HUD’s management company (NHMSI) posted the following announcement on March 6, 2009:

“RETURN OF EXECUTED CONTRACTS WILL BE DELAYED 3-4 WEEKS DUE TO THE FACT THAT AT THIS TIME THERE IS NO CLOSING AGENT IN PLACE TO SERVICE CONTRACTS SIGNED AFTER 02/28/2009. WATCH WEBSITE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION.”

This means that you will have to plan for closing delays of at least one month. You can still submit contracts and bid on Columbus HUD homes, but you won’t get the executed contract back for 3 or 4 weeks. Most lenders require that executed purchase contract before you can apply for your loan.

We recommend you plan your closing two and a half months out. This means we are talking end of May for contracts submitted this week. If you can’t wait that long, I suggest you call me and we’ll submit offers on other Columbus houses, such as a bank owned properties or short sales listed on the MLS.

I will keep you updated, if anything changes.

Thanks for reading our Columbus HUD Homes Blog
Posted by: Susanne Novak, ABR, FIS, GRI 
Columbus Realtors specializing in
HUD Homes, Shortsales, Investment Real Estate
(614) 975-9650

This week you will find a large number of newer homes on your Columbus HUD Homes Map. HUD added 24 new listings, most of them in the suburbs. The average listing price reached almost $80,000 this week.

Listing Statistics

Total homes available: 120 (last week: 104)

Owner occupants: 74
All bidders: 46
New listings: 24
Price reduced: 50
 
Median Price: $70,000
Average Price: $78,588
Highest Price: $205,000
Lowest Price: $4,500
 
Homes less than $50,001: 41 (last week: 41)
Between $50,001 & $100,000: 48 (last week: 41)
More than $100,000: 31 (last week: 22)
 
 
Many new suburban homes are listed at very affordable prices. Just look at what’s available in Grove City and in Westerville. Combined with the $8,000 tax credit available to first time buyers and the $2,500 closing cost credit from HUD, buying a home is now more affordable than ever.
 
 

Thanks for reading our Columbus HUD Homes Blog
Posted by: Susanne Novak, ABR, FIS, GRI 
Columbus Realtors specializing in
HUD Homes, Shortsales, Investment Real Estate
(614) 975-9650

We explained HUD’s property inspection report in an earlier post. You may have seen that in addition to the condition report, some Columbus HUD homes have been inspected for lead based paint and a Lead Paint Disclosure (LBP) Report is available.

So, which Columbus houses DO get inspected? Each HUD house built before 1959 gets a LBP inspection and the results are disclosed in a LBP Addendum posted with the listing on our website. This is one of the addenda that must be signed and included in your complete and correct Contract Package.

Each Columbus HUD house built between 1960 and 1978 will have a LBP inspection report ordered only if the buyer chooses FHA financing. Disclosure of LBP conditions will be forthcoming usually within 2 weeks.

In certain cases HUD is required by law to mitigate or stabilize lead-based paint prior to closing. This will most likely delay the closing of the transaction. But buyers do not pay any extension fees. HUD will obtain a LBP Clearance Certificate and provide it to the Buyers. This requirement applies when the following conditions occur:

• The house was built prior to 1960.
• Lead based paint is present in unstable condition.
• The house is sold to Owner-Occupant Buyers.
• The Buyers are using FHA 203b financing.

If the Buyers are using Columbus Loans with FHA 203k financing, the renovations must include mitigation or stabilization of the LBP, and HUD will credit to the Buyers a certain amount toward the costs. See the listing for the specific amount. Maximum amount of the credit from HUD is 10% of sales price.

So, what should you do, if there is lead based paint in a Columbus HUD Home you’d like to buy and you are NOT an owner occupant?

First of all read all details of the LBP report. It shows you exactly on which walls the lead based paint occurred. They also estimate how much the mitigation would cost. You will be surprised to see that the repairs are much less expensive than you may have thought.

Be smart about your purchase. Offer a lower price if lead based paint is present in a house. Do the necessary repairs using the contractors that supplied the estimates to HUD and get a certificate to show that the LBP problem was mitigated. Now you can be confident when you try to sell the house and disclose the LBP mitigation to a potential buyer or tenant.

Thanks for reading our Columbus HUD Homes Blog
Posted by: Susanne Novak, ABR, FIS, GRI 
Columbus Realtors specializing in
HUD Homes, Shortsales, Investment Real Estate
(614) 975-9650