As of January 1st 2009, HUD began allowing a reverse mortgage to be used as a means to purchase a home. Qualifications for this option were comparable to typical reverse mortgage options (buyer must be the primary resident, over the age of 62, etc.) but there are some differences. For clients that are utilizing a portion of their equity from selling their existing home and looking to purchase a new one, HECM for Purchase could be an ideal option. To Learn More about this purchase option, visit the HUD Website.
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Most of us set goals and resolutions at the beginning of each year, but how many of us actually keep them? I'm not talking about goals about losing xx # of pounds, quitting smoking, going to the gym, etc., I'm talking about financial goals. During troubled times, reaching those goals may seem like an impossibility, but with some self-discipline and perserverance, you can accomplish those goals even in a recession. Afterall, most successful business people have actually prospered during troubled times. The key is to reinvent your lifestyle or businss to reflect these goals. Success lies with maintaining good habits and not falling back into your "old" ways of doing things. Some tips to acheiving these goals are to:
Remember, Thomas Edison and Walt Disney "failed" many times before accomplishing what made them famous. You're never too old to set goals and keep them. Good Luck!
For Austin Texas Real Estate information please visit http://www.RomeoM.com
Normally, January and February are the slowest months for real estate in Austin. This year is different. It seems like everyone I talk to in my industry is struggling to keep up with an unexpected, but welcomed surge in activity.
I'm not sure whether it's the warm weather, a more optimistic outlook, low interest rates, or a combination of all three. What I do know is that the buyers who are getting in the market now are finding some amazing deals on homes that didn't sell during the extraordinarily slow fall buying season.
If you don't believe my anecdotal evidence, according to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) the number of homes under contract during the last week of January was up 47% compared to the same week in January of 2008.
As I've said before, Austin did not experience the big upswing in home prices and is therefore less susceptible to price declines. However, there has been some correction. During the month of December, the average price for homes sold in the Austin area decreased almost 6% year over year. Looking ahead, as long as the housing inventory remains at or near equilibrium, which continues to be the case, we do not expect to see any significant further home price declines in the overall Austin market. As further evidence, PMI Mortgage, the leading mortgage insurance company, recently ranked Austin 9th out of 381 US cities as least likely to experience a further decline in home prices. For more information, visit http://www.RomeoM.com
As originally proposed, the Austin Energy ordinance would have required all homeowners to upgrade their homes to current energy standards before selling their homes. These mandatory upgrades could have cost thousands of dollars and put an extreme economic stress on cash strapped sellers. However, due to the efforts of the Austin Board of Realtors (ABOR) and city leaders, the city chose not to require homeowners to make the mandatory upgrades, but rather, require that some homeowners to conduct energy audits before the sale of their home. This ordinance goes into effect on June 1, 2009 and will apply to most residential, multi-family and commercial properties in Austin. For more Austin Texas Real Estate information, visit http://www.RomeoM.com
New information from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) show that the U.S. housing market may be reaching bottom and parts of the country on the way up.
The NAR index, which tracks contracts to purchase resale homes, shows a rebound in numbers from November to December and also showed an increase in the yearly results.
The index, adusted for seasonality, showed that the pending sales index for resale homes rose 6.3% in December to 87.7 from November's reading of 82.5, the lowest month on record. The index was up 2.1% from December of 2007.
The number of pending home sales increased about 13% Texas and the Southern and Midwest U.S., but fell about 4% in the West and 2% in the Northeast.
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Austin Texas Realtor specializing in residential sales in Sun City Texas
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