South Jordan

Everyone that is first time homebuyers is pushing to buy before the November 30^th deadline for the $8,000 tax credit, but the good news is they are talking about extending it and offering it to other groups as well. The $4,000 grant from Utah Housing is still available for new construction and you can put in for it before your new home is completed. Another thing on the horizon is the possibility that there may be time restrictions on how quickly banks and mortgage companies will be able to reply to short sales. It can be such a long process and though some companies do respond quicker than others most still take 4-6 months or more. Any guidelines that will help streamline the process will certainly help.

It seems like the number of short sales is decreasing and the number of foreclosures is increasing. This is good news for buyers and sellers. Buyers can now make offers on foreclosures and not have to wait months for a response because the foreclosure owners are ready to sell, and the prices of regular residential listings are more in line with the market. Short sales seem to be getting approved quicker as well. If you are selling this puts you in the market range that is reasonable to buyers.

Rates are still down, sellers are realistic and now is still a great time to buy or sell.

Is it a good time to buy, or sell and just sit on the fence. I seems that the news everyday if different. You just don’t know who to believe, but based on the offers being made for tax advantages and grants there is no time like the present. The federal tax credit is set to expire on Nov. 30 which is worth $8,000 to first time home buyers and there is the $4,000 grant from the state of Utah.

Let’s take an example of the purchase of a $200,000 home, if the price today is the $200,000 and the interest rate for a 30 year loan is 6% the monthly principle and interest payment would be Approx. $1199 per month. What if you wait til spring and the price drops to $190,000 but the interest rate goes to 6.75%, the monthly payment would be approx. $1232.00 per month principle and interest and you would not get the $8,000 tax credit. The grant would still be available but only for new construction.

So is waiting worth the gamble? Only if prices fall and rates stay the same. With the federal deficit and the fed wanting to keep inflation low, the chances of rates staying the same are slim. So when is the best time to buy or sale; probably right now

The last couple of weeks have shown changes that may show a change in the market. It is amazing how when you want to present an offer you now have competing offers and not just on “short sales”. We were offering on a home that had been on the market for a while and we were told that there was already an offer that had been countered and they were waiting to hear back. We quickly showed them the home and told them we would also have an offer. We received multi-offer addendums and we have to pay more than asking to get the home.

Another interesting phenomenon is that the price of homes has risen 1.9% in the metro Salt Lake area in the first quarter (see Deseret News 5/13/2009). This is in part due to the state stimulus grant that is offering 1,600 grants of $6,000 for those purchasing new homes that have been sitting in inventory. There are only 698 left. This has really helped the market and helped prices to stabilize and even increase. Since the first of the year there seem to be fewer and fewer nice homes to show. If you were looking for a certain style of home you could pull up 30 or 40 homes to show and now you are lucky to get 5 or 6 in certain price ranges. It is now a good time to sell and the time to buy discounted properties may be passing. With rates low and prices still good, this may be the window of opportunity in this real estate market.

With all the national media talking about the economy and the housing market sometimes it makes you wonder if we are even living on the same planet. Even though things have slowed (which is a good thing) the median price in Utah hasn’t changed much. Last week on the KSL TV news the median figures for Salt Lake County were interesting. In 2006 the median price for a single family home was about $208,000, and in 2007 in dropped to $206,000 and in 2008 it had dropped to $204,000. That means that the high priced homes which dropped significantly and had much lower sales price than asking price were offset by the lower priced homes not going down as much and in some cases the prices even went up.

With the tax credit being offered by the federal govt. and the grant for homes that are under construction or have not been lived in for the past year, there is not a better time to buy in Salt Lake and its suburbs. Sales have picked up significantly and it looks like we have reached the bottom. Short sales still look like a good deal, but by the time many of them are being approved the price has gone up. For people who are selling and do not want to buy a short sale property it is even better news because most people are now wanting to buy while rates are still low and while they can buy a home that is not in jeopardy of foreclosure. What a great time to buy and becoming a better time to sell.

30 years ago when I moved to South Jordan the world of real estate was much different than it is today. All of the towns were small and have now become mid-size cities with all of the amenities of larger cities while still trying to maintain that small town feeling. As times have changed so has the way homes are bought and sold. With so many of us using the internet to gain our information the good ol’ boy network isn’t as efficient as it was in the past.

I have been marketing homes in S. Jordan and surrounding cities for over 30 years and I have a team that includes 3 of my sons. We have the ability to converse in Spanish and Korean for those that may have the need for foreign language expertise. Our philosophy is that the client is always right but we try to give them the information to make good decisions. There are so many things being said by so many different people that sometimes you wonder what is really right. We try to help you sift through all the material so that you are comfortable with your decisions.

We pride ourselves in knowing the market by analyzing weekly changes in pricing, under contracts and solds. We want to be able to tell you what is going on now, not 6 months ago. We use all the modern technology to help you in making those choices. This blog will update you on trends, statistics, and opportunities in the real estate market. If you are specifically wanting to know more about S. Jordan, click here for a great site.

According to the Bloomberg News home prices went up nationally .7% in February, and with the inventory declining locally prices should continue to make strides to stabilize and then start to make small increases until inventories go up again. “Mortgage rates have tumbled 1.6 percentage points in six months, making houses and condominiums more affordable. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s index of applications to purchase a home or refinance a loan increased 5.3 percent last week as Americans took advantage of interest rates near record lows. Home sales rose 5.1 percent in February from a month earlier, the National Association of Realtors said.

The average U.S. rate for a 30-year fixed home loan dropped to 4.82 percent last week from 4.87 percent a week earlier, according to Freddie Mac. The rate has averaged 5.02 percent this year compared with 6.21 percent during the five year housing boom that ended in 2005.” (www.deseretnews.com) April 23, 2009

So the question is when should I buy? And the answer is now before inventories get smaller and interest rates go up.