Real Estate Information Archive

June not only marks the commencement of the summer season, but more importantly for homeowners, National Home Safety Month. While our thoughts turn to smoke detectors and child safety locks when considering a safe home, many homeowners often overlook the risks of poor indoor air quality—especially important as the temperature and humidity rise with summer.

As a Member of the Top 5 in Real Estate Network®, I’ve worked with many clients who have suffered from health-related issues due to poor air quality in their homes. Yet rarely do people think about the quality of their indoor air. Service experts recommend using the following checklist to ensure your air is as healthy as possible:

• Do you smoke in your home?
• Do your kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room have ventilation and exhaust fans?
• Do you change your air filters once a month?
• When cleaning or doing laundry, do you use bleach, ammonia, or aerosol spray cans?
• Is your gas fireplace and/or gas stove checked yearly for emissions?
• Was your home built before 1978? If so, has it been checked for lead-based paint?
• Do your bathrooms have carpet where moisture and dust can build up?

If you have answered "yes" to any of these questions, it’s time to consider making some changes. Many of the quick fixes to improve one’s indoor air quality at home can be accomplished through a few simple adjustments to your regular maintenance practices.

Others, like checking for lead paint, can often be handled through local, county or state programs that are partially or wholly subsidized, and heating source emissions checks can often be done through one’s own utility provider.

For more information on home safety or for a referral on companies that can help you with home maintenance, please e-mail me. And feel free to pass this email on to friends and family members who may have concerns regarding their indoor air quality.

"Should I Buy a Home Now, or Wait?"

All good questions. They deserve good answers.

(1) Will home prices get better if I wait?

The average home price in the MLS of Greater Cincinnati has fallen by 13 % over the past year. As the number of homes for sale shrinks (see question #3 below), that will create pressure for higher home prices. It may not happen over night, but it will happen. In a recent Baylor University survey, 8 of 10 economists agreed home prices will rise in the next 5 years. So will rental costs.  Do you want to capture the advantage of equity build-up...or collect "throw-away" rent receipts?

(2) Will mortgage rates be lower if I wait?

Today's mortgage rates are near 50-year lows. They are at bargain levels. But if you've never bought a home before, you just don't realize the "borrowing power" of today's low rates (unless your parents, friends, or other relatives told you). You don't have to pay 15% for a home loan, as you did in the early 1980s, or 7%-to-8% in the 1970s and 1990s. Today they're between 5-6%. That's all.  But when inflation returns, you can "kiss goodbye" mortgage rates under 7%.

(3) Will I have a wider choice of homes to buy if I wait?

There are currently 14,182 homes for sale in the MLS of Greater Cincinnati. One year ago that number was 16,680. Two years ago it was 17,880. The trend in the number of homes available is definitely downward. The lower the inventory, the greater pressure for higher prices. So, should you wait for a wider choice? Fewer homes on the market = higher selling prices. So, do you want to buy low (now), or buy higher (later)?  Is there any particular reason, as a First-Time Buyer, why I should buy now?

Yes.

Call The Mike Parker Team. We know (a) local market home inventories, (b) homes values, (c) lending programs, (d) first-time homebuyers tax credit program and (e) everything else to help you make a housing choice...TODAY. It's time to...Get Off the Fence.

Recently the proposed $15,000 tax credit was just trimmed down to $8,000.  This is still great news for all those first time home buyers out there - especially those in Northern Kentucky.

The tax credit that is part of the Housing amendment is simply this: All first time buyers now have a one time $8,000 tax credit if they buy a house this year. This IS NOT A LOAN like last year's plan, but a true credit.  The house must be closed between January 1st 2009 and December 31st 2009.   A first time home buyer according to the IRS is anyone who hasn't owned a home in the last three years.    THis stimulous is also income guided meaning as a single person you have to have earned less than $95,000 or $170,000 if you are  married.  As always,  you should check with your tax person to make sure you qualify.

Once you step inside 2430 Preservation Way, you won't want to leave.  This home is located in the prestigious Hearthstone neighborhood conviently located to schools, shopping, churches and more!!  Surrounded by loads of upgrades including ceramic tile flooring, a huge gourmet kitchen, large room sizes, a second floor recreation room, a huge master suite with an adjoining ultra bath and much more!!!  This four bedroom home also features two and half bathrooms, a first floor laundry, a first floor study, a huge breakfast room, a formal dining room and a marble fireplace located in the family room.  To schedule your private tour of this fantastic property, contact The Mike Parker Team Today!!!!

Relocating to Northern Kentucky?  Please use our complimentary on-line MLS search. to help you with your research.  Interestsed in Selling??  Use our complimentary home valuation to find out the current value of your home.

For more information about these homes and the auction, contact our office at 859-647-0700 or email, mike@mikeparker.com.

The following article was in the Columbus Dispatch on Saturday, May 31, 2008, written by Sarah Pulliam.  It was forwarded to us by an attorney Terrance R. Monnie.  He explains that if the buyer mentioned in this article "had purchased a title insurance policy the loss would not only have been covered but the insured buyers would have been provided with legal counsel to defend the claim."

Clerk's error jeopardizes family's home

Undetected lien against seller haunts buyer

Zanesville, Ohio - A spelling error by a government worker might cost Andy Mateja his house. 

When he bought a home worth at least $400,000 for $320,000 in 2001, he thought it was a good deal.  He moved in with his family of six and paid his mortgage on time, according to his records.

So he couldn't understand why the Muskingum County sheriffs office served him with foreclosure papers in August 2007.

"My wife literally broke down and cried.  She thought we were going to lose the house," Mateja said.  "If we were going to be evicted, I didn't know where we were going to turn."

When Mateja bought his house, he paid for a title search that found no liens on his property.  It turns out what wasn't true.

JPMorgan Chase had placed a $150,000 lien on the house in 1998, when it was owned by Dr. Subbarayudu Koppera.  But the lien was mistakenly entered into the public record under the name Koppera, so it did not not show up when the title company searched for liens by the owner's last name.

Muskingum County Recorder Karen Vincent, whose office made the spelling mistake, testified that a correction was made in 2006.  Vincent told the Dispatch that to her knowledge, it was the first time an error has been made, but she declined to comment further.

In buying the house, Mateja did not take out title insurance that would have protected him from claims against a previous owner.

Now JPMorgan Chase is going after the Matejas' house.  The Matejas have countersued the bank and Koppera.  The case is scheduled to go to court June 19.

Tom Kelly, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, said that if the lien is paid off by Koppera, the bank will not pursue foreclosure.  He declined to check how much Koppera has paid or whether there is an agreement to pay back the money, citing privacy issues.

"Our goal for all of this is to be paid what we're owed, and the security to that is the mortgage lien on that property," Kelly said.  "Our preference is to be paid the money, not to own the house."

Former homeowner Koppera, 61, modified the lien in 2004, even though he no longer owned the house.  Koppera, who bought a $682,000 house in New Albany is 2000, said he is paying the bank $2,000 each month on the lien of his former home.

"We are paying now.  Somehow they got mad and they want everything."  Koppera said of Chase.

Koppera, a kidney specialist, and his wife have faced numerous civil judgments for unpaid debts and federal, state and county tax liens for unpaid taxes.

He believes the title company made a mistake.  "They should've known it and stopped right there so the lien was clear.  Instead of me taking the cash, I would've paid the lien," Koppera said regarding the sale of the house.  "They didn't do their job, and they should pay for it."

Koppera declined to comment further.

Mateja, a 53-year-old father of four, moved to his Zanesville home from Chicago.  The four-bedroom, red-brick house sits on a manicured hill in a quiet neighborhood northwest of Zanesville.

He has incurred mounting costs since he left his job as vice president of sales for Robinson Ransbottom Pottery before the company went out of business in 2005.  He worked as a consultant for two years before getting a full-time job in October with Gale Pacific.

Because he was struggling financially, he refinanced his mortgage in May 2007 at a higher interest rate in a loan that gave him extra cash.  His lender would not give him an equity loan.

Then, he was hit with foreclosure papers, and he has incurred about $10,000 in legal bills since.

"My first inclination was, 'Do we just let them pull the plug and go rent?'  We didn't want to try to rent, but we couldn't buy again if we had been foreclosed on," Mateja said.  "It definitely put me into shock and put my wife into deep despair."

This article was written up in the KYPost and features our agent partner Peter Zimmer.

Web produced by: Jessica Noll

Fifteen people graduated from the 3rd Annual Kenton County Government Academy Monday evening.

State Rep. Arnold Simpson, D- Covington, was the featured keynote speaker. Kenton County Judge/Executive Ralph Drees also addressed the graduates.

The Kenton County Government Academy was created to give average citizens the opportunity to learn about how their local government works from the inside out.

Goals of this program are that citizens will become more involved with government related issues in Kenton County all the while fostering potential community leaders by equipping them with essential information to share with and answer questions from friends, relatives and neighbors.

Now, after completing a 40 hour program over the course of the last 12 weeks, these citizens graduated from the academy with honors.

Graduates include:
Jeremy Canter – Ft. Thomas
Jay Ficke – Covington
Joni Ficke – Edgewood
Holly Houillion – Covington
Brian Houillion – Covington
Barry Johnson – Covington
Beverly Naïve – Walton
Nataliya Parker – Walton
Scott Pennington – Independence
Joe Price – Crestview Hills
Nancy Ray – Covington
Gregory Scully – Burlington
Terry Mayo – Crestview Hills
William Wells – Covington
Peter Zimmer – Covington

Congratulations Peter on a job well done!!!!!

This article was written in the Chigago Tribune regarding what to do if you are running behind on your mortgage payments.....

Options exist for homeowners behind on their mortgage payments—if they act quickly. Lisle attorney Steven Bashaw and Michigan real estate broker Ralph Roberts offer these:

·         A forbearance agreement may help borrowers with short-term financial problems, Roberts said. It’s a payment plan with a set pay-back period, and the bank will want proof you can live up to it. “If you owe $3,000 in back payments, for example, the bank may allow you to pay an extra $250 per month for 12 months,” he said.

·         Reinstatement entails paying all past-due payments, costs and fees to bring the account current. This may be a good short-term solution, Roberts said, but homeowners have to make hard decisions about whether they can keep paying the loan in the long haul.

·         Mortgage modification means working out a new loan, with many possible variations. The bank may agree to roll the amount owed in missed payments, penalties and interest into the total loan amount, for example, Roberts said. Or a modification might lower the interest rate or change the loan’s term.

·         Sell the house in a timely manner, pay off the loan and fees, and end the problem, Roberts and Bashaw said.

·         A short sale occurs when a lender agrees to take a loss by selling the house for less than the amount owed. “I don’t encounter those as much as you’d think,” Bashaw said. “They’re not the panacea that speculators and investors and real estate agents want you to think they are.”

·         Bankruptcy. “It can give you more time to restructure your debt,” Roberts said. “Bankruptcy takes you off the market, the collection proceedings can’t keep going. The clock just stops running.” But it’s extreme, and a lender might get court approval to proceed with the foreclosure anyway, Roberts said. Plus, it poisons your credit-worthiness.

·         Redemption. In Illinois, a foreclosed borrower has a certain amount of time after the house is sold at auction to redeem it by reimbursing the purchaser for the sale price and other costs.

·         Rescue plans can come from all manner of folks. They are too varied to describe here—except to say that homeowners must be wary of scams.

Bottom line: Don’t sign a quit-claim deed to someone who says this will “fix your problem,” Roberts says. It may be a ruse to steal the house. Check with a lawyer before you sign.