Predatory Lending or Not? You Decide

No Closing Costs? Yeah right.....

I met with a potential seller in Lawrenceville for a second time today after she called me for some advice. About two months ago I sat down with her and discussed her options for selling her home. She's an elderly woman in failing health and at the time she was uncertain about what she wanted to do. She received a letter in the mail from Chase a couple weeks ago offering her a no closing cost refi on her mortgage. Being intrigued and not understanding what she was being offered she asked them to send her more information.

The next day she receives a package FED EX from Chase and it contains several documents of which is a good faith and loan application for a new mortgage. The welcome letter congratulates her for being approved for a new 30 year fixed rate mortgage at 4.5% for her $86k balance. You might be asking, "what's so bad about that Steve?"

Here's what's bad about it....she only had 10 years left on the original note and her interest rate was 5.125%. Considering the fact that conventional rates are around 3.5% right now I don't see this as a win for her. In fact, to me it's borderline predatory lending. Why would anyone increase their mortgage by 20 years to save .6% on their rate?

Not Playing Fair

This infuriates me for two reasons...First, I've tried to refinance my own Chase loan for a lower interest rate recently to no avail. They wouldn't help me probably because I'm paying them 6.75%. Secondly, they sent this solicitation to an elderly person that would have been paid off in a little less than 10 years.....someone that had she not called me could have just signed the docs because she was made to believe it was a much better deal.

So they lower the interest rate to make it look attractive, her payment drops around $130 a month, and charge her no closing costs. Which in all actuality costs them very little to begin with. The only real costs are some processing and overnight fees and the fees paid to the attorney that handles the closing. Not cool Chase, not cool.

Consult a Realtor

If you receive one of these type offers in the mail, make sure you understand it before moving forward. It may seem like a good deal but it's probably not going to benefit you that much. Call me and I'd be happy to look it over for you.






www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

Traditional Real Estate Closings are Back!

After years of non-traditional closings, the traditional closing is back!

It used the be the best part about selling or purchasing a home was the actual closing....the excitement of sitting across the table from the other party and trading stories about the house or the journey of getting to that day. Then we got into the foreclosure years where the seller was never there and the closing became just another day. Well, the number of one-party closings are dwindling and once again we're coming back to a more traditional sale...

In the last month, I've been lucky enough to sit at the closing table with both buyer and seller three times.

The only banks involved in these transactions were the buyer's lender. Seller and buyer sitting across the table, talking about the house and the memories created there....and the new memories to be created. At one point during the last closing for a home sold in Dacula, I said...."This is like old times!" Everyone except for the buyer agreed.....mostly because she was a first time buyer and had no reference point! That was the best part...she purchased her first home and got to actually meet the seller!



DeeDee Smith purchased a home in Dacula Ga

Randy and Nara Taylor purchased a home in Cumming Ga

So if you think the only homes selling are the ones that are in some type of distress, you're wrong.

Traditional resales are back and selling for list price. If you're interested in selling your home and want to know how you can get your price, CALL ME NOW and let me explain how.



www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

Dacula Neighborhood Uses Nextdoor.com Website to Spruce Up

For those that live in a neighborhood with no HOA in place, you know it can be frustrating sometimes to get everyone to come together. Whether it be cleaning up the entrance to the subdivision or just keeping everyone aware of safety issues. With no group or governing body, most things just don't get done or passed along.

I've lived in Brookton Place in Dacula since 2000 and we don't have an association. We have 127 homes and no way to mass communicate with everyone, that is until about 3 months ago. Nextdoor.com is a free website you can set up for any neighborhood, big or small. It's very simple to use and has a message board that comes in handy.

Our neighborhood just came together and renovated the subdivision entrance signs and it was all made possible by our Nextdoor.com website. I sent out a request to see if anyone would be interested in helping contribute monetarily and physically to this project and the response was great! It was amazing how many people were thinking the same as I was about how bad our entrance looked, but didn't know how to get something started to fix it.

Before...Reggie scraping off old lettering

In a little less than a month we collected enough money to purchase the supplies needed. With a little help from several residents, we cleaned up and spruced up the entrance and it looks great!

Signs put out throughout neighborhood

After the work was done...much better!!

The best thing about all this is the residents of Brookton Place now have a way to communicate with each other. Not everyone in the community has joined the site but it's growing every week. If you'd like more information about how to get your site started, just call me. I'd be glad to tell you how it works or just follow the link to get more info.  https://brooktonplace.nextdoor.com/about_us/ 

www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

Don't Trust Your Short Sale to Just Any Agent

I hear this a lot...."Short sales take too long and our credit is shot already. We're just going to let it go back to the bank". This makes me sad honestly. To think that homeowners put their hopes and dreams into something that they are now just giving up on. There are plenty of reasons why this is happening but the most common is mis-education and mis-information.

I spoke to an expired seller yesterday and she was ecstatic that someone was willing to help her. She apparently had an agent that wasn't experienced in short sales and wasn't marketing it agressively enough. She was just going to let it go into foreclosure and she's only behind one month! Not hiring an experienced short sale Realtor is like going to a pre-med student for a heart transplant. They could only get you so far then wouldn't know how to stop the bleeding. Make sure your Realtor is CDPE. Click here to learn more about CDPE.

Don't think you have options?

Loan mods, short sale and deed in leiu are all options to foreclosure. All of these options will be reported on your credit report for shorter periods of time than foreclosure. Go to Georgia Foreclosure Help for more info on these.

If you need help with a short sale in Gwinnett, Barrow, Jackson or Hall counties in North Georgia, please call me. Don't just wait until the notice comes in the mail!



www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

New Interchange at 316 and Hwy 20 Promises a Smoother Commute

Most everyone that lives in Barrow County or Dacula has traveled hwy 316 during peak traffic hours. And if you have you know this can frustrating to say the least. Heck, I've been known to cut a few people off and throw around the ol' middle finger a few times myself. (that was pre-medication of course).

So you've probably noticed the construction that's been going on since November around the area of Hwy 20 and Collins Hill Rd in Lawrenceville. GDOT has been touting the new interchange for years and I'm hoping it relieves most of the backup in that area. I was wondering over the weekend as I'm driving through that stretch how they will reconfigure the roads. Will Hwy 20 pass over or under 316 and how will Collins Hill be routed? Does it really matter as long as they remove the lights? No, no it doesn't!!

I found this information on the GDOT website and thought it might be good to pass along. Although there's no drawing or rendering, it does explain how the roads will be reconfigured. It seems like they will combine the two interchanges into one. Personally I can't see how this will work but I'm not an engineer either.

Check out this link for the explanation  Hwy 316 interchange

Here's the first paragraph: On November 15, 2011 Georgia DOT began a 2.2 mile project to extend limited access along SR 316 in Gwinnett County. Crews will reconstruct the first two signalized intersections (Collins Hill Road and State Route 20) into one interchange serving both roads.

As a Realtor and someone that lives on the 316 side of Dacula, I'm hoping this will open up this side of town to more prospective buyers. It might also help property values as well because I've been told more than once by a potential buyer they want to stay away from Hwy 316. If the traffic backup is a non-issue, this will benefit values in the long term.

If you're considering buying or selling in Barrow County or Dacula, please CALL ME TODAY! I




www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.

Traditional Sales Outpacing Short Sales in Barrow County

Who would've thunk it? Traditional resales number more than short sales? Yeah right Steve, you must be reading the chart backwards. But it's true for Barrow County which includes Winder, Auburn, Bethlehem and Statham for the month of March 2012. Here are the numbers....
207 closed transactions in March in Barrow County

Foreclosures 144/207 70%

Short Sales 17/207 8%

Traditional/NC 46/207 22%

Inventory is down an average of 30% in Gwinnett, Jackson, Hall and Barrow counties. This means it's a great time to list your home if you have a desire to sell. Less inventory means buyers are competing for your home. You could have multiple offers if it's priced correctly.

If you want specific numbers for your neighborhood, call or email me and I'll be happy to send them!


www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com

Dacula Neighborhood | Apalachee Farms

You can waste a lot of time on YouTube......you can also find some useful videos as well. Especially if you're looking for a home. I've seen so many slide shows and virtual tours on YouTube and they're boring and didn't keep my attention for more than 10 seconds.

 

So I decided to make an actual video of one of my listings and the amenities in the subdivision. If you're relocating from another area, watching this will give you a much better feel than a virtual tour. Not to mention you get to hear a soothing narration.....it's me by the way. If you don't want to hear me then just turn the sound off and watch the video.

Apalachee Farms is a neighborhood in Northeast Georgia about 50 minutes from downtown Atlanta up I85. This is a golf course community with great amenities and a strong HOA. If you need more information about this area or any other in Gwinnett County, please call or email me!




www.SteveSellsGwinnett.com Steve Rider, CDPE Realtor with Keller Williams Lanier Partners in Braselton Georgia. Covering Barrow, Jackson, Gwinnett and Hall Counties in Northeast Georgia. If you're looking for real estate in Gwinnett County please contact me at 404 663 7063 or steverider1@gmail.com.