The Five Star Team's Blog by The Five Star Team

Is your Realtor a good fit for you?

Most people are very careful when it comes to selecting items they are purchasing such as shoes or clothes but when it comes to the Realtor they use to make one of the largest purchases they will ever make in their lives, they haphazardly just take whom ever they happen to get on the phone. Wow, it really surprises me. Or another common mistake is that they “don’t want to be tied down by a Realtor” so they browse online all weekend, and then go drive around and call the number on the sign of any home they might be interested in. There are several aspects of this type of a home search that can get you into trouble and non-Realtors don’t realize it. First of all, if you are calling the Listing Agent, he/she is happy to help you (they will write your contract up for whatever price you ask them to) but by law they do not represent you. That’s right, as nice as they seem to be, he/she has a contract to represent the Seller and the ..(read more)

Stockton, CA is Foreclosure Capital of the USA

Stockton, CA the foreclosure capital of the USA. Stockton has acquired the unfortunate distinction of having the highest foreclosure rate of any US city, with one in 27 homes left counting the credit crunch, according to Realtytrac, an online marketplace for foreclosure sales. Many of these unfortunate homebuyers became victims of the adjustable rate mortgages offered to sub-prime borrowers, buyers with shaky credit who were lured into homes with inflated prices. Many of these families were able to obtain 100% financing and even finance their closing costs. They got in with a low “teaser rate” and then the interest rate went up. Now they find themselves in a situation where they cannot afford their house payment, yet they cannot sell for what they owe, they have no equity. This is a very good reason to have a qualified Realtor on your side. One thing that the general public does not always realize is that onsite sales agents ..(read more)

Refinance boom nightmare

I can't tell you how many time I visit people who are "upside down" in their mortgage. Loan officers make money by lending money. They use terms like "no cost" but how many people do you know who will work for free. What they do is to bump up the interest rate. This way they are able to sell the loan for more money and cover the expenses of making the loan. by virture of the fact interest is front loaded you are paying very little in terms of principle. In short, you need to be very careful about creating new debt. Please make additiional payments to principle and you can see how you can make amortization work in your favor.

Area home sales, prices up!

Area home sales, prices up Austin Business Journal - September 22, 2006 Single-family home sales in the Austin area continued their climb in Austin, according to the Austin Board of Realtors. More than 2,800 homes sold, which represents an August record and marked a 6 percent increase over the same time last year. The median price of those homes increased 8 percent, to $182,500. Sales brought in more than $683 million in revenue, an increase of 19 percent, according to data from the board's Multiple Listing Service. Properties sat on the market for an average of 60 days, 10 percent less time than in August 2005. The number of active single-family listings in the MLS dropped by 2 percent, to 8,137. "The Austin market continues to buck the national trend because this city is really in the infancy of its life as a major metropolis," says John Rosshirt, the board's chairman. "Relative to other big cities, Austin's prices are a steal. Plus, the quality of life here ..(read more)

Central Austin new home market stays hot

NEW HOMES Austin new home market stays hot Experts raise caution about investor sales. AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Tuesday, October 03, 2006 Central Austin continues to buck signs of a cooling housing market seen elsewhere in the country. Area builders started 4,266 homes in the third quarter, up about 8 percent from the same quarter of 2005, and closed on 4,518: a record, according to Residential Strategies Inc., a Dallas -based firm that tracks new home activity. Thanks to strong job growth and moderating mortgage rates, Austin's housing market has been healthy all year. In contrast, markets are cooling rapidly in many other parts of the country. "It seems to be the rest of the nation is doing poorly, and we tend to go against that," said Mark Sprague, Austin partner with Residential Strategies. Over the past 12 months, Central Texas builders have cranked out 16,973 homes, up more than 20 percent from a year ago. The construction pace indicates that builders are ..(read more)

Housing selling like hot cakes

More good new! Houses selling like hot cakes Austin Business Journal - Monday The housing slump affecting the rest of the country isn't reaching Austin, according to the latest numbers from the Austin Board of Realtors. Austin's latest multiple listing service report posts records for single-family home sales and monthly revenue. More than 2,300 single-family homes sold in September -- a 3 percent increase from the previous year and a record for the month. The median price was up 3 percent to $167,000. Altogether, single-family home sales contributed a record $533.6 million to the local economy -- up 9 percent from September 2005. Active single-family listings moved 5 percent higher from 2005 to 8,203. But the amount of time these listings sat on the market dropped 15 percent, to an average of 58 days. ABOR says that is the shortest amount of time single-family listings have waited to sell since September 2001, when the average was 46 days. "If you want proof that ..(read more)