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Washington DC September 2010 Homes Sold Average Prices Up 7%

Washington DC  Home Sales Statistics are in for September   2010. Here's a brief snippet- more details coming.....  The 1st numbers are for 2010/2nd number for 2009/3rd change percentage 

Average. sold price $490,632 - $457,059     (7.35%)
Total Units Sold - 474 - 552  ( -14.13%)
Of that  474,  192 were condos/coop
Average sold price Condos - NA

Avg. Days on Market  66 - 94   (-29.79%)

Courtesy of  Al Matlock   contact Al at dcrealtor@live.com  or 301/452-2278

Home Purchase Rehabilitation Pilot Program Details

About the Program
The Home Purchase Rehabilitation Pilot Program provides applicants under the DHCD’s suite of Home Purchase Assistance Programs an additional option for becoming first-time homebuyers. 
 
The purpose of the program is to allow first time home buyers in the District to purchase homes that require limited repairs to address health, safety and building code violations.  This program enables the use of the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) 203(k) Streamlined Rehabilitation Program as a first trust lending product, in conjunction with an HPAP or other DHCD purchase assistance second trust loans.  Applicants will receive a combined purchase money loan for acquisition and repairs (limited to the 203(k) guidelines) from the first trust lender.  The HPAP or other DHCD program loans will continue to be a second trust loan for downpayment and closing cost assistance.  The applicant must meet all DHCD eligibility requirements.

Rehabilitation Loan Amount
The minimum rehabilitation loan for the FHA 203(k) streamline is $5,000 and the maximum is $35,000.  The limited repairs must be completed within six (6) months of the loan closing date when a Home Quality Inspection (HQI) is due. 
 
Program Process
The applicant must apply for HPAP with a Community Based Organization (CBO) and attend general HPAP training.  The applicant must also attend a separate mandatory 203(k) streamline class.  HPAP applicants who have received a Notice of Eligibility from the Greater Washington Urban League are eligible for the pilot program.The applicant must select their FHA 203(k) lender, general contractors, and a FHA 203(k) consultant to conduct scopes of work write ups and periodic inspections of the rehabilitation work prior to funding draws.

Eligible Repairs
Eligible rehabilitation repairs with 203(k) loans include:

• Repair/replacement of roofs, gutters, and downspouts
• Repair/replacement/upgrade of existing HVAC systems
• Repair/replacement/upgrade of plumbing and electrical systems
• Repair/replacement of flooring
• Minor remodeling of kitchen that does not involve structural repair
• Painting, both interior and exterior
• Weatherization, including storm windows and doors, insulation, weather stripping, etc.
• Accessibility improvements for persons with disabilities
• Purchase and installation of appliances, including free-standing ranges, refrigerators, washers/dryers, dishwashers and microwave ovens
• Basement finishing and remodeling that does not involve structural repairs
• Lead-based stabilization or abatement of lead-based hazards
• Repair/replace existing exterior decks, patios, or porches
• Window and door replacements and exterior wall residing
• Septic system repair or replacement

Ineligible Repairs
Ineligible rehabilitation repairs with 203(k) loans include:

• Major rehabilitation or major remodeling, such as the relocation of a load-bearing wall
• New constructions to include room additions
• Repair of structural damage
• Repairs requiring detailed drawings or architectural exhibits
• Landscaping or similar site amenity improvements
• Any repair or improvement requiring a work schedule longer than 6 months
• Rehabilitation activities that require more than two (2) payments per specialized contractor

DHCD Announces New Home Purchase Rehabilitation Pilot Program

For more about this program contact me @ dcrealtor@live.com

8 Tips for Finding Your New Home

A solid game plan can help you narrow your homebuying search to find the best home for you.

1. Know thyself

Understand the type of home that suits your personality. Do you prefer a new or existing home? A ranch or a multistory home? If you’re leaning toward a fixer-upper, are you truly handy, or will you need to budget for contractors?

2. Research before you look

List the features you most want in a home and identify which are necessities and which are extras. Identify three to four neighborhoods you’d like to live in based on commute time, schools, recreation, crime, and price. Then hop onto REALTOR.com to get a feel for the homes available in your price range in your favorite neighborhoods. Use the results to prioritize your wants and needs so you can add in and weed out properties from the inventory you’d like to view.

3. Get your finances in order

Generally, lenders say you can afford a home priced two to three times your gross income. Create a budget so you know how much you’re comfortable spending each month on housing. Don’t wait until you’ve found a home and made an offer to investigate financing.

Gather your financial records and meet with a lender to get a prequalification letter spelling out how much you’re eligible to borrow. The lender won’t necessarily consider the extra fees you’ll pay when you purchase or your plans to begin a family or purchase a new car, so shop in a price range you’re comfortable with. Also, presenting an offer contingent on financing will make your bid less attractive to sellers.

4. Set a moving timeline

Do you have blemishes on your credit that will take time to clear up? If you already own, have you sold your current home? If not, you’ll need to factor in the time needed to sell. If you rent, when is your lease up? Do you expect interest rates to jump anytime soon? All these factors will affect your buying, closing, and moving timelines.

5. Think long term

Your future plans may dictate the type of home you’ll buy. Are you looking for a starter house with plans to move up in a few years, or do you hope to stay in the home for five to 10 years? With a starter, you may need to adjust your expectations. If you plan to nest, be sure your priority list helps you identify a home you’ll still love years from now.

6. Work with a REALTOR®

Ask people you trust for referrals to a real estate professional they trust. Interview agents to determine which have expertise in the neighborhoods and type of homes you’re interested in. Because homebuying triggers many emotions, consider whether an agent’s style meshes with your personality.

Also ask if the agent specializes in buyer representation. Unlike listing agents, whose first duty is to the seller, buyers’ reps work only for you even though they’re typically paid by the seller. Finally, check whether agents are REALTORS®, which means they’re members of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. NAR has been a champion of homeownership rights for more than a century.

7. Be realistic

It’s OK to be picky about the home and neighborhood you want, but don’t be close-minded, unrealistic, or blinded by minor imperfections. If you insist on living in a cul-de-sac, you may miss out on great homes on streets that are just as quiet and secluded.

On the flip side, don’t be so swayed by a “wow” feature that you forget about other issues—like noise levels—that can have a big impact on your quality of life. Use your priority list to evaluate each property, remembering there’s no such thing as the perfect home.

8. Limit the opinions you solicit

It’s natural to seek reassurance when making a big financial decision. But you know that saying about too many cooks in the kitchen. If you need a second opinion, select one or two people. But remain true to your list of wants and needs so the final decision is based on criteria you’ve identified as important.

More from HouseLogic

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G.M. Filisko is an attorney and award-winning writer who has found happiness in a brownstone in a historic Chicago neighborhood. A frequent contributor to many national publications including Bankrate.com, REALTOR® Magazine, and the American Bar Association Journal, she specializes in real estate, business, personal finance, and legal topics.

For all you buying needs contact me at dcrealtor@live.com

Negotiate Your Best House Buy

Keep your emotions in check and your eyes on the goal, and you’ll pay less when purchasing a home.

Here are six tips for negotiating the best price on a home.

1. Get prequalified for a mortgage

Getting prequalified for a mortgage proves to sellers that you’re serious about buying and capable of affording their home. That will push you to the head of the pack when sellers choose among offers; they’ll go with buyers who are a sure financial bet, not those whose financing could flop.

2. Ask questions

Ask your agent for information to help you understand the sellers’ financial position and motivation. Are they facing foreclosure or a short sale? Have they already purchased a home or relocated, which may make them eager to accept a lower price to avoid paying two mortgages? Has the home been on the market for a long time, or was it just listed? Have there been other offers? If so, why did they fall through? The more signs that sellers are eager to sell, the lower your offer can reasonably go.

3. Work back from a final price to determine your initial offer

Know in advance the most you’re willing to pay, and with your agent work back from that number to determine your initial offer, which can set the tone for the entire negotiation. A too-low bid may offend sellers emotionally invested in the sales price; a too-high bid may lead you to spend more than necessary to close the sale.

Work with your agent to evaluate the sellers’ motivation and comparable home sales to arrive at an initial offer that engages the sellers yet keeps money in your wallet.

4. Avoid contingencies

Sellers favor offers that leave little to chance. Keep your bid free of complicated contingencies, such as making the purchase conditional on the sale of your current home. Do keep contingencies for mortgage approval, home inspection, and environmental checks typical in your area, like radon.

5. Remain unemotional

Buying a home is a business transaction, and treating it that way helps you save money. Consider any movement by the sellers, however slight, a sign of interest, and keep negotiating.

Each time you make a concession, ask for one in return. If the sellers ask you to boost your price, ask them to contribute to closing costs or pay for a home warranty. If sellers won’t budge, make it clear you’re willing to walk away; they may get nervous and accept your offer.

6. Don’t let competition change your plan

Great homes and those competitively priced can draw multiple offers in any market. Don’t let competition propel you to go beyond your predetermined price or agree to concessions—such as waiving an inspection—that aren’t in your best interest.

More from HouseLogic

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Keep your home purchase on track

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More negotiating tips

Develop a homebuying strategy

G.M. Filisko is an attorney and award-winning writer who has to remind herself to remain unemotional during negotiations. A frequent contributor to many national publications including Bankrate.com, REALTOR® Magazine, and the American Bar Association Journal, she specializes in real estate, business, personal finance, and legal topics.

Got questions contact me at dcrealtor@live.com

Keep Your Home Purchase on Track

You’ve found your dream home. Make sure missteps don’t prevent a successful closing.

1. Be truthful on your mortgage application

You may think fudging your income a little or omitting debts when applying for a mortgage will go unnoticed. Not true. Lenders have become more diligent in verifying information on mortgage applications. If you fib, expect to be found out and denied the loan you need to fund your home purchase. Plus, intentionally lying on a mortgage application is a crime.

2. Hold off on big purchases

Lenders double-check buyers’ credit right before the closing to be sure their financial condition hasn’t weakened. If you’ve opened new credit cards, significantly increased the balance on existing cards, taken out new loans, or depleted your savings, your credit score may have dropped enough to make your lender change its mind on funding your home loan.

Although it’s tempting to purchase new furniture and other items for your new home, or even a new car, wait until after the closing.

3. Keep your job

The lender may refuse to fund your loan if you quit or change jobs before you close the purchase. The time to take either step is after a home closing, not before.

4. Meet contingencies

If your contract requires you to do something before the sale, do it. If you’re required to secure financing, promptly provide all the information the lender requires. If you must deposit additional funds into escrow, don’t stall. If you have 10 days to get a home inspection, call the inspector immediately.

5. Consider deadlines immovable

Get your funds together a week or so before the closing, so you don’t have to ask for a delay. If you’ll need to bring a certified check to closing, get it from the bank the day before, not the day of, your closing. Treat deadlines as sacrosanct.

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G.M. Filisko is an attorney and award-winning writer who wanted a successful closing on a Wisconsin property so bad that she probably made her agent rethink going into real estate. A frequent contributor to many national publications including Bankrate.com, REALTOR® Magazine, and the American Bar Association Journal, she specializes in real estate, business, personal finance, and legal topics.

got questions search blog or contact me at dcrealtor@live.com

Find the Home Loan that Fits Your Needs

Understand which mortgage loan is best for you so your budget is not stretched too thin.

The basics of mortgage financing

The most important features of your mortgage loan are its term and interest rate. Mortgages typically come in 15-, 20-, 30- or 40-year lengths. The longer the term, the lower your monthly payment. However, the tradeoff for a lower payment is that the longer the life of your loan, the more interest you’ll pay.

Mortgage interest rates generally come in two flavors: fixed and adjustable. A fixed rate allows you to lock in your interest rate for the entire mortgage term. That’s attractive if you’re risk-averse, on a fixed income, or when interest rates are low.

The risks and rewards of ARMs

An adjustable-rate mortgage does just what its name implies: Its interest rate adjusts at a future date listed in the loan documents. It moves up and down according to a particular financial market index, such as Treasury bills. A 3/1 ARM will have the same interest rate for three years and then adjust every year after that; likewise a 5/1 ARM remains unchanged until the five-year mark. Typically, ARMs include a cap on how much the interest rate can increase, such as 3% at each adjustment, or 5% over the life of the loan.

Why agree to such uncertainty? ARMs can be a good choice if you expect your income to grow significantly in the coming years. The interest rate on some—but not all—ARMs can even drop if the benchmark to which they’re tied also dips. ARMs also often offer a lower interest rate than fixed-rate mortgages during the first few years of the mortgage, which means big savings for you—even if there’s only a half-point difference.

But if rates go up, your ARM payment will jump dramatically, so before you choose an ARM, answer these questions:

• How much can my monthly payments increase at each adjustment?

• How soon and how often can increases occur?

• Can I afford the maximum increase permitted?

• Do I expect my income to increase or decrease?

• Am I paying down my loan balance each month, or is it staying the same or even increasing?

• Do I plan to own the home for longer than the initial low-interest-rate period, or do I plan to sell before the rate adjusts?

• Will I have to pay a penalty if I refinance into a lower-rate mortgage or sell my house?

• What’s my goal in buying this property? Am I considering a riskier mortgage to buy a more expensive house than I can realistically afford?

Consider a government-backed mortgage loan

If you’ve saved less than the ideal downpayment of 20%, or your credit score isn’t high enough for you to qualify for a fixed-rate or ARM with a conventional lender, consider a government-backed loan from the Federal Housing Administration or Department of Veterans Affairs.

FHA offers adjustable and fixed-rate loans at reduced interest rates and with as little as 3.5% down and VA offers no-money-down loans. FHA and VA also let you use cash gifts from family members.
   
Before you decide on any mortgage, remember that slight variations in interest rates, loan amounts, and terms can significantly affect your monthly payment. To determine how much your monthly payment will be with various terms and loan amounts, try REALTOR.com’s online mortgage calculators.

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How much home can you afford?

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G.M. Filisko is an attorney and award-winning writer who’s opted for both fixed and adjustable-rate mortgages. A frequent contributor to many national publications including Bankrate.com, REALTOR® Magazine, and the American Bar Association Journal, she specializes in real estate, business, personal finance, and legal topics.

For answers to all home buying question contact me at dcrealtor@live.com

7 Steps to a Stress-free Home Closing

By doing homework in advance, you’ll understand what you’re asked to sign when you close the sale of your home.

1. Set a closing date

Your real estate agent will work with the seller’s agent and title company to schedule your closing date. Be sure it meshes with the end of your lease or the sale of your existing home and a time when you’ll able to play hooky from work. If you’re tight on cash, schedule your closing for the end of the month because that’s when you’ll have to pay the least amount of interest at the closing table.

2. Gather your funds

You may be required to bring funds to the closing. If they’re not easily accessible, arrange early to transfer them to a liquid account to avoid last-minute problems. If the title company requires the funds in the form of a cashier’s check, also leave time to stop by the bank and pick one up.

3. Purchase title insurance

Title insurance protects the policyholder against trouble with a home’s title. Your lender will insist that you purchase a policy to protect it. You should also consider purchasing what’s called an owner’s title policy from the same insurer, which protects you from fraudulent claims against your ownership and errors in earlier sales. In some areas, sellers traditionally pay for the buyer’s title policy. Shop online at Closing.com, EasyTitleQuote.com, and FreeTitleQuote.com. If your home has been sold within the past few years, ask the prior owner’s insurance company for a reissue discount.

4. Line up homeowners insurance

Get quotes and compare policies to be sure coverage will be in effect by your closing date. An annual policy should run $500-$1,000, depending on your home’s size, age, and amenities. If you live in an area where natural disasters occur, like earthquakes, floods, or hurricanes, you’ll need separate insurance to protect your home.

5. Review your good-faith estimate and HUD-1 settlement sheet

Your lender must provide a good-faith estimate of your closing fees. Some of those fees can’t change, and others can rise by 10%. Before you go to the closing, read your good-faith estimate, compare it with your HUD-1 settlement statement, and question any fees that increased.

6. Do a walk-through

Schedule an appointment to walk through the home one last time just before your closing. Make sure repairs you requested have been made, no major changes have occurred since you last viewed the property, and that the sellers left anything they agreed to leave and took all their belongings.

Also test electronics and appliances, such as the doorbell, dishwasher, washer and dryer, and oven, to ensure they’re functioning properly. Do the same with the hot water heater and heating and air conditioning systems. Walk the yard to be sure no plants or shrubs have been removed.

7. Resolve issues identified in your walk-through

If your walk-through uncovers problems, you can delay the closing until the seller corrects them. But that’s often not feasible because your lease is probably over and you’ve already scheduled movers. Another option is to negotiate a discount to your sales price to cover the cost of the work needed. If the air conditioning is on the fritz and a contractor says the repair will cost $500, ask that the sales price be reduced by that amount. If you make that request at closing, however, be ready for a delay while the title company redoes the paperwork.

A third option: Have the title company hold a portion of the seller’s proceeds in escrow until the dispute is resolved. Once that happens, the funds will be released to you or the seller, depending on the outcome.

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G.M. Filisko is an attorney and award-winning writer who has endured several property closings, but the easiest was done through the mail. A frequent contributor to many national publications including Bankrate.com, REALTOR® Magazine, and the American Bar Association Journal, she specializes in real estate, business, personal finance, and legal topics.

For answers to your buying questions contact me at dcrealtor@live.com   

DHCD Announces New Home Purchase Rehabilitation Pilot Program

The new pilot program will be a tremendous asset to many HPAP buyers. Homes in need of repair no matter how limited had to be scratched of a prospective HPAP buyers list, because they would not receive approval  from HPAP.  That appears to have changed. I will be there Thursday when DHCD presents the new programs to us realtors – with explanations. (Home Purchase Rehabilitation Pilot Program Details)

The announcement from DHCD:

October 1, 2010

The Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) today announced the implementation of the Home Purchase Rehabilitation Pilot Program, which will allow first-time homebuyers using the Department’s suite of Home Purchase Assistance Programs to purchase homes that require limited repairs to address health, safety and building code violations.

This program enables the use of the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) 203(k) Streamlined Rehabilitation Program as a first trust lending product in conjunction with the Home Purchase Assistance Program (HPAP) or other DHCD purchase assistance second trust loans.  Applicants will receive a combined purchase money loan for acquisition and repairs from the first trust lender.  The HPAP or other DHCD program loans will continue to be a second trust loan for downpayment and closing cost assistance.  The applicant must meet all DHCD eligibility requirements.

The minimum rehabilitation loan for the FHA 203(k) streamline is $5,000 and the maximum is $35,000.  The repairs must be completed within six (6) months of the loan closing date when a Home Quality Inspection (HQI) is due. 

Limited repairs, such as the repair or replacement of roofs, gutters and downspouts; repair, replacement or upgrade of existing HVAC, plumbing or electrical systems; and the purchase and installation of appliances, are permitted under the program.  The applicant must select a FHA 203(k) lender, a general contractor, and a FHA 203(k) consultant to conduct scopes of work write ups and periodic inspections of the rehabilitation work prior to funding draws.

 

For more about the HPAP contact me @ dcrealtor@live.com