St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch April 18th, 2009

Saint Louis Real Estate-Market Watch by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
April 18th, 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 continued strong buyer activity in the lower price ranges. The higher price ranges, starting at around $350,000 and up are also exhibiting a bit of growth in activity; a bit slower than the lower price ranges, but a hint of some improvement.

The time of year has something to do with this, as Spring has usually created an increase of activity, but we are seeing more confidence in the banking industry and mortgage lenders and buyers are becoming more aware of the good values in our local real estate market now.

We also continue to talk to clients and prospective clients who are still “mortgage challenged” due to the decline in pricing and exotic mortgage products that are resetting. One of their biggest concerns is how their credit and purchase power will be affected by having to sell their home as a “Short Sale” or letting the home go into foreclosure.

We continually advise our clients to first talk to their lender, as there may be a solution for them without having to sell their home, since lenders have new products available for restructuring existing loans.

If the only choice is selling the home, we emphasis that missing payments or stopping to make payments is not the way for the bank to notice you or to make them talk to you. Even if you must sell your home through a short sale, we recommend the homeowner continue to make payments throughout the process. By staying current on payments and bills, if you can, will go a long way to help the short sale process not affect your credit after the sale. This also depends on how the bank reports and records the sale. If the bank reports the sale as “paid satisfactorily” or “paid in full” credit is usually not damaged.

In Missouri, banks cannot file a dificiency judgement against a homeowner to try to collect the difference between the sale price proceeds and what is actually owed on the mortgage and there is still a moritorium on banks issuing 1099 statements for the difference. Some banks may ask a homeowner to sign a promissory note, on a long term no interest basis, to pay the difference back, but a good negotiator may be able to thwart this strategy also.

We find that the best way for the bank to notice you is to hire a professional realtor, who specializes in short sales and foreclosure procedures. Authorize your realtor with the proper paperwork and let them talk to the bank regarding your situation. Most banks will deal more effectively with a realtor as opposed to an emotionally involved homeowner.

Homeowners wishing to get specific information regarding their situation and how any of the above scenarios may affect them should consult their attorney and / or a CPA before making any major decisions.

RisMedia.com and Bankrate.com have also had excellent articles regarding the new mortgage products, loan modification procedures and how to handle mortgage payments in these situations.

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.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, April 19th, 2009 at 8:08 pm and is filed under St. Louis Market Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.