Since the mold industry is largely unregulated, use this guide to ensure you find a credentialed professional and understand the inspection, sampling, and clean-up process. Read
The towns of Eden, Huntsville and Liberty are feeling the crunch. Only 8 homes in the Upper Ogden Valley sold, which is only 3 less than what sold during the second quarter of 2008. The worst part is that there are 170 homes listed on the market, rocketing inventory to over 5 years. Both Median and average sold price of Upper Ogden Valley Real Estate dropped 34%, bringing sold price into the $200,000 range. Sellers currently have median and average home prices over 50% higher, taking prices into the one-half million dollar range.
I once heard a study that 90% of home buyers first go online when looking for a home. Whether that is proven satistic or not I would have to agree. It only makes sense in this day and age that you first start looking for a home online. The internet is an important tool for both home buyers and home sellers. It is good to be able to look at multiple homes all within one click. You are able to get the right idea of what you are looking for and compare multiple properties at once. This blog entry was not written with intent to advertise my company and brag about how great it is, although it really is. Our website offers great features unlike most home search websites. I am very grateful for all of our resources we are able to provide for our clients and the public. Our website allows you to put in your search criteria which will then pull up all the homes that are within that criteria. From there you can look at multiple pictures of each of home, see how many days it has been on the market, price reductions, and see maps as well as Google street views and much more. It is really convenient and very helpful tool when looking for a home. Whether you are ready to buy a home or just want to browse for fun you can search for homes at www.utahcornerstone.com or www.tonidorigatti.com.
For the first half of the year, Cache Valley Real Estate sales were down compared with 2008. During the third quarter, they were also down, but less down. Sounds a bit like the national unemployment statistics. The third quarter is traditionally has the highest volume of real estate sales in Cache Valley.
Well during the third quarter of this year, Cache Valley Ut Home Sales were down 5.65%. 317 Cache County Homes sold compared with 336 during the same period last year. Home sales during the second quarter were down by 12.5% and during the first quarter were down 14.09%, so we are seeing improvement.
Third Quarter Cache Valley Utah Real Estate prices were also down compared with July-August of last year. The median sold price of Homes in Cache County was $166,727, down 3.63% from last years Q3 median sales price of $173,000. The average sold price of $187,075 was down 3.5% compared with last year. While the year over year Q3 comparison was down, both the median and average home prices were actually up compared with the second quarter of this year. Prices for Logan Utah Real Estate may have already bottomed out.
Yesterday at our weekly office meeting we had representatives of Prestige Home Tending come tell us about their services. This caught me as a great idea, something that can be very valuable for people who have already relocated and are still trying to sell, as well as for people who want really cheap rent for really nice homes.
Right now there are thousands of vacant homes in Utah, especially of the more expensive variety. Vacant Homes sell slower, get more low ball offers, are more suseptible to vandalism, and can be substantially more expensive to insure.
One solution to overcoming vacant home syndrome is to get people to live in them. With Prestige Home Tending this costs the sellers nothing, but gives them a lived in, professionally staged home, and someone to take care of it.
Here are some of the things having home tenders does:
It makes the home alive.
Saves them money on:
Utilities
Lawn care
Snow shoveling
Lower home owners insurance. A non occupied home insurance averages 6 times more than an occupied home.
Less chance of vandalism
Catch problems before they become a crisis, such as water line breaks or damages.
Enhances curb appeal
Prestige home tending makes sure they get qualified, responsible tenders. To qualify as home tender, applicants must pass furniture checks, ensuring that their furniture is professional enough to accomplish staging purposes, as well as background checks. The home tending companies also perform random weekly checks to make sure the home is always in tip top condition and ready for home showings at a moments notice. Home tenders are employees and will move the people out if there are any problems.
October was a good month for real estate in Logan Utah, the third best month of the year to be exact. For Cache County as a whole, we broke triple digits for the number of homes sold. Home sales were up by 10% compared with last month, and up by more than 6% compared with October of last year.
From an analysis of the home sales statistics, it is obvious that a good number of the home buyers during October were first time home buyers who wanted to take advantage of the $8,000 first time buyer tax credit that was scheduled to expire at the end of the month. First time buyers generally by the smaller, less expensive Logan Homes. During the month we saw, the lowest average sold price in years, as well as the smallest average square footage per homes in over six years.
It's still a great time to buy Logan Utah Real Estate, so contact a Cornerstone Real Estate Professional today.
October was a good month for real estate in Logan Utah, the third best month of the year to be exact. For Cache County as a whole, we broke triple digits for the number of homes sold. Home sales were up by 10% compared with last month, and up by more than 6% compared with October of last year.
From an analysis of the home sales statistics, it is obvious that a good number of the home buyers during October were first time home buyers who wanted to take advantage of the $8,000 first time buyer tax credit that was scheduled to expire at the end of the month. First time buyers generally by the smaller, less expensive Logan Homes. During the month we saw, the lowest average sold price in years, as well as the smallest average square footage per homes in over six years.
It's still a great time to buy Logan Utah Real Estate, so contact a Cornerstone Real Estate Professional today.
When you are buying a home you can't always rely on your loan officer to tell you what you can afford. The fact is that what you can qualify for and what you are comfortable with can be two very different things. To find out if you are truly comfortable with a potential monthly payment there are a few things that you should do...
Develop a Realistic Budget You should develop a monthly budget and write down every single monthly cost and include a contingency fund of 10% for the unexpected. After the mortgage payment, do you still have enough to put some into savings? into an emergency fund? Are you going to have to cut out cable/Internet, eating out, or other luxuries that you can't do without? If you are uncomfortable with your answers, look for a different house.
The Industry Standards You could also use the standard "housing ratio" and "debt to income ratio" which underwriters use to determine whether the payments are affordable. Those standards are that you shouldn't spend more than 28% of your gross monthly income on your mortgage payments and that you shouldn't be spending more than 41% of your gross monthly income on your mortgage payments along with other monthly debts (e.g. car payments, credit card payments, student loans, etc.)
It's possible to get approved if your ratios are higher than these standards, if you have very good credit or a large down payment for example. But unless you live very frugally it's likely that you will struggle with a mortgage payment that high.
Account for all increases! you need to look at your current housing expenses and take into account all of the increases that you will see if you buy a new home. You will need to ask yourself at least these questions...
How much more is the new mortgage payment (including hazard insurance and property taxes) vs. our current rent payments?
How much more or less will the utility bills be?
How much do we need to set aside each month for potential home repairs? (Studies show that you will pay 3.5% annually of the purchase price for a new home and 4.5% for an older home)
Is there an HOA fee that we need to account for?
*You also need to find out how much more of a tax refund you will get because mortgage interest is tax deductible.
The Eight Hour Rule If you have taken all of the above steps and passed there is still one more test that you need to be aware of. You can always fall back on the eight hour test to determine whether you will be comfortable with a new mortgage payment. If you find yourself reaching for the Tylenol PM at 2 am, chances are that you will not be comfortable with your new mortgage payment.
1. Do hire a real estate agent: Hiring a real estate agent won't cost you anything (in the state of Utah the real estate agents commission is paid by the seller) and it could save you a ton of money. A good real estate agent will not only make sure the transaction goes smoothly but that you don't get taken advantage of.
2. Do get a home inspection: A good Realtor will also recommend this to you. A home inspection in Utah will run you anywhere from $200 to $300 but it could save you thousands in the long run. A licensed home inspector will check all the components of the home and can detect things that can't be seen with the naked eye. I recently had a borrower whose inspector found Asbestos in the home he was going to buy. The repairs would have cost him thousands. Luckily he only spent $250 and moved on.
3. Do attend a first time home buyer workshop: In most cities in Utah you can find a home ownership workshop sponsored by either a local University or a local real estate professional. In most cases, these workshops are free and can give you some much needed insight into the world of buying a home.
4. Do establish a realistic budget: What you can afford and what you can qualify for can be two very different things, even in today's climate. It would behoove first time home-buyers to establish a realistic budget to see how much they can afford. In particular, they will need to analyze how much they are currently paying in rent and how much more they will pay for a mortgage (including property taxes and insurance), utility costs of a the new home, annual home repair costs, etc.
5. Do get pre-approved first: Most real estate agents will want you to meet with a loan officer to get pre-approved before they will take you out looking for homes. When you do meet with your loan officer, make sure to bring your last 2 years tax returns with W'2s, Last 2 pay stubs, and last 2 checking and savings account statements. By bringing these documents, the loan officer can give you an official pre-approval and not just a pre-qualification.
Don'ts for Utah First Time Home buyers
1. Don't rush into buying a home just to get the $8,000 tax credit: $8,000 is a lot of money but if you buy the wrong home which requires constant repairs, that $8000 won't last very long and you'll wish you took more time finding the right home.
2. Don't gamble with the interest rate if you are comfortable with the payments: When you finally have a home under contract your loan officer will give you the option of locking or floating the interest rate. My advice is this: Nobody knows the future of interest rates and if you are comfortable with the payments, lock it! Getting a little bit lower rate is not worth the risk of having to take a higher rate and a payment that is more than you budgeted for.
3. Don't do any repairs on the home until after escrow has closed: Once again a Realtor would never allow their buyer to do something so stupid, but I have heard of buyers that did extensive repairs and spent a significant amount of money on a home only to find out that the deal wasn't going to work out.
4. Don't try to time the market. The housing market is kind of like the stock market in that you will never be able to pinpoint the bottom until everything has turned up. How else can you pinpoint the bottom? Teal estate can be a great hedge against inflation but more importantly it is a home. Focus on personal lifestyle needs more than trying to time the market.
5. Don't get a loan from a company that advertises "creative financing"."Creative financing" is just a euphemism for "you are going to get screwed". Stick to the basic loan programs which are easy to understand and, more importantly, are affordable.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
Develop a Realistic Budget
If you have taken all of the above steps and passed there is still one more test that you need to be aware of. You can always fall back on the eight hour test to determine whether you will be comfortable with a new mortgage payment. If you find yourself reaching for the Tylenol PM at 2 am, chances are that you will not be comfortable with your new mortgage payment.
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