Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said that the Federal Housing Administration is going to permit its lenders to allow homeowners to use the $8,000 tax credit as a down payment, provided you are using personal funds for the first 3.5% of the downpayment.

Donovan’s statement came in an address to several thousand Realtors® gathered at The Real Estate Summit: Advancing the U.S. Economy, a special daylong session at the Realtors® Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo in Washington D.C.

If you’ve been looking at buying your first home, but the down-payment requirements have kept you from doing so, then this might be your chance to take advantage of a fantastic change in FHA policy.  Feel free to give me a call to find out more information or ask questions about how to take advantage of this program!

~Jonathan Benya- Realtor
Century 21 New Millennium
9405-A Chesapeake St
La Plata, MD 20646
301-609-9000 – office
301-653-8116 – cell

Charles County Real Estate Blog
SOMD Home Search
Southern Maryland Custom Homes & Land

Putting the pieces together

This blog, formerly known as teambenya.wordpress.com, has finally gotten it’s own identity! The new domain name, http://www.charlescountyrealty.com , is officially up and running. There will be more cosmetic changes within the month, and all for good reason!

As you may have noticed, this site is very similar in content to http://www.teambenya.com.  I’d like to fine tune this site to be dedicated to Charles County alone, and let the other site handle the larger region in general.  If you’re looking for Southern Maryland, check out teambenya.  If you want stats and commentary on Charles County specifically, this is the place to be!

~Jonathan Benya

Century 21 New Millennium

301-653-8116

In order to apply for this program, you must:

• Have a loan originated prior to 2008
• Be paying paying more than 31% of your monthly income on your mortgage
• The program qualifies for PRIMARY RESIDENCE ONLY
• Have your income verified

The program will not take effect until October, 2008, runs through September, 2011, and here’s the kicker (There’s always a catch, right?):

Lenders can pick and choose which loans to refinance under the program!

This means that if your lender isn’t in the mood to adjust your loan, you’re out of luck!  The catch is that the bank WILL be losing money on the deal, as the loan is essentially going to be giving owners 10% equity (Loans can only be up to 90% LTV), so I would imagine that even though 400,000 people are theoretically “eligible”, far fewer are going to be given a break as the lenders will be eating crow on the deal.

This isn’t a free money deal for the homeowners, however:

If you sell during the next five years, you must agree to share 50
percent of any profits from the resale with the government. What’s
more, homeowners can only retain equity gains based on a sliding scale.

The homeowner would have zero equity from a sale in the first year,
with the amount rising 10 percent in each succeeding year and capping
at 50 percent from a sale in year five and thereafter.

The equity must be repaid because the maximum amount on the new loans will be capped at 90 percent of the current market value.

This has a big impact on OUR area because of all the military families in the area that are struggling to make payments.  If you get re-assigned in a year, you lose all of your financial gain in the home!

The entire 694-page bill can be viewed at: http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/financialsvcs_dem/hr3221_bill_text.pdf

Want more information on the new bill, and what it means to you?  Call Jonathan Benya at 301-653-8116 and I’ll be more than happy to help explain what to do and how to do it so you can take advantage of this opportunity!

~Jonathan Benya
Century 21 New Millennium
9405-A Chesapeake St.
La Plata, MD 20646
301-653-8116
301-609-9000
http://www.teambenya.com

    You see, Granite emits VERY MINOR levels of radiation.  In a few rare cases granite emits higher than average levels, and the EPA is apparently seeing a rise in calls from home inspectors regarding the safety of our beloved counter finishes.

“It’s not that all granite is dangerous,” said Stanley Liebert, the
quality assurance director at CMT Laboratories in Clifton Park, N.Y.,
who took radiation measurements at Dr. Sugarman’s house. “But I’ve seen
a few that might heat up your Cheerios a little.”

    Perhaps it could be marketed as a selling feature(You’ll never need to use the stove!), but realistically the odds of your own counters being risky is remote.  If you’re concerned about it, your best bet is to get a radon inspector out to your home to test your homes’ radiation levels.  It should probably run you about $100-$300 dollars, and you’ll know for sure if there’s a problem.

    It begs the question:  "How long will it take to cook an egg on a counter like this?"

~Jonathan Benya
Century 21 New Millennium
9405-A Chesapeake St.
La Plata, MD 20646
301-653-8116
301-609-9000
http://www.teambenya.com

    I know what you’re thinking: if rates are rising and pending sales have fallen, what the heck is the good news, right?  well, there’s a few early indicators here that might just be good news for struggling sellers! 

Sales Volume

    First off, Sales are up.  Not by much, but we are seeing a few more sales each month, and that number is slowly (VERY SLOWLY) rising, but it’s going up none the less, which is a start.

Inventory

    Second, the number of available home has stopped rising over the last 3 months.  It’s even (Dare I say it?) Dropping.  This is important because it shows that the skyrocketing supply of available homes has started to drop.  Remember real estate is all about supply and demand, and right now we need to see that supply drop!

Prices

    Prices and Values are a bit of mixed nuts right now.  The average sold price rose to $330k, while the median fell to $300k.  Oddities like this are to be expected while drastic market shifts are happening.  The long and short of it is that homes under $300k are moving the most, but the stagnation we’ve seen in the $400k+ range is finally starting to move a bit.  This means the average sales price trends higher even though cheaper homes are selling faster.

Time On Market

    Also, note the the average time on market (DOM) jumped above 140.  When you look at this in relation to the volume of available properties, it tells us that fewer and fewer people are putting their homes up for sale, and that more people may be willing to wait the market out.

Summary

    I’m not ready to start shouting that the market has recovered; we’ve still got a long road ahead of us.  It’s signs like this that may indicate slowly improving conditions, if this is just a blip, we’ll see numbers fall along with the interest rate hikes and coming fall sales market.  Stay tuned!

~Jonathan Benya
Century 21 New Millennium
9405-A Chesapeake St.
La Plata, MD 20646
301-653-8116
301-609-9000
http://www.teambenya.com

    Supposedly they are doing this to re-structure rather than close-up shop.  If it’s a way for them to bring down their prices, great.  Take a look at their current prices, and you’ll notice that they’re flat out too high.  Filing bankruptcy sheds light on an interesting phenomenon:  Builders profits have been cut to the core.  Bankruptcy means that Caruso cannot slash their prices any further at this point without drastic measures.

    Will this allow Caruso Homes to drop their prices further?  Definitely!  At the same time, I’m sure it’s going to upset the folks they owe money to. ($500,000 from 84 Lumber alone!).  As soon as Caruso announces their price reductions, I’ll let you guys know.  Stay tuned for more on that!

Related Links:

KB Homes Pulls Out of Charles County

Adventures in New Home Buying

Are New Construction Price Negotiable?

New Homes in Waldorf, MD: Autumn Hills Subdivision

"Finding it All" When Buying a Home

~Jonathan Benya

Century 21 New Millennium
9405-A Chesapeake St
La Plata, MD 20646
301-653-8116
Waldorf and Southern Maryland Real Estate
www.teambenya.com

Bank Owned Homes For Sale in Charles County

    If you have any questions, or would like to be added to our automatic daily updates, please give me a ring or drop me an email and let me know!

~Jonathan Benya
Century 21 New Millennium
9405-A Chesapeake St
La Plata, MD 20646
301-609-9000
301-653-8116
Waldorf and Southern Maryland Real Estate
www.teambenya.com

    People often think that their home is the nicest one on the block(it’s a natural bias), and it can be difficult to examine their home critically.  It’s important to understand that this is a natural feeling, but selling a home is a business transaction (a BIG ONE!), and it should be treated as such.

Finding A Price

    The first step in selling a home is establishing it’s value, and this is done with a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA).  A CMA is essentially a comparison of other homes that are similar and have been on the market recently.  Any local, licensed Realtor should be able to do one for you, typically free of charge  There are 3 major categories to a CMA:

• Active Listings= What Comparable Homes MAY sell for (This will be your competition!).

• Sold Listings= What Comparable Homes HAVE sold for.

• Expired/Withdrawn Listings= What Comparable Homes DID NOT sell for (Homes here were priced wrong in relation to their condition).

Dude, Where’s My Upgrades?

   A big concern to keep in mind is that all of those extras your home has may or may not positively impact the value when it comes time to sell.  Here’s a good example:

   
Let’s say you’ve just remodeled your bathrooms.  In the renovation, you installed $10,000 solid gold toilets.  They’re fabulous, probably the best looking toilets in the whole county!  Now, all you have to do is find someone willing to pay $10,000 more for your house because the toilets are solid gold.  "They’re worth $15,000 if you melted them down!", you say.  That’s great, but you are trying to accomplish two very difficult tasks.

1. Find a buyer for your house in a slow market
2. Find a buyer for your house that’s willing to pay an extra $10,000 for prettier toilets.

    Unfortunately, you’re not likely to see the value return in a case like this.  The home has been over-improved.  That’s not to say all upgrades are worthless, but they need to be suitable for the property. 

I Was Certain It Was Worth More!

    A CMA is designed to give a range of value, not a definitive number.  For a precise figure, you need to pay an appraiser to do an appraisal on the property.  If you don’t like the range that an agent comes up with, that’s okay!  Chat with the agent about why you think the numbers are off, and see what you guys can come up with.

     Agents aren’t perfect, and every real estate agent figures CMA’s differently.  This is a very important point!!! ***The agent with the highest CMA isn’t necessarily the agent who’s going to get you the best price for your home!***  The agent with the best marketing ability and negotiating skill is going to get you the best price for your home.

    Think about it like this:

    Two agents interview to list your home, One with a great marketing plan, and lesser CMA value, and one with a so-so marketing plan, but a value of $45,000 higher.  One agent is off on the price, plain and simple.  The solution?  Ask the agent with better marketing to try listing at a higher price!  This way you don’t risk leaving money on the table, AND you get the best marketing possible.

    Understanding how to best price your home is the first step to being able to get your home sold!  This is Part 2 of the Savvy Seller Series here at www.teambenya.com.  Be sure to check in next week when we will be posting the next edition, focusing on home presentation and staging!

Related Links:

The Savvy Seller Part 1: Your Next Home Will Be Bought or Sold Online!

~Jonathan Benya
Century 21 New Millennium
9405-A Chesapeake St
La Plata, MD 20646
301-609-9000
301-653-8116
Waldorf and Southern Maryland Real Estate
www.teambenya.com

What’s Happened:

    For the first time in 7 months, home sales in Charles County, MD have actually seen some growth!  Earlier this year we were looking at home sales in the range of 50-60 units per month, and now that number is closer to 100!

    Pending Settlements, the number of homes currently under contract, have gone up as well, so there is a bit of bright news in the market this month.  We’ve also seen the number of homes available on the market level off as well, so now we’ll have to wait and see if the trend continues.

    Between February and March we have also seen that the average price of a home in Charles County (roughly $312,000) didn’t fall, the average number of days on market (158 days) has leveled off as well, due partially to the increased amount of home buyers we have seen in the last month.

What Does This Mean?

    It’s great that we’re seeing potentially positive changes happening in the market.  It’s a little premature to say that we’re going to see prices rise again in the near future, but at least we are not seeing the values continue to fall. 

    Foreclosures
are having a big impact on the market right now, and they make up a
significant portion of sales, and unfortunately those
properties are what traditional sellers are forced to compete with.  The good news to it is that the amount of transactions taking place each month is growing!

     Home owners who are trying to sell should be seeing increased traffic through their homes, provided they are priced right and marketed well.  I’ve noticed an increased amount of traffic through my listed homes right now, and it’s a big relief to my clients to see that the market might be trying to stabilize.

    For buyers, sitting on the fence has been forcing down
prices, and we’re starting to see some good deals emerge, which in turn has caused the local market to drop price-wise, and it seems that prices are stable, and we’re starting to see more buyers take advantage of both the lower prices and the preferable interest rates that are available.

    If you would like more information about the Charles
County Market, Foreclosures, Listings, or New Construction
Developments, please ask!  I have a wealth of local information and
resources and I’m always willing to assist people in navigating this
tricky market!

~Jonathan Benya
Century 21 New Millennium
9405-A Chesapeake St
La Plata, MD 20646
301-609-9000
301-653-8116
Waldorf and Southern Maryland Real Estate
www.teambenya.com