Wow, mortgage rates are currently around 5.5% which is a 4 year low. And many are rushing to refinance, and some to buy, at these lower rates, which is the smart thing to do. Many are predicting rates may be down to 5% by year end and the fed is pushing for 4.5% rates. All very good for buyers and refinancing. "IF" you can qualify. Standards have also gone up and it may require very good credit and 20% down payment to get those lowest rates. Refinancing is difficult because of declining home values, many people (estimated 12 million)are "upsidedown" because their home has lost so much of its value over the last year or so. No chance to refi at these low rates unless you have actual equity in your home. Just a small bright side to an otherwise very dark cloud over the real estate market.

Guess what!! Our increasingly middle aged, dependent on 2 paychecks, worried about the economy, jobs and the future, citizens are settling down and staying put! DUH! Why is anyone surprised at these results of a recent survey? Since the under 30 crowd, college educated has always been the movers and shakers, this seems normal to me. Add in the jobs decrease and the sour economy and Pew did not need to do a study, just ask anyone and they would have gotten the answer. Of course, it would not have made many headlines since it would not be "scientific". I guess we need a study to tell us the obvious sometime, who knew?? 

Condos and townhouses have always been a tricky business, with prices and values swinging much more wildly than single family homes. And with this depressed real estate market, they have been hit harder than homes. To compound the problem, lenders are much tighter on buyers of condos. Even excellent credit and large down payments will not necessarily get you into a bargain condo. If the lender decides there are too many foreclosures in the complex they will not loan any money to buy in that complex, no matter the status of the borrower. They reason that since there are "too many" foreclosed units in the complex the the association will not have the money to maintain upkeep and the values will continue to fall as more units deteiorate from lack of upkeep, and more residents will defult because the "association fees" go up drastically to try to keep the property up. Kind of a "catch 22" situation but certinly not good for buyers of condos.

Our goverment is kinda like "Nero fiddling while Rome burns". We still do not have any good programs coming out of Washington to help the housing market. A lot of stops and start, talks and discussions, hand wringing and crying, but as yet nothing to provide much help. Bernanke has said it would be a good idea for the fed to by up the bulk of the mortgages on the 20% of homeowners with troubled loans and refinance them using FHA loans to stave off foreclosure. He also urged for "new steps to aid housing", whatever that means. Still, just more talk at this time. We will see if anything comes from this talk in time to save some homeowners and stabilize home prices. 

Well, here we are almost to Christmas. Where does the home market in GA stand right now? Sadly, not much, if any better than the last time I reviewed the situation. Home prices continue to fall, at least at a slower rate. Foreclosures continue to increase, at least at a slower rate. Sales are slow and right now is historically the slowest time of the year for home sales (Nov, Dec, Jan). With unemployment increasing, I do not see an y bright future, in fact it probably will increase the number of foreclosure over the next year. Until we can get a handle on these foreclosures we cannot see any increase in prices. And that looks to be at least a year or more in the future. Stay put and hold on, we will get through this and home prices will stabilize and finally start back up. Patience is all we have right now. On the other hand, this is a really great time for home buyers and rental investors. Prices are low, interest rates are at a 4 year low and may go even lower. There are many "previous" homeowners who are now forced to rent so the rental market is fine. Just a matter of which side of the fence you are on.

With all the "crap" coming out of Washington lately, I've been trying to get some kind of handle on what is truly going on. Sadly, I have failed to make much sense of the whole mess. I am not at all sure "they" know what they are doing or where they are going. They started approving money (700 bil) for the purpose of buying up troubled mortgages to stave off the foreclosures and open up credit to buy home, cars, etc. Somehow this got transferred to pumping money into banks, insurance giants, and govt entities (freddie, fannie). Short of a few programs to restructure existing loans, nothing has been done to buy up any toxic mortgages. This seems to have been pushed to the back burner to assist wall street, the auto industry and who know who will be next. Looks like the state goverments will be next in line. Wow! What a turnaround. Maybe somewhere down the road the homeowners will bet some kind of relief but I cannot predict when or how. How long can we hold our breath??

Selling a home is not easy in this market and selling a vacant house is even more difficult. Why? Simply because there is not furniture, pictures, curtains or anything else for the buyer to look at. So, any defects, however small are visable and will surely be noticed. I've always believed it is not the furnishings that help sell a home, it is what those furnishings hide that makes a furnished home sell faster. Face it, when you take out the couch, bed and other furniture even good carpet shows the wear patterns. And when pictures are removed from the walls they almost always leave a shadow. These thing are very noticable in a vacant home. My suggestion is always replace the carpet and paint the walls and ceiling so the home shows like a new home. You will get a much larger return than leaving the home in so-so shape.

Being in business for years I've had many clients "miss out" on their "perfect" home. Sometime they offer too little and get outbid, other times they fiddle around while someone else moves on the home. Recently I had clients miss out on two homes because the sellers were unwilling to move on price. That is a big mistake on the seller's part in this market. My client was smart enough to move on and find another home. With all the homes on the market right now, this is easy to do, and yes, they found a home they liked even better! I have never had a client lose a home they loved and not find one they loved even more. A current client may break my record but I hope not. Lesson is, be patient, there are many homes on the market and more coming every day. Don't fall in love with one particular home and you will be a better buyer.