Sharon Roark's Blog: Buyer Information

If you're a 1st-time buyer and you've been looking at buying a home in the Lexington, KY area, you may already be familiar with the $8,000 1st-time buyer tax credit from Uncle Sam. What you may not have heard about, however, is another program that can bring you even more money back on your tax return (or possibly enable you to afford more house).

It's called a Mortgage Credit Certificate program and it's administered through Kentucky Housing Corporation. I used a mortgage credit certificate when i bought my first home 10 years ago and just this year they've reenacted the program to give 1st-time buyers even more incentive to get out there and snap up those bargain properties.

Here's how it works: a Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC) allows you to convert…

After two years of doom and gloom in the Lexington, KY housing market, recent evens in Lexington have officials hopeful that the housing market will soon begin its turn-around. Mayor Jim Newberry, for example, pitched a city budget last week that proposed a 1.5% increase in spending for the coming fiscal year, citing a 40% increase in building permits for single-family homes.

It's an optimism shared by those who follow building trends around Lexington, although it appears to have not yet spread to surrounding counties. Those in the city say the rise in permits might be an indication that sales of homes in Lexington KY could finally be turning around.
 
Permits for single-family home have increased from 135 last year to 190 in the first quarter of 2009.…

Starting your home search and wondering what to look for? Well, obviously, you want a home that is (or has the potential to be) attractive, but beauty, of course, is in the eye of the beholder. Beyond appearance, though, what should you look for? Give these options some consideration:

1. Location. The location of your home in relation to your work or children's school can have a huge impact on how much you enjoy living in your new home. If your commute is 20 minutes longer each way than it could be, will you really be that glad you paid less for the home? Spending 40 additional minutes each day  in your car really adds up and can make the difference between having the time to cook dinner for your family or ordering a pizza. Think of that when you start…

Meticulously maintained brick ranch on quiet, tree-lined street offered for sale.

3br, 2ba plus finished basement (basement currently used as 4th bedroom and home office, but would be a great family room as well!)

Tons of updates! Since 2007, home has had a new roof, new heat/air, new windows and new water heater in 2005. This home boasts a HUGE eat-in kitchen and hardwood flooring throughout all main living areas on first floor, including all 3 bedrooms. Sitting on nearly a 1/3 of an acre lot, this home features mature landscaping and is conveniently located close to everything! UK, St. Joe and just minutes from Keeneland and the airport.

Don't miss your opportunity to see this great home today. Call Sharon Roark, Keller Williams Bluegrass,…

If you've been looking at real estate in Lexington KY, you've probably noticed quite a bit of inventory on the market, and you wouldn't be alone. According to recently released figures from the Lexington Bluegrass Association of Realtors, inventory in February 2009 was up 51% over February 2008, leading to 15.7 months worth of inventory on hand versus 10.4 months worth of inventory on hand in February 2008.

No doubt affected somewhat by the unusually cold and icy winter, sales prices were down, but average days on market were also down for that period as well. The average residential sales price fell from $167,755 in February 2008 to $150,389 in February 2009 for single family homes and from $182,351 to $128,618 for townhouses and condos. On the positive…

If you've been looking at real estate in Lexington KY lately, you may have noticed a phenomenon that past couple of weeks -- houses are selling! I have an adorable little house listed in Gainesway that I sold last week. The contract actually fell through but I just sold it again this week (and it looks like these buyers are going to qualify!). What was interesting, though, is that over the past couple of weeks, I've noticed a lot of activity with houses priced in the $100k - $175k range and it seems to be growing.

The agents who were calling to see my Gainesway listing kept asking, "Is this house still available?" because each one of them had been running across houses their clients wanted to see that were under contract before they could get a chance to…

According to a report issued by Realtytrac, foreclosures dropped 23.9 percent in Kentucky from December to January,  RealtyTrac is national firm based in California that specializes in tracking foreclosures. 

Kentucky's January foreclosure rate for January 2009 was still 17.3 percent above its foreclosure rate for January 2008, despite a temporary moratorium on foreclosures instituted by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for January.

Nationally, Kentucky still ranks well below average in numbers of foreclosures with one out of every 2,841 household involved in a foreclosure versus a national rate of one in every 466 households falling into foreclosure. According to the RealtyTrac report, Kentucky ranked 40th in the nation in percentage of households in…

After much debate, both the U.S. House and Senate have passed the Economic Stimulus Bill, expected to be signed soon by President Obama. The bill, which contains many provisions designed to provide Americans with various forms of tax relief, also provides an $8,000 tax credit for buyers in the form of a tax credit that does not need to be paid back (unlike the previous $7500 tax credit that acted more or less like an interest-free loan).

One significant change in the tax credit (besides reducing the proposed amount of $15,000 to $8,000) is that the credit applies only to first-time buyers, meaning buyers who have not owned a principle residence in at least 3 years. (Owning rental property is okay as long as none of those properties were your principle…