The weekly wants & needs posting:
Looking for:
...a home in the Elm Heights area. If you have thought about selling your home and you live in this area, please let me know. I would like to show it. Here's their wish list, Elm Heights from Maxwell Lane to 3rd Street, High Street to Henderson, a four square would be nice but not a must have, a fixer upper is fine, no more than $300,000, at least 2 bedrooms but prefer 3.
I'm looking for a buyer:
...a beautiful newly constructed home in Eagleview II, just minutes from Hwy 37 & the Clear Creek Trail, very large back yard, 2 story over a full walk-out basement, 4BR, 2.5 Baths, Study, a little below $350,000. This is an excellent opportunity for an interested buyer. Price is amazing for the quality offered.
...a very nice 3BR, 2Bath ranch with vaulted ceilings, an open floor plan, breakfast bar overlooking an awesome great room, a nice back yard on a very quiet street in Willow Creek. It is also just minutes from Hwy 37 & the Clear Creek Trail!
Monday, February 26, 2007
Wow, what a weekend. Our phone started ringing mid-week last week and it just gained momentum as we neared the weekend. The bulk of it was from local Realtors calling to schedule showings on our listings for the weekend. As the weekends are a big time for showings, Friday tends to be a big day for scheduling. This past two weeks has been so active that I'm certain this spring is going to make up for a slow 4th quarter in 2006.
I'm encouraged by the recent activity in the market. We listed 4 properties the week ending Feb 16 and 2 of the pended within a week. Both were under $150,000.
Of most interest to home owners? What is your home worth? This is usually the information of most interest to sellers when I to speak with someone about listing their home for sale.
Median prices of single-family homes in 4Q 2006 fell a bit with percentage change from 4Q 2005. Those medians are:
Region Price Change
Northeast $274,600, -2.5%
Midwest $161,800, -4.2%
South $181,700, -3.7%
West $355,100, 0.4%
USA $219,300,-2.7%
Source: National Association of Realtors
Home prices are likely to begin to increase once again this spring. The National Association of Realtors predicted this on Thursday after they reported that median prices fell in 73 metro areas in the final three months of 2006. David Lereah, NAR's chief economist said "When we get the figures for this spring, I expect to see a discernible improvement in both sales and prices. Even in an overall sluggish fourth quarter, 71 areas had price gains, the NAR said. And 14 of those areas saw double-digit year-over-year percentage gains.
As for Bloomington, Indiana, we were not one of the areas affected by the so called Real Estate Bubble. We did not have a bubble to burst! The media is responsible for the 'scare' that we have experienced here but the sellers aren't buying it! Sellers are experiencing longer days on the market. Buyers are trying to low ball based on what they hear and read in the news. Sellers are frustrated but not desperate and their patience is paying off. It makes me chuckle a bit to see parents of out of state students, primarily from areas like Chicago, DC & New York, come along and make these offers of 90% of the asking price for good properties near campus. They just don't get it. They are taking their experiences in their region and seeing it as an opportunity to take advantage of sellers in our market. Well, it's not happening folks. Spring is here and this is the time of year where this type of market is very strong. I see it getting stronger this year and I think it is already better than prime market time last year.
And what about that bubble, it does affect our sales in a different way. Those who are losing equity by the tens of thousands of dollars are coming to this market with their students or jobs and they have houses they are losing money on or can not sell. This affects their buying power when they get here. This in turn is part of the reason for our longer average days on market.
NAR economist Lawrency Yun says: "At least the bottom appears to have already occurred." This is in reference to the markets where losses in value have been significant. He goes on to say: "It looks like the figures will be improving." NAR pointed out that despite the recent downturn in prices, gains for typical single-family homes the past five years have been robust in many metro areas — and explosive in others. In Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif., for example, prices have soared 155.3% in the past five years.
And so there you have it. A busy weekend is always exciting for a Realtor! I love it when my sellers are happy.
I'm encouraged by the recent activity in the market. We listed 4 properties the week ending Feb 16 and 2 of the pended within a week. Both were under $150,000.
Of most interest to home owners? What is your home worth? This is usually the information of most interest to sellers when I to speak with someone about listing their home for sale.
Median prices of single-family homes in 4Q 2006 fell a bit with percentage change from 4Q 2005. Those medians are:
Region Price Change
Northeast $274,600, -2.5%
Midwest $161,800, -4.2%
South $181,700, -3.7%
West $355,100, 0.4%
USA $219,300,-2.7%
Source: National Association of Realtors
Home prices are likely to begin to increase once again this spring. The National Association of Realtors predicted this on Thursday after they reported that median prices fell in 73 metro areas in the final three months of 2006. David Lereah, NAR's chief economist said "When we get the figures for this spring, I expect to see a discernible improvement in both sales and prices. Even in an overall sluggish fourth quarter, 71 areas had price gains, the NAR said. And 14 of those areas saw double-digit year-over-year percentage gains.
As for Bloomington, Indiana, we were not one of the areas affected by the so called Real Estate Bubble. We did not have a bubble to burst! The media is responsible for the 'scare' that we have experienced here but the sellers aren't buying it! Sellers are experiencing longer days on the market. Buyers are trying to low ball based on what they hear and read in the news. Sellers are frustrated but not desperate and their patience is paying off. It makes me chuckle a bit to see parents of out of state students, primarily from areas like Chicago, DC & New York, come along and make these offers of 90% of the asking price for good properties near campus. They just don't get it. They are taking their experiences in their region and seeing it as an opportunity to take advantage of sellers in our market. Well, it's not happening folks. Spring is here and this is the time of year where this type of market is very strong. I see it getting stronger this year and I think it is already better than prime market time last year.
And what about that bubble, it does affect our sales in a different way. Those who are losing equity by the tens of thousands of dollars are coming to this market with their students or jobs and they have houses they are losing money on or can not sell. This affects their buying power when they get here. This in turn is part of the reason for our longer average days on market.
NAR economist Lawrency Yun says: "At least the bottom appears to have already occurred." This is in reference to the markets where losses in value have been significant. He goes on to say: "It looks like the figures will be improving." NAR pointed out that despite the recent downturn in prices, gains for typical single-family homes the past five years have been robust in many metro areas — and explosive in others. In Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif., for example, prices have soared 155.3% in the past five years.
And so there you have it. A busy weekend is always exciting for a Realtor! I love it when my sellers are happy.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Indiana Legislative Affairs of concern to Indiana Realtors for 2007
The Indiana Realtors believe that one of the most troubling aspects of Indiana's housing market is our persistent high level of mortgage foreclosures. We continue to be in the top five states nationally in this dubious statistic. Foreclosures take a tremendous toll on Indiana families and our real estate markets. High levels of foreclosure depress property values and sap neighborhood vitality.
Our research shows there are many causes for the problem. Job loss, slow rates of home price appreciation, mortgage fraud, and high loan to value ratios are clear factors. Loose lending standards emanating from the federal government also contribute.
Our experience also shows that a high proportion of homeowners that experience trouble with their mortgages fail to seek assistance. Many of thesed individuals could avoid foreclosure if they were aware of their options and acted in a timely manner. Those who enter foreclousre could minimize their losses by taking propert actions.
In my opinion one of the major contributors to this are mortgage originators who encourage home buyers to take a 1st & 2nd mortgage, make an offer for more than the asking price and ask for the seller to pay the closing costs & prepaids. This works just fine if a home owner plans to stay in the home for many years and if the home may be worth more than the seller is asking. It typically takes about 5 years after a purchase where a person puts down about 10% to hit a break even point in the resale of a home. If the life situation changes and a person needs to sell their home within that time frame then they are in a position where they owe more on the home than it is worth and it would cost them more to sell it than they have in the bank. Add to that the fact that often times these 'no money down' loans come with prepayment penalties and I have seen those be as much as $9000 on a home that is worth about $110,000. Suddenly the lender has all of the equity in the home and the home owner, with no good options, gets frustrated and walks away. In some cases at the time of original purchase it could take a person as much as 10 to 15 years in a home to begin to realize any equity. Here in Indiana we did not have a 'bubble' like many markets experienced. This scenario was not as much of a problem in markets that were experiencing 25-30 percent appreciation. It is a big problem here where we are seeing approximately 4-6 percent and in some areas where job losses are great the housing market has actually experienced depreciation.
The moral to this story: Don't buy more house than you can afford and do not buy as much house as the lender will loan you the money for! Determine your comfort zone in a house payment and save some cash for a down payment before jumping in to purchase a home. A good Realtor will help you do this. Just ask them.
Moral number Two - A very important one....: Use a local lender or originator that you trust. Watch out for the mortgage brokers and check their references, many of them are terrific but there are some bad ones out there who just care about earning the origination fees. The good ones can do very good things for you. The local lenders are often extremely competitive. Avoid the internet lenders at all costs. You never know who you are dealing with.
The Indiana Realtors have been working with the State Legislature to improve this situation. We made great strides over the past few years but we have a lot more work to get out of the 'top 5' list for foreclosures.
Our research shows there are many causes for the problem. Job loss, slow rates of home price appreciation, mortgage fraud, and high loan to value ratios are clear factors. Loose lending standards emanating from the federal government also contribute.
Our experience also shows that a high proportion of homeowners that experience trouble with their mortgages fail to seek assistance. Many of thesed individuals could avoid foreclosure if they were aware of their options and acted in a timely manner. Those who enter foreclousre could minimize their losses by taking propert actions.
In my opinion one of the major contributors to this are mortgage originators who encourage home buyers to take a 1st & 2nd mortgage, make an offer for more than the asking price and ask for the seller to pay the closing costs & prepaids. This works just fine if a home owner plans to stay in the home for many years and if the home may be worth more than the seller is asking. It typically takes about 5 years after a purchase where a person puts down about 10% to hit a break even point in the resale of a home. If the life situation changes and a person needs to sell their home within that time frame then they are in a position where they owe more on the home than it is worth and it would cost them more to sell it than they have in the bank. Add to that the fact that often times these 'no money down' loans come with prepayment penalties and I have seen those be as much as $9000 on a home that is worth about $110,000. Suddenly the lender has all of the equity in the home and the home owner, with no good options, gets frustrated and walks away. In some cases at the time of original purchase it could take a person as much as 10 to 15 years in a home to begin to realize any equity. Here in Indiana we did not have a 'bubble' like many markets experienced. This scenario was not as much of a problem in markets that were experiencing 25-30 percent appreciation. It is a big problem here where we are seeing approximately 4-6 percent and in some areas where job losses are great the housing market has actually experienced depreciation.
The moral to this story: Don't buy more house than you can afford and do not buy as much house as the lender will loan you the money for! Determine your comfort zone in a house payment and save some cash for a down payment before jumping in to purchase a home. A good Realtor will help you do this. Just ask them.
Moral number Two - A very important one....: Use a local lender or originator that you trust. Watch out for the mortgage brokers and check their references, many of them are terrific but there are some bad ones out there who just care about earning the origination fees. The good ones can do very good things for you. The local lenders are often extremely competitive. Avoid the internet lenders at all costs. You never know who you are dealing with.
The Indiana Realtors have been working with the State Legislature to improve this situation. We made great strides over the past few years but we have a lot more work to get out of the 'top 5' list for foreclosures.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Getting Started with Boomer's in Real Estate
OK, this is a first for me, started a new year, started a new company, and now starting a new blog. 2007 is going to be so interesting.
I'm Tracee Lutes, founder of Avenues Realty Group, LLC. After 12 years in real estate and 10 of those with F.C. Tucker/OBR Realtors, I have decided to venture out of my comfort zone (and believe me, comfy it was) and go out on my own. F.C. Tucker has been very good to me and I am leaving a company where I have many friends, many people who I respect and care about and many leaders for whom I have great respect. This was difficult for me, but I felt the need to do my own thing. It's been a terrific experience so far and I didn't realize how many loyal clients, friends and family I had out there. I hope they all know how much I appreciate them.
Well, to real estate. I thought I would share on a few topics that are of interest to many. Let's talk about Baby Boomers and Real Estate, what the scene looks like today and what it may look like tomorrow and beyond. This was something I investigated in depth when I was writing my business plan. Much of the information was published from research conducted by the National Association of Realtors. It is obvious to most that Boomer's have great interest in Real Estate.
What do they think?
96% think that owning a home is a good financial investment.
78% own their personal residence
25% own other real estate in addition to their personal residence
The US Census Bureau figures show that even in the lowest income percentile, half of all households owned their home.
The NAR surveys show that for boomer households of middle income, ($50k to $100k) the equity in their home constitutes 50% of their net worth.
OK ladies, while 2/3's are married couples, stats show that the next category is households headed by women and this makes up 20%...over the next decade, women are expected to be the largest growing category.
The NAR surveys show that half of all boomers will fund their retirement from equity in their home.
And so, what do you think those bursting bubbles will do for retirement plans? OK, so we don't want to go there.
Guess what? They almost all said that when they were ready to buy, they searched the web first.
Now, Avenues is all about service. Of course, everyone says they are about service. In 2006, 94% of my business was from my previous clients or from referrals from my previous clients. I guess that shows that we do what we say we do. It seems easy to do what you say you will do, but for some reason, many don't agree with that.
The foundation of this business is about education and services to our clients and the following information makes me feel as if we are set up perfectly for the future client.
NAR studies show that Boomers are willing to pay for professional service and guidance from Realtors even though they can get so much market data on-line. What they are willing to pay for is service in the form of representation of their interests in complex transactions. They appreciate help in the process of sorting through the vastness of the information available to distill what will apply to their home and how to interpret the data to best price their home, to best prepare the home for market, to make the entire process as easy as possible for them so that it takes very little of their time. In essence, they need to trust their Realtor and know that they will get the best service possible.
There is much more to offer and if you are interested in it, let me know. I'll stop on this subject for now because the rest of the information may bore you completely unless you are some sort of numbers geek.
For next time... How do legislative affairs affect us locally? How does it impact home ownership? What should we be concerned about?
I'm Tracee Lutes, founder of Avenues Realty Group, LLC. After 12 years in real estate and 10 of those with F.C. Tucker/OBR Realtors, I have decided to venture out of my comfort zone (and believe me, comfy it was) and go out on my own. F.C. Tucker has been very good to me and I am leaving a company where I have many friends, many people who I respect and care about and many leaders for whom I have great respect. This was difficult for me, but I felt the need to do my own thing. It's been a terrific experience so far and I didn't realize how many loyal clients, friends and family I had out there. I hope they all know how much I appreciate them.
Well, to real estate. I thought I would share on a few topics that are of interest to many. Let's talk about Baby Boomers and Real Estate, what the scene looks like today and what it may look like tomorrow and beyond. This was something I investigated in depth when I was writing my business plan. Much of the information was published from research conducted by the National Association of Realtors. It is obvious to most that Boomer's have great interest in Real Estate.
What do they think?
96% think that owning a home is a good financial investment.
78% own their personal residence
25% own other real estate in addition to their personal residence
The US Census Bureau figures show that even in the lowest income percentile, half of all households owned their home.
The NAR surveys show that for boomer households of middle income, ($50k to $100k) the equity in their home constitutes 50% of their net worth.
OK ladies, while 2/3's are married couples, stats show that the next category is households headed by women and this makes up 20%...over the next decade, women are expected to be the largest growing category.
The NAR surveys show that half of all boomers will fund their retirement from equity in their home.
And so, what do you think those bursting bubbles will do for retirement plans? OK, so we don't want to go there.
Guess what? They almost all said that when they were ready to buy, they searched the web first.
Now, Avenues is all about service. Of course, everyone says they are about service. In 2006, 94% of my business was from my previous clients or from referrals from my previous clients. I guess that shows that we do what we say we do. It seems easy to do what you say you will do, but for some reason, many don't agree with that.
The foundation of this business is about education and services to our clients and the following information makes me feel as if we are set up perfectly for the future client.
NAR studies show that Boomers are willing to pay for professional service and guidance from Realtors even though they can get so much market data on-line. What they are willing to pay for is service in the form of representation of their interests in complex transactions. They appreciate help in the process of sorting through the vastness of the information available to distill what will apply to their home and how to interpret the data to best price their home, to best prepare the home for market, to make the entire process as easy as possible for them so that it takes very little of their time. In essence, they need to trust their Realtor and know that they will get the best service possible.
There is much more to offer and if you are interested in it, let me know. I'll stop on this subject for now because the rest of the information may bore you completely unless you are some sort of numbers geek.
For next time... How do legislative affairs affect us locally? How does it impact home ownership? What should we be concerned about?
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