Monday, January 21, 2013
Snellville Patch's real estate columnist examines what the robo-signing settlement means to homeowners.
On February 9th, 2012, the United States Justice Department released the details of a $25 billion dollar settlement they reached with five major banks. The settlement occurred because the banks were accused of widespread use of robo-signing. The settlement was the largest government industry settlement since the $250 billion Big Tobacco settlement in 1998 and the largest settlement in consumer real estate history. Robo-signing was a practice employed by banks to automate the processing and approval of foreclosure proceedings against homeowners. In many cases, the banks were discovered to have processed thousands of foreclosures in a single day, all signed by one person. Now, almost nine months since the settlement date, over 80 …
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
With low interest rates and a decline in distressed property, property values are on the rise.
A recent Wall Street Journal article indicated that there were five reasons home prices are rising. 1. Rise in Housing Affordability: Interest rates are ridiculously low. People are jumping in to take advantage of these ultra low rates coupled with still depressed (although rising) housing prices. 2. The Increased Number of Households: It is expected to hit 1 million this year, which in essence is putting a strain on the available inventory. This trend will continue since building has been at historically low levels since 2008. The average number of houses built since stats were being kept each year is well over a million in the US. Due to our recession, that has dropped in half. What this will mean in the upcoming years is that there …
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Want more home for your money? Move a little further out of town.
I recently have had some clients that were interested in USDA properties. Basically, these are properties that are in rural communities. There are areas not too far from us here in Snellville that qualify, including parts of Walton and Barrow counties. The loans available for these properties are 100% financing, with no down payment. There are many people that may make a good living but don't have a ton of money saved up. Buying a home right now is considerably cheaper than renting and homes in these rural communities could use the added boost of easier financing in order to continue to grow.* What to do Regardless of your opinion, contact your congressmen/women and voice your thoughts. It is always good to let our leaders know our…
Monday, August 13, 2012
A seller's market? Well, yeah, kind of!
Being a real estate agent has always been challenging. By and large, your livelihood is dependent upon other people making one of the biggest decisions of their life. This weekend, I was looking for homes to show to one of my clients. Here is the problem: many of the homes, even if they are listed as active, have multiple offers. They won't become pending until one of the offers is selected and approved. That can take several days to happen. Here is snap shot of what this looks like in Snellville: Price Range: $75,000-$110,000 (this is quite a popular range for buyers now) Number of Active Homes: 165 Number Listed as Available: 73 Number Under Contract: 92 Percent of Active Inventory "available": 44% or less when you consider a good …
Nicole Lambie
12:25 pm on Monday, August 13, 2012
We in the process of buying a house. I would say about 90% of the listed houses we would find that we liked would already be under contract or have so many offers on it they were not taking any more. We were only able to get the contract we have now by putting an offer on it same day it went on the market. I had heard it was a buyer's market, but I had no idea how competitive it was! more ›