Archive for the 'Buyers' Category
December 2009 Case-Shiller Data Shows Battered Markets In Bona Fide Recovery
February 24th, 2010 categories: Buyers, Case-Shiller Index, General, Market Trends, Sellers, Statistics
Using data compiled in December, Standard & Poors released its Case-Shiller Index Tuesday. The report shows home prices down just 2.5% on an annual basis, a figure much lower than the 8.7% annual drop reported after Q3.
According to Case-Shiller representatives, the housing market is “in better shape than it was this time last year”, but some of the summer’s momentum has been lost. 15 of 20 tracked markets declined in value between November and December 2009.
Meanwhile, it’s interesting to note the 5 markets that didn’t decline — Detroit, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix and San Diego. Each of these metro regions were among the hardest hit nationwide when home prices first broke. Now, they’re leading the pack in price recovery.
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How You Can Get The Most Accurate, Real-Time Mortgage Rate Quotes Available
February 23rd, 2010 categories: Buyers, Market Trends, Mortgage Rates
You can’t get your mortgage rates from the newspaper. Last week proved it. Again.
Friday morning, headlines in Tennessee and around the country read that mortgage rates were down 0.04 percent, on average, since the week prior.
A sampling of said headlines includes:
- US Mortgage Rates Drop For 2nd Straight Week (Reuters)
- Mortgage Rates On 30-year US Loans Fall To 4.93% (Business Week)
- 30-Year Fixed Mortgage Rate Falls Farther Below 5% (Marketwatch)
The story behind the headline was sourced from the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, am industry-wide mortgage rate poll of more than 100 lenders. The PMMS has reported mortgage rate data to markets since 1971 and is the largest of its kind.
Unfortunately, Knoxville rate shoppers can’t rely on it.
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Housing Starts Soar To 6-Month High In January… Or Do They?
February 19th, 2010 categories: Buyers, Housing Starts, Market Trends, Statistics
Sometimes, headlines for housing can be misleading and this week gave us a terrific example.
On Wednesday, the Commerce Department released its Housing Starts data for January 2010. The data showed starts at a 6-month high.
A “Housing Start” is a privately-owned home on which construction has started.
Headlines on the Housing Starts story included:
- U.S. Housing Starts Hit 6-Month High (Reuters)
- U.S. Economy Receives Home Building Boost (Shepparton)
- Housing Starts Post Sharp Rebound (ABC)
Based to the headlines, the housing market looks poised for rapid growth through the Spring Market.
The real story, though, is that although Housing Starts increased by close to 3 percent last month, the growth is mostly attributed to buildings with 5 or more units. This includes apartments and condominiums — a sector of the housing market that’s notoriously volatile.
If we isolate Housing Starts for single-family homes only, we see that starts grew by just 7,000 units last month and have failed to break a range since June 2009. January’s tally is slightly below the 8-month average.
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Knoxville Home Buyers Now Is The Time To Buy!!!
February 18th, 2010 categories: Buyers, FOMC Minutes, General, Home How To, Market Trends
Looks Like Those Low Interest Rates Are Heading North…..
Mortgage markets reeled Wednesday after the Federal Reserve released the minutes from its January 26-27, 2010 meeting. Mortgage rates in Tennessee are now at their highest levels since the start of the year.
The Fed Minutes is a follow-up document, delivered 3 weeks after an official FOMC meeting. It’s a companion piece to the post-meeting press release, detailing the debates and discussions that shaped our central bankers’ policy decisions.
The Minutes is a terrific look into the Fed’s collective mind and, yesterday, Wall Street didn’t like what it saw. Specifically, the report disclosed that:
- The Fed plans to break support for mortgage markets after March 31, 2010
- Raising the Fed Funds Rate will be a key part of the Fed’s strategy to tighten monetary policy
- The fundamentals behind consumer spending strengthened modestly
Furthermore, the Fed Minutes said that there is a growing risk of “higher medium-term inflation”. Inflation, of course, is awful for mortgage rates.
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Northshore Town Center chosen as site of elementary school in West Knoxville
February 12th, 2010 categories: Buyers, General, Market Trends, Sellers
Knox County School Board has chosen the Northshore Town Center as the new location for it’s elementary school in West Knoxville. Knox County Schools had been considering 3 different locations that I wrote about in a previous post
The vote was 7-1 with Cindy Buttry being the only no vote. Frankly I think she voted the right way. The other locations where off Choto and Northshore. From a Realtor’s perspective I think the locations off Choto and Northshore where better choices. I think this location is too close to A.L Lotts Elementary School They will move kids from A. L Lotts and Farragut Elementary. The future growth is happening out West Knox in the Farragut Area.
I don’t think it was the right location for the new elementary school but the Knox County School Board thinks different. How about you what do you think?
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Knoxville One Of The Top 5 Cities Real Estate Market To Rebound First….
January 23rd, 2010 categories: Buyers, General, Market Trends, Sellers
The cities that are coming back the strongest are the ones that did not hit have the pricing bubble, which was followed by the foreclosure crisis. Forbes did a study of America’s 100 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) which are defined by US census. One of the key factors in the ranking is the low foreclosure rate. Forbes also looked at the delinquency rate of the city and foreclosures will be much lower and will clear up faster in cities with low delinquency rate. They looked at the trends for these cities to determine the ranking.
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FHA To Change Guidelines…How Will It Effect Knoxville Home Buyers??
January 20th, 2010 categories: Buyers, General, Market Trends, Sellers
Patti Francisco with Wells Fargo sent along information on this anticipated announcement from HUD today relaying changes to FHA lending terms in it’s continued effort to shore up the program against increasing financial losses and the threat of needing a government bailout.
The changes being announced are expected to be:
- Increase the Mortgage Insurance Premium which is collected at closing and most often financed with the loan from 1.75% to 2.25% of the loan amount.
- Require that any borrower with a credit score less than 580 put down 10%. 3.5% down will continue to be required by HUD with credit scores equal to and greater than 580. ***Note that most lenders apply their own credit policy overlay on top of the HUD credit score requirements, i.e. Wells Fargo currently has a credit score minimum of 600 for our FHA transactions. Most other lenders have a 620 or 640 FHA credit score minimum.
- Seller concessions will be limited to 3% of the purchase price versus the currently 6% limit.
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Knoxville Home Buyers Take Advantage Of The Tax Credit
January 8th, 2010 categories: Buyers, General, Market Trends, Sellers
As we get started in 2010 many Knoxville Home Buyers are wondering who can take advantage of the extension of the tax credit. It isn’t just limited to first time Knoxville Home Buyers buying their first home.
Originally created in 2008, the home-buyer tax credit has evolved from a $7,500 credit, which had to be repaid by the home buyer over the course of 15 years, to an $8,000 tax credit with no repayment required in 2009. Now, for a limited time in 2010, the $8,000 home buyer tax credit will still be available to first-time home buyers and certain current homeowners will also be eligible for a $6,500 credit.
To help area Knoxville Home Buyers here are the highlights of the Tax Credit.
Which Knoxville Home Buyers can claim the credit?
“First-time home buyers” who purchase homes between November 7, 2009 and April 30, 2010 are eligible for the credit. To qualify as a “first-time home buyer” the purchaser or his/her spouse may not have owned a residence during the three years prior to the purchase.
For current Knoxville homeowners purchasing a home during the same time frame, they are also eligible for a tax credit, so long as the home being sold or vacated was their principal residence for five consecutive years within the last eight. To elaborate, it must be the same home; it is not enough that they have been homeowners for five consecutive years, they must have been in the same home for five consecutive years.
Another key point is that the existing Knoxville home does not need to be sold. One must, however, occupy the new home as a principal residence and do so for three years or risk recapture of the credit. Also, the new home does not need to cost more than the old home despite the concept that it is directed at “move up” buyers.
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Happy New Year Knoxville!!!
January 1st, 2010 categories: Buyers
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How To Trim Your Utility Bill Without Inconveniencing Yourself
December 21st, 2009 categories: Buyers
The average family spends $2,200 per year in electric bills and the average home is responsible for twice the amount of greenhouse gases than the average automobile.
Whether you want to save money or save the environment, this 5-minute piece from the NBC Today Show is for you. In it, you’ll learn that just by being aware of your energy consumption, you can reduce it by up to 15 percent.
The piece centers on a device called a Power Monitor which retails from $30 to $100, depending on the model. It measures the actual cost of using an appliance, or using a light, or charging a laptop, or any other household energy use.
Among the cost findings:
- A plugged-in phone charger no phone attached costs $0.10 per hour
- Cooking with a microwave costs $0.88 per hour
- Big screen TVs cost $0.06 per hour to operate
Obviously, turning off lights when rooms aren’t in use saves money, too.
By making small changes — most of which aren’t inconvenient — the average family can drop its energy bill by hundreds of dollars each year.
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