1739 16th Street (marked as 1925). Great buy in Post Falls. This property may be the best “acreage” deal in the Post Falls area. Priced aggressively at $239,950, this home boasts almost 1600 SQ/FT and nestled on 5 fenced and cross fenced acres. Includes a horse stall (shed) and a shop. If your looking for space, and don’t mind a little “fixing” up, check out this property. Complete property profile here: http://www.flexmls.com/link.html?ot38fihcxbn,7,1
News out concerning the national sales data compiled for May. 1 in 3 homes sold was a foreclosure or property in a distressed sale. This is keeping sales prices down, but number of sales up. Locally, in North Idaho – Kootenai County specifically, we had 241 residential home sales in May. 25 of these were REO (Real Estate Owned) properties, 5 were short sales. 12% of our sales being distressed. This tells me that sellers of property are pricing their homes aggressively to compete with the distressed sales. Further, this is also telling me that banks are not just “dumping” properties but holding out for higher prices, getting into the real estate game. There are currently 84 REO properties on the market now. Let me know if you want a foreclosure list. Here is the rest of the article:
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho is truly a great place to live. Newsmax Magazine just ranked CDA, North Idaho a top 25 place to live according to lifestyle and ideals. Get the magazine, see the link!Coeur d Alene, North Idaho Top 25 Cities and Towns
I have grappled with this concept for the last couple of days, I figure now is the time to take a stab at explaining inflation effect on property owners, investors, and property buyers. I am no economist, just curious. First of all, I need to explain inflation in my simple mind. Inflation is the price of goods/services going up as a result of the increase in money supply – a decrease in purchasing power. As the FED prints more money it dilutes the value of the money currently in the market driving up prices of goods and services. As a counterbalance to the rise of inflation, the government and/or market raises interest rates. Somehow, unemployment, output and productivity come into play as well.
INCREASE IN FORECLOSURES – Now, as the price of goods and services go up, property owners have to spend more of their income on these items reducing the amount of disposable income. Homeowners that are at the edge of their expenses who do not have savings, become unemployed or have not had increases in salaries will be pinched on making mortgage payments. When a person has to choose between food for family or mortgage, the food will probably win. There will be an increase in foreclosures. Take into account adjustable mortgages as well, when interest rates reset, payments go up making the pinch and foreclosure statistics a whole lot worse.
BIGGER POOL OF RENTERS – When people lose their homes, they are still going to have to have shelter. I think investment properties, rentals, will have a steady availability of tenants. We are seeing this now in North Idaho. Leases/rents are negotiable and reset after a set period of time investors can increase rents based upon inflation creating a hedge that a typical homeowner cannot.
INVEST IN ASSETS THAT CAN PAY OFF YOUR DEBT – Creating hedges in an inflationary environment is key to wealth protection. Inflation hedges include tangibles and goods (commodities). Land and property is definitely an asset but you have to buy right. Finding property deals that are close to the bottom as possible is key. Any good agent can give you a synopsis on the current market conditions in the area you would like to purchase. Good indicators would be level of foreclosures and short sales, active price ranges, and amount of solds/pendings in each price range.
HYPERINFLATION (a long shot) – Lets say hyperinflation comes around – that is – huge increase of inflation month over month. The value of money changes drastically and becomes worth less and less (i.e. it takes much more dollars to purchase the same thing). It makes sense if you have tangibles that increase at the same rate, if you owe 200,000 on your property and a pound of gold is worth 200,000 you can sell and pay off your house. I see having debt as being a plus in a hyperinflationary environment, AS LONG AS, you have assets, tangibles, goods that can counterbalance. The value in this for example, is now you can buy pound of gold for under 16,000. You have got to have a means to create income that is adjusted to inflation on a daily basis.
IN SUMMARY – The key to inflation and the housing market on you, the property purchaser is to make sure you get the best deal you can on a house you have interest in. Be aware of what is on the market, and the direction the market is headed in you area. Act in front of the market. Your real estate agent should be able to help you with local housing information. If you can get a loan, buy an investment property in foreclosure or one that is priced right. If your the property SELLER, get your price in front of the market now! That is where the buyer pool is. If you are backwards in value to loan on your house, shortsale it. Banks are taking losses on their loans, freeing up homeowners that could go into foreclosure. Good luck and let me know if I can help!
Property buyers in the $125-175k price range are the winners in this market. Over 700 options available, including 26 foreclosures! We are almost experiencing a 20% pending ratio with listings available and listings with accepted offers. A buyer can reasonably expect to get a property within 97% of list price. I currently beat that with my clients, I typically get within 90-94% of ask price with buyers I represent. Let me help you navigate the process. Real estate is what I do.
The North Idaho luxury home market (properties priced above $750,000) is turbulent right now. Luxury waterfront properties, lake view, acreage, farms and ranches, and condos represent over 408 listings in our MLS now. Out of these 408, only 8 show as having a pending sale (less than 2%!). This market segment is a PRIME time for buyers! 11 have reported as closed in the last 6 months. When a buyer finds the perfect property that is right for them, on average, we are negotiating within 80% of list price! This is producing some fantastic deals for buyers looking for the piece of paradise that North Idaho is. Over and over, Coeur d’ Alene, Hayden, Rathdrum, Sandpoint, and Post Falls are being recognized as great places to retire, have a second home, and more. If you would like to see a list of available Idaho luxury properties, let me know tj@livecda.com (208-660-5785), or use the search function above.
This chart depicts the short sale bank turnaround times from real estate purchase contract to bank approval and bank approval to successful closing. I highly recomend using real estate agents familiar with the short sale process in purchasing property. Particulalry, using listing agents that know what information to get to the bank and how to successfully communicate with them.
Right now is a great time to buy a piece of real estate in North Idaho. Below are 5 reasons I think now is “The Perfect Storm” for real estate.:
1. Prices are LOW. Every price range and every property category (vacant land, single family residential, commercial, multi family, waterfront, waterview, acreage) has opportunity written all over it. There is an unprecedented number of foreclosures available on the market affecting price levels. Builders are competing fiercely for business, keeping price levels low. Mix in motivated sellers, short sales, and REO’s creates a great buying opportunity.
2. Inventory is high. Every price point and every property category has plenty of options to choose from. In our Association of Realtors, we have never seen this number and variety of properties to sell. Take advantage of our market and get the house you have always wanted at prices you never could have afforded.
3. Interest Rates are LOW. I just talked to a friend of mine at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, he just informed me he locked one of my clients into a 4.5% 30 year mortgage. This is unprecedented. Interest rate have not been this low since the 1960′s. If you have documented income, meaning you have a job, you can most likely get a loan today.
4. First time homebuyer credit. If you have not owned property in the last 36 months, you are entitled to take advantage of the $8,000 homebuyer tax credit. Just for buying a property, Uncle Sam is going to give you $8,000. What could you use this money for: a new fence, LCD TV, landscaping, vacation?
There we have it, low prices, high inventory, low interest rates and the right incentives. A buyer “perfect storm”. Take advantage of this today.
Now is the time to buy real estate in North Idaho. Interest rates at an all time low, inventory at a max, incentives from the federal government. This is the buyer “perfect storm.”
Many people were saying Idaho realestate markets were going to get better after the election, well, I am stillwaiting. North Idaho Real Estate in particular had a rough October.October 07 we sold 397 units, October 08 we sold 242. An interesting fact,between the price ranges of 400K-450K in NORTH IDAHO, there is 1 pendingsale. However, the good news; property is still moving. It may be a greattime take advantage of some of these opportunities. Below, I am goingthrough two aspects/opportunities of the market, SHORT SALES, andMULTI-FAMILY. Also, attached is the most complete North Idaho Real EstateMarket SNAPSHOT for your own analysis (I’ve left out land and commercial inthis report – contact me with specific questions).
Short Sales
Short sales continue to infiltrate our market. A strategy that is surfacingin short sales includes approaching the seller with an offer of 50-60% ofmarket value. The listing agent then present’s the seller’s information tothe bank, starting the short sale process (could take 6+ weeks). If thebank accepts then the investor gets to buy a property for a great price, ifthe bank counters, the listing agent now knows at what price to market theproperty and the investor does not have to commit OR the investor may beable to SELL THE OPTION to purchase. A win-win. If you have interest intrying this approach, let me know. To see a list of short sale properties,see the below link:
