Buddy Pope

Market is heating up slowly but SURELY in Southern NH for over $325,000 all the way up to very expensive luxury homes and horse properties...not going gangbusters or anything but fielding many calls and having showings that were non-existent months ago. Web site hits on higher priced properties are climbing and interest level is from both local and far away sources. Video viewing durations are also up. 4th straight up month nationally for existing home prices which although coming off a bottom does not say much for home sale prices (still low) but does say that the bottom is here. Fears of upcoming new releases of foreclosures from BOA (Countrywide) etc. are true, but while this may affect other markets, it will have not so great an impact in Southern NH where the market is MUCH better than places like FL, AZ, CA, Nevada. Interest rates are low, prices are down, first time buyer tax credits incentives and step up buyer tax credits are in place...if you need to sell in order to buy in Southern NH, now is the time to sit with your REALTOR of choice and have him/her show you the numbers or send them to you in an EXCEL table spreadsheet.

I am hearing from many agents that appraisals are not showing accurate values in many cases. Some of the complaints I hear are that the comparables an appraiser can use only allow for 3 months back for sold listings and in many rural areas in this market that is sure not to produce enough comparables as some of these outlying towns have had only 3 sales of any homes in the past three months... period! Am also hearing that appraisers are being assigned still from distant areas in order to keep everything at arm's length and assure objectivity, yet in Southern NH one has to know the area because even from one abutting town to the next abutting town there can be large swings in value- in short the outside appraisers do not know the market area where they have been assigned in many cases and what might be valued in a particular area. What are the guidelines for choosing an appraiserf rom a lender's POV? In one case I have heard of a house appraising but the lender for the buyer did not accept it! Any appraisers in NH out there care to comment? What are the most recent guidelines and in what order are these guidleines "broken" if the comps are not available? Still, all is not bleak... there may be hope in terms of a general market turn around

Here they are for Amherst and Bedford NH May 08 to May 09...

http://www.thepopesaysrealty.com/amherstbedford0809.pdf

Please be sure to look at the criteria chosen for this report at the bottom of the pages so you know what the report is telling you. Please come back this blog every month for a new report. If you desire a customized report to be sent to you contact me at Buddy@Popesays.com Please legitimate buyers and sellers ONLY! The reports take some time to create! I will need contact information please only because I will need to know where to send it- a simple email address will do or give me more if that is what YOU want to do, it is NOT a requirement. Please read my privacy statement at: http://www.thepopesaysrealty.com/privacypoptoMLS.htm

I work with moderately to very wealthy clients and with the elderly at all income levels or stages of transition: http://www.nashuavideotours.com/virtualtours/sample/isleofledgewood/MLS.html

What if...?

• You could find an agent that did not require you to sign up foir anything!
• Your agent hired a home stager to give you a written report of what you needed to do to sell your home!
• You had an agent that provided every listing with a professionally shot video!
• Your agent provided market data snapshots for you on a customized basis to keep you informed
• You had one to two page summaries of your active competition and comparable sold properties including stats on Days on market, price per sq foot, original list to current or sold price, taxes...all on ONE or TWO sheets!
• Your agent gave you the exact logic by which they arrive at the suggested pricing for your home
• You had guaranteed page one Google placement for your listing on your agent's website
• You had a Realtor with local knowledge gained over a lifetime of living in Southern NH
• Your Realtor had years of negotiation experience
• Your Realtor had testimonials from some of the biggest names in business
• You needed and found an agent that had experienced firsthand the issues when dealing with elderly transition?
• You could actually get written feedback on all showings

What if? Buddy@Popesays.com BH&Gardens Real Estate- The Masiello Group www.masiello.com or www.popesays.com

Here it is in one spot- greater Monadnock area links for The Monadnock Region of Southern NH

This is not meant to be all inclusive and this poster makes no claim as to the accuracy of the information posted in these links. Still useful to have!

The market "chatter" is picking up here in Southern NH...calls into the office, website and video viewings, showings...so far this has not translated into a a lot of sales on the board, but it does mean that historically low interest rates are serving as an attraction to get those on the sidelines at least out and into houses for a look. Buyers are still very choosey so all the tips toimprove the curb appeal and have your house looking its best are still essential. The Credit crunch has definitely been a factor in at least 3 instances I have personally experienced in stopping a sale in its tracks...the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction in my opinion. For instance 80-10-10 loans will soon be a thing of the past...here it is from Jack Walsh at Great East mortgage recently:

"The guide lines in the Mortgage industry have sadly changed. The 2nd mortgage is virtually a thing of the past. If you have an 80% 1st they will give you a 5.00% 2nd with a great credit score... but it needs to be in a market classification "1" which means no homes have lost value in that county. [IF] the house you are purchasing is in a market classification "2" which means they allow no second mortgages over an 80% CLTV ( combined loan to value)," ... [then you are out of luck on an 80-10-10 and an 80-5-15.]

Other options like jumping to a jumbo loan require you open yourself to poorer rates, increased PMI...in my opinion the lending guidelines are throwing the baby out with the bath water. Hopefully the credit markets will loosen with the influx of taxpayer capital and the banks and other lending institutions will stop hoarding and start lending...don't get me started.

http://www.THEPOPEOFREALTY.com

http://www.monadnocklyceum.org/past_speakers.htm

http://www.macdowellcolony.org/

http://www.peterboroughplayers.org/

http://www.monadnockcc.com/

http://www.budgettravel.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2007/08/06/AR2007080600798.html

http://www.qcc.mass.edu/brink/Trav-rec/mt_monad/monadtr.html

http://clca.forestsociety.org/conservation-organizations/resources-by-town-results.asp?town=Francestown

http://www.harriscenter.org/

http://www.crotchedmountain.org/crotchedmountain/html/acpwaves.htm

www.happyvalleynh.org

www.wellschool.org

http://www.childrenandthearts.org/

http://www.monadnockart.org/

http://www.townofpeterborough.com/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B6D3E430E-D44B-4E9C-A454-F9231124A457%7D

http://www.mariposamuseum.org/director0705b.html

http://www.sharonarts.org/classes/%2004-fall-SAC-classes.pdf

http://www.sharonarts.org/

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=restaurants+peterborough+nh

http://www.townofpeterborough.com/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B6DF175F1-EF05-460C-B81F-FC99C0F5A4AA%7D

http://www.peterboroughartacademy.com/peterborough-art-camp-overview.html

Is The New Hampshire Real Estate Market at a Bottom?

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson wants to give the Federal Reserve more regulatory powers to monitor the books of financial institutions, like investment bankers Bear, Stearns and Co. Inc., private equity firms and hedge funds in order to stave off shaky accounting and lending practices which put the public, financial markets and the value of the dollar at downward risk in comparison to the Euro and other worldwide currencies. Such a move, if adopted and signed into law, would make the Federal Reserve a "super regulator" and give it the authority to stave off financial bubbles and imprudent accounting practices such as we have witnessed with Enron, Bear Stearns, Arthur Andersen, Tyco and on and on. Real lives ruined. Some say that market imbalances should be corrected over time by the market itself and those that made faulty investments should not be bailed out at the further expense of the US taxpayer. But in the case of the housing bubble the underlying loans were made to buyers whom could not absorb a down slide in the market and upward adjusting rates on their mortgages. When housing is at the very root of the US economy, when millions and millions of US homeowners are facing foreclosure and home builders and suppliers are unable to sustain in their lines of business, it would seem that some intervention is needed. Hopefully the Fed itself will rise to the occasion and will appoint independent monitors of its regulatory record and expanse going forward. In the case of the Fed buying out Bear Stearns, the consensus seems to be that this was a necessary move on a systemic level so that a chain of implosions did not carry our overall economy into deep recession or worse, outright calamity.

Curiously enough, as buyers largely continue to sit on the sidelines in this downward spiraling housing market, it does occur that although revenge may be sweet from the buyers' perspective, there will come a time when the ripe fruit of easily picked equity hanging on the lower branches of opportunity may quickly disappear. Buyers are still largely sensing that the bottom may be a great deal lower still, but there is evidence to the contrary. "How's the market?" is a common refrain being asked of agents these days and the answer in NH at least should be "which market are you talking about?" Some towns are down greatly year over year in sales and other towns are up. Houses are selling at some price points and not others. The sure-fire "over 55" retirement housing sales are suffering. Price reductions work in some price ranges and not others. Are you talking about new construction or existing home sales? Is there a home sale contingency involved in order to buy? Are first time buyers involved? What credit levels are now "acceptable" on which loan products? There is no general all-encompassing answer to the question.

Toward the positive, we have Lehman Brother's stock posting recent and meaningful gains. Weren't they the ones that were supposed to go the way of Bear Stearns? The NAR (National Association of Realtors) figures for the month ending in February 2008 actually showed an increase in existing home sales for the month of February over January nationwide by 2.9% handily beating analysts' estimates which had called for 9.88 million fewer existing homes to be sold nationally than were actually sold. The Northeast has done particularly well lately in existing home sales. The stock market somewhat inexplicably went up over 380 points yesterday, maybe on the news of the Federal Reserve being given more expansive regulatory powers. Then there are suggestions by Congressman Barney Frank (Democrat - Massachusetts) that the lenders take on a certain amount of loan forgiveness in cases where the lendee has a realistic chance of making payments. Not a bailout, rather a workout. None other than Donald Trump has recently stated that the bottom is near since the bad news about the sub-prime debacle is largely if not fully out on the table. The spring market is coming and traditionally that is the best time of year for marketing and selling a home. Interest rates are still historically low. The NH-based office at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Amherst NH has shown more sales than listings on its monthly board over the last 2-3 months. The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, has finally uttered the "R" word- recession. I suspect in an election year that means the worst is already behind us, that we are not heading downward still. It's the politics, stupid.

So if you are a buyer in this market, especially one without a home sale contingency, then now is an excellent time to buy. Picking the exact bottom in this market is a fool's game. The signs of a turn-around are showing themselves. The inventory, while still great, is being slowly chipped away. This slow chipping away at the housing inventory accompanied by some "tough talk" by agents, backed by sellers whom are willing to be educated about market value based on actual sales and pending listings- all this will pave the way for even those buyers that do have home sale contingencies...it will become an even-keeled market again.

It is possible today, right now, to purchase properties that have been foreclosed on at bargain basement prices, however this opportunity to grab this "instant equity" won't last forever. The market is still tricky, but buyers beware...if you wait to "catch the exact bottom" you will be waiting at the curb when the bus rolls on without you. If you have a home sale contingency, please consider getting an updated Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) done on your home and further reexamine your unwillingness to lower your price. If you decide to "get real" too late, it may be exactly that, too late, not on your selling end necessarily, rather too late on your BUYING end because "bubbles" work BOTH ways-what has been overblown as a "downside bubble" will see its vacuum quickly filled when the market revives. Again, interest rates are historically low. FHA and VA guidelines for lending have been relaxed. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guidelines are tougher, true, but that will be considered a boost to overall market and credit confidence going forward. NOW is the time to talk to a REALTOR and find out what the market is doing...the market for YOUR particular situation.

Buddy Pope 4/42008