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Every House Is Special
February 4th, 2010Comments Off
First Time Homebuyers Tax Credit Extended
November 6th, 2009As many have expected, the Congress has passed legislation extending the first time homebuyer’s tax credit. This part of the economic stilulus package was set to expire at the end of November, but with the new legislation will now run until April 2010. Many point to the tax credit as helping raise the number of home sales the past couple months both across the country, and here in the Treasure Valley. This extension will be welcome news to many Buyers and Sellers who feared they had missed out.
The new legislation also expands the program by adding a $6500 tax credit for people who already own a home, although that is limited to people who have owned for 5 years of the previous eight. There are also limits on price and income.
For more details about the extended tax credit compared to the previous version, see this pdf.
Additionally, 11 states have programs that allow the credit to be used towards the Buyer’s downpayment. Idaho is one of those states. For a little more info, see this pdf.
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2009 Parade of Homes
April 24th, 2009The Building Contractors Association of Southwestern Idaho is bringing their 2009 Parade of Homes to the Treasure Valley beginning Saturday April 25th and running through May 10th. Weekday hours are 5PM to 8PM, Fridays are 3PM to 8PM, and Saturday and Sunday hours are Noon to 8PM. This year the Parade of Homes is FREE! No tickets are required.
Reflecting the slower housing market, there are just 17 new homes on the Parade this year, but they are homes presented by many of the Valley’s best builders including Tahoe Homes, The Marrs Company, Capitol Building, Brighton Homes, Crocker homes, Borup Construction, James Clyde Custom Homes, Boise Hunter Homes, Berkeley Building Company, Roth Homes, Flynner Homes, and Eric Evans Construction.
There is an excellent clickable tour map online at the BCA website. You can also click through to previews of each home.
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Just Listed in West Boise
March 25th, 2009Here is a great home in West Boise that I just listed. It has 3 bedrooms and a bath and a half, a 2 car garage, a fully fenced North-facing backyard, and it’s in a quiet neighborhood. There is a full RV pad behind the fence, a storage shed, and there’s room for a garden too. It is priced at $129,900.
Inside you’ll find a very well maintained home with a wonderful kitchen. Oak cabinets, oak floors, and a surprising amount of space, with a nice dining area besides.
Unlike so many on the market, this home is NOT a Short Sale or bank-owned, and it is in great condition! You can move right in and not have to remodel or fix it up. MLS #98394827. Call me, I’d love to show it to you! FLYER
MLS 98394827
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Should I Wait For Lower Prices?
February 6th, 2009One of the questions we’re getting right now is “Should I wait to buy in case prices go even lower?” The first part of my answer is “No one knows if prices will go lower”. The second part of the answer is “Are you willing to bet interest rates will stay this low as well?” Price is not the only money piece of the puzzle. Sometimes interest rates can have a bigger effect on your home purchase than you expect.
Interest rates have recently been below 5%, which is fantastic! Assume you’ve found a $200,000 home and you’d like to put down 25% and you qualify for a 30 year mortgage of $150,000 at 5%. The Principle and Interest on that loan would be $805.23 and that is as much as you’re able to pay. What if you wait ?
If the price goes down 8%, to $184,000 and you still put $50,000 down, you will need a loan for $134,000. Sounds great so far, if the rate stays at 5%. But if interest rates go back up to just 6% (still historically low) the payment on that loan is $803.40. Your gamble on prices really only saved you $1.83. And if the prices don’t go down but interest rates go up, you’ve lost the advantage of a cheap loan. Your $150,000 loan at 6% instead of 5% will cost you $899.33 per month, an increase of $94.10 per month. Still attractive?
Again, no one knows what prices and rates will do. But be aware of BOTH when trying to decide to buy.
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Ada County Home Sales For January
February 6th, 2009As expected, January usually sets the low mark for the year for Ada County home sales and that is true again for 2009. Single Family Homes sold in January were a meager 237, a 23% decline from January 2008. Remember that I mentioned in the December newsletter that last year we started the year with a 38% decline, so you know I am looking for bright spots. Traffic at Open Houses and individual showings have both been lower than we’ve been used to, although with the low interest rates of the last couple weeks that is changing.
One sign of that is the increasing number of contracts Pending. Currently there are 527 homes under contract which is a big jump from the 459 we started the year with. One of my Title company contacts told me that they saw a number of sales close with loans at rates below 5% a week or so ago (although the rates have again gone back over 5% for now). Rates at that really historic low make it easy for some to make the decision to buy. And considering that the inventory of active listings hasn’t changed from January’s 3635, perhaps we are in a calmer place in our market.
One interesting thing the data shows is that the sales are being made in a bit lower price level in the market. Last year’s median price in January was $217,500, while this year it was $180,000. This is a 17% decline year over year. While that implies lower prices, it also more strongly indicates that buyers are working in the lower levels of the market. The “expensive new construction boom” we had two and three years ago is over, so those sales don’t affect our numbers as strongly as they did then. Another way to show that is to see that of the sales in January this year, 60% of them were homes priced below $200,000. Last January only 40% of the homes sold were below $200,000, and in 2007 it was barely 36%. That is quite a market change! And one last tidbit, it should come as no surprise to know the length of time on market has increased from 73 in 2008 to 90 days this year, according to MLS figures.
For a closer look at single family home sales in Meridian, check out my latest post at Our Meridian Blog.
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Welcome to My Boise Dream
January 27th, 2009My Boise Dream is a real estate website. I am a residential Realtor specializing in Boise Real Estate, Meridian Real Estate, as well as the communities of Eagle, Star, and Kuna.
Pardon my dust, I’m rebuilding. Over the next few weeks this site will grow and fill with useful information and links to help you realize your own dreams, whether you are a buyer or a seller.
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