Real Estate Information

Even Fannie Mae Has a Heart - Halts Foreclosures for the Holidays

Asheville home owners that may face foreclosure can breathe easier through the holidays as Fannie Mae suspend evictions for single-family foreclosures and two to four-unit properties during the holiday season through Jan. 2, 2012. How about through the year!

Well catch this - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac spent more than $640,000 just this fall to send 100 employees to a Chicago mortgage-industry conference and to host events there. Perhaps using that money to help those in trouble with their home what a thought!

Asheville Real Estate sales of owned homes improved in October as Asheville Homes sales have been up for 8 out of ten months. Prices continued to fall however inventory has dropped sharply and in my opinion will stabilize prices in 2012.  

Buyers have been taking advantage of the as a 30-year mortgage rates in September and October fell below 4%, the lowest level in at least 60 years.

So the question is should Buyers purchase now our wait. Winter is here and those Sellers in North Carolina realize home sale slow down and need to be willing to negotiate a much lower price. So Buyers Winter is a great time to take advantage of the already low price and secure the perfect home before prices start stabilizing and even increasing next season.

Trying To Sell Your Asheville Home in the Winter? Here Are Some Tips.

In Asheville winter buyers are normally serous about purchasing the right home. Often it is very wise to look at property during the winter so you can scope out the surrounding properties and see a potential views.

If you are a Seller how can you make your property stand out? Here are some tips.

If you have a gravel road make sure it is in good shape, keep it scraped and no ruts. Keep your yard free of fall leaves and shrubs are cut back. If it is a Buyer looking to retire they do not want a yard and road to worry about so make it look nice.

Because of the winter clouds and early darkness turn the lights on and open the drapes. Keep the fireplace clean and have it on if possible or fire up the wood. One way to brighten your home is put up a Christmas tree and add lots of lights.

Use festive area rug at the front door for a great first impression so visitors can wipe their feet. Have an area for their coats and shoes and pick up some paper slippers at Lowes. Make sure your mud room is clean, coats are hanging and shoes are lined up nicely. Pet odors can be especially worrisome in winter. Use a room fragrance if needed, but nothing too strong, and I recommend that in winter sellers clean more often.

Make sure temperature is nice not to cold and not to hot between 65-70 degrees.

If you are there when your home is being shown point out a couple things if you feel it is important and then put your coat on and take a walk. The Realtor knows what to do.

Follow these suggestions and get ready for the contract.

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Asheville Real Estate continues to improve with the last 7 out of 8 months up by 12% over last year matching 2007.

Asheville Homes listed for sale fell for the fifth straight month, hitting the lowest level in more than four years. This is also true nationally as real estate continues to improve.

With the interest rates still at a 40 year low and deals still to be had Asheville home sale are still brisk.

I was quoted 3.5% ARM with no closing cost the other day and 4.2% thirty year fixed. It just does not get any better than that.

According to Realtor.com the 2.12 million homes listed for sale in October was down by 3.5% from September and down by 21% from one year ago.

The economists have predicted that 2012 will be a much better year for real estate and it seems they could be right. I have three Clients that have now sold their home in Florida and are ready to move to the Asheville area. So if Florida is improving this could make a big difference in North Carolina.

Asheville has enjoyed a warm fall and it seems so far we may have a nice winter… but we know Mother Nature may think differently. But as many Buyers know this is a wonderful time to look at Asheville Homes with the leaves gone it is easy to see the available view and surrounding areas.

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So after Thanksgiving on Black Friday your lender calls you and says your have been up-side –down on your home mortgage long enough so we are lowering the principal for you to current market value. Would that be OK?

Well that could not be too far off as lawmakers urge mortgage principal write downs. Yep, more than 20 lawmakers in the House of Representatives asked Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reduce mortgage principal for borrowers who owe more on their home than it is worth.

Gee would that not be nice? I know this would help the Asheville home sellers that are unable to walk away from their home without writing a check at closing. It would also help cut the mass foreclosures that are flooding many markets across the country. Those of us that own a home and making our mortgage payments on time could help stop anymore loss on the value of our homes as foreclosures will be less and bank owned properties inventory deplete.

So I guess if this came to pass there are parts of it that are good.

Lawmakers say this type of action would reduce the risk of defaults for about 20 percent of Fannie and Freddie’s mortgages.

Fannie and Freddie, so far have been refusing to take such a drastic move, citing concerns that writing down principal balances may create a “moral hazard” and prompt other borrowers to stop making loan payments on time. So what is a moral hazard, will the effected home owners feel bad and want to pay the difference anyways? Please

Ok, what happens to the difference? What I mean is if you have a $200,000 mortgage and they lower it to $150,000 do you pay income taxes on the 50k?

Wait a minute I get it-it is kind of like the big companies that the government loaned them money and they still got big bonuses. What I mean is those that purchased residential homes when investing in real estate was very profitable, we could flip a home in 2 years sell it make some big bucks and not pay capital gains. But for now the good times have stopped and it is not any fun anymore so we become up-side-down on our home and walk or could possibly have their mortgage principle lowered, kind of like getting a bonus from the government just like the big executives.

Disagree, I understand and applaud the government for trying to help and would there be some very positive things come out of this? I am sure there will if Fannie and Freddie agree.

But there is a time the government needs to wait and let the dust settle but there is a presidential election coming up next year and I forgot to tell you it is the democrats suggesting this.

What do you think?

Asheville Housing Brighten in 2012 – Prices on the Rise!

It seems things are getting better and Fiserv (Financial Information Service Firm) said 95% of the 384 metro area tracks for prices to rise. Asheville Real Estate market in the New Year, according to several forecasts and recent surveys indicate a healthy increase in home sales and prices.

Surveys and economists are forecasting a very modest increase for the housing market in the New Year, but after several years of dropping prices and rising foreclosures, this is good news for most markets. In a survey by Macro Markets over a 100 economists and real estate professionals, respondents reported home values will likely rise slightly at 0.25% in the New Year. 

As Foreclosures continue to weigh on many markets and are preventing home values from stabilizing but as the inventory declines, prices will start edging up as it is with Asheville Homes in many areas.

With Low interest rates on mortgages mixed with more affordable housing for families in the median income range are expected help the market in its rebound in 2012, economists say. Asheville Real Estate seems to be turning around already with 6 out of the last seven months has enjoyed healthy gains over last year.

Freddie Mac Is Having A Sale – Time To Buy Your Asheville Home

If you have been wondering when it would be a good time to buy here is a good reason to do it now!

Can you believe it…Freddie Mac is having a sale? They just kicked off a sales promotion this week to quickly unload some of its inventory of foreclosed homes.

A Winter Sales Promotion for owner occupant buyers only includes: 

• They will Paying up to 3% of the final sales price toward the buyer’s closing costs for initial offers received between now and the end of the year. Escrow must be closed on or before March 15, 2012. 
• A two-year Home Protect limited home warranty, which covers such things as the heating, air conditioning, electrical, plumbing, and other major systems and appliances. Home Protect also will offer a discount of up to 30 percent on the purchase of appliances.

As Asheville Foreclosure, Short Sale and Bank Owned property inventory continues to get smaller this is a good time to consider buying before the year ends. Lenders what these distressed properties off the books before year ends.

Want to negotiate a great deal with a lender now is the time. Asheville Real Estate has been strong this year over last however Sellers that have not sold their home yet or have just placed their home on the market realize the season has ended and are willing to lower their prices. I have seen a lot of price adjustments over the last two weeks. So this is the time to put a great deal together and do not forget 3.9% interest rates for a 30 year fixed.

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Asheville 30 Year Mortgage Rates Dropped To 3.9%

Asheville Real Estate is already getting much stronger and last week interest rates for a 30 year fixed mortgage dipped under 4%. This is the second time this year so how does it get any better than that?

As Asheville home sales continue to increase including the Waynesville and Maggie Valley area it would appear with 5 out of the last 6 months increase that things are starting to turn.

As investors continue to take advantage of distressed properties buying them and turning them into rentals the inventory keeps getting smaller.

This is good news for the Sellers as prices are starting to stabilize and in some areas home prices are increasing.

However lenders are picking up the pace of foreclosures again, as the foreclosure rate posted its highest level in seven months in October with a 7% increase over September. The total numbers of foreclosures are down 31% over last year same time.

I believe the window of opportunity is getting smaller however the opportunities to take advantage of incredible home prices and low interest rate will continue until next summer. As we all know location – locations is what real estate is all about and many of the popular areas may start seeing price increases soon.

Asheville Home Owners’ Monthly Mortgage Down Big Time!

I cannot believe that from 2006 to 2011 monthly mortgage payments drop 40%. For example in 2006 the average monthly mortgage payment was $1,140 and now only $700.

I have been blogging and emailing Asheville Real Estate news for some time and especially about with the low interest rates and low prices that this is the time buy. What more could I say other than look at the benefits.

This morning we had our quarterly meeting and our company is up over last year 6 out of 9 months but most importantly we are up 5 out the last 6 months and November by all indications will be up over last year as well.

 It is understandable that we are starting to see home prices stabilizing and the inventory not only bank owned but current homes on the market drop.

I believe house affordability will continue to improve because of declines in both prices and mortgage interest rates however in hot areas like Asheville, Waynesville and Maggie Valley areas are we will start seeing prices increase next year as we are starting to in many areas across the country.

I was reading an article the other day that said loans in Asheville, foreclosure on the average are delinquent for 624 days and in others up to 761 day. This is a staggering amount of time. I am sure part of the reason it takes so long are the lenders are crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s now after the Feds came down on them. For example, 40 percent of home owners with loans in foreclosure have failed to make a payment within two years, and 72 percent of home owners have failed to make a payment in a year or more. 

Along with the fact that there are less foreclosures and the lenders are taking longer the Hay Day we know today are slowly going away.

Investors have taken advantage of bank owned, short sales and foreclosures for some time now and have been responsible for depleting much of the inventory as the demand for rental increase they are cashing in.

Even the first time investors are see the advantage and are enjoying income frooommm their investment.

The question is how much longer will it last? Personally I do not see it changing much until next year however the selection will not be as large. The important thing for the first time investor is they must keep their personal feeling out of looking at a property but only as an investment. The questions to ask is how much, cost of repair, what the monthly rent is for the area and does it make a good investment.

In many cases because of the condition of the property it is easy to get discouraged when some small repairs and a little paint make a big difference.

To search for Asheville Bank Owned, Short Sales and Foreclosure properties including Waynesville and Maggie Valley Click Here.

Things to Consider Before Buying a Distressed Property

As buyers are drawn to distressed properties there are some things to consider. I have found as far as Asheville Real Estate the number one reason a buyer is interested in distressed properties is the bargains as you can save 20 to 40% on the average compared to non-distressed homes.

Here are some suggestions that you may want to consider before buying that bank owned property.

Regardless if you have purchased a distressed property or if this is the first time I would suggest buying only Bank Owned (REO). New buyers may want to avoid short sales, which often come with lengthy negotiations or foreclosure auctions that often require all cash payments.

Bank Owned (REO) properties can be similar to a traditional home sale in some ways and can offer some of the big savings.

We find that most distressed properties are sold as is and it is a good idea to have an inspection done. Many of the distressed Asheville Homes I have shown need repairs and lots of paint.

Often an inspection that shows a lot of damage can be beneficial when negotiating for a better price and could be well worth the investment before making an offer.

We are finding as the inventory for distressed properties gets smaller, investors continue to take advantage of the low prices and banks are not foreclosing as quickly as the past it is just a matter of time the lender will not be willing to negotiate as they do now.

Distressed properties can be a good investment if thought-out well. Having a good Broker to keep you in a good area and help you through the process can be very helpful. There is one thing that never changes in real estate location – location.