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UNBELIVABLE DEAL IN FOREST PARK!

11/13/09 Mike Kieffer officially joins REMAX Elite based in Mason Ohio. This move is a natural upward evolution in Mike’s real estate career. At REMAX Elite, Mike can utilize his proven sales background and his ability to get changeling deals closed to compliment the REMAX Elite team. Mike will continue his individual real estate practice, along with partnering with Gary Rogers, to provide high quality “lender owned” servicing. Mike and Gary have achieved a highly rated “lender owned” practice and are the preferred agents for one of the nation’s largest lender asset management companies.

Mike is looking forward to being based in Mason Ohio, one of our communities’ high growth areas, to attract clients who wish to get their real estate transaction closed in the shortest possible time, at the best overall return to the client.

You can contact Mike at 513-309-0563 or email at mike.kieffer@teamkieffer.com.

The President signed the new bill (HR3548) into law today.

If an individual is under contract but will not close until July 1, 2010, they would be eligible for the tax credit (assuming they meet all other qualifications).They must have entered into the contract by May 1, 2010 and close before 7/1/2010.

For repeat buyers, there is a special rule for long time residents of the same principal residence. If an individual or their spouse has owned or used the same residence as such individual principal residence for any 5 consecutive year period during the 8 year period ending on the date of the purchase of a subsequent residence then such individual shall be treated as a first time homebuyer for purposes of this section with respect to the purchase of such subsequent residence. The timing outlined above would apply in terms of contract timing and closing.

Here is one example for repeat buyers.

12/31/2009 – Customer purchases a new principal residence.

12/31/2001-12/31/2009 – Customer owned a primary residence from 11/6/2003-11/6/2008

Customer can be treated as a first time homebuyer for the 12/31/2009 purchase and would be eligible for tax credit (assuming they meet all other qualifications) of $6500 (joint) or $3250 (individual). No credit allowed for purchase price over $800,000. There are also income limitations.

Here is link to the bill http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c111:5:./temp/~c111bh5WJ8 if you are interested.

Forget What You Know about Short Sales – The Rules Just Changed

Published on Monday, September 14, 2009, 8:23 PM Last Update: 4 day(s) ago by Laurie Moore-Moore

Category: All Articles » REO’s and Foreclosures

It’s mandatory
Realtors who want to close short sales will need to learn the new MHA rules, guidelines and use the new standard  forms.  And, yikes!  Things are really different under Making Home Affordable.  There are some small differences based on whose loan it is, but in general, here are just three key changes:

Editor’s Note: Get up to speed on the new short sale process, better assist your clients in financial distress, and position yourself for more success through this new online course with Laurie Moore-Moore. Endorsed by Broker Agent.

Laurie Moore-Moore is CEO of The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing and co-founder of its new division, The Center for Asset Preservation.  For information on the industry’s first and only comprehensive training (live and online) on Short Sales under the new Making Home Affordable program, click here.  For information on luxury home training and the Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist designation, click here. 

Sept 10th, 2009
				

Uncle Sam is giving first-time homebuyers a federal income tax credit of 10 percent of a home’s purchase price, up to $8,000.  The tax credit has an expiration date: Nov. 30.  The purchase has to close on or before that date for the purchaser to qualify for the tax credit.

Many consumers are under the false assumption that the transaction has to occur “by Dec. 1,” but first-timers who close on their home purchases Dec. 1 will discover that they’re a day late and $8,000 short unless Congress extends the deadline.

The Nov. 30 deadline has a pitfall.  That date is the Monday after Thanksgiving.  Few home purchase transactions are going to close over the long Thanksgiving weekend, or even on the eve of Thanksgiving.  So, realistically, buyers should try to close by Tuesday, Nov. 24.  And if they want to make that deadline, they need to act soon. Waiting another couple of weeks might be OK, but now is better.

August 25, 2009

By Jennifer Harmon

MIAMI-Fannie Mae’s recent decision to tighten its lending rules to condominium buyers will effect every condo and community in Florida and every community in the United States, according to the president of Association Financial Services here, who says the move is likely to cause another decline in condominium prices and an increase in condominium association fees.

Under the new rules, if an association has more than 15% of its units delinquent over one month, Fannie Mae is not guaranteeing the loan, which means that the bank can’t provide the loan unless they plan on holding onto it themselves forever, said Ken Arnold.

“Few banks will be able to do this because that’s not their business to hold loans. These mortgages are typically a lower interest rate type loan. It becomes a cash market at that point. The only people that are able to sell their condos are HOAs if somebody comes in with cash because nobody else can get a loan.”

Association Financial Services provides loans or lines of credit against the past-due accounts receivable for condo associations or homeowners’ associations. Because its underwriting criteria are not as stringent as a bank, it can provide loans to a lot of associations that are not able to get a bank loan. “Lots of times they can’t pay their bills because of unexpected delinquencies that are happening more and more. In a cash market home prices are more realistic to market level. Often, it is substantially discounted from what people can afford if they didn’t have to come up with all cash,” he said.

“It has a dramatic effect on the market. We see already condos being sold 20 to 30 cents on the dollar. That’s because if you have cash and can come up with your 20% or 30%, you can go out and buy a condo. As opposed to if a condo was worth $200,000 before, now you need substantially less money.”

In quite a few condos, more than 15% of the units are currently delinquent. Many condos and HOAs are not going to pass a Fannie Mae threshold, observes Mr. Arnold. “It is a difficult threshold. There are a lot of condos and I know here in Florida it’s pretty dramatic. And that’s one of the things that’s depressing the entire housing market.”

He said the move by Fannie is having a dramatic effect on the entire real estate market. Even if a borrower lives in a regular home, they are competing against a condo that is selling next door for $50,000 when it used to be selling for $200,000. “So now, you have to lower the price of your standard home, because the condos are cheaper,” he added.

During the last several months, existing-home sales have increased, and consumers are becoming more realistic as to the true value of their property. As a result, the market is seeing more transactions. Mr. Arnold said he wouldn’t be surprised if Freddie or FHA decides to do the same thing, but he thinks Fannie Mae is larger than the other two by far, and that, in itself, has already created pressure.

“The fact that Fannie did it is enough to shake up the market. You don’t need all of the providers to fall in line in order for there to be dramatic changes already,” he said.” Potentially if the banks are out there and they are packaging up these mortgages that they get and now they only have Freddie to sell them to, it really changes the market dynamics quite a bit. They don’t have to do the same thing in order for major changes to take place.”

Mr. Arnold has heard from some in the mortgage industry that from a developer’s point of view, they have people who want to buy the properties but they are unable to get loans. “A lot of times these developers are stuck with a substantial number of units, and they want to be able to convert this to a member owned development. They can’t have a healthy association where everybody is paying their maintenance fees on time. Ultimately, these condo and HOAs have to get their financials under control and make sure they are prepared for what will happen.”

The IRS is cracking down on people who don’t qualify for the first-time homebuyer tax credit but try to claim it anyway.

The IRS says it is investigating 24 cases of people who falsely claimed the first-time homebuyer credit on their federal income tax returns. Getting caught making a false claim carries a penalty of up to three years in jail and a fine of as much as $250,000.

The First-Time Homebuyer Credit, enacted in 2008 and modified in 2009, provides up to $8,000 for first-time homebuyers. The purchaser must be someone who has not owned a primary residence in the previous three years. If the taxpayer is married, this requirement also applies to the taxpayer’s spouse.

The home purchase must close before Dec. 1, and the credit may not be claimed on the purchaser’s tax return until after the taxpayer closes and has purchased the home.

Source: The Internal Revenue Service and The Boston Globe

The 2.1 percent average rise in home prices in 22 out of 25 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) from April to May suggests that recovery could be at hand in many areas, says Radar Logic, a real estate data and analytics company.

“This is in stark contrast to the same period during 2008, when a decrease in the velocity of home price depreciation gave way to the worst loss in housing value in recent history,” according to the report.

The report calculates that in the key MSAs it studies, prices have fallen 33.5 percent peak-to-trough and 31 percent peak-to-current.

Here are the 10 metropolitan areas where prices increased the most from April to May of this year:

1. Milwaukee, Wis., 4.9 percent
2. Charlotte, 4.7 percent
3. Boston, 4.6 percent
4. Cleveland, 4 percent
5. Washington, D.C., 3.7 percent
6. St. Louis, 3.3 percent
7. Columbus, Ohio, 3.2 percent
8. Seattle, 2.8 percent
9. Denver, 2.3 percent
10. Philadelphia, 1.8 percent

Source: Radar Logic

Coldwell Banker scored highest on the customer-service rankings among home sellers, and Keller Williams ranked first among home buyers in the annual J.D Power and Associates 2009 Home Buyer/Seller study.

The study measures customer satisfaction with the largest national real estate companies. The most significant factor is the buyer/seller experience with the practitioner. Other factors include overall experience with the office and satisfaction with special services offered, like referrals to inspectors and lawyers. Home sellers also rate marketing.

The 2009 Home Buyer/Seller Study includes more than 3,100 evaluations from 2,801 respondents who bought or sold a home between April 2007 and June 2008.

Among the related findings:

Home sellers report that, on average, 3.2 open houses were conducted for their property in ‘09, compared with 4.5 in ‘08.

Approximately 64 percent of home sellers used a Web site listing to market their home in ‘09, up from 61 percent in ‘08.

Here are the home buyer rankings on a 1,000-point scale. (The home buyer average score was 791.)

1. Keller Williams, 806
   
2. Coldwell Banker, 801
   
3. RE/MAX, 798
   
4. Century 21, 795
   
5. Prudential, 781
   
6. ERA, 744
   
7. GMAC, 731
   

Here are the home seller rankings on a 1,000-point scale. (The home seller average score was 786.)

1. Coldwell Banker, 815
   
2. Keller Williams, 801
   
3. RE/MAX, 784
   
4. Century 21, 770
   
5. Prudential, 753
   

(NOTE: ERA and GMAC were included in the study but not ranked due to a small sample size.)

Source: J.D. Power and Associates

Home shoppers in parts of the country with lots of foreclosures are finding it increasingly difficult to buy. Investors are bidding up prices thousands above the original asking price.

Federal legislation slowing the number of foreclosures is adding to the problem by reducing the number of homes on the market. For instance, in Las Vegas, one of the areas where the bidding problem is greatest, home inventories are down 10 percent since March, according to the Las Vegas Association of REALTORS.

When a bidding war erupts, the problem is particularly difficult for traditional buyers because investors are usually cash purchasers. They can bid up a property without concern whether the appraisal will prevent them from getting a loan.

Experts say the problem is not unlike the situation at the height of the housing bubble.

“This market is about as abnormal as the hypermarket that we came out of a few years ago,” says Jay Butler, director of the Realty Studies program at Arizona State University.

Source: The Associated Press