Things to do if you get behind on your payments and/or are already in foreclosure:

1. Talk to your lender. Explain your situation. Ask for a temporary forebearance or a loan modification to make your mortgage more affordable. Do this BEFORE you are in foreclosure for best results.
2. Check out this HUD website for troubled homeowners: http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/ The site contains a wealth of information.
3. Call the Homeowners Hope(tm) Hotline: 1-888-995-HOPE and speak with a HUD-approved Housing Counselor
4. Help is FREE! Please Beware of Foreclosure Help SCAMS. If someone asks you for a fee - DO NOT PAY - RUN AWAY! There is never a fee to speak with your lender or a HUD-approved housing counselor.

Later!

Allison

OK. I have to add this link. If you, or someone you know, is on the brink of foreclosure, please click on this link. There's a lot of help out there for you, and you may be able to keep your home.

http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2009042203?OpenDocument

The management and all the agents at Keller Williams Realty @ Southlands are committed to helping people stay in their homes. Please contact me if you are unsure where to go or what to do. We can help. And our preference is to help you stay in your home, not sell it short or see it go into foreclosure.

Later...

Allison

We are moving into the prime selling/buying season of late spring/early summer. Buyers with school age children, especially, want to be out of the old house after school's out, but into the new house before school begins. With that in mind, Realtor(r) Magazine, offers hints for sellers on how to stage their homes for the best selling result. Best of all, the hints are budget conscious.

Here are a few of my favorites:

• Use ice cubes to remove those "furniture dents" from your carpets
• Use an inexpensive inflatable bed to make that extra-bedroom-converted-to-office look like a bedroom again
• Close the toilet lids and closet doors
• Light it up! Open draperies and blinds; turn on all the lamps. Replace lower wattage light bulbs with higher wattage ones. Buyers like light and bright.
• Go Green. If you have bamboo floors, a high efficiency furnace, energy efficient windows or other "green" features, be sure to make them known to buyers.
• Declutter. Remove personal photos, collections and mementos. You're moving, so pack it up and store it elsewhere. Make all your closets only 1/2 full. Take all the off-season clothing and store it off site.
• If you don't already have it, create curb appeal. If buyers don't see curb appeal, they may just decide to cruise on by and not even go in.
• Write a letter about why you loved living here. Display the letter in a prominent place where buyers will see it. The community Easter Egg hunt, ice cream social, dumpster day, great neighbors, great schools, whatever you loved... all reasons why someone else would also love living here.

To read the entire article, and to see more great budget friendly staging ideas, check out the following link: http://www.realtor.org/rmohome_and_design/articles/2009/0904_home_stagingtips

Later...

Allison

Great Times for First Time Home Buyers in Colorado

Hi! Well, this is my first blog, and I'm a bit nervous. But the news is so good for first time home buyers in Colorado, I just had to share!

CHFA has just announced it's new program, "Jump Start". This program will allow qualified Colorado first time home buyers to leverage the first time home buyer tax credit allowed under American Reinvestment and Recovery Act into dollars needed now to buy that first home. Combined with interest rates that are in some cases as low as 4.875%, and the Denver real estate market that is stabilizing, right now is the best time to buy your first home. To read the complete Denver Business Journal story, please click on this link: http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2009/04/13/daily22.html

To qualify for the up to $8000 federal income tax credit, you must close on your home by December 1, 2009.

To take advantage of this fantastic program, the first step is to meet with a CHFA approved lender. There is a list of approved lenders, as well as descriptions of other CHFA loan programs, at the CHFA website: http://www.chfainfo.com/

I can also refer you to approved CHFA lenders with whom I have worked and trust.

Whether you plan to buy soon or later this year, meeting with a lender as soon as possible is so important. You really need to have your loan figured out first, then find the house, not the other way around. Plus, if your credit needs some help, a good lender can point you in the right direction to get it fixed so you can qualify.

So don't delay! Time is of the essence! You must close on your home by December 1, 2009 to qualify for the income tax credit and the CHFA Jump Start loan. Unless the tax credit is extended by Congress into next year, this incredible opportunity for first time home ownership will be gone!