2007 April | St Louis Real Estate Voice

Archive for April, 2007

St. Louis Real Estate Market Watch - April 27th, 2007

Filed under: First Time Home Buyer, For Buyers, For Sellers, Real Estate News, Relocation Buyer, St. Louis Market Reports, Unrepresented Seller(FSBO)

Successfully Pricing Homes in a Shifting St. Louis Real Estate Market

The Anatomy of the St. Louis Real Estate Market

The The St. Louis Home for Sale Team provides a weekly St. Louis County Market Report to review, question, comment on and plug into your home buying or selling scenario.

St. Louis Real Estate Market Report for 4/27/07

St. Louis Real Estate Benchmark Report for April, 2007

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Posted by doug | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 04.29.2007

If you’re selling St. Louis Real Estate. . .this is Great advice.

Filed under: Building Inspection News, For Sellers, Real Estate News

We are honored to have our first guest post from not only an experienced home inspection professional. . .but also the current president of the St. Louis ASHI Chapter and MAHI director, Harry Morrell.

Today’s buyers have a large amount of previously owned homes from which to choose. Standing out from the crowd is more important than ever for today’s sellers. One way to make a buyer more comfortable with the purchase decision and hopefully choosing your home rather than the neighbors, is to show the confidence in your home that a pre-sale inspection will offer. . .here’s Harry’s advice.

PRE-LISTING INSPECTIONS

All the players in a Real Estate transaction want the deal to go through smoothly without any surprises right before closing. A mechanical or structural defect that was not known or disclosed by the seller, and discovered by the buyer’s inspector, can sometimes result in a buyer walking away from the deal. This scenario can almost always be avoided by a pre-listing inspection. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by doug | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 04.24.2007

St. Louis Real Estate Featured Home. . .It doesn’t get any better

Filed under: Affton, Neighborhood Reviews, Real Estate News

This home comes with some special memories!

Now and then a special opportunity comes along and this is one of mine.

Tipped a few right here! This isn’t a commercial for a new listing, but it is a great home. I’m posting this because it’s a special honor to list a home with “special memories” for me. The owners were generous people that gave a lot to the Affton Community. The Caito’s were very active in the Affton Athletic Ice Hockey program. They were the BEST sponsers a coach could ask for. . . I know first hand, I was the coach. As I walked through the home with their daughter, old memories flooded my head. The lower level was “the party room” for the ages. The walls were still covered with memorabilia and honors. What a great feeling to visit the homestead. Tom and Lynn you are missed.

Posted by doug | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 04.21.2007

St. Louis Real Estate Market Watch - April 20th, 2007

Filed under: First Time Home Buyer, For Buyers, For Sellers, Real Estate News, Relocation Buyer, St. Louis Market Reports, Unrepresented Seller(FSBO)

Successfully Pricing Homes in a Shifting St. Louis Real Estate Market

The Anatomy of the St. Louis Real Estate Market

Hot off the press, the The St. Louis Home for Sale Team provides a weekly St. Louis County Market Report to study, question, comment on and plug into your home buying or selling scenario.

St. Louis Real Estate Market Report for 4/20/07

St. Louis Real Estate Benchmark Report for April, 2007

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Posted by doug | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 04.21.2007

Buying St. Louis Real Estate?? Shopping for a Loan?? Read This First!!

Filed under: First Time Home Buyer, For Buyers, Mortgage News, Real Estate News, Relocation Buyer

Are you planning to buy St. Louis Real Estate and need a mortgage??

We’ve all seen the advertisements on television, in newspapers, on the radio and many other advertising mediums telling us that you can purchase real estate with a multiple of “creative financing” options: 282926_the_stack

1. No money down; 100% financing

2. Below market interest rates

3. Interest only loans

4. Adjustable rate loans (Adjustable Rate Mortgage)

5. Loans in which you, the buyer, can determine your monthly payment.

Over the last several years, these options have been readily available to real estate consumers who are chasing the “American Dream“-Home Ownership.

Real Estate consumers with good to excellent credit ( scores of 580-850), have available to them “prime”, or A paper loans. These are conventional loans made by the lender backed by the real estate purchased as collateral for the loan. These loans are made to the real estate consumer in three forms:

1. Full Documentation: a credit report, employment verification, salary verification, all debts and assets verified. All this information is documented by the lender. This is the most secure form of qualification and loan.

2. Stated Documentation: a credit report, two years tax returns including revenue and expense reports (schedule C, where applicable.), debt and asset verification. This is still a good risk for the lender, based on the credit score.

3. No Documentation: a credit report is run and that is it. No other documentation is compiled by the lender. This is the riskiest type of loan, but again, a good to excellent credit score and the real estate purchased functions as the security for the loan.

Interest rates for these loans will vary, depending upon the increase of risk associated with them. A Full Documentation loan will carry a lower interest rate than a Stated Doc loan. A No Documentation loan will undoubtedly carry an interest rate higher than the Full Doc or Stated Doc loan.

Real Estate consumers with questionable credit (scores of 300-580), bad debts, bankruptcy, divorce issues, or various other issues, could fall into the sub-prime lending market. This is the riskiest part of the lending market, and as such higher interest rates and more “creative financing options” appear. The three types of loans previously mentioned used to be available to sub-prime borrowers, but with interest rates rising, borrowers income dropping and housing pricing falling, some of these options are becoming extinct. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by art | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 04.17.2007

Is it a good time to buy St. Louis Real Estate?

Filed under: First Time Home Buyer, For Buyers, For Sellers, Real Estate News, Relocation Buyer

It’s always a great time to buy St. Louis Real Estate, especially now!

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St. Louis is a very stable real estate marketplace!

The national media would lead you to believe that the sky is falling all around you, but if you examine the St. Louis Real Estate market, you’ll discover that median home prices in St. Louis County increased in value 4.61% over the last two years (Jan. 05 - Jan 07). Part of the 4.61% growth, about 1/2%, occurred last year, not the greatest, but considering the national outlook, not bad either!

Several factors are creating more competitive pricing;

Fewer buyers, because of tighter credit requirements
More narrow appraisal guidelines, comparative data is highly scrutinized.
Accurate and timely market analysis becoming even more important.
Fewer “quick flip” speculators
End of the gold rush, more homes are being priced at market value.

What we have left is a “NORMAL MARKET” and that’s great news.

Roll Baby Roll So. . . if you’re a buyer waiting for the bottom to fall out of St. Louis real estate. . . you’re probably going to miss a great chance to buy your dream home.

And. . . if you’re a seller trying to “time the market”, sorry. . . it’s time to take a realistic look at your situation, consult a professional Realtor (us), develop a strong market plan and get to work.

Otherwise, buyers and sellers. . . you’re just rolling the dice!

Posted by doug | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 04.15.2007

St. Louis Real Estate Market Watch - April 13th, 2007

Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports

Successfully Pricing Homes in a Shifting St. Louis Real Estate Market

The Anatomy of the St. Louis Real Estate Market

Just a pretty face In an effort to become more than a pretty face on your refrigerator, the The St. Louis Home for Sale Team provides a weekly St. Louis County Market Report to study, question, comment on and plug into your home buying or selling scenario.

St. Louis Real Estate Market Report April 13th, 2007

St. Louis Real Estate Benchmark Report for April, 2007

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Posted by doug | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 04.14.2007

St. Louis Real Estate Voice Relocation Guide

Filed under: Real Estate News, Relocation Buyer

Relocating to a St. Louis Community?…then you have to read this!

Relocation Photo You can move into a St. Louis community for a variety of reasons. You can almost bet that it was some bigger, better, bolder opportunity that caused you to pull up stakes and move on. One thing for sure is that people that relocate eventually know more about their community than the natives. We’re here to help you get a jump start on that process.

The following links are full of historical information about St. Louis City and County neighborhoods:

Also, visit the current community links provided on the right margin under the St. Louis Real Estate Community Resources Category.

As Realtors, we’re here to help you and make your move as smooth as possible.

Oh, I almost forgot, if you’re on the St. Louis social scene and someone asks you where you went to school…they mean high school. I know, I know…it’s just a little local weirdness!

Posted by doug | Read More | Your Comments Are Welcome! | 04.11.2007