Hiban Tells The Truth!

Loan Limits Slashed

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:04:00 +0000

Happy Monday!!!!

Locally the market feels pretty good especially for Thanksgiving around the corner. Just about every agent on the team was out with buyers this weekend. I hope activity like this weekend keeps kicking through the month of December. Many listings are pulling off the market too so we are witnessing a peal away of "want to" sellers , leaving an inventory of motivated sellers and forclosures.

I took a call recently where the seller wanted to list their house with us and scheduled a listing appointment. The day before the appointment she canceled it and said she was mailing the bank back the keys. I tried to talk her into doing a "short sale" which is where the bank takes an amount less than her loan amount and forgives her the difference, but she refused. She said she researched short sales on the internet and didn't want to hassle with it!!! Don't quote me on this but what I've been told is the difference between a short sale and a forclosure on your credit is about 300 points. Meaning, if you short your house your credit will get dinged by about 150 points and if you let the bank forclose on it, you can expect a 450-500 point drop. I'm sure the credit reporting agencies are still trying to figure out how to readjust scores for these and like I said my numbers are heresay.

I just was told that conforming loan limits are being slashed in the Baltimore metro area down to $494,000 from $560,000. What does that mean?

It means if you are borrowing over 494k to buy a home after January 1st 2009, your interest rate will be about 1% higher than if you stay under 494k. Today , you can go up to 560k with the lower rate. On a 500k house what does another percent in payment mean? About 500 duckets a month.................or 6 thousand a year or $180,000 over the term the loan.

SO BUY SOMETHING NOW IF YOU ARE IN THE 500-600 LOAN ZONE!!!!!!

If you are buying in Montgomery or P.G. County you are luckier because those limits will drop from 729k to 625k. Howard and AA County get lopped in with Baltimore City where the average price is much less where in D.C. it's much more and the Southern Counties get lopped in with D.C.

Anyway, let me know what you think.

It's Official-we are worth less than 2005

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:41:00 +0000

http://hcar.org/statistics/2008-home-sales/hcsf1008.pdf

It's official.
According to the October statistics from Howard County Board of Realtors, the average sales price in the county is lower today than it was in 2005.
See the chart for some other interesting news:

1. 70% of all homes sold were between 200k and 600k.
2. Only 10 buyers and sellers came to contract agreements on homes priced over 700k. Last year in October 31 homes sold over 700k.
3.The listing inventory plummetted by 21.8%..........less new listings and more people giving up.
4. Sales declined 17%.
5. The total settlements in 2008 is down close to 20% compared to YTD last year.

I believe the trend of listing inventory decreasing will continue next month but the sales trend will go the opposite way. I'm feeling now that the election is over and there are some great loan products still available homes are selling more briskly. We have had 9 go under in the last 7 days.

Obama Real Estate

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 20:03:00 +0000

What will the election results mean for real estate? for home prices? for sales statistics? for interest rates? I won't pretend to know. All I can tell you is what I'm feeling as a local realtor on the East Coast. It feels as if sales are increasing and listings are decreasing which is the best equation for the overcompetitive market that most home sellers face today. Yet just because activity is on the rise doesn't mean that prices are as well. Forclosure listings are popping up everywhere and although most are not in model home condition, their prices tend to out compete what else exists in their price range. That means they price based on active competition and price themselves lower than active competition to win the race.

We redid an ad last week in the Baltimore Sun and put our forclosures at the top of the page in big blocks. We got an amazing 15 times as many calls as the week prior. The forclosures actually helped generate calls on the non forclosures too. With that strategy in mind we decided to start a
SATURDAY MORNING FORCLOSURE TOUR!!!!!!

Please join us Saturday, November 15th from 10.00 a.m. to NOON for a tour of the top 5 forclosures in Howard County. Tour leaves from our offices at 6011 University Blvd. St. 120 Ellicott City Maryland 21043. If interested email Mike Sloan at mike@hiban.com or call 410-241-7904 to reserve your spot today!!!

Home Sales Soar!!!!!!!!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:43:00 +0000

Home Sales Soar!!!! My friends in Prince William County , Va don't even have time to talk to me these days. They are as busy as all us agents were about 5 years ago. Their average sales price is slashed in half but they are moving and grooving and making some deals daily. That's starting to happen around here a bit. We just sold a forclosure on it's first day on the market and we got contracts on 3 more listings today. I don't think we have enough Howard County foreclosures or enough Anne Arundel County forclosures or even enough Baltimore City foreclosures yet to spur this multiple bid activity. I hope we do on one hand and hope we don't on the other. Read this article if you haven't yet.....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/10/16/ST2008101604149.html

Geterdone!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:27:00 +0000

For the last 3 years the last quarter of the year has been the slowest for sales of homes in Maryland. I don't think this year will be much different. In fact I think this year will be even slower. I think the funk of the election (funk meaning inactivity caused by preoccupation) will merge into the funk of the holidays. That being said , if you are a buyer this quarter you are smart. You are smart because rates just dropped again and because the seller's left during the holiday season are "have to" sellers. The "want to " sellers will start peeling off of the market in the next few weeks. If you are a "have to" seller, you can still sell before 2009. You just need to be smart. Good homes with smart sellers are still selling, we've sold several in the past few days.
Listen to Eric Black and find out how.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcU-wSRJA18

Local Market Surge

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:51:00 +0000

Why is the stock market crashing today? Why did it soar on Monday? Why do I have 3 recent sales (within the last 4 days) and have offers on 5 other properties? I can't explain anything anymore and I won't try. All I can tell you is that for some reason , things are happening now.

SAVE ME!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:28:00 +0000

Everyone wants to be saved from the impending doom. I have a few favorite sayings as of lately:

1. "Capitalism without bankruptcy is like Christianity without hell."
2. The die is cast for the next 12 months.
3. Rates are going nowhere but up.
4. Prices are not at their bottom yet.

Now let me comment on them:

1. Let some of these big players fail. If we don’t, history will just repeat itself.

2. The federal stimulus package is not going to make a difference today. For the next 12 months if you are in trouble… you will still be in trouble in April of 2009. It’s going to take at least a year before we see a difference or some sort of aid being utilized in our community.

3. In early 2000, rates were at 8.4%. That wasn’t that long ago and the real estate market was humming along fine then and the stock market was stable. I wouldn’t be surprised if once the stock market rebounds you see rates begin to rise and by end of 09 be close to February 2000 levels.

4. Prices will continue to come down in pockets where potential for foreclosures exist. No one prices homes more aggressively than banks and a foreclosure sale is no different in determining value than a relocation sale, a divorce sale or a move up sale. The reason behind the sale does not change the fact that the house sold and if your neighbor gets foreclosed on and his or her bank sells the house they will price it strategically lower than all the competition to get it sold. Foreclosures and short sales will determine the bottom.

On the local front, Maryland reached a landmark number last week with record inventory levels of 50,000. 50,000 homes for sale in the state of Maryland and 5,000 sold. So last month was a 10% month. 1 in 10 sold. Howard County housing inventory actually dropped where several other counties increased in inventory.

FIRING THE PLUMBER

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 02:09:00 +0000

Over the last 10 days Washington Mutual or WAMU has lost 16.7 BILLION dollars in deposits!!! And isn’t safe. So regulators seized it and put it in the hands of the FDIC who auctioned it off quickly to J.P. Morgan Chase...who will be the next shoe to drop and who is going to be aided by the “bailout package?”

I heard a talk show host talking on the radio yesterday saying “Who gives a crap about Lehman Brothers? Who gives a crap about WAMU? If you are not directly doing a million dollar business transactions with them…who cares?” Is the plumber fixing your kitchen sink in a deep depression cause WAMU is going down?

We had some spirited debate on this in the blog before last and I think everyone who had chimed in had great points. They are saying that $700 billion equates to $2,300 for every taxpayer. Would the plumber rather keep his $2,300 and pay his mortgage with it or give it to the government to save more financial companies from disaster? But is that really the question?

It isn’t accurate to imply that all the “bail out” money will go to big business and its creators are conscious of making sure no “golden parachutes” are included for CEO’s and their cronies who get wacked in this crisis.

And let’s face it, as some of you have pointed out, we are all related...like body and mind. 26,000 lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers, 24,000 are expected to lose jobs as a result of the Merrill Lynch purchase by Bank of America. That’s 50,000 jobs!!!

Don’t you think those people are going to think twice now about fixing the darn leak in the kitchen sink themselves instead of calling the plumber? That means the plumber just lost his job!

What a fun few days in the American financial world!!!!!!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:39:00 +0000

What does this mean for me? Me, being the local seller of real estate or the local buyer of real estate.

Well one of two things is going to happen here over the next few months and it’s anybody's guess which one. Let me lay them out for you:

Scenario #1

The fact that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now out of harms way will continue to instill confidence for the next few weeks and rates will continue to drop and or stay low. Right now rates are bouncing back and forth between 5.75% and 6.00% depending on the time of day. Soon a few more crumbling companies will be bailed out by the Feds and in order for this to happen the Feds will have to print more money of which they don’t have. This act will diminish the value of the American dollar and cause inflation to rise…When inflation rises…interest rates go up!!!!!

So lock in to your low interest rate now!!

Here’s my sales pitch…follow this link and apply online with Tim Higgins and get a stupendous rate. REFI!!! Or buy a house and use the loan for that.

Scenario # 2

The downward spiral of the stock market will continue and scare investment money away from securities and into bonds. This flight to safety into the bond market will cause rates to drop even further!!! So you might then get a 5.5 or even a 5.0!!! As more companies crumble more and more money switches teams and rates fall further.

I saw Barbara Corcoran, New York’s first lady of real estate today and she said the easy thing for the government to do to end this mess would be to force the banks to lower mortgage rates to 4.875% fixed for 30 years and buyers would come out of the woodwork!!!

Matt Lauer said “That will never happen!!!” I agree with Matt and I do think that one of these above scenarios could happen.

Let me know what YOU think.

Since the "Great Depression"!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:40:00 +0000

What a day, huh? News, news… bad, bad news…economic news that is. But does anything in our world of real estate really change? No...not in my opinion. The interest rates are getting lower and will continue to get lower as the flight to safety affects the mortgage bonds causing rates to decrease. So…that is a good thing. But the reality is… does the average consumer who is buying a house really understand what it means for a company like Lehman Brothers to go bankrupt and potentially send 25,000 employees into the streets or a company like Merrill Lynch to sell out before it got too worse for them? I don’t think so, no more than they understand a large GM plant closing somewhere in Detroit.

I read a question in the Baltimore Sun yesterday morning that asked “Will this put more pressure on home prices?” and the answer by Peter Morici, an economist at the Smith School of University of Maryland said “only if the stock market drops significantly and I don’t see that happening except for an initial shock like the one we felt after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac got rescued.”

I agree with Pete. Yesterday was a killer day for my retirement account, as has been the year so far, but it is temporary. Everything is cyclical. I keep hearing references of the “Great Depression”…that’s stupid. Did you see Cinderella Man? Remember how poor Russell Crowe and the rest of the people were? C’mon, we’re no where near that. Everything is temporary and there is no doubt that these events will make the text books of our future students but to compare it to the great depression is way off.

More shoes will fall, more people will be hurt no doubt, but I don’t think anyone will be pushing an apple cart down the street to feed their family of 6 kids anytime soon.

Ode To Johnny...

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:38:00 +0000

For the last 2 days I’ve driven past a sign on Route 108 with Johnny Hamilton’s name on it. Nothing odd about that…except that Johnny just passed away. I didn’t know Johnny, I may have met him once in my 21 years in the business but I know he’s been a realtor for a long time, most recently with Keller Williams and before that with Long and Foster. I think we did a few sales together over time.

Johnny got stung by a bee on Sunday and evidently went into an anaphylactic shock. My heart goes out to his wife and daughter and to his entire family at Keller Williams Select Realtors. Everyone who knew him said great things about him. At the Keller Williams party this Monday, at the Maryland Association of Realtors convention, the sad news was spread and everyone there had great things to say about our fellow realtor. I’d like to make this blog an ode to Johnny. May he rest in peace, he will be missed.

Mass Exodus in November

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:54:00 +0000

Here is a prediction I have....In mid-November, right before Thanksgiving, the housing inventory in our area will plummet!!!!!

AND the seller’s who take their homes off the market this winter will NOT reappear in the spring. That has been the tradition for the last 3 winters. Take it off in November put it on in March. I think this year the sellers will be giving up for good. That will be a refreshing change for us realtors for sure. I spoke to a seller last week that said to me, “We want to try it at X price, I know it's high but I’m not real motivated. You know Pat, if I can’t get my price by the holidays, I’ll just stay here.”

I told her to “try her price” with another realtor.

P.S. Click here to see my newest video from my trip to Tanzania.

Concentrated Pocket of Wealth!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:43:00 +0000

How would you like to live in a “concentrated pocket of wealth”!!!????

I just read in the Baltimore Sun that the state of Maryland was ranked the richest state in the nation!!!! Click here to read full article from the Baltimore Sun.

That’s right!!! I can remember a long time ago I met someone while on vacation in California. I struck up a conversation with him and told him I was from Maryland. He said “Isn’t that in New York somewhere?”

That’s how I’ve felt many a times when surrounded by peers from other states in our great nation. Maryland, the tiny state on the Eastern tip of the country…I mean it seems like some people in these states like Texas that are so proud of their state. I once met a guy with a Texas flag tattoo…and when I was in Africa, I stayed in a hotel with a Texas flag in the lobby (the owner was a Texan). Why don’t we have that pride here? I think I’m going to get a tattoo of a big huge money sign with a Maryland Flag in the center. Why not? I am living in a "concentrated pocket of wealth!"

End of an Era...

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:23:00 +0000

Last week I had to say goodbye to my full time I.T manager , Josh Moulton. He understood. In 2004 we had over 40 computers running on full cylinder and now we have less than 10. It only makes sense for us to outsource our I.T. work rather than have a full time I.T. person in house.

As he left he wrote me a beautiful note about all the good times he's had here over the last 6 years and how grateful he was that he got to ride that wave. The time we went with the entire team plus spouses to Ruth Chris steak house and racked up a $10,000 bill!!!! The time I took the entire team and spouses to the Pocono's for the weekend, the monthly happy hours we had where at 5.00 p.m., I'd order two drinks and leave and give him (who was 22 at the time) the company credit card and tell him to keep everyone happy until the lights came on. Those were the days, when the real estate industry printed money.

Josh got me to realize that it really is the end of a small era. An era, a wave, a temporary time...one that I don't think we will see again for a while. What a blast it was though, that's for sure. I'll miss you too Josh, and the second we start partying like 2004 again, I'll be sure to call you.

Back in the Game

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:00:00 +0000

I'm officially back in the game.
I decided last week that I wanted to be more involved in my business and starting today I'm talking to all buyers and sellers that we deal with. ALL. So if you call my office. You get me. Sounds simple but it's been probably 5 good years since I spoke to our new business as it came in. My wife let me go to Africa for 2 weeks last month on the condition I didn't travel for a very long time so I'm back in the office putting buyers and sellers together every day now!!!!!!! If you didn't catch my summit video take a look here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4ofMzN8AIk

Million Dollar Home Inventory Surges!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 20:09:00 +0000

I can remember having a million dollar buyer in 1997. Every home we looked at we knew that if he didn't buy it probably no one else would that year. We knew we were the only buyer in existence in that price range at that time. Agents would bombard us after showings wanting to know feedback because we were their only showing in months...and there were not that many to even look at. I'm guessing like 10 homes and that's it, we had to pick one.

Now, of course, there are tons of million dollar homes on the market! If you want to buy a home, over a million bucks, in this area there are 165 to choose from today (not including new homes)! With new homes there are probably over 300 million dollar homes. Seems like for the past 10 years, if you were a builder and had the choice of price range to build in, you chose the upper end. Now we have a glut there. A major glut there…a 14 month inventory glut. That means that at today's sales pace it will take 14 months for the current inventory to be purchased (providing no one new comes on the market). No rush for me...I plan on being here still selling real estate in 100 months, even 1,000 months from now, so 14 months is no biggie. Question is, if you want to sell now, how long is 14 months for you?

June Pending Home Sales Up Unexpectedly!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 19:56:00 +0000

The National Association of Realtors said it's pending Home Sales Index, which is based on contracts signed in June for the entire nation ,was up 5.3% in June!!!!!!!

Also in Howard County sales between 200k and 299k are up 126% in July!!!!!

But if your home isnt' in that price range, sorry for your luck..........sales have slid again. Overall for the year in Howard County , the number of sales are down by 21% YTD. Good news is that listings are down too, so inventory is decreasing. Inventory is down 7% ytd and down 18% compared to this month last year. Less inventory and less agents........if these trends continue downward my hopes and prayers may be answered sooner than I thought.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080807/usa_economy_housing.html

Ken Ulman's Proclamation - July 21st is Officially "Pat Hiban Day!"

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:04:00 +0000

I met up with Ken Ulman, Howard County Executive, yesterday on the rooftop of the George Howard Building next to the police station in Ellicott City. He issued a proclamation and made it official that July 21, 2008 is "Pat Hiban Day." It stated that since I have sold over one billion dollars worth of real estate in the county and since I carried the Howard County flag through wind, rain and snow to 19,320 feet above sea level, I deserved it. Thank You to Ken and Thank You to Mike Sloan, my partner who coordinated the events from before I left for Africa. I made a video journal of my ascent and will be putting it on you tube sometime today. I'll include a link for you on the next blog.

Kilimanjaro

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:53:00 +0000

I DID IT!!!

I summitted Mount Kilimanjaro. That's right...last week I was in Tanzania climing up to "the roof of Africa"!!! I held up a Howard County flag to show my solidarity to my peeps back here. Also, I promised Ken Ulman I'd carry it on up. Now if he keeps his end of the bargain...there will be an official Pat Hiban Day!!!!! in Howard County. Not sure what that means though but once I find out I'll let you know.

Senate passes landmark housing bill. Will Bush sign!?!

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:32:00 +0000

Looks like Bush will be signing this real estate bill that will help out borrowers and buyers. Some highlights of the bill include a $7500 TAX REFUND for 1st time home buyer's....NICE!

Also, the bill will PERMANENTLY increase the conforming loan limits from $417K to $625K. Great news for areas with higher values.

One of the negative aspects of the bill is that it will eliminate programs that allow sellers to provide buyers down payment assistance. These programs like Nehemiah and Genesis which have become hugely popular and allowed many buyer's an opportunity to get up to a 6% contribution will be ELIMINATED.

We hope to see some positivity and some buyer's moving off the fence with this great news. Bush should sign the bill immediately!

Foreclosure filings surged 53 percent in June

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:08:00 +0000

Holy Cow!! 53 %?!?!? Could that be right? Hopefully the dramatic increases in foreclosures will bring the end of the real estate recession to an end quickly. The article goes on to state that one in every 501 U.S. households received a foreclosure filing last month. That is absolutely shocking.

It really goes to show you that this real estate is having an effect on every homeowner in America. Even if YOU are not upside down position, late on mortgage payments or struggling to keep your up with rising/adjusting mortgage payments.....your neighbor or some in your community IS struggling. Ultimately homes around all of us will be foreclosed on which in turn brings down your value.

Hopefully when the smoke clears and the dust settles, American homeowners will stop viewing the "perceived" equity in their home as a piggy bank.

Buckle your seat belts.

$800K price range...multiple offers?? are you kidding me?

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:10:00 +0000

Trackless Sea. We just listed a house (7/11) this weekend in River Hill. Price fantastic ($819900), condition phenomenal (10+) and has 3 offers pending. There are more than 6 months of inventory in the $800-900K price range.

This is a great lesson for the seller's that despite what is you see in the news and media...if you are priced well and in show well, you can still create a seller's market for your home.

Eric Black our Top Listing Agent YTD can show you how.

Call us today for the inside scoop.

A small move in the right direction??

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:17:00 +0000

Check out the Howard County stats. A decrease in inventory and an increase in the number of contracts in June is a positive sign. Although we are a far from a balanced supply/demand position, it is still movement in the right direction. The inventory of homes decreased from May to June to 1532, while the number of homes going under contract increased slightly to 247 homes.

These numbers certainly do not make us Realtors believe the end is near, but it certainly helps out the Howard County market.

It seems that the most affordable price homes, $200-300K town homes and single family homes under $500K seem to be most-likely to sell.

The prospects look poor for re-sale's over $900k. If you are a $1.5 million dollar property you need to be priced at $1.2 to make the buyer's stand up and notice your home. Only 5 re-sale homes over $900K sold in June. There were 221 re-sales listed in that same price range.

The bottom-line is that you need to be at as "wow" price and in "wow" condition in order for the buyer's to take notice.

At the end of the day, it is all about price and condition...if you are willing to price your house well and it is in great condition, you WILL be able to get your home sold.

I hope we all get raises by February 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:02:00 +0000

February 2009 is the month that the majority of "Option Arms" , an incredibly popular mortgage product,are set to "recast". Recast essentially means a forced refinance to current rate . Only issues are:

1. Rate will be much higher than what you pay now.

2. Loan amount you owe will be much higher than where you started because an option arm let's you pay NO principal and less interest than you would owe on a normal loan if you just lop that past due interest on top of your loan amount. Here's an explanation I cut and pasted from Business Week.

The loans, which were generally given to borrowers with better-than-sub prime credit, give homeowners the option of making a minimum monthly payment, which covers none of the principal and only a portion of the interest, the rest of which is added to the loan balance. With years of unpaid interest accumulating and house prices falling, some homeowners have seen their equity disappear and now owe even more than their initial loan balance.
The loans automatically recast after five years, but many will recast sooner as loan balances hit specific principal caps—typically between 110% and 125% of the initial loan amount. Many of these loans are expected to recast within the next two years, meaning that borrowers' monthly payments will swell to include both principal and interest.

Of course the thought at the time was you would just sell prior to recast date!!!! Well if you owe even more than you paid in 2005 that just ain't happening................ So let's just hope everyone with an option arm has the best financial year of their life in 2009 instead of their worst.

Is a small bubble saving the big bubble?

noreply@blogger.com (Pat Hiban) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:35:00 +0000

There are three drivers of any real estate market:

1. First time buyers

2. Investors

3. Vacation home buyers

Vacation home buyers are gone because their home equity lines that they used for the down payments have dried up and it’s not the in thing anymore. Have you seen how many listings are for sale in Ocean City? Buying investment properties for so many was an appreciation play. Meaning most investors bought to flip and make a big profit. Very few bought to rent out because the prices the mortgages they took out cost more monthly than the market rent. That still holds true and now that the appreciation is gone, the investor market has all but shriveled up too. There are some investors that are out now buying distressed properties and bargain prices with the intent to hold till the market corrects itself but nowhere near the amount of investors or wantobe investors that existed 5 years ago.

So that leaves us with first time buyers. And there are still tons out there. And the banks are coming up with new programs every week to help them. Which we love and thank them for. It is industry norm now for a seller to pay ALL of a first time buyers closing help and this is allowed and encouraged by the mortgage companies and realtors.

I can’t help but think that if a seller pays $10,000 of a buyers closing help , aren’t they actually buying the house for 10k more than it’s really worth? And that in itself is a small bubble being created to fix a big one.