Boise Homes Report

You know you are about to take a trip when the phone starts ringing and you have more to do than time to do it in…. Wish me luck… May the phone start ringing so I can pay for my trip to China!

I am going to Beijing to see my son and GF! This is going to be so much fun and so interesting… I now have to make lists because as we all know business picks up when you are about to go away… So far I don’t have to refer any business out but I think I will be busy. I have people who can cover for me while I am away. The trip is from MAY 14-28… Right after hubby grades his last final at Boise State University. Yes Professors and their spouses get excited when the term ends too!

I am mentoring another agent.  Her client is trying to build a new home from CBH homes.  They walked into the office and worked out the contract with the CBH agent the terms of the contract.  The sellers agent wrote the contract up with $1500 in the design studio (for upgrades).  We never had a chance to set the terms of the offer since it was complete and our clients had agreed to those terms.  Our clients signed the offer and they countered taking away this money.   This seems to me to be bait and switch.  If we had asked for this it would have been fine for them to counter but they wrote the contract not us.  I am advising that we counter with that money in.  The kids are afraid of losing the contract but they really could use the money so they can have things a house SHOULD have standard… Like a non shallow sink…. A closet door…. A 6 lb carpet pad….

For the first time in my 6 .5 years as a real estate agent I helped a couple write an offer on a build job.  It was sort of interesting on many counts.

1) I am helping a brand new agent out (who I am partnering with) and so technically I just referred it to her…. Well actually she got the client but it is a way to pay me for my expertise…

2) I spent a lot of time researching CBH homes and reading a new type of contract….

3) The biggest problem that buyers seems to run into is that they make the contract and that seems to be a base price.  Then you go to the design studio and pick your colors and upgrades… This can add to the price of the final home.  The couple had already picked some upgrades…We encouraged the couple to go the design studio in the next day or so before they were well underway…

4) Being me I started to worry that they might get a very basic home because they wouldn’t be able to afford the upgrades that they wanted… I am a bit reassured but when we went house hunting they seemed to love vaulted ceilings and that is an upgrade… I think that it might even be one worth paying for…

5)  I never have actually partnered with another agent officially.  This will hopefully be the first of many deals we do together…

6) The couple like the idea of picking everything… This is the obvious good part of buying a new home…

Hopefully everything will go smoothly.  I made sure the couple knew that we were looking out for their best interest.. The other agent works for the builder and represents the builder. Going totally with the builders agent is like letting your husbands divorce attorney write your paperwork….

These are Debbie”s thoughts for the day..

I just closed a deal on 1430 Leadville in Boise, Idaho.  This deal was interesting for several reasons.

The buyers daughter called me from an internet website.  She was looking for a home for her parents to buy as an investment/home for her during college.  It was very important to them that it in walking distance to the college.  She had 3 friends she wanted to live with.  Later I spoke to the mother.  We looked at other homes but this was the one the daughter wanted.  It had been on the market for 11 months.  I suggested they get a preapproval letter from USAA (not my usual loan company) and we bid on the house.  It turned out the sellers were military people who were living in Korea…  Because of the 16 hour time difference the negotiations took about a week.   The sellers seemed a bit difficult on the price.  It is hard because they had put $40K into it and basically wasn’t getting any back.

Frankly I was very worried about the appraisal.  I knew it was unique because of its proximaty to the campus but it was still a small older home.  My buyers were adament about not paying for the appraisal….So were the sellers…. Eventually we came to terms….. The wife wanted hubby to go out on closing day.  I  was hoping he would come out in the inspection period.  As closing approached USAA had a hiccup.  I am not sure why the hiccup didn’t show at the beginning.  If I had used my loan officers they would have had the problem solved before the loan letter was given.  On Friday at 5 PM we cleared underwriting….

Since we were using my favorite title person, Diana Stork, Title One I asked her to send out the docs that needed to be notarized ahead of time to the sellers in Korea.  This worked.  They signed on Monday (in Korea) and sent back the docs which arrived today (Wed.).   Without that forethought it would have taken several more days for the deal to close.

Meanwhile the buyers sign on Monday…. Dad arrived at noon… All the docs have to arrive in Boise today…. By some miricle everything worked….

I don’t believe in omens but I took the fact that I was rear ended this morning as a bad sign for the day.  Nobody was hurt but my car…My pretty 2001 Lincoln Town car that I put my clients in….

My fellow agent that I am mentoring showed up just in time for me to make the final phone calls to let the buyers know it closed…. I am definatly a happy agent with happy clients…

I must admit that I was a little nervous that dad might not like the home but he did!

I like to believe people will improve themselves.  Most of my section 8 people (and I have had 4 tenants on section 8)  do there best.   They have fallen on hard times.  It is difficult to acquire the section 8 voucher.  The waiting list is over 3 years here in Ada County and they are not accepting new applicants.  When one thinks about this it is very scary.  Someone needed help 3 years ago and they still need it. I would imagine that many people have solved their problems by the time they are off the wait list.

About 1.5 years ago I met a pleasant single mom of three kids who just got her voucher.  She was particularly excited because the hovel she was living in was in foreclosure.  I approached the landlady and it was indeed a hovel and it was in foreclosure.  The landlady didn’t want to short sale so I wished her well.  The single mom was a full time student with a small work study job on campus.  I liked her and wanted to give her chance.  I signed a lease with her.   After a while the work study job disappeared… Later I found out she had quit school….I could see that she and her kids were not the easiest tenants on the home but I figured it didn’t matter when she left the home would still need painting.  Then she kept getting jobs and losing them.  The voucher changed in January and it has been hell ever since.

See on section 8 the government pays a portion of the rent and the tenant pays a portion of the rent.  She never seemed to have her portion.  This worked great when the government was paying all her rent but not so well when she had a portion to pay.  I have had to chase her down every month since January.  So far I get my rent but it is late and I am expending a lot of effort to get it done.  She is not keeping me informed.  Last March she lost another job again.  I think for cause.  She took weeks to follow through with the paperwork to get the full voucher back.  She seems to have a “brother” living with her.  Housing came back and will give her a full voucher for May but she still owes me $416 for April.  I now need to collect this money from her. I am going to suggest she ask her friends and “relatives” or her church.  I know I should just evict her but I do not really want to (or have time) to fix the floors (not her fault) and paint before I go to China.  I also worry about the 3 kids… I know they are not my problem.  If the city will pay I will wait until the next crisis on the theory I could lose 2 months rent to get the $416.  Of course I cannot give her a good reference…

Mostly I am VERY ANGRY with her.  These vouchers are hard to come by and she does not deserve this voucher.  All she had to do is go to housing and fill out some forms.  I am sad because I was rooting for her to succeed.  I know that not everyone will succeed but she seemed to be trying so hard when she moved in.  I am MAD that I have had to waste a lot of my time chasing her down.  My time is VALUABLE.  I do not know why she seems so flaky these days… I could guess but the answers are not pretty.  This woman has a chance to raise her kids in a nice 3 bedroom,2 bath single family home and doesn’t seem to care.  Or else she think because I am a liberal Democrat I will let her stay there forever without evicting her.  She is actually wrong.   I will if I have to and I will feel awful for the 3 kids in her care.   I am not sure a mother who wont fill out paperwork deserves the Voucher or the kids… Maybe it would be easier being cynical… I would have expected nothing less…

Signed me Debbie Homes, depressed and annoyed landlord.

The market has turned in Boise Idaho…

This spring has been tough for me… The market seems to be a sellers market… The prices at the low end of the market have gone up and there are multiple offers… I am having trouble locating property for my first time homebuyers. I am looking into special city programs… Last year when I pulled up homes under $120K there were 40 or 50 of them with the 3 bed. 1.5 bath… Today there are 4… Since I seem to specialize in that market it is hard but I am working hard to find creative solutions for my buyers… I have made several offers for different clients (some above asking price) and only have one succeed. I am educating my buyers ab out the change in the market.

On the listing side things seem to be good. I had to pull a listing for repairs and I kept it off for the 31 days so it showed as new. I had an offer on day 1. I ran an open house where 20 family units came through. I settled on Sunday and before I could put it pending I had 2 realtors call me wanting to put in offers. I had more activity in 4 days then I had in 3 months. I also settled for much higher then the other contract. This tells me the market is changing.

It will be an interesting time for me. I have never worked in an up market. I went into real estate just as the market started to flatten out. I am really good in a down market. I need to see if I can work a up market.

So if you want a great agent who works hard give Debbie Holmes a call.

Hi!  I am mostly posting this because I seem to have taken a break from blogging…. I was blogging about everything and I sort of stopped for a few weeks… Maybe I needed the break…. I have been doing a bunch of stuff.

Some real estate, some politics and some spreadsheet work. I have had a tough start of the year with many random events hurting my business…. I had the suitcase full of cash, a buyer with heart surgery, a bad inspection,dad’s small stroke, dad’s research project …. Those type of things… Normally I do great but I guess after a while I didn’t want to talk about it… Or maybe its just the tail end of winter….

Well I am still selling houses in Boise, Idaho…. I have a couple of buyer leads….I thought about running for office again…. I sold the house after repairs quickly and for more than the last contract… So I guess what I want to say is that I am back in the game and trying to work up enthusiasm.

To busy doing taxes so here is stuff on the taxes from my facebook page:

I go in to the valley of darkness… I will work on my taxes…. I will put numbers into turbotax and it will spit out what I get back or pay…. I am pretty sure I get the money back….I am cross… The black cloud of taxes settle on me…I fear no evil because turbotax is with me…

‎12 hours later and still working on taxes…. 1 business, 4 rentals, salary and kids in college and it is very confusing…. I accidentally deleted one of my rental houses….I need the info from my broker (which he gave me and I cant find) plus one of the rentals tax forms….I am also suffering because my purse was stolen and my accounts were changed……

Woke up energetic…..Made some real progress…. Found some unexpected money in the form of checks….. I thought it was being reinvested…. I think I want all checks to be direct deposited… I also think I will again pay no federal taxes….Seems strange that when I crunch the numbers I pay no taxes……Still waiting for Charles Scwhab…. Annoying people wont get me my 1099 until Wed…. I walk through the valley of taxes I will fear no evil for I have Turbotax….

The last  story for my state representative This one happened in 2011….

Judith and Sam,

Judith and Sam are friends of mine.  I was at their wedding.   Their story is a little different They only had one mortgage and it was for a mobile home on a rented lot.  They bought their home right after the marriage for $59 K… Things were going OK even thought they were paying over $900/ month for their mortgage (payment) and lot rental…Then Sam lost his job.  He was unemployed for over a year.  They did some things to try to keep body and soul together.  A paper route and a home day care business. But it wasn’t enough. Plus they had 4 children.  I heard though the grapevine that they were in trouble and I got involved.  After 10 years of owning their home they still owed $57K on it and it was worth $30 K. Molbile homes are on rented lots are different.  They are repossessed like cars but they are really homes that people live in.  All the laws to protect homeowners do not seem to apply to these people.   I asked 3 0r 4 lawyers for opinions.

I talked to the bank.  They were most unhelpful.  I tried to get them to modify the loan.  I suggested that they lower the principal and put the mortgage at 8%.  That would bring the payment down to place they could afford.  The banker kept saying that they could afford their mortgage.. They could not…  They had 4 children, the youngest a newborn.   I then suggested a deed in lieu of foreclosure The banker seemed to sneer over the phone line.   I set up a plan with a charitable group.  They had offered help with the deposit and some rent.  I suggested we needed a lawyer to give pro-bono work for a bankruptcy and that the charitable group  would pay the fees.  They could also help with the deposit Time passed and the phone rang.  It was another banker and she offered a deed in lieu of foreclosure and gave them 2 months to move out and $300.  I also had them agree not to go for the deficiency so they did not need the bankruptcy lawyer J.    Despite all of my friends problems the only item they were behind on was the payments for the mobile home.

Without the negotiation my friends would have been hit with a deficiency judgment and forced to declare bankruptcy.

Deficency judgement continued….

Aisha

In October of 2011 I showed a house for a buyer.  The owner was home.  She is a lovely lady who developed breast cancer.  She was paying her mortgage until she couldn’t work because of the cancer.  Aisha is a single mother who now has a reasonable job.   She tried to get a loan modification but her bank wouldn’t talk to her.  They tried to tack on all sorts of fees and call it a loan modification. Aisha has two mortgages.

When her home either short sales or is foreclosed on she will get a deficiency judgment for the second mortgage.  So first you get sick. Then you lose your job. Then you lose your home. Then you get slapped with a deficiency judgment for the entire second mortgage.