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NEW LISTING: Adjacent Ski Lift – Direct Access to Ski Slope

Triplex adjacent Bald Mountain ski hill (direct access), east of Greyhawk lift and above and overlooking the Challenger lift and Warm Springs Lodge

Main Unit

5 Bedrooms

5 Baths

Multiple view decks

3,676 sq. ft.

Studio 1

449 sq. ft.

Studio 2

802 sq. ft.

2 INDIVIDUAL PARCELS

Parcel 1

Parcel Number: RP04N170146500

Size: .24 Acres

Jurisdiction: Ketchum

Zoning & Overlays

Zoning: T

In Revenue Allocation Area

Not in Avalance Overlay (Ketchum GIS)

Mountain Overlay District (Blaine County)

In Well Head Protection Area (Blaine County)

Assessed Value:

Land $850,000

Improvements: $315,198

Total Assessed Value: $1,165,198

Parcel 2

Parcel Number: RPK4N170140630

Size: .269 Acres

Jurisdiction: Blaine County

Zoning & Overlays

Zoning: City, R-10, UIB

Not in Avalance Overlay (Ketchum GIS)

Mountain Overlay District (Blaine County)

Filed Under: Featured Blog, Featured Property, New Listing

The Language of Distress

The world of distressed sales has its own terminology, as do the government programs for troubled borrowers.

Here’s a guide to help you stay on track.

Bank-owned /real estate–owned (REO): Properties that have been taken back by the lender during the legal foreclosure proceeding to become an asset of the lender bank.

Broker price opinion (BPO): When the estimated value of a property is determined by a real estate broker or firm based on property characteristics, appropriate comparable properties, and market analysis.

Deed-in-lieu (DIL) of foreclosure: When borrowers can no longer make their mortgage payments, a DIL transfers ownership of a property to the lender, allowing the home owner to avoid foreclosure.

Distressed property: A property that is under a foreclosure order (pre-foreclosure), has undergone the foreclosure process, and is now an REO, or is being marketed as a short sale.(See lender-mediated properties.) Historically, this has also referred to properties in dilapidated condition.

Distressed sellers: Home owners in default on their mortgage or at risk of becoming late on their mortgage payments, due to financial hardship.

Forbearance: A reduction or suspension of loan payments as agreed [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured Blog, Financing Related, Tips

Warren Buffett Says He’d Buy a Couple Hundred Thousand Homes

Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, said yesterday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that buying single-family homes is such a great investment right now, if it were practical, he’d buy a couple hundred thousand of them.

Every day we are creating more households than housing units. If it were practical, I’d buy a couple hundred thousand of them

Given how low rates are for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgages (3.95 percent, according to the Freddie Mac Mortgage Index), Buffett told CNBC’s Becky Quick that homes, held over the long term, provide a better investment than stocks.

If you factor in that prices in some areas are at a 10-year low and inventory levels are high, the conditions are  ideal for buying.

Every day we are creating more households than housing units. People may postpone hitching up during uncertain times, but eventually hormones take over. And while “doubling-up” may be the initial reaction of some during a recession, living with in-laws can quickly lose its allure.

At our current annual pace of 600,000 housing starts – considerably less than the number of new households being formed – buyers and renters are sopping up what’s left of the old oversupply. (This process will run its course at different rates around the country; the supply-demand situation varies widely by locale.) While this healing takes place, however, our housing-related companies sputter, employing only 43,315 people compared to 58,769 in 2006. This hugely important sector of the economy, which includes not only construction but everything that feeds off of it, remains in a depression of its own. I believe this is the major reason a recovery in employment has so severely lagged the steady and substantial comeback we have seen in almost all other sectors of our economy.

SOURCE: CNBC – FORBES

Filed Under: Economy, Featured Blog

IRS Rules: 10 Key Points regarding Mortgage Debt Forgiveness

Canceled debt is normally taxable to you, but there are exceptions. One of those exceptions is available to homeowners whose mortgage debt is partly or entirely forgiven during tax years 2007 through 2012.

The IRS would like you to know these 10 facts about Mortgage Debt Forgiveness:

  1. Normally, debt forgiveness results in taxable income. However, under the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007, you may be able to exclude up to $2 million of debt forgiven on your principal residence.
  2. The limit is $1 million for a married person filing a separate return.
  3. You may exclude debt reduced through mortgage restructuring, as well as mortgage debt forgiven in a foreclosure.
  4. To qualify, [Read more...]
Filed Under: Featured Blog, Tax, Tips, Videos

FHA Announces Fee Increases Starting in April and June of 2012

Acting FHA Commissioner Carol Galante today announced a new premium structure for FHA-insured single family mortgage loans.  FHA will increase its annual mortgage insurance premium (MIP) by 0.10 percent for loans under $625,500 and by 0.35 percent for loans above that amount.  Upfront premiums (UFMIP) will also increase by 0.75 percent.

These premium changes will impact new loans insured by FHA beginning in April and June of 2012.

Generally speaking, increases in the F.H.A. premiums won’t reduce the popularity of the program since it’s still the only game in town with a 3.5 percent down payment requirement

Mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration — which allows a smaller down payment and has less stringent credit requirements than traditional mortgages — are about to get a bit more expensive. But whether the higher costs will damp demand for these mortgages remains to be seen, experts say, since many borrowers have nowhere else to turn.

More prospective home buyers have been turning to the F.H.A. as other lenders tightened their requirements after the real estate market collapse in 2008. The agency does not make loans, but insures mortgages that meet its guidelines: people with credit scores of 580 or more can put down as little as 3.5 percent. As a result, [Read more...]

Filed Under: Featured Blog, Financing Related

BREAKING NEWS: No more Deficiency Judgments for Freddie Mac Backed Short Sales and Deed-in-lieu of Foreclosures

The secondary mortgage market company Freddie Mac has updated its bulletin to servicers of Freddie Mac mortgage loans to make clear that they aren’t to pursue a deficiency judgment against a borrower after a short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure if the transaction was processed in accordance with Freddie Mac’s guidelines.

In a deficiency judgment, a lender goes after the borrower to collect the amount of loan that was “shorted” in a short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, even after the lender approved the short-pay agreement. State laws apply differently to the practice, but in some states a lender can go after a borrower several years after a transaction closes–sometimes to the surprise of the borrower.

The new language, says the company, reinforces “the requirement that the Servicer, for itself and on behalf of Freddie Mac, must waive all rights to seek deficiencies for short payoffs and deed-in-lieu of foreclosure transactions on Freddie Mac Mortgages that have closed in accordance with the Guide.”

You can find the updated language in Freddie Mac Bulletin 2012-5, dated February 15, 2012.

If you have any questions about the language, the company asks you to contact your Freddie Mac representative, if you have one, or call 800/FREDDIE and select “Servicing.”

SOURCE: Freddie Mac

Filed Under: Featured Blog, Financing Related

Pending Home Sales Rise, Market on Upward Trend

Pending home sales are on an upward trend, which has been uneven but meaningful since reaching a cyclical low last April, and are well above a year ago, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.

With a sustained downtrend in unsold inventory, this would bring about a broad price stabilization or even modest national price growth, of course with local variations.

The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, rose 2 percent to 97.0 in January from a downwardly revised 95.1 in December and is 8 percent higher than January 2011 when it was 89.8.  The data reflects contracts but not closings.

The January index is the highest since April 2010 when it reached 111.3 as buyers were rushing to take advantage of the home buyer tax credit.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said this is a hopeful indicator going into the spring home-buying season.  “Given more favorable housing market conditions, the trend in contract activity implies we are on track for a more meaningful sales gain this year.  With a sustained downtrend in unsold inventory, this would bring about a broad price stabilization or even modest national price growth, of course with local variations.”

“Movements in the index have been uneven, reflecting the headwinds of tight credit, but job gains, high affordability and rising rents are hopefully pushing the market into what appears to be a sustained housing recovery,” Yun said.  “If and when credit availability conditions return to normal, home sales will likely get a 15 percent boost, speed up the home-price recovery, and thereby significantly reduce the number of homeowners who are underwater.”

Filed Under: Economy, Featured Blog, Sale Activity Reports

Summer Video: Single track Mountain biking in Sun Valley

Sun Valley offers nearly 28 miles of hiking and biking trails on beautiful Bald Mountain. Feel free to tackle the trails yourself, and discover what makes the Bald Mountain experience so unique.

For the true “gear head,” Bald Mountain offers everything from challenging uphill climbs to extreme downhill switchbacks covering over 3,000 vertical feet.

A new five-mile trail system called the Sun Valley White Clouds hiking and biking trail is now open directly across the street from the Sun Valley Lodge entrance.  Take a hike around the new nine-hole White Clouds golf course with beautiful views of the valley.

Inquire about additional hiking and biking in the area at the Sun Valley Ticket Office (208) 622-6136 or contact the Sun Valley Concierge (208) 622-2097.

Click here to see all trail maps currently available online on the Sun Valley Resort website. 

Filed Under: Featured Blog, Local Activities, Summer Activities, Videos

Handy-Man Special with minimal work required $92,900

While the heading says “Handy-Man Special”, all the major work has already been done. Just bring some spackle, paint brush and hammer and your good to go. This property is great for either a permanent residence or use as a rental investment property.

338 sq. ft. heated car garage with ceiling fan and exterior man door.

Filed Under: Coming Soon, Featured Blog, Featured Property, New Listing

Have Mortgage Rates Bottomed? Rates up from All-Time Record Low

MCLEAN, Va., Feb. 23, 2012  – Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) today released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey® (PMMS®), showing fixed mortgage rates moving off their at- or-near record lows for the first time in three weeks amid recent data showing the housing market continues to improve.

New data releases this week suggest the housing market is continuing to gradually improve.

News Facts

  • 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.95 percent with an average 0.8 point for the week ending February 23, 2012, up from last week when it also averaged 3.87 percent. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.95 percent.
  • 15-year FRM this week averaged 3.19 percent with an average 0.8 point, up from last week when it also averaged 3.16 percent. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 4.22 percent.
  • 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.80 percent this week, with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.82 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 3.80 percent.
  • 1-year Treasury-indexed ARM averaged 2.73 percent this week with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 2.84 percent. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 3.40 percent.

Average commitment rates should be reported along with average fees and points to reflect the total upfront cost of obtaining the mortgage. Visit the following links for Regional and National Mortgage Rate Details and Definitions.

Borrowers may still pay closing costs which are not included in the survey.


Filed Under: Featured Blog, Market Conditions
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