It’s now Closed. I sold the house at 224 W Bay Cedar in Botanica in Jupiter for $448,000 and the Owners got a 2 week post occupancy so they could move into their new home in Rialto in Jupiter without big moving and storage costs. This sold for more than the last IDENTICAL model sold for after over 7 months on the market. And, more than the house right next door with the same square footage at 228 W Bay Cedar sold for after almost 6 months on the market. Or 212 W Bay which just Closed for 435,000. I got my customer 13k more for their house.
Conforming Loan Credit Scores
One question I get with less frequency but still very often is…
What’s the minimum credit score I need to get a loan?
The answer is much more complex than you might think even when looking at a single loan product like a Fannie Mae of Freddie Mac (a/k/a Conforming) loan. CLICK HERE for a link to the Fannie Mae Eligibility Matrix. Jumbo Loan products vary from lender to lender depending upon who is buying the debt in the secondary market. We will focus on Fannie Mae loans as conforming loans represent the majority of all new loans being under written and Fannie Mae does most of these.
First, when the say a ‘Credit Score’ they are referring to your FICO credit score.
This chart can take a bit of getting used to but let’s look at 2 examples:
1) If you want to borrow up to 95% of the purchase price for a property you intend to occupy as your primary residence then you must have a credit score above 680 if you intend to borrow between 76 and 95% of the purchase price. If you are borrowing 75% or less of the purchase price then you must have a credit score greater than 620. Both of the assume a Debt:Income ration lower than, or equal to 36%.
2) If you want to borrow up to 90% of the purchase price for a property you do NOT intend to occupy as your primary residence then you must have a credit score above 680 if you intend to borrow between 76 and 90% of the purchase price. If you are borrowing 75% or less of the purchase price then you must have a credit score greater that 640. Both of the assume a Debt:Income ration lower than, or equal to, 36%
Jupiter Housing Sales – Jan 2015
The housing sales figures were just released for the various municipalities including Jupiter for January 2015…
The bottom line is that there are slight;y more sales happening with fewer new listings on the market and this continues to drive prices up in Jupiter by 4.9% when compared to last January.
FEMA NFIP Map Changes
I received this letter from the Town of Juno Beach.
Juno_Beach_NFIP_ltr_02_19_15
The letter states that the Flood Insurance Rates Map (FIRM) have been updated, are expected to be adopted and made effective this summer of 2015 and that almost 1000 properties in Juno Beach will be affected.
The preliminary FIRM information can be viewed HERE. The maps for Juno Beach are 12099C0381F & 12099C0193F which shows much of Jupiter as well. These generally show an increase in zones AE but to be honest I do not see how 1000 properties have been affected as this is about 1/2 of the total units on town.
Still, changes to the Flood Maps affect the cost of ownership of any property in a Zone A or V zone which is mortgaged by a federally chartered bank must have flood insurance on it. This affects values of real estate and thus we should all be aware of these changes and how they affect the neighborhoods we have listings or sales in.
Are the taxes lower in Martin County than Palm Beach
I had this conversation with someone just the other night. They were telling me that Martin County taxes are sooo much less than they are in Palm Beach County. Let’s just cut to the bottom line here and say that they are not.
CLICK HERE to read my 20149 version of this post.
There are two basic segments of your real estate tax bill: Ad Valorem and Non Ad Valorem. Ad Valorem taxes are a percentage of your assessed value and non Ad Valorem are, well they’re not. The percentage of the assessed value that your tax bill equates to is called the millage rate. There are some cities and towns which have attempted to make there millage rate appear lower by pulling out of the total tax budget used to calculate the millage rate everything they can. Thus in West Palm Beach the millage rate for 2004 is 23.2704 BUT residents pay for trash pick up in addition to this. Where as in North Palm Beach the 2004 millage rate is 22.0701 BUT trash pick up is included in this number.
Anyway, to return to the point. The 2004 millage rate for the unincorporated areas of Palm Beach County is 18.8006 where the rate for the unincorporated areas of Martin County is 17.1003. The difference being 1.7003 or $1.70 per $1000 of assessed value. On a 300,000 total asses value this is $510 per year. Not to dismiss $500 a year but it just would not dictate where I chose to live. I just looked up a non waterfront house at 6 Admirals Walk, FL 34996 and the 2014 tax bill is $3,968 on a house asking $325,000. Whereas the house at 2566 La Lique Cir in Palm Beach Gardens is asking $350,000 and has a 2014 tax bill of $4,248.
Bottom line is that the taxes are, for the most part, a percentage of the assessed value and the differences simply are not that great.
Palm Beach County 2014 Real Estate Sales Statistics
The local Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches (RAPB) just released the 2014 real estate sales statistics figures and there are are some terrific trends to discuss.
2014-pbc-local-market-update
County wide Single Family Home prices were up 4.2% in 2014 while locally here in Jupiter prices went up by 9.1% and Palm Beach Gardens prices were up 6%.
This is terrific however the velocity of the market has increased again depleting inventory to the point where we have properties selling for above asking price. The average marketing time for a home in Jupiter was just 75 days in December compared with the 2013 average of 122. A significant drop.
The other sign of the times is that the months supply of inventory has dropped yet again in Jupiter from from 5.6 months in 12/13 to just 4.1 months in December 2014
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