Good news for buyers! The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced on Friday the 15th, that it is waiving the rule which makes a property ineligible for FHA financing if it was bought within the last 90 days.

Secretary  Shaun Donovan of  HUD said, “As a result of the tightened credit market, FHA-insured mortgage financing is often the only means of financing available to potential home buyers,” said Donovan. “FHA has an unprecedented opportunity to fulfill its mission by helping many home buyers find affordable housing while contributing to neighborhood stabilization.”

The new rule will take effect February 1,2010 and is effective for one year, unless otherwise extended or withdrawn by the FHA commissioner. The rule was first brought about to protect FHA borrowers against predatory practices of “flipping” where properties were quickly resold at inflated prices.  In todays market of over-regulation and extra underwriting of appraisals, it would be hard to over inflated homes prices.  The inflated prices are a thing of the past, for now.

The following conditions must be meet on the transaction:

•All transactions must be arms-length, with no identity of interest between the buyer and seller or other parties participating in the sales transaction.

•In cases in which the sales price of the property is 20 percent or more above the seller’s acquisition cost, the waiver will only apply if the lender meets specific conditions.

•The waiver is limited to forward mortgages, and does not apply to the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) for purchase program.

Specific conditions and other details of this new temporary policy are in the text of the waiver, available on HUD’s website here.

November home sales in Stockton slowed compared to previous months.  There were 745 sold of existing homes.  The rest of California and the United states faired different.  California sales were up 4.6%, while national sales were up 7.4% San Joaquin county has a very low 1.4 month inventory!  On average, the real estate market has an inventory of 6.5 months.

Dave’s take:

Being a traditional slow season could be one reason for the decline in activity.  However, another cause is the lack of inventory.  1.4 months of inventory is nothing!  Talk about a sellers market!  Yes, prices have leveled, if not inched up a bit, but there are plenty of buyers who would like to take advantage to the $8000 tax credit.

As many of you know, agents are getting multiple offers on homes.  There is a ‘shadow inventory’ lurking, but banks seem to be holding the foreclosed homes and not releasing them to the market due to federal pressures or some other unknown reasons.

I feel this is a temporary slow down, as more of the ‘shadow inventory’ is put on the market in the near future.  There is word Bank of America is preparing to release more homes.  Buyers are also going to want to take advantage of the expiring tax credit by April 1st.  The spring should bring new things, new activity and more happy home owners!

Happy Holidays,

David

Commets or questions??

Contact me @

email: mckeeverrealestate@gmail.com

http://twitter.com/davemckeever

Obama to meet with bank CEOs

The President will sit down with bank executives on Monday to discuss lending and industry reform legislation.

President Obama will meet with the chief executives of several big banks next week, in an effort to help spur greater lending to consumers and small businesses, two senior White House officials told CNN Wednesday.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/09/news/companies/banks_obama/index.htm

It’s that time of year when houses shine a bit brighter. Ever wonder how much the decorative holiday lights add to a monthly electric bill? Here’s an easy way to help calculate energy costs this holiday season.

• Count the bulbs on all of your decorative indoor and outdoor lights.

• Check the wattage per bulb.

• Multiply watts per bulb by number of bulbs. (1 watt per bulb x 1,000 bulbs = 1,000 watts).

• Convert watts to kilowatts — 1,000 watts = 1 kilowatt (kw).

• Estimate the hours per month the lights are on. (5 hours per day x 30 days = 150 hours)

• Multiply the total kilowatts by the total number of hours the

lights will be on to get the total kilowatt-hours (kwh). For example, 1 kw x 150 hours = 150 kwh.

• Multiply the total kilowatt-hours by the total cost ofelectricity per kwh. (150 kwh x $0.14 per kwh = $21) In this example, the cost of holiday lighting would be an additional $21 per month.

Reprinted with permission of RISMedia, publisher of Real Estate Magazine

Uncle Sam will credit you 30% of the cost up to $1,500 in 2009 for improvements to existing home that make your home more energy efficient.

Improve Your Home and Have Uncle Sam Pay for It

Over a decade, price appreciation usually overcomes even bad slumps.

For all the doom and gloom about the housing market, it still generally pays to own a home.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33243863/ns/business-real_estate/

This was my answer to a question which was made on truila.com

If you were a home owner in Stockton and you were fortunate enough to have 60-80k equity still in your home, and a mortgage that is relatively comfortable at $1,300 mo. w/ 3 bed/ 2 bath, swimming pool in Linclon Village West; would it be better to sell now…

Click Below to read more…

http://www.trulia.com/voices/Home_Selling/I_would_like_some_professional_opinions_on_this_-166809-p_1-recent?answerId=534265&thisanswer=1#left_content

The Stockton Real Estate Market continues to sizzle.  For those you who are in the market looking to buy right now, you know the competition is tough!! If you are in the market and are looking for homes under $150K, it seems like that is everyone, I wish you the best of  luck.   You need to be aggressive.  You need to be fast.  For example. read more »

Check out http://www.smartzip.com.  This is a new website that evaluates Real Estate Investment Properties.  It uses a 0-100 rating to determine wether the property is a good invesment.  It compiles data from various sources to determine the rating.  It is a new and interesting concept.