Localism: Mercer County, WV

Bluefield is # 1

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:37:29 -0600

Good news on the real estate front today. The USA today came out with a study of the last US census in regards to homeowners who own their homes mortgage free. There are over 120 areas in the country where more than 40 percent of homeowners own their home free and clear. What does this mean for those specific markets. These are markets that have not seen a "boom" in real estate or an exaggerated inflation, which causes many markets to see a gravity like effect or a correction in the market.

Two cities in West Virginia are listed as being in the top 5 for being mortgage-free. West Virginia's 12th largest city, Bluefield, WV comes out on top with 57% of people owning their homes with no mortgage. Bluefield, the air-conditioned city, also at one time had the distinction of being the highest elevation above sea level of any incorporated town east of Denver, Colorado, which I think has been taken over by a couple ski resort towns.

First step in buying a home

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:51:58 -0500

Usually the last thing a person or family does when buying a home should be the first step. This is what the average "Joe the Homebuyer" does to buy real estate. A call comes in to Century 21 about a property we are advertising through a real estate magazine, internet, or a sign on the property. Now if I take Joe to see the property and he wants to buy it we make a written offer to the seller of the property. Now most of the time people don't have enough cash to purchase a property, which means purchasing that property will require the bank to take a mortgage on it.

This advice is geared more towards first time homebuyers. Most people that have all ready bought a house will either have some equity in their home, some cash, or at least know what to do to get financing. First time homebuyers should start with a bank or a mortgage broker. The biggest factor that will determine how much you can afford to buy is the interest rate, which is determined by a number of factors. Credit score is a big factor, if you have collections or a bad credit score your interest rate may be too high for you to buy a house. Another thing banks consider is your debt-to-income ratio, which is simply how much income do you have a month compared to how much debt you are paying out. They can find some of this information from your credit score and some will come from your application. This is where discrepancies will come to light. When my wife and I went to apply for our first home loan we found out they had her student loans listed twice on her credit report.

Interest rate can make or break your monthly payment, which is why you should apply to more than one place for a loan. Different lenders will give you different rates. What happens many times is a person will look at several houses before they ever talk to a bank. Some people may find out that they are not ready to buy a home after they have all ready got their heart set on a house. So when your REALTOR ask you if you will be buying with cash or have talked to a bank. Just smile and say, "Don't worry I've been reading Adam's BLOG!"

Housing Slump

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:08:22 -0500

Today I got the dreaded call from a pollster. Now usually I don't entertain those types of calls asking me very detailed questions about political views, income level, and other personal details, but . . . she told me it would only take three minutes. Six minutes and fourty-two seconds later the survey was over.

During the survey she asks me what I do for a living and I proudly tell her I'm a self-employed Real Estate Agent. As she gets ready to hang up she says, "I hope this housing slump changes for you." She caught me off guard and I didn't get a chance to tell her what I'm going to tell you. Princeton, WV real estate is not in a housing slump.

Now before all the naysayers out there fall out of their chairs, let me explain. Have real estate sales slowed down? Of course, but real estate is and always has been a local market. Princeton, WV and West Virginia in general has not seen drastic appreciations in price except for two or three specific markets. We generally see about 3-5% appreciation every year depending on the areas. So when other areas of the country were seeing values drop by half their value, ours stayed pretty much the same.

The same thing that makes West Virginia wild and wonderful, the beautiful mountains, rugged terrain, and winding country roads, is one of our biggest obstacles to economic growth. Transportation to different areas in our state are very difficult due to the winding narrow roads, which is changing but slowly. There are new interstates coming into our state that will help with economic growth and development and the transportation of goods. An interstate going through the coal fields tied to Niagara Falls, NY on one end and Myrtle Beach, SC on the other end will bring an unprecedented amount of traffic and growth. Canada will appreciate the better roads to the beach (hopefully without the current speed traps they now face).

So, WV and real estate in many places in the country are in a very good position to stay strong in the near future. I anticipate many people may start putting money back into tangibles like Real Estate due to the danger of putting in the DOW. Let me know your thoughts and feel free to comment.