About Chesapeake City County, VA

REIN- Real Estate Information Network - January 2010 - Summary - A view from our ChesapeakeMultiple Listing Service

REIN is our local Multiple Listing service. It is independently owned by broker stockholder members. It serves the areas in Tidewater or Hampton Roads, including Williamsburg , the North Carolina border and all the cities in between.
Although you have to take in to consideration that these are average prices and each city would have different results, if done city by city. This market report done by our local Multiple listing is done for the entire Hampton Roads area.

Our local market seems to be on the recovery, but we must not forget that a very large percentage of the homes sold were distressed sale, short sales and bank owned properties.

Every spring we get the military transfers coming in, so If you are thinking of selling your home please give me a call ASAP.

To SELL or BUY Real Estate in Virginia Beach, or Hampton Roads visit my website. http://www.tererottink.com/ visit my Blog at HamptonRoadsrealEstateVoice.com

Call me at: 757-502-5324

REIN- Real Estate Information Network December 2009 Summary A view from our Virginia Beach MLS was first published on Hampton Roads Real Estate VoiceCopyright © 2009 By Tere Rottink, All Rights Reserved.*REIN- Real Estate Information Network December 2009 Summary -A view from our Virginia Beach MLS

Fannie Mae Incentives and Federal Income Tax Credit for home buyers in Chesapeake - Virginia

A 3.5% incentive is being offered for the purchase of a Fannie Mae-owned house. This is only for home buyers who close the purchase of a home between January 28 and April 30, 2010. Buyers of homes in Chesapeake Virginia will receive up to 3.5% of the final price for:

- Closing costs

- New Whirlpool appliances

- Or a mix of both. Up to a maximum of 3.5%

The offer must be accepted and the deal must close before May 1, 2010. These incentives only apply to owner-occupants.

Individual lenders may impose limitations, so ask your lender to make sure they are participating fully on the program.

On top of that Chesapeake home buyers and sellers must take advantage of the Federal Income Tax Credit, which runs through April 30, 2010 with a 60 day cushion after that date to complete closing.

Some details:

- $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers in Chesapeake -Virginia.
- $6,500 tax credit for existing home owners who have lived in their current residence for at least five years but want to relocate to a new primary residence.

*** Consult an accountant, lender or attorney for specific details on refunds for these incentives*** I have referrals for all these sources.

Lets do the numbers on a Chesapeake home purchase of:

$ 200,000 x 3.5% = $7.000 plus $8.000 Tax credit = $15.000 //+$ 6.500 = $ 13.500

$ 250.000 x 3.5% = $8.750 plus $8.000 Tax credit = $ 16.750 //+$ 6.500 = $ 15.250

$ 300.000 x 3.5% = 10.500 plus $8.000 Tax credit = $ 18.500 //+$ 6.500 + $ 17.000

Call me today to take advantage of these incentives. 757-502-5324 or send me an email at: Tere.Rottink@yahoo.com

Below are the properties available for sale in Chesapeake and and surrounding areas at this time. To view any of this homes contact me. To view all the listings available please visit my website

Fannie Mae incentives and Federal Income Tax Credit for home buyers in Chesapeake - Virginia was first published on Hampton Roads Real Estate Voice Copyright © 2010 By Tere Rottink, All Rights Reserved.* Fannie Mae incentives and Federal Income Tax Credit for home buyers in Chesapeake - Virginia

Here are few ways to list your house the wrong way and keep it on the market for a while.

List it High Because I Know Someone Will Offer Less
List the house on the high side because you know every buyer is looking for a bargain. When a home seller interviews a Realtor® it's easy for them to get caught up in the excitement of choosing a sales price. If they can get more money for the home, it means more financial opportunities for the homeowner. Maybe it means they can afford to buy a larger, more expensive home, pay off some bills or take a vacation. Unfortunately, uninformed sellers often choose the listing agent who tells them they will list it at the highest list price. Don't let the agent "buy" the listing. That is, by far the worst mistake the seller can make.

Establishing Value Yourself
Pick a number and stick with it. Don't listen to your hand picked Realtor®. The reality is that it doesn't matter how much money you think your home is worth. Remember, the only person whose opinion really matters is the buyer who is going to make an offer, and of course, the appraiser. Pricing a house is part science and part art. It involves comparing similar houses in similar communities, making the necessary adjustments for the differences between them, charting market movements and measuring the amount of housing inventory, all of this in an attempt to help determine a range of value. This is the same method appraisers use to evaluates a house. No two appraisals are exactly the same; they are however, generally close to one another. There is no hard and fast way to just stick a price on your home.

How It Goes Wrong From The Start
Don't interview real estate agents. Pick the first agent off the Internet because, "He looked like a nice guy." Price the high because you want more money out of the house or the agent bought the listing. Lets' price it at $300k. After 90 days of sitting on the market, the listing expired.

Don't Stop Now
The next agent she hired listed the house at $250k. Months passed and eventually she dropped the price to just under $235k, still no offers. A few people looked at the house, but no serious buyers came forward.

What's In A Year
By the time the last agent was hired to list the house, the seller (and the house) had grown exhausted and weary. It was now more than 12 months later. The seller and the agent then priced the home at $205k and it sold very quickly. The sad part is that the comparable sales in the neighborhood fully justified a price of $235k, but the home had been on the market for too long at the wrong price, and now the market had slowed.

Protect Yourself
The question is how much money expired listings cost the real estate owner? The financial losses often exceeds the extra mortgage payments paid and goes beyond the cost or the hassle factor of trying to keep a home spotless during the listing period. It affects the value that a buyer ultimately chooses to pay because it is no longer a "fresh" listing. It's now stale, dated, a home that was overpriced for too long. Don't let it happen to you. Don't be that seller of an expired listing. Be sure to hire a professional Realtor® to price your house correctly from the beginning.

The North Landing Bridge has reopened. The bridge connects Chesapeake and Virginia Beach. The bridge has been closed for more than two months for repairs. The repairs were delayed because cold weather interfered with the concrete work according to the Army Corp of Engineers web site.

The span is located where Mt Pleasant Road changes to North Landing Road. It was built in 1951 according to the Army Corp of Engineers.

The steel grid and the concrete surface was removed and replaced. They also repaired some underwater support pilings, and worked on concrete abutments. Traffic control gates were also replaced and lights and poles were painted. Lastly the bridge house was upgraded and a storage building was added to the site.

It is important for everyone to know that FHA Guidelines for new loans will change again around Feb 1st, 2010. This will effect new buyers and those trying to sell a home.

Changes are designed to help stabilize the market but the effect is to be determined.

The changes include:

1.Increase the up-front mortgage insurance premium (MIP) to 2.25%;
2.Update credit score and down payment requirements for new borrowers; (check with your loan officer)
3.Reduce seller concessions to three percent, from six percent; and
4.Implement a series of significant measures aimed at increasing lender enforcement.

Obviously these changes will:

For new buyers- you will need to Save and come up with more of your own money for closing cost and down payment requirements.

Thus Creating a stronger buyers market. There will be less buyers in Hampton Roads and every where else ready to buy(preapproval and money in hand) ready to qualify for the already thousands of homes on the market. But for those buyers that are ready this will put you in a great position to try to get a deal on price. (If the owner has equity and if the property meets FHA Appraisal guidelines) Because, you will have less competition.

Sellers will have even more competition and may be forced to do more short sales as comparable properties will start reducing prices to attract the qualified buyers, More owners will owe more than there home is now worth (appraisal wise), And in this area with military moving in and out this will be a big problem. I can see the Catch 22 starting to brew.

New Buyers- call your lenders to discuss the changes with your lender asap. You must understand how this will effect you before you can write an off

This info brought to you buy The Hampton Roads Real Estate Lady!

Visit my website,
Deandrea "Dee Dee" Jones
Associate Broker Wainwright Real Estate Virginia Beach, VA DJones Real Estate Team
www.DJonesSellsHomes.com blog: DJonesRealEstateBlog.info
I can help you relocate NATIONWIDE!