Mortgage Loans are harder to qualify for today than they were a few years ago. Mortgage Rates are lower than they were a few years ago. Credit is now harder to obtain than it was 2 or 3 years ago. Many of the Home Mortgage Loan Programs, available 2-3 years ago have gone away - vanished along with many of the Lenders who provided and promoted them.
This then is the landscape that is Real Estate today.
Into this anguished desolation the Federal Government has come, saturating the environment, with multi billions in cash and programs to revive and resusitate the afflicted. Stimulus programs and tax credits are made available to those in trouble with their mortgages, and for those who would purchase a home at this time.
Taking advantage of the declining prices for houses, Real Estate Investors are crowding Public Auction events and County Courthouses in their effort to make a great deal. At the same time bargain hunting home buyers are experiencing difficulty competing with the seasoned and experienced investor, who by their very activity drive up the price of the property being auctioned. Homebuyers are limited by income, constrained by cash and confined to certain narrow guidelines, to qualify for a mortgage loan sufficient to purchase a home. These buyers complain that they are unable to compete with the investor who arrives at the auctions with a fist full of dollars.
How is this situation to be resolved? Can it be resolved? Should it even be resolved?
To address these questions one must first determine and understand the reasons for the actions of the government in interjecting itself into the situation. If it is accepted that the actions of the government in providing help to those about to loose their homes; and incentives to those who would buy a home at this time, is to harness the runaway train that is the economy today, then we must accept that any purchase of any home, anywhere in the nation, is a good thing.
On the other hand, if you do not believe this to be so, then you need to remove your blinders, talk to your friends and family and check your retirement account.
The experts tell us that the economic problem we are facing today was triggered by an overabundance of bad investments/loans in the housing market, from main Street to Wall Street.
The unprecedented loss of homes to foreclosure excerbated the problem, as the sheer number of foreclosed homes daily coming on the market, dealt a severe blow to value as not evidence is recent times. They tell us that we will only see the bottom of this economic spiral once the flow of foreclosed homes is slowed; and recovery will only begin once homes are being bought up off the market.
So there is a role for all in bringing about the economic recovery - sooner rather than later. In this role the potential buyer is encouoraged to seek out the best and most affordable home to purchase - the tax credit in the stimulus package is, among other things, the incentive to buy a home at this time.
The investor, whether they are buying real estate to hold for the long term, or fixing and flipping for profit, they too, are contributing, if only by cleaning up the blight in our neighborhoods and revitalizing our communities across America -'nuff with the finger pointing already!!!
Thanks for the continued updates...really informative
ReplyDelete