by rtdosen | Jan 23, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
Chester County, PA Real Estate: 2014 Year in Review By Ryan Dosen A fellow once said: “If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.” This week we thumb our noses at the words of George Bernard Shaw and examine what happened in the Chester County, Pa., real estate market in 2014 — and see if we can learn a few things that we can expect for the coming year. Low Winter Inventory Inventories bottom out this time of year, then climb during the spring, top out during the summer, and fall fairly steeply at the end of the year. Inventories were flat from December 2013 to February 2014, possibly due in part to the unusually harsh winter weather. Fewer transactions occurred during the winter months as people took refuge and we were stuck playing catch-up all year. Despite the slow start, inventories in 2014 actually reached higher levels than were seen in 2013. It is also interesting to notice that despite the higher highs, home inventories have actually fallen below the lows of last winter. Indeed, we are seeing a shortage of good homes for our buyer clients. Well-priced homes that are in good condition are not lasting long, despite the myth that people will wait until spring to buy a home. We sold a West Chester listing last week in two days with multiple offers; the home was shown almost 10 times in the first 24 hours. Remember: There may be more buyers in the spring, but there are always buyers in the market. Home...
by rtdosen | Jan 17, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
FHA Premium Rate Cut a Big Break for Home Buyers By Ryan Dosen President Obama unveiled a plan earlier this week designed to help cash-strapped home buyers hop into the housing market. The Federal Housing Administration (“FHA”), a mortgage insurer and government agency within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”), will be cutting insurance premiums in the near future, opening the doors for more people to buy homes as we approach the spring home buying season. The FHA The FHA is the largest insurer of mortgages in the world. According to its website, the “FHA insures mortgages on single family and multifamily homes including manufactured homes and hospitals…. FHA mortgage insurance provides lenders with protection against losses as the result of homeowners defaulting on their mortgage loans.” The FHA says that it “is the only government agency that operates entirely from its self-generated income and costs the taxpayers nothing. The proceeds from the mortgage insurance paid by the homeowners are captured in an account that is used to operate the program entirely.” In truth, the FHA costs the taxpayers nothing—unless it needs to be bailed out by taxpayers—which happened in 2013, to the tune of $1.7 billion. The 2013 bailout was the first in the agency’s 80 years of existence. FHA loan programs are designed to help individuals that may not meet conventional loan lending standards. FHA home loans are available with down payments as small as 3.5 percent. FHA loan programs also are generally available to people with lower credit scores. The FHA’s website says that applicants are now required to have a...
by rtdosen | Jan 6, 2015 | Ryan Dosen Real Estate Articles
Tips for Saving on Closing Costs By Ryan Dosen 2014 was somewhat of a strange year in real estate. The housing market was expected to continue its 2013 climb. Interest rates were expected to follow suit. And then we hit a brutal winter wall. Whether it was the weather, underlying market weakness, unstable world economic conditions, or any number of possible factors, the market came out of the gates like a slug and never really reached the levels we had expected. The rosy-colored-glasses view of things would say that all of those people that were expected to buy in 2014 still have relatively low interest rates and plenty of opportunity in 2015. The authorities are also reporting some of the highest post-recession consumer confidence numbers we’ve seen. Bolstering this rosy-colored view of the market, we are seeing a great deal of activity—far more than that from this time last year—in both the new construction and existing home markets. Speaking with other agents and builders in the area, December was the busiest we’ve had in years and we are expecting a strong year for real estate. In preparation for what we hope will be a busy year for the real estate market, I sat down with local mortgage expert Joe Gonzalez of GMH Mortgage of Conshohocken, PA to discuss some ways people can help save on the closing costs for their new home purchases. Tip 1: Consider a “Seller Assist” with Closing Costs Closing costs, including transfer taxes, title insurance, document recording fees, lender fees, and more, can add 3 to 4 percent of the value of a home...
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