Local Weekly Market Snapshot for St. George, Utah
Local Market:
Hello Clients,
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This last week we saw a 20% decrease in new sales contracts .. down to 61 vs 78 the prior week
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Total Active inventory increased to 1,736 vs. 1,703 the prior week
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Two (2) homes over $700K went pending this week – both were Equity sales
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Only two (2) homes in the $450 - $700K went pending this week – with active listings in this price range
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New 2014 construction sales were seven (7) contracts for the week
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New pending contracts in the $0 - $250K range fell to 39 vs. 55 the prior week
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Temperatures are over 100 degrees – which historically means sales will slow down
If you have a serious interest in selling your property or want a market analysis on your home – please call the Ames Team at 435-674-6011.
We have over 28 pre-qualified buyers that hope to purchase in the next 30-60 days. Why list with The Ames ??? – http://youtu.be/hZx1o6fx-EU
If you or a friend are looking to save THOUSANDS on purchasing a great property then call us and let us show you the great values on HUD Homes and how you may qualify to purchase one. Call the Ames Team at 435-674-6011.
Deal of The Week: Gorgeous Newly Listed Home in The Springs Estates for $624,900, 0.32 Acres, 5 Bed, 3.5 Bath, 4,601 sq. ft. Follow Link to View Listing: http://www.flexmls.com/cgi-bin/mainmenu.cgi?cmd=url+other/run_public_link.html&public_link_tech_id=12gohatti51m&s=6&id=1&cid=1
LENDERS TO CONTACT:
Academy Mortgage Matt Hickman 435-632-6811
Bank of American Fork Chris Palmer 435-215-3044
Cache Valley Bank Michael Beckstrand 435-705-0293
JP Morgan CHASE Laurie Gable 435-627-6750
Patriot Mortgage Russ Brown 435-669-1900
Southwest Community Credit Union Stacy Spendlove 435-628-2693
Security National Mortgage Amber Coleman 702-604-7027
SWBC Melodi Mathews 435-703-3879 
US Bank Ryan Stover 801-557-6941
Zions Bank Mike Wittwer 435-634-5133
National Real Estate News
3 reasons not to buy a home now
Matthew Frankel, The Motley Fool
If you're thinking about buying a home, now may seem like a tempting time to finally take the plunge. Mortgage rates are the lowest they've been in a year, and we keep hearing that rates are expected to rise over the next several years.
However, there are a few reasons you might not want to buy a house this summer.
Don't buy when everyone else is
According to realtor.com, the spring and summer months are the best time to sell a home, because that's when the most buyers are in the market.
Families like to move when their kids aren't in school, and it is just more convenient to move in nice weather than in frigid winter weather. In fact, about 50% of all home sales take place during the summer alone.
Like with any investment or purchase, buying when everyone else wants to buy is rarely the best idea. Sellers generally see more activity during the summer, which means more offers and the ability to hold out for the price they really want.
Realtor.com also says winter is the least favorable time of year for sellers. Generally, those sellers who put their homes on the market in the winter are more eager to move, and are more willing to make deals. As a buyer, the lower demand also means you'll get more personal attention from professionals like real estate agents, home inspectors, and closing attorneys, making the whole process easier and more pleasant.
How's your credit?
While lending standards have loosened a bit since the mortgage crisis ended, they are still very tight on a historical basis.
It's true that you can qualify for an FHA loan with less-than-perfect credit, but that's not always a good idea. An FHA loan might even be much more expensive than renting a similar home, but I'll discuss that in more detail shortly.
In order to qualify for good interest rates on a conventional loan, you'll need a FICO score of 700 or above. Below that level, it becomes much more expensive to borrow. For instance, a score of 720 (considered to be very good) should get you a 30-year rate of about 3.99% as of this writing, but a 650 will cause the rate to jump to around 4.81%, according to myfico.com. On a $200,000 mortgage, this is the difference between monthly payments of $954 and $1,051.
If you have a credit score that's not excellent, your best bet may be to focus your efforts on improving your credit. If you can save a few hundred dollars a month by waiting until your credit score is a little better, it could make more sense to rent for the time being.
For information on improving your FICO score (the one most lenders use), there is a guide on the myfico.com website that provides details of what makes up your score and how to improve it.
If you don't have enough cash, don't buy
Unless you have a pretty good stockpile of cash to put toward your home, buying might be a lot more expensive than you think.
There are some low down payment options out there, mainly FHA loans, but they come at a cost. And now may be a bad time to get in, since the costs associated with FHA loans are pretty high and can increase further at any time.
Currently, to get an FHA loan, you have to pay both an upfront mortgage insurance premium and monthly payments. You used to be able to drop the monthly mortgage insurance payments after reaching a loan-to-value ratio of 78%, but now must be paid for the life of the loan if you put 10% or less down. The upfront mortgage payment costs 1.75% of the loan amount and an annual premium of up to 1.35% of the loan amount is added to your monthly payments.
So, on a $200,000 loan, you can add $3,500 to your closing costs and $225 to every monthly payment. That's not to mention the loan itself will have a higher balance if you only put a small amount down. Depending on how small your down payment is, you could easily pay $500 extra per month versus a conventional loan for the exact same house.
The bottom line is, if you don't have 20% to put down on a home, you're probably better off renting for now and saving as much as you can.
In a nutshell
Your house will probably be the largest purchase of your life, so it's important to wait for the best time to buy.
While nobody has a crystal ball that tells us what the housing market will do, it's easy to see how you might want to wait for fewer buyers to compete with, more cash to put down, and better credit to make your mortgage cheaper and easier to get. It makes the most sense to buy a house if it's cheaper than rent would be, and if you get these three parts of the buying process right it certainly should be.
Home price gains slow in April
Doug Carroll, USA TODAY
U.S. home prices rose in April, but annual gains continued to fall from previous months in a trend that many experts say should help buyers as the economy improves.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city index of home prices shows prices rose 10.8% in April compared with 12 months earlier. The index had an annual gain of 12.4% in March.
Nineteen of the 20 cities posted lower annual gains in April than in March, S&P said Tuesday. Year-over-year gains fell by three percentage points in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. Boston was the only city to show a higher year over year increase than in March.
Last year, some Sunbelt cities were seeing year-over-year gains close to 30%, but now all are below 20%, said David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P/Dow Jones Indices. Las Vegas was up 18.8% in April; Los Angeles, 14%; Phoenix, 9.8%; San Diego, 15.3%;and San Francisco,18.2.%. Other cities around the nation are also experiencing slower price increases.
The Case-Shiller 20-city index rose 1.1% in April from March.
On a monthly basis, seven cities — Cleveland, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, San Diego and San Francisco — posted lower returns in April. Boston, up 2.9% from March, showed its best monthly gain in the 27 year history of the index.
Prices are rising more slowly in 2014 after sharp gains last year that were considered unsustainable. Less rapid appreciation is seen as a sign of the housing market's journey back to normalcy after the housing bust when prices in some markets fell by half. Those bargains in real estate led to an investor rush that helped drive up prices in the past few years.
Smaller gains in prices should help buyers as the economy improves, jobs increase and wages grow. According to S&P, average U.S. home prices are back to 2004 levels. Measured from June/July 2006 peaks, the 20-city and 10-city Case-Shiller indices show prices are still 18%-19% lower.
Mortgage rates, while higher than a year ago, remain low. Freddie Mac reported last week that the U.S. average for a 30-year mortgage was 4.17%. That compares with an average 4.48% last December and 3.93% a year ago.
"Near term economic factors favor further gains in housing: mortgage rates are lower than a year ago, the Fed is expected to keep interest rates steady until mid-2015 and the labor market is improving," Blitzer said.
But the housing market is not back to normal, he said. "Prices are being supported by cash sales, low inventories and declining foreclosure and (bank) sales. First time home buyers are not back in force and qualifying for a mortgage remains challenging."
John Ames, CPA, CDPE
The Ames Team, "The Get it Done Guys"
Ranked Top 100 RE/MAX Nationwide in 2012 and 2013
Ranked Top 150 Teams Nationwide by The Wall Street Journal in 2012
RE/MAX First Realty
Fax 435-628-4071
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