Housing Market Update for Auburn, Opelika and Lee County, AL
Monday - May 24, 2010
Within the next two months we should be able to tell what impact the tax credits had on our market. As many of you know the tax credit was applicable to those parties that had a contract on a property by April 30, 2010 and closed by June 30, 2010. So with this in mind, it seems to reason that the number of closed homes will increase over the next couple of months. Historically for our local market the months between May and August are the most active. With the tax credits no longer in place it is time to see if the housing market can sustain itself without the government’s assistance.
Craig and Paula--Happy New Auburn Home Owners. Graduated college one week, bought the house the next and getting married in 2 more weeks...what a busy month!
As always I will post a link HERE for homes for sale stats for Auburn, Opelika and Lee County. You can check out that link to make your own assessments. I have mentioned many times on this blog that a great indicator of the stability of the market is number of months of inventory. I will not talk about that this week (as to not beat the dead horse) but will mention we have over a 17 month supply in our overall market. This usually dips through the summer months.
Congrats to Pamela another new Auburn Home Owner!
I would like to update you on pending home numbers. This is a good indicator of closed properties coming up soon. There are currently 163 residential properties pending in Auburn. This is a great number for future closes transactions. Opelika has 70 pending homes and there are 18 pending homes in Lee County (outside of Auburn or Opelika’s city limits). Many of you know this number really does not count until they are closed but represents a good activity in the past few months.
Great home in Auburn! Visit: 1433AnnalueDrive.info for pics and info!
I want to spend the last portion of this blog to talk about short sales. I have briefly mentioned this in the past but want to spend a few more minutes talking about this ever increasing segment in the real estate market. A short sale is a ‘pre-foreclosure’ sale that is approved by the lender(s) where the sales price is less than payoff of the mortgage(s). This is becoming increasingly important where home owners refinanced their homes in the past 2-5 years and now owe more than current market value.
I have received the SFR designation from the National Association of Realtors. This includes a 6 hour class and other webinar training on the process associated with short sales and foreclosures.
I want to inform all that there are options prior to foreclosure. The government has two programs for you to consider. One is called HAMP. This is a modification of a current mortgage to make payments and terms more affordable. The other is HAFA. This program works directly with borrowers and lenders to make short sales successful. It is important to contact an agent and seek legal advice in order to know what is best for your specific situation. In most all cases there are options besides foreclosure and most are better for the individual both psychologically and financially.
These two homes are pre-builds for 2 clients. The one on the left is in Lundy Chase and the one on the right is in Lundy Chase West.
The last month has been a little slower with calls and interest. I believe with school being out now, buyers are sellers are going to be ready to make something happen before the fall. There is no better time to consider buying with rates still low! Let me know if I can help you or anyone you know in any way with your next real estate transaction.
No comments:
Post a Comment