Tucson Real Estate Blog

BAILOUT Bill?

I keep reading all these opinions that say we should not bailout anyone who is about to lose their home because they made a bad choice in their purchase and/or loan.

Lets get real here!! The bill that the Democrats and a small number of Republicans  sent out of committee is one of the smartest things our House of Representatives  has done in a long time. The problem is, will the Lenders participate? Click here for a news item that shows me most of the public is uneducated about this bill.  I see people that are complaining have not read the Bill, and the News Media now has a new topic to feed on and misrepresent the truth.

Here is a summarized copy of the bill. Read it for yourself and see that this is not a bailout for the lenders or investors. If it goes the way it is written, the program will more than pay for itself and then some. The Old Lender is the one to voluntarily cover the costs of most everything. I think most of the Lenders will approve the chance for the homeowner to stay in their home and take the Short Sale amount and move on. As this program is voluntary for the current Lender, it simply gives them one more option for dealing with a loss they are about to experience, and the homeowner gets to stay in their home with manageable payments if they qualify.

Now you say “so what”. WHAT is the fact that when YOU try to sell your home In say, Tucson, Arizona you will not have as many of those Short Sales and foreclosures as competition in the sales market. Think about it, and this really will save a lot of people from going into deeper debt, and I am not just talking the homeowner, but the people that lost their job because we all stopped buying and the employer had to let them go. Now tell me what did that have to do with the so called Bailout? Absolutely nothing. We ALL caused that. I can give you lots of other examples, but I think you get the picture.

This again is the best solution I have seen yet. We have two years or more of this current housing problem if we do not do something like this bill. Read the Bill a second time and understand it before you say something that shows me you really do not understand or do not care about it. I am sure this Bill will get changed between the House and Senate but something along this Bill’s lines will help our floundering economy and bring many peoples lives back to a much better position.

Once you understand what they are trying to do, get in touch with your Senator and Congressman and ask them to support something along this Bills Lines. We need to get our President to also understand this is not a Bailout and that it will pay its own way. NO VETO!  I am not a Democrat but HOORAY for the Democrats.  Bipartisan politics is the only way to save our economy and our country!  Now if we can just convince our divided Congress of this.

You have my permission to copy this and send to Your Senator, Representative or whoever you think will help. Use anything in my thoughts that will help you write something to make that contact.

THIS is a very important issue.

April Statistics

Well my crystal ball was off in some areas but it was better than I thought. Units Sold was up to 973 from 900. Active listings down to 8808 from 9022. Days on market went up by 3 days and not down as I thought, but that is OK. What I really liked was the number of Listings under contract which went from 1410 in March to 1547 in April. We have had a steady climb in that statistic since last December. I really feel at this point that we are starting out of our slump. Will prices still go down? Some will, but homes under $225,000 will get harder to find. I am already seeing this as I show property. Yes they are still there, but the nicer ones are starting to sell. The ones that are not that nice will take a hit or the owners will finally realize they need to do more to get their property sold.

Are prices going to go up? Not yet but we will see things starting to steady out. The Average and Median Sales price both went down in April but I look for them to come back to the March level in May.

If you are thinking of buying please talk to a lender soon. You will need to have the Loan Status Report (LSR) that the Lender will supply to your agent as it must go with your contract. No LSR, you will get a refusal from the seller because they do not know you are qualified to buy their home. This is very important!!  Call Elaine DeTour-Spronken at Countrywide  731-8382  Ext 235 for a very honest, service oriented Loan Consultant. Then call me at 240-7130

My crystal ball for April Statistics…

Next week we should get the new April MLS Statistics. I felt very good about the February and March Statistics. I felt we hit a plateau and things might start reversing themselves. With everything I have been seeing, I expect sales to be around 1000 units for April.  Under contract will be very close and maybe just under the March figure of 1410. We should also see a small reduction in the number of Active listings from last months 9022. With all of that, the Days on Market will come down a day or two. Now it is just wait and see how close I am.

I am working with a lot of buyers right now and I am sure other agents are doing the same. Have we hit the corner? I think we have. Call me at 240-7130 if you need my experience and help.

Remember to slow down and save gas. 65mph is not really that slow and really saves Gas and Money.