WEST JEFFERSON NC MOUNTAIN PROPERTY

87.5 +/- Acres Available For Residential Subdivision Mountain Development, 7 miles from West Jefferson, NC

Paved Road and Bridge Built To State Specifications.

Average of $23,000 per acre.

This Property Should Retail For Approximately $50,000 to $60,000 per acre.

ALL PROPERTY HAS LONG RANGE MOUNTAIN VIEWS

Contact Greg Stikeleather, Broker, 704.880.5247

or

email Greg at grstike@charter.net

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Falling prices present a real opportunity this spring for many consumers wanting to find the perfect vacation property. Overall, median home prices fell 7.7% in 2007, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index. Those in markets with a strong vacation home component such as Las Vegas and Sarasota were down more than most.

Real estate experts tell us that the market is soft. And mortgage rates are down to 2004 levels. Even better. Is it time to buy? Maybe. There may be more economic and psychological questions that come with a second home than with a primary one.

For piece of mind, and for a boost to your future net worth, always do a rough cash-flow comparison. Look at how much it’s going to cost to pay off the mortgage and pay for taxes and maintenance vs. the cost of renting. If you’re not planning on being in your house for at least seven to 10 years, you probably won’t recoup your investment. You may be better off renting. (more…)

search for : second home, pay off the mortgage

A multitude of opportunistic scams are targeting homeowners trying to avoid foreclosure in the current housing downturn. Prosecutors in the state of California unsealed twin cases against 19 people who are said to have skimmed nearly $13 million in equity from 115 homeowners coast to coast under the guise of a mortgage rescue.

Federal investigators say they expect the number of people ensnared in fraudulent foreclosure schemes to grow given such financial straits. The Mortgage Bankers Association said a record 2% of the nation’s 46 million mortgage loans were in the foreclosure process at the end of the fourth quarter. The number of defaults on first mortgages is forecast to rise to 1.9 million this year from 1.4 million in 2007, according to a report by Economy.com using FDIC and other data. (more…)

search for : avoid foreclosure, fraudulent foreclosure scheme

Vacation property, an investment for retirement or a permanent residence, this Lake James waterfront home may be your dream property.

The beautiful water front home is located in a private community with spectacular views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It has a double deck boat dock, an enclosed boat garage and a private ramp to launch your own watercraft. The home was built originally in 1972 and totally renovated in 2002. A four car detached garage was built in 2002.

There is a total of 264 ft. of water front. Beautiful three tier sea walls accent this elegant home. Hard wood and tile floors, modern appliances and vaulted ceilings are only a few of the amenities that capture you with this home.

Private dock permit.

List Price: $1,800,000
Flexibility: Willing to finance
Acreage: .75 acres
Type: Waterfront

Floors: 2
Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 4
Sq. Footage: 3700
Garage Size: 4.0
Year Built: 1972, totally renovated in 2002
School District: Nebo

Suitable Use: Residential

Topography: Rolling
Road Frontage: Private Road
Location: Lake James, Burke County, NC

Amenities: Waterfront, Fireplace, Central AC, Alarm, Wood Floors, Gas Range, Patio, Wheelchair Accessible, Nature/Bike Paths, Boating, Controlled Access, Spa/Jacuzzi

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search for : Lake James waterfront home, Blue Ridge Mountains, Lake James, Burke County, NC

The most common deduction is your interest paid on a mortgage loan for a first or second home. This item is, and has always been fully deductible; subject to the following limitations: acquisition loans up to $1 million and home-equity loans up to $100,000. If you are married, but file separately, the limits are split in half.

However, there is an area often overlooked by buyers. Points paid to a mortgage lender will reduce interest rates. Each point is 1 percent of the loan, so that on a $300,000 mortgage, a borrower will have to pay $3,000. And typically, for every point that you pay a lender, the interest rate will be reduced by one-eighth of a percent.

Two other useful IRS documents are Publication 936, entitled “Home Mortgage Interest Deductions,” and Publication 910, “IRS Guide to Free Tax Services.”
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Despite all the press from Washington, touting this plan or that to help homeowners from defaulting on their mortgages, it’s gotten much harder for troubled borrowers to get a deal that permanently lowers their mortgage payments. The Hope Now Alliance of mortgage lenders and its servicers, Citigroup, Bank of America and J.P. Morgan, indicates that it has kept over one million borrowers out of foreclosure. But, only about one quarter of the loan agreements have actually had the terms of the mortgages modified.

The vast majority of lenders are not getting their payments reduced. The new loan contract is between the servicer and the borrower, not between the consumer and The Hope Alliance. While every situation is different, working out a new loan is proving to be a struggle for many borrowers. Increasingly, housing advocates claim that many borrowers that enter into new loans continue to be victims of predatory lending. (more…)

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In this slow market, faced with huge inventories of unsold properties, real estate agents can expand their business by proving indispensable to investors interested in purchasing distressed properties. But, in order to attract those individuals, agents need to adjust their business model to meet the needs of those entrepreneurs and then market their services accordingly.

Many communities have groups of investors that participate in monthly meetings. One idea is to attend those meetings and talk to the investors. Hand out business cards and let them know what you have to offer. If the meeting includes lunch or dinner, you might be sitting at a table with eight or nine other people, all of whom buy and sell real estate, providing you with a perfect opportunity to network. (more…)

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Beautiful Wilkes County NC Timber Frame Home and Mountain Property.

MLS Number: 51166, List Price: $898,500

2 Bedrooms, 2 Baths, 2 half baths, 2 car attached garage, full basement, and a barn on 5 acres of land.

These terms are used to describe thousands of homes and yet some things just can’t be described, they have to be experienced. This is one of those homes that really has to be seen to be appreciated.

This majestic Timber Frame home of the Bob Timberlake genre is not just another house, it provides a feeling of home that is not about walls and floors and windows and doors. It creates a feeling of the flow between your outdoor and your indoor environment that is seamless. Everywhere you look there is a view. Everything you touch feels natural and beautiful in a way that cannot be described, only owned.

Contact Elizabeth Carter, 336.973.5594 or Greg Stikeleather, Broker, 704.880.5247 or email eacarter@charter.net

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The newest proposal to combat foreclosures was recently unveiled in Washington. The plan, named “Help Now,” was proposed by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), a nonprofit community advocacy group. The NCRC, citing several innovative concepts, calls for the government to buy up at-risk loans, restructure the terms to make them affordable and sell the reworked loans back into the secondary market.

Help Now aims to improve upon the efforts of the alliance of lenders, mortgage servicers, non-profit community advocacy groups and investors led by the Bush administration to help troubled borrowers stay in their homes. The NCRC’s proposed Help Now approach will be more effective because it will make it easier for lenders to rework the terms of troubled mortgages. (more…)

search for : foreclosures, Help Now, National Community Reinvestment Coalition

By early April, Congress is likely to finalize negotiations on a bill that would expand the reach of the Federal Housing Administration. The purpose of the legislation is to provide safe loan alternatives to subprime mortgages and make homeownership more accessible.

Different versions of the FHA modernization bill passed in the House and the Senate last year, and both Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., said last week that the differences between the chambers could be resolved in short order.

The FHA program is intended for mortgage borrowers with weak credit or little or no cash who may not be able to otherwise get an affordable mortgage.

(more…)

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Beautiful Wilkes County NC Log Home and Mountain Property.

MLS Number: 50863, List Price: $359,900

Bedrooms: 3, Full Baths: 2, Half Baths: 0, Est Total SqFt: 2600, Type/Style: Log Home, Area: Area 6, Middle School: Cntrl Wlks, High School: Wlks Cntrl, Construction: Log

Foundation: Combination, Roof: Metal Roof, Floors: Carpet/Hardwood/Tile, Garage/Carport: None-Garage, None-Carport, Interior Features: Master Bedroom, Main Level, Large Master Bedroom, Walk-In Closet(s), Hardwood Floors, Fireplace(s), Great Room, Exterior Features: Double Pane Windows, Wooded Lot, 1-5 Acres, Hot Tub, Subdivision: N/A, Lot Size: 2.47, Apx SqFt: 2600 - 2800 SF, Basement: None

Contact Elizabeth Carter, 336.973.5594 or Greg Stikeleather, Broker, 704.880.5247 or email eacarter@charter.net

click here for more information

Recent statistics compiles by the federal regulators tell us that more home owners than ever are losing the battle to make their monthly mortgage payments. Over 900,000 households are in the foreclosure process, up 71% from a year ago. That figure represents 2.04% of all mortgages, the highest rate in the report’s quarterly, 36-year history.

The foreclosure rates for prime and subprime adjustable rate mortgages both more than doubled compared with a year ago, from 0.41% for prime ARMs to 1.06% and from 2.70% for subprime ARMs to 5.29%. But it was subprime ARMs that contributed most heavily to the nation’s soaring foreclosure rates. Many of these loans come with low introductory rates that reset higher, often to unaffordable levels, in two or three years. (more…)

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Those that follow the mortgage industry say banks could face hundreds of millions of dollars in losses through loans to homebuilders and other developers. With commercial and residential real-estate prices declining, lenders of all sizes face a growing number of loan defaults from builders unable to sell houses and from developers whose properties are currently less desirable than originally anticipated.

Construction and development loans are loans made to builders for properties such as strip malls, office buildings and residential developments. They have been a key source of profit for small and midsize banks. The percentage of those loans that are 90 or more days past due rose to nearly 3.2 percent at the end of 2007, up from less than 1 percent a year earlier, and is now at levels not seen since the early 1990s. (more…)

search for : development loans

Paeans to homeownership are commonplace for American politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike. Ever since the nineteen-thirties, public policy has been designed to make home buying cheaper and easier. Pundits argue that homeownership has tremendous social benefits, stabilizing neighborhoods and making people more willing to invest in their communities. Furthermore, those promoting homeownership state that it has economic benefits, too, serving as a forced-savings program that allows people to leverage their incomes and build wealth.

Buying a home used to require a sizable down payment: in 1976, the average for a first-time buyer was eighteen per cent. By contrast, a National Association of Realtors study of first-time buyers between mid-2005 and mid-2006 found that almost half put down nothing at all, and that the median down payment was just two per cent. (more…)

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The White House is expressing concerns about the Democrats, bankers, economists and consumer advocates calling for a big-money government mortgage rescue program for struggling homeowners. Even Treasury Secretary Paulson branded many of the aid proposals circulating in Washington as “bailouts” for reckless lenders, investors and speculators, rather than measures that would provide meaningful relief to deserving, but cash-strapped, mortgage borrowers.

His comments came amid signs that the nation’s housing market is getting worse, not better. Indeed, at a recent House hearing, Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke kept the door open to further interest-rate cuts to boost the economy, even as he warned that inflation pressures have intensified in recent weeks. (more…)

search for : mortgage rescue program