“While segmenting sales by price range shows that the increase in sales came mostly in the price ranges below $300,000, sales rose above those of fourth quarter 2008 in all but the highest 2 price ranges – $750,000 to $1 Million, and $1 Million and up.

Sales increased by 14% in the <$200,000 price range and by 22% in the $200,000-$299999 range.

Of course, buyers and sellers must get to the closing table to even show up on the SOLD chart…”

Here’s the rest of the article at Examiner.com…

That’s right, we had a +14% sales increase fourth quarter to fourth quarter from 2008 to 2009.

Sales picked up, but were still behind fourth quarter 2007.

“Buyers in the eight primary metropolitan Atlanta counties – Cherokee, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, and Paulding – bought 8222 houses between October, November and December last year.

In 2008, buyers bought 7214 houses and in 2007, buyers bought 8746 houses.

During the fourth quarter of 2009 signs appeared that a long-awaited recovery in detached residence sales may be happening. However, comparing the fourth quarter of 2009 to the fourth quarter of 2008, is like comparing apples and oranges.”

Here’s the complete article, my second article published for examiner.com…

Start with this – what exactly is “Housing and Urban Development?”

“HUD is the nation’s housing agency committed to sustaining homeownership; creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans; and supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS. The Department also promotes economic and community development and enforces the nation’s fair housing laws. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and espanol.hud.gov.”

HUD issued some game changing guidelines recently for the underwriting of FHA loans, and the purpose of this article is to help you understand what this means for 2010 buyers and sellers of residential real estate.

Lets start with one of the simple game changes.

-  As of April 5th, 2010 FHA loan funded buyers need to change from 1.75% to 2.25% for their “FHA up front funding fee” on their contracts

What does this mean?

-  For every $100,000 in loan amount, it costs a buyer $500 more, up front

-  If  a buyer decides to roll this amount into their FHA loan, then it costs the buyer a little less than $3 dollars per month

OK, that’s fairly simple and easy to understand – since FHA is in federal receivership, they need to make a little extra money and we expect that they will shore up their financial status over the coming years…yeah, right…

What are the underlying reasons for this change and any other changes? How will this make a long term impact?

What will this mean when my daughter is ready for her first house?

I believe that it means that she better hope she’s a cash buyer in 2035 – cash will still be king!

FHA Announces Policy Changes to Address Risk and Strengthen Finances

New Measures Will Help FHA Better Manage Risk, While Maintaining Support for the Housing Market and Access for Underserved Communities

Read the rest of this entry »

I often get calls from, work with and close deals with folks who want to invest in real estate in Georgia. Some of these folks are from outside of Georgia, many of them know what they are doing and all of them believe that they see value in Georgia real estate.

Most of them bring cash.

Other folks, from inside Georgia and from outside of Georgia, want to become real estate investors, but want some guidance on where to start.

Here are a few basic questions that I need to know about you if you are a real estate investor.

1. what has been your experience with real estate investing?

2. how much cash do you have reserved for real estate investing?

3. how many properties would you like to invest in over the next two years?

4. your intention is to buy, hold and rent properties, correct?

5. if so, then what has been your experience with land-lording? if not, then what is your investing strategy? what is your criteria for what makes a good investment?

6. how soon do you want to make a purchase?

7. in addition to your cash, are you expecting to require mortgage financing?

8. who is your lender of choice?

9. if you do not have a lender of choice, then who do you bank with?

10. who is in your Atlanta real estate network? contractors, lenders, property managers, etc. ?

10.5 in addition to your questions that you’ve already asked me, what other questions do you have?

Once a new client gets back with me on my questions, I can then answer their questions with more clarity and guidance.

Are you ready to take the next step? Are you already on a path and you just want an opinion? Please reach out and let me know if I can help you.

“During the fourth quarter of 2009 signs appeared that a long-awaited recovery in detached residence sales may be happening.

However, comparing the fourth quarter of 2009 to the fourth quarter of 2008, is like comparing apples and oranges.

The depths of the fourth quarter of 2008 are not likely to be seen again soon. Regardless, there are still areas of concern which could limit the degree and time frame of a full recovery.”

Click here to read the rest of this article at Examiner.com.

I am now the “Atlanta Real Estate Examiner” at examiner.com.

They bills themselves as “INSIDER SOURCE FOR EVERYTHING LOCAL.”

Subscribe to The Intown Insider RSS feed to get all of my posts.

If you want regular, realistic market statistics and quick reads on local real estate economics, local styles and  local trends, 3 – 4 times  a week, then subscribe to my Examiner.com RSS feed.

Either way, thanks for reading, thanks for your referrals and thank you for the opportunity to earn your business.

Marcie Geffner is a noted real estate, finance and business writer and Bankrate.com published three of her recent articles that offer lots of information on the current federal income tax credit.

Here’s one entitled “4 Tips for the Homebuyer Tax Credit.”

Here’s another entitled “Secrets of the Homebuyer Tax Credit”

And, here is one more entitled “Homebuyer Tax Credit Rewards Repeat Buyers.”

Here’s my favorite item from the guidelines that govern use of the credit:

“The home can be a mobile home or travel trailer that is fixed to land owned or leased by the home owner. A mobile home or travel trailer that is actually mobile doesn’t qualify.”

Uh, does this particular mobile assemblage account?

Here is a helpful cut and paste graphic from my friends at W.R. Starkey Mortgage – they show the differences between last year’s Homebuyer stimulus plan and this year’s Homebuyer stimulus plan on an easy chart.

Please let me know if I can help you get your real estate on in the next 5 or 6 weeks – if you hesitate, don’t come crying to me!