Tiny House News

Big Roadblock for Owners of Tiny Homes

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | MONDAY, OCTOBER 09, 2017

REPOSTED BY CALLIE JOHNSON, REALTOR®, SRES®, ADVANCED REAL ESTATE & PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

Homeowners who have embraced the “tiny home” lifestyle are discovering that it’s not so easy to find a place to put their property. Many tiny houses—usually considered to be between 100 and 400 square feet—are built on trailers with wheels so they can be towed, but zoning regulations in many cities don’t allow for temporary structures such as RVs or other movable homes. These laws also frequently specify a minimum size for a home or lot size, and building codes for residential properties can be problematic for tiny houses built on foundations, The New York Times reports. 

Andrew Morrison, a professional builder, told the Times that he believes “upwards of 90 percent of tiny-house owners are living illegally when it comes to zoning. …  A very small minority live in RV parks, though they usually have a limit on how long you can stay. A friend or family’s backyard, or land in the country, is much more common.”

The tiny home movement has become popular over the last few years, and many municipalities are facing increased pressure to embrace smaller structures as legal residences. Advocates in some cities have made headway in changing ordinances governing accessory dwelling units and backyard cottages. For example, Fresno, Calif., and Nantucket, Mass., now permit tiny houses to share land with existing homes. “It’s a spirit of cooperation,” Morrison told Times. “It’s a simple way to bring in affordable housing that doesn’t cost the municipality anything.”

The tiny home movement won another victory recently when the International Code Council approved a model code for tiny houses to be included in its International Residential Code. The document is the most widely recognized residential building code in the U.S. “There’s a fear that people are going to end up living in shanty shacks,” says Morrison, who helped write the code guidelines. “We don’t want that either. We want people to be safe in their houses and in something they can afford.”

Source: “Where Can You Park a Tiny Home?” The New York Times (Oct. 6, 2017)

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Refinance Scams Target Military Vets

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | MONDAY, OCTOBER 09, 2017

REPOSTED BY CALLIE JOHNSON, REALTOR®, SRES®, ADVANCED REAL ESTATE & PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

The federal government is investigating a number of predatory lending schemes targeting thousands of veterans who have Veterans Administration mortgages. Officials say the scams aim to convince borrowers to repeatedly refinance, ultimately paying more on their loans. Some lenders also are being accused of using teaser interest rates, “cash out” windfalls, and lower monthly payments, using marketing materials that sometimes resemble Department of Defense information, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Veterans reportedly are being overwhelmed with misleading refinance offers—sometimes refinancing properties multiple times in a year. “We’re seeing borrowers refinance three times in less than six months, and their loan balances are going up,” says Michael R. Bright, acting president of VA loan giant Ginnie Mae. The Department of Veterans Affairs has teamed with Ginnie Mae to create a task force to investigate such cases.

Ginnie Mae investigators have found that these refinancing offers often prompt homeowners to switch from a long-term fixed-rate mortgage to a riskier short-term adjustable-rate loan. The borrowers then find that the principal amount they owe to the lender has increased by thousands of dollars. In some cases, borrowers added $12,000 to their total loan amount in order to reduce their monthly payments by $165. Ginnie Mae economists say it would take more than six years just to break even on such a deal. VA home loans often have no down payment requirements.

The VA warned that lenders who make “improper charges or fees” that lead to foreclosure will face stiff penalties. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans to fine and sue lenders who propagate these abuses.

Fall May Be Best Time To Buy

Fall May Be Best Time for Buyers to Move

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

REPOSTED BY CALLIE JOHNSON, REALTOR®, SRES®

A slower fall season in home buying may help more lingering home buyers to jump in.
Prices are easing somewhat. For the second month in a row, the median price of an existing home dropped. It reached $253,500 in August, after reaching a record high of $263,300 in June, according to the latest data from the National Association of REALTORS®. Summer is a big time for home purchases, so that families settle in before school starts in the fall. In the fall, the types of homes that sell are smaller for people without kids. So they tend to be less expensive.

Studies have shown that fall can be the best time to buy.  Pu rchasers in October paid 2.6 percent below the estimated market value at the time for their home.In other words, buyers interested in a $300,000 home tend to see a $7,800 discount on it in the fall. Oct. 8 was found to have the best day for bargains too, with an average of 10.8 percent below estimated market value.

Home sales in August started to decline heading into the fall season. Sales of existing homes fell 1.7 percent from July to August, but NAR mostly blamed the decrease on the limited number of listings for sale on the market.

Properties are staying on the market for less time, so buyers will need to be ready to act fast. Fifty-one percent of homes sold in August were on the market for less than a month, according to NAR. Properties typically stayed on the market for just 30 days in August.