Great News for Va Beach Housing Market!

Four Va. cities named as top-20 housing markets

Submitted by Amanda Arwood on October 3, 2011 - 1:46pm

Builder magazine named four Virginia regions as being in the country’s top 20 housing markets: Charlottesville (#6), Virginia Beach (#12), the Washington DC area (#14), and Richmond (#15).
Some tidbits on each:
C’ville: “Charlottesville isn’t a very big housing market, but it’s a pretty strong one. Home to the University of Virginia, the region has benefited from some strong household growth in recent years. It continues to attract second-home buyers from Washington, D.C.”
Va. Beach: “Virginia Beach is slated to have some of the strongest home price appreciation (4.3%) and income growth (4.7%) during the next year and a half.”
D.C.: “Washington, D.C. has been one of the best housing markets for the last two years, though most local builders will tell you the market took a small step backward this year.”
Richmond: “An unemployment rate of only 7.1% provides a partial explanation. Richmond is home to two military bases, Fort Lee and Dahlgren AFB. Three of its seven major employers are health care providers. Employment is expected to rise 1.8% next year.”
It’s been a pretty good coupla weeks for Arlington and Va. Beach — they were just named as among “America’s Best Places” by Business Week.

Great News for Home Sales...Finally!

It's been a busy month and the numbers are reinforcing it!!!

Existing home sales rose more than expected in August to the fastest annual pace since March as falling prices and low interest rates drew more buyers into the market, the National Association of Realtors said.

Read More... 

Existing Home Sales Jump 7%

To Search for Homes

visit my website

http://www.suetanea.com/

Sue Tanea

Realtor

757-635-2333

Licensed in Virginia

suetanea@verizon.net

http://www.suetanea.com/

Great Site for Hurricane Information!

A friend passed this site along...Great Information from maps to webcams.

Hurricane Spaghetti Models / Spaghetti Charts / Tropical Forecast / Hurricane Charts Models / Tropical Update

This is a great website that aggregates a number of helpful hurricane Irene forecast products.

Click the Link Below

Hurricane Information

Please stay safe this weekend!

The 11 Most Expensive Dog Breeds..Do you Own One?

A dog can be your best friend best friend. But would you fork over thousands....even millions of dollars to buy one? Check out our adorable pics of these pricey puppies.

Which one do you like?  Place your vote to the left now!

How Expensive am I?

Valuable Information Now Available on Areas You May be Searching for a Home In!

Would you like more information on the areas where you are searching for you new home in?

I’d like to introduce you to Market Insider!

Now available on my website!

Market Analysis offers local real estate market data including current listings, recent sales, and gives you the ability to search different zip codes.

Community Information provides insight by zip code of average household income, neighborhood points of interest, education levels, weather risks, and crime statistics, with both summary and detailed charts.

Local Schools includes detailed information on school ratings, test scores by grade, student-teacher ratio, and parent reviews.

Compare Areas lets you compare two zip codes using current information on community summaries, market stability, schools, listing vs. sold price, buyer vs. seller market, and even smoking bans.

Insider Tips offers a wealth of resources that will help you better understand the factors that impact the real estate market.

It’s Simple!  Just click on my website  http://www.suetanea.com/ and follow the Market Insider Link!

I hope you enjoy it!

Sue Tanea

Realtor

757-635-2333

suetanea@verizon.net

http://www.suetanea.com/

Look what you can save in taxes as a Homeowner!

Trying to decide whether to buy or rent?

Not only are interest rates are at their all time lows and home prices are down, you will also have additional tax savings when you own a home!

With the interest on a mortgage being deductible when you itemize deductions, it may surprise you how much you can save in taxes. Use this calculator to determine your potential tax savings with a mortgage.

Click here to see how much you will save in taxes as a homeowner!

To search for homes click on the search to the right or visit

www.suetanea.com

Sue Tanea

Realtor

http://www.suetanea.com/

suetanea@verizon.net

757-635-2333

Pending Home Sales Rose Strongly in May--Good News!

Washington, DC, June 29, 2011

Pending home sales rose strongly in May with all regions experiencing gains from a year ago, pointing to higher housing activity in the second half of the year, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

This is the first time since April 2010 that contract activity was above year-ago levels, and the monthly gain was the strongest increase since last November when the index rose 10.6 percent.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the improvement bodes well for home prices. “Absorption of inventory is the key to price improvement, and this solid gain in contract signings implies that home values in many localities are or will soon be stabilizing as inventories get absorbed at a faster pace,” he said. “Some markets have made a rapid turnaround, going from soft activity to contract signings rising by more than 30 percent from a year ago, including areas such as Hartford, Conn.; Indianapolis; Minneapolis; Houston; and Seattle.”

Pending home sales have trended up unevenly since bottoming last June, rising in seven of the past 11 months. “Home sales still could be 15 to 20 percent higher,” Yun said. “If banks would simply return to normal sound underwriting standards and begin lending to more creditworthy borrowers, we’d get a much faster recovery in the housing sector.”

Yun cautioned that healthy job creation is necessary to ensure a solid recovery in both housing and the overall economy. “The job market has sputtered recently, and because variations in local job creation impact housing demand, markets will recover unevenly around the country,” he said.

 

How much can you recoup on a Kitchen Remodel?

A kitchen remodel is one of the best ways to add value to your home and recoup your investment—as much as 80 percent. That's why Americans spend about $15 billion each year on kitchen renovations. Upgrade your lifestyle and resale value with our top five kitchen projects.

Click here to find out!

How much can you Recoup on a Kitchen Remodel?

Sue Tanea

Realtor

757-635-2333

suetanea@verizon.net

http://www.suetanea.com/

5 Strategies for Navigating Buying a Home at a Good Price

Home prices are low, interest rates are low - real estate is basically having a summer clearance sale! But unlike buying a clearance-priced car or computer, making the wrong move in this real estate 'sale' can have disastrous effects, from losing your dream home due to a bad bid to ending up with a money pit of a property.
Here are a few money-saving, pitfall-avoiding tips and tricks for buyers who want to do some smart home shopping this summer.

1.  Have a vision in place, before you start your house hunt. Actually, have several visions in place.  Have a financial vision, complete with a clear picture of what your total income and expenses look like, in the  “after homebuying”  view, including what you pay out for your home and related expenses, like HOA dues and homeowners’ insurance.  Have a vision of your life in your new home, including what you want to do, with whom and where you want and need to go - in the work, family and recreation areas of your life.

If you kick off your conversations with your mortgage broker and real estate agent with a clear understanding of the lifestyle you are looking to create, you’ll be much less likely to get derailed. With a clear vision in place and, ideally, on paper, you can clearly communicate your wants, needs, goals and financial boundaries to your professionals, telling them what you can afford, rather than trying to shoehorn your financial plans into one-size-fits-all mortgage guidelines. With a vision, the temptation of an uber-low-priced, but completely inappropriate, home will not lure you into buying the wrong place for your needs. (Nor will an amazing home that is simply out of your personal price range - no matter how great a value it is for the money!)

2.  Don’t let affordability get between you and reality. High affordability doesn’t necessarily mean you can get every single thing you want  - and name your price. The fact is, even people who are spending millions for their homes don’t get everything they want!  I’ve seen buyers insist that they need X number of bedrooms and Y number of bathrooms in move-in condition for a price that is just not going to happen, even in this clearance sale climate, and end up looking and looking, ad infinitum.

If your agent has shown you home after home that is what you want, but has sold for more than you want to spend, and you’re confident that you can find or cut a better deal because the market is down and you just os happen to be a brilliant negotiator (!), you might be at risk of falling into this trap.  There are deals to be had, but if you don’t stay grounded in reality, you’ll end up chasing your tail and missing out on the tax and lifestyle advantages of homeownership.

If you’ve been house hunting for months and months on end, your agent keeps trying to tell you that you should search in a lower price bracket, you have repeatedly gotten overbid or you just can’t seem to find the precise home you seek in the location and price range you seek, at least consider the possibility that you might have an outsized wish list for your budget. Take a step back, revisit your vision, and remind yourself what’s really important.  It’s okay to save some “must-haves” and “deal-breakers” for your next home purchase!

3.   Get a local expert to brief you on the local market, then screen out the noise.  Now more than ever, it’s essential to have laser beam focus on the information and strategies that will get you what you want - whether it’s an amazing deal on the home you’ve always wanted or simply success at becoming the owner of your first home at a price you never thought would ever be possible. Otherwise, you’ll end up all over the place, spending your time, money and sanity attending auctions, getting worked up over distressed properties that aren’t yet for sale, trying to negotiate deals with sellers who are in no position to cut them and having your lowball offers on bank-owned properties rejected time after time.

Don’t let a news story about a guy in Minnesota who got a home for $3.27 be the basis for your entire home buying strategy. Instead, ask around and get referrals to a local broker or agent who has a track record of helping the people you know.  Read their answers on Trulia Voices and ask them your own questions to get a sense for whether they might be a good fit for you - if they are, and you trust them, then consult with them on the dynamics of your local market.  The market is down everywhere, relative to 2006.  But some markets - and some neighborhoods within markets - are still seeing multiple offers and home prices which are relatively recession-proof, compared to what you’d expect from the national news.  

Once you have a strategy in place, work it - don’t let your acupuncturist or shoe repair guy convince you that your strategy is wrong, that you could get the place for cheaper or that the bank should absolutely do every single repair, or you should walk away from the deal.  Many would-be buyers lose out on great homes because they take negotiating advice from their holistic veterinarian over that being offered by their broker or agent.

4.  Read everything. Good faith estimates. Contracts. Disclosures. Inspection reports.  There is a long, long list of multi-page documents that are very easy to “just sign” when you’re in the heat of the hunt and think you’re on the scent of an amazing deal. I’m not suggesting you ask for a week-long pause button to read every document, either - rather, read them when you get them, ask questions, and keep asking until you understand the documents.

Many buyers this summer will make offers on more than one home before they get into contract on “the one,” and many of those properties will be short sales or foreclosures.  With distressed properties, every contract is different, so it behooves you not to go on autopilot, just skimming the papers as you might otherwise. Also, inspection reports might reveal red flags and condition issues that you’d normally expect to see in the seller’s disclosures.  It’s especially critical, in these situations, to fully understand as much as you can about the property, your loan, and your obligations and due dates under the contracts.

5.  Stop your mental accounting and do the actual math - on paper.  In the field of behavioral economics, mental accounting refers to the tendency we humans have of doing math in our heads, separating things like easy money (e.g., the so-called “instant equity” from buying a home for less than it’s supposedly worth) from hard-earned wages and salary, and making spending decisions differently from these different mental accounts.

On the scent of a good deal, and in the heat of the hunt, even the most meticulous homebuyer can go up a few thousand in offer price to beat out other buyers.  No problem, right?  Well, but then when the inspector uncovers a few needed repairs, they make a mental guess as to what they’ll cost, and add that in - again, mentally. Then, when the lender requires a few extra thousand bucks than expected to close, that goes on top, but again, only mentally.  And mental money tends to stretch a bit longer than real money does! 

So, you can see how it’s  possible to break the bank when you thought you were in great shape because you scored such a great purchase price for the property itself.  

Even if you hate budgets with every iota of your being, buck up on this one project, pull out the calculator or open up a spreadsheet and keep track of every line item. Get actual repair bids during your inspection period, to the extent possible, and get your math mojo on. It’s fine to buy and incur these overages here and there, but keeping track of them is key.  You know what I like to say - surprises are for birthday parties, not for real estate transactions, and not for your bank account, either! 

Keeping a strict tab on the expenses you incur during the transaction - or will need to incur afterwards -- will save you so much drama later.

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson 

6 Tips for Buying a Home in a Short Sale

6 Tips for Buying a Home in a Short Sale

By: G. M. Filisko

Published: March 19, 2010

By preparing for a real estate short sale, you can emerge with a great home at a favorable price.

1. Get help from a short sale expert

A real estate agent experienced in short sales can identify which homes are being offered as short sales, help you determine a purchase price, and advise you on what to include in your offer to make the lender view it favorably. Ask agents how many buyers they've represented in short sales and, of those, how many successfully closed the transaction.

2. Build a team

Ask agents to recommend real estate attorneys knowledgeable in short sales and title experts. A title officer can do a title search to identify all the liens attached to a property you’re interested in. Because each lienholder must consent to a short sale, a property with multiple liens, like first and second mortgages, mechanic’s and condominium liens, or homeowners association liens, will be harder to purchase.

A title search may cost $250 to $300 up front, but it can help weed out less desirable properties requiring multiple approvals.

3. Know the home’s fair market value

By agreeing to a short sale, lenders are consenting to lose money on the loan they made to the sellers to purchase the home. Their goal is to keep those losses as low as possible. If your offer is dramatically less than the home’s fair market value, it may be rejected. Your agent can help you identify the price that’s good for you. The lender will determine whether approval is in its best interest.

4. Expect delays

There are two stages to a short sale. First, the sellers must consent to your purchase offer. Then they must submit it to their lender, along with documentation to convince the lender to agree to the sale.

The lender approval process can take weeks or months, even longer if the lender counteroffers. Expect bigger delays if several lienholders are involved; each can make a counteroffer or reject your offer.

5. Firm up your financing

Lenders will weigh your ability to close the transaction. If you're preapproved for a mortgage, have a large downpayment, and can close at any time, they’ll consider your offer stronger than that of a buyer whose financing is less secure.

6. Avoid contingencies

If you must sell your current home before you can close on the short-sale property, or you need to close by a firm deadline, your offer may present too many moving parts for a lender to approve it.

Also, consider ordering an inspection so you’re fully informed about the home. Keep in mind that lenders are unlikely to approve an offer seeking repairs or credits for such work. You’ll probably have to purchase the home “as is,” which means in its present condition.

This article includes general information about tax laws and consequences, but isn't intended to be relied upon by readers as tax or legal advice applicable to particular transactions or circumstances. Consult a tax professional for such advice; tax laws may vary by jurisdiction.