Know Your Credit Score and Other Helpful Home Buying Tips

There are many tools that new home buyers can use to prepare to become a homeowner, which were not available even a few years ago.  On the Internet, new home buyers can access home loan calculators, tax appraisals, pre-qualification opportunities, and constant credit monitoring.  Some new home buyers may not realize that the last item – credit monitoring – is one of the most important factors that lenders use to determine eligibility for a new home loan.  Staying on top of your credit right before you are about to buy a home is the most important thing you will need to do unless you are planning on being able to purchase a new home for sale with cash.

If you have the availability, sign up for a free credit monitoring agency which will not only be able to constantly inform you about your credit report, but it will also alert you if there are any changes to

your credit report.  You are going to want to know exactly where you stand with your credit when you go to apply for a loan.

If you check your credit report, and you see items on it that you don’t recognize, be sure to immediately report those errors to the credit agencies so that they can be removed.  Any good credit monitoring company will have information where you can dispute items on any of the three credit agencies’ reports.  You will need to have as clean a credit report as you can when applying for a home loan.

Finally, if there are legitimate items on your credit report which need to be addressed or paid, you will want to be sure to take care of those before applying for a loan.  Some banks won’t approve you for a loan with derogatory marks on your credit report.  Others will give you a loan, but it will be for a higher interest rate than you would have gotten with a better credit rating.

Credit is the biggest factor in getting a home loan, but don’t forget that you will need to have enough income to qualify for a home loan. Make sure you know how much you qualify for before going out to search for a house, so that you don’t go out of your price range during your search.

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Madisonville Mayor’s Name Used in Naming New Library

The mayor of Madisonville and the man responsible for the construction of the new library which overlooks Lake Pontchartrain on the shore of the Tchefuncte River is Peter (Pete) Gitz.  Even though, typically, it is customary for someone to be deceased for 7 years before naming a building or a road after them, Peter Gitz watched his name being unveiled on the side of the new Madisonville Library on Wednesday, December 13th.  The old Madisonville library, which formerly stood on Cedar Street was damaged during Hurricane Katrina.

This unique event came about because the Louisiana Legislature approved an exception to the state law which was introduced by Parish president Pat Brister and sponsored by State Representative Reid

Falconer, R-Madisonville which allowed the naming of the new library after Peter Gitz while he was still alive. The purpose was to reward him for his years of service to the community and the accomplishment of seeing the new library constructed.

“This is one of those times when a good thing happens to a good person,” current Madisonville Mayor Jean Pelloat said in remarks which preceded the unveiling of the new building sign where dozens of people showed up to support the mayor. Described as a humble, small town mayor who was respected, 83-year-old Gitz served Madisonville for 10 terms as mayor.  Just as humbly, Gitz accepted the accolade with simplicity saying, “I just felt like we shouldn’t be without a library. I’m thankful to a lot of people who helped get this done. I’m really proud of everything that we’ve done and all the hard work people put into it.”

Located on donated land consisting of 1.5 acres, the library is a raised structure which is 14 feet off of the ground, and the cost of construction had a price tag of $4.7 million. With 15,000 square feet of space, it is one of the biggest libraries within St. Tammany Parish.

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Important Home Buying Information

In case you haven’t been “in the market” to buy a home in a very long time, now its as easy as a touch of your finger to begin the search for the perfect home you wish to buy.  However, this article gives you some helpful tips on how to process and move forward with the information that you find online during your home buying process.

Before you even get started with buying a home, make sure you know what type of home that you want.  That doesn’t just mean, bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, and location, although those are pretty much mandatory pieces of information you will need when searching for a home to buy.  Make a list of the items that you can and can’t “live without.”  If you definitely need a space for an office, make sure that the home you are buying has a room with enough outlets and phone lines to install your office equipment and hook up a modem.  If you need a lot of cabinets in your kitchen, make sure that you put that on the list and don’t settle for a home that has a kitchen which won’t be functional for you.  When you have your list of of absolute must-have’s, then make sure you know how much home you can afford so that you can find a home that not only fits your needs but fits in your budget.

Once you have established the exact type of home that you want, start your real estate search online.  There are hundreds of websites out there which carry what is called an IDX feed, which is access to the MLS feed (Realtor listings) of all homes for sale in your area.  By using a useful website, you can actually sort the homes for sale by bedrooms, baths, square footage, and price.  Once you have sorted down the homes which fit your basic requirements, you can view multiple pictures of the homes for sale to see what type of features they include.

After utilizing all of these preliminary tools, you may consider hiring a Realtor who can take you around, get you access to homes for sale, educate you on parts of town, school districts, and realistic pricing.  A Realtor should have their finger on the pulse of the real estate market and should be well-informed on where homes with your price range and parameters may be located. Also, a Realtor can assist you throughout the entire buying process as well.

When you are doing your preliminary research, be sure to pay attention to any open house information you may see about homes in which you are especially interested.  It is also advised that you drive the neighborhoods in which you are interested, as well as the surrounding area to see if they are going to fit your lifestyle as well as your budget.

All of these tools should help you make an informed and intelligent decision about the home you wish to buy.  These tips should also get you as close as possible to any existing home on the market which is in your price range, with the features you want, where you and your family can be happy.

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Housing Market Prices Increase With Mixed Results

The housing market has completely rebounded and nationally home prices have risen 49.9% according to CoreLogic. The next challenge that builders have been facing is a labor shortage in the construction market and an increase in materials, especially after this year’s hurricanes and wildfires.  To offset this cost, builders and developers alike have been looking at setting a new trend called densification.  This basically means that because of the scarcity of lots available to build, builders and developers must divide up the lots that they can purchase to put more houses on each lot, thus reducing the overhead cost and property taxes per house that they build.

Home prices have come completely back to the record high that they were in August, 2006, before the housing market crashed.  For this reason, it is lucrative to be in the home building and real estate

industries right now. However, depending upon what market you are in, home prices may have been on a continual increase, or some builders may have seen a volatile up and down trend in their local community’s home prices.

According to the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC), the following statement was issued.

“The median lot size of a new single-family detached home sold in 2016 stands at 8,562 square feet, or just under one-fifth of an acre. This is a new record low and a small decline since 2015, when the median lot size fell under 8,600 square feet for the first time since Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC) started tracking the series for single-family detached homes.”

By reducing overhead costs, builders and developers will be able to make more profit. Thus, shrinking lot sizes is one answer to reducing these costs.  However, some communities have covenants which require a certain lot size, or pre-engineered plans have delineated the size and scope of the lot and house in new developments, so the trick is to be a crafty business professional and seek out opportunities to rezone lots to a smaller size.

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Fireworks Have Been Made Legal for New Year’s Eve

For those diehard celebrants of national holidays who love their fireworks, there is good news to celebrate in Covington, Louisiana, this year. Fireworks have been made legal in Covington for the major holidays of the 4th of July and New Year’s Eve. A unanimous vote by the city council of Covington, Louisiana lifted the fireworks ban and have allowed the sales of fireworks for the 4 days

surrounding the New Year’s Eve holiday as well as 3 days in July for the 4th of July.

For many people, this will come as welcome news as they had already been putting on small fireworks shows in their driveways or backyards, or even full-scale displays for rural areas where there was a lot of land to catch any fallout from falling debris, but the fact that the sale of fireworks is now official will help with the local economy during these times of year as well. This change did go into effect for our upcoming New Year’s Eve celebration, so neighbors should expect a bit more noise during this holiday than normal, now that they will have local access to more fun-filled firebrands.

Even though the municipal law had only prohibited the shooting off of fireworks within city limits of Covington, it was up the police department’s discretion at some places as to where the city limits ended and unicorporated Covington began. This will take a lot of the pressure off the police department during these holidays to pursue other calls not involving unhappy neighbors and fireworks. The city council held a public hearing before voting unanimously in favor of lifting the ban and received positive support.

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Appraisals a Big Challenge But Getting Easier

One of the biggest challenges facing builders and people selling their homes in St. Tammany Parish and Southeast Louisiana are the appraisals that are given for the homes for sale and built new homes.  Recently, in the last few years, laws were established requiring banks and mortgage companies to choose appraisers from a universal list, giving each appraiser an equal amount of work. However, because appraisers are not required to go through intensive training and maintain continuing education, some appraisals that were turned in to the banks and mortgage companies fell far below what the perceived value of the house was.

This causes a problem for the closing process in that the loan amount is often more than the house is worth, according the appraiser.  The appraisal process for a home for sale or new home for sale in a

new neighborhood or in a rural part of St. Tammany Parish, where there aren’t a lot of “comps” (comparisons of homes previously sold in the area) can be a stressful one for a home buyer looking to buy a new home or existing home for sale, unless it is a cash sale.  The appraisal dictates to the mortgage company or the bank how much the loan amount can be based upon the value of the house and / or the down payment of the buyer.

“An appraisal can vastly impact the mortgage process. This number alone can impact how much a buyer needs to bring to closing, or the current equity a homeowner has when refinancing,” said Bill Banfield, Quicken Loans Executive Vice President of Capital Markets. “If homeowners are aware of local home values and how they are changing, it will assist with a smoother mortgage process.”
However, there is good news for the real estate industry, the distance (difference) between the amount of the appraisal and new home and existing home prices has narrowed for 4 months in a row according to the National Quicken Loans home Price Perception Index (HPPI). Appraised values are still falling short of home prices, but the most recently logged margin during the month of September was 1.14%. This is good news for builders looking to sell their homes (and have them appraise) at market value.

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Interest Rate Increase Expected in December

Interest rates have been driving the housing recovery, as well as the economic recovery in the United States since the housing market dropped out in 2008.  The Fed has kept interest rates at zero for approximately 8 years which has been attractive for both home buyers, new home buyers, and people looking to refinance their mortgages.

As the U.S. economy has recovered at a very gradual, yet very steady pace, the Federal Reserve,

called The Fed, has, within the last year, started to gradually increase the interest rates, once in December, 2016, again in March and then in June, 2017.  During the last meeting of The Fed, October 31st and November 1st, during a two-day meeting in Washington, kept the interest rate the same.  This could be  because a new pick for The Fed chair was expected on Thursday. Rates have stayed within the 1% and 1.25% range, with a rate increase expected in December.

New picks for the chair for the Federal Reserve include the current chair, Janet Yellen, and Jerome Powell, a Fed governor and John Taylor, an economist at Stanford University.

The economy is said to be strong enough to handle another rate increase, especially with the job growth and recovery due to the hurricanes in both Texas and Florida and the wildfires, which have increase restoration construction in California.  In addition, the United States unemployment rate is the lowest it has been since 2001 at 4.2%, and the job growth has increased for the last 83 out of 84 months.

The December increase in the interest rate will not cause a huge disruption in the home building industry as, even with the rate hikes, mortgage rates are still at historic lows.  However, the refinance market has slowed down a great deal once rates rose above 4%.

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