Real Estate & Home Sale Information in South Central Pennslyvania
Doug Rebert of Prudential Homesale talks to Fox 43 about what a median sale price is, median sale prices for homes locally, and the historical rise of home prices since 2001. Here in Central Pennsylvania, home values are holding steady or rising! Realtors and appraisers are the best tools a homeowner can use to find out what their home is worth in today’s market compared to other homes in their area.
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Fox 43 Morning News interviews Doug Rebert, of Prudential Homesale Services Group, about how the housing market increase in Central Pennsylvania is helping to pull us out of the recession. Rebert discusses potential job growth, strengthening of the economy, local news on the Central Pennsylvania real estate market, and why first-time homebuyers shouldn’t wait to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit.
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Fox 43 Morning News interviews Doug Rebert, of Prudential Homesale Services Group, about the recent news on foreclosures in the area and questions about the $8,000 tax credit. Why is now the best time to buy?
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Foreclosures, homebuyer tax credit, and a local county gets a national ranking!
Here to talk about it all is our good friend Doug Rebert from Prudential Homesale Services.
Lots of news on the foreclosures going on, what is the background to all this?
Doug: Last week, Realty Tract announced that one out of every 365 housing units in the United States received a foreclosure notice in July. That made big headlines and raised eyebrows locally to our local real estate industry because we have questions. Did this include all homes or just those homes with mortgages? What is meant by a foreclosure notice? And are we experiencing this kind of foreclosure activity in Central Pennsylvania?
All great questions, and of course we know you have the answers to those!
Doug: Well, let’s start with the homes. It did not include all homes, just homes with mortgages. That takes about a third of the market out of the equation. A third of all homes in the country do not have mortgages. Secondly, the definition of foreclosure notice was expanded to include 30 day late notices. Most 30 day late notices do not end up in foreclosures.
What about foreclosures in Central PA?
Doug: Well let’s take Lancaster County as an example. In the last 12 months, there were 296 foreclosures. Now sad, but 296 foreclosures compared to 149,000, nearly 150,000 residential properties. That’s 296 versus 150,000 properties. That’s not unique to Lancaster County. Foreclosures are minimal throughout South Central Pennsylvania and Central Pennsylvania compared to the number of properties owned.
So a lot of numbers, what would you headline be this week?
Doug: Well, so many headlines! Here is a positive one. BusinessWeek just announced that Lancaster County is the 18th strongest real estate market in the country! It’s very very good. But not unique. Throughout the recent past, Harrisburg, York, Carlisle, Hershey, Lebanon, Reading, all have received certain types of recognitions nationally for affordability, best place to live, or best place to retire.
Now let’s talk about that $8,000 homebuyer tax credit is government going to extend it?
Doug: No answer just yet. Congress is on the recession. There are some experts that are getting concerned that the budget deficit could prevent Congress from extending the credit. Crystal ball is cloudy on that one. Let’s take a look at why someone should move right now. Even with the tax credit being extended, if it is, the person could experience higher interest rates. Last week, Freddie Mac stated that the interest rates on mortgages were 5.29% compared to 6.5% last year.
So it’s not whether rates will rise, but it’s going to be how soon! Our last question for you, if they don’t extend it, when is the deadline? It’s this year!
Doug: To be eligible for the first time homebuyer tax credit, one needs to put under contract and close on their first home purchase by November 30th. If you are buying a new home, one should act right now giving your builder enough time to finish the home by November 30th. Mortgages are taking longer now, because of new regulations. So if you are buying an existing home, don’t wait until the last minute. Have your house under contract by at least October 15th to have enough time to close.
The National Association of Realtors is stating that this is the third straight month where beyond new homes, existing home sales have increased. They are citing that there is a 4.6% increase in pending contracts for existing rooms.
Other news, inventory of houses across the country is dropping because there has been some over supply in other areas of the country. And percentage of home ownership, increased last month.
In addition, interest rates continue to stay historically low, the $8,000 tax credit is still available for first time homebuyers, and home sales in general continue to rise!
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The housing market is looking up! Sales are up in Central Pennsylvania, why? Fox 43 talks with Doug Rebert of Prudential Homesale Services Group about what factors are contributing to the upswing in sales. Rebert also explains why now is the best time to buy a home while the interest rates are low and with the $8,000 tax credit!
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