to avoid them in preparation for the search, purchase and transaction process.
(From MSN.COM/Money- Real Estate)

Failing to Negotiate the Sales Price

First-time home buyers often worry about insulting the seller by offering less than the asking price. This can be a costly mistake because most sellers are prepared to come down on their price. Your buyer’s agent can counsel you on an appropriate bid based on how long the house has been on the market and the recent sales prices of similar homes, but the final decision is up to you. Don’t be afraid to negotiate.

Not Cleaning Up Bad Credit

Life happens—perhaps you were out of work for a while and made a couple of car payments late, or you misplaced the occasional credit card bill. Unfortunately, it takes only a few late payments to negatively affect your credit score, and if you have less-than-stellar credit, you’ll end up paying more in interest on a home loan. Before you start house-hunting, obtain a free copy of your credit report and work toward raising your credit score. Many communities offer free credit counseling to help you clean up your credit.

Buying a Fixer-Upper

If you’re a fan of home improvement shows, you may think you’re ready to tackle a fixer-upper. But before you sign on the dotted line, there’s something you should know. Many communities require licensed professionals to upgrade wiring, plumbing, and roofing. Even if you’re allowed to do the work yourself, it will have to meet local building codes. So, if you’re not 100 percent confident in your building skills, you may end up having to hire subcontractors, and this will add substantially to the cost of a house that needs a lot of work.

Buying “As Is” Without Inspections

You’ve undoubtedly seen houses listed “as is,” but those two words should send up a red flag. When a seller lists a property “as is,” it means the seller will not warranty any defects in the house. What you see is what you get with these houses. Before making an offer on an “as is” house, pay to have the home professionally inspected. It will cost around $400, depending on the size of the house and the complexity of the inspection, but what you learn about the condition of the home will save you from getting stuck with unexpected, expensive repair costs.

Getting the Wrong Loan

Unless you’re buying a house to flip, don’t be lured by the promise of the low monthly mortgage payments that come with an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM). An ARM offers low payments for a year or so, but after that the payments can increase along with increases in the national prime lending rate. If the Fed raises interest rates, you could end up with monthly payments so high you’re forced to sell. Get a fixed-rate mortgage from the start, and you’ll always have the same monthly payment. 

Not Working with a Buyer’s Agent

If you’re like many potential home buyers, you scan the listings of available homes in your area, choose one you like, and then call the agent who’s listed on the ad. Big mistake. This agent is the seller’s agent and is legally bound to represent the seller’s interests, not yours. To protect your financial interests, you need a real estate agent who represents buyers—a buyer’s agent. Once you contract with one, she’ll handle all communications with other agents, show you through homes, and work on your behalf

Having a Change of Heart

When you make an offer on a house, you put down earnest money as a show of good faith. The amount of money is up to you, but it’s typically well over $1,000. If the deal falls through because you couldn’t obtain financing or because an expensive problem was uncovered during an inspection, you’ll get your money back. If you back out of the deal because you found a better house, however, you’ll lose your earnest money. It pays to be very sure before you make an offer.

Overestimating Your Budget

It’s always a good idea to get preapproved for a loan before you start house-hunting. That way you’ll know exactly how much you can spend. But being approved up to a certain amount doesn’t mean you should spend that amount. Owning a house involves a lot of unforeseen costs, such as utility costs, homeowners association fees, maintenance and repair costs, property taxes, and more. Once you factor in all those costs, buying a house at the top of your preapproval rate could strain your finances

Buying a House on Emotion

If the house with a white picket fence and cottage-style shutters brings back fond memories of your childhood visits to grandma’s, it can be difficult to see past its curb appeal. Buying on emotions can be a costly mistake if the house doesn’t meet your real-life needs. Your best bet is to make a list of all the things you need in a house and then eliminate any houses that don’t meet those needs, no matter what nostalgic or joyful feelings they may stir up.

Making a Small Down Payment

In the long run, you’ll pay a lot more for a house if you put down a tiny down payment. Your lender may accept as little as 3 percent of the cost of the home as a down payment, but if your down payment is less than 20 percent, you’ll have to pay private mortgage insurance (PMI), and you could also get stuck with a higher interest rate. Combined, the two could add thousands of dollars to your annual mortgage costs. If possible, save up so you can put 20 percent down when it comes time to buy.

Talking to Only One Lender

Don’t assume that all lenders are offering the same interest rates and terms on home loans. Before working with any lender, it’s a good idea to visit at least three and ask about their rates, fees, and terms. Request an estimated amortization schedule from each and then compare the numbers. Over the course of a home loan, you could save thousands just by choosing the right lender.

Skipping the Walk-Through

The inspection is over, your financing is in place, and you’re getting ready to close on your new house. A few hours or a day before the closing, you’ll have the option of taking one last walk-through before you finalize the deal and get the keys to the house. Don’t skip the opportunity. At this point, the house is usually vacant so it’s easier to spot problems, and it’s your last chance to see if anything’s wrong. Switch all the lights on and off, check the appliances, look under the sinks for leaks—make the most of the walk-through, because once you close, you, not the seller, are responsible for repairs.

WRITTEN BY GLENDA TAYLOR FOR MSN.COM/Money

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) returns to Los Angeles this week when some of the best players in women’s golf descend on the Wilshire Country Club, WCC. (ARTICLE COURTESY OF THE LARCHMONT CHRONICLE)

The second annual “Hugel-Air Premia LA Open” will be held April 24 to 28, and it will feature 144 players competing over 72 holes for a share of the $1.5 million purse. 


At a March 18 press event, hosted at the WCC, tournament director David Tucker told guests that he is looking forward to building on the success of last year’s event. “Our field of players will not be finalized until the week prior to our event, but today we are excited to share our current list of early commitments,” said Tucker. Highlights include 91 of the top 100 players on the LPGA’s money list, and 14 of the last 15 major winners, including Ariya Jutanugarn, Danielle Kang, Brooke Henderson, Lydia Ko and Anna Nordqvist. 

Photo Courtesy of The Associated Press

Reflecting on the success of last year’s tournament, WCC President Patrick O’Grady said that he thought it “was a really good experience, one that our membership would love to re-create” at the April tournament. 

During a panel discussion, O’Grady confirmed that the WCC has recently agreed to host the LPGA for an additional five years.

Student design contest

Four students from Hancock Park’s Third Street Elementary School have been tapped as winners of a ticket design contest for the tournament. The winning artwork created by each student will appear on the tournament’s daily grounds passes. 

“Last month, students received a blank sheet of paper with a box and the LPGA logo, and using colored pencils, crayons and markers were asked to bring the spirit of the LPGA to life on paper,” explained Tucker. 

As an award, students Caitlyn Lee, Samara McCarthy, Basia Carroll and Emily Oh received special replica plaques of their designs. 

Tickets, parking

Want to witness all the action in person? Tickets are still available. In addition to daily and weekly grounds passes ($25-$40 daily; $99 weekly), this year’s ticket packages include two new options for fans interested in taking their LPGA experience to the next level: The Macbeth Pass ($1,500) and the Notorious Pink Lounge ($125 daily; $350 weekly). Spectator parking will be at a remote location in Hollywood, with free shuttles running before, during and after tee times. Find more details at la-open.com. 
The tournament, sponsored by Hugel, a South Korean-based maker of Botox, and Air Premia, will be televised live on the Golf Channel. 

Written By Billy Taylor For Larchmont Chronicle: www.larchmontchronicle.com

FROM CNBC NEWS: A sharp drop in interest rates last week suddenly made millions more borrowers eligible to refinance their mortgages.

With the average rate on the 30-year fixed now close to 4 percent, 4.9 million borrowers could likely qualify for a refinance that could reduce their interest rates by at least three-quarters of a percentage point, according to Black Knight, a mortgage data and analytics company. That’s a nearly 50 percent increase in the size of that population in a single week. 

“While this will certainly impact buying power and housing demand as we enter the spring homebuying season, it’s also had a massive impact on refinance incentive almost overnight,” Black Knight researchers said in a monthly report. “After seeing refinance volumes drop significantly in late 2018, this is a game changer for both the housing and refi markets if rates hold at this level for an extended period of time.”

On a $300,000 mortgage a refinance from 4.81 percent to 4.06 percent would save the homeowner about $133 per month. On a $600,000 loan, it would be twice that savings, or $267 per month.

Of course, it’s important to factor in closing costs, which would be amortized over the length of the loan. For someone not intending to stay in the home for more than a few years, a refinance might not save them much.

The dramatic interest rate drop has definitely caught consumers’ attention, especially since it was the largest one-week decline in a decade. Last November, the rate was just over 5 percent.

“Our call volume has definitely ticked up,” said Matt Weaver, a loan originator at Cross Country Mortgage in Boca Raton, Florida. “We are servicing the calls coming in, but we are also reaching out.”

Lenders lost a lot of refinancing business over the last two years as rates ticked higher. The average rate on the 30-year fixed fell to just below 3.5 percent in the summer of 2016. It then jumped, jogged a bit, but has never hit anywhere near that low since. Refinance volume fell off a cliff, and several lenders had to downsize for lack of business.

With rates coming down, borrowers can not only save money through a refinance, but more borrowers are likely to be eligible.

Appraisals have been an issue in the housing market for buyers and refinancers. Home prices inflated so quickly that some appraisals were not keeping up. Now that home prices are cooling, that is the case less often.

On the flip side, as home prices deflate, borrowers lose home equity. For those homeowners seeking a “cash-out” refinance, the amount they could tap is diminishing. While some borrowers refinance their loans just to save on the monthly payment, others refinance for a larger loan in order to get cash in hand. So-called tappable equity, which is the amount available to a borrower before hitting the required minimum 20 percent equity in a home, fell in the last quarter of 2018 for the second straight quarter, according to Black Knight.

After reaching a high of $6.06 trillion in the second quarter of 2018, tappable equity has since fallen by $348 billion, and by $229 billion in the fourth quarter alone. That caused a sharp drop last year in the amount of equity homeowners cashed out, whether through first mortgage refinances or second home equity loans. With rates now lower, that could change.

“The last time rates were at this level, cash-out withdrawals as a share of available equity were more than 25 percent above where they were in Q4 2018, suggesting we could see a noticeable rebound in homeowners tapping available equity via cash-out refis in coming months given the increased rate incentive to do so,” said Ben Graboske, executive vice president of data and analytics at Black Knight.

WRITTEN BY DIANA OLICK FOR CNBC.COM

Every April, Autism Speaks kicks off World Autism Month beginning with UN-sanctioned World Autism Awareness Day on April 2.

Joined by the international community, hundreds of thousands of landmarks, buildings and communities around the world, light blue in recognition of people living with autism. Autism-friendly events and educational activities take place all month to increase understanding and acceptance and foster worldwide support.

Autism currently affects 1 in 68 children in the United States, according to newly released statistics from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). More than 70 million people around the world are affected by the disorder. 

World Autism Awareness Day pus a spotlight on the hurdles that people with autism face every day & celebrates the unique talents of those with autism. 

This Tuesday Evening, thousands of landmarks, businesses, and communities in more than 147 countries will join to mark the Ninth annual LIGHT IT UP BLUE campaign and raise global awareness of autism spectrum disorder. 

More than 11,000 buildings are joining the campaign in a show of support World Autism Awareness Day was adopted by the United Nations in 2007 to focus on autism as a global health issue and to support, empower and enhance the well-being of people on the autism spectrum and their families. The goal is to increase knowledge about autism spectrum disorder and the importance of early diagnosis and early intervention.
 

Participating landmarks include: One World Trade Center and Rockefeller Center in New York City; CN Tower in Canada, the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal in Egypt, Taipei 101 in Taiwan, Burj Khalifa in Dubai, Shanghai Tower in China, Sydney Opera House in Australia, and the ancient city of Petra in Jordan.

Autism Speaks is the world’s leading autism science and advocacy organization. Its Light It Up Blue campaign marks the start of Autism Awareness Month in April. Dignitaries from around the world will also mark the occasion by gathering at the United Nations for a panel discussion on autism.

You can read more about the Light It Up Blue campaign here:
https://www.autismspeaks.org/ 

The annual Autism Speaks Los Angeles Walk will Take place Sat, 4/27 at the Pasadena Rose bowl. To Participate, donate and more Info click here: 
https://act.autismspeaks.org/site/SPageServer/?NONCE_TOKEN=470B1693722A076AB7436AE5A4D8256B&pagename=walk_homepage