Military Families & Their Real Estate Needs...

Go Navy! Go Army! Go Air Force! Go Coast Guard! Go Reserves!
Everyone on our team is PRO Armed Forces.  We intimately know the sacrifices that families and individuals make with service to our country.  It is with great pride that we provide service and help to active, retired or discharged military & their families.

In the last few years many of our Brothers and Sisters In-Arms have experienced hardships with housing due to the falling price points in the housing market.  Our ability to support and provide information on options to them sets us aside from many within the market place. 

Military relocation is heating up, even with the discussions of sequester or cuts in the Department of Defense. Relocation and new orders may slow down but they will never cease and desist.  Key elements in successful deployments and moves are to identify local real estate agents that know the market, for buying or renting.  Agents that can help identify schools, after-school sports programs that might fit a family’s needs.  Agents can also provide insights on timing, rental opportunities and help in planning ahead.

In finding an agent make sure you get references. Ask if have they closed transactions with the VA...  Ask to speak to their references...Get specific information on the service level an agent provides...  Do not just take a printed or copied thank you note off a web site! Dig a bit deeper and make sure you are engaging the services of a licensed REALTOR who knows the market and knows the military requirements.

In some cases you may need to short sale a home.  All the major lenders are working with all branches of the service to allow for short sales when an armed services member is deployed or has PCS orders.  Selling in a short situation can be very stressful. So, again, engage the services of a licensed REALTOR that has experience, not only in short sales but with the VA.  Your VA availability can be protected and available to you in 1 year from the completion of the sale, provided you handle the process in the correct manner. 

Freedom is not free. Great sacrifices have been paid to allow us all the daily movement from place to place and the ability to speak our minds.  Thank you to those who have gone before and those who will follow. It is with great pride that we salute your service to our great nation and we look forward to providing you with service should you need our help here in Boise, or anywhere in the United States.

As a free service, I have the professional network to also locate an excellent REALTOR anywhere in the USA for anyone looking and not knowing where to start.

Call or email me with ANY questions.

I am here to serve YOU this time!

Rick Bennett, Your Boise Area Real Estate Expert
Representing Mountain Home Air Force Base Military Families
208-407-0532

rickbennett@id-buy.com

www.id-buyrealestate.com

Housing Market: RENT or BUY?

There are many factors that need to be considered in order to make a sound decision.
Let's stay positive and just weigh the PROS. The cons become obvious.

PROS to Leasing/Renting: 

Need  more room, a swing set, sand box, pumpkin patch...? 

• Maintenance is minimal or non-existent and not your problem. A respectable landlord steps up and tackles any of the household and yard needs. 
• There are cheaper up-front costs to get in the door. Leasing typically does not require a large deposit.
• You can buy time to build your credit or credit status.                                           Or build your dream house.
• If it's not a "buyers' market, leasing enables you to bide your time until it is.
• Leasing gives you move-out flexibility and options without loss of equity. You are a job hopper or in high demand? Waiting to have a family didn't quite work out and it's triplets? Just can't live with those neighbors or CC&Rs? In some other life transition? Move on!

PROS of Buying:

• No more landlord... You own the home and can decorate, tweak, and put your personal mark on it. You bought if for all the reasons that are right for you and your dream has come true. It is a very prideful and momentous milestone in one's life. Build a sandbox, plant a garden, pour a fire pit, add skylights because the sky is the limit, within your building codes, HOAs, CC&Rs and other such variances, that is!
• You have equity in your home and a well-timed purchase will appreciate in value over the years.  Payment made on the principle of your loan is an increase in the amount of your home.
• Your mortgage is a fixed, predictable amount so you can do some financial planning involving the next 30 years. Rents are guaranteed to go up and perhaps unpredictably.
• Tax breaks like no income tax on the sale of your home when the time comes make owning attractive.

Life happens. Making the right decisions can make it all a lot smoother, easier and more manageable.
Call me with questions or thoughts,
Rick Bennett, Your Boise-Area Realtor
208-407-0532
www.id-buyrealestate.com

Intelligent Real Estate Decision Making

Thinking of buying and investing in Boise Area Real Estate? Don't rely on hear-say, your gut feeling or what the locals might tell you. Our friends at Forecast-Chart.com, who chart the course of financial markets, show us a very analytical view of our local market and Boise's "home price appreciation." They publish forecasts for the trend in home prices in 380 Metropolitan Statistical Areas. The House Price Trend will be either UP or DOWN. Here is their take for the Boise area. I find it all very straightforward and optimistic for the health of Treasure Valley's economic growth. "ID-BUY" in Boise...

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Boise City Real Estate Market: Trend, Analysis & Statistics 

3rd Quarter, 2012 Housing Statistics: Boise City, Idaho

Part 1: HOUSING MARKET FORECAST
12 Month Forecast:        UP
Forecast Accuracy:      78%

The forecast for the trend in the Boise City housing market for the 12 months ending with the 3rd Quarter of 2013 is UP. The Accuracy of the Trend
Forecast for Boise City is 78%. In other words, when tested against historical data, the forecasting methodology was correct 78% of the time. Accordingly,
Forecast-Chart.com estimates that the probability for rising house prices in
Boise City is 78% during this period. If this Housing Market Forecast is correct,
home prices will be higher in the 3rd Quarter of 2013 than they were in the 3rd
Quarter of 2012. Check this page each quarter for updates to the Boise City
Real Estate Market Forecast.

3 Year Forecast:            UP
Forecast Accuracy:      77%

The forecast for the trend in the Boise City housing market for the 3 years
ending with the 3rd Quarter of 2015 is UP. The Accuracy of the Trend Forecast
for Boise City is 77%. In other words, when tested against historical data, the
forecasting methodology was correct 77% of the time. Accordingly,
Forecast-Chart.com estimates that the probability for rising house prices in
Boise City is 77% during this period. If this Housing Market Forecast is correct,
home values will be higher in the 3rd Quarter of 2015 than they were in the 3rd
Quarter of 2012.

Real Estate Appreciation, Rank & Percentile
Last Quarter                              2.59%         Rank: 50 of 381 (87th Percentile)
Last Year  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6.7%           Rank: 7 of 381 (98th Percentile)
Last 5 Years                              -34%           Rank: 337 of 381 (11th Percentile)
Last 10 Years  . . . . . . . . . . . .   7%              Rank: 293 of 381 (23rd Percentile)
Last 20 Years                            72%            Rank: 219 of 365 (40th Percentile)
Decline From All Time High        34.37%

Home Price appreciation rates for Boise City-Nampa, ID are shown above for
five time periods. For example: Boise City appreciated 2.59% in the Last
Quarter. At that rate, the Boise City Real Estate Market was ranked 50th out of
381 metropolitan areas for Real Estate Appreciation. Boise City was in the 87th
percentile. So Boise City, ID performed better in the Last Quarter than 87% of
the 381 metropolitan areas covered in Forecast-Chart.com.

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Feel free to call me with any questions.

Rick Bennett, Your Boise-Area Realtor

208-407-0532

www.id-buyrealestate.com

Idaho Real Estate Jumping Off Point

Is this market a good market to sell... or buy?  

That depends on you.  If you are looking to move to Idaho, particularly the Boise market area, you may not have much of a choice.  Work with an agent to help you find the opportunities that exist and be lender-approved and ready to close. Let a knowledgeable agent help you take that jump, whether big or small. If you are selling to buy a bigger home, it is a great time to make that jump, before prices head higher or interest rates change.  A great hedge against inflation is real estate.  The purchase is leveraged and with a down payment from 3.5% to 20% you are allowing a higher priced asset to gain in value as the market moves upward in pricing.  Does real estate always go up in value?  Not always but we have experienced one of the biggest drops in value in the history of the market and most likely it will move upward in pricing.

GIve me a call or email me,

Rick Bennett

208-407-0532

www.id-buyrealestate.com

rickbennett@id-buy.com

But Why Buy Real Estate Now?

What is driving buyers to purchase NOW?    A variety of factors and we are seeing this purchase trend throughout the economy, not just in housing.  

Out of the recession... We know that automobile sales are increasing, just like homes. They were depressed during the Great Recession and as employment improves, people are dealing with cars, homes and many things that have "grown old" by at least four years now. 

And in with the new...

Housing starts were dismal the last four years so in addition to resale, we also are seeing an increase in new home starts. Since people cannot find an existing home for sale (insufficient number of homes for sale) they move to new construction for replacement.

So catch it while you can...

In addition, most Americans are keenly aware that interest rates are at historic lows and are not going to stay at this level for ever.  In fact, what the Treasury department has stated is they are watching interest rates against inflation and if we see an inflation, rates will rise.  When they do, the affordability index will rise, stopping the rise of home prices.  Makes sense, a rise in interest rates increases a loan payment, lowering the buyers ability to reach a price point, that stops or slows the rise of home prices.

Call me with your thoughts and questions,

Rick Bennett

208-407-0532

www.id-buyrealestate.com

Who is driving our Real Estate Market?

What is driving our market?  

Buyers. There are more buyers than there are sellers and it is creating an acute housing shortage here in the Treasure Valley. I thought there was significant shadow inventory (homes that the banks had foreclosed on and are sitting on, waiting to release them one at a time).  But not in our market.  Sure, there may be a few homes that have been foreclosed on that have not gotten to market, typically due to bankruptcy or a cloud on title.  In our Treasure Valley market we are seeing a more normal flow of property to market and the banks that foreclose or are working on short sales are demanding a fair market value for the house.  This action is helping stabilize as well as increase housing prices.

Is this trend the new norm for 2013?  Could be, it certainly is the trend for the next 3 months.  Beyond 3 months it is difficult to predict but for now we are in an escalating market, lower supply and higher demand.

More on this soon!

Rick Bennett

208-407-0532

http://www.id-buyrealestate.com

Is BIG MONEY Swaying the Market?

We all can agree that the housing boom from 2004-2007 was fueled by zero down payment loans, stated income without verification and “investors”.  Many of those so called investors were just individuals jumping into an overheated market, buying property because they had been told “real estate never goes down in value” then selling within a short period of time to capture the rising values as the market saw more buyers than sellers. Well, everyone learned that real estate can go down in value. In fact, it can significantly decline when the market forces are combined on several levels to over-inflate demand versus supply. Then the buyer demand leaves and sellers end up holding the bag.  Often times this is referred to as greed...

Are we seeing those trends in today’s market as prices begin to climb from bottom prices of 2011? 

At first glance it would seem that individual pent-up demand is driving the market, combined with historic low interest rates.  I believe this is a very good portion of the current trend, but just below the surface of individual desires to own a home we find BIG MONEY influencing real estate throughout the United States.  

What does this mean?  Large corporate investors have gone to undervalued markets such as Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix, Houston, Orlando, and other major cities, snatching up single family homes for rental income.  This infusion of capital to some of these markets has made it difficult for an individual home owner, the end-user, to buy a property.  They are competing with cash offers and these giant firms are buying hundreds or thousands of homes in these markets.  Once closed, they are refurbished and put in rental pools.

Who are these corporations?  Look up Blackstone Group L.P. (BX). They spent 2.7 billion last year buying 17,000 homes.  Another is Paulson & Co. They have purchased enough land in California, Arizona and Nevada to build 25,000 homes.  Is this a bad thing?  Hard to say. You tell me.  The investors will stop buying once the prices rise to a level that the return from the rentals does not provide an appropriate cash flow.  What is appropriate?  It varies from corporation to corporation. Typically they look for a NET of 6% to 8% on the invested dollar. 

Weigh in on this, more to come in my next BLOG bites.

Talk to  me,

Rick Bennett

208-407-0532

www.id-buyrealestate.com