St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch August 29th, 2009

Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports

Saint Louis Real Estate-Market Watch  by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
August 29th, 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 past several weeks we have been touting the benefits to First Time Homebuyers and why they should get out there and buy now.  Whether you are a first time homebuyer, a repeat buyer, a second home buyer or a seller in this market, there are incentives for you too.

If you are buying; Obviously, the $8000.00 First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit is there, at least until November 30th.  But, if you are a repeat buyer, second home buyer, or relocation buyer, there are other incentives and tax advantages to you, such as:

1. Decuctions for Private Mortgage Insurance ( PMI) premiums, 2. Points paid in connection with obtaining a loan, depending on the amount of the down payment. 3.  Mortgage interest. 4. Relocation expenses; moving expenses for you and your family. ( Certain qualifying criteria must be met).

If you are selling a home,  you won’t have to pay taxes on the profit up to $250,000 for single filers and $500,000 for joint filers. 

If you are staying in your current home, there are some new incentives for you to improve your home this year.  The Recovery Act gives homeowners an incentive to make improvements and energy efficient upgrades with tax credits of up to 30% for improvements like doors, windows, HVAC, water heaters, roofing and insulation. Solar and wind energy systems are also included.

Taxpayers whose home was foreclosed on between 2007 and 2012 may be able to exclude the mortgage debt that was forgiven in connection with the foreclosure.

We’re not tax experts, so you will need to check with your accountant to determine exactly what fits into your personal situation, but these are certainly some great incentives if you are in the real estate market in any way. 

 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!   |   08.29.2009

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch August 22, 2009

Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports

Saint Louis Real Estate-Market Watch  by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
August 22nd, 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 has not showed any signs of slowing down.  August usually slows a bit due to hot weather and the beginning of a new school year.  This year, we have not seen a typical St. Louis August, or for that matter, we haven’t seen a typical St. Louis summer this year.  Our summer weather this year is more reminiscent of Wisconsin, Michigan or even Minnesota summers. 

This is great house-hunting weather and has definitely contributed to our real estate activity.  First Time Homebuyers have also done more than their part to help keep activity high. 

We should take note, though, that this activity by no means is a sign of great recovery for real estate.  Our local pricing and days on market have still remained fairly stable for the last eighteen to twenty four months, compared to most other parts of the country. 

Every source we talk to, listen to and read have all forecast another 12 months or more before we see any noticable improvement.  The only way we are going to see any improvement in our real estate market is for employment to improve throughout the country and here locally too.

People without jobs don’t have money and people without money don’t buy real estate, let alone anything else.  And we are far from being out of the woods with foreclosures and other distressed property sales. 

RisMedia.com has a great article posted regarding the foreclosure situation across the country.  The article talks about California and Florida as examples, but also gives some alarming country-wide statistics.  Read the article  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!! 

Posted by Art Wagner   |   Read More   |   Your Comments Are Welcome!   |   08.23.2009

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch August 15th, 2009

Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports, Uncategorized

Saint Louis Real Estate-Market Watch  by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
August 15th, 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 still has first time homebuyers scrambling to find and buy their first home as the November 30th deadline to close looms near.  With Lender disclosure requirements re-vamped and FHA loan funding giant, Taylor, Bean & Whittaker ceasing to do business last week, challenges for first time homebuyers and others seem to be mounting. 

We mentioned last week that “quick closings” are a thing of the past and now many lenders are finding themselves having to establish new relationships with other FHA approved funding sources.  All this means is that timing is even more important for buyers who need to close by November 30, 2oo9 to hit the $8000.00 tax credit deadline.

 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!   |   08.16.2009

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch August 8th, 2009

Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports

Saint Louis Real Estate-Market Watch  by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
August 8th, 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 continues this week with great activity.  The lower price ranges that first time homebuyers typically shop, show an increase in active listings and pending ratios between 16 percent and 18 percent.  Buyer activity in these price ranges continues to be strong.

 Last week, we mentioned that lending requirements have changed recently and that “quick closings” are a thing of the past. 

Our partners at Gorman and Gorman Home Loans have provided us with some information to pass on to all our readers to help you better understand these changes:

1.  Historically, homebuyers and sellers would agree on a closing date, and then service providers -including lenders- would work as best they could toward meeting that date. Going forward on all loan applications taken from July 30th on, purchase contracts can still be written with a specific closing date in mind, but all parties need to take into account that the earliest a home purchase transaction can close is 7 business days after the homebuyer is issued their initial mortgage disclosures from the lender, which is 3 business days after a loan application is received or taken.

2.  The only fee that can be collected by the lender at application is the credit report fee.  The fee for appraisal cannot be collected until 3 days after the initial Truth In Lending Disclosure is received. Historically, upfront fees could be collected at the time of loan application.

3.  The homebuyer must be provided with a copy of his or her appraisal a minimum of 3 business days prior to closing.

4.  An increase of more than .125% in the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) from the initial Truth In Lending Disclosures requires the disclosure to be revised and re-issued to the homebuyer.  They must receive a revised TIL disclosure at least 7 business days before closing, providing the homebuyer with the time required to determine if they are comfortable with their loan choice.  There are a number of things that can impact the homebuyer’s APR, but these are the four big ones:  1.) Change in Loan Amount.  2.)  Change in closing date.  3.) Change in closing costs.  4.)  Locking an Interest Rate. 

Everyone involved in a real estate transaction needs to be aware of these changes, as it will impact how a contract is written, inspection times and deadlines, when a financing rate is locked, and the closing date. 

Gorman and Gorman Home Loans also provides us with The Home Buyer’s Scouting Report, which is an awesome tool for anyone selling or buying a home to keep an eye on the market in your neighborhood and find a new home.  It’s the number ONE home finding service on the Internet.  Interested in checking it out ?  Click the link on the right sidebar of our BlogSite.  Oh, and did I mention-IT”S FREE.

 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!   |   08.10.2009

St. Louis Real Estate – Attic Ventilation

Filed under: Building Inspection News, First Time Home Buyer

St. Louis First Time Home Buyers need to read this before buying a home.

ATTIC VENTILATION

Attic ventilation is an important part of your home’s design and construction but is seldom noticed when home buyer’s are looking at their dream home. In the summer attic ventilation can help prevent heat build up, which will make your living areas cooler and more comfortable, help reduce air conditioning costs and help prevent premature roof shingle deterioration. The major shingle manufacturers require attic ventilation to validate the shingle warranty. In the winter attic ventilation can help prevent moisture buildup, which will help prevent wood rot, mold, mildew, and poor indoor air quality. Good attic ventilation, along with proper attic insulation can help prevent the uneven freeze/thaw cycle associated with snow on your roof that often leads to ice dams which can backup water under shingles causing roof deck and interior sheathing damage.

Did you know that the average family of four generates 2-4 gallons of water vapor a day through activities such as cooking, cleaning, showering, laundry and breathing? Some of this water vapor rises into your attic. Good ventilation helps remove this moisture before it causes problems such as wood decay, wet insulation, mold and mildew.

So, what does your inspector look for and how does he report on acceptable or marginal attic ventilation. Your inspector knows that the best way to ventilate the attic is with a balanced system. Ventilation must be low and high, or in other words, vents at the soffits or edge vents for intake and ridge vents at the peaks for exhaust. The best part of ridge vent installations is that the component is installed along the entire peak and ventilates the entire underside of the roof deck.

Your inspector will document conditions inside the attic and on the roof with photos and review with you all the conditions that are present at the time of the inspection to ensure that you understand all the important aspects of attic ventilation.

Good house hunting, and leave all the important structural and mechanical details to your ASHI inspector.

Harry Morrell
Allied Building Inspections, LLC
Inspector

Posted by Harry Morrell   |   Read More   |   Your Comments Are Welcome!   |   08.06.2009

St. Louis Real Estate-Market Watch August 1st, 2009

Filed under: St. Louis Market Reports

Saint Louis Real Estate-Market Watch  by Art Wagner @ Keller Williams Realty Southwest, Sunset Hills, Mo.
August 1st, 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….WAIT A MINUTE!…. 

IS THIS REALLY the first of August already??  Hard to believe, for me, what with a pile of mulch still in my driveway,  a yard only half re-landscaped, and my list of summer “honey-do’s” is still a mile long.   My good intentions better get moving in the next two months or so! (I hope my wife isn’t on our RSS feed!)

Ok, back to Real Estate; our market this week seems to have slowed a bit with activity, due to last minute vacations, getting kids ready for school, and all the other last minute things you are supposed to do in August before school starts.

The part of our activity that hasn’t seemed to slow down so far is the First Time Homebuyer activity.  With December approaching, these buyers are well aware that they must stay in the marketplace and find a home soon, since from the time they get an accepted contract on their home, it could take 30-45 days to close their transaction.  So..if you back up from December first, that means that you will need to find your home by mid to late October at the latest. 

Sure, you can still find a home in November, but you had better have all your “ducks” in a row before you write that contract; such as a solid pre-approval letter from your lender,  enough cash in the bank to cover closing costs (you will still need something, even if the seller helps you out), and all your financial information, tax records, pay stubs, etc… ready to go in case your lender needs more info once your mortgage application and contract are submitted to their underwriting department.

Plan ahead, and you can certainly close on your home in less than 30 days, provided your lender can cooperate (better be a local lender!) and the seller can close in less than 30 days. 

Sellers-read the above again and know that if you are still waiting to put your home on the market-do it now!   Deadlines for buyers and a free gift of $8000 dollars, which is expected to disappear after December first,  are great motivations for a lot of buyers in the market right now.

 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!   |   08.02.2009