New FHA Requirements Coming for Atlanta, GA Buyers and Sellers - Thursday December 3rd, 2009 1:09am
It appears that FHA is getting ready to reduce the seller contribution from 6% to 3%. It is also expected that they will institute higher credit score requirements. Please see link below -- I will also follow up once I have more details.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/02/AR2009120200025.html

Improve your credit score for buying your Atlanta home. - Friday November 20th, 2009 9:04pm
Be sure to buy your Atlanta fime by improving your credit score

1. Review your current credit report for accuracy. Everyone is entitled to one free credit report per year from each of the three credit bureaus-Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Get a copy of your credit report and look at it for accuracy. First, make sure that the information in your file is about you and only you, not someone who has a similar name or a similar Social Security number. It is very common for your credit reports to have mistakes or incorrect information. At a minimum, make sure that the information you are being evaluated on is current and correct.

2. Repair credit report mistakes. If you find something on your credit report that is incorrect or missing, you should dispute the mistake by contacting the credit bureaus directly. All credit bureaus have their dispute procedures on their website. They are also required by law to investigate any disputed items and these investigations will usually be done within 30 days of your request.

3. Pay your bills on time. Sounds like a no-brainer, right? Payment history accounts for roughly 35% of your credit score. Paying bills on time is the most important thing to do. If you're struggling to catch up, contact your creditors to work out a payment schedule.

4. Increase the length of your credit history. This accounts for about 15% of your score. Don't cancel your old card or get a lot of new ones in a short time span because this can hurt your score.

5. Keep credit card balances low. It's a good idea to keep the balances below 25% of your available credit. Even if you pay off your credit cards every month, a high average balance will impact your score. This accounts for about 30% of your credit score.

6. Keep new credit requests to a minimum. This accounts for 10% of your score. Every time a lender runs your credit, an inquiry is recorded. If you are trying to get a loan, don't apply for new credit cards first.

7. Be aware that paying off a collection account will not remove it from your credit report. It will stay on your report for seven years.

8. Pay off debt rather than moving it around. The most effective way to improve your credit score in this area is by paying down your revolving credit. In fact, owing the same amount but having fewer open accounts may lower your score.

9. Beware credit-repair scams. By all means, don't pay someone to wipe away the negative items in your file. If they don't follow through, the damaging items will reappear in two or three months.

For more information on how to get these important tips out to your prospects, please contact me or visit my website www.atlantarealestateman.com..

Why listing in the fall/winter might actually BENEFIT you verses waiting until the spring/summer - T
Why listing in the fall/winter might actually BENEFIT you verses waiting until the spring/summer:

1A- $6,500 - that's why... A New Tax Credit! Get the details, add it in here, and make it 14 points!!!

1. Inventory of competition is lower, so your home stands out better with the serious buyers, who have less to choose from. Your odds of selling go UP during this time of year! You see... A LOT of people feel just like you... and don't understand that there will be FLOOD of new listings on the market after the holidays... And that increased supply without an equal increase in demand, can cause prices to take a dip again. If you want to sell for the most money possible, now is the time!
2. Only the serious buyers are out in the fall/winter, so fewer people running through your house, but you are more likely to get a contract from those that do come through! And think about how fantastic it will be to have this all finished when others are just getting started.
3. Taking photos in the fall can be a big asset, as they look great on the internet, MLS, and flyers before the winter sets in. A photo taken in Jan/Feb/March may not be as attractive as one in Oct/Nov/Dec.
4. Your home may show better while decorated for Thanksgiving and Christmas or Hanukkah. Your home may look nicer this time of year than any other! Why not have potential buyers see it while it looks it's best? Fireplaces, evergreens, scented candles... All can add to the beauty inside when it's not so pretty outside. Contrast can equal a sale!
5. It's OK to specify for "no showings" during certain times during the holidays. Lockbox can even be removed. Because you're planning a few holiday events is no reason to not be for sale the rest of the time!
6. Houses feel more like "homes" when you come in from the cold weather. This cozy feeling causes emotions in a Buyer you can't get other times of the year.
7. People stay home more in colder weather and online searches go way up. With today's technology and my expertise in marketing your home online, the chances you get sold before the 1st of the year rise in November/December.
8. Buyers who buy closer to the end of the year often pay closer to full price than other times of the year, as they are often buying under a deadline, so have less time to negotiate and less inventory to choose from, getting you the BEST price.
9. Buyers have more day-times off during mid-November through January, increasing serious buyer traffic during normal business hours verses showings during your evenings and weekends.
10. Buyers at this time often have an "urgency factor". Many employers want new hires to start in January, so they can't wait to buy your home. If you don't list until after January 1, you might miss out on those buyers. They can't buy yours if it's not for sale!
11. Many buyers that need to buy by end of the year don't have to occupy the home right away. Late occupancies are common during this time, allowing you a real win-win. They win with lower interest rates now, and you may be able to negotiate your move for later.
12. Decreased demand on lenders, appraisers, home inspectors, movers and other vendors during this time can cause your escrow processing to be smoother and easier than during busy times of the year.
13. The bottom line is that if your home isn't available, you may miss YOUR perfect buyer! If you know you want to sell, don't wait. "You can't win if you don't play" as they say... The Question really is - why delay? What's the downside to listing now?

I appreciate your business and thanks so much for your referrals too!

News for North Atlanta, GA - Sunday September 13th, 2009 10:12am

The irony of this article appearing in the English edition of Pravda (Russian State Newspaper) defies description.

American capitalism gone with a whimper

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American descent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.

Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and betters.

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a Burger King burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy". Pride blind the foolish.

Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power. Even our Holy Orthodox churches are scandalously liberalized in America.

The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them?

These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another.. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American congress (parliament). Again, congress has put up little more then a whimper to their masters.

Then came Barack Obama's command that GM's (General Motor) president step down from leadership of his company.. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of "pure" free markets, the American president now has the power, the self given power, to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.

So it should be no surprise, that the American president has followed this up with a "bold" move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile policies. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too. Prime Minister Putin, less then two months ago, warned Obama and UK's Blair, not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let our "wise" Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.

Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper...but a "freeman" whimper.

So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratically controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set "fair" maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Senator Barney Frank, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.

The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.
The proud American will go down into his slavery with out a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world, how free he really is. The world will only snicker.