This morning as I was sitting and reading blog articles I had so many thoughts pop in to my mind that I want to write about, that I'm anxious to write about, that I'm on the edge of my seat excited to write about, but I can't.

I cannot bring myself to write about how wonderful I find working with HUD can be and how a recent young buyer client is experiencing good things during the HUD transaction. 

Another buyer client who just talked to an accountant for clarification regarding the new repeat home buyer tax credit won't be written about in any kind of detail for a while.  I can't bring myself to write about this one either.

Why not?  The peanut crowd inside of me is yelling "Kris, just write about it!  Tell everyone about it!" (That sounded strange..I don't have a peanut crowd inside of me, but I do talk to myself..)

Not yet.  I'm superstitious.  I'm like the ballplayers who upon ending an inning go back to their own dugouts and don't touch the foul lines with their feet.   I'm the pitcher who wears the same undershirt that he wore during his last complete game.  I'm the third basemen who bends one more time because he didn't bend exactly 5 times before the pitch is thrown.

I'll jump over the white chalk foul line, bend 5 times and wear the same undershirt so I can sleep at night without worrying about jinxing a transaction.   PS:  I just knocked on my wooden desk as I finished writing this, because it is true that knocking on wood takes away any jinx before it happens. 

Anyone else have any superstitious based actions?  I cannot be the only one.  (Please don't tell me I'm the only one.)

Awesome video by Matt Stigliano about the first time home buyers tax credit.  Thank you to Matt for allowing this to be shared with all of you.

One of the common misconceptions for home buyers (and some real estate professionals) is that the first time home buyers tax credit is $8000 for all buyers. 

When reading the fine print of the IRS form 5405 there is an entry line to fill out asking for the smaller of 2 items:  $8000 or 10% of the purchase price.

Reiterating:  The tax credit is for 10% of the purchase price of the home up to $8000.  It is not a full $8000 for every home buyer.

           Let's all help to stop the confusion to home buyers by using the words "Up to" in our articles.

Edit:  The chart that NAR put out for their members to use states "$8000" but it doesn't say "Up to $8000".  You may want to add the language to your own charts for accuracy.

Unless you live in Michigan, or one of the other hard hit by unemployment states, the signing of H.R. 3548 by President Obama yesterday probably was good news to you because of the extension to the first time home buyers tax credit. Here, in my local area, I'm cheering because there will be thousands and thousands of out of work people who will continue to receive an unemployment check, for at least 20 more weeks.

How hard hit is my area by unemployment?   (Look at these numbers and try to remember that the numbers reflect real people and their lives, and isn't just data.)

Michigans overall unemployment rate at the end of September was reported to be 15.3 percent.    In Wayne County alone it was 18.3 percent.   The city of Detroit?   A staggering 28%.

Many of those people who were laid off at the beginning of this year, or late last year, have not found replacement jobs.   It has been reported that approximately 44,000 people in Michigan cashed their last unemployment checks in October.  

Coming in to the winter months and having their unemployment benefits cease would be cruel.  Thank you to all of our government officials for taking care of this and giving an extended lifeline to those who so desperately need it.

When I read the news yesterday about the President signing this bill I was excited, and relieved, more so for those  who cashed their last unemployment checks then I was for future home buyers.   Needs first - wants later. 

A bit of a twist to my home sales market report for October '09 in Macomb County MI:

I thought it would be informative for home owners to see how home buyers in our area are purchasing
their homes - is FHA still "king", or are cash buyers taking the lead?

Macomb County had 917 residential homes sold during the month of October 2009, which is an
increase  from this time last year (730 homes sold.)

Sales prices county wide are still falling, with the average sales price being $91,890 compared to $101,574
in October of 2008.  It is a sharp decrease county wide, but some cities / townships showed increases.
(Please feel free to call or email me for a detailed report for your area.  I would be happy to provide the information for you - no fees for this service.)

How were buyers paying for their homes?  The chart below will show a breakdown of how these 917
homes that sold in Macomb County MI were purchased last month.

With the large number of cash purchases we can still see that investors are buying the lower priced homes, taking advantage of this buyers market to increase their portfolios of rental properties.   The large number of FHA and VA buyers also tells me that the first time home buyer tax credit had home buyers out in full force to take advantage of the money being offered to help them.

All of the data above was collected by Mirealsource™ and it's participating brokers and agents, and is deemed to be reliable but not guaranteed.  As always, if you want specific information regarding your neighborhood or  home, please feel free to contact me for a no pressure analysis.

One of the cities in my area has a wonderful online service in which you can find out the current taxes,
utility bills (water and sewer) and also check to see if there are any permits that have been pulled for
repairs or renovations.

In the case of vacant homes (foreclosures, REO's, etc.) there is also one more check that you as a purchaser
need to do:  Pick up the phone and call the city and find out if a certificate of occupancy is needed prior
to moving in to the home and if an inspection is needed by the building department.

A buyer client and I are in the middle of a "counter offer" purchase on a bank owned home, and one of the
things that I asked her to do was to call the city building department and find out if this home needed to
have an inspection prior to her being able to move in to it.   As it turns out, this home was red-tagged (although the tag was not readily visible when we viewed the home) and does need to be inspected by the building department.

It will cost the buyer $200 for the city building inspector to come out and look at the home, as well as additional fees if permits need to be pulled for any city mandated repairs.   Most small repairs can be done by the potential home owner, but those needing more expensive work (electrical, plumbing, heating & cooling, etc) will require additional inspections and permits.

Please don't assume that just because there isn't a notation on a city / township online service about an inspection being required that this is truthful.  Data does "fall through the cracks" and entries are sometimes not made in a timely fashion.

                                                Pick up the phone and call.  

For those wondering why I don't make the call myself for my buyer clients:  Third party translations can sometimes fall short of accuracy.  I want my buyer clients to hear for themselves what the city / township building department has to say.  They can also ask specific questions while they are talking to the representative while those questions are fresh in their minds.

It's taken too many years but the city of Detroit finally said to landlords: "If you own a home or an apartment building in the city and you rent out the home or apartment it is your responsibility to make it lead free." 

Is it going to be expensive for landlords?  Yes.  Is this new ordinance going to cause rent to rise to compensate for the testing and removal of lead?  Probably.

I have a feeling though that parents of children who live in these homes and apartments within the city would gladly pay higher rent in order to protect their children.  I also have a feeling that many other cities will now follow suit and be drafting their own ordinances.  It's going to be an interesting year ahead watching all of this unfold within the city of Detroit and hopefully within other cities in Michigan.

It's about damned time.

The text of the Detroit News article regarding the passing of this ordinance can be found here.

Oh, the wonderful world of bank owned properties!

Let's see, first the sellers disclosure is stamped:  "Exempt" or some such other language.  The bank owners have never lived in the home so they surely cannot attest to the condition of the home unless they have inspected it.  I get it.  My buyers get it.

What I don't "get" is this:  The Federally mandated lead base paint disclosure form is sent to buyers agents blank.  Not a bit of wording on it, not even the catch all: "Sorry, I don't know, have never tested the home, do your own due diligance."

I don't know about anyone else, but handing my buyer clients a blank form that is important to any purchase transaction in the US to just sign, date and initial willy nilly gives me the wilies.

What I have done since I first saw this blank lead based paint disclosure is this - I write the following language above the spot for the buyer clients to sign:

"As of the date of purchasers signature the sellers have not provided disclosure and purchasers are signing an incomplete form."

They are then given the opportunity to indicate whether they are waiving the right to have a lead based paint inspection, or whether they wish to conduct one. 

How do all of you handle this when you see it?  Surely it cannot be something that is typical only in my area.

The other morning I read a wonderful article by Rich Jacobson.  He wrote about how we as real estate professionals need to the voice of reason and trust to our clients,as well as telling us about a real life situation in which this was conveyed professionally by him to his clients and vice verse.

As I read his article I found myself nodding my head in agreement with him, and also remembering the times that speaking honestly and at times, bluntly, with my clients has caused me to be fired over the years.

You see, I have this funny quirk of bluntness that leads my mouth to spill out the  words: 
"That won't work"  or  "It isn't a good idea" or  "I can't do that".

Recent examples of my quirky bluntess: 

• The FHA buyer who wanted to look at condos in subdivisions that I knew wouldn't
  fly with HUD.
  
  
• The home owner who wanted to put their home on the market for $30,000 more than
  the current value to "just give it a try."
  
  
• The first time home buyer who insisted on viewing short sale homes with the Federal tax
  credit being the overwhelming factor in his buying a home this year.

I lost all 3 of those potential clients because of my bluntness when it became clear that no matter what I said or how I worded it that they were going to go full head on with their decisions.

On the flip side, I had a Rich Jacobson moment just a short while ago in which my buyer client said "This is why I hired you.  Thank you." when giving her advice and explaining why something wouldn't work out and wasn't in her best interest.   

Lose a few clients and sleep better at night?     I'll do that every time.

My Macomb County MI area has been in the midst of this housing value decline for several years now, and I thought it would be interesting to see how this past September home sales compared to the previous September sales data (2007 and 2008).

While we aren't seeing home prices stabilizing as of yet, we are seeing fewer homes come on the market.  We're also seeing more homes being sold this year than in years past. That should help us in the near future with the supply & demand issue that has been so heavily tilted to the "supply" side of the market.

It's interesting to note that while fewer homes are coming on the market this year (less foreclosures and bank owned homes) there is more competition for the homes. The increase in the homes sold when comparing September 2007 to this past September is 60%.

If you would like specific information regarding your Macomb County homes value  please don't hesitate to contact me.  No pressure - just conversation.

All data courtesy of Mirealsource™ and its participating real estate brokers and agents and is deemed to be reliable but not guaranteed.