Wakefield Reutlinger Realtors Newsletter 3rd Quarter 2013

7/29/2019 Wakefield Reutlinger Realtors Newsletter 3rd Quarter 2013

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Real EstateWakefield Reutlinger Realtors, a Berkshire Hathaway Affiliate

ALL THE WAY HOME...425-0225

Insider

Real UpdateLouisville

Vol. 1 No. 38 3rd Quarter

Wakefield Reutlinger Realtors

The Shining Star

Vision LouisvilleMayor seeks ideas for

citys future.What if the Ohio River were lined

ith sandy beaches, from Valleyation to Prospect? What if you

ould get to Cincinnati,dianapolis or Lexington in

5 minutes without ever gettinga car? What if every child in

ouisville could walk or bike tohool safely? These are some

f the ideas beginning to surfacethe Vision Louisville projectMayor Greg Fischer seeks

put for how the city shouldok, feel and flow over the next

5 years. Vision Louisville iseking public input in seven

ategories: economy, energy,onnectivity, creativity, health,

ving, and identity. A committeef citizens has been formedound each category to seek

ommunity ideas. Town hall andrtual meetings are scheduled.or more information go toww.visionlouisville.com.

The housing market continues to be the shiningstar of the economy, with most areas of the

country reporting brisker home sales and risingprices. Existing home sales rose strongly in July,up 17% over a year ago. The strength of the realestate market is offsetting tepid gains in retail andmanufacturing, slowed by federal budget cuts andtax increases for working Americans, accordingto the Federal Reserve. The housing recovery isalso driving more production of lumber, materialsand construction equipment.

The Louisville area continues to report strongsummer sales. As of the end of July, the numberof homes sold year to date is up 20% over the

same period last year. July, 2013 sales are up35% over July, 2012 sales, and prices are about3% higher than a year ago. Buyers have a decentselection of homes/condos to choose from sotheres not an inventory shortage overall, butthere are shortages in some of the most popularneighborhoods according to Paul Ogden,President of the Louisville Board of Realtors.

The sharp rise in interest rates over the lastcouple of months, from 3.59% in early May to

4.51% recently, has caused some concern athe housing recovery in the second half o

year. Lawrence Yun, NAR Chief Econosaid changes in affordability are impactingmarket. Mortgage interest rates are at the hilevel in two years, pushing some buyers ofsidelines, he said. The initial rise in inrates provided strong incentive for closing dHowever, further rate increases will diminis

pool of eligible buyers. That may alreadhappening. Nationally, new home sales fell from June to July but were 7% higher than aago, and the drop in sales appears to be comfrom weaker demand rather than tighter supp

The Kiplinger Letterbelieves the pace of housales and price hikes will slow later this year as the rates of job and GDP growth acceleThey still feel, however, that housing will rea much needed bright spot in the economy, ad

jobs and buoying consumers sense of well-bwhich will help keep consumer spending critical upward path. They expect prices to cin at an 8%-9% gain for the year and sales9%-10% increase.

30-Year Fixed Rate M ortgageMonth at a Glance July 2011 July 2012 July 2

Houses Sold 1048 1195 16

Avg. Selling Price $178,689 $177,710 $181

Price Range Statistics 2012 2013 % C

Up to $199,999 5,040 5,807 +1

$200,000-$399,999 1,676 2,152 +2

$400,000-$599,999 271 359 +3

$600,000-$999,999 78 100 +2

$1,000,000 + 12 22 +8Total 7,077 8,440 +1

Price Range Statistics YTD

inger Realtors. You

--- Leo and Linda


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P age 2 Volume 1 Issue 38

You know you need to pay attention toyour credit scores because higher scoresmean lower rates on car loans, mortgagesand the like. But what score do you needto see? Lenders use so many differenttypes of scores that consumers cant getone clear score. Some experts say aconsumer could have 80 to 100 creditscores out there.

According to Consumer Reports youshouldnt buy any consumer credit scoressince theyre not the same ones used bylenders.

John Ulzheimer, president of ConsumerEducation at SmartCredit.com said usefultruly free credit scores are given toconsumers by websites such as Credit-Sesame.com, Credit.com and Credit-Karma.com. He adds that these scoresmay not be what lenders actually use, buttheyre likely to be close enough to reality.

Some free score options are scaled likeFICOs 300-850 scale or could be close tothat range, making it easier to understand.

Its important to take time to understandwhat can be done to improve a score. Formany people, it might be tempting to try toimprove a score three or four months

Louisville Public ArtEarly in 2008, former Mayor Jerry Abramson hired anonprofit art consultant, New York based CreativeTime, to work with city officials, commercial

developers and members of the citys creativecommunity to devise a plan for how the city wouldcare for its existing art and choose new public art

projects. Some 18 months later, in 2010, Abramsonunveiled a 70-page master plan that sought to pavethe way to achieve those initial goals and identify

potential monies to fund the work initiated under theplan without using taxpayer money. The Commis-sion got off to a slow start due to the recession

but now is off and running.

They are:

Creating a Commission on Public Art composed ofarts, government and civic leaders who will reviewnew public art policies and implement the actionsteps set forth in the plan.

Developing a system to archive and manage the citys permanent collection of public art.

Creating a new civic Louisville Public Space Art Fund that provides grants for the production of public art.

Designating a city administrator to manage the citys permanent collection of public art works, administer theallocation of city grants for new projects and manage the Commission on Public Art.

Establishing an independent organization, not directly financed or housed in city government, to curate and producenew projects in public space.

Identifying a series of prospective geographic sites for public artwork throughout the Louisvil le metropoli tan area

to focus public art programming goals with suggested new projects.

before taking out a car loan or a mortgage.But many times, a loan is triggered by an

unexpected event. Maybe someone needsto move and buy a home because of a jobchange. Maybe a well-trusted, older carstops working and a new one is the bestoption.

You need to review your credit report evenwhen you dont think youre going to

borrow money. A Federal TradeCommission study released in Februaryfound 5% of consumers had errors on oneof their three major credit reports thatcould lead to them paying more for autoloans and other products.

You can improve your credit in many wayswithout even seeing a credit score. Be sureto pay bills on time. Watch how much you

borrow on individual cards. Its not a lot toborrow $300 on a credit card, but youdont want to borrow $300 on a credit cardthat has a limit of $400especially if you

dont have other credit. This is often trueven if you pay off the balance eachmonth.

Many credit experts recommend thaconsumers avoid closing credit cardsespecially those with a long history, ithey expect to be shopping for credit in thmonths ahead. If you have $2,000 o

credit card debt outstanding, it hurts youscore more if your total available line ocredit is $5,000 instead of $15,000.

Checking Your Credit

You can get a free annual credit report aannualcreditreport.com. Or cal877-322-8228 to request a free reporfrom the three major credit bureausSeeing a credit report can help you spoerrors to dispute. Adam Levin, chairmanand cofounder of Credit.com, noted thaconsumers can get a free score from lenderif theyre rejected for a loan or receive an

unfavorable rate relative to someone withgood credit. Be careful when signing upfor any offers of free credit reports or freecredit scores. Some consumers havecomplained of unknowingly agreeing tosign up for credit monitoring services thacan cost up to $30 a month.

Credit ScoreConfusion


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Real Estate Insider P ag

Good News for High-End Home BuyersJumbo loans are reportedly becomingeasier to obtain, which may be welcome

news for high-end home buyers.Jumbo loans are mortgages larger than$417,000 in most parts of the nation and$625,000 in high-cost areas.In the first quarter of 2013, lendersoriginated $54 billion in jumbo loans, upfrom $47 billion one year earlier, accord-ing to Inside Mortgage Finance.Many jumbo lenders also reportedly areincreasing the amount of a homes valuethey will agree to finance.

The pickup in jumbo lending comes ashome prices are rising and banks are

looking to build closer ties with affclients and put more loans on their bal

sheets, The Wall Street Journal reportsJ.P. Morgan Chase originated $5.6 bin jumbo loans in the first quarter, whi67 percent more than a year ago."Housing prices are going up, consuconfidence is growing, and the afflsegment is in better shape," says KWatters, chief executive of mort

banking at JP Morgan Chase.Bank of America has increased its juloan origination by 37 percent in the

five months of 2013.The Wall Street Journal (June 21, 2013

Thrifty consumers have long added extra moneyto their monthly mortgage bills to pay off theirhomes early -- but it's not clear doing so makessense in a world of record-low interest rates."Today's low rates mean you're basically

borrowing money free when you factor ininflation and tax deductibility," says GregMcBride of mortgage tracker Bankrate.com."Making a larger payment is foolish if you're notdoing things like saving for emergencies orretirement first."Banks usually let borrowers pay extra mortgage

principal whenever they want, allowing budgetconscious homeowners to throw in additionalmoney now and then to take years off of a loan'srepayment period.For instance, making 13 payments a year insteadof 12 on a $250,000, 30-year-fixed mortgagecarrying today's average 3.41% rate will cost youan extra $1,110 annually -- but knock 44 monthsoff of your loan's term. You'll also save $20,280in interest by paying the mortgage off in roughly26 years instead of 30.McBride says that in today's low-interest-rateenvironment though, retiring a mortgage earlyhas more drawbacks than advantages."Most people have much higher financial prioritiesthan accelerating repayment of a low-cost,tax-deductible mortgage," he says.The expert believes you shouldn't even consider

making extra mortgage payments until you first: Pay off all high-interest credit-card balances Build up emergency savings to cover sixmonths of living expenses if you lose your job orsuffer some other serious setback

Make sufficient annual contributions to 529plans or other college-savings vehicles to coveryour or any dependents' future educationalexpenses Make the maximum allowable contribution

each year to your and your spouse's 401(k) andindividual retirement accounts. For most marriedcouples, that means putting $17,500 into eachspouse's 401(k) and another $5,000 into each

person's IRA (the maximum the InternalRevenue Service will allow as of 2013). Peopleage 50 or older can also add another $1,000"catch-up" IRA contribution, and sometimes putan extra $5,500 into 401(k)s."Needless to say, very few people can tick offevery single one of those items," McBride says.But even if you can cover all of the above,McBride still thinks paying off homes early hasdownsides.For instance, you can't easily take out the extraequity you've put in if your finances suddenly gosouth."If you lose your job, then what?" McBride says."All of that money that you've poured into yourhouse isn't something you can get to when youneed it."The expert adds that even if you have lots of sparecash, setting aside retirement money over andabove 401(k) and IRA limits will give you morechance to enjoy compound investment returns.

"Time is what harnesses the strength ofcompounding - the longer you save for retirement,the better off you'll be," McBride says. "You're

better off saving for retirement today and payingoff the mortgage later - not the other way around."

If the seller is willing to replace theadd a deck, put in a fireplace and

indoor pool, extend the living roofifteen feet and move the whole pto the other side of town, then we

definitely interested

TheStreet.com

Should You Pay Off Your Mortgage Early?

LouisvilleTop R atedZagat names NuL u 1 of 20Hot Food Neighborhoodsin Twelve U .S. Cities.Examiner.com ranks Lou isville asthe 9th Most Pet-Friendly State.Zagat Restaurant Digest namesLouisville 1 of 7 Up and Com ingFood Cities Around the U.S.Under 30 CEO ranked L ouisville inthe Top 3 B est Cities in 2013 forYoung Entrepreneurs.Forbes names Louisville as 1 of 15U.S. Cities with Emerging Downtowns.Travel Channel names Louisville

as one of the Top Cycling Citiesin the U.S.


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s not intended to solicit a currently listed property.mation is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.

6511 Glenridge Park Place, Ste. 10

Louisville, KY 40222WRrealtors.com

terest Rates

ed 30 Year 4.625 %

ed 15 Year 3.750 %

ed FHA 30 Year 4.250 %ed 30 Year Jumbo 5.000 %

of Aug. 23, 2013 - restrictions apply.

New Mortgage Lending

Rules Cominghe new rules may make it tougherr some borrowers to secure

nancing. Intended to preventother epidemic of too-easyedit, these federal regulationstablish tough standards forualified mortgages. And theycourage lenders to abide by

andards by offering them protectionom some lawsuits if they do so.hus, would-be homeowners whont quite fit the qualificationofile are likely to be cut out,en though they may not represent

especially dicey credit risk.he Kiplinger Letter

Latest Kitchen TrendsThe 2013 member survey by the NationalKitchen & Bath Association identifiedtodays top style choices in kitchens:

White Painted CabinetsWh ite was the first choice of 67% of re-sponde nts in the survey, a jump of 20percentage points in two years.Quartz CountersThese durable products are made ofabout 90% natural quartz mixed withpigments, polymers and res ins. Theyrequire no special maintenance and costabout $40 to $100 a square foot in-stalled. The most popular colors arewhite and gray.

ColorAlthough w hite and off-white are stitop colors, grays are showing up oncabinets, counters and walls. Gray ianother neutral that can be paired wmany accent colors and looks chic amodern.LED LightingMore and m ore remodeled kitchenshave LED lighting, especially belowcabinets. LED bulbs are more efficand gen erate little heat.Electronic FaucetsBoth touch-activated faucets andhands-free faucets are beginning topear in kitchen remodeling contract

Eleanore Brown, [email protected]

Born and raised in Louisville, Eleanore grew up in St. Matthews and

attended St. Francis in Goshen for middle school. She graduated fromSacred Heart Academy and attended the University of Daytongraduating with a B.A. in Sociology. She went on to get her Mastersdegree in Urban Planning from the University of Louisville and receivedher Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development, which led her topursue a career in Real Estate. Call Eleanore to help guide you through

every step of buying or selling your home.

Documents

Wakefield Reutlinger Realtors Newsletter 3rd Quarter 2013