Murfreesboro Tennessee Real Estate

The market update for November 2011 is showing some positive trends. Watch John below and learn about these positive trends.

Transcript

JOHN:  Hey, guys.  John Jones here with another edition of Tuesday Morning Coffee.  Today, we’re going to be talking about November statistics in Rutherford County.  And once again, they’re quite good.  We are 35% up over last November in single-family home sales, 238 units this month compared to 176 last November.  Our pendings are also up 25%, 235 over 187 from last November.  Our inventory keeps creeping down.  Currently, year to date, our inventory is down 13% over this time last year, and our average sales price for 2011 is at 158,479 and that is down 4% over last year, which was at 164,942.

So we still this last quarter every month we’ve been bannering ourselves over the last quarter of last year, and it looks like it’s going to continue in December based on the pendings.  So I think we’re going to wind up for the year, we’re still off the mark just a hair.  We’re down about 7.5% year to date on closed sales, but I think we’ll cut that number down to probably somewhere around 5%, 4 to 5% when it’s all said and done if we have a better December like I anticipate.

So there has been really good activity in the market the last few weeks, which is kind of different for this time of year.  So that’s a good sign.  Rates are still incredibly low, and unemployment’s down.  It’s the lowest I’ve seen in Rutherford County for about the past four or five years, or at least the last four years.  And then of course there’s some good news on the horizon that Nissan is adding some jobs and going to three shifts.  The Amazon distribution center that is coming here supposedly, that’s exciting.  That’s going to add jobs.

So as we get more job creation, things are going to get better.  And hopefully we don’t lose any jobs.  So anyway, things look positive and we’ll see you next week.  Call us if we can help you with anything, 867-3020.

In this episode of Tuesday Morning Coffee John tells us what escrow is, and how it is beneficial to the home owner as well as the lender.

Transcript

JOHN:  Hey, guys.  John Jones here with another edition of Tuesday Morning Coffee.  I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving.  Guys, today what we’re going to talk about is escrow and what does that term mean.  It’s a pretty general term, but mainly around here we use it when we’re talking about our insurance and taxes being paid to the bank every month into an escrow account.  Out on the West Coast, they use the term more so you hear about it whenever they have a pending closing, they say it’s closing in escrow.

But really the best definition I could give for escrow or the best maybe analogy I can give is when a third party holds the money until something is resolved.  In other words, if you had a bet with a friend and you wanted somebody to hold that money until that wager is resolved.  That’s kind of what an escrow account does or an escrow agent.  So in terms of the way we use it the most is escrow in taxes and insurance.  Why does a lender want that to happen?

Well, the lender wants to know that those items are always current and being paid on time.  That protects the lender.  They want to know if insurance is always on that house so if that home catches fire, the lender is protected.  They want to make sure the taxes are always current so there’s not a tax sale on the property and the lender gets kind of held out in the cold on that.  So it protects the lender. 

How does it benefit to the homeowner?  Well, it a benefit in the fact that it’s something the homeowner can budget every month.  They can spread their taxes over 12 months.  So each month they pay 1/12 taxes, 1/12 insurance.  It’s in their payment.  They can budget for it and they also have the peace of mind knowing that those items are always taken care of instead of receiving a big tax bill at the end of the year along with all the other obligations you have at the end of the year.

So I hope that helps clarify what escrow is.  If you should have any questions about escrow or any other real estate related matters, please give us a call.  We’re always here to try to help you, 867-3020.

We would like to say happy Thanksgiving to all of our past, present, and future clients.

John goes over the details of a poll the NAR conducted with buyers across the nation.

Transcript

JOHN:  Hey, guys.  John Jones here with another edition of Tuesday Morning Coffee.  As I speak to you today, NAR (National Association of Realtors) have just wound down their big annual conference in Anaheim.  Every year, an interesting report comes out of that conference.  It’s a survey that NAR does on homebuyers and home sellers for that previous 12 months.

They survey over 5,000 people all across the nation.  I wanted to share with you a few interesting facts from that survey.  Seventy percent of the buyers surveyed this past year still think real estate is a good investment.  Forty-five percent of those buyers think that real estate is a better investment than stocks.  The median buyer this past year was 31 years of age and had a median income of $62,400, which is up slightly from 2010.

Buyers search on the median of 12 weeks, and they visit 12 homes during the process.  More than half the buyers that were surveyed did consider buying a foreclosure but did not for some reason.  Twenty-nine percent cited they just could not find the right home that worked for them.  And 15% of those polled cited poor condition of the home or the difficult process.  To find a home, 88% of buyers used the Internet during their process.  Eighty-seven percent use real estate agents.

Fifty-five percent still drove through neighborhoods and looked for yard signs.  Forty-five percent of those polled did visit open houses, and 30% said they did look through newspaper ads.  For sale by owners accounted for 10% of all homes sold last year, according to this survey.  That’s up 1 percentage point over 2010, which was a record low of 9%.  I thought this was interesting.  When asked where they first learned about the home they ended up purchasing, 40% said the Internet; 35% said from their realtor; 11% said from a yard sign; 6% from a friend or family member; 2% came from the newspaper; and 1% came from a monthly home magazine.

I hope these facts were as interesting to you as they were to me.  If we can help you with any of your real estate needs, please give us a call at John Jones Real Estate, 867-3020.  Thank you.

 In this edition of Tuesday Morning Coffee John presents the official MLS statistics from October 2011 vs October 2010 for Single Family Home sales in Rutherford County to help give you an idea of what is happening in the local marketplace right now.

Transcript

JOHN:  Hey, guys.  John Jones here, Tuesday Morning Coffee.  Thanks for tuning in.  We’re going to go over the market stats for 2011 for October.  October 2011, we were up 18% in closed sales over 2010 October.  Our pendings—and this is pretty neat—our pendings are up 30% over 2010 October.  Our inventory is down.  Homes on the market is down 12.7%.  Our average closed price for the month over this time last year is almost dead even at 161,000.

And our year to date we’re still down 9% on closed sales year to date, but we’re catching up every month the last few months, so that number is going to tighten up for the next two months.  So we’ll see how that turns out here at the end of December.  The market overall does seem to be improving.  We still have a decline in prices.  A lot of that is due to we still do have an inventory that’s probably seven to eight months, and also the foreclosures and short sales are definitely affecting our pricing.

But this will be the first year where we haven’t declined that much in the sales over the past year.  Rates are incredible.  They’re in the threes.  We got a client at 30-year fixed FHA rate this week for 3.75.  So any of you guys sitting out there sitting on the fence, take advantage of these rates.  Also, maybe you’re thinking about refinancing.  That might be an option too.  Please give us a call if we can help you in any way, 867-3020.  Thank you.

John gives the top five reasons to own a home in today's market. Be sure to check out the calculator he talked about at this link.  http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/business/buy-rent-calculator.html

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Transcript

JOHN:  Hey, guys.  John Jones with another edition of Tuesday Morning Coffee.  Thanks for tuning in.  Today, we’re talking about the top reasons to own a home, and even though a lot has changed in the real estate market, these five reasons are still the same reasons I would have given you five or six years ago.  The number one top reason to own a home: Savings.  Over time, it’s still going to give you tremendous savings opposed to renting. 

There’s a calculator that you can go to that I think is an excellent tool to use.  Look at the website down at the bottom of the page.  Go to that calculator.  It gives you a real good idea renting versus owning.  Tax breaks.  We still have mortgage interest deduction.  Even though Congress has talked about and threatened possibly to take it away, it’s still available to us as homeowners and a great benefit to a homeowner.

Equity.  As you own a home over time, you build equity.  And that’s just like having a big nice savings account.  It might come in handy down the road to purchase a car.  It might come in handy down the road to put children through college and still get your mortgage interest deduction.  Budgeting, number four reason.  Budgeting, what I mean by that is on a fixed-rate mortgage we know that rate is never going to go up.  So it makes it easier for us to budget. 

Most rents are going to go up at some point.  There’s usually clauses in the lease that allow that to happen.  So you can actually budget a little better on your monthly by being in a fixed-rate mortgage.  And security.  Security of owning a home.  You can do what you want with that home.  You can paint the walls the color you want.  You can play your radio as loud as you want to, perhaps.  You can plant trees, flowers.  You can make that home your own, and there’s a lot of great positive social impacts from owning a home. 

So that’s the Top 5 reasons.  That’s the Top 5 reasons five or six years ago, 10 years ago.  And they’re still the Top 5 reasons today.  It’s an excellent time to buy.  Rates.  I keep getting tired of saying this, but they keep going down.  The best rates we’ve ever seen right now.  You can get rates actually in the threes.  So thanks so much.  Call us if you need us, 867-3020.

John goes over the new incredible rates in this episode of Tuesday Morning Coffee.

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Transcript

JOHN:  Hey, guys.  John Jones here with another edition of Tuesday Morning Coffee.  Today’s topic is the incredibly low rates we’re seeing in the marketplace.  Just when you didn’t think they could get any lower, they have.  We’re seeing rates going in the threes right now, and I’m talking about 30-year and 15-year fixed rates that you can get under 4%.  Currently, right now we’re seeing 15-year rates around 3.375.  Some of that does depend on your credit score.  We’re seeing FHA rates dip below 4%.

We saw someone lock into 3.875 last week.  Just an incredible time to either buy a home if you’ve been thinking about that or refinance your home.  Think about it guys, rates are one of the few things in this world that are recession proof.  If you get a 30-year fixed rate, it is going to be that rate.  It is going to be that payment, that principal and interest payment for the next 30 years.  It won’t go up.  It can’t go up.

The only thing that can go up is your taxes and insurance.  Everything around us will probably go up.  Taxes will go up.  Gasoline’s going to go up.  Milk’s going to go up.  Our incomes are going to go up.  But rates will not go up if you lock in.  So they’re incredibly important if you’re buying a home.  An incredibly important factor to think of is rates.  I have some clients that are still sitting on the sidelines, some buyers still thinking prices are going to go down, and they may go down.

But what you’ve got to be careful of if they go down and it takes a year for you to jump on it, what’s that rate going to be at that time?  If that rate bumps up another point, point and a half, have you really gained any ground?  So if you have to borrow money and you’re thinking about buying a home, right now is a beautiful time.  Refinancing.  My rule of thumb on that is I want to see you know for a fact you’re going to stay in that house for another three to five years, and I want to see the rate almost 1-1/2 to 2% difference in the rate you have now before it to make sense.

There is a cost associated with it, and you just have to do the break even.  How many months at the new rate will it take me to break even on the cost of actually refinancing.  By using that scenario and then knowing how long you’re probably going to be in that house, you can probably answer that question.  If you need any names and numbers of reputable lenders, please call us.  We know a bunch.  867-3020.  Please call us if we can help you in any way.  Thank you.

David Estes gives us a tour of a magnificent HUD home.

John interviews Earl Judd about the appraisal process at Pemco.

JOE:  Hey, Joe Hafner here with another episode of Tuesday Morning Coffee.  John Jones and I were recently in Atlanta where we visited with Pemco, who’s the asset manager that we work with on selling HUD homes.  John had a great interview with Earl Judd, who is the appraisal manager for Pemco.  Unfortunately, we had some technical issues and John’s intro was lost.  So we are jumping into the interview in the middle of it, but it’s such great info we wanted to share it with you.  So enjoy it and here it is.  Thanks a lot.

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JOHN:  So I’ve got some questions.  Appraisals for HUD properties.  Are they different or is it basically the same type of appraisal you get for an FHA loan?

EARL:  They’re all FHA appraisals, but there are a couple of key differences.  One being the property condition report that’s provided to the appraiser before they go out and do the inspection.  That’s going to let them know the functionality of the mechanical systems—the plumbing, the electrical work—if any of that stuff has potential problems.  Because when our appraisers visit the property, the home is shut down.

JOHN:  The utilities aren’t on.

EARL:  Right.  It’s all winterized and shut down to preserve it.

JOHN:  Protect? 

EARL:  Yeah.

JOHN:  Gotcha.

EARL:  So that form, it used to be about 20+ pages under M and M2.  Now it’s limited to a one-page report, provides a little bit more of a challenge to the appraisers because there’s not as much information there.  But because on an FHA appraisal you do have to test the mechanical systems, they must rely on that form in order to ensure that that information is there.

JOHN:  That makes sense.  Is there an advantage to a buyer of a HUD home?  By you already having an appraisal done, do they get to take advantage of that in any way?

EARL:  They certainly do.  Part of our contract is to provide the buyer with an appraisal, and that’s within six months in the hopes that they’ll be able to use that to close their contract.

JOHN:  Okay.  In our market, it saves them $400.

EARL:  Right.  Now unfortunately, there have been some changes in lending validity while there weren’t changes to the marketing validity of the appraisal.

JOHN:  Okay.

EARL:  The lending validity is 120 days and then there’s a 30-day grace period given by the lender in order to close that contract.

JOHN:  So if it runs longer than 150, they may, per lender, may have to get their own appraisal.

EARL:  Exactly.  Unfortunately, there is the time period in between where there’s no lending validity whatsoever and our marketing validity has not expired yet.  So we order an appraisal every six months as we did previously, but now the lending validity has changed.  So there’s the gap there.

JOHN:  What is the timeframe as far as like when you order an appraisal to the time it probably usually ends up being on the market for a buyer?  How long a timeframe is that generally or is there generally?

EARL:  In between the appraisal time and then actually making it to the market?

JOHN:  Yeah.

EARL:  Well, as soon as we get the appraisal back, it is reviewed by our department.  And if there are no problems with it, it meets all the HUD guidelines and there’s no other errors found in it, then it goes right to our listing department and is usually listed within a couple of days.

JOHN:   Oh, okay.  So there’s not like there’s a huge timeframe that goes by that starts getting into that 120 or 150?

EARL:  No, we really try to make sure that we get it out there as quickly as possible so there’s as much time to use on the lending side as they can have.

JOHN:  That’s awesome and that’s great information.  Earl, thanks so much, man.  Thanks for having us today and being such a great host.

EARL:  My pleasure.  Thanks.

JOHN:  We appreciate it.  Thank you, man.  See ya.

John presents the official MLS statistics from September 2011 vs September 2010 for Single Family Home sales in Rutherford County to help give you an idea of what is happening in the local marketplace right now.

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Transcript

JOHN:  Hey, guys.  John Jones with you today, another edition of Tuesday Morning Coffee.  Today, we’re talking about market statistics for September.  September was up again.  When I say up again, this is the pattern we’ve been following for the last few months.  We’re up 19% over 2010, month of September in closings, single-family homes.  Pendings were up 12.3%.  Inventory’s down 11%.  All that’s great.  Sounds good.  Median price is down about $7,000; 145 last year, 138,000 this year.

So median price is still going down.  It’s at 5% downward.  Year to date, we are still 12.5% off of last year.  I think our number will end up around 8% to 10% off of last year, which will be the fifth consecutive year we’ve gone down in number of home sales in Rutherford County.  But it’s tightening up.  It’s getting pretty close.  Something interesting.  In 2007, which was our peak pricing in this market, our average sales price that year was $184,000.  This year so far, it’s been 157.

So that’s a decrease of almost 15%.  People ask all the time how much of our homes go down.  I think that’s a pretty good indicator probably from our peak.  Which meant if you bought a house probably in the middle of ’07 towards the summer of ’07, you probably paid about as much as you can for a house in this market, according to statistics.  If you bought or had your home appraised during ’07, you’re probably about 15% off of that in value right now as a general rule.

There’s some areas not so much.  Some areas a little more, but as a general rule.  So thanks.  If you guys need anything, 867-3020.  We have been helping a lot of people avoid foreclosure.  Don’t forget about us on that.  If you know any friends, family, anybody that is facing foreclosure, please have them give us a call, 867-3020.  Thank you.