2008 HAS BEEN A YEAR OF CHANGES IN REAL ESTATE!
(Scroll down for complete article)
What’s my home worth? (Click here!)
Call Today to begin your Home Search--or for a Free Market Analysis of your current home!
Everywhere I go these days, people are asking me just how is the real estate market here in northwest Houston? My answer...not as strong as last year...but apparently much stronger than most areas of the country. This year my sellers are not getting the prices they wanted in many cases. Yet sellers who took the extra steps to make their homes a little more appealing than their competitors saw their homes sell faster--if not for a higher price, at least they sold! What has happened to the market is fairly complicated--a combination of poor lending guidelines, fraudulent lending and a weakened economy caused an influx of short sales and foreclosures. The biggest source in my opinion was buyers who were allowed to purchase homes they could not really afford, 100% financing, with closing costs rolled in to the price as well. Upside down from the start, and sometimes with ARMs(Adjustable Rate Mortgages), they saw their payments start to escalate. Then with new tougher guidelines, a flat or declining real estate values, they couldn’t qualify to re-finance.
Additionally, the FBI has been over-whelmed with fraudulent mortgage schemes --to the tune of billions of dollars in losses, with the Houston area being one of the main areas where this is occurring. They have asked us Realtors to alert them to schemes, which I have on a couple of occasions. This has resulted in a lot of homes going into foreclosure and impacting values in those neighborhoods.
The Real Estate Burst you hear about in the media mainly refers to other areas of the country where prices soared and were probably over-valued. Now the market is adjusting in those areas. It impacts us when we have buyers trying to relocate here and they can’t purchase a home because their home hasn’t sold in one of these markets. In those markets where values dropped drastically it is not unusual to hear of buyers owing $200,000 to $300,000 more than the home is worth! In our market, at least, it is not that extreme. Of course, the Media has made it their job to pound on this "gloom & doom" aspect while warning buyers to not buy a home now! Something of a self-fulfilled prophecy--keep telling everyone the real estate market is bad and getting worse, and sure ’nough it is!
To be prepared to help homeowners in a situation where they can no longer afford their home and they owe more than it is worth, Robert and I have the materials, information and all the various banks’ short sale documents now on file. By opting for a short sale if you are behind on your payments, you avoid foreclosure and the devastating impact on your credit, the bank avoids the costly expense of REO’s and foreclosure and the community benefits by protecting home values from another foreclosure sale. So if you or someone you know is in the situation, call us. We can help you through this process and as Robert says, "get you on down the road" to other things.
If you are a buyer, you may ask should I buy now? We are in a buyer’s market now. But it is important to be careful to avoid paying more than market value and evaluate sales in a neighborhood closely before making an offer. If you are buying new construction, you may not have "comparables" to see, so you have to rely on the builder to tell you if their home is a good value! That’s when it is important to have an agent guide you through this process. Builders usually have a "deal" that goes away if you don’t buy now! But in fact, the deal is not even a good value if the neighborhood does not do well long term, if new homes will be built for a while in the area or, even worse, the builders pull out and empty lots sit around you! Robert and I know the areas, builders and all the other factors that determine value... and can pull from our experiences to help you make a better decision whether you are buying new or re-sale.
And most importantly, before you start looking for a home, meet with a mortgage company and get a full loan approval. New guidelines here make it a little tougher for buyers to get loans, but if you have a good credit score and job stability, you should not have any problems. You can reference our "short list" of preferred lenders from the link on our home page at www.deepardue.com. If we can answer any questions or help in anyway, please do not hesitate to call us!
Dee & Robert
What’s my home worth? (Click here!)
Dee Pardue, ABR, CRS 281-376-3932
Robert Goleman, CHMS 713-882-3842
