A Look at the Fall Trends: Is It a Good Time to buy in Tucson?

As the fall season stretches on, the real estate numbers in the Tucson area continue to show signs of life in 2011. Statistics are showing that the Tucson area may be primed for a slight comeback in real estate.  Sales have gone down slightly, but the important statistics lie in the fact that most of the homes being sold are within the middle class range of $100,000 to $200,000.  The Tucson real estate trends have been averaging about 1,000 or more homes sold per month in the late summer.  Only about .025 percent were homes over $500,000 or more.

According to numbers from the Tucson Association of Realtors there are only about 5,000 homes for sale in early fall. This is a low number for Tucson.  A balanced market for Tucson would be 6,000 homes on the market.  So days of sitting on the fence waiting to purchase may be over.  We are even experiencing multiple offers on properties.  

The statistics have also shown some good trends for sellers as well. One of the major roadblocks, numbers wise, has been the average amount of time that houses stay on the market.  Right now, that number is hovering around 70 days on average, while that number has dropped by about 15 days from the normal length of time in the spring. 

With some of the numbers that are being released about the Tucson area, renters are realizing that right now could be as good a time as ever to look at home buying. With rent prices continuing to rise in cities throughout the country, investing in a house may save in the long run. Depending on the opportunity, monthly mortgage may end up being less than potential rent payments.

The market is also proving to be healthy for people who are looking to purchase homes to rent.  Potential renters are willing to up their price for the right home apposed to to renting Tucson apartments.  Many times, homes offer better deals for renters, thus investors looking to fill homes are seeing movement right now.

There are great priced homes on the market right now and iinterest rates are lower than they have been in quite a while. To find out if a home purchase is a possibility for you, talk with Letty Huffman of Nova Home Loans.  A quick conversation and you could find that buying a home is a great option for you.  

Big Difference Buying a Short Sale VS a Bank-Owned Home

Often people think buying a short sale and a bank owned or REO home is the same thing.  It's not.

A short sale is when the homeowner owes more on the mortgage than the home is currently worth and lacks the funds to make up the difference, but needs or wants to sell anyway.  The homeowner isn't always facing forecloser.  In a short sale the Lender must agree to the loss between the market value and the balance on the mortgage.  The lender is agreeing to release their lien to the property so that the house can be sold and the title can pass to the new owner free and clear.  The lender is not a party to the sale or owner of the home in a short sale situation.  The lender is simply agreeing to approve the short sale payoff, or not.  The lender must approve the short sale or the sale will not go through.

The bank owned home or REO is another story.  When the home is bank owned it has already gone all the way through the foreclosure process and the original home owner no longer has any rights to the property.  The bank owns it and is now the seller of the property.  The bank will make all the decisions as to the terms of the sale and there is usually an asset manager assigned to handle the transaction on the banks behalf.

As the home buyer you need to be represented by an Agent who is knowledgeable in regards to these types of transactions.  There are many other aspects to handling these types of transactions which I will address in future blogs.

What if I Need to Sell My House but I Owe More on it Than it Can Be Sold For? 

You can contact your Lender and request a short sale.  There is usually some form of hardship involved, loss of income, divorce, loss of a spouse or job relocation just to name a few.  The bank will request documentation:

Two Years most recent tax returns
Pay stubs (last 30 days) for borrower and co borrower
A hardship letter outling your situation
A Finacial worksheet 
Mortgage Statements (last 30 days)

These are the basic documents they will need.  There will be more once they determine what else is needed.

You'll want to contact an experienced short sale Real Estate Agent.  Ask about their success rate at closing short sales.  Many agents only close one out of every five short sale trasactions.  You want someone who closes 4 out of every five at the very least.

Fort Knox Home Garden is no match for this Critter

My friends Barry & Audrey planted an out door Salsa and Herd garden in the yard of their Oro Valley home.  They used two foot high block raised beds, installed a motion detector activated light, double fenced it in and covered it, you get the idea it was the fort knox of gardens.

So what was eating the new plants?  Friends had their suspicions and gave them a list of likely suspects.  Instead of waiting around to apprehend the fellon they installed a motion sensored camera......BUSTED MR CHIPMUNK!
Notice how many rows he mowed down.