Appraisers are quick to praise the allure of a well-tended lawn and good-looking landscaping when it comes time to sell your home, but most do not assign any specific increase in monetary value for upkeep.

“Landscaping is going to add to the appeal of the property and it may sell quicker, but it’s hard to determine value,” says John Bredemeyer, president of Omaha-based Realcorp. “You have to have a number to compensate someone if you drove into their tree and killed it, but is it really market value? Probably not.”
 
Nevertheless, most professionals agree that curb appeal and a well-maintained appearance prevent your property from losing value. Here are the top suggestions from real estate agents, appraisers, and landscape designers for boosting the curb appeal of your yard:

Green up the grass

If your house has a front yard, make sure it‘s neat and green. You don’t want bare spots, sprawling weeds, or an untrimmed appearance.

“It’s so simple to go to Home Depot, buy fertilizer, apply it every six weeks, and water it,” says Mitch Kalamian, a landscape designer in Huntinginton Beach, Calif. “It will green up.”

If the yard looks really scruffy, you may decide to invest in some sod. According to the National Gardening Association, the average cost of sod is 15 to 35 cents per sq. ft. If you hire a landscaper to sod your yard for you, labor will add 30% to 50% to the total cost of the project.

Another alternative is to plant low-maintenance turf grasses. Turf grasses are durable and drought-resistant. Expect to pay $18 to $30 for enough turf grass seed to plant 1,000 sq. ft. of lawn area. Add colorful planting beds

Flower beds add color and help enliven otherwise plain areas, such as along driveways and the edges of walkways. In general, annual flowers are a bit cheaper but must be replaced every year. Perennials cost a bit more but come back annually and usually get larger or spread with each growing season.

If you’re not sure what to plant, inquire at your local garden center. Often, they’ll have a display of bedding plants chosen for their adaptability to your area. Also, they‘ll be inexpensive because they’re in season, says Peter Mezitt, president of Weston Nurseries in Hopkinton, Mass. Try pansies in the summer, and asters and mums in the fall to add vibrant color. “That’s what we do around the entrance to our garden center,” Mezitt says.
 
Valerie Torelli, a California REALTOR® who dresses up her clients’ yards to sell their houses faster and for more money, says that in her market, she can put in a bed of colorful annuals and bark, as well as cutting down overgrown shrubs, for less than $500. “We can buy gorgeous plants for $3.99 to $15.99,” she says. Add landscape lighting

For homeowners who have made a sizeable investment in landscaping, it makes sense to think about adding another 10% to 15% to the bill for professional lighting. “You can’t see landscaping after dark,“ says Brandon Stephens, vice president of marketing for a landscape lighting firm in Lubbock, Texas, “and buyers are not always looking at houses on a Saturday afternoon.”

The cost of a system runs from $200 for a DIY installation to more than $4,000 for a professional job. If you‘re doing it on your own, the key is to light what you want people to see, such as mature trees and flowering shrubs.  Plant a tree

The value of mature trees is particularly difficult to determine. Lucco says that in his market, mature trees contribute as much as 10% of a $100,000 property’s overall value. In addition, a properly placed shade tree can shave as much as $32 a year on your energy bills. Expect to pay $50 to $100 for a young, 6- to 7-foot deciduous tree.

You can make your own initial assessment of the value of your property’s trees by visiting the National Tree Benefit Calculator. For example, a mature Southern red oak tree with a diameter of 36 inches in the front yard of a house in Augusta, Ga., would add $70 to the property value this year, according to the calculator.

Georgia-based freelance writer Pat Curry writes extensively about housing and real estate for consumer and trade publications. While a fair hand at remodeling, she is hopeless as a gardener. As a result, her landscaping is made up of plants that thrive on neglect.

© Copyright 2010 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS^{®                     www.Houselogic.com}

Knowing the Guidelines Solves the Mystery

The appraisal process often baffles consumers. They may feel that their home is worth a higher dollar amount, and so the appraised value doesn’t always make sense to them. It is important to know that the appraiser is completely independent from lenders, buyers, sellers, and real estate agents, and that the guidelines to which they adhere are dictated by the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) and Fannie Mae. In most states, the mortgage lenders must also disclose the purpose of the appraisal, as each transaction carries its own set of rules.

In essence, these important guidelines help appraisers put a fair market value on homes based on comparable sales in the same area, and the home must be bracketed in size and value.

For example, there is no set dollar figure associated with a great view, pool, spa, bathroom upgrades, etc. If a homeowner installs a custom pool that cost them $30,000, but the local marketplace supports the value of a pool at $15,000, then that item will be bracketed as [$15,000] on the appraisal.

Upgrades can usually be expressed at a higher percentage of their value in newer homes because the only way to obtain those upgrades was to put more money into the cost of building the home. On the other hand, the upgrading or remodeling of an older home is rarely reflected in full in the final appraisal. This is because typically 25-40% of the project involves demolition and the fixing of issues that aren’t uncovered until the project has already begun, such as plumbing or wiring that may need updating.

Ultimately, the value of the upgrades must be supported by comparable examples within the same marketplace. These comparisons must be drawn from current market activity within the last six months. This is a safeguard to prevent appraisers from attaching too high a value to the home in question, and opening up the appraisal for review. This guideline further states that appraisers can only base their opinion on the value of home sales that have actually closed. The good news for sellers in Lake and Geauga County is the large increase in sales that appraisers have to to choose from for comparables!

Don’t Miss the 2010
GEAUGA COUNTY MAPLE FESTIVAL
(Admission is Free)

When: April 22 – 25, 2010

Location: Historic Chardon Square (Rt. 6 & Rt. 44) in Geauga County

Web: www.maplefestival.com

Join in the fun as Geauga County celebrates the coming of spring and the years’ maple syrup crop. This festival takes place on Historic Chardon Square in the heart of Geauga County. For visitors looking for fun there are all the traditional things a festival offers; rides, games, food & great entertainment. What sets this event aside is all of the Maple related activities that take place over the weekend like the crowning of the Maple Queen, the “sap” run, bucket painting, Maple candy carving, Pancake Breakfasts (with pure maple Syrup), and pancake eating competitions. One of the big Highlights is the area’s only BATHTUB RACES!! on Saturday, Men’s and Woman’s division.

Area sugar bushes also put their syrup to the test with syrup & maple candy judging. Winning syrups are also auctioned off as part of the weekend entertainment. Food choices include Maple candy, Maple corn, and the popular Maple stirs available at the Log cabin on the square. Grand parades take place on Saturday and Sunday and showcase a lot of the community businesses and events. Check back to the website www.maplefestival.com schedules are constantly being updated as the big event approaches. Don’t miss the fun!

Affordability

Affordability remains at record levels, supported by the lowest mortgage rates in decades, low home prices, as well as the first-time buyer tax credit. So far this year, the home price-to-income ratio has fallen well below the historical average of 25 percent. The ratio now stands at 15 percent.

 Sources: National Association of Realtors, Freddie Mac

In early January alone, there were several high profile convictions:

• Six people in Boston were arraigned in a $2 million mortgage fraud scheme.
• A Naples, Fla. man was sentenced to seven years in prison and ordered to pay more than $11 million in restitution for setting up straw deals to obtain inflated mortgages.
• A Colorado man was sentenced to 31 years in prison after a mortgage fraud scheme.
• Two North Carolina men were sentenced for their part in a $6 million mortgage fraud scam.
• Two New Jersey men were convicted in a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud and property flipping scheme.

Those are just a few of the many early January mortgage fraud headlines from coast to coast. Indeed, prosecution of mortgage fraud is on the rise as the U.S. Justice Department makes the issue a priority. U.S. Attorney A. Brian Albritton has publicly declared that “Mortgage fraud will not be tolerated.”

The Cost of Mortgage Fraud

When you examine the cost of mortgage fraud, it’s easy to see why the federal government is cracking down on the crime. Again, many believe mortgage fraud added to the financial crisis in the subprime mortgage industry and the fall of banks. Consider the latest statistics compiled by the Mortgage Asset Research Institute on the pervasiveness of mortgage fraud:

• As of March 2008, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was investigating more than 1,200 mortgage fraud cases – that’s a 50 percent increase from 2006.
• The FBI also reports that about half of the mortgage fraud cases it is investigating report losses exceeding $1 million and some exceed $10 million.
• According to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the number of suspicious activity reports (SARs) submitted relating to mortgage loan fraud increased 1,411 percent from 1996 to 2005.
• According to the TowerGroup, losses from mortgage fraud were about $2.5 billion in 2008 – and the firm expects comparable losses to continue for the next few years.

Although there is a level of fraud that exists where home buyers and/or their mortgage brokers falsify documents in order to get a loan approval, the FBI estimates fraud for profit accounts for up to 80 percent of the problem. That leaves 20 percent – or more – of the issue in the hands of consumers and mortgage brokers.

Keep Client Safe with the SAFE Act

The federal government has put measures in place, such as the Secure and Fair Enforcement of Mortgage Licensing, or SAFE Act, to discourage mortgage brokers from these practices. A key component of The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, the SAFE Act aims to better protect consumers and curb fraud by encouraging states to establish minimum standards for licensing and registration of state-licensed mortgage loan originators and has also established a nationwide mortgage licensing system and registry for the residential mortgage industry to increase the accountability and tracking of loan originators. If a broker is convicted, that conviction would be listed in the registry.

The bad news is the registry is not yet publicly available. The good news is systems are actively being put in place to protect homebuyers from dishonest mortgage brokers so the housing market will be less prone to negative impacts from mortgage fraud in the future.

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AUSTIN, TEXAS (December 21, 2009) — Keller Williams Realty joined the ranks of the top franchises in the world last week, when the company was ranked as the No. 1 real estate franchise on the 31st Annual Franchise 500 list by Entrepreneur magazine. During the same week, the company was also voted the Most Recognizable Brand of Real Estate Franchises for 2009 in an industry-wide survey for the Swanepoel TRENDS Report.

“The Swanepoel TRENDS Report is a respected source for the real estate industry and beyond, as is Entrepreneur magazine, and we are excited to see our agents honored in this way for all of their hard work,” said Mark Willis, CEO, Keller Williams Realty. “We certainly wouldn’t have been included on either list without the dedication and resolve of our agents.”

According to the ranking in Entrepreneur magazine, the most important criteria to determine the top franchises included financial strength and stability, as well as growth rate and size of the franchise system. The magazine also looked at the number of years the company has been in business and the length of time it’s been franchising, in addition to start-up costs and financial data. Additionally, Keller Williams Realty made an impressive showing on the overall list, placing higher than any other real estate franchise.

The Swanepoel TRENDS Report is published by Stefan Swanepoel, a real estate industry speaker and insider. The survey was crafted to determine the Most Recognizable Brand for Real Estate Franchises for his report out in February 2010. The survey included votes cast by 11,000 plus real estate agents, who cast 390,000 votes to select the top 10.

Earlier in the year,Keller Williams Realty also received the highest overall satisfaction ratings from home buyers among the largest full-service real estate firms from J.D. Power and Associates for the second year in a row.

“We are extremely proud that our associates and company are being recognized for our strength and stability during this time in our industry,” said Mary Tennant, president and COO, Keller Williams Realty. “We attribute our success to being in business with phenomenal people and to our core business models, which have allowed our franchises to thrive during any market.”

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About Keller Williams Realty Inc.:
Founded in 1983, Keller Williams Realty Inc. is the third-largest real estate franchise operation in the United States, with 679 offices and 73,000 associates in the United States and Canada. The company, which began franchising in 1990, has an agent-centric culture that emphasizes access to leading-edge education and promotes an economic model that rewards associates as stakeholders and partners. For more information, visit Keller Williams Realty online at (www.kw.com).

Under the Making Home Affordable program, this new plan will aim to assist struggling homeowners by offering easier aid and financial compensation. Government officials in Washington D.C. believe these new reforms will help many families avoid the trauma of foreclosure and help the housing market stay on the road to recovery. The Stewart Team has completed many “short sales this year. we feel they are critical as more and more people continue to face foreclosure, it is and option that many homeowners are not even aware of! Through these reforms, the short sale process will be enhanced. One example of these reforms…Mortgage servicers will have 10 days to accept or reject a short sale request (takes upwards of 90 days now), and after the transaction is complete, it is possible that the borrower could be completely released from debt. Financial incentives will be provided to borrowers selling their home through a short sale and to mortgage-servicing companies completing short sale transactions.  Through this enhanced process, short sale transactions are projected to dramatically increase, resulting in less vacant and vandalized properties around the nation.

The Stewart Team can help you through this Short Sale Process, The CDPE “Certified Distressed Propery Expert designation is held by Jeff Morris on the team. He has completed specialized training and certification to assist home sellers that are considering a short sale. Give us a call or email today to set up and appointment!

To qualify under the new guidelines:

_The property must be the homeowner’s principal residence.

_The homeowner is delinquent on the mortgage or default looks likely.

_The loan was made before Jan. 1 this year and is less than $729,750

_The borrowers’ total monthly mortgage payment exceeds 31 percent of their before-tax income

The new guidelines enhance the short sale process in several ways:

-Speeds up the process – Mortgage servicers have 10 days to say yes or no to a short sale request, and after the transaction is complete, the borrower could be completely released from debt.
-Provides financial incentives – Borrowers are eligible to receive a $1,500 moving allowance if they sell their home through a short sale, and mortgage-servicing companies will in turn receive $1,000 for every completed short sale transaction.
-Limits proceeds to second lien holders – Second mortgage holders can only receive up to $3,000 of the sales proceeds to release their liens and investors who hold the first mortgages can collect up to $1,000 for allowing such payoffs.