St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch November 29th, 2008

Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports

Saint Louis Real Estate Market Watch by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
November 29th, 2008
The Anatomy of St. Louis Real Estate

The St. Louis Home for Sale Team provides a weekly St. Louis County and Bi-weekly St. Charles County Market and Jefferson County Market Watch Report to review and plug into your home buying or selling scenario. Your questions and comments are welcome!

The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week continues to slow as we head into Holiday season with 100+ less active listings, almost 50 less accepted contracts and our pending ratio dropping below 10 percent to 9.76 percent.  This is the lowest pending ratio we’ve recorded since we started tracking these statistics in August of 2007.  Please remember that some of this slow-down is typical of the season we are in. 

The notable statistics are when you compare our current numbers to the same week last year.  Compared to last year, this week, we are down 700+ active listings, 255 less accepted contracts, and the pending ratio is below last year by almost 4 percent.

Sellers-this is a good time to stay in the market, as inventory is shrinking, and as long as you are priced at or below market value, you have a better chance of attracting a motivated buyer.  Buyer activity is still good, and buyers now are much more motivated than previous months.  

Buyers-you have less inventory to look at, which should make your decision easier when you find the right house for you.   For buyers who will be using FHA financing, better buy by the end of the year, as after the first of the new year, FHA guidelines will be changing.  FHA’s minimum 3 percent downpayment will be going up to 3.5 percent, and the upper limits of FHA loans will be lowered by $10,000. 

The good news from the Fed this past week is that they will be buying up to $500 billion of securitized home loans in the next 12 to 18 months.   This news alone is what has caused mortgage rates to drop so significantly this last week.  Read Bankrate.com’s article detailing the Fed’s actions HERE. 

REAL ESTATE AGENTS AND FOR SALE BY OWNERS- Are your listings and / or home sitting on the market too long?? 120 days or more??  We have a program designed to get your listing or FSBO home sold.  Real Estate Agents get paid their commission in full.  Contact us for more info.

 WHO DO YOU KNOW NOW that is challenged with their mortgage payments OR needs to sell for less than their home is worth?? WE CAN HELP!! 

Fill out the form below to view the Market Report.

Posted by Art Wagner   |   Read More   |   1 Comment »   |   11.30.2008

St. Louis Real Estate - Don’t color me white!

Filed under: For Sellers, Home Staging, Unrepresented Seller(FSBO)

If you’re about to sell your home and your RE agent tells you to repaint the house white. . . you have to read this first.

White Walls….NOT the New Neutral!

Recently while providing Home Sellers with Staging Consultations, I experienced very similar situations.  I walked into houses that are for sale and all of the walls were white or off white.  In all of these cases, the Home Sellers told me that they had various colors of walls and that their Realtor told them to paint all of the walls white.  They all told me that the Realtors suggested this because the rooms will look bigger, brighter, and cleaner…and that white was a “neutral color”. 

In my previous article, “Color It Cozy” I discussed how important interior wall color is when selling a house.

When a Potential Buyer comes through your house-for-sale for the first, second, or third time, you want them to feel “Warm and Cozy”.  Whether they know it or not, Potential Buyers are looking for that home which emits those “Warm Fuzzies”.

The color white or hues of the color white are NOT colors that will emit warm and cozy feelings.  Does the color white or hues of white reflect light better so that rooms seem brighter…Yes.  Does the color white or hues of white make rooms appear bigger…Maybe.  Does the color white or hues of white make rooms appear cleaner…Not sure about that one.

Think about this…What is the color of SNOW?…WHITE

What is the temperature of SNOW?…COLD

In my experience as a Professional Stager, White = Cold.

Would you want to stay in a COLD room or a WARM room?????

White and hues of white are the Old Neutrals.

There are many different “Warm Neutrals” that will help Potential Buyers to feel “Warm and Cozy” as they go through your house. 

Warm neutrals can be hues of Browns, Golds, or Soft Greens.

I have several favorites that I share with my clients when they are interested in presenting their house-for-sale in the Best Possible Showing Appearance. These are Sherwin Williams colors-which can be purchased through that store or matched to other brands that you prefer.  I hope that these will be helpful to you if you are considering re-painting your interior walls. When at all possible, paint all the walls the same warm color.  It makes your house flow altogether.  You might think this would be “boring”, but remember when you stage a house for sale, you are not decorating. Staging is about creating a mood, a setting in order for the Potential Buyer to visualize themselves living there with their things!

My favorite hues are the hues of Brown and Gold because these will typically go with any décor that you might have, soft hues of Greens may not:

Browns:  SW6106 Kilim Beige, SW6107 Nomadic Desert, SW6141 Softer Tan, SW6142 Macadamia, SW6085 Simplify Beige, SW6086 Sand Dune, SW6093 Familiar Beige, SW6099 Sand Dollar, SW6100 Practical Beige

Golds:  SW6120 Believable Buff, SW6121 Whole Wheat, SW6127 Ivoire, SW6128 Blond.

Remember…staging statistics indicate that the investment in painting whether it is inside or out, gives you the most return for your dollars.  Wall colors create a mood, a feeling for Potential Buyers.  Make your wall colors “Warm and Inviting”!

If you have any questions regarding wall colors or home staging, feel free to contact me at Homestaging@stlouisrealestatevoice.com .

Sue Rector, ASP

Accredited Staging Professional
HomeStaging Innovations, LLC
www.stlstaging.com

Posted by Sue Rector   |   Read More   |   2 Comments »   |   11.24.2008

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch November 22nd, 2008

Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports, Uncategorized

Saint Louis Real Estate Market Watch by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
November 22nd, 2008
The Anatomy of St. Louis Real Estate

The St. Louis Home for Sale Team provides a weekly St. Louis County and Bi-weekly St. Charles County Market and Jefferson County Market Watch Report to review and plug into your home buying or selling scenario. Your questions and comments are welcome!

 The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week continues to slow a bit, as Thanksgiving and the other Holidays are approaching.  Homes that are accepting contracts (pendings) have remained fairly steady from last week, which signals steady buyer activity.  Again we are seeing less active listings coming onto the market.  These two situations have caused our pending ratio to increase slightly to 10.44 percent. 

 It is noteworthy that the buyer activity in the price ranges from $100,000 up to $300,000 is still beating the averages.  Pending ratios in these price ranges are still well above 10 percent.  We expect to see this activity continue, as this is the range that the FHA financing guidelines operate in.  With those guidelines changing a bit after the first of the year,  homebuyers in these price ranges should buy now before the end of the year.

It’s not cast in stone yet, but anticipated that FHA will be increasing the minimum downpayment requirement of 3 percent to 3.5 percent after the first of the year.  Also, the Mortgage Insurance Premium is anticipated to increase slightly also.  If these changes do take place after the first of the year, it will mean that home-buyers in these price ranges will have to bring more money to the closing table, thus giving them less purchasing power. Also anticipated is a decrease in the maximum loan amount of $281,000 to $271,000.

On a positive note, the Bush Administration this week announced changes to their “Hope for Homeowners” program to help more distressed homeowners refinance their mortgages to help them stay in their homes.  Read the article posted on RisMedia.com HERE.

HAPPY THANSGIVING TO ALL OUR READERS!!

WHO DO YOU KNOW NOW that is challenged with their mortgage payments OR needs to sell for less than their home is worth?? WE CAN HELP!! 

Fill out the form below to view the Market Report.

Posted by Art Wagner   |   Read More   |   Your Comments Are Welcome!   |   11.23.2008

St. Louis Real Estate - Mortgage Underwriting

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

So what’s the big deal about In House Underwriting?

Certainly you’ve heard the term “underwriting”.  But does it mean anything to you other than a nameless, faceless, omnipotent force that determines the future of your loan?

Underwriters are real live people who assess your credit history, the probability and ability you present to repay your loan successfully, and the value of the property as a worthy collateral asset for the funds the lender will loan you. 

When choosing a lender, a very important question to ask is:  “Where are your Underwriters?”  You see, most underwriters are miles and miles away in another city, working on loans that have no faces or real people attached to them.  While they may be good at doing their job, they often just check off the list of what’s needed without even considering the human element because it’s just one of the many loans they have to move through the system. 

In-house underwriters understand that you are a real person whose financial future and whose family’s peace of mind are at stake.  Being just a few steps away from my actual desk, I often ask my in-house underwriters to assist me when working with my clients before even sending them the full loan package.  This insures that if there are any challenges, those are addressed and managed at loan application, NOT the day before closing.  They expertly and quickly answer not only my questions, but my clients’ and my Realtor partners’ questions also. 

Having an in-house Underwriter allows your Mortgage Professional to be your champion in dealing with the uncertainties that the current lending climate can bring.  It gives us direct access to the person who has the final say, which gives you extra peace of mind that when it’s got “final approval” on it, there’s not a shadow of a doubt.  In-house underwriting equals NO HASSLES and ON TIME closings.

 So…In House Underwriting…it’s a BIG DEAL!

 Just ask Kathi S, who had this to say just this month about her loan process with us…

“I was blown away when I found out Aprille had gotten the loan approval back 10 days ahead of schedule, more than two whole weeks before closing. Thank you Aprille!”

Aprille@LoansByAprille.com
www.LoansByAprille.com

Posted by Aprille Trupiano   |   Read More   |   Your Comments Are Welcome!   |   11.20.2008

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch November 15th, 2008

Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports, Uncategorized

Saint Louis Real Estate Market Watch by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
November 15th, 2008
The Anatomy of St. Louis Real Estate

The St. Louis Home for Sale Team provides a weekly St. Louis County and Bi-weekly St. Charles County Market and Jefferson County Market Watch Report to review and plug into your home buying or selling scenario. Your questions and comments are welcome!

 The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week has our pending ratio dropping from last week to 10.27 percent, with a few more active listings and a few less homes accepting contracts.  This “slow down” is very typical in our local St. Louis Real Estate Market for this time of the year, however, it feels worse this year, as we are well below last year’s buyer and seller activity levels. 

What makes this year different than last year also is the $700 Billion Dollar Bail-Out (OR Capital Injection)plan recently approved and now talk about another Stimulus Package possibly coming down the road. It’s no wonder buyers and sellers alike are waiting to see what’s going to happen next. 

If you read, listen, watch the news,  credit and lending are loosening a bit. WHERE??  We are not seeing it here yet.  We think it will take another three to six months before we see any noticable improvements with lending institutions really beginning to lend again.  That’s what we need to happen to even hope to instill consumer confidence back into the market.  

This past week, Unemployment claims have risen again, and this time above the 90 day average by 25,000 to 516,000 and October retail sales have dropped 2.8 percent.  The National Federation of Independant Business has said that small business sales conditions were the worst since 1980.  There doesn’t seem to be much consumer confidence evident here yet.   Read Lou Barnes’ article posted on Inman News this past Friday entitled, “Economy needs full $700 billion, and more” HERE.

WHO DO YOU KNOW NOW that is challenged with their mortgage payments OR needs to sell for less than their home is worth?? WE CAN HELP!! 

Fill out the form below to view the Market Report.

Posted by Art Wagner   |   Read More   |   Your Comments Are Welcome!   |   11.16.2008

St. Louis Real Estate - Mold and Moisture Intrusion

Filed under: Building Inspection News, First Time Home Buyer, For Buyers, For Sellers, Relocation Buyer, Unrepresented Seller(FSBO)

The State of Missouri and the surrounding areas have had record rainfall for the year of 2008. It appears that everything has dried out and water levels have receded. The big concern for home owners and potential home buyers is if the home has had any excessive water/moisture intrusion into the interior spaces of the home. If water/moisture intrusion has occurred mold could be manifesting in your home without your knowledge. 

Neither the State of Missouri nor any federal agencies currently have any regulations regarding investigation, evaluation, or remediation of mold. The front runners in the development of mold regulations include the states of New York, California, Minnesota, and Texas. 

A general home inspection during a real estate transaction typically includes looking for mold, and water/moisture intrusion. This is significant during the inspection of the interior.  Every home inspector should be aware of the legal consequences of mold in homes. In fact, mold litigation has been the chief reason for mold awareness in homes. Health issues and the affects mold has on adults and children have been debatable. However, the mere thought of going through trials and litigation over mold, health concerns, and law suits make the whole mold issue significant. 

A careful visual inspection for mold and water/moisture intrusion can eliminate 80% of the concern and responsibility of mold being in the home. The 20% of what is going on in between the walls that can’t be seen will always be there. Most good home inspectors will do a virtual photo scan of the entire house to document what the conditions were at the time of the inspection. However, all parties should be aware that lawsuits and litigation can raise its ugly head even when everyone has made a good faith effort to disclose and carefully inspect the property before the real estate transaction has closed. 

During the inspection the inspector will typically look for stains and/or mold and then try to determine the source of the stains. Mold does not appear out of the blue by itself. Sources are typically an interior water leak, or water/moisture intrusion from the exterior to the interior spaces or lack of or improper ventilation. If there is an unusual odor or musty smell, air monitoring should be considered. If mold is found, the inspector may also suggest taking a sample to determine and identify exactly what type mold is present in the home, toxic or allergenic. Both these procedures are separate fees from the whole house building inspection. 

Take time and talk with your inspector over all these variables and more concerning mold. You can’t afford not to know about mold in your home. And make sure your inspector is ASHI certified! 

Harry Morrell
ASHI Certified Inspector

Posted by Harry Morrell   |   Read More   |   Your Comments Are Welcome!   |   11.10.2008

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch November 8th, 2008

Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports

 Saint Louis Real Estate Market Watch by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
November 8th, 2008
The Anatomy of St. Louis Real Estate

The St. Louis Home for Sale Team provides a weekly St. Louis County and Bi-weekly St. Charles County Market and Jefferson County Market Watch Report to review and plug into your home buying or selling scenario. Your questions and comments are welcome!

The St. Louis Real Estate Market this week is “getting ready for the holidays”.  Our pending ratio has risen slightly to 10.65 percent, which reflects about the same number of homes accepting contacts as last week, but with fewer active listings.

We are still seeing lower numbers of homes sold this past six months, compared to the same six months last year.  Most of the sellers who have let their listings expire are telling us they are ready to take a break until the holidays are over.  

For the sellers that are still on the market-STAY THERE; Buyer activity is still good and with falling inventory, your home has less and less competition.  We also find that this is the time of year when buyers tend to be  more motivated than the summer “tire kickers”.   There’s another motivating factor facing buyers now.  FHA guidelines will be changing after the first of the new year.  The minimum down payment the FHA will require will be going UP to 3.5 percent from 3 percent.  There are several other changes occuring also, but the downpayment change is the one that will effect most people using FHA financing. 

 This is worth noting in our market because the FHA loan limit is $281,000 (and change) and coincidentally, the price points that move our local St. Louis Real Estate Market just happen to be price ranges from $300,000 and down.  Check the current Market Watch Report and look for the highest pending ratios across all price ranges.  The double digit pending ratios are in these price ranges.

WHO DO YOU KNOW NOW that is challenged with their mortgage payments OR needs to sell for less than their home is worth?? WE CAN HELP!! 

Fill out the form below to view the Market Report.

Posted by Art Wagner   |   Read More   |   Your Comments Are Welcome!   |   11.09.2008

St. Louis Real Estate - 100% Financing

Filed under: For Buyers, Mortgage News

100% Financing an urban legend?  No way…it’s still available!

There IS 100% financing.   MHDC funds, organized and funded by the Missouri Housing Development Commission, offers the First Place program.  Currently, there remains over $11million dollars available to Missouri residents who qualify. 

How it works:

• First Place program supplies the 3% down payment funds at closing for the Buyer.
• Simple application process - you apply through your trusted mortgage professional.
• Funds are disbursed in the form of a second mortgage on the property.
• Applies to first time homebuyers and qualified veterans.
• First Place loan is a 30 year fixed rate mortgage.
• It’s used in conjunction with FHA, VA, USDA loans and is Fannie Mae qualified.

So what’s the catch?

• Not all lenders are approved (so you’ll need to ask up front).
• The interest rate is set by the government (right now, that’s a good thing).
• There are maximum income levels and maximum purchase prices (check with your lender).
• You must live in the home for a period of five (5) years (or repay the balance at sale).
• It’s a loan and not a grant - however, it’s still forgivable after five (5) years.
• There may likely be other tax ramifications (ask your tax expert).

So what’s the message to you?  There are still many options available if you are serious about buying a home right now.  It’s a fabulous time to purchase your new home and get a great deal.  The question is…what are YOU waiting for now? 

For more information on the MHDC loans, you can go to the website at http://www.mhdc.com/ or you can contact your mortgage professional directly.   I’m also available to answer your inquiries at Aprille@LoansByAprille.com  or (314) 363-3913. Once you’re pre-approved for MHDC funding, call your Realtor and get out there house hunting!

Posted by Aprille Trupiano   |   Read More   |   Your Comments Are Welcome!   |   11.03.2008