Looks like the number of foreclosures is going up again. The reports from RealtyTrac has shown that 358,000 foreclosure notices were received by homes, Nationwide in August 2009. They are reporting a 18 percent increase over last August 2008. It is also the fifth straight month that the number of foreclosure notices were over 300,000.
Here in Minnesota the report is that 3688 homes received notice of foreclosure in August 2009 making the new year to date total 25235. The number of Bank Owned Properties for August 2009 was 551 for a total of 4373 year to date. That is giving us a total of 1 house in every 625 that are in foreclosure. Even though it foreclosure rate dropped from July 2009 it is still a 70 percent increase over August of 2008.
There is also starting to be a increase of defaults on the commercial market as well. I was out showing commercial properties on Tuesday to one of my clients and there are a ton of empty lease units out there. Lease rates are declining and incentives are increasing. I was also supprised by the number of commercial properties that are willing to sell units on a Contract For Deed. I think this is because of the lack of available credit. It is difficult for most commercial property owners to qualify for a mortgage, which is impacting the current market just like it is for residential properties.
If you have questions regarding foreclosures or any other realestate matters please contact us today.
The Janos Group Real Estate Affiliate Services, Inc. White Bear Lake, MN 55110 651-407-7803
The statistic numbers listed above were obtained by RealtyTrac and are not gauranteed by The Janos Group.
As many of you know the $8000 tax credit ends on December 1st, 2009 which means you MUST be fully closed on your home by November 30th, 2009, so if your still sitting on the fence waiting to buy a home you need to get busy and buy now.
I am sorry to say that I would recommend that you DO NOT waste your time looking at Short Sale Properties, if you wish to get the tax credit, as many of them can take up to two or even three months just for the banks to decide if they will accept your offer. This may not give you enough time to get everything completed in time for you to close on your house prior to the December 1st deadline.
Remember there are many items that need to be completed in order for any closing to be completed on time, IE... all mortgage paperwork, appraisal, inspections, underwriting of mortgage, title searches, updated credit and employment checks, title work, etc. All these items can often take 30 days or more to complete, and must be finalized in order for the closing to take place.
Homebuyers looking to get the tax credit can still look at Bank Owned Properties and "Normal Listings", and often still get those closed in time for the tax credit but you need to act NOW!
There are still rumors floating around that Congress MAY extend the tax credit but as usual with the Government, you never know, and can you afford to hold out and hope for the best?
So get busy and get off the fence and call us today.
The Janos Group ReMax Specialists 4910 Highway 61 White Bear Lake, MN 55110 651-407-7803 Office 651-407-7804 Fax Tom@TheJanosGroup.com www.TheJanosGroup.com
For those that live in our area and missed the yearly Hugo Good Neighbor Days last weekend or had a great time there like the rest of us... Well, they are doing it again this weekend, June 12th and 13th.
Due to weather conditions last weekend they decide to play it again so be sure to come out and support the community and have a good time.
I have had two people contact me this week asking about modifying their mortgage. The reason I decided to bring this to my blog was because both were mislead by past advice and luckily they thought to look into it more before committing. One was going to work with a company from another state and pay them before they did any work. I am not an expert in this area of real estate but here are a few points that I have ran across in the past.
There are a few points I would like to make for homeowners in trouble trying to get a modification of mortgage.
DON"T pay anyone in advance to assist you in the modification because they have not performed yet and I do beleive it is illegal for them to do so.
DON'T work with a company that is in a different state as their laws may differ then ours.
If you are low on cash and living paycheck to paycheck, find a part-time job.
DON'T put off calling your lender when you discover you will have difficulty making your monthly payments.
If your credit is not up to par, try and repair it before you refinance your loan. Seek assistance if needed.
If your loan is modified, your interest rate may be a little higher due to your poor credit.
DO talk to an attorney if you feel that there is a need to do so.
Once you have received a modification, make your payments on time to improve your credit.
You can also get the modification completed on your own but it will take a lot of work on your behalf and you MUST keep calling the mortgage company over and over and over again even if they refuse you the first time.
Prior to calling for a modification you need to do your homework and have a workable plan that you can afford to live on and your lender would be willing to accept. You must PROVE to them that your plan will keep your loan as a performing loan as it is a commodity for them.
You should work on your finances BEFORE contacting your lender. This means you need to know how much income you have coming in every month, what the total amount of your monthly bills and if they can be adjusted. I recommend creating a full financial report with all your assets, and debts listed. This includes your fun and enjoyment expences ie... cable, internet, cell phone, etc.
There are many nonprofit counseling services that you can contact to help you put together this financial report at no cost. Many of these counseling services will be willing to work with you and your lender.
You will need to devise a plan to submit to the lender on how you propose to pay off the loan, again the counseling service may be able to assist you with this plan.
Now your finally ready to contact the lender and tell them what your financial situation is and what your plan to repay the mortgage is. When you submit this plan the negotiation can begin.
Well we are coming up to a year now that we have offered our Home Buyers and Sellers the ability to search for homes and competition homes with the ListingBook Program and they love it.
If you have never tried ListingBook for your property searches you are missing the boat. It has many features that most websites do not have that makes the home search easier and more efficient.
ListingBook is a free account and loaded with powerful and helpful tools you will not find in any other service. It is extremely easy to use. There is PDF Files and Web Seminars for training if needed.
We have clients that are not Tech Savy when it comes to computers and they are usually up and searching with in 15 minutes or so.
With Listingbook buyers can easily:
Find any home in the Multiple Listing Service- just like we do!
Make an informed decision and find your dream home quickly.
Receive automatic notification of price reductions and new listings.
Use Post-It Note or IM features with me that saves time on phone calls and emails.
Updated listings every 10 minutes instead of once a day like all other websites.
Full photo and virtual tours viewing.
Full property information.
Daily Morning Report that you will get via email every morning that will notify you of all new listings, price reductions, weather, and more. (A true time saver).
With Listingbook sellers can easily:
Stay informed about new listings and price changes in your neighborhood.
See how many people are interested in your home, and get measurable results of my marketing efforts to get your home sold.
Daily Morning Report that you will get via email every morning that will notify you of all new listings and price reductions in your neighborhood, weather, and more
For your free account please contact us and we can get you set up. Again there is NEVER any cost to you for this great program and it only takes us about 5 minutes to get your free account set up.
The Janos Group Remax Specialists 4910 Highway 61 White Bear Lake, MN 55110 651-407-7803 Email: Tom@TheJanosGroup.com Website: www.TheJanosGroup.com
I just wanted to take a moment and give you all an update on what is currently happening in the market today. The last two months have been a bit frustrating in the real estate market for Realtors and Buyers.
As many of you buyers can see in your property searches, there has been many Sold and Pending homes which is good for Sellers, but, the number of new listings has dropped dramatically in the last few months, which is bad for Buyers. The last two weeks especially. I am not sure why that is unless it is because of the Holiday. Normally Holidays are slow the week before and the week after. Hopefully it will pick up this week and we will get more new listings.
The bad thing is most homes priced below $150,000 are selling in multiple offers. I do not mean 2 or 3 offers per property... They are going with 15 or more offers per property.
Last week we lost an offer that I wrote $25k over asking price and we were still not the highest offer. There were 22 offers plus ours on this property. This can be frustrating for me and for our home buyers.
Just to give you an idea... We have written 19 offers last month many over asking price, and all were bank owned properties, and we only won 2 of those offers. The frustrating thing is that many of the good bank owned properties are sold prior to coming on the MLS and many still in multiple offers from investors coming in with Cash offers.
What does this mean for you as a home buyer? It means if you find a house you like we need to act on it right away and get our offer submitted and we need to write our best offer the first time because we are not getting a chance to do so later.
We work for you so if you want to still try and get a good deal on a home and submit a low offer that is fine with us as our job is to keep you happy (and get invited to your house warming party), but I want you know that low offers are having a hard time getting accepted in multiple offers.
Also go back in your search results and look at some of the properties that have been on the market a while. Some of these are still going in multiple offers but the ones that are not can still be taken with lower offers and the banks are dropping the prices on them.
The good thing is that rumor has it, that there is supposed to be two more waves of Foreclosure properties hitting the market over the summer so we will get more homes to look at.
I wish I had better news for you all but please keep looking and try not to get to frustrated if you can't find a house or if you have submitted offers and lost. You WILL eventually find the right house for you, it just may take longer then planned.
I forgot to mention in my last blog entry about a few changes that are in the works in Washington DC that MAY effect this program. Our representatives for the Government Affairs Committee at the St Paul Association of Realtors brought these possible updates back from the National Realtors Capital Hill visit in Washington DC last month.
Remember these items are not Voted on yet but have been presented only. They may or may not pass.
Congress it thinking of extending the date from December 31st, 2009 but no definite date has been recommended as of yet.
They are considering making this program available to ALL home buyers not only first time buyers.
There is even talk of raising the dollar amount.
One of the proposals is to also include 2nd homes for Snow Birds and Cabin Owners.
These would be great add amendments to add to the current program and hopefully Congress will pass them.
If you are one of the first time home buyers sitting on a fence right now, this program may bump you off the fence and into your new home. Could you use $7,500? Well, guess what? If you qualify, it's yours! And it's not tough to qualify!
The government is offering this $8000 to any first time home buyer that purchases a new home until Devember 31,2009. To qualify you must be a US citizen (or qualified "nonresident alien") and make less than $75,000 a year. ($150,000 for married couples filing jointly). You also have to be a legitimate 1st time home buyer OR you can't have owned a home in the last 3 years… This means if you owned a home before and then became a renter again for 3 years or more you qualify again as a first time buyer. That's it! Your tax person can go into more detail for you.
How does it work?
If you owe less than the $8.000.00 for taxes, the IRS cuts you a check for the difference. If you were owed a refund, add the $8.000.00 to your refund amount and that's what you'll receive. So, for example, let's say you owe $1,500 at tax time and your 1st time home buyer credit is $8.000.00 . (8000-1500=6500) You will get a refund check in the amount of $6,500.
If, for another example, you are owed a refund of $1,500 and your 1st time home buyer credit is $8.000.00 (8000+1500=9,500), you will get a check in the mail for $9,500. How cool is that?
There are no restrictions on the type of home: single family home, townhome, condo, new construction, or resale AND if you are a married couple filing separately, your credit will be split - $4,000 to each spouse.
Home Buyer Tax Credit: The 2008 tax credit provision has been amended as follows:
a.Tax credit is increased to $8,000
b.The income limits remain the same: ($75,000 for an individual; $150,000 for a couple).
c.First-time homebuyers and principal residences only. First time home buyer is defined as the purchaser (and the purchasers spouse) may not have owned a home in the three years prior to the purchase date of the home.
d.Tax credit is available until December 1st (previously it expired on July 1st).
e.Waiver of recapture (i.e. no repayment requirement) for properties purchased in 2009 prior to December 1st
Ø The provision is retroactive to purchases made on or after January 1, 2009.
Ø Recapture section does apply to properties sold in first three years.
f.Waiver of prohibition on financing by mortgage revenue bonds is included.
Woodbury now has a First-time Home Ownership Program that is designed to encourage home ownership in the City of Woodbury by providing financing to low and moderate income first-time purchasers.
This program is a low-interest, deferred loan of up to $25,000 to qualified families who earn no more then 80% of the area mediam income. The current amount of $64,000 for a family of four.
Any person or household that has never owned a home or has not owned a home in the last three years, qualify as a first time home buyer.
The purchase price of the property may not exceed $236,500.
All single-family detached houses, townhomes and condo units are eligible for this program.
Many cities now are creating new programs for 1st time home buyers.
Are you looking to buy a home in Woodbury? Are you looking at foreclosures?
Well I have good news for you... Woodbury has a new program that many Realtors and Loan Officers are not aware of. If you buy a foreclosure property in Woodbury you can get a low interest loan for your 2nd mortgage.
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How does the program work?
The Woodbury Foreclosure Purchase Program is designed to get homebuyers to purchase foreclosed properties in the City of Woodbury. To do that they are providing financing to low and moderate income homebuyers.
This is a low interest, deferred loan of up to $25,000. It is focused on qualified families who earn no more than 115 percent of area median income, capped at $90,000 per household.
The maximum purchase price of the property can not exceed $236,500.
Single-family detached houses, townhomes or condo units are eligible for this program.
For more information on this program please contact us.
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.
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