Home Buying Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Desert Premier Realty Group

Fannie Mae First Look For Home Buyers

February 20, 2014 By Nathan Mitchell

Fannie Mae First Look

If you are a home buyer and you’ve been doing any amount of home research on the web, you have probably run in to the term – Fannie Mae First Look.

A Common Challenge For Home Buyers In The Valley

Real estate investors, especially here in Phoenix, tend to have very deep pockets and pay with cash. What that means to you, the home buyer is that a real estate investor can typically afford to offer more than a home for sale might be listed for.

Time and time again, especially with bank owned properties, big investors beat out owner occupant home buyers in the bidding process, because owner occupants tend to buy homes with financing and can’t overbid on and complete the purchase of a property without coming in with cash to make up the difference if the appraisal comes in low .

That is just one challenge in competing with a real estate investor.

Enter Fannie Mae’s First Look Home Buying Period

The First Look buying period is truly a blessing for owner-occupant home buyers. In a nutshell, the Fannie Mae First Look home buying program allows owner occupants to make offers on their Homepath home of choice, without the worry of competition from investors.

How The First Look Program Works

Take a look at the example below of a property that is available (as of today) on Homepath.com.

The top red arrow is pointing toward the list price of the home – $284,900. The red arrow on the bottom is pointing to how many days are left (the countdown clock) in the Fannie Mae FirstLook period for that specific home. As you can see there are 17 days left for the owner occupant home buying period.

Potential home buyers have 20 days to make an offer during the Fannie Mae First Look program. This time period has been recently extended from 15 days.

It’s That Simple.

Just contact your real estate agent and make an offer!

Restrictions Apply, Of Course.

There are certain requirements that buyers must meet in order to qualify to purchase a Fannie Mae home during the First Look period. The first, of course, is the home buyer must be an owner occupant and will make the home their primary residence.

The potential home buyer will also need to occupy the home within 60 days of purchasing the property. The buyer will need to agree to live in the home for at least one year and will be required to sign an addendum to the real estate purchase contract stating they will abide by that. The addendum will also outline the consequences of not following these guidelines.

The Fannie Mae First Look program is a great tool for the typical home buyer to have at their disposal. Be sure to keep an eye out for Fannie Mae’s Homepath properties and alert your real estate agent that you would like to include them in your home search.

Record High Housing Affordability – More Opportunity For Buyers

May 22, 2012 By Nathan Mitchell

Homes are more affordable for the median income family. 77.5% of all homes that were sold in the first Quarter this year were affordable to median income families according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI).

Where does Phoenix, AZ rank on the Housing Opportunity Index? According to the index, the median price for the first Quarter of this year was $135,000. The Housing Opportunity Index for Phoenix is 83.7 . Ranked Nationally, Phoenix is 115th in regards to housing affordability, with a median income of $66,400. The Phoenix – Mesa – Glendale area, ranked regionally is 26th. While not extremely high on the list of affordability, Phoenix still has much opportunity for the median income home buyer, with home prices still at historic lows.

Foreclosures Are On The Decline In Arizona

May 18, 2012 By Nathan Mitchell

According to a recent article in CNN Money, foreclosures are down 70% in Arizona. This is not a surprise, if you’ve been paying (even slight) attention to our market here in Phoenix. As a buyer, your choice of bank owned properties continues to dwindle here in Arizona, while there are still more short sales and growing numbers of traditional sales.

Foreclosure filings are continuing to drop across the United States. Year over year, foreclosures (actual bank repossessions) were down 26% last month and are currently at 50% of the peak in 2010. Foreclosure filings have dropped for the third straight month in a row. Foreclosure activity for April was down 5% as compared to March. Foreclosure activity includes notices of default, repossessions and scheduled auctions.

Search Like An Agent

July 15, 2011 By Nathan Mitchell

Now you can have live access to all the available listings in the Phoenix Metro Area, including cities such as Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Queen Creek, San Tan Valley and Tempe. You can use the very same interface all Realtors® in the Valley use when they do the home searching for you. Don’t waste your precious time on 3rd party websites that have all the old information that you don’t need!

Search Like An Agent Here.

Bank Owned Properties

September 15, 2010 By Nathan Mitchell

Looking for bank owned properties in Phoenix, AZ? Look no further… Set up your own custom bank owned property search and find REO’s just like an agent. Get the most up to date information available with a live link to the Arizona Regional MLS. You can even save your search and come back to see what’s new at your convenience. This is a free service, with no obligation to you. Take a look!