Hi Everone!
Well another year has past us by. It's amazing, everything my parents told me as a kid were correct. None more than when you get older time goes way to fast! Boy that's an understatement. So here I sit on New Years Eve with my three cats and my dog. Jeanette, my wife, had to go to CA for an emergency the day after Christmas and she is still out there. The best part of this is that there are three differenct CSI, Law and Order marathons on tonight! Ok, I must be getting old.
Anyway, this isn't really about real estate as it is about reflecting on the past year in the Real Estate business. It's been a tough year for a lot of my fellow Realtors. I know of many that have had to get jobs and move onto different careers. It's really a shame since many of these people are really good, honest, ethical and trustworthy people. On top of the Realtors, there are the people that bought homes in 2004 and 2005 only to watch their home values fall aproximately 30%. Like I said, it's been a tough year. All those consumers who have homes on the market are well aware how tough it is has been this year. If you listen to the media, the end of the world is coming in the housing market. Yes it's been tough, yet there are still people buying and selling homes. Approximately 5% of the homes that are listed, are selling each month. We have been telling people lately, do you want to be on the market or in the market. Only 5% of the homes will be in the market. Each month less than 500 homes are selling. I would venture to say that these people are all happy and relieved that they sold their properties. Whether people want to hear it or not, pricing is what is going to drive your home to a sale. If you are not below everyone else in the neighborhood, then the home may sit there for a long time. Of course there are some exceptions, however not many.
Ok, I really didn't want to get into the doom of the past year. Let's look at the good stuff. As a company, thanks to all of you, our customers, Tropical Realty of Suntree is the number one office in Brevard County for working with buyers. Our small staff did a tremendous job this past year in keeping everything rolling. This coming year we expect to beat 2007 numbers and sell even more homes. One thing I have always believed and have spent my entire business career doing is taking care of people. The more you take care of people and provide exceptional customer service, the more people would prefer to work with you. My staff, your Realtors, are great people. They all sincerely care about our customers before they think of themselves. Do you know how rare that is in a sales environment? It is quite a remarkable feat to have not lost any Agents over the past few years with the exception of two that changed careers. The reason is, we have a very caring, sincere, funny, honest, ethic, smiling group of people who fill out our Realtors and our Admin staff. We all get along great and I believe this shows when we are helping our customers.
So for 2008 I wish all of you a great year. If you are trying to sell your home, no matter what state you reside, and you need help or suggestions, please don't hesitate to ask. There are a few things we have tried that have worked pretty well. I also have an entire network of Realtors that we work with around the country so if you need to sell your home outside of Florida and would like my help in getting a good Realtor in your area, just drop me a note. My email is mitch@mitchrealty.com and phone number is 321-258-4150.
Happy New Year!!!
Mitch
Monday, December 31, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
What's the deal with Foreclosures? What is the alternative?
Hi Everyone!
We are getting tons of calls these days with customers wanting to take advantage of the "lucrative" foreclosure market. I figured it was time for me to throw in my two cents to all of you. In this market, foreclosures are not the best deal. Yes, you heard me right. Foreclosures are not what they used to be and there is a logical reason for this comment.
Firstly, five years ago foreclosures were running at about 50% of the value of property. They were great deals. The reason was simple. When a person went into foreclosure, they usually had put 10% or more down on the property. Also, as the years have gone by, prices in our area increased. With more equity in the property and prices skyrocketing, foreclosures made a lot of sense. Let's look at an example:
A person buys a property for $100,000. He puts 10% down for a mortgage of $90,000. Over the next three years the property value went up to $130,000. Once this person goes towared a foreclosure, he has $40k equity in the property. The bank is also willing to take less of a payoff to avoid going through the legally taxing foreclosure property. Ultimately the buyer can buy this home from approxinmatley $75,000 or so and with a built in equity of $55,000.
Ok, now let's fast forward to the fall of 2007 (no pun intended). A person buys his property two years ago for $300,000. As with most people during that time period, he financed 100% of the propery and now has a mortgage of $300,000. Now in 2007 he needs to sell his home or go into foreclosure. The problem we run into now is that property values have dropped around 30% since 2005 when he bought the home. Therefore, his home is now valued at $210,000. This means, if the bank goes into foreclosure, they are going to sell the property at market value to recoup as much as they can to minimize their losses. The buyer of this property is buying the property at market value and is not going to see much, if any, equity upon the purchase.
With all that said, you can see that foreclosures today are not going to offer you the best bang for your buck. So what is going to get you the best deal. If you are looking to get your best deal, look for homes that have been on the market for more than 6 months and have been owned by the owner for more than 5 years. This will most likely insure two things unless the seller had refinanced in the past two years and taken equity out of the home. First, the owner might have only paid $125,000 for that same house that sold for $300,000 in 2005. If he needs to sell the home, he can lower the price of the way below market value and still make a decent profit from the home. If the market value is $210,000 as we figured in the above example, then selling the home for $199,000 would still offer the seller a tremendous profit while offering the buyer a great deal below market.
Hopefully this all make sense to you. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to call or write. We are always here to help you accomplish your Real Estate goals!
Have a great day!
Mitch
We are getting tons of calls these days with customers wanting to take advantage of the "lucrative" foreclosure market. I figured it was time for me to throw in my two cents to all of you. In this market, foreclosures are not the best deal. Yes, you heard me right. Foreclosures are not what they used to be and there is a logical reason for this comment.
Firstly, five years ago foreclosures were running at about 50% of the value of property. They were great deals. The reason was simple. When a person went into foreclosure, they usually had put 10% or more down on the property. Also, as the years have gone by, prices in our area increased. With more equity in the property and prices skyrocketing, foreclosures made a lot of sense. Let's look at an example:
A person buys a property for $100,000. He puts 10% down for a mortgage of $90,000. Over the next three years the property value went up to $130,000. Once this person goes towared a foreclosure, he has $40k equity in the property. The bank is also willing to take less of a payoff to avoid going through the legally taxing foreclosure property. Ultimately the buyer can buy this home from approxinmatley $75,000 or so and with a built in equity of $55,000.
Ok, now let's fast forward to the fall of 2007 (no pun intended). A person buys his property two years ago for $300,000. As with most people during that time period, he financed 100% of the propery and now has a mortgage of $300,000. Now in 2007 he needs to sell his home or go into foreclosure. The problem we run into now is that property values have dropped around 30% since 2005 when he bought the home. Therefore, his home is now valued at $210,000. This means, if the bank goes into foreclosure, they are going to sell the property at market value to recoup as much as they can to minimize their losses. The buyer of this property is buying the property at market value and is not going to see much, if any, equity upon the purchase.
With all that said, you can see that foreclosures today are not going to offer you the best bang for your buck. So what is going to get you the best deal. If you are looking to get your best deal, look for homes that have been on the market for more than 6 months and have been owned by the owner for more than 5 years. This will most likely insure two things unless the seller had refinanced in the past two years and taken equity out of the home. First, the owner might have only paid $125,000 for that same house that sold for $300,000 in 2005. If he needs to sell the home, he can lower the price of the way below market value and still make a decent profit from the home. If the market value is $210,000 as we figured in the above example, then selling the home for $199,000 would still offer the seller a tremendous profit while offering the buyer a great deal below market.
Hopefully this all make sense to you. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to call or write. We are always here to help you accomplish your Real Estate goals!
Have a great day!
Mitch
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi Everyone!
So it's 2:15am and I'm sitting here doing a little bit of work before I go back to bed. I do need to get a life! As I"m sitting here thinking about Thanksgiving, so much goes on in my mind. I get a little misty around the holidays. I guess the older you get the more you realize how precious life is and that we have only one shot. It's definitely not easy some times, but it's the life we have so we might as well have fun. For those of you who know me, you know fun is what I'm all about. I don't take to much to serious when it comes to day to day life. Believe me, in this business if you are to serious you would go crazy!
It's this time of year that I become very thankful for everything I have now and have received in my life time. I was blessed with two great parents that died much younger than they should have been allowed. Were they perfect, no. Did they do everything in their power to guide me through my youth and young adulthood, yes. I learned from them the most important rules that I follow every day. That is to be honest and to really care about people. They taught me even though there are some evil people out there, that most people are good and want to be good. They were very right!
Ok, so here is the rest of my list of what else I am thankful for: My beautiful and loving wife, Jeanette. She makes me smile and she takes the brunt of when I'm not happy. (yes, even I have my days!) My four awesome ,way to old children in Jon, Matt, Amanda and Michael. My precious granddaughter Lola who lights up the room as soon as she walks in...sometimes she strolls in I guess since she is only 19 months old! My very cool, fun, caring, and great staff who makes coming to work every day so much fun! My friend Wayne's two girls who were shot this year are both out of the hospital and doing great! My brothers who have been my friends for my entire life. My friends that I grew up with and that I"m still close with...I'm lucky to have several friends that I could count on if I needed anything...how cool is that! And finally and not least are my customers who have helped me grow a company that is well respected and successful. As we all know, without great customers like you and with my great staff I don't have a company!
On this day, Thanksgiving, give thanks to everything in your life that is good. Remember that sometimes things don't go exactly as we plan but there is always a lesson to be learned. I have gone through some very hard times and come away with many great lessons of life.
Lastly, please take a moment while you are sitting down to eat that yummy turkey to say a prayer for all of our troops scattered around the world in harms way. We are blessed to have such a fine group of men and women who are wiling to be away from their families during the holidays and put their lives on the line on a daily basis all in the name of freedom.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Mitch
So it's 2:15am and I'm sitting here doing a little bit of work before I go back to bed. I do need to get a life! As I"m sitting here thinking about Thanksgiving, so much goes on in my mind. I get a little misty around the holidays. I guess the older you get the more you realize how precious life is and that we have only one shot. It's definitely not easy some times, but it's the life we have so we might as well have fun. For those of you who know me, you know fun is what I'm all about. I don't take to much to serious when it comes to day to day life. Believe me, in this business if you are to serious you would go crazy!
It's this time of year that I become very thankful for everything I have now and have received in my life time. I was blessed with two great parents that died much younger than they should have been allowed. Were they perfect, no. Did they do everything in their power to guide me through my youth and young adulthood, yes. I learned from them the most important rules that I follow every day. That is to be honest and to really care about people. They taught me even though there are some evil people out there, that most people are good and want to be good. They were very right!
Ok, so here is the rest of my list of what else I am thankful for: My beautiful and loving wife, Jeanette. She makes me smile and she takes the brunt of when I'm not happy. (yes, even I have my days!) My four awesome ,way to old children in Jon, Matt, Amanda and Michael. My precious granddaughter Lola who lights up the room as soon as she walks in...sometimes she strolls in I guess since she is only 19 months old! My very cool, fun, caring, and great staff who makes coming to work every day so much fun! My friend Wayne's two girls who were shot this year are both out of the hospital and doing great! My brothers who have been my friends for my entire life. My friends that I grew up with and that I"m still close with...I'm lucky to have several friends that I could count on if I needed anything...how cool is that! And finally and not least are my customers who have helped me grow a company that is well respected and successful. As we all know, without great customers like you and with my great staff I don't have a company!
On this day, Thanksgiving, give thanks to everything in your life that is good. Remember that sometimes things don't go exactly as we plan but there is always a lesson to be learned. I have gone through some very hard times and come away with many great lessons of life.
Lastly, please take a moment while you are sitting down to eat that yummy turkey to say a prayer for all of our troops scattered around the world in harms way. We are blessed to have such a fine group of men and women who are wiling to be away from their families during the holidays and put their lives on the line on a daily basis all in the name of freedom.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Mitch
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Brevard County Properties Sold through the end of October 2007
Hi Everyone!
I have been promising stats for quite a bit but have been so busy I hadn't had a chance to do them. Well I finally got them done. Below are all the homes, condos and townhomes, and land sold for the year. As you can see the numbers are very low. At the bottom of the chart are all the current active properties for each category. The good news of course is that your negotiating power is very strong right now. If a home has been on the market for more than 6 months there is a good chance you can get the home for 10% or more off the listing price.
Month /Residential/ Condo&Townhouse /Land
January /342 /109 /45
Feb /465/ 121/ 43
March/ 519/ 143/ 63
April /510/ 127/ 64
May/ 471/ 131/ 60
June/ 487/ 128/ 53
July/ 447/ 122/ 50
August/ 447 /117 /54
Sept. /297/ 70/ 45
October /356 /83 /47
Currently
Active/ 7563/ 2987/ 4120
As I have said many times, this is a great time to buy. If you are interested in finding out more about the opportunities in Brevard, please don't hesitate to call or email us.
Have a great day!
Mitch
I have been promising stats for quite a bit but have been so busy I hadn't had a chance to do them. Well I finally got them done. Below are all the homes, condos and townhomes, and land sold for the year. As you can see the numbers are very low. At the bottom of the chart are all the current active properties for each category. The good news of course is that your negotiating power is very strong right now. If a home has been on the market for more than 6 months there is a good chance you can get the home for 10% or more off the listing price.
Month /Residential/ Condo&Townhouse /Land
January /342 /109 /45
Feb /465/ 121/ 43
March/ 519/ 143/ 63
April /510/ 127/ 64
May/ 471/ 131/ 60
June/ 487/ 128/ 53
July/ 447/ 122/ 50
August/ 447 /117 /54
Sept. /297/ 70/ 45
October /356 /83 /47
Currently
Active/ 7563/ 2987/ 4120
As I have said many times, this is a great time to buy. If you are interested in finding out more about the opportunities in Brevard, please don't hesitate to call or email us.
Have a great day!
Mitch
Monday, November 12, 2007
Veterans Day
Hi Everyone!
This is just a quick note to remind all of you to take a minute and think about our young adults that volunteer to protect our country. Whether you are for the war or against the war is not relevant. Either way, it is important to support our troops. Those are our kids out there putting their lives in danger every day. So while you are walking around enjoying the beautiful weather, take a moment and say a prayer for our troops. Pray that they all come home safely to continue their roles as husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters. Remember that because of our hero's both the past, the present and the future we will have the freedoms to walk around and enjoy such a beautiful day.
Have a great day today!
Mitch
This is just a quick note to remind all of you to take a minute and think about our young adults that volunteer to protect our country. Whether you are for the war or against the war is not relevant. Either way, it is important to support our troops. Those are our kids out there putting their lives in danger every day. So while you are walking around enjoying the beautiful weather, take a moment and say a prayer for our troops. Pray that they all come home safely to continue their roles as husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters. Remember that because of our hero's both the past, the present and the future we will have the freedoms to walk around and enjoy such a beautiful day.
Have a great day today!
Mitch
Sunday, November 11, 2007
I need your help!
Hi Everyone!
If you have been reading what I've been writing lately you have noticed that I am in the middle of making a bunch of changes to our company. For that reason I am looking for help from you, our customer.
1. We are getting ready to launch a new site - http://www.melbournehomesearch.com/ - Please check it out when you get a chance and send me your feedback. The MLS search function is working but we are still working on the saved listings portion to allow you to continue to save homes into your personal folder. Please email feedback at mitch@mitchrealty.com whether it be good, bad or indifferent. My goal is to create a site that is easy to use and has all the information you need. With your help, I can accomplish this goal!
2. Consumer Forum - I would like to get two different groups of customer together. The first group would be our customers who have already bought homes through Tropical Realty. The second group would be from customers who have not bought anything yet.
The purpose of these to forum's is to learn from you what we need to do to be a better company. I work very hard, as do all my Agents, to insure that our customers are getting the service that they desire. I will be taking you to dinner and discussing what we need to do on our end to make everything the best experience for you.
This past year has been a great year for us here at Tropical Realty. While most companies are struggling, we have been hitting our goals almost every month. Of course I only have you to thank for that. I appreciate your busines and your trust that you have in our company. I think I have the best Agents in the county ( I may be a little bias) if not the state. Every person on my staff from the admin (Pat and Krystal) to my Agents, to the Mortgage Dept of Pedro (my partner), Carolyn, Jeff and Greta cares about our customers as much as I do. I have always instilled in my staff that if you work hard and create the best customer service experience for your customer, you will always succeed. I can honestly say I know that they value our customer more than the buck! We all go out of our way to be the best we can be for you.
With that said, I know we have to improve in certain areas and I would like help finding out exactly what we need to improve. Please take a few minutes and write me a review of our new website at http://www.melbournehomesearch.com/ and let me know your thoughts. They do matter. Also, if you would like to be involved in my customer forum, please email me at mitch@mitchrealty.com and let me know. I will be taking everyone out to dinner to discuss how I can make Tropical Realty a better company and a great experience for our customers.
I look forward to hearing from you. Have a great night!
Mitch
If you have been reading what I've been writing lately you have noticed that I am in the middle of making a bunch of changes to our company. For that reason I am looking for help from you, our customer.
1. We are getting ready to launch a new site - http://www.melbournehomesearch.com/ - Please check it out when you get a chance and send me your feedback. The MLS search function is working but we are still working on the saved listings portion to allow you to continue to save homes into your personal folder. Please email feedback at mitch@mitchrealty.com whether it be good, bad or indifferent. My goal is to create a site that is easy to use and has all the information you need. With your help, I can accomplish this goal!
2. Consumer Forum - I would like to get two different groups of customer together. The first group would be our customers who have already bought homes through Tropical Realty. The second group would be from customers who have not bought anything yet.
The purpose of these to forum's is to learn from you what we need to do to be a better company. I work very hard, as do all my Agents, to insure that our customers are getting the service that they desire. I will be taking you to dinner and discussing what we need to do on our end to make everything the best experience for you.
This past year has been a great year for us here at Tropical Realty. While most companies are struggling, we have been hitting our goals almost every month. Of course I only have you to thank for that. I appreciate your busines and your trust that you have in our company. I think I have the best Agents in the county ( I may be a little bias) if not the state. Every person on my staff from the admin (Pat and Krystal) to my Agents, to the Mortgage Dept of Pedro (my partner), Carolyn, Jeff and Greta cares about our customers as much as I do. I have always instilled in my staff that if you work hard and create the best customer service experience for your customer, you will always succeed. I can honestly say I know that they value our customer more than the buck! We all go out of our way to be the best we can be for you.
With that said, I know we have to improve in certain areas and I would like help finding out exactly what we need to improve. Please take a few minutes and write me a review of our new website at http://www.melbournehomesearch.com/ and let me know your thoughts. They do matter. Also, if you would like to be involved in my customer forum, please email me at mitch@mitchrealty.com and let me know. I will be taking everyone out to dinner to discuss how I can make Tropical Realty a better company and a great experience for our customers.
I look forward to hearing from you. Have a great night!
Mitch
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Media and the Real Estate Market
Hi Everyone!
So I am sitting here getting ready to watch my Boston Red Sox try to make it three wins straight against the Rockies. I'm very excited. Of course nothing will compare to the Sox World Series of 2004. It's amazing how long it took!
We were having a discussion this week about the media and its affect on the public. We all know that the media spins its stories in whatever direction it wants to go. When something is "hot" they are all over it. Of course "hot" in their opinion is bad. You don't hear to many good things on the news...the truth of the matter is that good news doesn't sell. Bad news creates viewers which creates sales. It's all about the buck!
Right now we are in a changing Real Estate market and we have been for one and a half years now. Nobody really knows when the market is going to hit bottom, or if it already has hit bottom. Depending upon who you ask, you might get a different answer. My take is that this is probably the best time we have had to buy Real Estate in the past 4 years. Prices are pre 2004 and I tend to doubt they will go any lower. With that said, there are some great deals out there too. People who bought their homes prior to 2003 are willing to take a modest profit instead of the monster profits we were seeing in 2004 and the first half of 2005.
Anyway, back to our discussion about the media. I believe that the media (being on the left side of the isle) were motivated to insure a Democratic Congress. Unfortunately for them at the time, things were not going to badly in this country. Of course this is all relative, but as far as the economy, things are, were, pretty strong. The media knew if they were going to affect the election they were going to have to put the breaks on our economy. The only way to do that at the time was to destroy the housing market. The housing market affects many other markets then just buying and selling houses. It affects construction workers, appliance sales people, the banking industry, rug manufacturers and so on. I think you understand. By putting the breaks on the Real Estate market they pretty much shut down a major part of our economy. Let's face it, at the time, May of 2005 was the peak, house prices were starting to level off and interest rates were still at 6%. Houses were selling in 30 days or so and the economy was strong.
In May 2005 the media made their run to alter politics. They started with the simple, "the housing bubble is going to burst". Within a few months as they hammered this home to our country, the market did start to slow. From there they took it and ran. Once they created enough data to show the market was slowing, they made it the most talked about headlines in the country. Within a year, by May of 2006 they completely destroyed the Real Estate market. Anyone trying to sell their home over the past year knows what I am talking about here.
Ok, let's fast forward to October 2007. The market is still hurting badly and there is talk of thousands of foreclosures. Many of the sales we do are "short sales". Short Sales are sales in which the seller will sell their home for less than they owe on it. They can only do this with the permission of the bank. It is much easier and less expensive for the bank to do a short sale than to go into foreclosure. Believe me, the bank does not what all those homes.
This month is supposed to be the peak of the "resets" of the adjustable rate mortgages. It will be interesting to see what is going to happen. Although with that said, Countrywide mortgage has decided to help out about 82,000 of its customers by not adjusting the mortgage at this time. This should help. I have been saying for quite a while now that if the banks don't want to go into foreclosure on these homes, they are going to have to do something about the resets. Finally someone is listening. Many more lenders are going to have to follow suit if they don't want to be handed a ton of homes.
So what am I really talking about here. The reality is if you are looking to buy a home, this is a great time to buy. If you are thinking about buying a condo, this is an excellent time to buy. There are a ton of condos on the market and they are not moving. If you are thinking about buying a piece of land, this is an awesome time to buy. I think last month out of the approximately 4100 lots for sale, only 47 sold. Lots in Palm Bay have come down from a peak of $70k to around $30k or a little more and sometimes a little less. The point is, if you need a place to live or are looking for a home you are going to stay in for a long time, then you should be very excited about the quantity of homes on the market. Think of all the choices you have to find that home you have always wanted.
As always, we are here to guide you in the process of buying a home. Since we have switched to a Single Agency (we represent you) the response has been overwhelming. Our clients love the fact that we have a legal responsibility in the transaction. It gives them a more secure feeling knowing that we are going to go the extra mile for them...you.
Have a great Saturday Night and Sunda. Go Red Sox and we can't forget to say Go Pats! It's a good time to be a Boston fan these days!
Mitch
So I am sitting here getting ready to watch my Boston Red Sox try to make it three wins straight against the Rockies. I'm very excited. Of course nothing will compare to the Sox World Series of 2004. It's amazing how long it took!
We were having a discussion this week about the media and its affect on the public. We all know that the media spins its stories in whatever direction it wants to go. When something is "hot" they are all over it. Of course "hot" in their opinion is bad. You don't hear to many good things on the news...the truth of the matter is that good news doesn't sell. Bad news creates viewers which creates sales. It's all about the buck!
Right now we are in a changing Real Estate market and we have been for one and a half years now. Nobody really knows when the market is going to hit bottom, or if it already has hit bottom. Depending upon who you ask, you might get a different answer. My take is that this is probably the best time we have had to buy Real Estate in the past 4 years. Prices are pre 2004 and I tend to doubt they will go any lower. With that said, there are some great deals out there too. People who bought their homes prior to 2003 are willing to take a modest profit instead of the monster profits we were seeing in 2004 and the first half of 2005.
Anyway, back to our discussion about the media. I believe that the media (being on the left side of the isle) were motivated to insure a Democratic Congress. Unfortunately for them at the time, things were not going to badly in this country. Of course this is all relative, but as far as the economy, things are, were, pretty strong. The media knew if they were going to affect the election they were going to have to put the breaks on our economy. The only way to do that at the time was to destroy the housing market. The housing market affects many other markets then just buying and selling houses. It affects construction workers, appliance sales people, the banking industry, rug manufacturers and so on. I think you understand. By putting the breaks on the Real Estate market they pretty much shut down a major part of our economy. Let's face it, at the time, May of 2005 was the peak, house prices were starting to level off and interest rates were still at 6%. Houses were selling in 30 days or so and the economy was strong.
In May 2005 the media made their run to alter politics. They started with the simple, "the housing bubble is going to burst". Within a few months as they hammered this home to our country, the market did start to slow. From there they took it and ran. Once they created enough data to show the market was slowing, they made it the most talked about headlines in the country. Within a year, by May of 2006 they completely destroyed the Real Estate market. Anyone trying to sell their home over the past year knows what I am talking about here.
Ok, let's fast forward to October 2007. The market is still hurting badly and there is talk of thousands of foreclosures. Many of the sales we do are "short sales". Short Sales are sales in which the seller will sell their home for less than they owe on it. They can only do this with the permission of the bank. It is much easier and less expensive for the bank to do a short sale than to go into foreclosure. Believe me, the bank does not what all those homes.
This month is supposed to be the peak of the "resets" of the adjustable rate mortgages. It will be interesting to see what is going to happen. Although with that said, Countrywide mortgage has decided to help out about 82,000 of its customers by not adjusting the mortgage at this time. This should help. I have been saying for quite a while now that if the banks don't want to go into foreclosure on these homes, they are going to have to do something about the resets. Finally someone is listening. Many more lenders are going to have to follow suit if they don't want to be handed a ton of homes.
So what am I really talking about here. The reality is if you are looking to buy a home, this is a great time to buy. If you are thinking about buying a condo, this is an excellent time to buy. There are a ton of condos on the market and they are not moving. If you are thinking about buying a piece of land, this is an awesome time to buy. I think last month out of the approximately 4100 lots for sale, only 47 sold. Lots in Palm Bay have come down from a peak of $70k to around $30k or a little more and sometimes a little less. The point is, if you need a place to live or are looking for a home you are going to stay in for a long time, then you should be very excited about the quantity of homes on the market. Think of all the choices you have to find that home you have always wanted.
As always, we are here to guide you in the process of buying a home. Since we have switched to a Single Agency (we represent you) the response has been overwhelming. Our clients love the fact that we have a legal responsibility in the transaction. It gives them a more secure feeling knowing that we are going to go the extra mile for them...you.
Have a great Saturday Night and Sunda. Go Red Sox and we can't forget to say Go Pats! It's a good time to be a Boston fan these days!
Mitch
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