By ADRIAN SAINZ and ALAN ZIBEL - AP

New lending rules for condominium buyers already are forcing some developers to change or to scrap plans for new projects for fear too many buyers will be shut out.

On Monday, the Federal Housing Administration started limiting the number of buyers in condo buildings that can get loans insured by the agency. The rules also put restrictions on buildings with poor finances, too many delinquent owners and a high number of rentals.

The tighter lending standards are designed to protect the financial health of the FHA. Roughly 18 percent of loans insured by the FHA are either delinquent or in foreclosure and the agency’s financial cushion has dipped below the federal minimum.

But the move is a blow to condo buyers because the FHA has become a key source of mortgage financing. The agency insures roughly one in four new loans today because buyers need to have only a 3.5 percent down payment.

“It is a huge debacle for us,” said Rene Oehlerking, marketing director for Salt Lake City developer Garbett Homes.

The company has canceled a 300-unit condo project, spending $300,000 to redesign it into free-standing homes. Most of the builders’ homes and condos this year went to buyers with FHA loans.

Garbett’s condo project didn’t pencil out with the new FHA rule that allows only half of a condo building’s units to have FHA-backed loans, with some exceptions. That number falls to 30 percent in 2011.

Another new rule requires at least 30 percent of units in new buildings be pre-sold before the agency insures any loans. That number will rise to 50 percent in 2011.

Government officials, however, say the rules are necessary to ensure consumers are purchasing units in viable buildings and to help ensure that defaults on condo projects don’t rise too high.

While the rules could be tough for builders, they will protect consumers because lenders will be forced to be more careful about which projects they fund, said Richard Vetstein, a real estate lawyer in Framingham, Mass.

“On the whole, it’s a good thing,” he said. “Financially sound condominiums make better investments.”

 

EN

USDA Rural Development in Texas has more than $130 million to help people become homeowners, the agency announced Thursday.

The program provides low interest, no-down-payment loans to help eligible low-income families living in rural communities.

Homes must be located in communities of 10,000 or less and locations not closely associated with urban areas. Sometimes loans can be made in cities with populations between 10,000 and 25,000.

For more information, contact the Seguin office at (830) 372-1043, ext. 4, or visit www.rurdev.usda.gov/tx.

 

Jennifer Hiller-EN

In our OK-but-not-great real estate market, the home sales process often seems more broccoli than beer — something to be swallowed but not necessarily enjoyed by homeowners.

While the average time to sell a home in the San Antonio area, 87 days from listing to closing, remains relatively healthy, some homes are taking a much more arduous path to selling.

Nearly 700 homes have languished on the market for at least one year, according to the San Antonio Board of Realtors. And they typically have champagne price tags.

Jason Glast of the Phyllis Browning Co. recently calculated that San Antonio has 4.76 years’ of inventory of homes priced higher than $1 million and almost two years’ worth of homes listed between $500,000 and $1 million.

The median list price of homes listed for a year or longer is $239,888, compared with a marketwide median sales price of $139,700, according to SABOR.

Real estate professionals say an abundance of inventory, the difficulty in getting a jumbo mortgage and competition from custom and semicustom home builders can make it tough to sell a more expensive home.

“The home has to be in perfect condition to sell,” said Missy Stagers of Coldwell Banker D’Ann Harper Realtors. “If they can’t move in and put the furniture down, people just pass it by, pass it by, pass it by.”

Pricey properties also tend to be customized more than the typical home, which can narrow the number of potential buyers.

Sandy Hancock of Bradfield Properties is listing a home with a large heated and air-conditioned garage designed to house race cars. The property also has acreage and a horse barn and fronts Cibolo Creek. “It’s a beautiful home, but not everybody needs that much garage or that much property,” Hancock said. Since it first went on the market in 2007, the price has dropped $90,000 to $695,000.

Glast says anything on the market longer than one year is priced too high. He has one such listing himself.

“It’s always price,” Glast said. “There are so many overpriced listings right now.”

Stagers said after years of rising prices, many homeowners have had to re-evaluate their selling strategy for the current economy. “It all comes down to time or money,” Stagers said. “Either you’re going to wait the time or you’ll get so cheap you’ll be the next one bought.”

Some owners choose to wait out the market.

Rick Kuper of Kuper Sotheby’s International Realty has listed a renovated rock cottage in Alamo Heights for more than a year. Priced at $795,000, or nearly $224 per square foot, the home is pushing the envelope on price, even for Alamo Heights. But the California owners, investors, can afford to be patient.

“We told them, ‘The market is not at your price. You can hold until the market comes to your price, or you can take your price to the market,’.” Kuper said. “They said they would just wait until the market comes back. That is not typical. Most people cannot do that.”

 

Cold, warm, hot, rain or snow will not stop a buyer from buying and a seller from selling. It comes down to location, location and timing. I look every year in our MLS and I have yet to see one month were nothing was bought or sold...We get in our heads as agents "well the weather was cold" or It was to hot today to show homes...We in some cases look fro the seasons to change.

 

I had a conversation with an agent in my office today. It went something like this. "It doesn't matter what system you use. It matters on your delivery of the product you are selling! yourself!" if you approach an buyer or a listing half way expect to get half way results. Oh, that was my "G" version hahahah! But it is true.

Be consistent in your delivery and you will succeed.

 

Helpful info from fellow bloger Marchel.

Via Marchel Peterson Spring TX Real Estate E-Pro ABR (Results Realty):

Award of Merit from PhotobloggersSending flat rate packages to our troopsIt is hard for out troops being away from friends and family during the holiday season.  This makes it an ideal time to send them a flat rate package. Last year at this time our son was in the middle of his second tour of Iraq and he loved getting goodies from home.  With him doing two tours I learned the ins and outs of sending him flat rate packages. On our son's first tour he was based at a town called Hit just northwest of Ramadi; the base was so small they really didn't even have a PX to speak of.  For 6 months of his tour he was on the graveyard shift so if we didn't send food he was pretty much stuck eating MRE's.  Needless to say I became an expert at sending care packages so I am going to pass my knowledge forward as I know there are many other soldiers like him who would love some extra care packages.   

If you don't know a soldier but  would like to help a soldier you can adopt a soldier through Soldiers Angels. You adopt them for the duration of their tour though, it is not just a one time thing. Our son told me there are a lot of soldiers that are alienated from families for one reason or another and don't receive much.  Soldier's Angels sounds like the remedy for that problem. 

You must mail your package to a particular soldier. You cannot send a package without a soldier's name or it will be just discarded.  Another way to find a soldier is to ask friends and family if they know anyone.  You will be amazed at how many people know of someone that has been deployed.

Flat Rate shipping to our troopsFiguring out how to send these packages was a learning experience. The first time I sent one I arrived at the post office with this big heavy box and spent something like $30 in shipping. I happened upon a really nice postal worker.  He saw I was shipping to an APO in Iraq and turned me on to Flat rate shipping provided by our USPS.  He told me that I could send several of the flat rate boxes for less than it would cost me to send the one big box. 

When I sent him boxes on his first tour there were only two sizes available but there are now four different sizes of flat rate boxes.  The two smaller boxes hold about the same amount but are made totally different. One is long and narrow and the other is short and squatty.  The new larger box holds about 50% more and since I found out about it I have used it exclusively. It cost me $10.95 to ship using this box and I can make it as heavy as I want to.  Normally this flat rate box cost $12.95 but the postal service gives a $2.00 discount when you ship to an APO.  To be quite honest I'm not even sure what the current charge is on the smaller box as I now only use the large one. Any amount of material may be enCustoms declarations for flat rate shipping to our troopsclosed as long as the box is not modified and the contents fit inside.  .

These boxes are provided to us free from our USPS and you can pick them up at most post offices prior to shipping. The only time I had trouble finding them was the Christmas season as the post office was having problems keeping them in stock. At the same time you pick the flat rate boxes up you will also want to pick up some "Customs Declaration and Dispatch Notices" and some priority mail address labels.  You will need to fill out the Customs Declaration and you are going to need to put in a description of what you are sending.  It says detailed but you can just write things like 6 cans of soup, 2 packages of crackers, candy, 3 cans of tuna etc.  That will suffice for detailed.  You will need to put in a value and I always marked treat as abandoned. You will then need to date and sign the form.  You have to press hard as there are 6 copies to go through. I always filled out an address label also and put it on the box.  I had a postal worker tell me to fill both out just in case the customs declaration came off. 

I am sorry but there are no short cuts to standing in line. YOU CAN NOT USE THE SPEEDY CHECK OUT MACHINE.  My neighbor did that the first time she sent a package to her son and it came back to her because she had not added the customs declaration page. 

Chirstmas with our US Army TroopsThe soldiers love getting useful stuff.  Our daughter is a flight attendant for a charter company that moves our troops and she told me that someone sent some marines off with lei's which they proceeded to give to the flight attendants. The thought was nice but I think they would have preferred something that was useful to them. I sent things like soup, tuna, crackers, summer sausage, non-perishable cheese, candy.  You get the idea anything that is non-perishable. At Christmas I always sent homemade cookies and candy to our son.  He isn't that crazy about sweets but he always shared them. You can be assured that if the soldier you are sending to doesn't like what you sent they will pass it on to someone that does. 

So should you hear about someone that is stationed over in Iraq or Afghanistan you now know how to mail them a box of goodies using these wonderful flat rate boxes provided to us by our postal service. 

Amazingly I found these packages typically got to their destination in less than a week. Whether I was sending them to Germany (as that was where our son was first stationed) or Iraq they always arrived. One time I sent the package to his old Germany APO address and the package went back to Fort Hood and then on to Iraq (it took about a month but it arrived safe and sound).  About the only time I did not us the flat rate boxes was when I sent Ramon noodles or the time I sent an air mattress bed as it didn't fit.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

If you are buying or relocating to Spring Texas and need help from a professional REALTOR®, Marchel can be reached at Marchel@AgentwithResults.com or by phone at 832-721-8332. 

If you would like information about Spring TX please visit my websites at www.AgentwithResults.com and at www.ResultsRealtytx.com. The AgentwithResults site is rich in Content about Spring and the surrounding areas of Tomball, The Woodlands and Magnolia.  If you prefer pictures with your content then visit my ResultsRealtyTX site.

Want to find out about new Spring TX properties immediately as they come on the market, then click here to sign up for a free automatic notification of new listings.

Search for home in The Woodlands Creekside VillageClick the button to the left to search our local MLS.

Subscribe to Results Realty BuzzSubcribe in a reader

Copyright © 2009 Marchel Peterson, All Rights Reserved. *How to send flat rate packages to our troops!!*

 

I have been asked the last couple of days from past clients if it really is a good time to buy. My answer is "Yes" and it's not because it means I get to sell another home. The answer is Yes because all the signs show that buyers are at an extreme advantage. Everyone who has money whether cash to buy owner finance or cash to put down and get a loan has an advantage.

Lets look at owner finance. 1. 10% can really get you a good deal but more important you can find yourself negotiating rate and price. It really is not unheard of to find 6.5 to 7.5% interest rates. Investors know that they'll not only get there money in the long run. It still is better money than just sitting at a bank. 2. Selling the note can be easier in the open market because the lower interest rate can be a more stable buy to a note buyer...

Using the bank is a great option if you have the credit and the cash to put down. Yes, the bank is still trying to find it's self but in the long run at some point they will have to stop reading between the lines and actually just follow the guidelines without having to over analyze every move. The rates are great still and the lenders are really moving toward lending more money.

Which ever route you take. The buyer is in the drivers seat...

 

 

I have been asked the last couple of days from past clients if it really is a good time to buy. My answer is "Yes" and it's not because it means I get to sell another home. The answer is Yes because all the signs show that buyers are at an extreme advantage. Everyone who has money whether cash to buy owner finance or cash to put down and get a loan has an advantage.

Lets look at owner finance. 1. 10% can really get you a good deal but more important you can find yourself negotiating rate and price. It really is not unheard of to find 6.5 to 7.5% interest rates. Investors know that they'll not only get there money in the long run. It still is better money than just sitting at a bank. 2. Selling the note can be easier in the open market because the lower interest rate can be a more stable buy to a note buyer...

Using the bank is a great option if you have the credit and the cash to put down. Yes, the bank is still trying to find it's self but in the long run at some point they will have to stop reading between the lines and actually just follow the guidelines with out having to over analyze every move.

 

Listing number 2 is right down the street from Listing number 1

This home has it all. Master down and a large game room and secondary bedrooms up...

For more photo's and info on this home log on to www.tmartsellshomes.com

 

Listing number 1

This listing is located in the North West part of San Antonio, The views from here are awesome.....

Oh and by the way they are working on building a new elementary school across the street.

If you want to see more log on to www.tmartsellshomes.com

 

 

I love working the FSBO market. I recently went shopping this Christmas season for a couple of late blooming FSBO's. See what I have found this time of year is that they don't know a good agent to list there home with. I also have a new tool to help them sell there home this season. It's called an 800 #. 

I went and made up name riders that I can use and I bought some of those yard sign stakes. I am on a mission..How many FSBO's can i list in a month. Your going to have to check back in next months blog.

 
 
Atc_balloon Rainmaker_large

TONY MARTINEZ

San Antonio, TX

More about me…

RE/MAX Fiesta City

Address: 7217 Bandera Rd, Leon Valley, TX, 78238

Office Phone: (210) 333-3331

Cell Phone: (210) 325-8560

Email Me



Links

Archives

RSS 2.0 Feed for this blog

Find TX real estate agents and San Antonio real estate on ActiveRain.