Posts from December 2010
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28
5/1 ARM Offers Best of Price and Stability
With rising interest rates, this is a great time to take a fresh look at adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) for your purchase and refinance. These are not the exotic ARMs involved in the subprime meltdown – they are traditional, 5/1 ARMs with unbelievable rates that are in the threes today! That's more than a point lower than 30-year fixed rates. A 5-year ARM is a loan with a fixed rate for the first five years that has a rate that changes once each year for the remaining life of the loan. Because the interest rate can change after the first five years, the monthly payment may also change. A 5/1 ARM combines the best features of adjustable and fixed rate products. It delivers a very low interest rate and therefore, a lower monthly payment typical of ARMs. But the five-year rate lock gives homeowners the stability and predictability of fixed payments that will not increase in the near future. For th...
21
Foreclosures Decreasing: Exploring the Short Sale Option
RealtyTrac released its U. S. Foreclosure Market Report for November 2010, which shows foreclosure filings were reported on 262,339 U. S. properties in November, a 21 percent decrease from the previous month and a 14 percent decrease from November 2009. One in every 492 U. S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the month. Both the 21 percent month-over-month decrease and 14 percent year-over-year decrease in foreclosure activity were the highest drops recorded since RealtyTrac began publishing the U. S. Foreclosure Report in January 2005. Despite a 20 percent monthly decrease in foreclosure activity, Nevada posted the nation's highest state foreclosure rate for the 47th straight month. One in every 99 Nevada housing units received a foreclosure filing in November — nearly five times the national average. Thanks in part to sharp monthly drops in foreclosure activity in Arizona, Florid...
17
Millennium Did Not Crash the Housing Market, What a Great Decade!
With all the teeth-gnashing over the real estate bubble, the bust and the mortgage mess, you can be forgiven for failing to notice this little tidbit: Housing had a superb decade. In fact, the value of a square foot of housing in the U.S. is up 58% from its January 2000 level, according to data from New York housing analytics firm Radar Logic on the 25 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. That represents an average annual gain of 4.3% in the value of one square foot of housing. While the average gain was impressive, some cities did exceedingly well while others languished. New York came out best of all, with home values rising 6.2% a year, thanks in large part to the explosion in Wall Street wealth. Homes in New York now cost 91% more per square foot than they did in 2000. Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., weren't far behind, rising 85% and 72%, respectively. Who lagged behind? The usual suspect, Detroit...
13
Real Estate a Great Investment in Our Region
Home prices continue to be stable in our markets in eastern Iowa, while the rest of the nation experiences declines.
Nationally home prices have fallen 8.36% in the last five years, but all of our markets' prices are up: 9.25% in Dubuque; 7.22% in the Quad Cities; 5.68% in Cedar Rapids; and 5.43% in Iowa City. According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, of the 299 MSA's (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) ranked by home price appreciation, all of our markets ranked in the top third in the nation – Quad Cities at 29th; Cedar Rapids at 72nd; Dubuque at 80th; and Iowa City at 95th. Our local markets continue to provide much more stable home prices, showcasing our real estate strength compared to the rest of the country. Real estate continues to be a great investment in our region – based on the appreciation in our markets over the past five years. A family-owned...
8
Myths: The Earth Is Flat and Newspapers Sell Houses
It is amazing how masses of people can believe something that is absolutely untrue. I mean, at one time the vast majority of people believed the world to be flat. Today, we want to debunk another commonly held belief - that newspapers sell houses. Somehow this notion gained believability even though the facts consistently prove it NOT to be true. We should know what methods prospective purchasers use to find the home of their dreams when we are selling homes. This enables us to develop the best marketing strategy to attract a buyer. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has just released the 2010 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, which is recognized by most as the best compilation of data on today's buyers and sellers because of the enormou...
