Chesapeake, VA

I have gathered some interesting information that may help you decided to pick Chesapeake as your next city to call home.

• Ranked sixth best place to live in Money Magazine.
• Ranked by the FBI as one of the 5 safest cities with over 200,000 in population ( actual population is 220,798)
• Median household income is $57,814
• Boaters Paradise! There are more miles of deepwater canels in Chesapeake than any other city and it is part of the Intracoastal Waterway, which stretches from Maine to Florida.

You can find out more information by visiting the city website here.

I am here to tell you that even though house values may have dropped recently in areas that you can still refinance. If you have a VA loan ( Veterans Administration Mortgage) you are eligible to refinance and lower your payment with no appraisal needed.

Here are some of the benefits :

• NO appraisal needed
• No income verification
• No asset verification

The process is simple.

• You must be current on your VA mortgage. We do the rest!
  

That means if you owe $250,000 on your mortgage and homes in your area are $240,000 then it is ok! We can still lower your payments.

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About the Author : Naoma Doriguzzi is a Senior Mortgage Consultant with New American Mortgage and has been originating mortgages since 2003. New American Mortgage is a direct lender who specializes in FHA, VA, VHDA, Conventional loans. We are here to assist you with the purchase of a new home or refinance your existing home in Virginia, NC, SC, FL or GA!

Disclaimer: All information provided by this author is strictly an opinion, is not guaranteed, may be based on information collected from several sources, which may or may not be deemed reliable at the time of researching this article and may be time sensitive.

To contact Naoma directly you may call or text (757) 971-2876 or email at naoma.doriguzzi@newamerican.com.

Copyright © 2009 by Naoma Doriguzzi

Taken 2 years ago Taken a couple of weeks ago

I am just wondering from those that know me if I look the same as my profile picture that was taken 2 years ago. I had 2 recent experiences lately that got me thinking about this and the power of having a complete profile on your social networking sites and blogs.

1. I was leaving an office building during the day and passed a lady who turned around and stopped me and said - "Are you Naoma?" I am usually pretty good with faces and not so good with names. "I am your Facebook friend!" And she told me her name and I instantly remembered her name and was glad that she recognized me from such a random encounter.

2. Last week I went to a business luncheon and ended up sitting next to a realtor who said "Hey Naoma!" Again, a woman I had not met in person before but same thing " I am one of your friends on Facebook and I also know your husband"

All I can say is - how cool is that? You can turn your social networking profiles into actual business opportunities!

I can't begin to tell you how successful being consistent and having an online presence is to our everyday business.

Do I need an updated picture for all of my profiles? My professional one was taken before babies :) I might have a few more gray hairs than 2 years ago! :)

Is City Assessment of any real value, other than to the City?

I like looking at numbers, specifically numbers that have some bearing on the real estate market in the cities that I work in. I ran a simple MLS report looking for all the SOLD transactions in the City of Chesapeake between 3/9/2009 and 4/8/2009.

The resulting report showed 181 Sold Listings, the average sold property is a 3 Bedroom, 2 Bath, 2,095 Sqr Ft home with a sale price of $272,000 sqr feet with an average of 97 days on the market.

I then looked at city assessments versus the sale price on the average home sold. I ran my second report based on the average sold home in Chesapeake, Va., with a sales price between $260K and $280K, and a closed date between 3/9/2009 and 4/8/2009.

The resulting report only identified 12 homes out of the original 181 sold homes in Chesapeake. The average sale price of these homes was $270,000 for a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home with 2,013 sq. ft.

I then looked at the sale price and the tax assessment of each home. Here is what I found:

8 out of 12 homes sold for less than the city assessment!

In the cities I work in, the city assessment should reflect the Fair Market Value of a home. In the sample case, I found that the city of Chesapeake Va, was off by an average 7%. On a home assessed at $200,000 the actual Fair Market Value would be about $186,000. Currently the city of Chesapeake charges $1.04 per $100 of assessed value in Non-Mosquito controlled areas.

Assuming the city over valued a home by $14,000 resulting in an assessment of $200,000 the tax paid will be $2,080. The tax paid on the fair market value, $186,000 would be $1,934 resulting in a difference of $146. According to the City of Chesapeake, there are 72,000 homes. If just half of these homes pay $146 over what they should be, the City of Chesapeake Va. may be over charging the home owners by as much as $5,256,000.