Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Valley home sales up 30% as buyers jump on deals

Valley home sales up; prices dip

Home sales rose 20 percent across the state in June as the Coachella Valley continued to post sales volume gains.

“The trend we are seeing is that prices are stabilizing and sales are spiking, so buyers are getting the message that this is not a time to linger if they are in the hunt to buy a home,'' said Greg Berkemer, executive director of the California Desert Association of Realtors.

Valley home sales rose 30 percent, with 2,898 transactions noted from April to June.

That's up from 2,222 sales during the same period last year, according to Multiple Listing Service data released by the Desert Association of Realtors.

The average MLS home sale price in the valley from April to June was $257,427, up from $250,935 from January through March.

“There was a slight tick up of the average sales price in the second quarter, and people are starting to notice that,” Berkemer said.

But Patrick Veling, president and founder of Brea-based Real Data Strategies, said the enthusiasm about rising home sales must be tempered with statistics that show home sales are largely occurring at entry-level price ranges.

“There's been about a 20 percent increase in sales activity, but that's occurring only when compared to record lows,'' he said.

Average home sale prices are down dramatically from a year ago: The fall in prices nearly equates to two homes for the price of one. Last year, the average MLS sale price on a single-family home was $486,694 in the first three months. It averaged $454,706 from April to June 2008.

The median price of all homes sold in May in the Coachella Valley — that would include existing single-family homes, condos and new construction — was $180,000. That's down 41 percent from a year ago.

The price points have been a catalyst for sales.

James Liptak, president of the California Association of Realtors, said June marked the 10th consecutive month of positive sales gains for resale homes across the state.

“Many first-time buyers, especially those who were previously priced out of certain areas, are realizing that tax credits from both the state and federal governments increased affordability, and low-interest rates are creating a prime time to purchase a home,'' he said.

It was the fourth month of rising median home prices across California, Liptak said.

The state median of $274,740 rose 4.2 percent from May to June but was down nearly $100,000 from one year ago. The state median in June 2008 was $374,100.

Closed escrow sales across California totaled 514,110 in June at a seasonally adjusted rate. The sales pace recorded in June 2008 was 427,910 closed escrow sales.

Negative Home Equity? Feeling Like A Ball And Chain To Your House?

Source: Active Rain

Monday, July 27, 2009

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Troubled owners: 3 warnings about short sales

Many struggling homeowners are considering short sales as a way to avoid foreclosure on their homes, but there are a few things they should know before taking the plunge. Source: MSN Real Estate
Click here for more info.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Facebook facts

There are three ways to have a Facebook presence

1. A Facebook profile, usually for an individual but sometimes for an organization, includes information about the person, a wall for public messages, and other elements that the user can decide to include or leave out. Users who want to connect with the owner of a personal page become friends.
2. A Facebook fan page, which can be for individuals or organizations, allows Facebook users to join, receive updates and conduct discussions on the group’s wall or in a discussion forum. Users who want to participate become fans.
3. A Facebook group can be created to foster discussion and information-sharing about a common interest. Users who want to be involved join the group.

Monday, July 20, 2009

11 essential loan-modification tips

Check this out! Great info for those who need a loan modification.

11 essential loan-modification tips.

Source: MSN Real Estate.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Understanding and Using All of Your First Time Home Buyer Options

With all the excitement of the first time home buyer tax credit, buyers often get confused and miss out on other important options.

As a first time buyer, don't let the excitement of the $8,000 tax credit cause you to miss out on many other home buying options. It isn't uncommon for a buyer to confuse the federal tax credit with seller credits, down payment assistance, or first time home buyer grants.

First time home buyers have many options. Utilizing one option does not hold a buyer back from utilizing one or more other options allowed to them as a first time home buyer. This article is written not to go into great depth on each option, but to help you realize the different options available as a first time home buyer and how to utilize each/all of these options.

Read on to understand some common terms and how to take advantage of each option.

Tax Credit
The federal tax credit is the (up to) $8,000 incentive that everyone is talking about. Most home buyers that haven't owned a home in the last 3 years will qualify for this. In general, this credit is realized as a credit for you when you complete your taxes in the spring of 2009 (for 2008's income).
For example, if you would have normally received $2,000 back after completing your 2009 tax returns, the tax credit would add an additional $8,000, to make your total amount received $10,000.

Seller Credit (Seller Concessions)
A seller credit, better known as seller concessions, is a scenario when the seller agrees to pay a certain amount of your settlement costs. The seller may pay a percentage, such as 2, 3, or 6% of the purchase price, or they may pay a dollar amount, such as $2,500 or $5,000.

Grants for First Time Home Buyers
Many people miss out on first time home buyer grant options. Once a buyer hears about the $8,000 tax credit, they sometimes go deaf to other options, either out of excitement or because they don't realize they can utilize more than one option.

A grant is a program often issued by a county or state that offers funds to the home buyer for the purchase of a home. Either a flat dollar amount or a percentage of the loan amount is used to calculate the funds offered. A typical grant percentage would be 2, 3, or 4% of the loan amount. For instance, 4% of a loan amount of $100,000 would give you a $4,000 grant.

Grants can be utilized for down payment requirements and/or to pay for closing costs. Depending on the purchase price and the grant selected, a grant can sometimes even cover all requirements the buyer has concerning both the down payment requirement and closing costs.

Down Payment Assistance
As of the date of this article, down payment assistance in the traditional sense is not available.Down payment assistance programs (DAPs) were an option where the seller would indirectly give a buyer the money needed for down payment requirements. These transactions in general had a higher default rate then most, therefore this option is no longer available. Examples were the Nehemiah program or the Genesis program. There is a movement to reinstate these programs. The mentioning of DAPs here is simply to help you differentiate and not confuse them with other options.

How to Utilize More Than One First-Time Home Buyer Option
Here's where the rubber meets the road. A common example of utilizing all of the above options is as follows:
1. Buyer meets with grant official or loan officer for qualification requirements pertaining to a specific grant option. In our example the buyer will use an FHA mortgage, which requires a 3.5% (of the purchase price) down payment. The purchase price is $100,000, therefore the down payment requirement for this would be $3,500.
2. Loan officer and buyer determine that the use of a 4% grant would be the wisest choice. Since the down payment requirement is $3,500, the financed amount will be $96,500 ($100,000 - $3,500). Based off of $96,500, a 4% grant would be $3,860 (loan amount x 4%, or $96,500 x .04)). Compare the grant amount with the buyer's down payment requirement of $3,500, and the grant amount is $360 more than the required down payment amount. This type of grant covers the down payment requirements and some additional funds to be applied towards the closing costs.
3. Assuming closing costs are $5,000, here is how you can determine what to request from the seller to get the closing costs paid as well. We can subtract the extra money left over from the grant, in this case $360, from $5,000. Our sum is $4,640. FHA requirements allow the seller to pay up to 6% of the buyer's closing costs. We don't need all 6% (or $6,000), we only need $4,640 from the seller. So when the purchase of the home is negotiated, the buyer's agent negotiates with the seller's agent that the seller will agree to pay $4,640 towards the buyers settlement fees/closing costs.
4. Buyer goes to settlement needing $0 to close, and in fact they will get back the money already deposited with the real estate agent and lender.
5. Lastly, the buyer can still maximize the use of the federal tax credit and receive their $8,000 after filing their 2009 tax returns.
All-in-all, in our scenario the home buyer will receive $16,500 for purchasing a home ($3,860 grant + $4,640 seller's concessions + $8,000 tax credit). The buyer is able to utilize three separate home buying options and in the end, still have their own money in the bank, which will then get boosted in several months by the $8,000 tax credit. Now THAT is the kind of lending and buyer representation that creates solid, well founded home owners, which is exactly what we all desire.
By working with knowledgeable professionals, you can utilize multiple buyer options to make your home buying experience an amazing event!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Sellers Market, Buyers Market or ..............Lenders Market?

Buyers rule? Not so fast. Certainly that's not quite true if the property falls under the category of distressed property.

Distressed property usually needs far more than paint job, at least, that's true, or has been up to now. Property is considered distressed if it has been foreclosed by the lender or the owner is seriously late in making payments or the property is upside down. Upside down meaning that the value of the property is less than the mortgage amount.


So what am I meaning by Lender's market? To define a "Lenders Market", let's first review the characteristics of a “Seller’s Market” and a "Buyers Market".

In defining a "Sellers Market", we usually find a lower than usual and faster moving inventory with prices generally increasing and the Seller more clearly in control to determine the outcome of any successful effort to purchase. Buyer's tend to pay more (often times more than property might be listed for). Many of the buyers contingencies are either eliminated or greatly reduced. The time for removal of contingencies is shortened. In some cases many of contingencies are negotiated way, such as a buyers typical request for repairs and the length of time the buyer has to obtain services such as appraisal and loan approval.

In a really hot “Seller’s Market”, buyers typically need more down payment and higher earnest money deposits that may be defaulted if the Buyer fails to consummate the transaction in the exact time frame as outlined in the purchase agreement.

In a “Buyer’s Market”, buyers tend to have greater control of the time frames and also many of the terms and conditions in the contract tend to favor their wants. Sort of a flip of what is found in the “Seller’s Markets”. In a “Buyer’s Market”, buyers typically pay less than they might in an active “Seller’s Market” and usually have a larger selection of properties to choose from.

So what then is a “Lender’s Market”? A “Lenders Market” is typically where there is a large number of or a majority of the market is made up of distressed property sales. Distressed properties being those where the owner is either in default of keeping the mortgage current or has already been foreclosed upon. A property is also said to be distressed if the value of the property is less than the mortgage or trust deed amount and the owners are unable to keep the mortgage current and want to sell the property. When a property has been foreclosed by a lender, it is called Real Estate Owned (REO). When a property owner wants to sell a property for less than is owed on the property, it is referred to as a Short Sale.

A lender's market might have a combination of many of these characteristics. Many of the buyers benefits in their offer to purchase are striped away including the pest inspection and clearance, closing costs, home warranties and repair requests with the lender opting to sell the property is present physical condition. Naturally there are exceptions to this depending on the Lender and whether the distressed property is a short sale or REO. By and large, lenders want the highest possible price with the least number of contingencies. Only Buyer’s with pre-approved loans are considered and in the case of REO’s, the lenders will give greater priority to All Cash offers over offers with financing even if the offering amount is slightly less. All Cash offers have fewer contingencies and can usually close faster clearing the asset from the lender’s books faster without any hassles or delays as may be occasioned by other banks that are providing the Buyer’s loan.

When properties are “Sold in present condition”, Buyers must be extra diligent in their property inspection to ascertain to the extent possible, the true nature of the property.

Typically lenders will tighten down time lines and may impose a penalty if there is any delay in the close of escrow for any reason. The essence of the lenders market is "take it or leave it" As the saying goes, "He who has the gold makes the rules". But it is also important to know that many REO’s and short can be good deals but it does require extra diligence and careful consideration when purchasing them.

To further describe the difference in distressed properties, in a Short Sale the owner of the property remains the Seller and in the REO, the lender is the new owner and the differences between a short sale and REO can be striking.

In the short sale, the lenders key role is to approve taking a loss in the amount owed on the trust deed or the mortgage. When the mortgage is late usually for 3 consecutive pay periods, the lender can file a notice of default. In a short sale, if the owner files documents with the lender explaining the financial distress that is causing the late payment and wants to sell the property, the lender may opt to consider a purchase offer on the property that is short of what is owned combined with the costs of sale. It is a judgment call of the lender since they have the right to file a default notice and if the owner can not correct the default amount, the lender can foreclose. The lender has specific times frames it must follow in this regard. The Buyer as well has a specific amount of time to cure the defaulted payments with any penalties.

Lenders have been encouraged by the government to for stall the foreclosure process and help slow down the excessive number of foreclosures that have taken place over the last couple years on the defaulting loans.

Lenders involved in distressed properties are clearly in charge to determine if they will accept even the highest offer on the property. In the case of short sales, they can either accept writing off the short fall of the outstanding trust deed or opt to continue the foreclosure process. Of late, lenders are becoming much more realistic in understanding that short sales are costing them less than they would have to write off as a bad asset in a foreclosure.

REO's close in the shortest possible time period of property sold in California. In short sales, there is most often a serious lag time (often months) before the lender even agrees to the process. Today with the greater influence of government encouraging banks to accept the short sale process sooner rather than later, we will most likely see the short sales process refined and the time frames for approval to be lessened.

Distressed property sales in the area make up close to 50% of the entire real estate market in reported sales. The good news is that equity sales are increasing and perhaps by spring of 2010, the equity sale will once again be a far greater share of the market.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Update

Hello all,

We hope you have had a great first half of 2009 and are enjoying your summer! It has certainly been an interesting year so far in the real estate world. The entire first quarter was very slow; however, that is traditional for us to be slow January into March…..we usually see an uptick in OUR market around March through May.
The entire second quarter was an entirely different story, both in our local Coachella Valley market, as well as California and nationwide. California saw an increase in sales the last three months AND what’s even more refreshing, is we also saw an increase in sales PRICES. According to the Wall Street Journal, California’s real estate market is the barometer by which we measure the economy as a whole. This is some fabulous news.
So for all of you out there that haven’t purchased yet, our question to you is what are you waiting for? Have you not seen that “right” house yet? Is there something else that is holding you back? We want to hear from you! Your goals are important to us, and OUR JOB for you is to provide you with all the information and facts that we can, and then negotiate the BEST deal for you! We would hate to have you come to us in a year or two and say….”I could’ve” or “I should’ve” or “What if”……….
We DO want to hear from you. Please call or email us with your story. Let us know how we can help. And remember, if you need a referral for another area, let us do the work and find you an agent that can work for YOU!
Check us out on YouTube. Go to www.youtube.com and enter “The Louise Hampton Team” in the search area. You will find several videos Louise and I have done, with messages to buyers AND sellers! (They are short and fun, so please watch!)

You can also follow us on Facebook under “The Louise Hampton Team”


CAN’T WAIT TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON!