Experts now agree that a lot of mortgages shouldn’t have been made in recent years. It was foolish for lenders and homeowners to bet housing prices would keep rising. But allowing millions of foreclosures to punish the imprudent isn’t smart. It’ll damage entire neighborhoods. “It’s not like ‘repo-ing’ cars, where you can move them around,” says Richard Syron, chairman and chief executive of mortgage giant Freddie Mac. An empty house loses 20% of its value in six months, he says. Even worse, the larger economy is at risk. Cue Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke: “A sharp increase in foreclosed properties for sale could weaken the already struggling housing market and thus, potentially, the broader economy.” (more…)

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Beautiful Wilkes County NC Timber Frame Home and Mountain Property.

MLS Number: 51166, List Price: $898,500

2 Bedrooms, 2 Baths, 2 half baths, 2 car attached garage, full basement, and a barn on 5 acres of land.

These terms are used to describe thousands of homes and yet some things just can’t be described, they have to be experienced. This is one of those homes that really has to be seen to be appreciated.

This majestic Timber Frame home of the Bob Timberlake genre is not just another house, it provides a feeling of home that is not about walls and floors and windows and doors. It creates a feeling of the flow between your outdoor and your indoor environment that is seamless. Everywhere you look there is a view. Everything you touch feels natural and beautiful in a way that cannot be described, only owned.

Contact Elizabeth Carter, 336.973.5594 or Greg Stikeleather, Broker, 704.880.5247 or email eacarter@charter.net

click here for more information

The ugliness in today’s housing market is claiming a new class of victims — customers of insolvent home builders. What a builder’s troubles mean for its customers can vary depending on factors such as state law, contract terms and how long it takes to get the project back on track. In some cases, buyers may lose all or part of their deposit or wait a year or more for their house to be completed or the builder’s financial troubles to be sorted out. Homeowners who’ve already moved into a new development can find themselves living near a half-finished house where work has been halted. (more…)

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Major mortgage lenders have made it tougher for all types of customers to get loans over the past three months, according to the Federal Reserve’s quarterly survey of bank lending officers. This summer’s credit squeeze prompted an unprecedented tightening in lending standards at major banks. As credit standards toughened, demand for loans also fell, the Fed reported Nov. 5, providing some fresh details on the fallout from the credit crunch. Residential mortgages were harder to get than at any time in the 17-year history of the Fed’s survey of banks’ senior loan officers, the Fed said. The survey covers 52 domestic banks and 22 foreign banks, which together account for a majority of bank lending in the country. (more…)

search for : mortgage lenders, tightening in lending standards

Fair market value is generally what a buyer is willing to pay for a property whose owner is not selling under duress. This is real estate’s version of that time-honored trading axiom, “what the market will bear.” Factors such as market demand, a home’s condition and “location, location, location” do play large roles in determining fair market value in residential real estate. Most real estate agents can calculate a reasonably accurate price based on “comps,” short for a comparative market analysis. You can create your own “comps” based on information from your local property tax office and perusal of Internet and newspaper sale ads, but this strategy probably won’t give you as accurate a picture as actual recent neighborhood sales in your price and size range. (more…)

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Contractors generally agree that cost-per-square-foot is a terrible way to budget for a home, because there are so many variables involved. Do you insist on top-of-the-line cabinets and appliances for your gourmet kitchen, or will mid-range ones do? Are you planning to side the house with cheap vinyl or expensive stone brick? Is the house going to be one story, or two? (The latter is generally cheaper because the foundation is smaller.) Will you have simple, rectangular rooms that minimize the materials and the labor required for framing, or unusual shapes like octagons with vaulted ceilings? (more…)

search for : cost-per-square-foot, ourmet kitchen