Clark County WA Real Estate Blog

Buyers looking for a deal usually think that pre-foreclosure homes can be bought at deep discount. Sometimes thats true. However, usually there is a third party (The Bank) involved.

Short Sales
Most of today’s pre-foreclosure homes are short sales- the seller doesn’t have enough equity to close the transaction. A lot of agents won’t even consider showing short sale properties, as they can tie up a buyer for months before hearing back from the bank, and even if the bank accepts the offer, it may never close. Often, the seller has multiple liens against his house, and it can get very difficult to get everyone to sign off on the buyer’s offer.

Bank Owned
After the home goes through the foreclosure process, it usually reverts back to the bank with a clean title. The best deals I have found usually are bank owned properties-they have been through foreclosure, and have clean titles. Another bonus-the banks usually list them at under market pricing, to get them off their books as quickly as possible. They may even offer financing incentives to use them as the mortgage lender, making the deal even sweeter.

In conclusion, when looking for the best deals you might want to consider Bank Owned properties. They often are priced more attractively, and they can usually close in 30 days or less. They may even help you out with the financing.

The passage of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 is a great opportunity for first time homebuyers to get into their first home. In order to qualify, buyers must not have owned property within the last 3 years, and must make their home purchase between April 8, 2008 and July 1, 2009.

How it works
The first time buyer will be allowed to claim up to a $7500 tax credit on their 2008 or 2009 tax return. This is not an adjustment to income, it is an adjustment to your tax liability (You are free to do whatever you want with it).

The credit functions much as a tax free loan, as it must be paid back in equal installments over the next 15 years.

There is also another provision of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which deals with FHA loan limits. This act raises the loan limits in our area to $417,000.

It’s all good news for first time buyers, and should give the housing market a much needed shot in the arm.

Every once in a while, I see homes on the market with Polybutylene pipe.

What is Polybutylene pipe? Why does it matter?

Polybutylene pipe was used in the construction of millions of homes throughout the U.S. between 1978 and 1995. It was soon discovered that as poly pipe ages and reacts with water-soluble oxidants, it begins to degrade and can leak, causing severe damage to the surrounding building structure (Shell Oil Company settled a class action lawsuit over problems with polybutylene pipe). If you are considering a home containing this type of water supply pipe, you might want to rethink your offer, or at the very least, lower your offering price to allow for complete replacement of the plumbing. It may cost as much as $5,000 to replace the plumbing, and it would be money well spent.