Top 5 Markets to List a Home in the United States:
Always like to share news of Virginia making a Top 5 List-The
trulia pro blog reports Virginia made the list. The South Atlantic market which includes Virginia is heating up, partly because of our appealing weather (yesterday does not count) and quality of life. In Charlottesville, Virginia and surrounding areas, the number of houses currently for sale continues to decline. Time to think about Selling? YES
Let me share a Blog Post I read today from Real Estate Investing, Bigger Pockets.com. The author, Danny Johnson believes you can negotiate harder, at least some of the time, with a motivated seller than you can with a bank owner/foreclosed property.
The author has been successful buying from both sources- read on.
In any event, it is a good time to buy investment property. Take a look.
Fair Warning, this post is an Op Ed based on observations of the real estate market in Central Virginia. The agents I supervise and work with every day share stories of their current buyers. The story is changing.
Last year agents had more buyers than the year before but those buyers were tentative. The buyers of 2012 were easing into the home buying process; “We just want to look….”. Many of those buyers did look and were successful in finding property. The 2012 buyers were rewarded with good prices and even better interest rates.
What does it look like for 2013? The Buyers are back and making a statement. Many first time buyers are prepared to jump in the market this year and buy a home. They are looking at properties on line and making appointments with our agents to go see some houses. Potential buyers are out looking at Open Houses and they are talking with lenders to see what they need in order to qualify for a loan.
Join the home buyer crowd. Contact an agent and begin today.
FHA is test-ballooning changes to their mortgage insurance program (MIP). This typically means that they’ve decided what they want to do and they are taking comments from the public and the industry. HUD, through FHA, wants to reduce its share of federally insured loans and have publicly stated this. Here are the changes on tap:
1. Increased annual mortgage insurance premium. Currently at 1.25%, the proposed change would move to 1.35%. For a purchaser at $200,000 with the typical 3.5% down payment, this would equal $16 increase per month.
2. One of the most controversial changes is requiring this annual MIP to remain on the loan for life, instead of the current 78% LTV (or at least 5 years of payments) removal.
3. HUD wants to change the fraud-related risk component of the National Housing Act. This is a wise choice – if a lender “knew or should have known” fraudulent or errant conduct occurred, they should be held responsible. Lenders can also be terminated from origination and underwriting authority, where those lenders had excessive rate of defaults or claims.
4. Currently sellers (or any interested party, including Realtors) can fund up to 6% of the buyer’s closing costs, prepaid items and/or points. The change would lower that to 3%, though there has been discussion of a minimum level in order to not penalize low sales price transactions.
As movement occurs or a Mortgagee Letter is released by HUD on these changes, we will update you. The clear message is that HUD would much prefer your buyers use Agency Fannie or Freddie loans.
A snapshot of interest rates:
30 year fixed 3.5%
15 year fixed 2.875%
FHA/VA 30 year fixed 3.25%
All above assume good credit and down payments of 20% on conventional, 3.5% on FHA and 0% on VA at zero points.
An all time favorite book of mine is The Not So Big House by Sarah Suskana. Its pages are full of pictures and descriptions of designing and building a house with “up-scale” small spaces. Every inch of space is designed for quality vs. quantity. That may have been the idea in designing urban micro apartments between 250-350 square feet. Yes there is a kitchen and a bath. Have the designers gone too far? 
The micro unit answers a demand for affordable housing in Manhatten. Believe it or not, the pods will rent for $2282 a month. Makes C’ville, Virginia look even better!
Read the entire article: Will Middle Class Want Micro-Apts.
Vasnessa Wong, Bloomberg Online
With the Inauguration in the rear view mirror, today the country gets back to business. We hope that means back to the business of improving the housing business. Please enjoy the following article.
Realtor Magazine online features a story today giving more evidence to what is continuing good news for a good real estate market this spring. Read the article for yourself.
The report is in and the news is good. Sales are up 15% over the same time period for2011 giving the Central Virginia Market its best performance in 7 years. Read the Entire Report
Inventory continues to decrease and is down to the 2005 level.
The median sales price is up 8% to $260,000.
Charlottesville reported a robust 25% increase in sales with Albemarle posting a 13.8% increase.
More good news-The number of foreclosures and short sales continues a downward trend. Distressed sales were down by 2.5%
The market continues to recover, as you can see, and the spring market is already underway. If you have a move, begin that process today by contacting us today -
In January of next year, new regulations for mortgage loans will go into effect. The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau -Richard Cordray, Director- announced the new guidelines on January 10,2013.
Mr. Cordray says,”Our ability to repay rule protects borrowers from the kinds of risky lending practices that resulted in so many families losing their homes.” Key points of the new guidelines:
Consumer groups argue that more restriction will shut down the fragile real estate recovery. Others argue that the banks benefit more than the public. Nate Wooley of the Motley Fool Blog (don’t be put off by the name-it is a good Blog) says, the new regs. may jump start lending. Mr. Wooley suggests that lenders have never liked the uncertainty of the CFPB and will react well to a set of clear cut rules.
In an article entitled, Looking Confidently Ahead-Power Brokers 2013,
Maria Patterson presents a very positive picture of the 2013 real estate market.
In 2013 we will be talking about Appreciation,Consumer Confidence, Multiple offers, and Lower Inventory. The statistics look good for a much improved market this year. Our own local statistics for 2012, about to be released, will support the confidence shared by brokers across the country. Watch this Blog for release of the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors report soon.
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