Peter Tamura

I just got off the phone with our property manager, Vicki Berg, she manages about two hundred properties in Jenks and Tulsa. www.VickiBerg.com

It seems reasonable to assume that a lot of renters that can buy a home these days would do so between the first time homebuyer tax credit and the record low interest rates. So I called Vicki to get a first hand look at the rental market.

My question was this: Has the proliferation of first time buyers hurt the rental market?

Her answer was that although some buyers have used the tax credits to move out of the rental market that there were two main reasons why the rental market at the moment is staying strong. 1) The economic uncertainty and uncertain job outlook was causing a lot of potential homebuyers to stay put and renew leases. 2) The bank standards for mortgages has gone up so that many just don't have clean enough credit and cash flow to qualify for a home.

Jenks has always been a strong rental market due to the desirable school district and general growth of the suburbs in Tulsa. Jenks has stayed very stable during the economic malaise, the price per square foot of sold homes in the neighborhood I live in, Churchill Park has stayed steady at $91 a square foot for the last three years. (MLS data). Of course one of the reasons why it hasn't gone down is that it didn't participate in the appreciation in the way, CA, NV, AZ & FL and a few others did. However, there are many things going on in Jenks and the surrounding area that leave it poised for outstanding potential appreciation.

It's a great time to invest in Jenks, OK. For more information, call us or look for future blogs!

We met with our clients for inspections in a home in Owasso, they had mentioned to me that some of their friends had wondered why they were investing in inspections on a new home.

The EMP inspector (electrical, mechanical & plumbing) discovered a leak in the shower pan that was leaking water into the adjacent room. He estimated that it would be a repair that could cost as much as $3,000 as the tile would have to be ripped out to do the repair. The builder who was also there was not happy but resigned to taking care of it prior to closing. It may seem reasonable to consider foregoing inspections on a new home, but it is always easier to get repairs negotiated and done prior to closing.

It's an example of being penny wise and pound foolish, we always recommend that clients get appropriate inspections. Happy house hunting, for more tips on searching for your dream home, contact us at 918-770-6999 or email at PTamura@TulsaRealtors.com

A precautionary tale that with some hopefully nuggets of wisdom at the end.

Our seller is a hands on kind of guy that picks out his own pool service company. He has already moved out of town and is handling things remotely. I don't know how he picked out this particular pool person but it wasn't someone we knew or recommended.

It is apparent that there was some altercation between the seller and the pool person, there was a storm and some tree limbs fell into the pool, the pool needed a new liner. The cost of this was around $900.

The pool person called us and was worried that he was not going to get paid and "was thinking" about attaching a mechanics lien. We told him not to do so as the property was set to close in a week and we had his invoice arranged to be paid at close.

The home closes yet we find out a day later that a mechanic's lien had been filed a day before the close which the gap check missed. Ostensibly, the pool person's intent was to file the mechanic's lien to block the close and "punish the seller." His invoice was dated the 13th, the close was only ten days later.

The mechanic's lien includes the cost for filing the mechanic's lien and consultation with an attorney, an additional $600 over the original invoice.

Our title person is calling the seller but as the deal has already closed, the seller doesn't want to hear about it and doesn't return her calls. As the title has already changed hands, the mechanic's lien now has become the buyer's problem.

Conclusions:

* This pool cleaning company will never get business from anyone in our office. The guy was a little paranoid and didn't trust the counsel and advice from a realtor. An attorney is going to lean toward filing a mechanic's lien because he probably can't get paid for counseling the contractor not to file a mechanic's lien.

*The buyers' title company will probably end up eating the cost of the $600.

*Gap checks don't seem to do the job they are supposed to always.

*We might have given a headsup to the title company that he was thinking about filing a mechanic's lien despite the fact that we advised him not to.

*Sellers can cause problems for themselves by not using reputable contractors or people that are used to working with realtors on real estate deals. Our seller was lucky that the mechanic's lien was missed, it would have probably cost him and additional $600 to get the deal closed.

For those that are thinking about buying a home and taking advantage of the $8,000 tax credit, the window for this current tax credit is closing, the home purchase must close before December 1st, 2009.

Now this brings up several issues.

1. Will Congress extend/renew this tax credit? This will depend on the concensus of whether it is felt that the first time homebuyer has and will continue to stimulate the economy. As there is currently no assurance that the tax credit will be extended, it involves a calculated gamble of what one thinks is going to happen.

2. There is not enough time to build a house from scratch and close on time to qualify. Simmons quotes about 90 days from groundbreaking to completion and that seems quite fast. Builders, however, may have completed homes for sale.

3. Avoid short sales if you are trying to get the tax credit. In most cases, it's too difficult to predict if and when a short sale will close. Imagine the frustration of delays causing the disqualification of the $8,000 tax credit.

The typical contract period is 30 days or so, still leaving enough time to look for a house, get into contract and close. You would probably want to be in contract by the beginning of October at the latest. Keep in mind that any title issue or significant repairs may jeopardize closing on time.

As I check my clients from last year, I notice that about a quarter of them have not filed for Homeowner's Exemption. After the close of your purchase, within a couple of weeks your deed will be executed and filed at the County Clerk's office. You are now ready to file for your Homestead Exemption. Basically, you need to own and occupy the property to be eligible.

Your deed needs to be notarized before January 1st and filed before February 1st to qualify for the year.

Basically, it is a $1,000 exemption of the assessed value of your home, which will save you between $84 to $132 per year. (Tulsa County Assessor's Office)

The form is available at:

www.assessor.tulsacounty.org Go to the site and click homestead on the left hand column.

The information that you may not have at your fingertips is the legal description, ie. Block 1 Section 3 Churchill Park and the Account number. It says on the form that if you leave these areas blank and fill in the rest, they will look it up for you.

Then mail the application in to:

Ken Yazel

Tulsa County Assessor

Attn: S Denver Ave.

500 S Denver Ave.

Tulsa, OK 74103-3832

If you are not sure whether you filed or not, you can call the office 918-596-5143 between 8:30A-5:00P M-F or you can call me and I can look it up for you.

www.TulsaHomesPro.com