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Canyon County Foreclosures Rise 53%

December 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment

CANYON COUNTY — After dropping substantially in September, Canyon County foreclosures jumped 53 percent in October, according to data released Thursday.

New foreclosure filings dropped 41 percent to 193 in September before rebounding to 296 last month, Idaho Data Providers.com reported.

So far in 2009 a total of 2,815 new foreclosure starts have been filed in Canyon County. This is a 284 percent increase from 2007, when 732 starts were filed, and a 65 percent increase over 2008, when 1,709 starts were filed in the same January through September period.

Canyon and Ada counties combined saw two straight months of decline in foreclosure starts the months of August and September — down a combined total of 29 percent from the peak 819 starts filed in July.  However, October is back up 31 percent over September with a total of 790 foreclosure starts being filed in Ada and Canyon counties.

“After seeing the 31 percent increase in October, this brings foreclosure starts back up to the consistent plateau that we have been seeing throughout 2009,” Idaho Data Providers.com President Charlie Nate said in a press release. “Historically in the past years we see a general seasonal slowdown in the months of November and December and so we should see between 600 and 700 starts being filed in each of the next two months” for the combined two-county area.

Nate said this slowdown should give the local real estate community some time to clear some of these distressed properties off the market.

CALL JOSH FOR FOR FORECLOSURE AND SHORT SALE HELP!!

information from idaho press tribune

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New Government Program to Speed Up Short Sales

December 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The U.S. Treasury Department revealed a series of policies this week designed to help troubled homeowners get enough from short sales to pay off their mortgage dues, including a $1,500 grant to help cover moving costs.

The new plan is aimed at homeowners whose debts are too high, or whose incomes are too low, to qualify for the Obama administration’s Making Home Affordable plan, which was unveiled last February and has since helped over 500,000 borrowers.

To qualify, the borrower must have the home as his or her principal residence, be delinquent on the mortgage, and have a debt-to-income ratio of over 31%. The loans must have been made before January 2009 and less than $729,750.

The program is expected to speed up the communication between lenders, agents, buyers and sellers, which accounts for most of the wait time in a short sale. With the volume of applications received by most lenders, short sales can take up to a year to complete.

Short sales are a popular alternative to loan modification as it limits the damage to one’s credit record, and lowers the costs of foreclosure for lenders. They also help keep up property values because short sale prices tend to be higher than those of foreclosures.

The National Association of Realtors reported that around 500,000 short sales were carried out this year, accounting for about 10% of the total nationwide. More distressed areas such as California, Florida and Las Vegas have much higher short sale ratios.

Mortgage companies have until April 5th, 2010 to put the program into effect. However, participation is voluntary for companies who hold second mortgages such as piggyback loans and home equity loans, making some experts doubt the program’s efficiency.

Contact Josh for help with your Short Sale

208-353-7131 or josh@homeswithjosh.com

Filed Under: Sellers

Benifits Short Selling Your Home

December 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Short Sale Benefits

  • The bank is not in control of the sale, you are.
  • Knowing who is buying your home may help you sleep better at night.
  • Save yourself from the stigma of Foreclosure.
  • You can be current on payments while still completing a short sale.

Buying Again After A Short Sale

If you have not fallen behind 30 days or more on your loan and the lender does not require that you pay back the loan, guidelines by Fannie Mae may allow you to immediately buy another home. 3 years is the wait time for an FHA loan.

Buying Again After A Foreclosure

Some guidelines may allow you to purchase a primary residence in 5 years. With out guidelines, the wait is 7 years.

Investors that do not occupy the home will wait 7 years to buy with a Fannie Mae insured loan.

How Your Credit Score Is Affected

A short sale does not show up as a derogatory mark on your credit, credit bureaus may say “paid as less than agreed” or pay as agree,” clients in some cases have a 50 to 130 point drop in their FICO score. Generally the drop in your credit score is linked to behind in payments, otherwise know as a default.

Length of Time To Move After a Short Sale

If a notice of foreclosure has been filed, with the right documentation a postponement of the sale date may be obtained while the lender contemplates the possibilities of your short sale.  Waiting for a short sale approval can be 2-3 months if not longer.

Length of Time to Move After the Foreclosure

If you have not made an arrangement with the bank they can ask that the property be vacated at once and can start eviction procedures.

Taxation Difference After Short Sale and Foreclosure

A short sale primary residence is exempt until 2012 under the Mortgage Debt Relief Act. Subject to certain guidelines investors are not exempt under the Mortgage Debt Relief Act. Foreclosures are the same but lenders may in some cases send out a 1099 even if the home owner is exempt.

Before choosing a short sale or foreclosure it is advised to seek a legal and tax professional.



Filed Under: Sellers

Boise Homes For Sale

December 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

600x400realestate100Information on boise homes for sale- I am seeing once in a lifetime opportunity for high end luxury homes for those buyers looking to move up- Also first time home buyers are capitalizing on the potential $8,000 tax credit to buy unaffordable in the past.  All throughout the treasure valley bank owned homes as well as short sales are making up over half of the homes that are available.

Filed Under: Buyers

Don’t DoThis When Buying A House

December 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment

The process of purchasing a home stretches far beyond the actual purchase of the home. It has far-reaching effects and consequences if not handled properly. There are quite a few commonly made mistakes in home buying, a lot of them have to do with the contracts that are necessary to complete the sale and others are mainly related to skipping vital parts of the process in order to make a quick purchase. This tends to happen when there are competing offers. Sellers think they have hit a gold mine when there are competing offers on their home.

This is the kind of environment where buyers can get taken advantage of, so be careful. One of the most commonly skipped steps is the home inspection. Bad idea. How do you know what the possible concerns with a house are? What happens if you win the bid war only to have to spend twice what you saved in fixing the house? Was it worth it? Home inspections are vital to ensuring that buyers are getting a good, safe product. If a home sale comes down to the condition of skipping the inspection you may want to question the reason for that condition.

Try to avoid verbal agreements in the deal at all costs. As this kind of agreement is almost impossible to verify, make sure that every aspect of the sale, its subjects, what comes with the home is all detailed in writing and signed by both parties. With a purchase of this magnitude everything should be detailed and recorded. This also applies to the original listing information. It’s a good idea to verify all the listing info at the start of the purchase. If this info is incorrect, take the time to check for other inconsistencies.

The focus of this article is not to make you nervous about buying a home, merely to make you aware of some of the things to look out for when doing so. It would be nice to think that all sellers are scrupulous and honest, but if that were so then articles such as this one would not be necessary. Be careful and do your homework when purchasing a home and confer with your realtor on all aspects of the sale. They are the best people to help you avoid any pitfalls.

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Co – Op Selling Of Your House

December 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment

In the current economic crunch, it is no surprise that home-sellers from all over the country are experiencing the same crisis in the real estate market. With the number of buyer’s market emerging left and right, sellers are faced with the problem of losing leverage during the transactions. What’s more is that plenty of markets are getting tight. The competition is surely rough and if you’re selling your own Idaho real estate property don’t be surprised if you see your neighbors putting up their own for-sale signs.

Selling your Idaho real estate property doesn’t have to be painfully difficult though. Even in an immensely competitive market, there are several ways that home-sellers can do to successfully get some offers. Cooperation is the key and here are some ways to do so.

1. Joint open house

If you’re not the only one selling  property in your neighborhood, the best way for each property to get fair attention and lessen competition (and quite possible contention) between the sellers is to host a joint open house. Whenever one property is holding an open house, ask the owner if you and other sellers can contribute to the event and obtain the same amount of attention.

Showcasing plenty of Treasure Valley real estate properties at the same time can attract plenty of buyers. This also lessens the buyers’ natural wariness to neighborhood laden with for-sale signs. Deciding to take turns in putting up signs is a healthy way to invite buyers.

2. Sell the neighborhood as well

Another way to get buyers interested in your property is to sell your neighborhood along with your house. Ask other sellers in your area to include fine points of your neighborhood in the brochures that they hand out to the buyers. This way, all of you are increasing the buyers’ interest in living in your neighborhood. Plus if they see that sellers and homeowners are working together for a common goal, this will reflect greatly on you and your neighbors.

3. Always be ready

This is one of the most important parts of selling a property alongside other home-sellers. If buyers are coming in to check out properties in your area, it’s likely for them to check others as well. Because of this always ready your Miami real estate property for an impromptu visit from buyers. Provide easy entrance and make sure your home is always presentable for the unexpected visits from buyers. If your agent is not present, be ready to take the helm on the walkthrough.

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Time To Save On Repair Bills

December 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment

If you are a household owner, you will most likely agree that home repair bills represent a large percentage of the total household expenses. So is there a better way to incur less on this expense? Check out the following tips if you are serious of saving it.

Preventable maintenance
Maintaining a house is quite similar to maintaining a vehicle. If you take good care of your house, chances are your house repair bills will be much lower.

Get lower bids for bigger repair works
It is always advisable to get a more competitive bid for bigger house repair works. Example of this work include replacing the water tank and water pipes for the whole house

Shop for the lowest interest loan
If getting loan to finance your house repair is necessary, you should always shop for the loan with the lowest interest rate. Nowadays, there are plenty of competitive financing packages for selection in view of the competitive business environment

Ask your neighbor for trusted contractors
It is always good if you can ask your neighbors whom they recommend for repair works. This will help save your repair costs because discount will normally be given under such circumstance. If not, you can always bargain with the contractor for a more affordable price.

Do it yourself
It is sometimes practical to repair certain common problems yourself. It is pretty easier if you have the necessary tools and illustrated manual especially when there is a step by step kind of instruction. You can learn it by following the manual and resolve most of the common problems yourself.

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