We need houses to sell…

We have had a great year, and we continue to sell our listings…but we need more! If you have a home to sell in the Minneapolis area, please give us a call.

We specialize in homes in Dakota & Scott County! If you have a home to sell in Apple Valley, Burnsville, Savage, Lakeville, Prior Lake, or any of the surrounding areas, please keep us in mind!

For more information, please view our website at www.homesbytonyandlori.com  or call us at 952-997-8899

We look forward to earning your business!

 

Tony & Lori Ashworth

Money, money, money…

News reports have you wondering with the

 “Credit Crunch” and the “Wall Street Bailout”,

is there money available for mortgages?

 

YES,  THERE IS!

 

While it’s true that zero down conventional loans, “stated income”,  “no doc” and subprime loans have gone away, most other loan programs remain pretty much the same.  In the last year, the mortgage industry has reduced the number of programs available to buyers, but it was the more “exotic” programs that went away; the best programs remain. 

For example, we can do:

 

·              FHA – requiring just a 3% down payment (after January 1,    2009 the down payment will increase to 3.5%)

·             VA – still a zero down program

·             Conforming conventional loans – 5 % down

 

What’s more, interest rates are great, hovering right around the 6% mark! If you have questions about the state of home financing, please call or email us.  We will be glad to answer your questions!

 

Lisa Kosse, Senior Loan Officer

651.683.8216

lisa.kosse@phhonline.com

Erik Kolz, Vice President

952.844.8557

erik.kolz@phhonline.com

Emily Cauley, Senior Loan Officer

952.431.9865

emily.cauley@phhonline.com

Is the market turning???

September home sales up sharply in metro area
JIM BUCHTA, Star Tribune

Plentiful discounts led Twin Cities home buyers to step up to the plate in a big way last month, according to data released today by the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors.

Pending home sales in the metro area in September rose 40 percent compared with the same period last year. Among sales that closed last month, the median sale price declined 15.6 percent, to $189,000.

Much of that decline was caused by a steady increase in foreclosures and “short sales” — sales where lenders agree to a sale for less than what is owed on the mortgage — that are moving through the market. Almost 42 percent of September pending sales were these lender-mediated transactions, up from 17.5 percent last year at this time.

The distressed sales are putting tremendous downward pressure on sale prices across the board. The median sale price of lender-mediated transactions only was $146,000, 11.5 percent decline over 2007, and even the sale price of traditional homes fell 8.6 percent.