St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch March 28th, 2009

Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports

Saint Louis Real Estate-Market Watch  by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
March 28th, 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 head into Spring with great activity.  Our lower price ranges from $100,000 to $300,000 continue to show activity well above our average pending ratios.  Some of these price ranges are approaching 20 percent with their pending ratios.

We continue to witness a lot of first time homebuyer activity as news of the new $8000.00 tax credit, which expires December 1st 2009,  reaching more and more buyers. 

We are also seeing a bit of an increase of activity in some of the higher price ranges, as Spring is here, pricing continues to remain fairly stable and the Stock Market’s small up-tick hasn’t hurt either.  There are difinitely some positive signs of our market improving a little bit. 

 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!! 

Posted by Art Wagner   |   Read More   |   2 Comments »   |   03.29.2009

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch March 21st, 2009

Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports

Saint Louis Real Estate-Market Watch  by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
March 21st, 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 is showing positive signs with over 100 more active listings coming onto the market and buyer activity increasing.

This increase in activity has pushed our pending ratio up over 13 percent this past week for the first time since August last year. 

Spring is in the air, first time homebuyers are getting out in force, interest rates are almost historic lows and the government announced last week that they are printing money again to buy “toxic assets.”

Finally, we have a number of positives all happening at the same time to help increase activity in our real estate market. 

The “Government Printing Money” thing, we feel is probably a good thing, short term.  As far as the long term ramifications, the jury is still out on that one.

 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!! 

Posted by Art Wagner   |   Read More   |   Your Comments Are Welcome!   |   03.22.2009

St. Louis Real Estate Voice – Up on the Roof

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

LOW SLOPE ROOF SYSYEMS 

A client called for an inspection last week and was concerned because the house did not have a roof. Actually the house did have a roof and the reason the client was not able to see the roofing on the roof structure was because the house had a low slope roof. This system is also commonly referred to as a flat roof. 

It is critical during the inspection process of a flat roof to actually achieve access to properly determine the condition of the roofing. This can be challenging if the inspector does not have the proper equipment or if there is not interior access to multi-family two or three story buildings. Good inspectors will contract with a boom truck to gain access. Sometimes multiple ladders may be needed to go from roof to roof or rear deck to roof to gain access. No matter how challenging it is, the inspector must gain access to properly report on the conditions of the roofing for the client. 

Even though these roofs are sometimes referred to as flat roofs, there should always be a minimum amount of slope directed towards a means of roof drainage to prevent water intrusion to the interior spaces. This is true even though low slope roofs use water tight membranes as opposed to the asphalt composition shingles used on steep pitched roofs that shed the water. If there is no slope or drainage system, it is highly likely that this roof will always leak. 

The materials used on today’s low sloped roofs have changed and improved over the years, but the concept is still the same. The system generally starts with either metal or wood decking, topped with a rigid layer of foam insulation or a base sheet that is attached to the roof deck. Roll roofing, Built up roofing, Modified Bitumen roofing, and Sprayed Polyurethane Foam are some of the most common type roofing materials that you will typically see on these type roofs. Your inspector will be able to advise you on the advantages and service life on these type materials. 

The inspector will typically report on blisters or bubbles, splits in the membrane, inadequate seals around roof penetrations, cracks or (alligatoring) in the membrane, and signs of water ponding. If a roof or sections of roofing have been repaired repeatedly, there is a good chance that there is a leakage problem that is either still active or will be again. 

Generally speaking low sloped roofing does not have as long a service life as pitched roofs with composition roofing shingles. Ask your inspector to take as many photos as needed to confirm his findings. Buyers do not want to install new roofing one week after closing. 

Harry O. Morrell

ASHI Certified Inspector

Posted by Harry Morrell   |   Read More   |   Your Comments Are Welcome!   |   03.19.2009

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch March 14th, 2009

Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports

Saint Louis Real Estate-Market Watch  by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
March 14th, 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 is gearing up for spring. We see 235 more listings hitting the market and almost 5% more homes accepting contracts than last week.  Our pending ratio is still hovering around 13 percent.  Pending ratios in the market moving price ranges, from $100,000-$2250,000 are well above 13 percent.  The new $8000.00 first time homebuyer tax credit has helped spur buyer activity quite nicely. 

For those first time homebuyers that weren’t aware of it, that $8000.00 first time homebuyer tax credit expires December 1st, 2009.  So…get out there and buy your home!!

Our total inventory is still very much a buyer’s market at 7.8 months, however in the lower price ranges, we are at the lower end of that buyer’s market with anywhere from 5 months to 7 months of inventory. 

 Sellers-Homes on the market 60 days or less are still selling for 91 to 98 percent of list price.  Don’t let it sit much longer than that, as sales price to list price percentages drop significantly after 60 days.  Make sure your home is priced within market value, and is in “show-room” condition.  Most buyers these days either don’t know which end of a screwdriver to pick up or they just don’t have the time to buy a home and make improvements right away.  There is still plenty of inventory to choose from; don’t let your house sell all the other homes in the area. 

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!! 

Posted by Art Wagner   |   Read More   |   Your Comments Are Welcome!   |   03.15.2009

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch March 7th, 2009

Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports

Saint Louis Real Estate-Market Watch  by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
March 7th, 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 is seeing good buyer activity in the lower price ranges, from $100,000 to $300,000.  This activity is being  spurred by the new first time homebuyer’s tax credit of $8000.00. 

One note that some buyers may not be aware of is that this First Time Homebuyer’s Tax Credit is available to anyone, as long as you have not owned a home in the last three years.  If you previously owned a home, sold it , or by some unfortunate circumstance lost your home, and are now renting or leasing for the past three years or more-you possibly could qualify for the $8000.00 tax credit. 

We are also seeing increased interest from sellers and buyers in lease purchase and lease option solutions  for their home buying or selling strategies.

Buyers, challenged by credit blips or lack of down payment money are opting for unique solutions in order to get into a home now.

Sellers, unable to sell their home now, are more and more receptive to a lease purchase or lease option solution to help them move forward with their goals and get into their new home they built or bought this year, with the hopes of selling their current home.  

Lease Purchase and Lease Option solutions can be a great WIN-WIN for buyers and sellers, as long as both parties understand their relationships to each other and their respective responsibilities.  Contracts for these solutions need to be executed correctly with a professional real estate expert or attorney, or both.

If you want more information regarding lease purchase or lease option solutions for your selling or buying goals, give us a call;  we can help you with anything from general explanations to helping you work through the paperwork to complete your transaction.

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!! 

Posted by Art Wagner   |   Read More   |   Your Comments Are Welcome!   |   03.08.2009

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch February 28th, 2009

Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports

Saint Louis Real Estate-Market Watch  by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
February 28th, 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 shows a small dip in active listings, but an increase in homes accepting contracts (pending), thus bumping our pending ratio up to 12.89 percent.  The majority of this buyer activity continues to be in the price ranges that move our local market; $100,000 up to $300,000. 

We continue to talk to more first time homebuyers in the market who are spurred on by the first time home buyer credit and low interest rates.  Many of them though, still believe that the first step is to look for a house. 

The FIRST step in this market needs to be a discussion with a lender to determine purchase power.   Most offers to purchase a home these days in our market are requiring a pre-approval letter or proof of funds to accompany any offer to purchase.  This is especially true if you are looking to buy a foreclosure or a short sale property.

With so much news centering around foreclosures and short sales, many first time homebuers are led to believe that this is the way to get their “deal of a lifetime.”  Perhaps it is, but many homebuyers are unaware that in our market, that deal of a lifetime most of the time is being sold As-Is, where the owner, or bank if it’s an REO, will not participate in any inspections, repairs, etc…  This means that the prospective buyer is responsible for any and all inspections, repairs, etc.. to the home.  This also includes any inspections that would be required or desired BEFORE the sale of the home closes.   

Foreclosures and Short Sale properties can be a great deal, but buyers need to be aware of the costs and different time frames that accompany these transactions.  You may spend more money out of pocket for inspections, etc.. and these transactions typically will take longer to complete. It’s not unusual for a foreclosure or short sale transaction to take 3 to 5 months to complete. 

The other major difference we are seeing in our market is that many foreclosures and short sales in the lower price ranges usually are in need of repairs, or some kind of “fixing up” to make them move in ready.  Nothing wrong with that, as long as you are aware that you may have to pick up a paint brush or hammer, or be able to call a contractor to do some work for you.

If  your “deal of a lifetime” is a home priced well below market value,  you should probably be ready to do some work.  If you are looking for move in ready, be prepared to pay a fair market value for that property.

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!! 

Posted by Art Wagner   |   Read More   |   Your Comments Are Welcome!   |   03.01.2009