REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-3 Reasons to Sell a Home Soon

REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-3 Reasons to Sell a Home Soon.

Interest Rates All Time Low (Again!)

Interest Rates. How Low Can they Go?

Mortgage rates ease again

30-year fixed at 60-year low

By Inman News, Friday, October 15, 2010.

Inman News

Mortgage rates are at new lows for a third consecutive week as investor demand for mortgage-backed securities that fund most home loans continues to be more than adequate to satisfy demand for mortgages.

Rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.19 percent with an average 0.8 point for the week ending Oct. 14, down from 4.27 percent last week and 4.92 percent a year ago, Freddie Mac said in releasing the results of its weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

That’s a new low in Freddie Mac’s records, which date back to 1971. Rates haven’t been lower since April 1951, according to another set of data based on FHA rates that goes back to 1948.

more…  see Inman News

Home Sale Tips

How to Set Your Selling Price

//

Being overpriced is a bad startBy Michele Dawson

If you’re selling your house, one of the first steps you’ll take is setting an asking price, a maneuver that requires the ability to find the perfect balance between attracting solid offers and ultimately receiving top dollar.

If you’re working with a Realtor or other industry professional, you’ll probably hear talk of fair market value, which typically means the highest value an educated buyer will pay. Fair market value is usually not the asking price.

Many agents will begin by conducting a competitive market analysis of your house and give you an estimate of the fair market value of your home, which is a range that will fluctuate depending on the housing market in your area and how much similar homes in your neighborhood are selling for.

If you’re in a hot seller’s market, like many communities throughout California and much of the West, you’ll have the advantage.

“The market has been gaining steam, and the seller is taking control,” said Nashat Benyamein, a broker in Long Beach, Calif. “Our average number of days on the market went from 30 days to 7 days or less.”

While overpricing to some degree can be beneficial, you’ll still want to be careful and avoid pricing your home too high, which almost always is nonproductive.

As you work with your agent and set your price, you’ll want to recognize the factors that may prompt you to raise your asking price too much when it isn’t warranted. Some of those factors include:

• Upgrades have been added. While many home improvements will help you recoup a good chunk of your investment, it won’t give you 100 percent of what you paid. Also, the more personal the improvement—a swimming pool, a sunroom, purple floors—the less likely it will be viewed favorably by potential buyers.
• The need for money.
• You’re moving to a higher-priced area.
• The original purchase price was too high.
• The seller lacks factual comparable sales to prove what the market value is.
• The seller wants bargaining room (listing more than 1-3 percent above market value actually reduces bargaining power).
• An unnecessary move, so you’re not motivated.

//

On the other hand, if you’re in a neutral or buyer’s market, like in Minneapolis, you’ll really need to be cautious in setting your price.

“While a few select neighborhoods are experiencing good activity, the market generally is favoring buyers,” said Mary Jo Oren, a Realtor in Minneapolis, Minn. “Price reductions are becoming more common and sellers are having a tough time adjusting to fewer offers, fewer multiple offers and increased market time to sell. Buyers are less emotional and not afraid to offer significantly less than list price plus ask for additional seller participation.”

Generally, the asking price—the price advertised when it goes on the market—is set slightly higher than market value, usually 1 to 3 percent above market value.

You should assume that negotiation will be necessary to reach an agreement with the buyer. If you price your home too much above market value, you’ll get fewer showings and offers in which the potential buyer is fishing to determine how low you’ll go.

You’ll want to establish your priority list: Are you more concerned with selling quickly or getting the most money possible? You’ll also want to contemplate whether you think the agent’s suggested price is reasonable and whether you’d pay that amount if you were a buyer.

Your agent, as well as friends, relatives, and neighbors, will help you point out your house’s advantages and disadvantages that you may not have thought about because you’re too close to the house and not as objective as others.

A third party will help you think of your house as a commodity—something with positive and negative selling points. At that point you can decide on a price that you deem competitive and in line what other houses in your area have sold for.

Copyright © by Realty Times

Benefits of Homeownership and Stable Housing

Social Benefits of Homeownership and Stable Housing

August 2010

Research has consistently shown the importance of the housing sector on the economy and the long-term social and financial benefits to individual homeowners. The economic benefits of the housing market and homeownership are immense and well documented. The housing sector directly accounted for approximately 14 percent of total economic activity in 2009. Household real estate holdings totaled $16.5 trillion in the first quarter of 2010. After subtracting mortgage liabilities, net real estate household equity totaled $6.3 trillion.

In addition to tangible financial benefits, homeownership brings substantial social benefits for families, communities, and the country as a whole. Because of these societal benefits, policy makers have promoted homeownership through a number of channels. Homeownership has been an essential element of the American Dream for decades and continues to be so even today.

The purpose of this paper is to review existing academic literature that documents the social benefits of homeownership. Furthermore, this paper examines not only the ownership of homes, but also the impact of stable housing–as opposed to transitory housing and homelessness—on social outcomes, looking specifically at the following outcome measures:

•Educational achievement;
•Civic participation;
•Health benefits;
•Crime;
•Public assistance; and
•Property maintenance and improvement.

Find out more information, read: Social Benefits of Homeownership and Stable Housing 2010 (225K PDF)

Buying In A Down Market?

Buying a Home in a Down Market

Should You Wait to Buy in a Down Market of Falling Home Prices?

By Elizabeth Weintraub, About.com Guide

 

Should You Wait to Buy in a Down Market?

© Big Stock Photo 

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

You’re probably thinking: “Of course, she would say that. She’s a Realtor, and agents always say ‘Now is the best time to buy’.” 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.

 

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

 

1. So you “lost” $30,000 on the sale of your home
2. But you “made” $50,000 on the purchase of your new home
3. Doesn’t that put you $20,000 ahead?

 

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. Following is what happens if you’re looking for a loan around $400,000.

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:

• $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.

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.

A good strategy is to weigh all the pros and cons of real estate ownership before making the decision to buy or sell. Don’t panic over newspaper headlines. Make an informed decision. Run your own numbers.

 

 

Senate Extends Homebuyer Tax Credit, Includes Repeat Buyers

Updated: 10/29/2009 10:23 AM KSTP.com

WASHINGTON (AP) – Senators agreed Wednesday to extend a popular tax credit for first-time homebuyers and to offer a reduced credit to some repeat buyers.

The tax credit provides up to $8,000 to first-time homebuyers but is set to expire at the end of November. The Commerce Department said Wednesday that new home sales fell 3.6 percent in September, and some industry representatives blamed uncertainty about the tax credit.

Senators agreed to extend the existing tax credit for first-time homebuyers while offering a reduced credit of up to $6,500 to repeat buyers who have owned their current homes for at least five years, said Regan Lachapelle, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

The tax credits would be available to homebuyers who sign sales agreements by the end of April. They would have until the end of June to close on their new homes, according to a summary of the legislation being circulated among lawmakers.

Senators were still negotiating the expansion of a separate tax credit that lets money-losing businesses get refunds for taxes paid in previous years, providing them with an immediate source of cash.

Senators in both political parties were hoping to add both tax provisions to a bill that would give people running out of unemployment insurance benefits up to 20 more weeks of federal aid.

The Senate could vote on the overall bill as early as Thursday, but lawmakers were still haggling over several unrelated amendments Wednesday evening.

Popular bills like the one to extend unemployment benefits often attract amendments that would have a difficult time passing on their own.

Republicans were demanding that they be given a chance to offer amendments to restrict federal aid to the beleaguered community activist group ACORN and on requiring that people receiving unemployment insurance be processed through E-Verify, an Internet-based system that employers use to check on the immigration status of new hires.

Majority Democrats have refused to add the amendments.

If the Senate passes the bill, it would go to the House, which passed a similar bill extending unemployment benefits last month.

House leaders have also said they support extending the tax credit for homebuyers.

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., has been negotiating for several weeks with Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., to craft an extended tax credit for homebuyers that would pass the Senate.

Lawmakers didn’t release a cost estimate for extending the tax credit, though similar proposals were projected to cost about $10 billion.

Industry representatives said uncertainty about the tax credit is hurting new home sales. September’s decline was the first since March.

It takes 45 days to 60 days to close on a house, making it unlikely a sale made today would be consummated by the end of November, said Lucien Salvant, spokesman for the National Association of Realtors.

“Buyers right now have an incentive to hold off, not knowing whether the credit will be extended,” Salvant said.

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.

The tax credit for money-losing businesses is a favorite among Republican lawmakers. Businesses could get tax refunds by using losses from 2008 and 2009 to offset taxable profits made in the previous five years. Under current law, they can only offset profits from the previous two years.

The provision would help a variety of industries, including retailers, manufacturers and home builders, though it’s expensive.

“It’s clearly a way to put cash in the hands of some major economic players,” said Clint Stretch, a tax policy expert at Deloitte Tax.

A similar proposal that was ultimately dropped from the economic stimulus package enacted in February would have cost nearly $20 billion over 10 years. Lawmakers are working to reduce the price tag.

Because people are so strapped for cash, this is a good way to get refunds when businesses need them for operating expenses, said Rachelle Bernstein, vice president and tax counsel for the National Retail Federation.

 

 

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Must See Home in Maple Grove!!

<iframe style=”width:160px; height:200px; “src=”http://www.postlets.com/realestate/mini_160.php?pid=2560892” frameborder=”0″ marginheight=”0″ marginwidth=”0″></iframe>

Determining an accurate listing price

 

Overpricing your listing can cause your property to sit on the market for months. How can you tell what the correct listing price is for your property?

Last week’s column looked at four of the most common mistakes that can cause sellers to overprice their property. Today’s column provides a case study that illustrates the steps you and/or your listing agent must take to properly set the correct price for your property.

If you’re like most sellers, you want to obtain the highest possible amount from your real estate sale. With the creation of online automated pricing tools such as those provided by HomeGain.com and Zillow.com (there are several others but we’ll use these as examples), many sellers have turned to these tools as a way to establish what their property is worth.

These tools can be a good place to start, but they can also be wildly inaccurate. For example, my current property valuation on Zillow is about 28 percent higher than what the property would sell for in this market. On a $400,000 sale, that would mean that my list price would be $112,000 too high.

To understand how to be more accurate about pricing your property, examine the following case study based on a 1,250-square-foot house situated on a 6,000-square-foot lot in California.

What do the online evaluation tools say the property is worth?

HomeGain’s value estimate ranges between $428,000 and $502,000, while Zillow estimates the value at $373,000. As a seller, I would love to get the $502,000. As a buyer, I would want to pay $373,000. Which number is correct?

For the property in this example, Zillow had 86 comparable sales that have closed in the last six months. The HomeGain site included 10, some of them dating back to 2007. Clearly, closed sales prices (also known as “comparable sales” or “comps”) from 2007 are going to be substantially higher than sales from 2009.

The challenge is determining which set of numbers is the most accurate for this particular property. The first step is to make sure you have selected the most appropriate comparable sales. Is each of the comparable sales in the right area?

Minneapolis Real Estate on the Move!

We are seeing bank foreclosures priced for a 7 day sale and buyers are having to deal with other (and sometimes multiple) offers again! This is not what some buyers may expect, due to the fact that they only hear from media that it is a buyers market. It is important for first time home buyers to know that working with an experienced REALTOR will help ease some of the anxiety that is inherent in a real estate transaction. This is not our market of 5 years ago, heck, not even the same market at 5 months ago! What I have seen lately compounds the fact that real estate truly is local. The information you hear on the national news can be so different from where your local market really is.

More First Time Homebuyer Credit Info…

What You Need to Know About the $8,000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit
Who Qualifies for the Tax Credit?

• Never owned a home
• Have not owned a home within the last 3 years–determined by HUD 1 date when previous home was sold
• Purchased a home to be a primary residence between January 1 and November 30, 2009
• Owned a rental property or vacation home which was not used as a primary residence over the last 3 years
• If married and one person owned a home within the last 3 years, the other did not, they do not qualify
• If unmarried and one person owned a home within last 3 years and other did not, they can “designate” the tax credit to the one who is considered the FTHB.
• If parents cosign on a mortgage (and own a home) and the child is a FTBH, they are eligible for the tax credit.
• Non-US Citizens may qualify if they meet resident-alien status (IRS Pub 519)
• Revenue or Housing Bond financing are eligible for tax credits.

Types of Properties

• Primary Residence – Single family, 2-4 units (must occupy one unit) town homes, condos, manufactured homes, mobile homes and houseboats.
• New Construction – “Purchase Date” is the date the owner occupies the home (between Jan 1 and Nov. 30, 2009) Note: They could have owned land and are in the process of building.

Income Limits

• $75,000 Single Person (Partial Credit up to $95,000)
• $150,000 Married Couple (Partial Credit up to $170,000)
• Based on Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) line on IRS Form 1040, 1040A or 1040EZ

Amount of Credit

• 10% of Sales price
• Up to Maximum of $8000
• Partial Tax Credit if income exceeds $75,000 or $150,000

Repayment Tax Credit

• If sold within 3 years, the entire tax credit needs to be repaid! After 3 years, no repayment is due.

Buyers should check with a tax advisor on how it will affect their individual tax returns