Virginia Beach Real Estate

New Construction in Virginia Beach is on the rise. Stick with me for all the details to become an expert in building your own home.  Without a doubt, if you are thinking seriously about building new home construction here in the Virginia Beach area, you will find it very rewarding. However don’t be surprised, as it will can also quickly become a daunting task.  But not to worry, I will be here to walk you through the procedure step by step.

Since it will be directly from you own plans, it will be more likely to help you achieve your dream home than to just go out and find a home to buy outright.  But remember this, it can result in many headaches as you proceed along the way. Not only is cost overruns possible, along with expensive construction mistakes, you could even end up in litigation.  However that is ok, because even during the purchase of a pre-owned home could lead to litigation as both methods can come across many problems.

Now keep in mind, as we do cost estimates, these are only starting points and only an estimate which we will adjust thru out the process as we go along. Its best to know from the start, just how much you can afford to spend on the construction of you new dream home.
Ok..lets do our estimate.

One of the most common methods used to estimate the cost of the home, is the cost per square foot method. Even though it is not too accurate, it can at least give you a good idea to start.  One of the first and most important items to consider first is the type of home that you will construct.  You will need to decide on whether it will be a ranch style, cottage, two story, one story and on and on.
You will early on need to determine the overall size of the home you intend to build as this of course will be a major factor in estimating the cost of the finished project. Additionally many other variables will be important such as the shape and size of the lot, number of rooms, as well as any amenities that you plan to add to it including any special flooring, lighting fixtures and appliances.

Many folks are surprised with the cost of the amenities and other items that they intend to add.
Many online calculators can help you determine an beginning estimate so that you can move on to the next step.
Now lets discuss location:

They always say that the three most important points about a new home is
1. Location
2. Location
3. Location
In other words we cannot overemphasize the importance of the location of your home.  If located in a poor or drug infested neighborhood, no matter how nice the home its value will be significantly reduced.  No one wants to live in a dangerous neighborhood.

Should you become a contractor, or Go it alone?
A very important factor is to early on decide whether you want to act as a contractor, or hire a contractor to follow your directions.  It’s not impossible to act as you own contractor, but it does add a lot of responsibility, work and study to the project.  Its very easy for you to get the cart before the horse and cause a lot of unnecessary work which can be very expensive for you.
If this is your first experience with new home construction, I strongly recommend you hire a contractor to oversee the construction of you home.
 If you go it alone, you will be dealing directly with subcontractors, which is a group of framers, masons, electricians, bricklayers, roofers and window and door installers and more.
 Without a doubt, the most important decision you will make in the home construction process will be that of selecting a contractor.  You will need to enter into a contract covering all the details of the new home.  Whether you hire a contractor or go it alone, one of the most expensive items will be that of labor. Be sure to interview a number of contractors before you make your final  choice and do not hesitate to walk away from anyone who doesn’t feel right to you and especially watch out for anyone who seems too good to be true as they usually are.

Keep in mind that you will have to pay building permits fees and inspection fees, plan changes and any cost overruns that may occurr.  For more information on homes that may be of interest to you, please visit other pages of my site at Chesapeake Foreclosures

IF you are attempting to sell your Virginia Beach real estate in a slow market you are in an extremely challenging situation.  There is no doubt that it will take longer to sell and you will run into more problems as buyers try to get the best possible deal for themselves.  I am not saying that you should let all the hype about the slow market stop you from making a  good  effort to sell, I am just trying to get you programmed to understand that you will run up against more road blocks than you would in a booming market.  However you can still sell your home and  in many cases near its market value.

Its more important than ever to do you homework, and be sure to separate the facts from the fiction.  You may not get exactly what you are looking for in price, but there is no reason to take a beating  either.  You should keep in mind, that your property is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.  As a matter of fact that is the same rule to be applied in a booming market.  You should begin with a thorough market analysis. This will give very specific details as to what  other buyers have recently paid for properties like yours in your neighboorhood.  Don’t expect much more than what recent buyers have paid and in some cases when you need to move quickly you might want to reduce the price slightly below that which other sellers have been able to achieve.

The sad thing is that if you purchased your home when the market was booming, you most likely will have paid more for the home than you can sell it for now in the slow market.  You may have to take a loss if you go thru with the sale at this time.  Hopefully, you are not in a situation where you must move quickly, as in many cases you may want to wait for a better time if possible.  It is not unheard of, to make a profit in a slow market, especially if you have made significant improvements in the property.  You will quickly find that if your home is correctly prepared for sale, and it is priced based on a  valid market analysis, you can often  sell in a reasonable period of time.

During slow sale times, many buyers look toward foreclosures and short sales as they feel that the stressed buyers may offer them a better deal.. sometimes yes, sometimes no.  Foreclosures and short sales prices are attractive, but are more difficult to close and in some  cases the short sales are near impossible to close.

Due to the extensive time delays, you could come out better by paying slightly more for the traditional sale since they can save you time and stress.  Selling your Virginia Beach real estate in a slow market isn’t easy, but it can be done.  I can complete a thorough market analysis and come up with a marketing plan to sell your home in the shortest possible time with the least amount of problems.  For additional information, please contact Tom Chambers at Resh Realty Group for all your Virginia Beach  Real Estate or call 757-587-9856.

Interested in getting Home Buyer Grants exceeding  $15,000 in one year.

Many of these grants apply to the purchase of your new home.  Each year more than  5 million American families receive free money from government grants.  Did you know that millions of Americans get free government money in the form of grants every single year?  Numerous grant programs are available to you, thru FHA, Va and Hud programs. You may apply for as many different grants as you qualify for.  Each grant has some very specific requirements and you must fully quailify to use them.

Some of the more important requirements are that you must be hold legal citizenship of the United States at least for now, but as our President adds the world to all our benefits, citizenship may soon not be required.  Most of the grants are to purchase real estate, and for many grants there will be no credit checks, and you may be qualified for much of the trillion dollar grants being given out every year.

You are not restricted to only one grant, as you may receive money for a down payment on a new home, and at the very same time you may qualify for money to set up your own business. It is possible to easily receive up to $500.000 to set up a new company and it may be absolutely free. By free, I mean that it may not be required to be paid back.

This buisness grant means that you do not have to pay high interest rates to banks since the money comes from the government with the no pay back agreement.  IF you need additional information on grants or other programs that could help you buy your new home, do not hesitate to contact Tom Chambers at 757-587-9856.

Are there any Virginia Beach Foreclosure Bargains out there? – Fact or Fiction?

The most common “I want a killer deal” inquiry that I get are from those looking for foreclosure property in Virginia Beach – most are expecting to buy at 50 cents on the dollar.

Today too many folk are looking for the “killer deals” when buying a foreclosure.  Most expect to find the properties in the 50 cents on the dollar range, and those  are few and far between in today’s world..  dream on… however there are still some very good deals out there, but 50 cents on the dollar is not one of them.  That is unless the property is totally junked out.

Actually it is a buyer’s market right now and sellers are willing to take some deep losses to get out from under a payment that they cannnot afford.  However when we try to help a seller out, we still find that the average seller thinks the public and real estate agents in general are trying to steal his property.  I have seen some sellers turn down a low ball offer, and walk the property all the way thru foreclosure, and get absolutley zero for the property and end up owing the bank thousands of dollars in debt.  Our off that appeared to be a low ball offer, would have allowed the seller to walk away with a few bucks in his pocket and a totally clear credit report and zero debt owed to the bank.  So it turns out our low offer could have been a  god send to this seller if he could have looked at the deal with a clear head.  I suppose a clear head is not one of the things that come when you are deep in foreclosure and on the verg of losing your beautiful home and along with that sometimes your entire family as the stress of foreclosure sometimes breaks up complete families.

So bottom line, maybe our offer was a low ball but far from trying to steal the property as it did allow the seller to walk away without debt.  Some sellers are just hard headed and have convinced themselves that anyone not offering full market price is trying to rip them off and and based on those assumptions will go all the way to the  foreclosure and end up deep in debt and at that point its just too late to help then in any way.

In regard to some of the properties that are plentiful in the Virginia Beach area, heading up the list is a ton of condo inventory around the entire Hampon Roads and an over abundance in the Virginia Beach Area.

Many of the condos that are in foreclosure are what we call kiddie condos.  This is a property that mom and pop purchase a condo for Johnny to go to school here in the Virginia Beach area and Johnny adds a roommate or two to help with the expenses and the properties easily makes the mortgage payment until Johnny graduates.

Once Johnny is gone, the property remains vacant and at some point goes into foreclosure.  And here we go again… over and over.

When prices stopped going up, the inventory grew rapidly and of course this drove the prices down to levels never before seen in the Virginia Beach area. Everyone was used to buying the property at any price and due to inflation they could sell it for a profit in as little as 2 years.  Those days are gone, if you do not buy for a low price and keep the property for a minimum of 5 years you will probably end up  with a loss overall.

Many folks try to rent the homes out, to make the mortgage payment but if you are an absentee landlord many times you have damaged property and expensive repairs each time a tenant moves out. The absentee landlord has much more expenses as they must either come into town frequently or hire someone to manage the property. Management fees average about 10% of the going rent and that makes the profit much less.

To find the very best deals in the Virginia Beach area, do not hesitate to contact Tom Chambers of Resh Realty Group, as he is an absolute genius in massaging the foreclosure market and can invariably come up with a “killer Deal” for your and your friends. Tom can be reached at 757-587-9856

Welcome Home, let’s Rehab a Virginia Beach Home 203(k) HUD.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development known as (HUD) also known as Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is responsible for managing the single family insurance and mortgage programs in the Virginia Beach area.

These FHA approved mortgage institutions will submit the applications for the loan to HUD and they also are responsible for collecting all the paper work and getting the appraisal done and making sure the buyer is credit worthy.

All the loans generated by the FHA 203k lenders actually issue the mortgage to the buyer, and the lender is protected in that the HUD Housing and Urban Development via the federal government and the lender is insured by HUD meaning if the buyer fails to pay for the home, it diverts to the federal government and the lender gets their money back.

So as you can see HUD does not actually lend the money direct to the buyer, but instead the lender provides the money to the borrower and HUD simply guarantees the loan.. sorta like a co-signer.

This program is a very important process for the neighborhood and the community, in that it allows many folks to purchase a home that they could not otherwise afford. The reason this works, is the the lender would not be willing to lend the money to the buyer without a minimum of 20 per cent down. In most cases the buyer cannot come up with 20% of the price of the home therefore the buyer could not buy the home.  With HUD guaranteeing the loan, the lender is then willing to loan the money to the buyer with as little as 3% down payment. This lower acquisition cost to the home owner allows for much greater expanding of homeownership.

HUD can see the results of the program and considers it an important program and we expect it will contine for a long time to come.  Many lenders have partnershiped with local and state housing agencies and other non profit organizations to rehab many properties that in many cases have removed blights from the neighborhood.

Many organizations have combine programs such as HOPE, HOME, and HUD community  development grant programs to allow a large number of low income families to become home owners for the very first time ever. Another very important part of the 203k loan, is that buyers can buy a property that is not in livable condition. This loan allows a buyer to borrow additional funds to make major repairs on the home prior to moving in and the lender will still approve the loan. As you know, most lenders will not provide funds to finace a home that is not in livable condition on the day of closing.
In addition to typical home rehabilitation projects, this program can be used to convert a one-family dwelling to a two, three-, or four-family dwelling. An existing multi-unit dwelling could be decreased to a one- to four-family unit.  In addition, the 203k loan can even be used to convert a single family dwelling to a two, three, or even four family dwelling.  This can allow the buyer to live in one unit, and rent the other units to pay the entire rent. This can allow a home owner live totally free.  Ok so let’s get on board and find a beautiful Virginia Beach home that we can rehab and be proud of.

If  your goal is to Buy aVirginia Beach Home then Resale at the top of your Mind.

 In this article, I will discuss in detail the very important reasons why anytime you buy a home, you foremost consideration is the resale value of the home. In other words how much can I make on this sucker when I get ready to sell?

For example, you and your wife may only need a one bedroom, since you have no children, but a one bedroom is difficult to resale so be sure and buy at least a 2 bedroom and strive for a three bedroom.  The resale value of a three bedroom is significantly more than that of a two or three bedroom. In addition to that, the three bedroom will sell faster and for more than a two or three bedroom. In our Virginia Beach area here, the four bedrooms are at a premium and difficult to come in contact with.

Remember when buying a home, its very unlikely that we will live in the home for the rest of our life. In most cases most folks move to a new location on the average every four years.

So the bottom line is we need to remember that after living in the home for a period, we will want to sell it to someone else.
Also never forget that they say “Location!, Location!, Location!” and if you do not adhere to that very important saying, when you get ready to sell you may find yourself in a loss situation, as no one want to buy a house in a bad neighborhood. 

Bad neighborhoods may be defined as drug activity, high crime rate or just noisy neighborhoods.
When trying to sell a home in a bad neighborhood, invariably means a loss in money and sometimes not being able to sell for any price.  And if you loose money, you will not be a happy camper.  There are tons of homes out there in good neighborhoods and in good condition.
When you get ready to resell the property, most likely the buyer will want to employ a home inspector to determine the condition of the property. So word to the wise, its best that you use a professional home inspector during your purchase to protect you against buying a property that will not pass the home inspection when you get ready to sell.

You will learn a lot here if you read my Great Virginia Beach Home Buying Tips and Traps.

Are you one of the thousands that have been putting off the promise to buy a new home?  Well you could not find a better time to buy with the interest rate gettting ready to start to rise and the thousands of foreclosure Virginia Beach homes on the market.

I will now list a lot of traps that you might be exposed to as you travel thru the treacherous home buying process.

Watch close now, here we go:

One of the most common traps we fall into, is the fact that we are sometimes told that now is your last chance to buy.
No question about it, now is a good time to buy but if you don’t find your Virginia Beach dream home right away, there will be many other chances. So never fear Tom Chambers                     is here to save the day.  You definitely should not let a fear that this is your last chance to buy to muddy up the water.  However if you decide to move now, move as quickly as you feel comfortable, since as we know the higher the interest rate travels, the less amount of house you may qualify to purchase.  But if you have cash, as the interest goes higher, it slows down the other buyers and makes a much better deal for the cash buyer. So higher interest is good for some and bad for others.
Another trap we sometimes fall into is waiting too long. Let’s say we keep waiting around to see what the market is going to do and years later we are still waiting… waiting… waiting…  you tell yourself that self.. if I buy now I may pay too much so you keep coming up with reasons to wait and never really get around to buying at all.

 So bottom line is not possible to time  the Virginia Beach real estate market in regard to ups and downs, so its best to make a buying decision based on whether or not you can afford to buy or whether you can afford not to buy. If you keep saving your money, to get a better downpayment, may give the prices time to rise more than the amount you have saved for downpayment. So sometimes its best to bite the bullet and make the purchase now and gain the appreciation that will occur in upcoming years.
Keep in mind that owning a home is not a picnic, no longer can you call the landlord when the heat pump malfunctions and the taxes and insurance can no longer come out of the monthly payment.  Do you have the time to do the upkeep on a home, as no longer does that mean just cutting the grass, now it includes replacing the roof and other expensive items.  Be careful and do not get pulled into the interest only loan, just to be able to buy more home. Many folks have been caught with their pants down when home sales drop and you have no eqity in the property to cushion the sale.. Since with a intrest only loan you have absolutely zero equity unless the market value goes up during the time of home ownership.  when homes are selling slowly, its almost impossible to refinance a interest only loan as the value may not be there. Contact Tom Chambers         for additional information on any Virginia Beach real estate that you might be interested in purchasing.

All you ever wanted to know about the $8,000 Tax Credit as it applies to  Virginia Beach Real Estate in Hampton Roads.

The $8,000 first time buyer tax credit is almost over. Matter of fact, on about 90 days till the deadline.
You really do not want this opportunity to slip thru your fingers as it may never show its head again in our lifetime.
Since housing sales have risen in the last few months, there is not much reason to believe this opportunity will be extended.

 It is definitely in your interest to make sure your closing is set to finalize not later than the 15th of November.  There

is no time for delay. IF you are not closed by December 1, 2009 you likely will not get this money.
We at Resh Realty Group are very familiar with this all important program, and can walk you thru every step and our

recommended lenders are abosolute experts in getting around all the land mines that may stand in your way.

 For Renters and Landlords:
Are you thinking of renting out your home? As we are all aware, there are pros and cons to selling vs. renting.  We at Resh

Realty specialize in managing property for both residential and commercial. Selling or renting – the Tom Chambers     team at

Resh Realty Group can handle both.  Feel free to contact Tom directly at 757-587-9856 if you desire additional property

management information.