Peter Tamura

Well, the low end market seems to be getting a lot of help these days. With first time homebuyers (and buyers who have not owned a home in three years) getting the $7,500 tax credit, this should significantly stabilize prices in the first time homebuyer price range. In areas like Tulsa, Broken Arrow and Bixby, I consider this price range to be $100K-$130K. The bailout bill being discussed in the Senate right now may do away with the provision that one has to pay this back at all as long as the house is held onto for at least three years. The Tulsa market has been one of the most resilient markets as it is, things are looking up for the low end market. For first time homebuyers, coupled with the lowest interest rates in years, (5.25% thirty year fixed for applicants with good credit as of 2/2/2009 per Valley National) Lynn Majors 918-524-3620, it amounts to the best time to buy a home that I have ever seen.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/01/news/economy/Senate_stimulus_housing/index.htm?postversion=2009020210

The higher end on the other hand, is not faring as well. In Tulsa County, one might consider the starting range to be above $271,050 for a single family home, which is the limit for FHA loans. Look at FHA.com for different counties. According to the Wall Street Journal article below, some banks are purposely pricing themselves out of the Jumbo market because they don't want to take on the risk and there is little secondary market for these loans. The problem is twofold, buyers who want to buy in this price range will find it very difficult to get a loan and have to put more money down, sellers will find it difficult to refinance and it will take them longer to sell their house.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123310421416822271.html

So if the low end market starts to do better and the higher end market does worse, are we making progress with housing or just running in place...

I was at my listing client's home the other day and she asked if we had posted her home in the MLS.

I told her of course, (it had been in there for five days) and we walked over to her computer to find out why she couldn't find her home.

She typed in MLS.com, then searched area and price range so her home should have popped up in the search.

Lo and behold, when she clicked on the search, she was redirected to Homegain and the house was not there! I proceeded to show her that the home was listed in the MLS and that she could find it on Realtor.com or REMAX.com.

People are not getting what they think when they type in MLS.com and the database that Homegain is using is not updating in a timely manner or not showing all MLS data. It is now eight days and the home is still not showing up on MLS.com.

I sold a house to a nice couple last March, since then their daughter had expensive surgery, they got divorced, he was making the house payments on his own but has fallen behind (around three payments) and wants to talk about doing a short sale. It's unfortunate how quickly things can unravel sometimes.

I think the $7,500 tax credit can help struggling new homeowners in these types of predicaments but in this case they bought the house before April 9th, 2008 when this tax credit went into effect. (It currently expires July 1, 2009).

A lot of banks are doing workouts right now as they don't want to add to their pile of foreclosures. As is the case when we are working with lenders and banks on short sales, be persistent and find the right person to talk to. We have found that you can talk to four or five different people at a bank and get different answers and different levels of helpfulness. Below is an article about Las Vegans seeking loan workouts. By all accounts it is a grueling process.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98017796

People in dire straits often get frustrated and don't make good decisions. The thing to remember is that eventually you will get a new job or find someone new, and then you will want your house back. If a home gets foreclosed, generally, the person who had the home foreclosed will have to wait three years before being eligible to get a mortgage again. The biggest case for trying to hang on to the home for now is some level of assurance from President Obama that this foreclosure crisis will be addressed in the next month or two:

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/09/news/economy/stimulus_housing/ind

The rules are always changing now, and it's hard to keep on top of everything, but there will be some help on the way in 2009 and interest rates are going down, so try to hold on to the house!

We'd looked at about twenty four houses, and wrote an offer on one. It was the nicest house in a medium house neighborhood, I had some concern about regression (from real estate class, when the biggest homes in a neighborhoods values tend to regress to the mean) and we didn't quite bid high enough to get it.

Then I tried something new. I took out all the square footage requirements that my clients had suggested and, lo and behold, some new construction homes popped out. Of course, a lot of builders don't put their square footage in for their homes so I had been inadvertantly excluding them. Out popped Providence Hills, a new community in Jenks with Bixby schools. We looked at some Simmons homes in the subdivision. My clients were amazed by the amenities at the subdivision, splash park, basketball court, stocked fishing pond, swimming pool, clubhouse and walking trail. Also, the value was amazing, they were getting about 500 square feet for a custom brand new home compared to the five year old home they were looking at. Also, Simmons offers fantastic options on subsidized financing!

Fourteen years ago, when Greg Simmons was starting in the business, my mom helped sell two of his homes in Owasso. Greg sent her two dozen flowers in appreciation. To this day, my mom talks about that! Simmons is now the biggest builder in Tulsa. Now generally, realtors and builders have an uneasy alliance but Simmons decided early on to embrace and support realtors and offer great deals to consumers. In a realtor appreciation breakfast that Simmons recently held, Greg was talking about how lucky he has been. Yes, he is lucky to have been in the Tulsa market and escape the troubles that a lot of the national builders are now facing, but certainly lucky and smart.

Simmons was recently involved in "New Orleans" Extreme Makeover, Home Edition. It will be on the finale of the popular ABC series, May 18th as a two hour show. Take a look at http://extremesimmons.com/.

On Monday in the WSJ, there was an article about whether companies are rewarded for being socially responsible. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121018735490274425.html Have a look, it's very interesting, but it warms my soul to see a company like Simmons Homes succeeding.

Well, Monday was my birthday and I've been really busy all week but today a Heartland Steak was delivered to me at the office to the extreme jealousy of many of my colleagues. There was nothing on the outside to tell me who it was from, I guessed that it was probably my mom or my wife. Inside there was a card from........Simmons Homes! Do I need to tell you that I am a big fan?

For all the buyers' agents purchasing homes, it may be prudent to add a roof inspection to the slate of inspections for your buyers as a safeguard due to the recent hailstorm.

In addition, if the home is in contract, and the roof in question does need repair, the seller probably needs to contact their insurance company to make a claim on their insurance to repair any roof damage. You certainly wouldn't want your buyers stuck with this new expense but depending on where you are in the contract, it may force both parties back to the negotiating table, especially if the sellers have a big deductible for roof repair in their homeowner policy.

I was around 61st & Memorial when the hail happened, (around 3:30AM), I opened the door and watched as it came down. I braced myself for the sound of windshields cracking, but at least where I was, the hail didn't get big enough, but it did leave twenty or thirty mini-dents on my car, observable if you really look. Lots of people told me that the hail woke them up, what a morning!