Buying a home in Jacksonville first steps

A few of many reasons why you should get pre-qualified before starting your home search….

www.ShopJacksonvilleHomes.com

www.ShopJacksonvilleForeclosures.com

Mike and Cindy Jones, Realtors, e-Pros
TheRealEstateStation.com
(904) 874-0422

Is there signs of improvement in the housing market?

February 2011  Market Update Gradual improvement in the housing market continues at a steady pace without government support. Six months after two consecutive years of tax incentives for buyers; starting in July 2008 with a $7,500 repayable first-time buyer tax credit, extending to a $8,000 nonrepayable first-time buyer tax credit in January 2009, and ending in June 2010 with the expanded credit to repeat buyers; the market has shown remarkable improvement from the initial drop this past July. With mortgage rates remaining near historic lows and home prices having generally stabilized, economists are expecting further strength in 2011. Consumers are showing some signs that they’re feeling better: a significant boost in the food and services industry implies they are eating out more, vacations are back on the rise as spending on travel and tourism increased 8% in the third quarter, and household net worth has risen notably thanks to a strong stock market even as they continue to shrink their debt. As the economy improves, current stimulus efforts by the government and the Federal Reserve Board are expected to gradually wind down, which typically means rising interest rates. Meanwhile, buyers continue to benefit from historically favorable buying conditions and sellers enjoy increased stability in the market. Home Sales in millions The uptrend in existing home sales activity continued through December, increasing by a substantial 12.3% from a month ago. This marks the fifth monthly increase in the past six months and indicates a recovery that’s gaining a firmer footing. While home sales remained 2.9% below the level seen last year, the market’s upward momentum, despite the absence of the tax credit, is a welcoming sign. Home Price in thousands Home prices softened in December: median home prices edged down slightly to $168,800, 1% below the year-ago level. Contributing to this is a larger share of distressed homes sales which accounted for 36% of sales in December. This is compared to 33% in November 2010 and 32% in December 2009. Prices continue to hold steady and mortgage rates remain historically low, offering favorable buying opportunities. Inventory- Month’s Supply in months The surge in home sales and a shrinking inventory pared down the month’s supply to 8.1 months. This is down 1.4 months from November but remains 0.9 months above last year at this time. While still at a relatively high level historically, months of inventory has declined steadily from its peak of 12.5 months in July and is now back to pre-tax credit expiration levels. Source: National Association of Realtors – December housing data released Janurary 20. Interest Rates Mortgage rates are inching up but remain historically low. This trend continues to support home buying, as it translates to significant savings for buyers. As overall economic recovery remains on track, rates are expected to rise to keep inflation in check. Type Rate 30 year fixed 4.81% 15 year fixed 4.08% 5/1-year ARM 3.69% 30 year average for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage 8.9% Source: Freddie Mac, Rates as of Feb 7 . This Month’s Video Topics For Home Owners, Buyers & Sellers ‘Anti-Flipping’ Waiver Extension In 2003 the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) feared that flipping homes was the cause of the skyrocketing home prices throughout individual neighborhoods. Because of this, the FHA no longer approved property loans that were resold within 90 days of the original purchase, with the exception of foreclosures owned by government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) such as FHA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. The anti-flipping rule is designed to help protect the FHA’s mortgage insurance program and federally chartered financial institutions from losses. In February 2010, the FHA initiated a one-year suspension on the regulation that prevented “flippers” from purchasing single-family homes and releasing them into the market within 90 days. Since then, the FHA says it has insured 21,000 loans that had exchanged hands within the previous 90 days. The loans are worth more than $3.6 billion and would not have qualified for financing before suspension. An analysis of these loans suggest they do not present a greater credit risk than other loans, which lent support to the suspension’s extension. The government sent a notice to banks in mid-January of 2011 in which it announced the extension of the waiver through the end of the year. According to FHA Commissioner David Stevens, the purpose of the extension was to accelerate the resale of REO properties in neighborhoods where there is a high rate of foreclosure. This will facilitate the purchase of homes that have recently been “flipped.” As a result, foreclosed properties will be moved off the market faster, reducing the amount of vacant homes in neighborhoods throughout the United States. Limitations considered by the FHA consist of the following: 20% Rule. If resale is higher than 20% of the original price, one must show proof of justified price. For example, if a $200,000 house is purchased and the resell price is $245,000, the house must undergo additional underwriting guidelines, which is considered a double appraisal. Title Hold. No simultaneous closings are allowed when the seller holds a property. In other words, back-to-back, same-day closings to an FHA end-buyer is prohibited. Short-term Funding. Investors must come up with short-term funding of the 30-to-60-day variety if their desire is to buy/fund and in order to sell to an FHA end-buyer. Previous Flips. A property cannot show signs of prior flipping activity. If so, the FHA has the right to object. Transactions at Arm’s Length. Transactions must show no identity of interest between the buyer and the seller or other parties that participate in the sale of a property. Overall, this will help lower holding costs for investors/flippers allowing them to continue flipping more properties. In return, this will help bring more desirable homes to the market for first-time home buyers. Source: Inman News, ReatlyTimes.com	Contact us, your local real estate experts, for information about what’s going on in our area.
Brought to you by KW Research. For additional graphs and details, please see the This Month in Real Estate PowerPoint Report.The opinions expressed in This Month in Real Estate are intended to supplement opinions on real estate expressed by local and national media, local real estate agents and other expert sources.  You should not treat any opinion expressed in This Month in Real Estate as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy, but only as an expression of opinion.  Keller Williams Realty, Inc., does not guarantee and is not responsible for the accuracy or completeness of information, and provides said information without warranties of any kind.  All information presented herein is intended and should be used for educational purposes only.  Nothing herein should be construed as investment advice.  You should always conduct your own research and due diligence and obtain professional advice before making any investment decision.  All investments involve some degree of risk.  Keller Williams Realty, Inc., will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in This Month in Real Estate.

 

Could the answer be …A foreclosure unit???

BofA Launches New Foreclosure Unit

In an attempt to get a better handle on the flood of foreclosures, Bank of America Corp. is splitting its mortgage business into two units.

Legacy Asset Servicing, Bank of America’s new unit, will be charged with resolving issues involving faulty paperwork that led the bank to temporarily suspend foreclosures for nearly two months in October across the country. The new unit will buyback claims on bad loans sold to investors and also handle mortgage modifications.

Meanwhile, handling new loans and servicing current ones will still be done by Bank of America’s Home Loans Unit.

The company also said it plans to exit the reverse mortgage origination business.

Bank of America Home Loans lost $8.92 billion in 2010 and has been battered by a stream of lawsuits, mostly focused on bad loans it acquired when it purchased Countrywide in 2008.

Source: “Bank of America Splits Foreclosures, Discontinued Projects From Mortgage Lending Business,” Associated Press (Feb. 4, 2011)

SEARCH FORECLOSURES IN JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA – HERE

Mike Jones, Realtor, e-Pro
TheRealEstateStation.com
(904) 874-0422
Keller Williams Realty – Jacksonville

Houses in Avondale for a bit of uniqueness

See all houses for sale in Avondale

This 1928 Mediterranean style villa nestled in historic Avondale features architecturally distinct and charming features like brick quoining, arched entry and even a hand turn doorbell. An outdoor courtyard with raised wood deck, brick pavers and in ground pool with a tropical setting brings mew meaning to the term “outdoor living.”

Unique in every way

All the best in Outdoor Living

The main house features 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and close to 2300 square feet. A separate quest suite above the detached two car garage has 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, full kitchen and family room with it’s own private balcony.

Private backyard oasis

Additional photos and information in the video below…

Mike Jones, Realtor, e-Pro
TheRealEstateStation.com
(904) 874-0422

Keller Williams Realty – Jacksonville

HAP Homeowners Assistance Program success stories

The HAP program or Housing Assistance Program has $555 million in funds set aside from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA, and is designed to partially reimburse eligible military personnel, surviving spouses and federal civilian employees whose service to the nation has required them to relocate and sell their primary residence at a loss.

The Department of Defense designated the U.S. Army as the executive agent for the HAP. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers administers the program for DoD through three field offices — the Savannah, Fort Worth and Sacramento Districts. These field offices evaluate applications to determine eligibility and benefit award. Eligible personnel include:

• Active and former service members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard;
• Civilian employees of the DoD, Coast Guard and non-appropriated fund activities; and
• Surviving spouses of fallen service members and civilian employees.

We’ve helped several military families in the Jacksonville Florida area utilize this program and get their homes SOLD so they can move on to their next duty stations and not have the worry or financial loss from a home left behind.

 

Mike Jones, Realtor, e-Pro

Unsold Property Specialist

(904) 874-0422

Keller Williams Realty – Jacksonville

Homeowners Assistance Program (HAP) works for military members

We just had another successful real estate closing in Jacksonville, Florida today! As always, its great when a plan comes together. The seller was a member of the United States military and was eligible for the HAP program (Homeowners Assistance Program). Like many people our seller purchased her home at the height of the market in 2005 after transferring to Jacksonville from another duty station.

Also like many others she was forced into a situation where she had to sell after the market nosed dived. In 2010 as an active duty military member, she drew orders to another duty station and  had no choice but to consider her options. Normally those options would have been…

1. Rent the house out until the market improved.

2. Short Sale the house

3. Continue paying the mortgage, insurance, property taxes, maintenance, etc, etc while the property sat vacant.

Option 1…renting the house out brings in a completely different set of issues, and no one really knows when and how much the market will improve.

Option 2… the homeowner, contrary to popular belief may have not qualified for a short sale with her lender, which means she would have to pay the difference out of pocket in the sale price and her mortgage balance plus cost, not to mention take a hit on all the upgrades she put into the house. New appliances, new roof, new garage door, new paint & carpet. Beside even if she was approved for a short sale it will wreak havoc on a credit score.

Option 3… never good to leave a property vacant. All kinds of reasons for that argument.

Luckily, because she was under orders to transfer duty stations she was eligible for the HAP program. Anyway, we ended up selling the house for market value, but far less that the balance of the mortgage and HAP the program covered the difference, plus cost allowing the seller….our customer to move on without worry over the property, and her credit rating preserved. To top it all off, after submitting receipts for the repairs and upgrades she did to the house during ownership, they even reimbursed her for that.

The program is offered by the Department of Defense (DOD), authorized by law and administered by The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to assist eligible homeowners who face financial loss when selling their primary residence homes in areas where real estate values have declined because of a base closure or realignment announcement.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) temporarily expands the HAP to assist service members and DOD employees who are wounded, injured or become ill when deployed, surviving spouses of service members or DOD employees killed or died of wounds while deployed, service member and civilian employees assigned to BRAC 05 organizations, and service members required to permanently relocate during the home mortgage crisis.

As a US Navy Veteran and Realtor, I for one am glad that the government has instituted this program. The men and women of our Armed Forces work hard and sacrifice much for this country. And as a country we should make sure they are well taken care of. Unfortunately, the  allotment of funds for this program is limited so if you are looking at orders and you have a house to sell you would be well advised to start the process ASAP. We are here to help.

Mike Jones, Realtor, e-Pro
Unsold Property Specialist
(904) 874-0422
Keller Williams Realty – Jacksonville

Jacksonville homes for sale also mean “Open Season” for theives

Man….I showed up to do an open house at one of my listings in Chimney Lakes in Jacksonville,(a vacant property) put out all the signs, turned on all the lights, got all my stuff out and looked out the breakfast room window to see a terrible site.

Bad mojo for an open house

My seller was robbed!

Obviously, the thief or thieves were interrupted. It’s apparent they didn’t finish the job but caused a lot of damage. Needless to say I had to call my seller… a task I didn’t feel up to. So they rushed over to survey the situation, called the police to come out and make a report. You can understand of course why we cancelled the Open House. Kind of puts a damper on things when a potential buyer happens through when all this is going on.

The market holds a lot of vacant and abandoned properties these days and it seems to have made it open season for unscrupulous people.

Search Jacksonville homes for sale

Mike Jones, Realtor, e-Pro

TheRealEstateStation.com

(904) 874-0422

Keller Williams Realty – Jacksonville

A mailbox only a Jacksonville homeowner could love

As always I was scouring neighborhoods in Jacksonville looking at real estate…. I do that you know. In case you haven’t heard I’m a Realtor in Jacksonville. Anyway, while I was viewing homes for sale in the Argyle Forest area on the west side I came across this mailbox and it made me laugh, so I took a picture and thought I’d share…

Talk about "Curb Appeal"

Homes for sale in Jacksonville, Florida – Click Here

Mike Jones, Realtor, e-Pro

Unsold Property Specialist

(904) 874-0422

Keller Williams Realty – Jacksonville

Good news for Jacksonville and US real estate markets

January 2011  Market Update The housing market is recovering. As more home buyers are taking advantage of the improved affordability conditions. With mortgage rates hovering around recent record lows and home prices having generally stabilized, economists are expecting an upward trend to a healthy and sustainable level in 2011. Encouraging signs are showing up across the economy. Retail sales recently hit their highest level since before the recession. Key measures of small and big businesses’ optimism marched back up to prerecession levels and new claims for jobless benefits are trending lower. Together they bode well for steady job creation and improved consumer confidence which is generally manifested in more spending. As the economy improves, current stimulus efforts by the government and the Federal Reserve Board are expected to gradually wind down. Meanwhile, serious buyers stand to benefit from historically favorable buying conditions. Home Sales Existing home sales resumed on an upward trend since bottoming in July. Sales activity rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.68 million in November. This was up 22% from July and 5.6% above the 4.43 million level in October, but remained 27.9% below the 6.49 million tax credit rush a year ago. As steady job creation is expected to continue, industry experts are hopeful for 2011.   Home Price Home prices continued to stabilize. Median home prices edged up slightly to $170,600, 0.4% above year-ago levels. Distressed homes have accounted for a fairly stable market share, representing 33% of sales in November. This is on par with the 34% in October and 33% in November 2009. Historically favorable interest rates, coupled with stable home prices, continue to offer advantageous buying opportunities . Inventory The number of homes on the market continued to decline. Total inventory fell to 3.71 million in November from 3.86 million in October. This reflects the increasing response from buyers to improved affordability conditions. As lending standards return to historical norms and consumers become more confident about their financial situation, more people will be able to buy their first home, move up, or invest. Affordability Housing affordability set a new record in November. The relationship between mortgage rates, home prices, and family income is the most favorable on record for buying. The home price-to-income ratio, currently at 13.5%, continues to remain well below the historical standard. Stabilizing home prices and rising interest rates are expected to begin drawing affordability back up toward more normal levels. Source: National Association of Realtors – October housing data released December 22. Interest Rates Mortgage rates are inching up but remain historically low. This trend continues to support home buying as it translates to significant savings for buyers. As overall economic recovery remains on track, rates are expected to rise to keep inflation in check.   Type Rate 30 year fixed 4.77% 15 year fixed 4.13% 5/1-year ARM 3.75% 30 year average for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage 8.9% Source: Freddie Mac, Rates as of Jan 7. This Month’s Video Topics For Home Owners, Buyers & Sellers Use the Season to Your Home-Selling Advantage While summer is generally known as the peak season for home sales activity, the winter can also offer great advantages for sellers – such as less competition from other sellers. With a little effort, you can use the season to your home-selling advantage. Let’s put these ideas to work, so your home shows at its best. Keep snow and ice at bay.If the buyer can’t get in easily, the house won’t sell. That means keeping walkways and driveways free of the frozen stuff. You want to make the home look well maintained. Warm it up. Think warm, cozy, and homey. Before a buyer comes through, adjust the thermostat to a warmer temperature to make it welcoming. If you have a fireplace, turning it on right before the tour can create a more welcoming ambience. Emphasize winter positives.Is your home on a bus route or some other vital service that means it’s plowed or deiced regularly in bad weather? Be sure to mention that to the buyers. Make it festive. Even if you’re not actually going to be present, greet your buyers as if they were going to be guests at a party. Set up the dinner table with the good china and silver. Have a plate of cookies for your guests, some warm cider, or even chilled bottles of water. Use the season to your advantage.  When the holidays are over, you can still use winter wreaths and dried arrangements around the door to spark interest. In the winter, with the leaves off the trees, you might also have a nice view that isn’t as apparent in the spring and summer months. Source: msn.com	Contact us, your local real estate experts, for information about what’s going on in Jacksonville’s real estate market. Featured Listings Video TheRealEsateStation.com Connect with us on Facebook
Brought to you by KW Research. For additional graphs and details, please see the This Month in Real Estate PowerPoint Report. The opinions expressed in This Month in Real Estate are intended to supplement opinions on real estate expressed by local and national media, local real estate agents and other expert sources.  You should not treat any opinion expressed on This Month in Real Estate as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy, but only as an expression of opinion.  Keller Williams Realty, Inc., does not guarantee and is not responsible for the accuracy or completeness of information, and provides said information without warranties of any kind.  All information presented herein is intended and should be used for educational purposes only.  Nothing herein should be construed as investment advice.  You should always conduct your own research and due diligence and obtain professional advice before making any investment decision.  All investments involve some degree of risk.  Keller Williams Realty, Inc., will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in This Month in Real Estate.

 

iPad finger tracks and a solution

The ability to use your finger for everything on the Ipad is one of the best features about it. However, if you use this for professional presentations the last thing you want to do is set your I pad in front of your prospective client with greasy slimy finger tracks all over it. It was a major concern for me and here’s how I solved the problem.

 

 

 

Mike Jones, Realtor, e-Pro
Unsold Property Specialist
(904) 874-0422

Keller Williams Realty – Jacksonville