Charlottesville Real Estate Blog

If by some chance you happen to find yourself visiting a house in Denver anytime soon, try to ignore any dust or dirt you may see on the carpet. The city has a longstanding ordinance that outlaws the loaning of any vacuum cleaner to a neighbor. The reasons behind the ordinance, however, have yet to be disclosed.

Surprisingly, most experts consider vacant land to be one of the riskier investments in real estate. While most other types of property provide either shelter or a source of income, vacant land is 100% speculative, making it a high-risk/high-reward gamble for investors.

Still searching for the right listing? If you are unable to find your ‘perfect’ home, don’t hesitate to contact us! Let us know if you require any assistance or information on any of the listings sent via our site. Our goal is to make your purchasing decision as smooth and stress free as possible.

Are you undecided on the right home for you?  Before purchasing a home, you need to determine whether the home you have decided on is the right home for you.  We are here to assist you with this decision, however there are a few items to consider beforehand:

How Long are you Planning on Living in the Home?
In order to cover your selling costs and recover the cost of your home, you should plan on staying in your new home for an average of 3 to 4 years.  Depending on economic factors, this time can either be lengthened or shortened.

How Long will the Home Meet Your Needs? 
Make sure that your home will meet your space requirements both now and in the future, depending on how long you plan to live there.  Can the den be converted to a bedroom? Will the spare room be appropriate for a dining room? Renovating your home may accommodate your expanding or shrinking family.

Is the House the Right Price?
Determine whether the home is a good fit for your financial situation.  Many financial institutions will pre-qualify you for a mortgage even before you begin your home search.  This will help to determine what price range you can afford.  In addition, try the Mortgage Calculator available on our website to help you determine the right price.

What is the Physical Condition of the House?
Always keep in mind that your house will require repairs.  If these costs are of concern, make sure to choose a home that will reflect your renovation budget.  As well, home inspections are very important in order to help reduce such unexpected costs.

Are you thinking about that perfect house and wondering what it will take to make it your own?  When you decide that it is time to start the negotiation process there are a few key rules to keep in mind:

- Be assertive and aggressive.  Question what you are told.  If you do not agree with what is being said, speak up.  This is an important decision and involves a great financial responsibility on your part.  Make sure you are getting what you need.
- Be patient and give the appearance that you would be willing to walk away.  Be prepared for this process to take some time.  Do not show your desperation, no matter how much you love the property.
- Become a good and prepared listener.  Make sure you know the property before entering the negotiations.  Listening to what is being said is much more effective if you have prepared yourself prior to entering the negotiations.

The negotiations can be a time consuming and sometimes frustrating process.  Remember to take the time to think rationally.  Time is on your side and chances are the seller is just as eager to sell as you are to buy.

Please do not hesitate to contact us or visit our websites!!

http://robsellscharlottesville.com

http://www.theaverygroup.com

A crucial step in starting your search for a new home is having a clear idea of your financial situation. By getting a handle on your income, expenses and debts, you'll have a much better idea of what you can afford and how much you'll need to borrow.

For lenders to verify this information, though, they're going to need to look at your financial records. It is also important to remember that you should include records for each person who will be an owner of the house. So before you even visit the bank, make sure you'll be able to provide copies of these important documents:

• Paycheck Stubs
  Remember that lenders are most interested in your average income. Not only will they want to see this month's paycheck, but also how much you've been making for the past two years. Steady employment is also more attractive to lenders, so if you've been hopping from job to job, be prepared to discuss the reasons why.
  
  
• Bank Statements
  In order to qualify you for a loan, most lenders will also ask you for copies of your bank statements. Ideally, they'd like to see a steady history of savings--or at the very least, that you're not bouncing checks every month.
  
  
• Tax Records
  It's always a good idea to save copies of your tax returns, especially if you're self-employed. If you own your own business, it's important to note that lenders generally consider your income as the amount you paid taxes on--not the gross income of the business.
  
  
• Dividends & Investments
  Lenders will usually consider long-term investment dividends, as well as your investment portfolio, when evaluating your income.
  
  
• Alimony/Child Support
  If you receive steady payments as part of a divorce settlement or for child support, you can also include this as part of your gross income. Just remember that lenders will want to see a copy of your divorce/court settlement verifying the amount of the payments.
  
  
• Credit Report
  Virtually every lender will want to see a copy of your credit report as part of the loan application process. The report lists all of your long-term debts, as well as your payment history. In general, they will require you to pay for the credit report (approximately $50), but if you have a recent copy, they may accept that instead.

http://www.robsellscharlottesville.com

http://www.forestlakesliving.com

The Virginia Association of Housing Counselors is holding a Foreclosure Prevention Summit on Tuesday, September 25th at the Charlottesville DoubleTree, 10 am to 4 pm. Anyone involved in housing in any way is encouraged to participate. Attendees will learn about community resources for borrowers facing foreclosure and will be able to explore concerns with mortgage servicers who are familiar with the issue, including foreclosure rescue scams. There will also be an open discussion of the status of default and foreclosure in Virginia and what can be done to combat the problem.

If you are interested in attending the summit, please call Paula Sherman at 804-354-0641 by September 18th. Cost is $10 for VAHC members, $25 for non-members.

http://www.robsellscharlottesville.com

http://www.forestlakesliving.com

http://roballey.point2agent.com

The mortgage market is unchanged, credit available on old-fashioned agency terms and not much else. Rates are about the same, mid-sixes. For every tentative lender toe stuck back into scary water, another bather has run shrieking from the pool, or drowned. The same is true for general, nonmortgage credit: shrinking.

The Fed's injections of short-term liquidity have succeeded in preventing the equivalent of a bank run, but otherwise ... zilch. The discount-window theater has been as pointless as forecast here; borrowings as of Wednesday barely hit $1 billion. High-quality borrowers have more credit than they need.

The problem is credit quality, not liquidity. The world economy runs on financial innovation, not AAA antiques. The modern "structured finance" market has locked up in a loss of confidence in the value of outstandings, and inability to value new issuance.

The financial world has been waiting all week for a speech this morning by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. He has been painfully silent in office, which doubles the discomfort when he does speak and whiffs.

The speech begins with three pages describing the current situation in daily newspaper content. One line stands out: "Obviously, if current conditions persist in mortgage markets, the demand for homes could weaken further, with possible implications for the broader economy. We are following these developments closely." Key word: "following."

The next five pages are a tour through mortgage Jurassic Park that might get a passing grade in sophomore macro. When the chairman cruised past Depression-era structures (FHLB, FHA, FNMA), he might have noted the crucial elements of liquidity created then whose absence in modern structured finance have caused today's wreck. Transparency, homogeneity, underwriting, credit guarantee -- down that conceptual road lie creative solutions to the dangerous lock-up at hand.

Instead, Bernanke closed with an offensive paragraph assigning blame for bad mortgage lending: "... Most loans are securitized, and originators have little financial or reputational capital at risk. ..." True for some, sir, but hardly most. I'll look after my reputation; you had best tend to yours.

Aside from its contemptible aspect, the chairman's assessment reveals blindness to the source of trouble: a large volume of very good and very foolish financial products created on the Street to satisfy demand by an unprecedented pool of global savings. If every mortgage made since 2000 had been underwritten strictly within the guideline of the Street inventor/securitizer/buyer, today's problem would be undetectably smaller. Subprime loans are deadly by structure, not slipshod or fraudulent processing; no-equity households will defy workout by this new FHA effort, or any other.

Those foolish products, mortgage and nonmortgage, and the world's reliance on them for both consumption and investment -- that's the two-part problem at hand.

First, we need the credit supply from the better fraction of the innovative products, but that is shut off along with the bad. Nothing in the Fed's traditional measures so far has helped to restore supply, and rate cuts, even big ones, may not necessarily work. Starved of credit, consumption and the economy are at risk.

The second problem is by far the more dangerous. Structured-finance products all over the world are crashing in value or cannot be valued at all. Frequently leveraged, the fall in value is a balance-sheet risk both to investors and their lenders. Bernanke's silence on this risk is unaccountable. I had hoped to hear some attempt at outside-the-box central banking to match the financial-market innovation that left the Fed at the station 10 years ago.

One cheerful thought: the longer it takes for the Fed to get a grip, the uglier it will get, and the bigger the refinancing party for surviving lenders and those who still own their homes.