The Hawaii Team Real Estate Blog
The Bearer of Bad News
Lately, we (realtors) have the unenviable task of being the bearers of bad news. It seems more than ever we are having conversations with people about what the market is telling us regarding the price of their home, or we are talking to sellers about lowering the...
Mortgage Applications Bounce Back
Mortgage applications bounced back last week after nearly a month in the doldrums when the number of applications fell to a seven-month low.
Will Congress Expand The Tax Credit?
first-time home buyer tax credit of up to $8,000 has helped to move housing inventory during an otherwise sluggish real estate cycle. Now both legislators and the business community are hoping to build on the incentive’s success by expanding it.
Communication & Expectations
Without a doubt, communication and expectations are two of the biggest problems we have in real estate today. By no means does real estate corner the market on a lack of communication or failure to manage expectations, but these are two topics that seem to come up a...
Home Owners Insurance Goes Up While Your Home Value Goes Down
Homebuyers may be surprised to find that homeowners insurance isn’t going down, despite precipitous declines in sale prices.
Integrity
The story goes like this: A friends of mine who is a mortgage lender was really upset and was having a horrible week when I called. It turns out that he got involved in a loan transaction for some questionable people (both the buyer and real estate agent). Now, what...
Mortgage Rates Reach 7-Month High
Higher interest rates put the brakes on mortgage refinancing this week, according to Freddie Mac.
Moving In To Make Ends Meet
Last week, I wrote a column about the human toll of foreclosure. Not exactly an upbeat story, but one that needed to be told. This week is a feel good story about the never say die attitude of Americans and how coming together as a family may just be the answer to...
The Human Toll of Foreclosure
We hear a lot about foreclosures these days in the news. Internet, newspaper, TV, and radio all regularly report on the rate of foreclosures, the number of foreclosures, the hardest hit areas, and how many more are yet to come. Analysts and economists have been...
Time Is Running Out For First Time Home Buyers Part Two
Last week, we stared looking at opportunities for first time home buyers with the $8,000 tax credit. We also started talking about some obstacles that are keeping people from taking advantage of the program. To find out if you qualify for the first time home buyer...
More Good News On The First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit
Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, on Tuesday said that the Federal Housing Administration is going to permit its lenders to allow home buyers to use the $8,000 tax credit as a down payment. Previously, most buyers...
Time Is Running Out For First Time Home Buyers Part One
Ok, first time home buyers; this is a reminder that the $8,000 dollar tax credit is only good until Dec 1st, 2009. So you need to purchase a home by that time and if we do the quick math, it looks like you have about 6 months to get that done. Let’s go over...