Florida Housing Market

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I know there are a lot of people looking to buy their first home or get out of renting and move into a home of their own but just aren’t quite ready yet because of credit, savings or income.

Just another year and you should be ready; but what will the housing market be like a year from now? Will home prices go back up or interest rates to the point where you can no longer afford your own home?

The headline I used above should give you hope that interest rates and home prices should stay low through the end of this year giving you a short amount of time to get your ducks in a row. But wait things just got better…

Things can change fast in this new global world of ours and two days ago FED Chairman Ben Bernanke announced that your timeline to buy a home has been extended.

Mr. Bernanke made the surprise announcement that they would keep the Fed Funds Rate at these artificially low rates TO THE END OF 2014!
The FED is concerned with slower US growth, unemployment remaining high, the housing market still unsure of itself and increased chance that Europe might slide into another recession.

Thanks to these economic factors you have been given more time to:

• Improve on your credit
• Save money for a down payment (start with your tax refund)
• Get past any wait times you may have had for a short sale etc.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have your own personal coach to instruct you on exactly what YOU need to do and answer all your questions about buying a home in today’s lending environment?

Mr. Bernanke’s recent comments have challenged me to come up with my new goal of putting 100 first time and challenged home buyers in a home by 2015!
Don’t wait to start your free coaching; you don’t want to miss the home sale of your lifetime due to discounted home prices and artificially low interest rates…

Pick up the phone and call me now or send me an email to set up an appointment for your own personal coaching and private road map to help you reach your goal of home ownership by 2015.

Changing Lives One House at a Time,
Todd Dawkins
561-714-5541
ToddDawkins@gmail.com 
              
                 
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Valentine Gift Idea

You can get your wife this for valentines day. All you have to do to get it, is buy this home for sale at 118 MEADOWLARK DR , Royal Palm Beach, FL. $155,000. It is a short sale.

 Get it under contract before V-Day!    

 I've been in a lot of homes and you don't see tubs like this very often:)
            

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The Super Bowl

 Century 21 is going to be running a 30 second commercial in the 3rd quarter of the Supper Bowl this year. This should be interesting as there has not been a real estate company commercial during the super Bowl in… you guessed it 21 years.

The commercial will feature Donald Trump, Deion Sanders and Apolo Ohno. NBC is expecting the largest number of viewers ever for this years Super Bowl.
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This month is the 15th anniversary of the infamous "Irrational Exuberance" speech by the former Fed Chief, Allan Greenspan.

Do you remember that? Wow how time fly's!
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             Joke of the week
You may have seen this joke lately, but even if you did you will probably laugh again!

The inability of the Super Committee (maybe not so super) brought forth a flurry of political jokes.
 For example; 
A driver is stuck in a traffic jam in Washington D.C. Nothing is moving!
Suddenly, a man knocks on the car window.
The driver rolls down his window and asks "What's going on?"
''Terrorists have kidnapped all the members of our Congress - they're asking for $10 million in ransom.
Otherwise, they're going to douse them with gasoline and set them on fire!
We're going from car to car taking up a collection."
 The driver asks, "How much is everyone giving, on average?"
 and the man replies,

''Most people are giving about two gallons!"      

                               

             Bahamas Fishing

 Don’t let this new credit guideline delay you from closing on your new home!

There is a new change to underwriting guidelines, which would fall into the category of credit tightening, that you may not be aware of. This change has to do with consumer disputes.

That’s right when there is a mistake on your credit and you have to dispute it to get it corrected, this can now cause a major delay in closing your loan and in some instances could even cause you to not qualify.

The fact that a consumer dispute has to be removed from your credit report was never a qualifying condition for underwriting before.

Here’s why, whenever you have a consumer dispute reporting on a particular trade line (like a collection from the cable company that is not yours), the computer algorithms that calculate your credit scores does not consider the negative trade line that is in a dispute status.

Thus your credit score is higher than it would be if it was not in dispute and this increase in score can be the difference of you getting a loan that you might other wise not qualify for or pay a lower interest rate than you should other wise.

So if you are planning to buy a home in the near future, be prepared by getting a copy of your credit report 3-6 months ahead of time and let me go over it with you.

 It’s also good to know your credit score. Scores that are less than 700 may cost you more money in terms of higher interest rates.

Having time to tweak your credit can really pay off.

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I think I’ll just keep my clocks on day light savings time. So far it’s working out pretty well, granted it’s only been two days.

1. Don’t have to change the time you get up.
2. Get an extra hour of work in before the phone starts ringing.
3. Don’t have to worry about being late to appointments.
4. Work to 6 or 7 o’clock, it’s really only 5 or 6 o’clock.
5. Won’t have to freak out about loosing an hour of sleep when it's time to go back to daylight savings time.

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The number of Fannie Mae owned foreclosures on the market in Palm Beach County are:

This is down from 498 one month ago.

I spoke with Myles Minns owner of Continental Properties and he said his office had been getting a 100 REO foreclosure listings a month and they are now down to getting less than 10.

While Myles did not know the reason for the big drop, another source told me it was due to legal issues here in the state of Florida that should be cleared up shortly.

When the court issues get cleared up we should see another big wave of homes hitting the market early next year.

Do you know what that means? It means you still have time to invest in a home or rental property at what should be perhaps the greatest times ever to buy real estate.

It means you have time to save for a down payment, get your credit tweaked, get double digit returns on your investment or get into a home payment that is less than you pay in rent.

So don't delay call me NOW and let's work on a game plan!

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Moustache + November = Movember

It’s November already and did you know that November is now officially called Movember for men’s health awareness.

The Idea is to grow a mustache starting November 1^st (that is if you don’t already have one) to help raise awareness for men’s health.     ~~~^~~~
                                        

                  Bahamas  "The Black Pearl"           

"The Florida Housing Market" 
I have done this month's article as a cartoon by using this new (to me) online software. Let me know what you think of my first effort. Make sure you scroll down after watching to see my personal footage of hurricane Wilma I just uploaded.



or read it:

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Eye of a Foreclosure Hurricane

It seems like we are in the eye of a foreclosure hurricane. There has been a precipitous drop off in the number of foreclosed properties hitting the market.

Lets look at are Fannie Mae Home Path foreclosures for Palm Beach County and see what that tells us.

Now....

 It really does feel like the eye of a hurricane to me and I should know, I was in one. See the video below of Wilma from my 4th floor condo on the intercostal.

It is really strange the way the foreclosure listings have slowed.

Maybe it is the banks sitting on the properties or maybe a back lash from the robo signing period and the foreclosures have not caught up yet. Maybe they are just drying up having been sold off already. Maybe big institutional investors are buying them straight from the banks?

Remember I said we are going to figure this out together.

Your guess is as good as mine, but one thing is for sure, I will be keeping an eye on the Florida housing market and present you the details as I get them.

        
                                              

To Your Financial Health,
Todd Dawkins
561-714-5541
ToddDawkins@gmail.com

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Hurricane Wilma
These videos are after the eye passed and the winded switched from the west so that we where protected by the building.

This is looking out from a sliding glass door that blew out when we where getting hit head on directly from the east.

A completely different experience than thirty minutes prior when I was too busy mopping up water to take any videos.

I looked at two houses today that are for sale at or below what they sold for in 1989….. But now is not a good time to buy, no you better not… What if prices keep dropping? My sister’s friend said that she wouldn’t buy a house right now.

Let me reiterate I looked at two houses that are for sale at or below what they sold for in 1989. Oh and there not in bad condition. I had other clients just put an offer on a $235,000 house on the golf course that is at 1997 levels, turn key, and move the furniture in.

The reason I’m letting you all know this is because you might be getting fed negative information and I want you to take a serious look at your investments and see for yourself if it might not make a lot of sense to diversify into a rental property RIGHT NOW.

Not next month or next year, but right now!

I had the pleasure to hear David Dweck from BRIA speak this past weekend and it was nice to hear someone else in the local real estate market echo my thoughts.

I particularly liked the part about how he feels everyone “everyone” should own at least two properties a primary residence and an investment property.

In this market right now, when? “Right now” you can buy rental properties which will actually cash flow in the neighborhood of 10% to 20%. But I’m sure your getting that in your money market account or maybe in a CD at BofA.

What’s that, did I hear someone just whine about not wanting to be a landlord? Well in this market you can have a property management company handle that for you and still be left with a ROI many times greater than your getting now.

 These are investments that can help pay for your retirement. Hold on to them for five or six years and cash in on a nice chunk of long term capital gains.

Here’s another option, instead of buying property yourself, why not become the bank. Earn 10% by giving a first mortgage. You don’t need a lot of money, even $10K to $30K can put you in first lien position on a property. All transactions are handled by real estate attorneys and the buyers pay all closing cost.

Call me and we’ll talk about it.

Changing Lives, One House at a Time,
Todd Dawkins
561-714-5541

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Total Foreclosure Sales

"With average prices on disrtessed real estate trending down and average discounts trending up, this report is clearly good news for well-positioned buyers and investors looking for bargain real estate that will build them wealth in the long term and often cash flow as rental real estate in the short term," said James Saccacio chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. "Maybe less evident, however, is the good news in this report for distressed homeowners looking to sell, and even lenders saddled with large portfolios of delinquent loans.

Saccacio said, "The jump in pre-foreclosure sales volume coupled with bigger discounts on pre-foreclosures and a shorter average time to sell pre-foreclosures all point to a housing market that is starting to focus on more efficiently clearing distressed inventory through more streamlined short sales - at least in some areas. This gives distressed homeowners who do not qualify for loan modification or refinancing - or who are not interested in those options and want to sell - a better chance of completing a short sale to avoid foreclosure. Streamlined short sales also give lenders the opportunity to more pre-emptively purge non-performing loans from their portfolios and avoid the long, costly and increasingly messy process of foreclosure and the subsequent sale of an REO - which may end up selling for a lower price than it would have as a pre-foreclosure short sale and in the meantime further stresses already overloaded REO departments."

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Lets Look at Our Local Palm Beach County
Foreclosure Barometer

Current:

When We Started:

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BBQ RULES

With Labor Day here we are in the midst of BBQ season. Therefore it is important to refresh your memory on the etiquette of this sublime outdoor cooking activity. When a man volunteers to do the BBQ the following chain of events are put into motion:
(1) The woman buys the food.

(2) The woman makes the salad, prepares the vegetables and makes dessert.

(3) The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man who is lounging beside the grill - drink in hand.

(4) The woman remains outside the compulsory three meter exclusion zone where the exuberance of testosterone and other manly bonding activities can take place without the interference of the woman.

Here comes the important part:

(5) THE MAN PLACES THE MEAT ON THE GRILL.

(6) The woman goes inside to organize the plates and cutlery.

(7) The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is looking great. He thanks her and asks if she will bring another drink while he flips the meat.

Important again:

(8) THE MAN TAKES THE MEAT OFF THE GRILL AND HANDS IT TO THE WOMAN.

(9) The woman prepares the plates, salad, bread, utensils, napkins, sauce and brings them to the table.

(10) After eating, the woman clears the table and does the dishes.

And most important of all:

(11) Everyone PRAISES the MAN and THANKS HIM for his cooking efforts.

(12) The man asks the woman how she enjoyed her 'night off,' and, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, concludes that there's just no pleasing some women!

** I met a real jerk this week that treated his woman like this -- Don’t be a JERK!**

Bar Jokes

• Two peanuts walk into a bar. One was asalted.
• A jumper cable walks into a bar. The barman says "I'll serve you, but don t start anything."
• A sandwich walks into a bar. The barman says, "Sorry we don't serve food in here."

• A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm and says: "A beer please, and one for the road."

Bonus Joke

A guy walks into the psychiatrist wearing only Glad Wrap shorts. The shrink says, "Well, I can clearly see you're nuts."