The last day of the month can be one of the most hectic in real estate: buyers are closing, sellers are closing, title companies are closing, underwriters are closing, lenders are closing, and REALTORS are closing.  In honor of this day – and because my daughter is seeing Green Day in concert tonight – we celebrate with Closing Time.

Call me bitter if you will, but the grilling servicers in the loan industry are receiving on Capitol Hill today are what I call “Just Desserts.”  From Business Week:

Far too few homeowners are getting modification help either in debt forgiveness or reduction in interest rates. Even when loans are modified, the adjustments aren’t sticking and the loan goes bad anyway.

Time and time again I’ve heard people begging for help.  They don’t get the help.  I had one buyer who made a full price offer on a short-sale – it would’ve been short about $5000 for the lender.  The lender refused because they’d prefer a foreclosure and losing $60,000 than an immediate out for a $5000 hit.

And lenders know it!

Deloitte’s David Sisko, who leads the firm’s default management/loss mitigation service business, points out that some servicers are exacerbating the problem by cutting corners. At some point, he says, they’re just going to have to suck up and take a hit on their own profits to help the rest of us get through this deluge of problem loans. “

Let us hope the 25 mortgage servicers in Washington this week speaking with officials from Treasury and Housing and Urban Development can come to a fair solution.  We need one.

I decided some time ago that next time I buy, I want a NEW house.  However, if it came down to a choice between this beauty and a new construction home I’d be hard-pressed to decide.

To find out more information about this lovely house, contact listing agent Kevin Hackney of RE/MAX Elite at (615) 306-7629.

Rural Housing Loans are all the rage in my neck of the woods because we have enough rural areas that qualify.  Sponsored by the USDA, the loans are 100 percent loans that waive the monthly mortgage insurance.  To be eligible, you’ll still need to meet credit score requirements.  In addition, the home you purchase must be owner-occupied, no in-ground swimming pools are allowed, and if you’ve filed for bankruptcy, that has to be discharged for 36 months.

There are some income limits – specifically for a one to four person home, the income is limited to $74,600.  For a home with five to eight people, you can’t earn more than $98,450.

For a new construction Rural Housing loan, the requirements vary.  For example, the builder must provide at least a one-year builders warranty, certification is required for both plan/thermal and septic/step system systems, a soil treatment letter is required.  For full details, you can contact a qualified lender in your area.

Additionally, you can visit the USDA web site here for more info.  Here’s a nifty map that shows homes currently for sale (though I didn’t find any in my area) that would qualify for Rural Housing loans.

Maybe it’s the first time home buyers who are finally getting the message about that sweet $8,000 tax credit.  Maybe it’s a feeling that the job market is stabilizing.  It could simply be that this recession won’t last forever and we’re finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel.  (And let’s hope that this time next month we won’t be posting about how home sales are down!!!).

Today’s big headline is that new home sales are up 11 percent.  Before we blow sunshine up anyone’s skirt, there’s this from Business Week:

But while housing might be finding a floor, it’s less than a penthouse view. Morgan Stanley analyst David Greenlaw noted that “much of the sales activity was concentrated at the lower end of the market. Second, sales contracts that were signed in June may have been tied to the lows in mortgage rates that were recorded in April and May.”

And lest we forget, there’s still an excess of inventory – especially in existing homes.  This has caused a continual decline in housing prices – a condition that has assuredly made many sellers quite unhappy.  The correction continues, but eventually it will stabilize.

I’m ready for it.

I’ve been following an idea proposed by John Watch of AccuriZ regarding how to rescue home owners during his mortgage crisis.  What he says makes a lot of sense, so I want to try to help get the idea out.  Maybe if enough of us start talking about it, we’ll see some interest from the Capitol.

A massive amount of money has already been earmarked for bailing out the banks.  Yes, we are seeing the economy improve somewhat, but we need to find a way to stop the foreclosure hemorrhage. There is TARP money leftover and John proposes it be used as a LOAN to struggling homeowners – let them pay what they can but use the remaining money to keep them in the home.  After seven years – which should be enough time for families to recover – they can start paying the money back to the government, thereby relieving the taxpayer of the burden of paying it back.  It would not be a hand-out, but a short-term assistance program once called a Lend Lease program by Franklin Roosevelt.

John summarizes,

The reason it can work is because real estate goes through cycles. If people are forced to sell at liquidation prices, everyone loses. Give property owners a chance to get back on their feet, get back to work and the whole economy starts to turn around.

This is not perfect and many will complain about the injustice. But think about the injustice of the corporate bailouts, the injustice that first time home buyers get a break, the injustice that shareholders come before the individuals who created value in the companies by buying products. One can go on and on, or we can try.

I say why not try. No harm, no foul.

Photo by Keith Bacongco via Flickr Creative Commons.

I see beautiful homes and wonder if they are celebrities selling. This stunning home on 135 acres is listed at $38 million. It *is* a celebrity home – a country singer.  Can you guess who?

Listing company is French Christian Patterson. Contact agents Richard French or Dana Battaglia at (615) 297-8744 for more information.

In your new home and looking to decorate?  Through FARK.com, I found this link to the 10 Geekiest Pieces of Furniture in the Universe and nearly choked from laughing so hard.  CAUTION strong language and strong content at the site, but here’s my favorite nevertheless…

And why it may NOT be a good idea?

Once more, what’s awesome on its own becomes sad in context. The misleading photo up there portrays our noble dragon table in a palatial room serving goblets of gold. That sucker takes on a whole new light when it’s offering a 32-ounce Mountain Dew from Taco Bell in a Transformers 2 cup, next to a wrinkled bag containing bits of Cheetos dust.

Again, this is a funny read but be warned there is definitely strong language and content on the site.

If it weren’t for copyright issues, I’d put the entire post here written by Brian Block, a Realtor in the Northern Virginia, Washington DC area.  This RE/MAX Allegiance agent from McLean, Virginia wrote of his recent experience in Cancun … or how to NOT sell homes,

We were promised a 90 minute sales presentation after breakfast.  Little did we know that the timeshare sales guy would sit with us at breakfast and watch us eat (he had a cup of coffee while we made several trips to the buffet).  Talk about uncomfortable.  Then he started going down his survey sheet, asking us several questions about ourselves — our interests, our dreams, etc.  However, he didn’t really seem to care.  More of a smile, an “um hum,” etc. rather than spirited rapport-building conversation.

After a 60 minute tour around the timeshare resort, our guide who was presumably in his mind building rapport with us, told us that we were going to meet with “THE CLOSER” Dun Dun Dah.  Why in heaven’s name would he spend 60 minutes with us only to pass us off to purchase from an unknown to us slick salesman?

This was Step 2 to doing it all wrong.  Let alone actually calling the other salesman “THE CLOSER” — that’s still got me laughing today!

The entire script is a hoot.  I went to a couple of these presentations before and boy do they lay it on you.  Guilt to the husband because his wife wants to travel and isn’t her happiness worth anything to you?  Then they get angry when you DON’T buy even though you’ve informed them AT THE START that you have no intention of buying and you’re only there as a favor to a friend.

Is the three hour presentation worth the two night stay at a sub-par neighboring hotel at a great destination?  I suppose I can bear it again someday.

This beautiful home located one hour south of Nashville, Tennessee sits on over 230 rolling acres and features a pond, in-ground swimming pool, and separate log cabin.

The cabin …

For information about this gorgeous $1.9 million property, contact Betsy Peebles at Pilkerton Realtors at (615) 604-2101 or Jane Jackson at (615) 383-7914.