Is a distressed property the right deal for you?

With the first-time homebuyer tax credit deadline having come and gone, you may be asking yourself, œWhat now? Fortunately, the door is now open to a new wave of savings: distressed properties.

For many buyers, the term foreclosure brings up images of run-down homes with no heat and rotting wood. While this is still the case for some homes, it™s no longer the standard. In fact, first time buyers are snatching up distressed deals in decent condition for great prices.  

According to a November 2009 Keller Williams Research Buying Distressed Properties Survey, 40 percent of all buyers for bank-owned foreclosures (REOs) were first-time buyers in 2009. 50 percent of all short sale buyers were first-time buyers.

By definition, a distressed property is one that was purchased with a loan and the homeowner is no longer able to make their mortgage payment resulting in foreclosure “ or if they™re lucky a short sale “ meaning they owe more on the home than it™s currently worth. With a 20 percent increase in foreclosures from 2009, distressed properties still remain a large portion of home sales and are going to continue well into 2010 as homeowners continue to feel the effects of an economy on the mend.

If you™re in the market for a home and are prepared for a unique transaction, a distressed property can be a great option. Here™s why:

Prices are low “ Buying a foreclosed property is an excellent way to get a home for less. Research shows you can save 10-40 percent over the price of similar properties in a traditional sale.

Mortgage costs are low “ With rates hovering near historic lows, financing costs to are favorable. Keep in mind, rates are always changing. It™s important to begin the pre-approval process so that you know how much you can realistically afford.

You have options “ The number of homes in some stage of the foreclosure process still remains high. RealtyTrac, a site dedicated to tracking foreclosures across the country, estimates that there are approximately 2.1 million homes in some stage of foreclosure in the United States.

Sellers and lenders are motivated “ According to data from RealtyTrac, in  April, one in  every  387 households in the country has received a foreclosure filing. The bottom line is that many sellers are still feeling the pain of a down economy and are anxious to out get from under a home that is putting stress on their current financial frustrations. While it is still an emotional transaction, these sellers are willing to come down on price or even consider concessions such as helping out on closing costs. Banks holding on to large portfolios of Real Estate Owned (REO) properties want to unload quickly “ and price these home to sell.

Your best ally when purchasing a distressed property is an expert. Always have a professional REALTOR ®  by your side to help you make informative decisions.

Homeowners struggling to sell their homes in a short sale are getting some relief, thanks to the federal government’s Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives, or HAFA, program.

Up to now, many short sales — in which the lender accepts a sale of the property for less than the full amount owed — have taken months to complete. Sometimes, the complex and lengthy process has failed, resulting in foreclosure.

HAFA establishes streamlined short sale rules and incentivizes borrowers and lenders to work together to avoid foreclosure. The rules — in effect between April 5, 2010, and Dec. 31, 2012 — also are intended to speed up the short sale process.

“The streamlined short sales process will definitely help homeowners,” says David Liniger, Re/Max International chairman and co-founder.

Prior to HAFA, homeowners often listed their home for sale without an idea of what the lender would accept.

“A lot of sellers and their Realtors have not been able to sort out the problems with short sales and have given up on the process because, even after sending in the correct paperwork, they have sometimes waited three or four months for their lender to respond,” Liniger says.

Under HAFA, borrowers receive preapproved short sale terms from the lender prior to putting the home on the market.

Lisa Matykiewicz, a Realtor and Certified Distressed Property Expert in Gilbert, Ariz., says the updated short sale rules establish an easy-to-understand process with predefined steps that “make it easier for everyone to understand.”

Eligibility requirements

The HAFA guidelines apply to lenders who voluntarily participate in the HAMP program. The Department of Housing and Urban Development says more than 100 servicers have signed up to participate in HAMP, covering more than 89 percent of mortgage debt outstanding in the country.

To be eligible for HAFA, homeowners must first apply for a loan modification through the Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP. Owners who do not qualify for a loan modification or miss payments during the initial loan modification period qualify for HAFA.

Other HAFA requirements include:

• Property is principal residence.
• Mortgage originated before Jan. 1, 2009.
• Mortgage is owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
• Borrower is delinquent or default is foreseeable.
• Homeowner demonstrates hardship.
• Borrower’s total monthly housing payment exceeds 31 percent of gross income.
• Unpaid principal does not exceed $729,750.

According to HAFA rules, lenders now must offer a short sale in writing to the borrower within 30 days if the borrower does not qualify for or complete a loan modification. Borrowers then must respond within 14 days to the lender’s short sale agreement.

“I think it’s great that the lenders in this program have to offer a short sale before going to foreclosure,” Matykiewicz says.

When a purchase offer is made, borrowers must submit the sales contract to the lender within three days, along with the buyers’ mortgage preapproval and the status of negotiations with other lien holders on the seller’s property.

Finally, lenders must approve or deny the contract within 10 days.

HAFA rules also state that lenders must release borrowers from the obligation to repay the difference between the sales price and the loan amount. No deficiency judgments are allowed for a first or second loan.

Other incentives

In the past, short sales were especially difficult for homeowners with more than one loan on their home, since the home sale typically repaid only the first mortgage. HAFA’s financial incentives include a payment of up to $3,000 for second mortgage holders.

“Second trust lien holders are often owed five or 10 times that $3,000 payment,” says Liniger. “But if the property goes to foreclosure, the second trust holder is not likely to get any money at all. This at least guarantees they get something.”

Other HAFA financial incentives include $1,000 to loan servicers to cover administrative fees, up to $1,000 for mortgage investors who agree to share short sale proceeds with second lien holders and $1,500 to the homeowners for relocation.

“The moving expense allocation acts as an incentive for them to stay in the property until the short sale goes through,” says Liniger. “Owner-occupied properties are usually in better condition than vacant homes.”

We have recently been the victims of attempted property scams. After notifying Channel 5 they met  me at the property and aired an interview regarding the scam. Here is a link to that interview.

http://www.ksdk.com/video/default.aspx?aid=117193&storyid=192745#/News/For+rent+or+for+sale%3F/48541678001/48355648001/59972268001

WASHINGTON “ Buying a home is about to get cheaper for a whole new crop of homebuyers ” $6,500 cheaper.

First-time homebuyers have been getting tax credits of up to $8,000 since January as part of the economic stimulus package enacted earlier this year. But with the program scheduled to expire at the end of November, the Senate voted Wednesday to extend and expand the tax credit to include many buyers who already own homes. The House is scheduled to vote on the bill Thursday.

Buyers who have owned their current homes at least five years would be eligible for tax credits of up to $6,500. First-time homebuyers ” or anyone who hasn’t owned a home in the last three years ” would still get up to $8,000. To qualify, buyers in both groups have to sign a purchase agreement by April 30, 2010, and close by June 30.

“This is probably the last extension,” said Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., a former real estate executive who championed the credits.

The homebuyers tax credit is one of two tax breaks totaling more than $21 billion that the Senate included in a bill extending unemployment benefits for those without a job for more than a year. The other would let companies now losing money recoup taxes they paid on profits earned in the previous five years.

“We are still in a world of economic hurt, and Congress must continue to act boldly and creatively,” said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. “With the right mix of tax breaks and investments we will get through this recession and get folks working again.”

The real estate industry has been pushing to extend and expand the housing tax credit. About 1.4 million first-time homebuyers have qualified for the credit through August. The National Association of Realtors estimates that 350,000 of them would not have purchased their homes without the credit.

Extending and expanding the tax credit for homebuyers is projected to cost the government about $10.8 billion in lost taxes. While the measure passed the Senate by a 98-0 vote, Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., questioned its efficiency in stimulating home sales.

“For the vast majority of cases, the homebuyer tax credit amounted to a free gift since it did not affect their decision to purchase a home,” Bond said. “And for the small minority of buyers whose decision was directly caused by the credit, this raises the question of whether we are subsidizing buyers who may not have been able to afford buying a home in the first place.”

The credit is available for the purchase of principal homes costing $800,000 or less, meaning vacation homes are ineligible. The credit would be phased out for individuals with annual incomes above $125,000 and for joint filers with incomes above $225,000.

The credit would be extended an additional year, until June 30, 2011, for members of the military serving outside the United States for at least 90 days.

Expanding the tax credit for money-losing companies is projected to cost $10.4 billion.

The business tax break would allow money-losing companies to use current losses to offset taxable profits earned in the previous five years, giving them refunds of taxes paid in those years. Under current law, businesses with annual gross receipts of more than $15 million can claim losses back only two years.

The tax break would help industries suffering losses in 2008 or 2009, including retailers, homebuilders and newspapers. Congress included a scaled-back version of the tax break ” for companies with revenues of $15 million or less ” in the economic recovery package enacted in February. The new tax break would be available to companies of any size, providing a quick source of cash.

The U.S Chamber of Commerce has been a big backer of the tax break for money-losing companies.

“It frees up capital that they can use to maintain jobs and potentially even hire new people as the economy returns,” said Caroline Harris, senior tax counsel for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The tax breaks would be paid for largely by delaying a tax break for multinational companies that pay foreign taxes. It was passed in 2004 and originally was to have taken effect this year, but would now be delayed until 2018.

Housing Affordability Surges to Highest

Level in 18 Years

RISMEDIA, May 20, 2009-

Nationwide housing affordability jumped 10 percentage points during the first quarter of 2009 to its highest level since the series began 18 years ago, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI). The HOI showed that 72.5% of all new and existing homes sold in the first quarter of 2009 were affordable to families earning the national median income  of $64,000, up from 62.4% during the previous quarter and up from 53.8% during the first quarter of 2008.

œUnderlying the increase in affordability are lower home prices and record low interest rates. Combined with the $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers, consumers are beginning to return to the marketplace, said NAHB Chairman Joe Robson, a home builder from Tulsa, Okla.

Indianapolis was the most affordable major housing market in the country during the first quarter. Almost 95% of all homes sold were affordable to households earning the area™s median family income of $68,100. Indianapolis has now topped the affordability list 15 consecutive quarters.

Also near the top of the list of the most affordable major metro housing markets were Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa.; Akron, Ohio; Grand Rapids-Wyoming, Mich.; and Syracuse, N.Y.

Several smaller housing markets posted even higher affordability scores than Indianapolis, with Sandusky, Ohio outscoring all others. There, almost 98% of homes sold during the first quarter of 2009 were affordable to median-income earners. Other small housing markets ahead of Indianapolis on the affordability scale included Monroe in Michigan and Mansfield, Springfield and Canton-Massillon in Ohio.

New York-White Plains-Wayne, N.Y.-N.J., where just over 21% of all homes sold during the period were affordable to those earning the median income of $64,800, was once again the nation™s least affordable major housing market in the first quarter. Though affordability jumped 7 percentage points for the quarter, this was the New York metro area™s fourth consecutive appearance at the bottom of the list. Other major metros near the bottom of the chart included San Francisco; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif.; Nassau-Suffolk, N.Y.; and Honolulu.

Sellers¦. If you have to sell, you have to sell. Here is what needs to be done to get your home sold for the most money and the least amount of time. You have to get buyers to fall in love with one of two things if not both. First, they need to LOVE the price. You have to make them think they are going to lose a smokin™ deal, or you have to get them to fall in love with your home.   There has to be something absolutely amazing about your house. Something very desirable and hard to find. Here is an example. Remodel your kitchen and baths. I am not talking about getting stock materials   from the home super stores. Get the good stuff. If you don™t have an eye for design or know what most people desire, contact a good designer & contractor. Chances are they are offering great prices now.

    If you go the remodel rout and put $30K to $50K into your home you will have more buyers see your home because you have something special. The more buyers you have visiting your house the better the chance of a sale at a higher price.

  OK, let™s check out the other option. Your home is clean and well maintained but hasn™t been updated since the late 90™s or earlier. I believe you can still get your home sold quickly but you will have to attract the buyers with something else. Obviously, your average house is not going to attract many buyers. There are a boat load of average homes on the market. What will separate yours from the rest?? This answer is not an easy pill to swallow. You will have to give your house an incredible price. Take a look at the market   figure out what the œmarket value is and beat  it by 10% to 15%. If you think your home is valued at $499K ask $425K to $450K.   If you think about it, just about every retailer is dropping prices. They are not messing around with piddly price drops of 10%-15%. They are taking 25% to 75% off. They have to to compete and get their product sold. If you aren™t buying what I am saying, put a buyers hat on and lets go on a home search. We find 40 homes that fit your search criteria. After looking at the price and the pictures you weed out 35. All of those homes you weeded out were average homes with average prices, homes you didn™t like the style or simply over priced homes. Do you want one of those 35 to be your house?

PRESS RELEASEFIVE STAR: Best in Client Satisfaction Real Estate Agents (SM) AnnouncedPosted: April 3, 2009St. Louis, MO (April 3, 2009) – In the April 2009 issue of St. Louis Magazine, the 2009 FIVE STAR: Best in Client Satisfaction Real Estate Agents (SM) are announced.St. Louis Magazine formed a partnership with Crescendo Business Services, an independent research firm, to identify the œbest in client satisfaction real estate agents serving the St. Louis area. This past September, Crescendo surveyed by mail and phone 24,000 St. Louis area residents who had recently purchased homes and 9,000 subscribers of St. Louis Magazine. An additional 250 surveys were sent to mortgage and title companies, who are often best able to judge a real estate agent™s technical skills and knowledge.On the surveys, recipients were asked to evaluate only real estate agents whom they knew through personal experience. They were asked to evaluate them based upon nine criteria, including, customer service, integrity, market knowledge, communication, negotiation, closing preparation, finding the right home, marketing of the home and overall satisfaction.By October, stacks of surveys had arrived and Crescendo began carefully scoring and screening each nominee with the Missouri State Real Estate Commission™s database to make certain that licenses were up to date and that no disciplinary actions were pending. Before finalizing the list, nominated agents were reviewed by a blue ribbon panel of local industry experts.The panel consisted of realty company executives, professional and trade association officers and others directly involved in housing-related businesses. Although panelists™ comments were incorporated into the final score, safeguards were built into the review process to reduce the ability of panel members to influence the composition of the final list on the basis of company affiliation.This year™s list of œFIVE STAR: Best in Client Satisfaction real estate agents represents less than 5 percent of actively licensed real estate agents in the St. Louis area. We hope this list serves as a referral network for the 125,000 readers of St. Louis Magazine. Is this list exhaustive? Of course not. There are undoubtedly many other excellent real estate agents that are not on the list this year, but don™t be surprised to see them next year.RESEARCH DECLARATIONS:As with any research or recognition program, it is important that we provide you the following declarations:
The 2009 FIVE STAR Real Estate Agents do not pay a fee to be included in the research or the final list of FIVE STAR: Best in Client Satisfaction Real Estate Agents. The overall evaluation score of a real estate agent reflects an average of all respondents and may not be representative of any one client™s evaluation. The FIVE STAR Award is not indicative of the real estate agents future performance. The inclusion of a real estate agent on the FIVE STAR Real Estate Agent list should not be construed as an endorsement of the real estate agent by Crescendo Business Services or St. Louis Magazine. Working with a FIVE STAR Real Estate Agent or any real estate agent is no guarantee that the selected real estate agent will be awarded this accomplishment by Crescendo in the future. The research process for the FIVE STAR: Best in Client Satisfaction Real Estate Agent Program, managed by Quantitative Market Intelligence, incorporates a statistically valid sample in order to identify the real estate agents, of those evaluated, in the local market that scored highest in client satisfaction, with the final list representing less than 7% of the wealth managers in the local market. For more information on the FIVE STAR Award and the research/selection methodology, go to: www.fivestarprofessional.com/reresearch.

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Well spring couldn™t come any faster for me! I think the older I get the more I dislike winter. I understand more and more why people head south for the winter.

With all the gloom and doom going on in the world I decided to run 08 statistics against 09 statistics at this point last year. Would you believe that there are 1500 more homes under contract than last year at this time? Go figure? The average sales price on a three bedroom, 2 bath has dropped from $162,213 to $145,967,   which is about a 10% drop. The average days on the market have stayed the same at 106 days. The other thing that I learned is perception. The media controls everything.     Wouldn™t you love a gag order on all of them and then we could go about enjoying life. They say prayers work. So if we all pray for a better  economy we can™t go wrong. I know a lot of my clients could use those extra prayers. Here™s to St. Joseph!  

If you have been watching the news this week, you may have noticed that the debate in Washington has finally turned toward real stimulus for the housing industry. As a result, I believe that we could be on the brink of a substantial turn around in the real estate market. Now, it™s critical that we all join together and deliver a powerful message to our legislators that we support this stimulus.

2 nights ago, the Lieberman/Isakson Amendment was included in the senate version of the Economic Stimulus Bill by a unanimous voice vote. This amendment would provide a Tax Credit to all home buyers at the rate of 10% of the sales price up to a limit of $15,000. The credit would be available for a one year period to all purchasers of primary residences. This week, the senate expects to debate Amendment 353, a proposal by Senator John Ensign (R-NV) that would provide 30 year fixed financing at a rate of about 4%, for anyone purchasing a primary residence. If these two provisions survive in the final passage of a stimulus bill they could have a tremendous impact on our industry. If they are coupled together with provisions to ease the flow of credit and reduce foreclosures, we could see an immediate and dramatic turn-around in real estate. I feel that these provisions represent real economic stimulus. They will put money in the hands of millions of homeowners, increase sales, stabilize home values and add more revenues to local communities in the form of property taxes.

I urge each of you to contact your senators and representatives to let them know that you believe these provisions are essential components of any stimulus bill. You can go to the official and web sites to locate the email and phone number of your legislators. This may be one of the most critical moments for the real estate industry in our time. Please pass this information on to anyone you might do business with. The outcome of this legislation will have a lasting impact on us all.

I appreciate your assistance on this urgent matter.

Thank you.

Type these in to your web browser:
Senate: http://www.senate.gov/
House: http://www.house.gov/