Market Update

It's 10 degrees right now which is a 20 degree temperature swing in just a few hours! A regular heat wave! I got up at 3 A.M. and it was 10 below on my front porch. That makes two nights in a row below 0. I grew up hearing Will Parr on WSRW call Harry Hart and talk about how cold it was in the Belfast valley and thought they were crazy about the temperatures they would report. It was always colder in Belfast than any where else. I thought Harry's thermometer was broke. Now that I'm in the area, I've become a believer!

Real Estate...We are quickly headed back to the way Banks and Lenders used to do business 20 years ago. If you don't have a down payment, a good credit score, and a good income...you will probably be a renter! Many folks ask me... what's wrong with that? Much of the real estate related crisis and foreclosures we are experiencing we brought on ourselves. Many families were allowed to buy homes (because the loan programs were available) that did not stand a chance of making it. When the mortgage broker, realtor, and title company are betting at the closing the buyer won't make it 6 months before going into default, it not a good sign! It was just matter of time before trouble would come...payday is here! Most of the foreclosures in our area are happening because of no money down loans and doublewide financing.

It depends whichside of the fence you are on! Buyers are loving the new market. Home values are down, interest rates are at record lows, inventory levels are high meaning there are some good opportunities and excellent values out there! I had a young couple say to me, "it' about time values come down...we can now enter the market, stop renting and buy a home! We have been waiting and felt like we were priced out the market and could not afford a nicer home." Guess what...they're right and they recently bought a home $20,000 under what it would have cost 18 months ago.

Lary Lohse, mortgage broker for Midwest Mortgage called yesterday and said another one of his sources for doublewide financing pulled all loans. This has steadily been happening one by one. This gradually forces buyers to have a bigger down payment and go with a conventional type loan. We'll see how this all plays out.