Ray & Nimi Singhal's Real Estate Blog | Shoreview MN Homes & Roseville MN Homes | First Time Home Buyers, Housing Market, Foreclosures

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Ray & Nimi Singhal Team
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Homes

Have you heard of the HAFA (Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives) Program?

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

The HAFA program takes effect on April 5th, 2010. The program is for struggling home owners to make it easier for them to sell their homes as a short sale, rather than falling into foreclosure. The HAFA program:

  • Property must be their principal residence and bought before January 1st, 2009.
  • Current Unpaid mortgage balance is less than $729,750
  • Homeowner must have a genuine hardship-must be documented by Tax Returns, bank statements, W2s etc.
  • Mortgage is delinquent or default is reasonabley foreseeable
  • Lender waives rights to deficiency judgement
  • Subordinate Lien Holder Payoff – capped at $3000
  • Lender to provide $1500 to borrower for relocation costs
  • It is a requirement that home be listed with a licensed real estate agent
  • Lender pays real estate commission as per Listing agreement including owner’s closing costs-No costs to the home owner

The HAFA program was design to streamline the short sale process to create a smoother transaction. Now, people are starting to notice that there seems to be a problem with short sales and foreclosures and am finally doing something about it. So far the program is moving us in the right direction.

Posted in Estate, First Time Home Buyers, Foreclosures, Home Buyer Tax Credit, Homes, Homes for Sale, Real Estate, Real Estate Agent, Short Sales | No Comments »

SHOREVIEW AND ROSEVILLE HOME PRICES DOWN FROM A YEAR AGO.

Friday, August 21st, 2009

According to the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors, the overall median sales price for all properties was down 17.8 percent from one year ago, but up 2.1 percent from the second quarter median sales price. The median sales price of traditional homes in June was down 6.2 percent from a year ago. Lender-mediated home sales were down 15.4 percent from a year ago.

There appears to be less room for negotiation, as the Percent of Original List Price Received at Sale continues to improve-the July mark of 94.0 is 1.5 percent higher than last July.

A year ago the market was not like it is today. The market is slowly but surely improving.

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Posted in Homes | No Comments »

Shoreview, Roseville & Blaine Home Sales Were Strong In July

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

Buyer activity in the Twin Cities housing market continued its strong run in July, according to the Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS® (MAAR) based on data from the Regional Multiple Listing Service of Minnesota, Inc.

For the 13th consecutive month, there were more pending sales than there were a year ago. July saw 5,174 signed purchase agreements, up 16.0 % from July 2008 and the strongest July showing since 2005. Of these sales, 43.6 % were lender-mediated foreclosures and short sales.

What does this mean?  It means that buyers are very active and the housing supply is shrinking.  We started to see the first signs of the housing market correction last year, and we’ve come a long way.  But make no mistake, there is still plenty more than has to happen to balance out the market.

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Posted in Homes | No Comments »

Shoreview and Roseville Property Tax Refund Facts

Saturday, August 15th, 2009

Could you use a little extra money during these tight times? Who can’t!  In case you did not know, applications for property tax refunds for property owners and renters in Minnesota are due August 17th:

Who qualifies for a refund?

Renters should have their household income in 2008 less than $52,300.

Home owners qualify if their household income was less than $96,940 (or higher for those with dependents). Also, they must have owned and used the property as their principal residence since January 2, 2009.

Is it too late to get the refund for 2007?

No. Minnesota allows an extra year but the application must be filed by August 17, 2009.

When will I get my refund?

Allow about 60 days after you file.

How much can I get?

The average renter can expect $595 with a maximum of $1,490.

The average home owner’s refund is $695 with a maximum of $2,310.

Where Do I get the forms?

The form M1PR can be downloaded from www.taxes.state.mn.us. You can also apply on line for a small fee. Forms are also available at many libraries.

Get the extra cash from the State Government and  continue having a great summer.

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Posted in Homes | No Comments »

Shoreview Home Supply Shrinking: Time to Make a Move

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

Available inventory in the Shoreview housing market continues to shrink. Our disappearing supply is down 21.4% from this time last year.  This is a result of buyers making their move now.  This is demonstrated by seeing strong pending sales activity up 18.2% compared to this time last year.  We’re also seeing fewer new listings come on the market.  New listings are down 12.1% for the same time period comparison.

With a consistently shrinking inventory and more buyers this summer than we’ve seen since 2005, buyers who lack urgency could find themselves wishing they jumped into the market

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Posted in Homes | No Comments »

Traditional Home Sales Are On The Rise In Shoreview

Monday, July 13th, 2009

After increasing by $12,000 from April to May, the median sales price in the Shoreview and Roseville housing markets jumped another $8,500 in June as traditional homes again increased their market share. Traditional homes are defined as those excluding foreclosures and short sales.

Of the 4,764 closed sales in the Twin Cities during June, 40.7% were lender-mediated foreclosures and short sales, down from the 59.7% seen at the beginning of the year. While that percentage is still too high, it’s a definite improvement from six months ago. It also is another indication that the low rates and tax credit are helping to encourage traditional home sales.

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Posted in Homes | No Comments »

More Help for Shoreview First Time Home Buyers

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

More great news for FHA approved home buyers using the First Time Home buyer Tax Credit. FHA approved lenders have been given the go ahead to develop a bridge-loan product that will enable first time home buyers to use the benefit of the First Time Home buyer Tax Credit upfront.

FHA approved lenders can develop bridge loans that first time home buyers can use to help cover closing costs, buy down their interest rates or put more than the minimum 3.5% down.

It is important to note, that these bridge loans can not be used to cover the minimum 3.5% down payment required by FHA.

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Posted in First Time Home Buyers, Homes | 1 Comment »

Straight Talk About Twin Cities Foreclosures & Short Sales

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

Let’s face it, loan modifications, short sales and foreclosures have impacted the housing market in the Twin Cities, and they’re not going away any time soon.

A homeowner first course of action should be to try and work out a loan modification with their lender. If there does not happen, then the homeowner should consider a short sale. A short sale is an arrangement that a home owner makes with the lender to accept less than what is owed on the property. This is often done to try and sell a property before it goes into foreclosure. As a last resort the lender will foreclose on a property. A foreclosed property is one in which the lender has repossessed the property from the homeowner and now the lender owns it.

First quarter statistics for the Roseville area show the number of lender-mediated homes for sale up 56.3% compared to this time last year. While traditional (non-lender mediated) homes for sale were down 33.3% compared to this time last year.

Here to see the specific information about the Roseville short sale and foreclosure housing market.

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Posted in Foreclosures, Homes | 2 Comments »

Robust Home Sales In Twin Cities

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

As we near the halfway mark of 2009, the Twin Cities housing market continues to show a pattern of robust home sales and declining new listing activity. Setting aside fluctuations over the Memorial Day holiday, long-term market improvement can be seen when comparing 2009 to 2008.
There were 1,210 pending sales for the week ending June 13-a strong 33.8% increase from last year.

There were 1,970 new homes added to the market during the same week, a decrease of 2.6% from the same week in 2008. That 2.6% decline in new listings is a much smaller drop than we have seen in recent months when there were typically year-over-year drops of 10% or stronger.

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Posted in Homes, Housing Market | No Comments »

Market Recap

  • Avg. Sales Price: 379,000

  • Avg. Days on Market: 69

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