DesMoinesFirstHome.com

Buyers Who Wait May Lose a Lot

From Realtor.org:

Potential home buyers who delay have a lot to lose.

First-time home buyer and move-up tax credits worth $8,000 and $6,500, respectively, expire April 30. Buyers who qualify get a dollar-for-dollar reduction in taxes or a cash payment if they don’t pay enough taxes to cover the credit.

Other factors that should spur buyers:

Low mortgage rates. If the Federal Reserve stops buying mortgage-backed securities at the end of March, 30-year rates will almost certainly rise to more than 6 percent.

Rising prices. About 30 percent of markets are already experiencing price increases. Prices are falling in 12 percent of markets, says Fiserv (but that only helps if you want to live there).

Source: Money Magazine, Beth Braverman (03/02/2010)

If you're ready to get started, email me at mike@mikedavishomes.com !

Rate for 30-year Fixed Mortgage now at 4.80%

OK... this is just getting ridiculous -- in a good way:

Mortgage rates for 30-year fixed mortgages declined this week, with the current rate borrowers were quoted on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace at 4.80%, down from 4.84% at this time last week.

Seriously, with rates so low, and with the $8,000 tax credit final date on April 30th, I find it hard to believe that there will ever be a better time to be a first-time homebuyer.  If you're ready to get started, email me at mike@mikedavishomes.com !

Iowa Is The 5th Happiest State!

According to a study done by LiveScience.com, Iowa is the 5th happiest state in America!

I feel validated -- I have been saying something similar to clients and friends for a long time.  There are so many pluses to living in Iowa.  You get the best of both worlds: small towns, but close to the big city.  Great autumns.  Friendly people.  When the economy or real estate takes a nose-dive, it's never nearly as bad as it is in other parts of the country.  And on, and on.

Iowa is a great place to live.  That's easy to forget when we have a bad winter like the one we're in now, but dealing with cold and snow is a nice trade off for everything else that you get by living here.

Read the entire article here: Iowa is the 5th happiest state; and view the entire list of states from the #1 happiest (Hawaii) to the 50th (West Virginia), here.

Oh, and did you know that the Des Moines metro area is #4 out of the most affordable 100 cities in America?

The grass definitely is not greener on the other side!

Tonight: Radio Show With Mike Davis Talking About First-Time Homebuyer Information!

Tonight, from 8:00pm to 9:00pm central time, I'll be speaking with Robb Spearman, broker of RE/MAX Real Estate Concepts, about First-Time Homebuyer Programs, the steps to buying your first home, and everything pertaining to being a first-time homebuyer.  Please listen in, and join in the chat!

Just go to macsworldlive.com to listen to the program!

Those Who Wait Will Pay Thousands More This Spring.

The Stephanie Reed Mortgage Team, with Academy Mortgage, wrote a very good article the other day, and they gave me permission to re-post it here.  I am not a fan of "high pressure" sales tactics, and that's not what this is about.  However, if I don't share this kind of information with you, to save you money, I'm not doing my job as your Realtor.

Here's the article:

Waiting a few extra days or weeks to purchase a home this spring could cost buyers thousands of extra dollars as the office of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) implements several changes for loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Authority (FHA).

Coming just weeks before the April 30 deadline for the Home Buyer Tax Credit and just days after the March 31 expiration of the Federal Reserve Board’s mortgage backed securities purchase program (which has kept home loan rates artificially low for over a year), these FHA changes make it even more important to act now to save big.

Here are a few reasons why:

On April 5th, the cost of required up-front mortgage insurance for loans guaranteed by the FHA will increase from 1.75% to 2.25%. For a borrower purchasing a $200,000 home with a $7,000 down payment, the up-front mortgage insurance will increase by $965. Up-front mortgage insurance is typically financed in the final loan amount so the impact to a monthly payment will be minimal but overall, the increase is still borne by the borrower both upfront and monthly.

Later this spring, the amount of money that a seller can return to the buyer from their sale proceeds will be reduced from 6% to 3%. The reduction in these “seller concessions” can increase the amount of cash a buyer will be required to pay at closing by $6,000 for a home purchase of $200,000.

There is only one way to avoid being affected by all of these costly changes that lie ahead –submit all FHA mortgage applications by the last week of March.

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Mike here again: This article is brought to you by the Stephanie Reed Team.  You can reach them at 515.988.7074.  You can reach me at 515.966.4510.  When you are buying your first (or second, or third) home, you need a good team on your side, and that means both a Realtor and a loan officer who care about you and your needs.

If you prefer to email me, you can do so by clicking here.

 

The REALLY Important Stats to Know!

Here's an article at The New York Times that you might want to glance over; it details some of the Midwest's home sales in December.  (Des Moines had a sales increase of 5% over November -- but other cities had a marked decrease.)

But the article reminded me of several key points that I'd like to share with you:

(1) What's happening in the rest of the country does not matter.  All that matters is what's happening in Des Moines.  If you watch the talking heads on CNN and the other networks, remember, they love reporting bad news.  You can't take information about Arizona or Florida or California, or even other parts of the Midwest, and apply it to Des Moines metro, Iowa.  And the truth is, we're not doing bad at all here.  (And I'm not saying they are trying to do that in this article; it's just worth remembering that what you see on the national news about the real estate situation, in most cases will not apply to us here in good old Des Moines.)

(2) The article is a bit "doom and gloom".  Quotes such as "It's been a tough market" and the like.  Well, my question always is, tough for who?  The buyers, or the sellers?  Because when homes aren't selling, and the economy isn't great, then it's a GREAT time to be a buyer.  Prices are competitive, rates are very low, and as a buyer, you have a lot of choices right now.  So remember, when everyone is complaining about what a tough real estate market we are in, then it's the perfect time to buy a home.  The market will always correct itself, but in the meantime, you'll have a home that you got a nice deal on at a very low interest rate.

(3) I don't know why news organizations even bother to report sales increases or decreases from month to month.  Month to month does not matter very much.  What matters more is comparing, for example, December 2008 sales with December 2009 sales... in other words, the same month, 1 year later.  And in fact, there were several hundred more homes sold in December 2009 than there were in December 2008.  So in actuality, it was a great month.

Questions?  Comments?  I welcome your thoughts.  Please feel free to post, below.

Des Moines Register Live Video: A conversation with metro school leaders

Thanks, Des Moines Register!

Watch live streaming video from desmoinesregister at livestream.com

"How could communities better support their schools? What does parental involvement really mean? Should school districts share services to make the best use of tax dollars? The Register's editorial board will sit down with three Des Moines area school superintendents today at noon to ask these questions and others."

Watch here, or at the Register webpage.

 

First-Time Homebuyer Question for Friday, 1.22.2010

I'm starting a new blog category today here at DesMoinesFirstHome.com -- first-time homebuyer questions!  When people email me to ask a question, I will later post the question and answer here for everyone to benefit from (with names removed, of course, for privacy).

Here's today's question: Hi Mike -- I know our options are very limited but we would really like to get into our OWN home!  I have a few houses that I have been eying but do not know what price range I should be looking for.

My answer: There are really two ways to determine what price range you should be in.  First, what is YOUR comfort level of a monthly payment, should you buy a home?  Then second, my loan officer and I would help you with a very quick preapproval, to make sure that what you're comfortable with, you can be approved for.

You see, mortgage companies determine how much of a home you can buy based on monthly payment, not price.  We then work it backwards from what monthly payment you qualify for to determine what price of home you will qualify for.

Hope that makes sense.

The very best thing you could do now is to fill out the very short form on my webpage, here, and my loan officer and I will get you approved right away!

2010 Des Moines Ice Storm

Here's a really neat photo gallery of yesterday's ice storm, at the Des Moines Register.  Click here to view.

Home Buying For Dummies, 4th Edition

I've designed this website so that potential first-time homebuyers in the Des Moines area can get as educated as possible about the home-buying process.  With that in mind... Home Buying For Dummies is a really good book to read to get even more details.  You can buy it through the link below, or, even better:

Commit to me as your Realtor, and I will buy the book for you, and give it to you right away!  A few minor restrictions apply, of course: Contact me for details.  But basically, I want every one of my First-Time Homebuyer Clients to have this book.

Always remember that it's FREE for you to hire me as your BUYER AGENT.  (More about that here.)

So get started!  Email me at mike@mikedavishomes.com , or call me at 515.966.4510!