2012 1st Quarter Real Estate Trend

Here are some interesting Statistics for the 1st Quarter Homes sales in Mesa County.

This graph was provided by Advances Title Company as a preview to their newsletter coming out next week.


Feel free to give me a call, send an email, or a text with any questions. Thanks! Becky Behrens

908 Kaley Street -- Open Today 10-2

Square Footage Galore! You won't believe the room inside this home. This Beautiful home has a nice open floor plan with the split bedroom design. From the large living room with vaulted ceilings to the easy to work in kitchen with plenty of storage, it feels airy and bright. There is a fourth bedroom and a full bath upstairs off of the HUGE bonus room that could, also, be used as a mother-in-law setup. Don't forget about the awesome views of the monument! There is nothing behind you to block your view from the back patio. This home is completely landscaped, is move in ready, and just waiting for your personal touch.

Feel free to give me a call, send an email, or a text with any questions. Thanks! Becky Behrens

Put Your Best Features Forward: Simple Staging Solutions

The following link has a few GREAT and EASY ideas that sellers can do to make their home appeal to buyers. The before and after pictures speek for themselves!


Put Your Best Features Forward: Simple Staging Solutions

Feel free to give me a call, send an email, or a text with any questions. Thanks!Becky Behrens

619 Panorama - Just Reduced!!

Just reduced to $180,000!!!

This beautiful home in the Redlands is a 4 bedroom, 3 bath home and is a ranch with a full basement and over 2600 square feet. Three of the bedrooms are on the main level.


THE HOME YOU DESERVE....with hardwood floors throughout the main level, newer Accent windows, beautiful fireplace, newer roof, bay window in the living room, and a roomy open floor plan that is great for entertaining. You will enjoy the large kitchen with plenty of counter space. There is A LOT of home for your money in this ranch style home with a full finished basement. You can decide the best place for your grill in the big park like yard with wonderful views and the feeling of privacy. There is no HOA, more than enough RV parking, a dog run, and room for your toys. This home is ready to go and just waiting for your personal touch! The 1361 Sq Ft in the basement is finished and heated, but non-conforming. Buyer(s) to verify; all information subject to change/error.



Feel free to give me a call, send an email, or a text with any questions. Thanks! Becky Behrens

Some Local Statistics for The New Year

I thought you would enjoy some statistics from last year! It has been VERY interesting to see how real estate sales are trending. Right now the inventory is low only 932 residential listings and we as agents are scrambling for good homes to list. Pricing is very important right now! Also, the average list price is $306,065.00 and they are on the market for an average of 194 days. We sold more homes in 2011, in 2011 we sold 2,394 homes and that is up from 1750 in 2010. Although that doesn't mean that the prices are increasing, in fact the average sales price is down from $210,512 in 2010 to $177,727 in 2011. The following are some more statistics by area. Thanks!

Area          Listings in 2011       Sold Listings in          Average Sales 

                Active           Sold            12/2011                   $ in 12/2011 

City              94              275                22                        $124,935      

North          121             297                 20                        $173,257      

Northeast     77             291                  20                        $155,373      

Southeast     45            304                   15                         $109,922     

Redlands   119             248                   21                        $287,112       

Orchard

Mesa           76              217                  14                        $154,260         

Fruita          84              306                  29                       $212,996          

Clifton       48               161                  17                      $93,515            

Palisade/

East OM    33                  60                   1                        $373,600         

Our brokers gave us the following statistics in our meeting this week.

Feel free to give me a call, send an email, or a text with any questions. Thanks!Becky Behrens

10 remodeling projects that pay back most

Every year Remodeling Magazine puts out a report on what remodeling projects have the most payoff. They take the price of the project versus the added value to the home, if you were to sell it now. The project htat suprised me the most was a new garage door. It isn't a very expensive project. I will testify that numurous times I have had clients comment on the older garage door that isn't moving smoothly and it beat up. It is like your front door and it makes a big impression.

10 remodeling projects that pay back most - MSN Real Estate

Feel free to give me a call, send an email, or a text with any questions. Thanks! Becky Behrens

Congress Restores FHA Loan Limits to NAR-Backed Levels

It looks like this should happen in the near future and the report states that we should go back to the previous loan limit we had prior to October of 2011. The FHA loan limit is currently $271,000 after the limit dropped from $371,000 in October of this year. This is GREAT news and will make financing easier for many of the home buyers in Mesa County. Currently our inventory is lower than is has been in 18 months.

Congress Restores FHA Loan Limits to NAR-Backed Levels

Feel free to give me a call, send an email, or a text with any questions. Thanks! Becky Behrens

Mesa County foreclosure filings, sales, up year-over-year | GJSentinel.com

The fact that sales are up is a good thing. Just Remember that an increase in sales doesn't mean that the sales prices have increased. If you compare the first half of this year to the first half of last year the prices have decreased, some areas more than others.

Mesa County foreclosure filings, sales, up year-over-year | GJSentinel.com

Feel free to give me a call, send an email, or a text with any questions. Thanks!Becky Behrens

Foreclosures Account for 31% of Sales

This has been a problem for the people who want to sell their homes. They are having to compete with the foreclosed homes on the market. Buyers will look at the foreclosed homes and think they are getting a great deal because it costs less than a non-foreclosed home. What they are forgetting is that a foreclosed home has usually been vacant for awhile, sometimes more than 1 year. Most of the time the homes weren't winterized or taken care of until the bank took ownership. You can see that the carpet needs replaced, the home needs a major cleaning, and cabinets need replaced. However, you don't see if the pipes have frozen during last winter, if the swamp cooler is rusted through, that the hot water heater or furnace is inoperable. During the inspection you will find some of this out(if you hire a good inspector). So buyer beware...you could be walking into a money pit!

Or you could spend a bit more walk into a home that needs little to no work and the sellers have lived in and maintained the property(to their standards) while they owned it. There is no guarantees, but the chances are better you won't run into any major repairs.

REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-Foreclosures Account for 31% of Sales

Feel free to give me a call, send an email, or a text with any questions. Thanks!Becky Behrens

Tax Credit Extended???? and 5 Costly Mistakes First-Time Buyers Make

So this week I have had three people tell me that they heard or saw on the news that the the First-Time homebuyer tax credit was being extended. I haven't heard anything about this, to the best of my knowledge this tax credit is expiring. This means that if you want to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit for 1st time home buyers or the $6,500 if you have lived in your current home for 5 or more years, then you have until April 30, 2010 to have a house under contract. FYI, that is in 5 days!!!

REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-5 Costly Mistakes First-Time Buyers Make

Feel free to give me a call, send an email, or a text with any questions. Thanks!

Becky Behrens

Best Bang For Your Buck-Exterior Remodeling Projects

STOP!!! And think...When you are driving by a house that is for sale, what are some of the key features on the outside of a home that you look for? What are the gotta-haves that you make sure you see? What outside improvements are thinking about making to your current home? Will you get a return on your investment? The following link will take you to an article that will tell you if what percentage of a return you will get on your investment and if you are looking for the same improvements most people are looking for in a home.

REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-Exterior Remodeling: Best Bang for Your Buck


Feel free to give me a call, send an email, or a text with any questions. Thanks!

Becky Behrens

$8,000 Tax Credit Nears End

This is a great article that is easy to read-

The government is offering an $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers - that is, folks who haven't owned a home during the past three years. According to the plan, first-time homebuyers who purchase a home may be eligible for the lower of an $8,000 or 10% of the value of the home tax credit.

However, the program is scheduled to end soon. In fact, the Internal Revenue Service recently reminded potential first-time buyers that they must complete their first-time home purchases before December 1, 2009 to qualify for the special credit, which means the last day to close on a home and qualify for the credit is November 30, 2009. In other words, right now is the time to take advantage of this opportunity.

Here's some information to help you understand what the tax credit benefits are and who qualifies.

Benefits of the Tax Credit

It's important to remember that the $8,000 tax credit is just that... a tax credit. It's a dollar-for-dollar tax reduction, rather than a reduction in a tax liability that would only save you $1,000 to $1,500 when all was said and done. So, if you were to owe $8,000 in income taxes and would qualify for the $8,000 tax credit, you would owe nothing.

Better still, the incentive is refundable, which means you can receive a check for the credit even if you have little income tax liability. For example, if you're liable for $4,000 in income tax, you can offset that $4,000 with half of the tax incentive... and still receive a check for the remaining $4,000!

Who Qualifies?

The $8,000 incentive starts phasing out for couples with incomes above $150,000 and single filers with incomes above $75,000 and is phased out completely at incomes of $170,000 for couples and $95,000 for single filers. To break down what this phase-out means, the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) offers the following examples:

Example 1: Assume that a married couple has a modified adjusted gross income of $160,000. The applicable phase-out threshold is $150,000, and the couple is $10,000 over this amount. Dividing $10,000 by $20,000 yields 0.5. When you subtract 0.5 from 1.0, the result is 0.5. To determine the amount of the partial first-time homebuyer incentive to this couple, multiply $8,000 by 0.5. The result is $4,000.

Example 2: Assume that an individual homebuyer has a modified adjusted gross income of $88,000. The buyer's income exceeds $75,000 by $13,000. Dividing $13,000 by $20,000 yields 0.65. When you subtract 0.65 from 1.0, the result is 0.35. Multiplying $8,000 by 0.35 shows that the buyer is eligible to reduce the tax liability by $2,800.

Remember, these are general examples. Borrowers should consult a tax advisor to provide guidance relevant to their specific circumstances.

What Type of Home Qualifies?

The tax credit is applicable to any home that will be used as a principal residence. Based on that guideline, qualifying "homes" include single-family detached homes, as well as attached homes such as townhouses and condominiums. In addition, manufactured homes and houseboats used for principal residence also qualify. Buyers will have to repay the credit if they sell their homes within three years.


I don't want anyone to miss an opportunity by either waiting or misunderstanding the media headlines. Let's talk further on this. Call or email me, and let's discuss what this might mean for you.



The material contained in this newsletter has been prepared by an independent third-party provider. The material provided is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment, financial, real estate and/or mortgage advice. Although the material is deemed to be accurate and reliable, there is no guarantee it is not without errors.
As your Trusted Advisor, I always want to make sure you are clear on all details of the home financing process. If you or someone you know are interested in purchasing or refinancing a home, give me a call today! Laura Holm

Mortgage Success Source, LLC is the copyright owner or licensee of the content and/or information in this email, unless otherwise indicated. Mortgage Success Source, LLC does not grant to the recipient or distributor a license to any content, features or materials in this email. You may not distribute, download, or save a copy of any of the content except as otherwise provided in our Terms and Conditions of Membership, for any purpose.

Foreclosure Deal Vs Tax Credit

This question was emailed to me today and I thought it was a great question-

• Do to the increase of Foreclosures increasingForeclosure if we be patient are we more apt to save more than the $8000 tax credit. Are there better deals yet to come or has the market hit the bottom? and a link to this article was included - Foreclosure rate more than triples in Mesa County

Let me just start by saying "If anyone out there has a crystal ball I could borrow, I would greatly appreciate it. Please, Please, Pretty Please!!!"

I replied with the following:

• The only reason that I can foresee as to why you wouldn’t get the tax credit is if you both made over $150,000 combined, and from there my understanding is that you will get a percentage of the tax credit. Your accountant could answer that question better than me and trust me he has been asked many times. You can view the specifics for the 1st Time Homebuyer Tax Credit here. Also, did you read this article from the Daily Sentinel yesterday( This is a very good article) - Bargains to be found in housing market? Another factor that you might not be considering is the interest rate. The Government has been purchasing mortgage bonds and they have recently announced that they are going to start tapering off from purchasing them. As this continues to happen there is a good chance the interest rate will increase. I have a very informative newsletter that I will forward to you (See my previous post, below).
  
  Now as far as the foreclosure rate is concerned, you need to remember that most of these short sales are home owners who are trying to sell their homes and lose less money and hopefully avoid foreclosure. Therefore, a lot of those homes they are predicting as foreclosures are already on the market or the owners are in the process of working out something with their banks (aka “Making Home Affordable”) Some of them have already been given the 90 day notice and some of them are either behind or almost behind on their mortgage payments and they are trying to get their home sold in order to avoid foreclosure. As we have seen, some of the sellers out there are making their payments, but can’t sell their home for less than they owe. Yes, if these short sale owners don’t sell their homes, there is a good chance they will get foreclosed on. Here is the thing to know. If they are actively trying to sell their home the bank will sometimes give them a break and allow them to become more than 3 months behind on their payments. Each foreclosure costs the banks a significant amount of money and they try to avoid spending it. Keep in mind that while all of this is happening the 1st lienholder has gotten an appraisal done and has a very good idea of what the home is worth. Therefore, before they agree to a short sale or sale it at foreclosure they know the homes value and each bank has their own formula of how much they will accept below the appraised value.
  
  My opinion on all this is that some of these short sales out there are pretty good deals. The market price on average is lower than it has been in a couple of years and these short sell homes have the owners and the banks willing to take some good deals. The home owners just want to be done and the banks want to avoid paying the thousands of dollars to go through the foreclosure process. There is a down side, and that is a short sale can take up to 90-120 days (some don’t take that long, it varies) to be approved. It can be hard to be patient during this time. If someone comes in with a higher offer before the bank reviews your offer, their offer may be considered as well. Unless they extend the tax credit you will miss out on it, but you may have saved more in the process. I hope this has answered some of your questions, let me know if you have any more. Thanks!

Mortgage Interest Rates- Avoid This Costly Mistake

The following article came my way and I found this news very interesting. This Article was sent to me in a enewsletter from a Bank of America lender.

Avoid This Costly Mistake

If you've been following the financial news, you've probably heard that the Fed's been buying Mortgage Backed Securities. Unfortunately, people have picked up on the news and mistakenly discussed how these purchases will continue to cause rates to drop lower. But is that really what it means? No.

The following information can help set the record straight and help you make smart decisions that lead to a low interest rate for your home loan.

How is the Fed's Bond Purchase Related to Rates?

The Fed has been buying Mortgage Bonds. BUT... more precisely, they're buying a lot of FNMA 30-yr 5.0% and 5.5% Bonds. Many of the mortgages in these pools are outstanding home loans with rates between 6.0% and 6.5%, as the rate that a borrower pays is different than the coupon rate given to an investor buying into that mortgage pool, with the difference being taken by Wall Street firms and government agencies. The loans in these pools are likely to be refinanced and paid - because current rates make it very attractive to refinance a loan over 6.0%. Thus, giving the Fed a quick recoup on some of its investment.
Bottom line: The Fed's purchase of higher rate coupons will not necessarily help rates to move lower, as their actions do not impact the loans being originated at today's low rates.

The Problem Is...
Many consumers are in situations where they can refinance now and save hundreds of dollars a month on their mortgage payments. But if they hear people throwing around teases of lower rates ahead, they may decide to hold off on making the decision to save, in the hopes of gaining a few more dollars of savings per month if a lower rate came their way. Of course, while they're waiting, rates could turn higher - especially when you consider that the Fed is scaling back its purchases of Mortgage Backed Securities - and this window of opportunity could pass them by entirely.
Is the Fed Scaling Back? And What Will It Mean to Rates?
Last week, the New York Fed began to scale back their Mortgage Backed Security purchase program. The Fed has been buying about $25 Billion worth of Mortgage Backed Securities per week, but the new plan to drag out these purchases over a longer period of time means that they will be reducing both the frequency and amounts of their purchases. This will cause higher levels of volatility, as the Fed will be purchasing less often and less consistently. As a result, rates will probably rise gradually over time.

Here's the Clincher

Even if consumers are ultimately able to time the market perfectly and save another few bucks per month, they could still end up losing. That's because while they delayed, they lost the savings each month they could have gained by taking action sooner. In other words, they may have lost hundreds of dollars for every month they waited. So even if they got lucky and obtained the rate they were looking for, it could take years to make up what they lost by waiting.
I don't want anyone to miss an opportunity by either waiting or misunderstanding the media headlines. Let's talk further on this. Call or email me, and let's discuss what this might mean for you.


The material contained in this newsletter has been prepared by an independent third-party provider. The material provided is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment, financial, real estate and/or mortgage advice. Although the material is deemed to be accurate and reliable, there is no guarantee it is not without errors.
As your Trusted Advisor, I always want to make sure you are clear on all details of the home financing process. If you or someone you know are interested in purchasing or refinancing a home, give me a call today!

Mortgage Success Source, LLC is the copyright owner or licensee of the content and/or information in this email, unless otherwise indicated. Mortgage Success Source, LLC does not grant to the recipient or distributor a license to any content, features or materials in this email. You may not distribute, download, or save a copy of any of the content except as otherwise provided in our Terms and Conditions of Membership, for any purpose.

REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-How to Beat the Tax Credit Deadline

This article holds some very good tips for 1st time home buyers. One of the things I've been running into lately, is that there are some homes in a short sale situation that are a really good deals. Unfortunatly, depending on where the sellers are in the process, there is a good chance that despite your best efforts the bank will take too long to get their ducks in a row and you will miss out on the tax credit. The banks are overwhelmed and it isn't unusual to submit an offer and have to wait 60-120 days or longer to hear if the bank will accept the offer.


Click here to read REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-How to Beat the Tax Credit Deadline

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My Favorite Quote....

....from this article is "It is like going to the mall and everything is on sale." Between the great prices and the $8,000 tax credit there are deals to be made. I'm trying to figure out how I can get the tax credit! I enjoy free money. I enjoyed the following article in that was in our local paper yesterday.

Click Here to read-First-time homebuyers find warm, cozy market-Daily Sentinel Article


Check it Out!!