Owner: Hiban Tells The Truth! URL:http://www.hibantellsthetruth.com/ Join Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:56:41 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: HibanTellsTheTruth.com is an interactive social media format that discusses what is really going on in the trenches of today’s Maryland Real Estate Market. Site statistics:Click here
Foreclosure filings surged 53 percent in June 2008-07-18 10:17:00 Holy Cow!! 53 %?!?!? Could that be right? Hopefully the dramatic increases in foreclosures will bring the end of the real estate recession to an end quickly. The article goes on to state that one in every 501 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing last month. That is absolutely shocking. It really goes to show you that this real estate is having an effect on every homeowner in America. Eve Read more:Foreclosure
$800K price range...multiple offers?? are you kidding me? 2008-07-17 12:37:47 Trackless Sea. We just listed a house (7/11) this weekend in River Hill. Price fantastic ($819900), condition phenomenal (10+) and has 3 offers pending. There are more than 6 months of inventory in the $800-900K price
range.This is a great lesson for the seller's that despite what is you see in the news and media...if you are priced well and in show well, you can still create a seller's market for
A small move in the right direction?? 2008-07-12 20:14:21 Check out the Howard County stats. A decrease in inventory and an increase in the number of contracts in June is a positive sign. Although we are a far from a balanced supply/demand position, it is still movement in the right direction. The inventory of homes decreased from May to June to 1532, while the number of homes going under contract increased slightly to 247 homes.These numbers certainly d
I hope we all get raises by February 2009 2008-07-07 10:24:04 February 2009 is the month that the majority of "Option Arms" , an incredibly popular mortgage product,are set to "recast". Recast essentially means a forced refinance to current rate . Only issues are:1. Rate will be much higher than what you pay now.2. Loan amount you owe will be much higher than where you started because an option arm let's you pay NO principal and less interest than you would Read more:February
Is a small bubble saving the big bubble? 2008-07-03 08:26:20 There are three drivers of any real estate market:1. First time buyers 2. Investors3. Vacation home buyersVacation home buyers are gone because their home equity lines that they used for the down payments have dried up and it’s not the in thing anymore. Have you seen how many listings are for sale in Ocean City? Buying investment properties for so many was an appreciation play. Meaning most inve
Why Guaranteed Buy Programs don't work 2008-07-02 21:20:34 I got a call today from a potential client. She's listed with another company and is settling on a 1.5 million dollar home tomorrow. In order to settle she needs either and offer to purchase her current home or a guaranteed buy from a real estate broker. Without looking at the house I gave her an idea of what we might pay for the house. Of course she wasn't pleased at our offer nor was she pleased Read more:Programs
Why a Bank is a Better Seller... 2008-06-18 23:53:25 1. They listen to your pricing advice. 2. They take your pricing advice.3. They don't interview multiple agents so that the pricing gets bid up-(see "Confessions of a Top Listing Agent" for details). 4. They price less than the competition realizing that competition is meant to be beaten not tied. 5. They don't require much advertising because they know that the right price and MLS is the secret Read more:Seller
Black Listed Listings 2008-06-10 09:37:15 There is a new black list for active listings in the MLS. These listings are called short sales. A short sale is basically a house that is on the market for a price less than the amount of loans the seller’s owe on the house...AND the seller’s need the mortgage company to eat the difference between their home’s value and the mortgage. So if they owe $600K and they sell it for $500K the mortg Read more:Black
Angry Neighbors Murder Model Home Sales Rep 2008-06-05 14:45:53 Today there are 4 bank owned homes for sale in a certain newer neighborhood in our area. I’ll call it Neighborhood X. There are several builders with inventory on the market for sale in Neighborhood X too. Brand new homes!!!!! Only problem is some of these foreclosures are the exact same model as the builder’s inventory AND listed for 100k less than the builder. Does that mean that the prices Read more:Neighbors
, Sales
Should I sell? Should I buy? 2008-06-02 14:42:09 These are two questions I ask myself weekly. I am a seller and I am a buyer. I buy and sell rental properties both residential and commercial. Let's tackle how I've been answering these questions in my own mind one at a time.1. Should I sell? If you want to use the equity in your home for something else...in my case...maybe go into the stock market if I'm a betting man or placing it from commercia
House of Corrections!!!! 2008-05-28 14:54:31 I just noticed a house today that got sent to the house of corrections!!! 7436 Sweet Clover started at $389,900...then dropped a few times...and a few times more...and now it's down to $240,000!!! and still for sale. (Click on photo to see listing info on hiban.com) I'd say that the price has corrected...although I guess we won't know what it corrected to until it sells and settles.Dave Orso , the Read more:House
Are most home seller's illiterate? 2008-05-15 09:56:17 My friend and fellow top realtor, Marc Witman, had a great quote in the Baltimore Sun recently. He said,"It's if the only ones reading the papers are the buyers!"All the buyers know the market stinks and the prices are descending. It's evident that they know that in the offers that they write on our listings. Yet so many sellers still are in denial.Great quote Marc.
Lie To Your Realtor So She Won't Lie To You!!! 2008-05-13 18:43:09 Jamie Smith Hopkins put out an article this morning in the Sun called "Modest Housing Defies Slump". She's talking about homes under 250k. This basically reconfirms the tale of two markets. See her graph here... over 500k is a disaster. I'm not sure what areas encompass the "Baltimore Metro Area" though.My TKE fraternity brother from Frostburg State, Jim Gordon called me yesterday from Bear, Delaw Read more:Realtor
Addicted Americans!!!! 2008-05-03 21:44:24 There's a drug in town that's not being talked too much about!!!!!!!! It's not LSD or PCP or even THC....it's OPM!!!! Other People's Money!!!!! Yea. Other People's Money. Like...money that is not yours...?! Now that banks are taking away home equity loans from people [did you read about the one in the paper where Sandy Spring Bank called the lady up who took out a home equity loan to pay for her Read more:Addicted
, Americans
A seller just stormed out of our office!!!!!! 2008-04-30 09:40:15 Slam went the door....VROOM went the exhaust of the car as it sped away. Today a seller stormed out of the office
, not mad at me or my partner Mike Sloan, but mad at the market. [Well........maybe they did shoot the messenger.......but it's an occupational hazard these days.] Mike told them " I don't control the market, I just interpret it." Unfortunately they didn't buy that line. This potential
This Market Stinks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2008-04-29 12:40:01 Post From Pat Hiban on Hiban Tells the TruthThis market stinks!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (For certain people). What people? "WANTTO's". What is a WANTTO you are saying now.......well basically the way I see it if you are trying to sell your home in this market you either fall into one of two categories: WANTTO or HAVETO. I'll touch on the types of buyers out there in another post later. WANTO's are sellers wh Read more:Market
Confessions of a Top Listing Agent - Why I overprice homes... 2008-04-29 12:38:28 I overprice homes for 3 reasons: 1. BUYER SIDE COMMISSIONS - I get buyer calls off the signs that I can flip to other properties and make a 2.5-3% commission off another listing. Rule of thumb is I can make 2 buyer sales from one listing. So even if I never sell the listing I made 2 commissions from it. I have done this over and over again. The longer the sign is there the more buyers I get.2. BRA Read more:Agent
Howard County Housing Statistics March 2008 2008-04-29 12:36:39 Snapapalapapapagous!!!!!!! The March
stats are out. Here's the scoop.............1,452 active single family homes in HowardCounty
and 219 under contract. That's 15% which is decent compared with 7% last month. Inventory skyrocketed though because 505 new sellers raised there hands last month and said "OOOH OOH OOH PICK ME, PICK ME!!!" The upper end is getting slammed, the county can only claim 1 Read more:Housing
, Statistics
, Housing Statistics
How I single handedly caused our real estate market to crash!!!! 2008-04-29 12:35:40 "The bubble bench" sits outside of one of our local condo buildings. Over 100 realtor keyboxes can be seen.A while ago one of my formidable opponents in the listing game came into my office for a sit down. "You have to stop talking to the press!!!" he declared. "Everything they print is negative. If you add fuel to their fire by returning their calls then buyers are not going to buy and sellers ar Read more:single
, crash
BRAC, BRAC,BRAC,BRAC,BRAC!!!! 2008-04-29 12:34:43 I just returned from the Brac presentation at Anne Arundel Community College. Here's two things I know and one thing I think.I know:The Maryland Base Realignment and Closure is going to be a slow process that will take until 2015 to completley feel economically.The impact will be a local impact affecting some very specific areas and not affecting others at all. I think:All of the statistics used a
Feels Like Spring!!! 2008-04-11 13:31:39 My listing partner Eric Black has 8 recently sold listings. 4 just sold in the last few days. Is this a sign?I'll post the March howard county housing statistics and the Maryland housing statistics next week to see but I guess the April numbers will really tell.It may be just that Eric is good at pricing reccomendations. Eric's skillset isn't ruined by falling victim to the 5 reasons I mentioned i Read more:Feels
, Spring
Last night I dreamed about bloody red sinners!! 2008-04-09 09:29:56 Two things happened yesterday that made me ponder. First I got a call from a realtor friend I have in Northern Virginia to refer a buyer to me. She said this buyer wants to either buy a house in Northern Virginia or in Columbia, Maryland. He will be working right between the two. He has offers on 3 different condos in VA that are awaiting a response from the seller's bank. All 3 are short sales. S Read more:bloody
Ken Ulman's Proclimation -July 21st!!! Pat Hiban Day 2008-08-07 14:54:56 I met up with Ken Ulman, Howard County Executive, yesterday on the rooftop of the George Howard Building next to the police station in Ellicott City. He issued a proclamation and made it official that July 21, 2008 is "Pat Hiban Day." It stated that since I have sold over one billion dollars worth of real estate in the county and since I carried the Howard County flag through wind, rain and snow
Kilimanjaro 2008-08-04 15:15:14 I DID IT!!!I summitted Mount Kilimanjaro
. That's right...last week I was in Tanzania climing up to "the roof of Africa"!!! I held up a Howard County flag to show my solidarity to my peeps back here. Also, I promised Ken Ulman I'd carry it on up. Now if he keeps his end of the bargain...there will be an official Pat Hiban Day!!!!! in Howard County. Not sure what that means though but once I find
Senate passes landmark housing bill. Will Bush sign!?! 2008-07-28 11:29:35 Looks like Bush will be signing this real estate bill that will help out borrowers and buyers. Some highlights of the bill include a $7500 TAX REFUND for 1st time home buyer's....NICE! Also, the bill will PERMANENTLY increase the conforming loan limits from $417K to $625K. Great news for areas with higher values. One of the negative aspects of the bill is that it will eliminate programs that allow Read more:Senate
Back in the Game 2008-08-21 16:19:52 I'm officially back in the game.I decided last week that I wanted to be more involved in my business and starting today I'm talking to all buyers and sellers that we deal with. ALL. So if you call my office. You get me. Sounds simple but it's been probably 5 good years since I spoke to our new business as it came in. My wife let me go to Africa for 2 weeks last month on the condition I didn't trav
June Pending Home Sales Up Unexpectedly!!!! 2008-08-19 13:22:05 The National Association of Realtors said it's pending Home Sales
Index, which is based on contracts signed in June for the entire nation ,was up 5.3% in June!!!!!!!Also in Howard County sales between 200k and 299k are up 126% in July!!!!!But if your home isnt' in that price range, sorry for your luck..........sales have slid again. Overall for the year in Howard County , the number of sales are d
Million Dollar Home Inventory Surges!!! 2008-08-14 08:45:29 I can remember having a million dollar buyer in 1997. Every home we looked at we knew that if he didn't buy it probably no one else would that year. We knew we were the only buyer in existence in that price range at that time. Agents would bombard us after showings wanting to know feedback because we were their only showing in months...and there were not that many to even look at. I'm guessing li Read more:Dollar
, Inventory
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, Million Dollar
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