Chronicle of a First Time Home Buyer Chapter 6

On June 23rd, Rob contacted me about see a home that was back on the market. 5308 Georgia Peach is a 4 bd 2 ba 2020 sq ft home on a lake. This is the home they saw listed that started their home search.

It had a contract on it that fell through, I talked with the listing agent and found out the bank would accept the asking price of $174,000. I wrote up a contract for $180,000 with the seller paying $6,000 towards cosing cost, before going to show the home to Rob and Tina.

Rob and Tina both really liked the home and were ready to sign the contract. We talked about the timeline that would follow after submitting the contract, and both decided they needed to check on finances before signing.

I told them I wanted them to be sure, and to take the time they needed, but homes in this price range are not sitting on the market for long. Rob said he understood that and was willing to lose the home rather than jumping in without everything in order. And the home in Bay Berry Lakes was a good backup.

5308 Georgia Peach went under contract on 7/6 and the home in Bay Berry Lakes went under contract on 7/7.

Rob and Tina have decided to postpone the search for a new home until August, when his new union contract at work will be final.

View Rob and Tina's cart click on th is link: http://dabmls.com/day/plog.php?a=day&u=runter&p=3746

Visit one of my websites at http://selldaytona.com/ or http://www.venetianbay.org/

Should you wait for the $15000 Homebuyer tax credit

Senator Johnny Isakson, a Georgia Republican, introduced a bill in June that would increase the homebuyers tax credit to $15,000 and remove the income restriction and expand the program to all borrowers, not just first time homebuyers.
Some of my clients have asked if they should wait for the new tax credit of $15000. First of all, no one knows if the bill introduced by Senator Isakson will ever became law. The old adage "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" is perfect for this situation. The current tax credit has cost the government $2 to $3 billion, the proposed bill will cost around $32 billion. There is a lot of opposition to the $15000 credit so it is definitely not a sure thing.
YOU MAY NOT GET THE FULL $15000
The tax credit is based on 10% of the purchase price, so if you buy a home for less than $150,000, you will not receive the full $15000.
Unlike the current $8000 credit, it only offsets your tax liability over the next 2 years. Most first time homebuyers should take advantage of the current $8000 credit. I say this because most first time homebuyers do not have a $7500 tax liability each year and will not be able to receive the full $15000 credit. Also your tax liability will be lower after you buy a home because of your new mortgage deduction. To find your tax liability for your 2008 tax return, look on form 1040 line 61 or if you filed a 1040A it is on line 37 and line 11 on the 1040EZ. If the amount on this line is lower than $4000, you are better off taking the current $8000 credit.
If you are not a first time home buyer, and your situation allows you to put off buying a home, I recommend you wait and see what happens to this bill.

Visit one of my websites at http://selldaytona.com/ or http://www.venetianbay.org/

Chronicle of a First Time Home Buyer Chapter 5

6/18, We went to Coquina Cove to look at a home on the resale market. 5370 Cordgrass Bend Lane-nice house but they still the one under construction better. We then went to Bay Berry Lakes and saw a single story 4 br 2 ba brick home that backs up to a preserve area, 112 Briarberry Court. Rob and Tina's comments: "great single story house, very well taken care of, also high on our list right after the CC-under-construction".

112 Briarberry Ct

From there we went back to 109 McGill Circle, one of the houses we were unable to view on our first outing. Rob and Tina's comments: "very beat up, carpet stained in almost every room and writing on a lot of the walls, one wall had a piece missing!" Finally we we went to the Oakbrook subdivision in Port Orange to see 3844 Calliope Avenue, a 2 story in foreclosure. Rob and Tina's comments: "very cool looking house on the outside, inside needs some cleaning up but nothing major, another potential"

View Rob and Tina's cart click on this link: http://dabmls.com/day/plog.php?a=day&u=runter&p=3746Visit one of my websites at http://selldaytona.com/ or http://www.venetianbay.org/

Chronicle of a First Time Home Buyer Chapter 4

6/12, Cindy from D.R. Horton called to follow up on Rob and Tina. I explained that Rob was concerned that the monthly payment was at the top of the budget. I also told her that he was expecting a pay raise soon, but did not know how much it would be. Cindy suggested a 2 - 1 buy down, this is where the seller buys down the interest rate on the loan for the first 2 years. The first year the rate would be 2% below the going rate and the second year it would go up to 1% below the going rate, and finally it would lock in at the going rate for the remaining 28 years. The 2 - 1 buy down lowers the monthly payment for the first 2 year significantly.
I quickly calculated the monthly payments for all 3 interest rates and called Rob to give him the information. Rob quickly realized what a great deal they were offering, but still wanted to review their cart and make sure they saw the other homes they were interested in before they made an offer.

View Rob and Tina's cart click on this link: http://dabmls.com/day/plog.php?a=day&u=runter&p=3746

Visit one of my websites at http://selldaytona.com/ or http://www.venetianbay.org/

Chronicle of a First Time Home Buyer Chapter 3

On 6/11, I went to the subdivision of Coquina Cove to meet with Rob and Tina. We were meeting at 5pm so I went a little early to meet with the D. R. Horton sales rep, Cindy. I have a good relationship with both of the sales reps because I sold 4 of their homes in 2008. I wanted to see how much we would be able to get off the $209,990 price tag. Cindy told me the best she could do was $5,000 off. I was hopping for $10,000 and would still try to get it if we made an offer.
When Rob and Tina arrived, Cindy and I took them over to 5317 Coquina Shores Lane, a Redwood model. It was still under construction, with a completion date sometime in August. It is a 2347 sq ft 4 bedroom 2.5 bath 2 story home. Rob and Tina both really liked this home despite the fact that it was only to the dry wall stage in the building process. Cindy and I also took them to a completed Redwood so they would have a better idea of what it would look like when it was finished.


Their comments: "We looked at the 4-bedroom D.R. Horton house that wasn’t finished with construction; we like this house a lot but had concerns about the quality of construction based on other people’s experiences with DRH; it’s definitely high on our list anyway."

One of the great things about D.R. Horton, is that they pay the closing cost for the buyer. This is about a $7000 savings on a $200,000 home, but more importantly it is cash that the buyer does not have to come up with at closing.

Rob and Tina both wanted to see some more homes before they make an offer, just to see what else is out there. I told them that we were still early in our search, but houses in this price range are going fast and if they find something they like they should put in an offer.

View Rob and Tina's cart click on this link: http://dabmls.com/day/plog.php?a=day&u=runter&p=3746



Visit one of my websites at http://selldaytona.com/ or http://www.venetianbay.org/

Chronicle of a First Time Home Buyer Chapter 2

On May 26th, Rob emailed me with his request;
Bill,

The one’s we’d like to see this Thursday are 100 Gala Circle and 1124 Champions Drive. We’d like to see a couple more but we have somewhere to be later that evening and these two are close to each other. Thanks for all your help!

Rob



We had an hour so I setup 3 showings between 5 and 6pm for the 28th. The first one we went to see was 100 Boysenberry Lane, in the Bay Berry Lakes subdivision. It is a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath 1944 sq ft home built in 2006, listed for $179,900. This home is a short sale, so the owners are working with the mortgage holder to sell it for less than what is owed. Rob and Tina did not care for this home.

100 Boysenberry Lane

Next we went to see 1124 Champions Drive. This home is in the LPGA subdivision. We were unable to view this home because the lock was broken.

From 1124 Champions Drive we went to 100 Gala Circle, also in the LPGA subdivision, the owner was suppose to meet us there and let us in, however he did not show. Rob and Tina informed me they would be out of town for the next two weeks but would like to see more homes when they returned. I gave them some floor plans of some new homes built by D R Horton and told them I would like take them to see the models when they returned. Home buyers should always have a Realtor when looking at homes, even new construction, the sale person at the model is representing the builder and his interest. The buyer needs someone to represent them, always take your Realtor with you.

View Rob and Tina's cart click on this link: http://dabmls.com/day/plog.php?a=day&u=runter&p=3746

Visit one of my websites at http://selldaytona.com/ or http://www.venetianbay.org/

Chronicle of a First Time Home Buyer

In the next several postings, I will write about the process of working with a first time home buyer. Rob and Tina are a young couple who are tried of paying rent and want to take advantage of the first time home buyers $8000 tax credit. Rob is an Air Traffic Controller and Tina is a Pre-school Teacher. They are looking for a 3 bedroom home priced around $200,000. they are planning on using the $8000 first time home buyer tax credit for their down payment on a FHA loan. Since the FHA requires 3.5% down, the down payment for a $200,000 home is $7000. They would also like the sellers to pay the closing cost.

The first thing I did was set up a listing cart that they would have access to on the web. They will receive email updates anytime a new listing that meets their criteria becomes available. Rob and Tina can view the detail and the photos of the listings in their cart. They can also make comments for me to see or rate the listings. From their cart they can print the listings or share them with their friends and family by email. And finally they can delete the listings they are not interested in from the cart. To see their cart click on this link: http://dabmls.com/day/plog.php?a=day&u=runter&p=3746

Visit one of my websites at http://selldaytona.com/ or http://www.venetianbay.org/