How sellers, buyers can close deals faster

Real estate agents see it all — from unmade beds to overstuffed garages to the "What were they thinking?" decor.

Over the years, they learn why some houses sell while others linger on the market, and why some promising buyers never make it to the closing table. They know how to get a better deal on the mortgage, and how much the other agents stand to make on your home.

The good news is, they want to share.

The information is useful whether you're a buyer, a seller or both.

In today's market, sellers are again optimistic about the value and price of their homes — "but buyers aren't," says Ron Phipps, principal with Warwick, R.I.-based Phipps Realty, and past president of the National Association of Realtors.

"Your challenge as a seller is to price the house so that it is compelling," he says.

What does that mean?

"Set a price slightly below market value," he says. Just "a fraction."

For example: If similar homes in your neighborhood are clustered around $210,000, you might price yours at $200,000 or $198,000, he says.

"The longer a house is on the market, the less likely you are to get fair value," Phipps says. "So you really want to position yourself to be the one that sells, not the one that languishes."

And the adage of not wanting to leave any money on the table? Still valid.

If you're also buying a home, and you already have cash in hand, thanks to a fast sale, "that puts you in a very powerful position," Phipps says.

For many potential buyers, frugality ends the minute they get pre-approved for a mortgage, Phipps says. That's when they start running up the cards and opening new lines of credit to buy things for their home-to-be.

But that pre-approval letter is just one of the first steps in the home buying marathon, not the finish line.

Just before closing, a lender will re-examine a prospective buyer's financial situation — complete with a recent copy of the credit history and other updated information.

If those numbers have changed for the worse (salary decrease, higher card balances, new lines of credit), then the applicant could get clocked with a higher interest rate or even lose the loan. "The number of buyers who get denied is significant," Phipps says.

The moral? Never get new loans or start using credit cards more heavily until after you've actually closed on the home.

Even better, retain your frugality until you've been in the home for a few months and have a good sense of how homeownership affects your finances, Phipps says.

If you're selling a home, it's important to understand the timeline, says Jeffry Wiren, principal broker with Re/Max Equity Group and past president of the Portland, Ore., Metropolitan Association of Realtors.

Underestimating the time it takes — and building a schedule around those unrealistic expectations — adds stress, Wiren says.

Wiren's schedule breakdown:

 Getting your home in shape: two weeks

 Average time on the market (varies widely with location and price): 2 1⁄2 to three months

 Negotiating after an 
offer: one week

 Preparing to close (assuming a traditional transaction): 30 to 45 days

A smart seller allows a 
minimum of four to six months to sell, Wiren says.

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The Ticker

Fast-food workers stage U.S. protests

Fast-food workers in hundreds of cities staged a day of rallies yesterday to demand higher wages, saying their pay was too low to feed a family and forced most to accept public assistance.

The protests escalated a series of actions at several Walmart stores on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.

Protesters want the hourly U.S. minimum wage raised to $15 from $7.25.

The protests were organized by groups such as "Fast Food Forward" and "Low Pay is Not OK" that have the support of labor union giant Service Employees International Union, which represents more than 2 million members including health care, janitorial and security workers.

 Baker, Braverman & Barbadoro P.C., a Quincy law firm, recently hired Barbara Wilson as a paralegal. Using her expertise in estate planning and corporate law, Wilson will assist the firm's attorneys in corporate matters, probate and family law matters and litigation cases.

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A Whirl-Wynn of Hub meetings

Vegas casino magnate Steve Wynn made a low-key visit to the Hub Monday, taking meetings with legislators, including the rep who authored the state's gaming legislation, and state Gaming Commission investigators, whose probes led him to decry Bay State background checks as heavy-handed.

Wynn met with Ways and Means chairman Brian Dempsey, the Haverhill rep who partly authored the gaming legislation, as well as Sen. Sal DiDomenico of Everett, where Wynn wants to build the 
$1.4 billion resort. The Sin City titan also was scheduled to speak on the phone with Senate majority leader Stanley Rosenberg of Amherst, another key force in passage of the gaming law, but that conversation did not happen, the Herald has learned.

It was not clear what was discussed, or why Wynn would meet with lawmakers who don't have a dog in the Everett casino fight. Dempsey and Rosenburg did not return calls for comment yesterday. Wynn spokesman Michael Weaver would only characterize the visit as "providing an update of our project to legislators, a discussion about the industry in general and the entry of gaming into the commonwealth."

"You heard Mr. Wynn's comments before the Gaming Commission last time he appeared," Weaver said when asked what Wynn said during the meetings. "It was helping (legislators) understand how the process moves forward."

Wynn has publicly ripped the Gaming Commission as "freshmen" with an "unbelievable preoccupation that maybe a gangster is going to get in." In October, Wynn told the commission he was "scared to death" he'd be vulnerable to sanctions on the basis of "murky" investigations into his Macau operation.

DiDomenico said Wynn stopped by his office unannounced Monday, and stressed what his resort could do for Everett.

"There was nothing I could say I definitely gained from it, other than he was coming to say, 'Hey, we are going to your community and we're going to do good things,'" DiDomenico said. "It was quick. Done, over, see ya later."

Gaming Commission spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said Wynn asked investigators Monday to set up a meeting with the commission. Wynn representatives will appear before the commission next Friday to outline a land ownership plan, and on Dec. 16 to determine if the company is suitable to apply for the sole eastern Massachusetts casino license. A proposal by Suffolk Downs and Mohegan Sun in Revere is also in the running.

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Milk prices could rise if farm bill looms

WASHINGTON — A New Year's deadline that could send the price of milk skyward looms over congressional negotiators as they try to reach agreement on a five-year farm bill. They've been tripped up by differences over the nation's food stamp program and how to restructure farm subsidies.

The two chambers have been far apart on both issues for more than two years. But the leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture committees expressed optimism after a private meeting Wednesday that they may be able to find resolution in time to narrowly avert the expiration of dairy subsidies on Jan. 1. If those subsidies expire, new laws will kick in that could result in decreased dairy supply on the commercial market and higher prices for a gallon of milk.

Rep. Mike Conaway of Texas, a Republican on the House-Senate farm bill conference committee, said negotiators could possibly hold a public meeting next week for the conference committee to settle some of the remaining issues before the House leaves for the year on Dec. 13. But with a final deal still elusive, it seems unlikely that Congress will finish the bill before the end of the year.

On Thursday, House Speaker John Boehner said the bill should be extended through January while negotiators work out their differences. Boehner also contradicted the optimism of House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., who said Wednesday that the two sides had made "great progress."

"You know, I've not seen any real progress on the farm bill," Boehner said. "And so if we've got to pass a one-month extension of the farm bill, I think we ought to be prepared to do that."

An extension is not certain, however. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said he doesn't want to extend the bill again after Congress already extended the bill at the beginning of this year.

Finding a compromise on cuts to the nation's $80 billion-a-year food stamp program has been the toughest obstacle over the last two years. The House passed a bill this summer that would cut $4 billion from food stamps — now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP — annually and allow states to create new work requirements for some recipients. The Democratic Senate, backed by President Barack Obama, passed a farm bill with $400 million annual cut, or a tenth of the House cut.

Negotiators have discussed as a possibility cracking down further on a practice in some states of giving low-income people as little as $1 a year in home heating assistance, even when they don't have heating bills, in order to make them eligible for increased food stamp benefits. The Senate found its $400 million in annual cuts by requiring that recipients receive at least $10 in assistance to make them eligible, while the House doubled that cut by requiring that recipients receive $20 annually — bringing the savings to around $800 million a year.

It's unclear whether a compromise would include the new work requirements passed by the House, but the Senate is unlikely to go along with those proposals. The Senate has also balked at a House provision to end government waivers that have allowed able-bodied adults without dependents to receive food stamps indefinitely. That proposal has been particularly important to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.

White House spokesman Jay Carney reiterated Obama's support for the Senate version of the bill Thursday, calling the House SNAP cuts "unconscionable" and harmful to families across the country.

"The president has mentioned and made clear that there is an opportunity for bipartisan cooperation on a comprehensive farm bill," Carney said. "And he hopes and expects that that can be achieved before the end of the year."

Negotiators are also working out how farm subsidies should be restructured in the absence of a traditional subsidy called direct payments, which are paid to farmer regardless of crop price or crop yield. Both chambers' bills would eliminate this $5 billion annual subsidy in response to critics who say it pays farmers not to farm. But they have argued over how to replace those payments, with major farm groups squabbling over whether subsidies should kick in based on crop prices or farmer revenue, and how to count the acreage on which the subsidies are based.

Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson, the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, said negotiators had tentatively resolved some of those subsidy issues. But they are still waiting for analysis of how much their proposals would cost, a process that could take until next week.

If the negotiators can't agree on a bill and Congress allows the dairy supports to expire, 1930s and 1940s-era "permanent" farm law would go into effect. Those laws would raise the price that the government currently pays to purchase dairy products, prompting many processors to sell to the government instead of commercial markets. That would decrease commercial supply and consequently raise prices for shoppers at grocery stores.

Prices wouldn't go up immediately, as the Agriculture Department would have to write the new rules based on the old laws and then put them into place. But Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is warning that it may not take that long, saying USDA was prepared to implement the dairy law in "short order" if current law expires.

"But boy, I tell you, that's not something that I want to do," Vilsack said. "I'm reasonably certain that's not anything that anybody in Congress would want to have happen, and I'm sure that no consumer is anxious to see that happen. So hopefully we continue to see progress."

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Associated Press writers Henry C. Jackson and Nedra Pickler contributed to this report.

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Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mcjalonick

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Tech Tips: Are the new AT&T plans better for you?

NEW YORK — AT&T is joining T-Mobile in reducing monthly fees for people who pay for their own devices.

It's the latest break from a longstanding practice of offering subsidies on devices to lock customers into two-year service agreements. Many customers have been forgoing those subsidies anyway as they choose plans that allow frequent phone upgrades. But until now, AT&T and Verizon have still factored in the costs of those subsidies in the monthly service fees for voice, text and data, whether the customer uses the subsidies or not.

Beginning Sunday, customers will be able to switch to the cheaper plans if they buy or bring their own phone. That includes paying for the device in installments through the frequent-upgrade Next plan. Those whose contracts have run out also qualify.

Most customers will save at least $15 a month under the new AT&T plans.

Here's a more detailed look at the plans and why it makes sense for most people to switch.

___

THE BACKDROP:

For years, Americans have been used to paying $100 or $200 for their phones and agreeing to two-year contracts. A high-end phone typically costs $600 or more, and phone companies make up the difference by baking the subsidies into the monthly fees for voice, text and data.

In March, T-Mobile US Inc. departed from that practice with new pricing plans. It started charging full prices for phones through a down payment and monthly installments over two years. It also lowered the service fees for voice, text and data to remove what would have gone to the subsidies. So customers get reductions in overall monthly bills once the devices are paid off.

In July, T-Mobile began a frequent-upgrade program known as Jump. Customers pay $10 a month to participate and get new phones up to twice a year instead of once every two years.

AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless and Sprint Corp. followed with their own frequent-upgrade plans. All of them charge full prices for phones, spread out over 20 to 24 months. Sprint reduces monthly service fees under those plans, but the discounts end after the phone is paid off over two years. T-Mobile customers keep the lower service rates indefinitely.

AT&T and Verizon kept service fees the same, meaning customers under the upgrade plans paid for the phones twice — through installments and through subsidies they didn't use. The service fee reductions announced Thursday bring AT&T in line with T-Mobile and eliminate the double charge for phones. Verizon wouldn't comment on its plans.

___

THE MATH:

New customers will save $15 a month if they supply their own phone.

For existing customers, savings will generally be at least $15 a month:

— Those on the cheapest plans, offering 300 megabytes of data a month, will save $25 per phone.

— For accounts sharing 1 to 2 gigabytes of data, the savings start at $15 for a single-line account and increase to $18.75 per phone for a family of four.

— Those on the 4-gigabyte data plan will save $15 per phone.

— For plans with even more data, the amount saved actually decreases as more phones are added, but it's at least $20 for a single-line account. The amount saved goes as high as $130 a month for a single line with 50 gigabytes.

Keep in mind that the fees don't include the cost of the devices, and there's a $36 activation fee unless you're on the Next upgrade plan.

Customers switching from contract plans to the frequent-upgrade Next plan may end up paying more overall at first, as high-end devices such as Apple's iPhone 5S and Samsung's Galaxy S4 typically cost an additional $27 a month for 20 months.

AT&T is also offering a new Next option that lets you upgrade to a new phone every 18 months instead of every 12 months while stretching out payments to 26 months. Assuming AT&T charges the same prices, the high-end devices will cost $21 a month.

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THE BOTTOM LINE:

AT&T is changing contract prices for new customers and offering the new rates to existing contract customers. The regular plans aren't going away for existing customers, but most people will break even or find the new rates cheaper. An exception: Some accounts with at least three phones sharing 6 gigabytes or more of data will save by keeping the old plan.

What if only some people in a family plan want to bring their own phones? No problem. Only those people will get the reduced service rates. However, the remaining family members must accept the new contract rates, which are generally better anyway.

Those on family plans won't have to wait for everyone's contract to expire to switch. Each phone will get the reduced fee as that contract ends.

The new plans have no contract requirements, though customers on Next will have to pay off remaining installments right away if they leave.

___

Anick Jesdanun, deputy technology editor for The Associated Press, can be reached at njesdanun@ap.org.

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Mass. gambling chief steps aside on Everett ruling

BOSTON — The head of the Massachusetts gambling commission said he was withdrawing from a crucial review of the land deal for a proposed casino in Everett because one of the site's owners was a longtime friend and former business partner.

Stephen Crosby said he has known Paul Lohnes, co-owner of the 29-acre site, since they were in the National Guard in the 1970s and that they were business partners from 1983 to 1990.

If Wynn Resorts wins the right to develop the former Monsanto chemical site into a $1.3 billion casino, the land sale would potentially be worth millions of dollars to Lohnes.

"Although I believe I have met all the requisite legal and ethical standards so that I could be involved in the resolution to this land issue, and I have no doubt about my ability to be objective on the issue of the land option, it is due to my intense commitment to the integrity of the overall licensing process, that I have made the decision to not participate in this upcoming decision," Crosby wrote in a statement posted on the commission's website Thursday.

Wynn has requested a meeting to discuss concerns raised in a background check conducted by the commission's investigative arm about Wynn's option to purchase the land in Everett. Crosby said he would recuse himself from the Dec. 13 meeting, leaving it to the four other commissioners to resolve what he called an "important and sensitive issue."

Wynn has proposed reducing the planned sale price from an estimated $70 million to prevent any potential windfall for secret investors, according to The Boston Globe.

Crosby has previously said that there was no indication Wynn had been aware of any secret investors at the time the land deal was negotiated.

Crosby indicated he would continue to participate in all other key decisions related to the awarding of the sole eastern Massachusetts resort casino license.

Wynn hopes to compete for that license, as does Mohegan Sun, which has proposed a casino in Revere on land owned by Suffolk Downs.

The racetrack originally planned a casino that would straddle East Boston and Revere, but turned to a Revere-only facility after East Boston residents rejected the original plan. The commission is expected to vote Tuesday on whether to allow the revised bid to go forward.

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Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.bostonglobe.com

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Unsold inventories result of GDP boost

The nation's economy grew at a 3.6 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the fastest in more than a year, but a buildup in business inventories suggests the Federal Reserve will likely maintain its bond-buying stimulus for now, despite a drop in unemployment claims.

The Commerce Department's second estimate of growth from July to September released yesterday far exceeded the 2.8 percent initially reported last month and was well above the 2.5 percent growth rate for the second quarter.

"The problem is all of the upward revision was in a buildup of goods and services produced, but not sold," said Paul Edelstein, director of financial economics at IHS Global Insight in Lexington.

As a result, Edelstein said, in the fourth quarter, the nation will probably see a smaller buildup in inventories, which is going to hurt gross domestic product.

"The buildup in the third quarter was in some ways a mistake," he said. "Adding to it is the fact that the holiday shopping season is not going that well. So that's probably going to make the problem worse."

For those reasons, Edelstein said, the Fed likely will continue buying 
$85 billion in bonds each month to keep borrowing costs low, despite a Labor Department report yesterday that showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 298,000 last week.

A better indicator of whether the economy is truly strengthening is a report due out today that includes the number of jobs created.

Herald wire services contributed to this report.

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Experts: MGM’s debt could thwart casino’s chances

The head of MGM Resorts International yesterday said he feels confident the state Gaming Commission will find MGM suitable to continue with the licensing process to open a casino in Springfield, but two gaming experts said they wouldn't be so sure.

At a Boston College Chief Executives' Club luncheon, James Murren told reporters he was "excited" about Monday's hearing before the commission, five months after Springfield residents voted in favor of MGM's proposed casino.

"I have every reason to expect that we'll be found suitable," Murren said. "I have found the commonwealth to be very deliberate, quite transparent, professional ... which gives me the confidence, combined with the fact that I know the facts at hand with my own company."

MGM is $13 billion in debt, however. And in October, another casino applicant, Caesars Entertainment Corp., withdrew from its partnership with Suffolk Downs after the commission's investigators recommended against a license, partly because of Caesars' $23.7 billion debt.

"It would be interesting to see how (Murren's) going to finance (an $851 million) casino," said the Rev. Richard McGowan, a Boston College professor who has written three books on gaming.

New Jersey investigators in 2009 raised red flags about MGM's Macau business partner, Pansy Ho, and her father's alleged ties to organized crime.

Since then, MGM has gone public in Macau Murren said, and Ho, who sits on the board, is now worth more than her father.

"My guess is MGM is going to have the same trouble they had in New Jersey," said Whittier Law School professor I. Nelson Rose.

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Solid US job growth cuts unemployment to 7 pct.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. job market is proving sturdier than many thought.

Solid job growth in November cut the U.S. unemployment rate in November to 7 percent, a five-year low. The surprisingly robust gain suggested that the economy may have begun to accelerate. As more employers gain the confidence to step up hiring, more people have money to spend to drive the economy.

Employers added 203,000 jobs last month after adding 200,000 in October, the Labor Department said Friday. November's job gain helped lower the unemployment rate from 7.3 percent in October. The economy has now added a four-month average of 204,000 jobs from August through November, up from 159,000 a month from April through July.

"It's hinting very, very strongly that the economy is starting to ramp up, that growth is getting better, that businesses are hiring," said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors.

The job growth has also fueled speculation that the Federal Reserve will scale back its economic stimulus when it meets later this month.

It "gives the Fed all the evidence it needs to begin tapering its asset purchases at the next ... meeting," said Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics.

The unemployment rate has fallen nearly a full percentage point since the Fed began buying bonds in September 2012 and hit 7 percent earlier than most analysts expected.

In June, Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested that the Fed would end its purchases when the rate had reached 7 percent. Bernanke later backed away from that specific target in September. He cautioned that the Fed would weigh numerous economic factors in any decision it makes about its bond purchases.

Many economists still think the Fed won't begin to cut back until its January meeting or later.

In addition to the solid job gain drop in unemployment, the November employment report contained other encouraging signs:

— Higher-paying industries are adding more jobs. Manufacturers added 27,000 jobs, the most since March 2012. Construction companies added 17,000. The two industries have created a combined 113,000 jobs in the past four months.

— Average hourly wages rose 4 cents to $24.15. They have risen just 2 percent in the past year. But that's ahead of inflation: consumer prices have risen 0.9 percent over that time.

— Employers are giving their workers more hours: The average work week rose to 34.5 hours, up from 34.4. A rule of thumb among economists is that a one-tenth hourly increase in the work week is equivalent to adding 200,000 jobs.

Friday's report follows other positive news. The economy expanded at an annual rate of 3.6 percent in the July-September quarter, the fastest growth since early 2012, though nearly half that gain came from businesses rebuilding stockpiles. Consumer spending grew at its slowest pace since late 2009.

But more people with jobs would lead to more spending. Job growth has a dominant influence over much of the economy. If hiring continues at its current pace, a virtuous cycle will start to build: More jobs typically lead to higher wages, more spending and faster growth.

But more higher-paying jobs are also needed to sustain the economy's momentum. Roughly half the jobs that were added in the six months through October were in four low-wage industries: retail; hotels, restaurants and entertainment; temp jobs; and home health care workers.

The Fed has pegged its stimulus efforts to consistent improvement in the job market. Bernanke has said the Fed will ease its monthly purchases of $85 billion in bonds once hiring has improved consistently.

The recent economic upturn has been surprising. Many economists expected the government shutdown in October to hobble growth. Yet the economy motored along without much interruption, according to several government and industry reports.

Early reports on holiday shopping have been disappointing. The National Retail Federation said sales during the Thanksgiving weekend — probably the most important stretch for retailers — fell for the first time since the group began keeping track in 2006.

Consumers are willing to spend on big-ticket items. Autos sold in November at their best pace in seven years, according to Autodata Corp. New-home sales in October bounced back from a summer downturn.

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AP Economics Writer Josh Boak contributed to this report.

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Follow Chris Rugaber on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/ChrisRugaber.

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'Sound of Music' alive for 18.5 million viewers

NEW YORK — "The Sound of Music" has the sound of a hit for NBC.

Nearly 18.5 million viewers tuned to Thursday night's live telecast of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, according to the Nielsen company.

Although a preliminary audience average, the figure is expected to hold up as a measure of the three-hour production's viewership, NBC said.

It was NBC's best Thursday average, excluding sports programming, since the series finale of "Frasier" aired in May 2004, and the most-watched nonsports night on any night of the week since the Golden Globes broadcast seven years ago, the network said.

"The Sound of Music Live!" starred Carrie Underwood in the role of Maria, with Stephen Moyer ("True Blood") as Capt. Von Trapp. It was the first full-scale musical staged live for television in more than a half-century.

Viewers flocked to the broadcast, but TV critics sang some sour notes.

NBC was widely credited for trying something ambitious and risky, and Underwood was praised for braving the challenge, but her shortcomings were called out.

USA Today's Robert Bianco noted that, without Underwood's star power, the broadcast never would have happened, while adding, "the trouble is that with her, it wasn't very good."

"It's impossible not to notice that she can't act," wrote The Washington Post's Hank Stuever. "When Underwood spoke her lines, she was as flat as the label on a Swiss Miss package of cocoa."

And The Associated Press' Mark Kennedy said, "The only real problem was the real reason most people tuned in: Carrie Underwood." She displayed "zero chemistry with her love interest and lacked any intensity or shading," wrote Kennedy. "Deer in headlights have emoted more. How do you solve a problem like Maria, indeed."

A cast album of "The Sound of Music Live!" is already on sale. A home-video edition goes on sale Dec. 17.

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