Epain Homes

Before I introduce myself to all of you I wanted to first say a big thank-you to Paul and Sandra taking the time to get my wife and I ready for this next project. I’m hoping that since Paul and his wife are still together after doing this website for 3 years it will not lead to any marital challenges.

I must say that seeing how Paul and Sandra run the back end of this site and how they’ve created spreadsheets for the data, I felt and still feel, a bit apprehensive about taking on such a large challenge. I can tell you that the amount of work they put in over the last three years on a DAILY basis has been massive!! Luckily Paul has promised he won’t desert me too soon.

To all of you who appreciate the site, and all the work they’ve put in, I wanted to let you all know that Paul and I have worked out a referral arrangement for all of you who will either buy or sell in the future and were looking forward to working with Paul. I look forward to having the opportunity to work with you.

When Paul approached me about taking over his business and we got to talking about the site and his clients we knew it was going to be a good fit. We both have similar philosophies on real estate and how to go about helping people make informed decisions on what is “usually” your life’s biggest purchase. We have many similarities in that both our wives are accountants, we both have kids(me two, Paul almost two) and both believe in always giving straightforward no nonsense advice. I know that many of you use this site as an indicator of where the markets are going and I look forward to keeping the site up to date to help all you with whatever you plan to do down the road.

I’ve been in real estate for 4 years and it that time have earned the MLS Medallion award for 2007 for being in the top 10% of all GVRD realtors. I’ve also won the Prudential Sussex Presidents Circle award for being on the top 5% of all 15,000 Prudential North America agents and on two separate occasions I’ve won the Leading Edge Society award for being in the top 8%. I’m a very hands on realtor with a strong belief that your best interests are served when armed with all the current information possible.

That’s it for me. I could go on longer(just ask my wife) but I wont bore you. I look forward to chatting with many of you by email or the phone or even in person. The site will continue and Paul has encouraged me to make it even better which I plan to do….eventually. I’m still working out the kinks and am no computer wizard but I will do my best to live up to Paul’s high standards.

Cheers
Gavin

I saw the piece over the weekend in the NYTimes but hadn’t gotten around to reading it until today. It’s been their most read article for nearly a week now so I thought I’d give it a skim. An important and true opening ‘graph:

Five or 10 years from now, when the financial crisis has ended and housing prices are up smartly once more, we will look in the rearview mirror and realize that we missed a golden age for first-time home buyers.

But when is the right time? At least around Chicagoland, unless you can get a steal, I’d wait 6 months before buying anything. My view is that surely until the new administration comes into office things will remain dour. Then, I’m expecting Obama to make a big economic push right away but it will still take 2-4 months from legislative passage until that stimulus gets into the real economy. With greater confidence, I don’t think you lose much by waiting until spring 2010.

As is always the case with real estate, much depends on location. One study, “The Changing Prospects for Building Home Equity,” tries to predict where today’s first-time buyers in the 100 biggest metropolitan areas may actually have less home equity by 2012 as a result of continued price declines.

How should you proceed if you’re planning to buy a home in the next 1-2 years?

Still, for anyone feeling the urge to buy, a number of practical considerations have changed in the last year or two. The basics are back, like spending no more than 28 percent of your pretax income on mortgage payments, taxes and insurance. Even if a lender does not hold you to this when you go in for preapproval, you should hold yourself to it.

You will also want to start now on any project to improve your credit score because it may take several months to get it above the 720 level that qualifies you for many of the best mortgage rates.

John Ulzheimer, president of consumer education for credit.com, a consumer credit information and application site, suggests starting to pay down and put away credit cards months before you apply for a loan. That is because the credit scoring system could penalize you if you use a lot of credit each month, even if you always pay in full. Also, check your three credit reports (it’s free) at annualcreditreport.com and dispute errors.

While no one can easily predict the likelihood of losing a job, Friday’s startling unemployment figures suggest the need for caution if you think you might be vulnerable.

Remember the tax credit and it’s expiration date.

Also, if you wait after June 30, you will miss out on a $7,500 federal tax credit for income-eligible first-time home buyers that works like an interest-free loan.