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Mortgage Rate Round-Up - August 23, 2008 - 08/25/08 01:28 PM
Rates dipped down for the second straight week despite the not-so-good news about inflation. Wholesale prices jumped 1.2 percent in July, much more than expected (and at the fastest pace since 1981). Normally, you would expect interest rates to rise on such news, but they didn't.
Despite the lower rates, mortgage applications fell to their lowest level in almost eight years. The Mortgage Bankers Association's index of loan applications was down 1.5 percent compared with the previous week, and was down 34.2 percent compared with the same week last year.
One thing to keep a close eye on is the Fannie/Freddie … (0 comments)
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Ameridream and Nehemiah Downpayment Assistance Programs In Jeapordy - 08/25/08 01:26 PM
The Ameridream and Nehemiah seller-funded downpayment assistance programs are in jeapordy. They may be eliminated this fall unless Congress approves the FHA Seller-Financed Downpayment Reform and Risk-Based Pricing Authorization Act of 2008 (H.R. 6694).
For more on this story, check out the post over at LoCo Real Estate Musings. Here's an excerpt:
The Department of Housing and Urban Development apparently would rather eliminate these programs entirely than regulate them.
...the bottom line is that thousands of potential homebuyers will not be able to purchase homes if the programs are discontinued.
If you're a future home buyer that may be interested in utilizing … (7 comments)
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Your Asking Price Determines If and When You Sell...Period. - 08/21/08 02:11 PM
Not all sellers understand that their asking price is the ultimate determination of whether they will sell their property or not. Not only does the asking price affect if you'll sell, but when and for how much. The longer it takes you to get to the correct fair market value asking price, the greater your Days On Market are and the more of a negative stigma buyers will have of your property. This can translate into lower offers and ultimately, a lower selling price.
Sure, how well your agent markets the property matters. But even the best agent in the world can't fool … (99 comments)
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The MLS 5.0 - Good or Bad? - 08/20/08 01:50 PM
There has been a lot of talk about an NAR controlled "MLS 5.0" and whether it's good or bad for the RE industry - agents, brokers and consumers alike. Saul Klein wrote a post about its pros and I wrote a post about its cons.
This issue will affect all of us - agents, brokers and consumers - so please take the time to check out the posts and let your voice be heard.
… (2 comments)
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Case Study: Why Owner's Title Insurance Is Important - 08/20/08 01:48 PM
Many home buyers wonder why they should purchase Owner's Title Insurance. Afterall, it's anywhere from several hundred to a few thousand dollars, which is definitely not chump change. To be honest with you, most of those who purchase Owner's Title Insurance will never need it.
But the reason why you should always purchase it is because a title issue could cost you tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars and possibly your home.
Here's a recent real life example of Owner's Title Insurance coming to the rescue:
My buyer clients submitted an offer on a foreclosure/bank-owned property in Broadlands. … (2 comments)
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Post Article on Consumers and Agents Connecting Online - 08/18/08 06:16 PM
The Washington Post ran an article in their Real Estate section today entitled "Making Connections - Web 2.0 Creates New Ways For Agents, Home Shoppers To Find Each Other." The article on "Real Estate Agent Hunting 2.0" talks about how more and more home buyers and sellers are using the internet and social media/social networking to help find and connect with a real estate agent that works best for them.
With the rise in use of "Web 2.0," platforms such as personal real estate blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Trulia and others are becoming a valuable tool in helping consumers find and learn about agents. Consumers are "interviewing" agents online prior to interviewing them … (0 comments)
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Capital Gains Tax Rules Tighten Up - 08/18/08 06:12 PM
The recently passed housing stimulus bill (H.R. 3221) includes new, more strict guidelines when it comes to capital gains taxes. The new guidelines go into effect January 1, 2009 and apply in situations in which someone who owns a second home sells their principal residence and moves into the second home to use it as their principal residence. When the former second home is sold, some portion of the gain may be taxable.
For more information and examples, check out the full article at the Dulles Association of Realtors web site.
… (2 comments)
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The MLS 5.0 - Good or Bad? - 08/18/08 06:09 PM
There has been a lot of talk about an NAR controlled "MLS 5.0" and whether it's good or bad for the RE industry - agents, brokers and consumers alike. Saul Klein wrote a post about its pros and I wrote a post about its cons.
Take a few moments to read the posts and let everyone know what you think. Whether you think it's good or bad or you're not sure, it's important to let your voice be heard.
… (0 comments)
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RE Bloggers: See How You Stack Up Against Other RE Bloggers - 08/14/08 02:24 PM
Are you getting direct results from your blogging efforts? Are you getting the same, fewer or greater results from blogging than other real estate bloggers? What is the correlation between things such as tenure, subscribers, quantity of posts and actual clients. These are the types of questions getting answered in the Center for Real Estate and Social Technology's (CREST) second survey, which is focused on results.
Participation in the first survey was well above expectaions. And the results were eye opening in a lot of ways - check out some of the reactions and analysis. We look forward to participation … (0 comments)
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RE Bloggers: See How You Stack Up Against Other RE Bloggers - 08/14/08 02:04 PM
Are you getting direct results from your blogging efforts? Are you getting the same, fewer or greater results from blogging than other real estate bloggers? What is the correlation between things such as tenure, subscribers, quantity of posts and actual clients. These are the types of questions getting answered in the Center for Real Estate and Social Technology's (CREST) second survey, which is focused on results.
Participation in the first survey was well above expectaions. And the results were eye opening in a lot of ways - check out some of the reactions and analysis. We look forward to participation … (6 comments)
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Loudoun County Foreclosure/Bank-Owned and Short-Sale Statistics - July 2008 - 08/14/08 02:01 PM
With all the hype and talk about foreclosure/bank-owned and short-sale properties, especially in Loudoun County, you're probably wondering what that segment of the real estate market is up to. Let's look at the statistics to find out...
Supply/Inventory
The number of foreclosure/bank-owned and short-sale properties that came on the market in July 2008 was 318. This is an 8 percent increase from June 2008 (318 versus 291). The number of foreclosure/bank-owned and short-sale properties that came on the market in July 2008 was 45 percent more than in July 2007 (218 versus 175). This statistic in itself does not look … (0 comments)
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Loudoun May Increase Zoning Fees - Offset Costs or Curb Development? - 08/14/08 01:58 PM
Loudoun County is considering drastically increasing rezoning fees. This will directly affect individual landowners and developers as well as future home buyers. Why? Because it will increase the cost of new construction homes on land rezoned to residential or higher-density (e.g. rezoning from single family homes on 3+ acres to clusters of town homes).
Currently, developers and other landowners who submit a rezoning application must pay Loudoun County a processing fee of $15,730, plus $80 for each acre above 200 acres for properties that exceed that size.
Under a proposal endorsed last week by a Board of Supervisors committee, the … (0 comments)
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Eat Out In Loudoun To Help Pay For Schools? - 08/14/08 01:57 PM
Eat out in Loudoun County in order to help pay for schools? Sounds odd, doesn't it... Well, that's what Loudoun is proposing - a 4 percent meal tax on "prepared meals" that will go directly to Loudoun County public schools.
Loudoun County officials are even saying that the money generated from the meal tax could replace property taxes. (Do Loudoun residents really eat out that much?!)
The referendum will be on the ballot in November so you have plenty of time to chew on it before voting on it.
Source: NBC4.com
… (0 comments)
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Loudoun County FHA Conforming Loan Limits To Be $625K - 08/14/08 01:55 PM
As part at the $300 billion mortgage rescue plan, the House and Senate will approve a new, more permanent FHA conforming limit amount of $625,000. This is in an effort to help home buyers who need jumbo loans to borrow money at more affordable rates.
The originial limit for the Washington, DC area (including Loudoun County) and other high-cost areas was raised from $417,000 to $729,750 in March, but that was only through the end of the year. The new bill will make the limit of $625,000 more permanent.
The legislation has been approved by the House, President Bush said … (0 comments)
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Loudoun County Real Estate Market Statistics - July 2008 - 08/14/08 01:53 PM
Wondering how the Loudoun County real estate market is doing and what the statistics are? Curious as to how it did last month and how it compares to last month/last year? Well, there's good news... The Loudoun County real estate market is continuing to improve with inventory going down and buyer demand increasing. Check out the statistics:
Supply/Inventory
The number of homes/listings that came on the market in July 2008 was 673. This is a 5 percent decrease from the number of homes that came on the market June 2008 (673 versus 709). The number of homes that came on … (0 comments)
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Fannie Mae Doubles Fee To Borrowers - 08/14/08 01:51 PM
The cost of obtaining a loan just went up for a large number of borrowers. This week, Fannie Mae announced that it will double a fee that it introduced in December to compensate for the risks of doing business in what it calls an "adverse market."
Fannie Mae first introduced the "adverse market delivery charge" eight months ago. At that time, it was $250 per $100,000 borrowed. Lenders paid the fee and passed the buck on to borrowers, either as a charge or as a slightly higher rate.
Fannie just announced that it will be doubling the fee to $500 … (3 comments)
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New Dulles Association of REALTORS® Web Site Up and Running - 08/08/08 10:42 AM
After months of meetings and work by the Dulles Area Association of REALTORS® (DAAR) Technology and Communications Committees and various other DAAR staff including Ben Lizik (programmer), the new DAAR web site is up and running.
The overall focus of the new site was to create greater engagement and communication amongst Realtor® members, the public and the media. Much like any blog, you are able (and encouraged) to leave comments and opinions on the site regardless of whether you're a Realtor® or not.
The new site's layout and design incorporates some of the latest RE 2.0 and Web 2.0 technologies … (0 comments)
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Frustrated In Your Search For Foreclosure/Bank-Owned and Short-Sale Properties? - 08/08/08 10:41 AM
Does "frustrated" describe how you feel when trying to search for foreclosure/bank-owned and short-sale properties online? You're not alone. Buyers often ask me why they can't just click a search field labeled "bank-owned" or "short-sale" and pull up those types of properties on listing sites. Here's the answer to that question:
Listing sites...
Realtor.com, HomesDataBase.com and other listing sites generally get their data from either the local MLS and/or a straight data feed from brokerage firms such as Keller Williams, RE/MAX, Century 21, etc. There are certain "standard" fields that data is pulled from. That data is then auto-populated into … (0 comments)
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Loudoun County Foreclosure/Bank-Owned and Short-Sale Statistics - July 2008 - 08/08/08 10:39 AM
With all the hype and talk about foreclosure/bank-owned and short-sale properties, especially in Loudoun County, you're probably wondering what that segment of the real estate market is up to. Let's look at the statistics to find out...
Supply/Inventory
The number of foreclosure/bank-owned and short-sale properties that came on the market in July 2008 was 318. This is an 8 percent increase from June 2008 (318 versus 291). The number of foreclosure/bank-owned and short-sale properties that came on the market in July 2008 was 45 percent more than in July 2007 (218 versus 175). This statistic in itself does not look very … (0 comments)
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Loudoun County Real Estate Market Statistics - July 2008 - 08/08/08 10:38 AM
Wondering how the Loudoun County real estate market is doing and what the statistics are? Curious as to how it did last month and how it compares to last month/last year? Well, there's good news... The Loudoun County real estate market is continuing to improve with inventory going down and buyer demand increasing. Check out the statistics:
Supply/Inventory
The number of homes/listings that came on the market in July 2008 was 673. This is a 5 percent decrease from the number of homes that came on the market June 2008 (673 versus 709). The number of homes that came on … (0 comments)
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Danilo Bogdanovic-Real Estate Consultant -Loudoun and Fairfax County
Ashburn,
VA
More about me…
Market Advantage Real Estate
Address: 107 Kale Ave, Sterling, VA, 20164
Office Phone: (703) 582-6900
Cell Phone: (703) 582-6900
Email Me
Your source for what's going in the Loudoun County real estate scene/market
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