Because there are so many reasons to go FSBO, I’m going to do a weekly installment of reasons why buyers and sellers should work with/as For Sale by Owners all the way through the end of 2010!!

So look out for those posts to be published every Wednesday. Week #1 Reason will be posted tomorrow!

Existing home prices have fallen. Mortgage rates are at historic lows. The government-sponsored tax credits for homebuyers will end in late April. If you have been looking into buying a home, now is the time. If you wait you could end up paying thousands of dollars more, with higher mortgage rates and miss out on government incentives.

According to an article on CNNMoney.com, your biggest asset as a homebuyer right now is that fact that mortgage rates are so low. But that won’t last long. Judging from predictions made by the Mortgage Bankers Association, and U.S. News real estate writer Luke Mullins, mortgage prices are expected to rise by the end of 2010. This is due in part to the tax credits ending, which could drive up the cost of home loans. Also, increased mortgage prices are a sign of market recovery, which is expected to occur in slight degrees by the end of 2010

Mortgage rates are currently sitting at around 5.15% and are expected to rise to about 6% by the end of the year. With a $300,000 house you will be paying nearly $200 more a month in your mortgage payment if you wait. That’s an increase of just 0.85%!

For For Sale by Owners, this is great news. This means that market savvy homebuyers will be out there ready to buy, knowing that they’re going to get the best deal if they act now. The key to getting your FSBO home sold quickly will be competitive pricing. Unfortunately, many homeowner over estimate the real value of their homes. A high asking price is a sure way to turn away buyers.

Check real estate websites such as trulia.com to see where your home stands price-wise, or enlist the help of professional home appraiser to get an appropriate estimate. People like to work with FSBO’s because they know they’re going to get a good deal without having to go through all the broker’s red tape—so give it to them.

In my many forays out into the article/blogosphere, I have come across something that caused me some alarm. It’s an article published on HeraldTribune.com that details a scary scenario where a nation-wide mortgage lending bank, Wells Fargo, utilized dishonest declarations to take possession of a Florida man’s home and foreclose.

And now, the Florida Supreme Court is taking steps to prevent these fraudulent foreclosures by making banks go more in depth when presenting their cases for foreclosure to the court. Currently, lenders can continue with a foreclosure as long as they advertise the case in the newspaper and present an affidavit saying that they could not find the homeowner. Now lending banks are required to tell judges more about the methods used to locate the homeowner, thus protecting the homeowner’s property rights.

The homeowner in question suffered—like thousands of other homeowner—from a mortgage in default and it sounds from the article like the banks tried to take advantage. It’s nice to know that the courts are looking out for us homeowners.

Going off of John McIlwain’s provocative essay about the future of housing in America (you can read it here if you like,) I thought I would do a short seminar about the effect that immigration will have on America’s housing market.

Currently, immigrants, both legal and illegal, make up around 13 percent of the overall population—that’s 40 million people. And that number is expected to triple by the year 2050. This increase isn’t only due to more immigrants coming into the U.S. Immigrants who are already here are going to have families and those U.S. born citizens will make up half of the 117 million person increase.

Historically, these immigrant communities used to reside in the urban or near urban areas—hence neighborhoods in big cities like Chinatown and Little Italy. But given the nucleus-like familial nature of Latino immigrants (who are the largest minority in the U.S. and will make up over 29% of U.S. population by 2050,) it is presumed that these families will look for a more suburban setting to accommodate their large families and very tight-knit culture. Plus, suburban housing will be a more affordable alternative to usually pricey and smaller urban options.

So what does this mean for the housing market? Well, nothing for the time being, but there is a good, good, good chance that suburban communities will see a boom in coming decades from the increase in these immigrant populations.

Something to look forward to.

So I wanted to do a blog about modern style trends in housing, and before I started I wanted to direct you all to this page of the “World’s Wildest Houses”. Some of these houses you won’t believe…but I digress.

FSBOs, since you are taking on the project of selling your house to potential first-time homebuyers, you want to be on the cutting edge of style so your house shows well. In all of my research, I haven’t really landed on a “defining” style that everyone is currently going for. Some people want a fixer upper and that might mean no style at all. Others might be looking for modern-chic. The bottom line is that you can’t predict what your buyer is going to like or dislike.

(One thing to note: You as the seller are selling the structure of the house, not the stuff inside of it. That’s why it might be a good idea to remove any excess furniture or décor to show off as much of the shell as you can. A smart buyer isn’t going to buy from you because your nice leather sectional looked good in the den next to the fireplace—they’re going to buy it because their twin suede love seats will look great next to the fireplace.)

But what I can say, through all my research, I always somehow ended up arriving at the same point: Green. Once thought as a trend, now a way of life, and soon becoming the only way to live, greening is perhaps the best enhancement you can make on your house. People will be much more tempted by energy-efficient windows and water-conserving dishwashers than anything else. Plus, a green home can get buyers government sponsored incentives, which makes a nice selling point on any property. Simply by upgrading your heating and air-conditioning system to an Energy Star rated system, you qualify for a 30% tax credit for the upgrade, which helps you (see details here at paystolivegreen.com.) There are countless other ways to green and you read more about them at paystolivegreen.com.

So instead of using style to sell your house, entice buyers with life style, and a green one at that.