Location! Location! Location
The Salt Ash Inn is conveniently located near Killington and Okemo Ski Areas in Calvin Coolidge’s hometown of Plymouth, in South Central Vermont. The Inn is a casual, home-style Vermont Country Inn.
The main building was a 1830s stagecoach stop, a general store and a post office. It now offers 13 uniquely decorated guest rooms (all with private baths, TV’s and telephones). There are warm common areas for lounging or reading, a cozy rustic English style Pub with circular stone-hearth fireplace, and profuse WILD flower gardens surrounding the backyard and pool area.
Come take a look! Offered for $569,900.00
Should I Move Up To A Larger Ludlow VT Home?
Should I move up to a larger home is a question many Ludlow VT homeowners are asking. The questions below will help you decide whether you’re ready for a home that’s larger or in a more desirable location.
1. Have you built substantial equity in your current home?
If you have owned your Ludlow VT home for a number of years you might have built up some equity. Look at your annual mortgage statement or call your lender to determine your loan balance. Then give me a call to determine your home’s market value. The difference between your loan amount and market value is your equity.
2. Has your income or financial situation improved?
If your income has increased, you may be able to afford a higher mortgage payment.
3. Have you outgrown your neighborhood?
Often, the neighborhood or location you bought your first home in may no longer suit your needs. You may want to be closer to work, be in a better school district or have a home on a lake rather than close to it.
4. Are there reasons why you can’t remodel or add on?
Sometimes adding on to your current home is the answer. If you will end up over-improving for the neighborhood, moving may be a better option.
5. Are you comfortable moving in the current housing market?
In the current Ludlow VT real estate market, your home may not sell for what it would have a few years ago, but the home you buy will also be less expensive.
6. Are interest rates attractive?
A low rate not only helps you buy a larger home, but also makes it easier to find a buyer and interest rates are currently at record lows.
If you answer yes to most of the questions, it’s a sign that you may be ready to move. If so, please visit ISellVermontRealEstate.com to learn more about the Ludlow VT real estate market or give me a call. I’m glad to help!
How Does Housing Recovery Act Help Okemo Mountain Home Buyers
President Bush signed into law recently The Housing and Economic Recovery Act. This is the most sweeping change to housing reform since the New Deal of 1934. It is designed to assist more Americans invest in home ownership and shore up the faltering housing and mortgage markets. Like any legislation, it comes with the good and the bad. I encourage you to write your Congressmen to see if we can get legislation to revoke some of the bad. For example, effective October 1, 2008, FHA will increase the minimum required down payment from 3% to 3.5% for Ludlow and Okemo Mountain home buyers. The legislation also calls for the elimination of seller down-payment assistance programs such as AmeriDream and Nehemiah by October 1, 2008.
As of July 14, 2008, upfront MIP premiums became risk-based on credit scores and the annual premium increased across the board. Instead of the original plan of making FHA loans more affordable for potential Okemo Mountain home buyers; the new legislation is doing the exact opposite and makes it more expensive.
Details of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act:
Here are some key provisions of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act that most affect Okemo Mountain home buyers:
- GSE Reform – including a strong independent regulator, and permanent conforming loan limits up to the greater of $417,000 or 115% local area median home price, capped at $625,500. The effective date for reforms is immediate upon enactment, but the loan limits will not go into effect until the expiration of the Economic Stimulus limits (December 31, 2008).
View 2009 FHA and GSE loan limit estimates (PDF)
- FHA Reform – including permanent FHA loan limits at the greater of $271,050 or 115% of local area median home price, capped at $625,500; streamlined processing for FHA condos; reforms to the HECM program, and reforms to the FHA manufactured housing program. The down payment requirement on FHA loans will go up to 3.5% (from 3%). The effective date for reforms is immediate upon enactment, but the loan limits will not go into effect until the expiration of the Economic Stimulus limits (December 31, 2008).
View 2009 FHA and GSE loan limit estimates (PDF)
FHA Reform Chart (PDF)
- Homebuyer Tax Credit – a $7500 tax credit that would be would be available for any qualified purchase between April 8, 2008 and June 30, 2009. The credit is repayable over 15 years (making it, in effect, an interest free loan).
First-time homebuyer tax credit chart
Frequently asked questions about the first-time homebuyer tax credit
- FHA foreclosure rescue – development of a refinance program for homebuyers with problematic subprime loans. Lenders would write down qualified mortgages to 85% of the current appraised value and qualified borrowers would get a new FHA 30-year fixed mortgage at 90% of appraised value. Borrowers would have to share 50% of all future appreciation with FHA. The loan limit for this program is $550,440 nationwide. Program is effective on October 1, 2008.
FHA Foreclosure Rescue Chart
- Seller-funded down payment assistance programs – codifies existing FHA proposal to prohibit the use of down payment assistance programs funded by those who have a financial interest in the sale; does not prohibit other assistance programs provided by nonprofits funded by other sources, churches, employers, or family members. This prohibition does not go into effect until October 1, 2008.
More about the seller-funded down payment assistance provision
Tips to finding down payment assistance programs (PDF)
- VA loan limits – temporarily increases the VA home loan guarantee loan limits to the same level as the Economic Stimulus limits through December 31, 2008.
- Risk-based pricing – puts a moratorium on FHA using risk-based pricing for one year. This provision is effective from October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009.
- GSE Stabilization – includes language proposed by the Treasury Department to authorize Treasury to make loans to and buy stock from the GSEs to make sure that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae could not fail.
- Mortgage Revenue Bond Authority – authorizes $10 billion in mortgage revenue bonds for refinancing subprime mortgages.
- National Affordable Housing Trust Fund – Develops a Trust Fund funded by a percentage of profits from the GSEs. In its first years, the Trust Fund would cover costs of any defaulted loans in FHA foreclosure program. In out years, the Trust Fund would be used for the development of affordable housing.
- CDBG Funding – Provides $4 billion in neighborhood revitalization funds for communities to purchase foreclosed homes.
More about the CDBG funding provision
- LIHTC – Modernizes the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program to make it more efficient.
- Loan Originator Requirements – Strengthens the existing state-run nationwide mortgage originator licensing and registration system (and requires a parallel HUD system for states that fail to participate). Federal bank regulators will establish a parallel registration system for FDIC-insured banks. The purpose is to prevent fraud and require minimum licensing and education requirements. The bill exempts those who only perform real estate brokerage activities and are licensed or registered by a state, unless they are compensated by a lender, mortgage broker, or other loan originator.
It remains to be seen the overall effect the Recovery Act will have on both the individual home buyer and the housing industry as a whole.
From the Experts:
“We’re going through a major financial crisis…let’s be clear: Fannie and Freddie can’t be allowed to fail. With the collapse of subprime lending, they’re now more central than ever to the housing market, and the economy as a whole.”
– Paul Krugman, Professor of Economics at Princeton and New York Times columnist, 7/14/2008
State of the Real Estate Market in Alaska
If you are thinking of listing your home in the spring, now is the time to start cleaning up and clearing out the clutter so you’ll be good to go in 2008! I wrote a “State of the Real Estate Market” article for the Frontiersman newspaper that comes out at the end of the month. This is good information for anyone looking to sell in 2008 or anyone just wanting to know the real facts about the residential real estate market.
Attention all seniors graduating from High School in May of 2008. Apply for one of our three scholarships we will be awarding this year. We give away 3 scholarships totaling $3000 each year to graduation seniors.
Attention all renters! This is a great time to buy with low interest rates and several new homes to choose from. Stop throwing away rent and start earning equity.
Red Cross award. The local Red Cross Chapter Thanks the Kristan Cole Team for monetary contributions and whole blood and plasma donations. Also don’t forget about our warm coats—warm hearts coat drive for children. Drop off at our office anytime this month.
Southeastern Michigan Real Estate
Here in southeastern Michigan, as in many areas across the country, we continue to have a swollen inventory of homes for sale. It started with overbuilding and overly inflated home prices. Eventually the market had to re-adjust, and when it did so, foreclosures added to our already large inventory of homes for sale.
Now with money getting tighter, which means less buying power, there are fewer home sales. Mortgage rates have been increasing. And every time the mortgage rates go up, even a quarter of a percent, a large number of potential buyers are disqualified from the marketplace. Additionally, a number of mortgage companies are going out of business, with American Home Mortgage Company – the tenth largest in the country – as the latest to close their doors. In recent years mortgage companies granted mortgages to just about anyone, including those who couldn’t or wouldn’t prove their income, those with no down payment and even those with very poor credit. But today, with foreclosures climbing steadily, almost all mortgage companies have re-enacted the tight lending restrictions that were common decades ago. The result of all this is that there are fewer buyers now to purchase those homes on the market so the inventory continues to be swollen.
Statistics from First American Real Estate Solution show if one house forecloses in a neighborhood, the average house in that neighborhood loses five percent of its value. If eight percent of the houses in the neighborhood foreclose, the value in that neighborhood goes down twenty percent.
Recently President Bush has been exhorting the lenders to try to help out those who are facing foreclosures. Just what can be done is yet to be seen, but some lenders are more willing than others to try to work with a homeowner who is in financial trouble. If you or a family member are having trouble making your mortgage payments, it is advisable to discuss your situation with your lender now. Or, if you have a very experienced Realtor who has seen good and bad markets over time, you might want to discuss your situation with that person before going to the lender.
To Buy Or Not To Buy?
In a slowing real estate market, buyers often ask is it better to buy now with low interest rates or is it better to wait and see if prices will drop. If I had a crystal ball and could tell you this, I would probably be retired on a tropical island somewhere, but I can give you a couple of insights.
Interest rates have been hovering around 6.5 percent for over a year and there are no indications that this will change any time soon. The minor fluctuations in rates we have been seeing don’t really effect your payment much.
Say you have a loan for $100,000. At 6.5 percent the payment on a 30-year fixed rate loan is $650. If the interest rate drops by 0.5 percent it only brings your monthly payment down $5.00. You would have to see a dramatic drop (or increase) in rates for it too effect your pocket book.
Will housing prices drop? The National Association of Realtors is predicting a rising market throughout 2007. Also, it is almost March and spring is the busiest time of year in real estate. Historically, prices increase in the spring which means gambling on a drop in prices may not be a great gamble.
Confused? Give me a call at 800-659-1819 #103. I am glad to discuss this with you further. Or visit my website. Here you can view all Ludlow, VT homes for sale.
Housing Market To Stay on High Plateau
Home sales should remain strong this year according to a report just released from the National Association of Realtors. The association expects sales to move up and down somewhat over for the rest of the year, but are predicting 2006 as being the third strongest year in history.
NAR President Thomas M. Stevens from Vienna, Va., said home prices are expected to cool, but not as much as in earlier projections. Click here to read the full report.
So if you were waiting for the real estate market to go bust before you buy, you probably shouldn’t hesitate any longer. Visit my website, www.ISellVermontRealEstate.com, or contact me by phone, 802-226-8022, or e-mail. I will show you how you can take advantage of this strong market and low interest rates.
Okemo Mountain Vermont Real Estate 
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