Get a Home Inspection

With many bank and REO homes on the market today, the listings tell you that the homes are sold “as is”, what does that mean to you the buyer? It simply means that the owner, be it a bank or private seller is not going to pay to have anything repaired. It doesn’t mean that the buyer not check to see if anything is wrong.

When listing agents take the contract to put home on the MLS, they usually have a Property Disclosure document which is required for all private sales whether it be a single family resale or investment property.

Banks on the other hand do not require having a signed property disclosure. The disclosure tells what known problems there are with the property. The reason they don’t is because they don’t know what if anything is wrong with the home and neither does the listing agent. It is always up to the buyer to determine if the home is in good shape. Get a home inspection to get an idea if all of the usual things work, heating and cooling, pipes, electrical etc. The inspection also will point out any problems such as mold.

Together with a Home Warranty, an inspection will give the buyer the best visual of what it will cost you when the sale is done.

The Good News!

There is good news out there for the real estate industry and for Idaho. Glancing at the statistics for the current period, I have found that 1333 single family homes are pending sale in our little corner of the world with the Intermountain MLS which covers Southwest Idaho.

The good news is in the fact that real estate is still selling and buyers are getting great deals. Yes the tax credit is gone, however, many of the sellers may be willing to work with the buyer and help with such things as closing costs or even give a home warranty which goes a long way in the comfort level.

Then there is the good old fashioned fact that buying a house will give you the tax advantage over renting. Good home values are out there; the Fed has not raised the interest rates and now is still the best time to buy. Give a call to explore the possibilities of home ownership; it will be worth your time...

Home Sales Fall

This is the headline from the month of May 2010 housing statistics. Unless you are wearing rose colored glasses it was easy to see why. How can this puzzle the economists that go over the information and decipher all of the bits and pieces?

First we are still dealing with record unemployment and record under employment, and then there is the expiration of the Home Buyer tax credit. When there is a deadline of writing a contract on a very expensive investment such as a house, the timelines for short sales and bank owned homes will not allow the transactions to close in the time period allowed by congress. This makes the end of any housing program hard to get buyers to jump off the fence. The way our congress works by last minute extensions does nothing to help the process. They are just voting to keep the status quo.

In order for the housing market to recover and begin an upward accent, Buyers and Sellers for that matter need jobs. They need jobs that make money and the income needs to be enough to cover every aspect of the American Dream.

So when the Economists of the United States are puzzled at the down turn and cannot figure out why it happened, just remind yourself they haven’t figured anything out since the downturn began.

Housing Recovery

Every day without fail I get the question of how the Real Estate Market is doing. The questions come from friends and people you meet while doing business at coffee shops, meetings and social events.

For the most part the average person reads in the paper and takes some statistics from the local websites that tell a story of improvement. How do you know when the market is in Recovery? First of all it is not going to be anything that you can point to and say, “here was the recovery”! Talking to my fellow agents and Realtors, many say that they are having the largest inventory of Homes on Market in years. What does this mean when you compare it to number of homes sold or other factors?

Recovery to me is when all things being equal, the prices of homes have stabilized, the number of homes on market has been reduced and builders are once again building. The other part of the housing recovery is the fact that most of the inventory is still working from short sales and foreclosures. These listings need buyers and sill brings market values down. One last fact, people have to have jobs and they need to be able to buy things. When the jobless situation changes and more than that, when the hiring once again begins, then we will have a true housing recovery. We will know housing recovery when all economic factors resume a state of consistency.

Bank Owned and Foreclosure Properties

In order to get the whole picture when talking about the Bank Owned, REO foreclosed homes that are on the market, we need to look back just a few years ago to the number of homes that were given up to the banks. Even back in the early part of 2000, lender owned homes were only a fractional list of buyers to choose. Today the number is 5 and 6 times that amount and probably more.

One aspect as to why the number of MLS bank owned listings is high, because the homes are not selling at auction. The auction is the outcome of buyers loosing their homes. But now it is seen that the auction is probably one of the worst ways to buy a property. There is no way to really know the condition of the properties, the time lines are short and most bidders will wait until the homes come out on the MLS market. Take a look at the list of all Foreclosure and REO properties in the link above.

Eagle River Pavilion

I hope the rain stays away tonight as I am attending the first venue of the new Eagle River Pavilion. For the third time in my life I will see the concert featuring Crosby, Stills and Nash.

If you come from my generation they will bring back memories and as the kick off for the Eagle Fun Days, it will be quite the treat. The concert is tonight at 7pm. Rain or shine. It is nice that other locations throughout southern Idaho can attract some of the groups that would normally stick to the larger venues.

Home Search

Developing an online presence for locating and searching for your ultimate property, takes powerful tools that allow a one stop website for your search needs. Boise House and Home.com has all of the components to find the home view the virtual tour and see the description of the houses and properties.

We want you to use our website as the site you will come back to day after day. If you are interested to find your dream house online, just sign in and save your searches. The criteria will then allow a daily email directly to your inbox. These emails will contain updated information on the homes you are most interested. You can also view our featured properties and any listing currently on the market.

Eagle Fun Days

Mark your calendar for this weekend. The Eagle Chamber of Commerce and Vendors present the 2010 Eagle fun days, June 10th – 13th.

Food and vendors available for any munching and drink. The carnival will run each day for the kids, Pancake breakfast, fun day’s street dance and the 9th annual fun days Rodeo. Much Much more is available for the whole family, including show and shine car show, family bike night, water parade and the Eagle fire Department Rocky Mountain Oyster Feed.

For further information click the header link for times and venues.

Paint the Town

It is that time of year for paint the town. Every year individuals and business groups get together to go out for community services. Paint the town is where volunteers paint the homes of pre approved disabled or senior residents.

You can form or join a group by clicking on the paint the town link above. This year it occurs on Saturday June 12th.

Boise Idaho Relocation

Summer approaches and schools begin to let out for yet another year. This is the time that many use as a timeline to make their move to other cities and states. If you are planning on relocating to Southwest Idaho, use our link above to begin the process with an electronic Relocation Packet. This is delivered to your email and will provide you with the current information to begin your search for homes, jobs, schools etc. We provide full services relocation assistance for your move to Idaho.