This is probably news to you, if you get your “news” from the traditional media sources. They are not focused on these positive stories and trends. Despite the “doom & gloom” reporting so prevalent in our news reports today, there are many positive things happening locally. We have seen a definite shift in the residential real estate market. People who have been sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the right opportunity to buy, have been starting to make the move forward with their purchase decision.

Here at LifeStyle Builders & Developers, we have seen a strong trend of people who are interested in building a home from “scratch” and personalizing it to be their own. We have also seen an uptick in corporate relocation buyers coming into the Richmond region. For many of these individuals and families, a completed inventory home is just the thing they are looking for. A couple of years ago, there were almost no corporate relocations happening anywhere. But today, we are seeing more activity in this arena as companies are beginning to transfer their talent around the U.S., and specifically here to Richmond.

New homes sales and prices appear to be stabilizing and are beginning to show positive trends upward. Interest rates are still incredibly low. Data going back to the mid-1900’s show that approximately every 10 years, housing prices double, even with periodic downward price adjustments. Is now the best time to move forward with your new home purchase decision? Only you can decide that, but the indicators are strong for buying now, before the prices and interest rates begin their inevitable climb upward.

LifeStyle Builders & Developers has been building new homes in the Richmond, VA area for over 20 years. Stop by one of our many communities, or our award-winning Design Studio to see what we have to offer.  We are currently building new homes for sale in Chesterfield County, Henrico County, Hanover County, New Kent County, Powhatan County and the City of Hopewell, plus we can build on Your Land.

Sources:
* Data from Virginia Gateway Region – Economic Development Organization
† Data from Richmond MLS – Pending Sales

30 Year Fixed Rate home loans sank to 4.78% the week of May 26^th, the lowest rate in 2010 and inching closer to the record of 4.71% set in 2009. This, along with the high inventory of available new homes,  makes it a super time to be house hunting.  A $200,000 loan would mean a principal and interest payment of only $1,046.  If taxes, mortgage insurance and hazard insurance typical in the Richmond area are added in,  one would have a total monthly payment in the range of $1,300 to $1,450 requiring gross yearly income of about  $45,000 to $52,000.  There is a spread here because each locality has a different tax rate and each loan instrument has different income to debt ratio requirements.

The Bad News:

FHA (The Federal Housing Administration) has announced that sometime this summer, they will SLASH the allowable maximum “seller concessions” from 6% of the home sales price to 3%.  Seller concession rules allow buyers to ask the home seller to pay for a variety of settlement costs such as loan origination fees, points, state and local transfer fees, appraisals, and pre-paid items such as taxes and insurance.  Currently, on a $200,000 home, a seller could agree to pay up to $12,000.  That will go to $6,000 this summer when the new rules go into effect.  FHA is still the best deal in town for cash out of pocket as they still only require 3.5% down.  On the $200,000 home this would mean $7,000 versus a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac that are requiring a minimum 10% down with excellent credit scores.

Both the Good News and the Bad News add up to one thing:  Now is the time to strike and buy that new home!

The SAFE award honors the achievements of builders and trade contractors who have developed and implemented high-quality construction safety programs, as well as government officials and NAHB-affiliated associations who have made successful efforts to advance safety in the home building industry. “Ensuring a safe worksite is of paramount importance to home builders across the nation, and LifeStyle Builders’ commitment to protecting and educating their workers sets a shining example for the housing industry,” said Colin Campbell, chair of the NAHB Construction Safety & Health Committee and a builder from Charleston, S.C.

LifeStyle Builders will be recognized during the NAHB Safety Award For Excellence Reception on January 20, 2010, at the Las Vegas Hilton in Las Vegas. For more information about the SAFE awards, and to read about honorees in previous years, go to www.nahb.org/SAFE.

There may never be a better time to buy a new home than now… with tax credits, low mortgage interest rates and ample inventory. Experts agree that the real estate market has “hit bottom” and will start to improve in 2010, so don’t miss out on this great opportunity.

LifeStyle Builders & Developers is gearing up for a busy Spring by starting construction on a number of new homes. Our goal is to have homes available for closing by the June deadline. Many of these homes are in the starting stages of drawings or construction, so there is still time to personalize the home to fit your lifestyle. At our 2600 sq.ft. Design Studio home buyers can select the exterior colors and materials of their new home, as well as choose from hundreds of interior features and options to design their dream home. But time is of the essence, so don’t delay. For a personal tour of our Design Studio, call Ed Melton at (804) 893-7069. For a complete list of our available homes, please visit the LifeStyle Builders & Developers website.

Happy house hunting!

1)      interest rates at historic lows

2)      lots of great seller incentives

3)      significantly reduced home prices

4)      large inventory of available homes to choose from

Historically, the housing industry is one of the first to be hit by economic troubles. Likewise, it is one of the first to start recovering. While the economy’s climb back to health will be much slower than its descent, one of the first things that will happen is that the Fed will begin raising interest rates to stem inflation. Miscalculating “the bottom” means you could miss out on one or more of the advantages offered in TODAY’s market. Example:

A house costs $218,900 today.

You put 20% down and get a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage.

The current interest rate is 5%.

Your monthly payment would be $940.08 P&I.

Say you wait 12 months for the price of that house to drop 10% to $197,010.

Now the economy is improving and the Fed has raised interest rates to 6%.

Your monthly payment would be $944.94 P&I

You haven’t saved any money “waiting for the bottom” and now you’ve paid rent for a year instead of earning equity. And what if during those 12 months inventories are whittled down? If that happens, “supply and demand” kicks in where sellers stop offering incentives and start raising prices. How much money have you saved (or lost) then?

Predicting the exact “bottom” is next to impossible. In fact, we usually don’t even know the bottom has been reached until the market is already on the rise again since reports and studies are typically 30-90 days after the fact. If the market has already hit bottom, do you really want to risk missing it for the limited (if any) savings you might get by waiting? Timing is everything. Saving thousands of dollars has everything to do with your timing.