Paces Funding Blog

The first half of 2011 couldn’t be more different than the first half of 2010 in terms of home buyer profiles.  In early 2010, the homebuyer tax credit was the primary impetus for home purchases.  Many buyers accelerated their purchases to close within the first six months of the year.  There is also indication that people looking to wait until 2011 to buy may have moved up their purchase by a full year to take advantage of the tax credit.

In early 2010 houses priced below $150,000 were selling rapidly.  These houses needed to be renovated on par with higher priced homes (i.e. granite countertops, stainless appliances).  When the tax credit expired, this market dramatically decreased.  In many submarkets of Atlanta, sellers cannot find buyers at this price point in 2011.  The tax credit had that large of an impact.

On the flip side, investors are having great success in 2011 selling houses at higher price points (> $300,000).  These end buyers tend to have higher credit scores and verifiable income.  Both of these items are helpful for FHA or conventional financing today.  Investors have higher risk, though, at this price point.

New home builders are also starting to come back in the market.  That subject will be discussed in a future post.

Good luck with your investing.  Call Dean at 404.814.1644 x101 if you need funding for your next real estate investment.

First 500 people to reply will be given a free house in Atlanta!!

In an unprecedented move, the Atlanta City Council has unanimously voted to donate 500 foreclosed homes to real estate investors. The intent is for investors to renovate the homes and sell them for substantial profit. The IRS has agreed not to tax the gain on the sale of the properties. It has been labeled as the Great Atlanta Investor Stimulus Package and is sure to be a defining event in Atlanta’s history.

DJ Mortgage has been selected as the contract management firm for the stimulus. Contact them immediately at 404.814.1644 x101 to claim your free house. Only 500 homes will be offered so act quickly!

April Fools!!

Our clients are getting an uptick in traffic to their properties.  Fully renovated properties are getting priority for retail buyers.  Those buyers often don’t have the time and/or money to do additional renovations themselves.  Also, the low budget renovations of 5 years ago won’t work.  Today’s buyers are educated and will no longer go for the formica countertops and Home Depot fixtures.  Call Dean at 404-822-9507 for more insight.

It seems that it is getting more difficult to get commercial loans via traditional lenders.  At DJ Mortgage we are seeing a large uptick in commercial funding requests.  Many of these loans are at a low LTV.  For most hard money lenders, the exit strategy is important.  With the difficulty in permanent commercial financing, it is trickier to underwrite commercial deals.

If you have a commercial deal that needs funding, contact Dean Tilman at DJ Mortgage at 404.814.1644 x101.  Dean can effectively help you evaluate your financing options.

So much for global warming!  Atlanta took a hit with the snow and ice last week.  Amazing how the whole city shuts down but it’s probably unwise to use taxpayer funds to purchase additional snow/ice removal equipment for such a rare event.

We had several clients aggressively putting in purchase offers last week hoping to capitalize on decreased competition.  In their offers they were stating they could close in 5 days (which we can do) hoping to get quick decisions from banks.  We’ll see how that turns out this week.

Overall though it seems that the banks and real estate investors largely took last week off.  That should change this week.

Happy Investing!

Dean Tilman

404.814.1644 x101

Dean.Tilman@DJMortgage.net

As of early December, it’s hard to determine if the banks are willing to deal on disposing of their REOs by year end. I’ve seen increased movement by banks to lower sales prices when presented with comps showing lower values once the title work has been initiated. We’ve had some properties appraise lower than expected and the banks have decreased their sales prices by over $10k! Don’t be shy about going back to the seller to renegotiate your purchase price. You might now always get it, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. Call me if you want to discuss my experience with this.

Dean Tilman
404-814-1644 x101

DJ Mortgage will be providing real estate investing commentary and observations through the blog on this site. Return often to learn about the latest trends in real estate investing.