Are higher-priced new homes a bargain over time?

WASHINGTON – April 3, 2013 – Using data from the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2011 American Housing Survey, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) found that buyers can pay more for a newly constructed home and save money over time, even if the new home costs more upfront.

Builders have faced rising costs for labor and supplies recently, and competition from relatively inexpensive existing home prices. To offset that difference, the study focuses on the new homeownership elements that save money.

“Home buyers need to look beyond the initial sales price when considering whether to buy new construction or an existing home,” NAHB Chairman Rick Judson said in a release. “They will find that with the higher costs of operating an older home, they can often afford to spend more to buy a new home and still have annual operating costs that fit their budget.”

NAHB’s study first looked at utility, maintenance, property tax and insurance costs, and analyzed how they vary depending on the age of a home. It found that homes built before 1960 have average maintenance costs of $564 a year, while a home built after 2008 averages $241.

Similarly, operating costs average nearly 5 percent of the home’s value for pre-1960 structures, while they average less than 3 percent when the home was built later than 2008.

The analysis then compared the first year after tax cost of owning a home by the year the house was built, taking into account the purchase price, mortgage payments, annual operating costs and income tax savings. Based on these savings, NAHB says a buyer can afford to pay 23 percent more for a new house than for one built before 1960 and still maintain the same amount of first year annual costs.

While mortgage payments will be greater with a higher-priced new home, its lower operating costs mean a home buyer’s annual costs would be roughly the same in a newly built home compared to an older home’s smaller mortgage payment but higher operating expenses.

“For a family working with a fixed annual budget, new-construction homes offer outstanding comfort, convenience and overall cost savings,” said Judson. “Put that together with today’s near-record low interest rates and competitive prices, and the time has never been better to buy a new home.”

© 2013 Florida Realtors®

Why You Should Work With an Orlando Florida REALTOR®

Not all real estate practitioners are REALTORS®. The term REALTOR® is a registered trademark that identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION of REALTORS® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics. Here are five reasons why it pays to work with a REALTOR®.

1. You’ll have an expert Orlando Florida REALTOR® to guide you through the process. Buying or selling a home usually requires disclosure forms, inspection reports, mortgage documents, insurance policies, deeds, and multi-page settlement statements. A knowledgeable expert will help you prepare the best deal, and avoid delays or costly mistakes.

2. Get objective information and opinions. Orlando Florida REALTOR® can provide local community information on utilities, zoning, schools, and more. They’ll also be able to provide objective information about each property. A professional will be able to help you answer these two important questions: Will the property provide the environment I want for a home or investment? Second, will the property have resale value when I am ready to sell?

3. Find the best property out there. Sometimes the property you are seeking is available but not actively advertised in the market, and it will take some investigation by your Orlando Florida REALTOR® to find all available properties.

4. Benefit from their negotiating experience. There are many negotiating factors, including but not limited to price, financing, terms, date of possession, and inclusion or exclusion of repairs, furnishings, or equipment. In addition, the purchase agreement should provide a period of time for you to complete appropriate inspections and investigations of the property before you are bound to complete the purchase. Your agent can advise you as to which investigations and inspections are recommended or required.

5.  Property marketing power. Real estate doesn’t sell due to advertising alone. In fact, a large share of real estate sales comes as the result of a practitioner’s contacts through previous clients, referrals, friends, and family. When a property is marketed with the help of a Orlando Florida REALTOR®, you do not have to allow strangers into your home. Your Orlando Florida REALTOR® will generally prescreen and accompany qualified prospects through your property.

6. Real estate has its own language. If you don’t know a CMA from a PUD, you can understand why it’s important to work with a professional who is immersed in the industry and knows the real estate language.

7. Orlando Florida REALTOR® have done it before. Most people buy and sell only a few homes in a lifetime, usually with quite a few years in between each purchase. And even if you’ve done it before, laws and regulations change. REALTORS®, on the other hand, handle hundreds of real estate transactions over the course of their career. Having an expert on your side is critical.

8. Buying and selling is emotional. A home often symbolizes family, rest, and security — it’s not just four walls and a roof. Because of this, home buying and selling can be an emotional undertaking. And for most people, a home is the biggest purchase they’ll ever make. Having a concerned, but objective, third party helps you stay focused on both the emotional and financial issues most important to you.

9. Ethical treatment. Every member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION of REALTORS® makes a commitment to adhere to a strict Code of Ethics, which is based on professionalism and protection of the public. As a customer of a Orlando Florida REALTOR®, you can expect honest and ethical treatment in all transaction-related matters. It is mandatory for Orlando Florida REALTOR® to take the Code of Ethics orientation and they are also required to complete a refresher course every four years.

I just love final walkthroughs! Why is it that Buyers and their Realtors sometimes try to spoil the elated feeling I get, knowing that we finally made it to day of closing?

I get the call this morning, telling me they did the walkthrough and everything is OK, except for the hole in the living room wall. What? A hole? How can that be? I was just in the house last week and it was fine. No holes! I don’t want to hear about holes two hours before closing. I mean the house is vacant. No one has been in the house but the appraiser. Then they spring the big one on me. “What’s the Seller going to do about it?”

Personally, I think that’s a pretty good question. “What’s the Seller going to do about it?” Well, my answer is “I don’t know”. I am still trying to digest the fact that there is hole in the living room wall. Well I got lucky, the other Realtor had a call beeping in on him and decided to take it and call me back.

So, I get myself out of bed (not sleeping mind you, but diligently “working” on reading all the ActiveRain posts from last night), anyway, I get myself out of bed, hop in my SUV and burn $10.00 worth of gas to go check out the hole in the living room wall. Now I’m a pretty observant guy and would probably notice a hole in the living room wall, but I don’t. No hole. Well, maybe they meant the family room. So I go look and again, no hole. Wait a minute, what’s that? Let me see, if I get down on my knees and squint just right I can see a tiny indentation in the wall about the size of my pinky fingernail. This my friends must be the culprit. The all elusive hole!

I call the Realtor back and tell him I have been at the house to look at the “hole” and asked him if he had actually seen it, or did he just allow the Buyers to go over by themselves to do the walkthrough? Do I need to even tell you his response? Of course he hadn’t seen it! It was too far for him drive to so he just gave the buyers the code so they could do their own walkthrough! The Buyers told him there was a hole in the wall, and asked, “What was the Seller going to do about it”. Anyway, I remained calm and politely told him to show the Buyers the definition of “hole” in the dictionary and that we would give them compensation of 50 cents. After all that, the Realtor told me to not worry about it, that he would take care of the Buyers.

I tell you, you got to love this business. The things people try to get away with. And the Realtor……….well that’s good material for another post.

The Moral is: Never, ever, take the other party’s, to a transaction, word on anything. Check, double check and check again. Look out for your own customer’s or client’s interest or that “hole” may be in your wallet.

By the way………..Does that 50 cents have to be on the HUD?

Want to be a landlord? If you answered “yes” then my next questions is …Why? Why deal with collecting rents and tenant issues. Why let property taxes, insurance, management fees and repair costs cut into your money?

Here’s another option that some of my Investors have been doing. Instead of becoming Landlords they are becoming Lenders. Owner financing is making a come back. It’s difficult for folks to get mortgages right now and offering financing can make the property worth more money.

For example: We can find you really good rental properties right now for $90,000 to $100,000. These homes would normally rent for about $1,000 a month. After expenses your NET is roughly $600 a month.

Instead…offer the property for sale at $120,000 with $25,000 down, no qualifying mortgage of $95,000 @ 8.75 amortized over 30 years with a 5 year balloon payment.

You would receive roughly $16,000 at closing (25K minus selling expenses including commission). Monthly payments of $747 for 60 months. The buyer would be responsible for all taxes, insurance and repairs. You would have zero expenses.

After 5 years the Buyers would have a balloon payment to you of $91,000. You would have already received $45,000 in payments. Therefore your total money received would be:

At closing         $  16,000
Payments         $  45,000
Balloon             $  91,000
                       —————-
Sub total          $ 152,000
COST(BASIS)   (  100,000)
                       ========
GAIN                $  52,000***
                       ========
52% return over 5 years. Or a little over 10% per year. It works out better than a rental with less hassle. Of course you would miss out on any future appreciation (if any) unless of course the buyer defaulted and you got the property back through foreclosure (not a bad deal). So as you can see this can be a very good way to go. If you’re interested….just complete this form and we’ll get right back with you.

***Please check with your accountant about tax issues.

Yesterday, I did a Blog post that contained a comment about another Realtor, giving the code to my lock box to a buyer so the buyer could do his own final walkthrough. I received quite a few comments about reporting the Realtor to his Broker or filing an Ethics complaint. Let me explain, why I didn't take those steps, even though, I agree, what the Realtor did was wrong.

First, I list homes "For Sale". That's what I do. I rarely work with buyers. Therefore, my business depends on other Realtors showing and selling my listings. With that in mind, my business plan has always been to "market" my listings to other Realtors and to give them as much incentive as I can to want to show my listings. My reputation with Realtors is how I make my living. My listings get showings, because over the years, Realtors have learned that they can trust that properties will be priced right, clean and easy to show. No surprises.

The Realtor, in question, had actually done a pretty good job up to the point of giving out my lock box code. I had a discussion with him about this and it will not happen again. I complemented him on the good job he did in getting the deal closed and hope to have many more deals with him in the future. Would this had turned out this way if I reported him to his Broker or filed an Ethics complaint against him? No. Absolutely not. He would never had showed my listings again and my future Sellers would suffer because of that.

So, here is a short list of the things I do to ensure that my listings are getting shown. Not only shown, but shown constantly by other Realtors.

My listings are:

1. Priced right, always. I am an expert on pricing.

2. Clean. Very clean.

1. Answer the phone. If not, return their call quickly. 8-8 seven days a week.

So remember, treat your fellow Realtors with respect. Help them if necessary. Be patient with "newbies", we were all one once. And most important, never forget…………Real Estate is about people, not money!

Do these words make you cringe? Do you just want to leave before they go any further? The best way to tell a racist is when they say “I’m not a racist but……”.

Meeting with potential customers on a regular basis it doesn’t surprise me when I hear this but it does surprise me how often I hear it and who’s saying it. As Realtors we cannot go there! We must nip this conversation in the bud before it goes any further. There is a little law called the Fair Housing Act that we must abide by. How do we do this? How do we continue to work with this person? Do we just ignore it and move forward? Do we lay the law down?

I must admit that this always places me in an awkward position. I usually move forward at the speed of light then ignore it but I can never seem to forget it. It changes my relationship with that person. My dream is that someday we will learn to appreciate people for who they are not despise them for the color of their skin. I live in the great State of Florida and one of the best things about Florida is that it’s very multicultural. I wish all people would see it that way.

….and you want it to be less than 7 years old with over 1500 sq ft of living area. Maybe this will help:

Based on current market statistics, properties similar to the ones you are requesting are selling for $35 to $37 per sq ft living and 110% of the asking price. In order to stay under $60,000 you need to focus on properties with 1700 sq ft or less. 185 Conch and 1966 Michigan both fit.

The stats that are below show that since 10/1/2009 there have been  29 sales. There are 21 pendings and only 9 actives in this price range. I eliminated the short sales and the properties that are priced too low (based on market data) and that left the 2 properties mentioned above.

The average days on market are 23 and that of course includes the time it takes to get bank addenda signed. This tells me most are selling quickly and with multiple offers.

CMA 60-

Do NOT be foreclosed on! Avoid foreclosure. Short Sales DO close.

Want to find out more? www.CentralFloridaShortSales.com

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That’s right. By far, the overwhelming majority of Homeowners in this country are NOT losing their homes. They either own their properties free and clear or are making their payments on time.

It’s hard for us to see this because we are in the business. If you are like me you live and breathe Real Estate. We talk to people all day long who are struggling and it’s very easy for us to forget that most Homeowners are living in and enjoying their homes.

I’ve mentioned many times over the last couple of years how more than 85% of the real estate closings in Poinciana Florida are distressed sales. But what I don’t mention is that there were only 1,654 sales for 2009 out of 20,700 properties. About 8%. So 92% of the folks in Poinciana stayed put. That’s right in line with the National average.

From what I could find online there are approximately ****129,400,000 homes in the US. Depending on where you look only 7-10 mil of these are in some stage of default. That’s roughly 7%.

Approximately 93% of the Homeowners in this country are doing OK. That makes me feel good. How about you?

****I spent about an hour this morning pulling stats and data and there really are no numbers that agree. So for the purpose of this post I just used averages. If you want more precise figures then feel free to do your own research.

Do NOT be foreclosed on! Avoid foreclosure. Short Sales DO close.

Want to find out more? www.CentralFloridaShortSales.com

***I am NOT an Attorney nor do I play one on TV. Click the button below for my Bio.

Copyright © 2010 http://www.brokerbryant.com/ | All Rights Reserved