Kitsap County home owners saw on average a 20% increase in their investment last year. Will it continue in 2006???
Here is what we are seeing today.
Absorption rate has gone from 10 weeks of inventory to 20 weeks over the last 6 months. This represents a slowing of the market, longer market time, not as many mulitiple offer situations and if this trend contiunues perhaps a shift from a sellers market to more of a buyers market.
Will it shift....too soon to tell. The slowing could be a result of the holidays, this effect is not uncommon. We will know more by the end of February which is when the spring market typically starts.
Stay tuned and I'll let you know.
FHA Eases Requirements on Mandatory Repairs
Buyers often find themselves in a catch 22. They find a house that they can afford but it needs repair, which is why it is priced low enough for them to even look at in the first place. The repairs are identified, the buyers are ready and willing to make the repairs but FHA or VA will not allow the buyer to participate in the repair work and seller is unwilling to make them. What is a buyer to do?????
This article in Realtor Magazine is good news for FHA buyers, we can only hope the VA follows suit.
FHA Eases Requirements on Mandatory Repairs
(January 13, 2006) -- The Federal Housing Administration hopes that easing rules on property conditions and mandatory repairs will allow the agency to reclaim a larger share of the overall housing market.
Lenders, real estate professionals, home buyers, and sellers should welcome the move because it will now allow a mortgage to close on a previously owned home even if minor defects—such as leaky faucets, cracked sidewalks, soiled carpeting, and missing handrails on stairways—have not been fixed beforehand. The mandatory repair rule for FHA loans—which turned many away from the agency—now will apply only to more serious defects such as structural problems, foundation damage, poor roofing, and electrical hazards.
The FHA currently has a 3 percent share of the mortgage financing market, compared with 11 percent less than a decade ago; but the change might allow the agency to loosen the grip that subprime lenders have taken on first-time, moderate-income buyers.
Source: New London Day (CT) (01/13/06); Harney, Kenneth
This article in Realtor Magazine is good news for FHA buyers, we can only hope the VA follows suit.
FHA Eases Requirements on Mandatory Repairs
(January 13, 2006) -- The Federal Housing Administration hopes that easing rules on property conditions and mandatory repairs will allow the agency to reclaim a larger share of the overall housing market.
Lenders, real estate professionals, home buyers, and sellers should welcome the move because it will now allow a mortgage to close on a previously owned home even if minor defects—such as leaky faucets, cracked sidewalks, soiled carpeting, and missing handrails on stairways—have not been fixed beforehand. The mandatory repair rule for FHA loans—which turned many away from the agency—now will apply only to more serious defects such as structural problems, foundation damage, poor roofing, and electrical hazards.
The FHA currently has a 3 percent share of the mortgage financing market, compared with 11 percent less than a decade ago; but the change might allow the agency to loosen the grip that subprime lenders have taken on first-time, moderate-income buyers.
Source: New London Day (CT) (01/13/06); Harney, Kenneth
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