Market statistics for the city of St Charles MO during the week of 02/08/09 – 02/14/09 The city of St Charles MO has a great selection of homes at really good prices and interest rates are at a great level too.  There are currently 506 single family homes on the market of various sizes and prices.  Check out St. Charles when looking for a new home for selection, style and price.  If you have been waiting for the right time now is the right time for real estate in Saint Charles MO.  With interest rates being at an all time low and the $7,500 tax incentive available now is a good time to buy a new home.   Residential:           2 Bedrooms 3 Bedrooms 4 Bedrooms 5+ Bedrooms Active # Homes 36 245 202 23 Avg. List Price $257,222 $236,018 $363,393 $506,152 Avg. Days on Market 238 122 151 148 ... 02/16/2009

Residential homes (including condos/villas) sold in St. Charles, MO 1/1/08 - 1/31/08: Minimum, Average, Maximum    Days On Market Analysis    Listing Price\Selling Price Residential homes (including condos/villas) sold in St. Charles, MO 1/1/09  - 1/31/09: Minimum, Average, Maximum    Days On Market Analysis    Listing Price\Selling Price Information courtesy of the MLS.  It is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Service you Expect from a Realtor you can Trust! GRI, e-PRO www.SelectMyHome.net   314-640-7061 (cell)   Prudential Alliance, REALTORS   636-887-3554 (office) Debi.Ernst@PrudentialAlliance.com 02/12/2009

Market statistics for the city of St Charles MO during the week of 02/01/09 – 02/07/09 The city of St Charles MO has a great selection of homes at really good prices and interest rates are at a great level too.  There are currently 519 single family homes on the market of various sizes and prices.  Check out St. Charles when looking for a new home for selection, style and price.  If you have been waiting for the right time now is the right time for real estate in Saint Charles MO.  With interest rates being at an all time low and the $7,500 tax incentive available now is a good time to buy a new home.   Residential:           2 Bedrooms 3 Bedrooms 4 Bedrooms 5+ Bedrooms Active # Homes 43 247 203 26 Avg. List Price $249,614 $232,029 $363,238 $496,127 Avg. Days on Market 281 124 147 146 ... 02/10/2009

Are all gone! Hope you are not counting on these grants to come through for a client that may be dragging their feet or with a mortgage professional that wasn't very well versed on how to obtain these funds for them. What does this mean for the client? Waiting another few months to save for the down payments (now 3.5% down with FHA). 02/10/2009

 So I'm new, and feeling the right amount of beginner's luck and hard-work starting to payoff... I'm wondering though where I'll continue to pull leads from 2-3 months down the road, as my friends and family can only buy so many houses. I'm asking for referrals, but I'm afraid to slow down and lose momentum. I feel that a deal or two additional a month would drastically change my business, and get my moving forward with even greater momentum. Does anyone in the community have any feedback on experiences with buying leads? Please comment with where you get them from, how much the cost, the quality of leads, and your success rate (if known). 02/10/2009

This was sent to me by my broker, and thought they were interesting. Take a peek! Its on our current economic situation, and whether now is a good vs. bad time to buy. Two parts, 9 min. each. Fire up a hot pocket, kick back, and enjoy. Kind of dry, but informational none-the-less. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIMwGgKAmEI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36LilXizsIY           02/09/2009

This is simply a test-run... I've recently set up a Twitter account, plugged the username and password into ActiveRain, and am interested to see how this gets shot out there! Please feel free to comment with any tips on how I can most effectively use these two resources in cooperation with each other.   Regards,   Joe Freeman, Realtor ® Prudential Select Properties www.joefreemanhomes.com   cell. 636.373.3698 office. 636.720.1100 fax.  636.720.1112 e-mail. jfreeman@psphomes.com   02/09/2009

Market statistics for the city of St Charles MO during the week of 01/25/09 – 01/31/09 The city of St Charles MO has a great selection of homes at really good prices and interest rates are at a great level too.  There are currently 533 single family homes on the market of various sizes and prices.  Check out St. Charles when looking for a new home for selection, style and price.  If you have been waiting for the right time now is the right time for real estate in Saint Charles MO.  With interest rates being at an all time low and the $7,500 tax incentive available now is a good time to buy a new home.   Residential:           2 Bedrooms 3 Bedrooms 4 Bedrooms 5+ Bedrooms Active # Homes 43 263 208 29 Avg. List Price $248,502 $234,164 $365,781 $493,486 Avg. Days on Market 281 121 142 130 ... 02/04/2009

Several months ago I began an attempt to increase my business's website search engine rankings, for a Missouri Appraiser and other keywords. This massive project was full of online directories, web blogging, rewriting my website to be more SEO friendly, and studying SEO. Alot of blood, sweat and tears went into this project, however mission is close to being accomplished. One of the online directories that I was told would be key to any search engine optimization plan was dmoz.org or "Directory Mozilla." This directory is the largest human edited directory in the world, Google, Alexa, AOL and others reconize this directory as a key in their search engine rating systems. Wow, everybody should have their site as part of this directory. Directory listings are free on this site. This direct... 01/31/2009

After talking to several mortgage professionals within the past few weeks, I am convinced that the result of the new appraisal requirements for cash out refinance transactions means less overall appraisal orders. How can a new underwriting guideline that requires more appraisals cause less appraisal orders? Well now mortgage originators must either consider the cost of paying for two appraisals when accepting a high loan to value ratio cash out mortgage application or bill the borrower for two appraisal reports. That is expensive and a gamble with alot of money in fees. FHA appraisal fees are typically higher than the conventional appraisals. Some originators have stated two appraisal reports prices many borrowers right out of the market and this money might not pay off is the appraisal... 01/30/2009

Market statistics for the city of St Charles MO during the week of 01/18/09 – 01/24/09 The city of St Charles MO has a great selection of homes at really good prices and interest rates are at a great level too.  There are currently 541 single family homes on the market of various sizes and prices.  Check out St. Charles when looking for a new home for selection, style and price.  If you have been waiting for the right time now is the right time for real estate in Saint Charles MO.  With interest rates being at an all time low and the $7,500 tax incentive available now is a good time to buy a new home.   Residential:           2 Bedrooms 3 Bedrooms 4 Bedrooms 5+ Bedrooms Active # Homes 41 262 210 28 Avg. List Price $245,525 $238,239 $365,963 $496,939 Avg. Days on Market 251 122 143 122 ... 01/29/2009

We have another sign that the current plan for reorginization of the appraisal process is coming our way is the help wanted ads. I noticed numerous jobs available for an "Appraiser Coordinator." These jobs are being offered by major lending institutions. Many Mortgage Bankers and Banks are seeking a clerical person to handle vendor relations with appraisers. Some of the help wanted ads request a person mortgage experience, some with customer service experience and others none at all. I have not found one that seeks a Certified or Licensed appraiser to handle relations with his/her peers. I have not found one ad that requests the applicant to list real estate experience. I would love to see a large local mortgage banker seek an Appraiser in Missouri for this position. I fear many of thes... 01/28/2009

One evening last week, I answered my cell phone and heard from a desperate lady. I, as an appraiser in Missouri, was asked for advise on this woman's overall mortgage condition. She found my website and ActiveRain Profile on Google. Her house was on the other end of the state, well outside my St Louis Metro Area, however I listened to her problem. A licensed/certified appraiser in Missouri valued her home at $96,000 two years ago. She took out a cash out refinance mortgage on an adjustable rate mortgage. Her mortgage person told her the rate would adjust in two years, however she could improve her credit score over two years and refinance into a better mortgage. Well two years are up and she applied for a new mortgage, two Western Missouri appraisers have appraised her home for less tha... 01/28/2009

This Missouri appraiser feels tired and worn down from real estate agents, loan production staff and recently underwriters telling him to look the other way on FHA concerns. HUD wrote a code for various things to be checked, I am not a building inspector, and I certainly do not wish to perform home inspections. Just a few things have to be in order. In previous blogs, I have summarized the FHA observation. Any appraiser in Missouri has long understood that no house is a perfect structure with all million parts in perfect order. I as a professional that performed a significant number of appraisal reports for B & C mortgage loans for many years know and greatly understand a little missing paint is not usually a significant life and death issue. I understand that most people can easily cli... 01/28/2009

Market statistics for the city of St Charles MO during the week of 01/11/09 – 01/17/09 The city of St Charles MO has a great selection of homes at really good prices and interest rates are at a great level too.  There are currently 532 single family homes on the market of various sizes and prices.  Check out St. Charles when looking for a new home for selection, style and price.  If you have been waiting for the right time now is the right time for real estate in Saint Charles MO.  With interest rates being at an all time low and the $7,500 tax incentive available now is a good time to buy a new home.   Residential:           2 Bedrooms 3 Bedrooms 4 Bedrooms 5+ Bedrooms Active # Homes 42 268 195 27 Avg. List Price $234,862 $233,502 $375,260 $518,148 Avg. Days on Market 240 118 148 127 ... 01/24/2009

Happy late New Year to everyone and I hope you're off to a productive, happy and healthy 09'. Here's a pic of the evening of me and my wonderful girlfriend celebrating NYE 09'. Now onto some informational bloggage....An interesting economic setup is occurring... it could be the year of the first-time homeowner!  For young professionals and the serial renters, a lot of opportunity has been presented recently in the form of home prices "on sale" from year's of past. I've read some articles that quote many St. Charles and St. Louis county homes are being sold at or very close to at actual original cost to the builder... meaning, that if the home burned down, it would cost more to buy the materials and labor to put it back together than what homes are selling for on the market currently. A ... 01/23/2009

Market statistics for the city of St Charles MO during the week of 01/04/09 – 01/10/09 The city of St Charles MO has a great selection of homes at really good prices and interest rates are at a great level too.  There are currently 512 single family homes on the market of various sizes and prices.  Check out St. Charles when looking for a new home for selection, style and price.  If you have been waiting for the right time now is the right time for real estate in Saint Charles MO.  With interest rates being at an all time low and the $7,500 tax incentive available now is a good time to buy a new home.   Residential:           2 Bedrooms 3 Bedrooms 4 Bedrooms 5+ Bedrooms Active # Homes 40 256 191 25 Avg. List Price $237,223 $237,449 $371,374 $530,320 Avg. Days on Market 250 121 152 139 ... 01/16/2009

Residential homes sold in St. Charles, MO 1/1/06 - 12/31/06:                                             2 Bd.                3 Bd.                     4 Bd.                   5+  Bd.               All  Bd.  Sold     #Units 100 783 488 48 1419       Dollar Value $13,435,480 $142,836,797 $133,517,802 $18,532,034 $308,322,113       Average List Price $138,008 $186,022 $280,654 $397,573 $222,338       Average Sold Price $134,355 $182,422 $273,602 $386,084 $217,281       Average  Days Mkt. 78 56 71 75 63       Average Square Feet 887 1216 1984 3033 1518       % of List Price 97.35 98.07 97.49 97.11 97.73     Residential homes sold in St. Charles,  MO 1/1/07 - 12/31/07:                                              2 Bd .                3 Bd.                    4 Bd.                  5+ Bd.  ... 01/09/2009

Market statistics for the city of St Charles MO during the week of 12/28/08 – 01/03/09 The city of St Charles MO has a great selection of homes at really good prices and interest rates are at a great level too.  There are currently 514 single family homes on the market of various sizes and prices.  Check out St. Charles when looking for a new home for selection, style and price.  If you have been waiting for the right time now is the right time for real estate in Saint Charles MO.  So here are the statistics for the week of New Years Day and believe it or not homes are still being bought and sold.  Not to mention that there is still a very good choice of homes and villas in all price ranges and areas to choose from!  With interest rates being at an all time low and the $7,500 tax incen... 01/08/2009

THE 2055 FHA APPRAISAL REPORT (FOR SECOND APPRAISAL REPORTS!) The FHA Appraisal is now required to be performed by two seperate appraisers on many cashout FHA refinances. While this could be a hardship to some borrowers as payment for such FHA appraisal reports can be expensive. Loans insured by FHA mortgage insurance that are cash out refinances now require two FHA seperate appraisals. A second appraisal may be performed on am 2055 appraisal form (FHA Driveby Appraisal) This appears to be another step in HUD trying to keep the FHA mortgage process from falling into trouble. Overall this could be less risk for the FHA mortgage insurance program and cost control for the mortgage insurance program. This is a portion of MORTGAGEE LETTER 2008-40 •·       Second Appraisal Requirements/Loan-t... 01/02/2009