By: G. M. Filisko

Published: March 30, 2010

After finding a buyer, all you have to do to make it to closing is to avoid these five traps.

Mistake #1: Ignore contingencies

If your contract requires you to do something before the sale, do it. If the buyers make the sale contingent on certain repairs, don’t do cheap patch-jobs and expect the buyers not to notice the fixes weren’t done properly.

Mistake #2: Don’t bother to fix things that break

The last thing any seller needs is for the buyers to notice on the pre-closing walk-through that the home isn’t in the same condition as when they made their offer. When things fall apart in a home about to be purchased, sellers must make the repairs. If the furnace fails, get a professional to fix it, and inform the buyers that the work was done. When you fail to maintain the home, the buyers may lose confidence in your integrity and the condition of the home and back out of the sale.

Mistake #3: Get lax about deadlines

Treat deadlines as sacrosanct. If you have three days to accept or reject the home inspection, make your decision within three days. If you’re selling, move out a few days early, so you can turn over the keys at closing.

Mistake #4: Refuse to negotiate any further

Once you’ve negotiated a price, it’s natural to calculate how much you’ll walk away with from the closing table. However, problems uncovered during inspections will have to be fixed. The appraisal may come in at a price below what the buyers offered to pay. Be prepared to negotiate with the buyers over these bottom-line-influencing issues.

Mistake #5: Hide liens from buyers

Did you neglect to mention that Uncle Sam has placed a tax lien on your home or you owe six months of homeowners association fees? The title search is going to turn up any liens filed on your house. To sell your house, you have to pay off the lien (or get the borrower to agree to pay it off). If you can do that with the sales proceeds, great. If not, the sale isn’t going to close.

More from HouseLogic

How maintenance adds to home values

Reducing closing stress

Other web resources

More on calculating closing costs

More on the closing process

G.M. Filisko is an attorney and award-winning writer who wanted a successful closing on a Wisconsin property so bad that she probably made her agent rethink going into real estate. A frequent contributor to many national publications including Bankrate.com, REALTOR® Magazine, and the American Bar Association Journal, she specializes in real estate, business, personal finance, and legal topics.

Denver Foreclosures Have Reached Their Peak and Turned

And, from the Denver Post today, even more support for the tide turning on foreclosure activity.  Short sale activity may be helping with this decline in foreclosure activity too!

Foreclosure activity not yet at peak nationwide but near plateau in Colorado

Read more:Foreclosure activity not yet at peak nationwide but near plateau in Colorado – The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_17090821#ixzz1BOh9mL1s
Read The Denver Post’s Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

Long term, this trend will be good for Denver and surrounding Colorado Communities, but when 10, 15 and even 20K+ families are losing their homes each year, this is negatively impactful on the overall regional economy.  Vacant homes do not strengthen the economy. Owner occupied homes strengthen the economy.  Until we start selling owner occupied homes again, we will not enjoy the upward potential that this market is ready to provide.

Reuter-Hess Reservoir Aerial View

Rueter-Hess Reservoir Aerial Views

Here’s a quick fact sheet:

• Planning for the project started almost 30 years ago.
• Permitting of the original project (120 foot tall dam impounding 16,200 Acre feet of water) began in 1999.
• Approval of the original project was granted in 2004.
• Construction on the original project started in September 2004.
• Approval for the enlarged project 184 foot tall dam impounding 72,000 Acre feet of water was granted in April of 2008.
• Construction of the enlarged project began in September of 2008.
• Completion of the project is anticipated in spring of 2012.
• By the time the project is complete:
• 15,000,000 cubic yards of earth will have been placed in the dam.
• 30,000 cubic yards of concrete will have been placed.
• 5,600 tons of steel will have be used.
• The final reservoir has a capacity of 72,000 Acre feet of water which equates to 23,461,200,000 gallons of water.
• The surface area of the filled reservoir will be 1,200 Acres or 1.5 times thesiz Creek Reservoir.
• The deepest point the reservoir will be 184 feet below the surface.
• There will be over 14 of shoreline.

Colorado State Flag

Resident Population Data

2010 Census Data on Colorado

Denver ranks about 21st in a recent list of Metropolitan Statistical Areas.  What’s interesting however, is Colorado with just over 5 million residents has less population than the top 9 statistical areas.

Denver residents enjoy all the benefits of a top statistical area, but the low density of the surrounding state of Colorado, and the surrounding low density states of Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arizona and Nebraska.

As you an see from the links above, Colorado’s growth slowed significantly during the last decade, but it has not stopped and will continue.  Guess what, there is a plan for that growth.  DRCOG has a vision plan for 2035.

Take a few minutes and see what’s in store for us!

I posted this back in Novemeber of 2008, and I thought it might be enlightening to read it again today.  There is a lot of stability when fear is reduced.  Much of this is still true today!

MEDIA INSPIRED FEAR IN THE MARKET.