What’s new?

It has been too long since I last updated my blog. My apologies! So what is new in real estate? Well, the $8,000 first-time buyer tax credit is set to expire on November 30th. This tax credit has brought an estimated 350,000 additional buyers to the table. These are buyers that would not have purchased a home if it had not been for the credit. The National Association of Realtors is not only pushing to extend this credit into 2010, we are pushing to expand the credit. We are trying to loosen the guidelines allowing more homebuyers to qualify for the credit. Let’s hope we get it done!

Locally here in the Phoenix market, sales volume has still been incredibly high. Over 9000 homes have sold in each of the last several months. Our prices have been very stable showing a very slight increase in the last month. It’s nothing to get too excited about but the free fall has been stopped for four months now!

Lenders are still terrible at processing short sales but to their credit, they are getting better. They have also become more realistic with the values of these homes. They are selling them for market value instead of trying to get 2007 prices for them.

Interest rates are still down near record lows! With good credit, a 30 year fixed-rate mortgage is currently just below 5%. That is an amazing rate. When considering that rate and what homes are selling for these days, you can see why our volume has been so high. We are in our prime season now so let’s hope it continues.

So what is still broken in real estate? A lot, but the biggest issues we have right now is the banks. They are getting better at selling houses but they are terrible at lending money right now! Understandably, they have tightened their lending practices. To a very large degree, this is good. They needed to. However, they have over reacted and are keeping a lot of good buyers out. Especially in the “jumbo loan” arena. These are loans north of $417k. These loans are VERY difficult to get right now and it is freezing up the middle and upper end market. There is a lot of demand but the buyers just can’t get loans.