Home Sales Up for 3rd Month in a Row

Home sales are up for the 3rd Month in a row. This has not happened since the buying frenzy of 2005. Read the complete story ...http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/107398/home-sales-all-over-the-map.html?mod=realestate-sell

My commentary:

Home sales and pendings set an AZ historic record in May only to be exceeded in June with over 18,000 transactions. Homes priced under $350,000 are now a Seller's market. The further down you go to $100,000 or under the more of a Seller's market it is.

Home sellers, don't start beating your chest just yet!!! Bank foreclosures and Short Sales make up 30% of the total market but are getting over 75% of the sales. Regular home sellers are being ignored. Buyers are driving right past you to get that Foreclosure or Short Sale deal. Many more Foreclosures will be released to the market soon, after they find enough Realtors to handle them.

What do you do if you must sell?? Go into Foreclosure yourself?? There is an answer. My exclusive "Sold in a Week" marketing program. You can have your home sold in one weekend whether you hire a Realtor or do it yourself. It is a complete marketing package with all the forms, signs, web site, advertising copy, and coaching that you will ever need to sell your home over a weekend. Did I mention that you do not need a Realtor??

Get more information now at www.AzSoldinaWeek.com or call (602) 214-1166 for your information package today.

Maxine Waters Tries to Get Loans Modified but Gets the Brush Off from Banks

Don't try this at home folks. As this newscast showed, US Congresswoman Maxine Waters was brushed off by Banks when she , an Attorney and US Congresswoman, tried to help 3 families avoid foreclosure on their homes.

If you are facing Foreclosure and may lose your home, get a licensed experienced professional that knows the ropes to help you. We have helped over 100 home owners avoid Foreclosure and an 85% success rate. Most Attorneys and Real Estate agents are only about 20% successful according to MLS data. We don't charge large upfront fees.

Contact us for a confidential interview at www.Pomisel.com

How to Get Starbucks Internet for One Dollar a Month

This is terrific news for those that use Starbucks Internet.

Potential Buyers' Fears Addressed

by Ellen James Martin -

Oct. 12, 2008 12:00 AMUniversal Press Syndicate

They are a couple in their early 30s. They have stable jobs, a down payment in the bank, and an intense desire to escape their cramped apartment for a home of their own.

In fact, the couple have already picked out their ideal property - a sprawling ranch-style house on a full acre. Plus they are convinced this is an opportune time to buy.

Still, the couple are racked with doubts and have yet to make a serious bid on the property. Are they crazy to consider buying in so tumultuous a real-estate market?
Read more...



Richard's opinion


The stars are aligned for Buyers with plenty of homes for sale in good condition, at low prices, and with low interest financing. You may be saying..." Great, but the market is bad. Home prices are still falling and they may fall a lot more in the next few months, so why rush? I'll wait until the prices are at rock bottom. If I buy now I may loose my money." That is a seemingly logical thought on first view. You will only know when the bottom is hit when the market starts going back up, so timing is going to be pure luck.

To evaluate whether that is true for you, you must check your numbers.

RENT- How much am I paying? Will it go up? By how much? How many years have I been renting? How much total money did I spend on renting in my lifetime so far (this shocks most people)?

TAXES- How much did I pay last year? How much will it be this year (estimate)? Do I have any tax breaks (ie: IRA, 401K etc). If I have an IRA, 401K etc, how is it doing in the stock market right now? Did I loose any money? If so, how much? Do I want to put all of your eggs in one type of investment basket?

Now that you have checked your numbers, you are now ready to figure out why owning your own home now may really be the smart move right now. Here are some advantages of home ownership:

LEVERAGED ASSET

This means that owning a nice 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, home with a 2 car garage, fenced yard in a good area worth $250,000, may require a down payment of 3% of the purchase price ($7,500.00) and maybe closing costs of 2% ($5000.00- but I have had success on getting sellers to pay this for buyers). To have $250,000 of assets in your IRA, 401K mutual fund, you need $250,000. You also can't live in your mutual fund or stocks.

TAX SAVINGS

For a 30 yr fixed interest rate loan of $250,000 @6% with 3% down payment ($7500.00) your monthly payment would be $931.42 plus property tax (deductible) and homeowner insurance. For someone in a 25% federal tax bracket savings would be about $232.82 per month/ $2,794.26 per year. Your net monthly payment to own your home would be about $698.60 plus property tax (deductible) and homeowner insurance. You will also save more money on your AZ State income taxes too.

LOAN REDUCTION

Each payment reduces your mortgage balance on what you owe.

APPRECIATION

As the real estate market goes up in your area, so does your home values, and without having to do anything to your home.



That is the one-two-three-four knock-out punch of the advantages to your personal wealth building by owning your own home. At any given time, some or all of these four parts are working in your favor.


There is a # five punch.... Investor Benefits

That is what your landlord investor is doing by charging you rent every month. After you own your first home to live in, if you bought one or more other homes for investments, you would be receiving the rent and getting even larger tax breaks from the Government and even more money in your pocket. That is for another blog post.



To get your personal RENT vs OWN comparison, contact me today.



***Consult your financial advisor for financial, legal, and tax advice.

Happy House hunting!



Richard

How We Got Here: It's Housing, Stupid

by Chris Isidore
Thursday, September 18, 2008
CNN/Money.com

The Wall Street crisis has been caused by plunging housing prices. So despite the billions of dollars being thrown at the problem, experts say more trouble lies ahead. The nation's financial system is in the midst of a massive shakeup and many on Wall Street and in Washington are pointing fingers and looking for someone to blame. But in the end, it all comes back to one issue - housing. Read the rest of the story...

Richard's commentary...

This story does not mention the huge greed factor nor the lack of government regulation of the financial institutions making these risky "bets" on the housing market. Many mortgages only required a "breathing person". "Yes I work a minimum wage job but I am telling you that my income is $200,000 a year", and that is almost what many of the lenders wrote down. Because the home was collateral for the loan...no worries...we will just take it back on foreclosure and sell it to someone else for a profit....because home prices will ALWAYS GO UP.

What nonsense!!! Real Estate is and always will be cyclical with ups and downs with the overall trend upward. Now there is a large downturn in home values and the financial institutions that bet wrong are going down the tubes.

A little common sense here from common people. Would you just give a property as valuable as your home to someone who told you he made a lot of money but did not show you with proof and with none of his/her cash in the deal? Would you sell your car to someone you did not know who just told you he would pay you but offered no proof that he/she could and drove off into the sunset with you holding a worthless piece of paper? Of course not. Then why did the financial institutions do that? And who is accountable for it?

When Franklin Roosevelt was President during the Great Depression of 1929-1941, Financial Institutions were divided up into commercial banks, savings and loans, insurance, stocks & bonds, real estate....distinctly separate and not allowed to compete in each other's business. Banks could not sell life insurance, Stock Brokers could not have checking accounts and other bank functions...you get the idea.

Then in the 1980's and continuing to now, deregulation was the mantra. Get the government out of business and let the market take care of itself. Now all Financial Institutions seem to be intertwined and offering the same services chasing the same consumer/investor dollar. Now greed and the need to have ever increasing unrealistic profits to push up their share prices on Wall St.

Well, the market has spoken. Many of the very wealthy and influential that were involved in causing this fiasco escaped without loss before the big melt down and may actually be receiving Gov't handouts as well. We the average taxpayer are going to pay for many years for this in many ways.

What to do now??

Get out there and buy your home or investment property now before the coming credit crunch knocks you out of the market with higher interest rates and much tougher qualifying standards. Rates are low, prices are affordable, there is a great selection of terrific deals, and it is still easier to get a good fixed rate FHA loan.

Get moving before you miss out...It's a Buyer's Market now!! The sellers are the ones crying that the market is bad. Think about it....act on it!!

Here are a couple of free resources for you to get started in finding a great deal on a home.

Go here to get access to the Real "Rock Bottom" Priced Home Deals
Many of these homes are great condition and are move in ready.

Are you good with a hammer?, get priority access to low priced "Fixer Uppers"
on the "Fixer Upper Hot-List"

Free Report: "How to Stop Renting and Own Your Own Home"

Got a comment, thought or opinion? Post it on this blog. That is what its for.

Tough Housing Market Complicates Divorce

by Elizabeth Razzi Friday, August 15, 2008
provided by BankRate.com

Divorce is rarely an easy process. But falling home values and sluggish real estate sales are combining to make it particularly difficult right now.Couples aren't fighting over who gets to keep the house. They're scrambling to get away from the burden of it.

It's too soon to see the trend reflected in official statistics; the most recent marriage and divorce numbers compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics date back to 2005 -- just when real estate markets started to turn down from their boom years.
Read more...

"Richard says..."

This is a tough one on several levels but I will stick to the Real Estate issues. I am not Dr. Phil or Jerry Springer, which ever way things are working or not working out. If you are married and bought together in AZ it is usually community property. If you had a committed relationship and had purchased together with both names on the loan and deed, there were different ways to take Title. (Consult a qualified attorney for answers to your specific situation)

If one of you can keep the home and buy out the other with a promissory note and make payments to the other party, that is one option. You could rent it out or get a boarder for a while to help with the payments.

With the promissory note, it could be arranged through a Title Company with an escrow account. The advantages are that the ownership interest of the party that moved out and is receiving payments will be recorded and records will be kept. The parties never have to meet or mail a check directly to the other. When the other party is fully paid off, the quit claim deed is executed and recorded. The house was not sold and both parties benefited from it and did not have credit issues from a forced sale of the home.

Option 2 is to sell the house somehow. You may have to actually pay a check at closing to clear you existing mortgage loan, especially if there is no equity. There is the Short Sale option, which means that real financial hardship must be proved to the lender with financial statements, tax returns, budget records and more. A qualified Realtor that is experienced in Short Sales may be a valuable asset here.

Option 3 is to let it go into Foreclosure. That will greatly harm both party's credit scores and seriously hamper both financially in starting over. Give it careful thought here. Option 1 may work the best. Selling a home normally is an expensive proposition taking up as much as 11% of the Sale Price. That money could be put to better use in your respective pockets to assist both parties in moving on and rebuilding their lives.

To help you know what questions you should ask and how to arrive at the right answer for your specific situation, a FREE special report has been prepared by industry experts entitled "Divorce: What You Need to Know About Your House, Your Home Loan and Taxes". Read it today.

Do you need help in finding a more affordable home? When you are buying a home, having current and accurate knowledge of what area homes are listed for is important. Our best buy service enables you to get priority access to the hottest new listings so you can beat out other buyers and negotiate to get the most home for the least amount of money.

Are you interested in learning more about buying homes that are Short Sales or Foreclosures? Distress Sales resulting from bank foreclosures, short sales, court orders, and probate often represent a great way to get a fantastic deal on a home.

It's not easy for the average homeowner to find these deals, because you have to keep scouring the paper and the Internet to see when one comes up. Or you can pay a huge monthly fee to an expensive foreclosure subscription service and receive the same property lists as hundreds of others.

When you receive this free, no obligation service, you're automatically plugged in to the most current list of Foreclosure Properties on the market, in the price range and area that interests you. This FREE, no obligation service, "Foreclosure Weekly Report" will save you a lot of research and running around.

That's all for now. I welcome you posting any questions or comments about this and any other articles on my Blog.

Have a Great Day,

Richard

FHA Officials Seek to Ban Seller-Assisted Payments

FHA Officials Seek to Ban Seller-Assisted Payments
By MICHAEL CORKERY and MICHAEL R. CRITTENDENJune 10, 2008; Page A13

Federal housing officials are trying again to ban seller-assisted down payments on federally insured mortgages, amid concerns about mounting losses tied to these loans.
Read the complete story... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121306712046559817.html?mod=RealEstateMain_1

Richard says....

It is going to be much harder for you to buy a home whether new or resale when this loop hole for hard-working people like you is closed.

Here is what this means to you as a Buyer

1. You will need lots more cash to buy a home. The required 3% FHA down payment. That’s $6000.00 of YOUR CASH for a $200,000 home, $9000.00 for a $300,000 home.
   (FHA loan limits are around $350,000 now, not just for the low end of the market.). Have you got $10,000 cash saved to buy a home now? How long will it take for you to save it?
2. It must be your money and you will have to prove it. No gifts from family, friends, builders or charities will be allowed. More background checks of your bank account activities looking for large unexplained deposits. If you are purchasing an Investment property, you will have to come up with more cash for the buying end.
3. Missed opportunity to have Home Seller pay the 3% down payment for you.
   Your housing costs will increase faster if you are renting. Landlords will take advantage of that and quickly raise rents.
4. Renters don't receive tax saving benefits, equity build-up, and price appreciation of home ownership, your landlord gets them and your rent too.
5. It is harder to save for the down payment with no tax breaks and ever increasing rents.
   

What to do about it.

Assess your personal situation.

1. If the home seller paid your down payment and closing costs and you could keep your money in your account, could you buy a home now?
2. Could you afford the monthly payments necessary? Remember that you may be elilgible for some big tax breaks with deductability of mortgage interest and property taxes (consult your tax/ financial advisor for details).
3. Do you have steady employment and income that can safely cover your house payment?
4. Would you like to have fixedmonthly payments for up to 30 yrs into the future, or will you be willing to pay your landlord more rent every year for the next 30 yrs? What would the rent be then?
5. Do you want to set down roots and own a home to start with? Maybe renting is right for you now.
6. Most homeowners are way ahead of renters in wealth accumulation in addition to home equity.
7. If you needed money for your children's education, retirement or emergency needs, home equity has been a very useful source of funds.

Just a few things to consider....

A new free report by Real Estate Industry experts has been prepared entitled "How to Stop Paying Rent and Own Your Own Home". It has already helped dozens of local renters get out from under their landlord's finger, and move into a wonderful home they can truly call their own. You can make this move too by discovering the important steps detailed in this FREE Special Report.

Got a Real Estate question??? Ask a Real Estate Expert.

Feel free to call me or leave a response to any of my articles by posting your comments.

Thank you and have a Great Day,

Richard