Charlie Ragonesi Big Canoe Realestate's Blog: Georgia: Jasper: Bent Tree

In a Real Estate Transaction there is a buyer, a seller , a buyers agent, a sellers agent, and a Lender. now there does not have to be all these folks but more often than not they are all there. There are also "minor players" like the inspector. They are minor players but can kill a deal.

So all the players march along on the trail to the closing. The agents keep the clients informed and make sure we are all in step with dates and times and things to be done. The clients nervous to the end rely, hopefully, on their agents and generally are in step with the process as they want it to happen.

Then we get to the lender. The lender wants it to happen too but is very often not in step. The lender asks for tons of paper work, and then comes back and asks for more. The lender seems to miss the dates in the contract when the appraisal needs to be done by, as well as the loan commitment given. A "good" lender will actually come to you and say they need an extension.

The lender today is out of step with the transaction in my opinion. Now before you all jump on me I would say that this happen 50 percent of the time. So we do work with good lenders who come through. But here is the point. Until Lenders get back to loaning where they were pre bubble we will never see a housing rebound. When we bought our first house in NYC it took 60 days to close. When we moved to Georgia the lenders laughed that it took so long in New York. Well guess what ? Georgia is now 45-60 days even for loans that are 100 percent no problem.

So what is needed is we all need to get in step. The market was out of step when any one with or without a pulse could get a loan. But now we have moved too far the other way.

Last week I took my son down to the Navy recruiting office where i left him. He was shipped out to Great Lakes for basic. I am proud of him and miss him all at the same time. I am his Italian father. so I say to my wife , I wonder what Joe is doing now? She says thinks like, Oh he is having a leisurely lunch. or depending on the time of day she will say they are probably having diner and a movie.

Now I know she is making fun of me. Hey isn't that part of a spouses job?  So have a good thought for son Joe who is serving us . Thanks to all

Today I treated my self to a haircut, no a hair experience at the Old Fashioned Barber Shop in Jasper. This is post number 2 about this great Barber shop. If you saw the classic movie Barber Shop, or the female version with Queen Latifah then when I tell you the Old fashion Barber shop is that experience mountain style you will know what I mean.

The Barbers are great. The coffee is good and the atmosphere is friendly and very inviting. The shop itself is centrally located In Jasper on Church street

There is plenty of parking. Based on the popularity of the shop you will need it. The sign below gives the details. So if you are in Jasper, or heck, if you are in Jasper, or Ball Ground, or Marble Hill, or Ellijay, or even Canton get your next hair cut at the Old fashioned Barber shop . You will be glad you did

 I had my hair cut as well as my beard trimmed. Which leads to the second part of this blogs title , How do I look ???

 

Maybe 2 years ago the Fed stopped buying Treasuries. The run up to the stoppage was that interest rates were going to go up. They were going to go up BIG time. Well the Fed stopped and interest rates went down. In fact at a meeting with a gent from the Fed he said they( the Fed) was as surprised as anybody that rates went down.

For those of us who took economics we all learned about supply and demand. Low demand means that the rate of return has to go up to entice buyers. However this truism seems not to have been the case.

The Fed again has been buying securities and I believe they are due to stop in July or August of this year.

Again folks are saying that rates will rise. But will they? Are we undergoing economic changes, not yet fully understood, that effect rates? It will be interesting to see what happens . What do you all think?

The newest thing in Congress in the area of Housing is the QRM. To me QRM = lets punish the victims. Who are the victims? You and I and every home owner in the country. Lets review.

In the 90's and into the early 2000's a tremendous amount of money found it's way into our country. America was considered a safe haven for funds. Both Greenspan and Bernacki told us not to worry. It was normal for people to want to invest here. But as usual a lot of cash caused problems. What that cash did was create debt. How can cash create debt? Easy. If there is 100k available at good interest rates somebody will borrow it for a mortgage . So there is now a 100k debt. Multiply that by billions.

Billions were invested in the housing market. When you have this kind of money both domestic and foreign pouring in you have inflation. But in our case we had more. We had easing of borrowing rules. We had all kinds of weird and wonderful ways to borrow for those who had no money. It wasn't enough to run up prices. There was so much money that we had to find ways to get people to borrow it. In fact we even had to create instruments to sell off loans . Then when folks started asking questions we created "insurance" to calm the market. And when even that became a problem Merrill created a division to buy these toxic assets from the division in Merrill that was selling them. And of course everybody got their bonuses.

Well the crash came. So who is to blame?  The folks on Wall street that created these toxic assest? Maybe the lenders who poured out money? Maybe the folks that created these weird and wonderful borrowing programs?  Maybe the Fed who should have stepped in a lot earlier when tons of money was pouring into our economy? No none of these folks are to blame. The blame is being placed on the victims. You and I and everybody that lost their home.

The argument goes you should have known better than to borrow under these terms. That is what we are telling borrowers who could not refinance and ended up in foreclosure. Yet the government of Iceland who has folks with degrees in Economics was going belly up because of their investment in American housing. Some how though folks with High school diplomas here should have known better than economists.

So lets punish the victims. You and as home owners are victims.. The values of our homes have gone down. It is harder to sell. It is harder to make a living in Real Estate. But that's OK because we deserve to be punished while the big banks and brokerage houses make tons of money and pay out big bonuses.

So instead of QRM how about eliminatig ARM. After all that is a gambling type of mortgage. Get rid of it. Get rid of interest only mortgages, get rid of negative equity mortgages. Go back to fixed rate loans where folks need good credit.

People who have VA loans, USDA loans and FHA loans that have jobs are not defaulting. And if they are it is usually because they are victims of this crisis which THEY DID NOT CREATE.  They love and want to stay in their homes.

 As long as it makes banks more money to allow properties to go into foreclosure we will not see modifications in the numbers we need to stop the slide in prices. We victims will continue to be punished until we look past whether someone is a Republican,or Democrat and vote for people who want to see the victims of this housing crisis, You and I , not be punished anymore. 

I am in Pickens County Georgia which was hard hit by storms a week ago. We did have some injuries and a fatality. A listing I was looking at had a new comment. Do not show home wiped out by tornado.

Now as i look around I see the trees in bloom and mother nature doing her thing to repair the damage with a bandage of green. The North Georgia festivals have started and it is a beautiful time to be in our great mountains. Visit us at www.allmountainrealty.com for some videos as well as some great buys. Better yet visit us in person.

Seventy percent of the fire fighters in this country are volunteers. That is an incredible, to me , number. I am a wild land as well as structural volunteer fire fighter. It requires 30 hours a quarter in training as well as working actual fires. this is one way as a Realtor I give back to the mountain communities I make my living in. The first picture is a wild-land urban fire that we worked near Amicolola Falls.

This is a controlled burn we are doing on multiple acres to prevent wild fires. This is done in areas that have buildings and people walking camping and generally being.  It was a hot day and we worked hard to keep all under control.

By my smile you can tell the day went well. Even though it was tiring the job got done. This is one of the ways I say thank you to the folks in the mountains I work with.

I cannot tell you how many blogs I have read or how many times I have answered the question, Is it a good time to buy? The question is it a good time to buy is very subjective. It requires an opinion of the market, thoughts on where it is going, and the financial as well as emotional state of the buyer. So lets ask a different question. Why buy at all ?

A recent survey by NAR showed that home owners versus rentors were more likely to be committed to neighborhoods. They were happier in their homes than renters. Home owners tended to vote in larger numbers than renters. In addition they were generally more satisfied with the quality of their life.

More than quality of life issues are , according to a Federal Reserve study,  the economic issues. Home Owners net worth averaged  200,000 while renters averaged 5,000.  This is am amazing number. So amazing in fact that I think an example is needed. The Young Family is renting. Mr Young and Mrs Young have 2 children and both work. They have about $7,000 in the bank. They own cars so their net worth is some where around $30,000. The Young's want to buy a home. They purchase a home for $125,000. They got a great deal in this market and the home is worth $150,000. Now the Young's net worth is $180,000 ! Just like that! In addition the Young's get a tax break on their mortgage interest. Mrs Young used the kitchen table for her home business and can now right off the spare room in the new home as an office !

Granted the Youngs are not $180,000 liquid. However they are well n their way to achieving financial security. They did this by trading a rent payment for a mortgage payment. In many cases the payments were within 100 dollars of each other on a monthly basis.

So the question of, "Is now a good time to buy?" is important but a better question is, Why buy at all ? The answer is in this post

We have a new great Golf course listing in Bent Tree. When I say great I mean it. This is a triple lot. It is 1.58 Acres. it is right on the golf course. It has golf and mountain views. A small stream borders the lot in front of the Golf course. The seller is really motivated and has listed this lot with us and reduced the price by 40,000!!!! The asking price which is really really great is 90,000 for the triple lot. On one side of the lot is a southern living home. On the other side is a very nice home also. You will have great privacy on this lot due to it's size.

The community of Bent Tree has a lovely mountain golf course as well as a tennis center and , stables. It is located just Outside Jasper georgia in the North georgia Mountains. Buy now to invest and build later. Owner will consider a 3 year note with balloon payment and owner finance with a good down payment.  FMLS number is 4182084

In the picture above you can see the stream at the border of the lot. Also you can see the golf course and the great views you will have. This is a winter picture

 

Walk out on this lot in the warmer weather and this is what you see. If you are bargain hunting in this market  look no further

 

This weeks show is live from the snowy North Georgia Mountains. we talk about the rule changes i HAFA as well as cover communities in the snow. Linda comes in via telephone so pardon some of the quality. We also cover the market here. We are seeing real signs of a turn around and a return to some type of normalcy. We may I think see the market level out to neutral (neither buyers, or sellers market) this year. Enjoy the show.