RE/MAX 360

RE/MAX 360

1/26/10

Lakeview Estates market activity recap...sold and under contract


In the past 90 days there has been 1 recorded sale in Lakeview Estates, that sale was a "bank owned" home. There are currently 3 homes under contract. 1 of the 3 under-contract homes is a short sale.

1) Extended Aspen/Pool...sold for $223,000
2) Aspen under contract
3) Aspen under contract...short sale
4) Aspen under contract

1/15/10

IRS says "sorry, you can't file for your tax credit"!

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Did you purchase a home after Nov. 6? Don't expect your $8,000 homebuyer tax credit any time soon. Since Congress passed the initial tax credit last February... more than 1.4 million buyers have taken advantage of it...But that all changed on Nov. 6...it appears that the IRS has NOT ALLOWED ANYONE TO FILE since November 6th...

Congress extended the credit to include contracts signed by April 30 and closed by June 30. It also made a refund of up to $6,500 available to existing homeowners looking to buy something new. And that marked the start of a new IRS paperwork wrangle. Those homeowners who closed their sale before Nov. 6 use Form 5405 to claim the credit right away. But those closing after that date are in limbo because no form yet exists for them to file! The IRS had been expected to come out with a revised form by early January, but it has yet to release anything.

Also, with the new fraud-prevention regulation attached to the extension/expansion credit, there is no E-filing available for those claiming the extension...adding to the already extended timeframe for the tax credit refund.

If you are planning to buy within the timeframe guidelines of the tax credit and are hoping to receive the money quickly...don't count on it!

As always, check with your tax advisor...

1/8/10

Price reduction...

I know WHY agents do this, but I've always thought...why bother?

An Antigua that was previously priced at $344,900 just reduced their price to $343,779.

I would like email or comments from buyers out there...would this type of a price reduction on a home compel you to:
1) Go to see the home now if you didn't go when it was priced at $344,900?
2) If you had already seen the home but did not make an offer, would this price reduction motivate you to place an offer?

Thanks everybody,

1/4/10

Industry insiders expecting home prices to resume fall...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- After four months of gains, home prices flattened in October. Worse yet, industry insiders think that they'll soon start to fall.


Prices have risen more than 3% since May, according to S&P/Case-Shiller. But most forecasts predict price declines in 2010, with possible losses ranging from anywhere from 3% on up. Fiserv Lending Solutions, a financial analytics firm, forecasts that prices will fall in all but 39 of the 381 markets it covers, with an average drop of 11.3%.

"We've seen recent price stabilization because of low mortgage interest rates and the impact of the first-time homebuyers tax credit," said Pat Newport of IHS Global Research. "But there are really good reasons to think prices will now start going down."

There are three main reasons for the reversal: a coming flood of foreclosures, rising interest rates and the eventual end of the tax credits.

The above is a snippet of a CNNmoney.com article from Friday, January 1st.

Take a look at this mortgage interest rate comparison:

4.5% on a $400k loan = 2025.19/mo

8% on a $276k loan = 2026.74/mo

Right now...we are at about a 5%+ average mortgage rate...it has risen the past 3 weeks, and that is with the feds direct involvement with the rate mechanism. If the feds "backs away" from direct involvement some time this year, rates will surely increase. It is not too inconceivable that rates could rise to 8%, which, in the example above, reduces the buying power of the representative buyer $124,000!

If the "blame" for the housing bubble has been "low interest rates and loose lending standards" what possible effect will the opposite have? Couple higher rates, extremely tight/restrictive lending standards, the end of buyer tax credits and a wave of bank-owned homes...It's not a pretty picture being painted.

Lakeview Estates, Lake Worth Florida...foreclosure tracker

Lakeview Estates, Lake Worth Florida...foreclosure tracker
As of 4/1/10 there are 7 Lakeview Estates homes in some stage of foreclosure.
 
Real Time Web Analytics