Foreclosure / Short Sale / REO's Teton Valley Idaho - Jackson Hole Wyoming

CALL ME FOR CUSTOMIZED FORECLOSURE LIST

pH 208 390 0737

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Guess Who's Ditching Their Mortgages?

A study of 24 million credit files by national credit bureau Experian and consulting company Oliver Wyman has shown that home owners with high credit scores are 50 percent more likely to deliberately walk away from a mortgage than lower-scoring borrowers.

The industry calls these “strategic defaults” and their numbers grew to 588,000 in 2008, double the total in 2007, and well beyond most earlier estimates.

The study determined:

Strategic defaulters tend to go straight from paying their mortgages dependably to not paying at all.

Strategic defaulters are heavily concentrated in negative-equity markets like California and Florida.

Two-thirds of strategic defaulters have only one mortgage.

Most likely to default are home owners with large balances and the highest credit ratings.

Piyush Tantia, an Oliver Wyman partner and a principal researcher on the study, said strategic defaulters "are clearly sophisticated” and look on the decision to default as a business strategy.

"Well, I'm $200,000 in the hole on my house, and yes, I'll damage my credit," Tantia says of defaulters.

Source: Washington Post Writers Group, Kenneth R. Harney (09/27/2009)


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Sincerely - your friend and well wisher.

Timothy S Anderson
Silver Peaks Realty Driggs Idaho
RE/MAX Associates Las Vegas Nevada
pH 208 390 0737
email : buy@buytetonland.com
www.buytetonland.com
www.buylvland.com

Foreclosure / Short Sale / Bank Owned REO's Teton Valley IDaho - Jackson Hole Wyoming

CALL ME FOR CUSTOMIZED FORECLOSURE LIST

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Housing Economists Predict Slow Growth

The fundamentals that drove the increase in housing values for the last century – increasing population, incomes, and household wealth – may not follow in the United States in the future. Some housing experts speculate this will change the economics of homeownership.

Over the next few decades, "We can expect a gradual rise [in home values], but not the bonanza we've become accustomed to between the end of World War II and 2006, and especially the last 20 years," says Robert Reich, public policy professor at UC Berkeley and U.S. Labor secretary in the Clinton administration.

The reasons for the change include the absence of pent-up demand that followed the Great Depression and World War II and the aging of the baby boomers who carried that housing demand forward, says housing consultant Thomas Lawler.

Source: Los Angeles Times, Peter Y. Hong (09/27/2009)



Sincerely - your friend and well wisher.

Timothy S Anderson
Silver Peaks Realty Driggs Idaho
RE/MAX Associates Las Vegas Nevada
pH 208 390 0737
email : buy@buytetonland.com
www.buytetonland.com
www.buylvland.com

Foreclosure Investment Las Vegas Nevada

CALL ME FOR CUSTOMIZED FORECLOSURE LIST

pH 208 390 0737

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Investment Condo Las Vegas

$ 59K

3 BR, 2 Bath

On Desert Rose Golf Course

Call me about the above foreclosure investment opportunity.

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Sincerely - your friend and well wisher.

Timothy S Anderson
Silver Peaks Realty Driggs Idaho
RE/MAX Associates Las Vegas Nevada
pH 208 390 0737
email : buy@buytetonland.com
www.buytetonland.com
www.buylvland.com

Foreclosure / Short Sale / Bank Owned REO's Teton County Idaho - Jackson Hole Wyoming

Buying a Foreclosure Is No Picnic

Buyers seeking a foreclosed property should realize that not every foreclosure is a good deal. Urge would-be buyers of foreclosures to have the property thoroughly inspected, says Dan Steward, president of the Tampa-based inspection firm, Pillar to Post. Lenders are not held to the same disclosure requirements as sellers.

Steward says damage isn’t always obvious. While it doesn’t take an expert to see that a toilet has been ripped out, it does require someone with knowledge to know that ripping it out damaged a pipe 20 feet down the line.The best way for the buyer to get the property is to follow the bank’s instructions closely, says Ryan Melvin, co-owner of More Realty Group in Las Vegas, which specializes in foreclosures.

Another quirk that sometimes surprises buyers of real-estate-owned properties, or REOs, is the scrutiny that banks place on the buyers' credit, even though they are using a different lender.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Amy Hoak (09/27/2009)




Sincerely - your friend and well wisher.

Timothy S Anderson
Silver Peaks Realty Driggs Idaho
RE/MAX Associates Las Vegas Nevada
pH 208 390 0737
email : buy@buytetonland.com
www.buytetonland.com
www.buylvland.com

Foreclosure / Short Sales / REO's Teton Valley Idaho - Jackson Hole Wyoming

Sincerely - your friend and well wisher.

Timothy S Anderson
Silver Peaks Realty Driggs Idaho
RE/MAX Associates Las Vegas Nevada
pH 208 390 0737
email : buy@buytetonland.com
www.buytetonland.com
www.buylvland.com

Foreclosure / Short Sale / REO's Teton Valley Idaho - Jackson Hole Wyoming

Is the Foreclosure Slowdown Temporary?

Legal entanglements and well-intentioned home-owner-assistance efforts have slowed the pace of foreclosures, but eventually many of these distressed homes will hit the market anyway.Some observers say these delays are prolonging the housing crisis and creating a “shadow” inventory that will cause more housing market pain."There's going to be a flood [of bank-owned homes] listed for sale at some point," says John Burns, a real-estate consultant based in Irvine, Calif.

Burns believes that when the onslaught hits, it will drive down home prices still further. On average, he expects home prices to fall another 6 percent next year.Ivy Zelman, CEO of Zelman & Associates research firm, estimates that there are 3 million to 4 million foreclosed homes that will hit the market in the next few years.

How traumatic the impact will be depends on whether the flow of homes going up for sale resembles "a fire hose or a garden hose or a drip," she says.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Ruth Simon and James R. Hagerty (09/23/2009)

Sincerely - your friend and well wisher.

Timothy S Anderson
Silver Peaks Realty Driggs Idaho
RE/MAX Associates Las Vegas Nevada
pH 208 390 0737
email : buy@buytetonland.com
www.buytetonland.com
www.buylvland.com

Foreclosure / Short Sale / REO's Teton Valley Idaho - Jackson Hole Wyoming

Federal Index Shows Home Prices Rising

U.S. home prices rose 0.3 percent in July compared to June, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said Tuesday.The index is 4.2 percent below what it was in 2008 and 10.5 percent off its peak in April 2007.The index excludes most expensive homes from its calculations, so prices appear to have declined less than they have by other measures.

The report "supports other evidence that the three-year long decline in prices has come to halt," Paul Dales, U.S. economist with Capital Economics, wrote in a note to clients. Other economists were less positive. "We think house price indexes are likely to edge somewhat lower in the fall when foreclosures become a larger share of home sales," Barclays Capital economist Nicholas Tenev wrote in a note to his clients.

Source: The Associated Press, Alan Zibel (09/22/2009)


Sincerely - your friend and well wisher.

Timothy S Anderson
Silver Peaks Realty Driggs Idaho
RE/MAX Associates Las Vegas Nevada
pH 208 390 0737
email : buy@buytetonland.com
www.buytetonland.com
www.buylvland.com

Foreclosure / Short Sale / REO's Teton Valley Idaho - Jackson Hole Wyoming

Commercial Prices Continue to Drop

Commercial real estate prices fell 5.1 percent from June to July, according to Moody's/REAL Commercial Property Price Indices.The index has been sliding steadily compared to last year and is down 30.8 percent compared to July 2008 and 38.7 percent below its peak in October 2007.

The volume of transactions also declined with sales during the first seven months of the year, averaging 375 per month, compared to 1,100 per month in 2008.

Source: The Associated Press (09/22/2009)

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Timothy S Anderson
Silver Peaks Realty
REMAX Associates Las Vegas, NV
pH 208 390 0737
email : buy@buytetonland.com
www.buytetonland.com
www.buylvland.com

Foreclosure / Short Sales / REO's Teton Valley Idaho - Jackson Hole Wyoming

Unemployed Home Owners May Get Assistance

The Obama administration has opened a dialogue with major lenders, economists, and government officials over the possibility of extending a financial lifeline to home owners who no longer can afford their mortgages because of job losses.

Possible strategies range from encouraging loan servicers to allow unemployed borrowers to skip some payments to providing grants or loans to temporarily cover mortgage obligations for home owners who become unemployed. The talks have drawn praise from some real estate groups and other interests, who say that without aid to this subset of homeowners, the housing recovery could lose momentum.

Source: USA Today, Stephanie Armour (09/18/09)

Foreclosures / Short Sales / REO's Teton Valley Idaho - Jackson Hole Wyoming

D.C. Dances Around Tax Credit Extension

Washington is being forced to take a hard look at the expiring $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit.Nearly a dozen bills have been proposed to extend the credit past the Nov. 30 deadline, but the top decision makers are just beginning to weigh in.

On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid endorsed a six-month extension. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Thursday that he hasn’t made a decision yet. And the White House economic team says it will make a recommendation to President Barack Obama by the end of Friday.

Extending the credit is a tough sell in some corners because so far the credit has cost an estimated $15 billion, twice what was projected last February.S

ource: The Associated Press, Adrian Sainz (09/17/2009)

Foreclosure / Short Sales / REO's Teton Valley Idaho - Jackson Hole Wyoming

Commercial Prices Fall as Vacancy Rates Rise

The value of commercial property is being driven by vacancy rates—the higher the vacancy rate, the lower the price.At the height of the boom, a high vacancy rate was sought after because the buyer could fill the space and raise rents.

Today, finding tenants is a major challenge in many areas and buyers will pay more if a building has guaranteed tenants for the long term. Robert Von Ancken, the senior appraiser for Grubb & Ellis in New York, estimates that substantial vacancies cost a seller as much as 30 percent of value.

“Investors today are very hesitant to make a mistake by underwriting improvement, decreasing vacancy, or increasing rent,” says Scott A. Singer, the executive vice president of the Singer & Bassuk Organization, a New York company that arranges financing.

Source: The New York Times, Terry Pristin (09/15/2009)

Foreclosure / Short Sale / REO's Teton Valley Idaho - Jackson Hole Wyoming

How to Spot Foreclosure-Prevention Scammers

Here’s how the most common foreclosure-prevention scams work: The desperate home owner gets a letter that says something like, “We know you’re having a hard time. We have a pipeline to your lender and can help you save your home. Call this toll-free number now.”

Home owners call the number and agree to pay $1,200 to $1,500 upfront for help with their mortgage. Nothing happens. Their home still goes into foreclosure.Harold Kirtz, a lawyer for the Federal Trade Commission who is prosecuting these scammers, says victims are often well educated and financially savvy, but they also are “in a very vulnerable state.”

Here are some red flags that should make a home owner run in the opposite direction:

If the company guarantees success. Nobody can guarantee a lender won’t foreclose or will modify a loan.
If the company wants money upfront. "We can't say all advance fees are illegal," Kirtz says, “But in most cases they're probably bogus."

If the company wants the home owner to send mortgage checks directly to the modification firm. The only certainty there is that the company will cash the checks.

Source: Washington Post Writers Group, Kenneth R. Harney (09/13/2009)

Foreclosure / Short Sale / REO's Teton Valley Idaho - Jackson Hole Wyoming

Economists: Extend the Housing Tax Credit

More than 40 percent of all home buyers in 2009 will qualify for the federal tax credit, costing the government about $15 billion, twice the original estimate, but most housing experts applaud the policy and favor expanding it.

Now the decision is up to Congress.Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Economy.com, believes that the credit should be expanded to all homebuyers, even investors, through summer of 2010. “The risks of not doing something like this are too great,” he said. “I don’t think the coast is clear.”James Glassman of JPMorgan Chase also favors expanding the credit but continuing to limit it to first-time buyers.Industry members who are lobbying for the extension are optimistic and say they believe an extension will be approved in some form.

“There will be a lot of water under the bridge, a lot of compromise, between now” and a final bill, said Richard A. Smith, chairman of the Business Roundtable’s Housing Working Group.

Source: The New York Times, David Streitfeld (09/15/2009)

Foreclosure / Short Sale / REO's Teton Valley - Jackson Hole Wyoming

Worst Is Over," Fed Chief Declares Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke declared the worst of the recession over, but warned that some of the economic pain will persist.

He said the unemployment rate, now at 9.7 percent, a 26-year high, is likely to keep rising."Unfortunately, unemployment will be slow to come down. It will come down but it may take some time," Bernanke said.

"Obviously, that's a very serious concern."The Fed chief said the economy is weighed down by tight credit, households saving more and spending less, and a still-unstable housing market.He urged Congress to revamp the financial system to avoid a similar crisis in the future.

Source: The Associated Press, Jeannine Aversa (09/15/2009)

Foreclosure / Short Sale / REO's Teton Valley Idaho - Jackson Hole Wyoming

Examine Paperwork Prior to Foreclosure

A Florida real estate consulting company specializing in mortgage forensic research, warns homeowners near or in foreclosure that legal violations are increasingly common in complex mortgages and urges them to examine their paperwork carefully.

Consumer Mortgage Audit Center, many of whose members are also members of the American College of Forensic Examiners Institute, works with attorneys nationwide to help them identify mortgage violations and instances of predatory lending that can offer options to save homeowners from foreclosure.CMAC urges homeowners facing foreclosure to:
Compare their HUD-1 document, which buyers get at settlement outlining most costs, with the same lender's good-faith estimate.

If the figures on the HUD-1 and the good faith estimate are different, this may signal that there is a problem.


To further investigate the issue, the homeowners should consider consulting an attorney who handles foreclosure defense cases. Most foreclosure attorneys don’t charge for an initial consultation.

Source: Consumer Mortgage Audit Center (09/14/2009)

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Timothy S Anderson
Silver Peaks Realty
Anderson Residential and Commercial Construction Services
pH 208 390 0737
www.buytetonland.com

Foreclosure / Short Sale / REO's Teton Valley Idaho - Jackson Hole Wyoming

Most Affordable Markets Ranked

In its annual survey of most- and least-affordable housing markets, BusinessWeek quoted a number of experts who believe that for many people, the current low interest rates and low housing prices have combined to offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy a home.

Dennis Torres, executive director of real estate operations at Pepperdine University, says, "People are going to talk about this as 'I could have, I should have' for decades," he said. "If you're confident that you'll stay in the location for seven years and you're confident of your income, don't walk, run."To calculate the most- and least-affordable areas, BusinessWeek considered the share of homes sold in the second quarter of this year that would have been affordable to a family earning the local median income.

Housing costs were calculated using new and existing sales records supplied by First American Real Estate Solutions and include principal, interest, estimated property taxes, and insurance.

Here are the 10 most-affordable areas:

1. Kokomo, Ind.
2. Lansing-East Lansing, Mich.
3. Mansfield, Ohio
4. Elkhart-Goshen, Ind.
5. Lima, Ohio
6. Bay City, Mich.
7. Indianapolis-Carmel, Ind.
8. Saginaw-Saginaw Township North, Mich.
9. Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa.
10. Canton-Massillon, Ohio

Here are the 10 that are least affordable:

1. New York-White Plains, N.Y.-Wayne, N.J.
2. San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif.
3. San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, Calif.
4. Ocean City, N.J.5
. Honolulu
6. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, Calif.
7. Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, Calif.
8. Santa Cruz-Watsonville, Calif.
9. Nassau-Suffolk (Long Island), N.Y.
10. Flagstaff, Ariz.Source: Business Week, Prashant Gopal (09/11/2009)

Foreclosure / Short Sale / REO's Teton Valley Idaho - Jackson Hole Wyoming

Why it's time to invest in real estate
It's scary to jump into the housing market when prices have been plunging. But waiting could end up costing you.
[Related content: homes, home buying, home prices, foreclosure, interest rates]
By James B. Stewart, SmartMoney
Passing through the Fort Myers, Fla., airport a few weeks ago, I noticed people eagerly signing up for a free bus tour of foreclosed real estate -- with all properties offering water views. During the ride to my hotel, the young driver volunteered that he'd just bought his first house, paying $65,000 for a foreclosed property in nearby Cape Coral that had last sold for more than $250,000. He said he'd never expected to be able to buy anything on a driver's salary, let alone something that nice.

Learn more about the homebuyer credit
Late last month, Standard & Poor's reported that its S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price index of real-estate values increased this past quarter over the first quarter of 2009, the first quarter-on-quarter increase in three years. Its index of 20 major cities also rose for the three months ended June 30 over the three months ended May 31, with only hard-hit Detroit and Las Vegas experiencing declines. The week before that, the National Association of Realtors reported that sales volume of existing homes was up 7.2% in July from June.
In short, the data suggest that real-estate prices hit a bottom some time during the second quarter and have now begun to rise. There's no way to be certain that this marks the end of the long, painful correction that followed the real-estate bubble, but clearly prices are no longer in free fall.

That means if you've been sitting on the fence, it's time to act.
Trying to buy at a bottom Ordinarily I'd never try to time the real-estate market, but I can understand why buyers have been cautious. Few want to buy in down markets, just as stock buyers avoid bear markets. And for most people, of course, buying a house is a much bigger decision than buying a stock.

More from MSN Money and SmartMoney
6 money lessons of the Great Recession
5 strategies to lower your rent now
New bull, new bubble, new meltdown?
Return of the first-time homebuyers
Tax credit lifts housing market
Is an FHA-insured mortgage right for you?

But with real-estate prices nationally now down about 30% from their 2006 peak and showing signs of turning up, the prices aren't likely to go much lower. Every real-estate market is local, and so there may be a few exceptions. Overall, though, I can't imagine a better time to buy than right now.

Video: Housing's magic number

In addition to bargain prices, buyers should find plenty of homes to choose from. The inventory of unsold homes was 4.09 million units in July, up 7.3% from June, according to the National Association of Realtors. And mortgage rates this week were at a two-month low of close to 5%.


Even the stricter appraisal process is working to the advantage of buyers. Appraisals are coming in far lower than most sellers have been expecting, forcing them to face the new reality of sharply lower prices. And with stricter standards, lenders aren't going to let buyers borrow more than they can afford, which protects buyers and helps to keep prices down.
The flipping days are over Unless you're really prepared to accept the demands (and headaches) of being a landlord, I don't recommend direct ownership of real estate as an investment. The days of buyers lining up to buy and flip Miami Beach and Las Vegas condos are mercifully gone.

There are much easier ways to make money in real estate, such as buying into real-estate investment trusts or buying shares in homebuilders and other housing-related businesses, such as Home Depot (HD, news, msgs).

Historically, the mean rate of return on real estate has been around 3%, according to research from Yale economist Robert Shiller, who co-developed the Case-Shiller index. Shares in REITs and other stocks have often done much better.

But there's a good reason homeownership has been such a central part of the American dream. It delivers security, pride of ownership, a sense of community and decent investment returns as a bonus.

I felt glad for my driver in Florida. He represents the other side of the foreclosure crisis. For every hardship story, and no doubt there are many, others are realizing their dreams of homeownership and getting what may well turn out to be the deals of their lives.

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Timothy S Anderson
Silver Peaks Realty
Anderson Residential and Commercial Construction Services
pH 208 390 0737
www.buytetonland.com

Foreclosure / Short Sale / REO's Teton Valey Idaho - Jackson Hole Wyoming

Rates look to be coming down again. After hanging around the 5.25% range, we are back to 5%.
Also, don’t forget time is running out for the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit. The transaction must be closed by November 30, 2009 for the buyer to be eligible.
I have also included a new rate for a 5/1 ARM with 20% down.

Bank of Idaho Rates for September 11, 2009:

30 Year Fixed – Up to $417,000 (20% Down)
5.00%

15 Year Fixed
4.375%

5/1 ARM – Up to $417,000 (20% Down)
3.875%

FHA – Up to $417,000 (mimimum 3.5% down)
5.00%

RD– 100% loan, no money down
5.50%

Idaho Housing and Finance Association (IHFA)
4.97%

NO ORIGINATION FEE ON RD LOAN WITH TODAY’S RATES!!!
Rates are based on certain assumptions, and are subject to change.

Just a reminder that I will only send rates out as they change. If you have any questions on any of the rates or need information on a rate that is not listed, please let me know.

Thank you,

Jared Colson
Bank of Idaho Mortgage

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Timothy S Anderson
Silver Peaks Realty
Anderson Residential and Commercial Construction Services
pH 208 390 0737
www.buytetonland.com

Foreclosures / Short Sales / REO's Teton Valley Idaho - Jackson Hole Wyoming

Many Experts Support Extending Tax Credit

Real estate professionals and home builders are pushing for an extension and an increase in tax incentives to encourage homebuying. Otherwise, they argue, that it is very likely that the current housing uptick will end on Dec. 1, when the tax credit does.

“The giddiness we see out there [about a recovery] is without merit," says Richard A. Smith, CEO of Realogy, which is the parent company of Century 21, ERA, Coldwell Banker, and Sotheby's International Realty.Not everybody sees things Smith’s way. Michelle Meyer, an economist with Barclays Capital in New York, says that while the tax credit did contribute to an increase in sales, some of the improvement reflects an improving economy.

“Even if you say some of the gain is artificial, it's still true that we're seeing an increase in housing demand, and that shows fundamental strength," she says.Mark M. Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com, ignores this chicken-or-egg argument and points to an analysis he did that suggests increasing the tax credit to $15,000 for all home owners through the end of next year would result in 675,000 additional home sales.

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Timothy Anderson
Silver Peaks Realty
Anderson Residential and Commercial Construction Services
pH 208 390 0737
www.buytetonland.com

Foreclosures / Short Sales / REO's Teton Valley Idaho - Jackson Hole Wyoming

Buyers Remain Largely in the Driver's Seat

Homebuyers continue to drive hard bargains, holding down prices while allowing properties to sit on the market for an increasing length of time, according to Zillow.com’s market report. Nationwide, buyers paid 3.3 percent, or nearly $7,039, less than the last listing price on homes for sale during the month of July.

That is a slight improvement over June, when the discount was 3.5 percent and significantly less than the 4.6 percent discount in January.Meanwhile, 22.8 percent of all homes listed for sale on Zillow had at least one listing price reduction as of Sept. 1.

The median U.S. price reduction was 6.5 percent off the original listing price. Homes listed for sale on Zillow during August were listed for a median 96 days, up from 91 in July.Florida homebuyers got the best deals with buyers in the Vero Beach area, paying 10.2 percent, or a median $23,500, less than the last listing prices. Other Florida cities with a percentage of discount in the top 25 nationally were Naples, Daytona Beach, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Panama City, Punta Gorda, Melbourne, Ocala, Tampa, Jacksonville, Port St. Lucie, Gainesville, and Lakeland.

In California, the situation is swinging in the other direction. In El Centro, Calif., buyers paid 1.8 percent, or a median of $2,150, more than the listing price. In seven California markets – Sacramento, Merced, Modesto, Riverside, Stockton, Yuba City and Fresno – asking price and sale price were the same.

Zillow’s top 10 markets for negotiating discounts were:

Vero Beach, Fla., -10.2 percent from the last listing price
Sarasota, Fla., -8.2 percent
Atlantic City, N.J., -8 percent
Naples, Fla., -7.8 percent
Daytona Beach, Fla., -7.5 percent
Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., -7.5 percent
Panama City, Fla., -7.1 percent
Punta Gorda, Fla., -7 percent
Melbourne, Fla., -6.6 percent
Detroit, Mich., -6.5 percent

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Timothy S Anderson / Silver Peaks Realty
pH 208 390 0737
www.buytetonland.com

Foreclosure / Short Sales / REO's Teton Valley Idaho - Jackson Hole Wyoming

Mortgage Applications Rise as Rates Fall

Mortgage rates declined last week, triggering a dramatic jump in mortgage applications. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its weekly index of mortgage application volume rose 17 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis compared to the previous week.
On an unadjusted basis, the index increased 15.8 percent and was up a whopping 64.5 percent compared to the same week a year ago.Much of the increase was in refinances, with the refinance index increasing 22.5 percent, the biggest jump since March. The purchase index rose 9.5 percent, which was the largest gain since early April.

Mortgage rates were down across the board:

30-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 5.02 percent from 5.15 percent.
15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 4.45 percent from 4.57 percent.
1-year ARMs decreased to 6.69 percent from 6.71 percent.

Foreclosures / Short Sales / REO's Teton Valley Idaho - Jackson Hole Wyoming

Condo Purchases Require Extra Steps

Homebuyers contemplating purchasing a condominium should review a long list of documents and other information to make sure that the property they are considering is a solid buy in this challenging market.

The following information is a the top of the must-consider list:
Budget. Examine the current budget, a year-to-date statement of income and expenses, and a couple of previous years’ budgets to see how they’ve changed.
Reserve study. Understand the plan for maintenance and how it will be paid for.
Special assessments. Ask if there have been any and whether more are planned.
Delinquencies.

How many owners are behind in their payments? Many lenders say no more than 15 percent of owners can be in arrears or they won’t write mortgages in the complex.

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Timothy S Anderson
Silver Peaks Realty
pH 208 390 0737
pH 208 390 0737

Short Sale Specialist / Foreclosure / REO's Teton Valley Idaho - Jackson Hole Wyoming

Sellers Offer Overnight Trial Stays

Luxury second-home communities are increasingly offering “try-before-you-buy” weekends to potential customers, including the opportunity to play a round of golf, use the dining facilities and other amenities – plus take a mandatory tour.

St. John Fisher College professor Kyle F. Reinson, a real estate specialist and consultant for residential developers, says these tours work in part because they require a certain level of commitment on the part of both the buyer and the seller.

The buyer, he says, often gets a good price because the seller doesn’t want to let him get away.At Encaterra in Queen Creek, Ariz., four-day, weekend tours that cost the potential buyer $299 for an all-inclusive package, results in 25 percent sales, the club reports.