Archive for the 'Relocating' Category
Fredericksburg’s First Snow
December 6th, 2009 categories: Real Estate News, Relocating
Well, we knew it was coming sooner or later. Yesterday was our area’s first Winter’s first snow. According to the Weather Channel, we’re due for a bit more over the next 24-48 hours. And, as most of us that live here know, the roads in Northern Virginia aren’t the friendliest in good weather. Can you imagine the craziness with snow and ice on the roadways? It isn’t pretty!
What about you? Any snow in your part of the country? If not, how are the temperatures? Years ago, while stationed in Tucson, we spent Thanksgiving evening on the community swimming pool. That was….different, and enjoyable.
There’s certainly the Christmas spirit in the air. And, the snow helps complete the holiday setting. In the days leading to this special time of year, enjoy the sights and sounds, and be careful on the roads!
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Is Permanent Relief Too Good To Be True?
November 30th, 2009 categories: Real Estate News, Relocating
Today’s announcement that the Obama Administration plans on forcing mortgage companies to permanently reduce monthly payments for troubled homeowners was met by a mixed reaction. While the action’s sponsor, the White House, said one thing, many others took a more realistic wait and see attitude.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) new initiative is part of the Administration’s efforts to provide relief for homeowners who are laboring to pay their mortgages, and is another piece of the effort to stabilize the housing market. The initiative, according to HUD, wants to extend to those already receiving trial modifications to their home loan, a permanent modification to their mortgage. In simple language, what does that mean? A lower payment.
While borrowers have understandably embraced the new program, mortgage lenders aren’t nearly as willing. To ensure their participation, the Administration outlined steps to hold their feet to the fire.
Servicer Accountability
As part of the Administration’s ongoing efforts to hold servicers accountable for their commitment to the program and responsibility to borrowers, the following measures will be added:
- Top servicers will be required to submit a schedule demonstrating their plans to reach a decision on each loan for which they have documentation and to communicate either a modification agreement or denial letter to those borrowers. Treasury/Fannie Mae “account liaisons” are being assigned to these servicers and will follow up daily as necessary to monitor progress against the servicer’s plan. Daily progress will be aggregated by the end of each business day and reported to the Administration.
- Servicers failing to meet performance obligations under the Servicer Participation Agreement will be subject to consequences which could include monetary penalties and sanctions.
- The December MHA Servicer Performance Report will include the data on permanent modifications as well as the number of active trial period modifications that may convert by the end of the year if all borrower documents are successfully submitted, sorted by servicer and date.
- Servicers will be required to report to the Administration the status of each modification to provide additional transparency about situations where borrowers face obstacles to moving to the permanent phase.
While the new initiative is certainly welcome by homeowners whose mortgages have become a greater burden than they can bear, its viability is only as good as the rules it is guided by. The process is riddled by paperwork, and paperwork and the U.S. government sometimes don’t mix too well. Additionally, while the gov’t plans on using a carrot and stick approach when dealing with lenders, only time will tell how well their daily monitoring works in practice.
Former Chief Credit Officer for Fannie Mae, Edward Pinto, calls the new initiative’s goals “a pipe dream”. What do you think? Is it simply eyewash? Or, is the initiative good for homeowners and the economy?
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More Good News
November 23rd, 2009 categories: Real Estate News, Relocating
Invariably, in the course of conversations with friends, one of the topics that normally arises, is the subject of the homes. Usually, the mention comes in the form of, “How’s the housing market?”
Other than the dramatic shock to financial markets during the year following the height of the housing market and subsequent rapid fall in home prices, the sales market has been fairly predictable. Once lenders got a grip on the deluge of foreclosures and short sales, and this glut of properties began to be adequately handled by them (O.K…so, they’ve still got problems with Short Sales, but they’re getting there), the housing market has been relatively stable.
Today’s latest news on the surge in home sales isn’t news to those of us in the business. As one prospective home buyer in the latest USA Today article mentioned, the market is “insane….I’ve never seen a market like this before.”
That, after having finally securing a home following unsuccessful offers on 20 Las Vegas homes. And, while the rush to “get in” and take advantage before the First Time Home Buyers tax credit offer expired can partly be credited with the robust sales numbers, it doesn’t hurt that home prices, in many locations nationwide are 30-50% less than they were in 2005, or that interest rates are rock bottom.
Many believe that home prices have stabilized. But, with more foreclosures and Short Sale properties landing on the market weekly, we may not have seen the bottom quite yet. With extension of the tax credit, and mortgage rates in a low holding pattern, the surge in home sales numbers may, if we’re fortunate, become a trend instead.
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It’s The Simple Things
November 22nd, 2009 categories: Real Estate News, Relocating
Do you have a favorite season of the year? While many of us like something about each of the four seasons, Fall, or Autumn is probably the one I enjoy the most.
It’s cool mornings and evenings, beautiful natural colors, and inkling of the coming holidays, seems to invigorate a sense of better things yet to come. Around Stafford and Fredericksburg, for many, it’s jacket weather (for others, coats), and the stunning colors are second to none.
How about you, what is your favorite season?
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Home Buying and Selling Help From Uncle Sam
November 9th, 2009 categories: Real Estate News, Relocating
In times like these, all of us appreciate a bit of assistance. Fortunately, the government has taken steps to extend a couple of programs designed to assist home sellers and buyers. The first is the Housing Assistance Program (HAP) for military personnel selling their home, the second is the First Time Home Buyer Credit, specifically for those purchasing property.
The Department of Defense’s (DoD) HAP offering is designed to provide financial assistance to its personnel who have to move, and will lose money upon selling. Due to the dramatic decrease in home values in recent years, this program was originally designed to provide financial relief to those required to move due to DoD’s Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) initiative. It expanded to include those DoD personnel whose reassignment or military move was further than what’s categorized as commuting distance. A brief summary of guidelines and what HAP offers can be found here: http://hap.usace.army.mil/Eligibility.html
The original deadline for eligibility was the end of November, 2009. As you might imagine, eligible members were scrambling to get their applications in, and to get their home on the market. Fortunately, the deadline was extended.
Here’s the official announcement of DoD’s Processing and Extension of the HAP Program. It’s got the details, including an extension through Sep 2012. You’ll find the info here, http://tinyurl.com/y8d99pv
Another piece of good news for those in the home market, was this week’s expansion of the First Time Home Buyer’s Tax Credit.
Not only was the tax credit of up to $8000 for qualified first time home buyers extended, but the expansion also offered an additional credit for repeat home buyers. The beauty of the original credit was their definition of a first time buyer; any prospective purchaser who has not owned a principal residence during the three year period prior to the new purchase.
The additional, or expansion of the program included a $6500 tax credit for move-up or repeat home buyers purchasing a home. There are specific details that you need to examine before you assume you qualify for the program’s benefits.
While we can’t always count on the federal government to assist us, it is refreshing to discover their helping hand in times of need. Amid the existing economic downturn, Uncle Sam not only decided to come to the aid of military home sellers whose home values have decreased, but also to help those in the market to buy a home. Let’s hope the prospective beneficiaries of both these offerings are well aware of what’s available, and are taking advantage of them. Who knows when we’ll see this type of assistance again.
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Are We Being Led, Or Led On? (Part II)
October 11th, 2009 categories: Real Estate News, Relocating
Many real estate agents have a tendency to voice their complaints. What do they complain about? Mostly, other agents.
It isn’t the lack of training, or the contract documents, or the difficulties with foreclosures or short sales (don’t get me wrong, everyone is frustrated with the lack of standardization and regulation of short sales), but by a wide margin the complaints are centered on the lack of professionalism in the business. I know, the phrase “lack of professionalism” can mean any number of things. But, for our purposes, let’s break it down into four areas, 1) Honesty; 2) Answering inquiries; 3) Lack of knowledge; 4) Poor customer service.
While each of these areas can examined a bit more closely, for the purposes of this short article, assuming these are true, why is this tolerated? What is it about the real estate profession or culture that encourages these? A good place to start might be with the barebones and inexpensive prerequisites required to get a license as an agent.
According to the Virginia Code, 60 hours of classroom (distance learning works as well) in the principles of real estate, and passing the state and national portions of the salesperson examination is what’s required for licensing as an agent. Do those 60 hours include any training in Ethics? Are prospective agents required to memorize the national Association of Realtors Code of Ethics? What about their Standards of Practice that practicing Realtors are bound by? Do aspiring Realtors have to be familiar with the Standards they are obligated to follow as practitioners? Or, are the Standards simply picked up piecemeal along the way? Apparently that’s the status quo. And, if that’s the case, what’s needed to change the way we do business?
Transformational Leader
The real estate profession needs leadership that will change the culture and the marginal “accepted” practices of its members. Changing the culture or accepted norms of any organization requires leadership that has vision, demands excellence, and is willing to make tough decisions. These hard choices demand more than the usual “care taker” type leaders we’ve come to accept. What’s necessary, is a new breed of leadership that models the professional disciplines of competence, quality performance, and moral courage. The new leadership needs to be nothing short of transformational, establishing a vision for a higher standard of performance, and demanding accountability.
Real estate has witnessed a number of changes over the past few years, many of those due to technological innovation, and the new business models that benefitted from them. And, in many ways, we’ve enhanced the product we provide our clients. But we’ve only touched the surface of what’s needed to improve our profession. It’s now time to work on skill sets and the character of the practitioners. And, to make that a reality, we need leadership that is more concerned with the quality of our business than the quantity.
Are our leaders ready to meet that challenge?
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