Macomb County MI real estate - 1st time home buyers info & advice

Mike Mitchell and I attended a workshop Monday afternoon for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program in Macomb County MI. 

The purpose of this meeting was to inform and familiarize real estate agents in Macomb County with the program that officials hope will help to stabilize areas of the county that have been hit with foreclosures and declining values because of the vacant bank owned homes.

Some key points about the Neighborhood Stabilization program:

• There are income limits.  They are quite generous, but please call me or email me and I'll be happy to go over the limits with you.  (They are based upon family size.)
  
  
• Home buyers can receive 49% of their hard costs to purchase a home in Macomb County areas as an interest free 2nd mortgage on the home.  Hard costs would be the purchase price of the home as well as any repairs that need to be done to a home.   The nicest part?  If you stay in the home for 15 years this interest free loan does not have to be repaid.  At all.  It's a gift!
  
  
• The home you choose must be able to be purchased from the bank owner at 15% less than appraised value. If it appraises for less than that, the bank owner must be open and willing to lower the price of the home to meet the 15% less than value guidelines.

I'll be posting more about this program and how it can help home buyers in Macomb County in the coming months.  If you'd like an informational brochure mailed to you please don't hesitate to contact me either via phone or email.  I'd be happy to send it to you.    

Another note:  The grant is not endless.  Macomb County has been awarded approximately 20 million dollars.  When it's gone it's gone.  We have no idea of how long this program will last but I have a feeling that once word gets out to prospective buyers that there will be a run of applications for the program.

Ohhh!  I forgot to mention that you can recieve the $8000 first time home buyers tax credit and use this grant program to purchase a home.   Using one does not disqualify you from taking advantage of the other!

~Kris Wales~  A partner for your real estate needs in Macomb County MI  -(586) 536-5453

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Blog articles for first time home buyers in Macomb County MI

I had a nice surprise this morning when I reviewed the home sales
in Macomb County MI for the past month (February 2009)

One of the things I picked up on during the month was the feeling that
first time home buyers were starting to feel comfortable again about our
market and realizing that many home mortgages now are less than or
comparable to what they are paying to rent an apartment or a house.

The data that I reviewed this morning gave weight to the "feeling"  
that I've had and I'm excited about it.

383 homes in Macomb County that were priced under $150,000 sold
during  the month of February.   Out of these 383 homes, 108 were purchased
using an FHA mortgage and 5 were purchased using a VA mortgage.  

A third of the homes sold in all of Macomb County under $150,000
were purchased by non-investors.  

What was even more exciting is that 237 of the homes sold in that price
range were in the southern end of Macomb County (south of 14 Mile Rd.)
This has been one of the hardest hit areas of the county in terms of foreclosures
and saturation of the real estate market.  To see that many homes sold in the
south end of  the county is refreshing and hopefully a sign of more good
things to come to correct the housing market for all of us.

If you have any questions about  first time home buyers mortgages or the homes
for sale in Macomb County please don't hesitate to contact me.   No pressure, just
conversation.