President Obama announced his Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan today. The plan is designed to help up to 7-9 million families avoid foreclosure. This large task will be accomplished by restructuring or refinancing their mortgages. The plan not only helps responsible homeowners that are behind on their payments or at risk of losing their homes, but prevents neighborhoods and communities from being pulled down too, as defaults and foreclosures contribute to falling home values, failing local businesses, and lost jobs.

The key factors to the plan are:

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

1. Refinancing for Up to 4 to 5 Million Responsible Homeowners to Make Their Mortgages More Affordable
2. A $75 Billion Homeowner Stability Initiative to Reach Up to 3 to 4 Million At-Risk Homeowners
3. Supporting Low Mortgage Rates By Strengthening Confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

If you would like to know more about the proposal you can read what the Government has to say at the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan Fact.

Will Congress agree and put the plan into action? Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available. In the mean time if you'd like any information about Real Estate in Bellingham or Whatcom County or any info about Bellingham Home's or Condo's you can give me a call at 360-739-6981 or drop me a line by email.

Labels: Fannie Mae, Foreclosure, Freddie Mac, Mortgage

To talk is that President Obama will be signing the new economic stimulus bill today. For that bill includes a $8000 first-time home buyers tax credit. It is similar to the recent $7500 tax credit recently passed by Congress with a few changes.

The most notable is this is a true tax credit and doesn't have to be repaid unless you don't live in the house for first of three years, or sell in the first three years. The credit is also extended until December 1, 2009 (previously it expired on July 1st). It looks like the qualifying income limits will be the same. The tax Credit is retroactive to purchases made on or after January 1, 2009. (You can see the provisions of the bill here on page 24.)

If you'd like any info about the First Time Home Buyer's credit or any info about Bellingham Home's or Condo's you can give me a call at 360-739-6981 or drop me a line by email.

Here's something you won't read on most listing centric real estate websites, however I'll post it here. Short Sales are phantom listings. You've read it right. Short Sales are phantom listings. They look like regular listings, they smell like regular listings, they even taste like regular listings when it comes to reviewing the information provided via the Northwest MLS.

As far as consumers are concerned, Short Sales look just like every other listing in the MLS except for one very important distinction. You can't buy 70 - 80% of them and even if you could buy one (which again is highly unlikely) you'll pull every hair out of your head waiting for it to close.

Short Sales are the bane of real estate right now. First of all it typically takes between 30 - 90 days to even get a response from a bank on a short sale. Then even if you have heard back from the bank, quite often the banks are asking for promissory notes from the seller in order to allow a sale to take place. Often the seller is better off letting the property go to foreclosure then accepting the terms of the bank. If a seller is unwilling to accept the terms of the promissory note, then in many cases the banks aren't authorized to accept the sale since the loan had been turned into a mortgage backed security with numerous investors who own the paper. As a result the only way to go forward from the bank's perspective is to foreclose on the property even if a willing buyer was standing ready to purchase the property.

Bank's are also waiting for more info from the Obama administration on how the government is going to continue to bailout the banks as well as borrowers. There's no reason for the bank to accept less then what is owed because the government is putting together plans to bail out homeowners who are upside down on their home.

Right now almost everyone loses on a short sale:

The buyer loses because in all likelihood he/she can't actually close on the property they have an offer on.

The seller loses because he/she has numerous people coming through their home with the expectation that they can actually sell the home. In most cases they won't be able to make it to a successful close.

The buyer's agent loses because buyer's are becoming disenchanted with the buying process since many of the properties they are looking at are "short sales".

The listing agent loses all the money and effort they put into marketing the property without getting paid. The only upside is maybe they pick up a couple of buyer's in the process.

What is the better alternative with all the short sales?

Either make offers on properties which aren't short sales, or make offers on bank owned properties. It really doesn't make sense to make offers on anything else if the property you are looking to buy is a place you are going to live. I've seen way too many short sale transactions go all the way to closing, with the buyer expecting to move in with a moving truck on the way, not close. The buyer then goes to renting a property they don't like.

The delema as a buyer's agent is this however: Quite often we have clients who want to see short sale listings (the phantom listings). If we don't show those listings then the client doesn't feel well represented, so we show them. It's a psychological principal that you tend to want something you are told you can't have, so what happens, they buyer wants to make an offer on one of the short sales. Even though it's not logical, the offer process often is more emotional then logical. Of course we are now caught in the trap of being in contract or potential contract on a property that can't close... Where emotions run high, well as they say, "All hell breaks loose."

Bottom line: Short Sales are the Plague... Avoid them as such.

Labels: Bank Owned, Distressed Home Owners, Foreclosure, Short Sales

Yes it's true, Bellingham has grown into a two bus station town.  With the opening of its new Cordata Bus Station last week the Whatcom Transit Authority (WTA) now has two bus stations.  The new Cordata Station will service the fast-growing Cordata neighborhood.  With the growth of Whatcom Community College and the area in general, it seems like a natural place for the extension of the bus system.  With lots of condos, apartments, and new homes in the area, the Cordata neighborhood is the fastest-growing Bellingham.  The Community Food Co-op has just opened their second store across the street from station, the Bellis Fair Mall is a few blocks away, as are lots of other shopping opportunities along the Guide Meridian. 
According to recently released Federal Transit Administration statistics, ridership on Whatcom Transportation Authority buses has grown faster than in any other major U.S. city.
WTA is at the top of the list of the country's 150 largest transit agencies. Those 150 agencies represent 97 percent of the nation's transit ridership
Ridership increased 20.7 percent from July 2007 to June 2008, compared to the previous year. The 150 top agencies saw an increase of only 2.6 percent.
Can you say high gas prices. Also Western Washington University students have a new universal bus pass paid through student fees that went into effect nearly a year ago.
Increased service has helped as several new GO lines have buses running every 15 minutes.

The Legendary Banked Slalom takes place Friday February 6 thru Sunday February 8 at the Mt Baker Ski Area.
Mt. Baker has been a kind of Mecca for the snowboarding world ever since they first opened their chairs to snowboarders in the early’80s. The early boarders there started a contest. In 1985, 14 snowboarders raced on Superbowl Sunday to avoid the crowds, and a tradition was born.

This year in it's 24th season, the Banked Slalom has become a celebration of the sport to locals and pros.

This is still the peoples competition, winners receive an embroidered Carhartt jacket and duct-tape trophy instead of the big prizes of other major races but that doesn't stop the best in the world from showing up.

I hear they also come from far and wide for the salmon barbeque and party after the event.

image courtesy of flickr.com by alexindigo

Labels: Mt Baker

The following is a quick analysis of the Residential Bellingham real estate market.

                       

• Currently Active Listings: 440
• Price range of active listings - $159,900 - $3,575,000
• Average List Price $538,464      Days on the Market: 136
• Median List Price: $399,000       Days on the Market: 113
• Sold in January: 38
• Average List Price: $306,638
• Average Sales Price: $294,064
• Ratio of List to Price: 95.8%      Days on the Market: 105
• Median List Price: $299,900
• Median Sales Price: $287,500    Days on the Market: 61
• Ratio of List to Price: 95.8%
• Pending Sales Last Week: 25     Total pending sales: 89

The Average Sales price is down 18.4% compared to January 08 and  down 8.7% compared to December 08.

The Median Sales prices is down 4.2% compared to January 08 and up 11.0% compared to December 08.

The number of sales is down by 14 or 26% compared to December 08 and down by 11 or 22% compared to last month.

Condo Analysis for Bellingham

                                            

• Currently Active Listings: 233
• Price range of active listings - $99,500 - $1,565,000
• Average List Price $297,800    Days on the Market: 222
• Median List Price $204,950       Days on the Market: 122
• Sold in January: 10
• Average List Price: $216,291
• Average Sales Price: $210,200
• Ratio of List to Price: 97.2% Days on the Market: 111
• Median List Price: $214,930
• Median Sales Price: $209,500
• Ratio of List to Price: 97.5% Days on the Market: 122
• Pending Sales Last Week: 6      Total pending sales: 23

The Average Condo sale price is down 12% from January 2007 and up 4.7% from last month - December 2008

Median Sales Price is up 5% from January 2008 and up 13.3% from last month - December 2008

The number of condo sales is up by 26 or 72% compared to January 2008 and down by 8 or 47% compared to last month - December 2008 

There are some great values in the Belingham market right now, and interest rates are extremely low. You might want to take a look at what it would cost you to purchase one of these homes at today's rates. You might be surprised at what your monthly payments would be, maybe less than your paying for rent right now if you are renting a comparable sized house.

If you have any questions or want to see any Bellingham Property feel free to email me at or give me a call at 360-739-6981