Presidential Election and Real Estate

Are you curious about what will happen to our housing market once the presidential election is over? Will there remain assistance for homeowners who are under-water? Will the market be flooded by the influx of bank inventory? These are the questions that every American seems to be asking. An article from the Washington Post may shed some light but, I'm fearing that we won't have real answers until the election is over - and maybe not even then. Is it time to sell your home, walk away or short sell? We can assist you with your options - and will be there when your decision is made The Stephanie Woods Team is stable in our dedication to our clients. You have options, we can help - contact us today!

Humble Abodes

Are you looking for a new humble abode? Click on the link below to preview the new Prescott Valley Home listings for the month of October. Then call the Stephanie Woods Team to schedule your showing - Teamwork makes your dream work! Call us today at (928) 237-4435.

October Listings

Buyer or Seller Market?

That is a tough call. The residential home inventory hasn’t been this low in years. With inventories this low, buyers are competing for the best properties while still trying to get more for their dollar. Have you considered listing your home? In this current market, your property has the potential to sell for more than you think. Home prices are rising. Investors, first time home buyers and those who are up sizing AND downsizing are looking and not finding what they are wanting – it could be your home. Contact The Stephanie Woods Team at Keller Williams Check Realty. We’re here to assist you and provide you with our knowledge and experience.

Stephanie Woods
Associate Broker
Keller Williams Check Realty
3033 Windsong Dr. #202
Prescott Valley, AZ 86314
 (928) 237-4449 

Homes Selling Quicker

Homes Selling Quicker

According to findings by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®, the time it takes to sell a home is shrinking.
The median time a home was listed for sale in July this year was just 69 days. That’s down nearly 30 percent compared to 1 year ago. In fact, nearly one third of homes bought in July were on the market for under a month.
NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun sees a clear connection between the tight inventory conditions and time on the market, saying that the shortening of time on market began this spring, which has led to more of a balance between buyers and sellers across the country. This equilibrium is supporting sustained price growth and homes that are correctly priced are tending to sell quicker. Prices are projected to rise through the rest of this year and into next.

Courtesy of http://retradio.com/?p=6326

Underwater debtors may get tax relief

By Kenneth R. Harney,

Published: August 10

Here’s some encouraging news for financially stressed homeowners across the country: The Senate Finance Committee approved a bipartisan bill before heading home for summer recess that would extend the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act through 2013.

Why is this important? Several reasons: The law spares homeowners who receive principal reductions on their mortgages from being hit with hefty federal income taxes on the amounts forgiven. Without it, millions of owners who go through foreclosure or leave their homes following short sales would experience even more financial stress.

Which has also provided relief to thousands of people who have debt balances written off as part of loan-modification agreements and is crucial to the $25 billion federal-state robo-signing settlement with large banks — is set to expire at the end of December. Some Capitol Hill analysts predicted that, along with a host of other special-interest tax benefits, an extension might have trouble making it through the partisan gantlet in an election year.

But the Senate committee managed to pull together enough votes Aug. 2 to pass the debt-relief extension after heavy lobbying by the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Home Builders. The bill, which now moves to the full Senate for possible action next month, also would extend tax write-offs for mortgage insurance premiums for 2012 and through 2013, and it would continue some energy-efficiency tax credits for re modelings and new-home construction.

The mortgage debt relief extension ultimately could affect millions of families who are underwater on their loans, delinquent on their payments and heading for foreclosure, short sales or deeds-in-lieu-of-foreclosure settlements. Under the federal tax code, all types of forgiven debt are treated as ordinary income, subject to regular tax rates. When an underwater homeowner who owes $300,000 has $100,000 of that forgiven as part of a modification or other arrangement with the bank, the unpaid $100,000 balance would normally be taxable.

But in 2007, Congress saw the fast-mounting distress in the housing market on the horizon and agreed to temporarily exempt certain mortgage balances that are forgiven by lenders. The limit is $2 million in debt cancellation for married individuals filing jointly, $1 million for single filers. This special exemption, however, came with a time restriction. The current deadline is Dec. 31. Without a formal extension by Congress, starting on Jan. 1 all mortgage balances written off by banks would be fully taxable — a nightmare scenario that has had financially stressed homeowners worried for months.

These apprehensions were raised even higher when some policy analysts predicted that a Congress as fractious and dysfunctional as the current one would never get its act together to pass any tax bills until the closing moments of the lame-duck session expected after the November election. Even then, with such issues as the mounting federal debt and draconian spending cuts scheduled for Jan. 1 taking precedence, smaller matters such as mortgage debt relief might well be lost in the dust storms, experts predicted.

A few Republican policy strategists, including Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former Congressional Budget Office director and economics adviser to Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign, speculated that tea party freshmen in the House might oppose the debt-relief extension because they see it as another costly bailout funded by taxpayers. The estimated revenue cost to the Treasury for a two-year extension is $2.7 billion.

The mortgage insurance deduction is another key housing benefit that made it into the Senate committee’s 11th-hour extender bill. Mortgage insurance generally is required whenever home purchasers make small down payments, whether on conventional, private-market loans or through government programs. Under a provision in the tax code that expired this past December, certain borrowers could write off their mortgage insurance premiums on their federal income taxes, just as they do with mortgage interest. To qualify for a full deduction, borrowers could not have adjusted gross incomes greater than $100,000 ($50,000 for married taxpayers filing separate returns).

The Senate’s bill would extend the write-off retroactively to this past Jan. 1, and would continue it through December 2013. No buyer or owner who planned to write off premiums during 2012 would be penalized, in other words, despite the expiration last December.

The outlook for the extenders: Given the popularity of the housing deductions and credits, look for supporters to press the full Senate for early action in September in order to get these issues settled before Election Day. If there are serious objections in the Republican-controlled House, however, then all bets are off until the lame-duck session, when election losers as well as winners get to write federal tax policy.

Ken Harney’s e-mail address is kenharney@earthlink.net.

It's a Sellers Market - Our inventory hasen't been this low in YEARS!

A funny thing happens in real estate. When it comes back, it comes back up like gangbusters.

~Barbara Corcoran

Active Properties UNDER $100k

The real estate market has turned around in some parts of the U.S., but many buyers aren't seeing true bargains anymore. Investors are driving up prices, and inventory is low, especially for homes priced under $250,000. That's not great news for anyone hoping to buy an affordable house to live in.

Arizona is home to one of the nation's extraordinary turnarounds. The Phoenix-area median home price rose 20 percent over the past year — 6 percent in March alone. And Tucson was recently named the nation's best market for investors. But the easy money has already been made.

Tucson firefighter Keith Cubberley buys distressed property in his spare time. The brick house he bought recently in an older middle-class neighborhood was trashed. "It was dirty and people hadn't done anything to take care of the property for the last 40 years," he says.

So Cubberley gutted it, and now he has workers fixing it up. When he's done, he'll resell the house. But buying low-end real estate like this, he says, is getting harder.

When an investor is buying, they will very often offer cash and waive the appraisal contingency, and that is very attractive to a seller because they know the deal is almost certain to go through.

- Mike Orr, Arizona State University real estate researcher

"Anything $100,000 and under ... [is] selling very quickly," he says.

Inventory Down, Prices Up

Tucson real estate agent Steve Marshall, who specializes in finding homes for investors, says a lot of homes that would have sat on the market a couple of years ago are now getting multiple offers.

"They're starting to list their properties higher than what they used to," Marshall says. "Property that would've listed for $20- to $30,000 is now listing for $50- to $60,000."

About a quarter of all home sales in Phoenix and Tucson are to investors — people looking to fix and flip or fix and rent, or people looking for a second home.

Mike Orr, a real-estate researcher at Arizona State University, says a lot of people are still looking for bargains, but the deals are harder to find. He says prices are up because inventory is down — there are fewer homes on the market. There are also fewer foreclosures — about 60 percent fewer than last year in the Phoenix area.

"Although we still have a flow of foreclosures taking place, it's dramatically down from the worst situation, which was kind of 2008 through 2010," Orr says.

Homes worth more than $250,000 are moving up in value, too, but more slowly. Rising prices are good news for Arizona homeowners who saw their property plummet in value since 2008, but Orr says the investor frenzy on the market's low end is bad news for people who just want to buy an affordable home and live in it.

Are you starting to look for a new home? 

Don't do it by yourself. Let us help you! 
There are deals out there that you could miss out on. 

Check on these NEW/RESALE homes in Prescott Valley. 

Click here for more listings! 

We can help you find your dream home. NOW is the perfect time to buy. Please contact the Stephanie Woods Team at Keller Williams by phone (928) 237-4449 or check out our website: 
www.PrescottAZHomeFinder.com 

BEST DEALS OF THE WEEK!! Yavapai County HUD Homes, FORECLOSURES, and SHORT SALES

HUD Homes, FORECLOSURES, and SHORT SALES 07/31/12 -08/06/12

Click on the links below to view the BEST PRICED properties!

Prescott, Prescott Valley & Chino Valley - Bank Owned Properties

Single Family Residence

Mobile Homes 

Condos / Patio Homes

Prescott, Prescott Valley & Chino Valley -  Short Sale Properties

Single Family Residence

Townshouse / Condo

Prescott, Prescott Valley & Chino Valley -  HUD Properties

Single Family Residence

 Mobile Homes

Prescott, Prescott Valley & Chino Valley -  Homes

Single Family Residence

Townhouse / Condo

Mobile Homes

Call us if you would like to view any of these amazing deals!!

Stephanie Woods, Realtor
The Stephanie Woods Team
Keller Williams Check Realty
 (928) 237-4449   (928) 237-4449 
Stephwd@msn.com
Our team has Certified Short Sale agents available if you or someone you know could use assistance. Feel free to call us.

Stephanie Woods

 928-308-8565  <>  928-308-8565

11355 Sleek Way, House of the Week

11355 Sleek Way, Prescott Valley, AZ This house is fantastic. Country living doesn't get much better than this. The property boasts a 3214 sqft house with 4 bedrooms and 3 baths. Great views from every window, especially the kitchen sink that looks over the entire Woodchute Mtn. Range(Mingus Mtn.) Drive through garage leads to the mud room that goes into the kitchen. The grounds have two horse pens already installed and pads for two stalls. Take a look and if your interested, please give me a call and I'll show you the house.

NEW Foreclosure in Prescott Valley

NEW foreclosure listing in Prescott Valley
You are the first to know, if you are interested call us to get your viewing before anyone else!

Address: Loos Dr. in Prescott Valley
3 beds 2 Baths
1786 Sq feet
Built in 1986
Sitebuilt
Priced under $78,000

NEED MONEY: We have connections with lenders that can get you up to 22% down on foreclosures!

CALL NOW, before you miss your chance at this great buy!
 (928)237-4455
Stephanie Woods Team, Keller Williams
prescottreoagent.com

REO Training Seminar put on by NFSTI

Well...I finsihed the seminar today. It was very informative and had some great REO tools. They are up on the latest technology which made the class interesting. I was really excited about BPO Automation but found it priced extremely high. If it was a reasonable amount the company would surely be flooded with clients. It's just to bad they don't see that. I look forward to using some of the new tools I have in my box. All of my group came out to get this great certification. Now all my agents are REO certified. I hope to bring this knowledge to the Prescott area to assist with new ways to keep up with my propreties.

I have a foreclosure in Walker off of Big Bug Mesa Rd. coming on the market tomorrow. Stay posted and don't forget to check out http://www.prescottreogroup.com for the latest REO listings. If you would foreclosure listings send to you regularly please send me an e-mail and I will get you on our list.