You are currently browsing Matt Hernacki’s articles.
Get listing information on your cell phone with our new mobile app! Click on the logo to send the app to your cell phone or text MRHOMES to 87778. Then anytime you see a ‘for sale’ sign you can pull up the listing while you’re right in front. If you want to see it, we’ll get you inside. Feel free to use it if you just want to be a nosy neighbor too! You’ll be able to see recently sold properties as well.
The media just loves bad news. The past 24 hours have pummeled the state of the Real Estate market. Now alright, it is not good – everybody knows that. But all this news of 27% drop from June to July sales is out of control. Shouldn’t this have been expected? June 30 was the original expiration date for closing to get the first time buyer tax credit. So it stands to perfect reason that we would see a drop in July since just about every buyer was trying to close before June 30. I have not come across one so called analyst who makes this point when commenting on this news. This is a direct result of the tax credit and the hangover (see yesterday’s post) from it.
It may be time for some Chaser. Come to think of it, Chaser is kind of like the billion dollar bailouts and loan modification programs. None of them work. Check out the news release from the Illinois Association of Realtors.
If you’re considering buying, take advantage of the slow Summer and incredible interest rates. Prices are amazing, and roughly what they were about 10 years ago in many areas.
At least for homeowners in counties other than Cook perhaps. We have heard for a couple of years since prices started falling that local assessors were excluding short sales and foreclosures from their assessments in order to keep revenue up. Hardly fair considering the homeowner is being hit hard if they try to sell or refinance due to the lower prices. I have also started to see taxes on listings that are now way out of whack with current sale prices, many times a 1/3 or more higher that what used to be ‘average’. The Illinois Association of Realtors helped pass a bill to help make the assessments more fair. Watch the video.
Let’s hope stories like this do not become common.
Check out this AP story on loan modifications today. More people drop out of the loan modification process than actually get their mortgages modified. The moral of the story is don’t wait on a loan modification that most likely will not happen. The time and false hope wasted on a loan modification is valuable time a homeowner needs to try a short sale before ending up in foreclosure. To make it more of a mess the new program guidelines require a homeowner to try a modification before attempting to get a short sale approved. But if a homeowner is already well on their way to foreclosure, there may not be time for both.
According to the New York Times today, the Obama Administration is floating another new program to spur short sales. We’ll see if this one has any teeth. They seem to come out with these programs every few months, but we have yet to see any clients really benefit from them.
Our trusted attorney, Tom, has an excellent post today on what to expect after a foreclosure or short sale, and how to prepare if you find yourself in a similar situation.
You still have a slightly better chance of getting a loan modified than winning the lotto. And since getting a loan modified is like winning the lotto, you should probably be taking a shot at both if you need to. An article in the Tribune yesterday says, “Only 31,382 mortgages across the nation were permanently made more affordable.” Across the nation! Now there are hundreds of thousands more supposedly in a “trial period”, but let me know if you bump into anyone who has actually even made it to the “trial period”.
Now I don’t believe everyone should get their loan modified. I am just tired of seeing stories in the media (and the government acting like it is doing something) giving people false hope that they are going to have a chance of getting help when clearly it is a long shot. I have seen too many people lose too much time waiting on a loan modification that never happens. They end up in a worse position than when they started the loan mod process. It hurts everyone, the market, and especially the people who legitimately need the modification the most.
Mt. Prospect in great location near train. Updated kitchen, just refinished hardwood floors, fantastic yard! Great schools. Just $240,000. 109 S. Bobby Lane. Full listing.
