If you’ve been thinking of buying a home in the Birmingham/Shelby Co. area using the popular USDA loan program which allows you to buy with no down payment, you may be fast running out of luck.

USDA says the program is projected to run out of money by the end of April, and no new funding is currently anticipated.

In Shelby County, USDA loans have been responsible for many people buying homes in areas like Calera and Montevallo, as well as across many other parts of Alabama.

Because USDA loans are so attractive to many buyers—mortgage insurance isn’t required, either—they have often meant the difference between whether a Buyer is able to purchase property.

Carmell Cantrell is a Loan Officer with First Federal Mortgage in Birmingham, and has been following what may be the demise of the program she and other Lenders have worked with extensively over the years.

USDA loans could be revived if Congress acts, but whether that will happen remains unknown. If the program does, in fact, end, it will stand as a major point in real estate sales history, signaling the end of the so-called easy credit era.

Click the player below to listen to our interview with Carmell now…

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…or click here if you’d like to download and listen on your personal listening device.

So … what to do if you’ve been thinking of buying a home using USDA loan program?

Experts have two words to suggest: Start saving.

David

If Sellers sometimes have an unrealistic idea of what a Buyer is willing to pay, Tom Horn brings them back to reality.

Tom is an appraiser in the Birmingham and Shelby Co. area, and owns appraisal-source.com, a company Lenders and homeowners trying to sell on their own rely upon for accurate residential market appraisals.

Colleen and I caught up with Tom and got his analysis of what’s happening with home values in the Shelby Co. and Birmingham areas. We found out pretty quickly that talking with Tom is very interesting!

From everything we learned about home price trends in the area, as well as the negative effects on home sales prices caused by government-mandated changes in the way appraisers are selected, we knew we needed Tom to share his expertise with us.

We’ve divided our interview with Tom into two segments. Click the players just below to listen to Parts 1 and 2.

Tom Horn Interview Part 1:

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Tom Horn Interview Part 2:

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…or, if you’d like to listen by downloading to your portable device:

Click here to download Part 1 (10 Mb).

Click here to download Part 2 (7 Mb).

Links to Thomas Horn’s websites:

Click for Appraisal-source website

Click for Tom’s Appraisal Blog

We hope you enjoy … and thanks, Tom, for the great information!

David Black

We just never know who’s going to walk in the door around here.  But I’m not complaining!

It’s always enjoyable and educational to sit and talk with Republican State Rep. Cam Ward, who is a candidate for the Alabama State Senate.

Most Shelby Co. and Birmingham area civic, business and legislative leaders know Cam well, in part, for his track record as a State Representative.  He’s also Executive Director of Alabaster’s Industrial Development Board.

With so many jitters about the national economy, what’s Cam’s take on the economy closer to home here in the Shelby Co. and Birmingham area?

That’s one of the questions we put to Cam, who’s the guest in our latest netcast.

Click the player just below to listen now…

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…or click here to download.

We hope you enjoy … and thanks, Cam, for stopping by!

David Black

With all the economic uncertainty our nation has faced lately, lots of folks wonder what lies ahead for the real estate market.  Are things looking up in 2009?

National Real Estate Expert Dave Jenks is a Vice President with Keller Williams Realty.

Dave Jenks, a best selling author and Vice President of Research and Development with Keller Williams Realty, thinks so.

We spoke with Dave last year (click here to listen to the 2008 interview) and just couldn’t get enough of his fascinating insight into the real estate market.  So … we tracked him down again to give us his assessment of how 2009 is unfolding and what he thinks lies ahead.

Check out Dave’s comments in our latest Netcast by clicking the play button just below:

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If you prefer to download and listen to our netcast on your portable player, click here.

We hope you enjoy our interview with Dave, and that you’ll find the information useful…

David and Colleen

Ask any Realtor what the most important first impression is about selling your home, and you’re likely to get three answers: Curb appeal, curb appeal and curb appeal.

We’ve been sinking some cash and work into a part of our home many folks overlook. And that’s making the back yard look attractive (we already did landscaping work on the front yard a couple of years ago).

Jeff Lucas, owner of Perfect Lawn Inc., of Montevallo, has been planting Leyland Cypress trees and bushes in our back yard, from which we recently cleared a lot of privet that was taking over more and more each year. If you’re wanting to improve your yard’s look, Jeff says now is still a good time to work on it.

Click the player to listen:

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Or, if you prefer to listen to Jeff’s comments on your player, click here to download.

Got questions about how to make your lawn look nice? You can reach Jeff at:

David

So, you have to knock the price way, way down to get your home sold? Not always. While price is certainly important when it comes to getting your home sold, it’s not the only way to achieve a successful sale.

Ever heard of a buy-down? Lots of people have, but not everyone understands it. It’s not as complicated as you might think.

KC Haririan, First Federal Mortgage

A buy-down could be the ticket to getting a home sold in a deal that’s better for the seller and the buyer.

K. C. Haririan, a Loan Officer with First Federal Mortgage in Birmingham, is here to explain how buy-downs work.

So, how is the Shelby Co. and Birmingham home market looking as we forge ahead into 2009? We’ll share our thoughts and observations–and we’ll see if Fisbo, our very spoiled five pound poodle, barks during our recording session.

Click the player just below to listen:

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Fisbo, the wonder dog

Care to download the program so you can listen to it later?

Click here to download…

We hope you enjoy the netcast!

David, Colleen and Fisbo

Let’s face it.  You hear Realtors talking all the time about why now is a good time to buy a home.  But with all the uncertain economic news we’re hearing these days, is that just optimistic talk designed to drum up business?  Or are there some solid reasons that support buying and investing right now?

Dave Jenks is a best selling co-author and Vice President with Keller Williams Realty.

Ask Dave Jenks, and he’ll tell you why buying now represents such a good opportunity.  Dave is someone definitely worth listening to.  He’s Vice President of Research and Development with Keller Williams Realty and has co-authored several best selling books, including The Millionaire Real Estate Investor.

Dave’s research clearly suggests that real estate markets across the country are correcting from so-called ‘false appreciation’ … this means that prices are returning to pre-”bubble” levels.  This, among other reasons, should give buyers confidence, Jenks says.

The domestic real estate market is undergoing some interesting—and, many think, positive—changes right now, as we wind down 2008.  We caught up with Dave to get his assessment of how markets around the country have performed during the past decade, as well as what’s occurring now.

Check out Dave’s comments in our latest Netcast by clicking the play button just below:

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If you prefer to download and listen to our netcast later, click here

We hope you enjoy!

David

Starting to wonder whether buying a home would be better than renting?  If you’ve never bought a home before and have been giving this some thought, a program recently restarted by the State of Alabama may help make buying a home easier for you.

We’ve got details in our latest netcast, which you can listen to here:

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Care to download the program so you can listen to it later?
Click here to download…

The market continues to be very good for buyers in the Birmingham and Shelby county area.  That, plus the State’s bond program, means that you may have a great opportunity to make an investment that could benefit you for years to come (as well as providing a roof over your head!)

Let us know if you have questions — we hope you enjoy the netcast…

David

Want to know the health of the real estate market in a specific neighborhood? Knowing something about the market in general for a broad area may not give the information you need. More and more these days, market behavior is becoming addressable to specific neighborhoods.

Hyper Local, a term emerging in real estate that refers to markets in very specific regions, is one of the topics we cover in our new netcast now on-line. We also discuss how the local market around Pelham, Alabaster, Helena and North Shelby County is performing — and the news is encouraging, whether you’re thinking of buying a home, or if you’re considering selling.

Click the player button just below to listen now. Or, click to download here so you can transfer to your portable player.

As always, we hope you enjoy!

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David and Colleen

When it comes to making major purchases like buying a home or car, your credit rating plays a big role. The credit industry plans to change the way it evaluates us in determining our creditworthiness. The changes , which take effect this year, promise to be good for some, and not so good for others.

What do the changes mean for your own creditworthiness rating?

We asked First Federal Mortgage Loan Officer KC Haririan to stop by and give us a look at the new system, called FICO-08.

KC talks about the new scoring system, as well as who stands to be affected the most by the changes. FICO-08 is the subject of our first Call on Colleen Netcast for 2008, along with a few thoughts about Shelby County’s real estate market for 2008.

Click the player button just below to listen right now.  Or, click this link to download.

As always, we hope you enjoy!

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David and Colleen