The Home Hunt and Condo Cleaning have not ceased. I've simply had less time to blog, especially since my Mom arrived for a happy week long visit.

No real updates I've seen in the housing market nor mortgage market to report either.

The only thing that's been on my mind for a bit about this all - other that the still over arching question of do I wait a year? - is why are stairs so important to me?

My buying realtor asked me that on our second round of house visits in Ann Arbor. Why am I so against ranches and want stairs? My immediate answer is one my Dad gave a few years ago. He said that he much prefers two story houses because "you are supposed to go upstairs to go to bed". Basically, it's a signifier, and possibly even a conditioning effect.

Stairs are also a separator, they effectively and quietly make half the house private from guests and visitors. In my condo now, when people come over I have to close my bedroom door. Typically that's because of all the little ones who visit that need to be kept out of a room not at all baby proofed, but there are some occasions where it's because I don't want what's in my bedroom to be seen by people who pass by on their way to use the bathroom.

But when I had a little time to think, I believe the real reason I want stairs is much simpler. When I was growing up, every morning after I got ready for school I would go sit on the stairs with my hairbrush and wait for Mom to get up. When she did, she'd come sit on the stairs behind me and brush my hair. Once she was done, I'd go to school. 4 years in an apartment and 6 years in a house, my Mother brushed my hair nearly every morning, even up through High School. I think stairs remind me of the mother-daughter time we had.

Labels: Home Buying

So my buying realtor and I went out to Ann Arbor to see more houses on Wednesday. I found two I really like, for various reasons. But that's not the point of this point.

I had sent my realtor a list of nine (9) houses I wanted to see. She called me Wednesday morning to let me know three of them had gone pending and two were already sold. Huh what? I had literally been a week since I sent her that last to when we were supposed to go see the houses! Housing slump my butt. Over half the houses I wanted to look at in Ann Arbor were gone in one week.

So either I have really good taste in houses based solely on their location and their listings, or Ann Arbor really isn't feeling what the rest of the country is. Then again, as BHD and others have pointed out, homes are selling well if it is a good value home relative to the competition.

Labels: Home Buying

While out looking at homes, I saw a magazine basket in one of the bathrooms in one of the houses. The top magazine was "Michigan Realtors", and of course it has a website too. Who knew? And why didn't they tell me....

I just hopped over to look around. It's geared mostly towards realtors, but it has some useful stuff for us consumers too, like statistics for the state broken out by region. It doesn't get into specific details per city, but it's still interesting stuff to see. Such as the UP is riding things out pretty steadily, and Alpena and rest of the NE part of the LP are selling at higher and higher prices! Wow.

Anyway, on to my list of information links it goes! And I'm reposting them here for my own ease of use since the last list has fallen off and there are two new links for it.

- Google Search
- Ann Arbor’s #1 Source for Real Estate Information
-> specifically: Ann Arbor Area Housing Stats
- Detroit News Online | Real-Estate
- miOaklandCounty - The Scoop on Michigan Real Estate - While not my local market, this does have some MI as a whole things
- Market Conditions Summary for Ann Arbor
- Market Conditions Summary for Livonia
- CNBC - Topic: Real Estate
- Reality Check with Diana Olick
- Real Estate Journal.com
- MI Association of Realtors
- Metro Home Price Analysis Reports

Labels: Home Buying

Yeah yeah, we all know it. We all get it. But... it still gets lost.

I think perhaps the best piece of advice I've gotten about buying in Ann Arbor came from my Brother, by way of my Mother. He said that when people think of Ann Arbor, they think of a certain radius (from the downtown - U of M campus - Main St. - Stadium Rd area). You know, he's right. Something I forgot. People not in A2 don't know NE Ann Arbor even exists. I didn't until I started looking at listings and went, "Were is that?" And the SE area, that closest to Ypsilanti and Pittsfield Township, has traditionally been thought of as the "bad" part.

Then there's this article at CNBC, Landing the Best Deal.

Now I've been to the SE area in my search, and I found a neighborhood I VERY much like. A homey, pride shows in the lawns and houses, neighbors know each other, your kids could play safely out near the street while you're inside neighborhood. And please, Ann Arbor is Ann Arbor even if it isn't the "best" part. But the one drawback this neighborhood held for me is it's not too convenient to a freeway and there's isn't a grocery, drug, or even convenience store near enough for my tastes. Add to that the perceptions people have and how that affects retail value, and perhaps I do need to stay within that radius my Brother spoke of.

Then again, thinking like that is what keeps thinking like that around. And there have been neighborhoods in Ann Arbor that boomed significantly when the real scoop on them finally broke down the barriers of thought.

Hmm.

Labels: Home Buying

Here's the article my Dad must have read, in the Detroit News, No cash? No home loans for many. It's much more specific, and defiantly talks about my situation. But, my credit score is high, the loans I want total only $200,000, and I'm not a first time home buyer so there's a clear history of paying mortgages - and on time. All of that should help keep me in okay territory for my loan. For now. I really hope this decision of whether to buy this year or next isn't made for me in such a bad way.

Labels: Home Buying

My Dad mentioned to me yesterday that he read that the money for zero down mortgages is drying up. I assume since I'm already pre-approved and since the bank has already underwritten my loan (I called again on Friday and the woman I spoke to said yes it was done and I should be getting the letter either Saturday or Monday), that so long as I use that loan before whatever the term on it is expires, I'm okay. Perhaps I shouldn't make that assumption....

Because today I saw this article, Lenders Broaden Clampdown on Risky Mortgages. According to that, banks are cutting back to the older, conservative, ways of determining who gets a mortgage and what mortgages are offered. From what I understand of what I read, I don't think I have too much to worry about right now. But if this gets worse and I haven't bought yet, I could be having to worry, a lot.

Unfortunately the article also says banks are increasing mortgage rates for offered loans. I'm not sure why, it's supposedly to compensate for what's going on with the market, but it seems to me increasing mortgage rates would only deter people from trying to get loans and increase the risk of those who do get loans ending up defaulting on them. Aren't both of those things events that banks want to avoid?

Since that article said it was from Real Estate Journal.com I hopped over there to see if I could find it for proper linking. What I found was an article that made me think of another variable in my set of issues to consider that hadn't even crossed my mind. I know my mortgage is set to adjust near the end of next year. I know that if I decide to buy next year instead of this year, I should not refinance to avoid the adjustment in my mortgage rate. What I never considered is that if I decide not to buy this year or next, that I might not be able to get a refinance on my mortgage! I believe if my condo's value drops below what I owe on the mortgage for it, I will not be allowed to refinance.

Yikes.

I will definitely have to look into that if I don't find a house I want to buy or can't seem to sell my condo this year for what I need. In the meantime, Real Estate Journal.com goes on my list of links to keep up with.

Labels: Home Buying

Whew! Keeping up can be hard to do. Especially when there is SO much else to do, like your normal job. But I'm glad I went through my real estate information links again. It appears A² is still a stiff buyer's market, but that Livonia might be leveling out!

But, the Team 366 blog is fast becoming my favorite. And that's not just because they linked back to me. (Yay!) In this stage where I'm still trying to decide if I should wait until next summer to sell and buy to get a better value all around, it's great to see this blog which is updated regularly and with relevant information to my needs.

Things like real data on the Ann Arbor market that I can use to make my own judgments. Here are inventory reports, by town/township in Washtenaw County, which includes by neighborhood in Ann Arbor! They show what areas and which pricing levels are actually selling well despite the housing slump.

And this quote from the BHD Executive Summary:

... The convergence of price and quality is where a property sells, and this market is definitively proving just this axiom. ... Big House Data clients have reported listing properties on a Friday and then having to field multiple offers on Monday and the properties are selling above list price!

Perhaps this *is* the right time for me to buy.

Labels: Home Buying

As much work as it's been - and still will be - to get my condo show ready, it feels like searching through listings of what's available to buy is just as much work. Really, it's not. One week compared with two hours (so far this week). But ideally I'm only getting my place ready to show once. This is the second time I'm going through listings to find homes I want to see, which will be followed by another round of touring Ann Arbor viewing these homes. Which likely will be followed by a third round. Let's hope not a fourth.

Side note: The first round only produced one home I'm interested in, but two or three neighborhoods I'm interested in. That one home has a couple... quirks, shall we say, that neither myself nor my realter has information on yet that is keeping me from jumping on it.

Yes, it's a buyer's market. Which while supposedly very good for a buyer, also means a lot more work for a buyer. And not just the buyer's realtor. There's *so* much out there that the buyer has to be more involved in narrowing down the field of options. It means getting picky. But no so picky as to possibly miss the right home! How do you walk that line? Spend more time visiting houses? Or trust the picture and blurb you can read on the internet?

Advice for sellers: Put more than one picture in your listing. I've found myself literally saying "Ooo" out loud as I look at the pictures beneath a listing that I might otherwise have dismissed from the raw statistics. Especially DO NOT let your home be listed without any pictures at all! Only one listing have I gone back to looking at when it finally got a picture up, and that was completely by accident.

The above goes for me too, when I get my condo up on the market.

Labels: Home Buying

Being as I am going to take a loss on selling my condo - a loss my selling realtor and I are going to try to minimize as best is possible - it's highly likely I'm going to need some help on the other side. I've been with the same mortgage company here in MI since I bought my condo, so the thought was to contact that company and see what the people there might be able to do for me. Don't suppose it would be possible to transfer the balance of whatever I can't afford to pay off on my condo's mortgage from selling it into my new mortgage for whatever house I buy? No, of course not. I can only borrow up to what the home I decide to buy is appraised to be worth. But what else might be able to be done?

I went to the mortgage website for my mortgage company, ABN AMRO, to see what I could find out. (Not linking to it because I don't recommend it.) Eventually I found myself calling in for help because all the website did was deal with new mortgages independent of your history with the bank. I briefly explained to the representative that answered that I have a mortgage with them, that I want to sell and buy a new home, and keep them as my mortgage company, and was wondering what they could do for me? The woman politely said I should be talking to new mortgages, not existing mortgages as I had called, and transfered me. To the next representative I talked to, I explained the above again, adding I might need some help as I'd be selling at a loss. He asked me what stage of this all I was in, and after my answer told me I should go to the website. He said I could apply for pre-approval there and research what mortgages are available, and after I was approved I'd be assigned a mortgage representative like him. I thanked him, hung up, and grumbled. That was no help at all! If I just wanted to get a new mortgage without any help I wouldn't have called in.

Next up I checked out the good people at LendingTree.com, but they wanted my social security number before doing anything and I'm just not ready to give out that number yet. If I had decided I was definitely going to use them or they could have told me about some option I definitely wanted to try to get, then I would have. But to give it to them just to get up to five banks to contact me was not the kind of risk I was willing to take with my governmental information and my credit just yet.

I decided to try walking into the local branch of LaSalle Bank, the bank that not too recently bought my mortgage company, and see if I could get any better service. It's always nicer, and usually better, to deal with a real person. I dressed more professionally than I do for work, just to be sure to make a good impression. The mortgage representative was not there when I arrived, but another representative helped me and took my information to put me in touch with the mortgage specialist. Later that day I got a call from the specialist. We talked through all my specifics and she gave me some options. She explained out everything, stuff I asked about and reasons I was or wasn't able to do something. This route was so much better than trying the website or calling in.

First off, they will let me borrow 100% of what I pay for a home in Ann Arbor. Yay! That means I can spend the down payment I've saved to cover losses I take in selling my condo without risking buying a house. The mortgage specialist said my interest rate would be about a quarter percent (0.25%) higher if I borrowed 100%, but that's not awful. She warned me I have to have at least $500 of my own money to show, but other than that I can get an other money I need for closing costs from family or wherever. No problem! Keeping from spending $500 of the money I already have saved for a down payment shouldn't be hard. Because my credit rating is so good (scores average just under 800) she even gave me an option that would allow me to not pay PMI on the mortgage for the house I would buy in Ann Arbor and still borrow up to 100% for it! Good stuff! The only catch is that it is all contingent on selling my condo.

As for closing costs, she told me about things that can be done on the buying side outside of the mortgage, like the seller can gift money to me, or give me a concession for closing costs at the time of sale. She told me a realtor should know the ways that stuff works. She also recommended I look at Ameridream and Neighborhood Gold. FYI - Buyer's Fund has discontinued its assistance program, and the other Neighborhood Gold program I found is only for FHA loans.

This was all last Tuesday. The mortgage specialist took all my information and said she'd send it in for pre-approval, which should only take a day or two. She also said they'd have to do underwriting for it due to the circumstances. I haven't heard back yet. So note to self: Need to call broker to find out status of my pre-approval and all.

Labels: Home Buying

Oye. So last Wednesday I cleared out everything visible in my kitchen (except the pictures all over the front of my refrigerator), in my master suite bathroom (except for soap and tooth brush with tooth paste - hey, that drawer under the counter I never use is coming in handy now!), and in my guest bathroom in anticipation of the professional cleaners I was expecting to come make them beautiful. Or at least clean, as those are three rooms I rarely clean in my house. The owner of the Plymouth franchise of The Cleaning Authority showed up only minutes past schedule, did a walk through, and explained everything to me. Good so far.



But this post isn't about the cleaners. It's about me telling my selling realtor I'd have my condo "show worthy" by the end of the weekend. Well, it's almost the end of the weekend and guess what? Of course, I'm not ready.

The problem started after I got home from work on Thursday. The kitchen looked... so empty. All my vases and show glass are hiding in cabinets. The fruit was chillin' in the refrigerator instead of out on the counter getting ripe. And just looking at all the open, empty, pretty, clean space made me feel a little empty inside.

The master suite bathroom was the same, but being so small to begin with it didn't affect me on its own. But when I started thinking about how I have to "declutter" the whole condo, it made me sad. I can't live in such an empty environment! Where's all of me? So I was unmotivated Thursday and did nothing.

Friday I ended up out with friends I hadn't seen but for 1 minute in over a month. Sorry home, needed to rekindle the friendship.

Saturday morning I made some personal progress and was ready to start cleaning and removing that which is me from the condo again! But my Grandmother called, and so I spent Saturday afternoon with her.

Saturday night I put in a lot of work. But this was also when I noticed a room I hadn't given any thought to yet: the utility closet, which doubles as the laundry room. Uh oh! Too bad I hadn't thought to include that in what the cleaners did. I spent 2 hours or so making my washer and dryer sparkle, and cleaning the one shelf, part of the floor and spot checking the walls. The little room looks fantastic now! But I hadn't planned on having to do that one.

The rest of the night was spent emptying the hall, which included boxing up all my photo albums and year books. Which of course meant I had to look through them all before I could do so, more time out the window. I don't regret it! I had fun reminiscing. Just took time is all.

Today I did some work in my bedroom in preparation for my cousin and step-cousin coming to help move things. So now some items have made it to the garage, and my bed is all fixed up nice. I also went to the Home Depot and got everything I needed to fill in all the nail holes for the pictures and plaques I had taken down around the house. I sanded and putty-ed those up. And then found out the white paint I bought does not match the white color of the hall walls. *sigh* Guess I'll just repaint the whole hall. It couldn't hurt. Lastly today I got the bar between my kitchen and dining room cleared off. Not a simple task since it's where papers and things go to live until I get around to doing whatever needs to be done with them. All that means is I got through some tasks that had been set aside in addition to getting another part of the condo "decluttered".

But I have learned, repeatedly, this week that decluttering a home is NOT like cleaning it. Cleaning is washing and vacuuming and putting up loose items. Decluttering is even beyond organizing. It's go through every individual thing, determining if it's to be thrown out/recycled or kept, then finding new permanent homes that are out of sight for those things or packing them up in boxes and storing the boxes somewhere else, then cleaning the places those items were. Whew. Lots of effort, and definitely plenty to show for it. But more work that you might think.

So now I have to call my selling realtor and let her know the condo won't be ready to show at least until next weekend. But at least I got my motivation back to make that happen, and I should be able to schedule time during the week to continue this quest for a show worthy home. The word undaunted comes to mind. We'll see. :)

Labels: Home Buying

Here are two more links to places it'd be good to keep checking:

- CNBC - Topic: Real Estate
- Reality Check with Diana Olick


And to make things slightly easier, here's the last set of links:

- Google Search
- Ann Arbor’s #1 Source for Real Estate Information
-> specifically: Ann Arbor Area Housing Stats
- Detroit News Online | Real-Estate
- Metro Home Price Analysis Reports
- miOaklandCounty - The Scoop on Michigan Real Estate - While not my local market, this does have some MI as a whole things
- Market Conditions Summary for Ann Arbor
- Market Conditions Summary for Livonia

Labels: Home Buying

1) Note to self.

Apparently Mark Zandi, an economist at Moody's Economy.com, has put out a report that includes Detroit, according to a CNN report: http://www.cnbc.com/id/19970949 I need to find that.

2) This blog post has 10 tips for first time MI home sellers. Most of these, including all quirks of being a seller in Michigan, I learned on Tuesday when my selling realtor and I sat down and went over numbers. I had her tell me what every dollar number she wrote down for her calculation of what I could ask meant and why is was the amount it was.

3) The big stuff.

According to this article, Existing Home Sales: Numbers Put Realtors On Defensive, the things that are being reported based on nation wide numbers are not realistic for use in local housing markets. So when I'm looking at all sorts of reports the question is What to believe?

Even those in the know are saying that while the U.S. national average is down 5% since 2005, that is very different from numbers in the big markets. It's clearly less than what's MI is down.

Also, in a very related field, the Homebuilder S&P Index is down 48% from the beginning of the year. That's HUGE.

The CNBC video report I watched says too much inventory, too much room for prices to drop, keeps pushing out the forecasts of when the bottom of the housing market will be reached. But again, that's nationally.

Conventional wisdom here in MI is that Michigan is always slow to follow the country out of a recession. And that has yet to be proven wrong. Even as the U.S. now is climbing out of the recession (or has in some areas), Michigan - especially Southern MI - is still well in its own private little depression. Does that also mean MI's housing market will take longer to recover also? I haven't found that answer yet.

This article, Countrywide CEO On Housing: Difficult Times Ahead, says:

Rising foreclosures only mean more homes forced onto an already glutted market. Inventories of new homes are at a 7-month supply now, and cancellation rates are well above historical norms.

In this article, Bernanke On Housing Problems: Finally Telling It Like It Is?, we start getting closer to the answer I personally have been looking for: Will Ann Arbor stay low to next year? Diana Olick says...

For months now, every analyst I talk to, every economist, every academic, says we’re in the early innings of this correction, which has been exacerbated by tightening credit and, more recently, rising interest rates on the 30-year fixed. Foreclosures are rising at a fast clip, and despite the fact that banks and regulators are aggressively trying to help homeowners in trouble, it’s kind of like the horse has already left the barn. What’s done is done, and it has to play out. Mr. Bernanke is finally telling it like it is.

In the CNBC video interview with people supposedly in the know, CNBC's Melissa Francis asks "When do you think the bottom is?"
Christopher Thornberg, Beacon Economics principal, says "At least two years out."
Timothy Speiss, Eisner LLP partner-in-charge, says "'09."

Okay..., but still, does that apply locally? And Ann Arbor and Livonia are not in the same local market, so I need to know how are they each going to react this coming year. Though my Mom pointed out the other day Livonia isn't really in the same local market as Detroit either, even though it is influenced by Detroit's market.

Hmm. So now it's looking like waiting will not cost me Ann Arbor. But on the flip side, it might make my situation in Livonia worse. *sigh* Decisions, decisions.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/19969870/site/14081545/

Labels: Home Buying

Existing Home Sales Fall 3.8%, Slowest Pace in 4-1/2 Years

It all sounds good for me overall, until you get to the last line:

Zandi believes that "the bottom for the housing market is not late '07 or early '08 -- but probably late '08."

With interest rate predicted to fall in early '08, should I risk things and wait?

Labels: Home Buying

This past Saturday I toured 7 houses in Ann Arbor in an attempt to decide if I seriously want to start looking to buy there now. This came about because my Father mentioned to me a couple weeks (months?) ago that Ann Arbor's housing prices are dropping, and I might be able to afford them now. I can, and I do (want to).

After coming back from that trip - a little sad for one house, a little happy over one, and much interested in at least three neighborhoods - I called up the real estate agent who helped me buy my condo to start seriously talking about selling the condo, and fast.

The preliminary news is that I'll take a serious hit if I sold now. As in: I can't afford to sell without depleting ALL my savings, and that's if I'm lucky. Which would leave me without any money for a down payment for a home anywhere, much less Ann Arbor. I'm waiting on a specific report from my agent for what I can reasonably get for my condo. But if I want a quick sell I'd have to go lower, and that I simply can not afford at all. The money does not exist in my possession.

But on the flip side, NOW is the time to buy in Ann Arbor. The market is about 20% lower than last year (that's HUGE), and there are plenty of houses under $200,000. Some of which are even really nice! Couple that with Fall on the way - and that being the best season to sell but not necessarily buy - and that one of the forces driving the market down (Pfizer moving and selling houses for its employees, so it can sell cheaper) seems it might be coming to and end, and interest rates at lows (though forecasts say they should get lower in the first quarter of 2008). Much of this information I found out today as, on the advice of my Mother, I've been looking around online for local real estate advice.

Numbers wise, it would make sense to sell my condo and buy a house in Ann Arbor.
1) Selling now I'd be doing so at a 10% loss to what I bought my condo for. But Ann Arbor is at a 20% loss, so I'd actually be gaining 10% in value by doing the move.
2) As my Mom pointed out to me on Sunday during a two hour call that made me feel a lot better after the very disheartening news of Saturday: I've saved anywhere from $3,000 to $4,000 (or more) per year on my taxes due to owning the condo. Since I've had it for almost four years, that adds up to somewhere between $12,000 and $16,000 dollars. $15,500 is about what I'd be losing on selling the condo. So I've actually not lost any money, it'd be a wash. That's really not bad at all!

The real issue comes in when accounting for having to pay the real estate agent(s) for selling the place. That's where I loose all the money I have saved up. I don't dare do a for sale by owner, *especially* in this market! Even if the market was good, I've dealt with real estate without an agent before. BAD idea.

So... what can I do? I'm not sure yet. Mom proposed an interesting scenario with the quirk of the one house I've seen that I'm interested in. The real estate agent I'm buying with told me that closing costs can be rolled into the mortgage, so that would take care of needing money for that aspect. I'd still likely need to come up with about $7,000 for a down payment though. I wanted to do something with the bank that owns my mortgage now, but when I called I got referred to the new mortgage department who then referred me to the website. Sucky customer service. But I feel I need to try again in person, find a banker who will work with me to figure out what options there may be for me. That's a note to self.

For my own reference, here are some links I found via my Google Search which very useful and may want to check again, or that are not yet useful but claim they will be:

Ann Arbor’s #1 Source for Real Estate Information
-> specifically: Ann Arbor Area Housing Stats

Detroit News Online | Real-Estate

http://househuntnews.com/mr.php?c=mi-ann-arbor
http://househuntnews.com/mr.php?c=mi-livonia

http://mioaklandcounty.com/blog/2007/03/15/michigans-real-estate-market-is-improving/

http://realtytimes.com/rtmcrloc/Michigan~Ann_Arbor
http://realtytimes.com/rtmcrloc/Michigan~Livonia

I also went to the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS directly, and found some very interesting and good stuff there. Such as Metro Home Price Analysis Reports (here is Detroit's pdf) and at the very bottom of Home Buying and Selling Research is a set of PDFs giving "The Value of Housing Characteristics". Super interesting!

Labels: Home Buying