Get Real Tacoma

View from Cliff Street Loft #405

With the huge number of condos on the market right now, it’s always worth paying attention to the ones that sell.  This Studio Loft at Cliff Street Lofts on 1120 Cliff Ave Downtown was a bank owned foreclosure.  It was listed for $131,900 and sold for $131,000.

It has a great view of the Mountain and the City.  It’s a studio, with super high ceilings and an open modern kitchen with newer appliances.

The homeowners dues are $151/month on this unit, so if you were getting an FHA loan your payment with everything would probably be between 1100-1200 month.   Read the rest of this entry »

$169,950 Townhouse 3 Beds 3 Baths

These days, it seems the majority of my time looking at homes with buyers is focussed on homes that are priced under 200k.  

There are a lot of reasons for this, most of them having to do with how much buyers want to be paying for their mortgage each month.  

A lot of my clients are buying their first or second house and would prefer that their monthly payment not exceed $1,500.

The great silver lining of the whole housing kurfuffle is that there are finally some really great homes under $200,000 in Tacoma.  There are even some great homes under $150,000.  Not suprisingly, this has become the most popular price range, and the good houses in this group tend to sell more quickly than homes in other price ranges.  Below you’ll find the stats on the under 200k price range in Tacoma, as well as some examples of what you get for the money!

Read the rest of this entry »

Homebuyers, Rejoice.  Buying a house in 2009 just got even easier.

The President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 this week.  The bill is a $780 billion package, with about 35% of the package devoted to tax cuts (mostly for 2009) and the rest to spending intended to occur in 2009 and 2010. 

The major part that agents have been watching for, (especially agents like me- 80% of my clients are buyers) is the tax credit.  Previously, there was a credit of $7500 that had to be paid back. Not anymore!

 – The bill provides for a $8,000 tax credit that would be available to first-time home buyers for the purchase of a principal residence on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009.  The credit does not require repayment.  Most of the mechanics of the credit will be the same as under the 2008 rules:  the credit will be claimed on a tax return to reduce the purchaser’s income tax liability.  If any credit amount remains unused, then the unused amount will be refunded as a check to the purchaser.      Source: Realtor.com

This is very exciting.  I have a client right now who just bought a 3 bedroom, 1 bath house for $120,000.  The seller (a bank) is paying his closing costs.  His downpayment is $3,600.  His house payment will be $897.00/month including taxes, insurance, and everything else.  When he receives his tax return this year, he will be getting an extra $8,000 back that he will NOT have to repay.  Thats enough for him to pay his mortgage for almost 9 months, or make some improvements to his house, or….put 6 months expenses in the bank like Suze Orman tells us all we should!

Last week credit companies made some changes to how your FICO score is calculated.  

If you are buying a house, refinancing a house, or renting an apartment- you are being judged based on your credit score. I am not one of those people who advocates being obsessed with your score. I spent two years of my life obsessively reading and worrying about how every minor financial event in my life impacted my score, which is silly.  Obsessing about credit is unhealthy, but understand the scoring process staying on top of how to put your best foot forward to creditors is a good thing! 

Credit scores range from 300-850. The lowest I have ever encountered was a 463, the highest I’ve seen was 840. Both of those people made about the same income, it was all about how they managed their money. The average credit score in america is about 678.  If your score is 700 or above, your interest rates should be low and credit should be readily available to you.

Here is a breakdown of how scores are determined, from Suze Orman: Read the rest of this entry »

I was having a delicious breakfast with some friends at Puget Sound Pizza this weekend, and this blog came up in conversation.  

“I never read the numbers and stuff” my friend said. 

“But the numbers are the most interesting part!” I exclaimed in reply. 

So, in an effort to make my boring numbers more entertaining for you, I am learning how to make graphs and charts online.  Here is my very first one:

I know it’s a little dry, but bear with me.  I’ll get better at it! Hopefully this will make some of the dryer data a little more digestable in the future.

The New Tribune is reporting that the City of Tacoma has the opportunity to claim 2.9 Million of the 3.9 Billion Dollar Housing Bill congress passed in July.

“Pierce County is eligible for about $4.4 million, and the City of Tacoma is eligible for about $2.9 million. Both amounts are the highest in the state, because both areas have the highest foreclosure rates.

Local officials acknowledge the program’s limitations.

“Three million dollars in the housing market is a grain of sand,” said Rick Teasley, housing division manager for the City of Tacoma. “At the very best, we can hope to help maybe 100 to 200 home buyers get into houses.”

Everyone is going to have lots of opinions about how this money can best be used, the problem is (Like Rick Teasley says above) 2.9 million is not a ton of money.  To put that in perspective that is 12.6 houses at our County’s median home price of $230,000.   

I believe that adding cash to the coffers of the City of Tacoma Downpayment Assistance Program would do the most good.  That helps buyers, which helps sellers.  

It will be interesting to see what happens next and how this money is used.