Homeowner Versus Renter Population

Homeowner Versus Renter Population

1925 Sequoia Drive

Located in the Preserve, this wonderful new Energy Star Certified home has so much to offer. With an inviting front porch great for enjoying nice quite evenings.  Entering this home a lovely dining room is located immediately on the right.  As you walk into the home you will find yourself in the open plan family/kitchen combination.  The family room is spacious with beautiful hardwood floors, a stone fireplace and an entire wall of large windows that allow natural light into this great space.  The kitchen boasts awesome maple cabinetry with a dark finish, granite countertops and an island.  There's even a large walk-in pantry.  Located conveniently just off the kitchen is a half bathroom.  Upstairs there's a loft area that would make a great kid's retreat/hangout.  You will also find a spacious master bedroom with a terrific trey ceiling and a large walk-in closet.  The master bathroom features a large soaking tub and separated tiled shower as well a generous size double vanity with granite and gorgeous brushed nickel fixtures. There are three other bedrooms located upstairs all with walk-in closets and a nice size full bathroom and a handy laundry room.  Enjoy the great backyard on the patio or any of the great amenities offered such as the clubhouse, pool, grilling area, walking trails and fishing pier.  The Preserve is located in the Auburn city limits and is just a few minutes from the new Publix Shopping Center.  There are numerous open house hours so send me an email or call to set up a showing!

http://tour.previsite.com/4E6072EB-639F-3245-4740-BB5AF4B5906C

Alabama Step Up Program

A lot of you may not know but the State of Alabama has a great down payment assistance program called "Step Up Program" that is offered through the Alabama Housing Finance Authority. I know your thinking what's the catch? But it really is a great program available for those that need it. Yes, there are some things you have to qualify for but the restrictions aren't bad and a lot of people actually do qualify.

Here are some of the qualifications.


You can't earn more than $97, 500

You have to take a homebuyers education course and there are only certain amount of fund available. So it is a first come first service basis. You also have to find a lender that participates in the program but you'll find that a lot of lenders participate in the program which makes for great lender options.
Some of the amazing things about the program is that there is no limit to the price of home you buy and its a fixed mortgage that is about the same as the current market interest rate and you make one payment since its combined with your primary mortgage. Some other things that are great about the program is that it doesn\'t matter where the home is! The house qualifies! And you don't have to a first time home buyer!

If your interested in getting more information on the program visit the website.

You can also call the following number to find a participating lender in your area.
1.800.325.2432 or visit www.AHFA.com.

2226 Turnbury Lane, Auburn, AL 36830

This great new Eastbrook home is Energy Star Certified by a third party!!! Upon entering the home the foyer area has a great built-in bench with storage.  This home offers open concept living with a combined family/kitchen/dining room and a convenient half bathroom all located on the first level.  Upstairs there's a loft area that would make a great  kid's retreat/hangout.  There's a generous size master bedroom with a very spacious master bathroom with a separated tiled shower and large soaking tub.  The other two bedrooms are joined by a great jack-n-jill bathroom and both bedrooms have large walk-in closets.  So of the interior features include, granite counter tops through out, hardwood floors in the main leveling area, with maple cabinets, trey ceiling in master bedroom.  Some of the exterior finishes include metal roof accents, windows in garage door, awesome back yard with the lot extending into the woods, and rough cut wood bracket accents!   You really must see this wonderful home!  The house is now staged so take a look and let me know what you think.  We have open house hours so send me a email or call to set up a showing!    http://tour.previsite.com/000E219E-A0D0-A462-2840-DEDC121E7C99

A Short History of the Preserve.

Eastbrook started out in the Preserve Subdivision 4 years ago located on Farmville Road. They purchased some lots on Covey and started out with 2 homes.

They asked me when I first started why they couldn't sell more homes in the Preserves. They believed in the subdivision and really thought it was a "good piece of dirt". I explained that the subdivision started out rough. If a number of you recall the subdivision was 2 years behind. Then we had a crash in the economy with a slip in sales. The subdivision had a number of homes already in it but with a number of other subdivisions with more homes, amenities and stability, Eastbrook had a lot to prove.

They started talking with the owners of the development about adding the amenities with hesitation. 2 years ago the owners of the development decided to look at what Eastbrook wanted to propose and Eastbrook started designing plans for the clubhouse, pool and landscaping. In the meantime of doing all that they had a number of lots re platted and lost some lots by doing that. They knew it was something they had to do in order to put a product in the ground that buyers would buy. One reason why I have so much respect for the organization! They listen!

What a lot of people don't know is that even the current residents were worried about what kind of clubhouse Eastbrook was going to put in. Eastbrook understanding the importance of making the residents happy and the importance of future sales had a meeting with a number of residents in the Preserves. With the comments, suggestions and ideas they went back and implemented a number of those.

In October of 2010 after going through a dozen of designs they finished the clubhouse and pool. They had a grand opening not only to the pubic with a business after hours event that was promoted through the chambers they had a separate one for the residents to welcome them to their new amenities. The overall response was amazing.

The response Eastbrook received not only with the public but more importantly the residents that lived there showed they did the right thing. The clubhouse is one the few in the area that is fully furnished! With 2 large flat screen TVs hooked up to cable, fireplace, kitchenette, large kitchen island, sitting areas, tables and a full working showroom.

The outside area includes, very large covered patio with tables and chairs. The pool is a saltwater pool system with a large kids area that is only 6 inches deep. Other things they did were to add outside bathroom, changing room, grilling area, misters and a lot of you may not know, an area for a future gas fire pit!

Now this is only the clubhouse and pool area. Other investments they made was the amazing landscaping they did around the clubhouse, pool with large rock retain wall! The second entrance into the preserve has detailed out landscaping that make the Preserve look amazing! They also decided to connect the first entrance and second entrance residents by installing a covered bridge by the spill way. The bridge was custom designed with cut lumber at the mill store. They even put a sitting area underneath the bridge with lighting in case residents want to come out and sit and fish! They painted the gazebo on Clements pond in the green space area which looks great! And they put a dock out on the large lake the lot they reserved as a park for those that canoe or boat so they can pull up to!

Some other amenities include the walking trails we have in the back. Some of the residents GPS the trail and said there are over 5 miles. The thing to keep in mind is that its not nicely cut or pathed out. Its rough and natural which make it great of golf cart, four wheeling and jeeping!

The Preserve one of the few subdivision that offers a number of different sized lot too which is great for anyone that is looking to buy a home. Waterfront, estate size (more than an acre), cal-du-sac, half acre, basement lot, etc.

One thing that clients tell me over and over again is that Eastbrook offers the most options and selections for interior and exteriors. They allow a number of different granite, cabinets, flooring, carpet, stone, brick and interior door styles on in the base price. With an in-house archictect it allows the clients to make adjustments to walls, designs, bump out and exterior design as well.

The clubhouse showroom is a one stop shop to making all the selections you need which is one thing buyers like. They chose everything from the color of the siding, to the soffitt. Eastbrook has a good system on how to make selections so that it doesn't become a overwhelming task.

The Eastbrook philosophy is to build a house like they were building their own. Which makes for a great experience when building yours!

So come see me at the Preserve and see what all the hype is about! Homes are springing up everywhere and its only going to keep on moving!

Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) and Risk Retention: Background

The link shown above provided by the National Association of REALTORS provides information related to Qualified Residential Mortgage and Risk Retention: Background.

Buy a Home!

2010 Housing Opportunity Pulse Survey
Americans Still Believe Buying a Home Is a Good Financial Decision

NAR's eighth annual Housing Opportunity Pulse Survey reveals that nearly eight out of 10 respondents believe buying a home is a good financial decision, despite ongoing challenges with the economy and housing market. The survey, which measures how affordable housing issues affect consumers, also found job security concerns to be the highest in eight years of sampling, with 70 percent of Americans saying that job layoffs and unemployment are a big problem in their area; eight in 10 cite these issues as a barrier to homeownership. The telephone survey of 1,209 urban and suburban adults in the top 25 metropolitan statistical areas was conducted for NAR by American Strategies and Myers Research & Strategic Services for NAR's Housing Opportunity Program.

Some key results:

Americans continue to believe that buying a home is a good financial decision (77 percent believe total strongly or not so strongly, 68 percent strongly so).
More than two-thirds of respondents (68 percent) say that now is a good time to buy a home.
Job insecurity and the lack of jobs continue to be the primary obstacle to home ownership and market recovery.
Respondents see the recession and job losses as the main reasons for the foreclosure problem, a shift from last year when they more likely to blame homeowners who bought homes they could not afford.
A majority of renters say that owning a home at some point in the future is either one of their highest priorities (39 percent) or a moderate priority (24 percent). Just 21 percent of renters say that owning a home is not a priority at all.
Frustration with banks is up: now a majority worry that banks have made it too hard to qualify for a home mortgage loan.
51 percent of respondents say foreclosures remain a big or moderate problem in their area. While there has been a significant drop in the percentage of those surveyed who say foreclosures have increased, 51 percent say that the rate of foreclosures is about the same as it was last year.
Most of those surveyed say that it is harder to sell a home in their neighborhood than it was a year ago.
Looking forward, 70 percent expect real estate sales in their neighborhood to remain about the same over the next few months. A nearly identical number (69 percent), also expect home values to remain the same.
Nearly one-quarter (23 percent) are now very concerned about the number of homes and condos for sale in their area—a number that is up 7 points from last year.
Most respondents are more concerned about the drop in home values than they are about home costs being too high. Still, cost remains the significant barrier to many who would otherwise like to buy a home.
More information:

For more information,

Executive Summary (PDF:170K)
Press Release (PDF: 174K)
Survey Questionnaire (PDF: 524K)

Posting from Realtor.org website