Dana Couch-Davis

Ok, today I'm in a blogging mood ... what can I say!

My church, Shady Grove Presbyterian Church as 5530 Shady Grove Road (the corner of Yates and Shady Grove) has been around for about 52 years or so. It has always been a very special place. It is well known for being a leader in the Memphis community and I've always appreciated what the church had to offer to the community as a whole.

I grew up in this church. My Mother was the second woman to be ordained an Elder in this church. My Dad was Treasurer of this church (and they are still going in spite of that period). This is a wonderful church that has gone through some tough growing pains and failed leadership in the past few years.

I just moved back to Memphis a couple of months ago. I've been away for 20 years, but when I Mom died back in August, she had told me to make sure that her friends at the church knew about her passing. I followed her wishes of course being the dutiful son that I am.

When I call the church who else would answer the phone but the Pastor, Rev. Jarad Bingham. He talked with me for about 90 minutes or so as I was speeding back to Baltimore to mourn her passing. One thing that Jarad asked me to do was to come by and see him when I got settled.

Well we got together. He is a WONDERFUL person and I went back to Shady Grove to see if as a Minister he was that great. Well, he's better than great.

But he has instituted a program on Fridays at 6PM at the church call Casual Fridays. It's blue jeans or whatever is your casual mode. For me on a Friday it is more about taking the tie off for the rest of the day. It is so wonderful. It is open to everyone and you don't have to be a member of the church. It is a wonderful laid back, easy going, sort of gathering. Nothing too much and nothing too less. No big sermon (although that's not Jarad's thing, but musings and mumblings). It is certainly something you might want to try out and visit.

You can also check out more on it at Facebook.com/casualfridays.

See you there!

Are we out of this gray market yet or not? There seems to be some conflict on where home values are headed in the next few months. Among those issues are how much the houses are decreasing in value versus the perception of individuals related to the decrease in value.

In a recent survey, 49% of the respondents said that they believed their homes were decreasing in value and according to Zillow.com the percentage of houses that are decreasing in value is actually 72%. So that is a 23% discrepancy in the report. So what is really going on with housing values. Are they going down, stabilizing, or are we seeing a shift in the market that is upward.

One of the age-old adages of Real Estate is .... drumroll please .... "All Real Estate is local!" And that truly is the case. All real estate is local and we have to remember that real estate is a local commodity. I had a client (a couple actually) that were looking several years ago at investment housing and a principal residence for themselves. As we wrote offers on the various properties that they were looking at, they would low-ball the offers continuously. Over and over until I let them find another agent. Their rational, they were economists and they were looking at the statistics (which were declining in 2006) for the national market. But they were not able to see the fact that real estate is local. The DC market where they were looking was not experiencing the type of implosion that other markets were experiencing at that time. What my clients didn't get was that they have to look at what is occurring in the local market and then apply the economic forecasts to the market in which they are buying.

I don't pay anywhere near the amount for gas, milk, eggs, etc in Memphis that I did in DC! The cost of living here is lower and vis-a-vis it makes living here much easier. These are the things that people HAVE to remember when dealing with the market.

This past Friday our Office Administrator sent out the August 2009 with 2008 comparisons of the Memphis real estae market The one thing I noticed was tha overall the market is still down, even from 2008, but that prices in the market are a little higher in 2009 than in 2008. That shows some improvement.

I'm not sure the impact that the Housing Stimulus, called the First Time Homebuyers Tax Credit, is having on the local market right now. I think prices are up but we weren't seeing in August much of an increase in the number of individuals who are purchasing. So I'm wondering what has been going on in the August market. I'm thinking I'm probably going to find out in the coming month.

But on a good note, our office is seeing increased numbers over last year. In September 2008 we had 119 sales and in September 2009 we had 145. That is an 18% increase which shows that in East Memphis (where our office is located) something good is happening. Also we have been tracking the number of appointments that our wonderful Appointment Center process each week. Those numbers are up as well. So we are seeing an improved market at Crye-Leike Quail Hollow, it just seems right now that we aren't seeing it over the entire market.

Make sure you follow the link at www.REALTORS.org and contact your Federal Elected Officials and let them know we need to have another year of the $8000 like it is this year. I got an e-mail from Sen. Robert Corker (R-TN) the other day and he is supporting the initiative and I know that our Congressman from Memphis, Rep. Steve (a really good guy) Cohen, (D-TN) is also supporting extending the tax credit.

And don't forget that in reality we have only about 9 DAYS LEFT for a Purchase Contract to go through underwriting, appraisal, and get to the closing table by November 30. Your transaction turns into a pumpkin on December 1!

There was an interesting article in the Memphis Commercial Appeal. In this article, it stated that of the 12 Federal Reserve Regions, 11 of them were beginning to show a robust return to business as usual. The one region not reporting this wonderful and good news was the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank.

An interesting historical footnote to this post. Memphis is the bankruptcy capital of the U.S. In fact, it was U.S. Congressman Walter Chandler (a future Mayor of Memphis) who initially introduced bankruptcy creation legilation. Mr. Chandler was succeed years later by his adopted son, Wyeth, who would serve many years and go on to be a Circuit Court Judge until his death.

But with the first paragraphy in mind there are lots of foreclosures, bank sales, and short sales to be had in Memphis, They are very difficult but they are there. Well while the St. Louis region of the Feds is not rebounding, the real estate market in Memphis is beginning to rebound. Pending sales are up at 8% and listings are down 3 %. That is good The inventory is shrinking and sales are growing.

So the ST. Louis FEd Reserve may be having problems, we we in this ae dan't yet.!

Dna

There was an interesting article that I've just read regarding Lenders and Fannie Mae Policies. Apparently in a local situation (like may be declining market or something else) the lender can ask for certain waivers on policies of Fannie Mae to adjust to th elocal market. In fact, they are so anxious for REALTORS to understand the policies they them online for us at eFannieMae.com. Isn't that just darn sweet of them.

What Fannie Mae says apparently that many times they are the scapegoat for the policies of the Lender and not necessarily Fannie Mae. One of the more heartening things to read about in this article is that it states that when you file an exception to a Fannie Mae rule (which can be done online) that what happens is that it is reviewed and a decision is made typically within 24 hours (not bad for government work). But they say many times the boon doggles that we get mired in are not anything to do with Fannie Mae but with the policies at the Lender.

So when you are tyring to get an exception to a Fannie Mae rule find out whether or not it can't be done because of Lender rules or is it a Fannie Mae block. If it is a Fannie Mae block request an exception (you'll probably get it since it is based on local info) and if it is the lender's policies or the lender refuses to do the right thing and apply for the exception, then find another lender.

Most of the lenders I have spoken with tell me that they would understand the situation and it gives them an ample point as to why there needs to be more flexibility in their rules.

Good Luck!

Dana