Shawn Rooker

Email received just now from Sheri Munquia from the Austin Housing Fiance Corporation:

Dear Partners:

Together, we have helped many qualified families become homeowners by issuing over 2 million dollars in down payment assistance in Fiscal Year 2009-10. Consequently, the funds for Fiscal Year 09/10 have been committed. With continued support for the Down Payment Assistance Program, the City anticipates new funding for the program at the beginning of the fiscal year.

Effective immediately, the Austin Housing Finance Corporation will not be accepting Down Payment Assistance applications until the Fall of 2010.

Thank you for your continued partnership to assist individuals in our community with Down Payment Assistance, which has been a key instrument in transforming the dream of home ownership into a reality for many families.

Creating and retaining affordable housing is essential to ensuring Austin remains a vibrant place to live and work. We appreciate your partnership and look forward to working with you in the coming fiscal year.

This is the latest in East Austin Real estate, a tremendous part of Austin, TX with incredible growth, and wonderful curb appeal! If you are a first time home buyer in Austin, this is a great place to look for your first "fixer-upper". Just drive through the neighbrohood, and see what it has to offer. Take a look at this blog, The East Austinite, for some more information, or just give me a call for a tour of my favorite spots!

Here is a current snap shot of the homes available right now in East Austin (June 2nd, 2010). These charts will tell you the current prices and the range of prices in the east Austin area. You can see that the prices start at a level that is perfect for the Austin first time home buyer. With a little work, and a little renovation, most properties can be elevated to the upper level of home values in the area. This area is a great investment!

There are currently 129 homes for sale in East Austin, with 6 properties just listed in the past 2 weeks.

Here are a few homes that have virtual tours to view: 1904 Hamilton Ave. , 1114 Henninger St. , and 1208 Cedar Ave.

Contact me to view these homes, or to see what else is available in East Austin.

The average days on market for East Austin is currently 134 days, which is an increase from my last report of 2 weeks ago.

A grand total of 11 properties have sold in the past 2 weeks. This is also an increase from the last report.

One more chart, and this one is great for anyone who wants to list and sell their home in East Austin successfully. On average, in the past 30 days, homes sold for less than the list price by about 4%.

I hope this provides both buyers and sellers who are interested in this neighborhood with valuable information about the market in this area. Contact me directly for more information. I can provide a Comparative Market Analysis specific to your home if you are thinking about selling in East Austin. If you are a buyer, or an investor, contact me to take a look around! Don't forget about all the great first time home buyer down payment assistance programs out there, such as TDHCA Bond 77 and the Austin Down Payment Assistance Program.

This is an important question, and some first time home buyers may have a hard time answering it. Both new homes and resales have their pros and cons. Let's look at each.



New homes, they are new. Plain and simple, new home smell. But don't forget the tremendous new home warranty. Fix, replace everything, in most cases, for up to 10 years. New, energy efficient appliances are always nice, especially if they throw in the laundry room. Closing is very quick and easy. No inspections, surveys, or appraisals to deal with. Usually, you have some room to work with in financing a new home also. They can drop the price some, or lower interest rates. The community in a new home subdivision is also new. Everyone is a new neighbor. The new neighborhood usually has some great perks; pools, parks, dog walking, etc. What could be wrong?



The home is new, that means very little equity. Yes, you only own as much of the home as you have paid into it. So forget about selling for at least 6 years, and that's only if you work your mortgage payments correctly. It's a new community, that means we don't know how it will turn out, no previous history. Buy a house = you buy the neighbors. New homes have small trees, and big trees add to home value. It will take some time before those Charlie Brown Christmas trees are 40 feet high. And don't forget, new homes will settle a bit on their foundations. Nothing to be alarmed about, but it will happen, those vertical cracks in the paint. What else? Construction all around, possibly, there are new homes being built there after all. And lastly, no established market value. The entire community could be worth less in a few years due to market prices.



Ok then, maybe a resale home is better for me. We already have an established community, a known market price history, and bigger trees! More than that, if there are any problems with the house such as the roof, foundation, etc., we probably know about them. Someone has already lived in this house, worked out the bugs so to speak. Also, it is worth more today than it was worth last year or several years ago. After you purchase a resale, you could have a decent amount of equity built up. Don't forget the architecture of the older home; the charm of decades past.



On the other hand, this resale home might be OLD! Older homes have wear and tear, and we need to have them inspected thoroughly to find those problems the sellers may have under the rug (or rugs!). Also, they are not as energy efficient as the newly built homes. Structural problems with the house could be just on the horizon, unknown until after your first year in the home. Warranties are not usually as comprehensive with a resale, unless you purchase a better warranty. Appliances may not be updated, or may not exist. But hey, some people like fixer-uppers. Let's not forget to mention that closing on a resale home is much, much more complicated.



Be aware of these differences, and work with your Realtor to decide what is best for you. Your Real Estate agent can help you compare homes and research neighborhoods. Have all the information in front of you before you decide!

This program was just released by the Texas Department of Housing & Community Affairs. Its budget of $500 million is available to low and middle income first time home buyers in Texas on a first-come, first-served basis. This means as applications are received, funds are set aside. It can be used with many loan programs, FHA, Conventional, USDA, and VA; and on residential single family homes or approved condos up to approximately $258,690 in cost for non-targeted areas. This is a great program for first time home buyers in Austin and the entire state of Texas.

There are 2 different programs here: Assisted and Unassisted.

• Assisted : a second, silent lien of 5% of the mortgage amount to help with down payment and closing costs. This second lien is interest-free, and will have to be paid back after the 30 year mortgage closes. Interest rates are a bit above market rates, or about 5.74% interest rate approximately.
• Unassisted: no second lien, but the interest rate will be a bit below market rates, or 4.99% approximately

Who can use the program?

• First time home buyer occupant, it does not matter who else is on the loan, as long as the occupant is a first time home buyer and is on the deed
• Current home owners who purchase in a "targeted" area (see below)
• Meets income requirements (see below)
• Completes a certified Home Buyer Education course prior to underwriting, costs is about $400-$500 and can be completed online

"Targeted" area = low income areas, Travis county only has a handful of these areas: Census tracts 000604, 000802, 000804, 001000, 002311, 002316, check the status of your area here

Most of Travis county is a non-targetted area, but I can help you determine if the property you are looking at meets the criteria.

Income requirements:

• Sum of all persons' income (all sources) either living in the property or on the Deed
• Targeted area, 1-2 persons = $87,960 max
  
• Non-targeted areas, 1-2 persons = $73,300 max
  

Why use the program?

• I have a down payment, but I would like below market interest rates
• I need down payment or closing cost assistance

Restriction: Recapture tax!

If the property is sold within 9 years of the mortgage closing and they profit on the sale, the borrowers will have to pay the lesser of these two amounts:

• 50% of the net gain on the sale, OR
• 6.25% of the original mortgage amount

Example: If you purchase the property and close the mortgage for $130,000, and then sell the property 6 years later using a Realtor for $145,000 (considering 9% approximate fees for closing and commissions), you will net $1950 in profit. Your Recapture Tax would be $975. Disclaimer: this is only an example, and numbers would have to be confirmed by a lender.

Contact me if you would like more information (cell phone 512-789-2062), or are interested in taking advantage of this program!

My thanks go to John McClellan of Supreme Lending in Austin, TX who gave a great presentation on this program!

This is a snap shot of lease activity in East Austin, 78702, for the current week.  In future posts, I will combine this information with East Austin homes listed for sale.  For now, this is a great baseline.

Leasing a property in East Austin is a great idea if you want to "try out" the neighborhood.  There are new restaurants and retail stores springing up all over this neighborhood.  Some examples: Uncorked, Eastside Pies, Cheer Up Charlies, and Domy Books or Dean Frederick.  East Austin has a lot of new attractions, and the area continues to be developed.  Its proximity to Downtown Austin makes it very popular.

Here is a a chart showing statistics for all of the current properties for lease in East Austin:

There are 32 total properties that have been on the market for an average of 56 days, with 8 of these showing price reductions.

There are also nearly a dozen different condominium complexes in the East Austin neighborhood, such as Twentyone24.  In a future blog entry, I will tour these East Austin condos for you, but give me a call if you want to view them as soon as possible!

Here are the lease properties in East Austin that have leased in the past 7 days:

There were only 3 properties leased in the past 7 days, with an average 228 days on the market.  As you can see, most of these properties leased for more than they had been listed.

If you would like to lease your property here in East Austin, the price you set depends on the size and condition of your property.  From the chart above, it looks like the average lease price is $1.13 per square foot.  To find a specific market value for your property, contact me for a free consultation.

I can also help you find a lease property in this area, ar any East Austin homes for sale, so give me a call or send me an email!