Pat Starnes

Don't miss the festivities tonight and tomorrow as the Mal's St. Paddy's Day Parade is scheduled for this weekend! Yes, I know it's after St. Patrick's Day, but the parade is tomorrow (March 21, 2009) anyway.

Tonight at Hal and Mal's, The Sweet Potato Queens Ball will take place from 7-11 p.m. This is an event you won't want to miss. Bring your sunglasses and wear your best bling and you'll fit right in. Tomorrow, the lovely ladies will be marching in the St. Paddy's Day Parade beginning at noon. Proceeds of the Queens March will benefit Blair E. Batson Children's Hospital.

The St. Paddy's Day Parade is always a lot of fun and one of the largest planned events for Metro Jackson. For a schedule of events, visit this site. Oh, here's the parade route. The Children's Parade starts at 11:00 a.m.

Be sure to visit Hal & Mal's for the post-parade street party, with live entertainment from the Bluz Boys and others.

Written and Publish By Pat Starnes, McIntosh and Assoc., LLC

This is the third weekly installment of my series, Foreclosure Friday. Each issue contains foreclosure tidbits and gives access to foreclosures throughout Mississippi via HUD, VA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

As I mentioned in my previous posts, when buying a HUD foreclosure, only owner-occupants can bid during the first 10-day bid period. The longer a HUD home remains on the market, the more likely for either a price reduction or for HUD to accept a lesser sales price.

Several of the properties are now listed for ALL BIDDERS, and will be sold to the bidder who submits an acceptable offer that nets HUD the highest dollar figure.

One property, for instance, at 3352 Patterson in Pearl MS, was reduced $7,000, but the bid priority has changed from ALL BIDDERS to Owner-Occupant. If by chance you are an investor wanting to place a bid on this property (or one in a similar scenario), you'll now be restricted until the 10 days have passed.

Some of the properties for sale are shown below. (Screenshot taken 12:01 Friday a.m.)

Remember that foreclosures are sold "as-is" with no repairs and you must be pre-approved before submitted a bid.

Buying a foreclosure can offer a considerable savings, but you must be willing to accept the house with whatever flaws it may have.

See all current HUD listings by visiting this site.

See all current VA listings by visiting this site.

Search Fannie Mae Foreclosures here.

Search Freddie Mac Foreclosures here.

If you have questions about any home you find for sale through these sites, or want to know what might be available through the Jackson MLS, let me know how I can assist you.

View the first article here.

Read the second week's article here.

Singing off until next time, unless you call me!

Today, I know more about Building a Greener Home than I did yesterday. The Home Builders Association of Jackson (HBAJ) sponsored a two-hour learning seminar to explain the National Green Building Standard and how the point system works in attaining certain levels of Green Building.

Our first speaker, Gary Smith, is a NAHB Green Building Verifier and local home inspector. Gary also serves as co-chair of the Building Green Works Committee at the HBAJ. The duties of an accredited Verifier is to ensure the home or building meets the GREEN qualifications set by the NAHB GREEN.

Gary led us through a power point presentation depicting how we have evolved from the first Earth Day in 1970 to the steps we are taking today to be more environmentally friendly with the changes and procedures in our Building Standards.

Building Green takes into consideration the site placement, design and construction of the building, efficient use of natural and renewable resources, and maintenance.

Our second speaker, David Smith, is a Certified Green Professional (CGP). David received An Award of Excellence for Innovation in Building Practices during last year's Fall Parade of Homes and has built four GREEN homes in the Metro Jackson area. David reviewed the steps that must be taken to certify a GREEN home. He discussed in detail building materials, higher R-values in insulation, U-values for window efficiency, and energy star appliances and products.

David also mentioned briefly the cost to the builder to construct a GREEN home, including the fees to register the home and the increased cost of material and labor charges. On average, it cost the builder $2,000 to $3,000 more to build a more energy-efficient GREEN home, but there are tax advantages (credits) that can offset most of the costs.

Chuck Morris with MS Home Corp stopped by and announced the Growing a Greener Mississippi contest. The contest will award 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes of up to $50,000 to the designated winners in the competition. Homes entered in the contest must be constructed according to the NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines. The home must be inspected during the framing stage and again at completion, and the maximum sales price cannot exceed $175,000.

Rules and requirements for the contest are available through Mississippi Home Corp.

The seminar was very informative and a fantastic opportunity to learn about Building Green. Further information can be found from HBAJ and NAHB GREEN.

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Pat Starnes, a Realtor since 1988, specializes in Mississippi Residential Real Estate and can assist you with buying or selling in the Jackson MS Metro area.

Search homes for sale in Brandon, Pearl, Flowood, Madison, Ridgeland, Florence, Bryam, or Jackson, MS.

Written and Published by Pat Starnes REALTOR

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Last week I wrote the premiere edition of Foreclosure Friday, a series of blog posts designed to discuss buying foreclosures. As a reminder, the tips in last week's issue were:

1. Arrange financing before beginning your search for a home.
2. Find a qualified agent to help you in your search for a foreclosure.
3. Foreclosures are usually sold "as is - where is" without any warranty or repair allowance.

Following is the process for buying a HUD foreclosure:

• When a property is first listed for sale through HUD, only owner-occupants can submit offers to purchase during the initial "10 day bid period". An owner-occupant, quite simply, is someone buying the home with the INTENTION OF LIVING in the property as their primary residence.
• If no-one purchases the property during the initial 10-day bid process, the status for bids will be changed to "All Bidders". Once the initial bid period has expired, investors are then able to sumit offers to purchase.
• All bids must be in writing and submitted through a real estate brokerage approved to sell HUD homes. Individuals are not allowed to submit a bid on their own behalf.
• Earnest money must be presented at the time of submitting an offer to purchase. In HUD's case, the dollar amount is either $500 or 1% of the purchase price, whichever is greater. If your offer is not accepted, the earnest money IS RETURNED TO YOU.
• Closing typically takes between 30-45 days.

CURRENT MISSISSIPPI FORECLOSURES

Currently, there are 35 HUD homes within the city of Jackson for sale. The city of Brandon has four available HUD homes priced between $66,600 to $96,000, and Pearl has four homes ranging in price from $63,000 to $116,000.

A new listing in Ridgeland, at 613 Harvest Road, is in the 10-day bid period and available to owner-occupants only. It is priced at $131,000.

One home is listed in Florence, MS at 573 Eaglewood Drive. It is priced at $121,000 and is open to ALL bidders.

See all available HUD properties in MS by referring to the weekly Foreclosure Friday report.

Search MS VA Foreclosures

Search all Fannie Mae Foreclosures

Search Freddie Mac Foreclosures

If the prospect of searching through all the foreclosures on a daily or weekly basis seems overwhelming, let me do the searching for you. Send an e-mail or contact me by phone, TELL ME WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR, and I'll do the searching for you. Or subscribe to my blog, Pat Starnes Snippets, where you will receive an e-mail each time a new blog post is written.

Until next time...

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Pat Starnes, a Realtor since 1988, specializes in Mississippi Residential Real Estate and can assist you with buying or selling in the Jackson MS Metro area.

Search all homes for sale in Brandon, Pearl, Flowood, Madison, Ridgeland, Florence, Bryam, or Jackson, MS.

Written and Published by Pat Starnes REALTOR

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If you are a first time home buyer, or haven't owned a home in three years, now is an EXCELLENT time to buy a home. My first post on the subject, Credit for First Time Homebuyers in MS depicts the differences between the old and the new stimulus packages.

If you purchased a home on or after April 9, 2008 but before January 1, 2009, you are entitled to a maximum tax credit of $7500. After January 1, the credit was increased to either 10% of the price or a maximum of $8,000, whichever is less.

What could you do with an extra $8,000?

Before January 1, 2009, the tax "credit" was actually an interest-free loan, to be repaid over 15 years through your annual tax return, beginning in 2010. Should you sell your home before the 15 years elapse, then the remaining credit would be repaid (in full) when the sale closes.

For homes purchased between January 1 and December 1, 2009, you must live in the home for three years without having to repay any portion of the credit. If you have not owned a home for three years, although you are not a "first-time buyer", you are still eligible for the tax credit.

The attached tax form, Form 5405, will explain how to file for the credit, whether you purchased a home in 2008 or 2009.

Rates are lower than ever. If you haven't purchased a home since January 1, 2006, with the additional tax credit available through December 1, can you think of a BETTER TIME TO BUY?

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Pat Starnes, a Realtor since 1988, specializes in Mississippi Residential Real Estate and can assist you with buying or selling in the Jackson MS Metro area.

Search homes for sale in Brandon, Pearl, Flowood, Madison, Ridgeland, Florence, Bryam, or Jackson, MS.

Written and Published by Pat Starnes REALTOR

By TwitterButtons.com