Housing thoughts

Sorry I've been lazy with the blog.

I think we're getting closer to the bottom of the market. There may still be another 10% to drop in the average area. I feel that in the higher end homes you'll start to see a much larger drop. The financial crisis we're all experiencing is starting to hit the homes that are 900k and above. The homes that I think that will be hit the hardest are the ones that are 900k - 2 million. The reason being that the buyers of those homes that have a standard of 20 - 25% are still going to have trouble finding financing. Also, those seem to be the homes that the bank was less willing to foreclose on because, let's face it, there are not a lot of people that have 180 - 400k to put down on a house. I could go on, but I don't want to bore you with facts and numbers.

The people with homes in the 4 million and over, they're always going to be and have been a different breed. Unless they are hit with job losses, those homes won't need to sell and you'll see people sitting on those. But if you an average home buyer, now is a great time to be looking.

I know that the banks are sitting on a ton of inventory. Adding to that 60% of people who manage to get a rate mod are still going into foreclosure, so you've got that group that will start hitting soon. I'm seeing places that where going for 600k, going down as low at 350 - 400. Sure they where way over inflated but you can get good deals. And with rates this low it makes a lot of sense. Just be patient. At this very moment the inventory of houses is not very good. Anything that is worth looking at probably already has multiple offers on it. The key is to have the financing ready and save as much for a down payment as possible. If you're going against multiple offers and you can put a good down payment together, if it's a short sale or foreclosure where the banks are making the decisions, they want to go with the quickest and least hassle buyers.

As always, if you have any questions, give us a call. I'm happy to discuss all options with you.

818 264-0999

New Programs - UPDATE

I've been very busy trying to keep up with all the lenders and all their changes. They're starting to slowly but surely roll out the changes. I've got only one or two lenders that have pricing but almost all of them have been rolling out the guidelines. By next week I hope all the lenders will be set.

As I feared there are some hits that may take away the usefulness of the new programs but I still think that there is a lot of good that's going to come out of these programs.

Please make sure you contact your local congress person and senate person AND president to encourage them to get rid of this appraisal change that coming in May. It's going to be a disaster for you the consumer and for everyone involved in the loan process. Here is a link to find your representative http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

Thanks.