San Antonio is the 4th Busiest Housing Market in the U.S. Today (Howe: foreclosures, new home)

[txtea]

Originally Posted by MattTx

Please explain to me why a bank would fianance a home valued over 1 million for example? Do you issue rates like 0.01% or what?

I am just curious for input from a banker.

Someone correct me if i'm wrong, but it is my understanding that you cannot just hand over a suitcase full of money to a seller, sign on the dotted line and be done. You have to go thru a lender, mortgage company, whatever, due to legalities that could pop up. You can pay it off in full once all the paperwork is filed, but you still have to go thru one of these institutions by law. Is that somewhat correct?

[kevcrawford]

Originally Posted by txtea

Someone correct me if i'm wrong, but it is my understanding that you cannot just hand over a suitcase full of money to a seller, sign on the dotted line and be done. You have to go thru a lender, mortgage company, whatever, due to legalities that could pop up. You can pay it off in full once all the paperwork is filed, but you still have to go thru one of these institutions by law. Is that somewhat correct?

No. We do cash deals all the time. Just set up a bank wire or a cashier's check.

[txtea]

Originally Posted by kevcrawford

No. We do cash deals all the time. Just set up a bank wire or a cashier's check.

Well i'll be darned. Learn something every day. Thanks!

Must be nice to be able to do that! Come on lottery!

[kevcrawford]

Originally Posted by blaircedarbank

There are two things I will comment on regarding the last few posts, then I'm done. I don't need to argue because I SEE what the market is from the mortgage side. First, "busiest" can mean many things. You cannot have a healthy housing market if it's only NEW housing selling. There are many mortgaged homeowners who bought in 2005-08 who would LOVE to sell and can't because they find out after looking at comps they are underwater. This brings me to my second point: Kev, sure houses will sell if they are at the right price. The problem is the "right" price may force a seller to bring cash, which many are just unwilling to do. This is why we see so many rentals. I know my own neighborhood has many more than even last summer. Having bought here in 2008 and planning to sell in 2014, I can see I'll be lucky to break even myself.

You apparently DO need to argue, because you have just popped up arguing folks' posts about the market. There are LOTS of folks who know just as much, if not more, about the market than you do, so pardon us if we don't take everything you say as gospel.

Yes, there are lots of folks that cannot afford to sell. It's a fact of life. While we didn't have a huge crash, we dropped slightly. However, there are a lot of folks that CAN afford to sell. And are. There are people that bought recently that are selling and making a bit of money, or at least covering their costs.

By selling at the "right price", I mean not grossly overpricing the house for the neighborhood. That doesn't mean giving it away. The key to making money when you sell, is buying it right. There are PLENTY of folks out there selling their houses. Quickly. And not taking a bath on them.

Yes...you see a lot from the inside of the mortgage industry. But what I can tell you is that I'M seeing homes sell, and I'm seeing folks make money from those sales.

Granted, these are only things I've witnessed in real life and not learned from a forum, but still, I think there's a little something to it.

No...we're not out of this recession. Won't be for a while. But there are still a lot of homes selling quickly right now, and a lot of folks making money.

[blaircedarbank]

Where did I say I know more about the market than anyone and why should my view offend you so? Actually, my wife, who is an AF Reserve dentist was told about CityData by her co-worker and she thought I might be interested in the market discussion. Kev, many, many people "bought right"... they had perfect credit, down payments, savings, JOBS, and bought very reasonably for their budgets. They got burned by the people who did NOT do those things, but were qualified anyway. It was not their fault; many have sat at my desk and told me they had no idea that all you had to be was breathing to get a home loan. I feel terrible for those folks. I've been able to re-fi three military homeowners this summer, just so they don't take a big monthly hit on rent. I'm quite sure many people are selling and not taking a bath. Perhaps they are not the folks who unknowingly bought at the top. I do find it hard to believe that people are still flipping houses and making money, if I understand you correctly.
I have one client who has stellar credit, could have bought WAY more house, but did things the right way when he purchased in 2007. He is surrounded by two shorts and a foreclosure, has lost 17% since he bought, and needs to move for a family medical situation. What do you say to him?? Too bad, sucker! That is NOT right nor fair.
.

[kevcrawford]

I agree that people got screwed, but nowhere is it ever promised that you'll make money off of a home. I've got stocks tanking because people are panicking and pulling out of the market. It sucks, but I knew the risks. Somewhere along the line we were taught that buying a home always meant that we'd make money down the road, but that's just not true. Many times you do, but many times you don't. It's all part of the process, and the reason to do a LOT of research before buying, even though that never guarantees anything.

This thread started when someone posted an article saying that we're the 4th best market, and you responded with doom and gloom. I simply said that I disagreed with your sentiment, and while not everyone is doing well, it's a HECK of a lot better than it was, and I can show numbers to prove it. We're not looking bad. Most folks don't HAVE to sell. Most WANT to. Most folks can avoid taking a loss by simply NOT moving.

For those that don't have a choice, it sucks, but it's a reality in EVERYTHING. Nothing is guaranteed.

[blaircedarbank]

I sure don't mean to be doom and gloom, but I will speak the truth from where I see it. I WANT the market to do well, as I will be selling in two years myself. We are a mobile society, and the faster the bad stuff gets dumped out and we deal with it, the better. If I can't sell my house here, then when I move away, I can't purchase, enabling THAT seller to do the same. I'm calling it a day; boy, it's a little rough around here on a newcomer's viewpoint.

[txtea]

Well, in my case, I had to sell my mother's home after she passed away three years ago. Both of the realtors we dealt with told us that the property was worth around three times what we eventually sold it for, just a couple of years prior. No such thing as good timing when dealing with one's death, but this really stank having to sell my childhood home for a 3rd of what we could have. Oh well, life goes on......

[Paka]

The HOUSING market is not the issue....the banks are. When we bought this house in 2009, we owned 3 others and got our loan done online in less than 30 minutes time had preapproval letter and closing consisted of a few emails back and forth and 40 min in the lenders office that Aug 2009.

Trying to REFI this home to a 3.25% interest rate at 15 yrs took 3 months to accomplish...WITH THE SAME LENDER, CREDIT SCORE OVER 820 and NO debt, the $$ to pay cash and all the other homes sold!!! Lets not confuse the issue here, the BANKS are strapped, because they have the noose around their necks for all their loans, far more than they can afford to lose.

The Housing MARKET and CREDIT are two different issues.....

[blaircedarbank]

Moderator cut: orphaned

It's very funny to me that people get so defensive about their own little utopias and have no tolerance for listening to another point of view. I don't have to get defensive because I see on my desk every single day: comps, listing prices, selling prices, appraisal reports, what kinds of homes are bid on at certain incomes, what homes actually close (having a contract does not mean a closing). I have no agenda or reason to put a spin on any of it. As I said, we are not a mega-bank and did not get much involved in the "creative" financing that so many big banks and builder's preferred financing did. Sorry if it bothers so many of you to find out that San Antonio has housing issues. HUD has a lot to do with it here and that's not MY fault. I make money when I lend money, so I want housing fixed, too.