Todays Opportunity To Buy Real Estate Maybe The Best Time Ever

Interest rates cannot be any lower. The desperation of some sellers cannot be more profound. It is the time for all bottom feeders to unite. Unfortunately, buyers trying to take advantage of the best of all situations are trying to buy for even less to make it an even BETTER deal. I feel safe in saying that we will look back in a few months and a few years and realize that the best time to buy has already passed. Be the first in your group to buy a Dillon Valley East 3 Bedroom for $150,000. A single family home ready to move into for $300,000 and commercial prime space for $350,000. Everyone wants to be smart. Let me finish by asking -- who really thinks interest rates will go any lower? And who really thinks there will be more motivated sellers than now.

Is A Special Assessment or Cancer a Worse Thing?

Many large condo associations are facing special assessments. Unfortunately, no condo associations that I know of have enough money in their reserves. It is possible to hire a consultant that will let you know how much money a condo association will need in the future. That analysis will show that even a really good association is underfunded by as much as 80%.

There are 2 conflicting truths. First is -- that if you put $25,000 into your condo, your condo will be worth far more than the $25,000 invested. The Second truth is, not only in this market, but any market, 3/4 of the owners won't have the $25,000 to put in. With construction costs being at a low, now is the ideal time to complete much needed, deferrred maintenance. Even so, the 100 owners of a condominium complex would all rather go to the dentist than face a special assessment.

My advice is, don't let your kids grow up to be condominium managers. If you're on the side that wants an upgrade, have you entire project layed out if you want to have any chance of getting it passsed.

In our office, Kevin and Peter really have a lot of wisdom about this subject. Don't minimize the impact of cancer on a loved one or the human drama of a special assessment movement.

Short Sale Is A Dirty Word

We are now becoming experts in the arena of foreclosures. Many buyers appear that have the mistaken concept that a short sale is a great deal. A Short Sale is a negotiation with a lender before a foreclosure action has been completed. The lender theoritically would be interested in letting the property sell for less than the loan amount. In reality, some lenders are interested in a perfecting a deal at a lower amount.

What we are finding in Summit County is that lenders often won't fully negotiate on that short sale position until very late in the game. What all this means is that a buyer is far better off buying a property that has already gone through foreclosure or even better buying property from a seller that doesn't have a loan against the property that is larger than its value.

There have been 60 foreclosures in Summit County this year. 56 of them went back to the lender. That means the lender bought it for the value of their loan. In all those cases the loan amount was greater than what the property is worth in today's market.

Once the lender owns the property it becomes a REO (Real Estate Owned). Promptly that property is put back on the market through a real estate broker for an amount far less than that loan was.

Its a great time to buy a property that's an REO or from a seller that doesn't have a big loan, but avoid short sales if you possibly can because the lender doesn't negotiate very well until they have the property hanging around their neck.

Economic Observations Local

Writing this when its 90 Degrees in Summit County, there are several nuances to be highlighted. This is the first year in the last 30 that Lake Dillon has been full and there are no boats on moorings in the Town of Dillon and there are windmills on the top of light poles at the Frisco Marina. I-70 is totally jammed with cars coming up from the Front Range with people trying to get just a taste of the cool beauty that is Summit County.

Dillon has no boats on moorings because for the first time in Dillon's history there are not enough people who can afford to put their boat on the lake. The Town of Frisco, however, has hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend money on windmills designed for really windy places. And yet, the people of the Front Range have not lost sight of the fact that Summit County is the place to be.

Stay tuned. When things equalize out in the economy, Summit County is the place that people will want to be. There are people flooding into Summit County right now by the 10's of thousands just for this weekend.

Mid-Summers Blues

Spring started out with the promise of some really good real estate activity. The early summer before the 4th of July -- there was a serious stall in the market which was absolutely tied to the demise of the stock market and tied to consumer conference among affluent Americans. In the last 3 days the stock market has gone up, the interest rates have gone to the lowest they have been since they started tracking them in 1971 and the Russian Spys have been captured. Curiously, our market is all about consumer confidence and we are only a few days away from significant upswing in confidence. Enjoy the rest of the summer and fall because the bad days are behind us.

$8,000 Buy A House Giveaway

It seems too good to be true that the federal government will give you $8,000 to buy a first home. They will even give you $6,000 if this isn't your first home. The fine points are that you have to be under contract byt he end of April 2010 and you have to close by the end of July 2010. I have sold several houses this Spring using this program and it is the real deal.

Taking nothing away from this federal giveaway, the real reason to buy real estate now is not the $8,000 or $6,000 -- it is the phenominally low interest rates available. As the real estate market continues to improve, interest rates will go up and we will all wish we had bought right now.