Lake Gaston Real Estate Market Update
By: Barney Watson – Broker / REALTOR® with RE/MAX On The Lake
The Lake Gaston real estate market showed a positive increase in business for June. There were 33 closed transactions, totaling $9,189,250, compared to 16 closed transactions totaling $3,559,000 in June 2011. Most closings went under contract in May. Our overall Lake Gaston market of homes and land is up 34.0% in unit sales and 10.5% in dollar volume compared to the same six months of 2011. Waterfront homes are up 22.2% in units and down 3.7% in dollar volume. Waterfront lots are up 177.8% in unit sales and up 208.2% in dollar volume. We also saw an increase in offshore homes.
Clients ask, “Will we ever see a normal market again?” I’m not sure anyone knows what normal is. Our total sales, through June of this year, were $33,225,500. Back in 2007 our first six months sales totaled $64,824,776. I don’t know if we’ll ever see those days again? Currently the Lake Gaston market is heading in the right direction. Buyer activity is steady and I’m still optimistic.
It's hard keeping a positive attitude when negativity claims the news. This week I saw several news agencies commenting on a report made to Congress by the Government Accountability Office. The report looked at two programs in the Federal Housing Administration during 2009. The mortgage insurance program and the First Time Home Buyers Credits, both part of the governments “Recovery and Reinvestment Act” aimed at easing the mortgage crisis for homeowners. The Government Accountability Office said, “In 2009 the Federal Housing Administration insured more than $1.44 billion in mortgages for 6,327 borrowers who at the same time had delinquent tax debt and benefited from the Recovery Act. According to Internal Revenue Service records these borrowers had an estimated $77.6 million in unpaid federal taxes as of June 30, 2010.”
One article explained that a person can be a deadbeat taxpayer and still be legal to receive help from the Federal Housing Administration it depends on the program applied for. Tax debtors can receive help from the First Time Home Buyers Program, but not from the mortgage insurance program. With this group of 6,327 people examined, about half had received help from the mortgage insurance program, according to the report or audit. Still the Government Accountability Office noted they could not determine, “the proportion of borrowers who were ineligible” because of tracking each applicant. So they tracked a sampling of eight borrowers. They said, “We found that five of our eight selected borrowers were not in valid repayment agreements at the time they obtained Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance.” The Government Accountability Office said deadbeat taxpayers can be three times more likely to default on their loans and that can put the Federal Housing Administration at an increased risk.
What’s the resolve? The Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Housing Administration need to improve procedures and communicate better. . . . Well, that’s nothing new! I sure hope they start listening soon.
Yes, the housing market across the US is showing improvement, but I feel more help from our Federal Government would help us along. Most analysts agree that a solid economic recovery won’t happen until there is improvement in the housing market and unemployment.
Here, on Lake Gaston, we should count our blessings each day. Lake Gaston is a great place to live, raise a family, vacation and invest in!
