- 5592 Waterside Dr
- $159,900
This is an immaculate townhome with both 1st & 2nd floor master suites. There is also a separate lofted study. The home features hardwood floors on the 1st floor. The upgraded eat-in kitchen has maple cabinets, stainless steel appliances & ceramic tile floor. The great room features vaulted ceilings that accentuate the open floorplan of the living space. The 1-car garage is attached, and the community has a pool and greenspace.
When an investment corporation defaults, or walks away, from a property it is called a strategic default. When a home owner can no longer afford their mortgage they foreclose. Somehow there has been tremendous stigma placed on the homeowner that has to go into foreclosure, while large corporations face defaults with indifference. The Huffington Post and NPR Marketplace both look at the issue:
A group led by Tishman Speyer Properties gave up the 56-building, 11,232-unit Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town apartment complex in Manhattan, turning the properties over to its creditors after defaulting on some $4.4 billion in debt. Wall Street Journal. The $5.4 billion acquisition in 2006 was the single biggest residential property purchase in U.S. history. It’s now worth an estimated $1.8 billion.
“We basically walked away from it,” said Clark McKinley, a spokesman for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System [CalPERS], one of several investors in the venture, wrote off its $500 million investment, McKinley said. “It’s underwater, anyway, so we’ve lost it,” he added. “We took our medicine, and we’re learning from it.”
Sadly lenders are fighting the stay off a mass of foreclosures. If homeowners start walking away from their mortgages en masse, there’s little doubt the housing market will collapse and take the economy with it. The New York Times has a list of proposals to help home owners reduce their principals. What is critical is that we need to reestablish stability in the market to prevent a second wave of the housing crisis.
In recent weeks major real estate developers have been walking away from properties because like many home owners, they are underwater on their mortgages. Tishman Speyer Properties gave up the 56-building, 11,232-unit Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town apartment complex in Manhattan, turning the properties over to its creditors after defaulting on some $4.4 billion in debt.
What is frustrating to many home owners is that financial institutions are doing everything that they can to prevent Homeowners from foreclosing, while large developers are simply handing the keys back over to the banks when thier properties become too much of a financial liability.
RealtyTrac continues to track the increasing number of short sales and foreclosure and the problem continues to weigh down the housing market. As the economy slowly recovers it is my hope that the unemployment rate will drop and with it, the number of families facing foreclosures. The Federal Government continues to put pressure on lenders to modify mortgages through the Making Homes Affordable program, and the program is slowly helping to relieve pressure on families that qualify.
Our friend Chef Debbie Spangler of Yummy-issimo has been nominated for ‘Best New Catering Chef’! City Beat recently released it s list of nominees and we are so glad to see Debbie there.
We encourage all of our readers to participate in the Citybeat Poll becuase it sia great way to voice your appreciaton for everthing that makes Cincinnati such a great city.
Follow the below Hyperlink to the survey. In the “Eats” section scroll down to find the ‘Catering (New)’ category. She is the second to the bottom.
You can only vote once per e-mail address so go online and vote today!
Real Estate Price Reduced and Open House!
4106 Sherel Lane Price Reduced to $209,900!
Open House this Sunday January 24th 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Call me for directions or additional details 513-518-1140
The Making Homes Affordable program is designed to help individuals restructure their mortgages with their lenders. In lowering the monthly payments through renegotiating the terms of the loan, more people are able to avoid short sale and foreclosure situations.
One unforeseen consequence is that the homeowners benefiting from the program may also be taking a 50 to 100 hit on their credit score. The challenge is that lending institutions and banks are reporting the loan modification differently to the various credit agencies. It is this variation in credit reporting that is difference how credit scores are being impacted.
What is important to keep in mind is that a loan modification’s impact on a credit score will be substantially less damaging than a foreclosure or a short sale. In all three cases lenders report the change in credit, but a modification is not reported as a ‘charge-off’. Charge-offs are typically associated with short sales and foreclosures and stay on credit reports for 7 years. Modification is much preferable to a foreclosure, just make sure you are aware of the potential impacts on your credit.
here has been a lot of talk recently about the impact of the Federal First Time Home Buyer tax credit. The newspapers, the talk shows, the blogs, and the radio dj’s have all been talking about how important it is. I wanted to take the opportunity and make clear, in detail, the benefits to first time home buyers, aside from the $8,000, and give some much needed insight into how this program is going to impact the number of home and condo sales in the Cincinnati real estate market in the winter/spring 2010.
The Federal Government extended the tax credit through April 30. This means that you must have an accepted contract signed by both parties by then and must close the sale on or before July 1, 2010. But there is more.
Did you know it now offers $6,500 to people who have already owned a home and are buying another larger or smaller home? So if, for example, you are looking to move out of Hyde Park and into the burbs, this credit is great news for you. The program is designed to create new inventory for first time home buyers. If you have owned and occupied your current home as your primary residence for 5 of the last 8 years then you may be eligible for a $6,500 tax credit depending on your income as there are income limits.
To qualify for the $8,000 tax credit you (and your spouse if you are married) cannot have owned a home within the last 3 years. If you owned a home and sold it back in 2005 to relocate and rented for 4 years then you may qualify! Never have you ever owned a home you say? I’d say it is worth finding out if you’re eligible for an $8,000 credit. There are income limits and sale price limits on this tax credit so please check with your accountant or Realtor to be sure you meet the criteria.
You should also know that you can use the tax credit in a number of ways. You can use it on your 2009 or 2010 tax returns. The credit amount is equal to 10% on the purchase price of the home up to $8,000 of credit, or $80,000 of purchase price. Now that you know there is an $8,000 credit waiting for you, how are you going to take advantage of it? What should you do? Who should you call? When do you need to take action?
The first step is thinking about your home as an investment, an investment you can sleep and entertain friends in. Start evaluating if home ownership is right for you right now. This is not a decision you should rush. It is always better to wait and buy when the time is right for you. Next, you need to speak with a mortgage lender and get prequalified for a loan that is within your financial means. Mortgage brokers or mortgage lenders can help you with this step. The third step is finding a house that is the best fit for you. But with an April 30th deadline when should you start and when should you write a contract?
If possible, you should start your home search in earnest in February, and submit your offer no later than mid April. You have to work backwards and look at the contracting process and the whole market to understand why February is the key month. Sellers who want to capture the surge of these qualified first time home buyers are going to need to get their houses prepared for sale and listed in February to give them the most exposure to the potential buyers. The same thing is true for buyers. If you are not actively looking for your dream home it may be purchased before you even see it. I believe that February is going to be a very active month for new listings and proactive buyers in every neighborhood in Cincinnati.
Typically the process of completing a contract from purchase to closing takes between 30 and 45 days. There are many steps that go into a real estate transaction, including home price negotiations, home inspections, repairs, remediations, loan applications and acceptance, appraisals and more. Another important tip is that it is best to try to secure a property before the April 30th deadline if possible to ensure enough time to find the property and negotiate agreeable terms. Inspectors will be busy, contractors will be booked, and banks underwriters will be backlogged. So the sooner you make an offer the better the chance you have of making the deadline.
If you have any additional questions about the Tax Credit and how you can take advantage of it please feel free to call me and ask questions. I would be happy to provide you resources and information that will make your home buying experience exceptional.
Alison Moss is a 9 year veteran of the real estate industry and can be reached at 513-518-1140 or by e-mail at Alison.moss@comey.com
I was recently featured in David’s Voice, an online periodical produced by the Jewish Federation of greater Cincinnati. I am now a regular contributor to David’s voice and I look forward to writing their real estate column. My column is going to focus on the various neighborhoods in Cincinnati, and the amenities that they offer. The articles will include information on the types of architecture, home size, and price that is typical to the area. I am also going to use the space to educate the readers on the changing tax rules that will impact both purchases and sales.
The University of Cincinnati recently created a map of the more prominent blogs currently discussing urban issues in Cincinnati. On this chart are a number of prominent architecture and real estate blogs including Cincinnati Living Online. As a local Realtor I think it is important to follow the conversations taking place that involve our market.
Click on the image to visit the interactive URL and see how each of these blogs interact and the nature of their content.
The Ohio Association of Realtors features the 2009 home sales in their monthly publication. The below graphic shows a state wide look at sales volumes and price changes in specific regions of the state.
The good news is that here in the Cincinnati market the annual volume has not changed much year over yer. What is concerning is the 8% price reduction year over year. Cincinnati real estate sales increases by 33% in November, which was a surprisingly strong month. That influx is most likely due to the $8,000 first time home buyer tax credit.
With 2010 beginning my expectations and hoped for the local market are a continued stabilization in price, and a slow and steady increase in volume. The tax credit extension should help drive spring sales and as we move into the summer and fall the slowly rebounding economy should help more people feel more confident in purchasing a home.
