Fred Schmidt

Passed by the House early in October was a bill extending the $8,000 home buyer tax credit next year for military, diplomatic and intelligence personnel serving overseas. This increases the likelihood that Congress will write an extension of the $8000 tax credit program into 2010 but of course there is no guarantee. Hopefully, lawmakers appreciate the tax credit program, currently slated to expire November 30, as a critical component in "saving and creating" jobs. The $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers is scheduled to expire on December 1, 2009. However, in order to qualify, the transaction must be closed on or before November 30th, essentially leaving first-time buyers with less than 35 days to complete the process. At this point, this assumes a "Chinese Fire Drill" approach in order to take advantage of this program if you haven't already began the process. While the urgency of trying to find and close on a home before the deadline may seem stressful, it doesn't have to be, unless you want it to be a... "Chinese Fire Drill". "Yes, the tax credit is encouraging first-time homebuyers, but we're concerned that people could miss out on this unique money-saving opportunity if they haven't anticipated the time necessary for closing," said Coldwell Banker Schmidt Realtors General Manager Tom Gray. "While every home purchase is a unique experience, we are encouraging first-time homebuyers to be under contract within the next few days in order to participate in this "soon to not likely be extended"... Chinese Fire Drill." Please assume your positions.

Traverse City Real Estate Market is in fact better. The numbers don't lie!!! From July 1^st 2008 to September 25th 2008 there were 270 closed residential sales reported in the Traverse Area Association of Realtors (TAAR) MLS system. During that exact period of time for this year there were 303 closed residential sales reported. That's a 12% increase over 2008! Another positive note is that of the 303 residential sales only a total of 68 were either bank owned, foreclosures or pre-foreclosure homes. Again, this is good because prior to this, foreclosures represented approximately 35% of the closed sales in Traverse City. Now that number is only 22% over the last 86 days.

"It just feels better" according to Josh Croff of Coldwell Banker Schmidt Realtors 402 E Front Street office. "Any first time home buyer I work with has had to be disappointed by the number of properties that are already "under contract" waiting to close" says Mr. Croff. He continues "Your buyer picks out 15 listings to look at and of those 15, 7 are not available to show because they have a contract signed".

The fact that the number of closed foreclosure homes is shrinking is good news for both regular folks trying to sell their home unencumbered by a shortfall and good news for real estate prices. If this trend continues then prices should level off as compared with a consistent decline we've seen in recent months.

The bottom line is this: Now is a great time to buy and now is a great time to sell. Buyers are "coming out of the woodwork" The "two minute warning" is here. Two months to close for first time home buyers to qualify for the $8000 tax credit. November 30^th 2009 it ends...unless it gets extended. Let's hope it does! Either way Traverse City Real Estate Rocks!

So the big question is how many foreclosure homes closed in May 2009 in Traverse City? 26 homes out of 88 were tagged as foreclosure or bank owned in Traverse City for May 2009. That represents about 29%. The better news is right now if you complete a search for foreclosure and bank owned homes in Grand Traverse County, there were only 74 such homes available as of June 12, 2009. That means that there is less than a 3 month supply of foreclosure/bank owned homes on the market today in Traverse City Michigan. With the number of foreclosures starting to perhaps taper off, there could be a chance that prices may begin to climb again in the near future. Please see below the diverse mix of foreclosures in Traverse City Mi:

Stay away from foreclosures!

Did I hear you right? Stay away from foreclosures? Are you on drugs? Yes, but that's beside the point.

I was talking to a first time home buyer in Traverse City recently that made a conscience effort to avoid buying a bank owned property. Why? He simply said "I got tired of being 3d in line and out bid by other buyers." It's true. The competition is fierce in some markets. Traverse City real estate is getting to that point where buyers are getting frustrated at what I call "the foreclosure cluster offer period whereby people get angry syndrome" or FCOPWPGAS. Yes FCOPWPGAS is new acronym that I am pushing out to see if it gets any traction. So what is the solution to FCOPWPGAS? This aforementioned buyer decided to buy a regular guy's house! Imagine that. A regular guy's house sells to an x-foreclosure buyer! Why? The "regular people" are pricing their homes to compete with the foreclosure properties in Traverse City. Yes, it happening, this is a good sign and it does make sense. Think about what's happening. Foreclosure homes tend to be in need of monumental TLC. TLC = mucho $$$. So if you have a choice to buy a "regular guy's" house that's priced great and needs no (major) work and a bank owned home that needs roof, windows, plumbing, carpet, doors, walls, appliances, kitchen.....need I say more? Again, add to the mix the bidding war for foreclosure homes...yes..."you may want to stay away from foreclosures " to avoid FCOPWPGAS.

To see all Broker foreclosures in Traverse City click here.

To see all Broker "regular folks" homes and foreclosures click here.

Affordable housing in Traverse City has never been better.  There are 137 homes tagged as Traverse City foreclosure or bank owned  in Grand Traverse County as on April 30 2009.  43 of these 137 Traverse City homes for sale are $150,000 + in value.  10 of these Traverse City foreclosure Homes are between $300,000 and $825,000.  So the message is "they are not all dives".  You can buy a nice home in Traverse City Michigan for a great price at http://www.cbgreatlakes.com/Search/Foreclosures .

To get a taste of great deals nationally please see this video: