St George Utah Real Estate

When you look at St George Utah Real Estate values over this last year it is important to consider how it is that the influx of Short Sales and Foreclosures has had a direct and dramatic affect on values. How and in what way the values increase, decrease or stay the same may may have a lot to do with whether or not the inventory of short sales and foreclosures dissipates.

With some return of sales and activities across the nation and with some indications of the inventory or supply levels leveling off or decreasing, one could speculate that a return of activity and values is on the horizon if not already present for some places in the country. While St George has felt some return of activity and particularly realtors and title people that look at the numbers, have been optimistic, still a lot will be yet determined by foreclosures and short sales, if the supply decreases or if as a persistence of supply takes place. We believe that it is already tapering off some, but it is not completely clear yet as to the amount of short sales and foreclosures that may still persist some throughout this year.

A few months back a large title company here, at least one of their statisticians pointed to how there already is indication of a downard slope of Notice of Defaults. What notice of defaults are, is that when somebody is first having problems making their house payments and default on them, this tends to be the start of a possible short sale or foreclosure.

We also believe here at St George Utah Real Estate, that unemployment percentages and interest rates will also feed into this short sale and foreclosure supply equation. If you feel this has been informative in helping you stay ahead of the pack and in getting in on a purchase now, while the tax credit for existing and first time buyers, then please give Brian a call.

St George Utah Real Estate - Invest in Your Active Lifestyle

If you invest in your St George Utah real estate, you will be impressed with what kind of active lifestyle you can begin living no matter your age. Now, for all you retirees or young bucks, I say- Go for the Ironman Gusto. It is the Ford Ironman St. George race of a lifetime that is coming up on May 1, 2010. Now, in case you are ambitious, you can do it! You can swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and then run 26.2 miles. Not a problem! Yes, you can do it- all in one day. You thought the St George marathon was ambitious? Try piling on top of it that 'little' bike ride and do a couple laps in the pool, right? Right! I say hats off to all you literally impressive specimens in spirit if not body. Either way iron is a really good metaphor to reveal the deep down truth of these people being truly the Ironman of our next decade. Yet, it is amazing how many truly stellar and real fighters we have entering this race. Each year it seems to grow and 2010 looks to be another amazing year. You probably knew that you can register even for the next years Ironman shortly after the race. After that, will you call me up and come buy your St George Utah real estate with Brian? Woo, what a day!

In other news, Hurricane city revenue is down 13%.

If you'd like to search for St George Utah Retirement Communities, after going there, you can do the Quick Search listed down in those paragraphs OR go to the home page by clicking on the banner and run the Advanced Property Search and click on Inclusions and Features option and you'll see the sub-option that says Adult Communities. Click that and then configure any other criteria you may want to limit your search by, such as price. If you ever need a good recommendation in pre-qualifying for how much you want to select up to for your price range see our preffered St George Utah lenders.

St George Real Estate

The following information is given regarding interest rates from a local lender:

Hello, I wanted to give you an update on where the rates have been at this past week. The national average for the past week on a 30 yr fixed mortgage is 5.06% with a .7% discount point and for a 15 yr fixed mortgage it is 4.45% with a .6% discount point. Our rates for today on a 30 yr fixed mortgage are as follows: *4.875% with .5 discount point *5% with no discount points.

St George Real Estate seems to be picking up some for the St George area. I am noticing realtors phone voice mails are full and still some surging of the foreclosures is imminent and possibly clearing the system by the end of the year. For more information please don't hesitate to contact us.

Real Estate Recovery - St George Real Estate

Real Estate

National real estate sales showed signs of recovery from November sales. The National Association of Realtors said real estate sales rose 7.4 percent. This was more than expected. Pete Flint with Trulia.com reports, "Things are stabilizing".

Now of course, the new home buyer tax incentive that was first reported to end in November helped boost these numbers. None the less, the government initiatives, like this program that is now extended to even existing home owners who relocate, has helped to stabilize things. Even so, the high unemployment rate of 10% with employers continuing to cut jobs, is not helping, especially since 14 percent of homeowners are now struggling either to make their mortgage payments or are in foreclosure.

The Federal Reserve recently pledged to keep interest rates low so that the recovery can gain traction. President Obama, after meeting with community banks recently said that businesses will now be able to start growing and hiring again if they can get the investing credit that they need.

Homeowners who have lived in their current properties for at least five years can, now claim a tax credit of up to $6,500 if they relocate. Buyers must sign a purchase agreement by April 30 in order to qualify.

St George Real Estate

In Utah or the Salt Lake area, unemployment rates continue to be lower than the national average. The economy, for the most part, continues to be strong. The St George Real Estate Market continues to stabilize even though the inventory levels involving Short Sales and Foreclosures remains relatively high. Some consensus among Realtors and a lot of buyers seems to be that the exceptional deals are almost gone while we enter the longer phase of good deals still being available. This window may be shortened given the fact that interest rates are slowly, but recently steadily, seeming to rise.

Real estate has traditionally over time held its value, and if you are like minded in thinking that now would be a good time to get into the St George Real Estate Market, than for heavens sake, give Brian a call today at 435-634-5479.

Utah Real Estate - Home Sales, Prices & Interest Rates

Utah Home Sales

In Utah, real estate sales were up 2% for the third quarter of the year compared to the year before. Along the Wasatch front, home sales were up 25% in October over the previous years month of October. On the national level, for the last nine consecutive months pending home sales have been on the rise.

Utah Real Estate Prices

The director of the University of Utah's Bureau of Housing and Economic Development, James Wood, at a meeting of the Utah Association of REALTORS Convention, said that he believes housing prices for Utah reached their low point and bottomed in the first quarter of this year of 2009.

Nationally speaking there seems to be consensus among economists that housing sales have reached a bottom. However, the views are varied regarding the degree of stabilization with some saying that the bottom for prices may continue as long as into mid-2010. Mark Zandi, chief economist and co-founder of Moody's Economy.com who originally forecasted the bottom of prices this year and now projects them into mid-2010, says that the Obama administration's loan modification plan delayed a number of foreclosures that are likely to hit the market next spring, extending the price drops. You can read all about the Utah & St George Real Estate Neighborhood Stabilization Program Reform Act in our previous blog post. Whether this has anything to do with it or not, Zandi is pointing to the way in which we slow foreclosures happening, are of course having repercussions in extending the time it takes for home prices to completely stop declining. Most economist are connecting the bottom of house prices, as being closely tied to the share of distressed home sales declining.

St George Real Estate
Prices in Southwest Utah, namely, the St George real estate area market, has historically seen a quick spike in prices, with a drastic windfall of price depreciation. As such, many locals believe prices have reached a bottom and in some neighborhoods price appreciation, or at least rebounding of prices, has been felt. Statistics for the Washington County Utah area have shown some decrease in Notice of Defaults, which are the pending notices of buyers that are not being able to make their house payments any more- the prelude to our St George foreclosures and subsequent depreciation of home prices.

Utah Interest Rates

Utah home buyers have enjoyed low interest rates over the last year. This has been impacted largely by the Fed with their Mortgage Backed Security (MBS) purchase program... the program that has helped keep home loan rates low for much of the last year. Just this last week the Fed has announced that this program will end on March 31, 2010. What are the implications of this?

It's Economics 101... when Bond prices start to decrease from the diminishing demand of the Fed's purchases, home loan rates will naturally be likely to increase.

Bottom Line
The bottom line is that with all the tax credits available for buying, with interest rates being perhaps unsustainabley low, that buying Utah real estate now or this coming Spring of 2010 may be the very best time to buy before interest rates go up.

Utah & St George Real Estate Neighborhood Stabilization Program Reform Act

St George Utah Foreclosures - Neighborhood Stabilization

I'd like to detail how it is that an alternate view from our last blog post, where the rate or concern of St George Utah foreclosures is put forth through the Utah Neighborhood Stabilization Program of which counties are suffering the most in Utah. The allocated budget for Utah is $177,989,900 to be allocated.

The following is taken from http://www.opencongress.org/:

5/21/2009--Introduced. Neighborhood Stabilization Program Reform Act of 2009 - Amends the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, as amended by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, to revise requirements for the use by state and local governments of emergency assistance provided to them for the redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed homes and residential properties.

The allocated budget for Utah is $177,989,900. The following is taken from The Utah Housing and Community Development Website at http://housing.utah.gov/documents/NSPFinalActionPlan.pdf in which they cite Utah's need and Washington Counties need:

The low number of potential buyers who can afford or qualify for home mortgages, and the high number of households losing their homes, has created pressure on the overall rental market…The decrease in affordable rental housing puts Utah’s low-income households at risk…Although the foreclosure crisis is felt statewide, the crisis is more pronounced in five of the most populous counties: Salt Lake, Weber, Washington, Davis and Utah…Emphasis will be on stabilizing neighborhoods that have been most affected by the foreclosure crisis. The majority of funding will focus on land banks/trusts and on redevelopment. A portion of NSP funds will be used to revitalize foreclosed properties and make them available to families including homeless families. It is the State of Utah’s goal to provide safe, affordable housing and improve the quality of life for low-to moderate income persons and families.

Thus, it is apparent that Utah state or the Utah Division of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has ranked Washington County Utah as one of the populas areas needing help. I do not know much on how these funds will be allocated,but it is apparent they intend to target the areas of most need or in low income housing segments. This is although many of the foreclosures have been in the higher price ranges, they still hope to affect the lower income earners segment that are being forced out of housing and with low availability of rentals, now doubling the homeless shelters numbers. HCD administers eleven community-targeted
programs and the four HUD programs.

The housing plan does say that funds will be allocated by most need and while we don't know which areas are hardest hit, they do say most emphasis will be on Salt Lake county with the most population being affected.

St George Real Estate

Here in the St George Real Estate area market, Apple Valley to be exact, I know of one rural HUD home that mysteriously was taken off the market, where in the listing agent told me, that when these homes become about half of what the appraised value was, they take them off the market to give the community or city the opportunity to buy the home first for any of their low income assistance programs. This particular home went back on at a reduced price and was immediately sold to the highest bidder. Investors had to wait 5 days before bidding on that property, as it was exclusively available to primary home owners- buyers who intended to occupy it.

Another instance here in the St George area, in Washington, Utah actually, I recently helped a younger couple put under contract a new construction build job. However, at first, the land owners and developers were challenged surpassed loan limits of the bank that also had ownership, that initially constrained that land owner/developer from getting new construction funding. During the buyer refusing to get the construction loan a change came about with the bank that reportedly loan limits of the bank that had a stake in the property, that the limits had been extended now allowing them to fund the project. This may be part of the government getting involved to help spur on development, but maybe it was just part of economics playing out.

This real estate update is part of our way of wanting to keep you informed on the market. Feel free to go to our website for more statistics for the local St George Ut Real Estate market. Fee; free to contact me, Brian, your local St George realtor anytime to help handle your real estate needs.

First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Extended for the St George Area!

The federal $8,000 tax credit has been extended, not just 'in time' for the first time home buyers, but also previous home owners now qualify for a tax credit of $6,500. So, prices are at an all time low and it is an excellent time to buy St George Real Estate. The details of the tax credit are as follows: The first time home buyer’s eligibility has been extended for income limits being up to $125,000 and for married couples up to $250,000. The first time home buyer definition extends to not having owned within the last three years. Previous home owners are defined as those who have owned 5 out of the last 8 years. Both groups must identify the property and sign a contract prior to April 30 and close on that purchase prior to June 30, 2010.

Economic Stimulus Package- Is it working?

Well proponents of the stimulus package point to rising housing prices as bringing stabilization to the previous tail spin of our economy. They say that the extension allows the second half of 2010 demand, to get a boost up front, with later payoffs in stabilization in 2010.

Nay say-ers of the stimulus package say that the stimulus package did not induce enough buyers who were not already going to buy anyway, to purchase. Further, the original intention was to have first time home buyers purchase regular re-sale homes or new construction where as many ended up purchasing foreclosures or short sales, often from home owners who intended not to repurchase. However, this may have minimized the cascading foreclosure affects segment of the market. So, further extending of the tax credit is hoped to shore up the existing normal resale and new construction segment of the market to offer the 'more balanced' approach toward stabilization.

Implications for the St George Real Estate Market

Implications for the St George real estate market could be positive toward the aim of necessitating more regular re-sales or new sales precisely because the notice of defaults, or pre-foreclosure or short sale types of scenarios are becoming less frequent in the midst of sustained sales. So, as the supply of the Foreclosures and Short Sale homes gets depleted, yet demand for buying sustains, then it follows that more purchases will be common among the new homes and regular re-sale market. This will tend to help a new scenario of regular resale homes to occupy the sold segment of homes. These in turn help represent the comparable sales used to represent new pricing on homes entering the active sales market, thus helping non-distressed sellers regain preeminence in setting price in the market place once again. The background for how this process has affected the St George area home sales is explained below.

Three Stages of the Foreclosure Market- St George Real Estate Affected

Some of these assumptions are based on a pattern that has shown some relevancy before- the three stages of the foreclosure market. First, let it be noted that a “Notice of Default” is the first signs of possible foreclosure where a buyer no longer can continue to make house payments. So, the very first stage of the foreclosure cycle has been that, resold St George Utah foreclosures set lower pricing and this helped create a “back draft” to push many more homes into foreclosure. This first part did show increasing numbers of Notice of Defaults that has been tracked by title companies here in St George. We, as Realtors, get these notice of defaults as public information, and thus for us, are as potential sellers.

Real Estate numbers and statistics in the St George area have already shown this first stage where in the number of defaults increased, with sales just being higher than notice of defaults. As these notice of defaults already took a plateau, stage two, virtually March through June of 2009, here in the St George area, the number of sales equated to be about the same as the number of defaults. Then the third stage seems to be evolutionarily showing itself currently, where in the number of defaults has started to go down with a significant jump down in August, while the number of sales have sustained or at least appears to be sustaining more proportionately higher. There seems to be a pattern set in the fall of 2009 here in the St George area, where in the first sign of Notice of Defaults are bumping lower, while sales are proportionately higher. This has the effect of also beginning to work on existing traditional sales and inventory in the market being sold. This presents a new spectrum of sold homes, thus comparable solds research helping to help set precedence for future pricing of active for sale homes.

St George Utah Home Values- 2010

How fast this product (new resale homes to sell) will dump onto the market could help influence St George house prices, how low prices will retain (with increased supply) or as in the tax credit giving buyers some bite onto sellers, the uptake of sellers (supply dumping onto the market) may lag behind demand brought on buyers taking advantage a tax credit. The net affect could make 2010 a moderately good year while influencing consumer confidence toward spending and some will then generalize it to the rest of the economy returning to some spending, thus normalcy toward increasing production jobs etc. This is the hope engendered by the Stimulus Package. Not all agree upon the methods as to the overall affect being a good one or not, or as to it being illusory, thus disagreeing to a 'bail out'.

The purpose of this article has been to discuss the intentions and affects of the stimulus package and the reality of some of the statistics for the St George area and not to argue for or against the stimulus package.

Bottom Line
One local title company statistician points towards the kind of opportunity this all provides for buying in the St George area. Some of these conclusions were alluded to as follows: that great deals will be gone in 4 months, but that good deals will continue for some time thereafter. Real estate activity will get considerably better over the next 18 months. Pricing is at its bottom with a few exceptions. REO or foreclosure companies are not pricing their properties as aggressively as they have been in the past. Finally, a good maxim for those who are thinking of investing into a piece of real estate, St George Utah, 'At the intersection of home prices and interest rates lies incredible opportunity'.

St George Utah

St George is situated along I-15 and is SW Utah's culture and business center. St George is a popular stop through tourist destination featuring red dirt and rock high desert landscape. It is also the gateway to Zion National Park where towering cliffs drop off exposing mother nature itself at work, with slot canyons with curvatures rolling forms of red and sandstone rock. The weather is partly why we have 'snow birds' and our St George Retirement Communities. This and other reasons, we think, positions St George as a premiere location for future demand and growth. We have the new St George regional airport coming on line real soon.