In a sort of odd Christmas Present to some home owners, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has post-poned foreclosing on about 16,000 homes until Jan 09.

"This is another news item that the government is hoping will stem the tide of foreclosures," said Walter Schmidt, head of mortgage strategy at FTN Financial Capital Markets in Chicago. "But I don’t know it helps, it could put off the inevitable" because falling home prices give homeowners incentives to walk away, he said.
The move by the two government-sponsored enterprises comes a week after their regulator unveiled a plan that could cut payments for hundreds of thousands of borrowers by easing terms on their loans. Homeowners facing foreclosure who are spending more than 38 percent of their income on mortgage payments could have payments reduced by the companies, under the program.
The "streamlined modification" program of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is slated to begin on December 15. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac estimated their foreclosure suspensions may affect about 16,000 borrowers if the homes are occupied.
"We felt it was in the best interest of both borrowers and Fannie Mae to take this extra step to ensure that homeowners with the desire and ability to prevent a foreclosure have an opportunity to stay in their homes," Herb Allison, Fannie Mae’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.
The foreclosure moratorium also appears to lend credence to speculation the government is pushing the companies to operate more in a public policy role, perhaps at the expense of profit. That has some investors concerned since the government has not defined the roles of the shareholder-owned companies after the conservatorships are lifted.

To Search All the Georgia Foreclosures Click Here

After much feedback I’ll be updating the newsletter that comes out of here. There’s got to be a better solution, feel free to update me on that!

After writing about accountability a few weeks back, I decided to check my self and posted a week’s worth of activities .  Be sure to check it out if you have any interest in becoming a real estate agent or want to know what I am doing every day .

The market is up and down on a weekly basis.  Great deals are still selling in 2 weeks, good deals are sitting.  Homes that are price correctly will sell in 60 days or less.  Other can sit up to 6 months to 1 year.  A little milestone was reached as several parts of the county dipped under 12 months of inventory which.

Unless you’ve had your head in the sand all week, then you know that there’s talk of an economic bailout that should cost you and I about $10,000 a piece. It got me thinking about accountability .

Whatever happened to personal responsibility?

As I finished my workout today I passed someone having a conversation about that very topic.  Apparently this person’s child had stolen something and didn’t think much of it.  The distressed parent did not know what to do.  Her ultimate method of "accountability" was to let the child know that if it happpened again and he got caught, then she would let the authorities deal with it.

What’s somewhat funny about this story is this is exactly what has happened to our economy.  Re-read that story above and let’s replace some words:

[Our Country's ] ultimate method of "accountability" was to let the [Industry ] know that if it happpened again and they got caught, then they would let the [Government ] deal with it.

Sorry, but that’s not really what I want.  I doubt you want the Government to take your money at gunpoint [TAXES] and bail out these financial districts either, when the solution is a simple, time tested word, ACCOUNTABILITY.

In Real Estate, there is no accountability.  There’s almost no barrier to entry for the mortgage industry or to be a real estate agent.  The public puts absolutely no weight in these professions.  Realtors are often compared to used car salesmen and when it comes to selling a home, most home owners would rather have a colonoscopy than think of paying a Realtor for their services….

Mortgage Broker and Real Estate Professionals are responsible for handling, for most, what is the biggest investment of their entire life. In the case of Real Estate Agents, in some states they have a fiduciary responsibility to look out for their client — this is the same responsibility that an attorney has! It’s hard to believe then that the state and the industry know the value of a Real Estate Agent but the public and the agent themselves don’t take the responsibility seriously… and WHY?  Because there is no accountability.

Mortgage Broker gives you a loan that on paper looks ridiculous but still clears underwriting.  What can you do?  At best, file bankruptcy.

An Realtor suggests a price to win your listing and is not honest about the market.  You are happy in the short term but in a declining market, you’ve just signed your foreclosure papers.

Now I’m done with my rant, but I’d much rather see accountability and standards added to the Real Estate industry as a whole than see these bailout plans.

Unless you live in a cave, you’ve likely heard the news about Lehman Brothers.  Other famous names are being thrown around as well in, as Truliablog put it, “a sad game of who’s next.”

Well what’s it mean to metro Atlanta.  Truth be told, it’s way too early to tell but if there’s any indication here’s some thoughts on it. 

MORE SALES FOR GEORGIA

New York, one of the big three of places that have people relocating to Georgia, will see an increase in listing inventory.  New York’s market, especially the higher end market, is one that has been, well, bullish.  For a niche of America, it’s a big one.  However, with 10,000 jobs going away, people will be looking to regroup and maybe relocate.  Atlanta is on their list.  Not only can they find employment, but they will likely not have to give up their lifestyle that they are accustomed to in New York.  So this is a bad thing for them but a good thing for us. Assuming this happens. 

It’s like my Grandma says, “It’s a backward blessin’” for those folks.  They’ll get a lower cost of living and a new start out of something that’s pretty devastating.   Of course, this is from my perspective that Georgia is the best place to live.

The impact will send some shockwaves, but my personal opinion, much like the stock market, is that it’s overall impact will be minimal.  The real estate market is already seeing the light at the end of the tunnel so it’s not too hard to imagine a few more shoes dropping before we pull back out. 

Better get in on the good deals while you can.

Are you waiting till prices drop further?  I have two KEY questions for you.

1. When is the right time to buy?
2. When do you know where the bottom is?

That’s one word that is tough to use in this current real estate market. Nothing is predictable right now. Months that historically good are bad and ones that bad are good. Weekends you’d think would be full of showings are filled with people going to see Batman.

The best slogan I’ve heard in a long time is “Don’t Wait to Buy, Buy and Wait.” I thought it was very telling. In what other market can you buy a 2000 Square Foot all brick ranch for $140K that should retail for $200K in 3 years with little to no work.

As mentioned in another article, St Marlo is a great place for executive homes and deals on them. With an average price of $1 Million, you can get in to a foreclosure for less than $600!

Homes like the one I listed on 3551 Bogan Mill Road or 4850 Shellnut Path would have sold in 30 days. Now they are steals, ripe for the taking.

Good news for the Jarvis Team is that we are officially down 1% for year compared to last year, which was the best year ever.

We’ll see how this year ends.

..

Oh, and By the way, I’m NEVER to busy for your referrals.

There’s some great opportunities out there, as mentioned … almost sounds like we’re chanting, "buy, buy, buy!" In reality, there really aren’t that many good deals out there. Oh, don’t get me wrong there are great deals like this one that’s a resale in Lawrenceville , or some of the foreclosures. Saw one the other day for $105K that I could sell today for $175K after repairs - 2400 SQFT with a basement.

Short sales are great deal opportunities if you are patient as I write about in this article.

Foreclosures are still the way to go for most lower end buyers as the response time from the banks and agents are usually more pallatable.

After talking with some key people on my team, I’m no longer singing the short sale blues. I found out that they are more than willing to help me hunt down the loss mitigator and get the ball rolling. What a relief it is to have good people. These people are part of my concierge service that is offered by the Jarvis Team.

In addition to helping us facilitate the short sale, they can give you legal and practical advice about your situation.

It used to be that if someone wanted to be in the home by the end of August, they could start looking in July. Not so anymore with the current market conditions.

With the sheer number of homes on the market, it’s taking longer to find that perfect home. What’s not intuitive is that if you have found that perfect home then it’s highly likely that someone else has their eye on it as well.

So in essence there are a TON Of homes on the market, but not many great deals.

The other thing that is causing longer “start to finish” times is that there are so many foreclosures and short sales on the market. Obviously, everyone wants a deal, but these things can be ridiculous. In many cases, it may take up to 6 weeks just to have an accepted contract on a short sale home… assuming that the bank and the seller are willing.

Foreclosures are a bit different, but the biggest problem with them is the multiple offer scenario. This scenario could add two weeks to the process. In addition, the banks generally want the buyer to close at an extremely inconvenient location with unheard of precision. What do I mean? I mean they would like you to have everything you need to physically close the property up to 5 days before you actually close.

Finally, with the “mortgage meltdown” there are loan officers and lenders running around trying to make deals and create deals. Some of them are not used to the new market conditions. Not only are they wasting client’s time but they can also cost them money, to the tune of $100 a day.

So if you’re thinking of closing at the end of August, you might just want to start looking… THIS WEEKEND.

Let’s first look at Atlanta Homes that Sold In January & February (Just Single Family Detached)

* Worst Year this Millennium? 2000 - With barely 2,000 homes sold in Jan 00, and almost 3,000 in Feb 00
* Best Year this Millennium? 2006 & 2007 ?!?!? - Yep, those are the numbers, Both years started at just under 4,000 homes sold in Atlanta, to just over 5,000 for Feb. of those months.
* How About 08? Jan 08 saw about 2,500 Atlanta Homes sold, while Feb saw about 3,000 homes sold in Atlanta.

OK, so home sales are not that bad, but what about prices? Prices are down 10% according to CNN. So again all the single family detached homes in Metro Atlanta are put out there for the millennium comparison.

What is the average sales price in Atlanta. Drum Roll!!!

* Worst First Quarter Year of this Millennium? 2000 - DUH! With an average of $195K.
* Best Year? I’m tempted to put a spoiler alert here, but you might have guessed…. 2007 was the best year ever for average sales price of an Atlantan home. At about $252K, you’d likely have some equity if you bought in Metro Atlanta.
* So how are we doing? We’re down. In 2008, we have about a 4% decrease from last year to $235K.

One thing the media did get right this year is Days On Market, let’s take a look. Again, we’re only looking at the first quarter (minus March) for the millennium.

* Worst Year - 2008 - Just over 100 days on market.
* Best Year - 2000 - With about 65 Days on market for homes in Atlanta.

So at the end of the day, are we in a buye’s market?, Yes. Are we in a bad market? No. It’s a great time to move up and a great time to buy as always.

What’s especially nice is that the high octane Realtors out there are getting a lot more business because it takes more than just a sign and the MLS to sell a home!

Till nextime….