Georgia’s recent water crisis has hit a new low. Some lawmakers have proposed annexing a small part of Tennessee to include the Nickajack Resevoir to quench Georgia’s growing thirst.
If you didn’t see it, last summer Georgia sucked their water supplies nearly dry and have been fighting with Tennessee and Florida over water rights for some time.
According to this latest CNN Money Article - the rates are low but that doesn’t mean everybody’s a shoe-in for a refi. One mortgage lender claimed he’s turning away 60-75% of applicants because they cannot qualify.
Underwriters are being more strict on lending requirements because banks are having a tougher time selling the mortgages (or validating that the mortgage is a good investment) for the secondary markets.
I’ve been watching the multi-units in the Spokane–Coeur D’Alene area for almost a year now and have been tracking the ups and downs of the rents, interest rates and estimated nets after mortgage, insurance and taxes.
I’ve found it surprising that there are actually quite a few properties that when only considering rents vs. debt service - there is often $100-$300 positive on many of them. Some of them with Cap Rates (capital return rate - i.e. how much of your investment is returned each year) of 9% and Cash on Cash (your rate of return on the cash invested) of 5-20% depending on the terms.
I keep up this spreadsheet on a weekly-biweekly basis depending on how many properties are available - if you’d like to receive a copy - please contact me.
I probably get this question two to three times a day - “Is business slow with all this snow?” and my answer is always a confident - “No.”
Spokane still has a lot of buyers and they have a TON of inventory to look at. My Sunday open houses have been very successful - much more so than they were in the heat of last summer. I’m finding many people out driving in the snow, tredging through the piles on the sides of the road and previewing homes despite the weather.
Spokane’s market hasn’t missed a beat - we’re still selling. People are out looking and that’s good.
One change I have noticed in this current market is that buyers are being more discriminating. They don’t just leap on one of the first 5 homes they view - I’m averaging 10-30 homes for most buyers before they make a decision. I don’t mind the work and am ultimately happy we did the extra work to find something that really worked. A practice I’d like to see continue into the tighter, more competitive buying markets in the future.
Yesterday I treked out into the snow to preview several homes in Post Falls for some clients. Although close the Idaho market seems a bit different than the Spokane Market, or at least their prices seem more realistic.
I noted some newer development homes - like the ones in Treaty Rock seemed to have great prices as compared to newer construction in the Spokane-Liberty Lake areas. A nice 3 bed 2 bath 3 level home was selling for the 170k range. It wasn’t updated to the max, but it wasn’t old and dingy either. A great value. Someone could come in, replace the carpet and shoot some paint and have a very nice place.
I also checked out some new construction by Greenstone - brand new houses in the 189k range, also great values. Single floor living - all appliances were included (at least in this home) and the finishes seemed to be of good quality. I was also impressed with the lot sizes as well.
I’m quite impressed with the Real Estate Market in Post Falls and Idaho - I am licensed over there and very familiar with the areas, but when directly comparing the two there are some nice surprises.
This article is aimed at agents informing them of benefits of having their clients get home inspections, but I think it’s great info for everyone. In Spokane the prices run around $275 for most home sizes.
Many of us saw this coming.
After touring what must be hundreds of houses reviewing them for my first time home buyers, investors and relocation clients I’ve seen the effects of poor craftsmanship in many. Now I’m not a home inspector, but I can tell when something doesn’t look right. A new regulation in Washington may make it more difficult to flip houses and put more controls and accountability on the “Flippers.”
The new regulation suggests that investors or developers seeking to buy, fix up and sell a home as a business in a period less than a year shall hold contractors licenses among other requirements. Individuals developing a property with the intent to rent it or sell it outside of 12 months may be exempt.
If you are interested in flipping and turning properties this may be worth looking into before the fines moutnt up.
I’m in receipt of the current market overview for Spokane and I’m liking what I’m seeing. As of 1/14/08 - sellers are getting 96.3% of asking price on average. Depending on the price range this can vary from a low of 89% in the $70,000 and below range to nearing 100% in the higher price ranges.
What does this mean? Sellers are getting closer to their asking price and the myth that sellers will take 10 & 20% below asking price is just not happening. Of cource, there are always exceptions - significantly overpriced properties, highly motivated sellers (short sales, job transfer, etc.) can sometimes yield lower than average return for the seller, but overall the outlook is good.
Before you make an offer on any property it’s extremely important to pull comparable sales and come up with a reasonable offering price, sometimes you’ll find out that asking price is a great deal, sometimes you’ll find it needs adjustment.
So just how long are homes sitting? On average 58 days according to this report. The upper price ranges (700-1 million) are experiencing 80+, but the mid 500k down through 70k are experiencing 45-58 days.
If you have any questions or would like a copy of the market overview - contact me.
Baghdad Iraq is experiencing what the U.S. did several years ago - a Real Estate boom. According to several articles, the boom is being driven by decreased violence (no not zero violence - just decreased). Bidding wars and high prices are not uncommon. And prices are rising.
A 750 square foot home is said to run around $150,000 USD. Larger homes, up in the 200 and 300k range.
Where is the demand you may ask? Iraqis are returning by the thousands from Syria to reclaim their homeland creating complete Real Estate chaos.
I always love these homes with all the gadgets, I’m a gadget person. If you are in the process of building or remodeling a home it would be fun to add some of these features.
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