Hey, it’s Bruce Woodburn CrossCountry Mortgage and today is January the 29^th. We’ve made it through January, 2021 Oh my god, I’m so excited that I actually made it through the month. I hope you guys are too. There are a lot of really cool things happening in the news these days, so I want to keep you guys informed. Today is the day for the Three Big Things You Need to Know.

1. So, first thing you need to know is that existing home sales were up nationally about 12.1% in the Central Florida area for most of our counties. We saw about 15.5% and in some areas as much as 17%, and that’s a huge increase in value. This increase is really good if you already own a home. If you didn’t buy a home last year you missed out on a huge chunk of money. I mean, just think about this, if you bought a home for $250,000 last year, it’s probably worth close to $280,000 right now. That’s a pretty nice paycheck you got that you didn’t have to pay taxes on. Now the problem is, is that we’ve got a shortage of properties. So nationally, there’s two and a half months’ worth of inventory. Now, that’s not good, but it’s even worse in Central Florida. We only have a month and a half worth of inventory. That means, if we sold every home that we have, they would be gone in a month and a half. That’s all the houses on the market. So that puts sellers in major control and will continue to drive prices up. So if you’re not in the market right now. Get in the darn market. Don’t be a fool. Quit sitting on the sidelines, it’s time to get in the market, because the predictions are that we’re going to continue to see some growth in 2021. Now, I don’t know if we’re going to see, you know, 12% or 17%. But remember, healthy markets only 3%, and that’s good. I mean if you buy a home for $250,000, and you got an FHA loan you nearly put $8,700 down payment down, that’s your investment. Hell on 3% increase you went up to $6,000. I mean, where do you get that kind of return, that’s an 86% return on your investment at 3% matching what you would have gotten at 12, or 17%, just out of this world.
2. But there’s a dilemma with this. And that is, first-time homebuyers are having a harder and harder time being able to obtain and there really is a lack of or shortage of affordable housing. It just doesn’t exist. So the Biden administration is working on a great plan. You can make your own determination on whether you think it’s good, bad or indifferent, but they’re coming up with a great plan that’s going to bolster the first-time homebuyer market by giving a tax credit of $15,000 to first time homebuyers. Now, I’m going to give you just an example of what that did in 2008, and why it was done by the Obama and Bush administrations back in 2008. So we’re going to get $15,000 as a tax credit that could be funded to the individual buyer upfront, not sure how this is going to happen yet. Don’t call me and ask me how you’re going to get your money. It has not been ironed out yet, but that’s what the administration is wanting to do. Now, remember, for all of you people that are first-time homebuyers that write off all your income and don’t pay any taxes, it’s a tax credit. That means you have to be taxed that much to get that much credit. So if you’re not paying $15,000 in taxes per year. How are you going to get a $15,000 credit? We don’t know how that’s going to work out just yet, but you can’t get a credit on what you didn’t pay, just keep that in mind. So, sometimes these things sound good when you say it fast, but by the time you iron out the details, not so great. Now, here’s what else that creates a problem with. So we’re going to stimulate the market, it’s already flooded with buyers, and we’re going to have more buyers that can’t find a house, because the houses don’t exist. How are we going to fulfill the need? you got $15,000 from the government, but nobody will accept your offer because you’re up against five other offers, or even more at any given time. And now we’re flooding the market with more buyers when we don’t have enough sellers.
3. So that brings up the third thing. And that is, there’s a shortage of inventory, with new construction that has gone through the roof. So new construction is huge right now. Right. But we need more of it. The builders can only build so fast, and they can’t keep up with the pricing, because they don’t even know what their prices are going to be. Say they sold you a house today and that house isn’t going to be built for six more months. They don’t know what the cost to build that house is right now because of the inflation of their products, the lack of products available, they can’t even get some of them, and your costs to build are increasing rapidly. Just labor itself is a shortage and labor costs are going up as well. So, the builders can’t build fast enough, and they don’t know what price to price them at because of inflation. That’s an issue. However, I have a solution for many of you. Remember I’ve been telling you about my construction to perm loans. That means we go out; we get with one of your real estate agents. If you need a good real estate agent, you just call me, I’ll hook you up with a good real estate agent. If you are a real estate agent, seeking out land in connecting buyers with small builders that build between five and 50 homes per year. I am seeking to align myself with more good quality, high moral, great service builders. If you know somebody, I’ve got the best construction perm loans in the market, most banks will only do conventional loans if they even do them, and they want 20% down. I got 10% down conventional loans. All you need is a 720 score. I got 20% down conventional loans. All you need is a 700 score. But listen to this. I have FHA construction perms 645 credit score, build on your own lot or include a lot in the deal. You get your own custom home on your own land. Come on you guys, nobody’s got FHA construction perms. But there’s more. I have VA zero money down construction perms. Come on, so you get FHA for three and a half percent down build your own home, nobody’s ever heard of that. I’ve got that program, and it’s incredible. And if you’re a smart real estate agent, you’re going to align yourself with me and with lot owners that you can list and then connect them with a builder, that will build for you. Now we can start solving a problem for our segment of the market. It won’t solve all the problems, but it will solve a lot of them. If you have any questions about construction lending, construction perms and would like me to connect you with my friends at Hanover Family Builders, call me. You know, Hanover Family Builders will pay between eight and $15,000 toward your closing costs, you just use Bruce Woodburn, CrossCountry Mortgage, The Loan Arranger, and I’ll arrange your loan, and we’ll get you closed. I really appreciate your loyalty. Appreciate your business, hope that my information on the three big things you need to know sits well with you, whether it’s good, bad or indifferent, I’ll tell you. We’ll see you again next week. Have an amazing weekend.