Mark Warden - Porcupine Realtor

Well, we finally did it. According to the latest Census Bureau estimates, New Hampshire is now tied with Florida for the distinction of being the fourth oldest state in the nation.  Our median age went over 40 years old for the first time ever.

Here’s the 2008 top four lineup: Maine at 42.0, Vermont at 41.2, West Virginia at 40.6 followed by New Hampshire and Florida at 40.2 years old. New Hampshire’s median age has risen three years since 2000, which is twice the nationwide increase of 1.5 years.

See full article on a separate page in this blog.

Short sale — annoying process but a good opportunity . . .  sometimes.

While working with my clients in a variety of purchase scenarios (bank-owned foreclosures, short sales, distressed sales, and normal/seller-direct purchases), we’ve found the “short sale” transaction to be the most confounding.

In a short sale, the seller of the home must sign off on the sale, which is the easy part.  Then his/her lender must also approve the price and terms of the purchase which, by definition, brings in purchase proceeds below the amount of the outstanding mortgage loan.  For example, if the property is sold for $150,000 and the owner/mortgagee owes $160,000 on the mortgage, they are in a short sale predicament.  The lender has to look at the overall strategy and comparable sales for the area and decide (often by committee) whether to sell at a loss and write off the loss, or to proceed with foreclosure and take over ownership of the property and then hope to sell at a price higher than the current offer.  This rarely works out well for the bank, since values typically drop on the property once it has been foreclosed upon and vacated, perhaps sustaining damage along the way.

It’s frustrating for the buyer/client who has to wait weeks for an answer on the first offer and any subsequent offers.  He’s going through two layers of respondees — the current owner, then that owner’s lender.

If you’re patient however, you can get a good deal on a property and get a home that has been lived in recently, thus expecting that all major systems function fairly well and vandals haven’t destroyed part of the home.

Pay back a loan in future inflated dollars. Lock in your payment in today’s dollars and then it will easy to make the payment in inflationary times, especially if you have an investment property with tenants paying a portion of your mortgage.
Not everyone is ready to be a landlord, though; it can be a tricky, unpleasant undertaking.

We could be in a perfect storm of real estate-buying opportunity right now:  near record-low interest rates, falling prices, and a buyers’ market.

Imagine locking in a long-term mortage loan at today’s low interest rate and 2009 dollars and paying it back over 15-30 years in devalued currency, while watching interest rates soar.  Rates are invariably going to rise (rember the double digit mortgage rates of the early 1980s?).

If you have cash, or at least a small down payment and a good, steady job with W-2 income (i.e. salary, as opposed to self-employed or 1099 ind. contractor status), then you’re golden.  Now is the time to jump in.