City of Tacoma ~
Side Sewer Inspection Requirement Postponed Until October 1, 2010
The City of Tacoma passed an emergency ordinance last night that postpones the effective date of the new side sewer inspection requirement from July 1, 2010 to October 1, 2010. Beginning on October 1, 2010, Tacoma property owners are required to have a certified inspection of their private side sewers prior to the sale or transfer of a home or business, major remodel, or any construction over an existing side sewer. More information about the requirement is available on City of Tacoma’s website.
I’ll be interested to know how they expect things like this to be paid for in short sale and bank owned properties.
Over the past 10 years when the go-go markets of real estate were flying high and lots of people were jumping into the real property investment pool, not too many people worried about the consequences of losses. It was an easy game where everyone was making what they thought was easy money - who cared if the property didn’t cash-flow for a few years, you’d just hold onto it for 2-3 years and then flip it for a much higher appreciated value. Or, if you’d owned the property longer than since 2000 you could pull out equity and utilize it for more investment purchases, buying expensive personal toys like boats, flat-screen TV’s, and more. Well, in mid-2007 those days came to an end.
What we’ve been seeing since then are a lot of investment properties (1-4 units, small multi-family, small and large commercial) coming on market that are in distressed condition, meaning, the owners are in default or they’ve lost so much money over time paying out to subsidize the monthly losses of negative cash-flow that the individual(s) is in their own financial distress having burned through their other assets to maintain this one. In many cases the properties are coming back on market at prices below what the seller purchased them for so usually there is a short sale involved. In these cases, if there is forgiven debt then there are typically tax consequences involved. Some folks who are familiar with what are called tax deferred exchanges may wonder if perhaps using one of these programs might help avert the tax consequence of an investment short sale.
Read this link from OREXCO 1031 Exchange to get the info on whether or not foreclosures, deed-in-lieu, and/or short sales qualify.
Here is a link to my “August Real Estate Update“:
This Newsletter is full of interesting and useful information that I think you will enjoy whether you are a buyer, seller, homeowner, or renter.
This month’s issue includes topics such as:
“Five Keys To Successful Negotiations”;
“How to Recognize a Sellers Market”;
“Most Neighbors Still Connect The Old Fashioned Way”;
“Making Your Home Appealing On A Budget”;
“Final Walk-Through Tips”;
Plus a roundup of July real estate activity as well as much more advice and information.
I hope you enjoy this monthly newsletter. If you have any comments, please e-mail them to me. Or, if you would like to see a certain topic covered in future months, let me know that too!
Found on Yahoo Real Estate pages online is this great article by Amy Fontinelle of www.Investopedia.com. For anyone who is considering purchasing a home for the first time, it’s worth the time to read.
I’d have to say that in addition to what she wrote here, it’s important for first time buyers to set realistic expectations for themselves. Today’s younger generations have grown up in much bigger homes than was common in generations past. The concept of a “starter home” is a little foreign to many.
The other big benefit of working with an agent is that it’s a great way to use their experience to get an overall view of the process and walking through it so you know what to expect in addition to a professional viewpoint of what’s going on in the market for housing and with pricing trends. Plus, there is the added advantage of them being a personal resource for referrals to lenders, inspectors, escrow and more as you go through the purchase process.
The folks at Inman released the news that the House has approved an extension of the closing timeline for 1st time buyers and move-up buyers to get the tax credits offered for purchasing during the specified time limit. However, we’re still waiting for final news that the Senate has also approved it. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for it, but in the meantime all of the escrow offices I know are working full-tilt to get as many contracts closed today as they humanely can do.
Some of the frustrations that home buyers have experienced are that a large amount of the sales going on today involve either bank owned or short sale transactions - both of which aren’t always following the deadlines put to them in real estate contracts. With short sales taking, on average, around 6 months or more to close these types of transactions have really strangled the buyers who are trying to purchase them, if they were going for the tax credit.
At Team Reba we’ve seen the reality of the concerns that buyers have had with at least one listing having had a contract cancelled due to concerns that the buyer wouldn’t be able to close in time for the tax credit. Now it’s too bad that they did so since the extension is likely here. We also had another contract where we had to push hard on behalf of our buyer because the family was purchasing a bank owned home where the Trustee and the bank were slow to respond on every deadline and request for documentation, taking upwards of 3.5 months to close the deal. We just closed that transaction last week, much to the relief of our clients.
For the rest of you out there waiting to get your closing done today, you might cross your fingers, toes and legs and knock on wood - let’s hope the Senate gets moving on this bill.
The REALTOR.org site has links to stories that cover these items. For different types of Fannie Mae backed loans there are new underwriting guidelines to help mitigate risk on these loans which means that for the public they’ll be harder to get. Not impossible, but more documentation and stricter guidelines for qualify.
Specifically, Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) loans are addressed with regard to qualifying standards (ie, customers must qualify at the adjusted rate, not the teaser/start rate) and interest only loans (yes, they still exist)now require a minimum 720 FICO credit mid-score.
Happy reading!
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