Markim Forest, Sugar Hill, Georgia is conveniently located in Gwinnett County off Level Creek Road north of West Price Road and close to E. E. Robinson Park. The neighborhood is only minutes from downtown Suwanee.
Markim Forest is very close to outstanding amenities like shopping, fine restaurants, and Old Town Suwanee.
The outstanding local schools that server Markim Forest Are Level Creek Elementary, Lanier Middle, & North Gwinnett High School.
Home in Markim Forest are typically priced from$155K to $180K, so there are homes in a choice of price ranges for any Sugar Hill or Gwinnett county home buyer.
We just got the banks acceptance of a short sale offer, which had been at the bank awaiting approval for four months. My buyer is ecstatic. Think about it, four months to get approval and then we spend another 30 days with financing, appraisals and getting to the closing table. Five months total.
Its almost the first of March and if you write an offer on a short sale home tomorrow, March 1 and it takes the four to five months to get closed as we just experienced, if you are lucky, you are closing on the last allowable day, June 30, to get the $8,000 first time homebuyer credit from the federal government. Miss that by one day and you miss the $8,000.
Now I’m not a gambling man and don’t know if you are, but, I wouldn’t risk the chance of losing $8,000 waiting on the bank. There are thousands of homes out there for sale that only need the owner, Mr. and Mrs. Homeowner to sign and then you can close in less than 45 days from offer to move-in.
I am advising my first time home buyer clients to beware of short sales if they want to get to the finish line and collect $8,000. While I know this news disturbs all the agents with short sale listings, the main reason is many agents don’t understand the short sale process and have not done the work to get the front end work done to speed up the process.
Likewise I have a couple of buyers looking to secure the $6,500 second home buyers credit and I am advising them likewise to beware of writing a contract for a new home that has not been started, up out of the ground. With all the rain we have been experiencing there is a good chance of delays when digging a foundation, pouring concrete slabs and framing up a home.
Bottom line, there are risks with short sales where you can’t control the banks and new construction where you can’t control the weather. To be sure to qualify for the first time homebuyer $8,000 and second home $6,500 write a contract that has a great chance of closing in time and don’t ride a deal down to the end only to run past June 30.
Mark Lackey, Associate Broker with Solid Source Realty shares why home buyers need representation when purchasing a home. In today’s market more than ever, a buyer needs help navigating the market to make sure that he or she is getting sound advice.
FHA has announced sweeping changes that range from increased down payment requirement from 3.5% to 10% in certain cases, increased Mortgage Insurance Premiums (MIP) by half a percent and cutting allowed sellers contributions by half.
“We just won’t sell my home for that amount; it would be giving it away.”
That is what the sellers says when the appraisal come in lower than the agreed upon contract selling price. We have a willing buyer and willing seller but the appraiser holds down home values and won’t let the transaction go forward at the contract price. How are we ever going to get out of this economic mess if this continues to occur? How can home building start back with this narrow minded thinking?
As an example, a half completed development was selling in the low $200s. The builder can’t pay his loan payment and looses all the remaining 12 homes to foreclosure. The bank takes over and does a fire sale to dump them quickly. The same home, same builder is selling 2 miles away in the $180s in the depressed market.
So what does the bank do, they unload them in the $140s to sell quickly, and quickly they sell- all under contract in a matter of days. It makes sense, a lot of supply lowers price. Then comes my seller and he is the only one for sale in the same complex as the bank sales were in.
Now the supply is down to one home and a buyer writes an offer in the $150s. So what does the appraiser do, well he continues to hold down prices by appraising our listing at the average price of the fire sale that took place. He forgets the supply is now limited and demand is up.
If it were cars in demand and short supply the dealer marks them up over the manufacturers recommended price. Collectables go up in value when the supply is small and down when the supply is large. It’s basic Economics 101.
So we have a chance to start to have home values increase when the willing buyer and willing seller agreed on a price, but the appraiser holds values down. If this trend continues we will never have a rising market and home values will never change unless someone wants another fire sale and they go down.
How can we get the government to stop the regulation that is stifling the home market recovery? Here is the coming dilemma we are going to have to deal with. At some point there will be a shortage of homes for sale, in the next few years.
When we suddenly find that we haven’t built enough homes to meet demand and a builder goes into that community to build new homes he will have second thoughts. The cost to acquire the land and build the same home as there now is in the $180s to $190s, but an appraiser will tell him he can’t sell for more than the $140s. Who will build with a planned $40,000 to $50,000 loss?
The builder will just walk away and not build. So then when demand is screaming for more homes inventory to buy, will the values go up to the $190s over night.
Congress has extending & expanded the home buyer tax credit. There are several changes, so we wanted to share with you what will be in effect as soon as the President signs the bill.
New bill will be in effect until April 30th 2010. Must have written binding contracts for the purchase on or before April 30th. Must complete sale by July 1.
First time Home Buyer Credit Amount
No Change – Up to $8,000 ($4,000 married filing separately)
First time Home Buyer Eligibility
No Change – May not have had an interest in a principal residence for 3 years prior to purchase.
Current Home Owner Amount of Credit
NEW *** Up to $6,500.00 ($3,250 married filing separately)
Effective Date for Current Home Owner Credit
Date of Enactment
Current Home Buyer Eligibility
Previous/ Current House must have been a primary residence 5 of the previous 8 years.
Income Limits
Increased from $75,000 – $125,000 for Singles
Increased from $150,000 to $225.00 for Married Couples
Additional $20,000 phase out still applies
Limitation on Cost of Purchased Home
The new bill enacts a limit of $800,000 effective the date of enactment
Anti-Fraud Rule
Do to the numerous people falsely claiming the credit, the new bill will require documentation of purchase along with the filing of tax return.
If you are interested in finding out more, please contact us.
We received the latest list of advertised foreclosures in the Barrow, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Hall & Walton counties only. There were over 6,100 advertised foreclosures and that did not include the other 5 metro counties like Cobb, Paulding, Cherokee, Douglas, & Dekalb. We reported back in August what we thought was a record which was close to 5,000, so this month’s numbers are very shocking.
What we found when we look at the list this month was a lot more commercial properties which is also unusual. Even properties that are highly desirable and have tenants are being foreclosed. We read about the new shopping center in Norcross – The Forum, narrowly escaping foreclosure last month. In that article, it forecasted that there would be additional commercial up for foreclosure, but I had no idea that the amount of foreclosures would be this high.
So what is going to happen with this additional inventory coming onto the market? You probably remember your economics 101 class – more supply, less demand equals lower prices. Just when you think it can’t get even lower, we find that there is a near 20% increase into an already bulging market.
While this is a great opportunity for some, it is creating additional challenges for those who need to sell. Someone recently shared with me the concept that sellers are under “house arrest” because there is nothing that they can do to liquidate their home without taking a large loss in equity. Most homeowners are counting on their homes’ equity for retirement and with prices falling at an alarming rate, it is going to take a long time to recover from this loss.
So what is the upside in this? The only thing we can share is that if you are in the market to purchase, there is no better time to buy. If you can put up with the challenges of working with banks, there is great money to be made. Banks are realizing that there are not enough qualified buyers for their homes, so relatively reasonable offers are being considered and whether you are purchasing to occupy or put into rental service, the discounts are amazing.
If you want to take advantage of this great market, make sure that you are working with an expert real estate agent that understands how to work with the banks to get your deal accepted. Also, because the market is shifting, you want to make sure that you are getting the best information possible about a home and area to make sure that you are able to make the best buying decision.
As Real Estate Agents, we tend to be more on the cutting edge of new technologies. Someone shared this video with me and I found the numbers staggering and the statistics interesting.
Thanks for interacting. We believe that art of real estate will continue to evolve and grow more and more via internet technologies, but will never replace the human element. So often people forget that we are social in nature and that while technology is great for interim communication and information, it does not replace the value of being able to get together in person.
We will be adding additional content and information about how real estate can be better integrated into today’s communication style in later posts, but this was too fun to pass up!
Unlike the 2008 tax credit of $7,500.00, the 2009 tax credit has been raised to $8,000 and does not need to be repaid. Any home more than $80,000 qualifies for the $8,000. If the house is less than $80,000, then the home purchaser would qualify for 10% of the home value.
The house must be for a principal residence (where you live more than 50% of the time) and the credit lasts for home closed before 12/1/2009. It is also for first time homebuyers only. A first time homebuyer is classified as anyone who has not had any interest in a home in the last 3 years.
A qualified buyer claims this amount on their individualized tax return. So a person who has a tax liability of $9,200 would only pay $1,200. If the tax liability is less than the $8,000, the qualified home purchaser would receive a check for the difference.
There are some income restrictions for this tax credit. Single/Head of Household are eligible if their income is no more than $75,000. Married couples who file jointly have a cap of no more than $150,000.
It is easy to claim for this tax incentive. Just claim the credit on the IRS Form 1040 and it will be reflected on the Form 5040.
GEORGIA TAX CREDIT
This tax credit is NOT limited to first time home buyers. You can qualify for both the Federal and State Tax credits or just the State Tax Credit.
It applies to single family residences that are listed for sale prior to May 11, 2009 and only applies for properties that purchases that close before November 30th.
This credit is figured by taking 1.2% of the purchase price with a maximum credit of $1,800. Houses over $150,000 will receive the maximum amount of $1,800.
The credit for the state is calculated differently, it is over 3 years or up to $600.00 per year. You cannot amend your 2008 returns, it must start in 2009.
So there are the facts about how first time home buyers can be eligible for up to $9,800, but time is running out. So if you are thinking about buying your first home, start your search and let us help you find some of the best deals! Currently there are over 80,000 home and we allow you to search them for FREE. So let’s get started!
I just sold the same house for the second time. This home is a great home in a nice neighborhood in Gwinnett County. It is not a foreclosure, not a short sale, not a fixer-upper – it is a great home.
The first sale fell through partially because of the appraisal, but mostly because of the Buyers’ failure to follow the basic guidelines during the contract to close period.
First, the appraisal came in way too low for this great home with a lot of square footage. The appraiser used a low square footage number for the size of the home for sale and a large square foot number for the size of one of the comparables. The comparables that were used were bank owned which had deferred maintenance and therefore resulted in a low comparable value to the immaculately kept property I had listed and was under contract on.
The real reason this contact fell apart was the buyer’s agent and the buyer’s lender did not accurately communicate what was involved with buying a house. Evidently the Buyer, when initially applying for the loan listed their high hourly rate by their employer. At the time of pre-qualification, they failed to mention they only work on a limited part time basis and not full time as was assumed in the initial qualification.
In addition, neither the buyer’s lender nor their agent provided any guidance to them about what you can and cannot do during the loan process. From the time you apply for the loan until you close on the loan you should not go and change your spending habits. You should not buy anything that would change your credit score or debt to income ratios. We advise all our buyers of this so that we can have a better chance of closing on the property. Unfortunately, this Buyer chose to go out and buy something on credit terms to the tune of some $300 per month payments.
With more monthly debt from the recent purchase and less income from the part time employment the buyer no longer qualified for the loan. This was all found out 2 days before closing, after they had once extended the closing for 7 days to work out financing. Unfortunately, our Seller had packed and was ready to load the truck and go when these items came to light. The Buyer’s lender kept telling us that everything was still a go up until the very last minute.
The remedy in this situation is, the Seller gets to keep the earnest money. Not much of a concession, but at least it is a little something for their trouble. The challenge however, is the Buyer won’t acknowledge them being the party at fault for the failure to close. So the Broker holding the earnest money has to send a certified letter stating how the earnest money will be distributed. In this instance, they were clearly in default, but we have seen other instances where that is not the case. All in all, the seller would prefer to have the property sold.
