Let's say you bought a home in the first quarter of 2000, and wanted to know what it potentially is worth in today's dollars. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight has a great house price calculator tool on their website that helps provide general numbers for you. Keep in mind that it will not caluculate improvements (such as a home addition or gutting a kitchen in an older house), but it will show you the general trend of a home's value for your region. This tool works best for properties that are not an immediate buy and flip scenario.
Check it out! It was surprising accurate (within $5,000) on my own property): http://www.ofheo.gov/calculator/
Thank you Gary Eisenbraun for sharing this great tool with me today!
Many times these days when going to listing appointments all over Colorado Springs and Monument, it seems that I have become more of a financial counselor than a listing agent. Out of the last 12 listing appointments that I have been to recently, I have only listed one home. So many Seller's are upside down, having a second mortgage or no equity in the home, yet they are being relocated and must sell ... or so they think they must sell.
The resounding question is: "Can we at least break even?" Sometimes the answer is yes, but many times right now I will tell the Seller "I'm so sorry but I have to tell you the truth and not what you would like to hear, and that answer is, 'no'." Then I will give them advice on how much money they will have to prepare to bring to closing. This news is so hard on the Seller, and I spend a lot of time prepping for our meetings and doing elaborate market research to help them. Most of the time a short sale is not an easy or quick process for them either. I will tell my Seller that it is better to become a forced investor than a forced victim of the market. Several of my clients have taken this advice to heart, hired a property manager, and will ride out the market for the next two to three years.
However, there is always the one who will go ahead and list the home with someone else, with a price based on what will get them out of the house - not what the market will bare. My heart grieves when I see their attempt and watch the days on the market drag on. I can only hope for the best for these Sellers but know that after twelve years in this industry, I have found that telling a client the truth from the very start normally earns you a client for life and avoids false hopes that lead to greater disappointments.
Good news for buyers who were wanting to go FHA on their financing - the purchase limit for a single family home in El Paso County went back up to $325,000. Also, as of this year, the down payment is 3.5% on an FHA loan.
This website is very helpful for you if you are looking for a good resource to explain the Federal Tax Credit for first time homebuyers:
http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/2009/home2.html
This new credit, which has no payback required, is helping certain pockets of our market to have more movement! Yeah!
Every day in real estate should be a day of learning, and today was no exception. This is definitely something that all Brokers, Buyers, and Sellers need to be aware of:
I am representing a Seller and her home is currently under contract. The Insurance Objection Deadline is coming up, and I received a call from the Buyer's Agent asking for something that no other agent has asked me for in the past. He needed a copy of the Seller's CLUE report which would show the previous loss history (or previous claims made) against the property.
This opened up a whole entire discussion with my managing broker since the burden of obtaining property insurance is the Buyer's obligation per our Colorado Contracts. However, the Buyer's Agent brought to my attention that recently, an insurance company did not pull the CLUE report on this other property until AFTER closing, which put his Buyer in a bind as USAA deemed the house not insurable (again, after closing). The agent did not want to go through this experience with this current Buyer, so to be proactive, he asked me for a copy of the CLUE report.
Yikes! The Seller did not want to release this information because the burden of this research is the Buyer's obligation in the contract, and understandably the Seller did not want to be liable for something that was out of her scope of obligation. Now we are at a stale mate! What to do?
I called my own insurance agent for a clue (no pun intended). He is with American Family Insurance and told me that they NEVER pull the CLUE report on the previous owner which would give the past loss history on the house, they ONLY pull the CLUE report on the current Buyer. Danger, Danger: what about a past fire, flood, mold issue, etc? Unless the Seller discloses this the Buyer would not have a clue (ok this pun was intended) about these incidents.
In a normal transaction, this is usually not a huge issue, BUT, what about Bank-Owned properties? Buyers, you need to be understand that just because you may be able to obtain property insurance, you may not ever see the history of the house unless the Seller provides you with the CLUE report, or better yet, the Seller can authorize the Buyer to talk to their insurance agent so that the burden of investigation is still on the Buyer.
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Top 1 Per Cent in Sales, Cherise Selley, a Colorado Springs Realtor, assists internet relocation clients with buying of Colorado Springs Real Estate as well as local buyers and sellers.
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