Buy a House Fast

Foreclosures are lower in the D.C. area than elsewhere in the nation, but the ones that do occur are still painful for the homeowners and detrimental to the neighborhood. 

To help reduce them, the Capital Area Foreclosure Network website was recently created by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington. Funded by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the group will also have participation from local governments and non-profits business as it holds marketing and outreach groups and helps other groups that work toward foreclosure-revention in the Washington D.C. area.

According to the Urban Institute, the Prince Georges Area has an average 2.9% foreclosure rate. This includes numbers as low as 1% for Arlington and as high as 6% in Prince Georges County. The study found that 9.5% of the areas mortgages were delinquent by 30 days.

The good news is that the Washington D.C. area has been one of the least affected areas. Despite the fact that foreclosures reached record highs last month, the Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC areas accounted for only 3% of that growth. Florida and California have the burden of being the two biggest areas of growth for foreclosures. These two states alone account for more than 40% of the nation’s total. Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Texas, Nevada, Illinois, and Ohio rack up 30% more.

The D.C. area is one of the better places to live and to buy property in. Compared to many of the other states, the foreclosures are lower and the economic outlook is good. Express Realty Services can show you an affordable home or condo in the District or in northern Virginia or eastern Maryland. Just call us at 888-306-9450 or visit our website to chat with a representative about how to get started

Lost in the Crowd?

When buying a home, you will likely become acquainted with a whole slew of real estate professionals.  From the realtor who helps you select a home to the listing agent who shows you some promising inventory, the experience can be difficult (and extremely frustrating) when any of these pivotal characters fail to meet your expectations.  One of the most controversial areas today is the whole appraisal process.

Help for the Weary

The folks over at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are doing their best to ensure that no one plays fast and loose with the appraisal process.  To that end, they’ve created a new code that holds appraisers to a higher standard of quality and professionalism. Sounds great, right? Well, it has already gotten serious backlash from people in the real estate business who believe stricter rules can only hurt an already struggling housing market.

As a result, Fannie and Freddie have tried to clarify what the new code means for homebuyers like you.  One major change outlined in the clarification document is the need for mortgage lenders to accept appraisals only from professionals with experience in the region in question.  Think about it: wouldn’t you want the appraisal coming from someone who knows the area your future home is in?

While communication between and real estate agents is permitted in the process (after all, realtors can be an excellent source of information), they cannot have a hand in selecting the appraiser.  The concern here is that a realtor eager to close a deal will select an appraiser they enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship, one willing to provide the estimate necessary for the transaction to be completed as quickly as possible.  Similar arrangements can often exist between appraisers and lenders, who have been known on occasion to lean on appraisers to overstate property values. While that may help a seller sell his house fast, it certainly won’t help when the buyer faces this dilemma: “I wanted to buy my house fast, but it didn’t meet appraisal. Now what do I do?”

Appraisal Delay or Consumer Protection?  You Decide which is Best.

Basically, Fannie and Freddie’s goal in creating a new code is to protect the homebuyer, and restore purity to the appraisal process.  Whatever delay these new measures may cause will be more than made up for by the increased confidence buyers will have in the accuracy and integrity of the professionals they turn to for an estimate.