ComeBuyAHouse.com

Here is a link to the Lowe’s Newsletter–it’s got great info for getting your yard ready for Autumn.

September Newsletter–Lowes

The Fed cut the short term interest rate by .5% today in a move to improve the housing market. The stock market responded with immediate gains of about 1.5%, showing a hopeful outlook for recovery and a soft landing for the wider economy.

From CNN Money, “The federal funds rate, an overnight lending rate that banks charge each other, is important since it influences the amount of interest consumers must pay for various types of debt, such as credit cards, home equity lines of credit and auto loans. The rate cut should help some beleaguered home borrowers who are set to see monthly payments on adjustable rate mortgages rise later this year.”

The immediate response among the lenders that I work with? Rates dropped in many conforming loan products. This should allow people who need to refinance to do so with a very attractive rate, and move into a long term product, especially for those who want to stay in their homes for the long haul.

What is Walk Score? 
Walk Score shows you a map of what’s nearby and calculates a Walk Score for any property. Buying a house in a walkable neighborhood is good for your health and good for the environment.  The walk score of the Space Needle, for example is 89.  Bill Gates’ house walk score is 6.  Our house is 65.  The higher the score, the more walkable the location.  How does the site calculate walkability?
 How It Works
Walk Score calculates the walkability of an address by locating nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc. Your Walk Score is a number between 0 and 100. The walkability of an address depends on how far you are comfortable walking—after all, everything is within walking distance if you have the time. Here are general guidelines for interpreting your score:

· 90 - 100 = Walkers’ Paradise: Most errands can be accomplished on foot and many people get by without owning a car.
· 70 - 90 = Very Walkable: It’s possible to get by without owning a car.
· 50 - 70 = Some Walkable Locations: Some stores and amenities are within walking distance, but many everyday trips still require a bike, public transportation, or car.
· 25 - 50 = Not Walkable: Only a few destinations are within easy walking range. For most errands, driving or public transportation is a must.
· 0 - 25 = Driving Only: Virtually no neighborhood destinations within walking range. You can walk from your house to your car!

 Check it out via our website:  www.ComeBuyAHouse.com

 Whether you are buying or selling a home or just want to know what the current values are in your neighborhood, you will find our Free MLS Search and email reports to be a useful tool.  
The main use of our search is for buyers who can preview the market or actively search for their next dream home.  Yet that’s not the only purpose.  If you are preparing to sell you can see what neighborhood prices are, which homes are in competition, and how they are being marketed.  This information along with your ComeBuyAHouse.com team’s current knowledge of the market will be useful as you place your home for sale.    
Homeowners who want to stay put and just want to be in the know, can simply track the current neighborhood values accurately using MLS listing data.  
Sign up on our website anytime!   ComeBuyAHouse.com

 It is a bit of a buyer’s market in many areas, and some good deals are to be had!
In general, houses for sale are spending longer times on the market than in recent years, and some areas are showing signs of prices coming down. Buyers: sellers who need to sell quickly are selling low. Sellers: Fear not, you can add value to your property and negotiate in creative and
tangible ways.  
The mortgage market and interest rates are contributing factors to this market change.  (Please see the next article for mortgage market info.)
Still the house value trend in Seattle is good news. According to the Seattle Times, in the 2nd quarter of 2007, Washington State led the nation with 5 cities in the top 20 for appreciation, with the Seattle/Bellevue/Everett areas up 9.89%,
“Washington State led the nation with the number of cities in the top 20 for appreciation with five. In order, there are: Wenatchee (up 23.54 percent), Longview (up 13.6 percent), Seattle/Bellevue/Everett (up 9.89 percent), Tacoma (up 9.34 percent) and Spokane (up 9.3 percent). And, the state had no cities in the bottom 20, which were located primarily in California and Florida.”  Seattle Times
The rest of the Seattle Times article includes national information.  If you would like to have the entire article in print or via email, please send an email request to us at ComeBuyAHouse [at] gmail.com
——-Lynette and Larry
 

The news is all over the place–from my lenders I get daily updates with program changes, rate changes and borrower criteria changes.  Then I also hear– “bring us the mortgages anyway–we’ll get creative”.  I’ll be honest with you–it is not as easy to get a loan as it used to be in recent years.  So — OK — they’re more realistic now, and we won’t find ourselves two years later with an outlandish payment we can’t afford. 

This blurb came to me from Realtor Magazine: 

Borrowers with good credit but without 5 or 10 percent to put down are likely to be shocked at the rate they’re offered, if they’re offered a mortgage at all.

Lenders are eliminating certain products altogether as well as requiring higher credit scores and down payments, more extensive appraisals, larger savings accounts, and additional income verification.

To Washington state appraiser Bill Hanson, the shift is dramatic. He says lenders are “asking for unrelated information, such as permit numbers for remodeling work,” he says. “Before they would ask: ‘Is the home still there and does the roof leak?’”

“We thought the dust was going to settle, but instead, it just blew up,” says Mitchell Reiner, president of Mortgage Associates, a Los Angeles-based lender that does business in 48 states. “Everyone is being affected.”

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Jonathan Karp (08/14/2007)

Interest and Tax Deductions

If you itemize deductions on your federal income tax returns, you may be able to deduct all the interest you pay on your mortgage loan.  (We are not tax professionals. Please consult one for your own situation.)  I have created a table that shows actual interest rates you may be paying on your mortgage and the effective interest rate based on your tax bracket.  For example, you have a 7% mortgage rate and your tax bracket is 15%, then your effective rate is actually 6% after interest deductions.

Link to Table

They seem to be condos now.

Lynette

Here’s a way to hold title to your primary residence as a married couple.
It has more protections than holding property as joint tenants.

This isn’t a suggestion or recommendation.  Check with your lawyer, accountant, etc.

Tenants By The Entireties

Lynette

Larry and I took an interesting class today with attorney Greg Ursich covering legal issues from purchase and sale to closing.  It covered title insurance, types of deeds, essential elements of a purchase and sale agreement, and avoiding misrepresentation. 

The new thing that I learned about title insurance that more people will come up against is this:  if you place a property into a trust, an LLC, or any other ownership entity AFTER the purchase, the title insurance coverage ends.  You can provide for continued coverage by contacting your title insurance company and obtaining a rider to transfer the title to the new entity.

It was interesting to get the information about each kind of title insurance–there are three–without the marketing bent of a title insurance rep.  Greg’s a lawyer who is often hired by title companies to handle legal issues that arise in this arena, so he sees not as a salesman, but as a practicing litigator, handling claims and problems. 

Title insurance is backward looking–not forward looking like most insurance–though there are some new provisions for identity theft and future encroachment.  Title is primarily research of the marketability of the title using recorded documents for the research.  I can get lots more detailed, but for a blog, I’ll keep this brief.  Title insurance tends to be rather dry till there’s a problem.  Any time you have a question, I’d be happy to talk it over with you, and either explain it myself, or get you in contact with one of our title partners.

Regarding deeds, there are three basic ones.  Warranty deed, the most common.  Bargain and sale, usually for lender owned foreclosures or estate sales.  Quit claim deed, with no warranties or covenants attached to it.  Add a spouse, or remove a spouse from ownership on a property using a quit claim deed, and it would be good to check with your title insurer to make sure you are still covered.

Regarding the purchase and sale contract, real estate agents have a license for a limited practice of real estate law. Limited because we are licensed to fill out standardized forms that have been painstakingly created by lawyers.  We are allowed to fill in the blanks, and create simple addenda with simple instructions like extending closing dates or instructions following inspections.  Custom instructions or agreements beyond the agents expertise should be created by a lawyer.  A real estate agent that writes anything into a purchase and sale agreement will be held to the same standard as a lawyer. 

Disclose disclose disclose is the mantra for a real estate agent, and incidentally for the seller of real estate.  I’ve been told by one of the area’s top lawyers that a seller need not disclose an issue in their home that has been fixed.  But Greg advises that it’s better to tell the buyer everything–the problem, the repair, the whole history.  More comfort for the buyer, more protection for the seller. 

All in all, a great class, lots of info, even better super agents.