Find a Home on Google Maps!

Do you know how to find a home using a Google Maps? You can even see the neighborhood!

This Weeks Housing News

News

It was announced Wednesday that, through the Housing Finance Agency Innovation Fund for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets, the U.S. Treasury will make $2 billion of additional assistance available to housing finance agencies (HFAs) in 17 states and the District of Columbia to implement local programs for homeowners struggling to make their mortgage payments due to unemployment.

The additional $2 billion in assistance has been earmarked for states that have experienced an unemployment rate at or above the national average for the past 12 months. Each state will use the funds for unemployment programs that provide temporary assistance to help homeowners pay their mortgage while they seek re-employment, additional employment, or undertake job training.

The states eligible to receive funds through this additional assistance include:

Read more…

How is Your Ecomony Holding Up?


Highlights from an interview by Meredith Whitney currently on CNBC:

* A double dip in housing is a certainty
* State economies are plunging and are $200 billion underwater, will lead to 2 million in state-level layoffs leading to a low-end impact; raising taxes at state level will impact the top-end
* Retail sales have been stronger only due to consumers not paying mortgages, retail sales have already topped as is
* Second quarter bank results will finally catch up with accelerated mortgage foreclosures; charge-offs and delinquencies in credit cards are better due to mortgage non-payment cash flow going to other obligations. This will soon top as well.
* Structural employment issues in the US won’t get better any time soon

The experts are saying that the economy is going to get worse. How’s your personal economy? What are you doing to prepare and care for your family?

Again, if you’ve paid attention to global economics, I hope you’ve taken care of your personal finances. I focus on my own micro economy because I’ve done what I can to set myself up to ride this economic wave.

What have you done to prepare?

Sell your Home or Keep it and Rent it Out?

For sale - for rent

Advantages of renting:

1. The property will provide income over time and for your retirement.

2. Right now, we’re in a buyer’s market meaning there are more homes for sale than there are buyers to buy, so you may be forced to sell at a loss.

3. Less people are able to qualify for a home loan because borrowing requirements have tightened meaning, even if someone wants to buy your home, they may not be able to.

4. The number of people renting homes is increasing.

Disadvantages:

1. dealing with tenants

2. legal issues

Read more…

Is this a good time to buy a home in Greensboro?

Here are the Greensboro, NC city statistics according to Money Magazine.

Looks like we’re predicted to hit bottom at the end of 2010. Even so, our drop from our peak in the first quarter of 2009 will only be about 3% total. We live in a great area of the country!

Population:
(2006)		 685,378
Median family income:
(2008)		 $56,100
Median home price:
(2009)		 $132,000
Affordability index:
(Median home price/family income 2009)		 2.4
Prices peaked in: 2009:Q1
Total climb during the boom:
(2000 to peak)		 29.1%
Total decline so far:
(Peak through 2009)		 -1.2%
One-year change:
(Q4 2008 to Q4 2009)		 -0.2%
Additional price change to bottom: -2.0%
When we’ll hit bottom: 2010:Q4

*(Q1 2010 – Q1 2011)

† Data is for Greensboro-High Point, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area

Sources: Fiserv and Moody’s Economy.com

Urgent – Political Call to Action re. Lease Options!

Guest Post

Please read!  CALL TO ACTION

Last year, our N.C. Coalition worked very hard with all real estate industry stakeholders to reach a compromise on a bill introduced to regulate foreclosure rescue purchases, lease/options, and contracts for deed.  We negotiated in good faith, and a compromise bill was agreed upon, recommended by a committee with blessing from all stakeholders, and passed in the N.C. Senate. This year, a new “proposed committee substitute” version of that bill, Senate Bill 1015 regulating lease/option, contract for deed and foreclosure rescue, is being introduced in the North Carolina House. This new version is COMPLETELY different and absolutely goes against everything negotiated last year. Here are just a few highlights:

    Read more…

Triad faces Shortage of Housing Lots

lot

Thinking about building?  Now is a great time to buy your lot.

According to a report by MarketGraphics, a housing research firm, there are just under 20,000 developed residential lots in the Triad.  Builders estimate that only about 1/3 of these lots are worth building on and the inventory is expected to be gone in 2011.

Many of these lots are in subdivisions where the builders have been foreclosed or their projects have stopped.  Many have roads, sewers and amenities already in place.  And, many of those lots are priced at only half of what they were two years ago.

Banks are eager to get these lots off their books and to get the neighborhoods back into stable condition.  They may be willing to provide loans to, once again, have a performing asset.

Because the housing market has taken such a hit, many are predicting that new developments will not be started for up to two years making these available lots even more precious.

When searching for a lot, use the same parameters you do when searching for a home – look for stable areas with good schools, convenient shopping and access to major highways. As always, its all about location. Location is the one thing you can never change about your property.

It may be a few years before some of the areas and some of the lot values pick back up but, if you’re planning to buy or to build, this is a way to get quickly and cheaply right now into an area you couldn’t otherwise afford.

Should Realtors Work with “Flippers”?

Real Estate Investing

I read an article by Scott Thompson in the April 2010 edition of the National Association of Realtor’s Realtor magazine entitled “Short Sale Ethics: 6 Temptations to Avoid.” One of the recommendations was to avoid selling to flippers. “Unless the investor in a flip is prepared to add substantial value by fixing up the property, don’t participate in a flip. Short sale flips benefit only the investor who’s clipping off money that could go to an already bleeding lender.”

I do not understand why anyone would make such a recommendation.

I am an investor.  I purchase a lot of properties.  Many of them are flips.  I am doing a lot more flips now than ever before because there is just so much “junk” on the market – so much that needs renovation.

One of the concerns in the NAR article is that “flip” means you are taking advantage of the lenders, the seller and the buyers. I don’t believe we take advantage of anyone.

First of all, most of our flips are not short sales.  Most of our flips come from sellers who have allowed their properties to deteriorate to a point where they cannot be sold to the retail market.  Why?  As many reasons as there are sellers.  Some people, amazingly, live that way.  We have purchased homes from sellers who are living in them and we, literally, cannot walk all the way through because of trash and odor.  Yes, I said they are living in them.

Read more…

Amazing Use of Space!

Watch as this 344 square foot Hong Kong apartment transforms into 24 rooms! Think outside the box. What can you add to your space?

Real Estate Down Under

Australian Flag

My sister, Laura, just visited for an entire month. Hooray!

She’s been living in Australia for 22 years.  During that time, she’s also lived in Munich and Stuttgart Germany, Seoul Korea, Beijing China, Cordoba Argentina as well as Melbourne, Perth and Darwin Australia. At any rate, Sydney is her home.

We’ve been talking a lot of real estate, naturally, while she’s been here. Things are VERY different Down Under.

For example, no mortgage or home equity interest deductions are given on their personal residences.  That would be a bummer to lose here although the US is talking about taking  that benefit away from us.  Seems our government is looking for ways to increase tax revenues..

Because of their tax laws, it is better to buy a property and rent it out, but rent the property you live in. And, in Australia, the tax rate is almost 45% at the highest tax rate so this savings can make a significant difference in what they pay.  The average house price in Sydney is Read more…