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By Lindsey, on May 13th, 2012
Is it actually going to happen? Is the housing market finally on its way to recovery?
The word on the street is that now may be the cheapest time to buy a home. Whether you are looking to buy a condo, invest in a real estate, or buy a single family home, it may be time to consider making an actual move on your dream.
Housing prices are down 34% across the nation since 2006. As everyone knows, mortgage rates don’t get much lower than where they are at now. A chief economist for PNC Financial predicts that home prices will level out by the third quarter and then start rising by 2013. Nationally, asking prices for homes has already risen 1.4% in the first quarter of 2012 in comparison to the end of 2011.
What is leading to the possibility of the housing market strengthening?
Read the Full Post »(395 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)
By Lindsey, on May 2nd, 2012
Calling all people who want to buy a home!
This just in! Banks reportedly are now lending up to 3.5 times borrower earnings! You may have a shot at your dream home after all!
Although the average credit score needed to obtain a home loan is still 700, credit availability is loosening. The LTV (loan-to-value) ratio, which tells you how much of the property is being financed, is now being loaned at 82% compared to 74% in mid-2010.
What is the LTV ratio? Let’s say you purchased a home valued at $100,000 and get a mortgage for $80,000. Your loan-to-value ration would be 80% because $80,000 is 80% of the home’s value. This means that in 2010 the banks would have only loaned you $74,000 on a $100,000 home, today they may loan you up to $82,000!
This is exciting.
Read the Full Post »(321 words, estimated 1:17 mins reading time)
By Lindsey, on December 23rd, 2011
Buyer brokers are looking to improve wherever they can in this economy. They are updating their resumes and business cards, improving their technology, putting mobile apps to use, and last but not least they are attempting to be the best agents they can be.
So often we hear stories about a buyers agent who has shown a buyer 50 homes using their own car, gas, and time. The buyer is extremely pleased with their service and wants to make things easier on them so they have their sister or friend write up an offer and submit it. This is with the thought that they are making it easier on the buyer agent, not knowing that they are removing the possibility of the buyer agent getting compensation for all of their hard work.
Read the Full Post »(375 words, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)
By Lindsey, on November 7th, 2011
I usually don’t get too personal in my writings, but I felt the need to share my story about a recent meeting with a real estate agent. I was interested in finding out the market and basic value of a piece of land and decided to go to an expert who could show me comparable market analysis.
It turns out I got much more information that I expected. Upon sitting down, the realtor turned her computer screen toward me so I could see what she was referencing. The land value had dropped by 21% over a year’s time. The downfall of the economy had finally hit home for me. Although this was terrible news, I also received some great advice and a few interesting facts.
Land in the mountains of Colorado does not sell during the winter.
It is too cold for anyone to dig a foundation due to the frozen ground. Most buyers wait until the spring to buy so they don’t lose money hanging onto a piece of land they can’t do anything with.
Read the Full Post »(554 words, estimated 2:13 mins reading time)
By Lindsey, on July 18th, 2011
What?!?! There were cities that the fall of the housing market didn’t destroy?
Yes there were. Amazingly enough these 10 cities were largely unaffected by the housing market slide.
Using the ZHVI (Zillow Home Value Index) we can see what the current value is of homes and how it compares nationally.
According to CNBC the following cities were virtually untouched during the housing decline:
Greenville, SC. It changed -2.1% from the national peak and has a current ZHVI of $126,400. The foreclosure resales are 1% below the national average. It went down about 5% in the year-over-year change, and the rate of mortgages that are underwater is 6.7% below the nation average!
Moving on….Knoxville, TN is another US city that is holding strong. The current ZHVI is $133,600 which means it is around -2% change from the national peak. Foreclosure resales are 25.9% below the national average, the underwater mortgages are also below by 16.9%!
Read the Full Post »(544 words, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)
By Lindsey, on June 12th, 2011
Is the housing market recuperating? There isn’t anything obvious to confirm this thought in the real estate world, but home prices are rising in certain areas.
In the Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC area home prices have risen 12.2% since the beginning of 2010. This is great news for anyone who has bought a home in the area in the last year. With the median home price being $$195,000, owner’s homes have gained value over the last year. This is not the case in all areas of home prices.
I will give you a quick rundown of the areas where home prices have gone up and then will compare them to the areas where home prices have declined over the last year. See which category your buyers fall into if you have sold a home in the last year.
Coming in second to the Charlotte area is Buffalo, Niagara Falls, NY. The prices of homes here has risen 10.8 % in the last year bringing the median home price to $118,100.
Read the Full Post »(654 words, estimated 2:37 mins reading time)
By Lindsey, on April 18th, 2011
Dual agency definition: Occurs when the same brokerage represents both the buyer and the seller under written agreement. This means that if a buyer has a buyers agreement with a real estate agent and the buyer has interest in a home that is listed under the same broker that the buyer’s agent works for, another agent or the same agent within the same office can represent the seller of the home of interest.
Just because there is a written agreement doesn’t mean it is safe to work under.
There isn’t even any fine print to warn the buyer. Dual agency can be detrimental to a buyer in certain situations. A company who advocates dual agency may say they work as a dual agency but actually perform similarly to a single agency. In small spaces, phone calls can be made with the buyer talking about pricing and terms and can be overheard. Faxes can accidentally be seen. Unintentionally an agent may be talking about a buyer by the coffee pot and be overheard by the sellers agent. If the sellers agent has information that may benefit the seller they must reveal the information to them because their fiduciary responsibility is to the seller.
Read the Full Post »(358 words, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)
By Lindsey, on April 13th, 2011
Geothermal heating? Is this really better? Anything is better than oil heat right?
I saw a commercial on tv recently promoting geothermal heat. Oil heat is still the main source of heat for many homes, especially on the east coast where the homes are older. It is expensive, NOT earth conscious, and quite frankly a little aged.
So the geothermal commercial prompted me to find out more about this efficient, green heating system. Here is what I found out.
Apparently in Maine there is a way for homeowners to get 30% of the installation cost put towards a tax credit. Sounds good but is it worth it?
This is not a new concept by any means. We have been using the earth’s warmth in productive ways since the Paleolithic era in things like hot springs. There are many left over minerals and solar energies that were absorbed when the earth was formed. The decay of these minerals is a somewhat radioactive. So the decay, along with the solar energy that is absorbed at the surface, creates a heat that can be used to warm our homes with the assistance of a heat pump.
Read the Full Post »(455 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)
By Julie, on April 11th, 2011
Although the economy seems to be on the upswing, malls and shopping centers are still having difficulties with vacancies. The commercial real estate research company Reis, Inc. reported the average vacancy rate in the top markets in the US is 9.1%. This is up from about 8.8% only a few months ago.
Vacancies are particularly strong in strip malls and neighborhood shopping centers. In these places the vacant rate is expected to climb 11%. High end retail properties owned and managed by large corporations are not faring as badly, with an average of only 7% vacancy rates.
Because more than 1 billion square feet of retail space was added to the largest 54 US markets in the last decade, the areas hardest hit are where more new development was planned, but never happened.
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By Lindsey, on March 17th, 2011
What is the Good Neighbor Next Door Program?
First things first. The GNND (Good Neighbors Next Door) sales program is a program created by the US Housing and Urban Development section created to “revitalize” certain areas. Teachers, EMTs, firefighters, and law enforcement officers are all potential employees who may take part in this amazing discount program.
HUD offers a 50% discount on homes within revitalization areas to the previously mentioned employees. HUD designates “revitalization” areas authorized by Congress under the National Housing Act. This is done to promote homeownership in areas that are lacking for any reason. Criteria such as household income, rate of homeownership, and foreclosure activity on mortgage loans that are FHA-insured.
Who Qualifies and where are the revitalization areas?
Read the Full Post »(371 words, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)
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