Groans

Oh, why does this business have to be sooooo hard! By the way, this photo is of a very nice three bedroom condo in the Shaw neighborhood. Priced at $129,900. A steal!

Well, I had one closing this week that was like pulling teeth. Wells Fargo kept putting restrictions on the buyer -- I need this, now I need that. Oy vey. Well, after she decided that she was going to switch lenders -- after they demanded that the condo docs be rewritten to remove a first right of refusal (what condo board is going to do that for one sale, huh?), all of a sudden they close -- after they denied her the loan.

Well, Heartland Bank here in St. Louis was willing to do the loan and could have closed it in a week. But, Wells couldn't stand that thought, so they bumped out poor Evan and closed it. Yay, for the buyer in the Bankers Lofts. Boo for poor Evan who started the process and then got bumped and entirely neutral on Wells Fargo.

And then, there's the broken lateral sewer in the home on Connecticut. The seller says he doesn't have the money to fix the sewer line, the roof that was badly done and the electric box. But, my young buyer who is a research scientist in neuroscience at Washington University, doesn't have cash to put out and a lateral sewer and a roof and an electric box are all more than he can spend. So, we need 'em fixed!

Well, the other agent and I have given on commission and we've got the bids on work pretty low, so we're waiting to see where this goes. Poor Harry is out of a place to live by the 28th!

Then there's 707. Well, the buyer has decided that a foreclosed piece of property down the hall from his unit scares him and he's not sure he wants to buy the penthouse he's contracted on. Well, foks. Foreclosed properties cannot affect your value. Appraisers are not allowed to use them as comps unless the whole building is foreclosed and if they do -- then they need to adjust the value to market rate again. So, no argument there. Plus, foreclosed properties are only a reflection of the owner -- not a reflection of the property. So, that is supposed to close on the 18. We'll see. The buyer is thinking about it.

So, most days these days I go home with a headache and get up in the morning with a tight chest nervous about the days dealings. But then, you get a compliment and some business coming down the pike from an attorney in Denver and -- everything is alright again.

The nature of the business. And I love it!

Happy September! Have $8,000!

During this economic downturn some interesting things have been happening. But, I wonder if they've addressed the problems?

For years, we as Realtors have been watching prices go up and up and up. We've been amazed that a home could increase in value year after year, just by sitting on a lot, with no updates and have it increase sometimes as much as 25% in one year. We KNEW that it would have to come to an end. And, to an end it did come.

For several years we watched buyers purchase home with no money down, with stated incomes, with no documentation, with no money down, just a smile on their faces. And we said, "This is nuts!" But, they qualified under some lenders qualifications and so we got them houses. And then those same people with 400 credit scores, no jobs, and no money stopped making their mortgage payments and we found out that lenders had been packaging these loans along with excellend loans in order to sell them off to investors. A lot deceitful. And they took advantage of one thing that everyone holds in high esteem: home ownership. We all feel like we are SOMEBODY because we OWN our own home.

When I first started out in this business, home ownership was something you worked towards. It was a privilege that you earned, not a right that you should be given. This country was founded on hard work and those who worked hard were rewarded with the fruits of their labor. Time and time again we seem to never learn the lesson that if you give someone something and they don't earn it, they run the risk of losing it either through neglect or repossession. It's part of the problem of instant gratification in this country. We think we can have it right away. And when we crashed, we discovered just how wrong we were. Again.

Lending is cleaning their act up. Fewer and fewer buyers are able to buy a home. The ones who can't are being given direction by good lenders on how to clean up their credit, how much money they'll need to save, what bills to pay off. And that's a great thing. Home ownership is a privilege. And those of us who really want a home will be able to buy one again. It may take us awhile to get there, but that's alright, too. When we get the keys to that door, it'll be all the sweeter.

The $8,000 tax credit is coming to a close quickly. the credit can be applied to your taxes if you buy and move into your home by November 30 of this year. After that...it's gone. Lots of young people who have never owned a home before are taking advantage of it. You should, too. First time homeowners are considered first time if they haven't owned a home within the last three years. Take advantage of the governments' graciousness. It won't be here much longer. Keep in mind, it typically takes about six weeks to close a property. If you found a house today, it'd take you until the middle of October to close.

Enjoy!