Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Best places for vacation home deals.

Provided By:dallasnews.com





Dallas-area home sellers are raising their sights on what they expect properties to fetch at sale.
In June average asking prices for Dallas-area homes were up 8.1 percent from a year earlier, according to a new report by Trulia Inc.
That’s the same annual increase found when it looked at home list prices in the 100 largest U.S. cities.
Some markets are still seeing bigger jumps in home asking prices.
Average home list prices in Riverside, Calif are up 16.9 percent and they are 15.7 percent higher in Atlanta than in June 2013, according to Trulia.
“But despite this national slowdown in price gains, price increases continue to be widespread, with 97 of 100 metros posting year-over-year price gains – the most since the recovery began,” says Trulia chief economist Jed Kolko.
So far in 2014, median home sales prices in North Texas are running 8 percent ahead of where they were in June of 2013.

Friday, July 18, 2014

D-FW new home prices soaring thanks to higher costs

Provided By:dallasnews.com




New home prices are soaring in some North Texas neighborhoods, thanks to rising construction costs and higher land prices.

Metrostudy Inc. reported Friday that median new home prices in the Dallas-Fort Worth area have risen 24 percent since 2011 to $269,400 at midyear.

In popular areas, prices have gone up even faster, the housing consultant reports.

New home prices have risen 86 percent in North Dallas, are up 43 percent in Frisco and 36 percent higher in McKinney over the last three years, according to Metrostudy.

“Only 25 percent of the new home closings in the second quarter were for homes priced under $200,000, down from over 40 percent in 2011,” the new report says. “The higher prices are forcing many buyers to the nearby submarkets of Melissa, Anna, Celina, Little Elm, Oak Point and unincorporated areas of Denton and Collin counties.”

Median new home costs in North Texas are now more than a third higher than the median sales price for a preowned single-family home.

 

Metrostudy reports that home starts in the D-FW area were up 2 percent from a year earlier.

“We are expecting a 10 percent to 15 percent increase in starts during 2014, with the largest share of the increase coming from the first quarter,” Metrostudy’s David Brown said.

Metrostudy found that fewer than 3,000 finished available new houses were on the market in North Texas at the end of June. That’s down 12 percent from a year earlier.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Leasing kicks off for Victory Park apartment tower

Provided By:dallasnews.com

Atlanta developers who are building a highrise apartment in Dallas’ Victory Park are opening a leasing center and are ready to show off the building.
Novare Group said Tuesday that it begins previewing the property next week from a marketing center at 2308 Victory Park Lane.
The 24-story SkyHouse Dallas apartment tower is under construction on Woodall Rodgers Freeway on the north edge of downtown Dallas.
The first of the 336 units will be available for move in starting in November, Novare Group says.
Novare Group and Simpson Property Group built SkyHouse Dallas. They have just opened a similar SkyHouse Austin building and will SkyHouse Houston later this month.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

How Long Does It Take to Buy a Home?



Provided By: Realtor.com

Consumers considering a home purchase often want to get a handle on how long the process takes.80411222

The problem is that it’s a surprisingly subjective and multilayered question. Answers tend to focus on the typical time it takes to close a home loan once you’re under contract, which is usually 30 to 45 days.

That’s an accurate response, but it’s a vantage point that leaves little room between the starting and finish lines. The home-buying journey— from financial preparation and finding the right home to getting under contract and through closing—tends to take a lot longer.

The reality is there is no stock answer, mostly because everyone’s journey is different. Here is a closer look at some stages and steps that can shape your home-buying timeline.

Building Credit & Savings

Signing a purchase agreement to buy a home is a key step, but it doesn’t mean much if you don’t have the credit and assets necessary to secure a mortgage.

You might need to spend time burnishing your credit profile or stockpiling savings in order to qualify for a home loan. Credit-score and down payment requirements can vary depending on the lender and the loan type. (Checking your credit scores before you begin your home search can help you determine if you need more time to build your credit. There are various services that allow you to check your credit scores for free, including Credit.com.)

Borrowers looking at a $300,000 home would need at least $15,000 in cash for a minimum down payment on conventional financing (5%) and at least $10,500 for FHA financing (3.5%).

The average conventional borrower in April had a 755 credit score, while the average FHA borrower had a score of 685, according to mortgage software company Ellie Mae.

Paying down debt, correcting mistakes on your credit report and other steps can help boost your score, rapidly in some cases. But some blemishes can take longer to clear up than others.

How long it takes to build that down payment nest egg depends on the borrower and their budget. Scraping together enough cash to simply meet those minimum requirements can take considerable time, especially for first-time buyers.

Finding the Right Home

Last year, homebuyers typically looked at 10 homes over 12 weeks before getting under contract, according to the National Association of Realtors.

But there’s no game clock on your home search. You can tour 50 homes over 50 weeks. You can buy the first showing.

It’s obviously the most personal part of the process, but it’s also a time when perfect can truly be the enemy of good. First-time buyers especially have to learn to balance wants and needs with the realities of their housing market and what they can afford.

That’s not always an easy—or quick—lesson to learn.

Loan Processing

For mortgage lenders, the home-buying clock starts once they get a copy of your purchase agreement. From there, work starts on getting the property appraised and all of your financial documentation in order for an underwriter to review.

Like credit and underwriting requirements, appraisal time frames can vary depending on the loan type. For example, most appraisals on VA loans are back within 10 days, but it might take longer in more remote parts of the country.

That 30- to 45-day window from contract to close is a good ballpark for most purchase loans, unless you are trying to buy a short sale (think more like 90 to 120 days). But understand it’s not uncommon for underwriters to require additional documents once they begin scrutinizing your loan file.

Borrowers can help speed the process along by returning those documents as quickly as possible. You don’t have a ton of control once you are under contract on a home, but this is one key area where your swift action—or lack of it—can have a big impact on your home-buying timeline.