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Jim Little, your Sun City Neighborhood REALTOR© I try a “Little” harder

The lowest priced homes, under $100,000 are selling withind a few days, often with multiple offers.

Bank owned homes, (REO) ar also selling very well. REO new listings have been averaging 4,000 per month. Pending sales in this category are currently 6000. Obviously, even the older, stale inventory is now being absorbed. As a side note, this means if there really is a “shadow inventory” of foreclosures that haven’t been listed yet, the market seems to be standing ready to buy them.

On a more local level, homes for sale in the Sun City neighborhood have decreased in the last couple of months, and sales + pending sales have increased, a sure sign of a recovery in its early stages.

New appraisals are coming in at or above contract prices, and the Market Condition Report appraisers are now required to file no longer defines properties as being in a declining market.

Interest rates, while still at an artificial low, are starting to creep up. If you are thinking about buying a home, do it soon. Historically, when interest rates reach a low, they will rebound to prior levels quickly. This rebound can be very dramatic. Interest affects buyer costs much more than the sales price over the term of a loan. It also limits the home you can buy on any given income. Act soon to take advantage of these very attractive rates.

The government First Time Buyer Tax Credit is working, bringing renters into the market. HUD is now allowing lenders to provide bridge loans so the tax credit can be used toward closing costs. This reduces the out-of-pocket expenses for a home buyer. It is important to note that this is for closing costs, not for down payment purposes as some reported in error.

Another promising piece of news, Friday 6/19/2009, large banks began paying back the TARP loans. It is nice to see this program seems to have worked, but 75% of the money loaned has yet to be repaid.

And last, it is a small step, but GM announced Friday the company would be recalling 900 laid-off workers. Just a drop in the bucket, but the right direction anyway.

Jim Little, Your Sun City REALTOR®

My own observation is in order here. The “shiny pennies” are sold as soon as they hit the market. So are the “steals”. We are now back to the times when we would say to a prospective buyer, “the house you want to think about today was seen yesterday, who thought about it last night, and is writing an offer today.”

Jim Little, Your Sun City Neighborhood REALTOR®

1. The Home Affordability Index is the best it has been in the 18 years of its existence. 73% of homes for sale were affordable by the median  income family($64,000 as of this writing)
2. Mortgages were still artificially low, subsidized by the Federal Reserve. This can’t go on forever folks, buy soon before rates go up. the Fed is only doing this to help us out of the current recession, do your part too.
3. HUD, after a false start is working on a mechanism to allow the first time buyer tax credit to apply to the down payment requirements on the purchase of a new home. This will probably be in the form of some sort of loan by HUD.

Check back next Friday for more GOOD NEWS.

Jim Little, Your SUN CITY NEIGHBORHOOD REALTOR®, “I try a “Little” harder”

Average selling prices were $135,000 for single family homes and $99,000 for condos and duplexes. Interest rates are at a 37 year low now. This, coupled with the first time buyer’s refundable tax credit of up to $8,000 makes today the best time to buy a home in the memory of most agents in the business today.

Jim Little, your Sun City REALTOR