The market in the Park Cities seems to have finally stabilized. The homes that are selling are the ones in prime locations, pristine condition and priced right. There are still so many sellers that can not wrap their heads around the fact that they have to take a lower price for their home. If a seller bought in 2006 or 2007, he probably paid top dollar and will take a loss if he has to sell. It's an awesome time for buyers to find fabulous deals for the first time in the Park Cities compared with prices in the past. Young couples trying to get into the school district should definitely stretch in this market to get into the school district. The million dollar and under market seems to be selling at a brisk pace (if priced properly). Pricing is still key! Older homes are having a difficult time selling because there are so many newer constructions that are distressed or going for short sales. There have been several "high end" sales in the last few montsh....$11,000,000! The $3-5,000,000 range is definitely slow unless the price was reduced from $5 million down to $3....or $3 million down to $2.5 It's definitely an interesting market! Keep in mind, if it's priced competitively or under market, it will sell. It has to "stand out" in this market or it will sit.
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
Saturday, November 21, 2009
More Than 1 in 4 Homes for Sale in Price Reduction Report Have Seen Reduction
Monday, November 09, 2009
Obama Signs Homebuyer Tax Credit Extension
RISMEDIA, -President Barack Obama has approved the first-time homebuyer tax credit extension which will extend the tax credit until April 30, 2010.
The extension is part of a $24 billion economic stimulus bill that will extend the $8,000 tax credit for homebuyers who are purchasing their first home from the current November 30 deadline and expands the program to offer a credit of $6,500 to homeowners who have lived in their current home for at least five years and are seeking to relocate.
The following details apply to the homebuyer tax credit expansion:
Who is Eligible
-First-time homebuyers, who are defined by the law as buyers who have not owned a principal residence during the three-year period prior to the purchase, may be eligible for up to an $8,000 tax credit.
-Existing homeowners who have been residing in their principal residence for five consecutive years out of the last eight and are purchasing a home to be their principal residence ("repeat buyer"), may be eligible for up to a $6,500 tax credit.
-All U.S. citizens who file taxes are eligible to participate in the program.
Income Limits
Homebuyers who file as single or head-of-household taxpayers can claim the full credit ($8,000 for first-time buyers and $6,500 for repeat buyers) if their modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is less than $125,000.
-For married couples filing a joint return, the combined income limit is $225,000.
-Single or head-of-household taxpayers who earn between $125,000 and $145,000, and married couples who earn between $225,000 and $245,000 are eligible to receive a partial credit.
-The credit is not available for single taxpayers whose MAGI is greater than $145,000 and married couples with a MAGI that exceeds $245,000.
Effective Dates
-The eligibility period for the tax credit is for homes purchased after Nov. 6, 2009, and before May 1, 2010. However, home purchases subject to a binding sales contract signed by April 30, 2010, will qualify for the tax credit provided closing occurs prior to July 1, 2010.
Types of Homes that Qualify
-All homes with a purchase price of less than $800,000 qualify, including newly-constructed or resale, and single-family detached, townhomes or condominiums, provided that the home will be used as their principal residence. Vacation home and rental property purchases do NOT qualify.
Tax Credit is Refundable
-A refundable credit means that if the amount of income taxes you owe is less than the credit amount you qualify for, the government will send you a check for the difference.
-For example:
-A first-time buyer who qualifies for the full $8,000 credit who owes $5,000 in federal income taxes would pay nothing to the IRS and receive a $3,000 payment from the government. If you are due to receive a $1,000 refund, you would receive $9,000 ($1,000 plus the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit).
-A repeat buyer who owes $5,000 would pay nothing to the IRS and receive $1,500 back from the government. If you are due to get a $1,000 refund, you would get $7,500 ($1,000 plus the $6,500 repeat buyer tax credit).
-All qualified homebuyers can take the tax credit on their 2009 or 2010 income tax return.
Payback Provisions
The tax credit is a true credit. It does not have to be repaid unless the home owner sells or stops using the home as their principal residence within three years after the purchase.
The www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com site is being updated. Check the site next week for more detailed information on the new tax credit.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Total Number of Home Listings Down in August
RISMEDIA, September 24, 2009-The number of homes for sale declined nearly 3% in August 2009, compared to July, and is down more than 23% compared to a year ago,
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Top Real Estate Websites
Homes for sale, rent, search, valuations, historical & comparable sales, local market information, and much more..
http://base.google.com/base/help/re
"Over 56% of all Internet searches on "real estate" and related terms are conducted on Google and our partner sites, and the majority of those searchers are actively looking for listings or referrals to brokers and agents. You can make sure that they can find your listings by submitting them to Google Base" Google.com
http://realestate.yahoo.com
"Search homes for sale, find home values, research housing markets, get a home loan, read expert real estate advice & more!" Yahoo.com
http://www.zillow.com
"Zillow is an online real estate service dedicated to helping you get an edge in real estate by providing you with valuable tools and information." Zillow.com
http://www.trulia.com
"Trulia is a real estate search engine that helps you find homes for sale and provides real estate information at the local level to help you make better decisions in the process." Trulia.com
http://www.hotpads.com
"With HotPads' innovative map-based search, we are striving to give people the best communication platform for sharing information about available housing." Hotpads.com
http://www.eppraisal.com
"Eppraisal provides free home valuations, data on comparable homes, recent sales, neighborhood details and local market trends." Eppraisal.com
http://www.homescape.com
"Homescape provides local, comprehensive property listings and rich content to home buyers and sellers nationwide, while delivering a suite of advertising solutions that offer choice and results that enable real estate professionals to grow their business." Homescape.com
http://real-estate.nextag.com
"Nextag is the leading comparison shopping site for products, financial services, travel, automobiles, real estate, education and more." Nextag.com
http://www.homegain.com
"Real estate agents and brokers use HomeGain's real estate marketing solutions and real estate lead generation tools to connect to consumers, promote their services and grow their business." Homegain.com
http://www.hoodeo.com
"As The Neighborhood Matchmaker, hoodeo learns about you - your hoodeo profile - then matches you to your top 10 'best places to live' by zip code. You are matched based on lifestyle, property type, and the price you are looking for." Hoodeo.com
http://www.condo.com
"We are the World's Largest Condo Marketplace. We were formed to help developers, builders, brokers, financial institutions and others sell or rent their condos, lofts or town homes." Condo.com
http://www.frontdoor.com
"we believe that the home searching experience should be about more than just the boards and the bricks. It should be about what it's like to live in that building, on that street, and in that neighborhood." FrontDoor.com
http://www.landwatch.com
"LandWatch helps you find investment or recreation property, land for sale, hunting land and leases, large acreages, farms and ranches for sale, waterfront properties and country homes." LandWatch.com
http://www.beatyouthere.com
"We are a real estate search engine that provides you with the most accurate listings and information possible so that you can make an educated decision based on your search." BeatYourThere.com
http://www.clrsearch.com
"CLR Choice, Inc. is a real estate information company that seeks to enhance the real estate search experience by providing the data relevant to making an informed decision." CLRSearch.com
http://www.cyberhomes.com
"Cyberhomes™ valuations give you access to most of the same information that real estate professionals use to evaluate homes." CyberHomes.com
http://www.dothomes.com
"Consumers use DotHomes to quickly search over thousands of estate agent Websites across multiple countries, with relevant search results taking consumers to property listings on these Websites." DotHomes.com
http://www.homes.com
"Homes.com is a leading provider of real estate services, including property listings, brand advertising and marketing solutions, both online and in print." Homes.com
http://www.homescout.com
"HomeScout is a comprehensive, consumer-focused real estate web site from HomeGain, the leading, online source for connecting real estate professionals with homeowners and homebuyers. " HomeScout.com
http://www.roost.com
"Roost offers two services in parallel - a consumer search engine for places to live and a technology platform for REALTORS®." Roost.com
http://www.propbot.com
"PropBot.com's goal is to provide FREE unlimited property listings to REALTORS, brokers, property managers, for sale by owners (FSBO's), and the average landlord; while advancing property search and listing technology." Propbot.com
http://www.realestate.com
"RealEstate.com is the place to begin your search for real estate, whether you are looking to buy or sell a home or property." RealEstate.com
http://www.openhouse.com
"OpenHouse.com has approximately 15,000 to 20,000 open house listings in markets across the nation on any given weekend." OpenHouse.com
http://www.myrealty.com
"MyREALTY.com is a media company that focuses solely on real estate and that which is related to the real estate industry." MyRealty.com
http://www.teardowns.com
"The Company was founded after realizing first hand that the market lacked an efficient and effective way to buy and sell redevelopment property." TearDowns.com
http://www.movoto.com
"Whether it's your first time to buy a home or you've done it many times, you can count on Movoto for complete local home market information and introductions to top-rated agents with extensive real estate experience and in-depth local expertise." Movoto.com
http://www.foreclosure.com
"We deliver the latest, most complete residential foreclosure property listings in an easy, accessible format to our customers and business partners." Foreclosure.com
http://www.propertyhookup.com
"Our real estate investment software instantly calculates the house values for every residential real estate investment property on the market. It then filters all the house values and identifies the best priced real estate listings for sale in your area." PropertyHookup.com
http://www.robertjrussell.com, http://www.InsurancePricedRight.com, http://www.FreeDFWApartments.com
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Want to Buy a House ?
Buy a Ticket
RISMEDIA, July 15, 2009-(MCT)-With a housing market sinking to lows seldom seen in this country's history, some people are resorting to seldom-used practices to sell their houses.
Don and Karen Carroll count themselves among that group. With plans to move to Painesville Township, the Eastlake couple is trying to sell their home of five years but to this point haven't had much luck.
"Our house has been on the market for almost a month and a half, but only one person has come to look at it," said Don, 40. "That being the case, we're kind of worried."
So, they've come up with a Plan B.
"I was sitting in the living room last week, and I said to my husband, 'What if we tried to raffle this house?' " said Karen, 50. "Somebody in this big world had to have done it before."
In fact, someone has. Last year, a Maryland couple raffled off their four-bedroom farmhouse - which was appraised at $390,000 when it was first put on the market - by selling 6,289 tickets at a price of $100 each.
The entire process took about two and a half months and the raffle even raised about $225,000 for a charity of that couple's choice.
The Carrolls first hoped to do exactly the same but have since learned that Ohio law prevents them from doing so, Don said.
However, another entity - like a nonprofit organization - can conduct such a raffle, Don said, explaining that led the Carrolls to approach the Diabetes Association of Greater Cleveland in hopes of working something out.
"My mother just passed away last month from diabetes," said Karen, explaining why the couple chose the Beachwood-based nonprofit.
However, such a raffle would have to be approved by the association's board of directors and there are still a number of legal questions that must be answered, said Lori Izeman, director of development and communication.
"We're interested in looking at new streams of revenue, and this may be an exciting opportunity," she said. "We're thrilled they're thinking locally, because the Diabetes Association of Greater Cleveland is the only local nonprofit dedicated to diabetes. We're not part of a national organization."
Should things not work with the association, Don said he and his wife would look for other nonprofits in hopes of arranging a raffle.
"In my heart, I think this could be a successful thing for whichever organization was willing to do it," he said.
In the meantime, the three-bedroom, one-bathroom raised-ranch house at 1259 E. 362nd St. is still up for sale. It's been appraised at $115,000, Don said.
Realtor Daryl Poe, who along with wife Georgia is the Keller Williams Realty agent for the house, said the couple would likely sell their home before any raffle if a buyer stepped forward.
Still, he gives the Carrolls credit for deciding to raffle the house.
"As a Realtor, it didn't bother me," Poe said. "You got people thinking outside the box."
Copyright (c) 2009, The News-Herald, Willoughby, Ohio
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Extended Warranties vs Home Appliances
I never buy extended warranties, but this sure sounds like sound logic.
This month I want to share with you a little trick that I learned to help choose the best appliances when building your own home.
When we built our house I did not know this little gem so we wound up with some new appliances that have not been that great. After a couple of years we started to have some issues with them breaking and the result was having to come up with the cash to repair them.
I figured out a great way to tell if an appliance was reliable or not.
Here it is in a nut shell:
- First find the appliance that fits your need and budget.
- Price the extended warranty on each appliance model that you are interested in.
- The higher the cost of the extended appliance warranty the lower the reliability and the more costly it is to own over the long term.
- The insurance companies that back these warranties do studies on the cost of repair and dependability of the models and companies that produce the appliances. They are in the business to make money. So it stands to reason the lower they set the warranty cost to you, the lower the frequency or repair they are going to have to cover under the warranty.
Here are a couple of common sense points when using this rule of thumb. - Choose appliances in the same price range when making the comparison. If you choose one that is much more expensive it stands to reason that it will be more expensive to fix than a cheaper model with less bells and whistles on it.
- Make sure you choose the same term or duration of the insurance policy for the appliances that you are comparing.
A couple of months ago we had to replace our microwave vent hood combo. My wife used this exercise to choose the new one. The two models that she compared were about the same cost but the warranty on the Kitchenaide was $99.00 for 5 years and on the GE model it was $399.
No doubt we bought the Kitchenaide and bought the warranty for good measure. Even if you do not buy the warranty this comparison method is better than any other method I know of.
Hope this helps when choosing your appliances.
To find out more about what we do visit http://www.robertjrussell.com
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Is your State among the Foreclosure Leaders ?
Foreclosure leaders focused on 4 states in new metro list
- Wednesday April 22, 2009, 9:47 am
The 26 cities with the highest foreclosure rate in the nation are all located in four hard-hit states, with Las Vegas topping the list, according to a report released Wednesday.
Metro areas in California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona topped the foreclosure filing list for the first quarter of 2009 in a report from RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosed properties. A foreclosure filing includes default papers, auction sale notices and repossessions.
Las Vegas had the highest rate of foreclosures of any city, with one in every 22 homes subject to a foreclosure filing in the first three months of the year. The rate of foreclosure filings was 4.5%, seven times the national average.
Merced, Calif., had the second highest rate, with Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., Stockton, Calif., and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif., rounding out the top five.
"The metro areas with the highest levels of foreclosure activity in the first quarter of 2009 paint a picture of concentrated problems in a relatively small number of hard-hit areas," said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, in a written statement.
Foreclosure rates have been very high in the 4 key states throughout the bursting of the housing bubble, and so it was to be expected that cities from those states would pepper the top of the list.
However, it was a surprise to see the list so top heavy, according to Rick Sharga, senior vice president at RealtyTrac.
"The concentration of troubled metro areas within the hardest-hit states, candidly, was even more severe than we expected it to be," Sharga said. "The degree to which those four states dominated the rankings surprised even us."
New problem cities: Meanwhile, some metropolitan areas had a surge in foreclosures. Boise City-Nampa, Idaho, in 27th place, Provo-Orem, Utah, in 37th, and Charleston-North Charleston, S.C., in 51st were examples Sharga gave of areas that had particular strong gains in filings.
Sharga said the rise of foreclosures in additional regions indicates new factors influencing the housing market as the recession drags on.
"What we believe we are seeing is some of the areas with unemployment problems," said Sharga. "These are people living paycheck to paycheck and, when the paycheck is gone, suddenly they can't afford to make their mortgage payments."
The data for RealtyTrak's metro area foreclosure report is collected from 2,200 counties across the nation, and those counties represent more than 90% of the U.S. population. Some 203 areas are covered by the report.
Across the nation, foreclosure activity in the first quarter hit a record high, according to another RealtyTrac report issued last week. Total foreclosure filings reached 803,489 in the first three months of the year, the highest monthly and quarterly totals since RealtyTrac began reporting in January 2005.
The national report also found that the worst of the foreclosures were centralized in a handful of worst-hit states. California, Florida, Arizona, Nevada and Illinois accounted for nearly 60% of the total foreclosure activity in the first quarter, with 479,516 properties received foreclosure filings in those states.
For a FREE list of Foreclosures visit: http://www.robertjrussell.com
Visit our websites: http://www.homesinflowermound.net, http://www.dfwhomesforsale.com, http://www.wediditagaingroup.com, http://www.wediditagainteam.com,
Monday, March 23, 2009
Foreclosure Activity in Dallas - Fort Worth Metroplex
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Foreclosure Posting Activity - April 2009 Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex Following Last Month's Dip in Postings, D/FW Homes Posted for the April Foreclosure Auctions Surged again & Topped 5,000 for the Second Time on Record.
The filing deadline has passed for foreclosure postings to be filed at county courthouses throughout the State of Texas for the upcoming foreclosure auctions on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009. Therefore, Foreclosure Listing Service, Inc. has completed our research of the April foreclosure postings. The following points offer a few highlights of these statistics. These quotes should be attributed to George Roddy, Sr., President of Foreclosure Listing Service, Inc. DALLAS/FORT WORTH METRO "Following last month's dip in foreclosure posting activity, postings filed on D/FW homes again surged for the April foreclosure auctions. For only the second time on record, home postings within the Metro topped 5,000."
"For the upcoming foreclosure auctions in the D/FW Metro, 5,213 postings have been filed on homes. This was a 27% hike above the 4,108 filed for the same month last year; and, compared to last month's 4,276 notices, there was a 22% increase."
"The only other month that residential postings reached above 5,000 was in February of last year when the record level was achieved with 5,315 postings filed." "For the last 18 consecutive months, D/FW's residential posting activity has exceeded 3,600 postings each month."
"So far this year, home postings were up 7% in the D/FW Metro with almost 18,500 postings filed for the first four auctions of this year."
"With the various plans announced, you would think that postings might ease; but, that is not the case. At least not yet. We will simply have to wait to see if the outlined plans actually end up helping the average American homeowner or not." |
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DENTON COUNTY
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