Real Estate Investing

One lucky buyer in Florida describes how lucky he was to find a buyer for his house, 

At least I managed to attract a buyer for my house, someone who was willing to crush my spirit, flatten my soul and drag the remnants of my battered hopes and dreams through a heaping mound of irate fire ants before forking over what I considered a rather paltry sum for my family’s beloved hearth and home. 

Daryl Lease,  columnist and editorial writer for the Virginian-Pilot, had me laughing my head off as he described Realtors who seem perpetually lost (that’s why I now have a Tom-Tom), mortgage processors who want their mother’s sister’s nephew’s wife’s maiden name (or words to that affect), and the paltry sum of money he received when he did sell.  Yes he threw in some politics but no matter the party you’re supporting, read past it for the rest of his account about buying real estate.  It’s worth it!

In Michigan, the medical field is helping to keep real estate going through constant expansion and improvements.

“Due to the nature of the medical supply industry, we’re not as affected by the economy,” Bieker said. A medical supply distributor, MarketLab has seen a compounded annual growth rate of 50 percent year to year since the company’s founding in 1998. The company has recently completed its second expansion in three years.

Yet two states to the west, Minnesota’s banks are feeling the squeeze from commercial loans.

While soured home mortgages have gotten much of the public attention in the last several months, LaPierre and Otto told bankers that their focus these days is on faulty commercial loans — including debts tied to multifamily residential projects.They said that regulators are finding an industry more heavily involved in commercial real estate than ever, just as an economic slump has undermined the value of all manner of brick-and-mortar projects.

Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn would love Russian Architect Vladimir Plotkin who designed a floating home.  The raft has room for a bed, a bath, and the walls separate for socializing and barbequing.  What a great, lazy way to spend your summer!

Possibly due to the housing relief bill signed into law in Washington, D.C. last week, the phones in real estate offices have begun to ring again.  This will probably be an artificial jump in housing sales, but for now every little bit helps.  One component of the bill will eliminate the down payment assistance programs currently at the disposal of buyers who need help getting into a new home.  According to the Ellis Team of RE/Max,

Buyers who wish to buy with no money down had better hurry, because the new Housing Bill signed recently essentially eliminates down payment assistance from the seller on all FHA loans, and Congress added in the bill a provision that the new minimum down payment  will now be 3.5%, up from the previous 3%.  Financing is getting increasingly harder to get, and underwriting guidelines are changing daily.

As a result, buyers I’ve been working with for some time have found a renewed urgency and are kicking their home search into a higher gear in order to buy prior to October 1, 2008 - when the programs are expected to end.

However, the FHA Loan Advice site doesn’t believe the programs are down for the count,

For both political and practical reasons, many in Congress agree that down payment assistance programs should be continued. Although the portion of the new law banning down payment assistance has not yet taken effect, HR6694, the “FHA Seller-Financed Downpayment Reform and Risk-Based Pricing Authorization Act of 2008” was introduced on July 31. All the non-profit organizations which have been facilitating the program are already out beating the bushes to round up support. If you would like to help, the Nehemiah Corporation has a website set up to help you find out how. You can find it by clicking here.

I’m hoping the members of Congress who are supporting legislation to continue the programs will be successful.

Meanwhile, I found an extraordinary site called Calculated Risk that is being added to my list of *must-reads* if you like reading about investing, finances, and other economic information.

Photo was found here.

I live in a major metropolitan area - not big like New York or San Francisco or Chicago, but the metropolitan area is at 1.5 million.  I’ve recently been on a quest to find a buyer a home and we’ve definitely been on a roller-coaster ride.  I don’t like roller-coasters because they make me think my head is going to explode when the migraine sets in after being jerked, rolled, and having had my stomach fly up to my throat.  Just no.  

Fortunately, the roller coaster Aunt B. and I have ridden hasn’t been that drastic, but some of the results have at least warranted an upset stomach for me.   The problems we’ve encountered in the hunt for her home begs the questions B. asks,

And it just leads me to continue to wonder–when we talk about there being a lot of affordable housing in Nashville, is that really the case?  Right now, for instance, there are 695 houses on the market under $125,000, which makes it seem as if there’s a lot of housing stock for working class people.  But if sixty percent of those are pits that need major help before you can get into them, are they really real possibilities for folks?  Because, even if you can rehab them–if you have the skills–if you don’t have the money, is that house really feasible?

This observation led to another’s comment that really sums up a silent problem our nation is having:

But more generally, the loss of affordable housing stock for the lower 50th percentile of folks is the unmentioned scandal of U.S. cities.

Are there affordable homes available in our U.S. cities?  If they are affordable, are they liveable?  Do they require tens of thousands of dollars in renovations before someone can move in?  Will the pipes need to be replaced to gain a strong water flow free of potential lead poisoning.  Is the roof ready to cave in?  Are there vines growing out from outlets?  I’ve seen all of these problems in the last year - most in the past month.

Forbes magazine recently published an article about the most affordable places to live.  Included are Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Minneapolis… a city for every climate!

From personal and professional experience, I can tell you that although home prices are dropping daily and meeting qualifications of FHA loans may become more difficult, it doesn’t mean buyers will have an easy time finding a home that meets their needs.

People looking for affordable homes often need to have easily accessible public transportation, need to be able to purchase food nearby, should live in an area with plentiful jobs, and the cost of utilities shouldn’t be crazy expensive.  Are there really places like this out there?