Posts (page 2)
Originally published at Real Estate Blog at Fizber.com. You can comment here or there.
We don’t recommend you try to time the housing market but, if you’re in the market for a new home, it helps to pay attention to its cyclical nature. When times are hard, prices drop and the market becomes more attractive. When more people get in, prices naturally rise. While there are still deals to be had, this map shows that some of the regions that were hit hardest by the housing crisis in 2007 and 2008 have begun to bounce back in early 2009 with increased sales numbers. With sale prices of homes plummeting as much as 50% in some regions, more people have been jumping into the market with hopes of getting a great deal, especially with 30 year fixed rates falling below 5% for the first time in recent memory. The metropolitan areas that are highlighted are those with the highest percentage of change in median sales prices, for better or worse. The highest percentage increases in home sales are in areas where prices have dropped the most over the past year, w!
hich is an encouraging sign as bargain hunters see new opportunities. Further, the decrease in prices and attractive housing credits have finally made it possible for many first-time homebuyers to afford a home in the once red-hot areas like Orange County, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. While there are only six states that have experienced increases in sales volume in the past year, most of those positive changes have been drastic. Arizona has seen a 50% jump, California over 80% and Nevada an impressive 117% increase from 2008. Depending on where you live, the housing market may be in either a boom or bust cycle. Let us know in the comments how real estate is looking in your hometown, whether it is on the map or not.
Originally published at Real Estate Blog at Fizber.com. You can comment here or there.
We don’t recommend you try to time the housing market but, if you’re in the market for a new home, it helps to pay attention to its cyclical nature. When times are hard, prices drop and the market becomes more attractive. When more people get in, prices naturally rise. While there are still deals to be had, this map shows that some of the regions that were hit hardest by the housing crisis in 2007 and 2008 have begun to bounce back in early 2009 with increased sales numbers. With sale prices of homes plummeting as much as 50% in some regions, more people have been jumping into the market with hopes of getting a great deal, especially with 30 year fixed rates falling below 5% for the first time in recent memory. The metropolitan areas that are highlighted are those with the highest percentage of change in median sales prices, for better or worse. The highest percentage increases in home sales are in areas where prices have dropped the most over the past year, w!
hich is an encouraging sign as bargain hunters see new opportunities. Further, the decrease in prices and attractive housing credits have finally made it possible for many first-time homebuyers to afford a home in the once red-hot areas like Orange County, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. While there are only six states that have experienced increases in sales volume in the past year, most of those positive changes have been drastic. Arizona has seen a 50% jump, California over 80% and Nevada an impressive 117% increase from 2008. Depending on where you live, the housing market may be in either a boom or bust cycle. Let us know in the comments how real estate is looking in your hometown, whether it is on the map or not.
Originally published at Real Estate Blog at Fizber.com. You can comment here or there.
For homeowners, here are some simple guidelines that can guarantee a successful FSBO sale.
1. Invite interested buyers to visit your property again. Prepare the FSBO property for the next visit of interested buyers. Make sure every single corner of the house is clean and presentable. Set a comfortable atmosphere in your home. This next visit is make-or-break in a For Sale By Owner – it will determine whether the interested buyers will go on with the purchase or find another property.
2. Greet the interested buyers cordially the moment they arrive in your FSBO home. Offer them drinks. Allow them to go around the house once again without getting in their way. However, escort them as they tour the house so you could answer any questions they might have. Be patient in answering particularly when they have numerous questions. Remember that asking many questions is a good sign as it means that they are interested in the buying the FSBO property. Be honest when you answer their questions.
3. When the buyers show interest and ask you about the next step, be prepared with your answer. This is the time for the buyers to make their offer and formally put it in writing. It is important that you have copies of necessary contract forms which you will give interested buyers. Otherwise, simply knowing where to get the contract forms would be enough. Watch out for subtle signs. If the buyers say that they would want to discuss the sale, it might mean that they want to negotiate about certain terms. Only when there is formal writing that the transaction becomes official.
4. When the buyers want to negotiate the price of your FSBO home, do it in formal writing. Avoid any verbal negotiations. If they ask you the lowest price you are willing to counter-offer, before you declare any amount, ask for their entire offer first and request proof that they are qualified for the mortgage.
Simple Tips on Dealing with FSBO Buyers:
- Be friendly. Treat your potential buyers well.
- Be professional. If your buyers have negative comments regarding the FSBO property, think of them as something that you have to improve and work on instead of taking the comments personally. They could turn out to be helpful later on.
- When there are discussions with interested buyers, keep them calm. Avoid confrontations. An FSBO sale is supposed to work for both the seller and the buyer.
Originally published at Real Estate Blog at Fizber.com. You can comment here or there.
1. Little or No Appreciation as Market Bottoms
In parts of the country hardest hit by 2007 - 2008 foreclosures such as California, Michigan and Florida, prices will continue to soften. In scattered markets, the bottom will already have been reached by April but media won't report it until late summer, after a trend has been established.
There will be no more dramatic price drops such as those 30% to 50% declines we saw between 2006 and 2008. But the market will not stabilize in 2009. Furthermore, consumer confidence will continue to fall, and more people will find themselves out of work.
On the bright side, employed home buyers with good credit will find 2009 is an excellent time to buy.
2. Housing Inventory Will Fall
Sellers will withhold listings from the market or cancel listings that don't sell within 90 days. Although persistent demand will come from first-time home buyers and investors, inventory will fall. Falling inventory will not drive up the prices.
The number of homes for sale in states such as California will decrease by 45% or more from the same months in 2007. New home starts will fall by the wayside, and the construction industry will see at least another 10% in layoffs.
Although fewer homes will be available for sale, those sellers will be motivated to sell.
3. Bank Will Rent Out REOs
In an effort to drive up housing prices, banks will slowly release their REO inventory to the market and price those homes at 5% to 20% under comparable sales. Banks will be under great pressure to cut losses and increase revenue. Although state charters prohibit banks from renting out bank-owned homes, banks will find a way to work around this prohibition.
By transferring title from bank-owned homes into holding companies, banks may find a loophole that will allow them to rent out homes instead of putting them on the market. This maneuver will let banks receive income while waiting for the market to turnaround.
To rent the homes, banks will be forced to fix them up.
4. Buyers Will Compete in Multiple-Offer Situations
Due to limited inventory, coupled with pseudo pricing on short sales and foreclosures, more buyers will find themselves competing over the attractive listings. It will not be unusual for sellers to receive 20 or more offers on these listings.
Multiple offers may drive up the prices to market value but buyers will refuse to pay over market value. The stiff competition will cause frustration and confusion among buyers who will find themselves going head-to-head with investors. Cash buyers will win every time over buyers who need financing.
This means it will be more important than ever for home buyers to hire an excellent negotiator.
5. Rental Rates Will Increase as Demand Increases
Surging numbers of home owners will lose their homes in 2009, which will turn former home owners into tenants. Some home owners will walk away from their residences, deciding that home ownership is not worth the aggravation, and return to living in rentals.
Because new construction will be at a standstill, existing inventory will serve as shelter. There will be fewer rental homes available than the demand will dictate, which will put upward pressure on rental rates. Sellers who are unwilling to take a hit on their sales prices will put their homes on the market as rentals, but that won't provide enough inventory to fulfill demand.
It's a good time to be landlord.
Originally published at Real Estate Blog at Fizber.com. You can comment here or there.
An entire village, complete with two blacksmiths, a shop and a cricket club, has been put up for sale for a cool £22.5 million.
Nestling in the rolling countryside of the North Wessex Downs, Linkenholt is the archetypal English village. Now, for a cool £22.5 million, it could all be yours, as the entire village – including every house in it – goes up for sale.
The historic village of 22 houses and cottages is part of a 2,000 acre estate which will go on the market later this month.
It is located in the Test Valley, north Hampshire, near the borders with Berkshire and Wiltshire – a region officially designated by Natural England as an area of outstanding natural beauty
Among the properties included for sale are a cricket pitch and pavilion, which doubles as the village hall, a large three-storey manor house, and a village shop run from the front room of one of the homes.
Also included in the sale are two properties from which agricultural blacksmiths operate, a commercial shoot, farming land, and an educational activity centre for children.
The only property in the village not owned by the estate is its church, St Peters, which dates back to the 12th century but was rebuilt significantly in 1871. It still holds services, on the third Sunday of each month.
Tina Abbott, 59, who runs the village shop from her home, has lived in the village for 39 years.
She said: "We understand that whoever buys the estate will get everything, lock stock and barrel. It has got to be someone who will run it like it is now.
"It used to be a really close knit community because everyone living here worked on the farm estate. It isn't quite like that now. But is still a wonderful place to live.
"If you go quarter of a mile outside the village in any direction, you can look around you and not see another living soul."
All the properties are currently rented out, including the manor house, and all the tenants will be able to remain in their homes after the sale. The Trust has said it intends to sell the estate whole, rather than break it up.
Villagers said the current tenants of the manor house were Swedish, with connections to the Swedish royal family.
Ray Smith, former head keeper on the estate, said the King of Sweden had been to the village to go shooting.
"They are great friends. I shook hands with the King when he came over. The estate is very good for shooting. I imagine that will be what sells it."
Colin Boast, who runs Linkenholt Forge, said: "It would be nice if the new owner would come and live on the estate. It would be good if they lived here and could oversee it all."
He added: "There is a lot of history here. There has been a forge here since the year dot. And the people here are so friendly. Everyone knows everyone else. There are a lot of characters in the village who go back years."
The estate is currently owned by a charitable trust, set up by Herbert Blagrave – a keen cricketer, racehorse owner and trainer and one time president of Southampton Football Club – and his brother, Peter. Herbert Blagrave, who owned the land, died more than 20 years ago.
The Herbert and Peter Blagrave Charitable Trust was set up to provide funds for organisations helping disabled children and injured jockeys. It also set up the activity centre on the estate to help children learn more about the countryside.
The Trust is selling the estate in order to reinvest the proceeds and will continue to function, as well as to run the activity centre at Linkenholt.
The village has around 40 inhabitants, all of whom will receive booklets from the estate, informing them of the sale plans.
The village is being sold through estate agents Jackson-Stops and Staff. A spokeswoman said: "The trust wants to reinvest in a more diverse portfolio. The estate will definitely be sold as a whole."
She said an asking price had not yet been decided upon, but experts have put the value at between £17.5 and £22.5 million.
One industry expert, who knows the estate well and who asked not to be named, said: "The buyer will likely be a private individual. There are still people with money about.
"A year ago, the price might have been about £3 million more. It has dropped, but not dramatically.
"Estates of this size and quality in the "super prime" league are rare beasts. They don't come on the market very often.
"People are backing agricultural land as something that is going to rise in value. And this area is close to the M4 corridor and aesthetically very beautiful. The real draws are its location, its shoot and its farming. The cricket club is a nice little bonus."
Originally published at Real Estate Blog at Fizber.com. You can comment here or there.
There is always a belief that the FSBO process is not so safe as compared to the job done by the real estate agent. However if you will take some sensible precaution then there is no reason why you will not find the FSBO to be safe enough as compared to that done by the real estate agents. I must say that you will definitely find it to be really safer that done by the real estate agent. I would definitely like to ask few questions to you. Can you say that what real estate agents do cannot be done by the others?
This is definitely not true. You will definitely find out that you can do everything which a real estate agent does. However you cannot really say that you will be better than the real estate agents who are professionals. I must really say that you will definitely find real estate agent to be better since they are professional. However you should really note that the buyers who are selected by the real estate agents can be safe as well as unsafe. The real estate agent never checks that the person who is selected as a buyer is free from any criminal records or not. He just checks his name phone number and address. Hence you can never say that the buyers selected by the real estate agent are hundred percent safe. As far as the FSBO is concerned, you can really check the credibility of the buyer through advert contact details. With a little bit of research you can find the complete history of the buyer. Hence you can be hundred percent sure that they are safe. The other questio!
n which really comes in mind is the fact that is it safe enough to show the house to the buyers. You can on many instance end up showing the house to the criminals and hence can only think of burglary within few days. Hence you really need to take some precaution. You should really avoid giving complete description in the advertisement. A potential buyer will just need your first name and the contact detail. This is more than enough for him to contact you. I must say that you should really avoid the open house inspection. You should really avoid giving much information about the security to the buyers. This can really go against you. Hence you should really not allow the buyers to roam in your property unsupervised. One thing is required that there should be at least two members of your family available in the house during inspection. It is really necessary due to some security factor. You should also never be ready to show the house in dark. I must say that if you keep all!
these things in mind then I find no reason why the FSBO deal !
will not be safe.
Originally published at Real Estate Blog at Fizber.com. You can comment here or there.
There is always a belief that the FSBO process is not so safe as compared to the job done by the real estate agent. However if you will take some sensible precaution then there is no reason why you will not find the FSBO to be safe enough as compared to that done by the real estate agents. I must say that you will definitely find it to be really safer that done by the real estate agent. I would definitely like to ask few questions to you. Can you say that what real estate agents do cannot be done by the others? This is definitely not true. You will definitely find out that !you can do everything which a real estate agent does. However you cannot really say that you will be better than the real estate agents who are professionals. I must really say that you will definitely find real estate agent to be better since they are professional. However you should really note that the buyers who are selected by the real estate agents can be safe as well as unsafe. The real estate agent never checks that the person who is selected as a buyer is free from any criminal records or not. He just checks his name phone number and address. Hence you can never say that the buyers selected by the real estate agent are hundred percent safe. As far as the FSBO is concerned, you can really check the credibility of the buyer through advert contact details. With a little bit of research you can find the complete history of the buyer. Hence you can be hundred percent sure that they are safe. The other question which really comes in mind is the fact that is it safe enoug!
h to show the house to the buyers. You can on many instance en!
d up showing the house to the criminals and hence can only think of burglary within few days. Hence you really need to take some precaution. You should really avoid giving complete description in the advertisement. A potential buyer will just need your first name and the contact detail. This is more than enough for him to contact you. I must say that you should really avoid the open house inspection. You should really avoid giving much information about the security to the buyers. This can really go against you. Hence you should really not allow the buyers to roam in your property unsupervised. One thing is required that there should be at least two members of your family available in the house during inspection. It is really necessary due to some security factor. You should also never be ready to show the house in dark. I must say that if you keep all these things in mind then I find no reason why the FSBO deal will not be safe.
Originally published at Real Estate Blog at Fizber.com. You can comment here or there.
Preforeclosures are properties that are acquired from a delinquent, distressed or defaulted seller prior to the foreclosure sale. At this stage, you can often negotiate with a homeowner who has run into financial difficulty and very often get a great deal while helping someone out. A STRONG word of caution - NEVER take advantage of anyone's misfortune for your personal gain. You can ethically purchase pre-foreclosures, and make life long connections in the process (perhaps you can get a real estate license, keep in touch with these folks, then refer them to a real estate agent to purchase their next home - or sell them one yourself!).
Are Foreclosures Really Good Deals???
The answer of course is...it depends. First, you need to identify for yourself, what makes a deal good? Good price? Good Condition? Good Terms? Some combination of the three? Most people have heard the hype on late night tv and in the media about how others have "effortlessly obtained homes for pennies on the dollar". Does this really happen? Sure it does. Is it as easy and often as they might lead us to believe? I don't think so. There are certainly a number of properties today that can be a "good deal" for most buyers and investors since our number of foreclosures are through the roof and there is an already large supply of homes for sale apart from them, but then you need to ask yourself when is the best time to buy?...
The good side to the "Pre-Foreclosure "opportunity is that you, the buyer, are dealing with the Homeowner directly. It can be a very good opportunity to not only buy the property at a potentially good price, but also see that you really are helping someone out in the process. Contrary to some people's beliefs this is the stage in the game where you can help save someone's credit, self-esteem, and maybe give them a hope at a new start.
You may run into a problem if they owe more than the home is worth , unless they are going to pay the difference. You would then have to try and execute a Short Sale with the lender to purchase the property for less than what is owed to the bank.
The important thing to remember is that just because something says "Foreclosure" or "Corporate Owned" or whatever term is used, it doesn't make it a good deal for YOU.
Originally published at Real Estate Blog at Fizber.com. You can comment here or there.
Everybody wants to know how to best time the market when buying a home. It's just natural. Especially if you're thinking about buying in a down market where homes prices are declining. You wonder how low they will go and whether you should wait, right?
Some Home Buyers Should Buy Immediately
Well, here is why:
- If you are a seller who wants to move up to a more expensive home in a down market, now could be the best time. The longer you wait to sell, the lower the price of your home could fall.
- If you can arrange for alternate housing, a smart strategy is sell now, wait a few months, then buy your new home.
- If you sell and buy simultaneously, you'll still be ahead of the game because the price reduction on the purchase is greater than the loss on the sale.
- So you "lost" $30,000 on the sale of your home
- But you "made" $50,000 on the purchase of your new home
- Doesn't that put you $20,000 ahead?
- $425,000 sales price, at 8.25% interest, your payment is $2,554.
- $450,000 sales price, at 7.75% interest, your payment is $2,579.
- $475,000 sales price, at 7.25% interest, your payment is $2,592.
- $500,000 sales price, at 6.75% interest, your payment is $2,594.
- $525,000 sales price, at 6.25% interest, your payment is $2,586.
Consider the "Loss" on Selling Your Present Home
For example, say your present house is worth $300,000, but because of high inventory and few buyers, you must reduce your price by 10%. So, instead of receiving $300,000, you would get $270,000 and "lose" $30,000.
Consider Your Real Profit
Now, consider this. Say you bought this home 10 years ago and paid $100,000. You're still ahead $170,000, less costs of sale, aren't you? (This ignores monthly payments, but you would make those if you were renting, too.)
Consider the "Savings" on Buying Your New Home
If you are planning to move up to a $500,000 house, which is located in the same distressed market, you could probably buy that house at that same 10% discount or $450,000. This would mean you had saved $50,000.
Review of Selling and Buying Numbers
Don't Forget the Impact of Interest Rates
Which way are interest rates moving? Are they moving up or moving down? If interest rates are near an all-time low and beginning to inch upwards, waiting could cost you more than you would think. You might not be able to afford to buy a home at any price.
FACT: Each 1/2 point increase in your interest rate gives you $25,000 less in purchasing power.
FACT: Each 1 point increase in your interest rate gives you $50,000 less in purchasing power.
FACT: Each 2 point increase in your interest rate gives you $100,000 less in purchasing power.
Look at the Differences Among Purchase Prices versus Interest Rates
If you put down 20% and qualify for an 80% loan, here are your principal and interest payments on the following purchase prices:
The payments are almost identical. However, the home you can afford to buy a 8.25% is $100,000 less than the home you can afford to buy at 6.25%. If you wait for prices to further decline, the perceived value could be lost due to higher rates.
