Ask your Real Estate Qs! JustJudy AMA

[JustJudy]

Hi all!

I'm a Realtor in OR and getting my license in CA due to our upcoming move there in June. I've been in this crazy biz for 7 years and seen everything from the short sale/foreclosure crisis to our insane seller's market (20+ offers on homes) here in Portland.

I also attended a HS for the Arts, it really was like Fame, so if you don't have RE questions I love to talk about that too!

[aprilz81]

Do you like it or hate it when clients do their own research and give you a list of homes they want to see?

[JustJudy]

Feb 18, 2016 13:02:42 GMT -5 @pineappleoranges said:

What do you hate most about RE?

The hardest part is not being able to take a true day off or vacation without checking my phone. Clients who pick me to be their agent want to work with me and I try to be available at all times. I was working on that by training a newer agent to be a partner here in OR, but I'll have to work on that all again when we get to CA. 

[JustJudy]

Feb 18, 2016 13:05:45 GMT -5 aprilz81 said:

Do you like it or hate it when clients do their own research and give you a list of homes they want to see?

I like my clients to be as informed as possible and that usually means they're checking the various sites for houses daily. So it doesn't bother me at all! 

[emilie]

Do you think we are in a 2006-esque bubble? I have been seeing a LOT more "easy mortgage" ads lately which remind me of the "2% down!" ads I used to see in the early to mid 2000s.

I am a renter in CA in an absolutely bananas housing market where crappy homes that need work are selling for about $1K per square foot. I am holding tight onto my money and not even thinking about buying until things settle down. We looked into mortgages once not too long ago and the amounts that we would have qualified for were astounding - astounding in that the monthly payments they would amount to would be WAY more than we'd be willing to spend. Granted, we have good jobs and good credit, but still. Come on.

Are mortgages getting loose again? Are banks lending people more money than they'll be able to pay back?

[emilie]

Also, completely unrelated - what did you want to do when you were in HS?

[notagoddess]

If you want to buy a home as a short sale, how long does the process typically take?

[ironbaby]

What's your best piece of advice to home-buyers?

What about home owners? Any good advice there?

[JustJudy]

emilie, There absolutely will be a future dip in the market. Historically, the market fluctuates and we're due for a buyer's market in the next few years. It's almost impossible to time the market though. When interest rates finally go up significantly - back to around 6% - prices should drop.

As for mortgages, there are a few companies out there taking big risks, but not many and mortgages are still hard to get. ARM mortgages came back pretty quickly after the recession, but stated income loans (in my opinion the biggest reason for the bubble) are in my experience not back...yet.

As for your second question, true story, I was a dancer in HS and the plan was to move to NYC, join a company, and sell RE as a part time job. I had a career ending injury at 19 so the dance part never happened, but I have wanted to be an agent since HS.

[JustJudy]

Feb 18, 2016 13:25:58 GMT -5 notagoddess said:

If you want to buy a home as a short sale, how long does the process typically take?

4-6 months at the minimum. It all depends on whether the seller has a bank approved price before hitting the market or not. If so, the process is much easier. 

We bought our first home as a short sale and it took 4 months. My record for clients is 9 months, that was a seller and we went through 3 buyers. 

[ironbaby]

What type of dance? Can you tell us a little about the dark side of career dance?

[spicysalmonroll]

I just went through the 20+ offers as a buyer this past fall. It was brutal! My agent was absolutely amazing, and she would email me at all hours of the night so I know how much time and work you put in!

Do you see a lot of amateur flippers who fail?

Do you get those clients that are completely unrealistic about their wish list and budget? How do you handle that and eventually get them to come back to Earth?

[notagoddess]

Feb 18, 2016 13:34:35 GMT -5 JustJudy said:

Feb 18, 2016 13:25:58 GMT -5 notagoddess said:

If you want to buy a home as a short sale, how long does the process typically take?

4-6 months at the minimum. It all depends on whether the seller has a bank approved price before hitting the market or not. If so, the process is much easier. 

We bought our first home as a short sale and it took 4 months. My record for clients is 9 months, that was a seller and we went through 3 buyers. 

Thank you.

There is an incentive program in my state to buy foreclosed or short sale homes, but they only hold the money for 4 months. Because of that, our realtor is discouraging us from looking at short sales. But the foreclosed homes available are not very nice.

[icaughtfire]

Here's something I've always wondered about.

Say me & H want to sell our house & buy a new one and let's say we'd make $50k profit off selling the house. How is that profit used as down payment on the new house? Do you tell the new buyers they can have the house when you close on your new one? Sell your house, store your things & live in a hotel? How does this work? I've never sold a house before. please to educate me.

[JustJudy]

Feb 18, 2016 13:27:47 GMT -5 ironbaby said:

What's your best piece of advice to home-buyers?

What about home owners? Any good advice there?

For buyers:

1) Work with the best professionals you can, both mortgage broker and Realtor. They can make or break a deal. 
2) Don't buy the biggest house on the street. 

For sellers:

1) Interview at least 3 Realtors.
2) Get a staging company to come do a consultation at the very least, no exceptions!

[JustJudy]

Feb 18, 2016 13:34:50 GMT -5 ironbaby said:

What type of dance? Can you tell us a little about the dark side of career dance?

Mostly ballet, although even at 5'0" and 100lbs I was never truly skinny enough to be in a big company. I went to college for dance and most college programs are modern focused so that is where most of my classmates ended up. 

The dark side is absolutely the disordered eating that is rampant. There can also be a lot of mental abuse from teachers and company owners. 

[spicysalmonroll]

Feb 18, 2016 13:40:29 GMT -5 icaughtfire said:

Here's something I've always wondered about.

Say me & H want to sell our house & buy a new one and let's say we'd make $50k profit off selling the house. How is that profit used as down payment on the new house? Do you tell the new buyers they can have the house when you close on your new one? Sell your house, store your things & live in a hotel? How does this work? I've never sold a house before. please to educate me.

I'm not the RE but I literally just went through this myself. We couldn't find something suitable to buy right at the exact moment so we had to sell, put the money in the bank, and live in an apartment for a few months while we hunted and bought the new house.

If timing is perfect though, it can be done other ways. The person we bought from was in the same situation. So they wrote into the contract that if they didn't find a house to close on by Sept 1st, then our deal was off, because they were not willing to move into an apartment. It just so happened that it all worked out and they did find a house they loved within a week of our offer. So closing was set for the same day. They sold us their house at 9am, and the bank wired the money to their attorney. Then they bought their new house at 11am and the attorney wired the money to pay for it.

[JustJudy]

Feb 18, 2016 13:36:12 GMT -5 spicysalmonroll said:

I just went through the 20+ offers as a buyer this past fall. It was brutal! My agent was absolutely amazing, and she would email me at all hours of the night so I know how much time and work you put in!

Do you see a lot of amateur flippers who fail?

Do you get those clients that are completely unrealistic about their wish list and budget? How do you handle that and eventually get them to come back to Earth?

Haha, yes to both. 

There is ALWAYS a bunch of calls from people looking for "deal" after the flipper seminars come to town. Hate to break it to them, but everyone is looking for a deal. I don't work with those type of clients as they're usually a waste of time. If a flip isn't done well, even in a seller's market it will not sell. 

I sit down with new clients and do a buyer consultation before we ever look at homes. Usually by presenting the facts about our current market we're able to come to an understanding about what they are actually able to afford and go from there. If not, we're probably not a good fit and we don't end up working together.  

[JustJudy]

Feb 18, 2016 13:40:29 GMT -5 icaughtfire said:

Here's something I've always wondered about.

Say me & H want to sell our house & buy a new one and let's say we'd make $50k profit off selling the house. How is that profit used as down payment on the new house? Do you tell the new buyers they can have the house when you close on your new one? Sell your house, store your things & live in a hotel? How does this work? I've never sold a house before. please to educate me.

There are a couple of ways to go about this and how closing is handled can vary from state to state. 

1) Simultaneous closing. Your buyer purchases your old home and that same day or the next business day you close on your new home. Money from your sale will go straight to the title company closing your purchase to use as your down payment. Usually a few days rent back for the seller is a part of this type of transaction. 

2) Sell, move into a short term rental, then buy at your leisure - banking the money in between.  

Some clients can't handle the stress of #1, having to find a new home within a short time frame, so they go with option #2. It also depends on what homes are available when you're selling. If there is nothing you want to buy then you gotta do what you gotta do!
3) 

[ironbaby]

Is the competition in the art school fierce, or is there more of a creative collaboration environment?

Tell us a story!

[lilsneezy]

How much of a down payment do first time home buyers typically put down?

[JustJudy]

Feb 18, 2016 14:21:27 GMT -5 ironbaby said:

Is the competition in the art school fierce, or is there more of a creative collaboration environment?

Tell us a story!

It's pretty fierce, even in HS. Everyone is there to become a star so it could be very interesting at times. I actually was in the musical theater program and then did my ballet outside of school hours. We went to school from 8-2:30 then had conservatory from 3-5+ depending on what show we were working on at the time. There were clear cliques between the specialties. Musical Theater kids did not really hang out with the dancers, etc.

Also, there was a limited number of straight males (not that that mattered to me lol) so there was a lot of dating drama!


I went to college with Steven Boss, AKA tWitch. The heads of the dance department straight up told him he would never be a professional dancer so he quit. Look at him now! They are so kicking themselves.

[ironbaby]

Holy shit! You went to school with Twitch???

You are not allowed to drop stuff like that and not elaborate.

[JustJudy]

Feb 18, 2016 14:33:37 GMT -5 lilsneezy said:

How much of a down payment do first time home buyers typically put down?

Most do use FHA, which is 3.5% down. Though I do work with a local credit union that has a $0 down program that is actually really great. They don't sell their loans so there is no private mortgage insurance. The downside is the interest rate is higher.

[ironbaby]

I am still on this art thing. Please forgive my derailing your RE thread.

What was your favorite show that you participated in? What's your favorite show period?

[JustJudy]

Feb 18, 2016 14:53:25 GMT -5 ironbaby said:

Holy shit! You went to school with Twitch???

You are not allowed to drop stuff like that and not elaborate.

He is so wonderful! When I was a freshman we were in a student choreographed dance together and I was partnered with him. 5' me and him were quite the pair! Since I am a year behind him we didn't keep in touch but it has been so amazing watching him become who he is. 

[JustJudy]

Feb 18, 2016 14:57:27 GMT -5 ironbaby said:

I am still on this art thing. Please forgive my derailing your RE thread.

What was your favorite show that you participated in? What's your favorite show period?

No worries! I love talking about that too.

My all time favorite musical theater show is Rent, I've seen it 5 times live and am really sad it's not touring anymore. 

Here is where I make an embarrassing confession, I never tried out for any shows in HS because it would have interfered with my competition dance team outside of school. I loved singing and acting though so I didn't want to switch "majors."

I was a year behind Krysta Rodriguez too (from Smash and various Broadway shows) - and we actually went to school together from elementary to HS.  She was always a diva. Lol. 

No one from my class year went on to make it big, not yet at least. 

[JustJudy]

Heading out to an appointment, if there are more questions I'll answer them when I get back

[ohinvrtedworld]

All I have for now is that you got the Fame theme song stuck in my head.

[LadyNymeria]

Feb 18, 2016 15:01:00 GMT -5 JustJudy said:

Feb 18, 2016 14:53:25 GMT -5 ironbaby said:

Holy shit! You went to school with Twitch???

You are not allowed to drop stuff like that and not elaborate.

He is so wonderful! When I was a freshman we were in a student choreographed dance together and I was partnered with him. 5' me and him were quite the pair! Since I am a year behind him we didn't keep in touch but it has been so amazing watching him become who he is. 

I am so jealous. tWitch is the shit. I can't believe that dept head told him he'd never be a dancer. He's fucking awesome.