St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch January 31st, 2009

Saint Louis Real Estate-Market Watch by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
January 31st, 2009
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 show stable buyer activity. We see about the same number of homes accepting contracts, while our active listings have declined slightly. Thus, our pending ratios are up a bit to 11.15 percent average.

First Time homebuyers take note that the “First Time Homebuyer Credit”, or more accurately stated as the “First Time HomeBuyer 15 Year Governmet Loan” program expires on June 30th of this year. Also, there are still cities and counties where MDHC (Missouri Housing Development Commission) money is still available. However, MDHC has changed their program since January 14th. The old program was a forgivable grant, providing the first time homeowner stayed in the home for a minimum of 5 years.

The new program was developed because the Federal $7500.00 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit wasn’t working because the homeowner didn’t actually recieve the money until they filed their tax return and recieved their Federal income tax refund-which could be several months after the home was purchased.

The new MDHC program creates a second mortgage to cover the amount of your “First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit”, thereby allowing a buyer to take advantage of the tax credit immediately, at closing, instead of having to get their money from friends, family, etc… and then “paying the money back” after they recieve their “tax credit”.

Once a buyer files their taxes, and recieves their “tax credit”, they would then pay off the MDHC second mortgage and be left with their first mortgage. If the MDHC mortgage is paid off within the deadline, there is no interest charges to the borrower, just a modest servicing fee.

First Time Homebuyers can contact their mortgage lender for a detailed explanation of how this program works and the requirements to qualify for it.

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!!

WHO DO YOU KNOW that’s thinking of buying or selling a home?

Contact Doug Aegerter or Art Wagner for more information and a FREE Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) of your home or your neighborhood.

Fill out the form below to view the Market Report.

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