Rick Schwartz: High Definition Real Estate

 

Danbury News Times indicates that the actual opening of the Bypass will be during the week of 11/16.

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My Original Post from July 09

The wait appears to be over for residents of Danbury, Bethel, Brookfield and New Milford, CT.  The long-awaited extension of "Super 7" as it is known, is nearing completion and, barring any unforeseen circumstances will be opening in November, 2009.

 

Better Commute

The bypass which will be a 4 lane limited access highway that extends the current Route 7 Highway from it's current northern terminus at Route 202 in Brookfield - just south of the Brookfield 4 Corners - to the border with New Milford.   Since a large area of  "local" Route 7 in New Milford was expanded to 4 lanes over the last couple of years, this connection from the new bypass will give drivers a straight shot from the NY/CT border on I84 right to the heart of New Milford.

 

Easier to shop in Brookfield

In addition, the bypass is expected to ease traffic considerably on the existing local portion of Route 7 which runs through the 4 Corners, through Brookfield.  This should make shopping in Brookfield even more pleasurable than it already is, since you'll be able to turn in and out of local merchants parking lots with much more ease.

 

Official Confirmation

I had been hearing about the impending completion "on the street" so to verify it I contacted CT State Representative  David Scribner from the 107th District.  Representative Scribner is the ranking Republican on the CT. General Assembly's Transportation Committee.     

In an email he sent me earlier this week Mr. Scribner confirmed the scheduled completion of the bypass for this November.

He commented, "After many years and too many delays, the Route 7 Brookfield Bypass is on schedule for completion in November 2009."

Regarding the cost of the project, Representative Scribner went on to say, "Funding for this project has been split 80% Federal and 20% state, with total expenditures as of 7/1/2009 reaching $82.5 million."

He also added, "The Route 7 bypass is a critical addition to the area's transportation infrastructure that will go a long way in alleviating traffic congestion in one of Brookfield's major business districts. While the project met some hiccups along the way- I am extremely pleased that the Bypass is on track to become reality in just a few short months.

 

 

 

Those of you who know me well have to be rolling your eyes at the idea of me talking about places to buy and consume fresh produce and farm products.  After all, my idea of trying to eat healthy is to have a diet Coke with my burger and fries.

 

As the old expression goes - "It's not what you know but who you know."  So I asked my friend Alicia Ghio @Aliciaghio on Twitter,  for some help in putting this article together.  Alicia, is a great resource in the area for all things about eating healthy - and local.  She hosts a terrific Web Show called  The Natural Princess where she entertains and educates you about things that grow. It's not only good information, Alicia has a very cool style and makes learning fun. 

I've been watching the episodes and I've learned so far that there are 7,000 different varieties of Apples, and that Apples can help pregnant women in a few different ways - and the stuff you can use garlic for is really amazing....So check out her shows as well her Blog LOCAL FOOD ROCKS.

Anyway - she put together the list below for us to help find out where in the area we can go to partake of some locally grown, healthy stuff.

 

FARMERS MARKETS

 

BETHEL FARMERS’ MARKET Saturdays 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. July - October Fairfield County  Cooperative Extension Building Rte. 6, 67 Stony Hill Rd FMNP Authorized

 

DANBURY FARMERS’ MARKET Fridays 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. J

uly 10 - October 23 Kennedy Park, Main Street FMNP Authorized EBT Available

 

GEORGETOWN FARMERS’ MARKET Sundays 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. May 24 - November 1 Intersection of Main Street & Rte. 57

 

NEW MILFORD FARMERS’ MARKET Saturdays 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. May 9 - October 31 Town Green, Main Street FMNP Authorized

 

RIDGEFIELD FARMERS’ MARKET Fridays 3 p.m. - 7 p.m. June - October 88-90 Danbury Road www.ridgefieldfarmersmarket.org

 

SANDY HOOK FARMERS’ MARKET Sundays 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. June 1 - October 1 5 Glen Road

 

SANDY HOOK ORGANIC FARMERS’ MARKET Tuesdays 2 p.m. - 6 p.m. June 23 - Oct. 13 St. John's Church, 5 Washington Avenue EBT Available 

 

 

 

FARMS/FARM STANDS

 

BABBLING BROOK FARM 16 Church Road, Sherman, CT 06784 860-354-2749   

Seasons Open: July to October        Hours: 24hrs/7days   Honor System: Yes      

Products offered: Vegetables, Pumpkins, gourds, and other fall products

 

BLOOMINGFIELDS FARM 9 Route 55, Sherman, CT 06784 860-354-6951    Products offered: perennials

Farm stand: Fri., Sat, & Sun. 10am-5pm Memorial Day to Labor Day

 

BLUE JAY ORCHARDS 125 Plumtrees Rd, Bethel, CT 06801 203-748-0119    

Seasons Open: July to October, November and December      Hours: Mid-Aug to Xmas. Market: 10am-5:30pm, PYO: 10am-5pm.

Products offered: Pumpkins, gourds, and other fall products, Fruit, Agritourism activities: pick-your-own, corn mazes, hayrides, etc., Specialty foods including jams, jellies, honey, maple syrup, salsas etc., Specialty products such as CT made soaps, candles, lotions etc.

 

FORT HILL FARM Bay State Organic Certifiers 18 Fort Hill Rd., New Milford, CT 06776 860 350-3158 

Products offered: flowers, fruit, garlic, herbs, salad greens, transplants, vegetables Weston and Westport Farmers’ Markets

GARDEN OF IDEAS 647 North Salem Road, Ridgefield, CT 06877 203-431-9914 

Seasons Open: April to June, July to October, November and December

Hours: Daily, 10am-4pm

Honor System: Yes

Products offered: Vegetables, Green products such as annuals, perennials, nursery/landscape stock, potted herbs, cut flowers, etc., Agritourism activities: pick-your-own, corn mazes, hayrides, etc.

 

HOLBROOK FARM 45 Turkey Plain Rd (Rt. 53), Bethel, CT 06801-2842 203-792-0561

Products offered: bedding plants, cheese, eggs, flowers, fruit, garlic, greenhouse, herbs, honey, milk, on-site bakery, perennials, pork, poultry, salad greens, straw, transplants, vegetables

Farm stand: year round Mon-Sat 10:00am-6:00pm.

 

ON THE ROCKS FARM 9 Points O’Rocks Road, Newtown, CT 06470 203-426-3868 wpieragostini@yahoo.com Products offered: Eggs, Farm Stand, Poultry, Turkeys Farm Stand: Self-serve, 9am – 5pm, 7 days a week.

 

SHORTTS FARM & GARDEN CENTER Bay State Organic Certifiers 52-A River Side Rd., Sandy Hook, CT 06482 203-426-9283

Products offered: bedding plants, eggs, flowers, fruit, herbs, perennials, salad greens, transplants, vegetables New Canaan & Sandy Hook Organic farmers’ markets

Farm store at farm: Apr -Oct. 7 days a week

 

STONE’S THROW FARM, LLC PO Box 76, Bethel, CT 06801-0076 203-798-0151

Products offered: Berries, container plants, fruit, flowers, garlic, herbs, pumpkins, salad greens, vegetables.

 

SULLIVAN FARM 140 Park Lane, New Milford, CT 06776 860-210-2030

Seasons Open: April to June, July to October, November and December

Hours: Mon-Sat 9:30am-6:30pm, Sun 12pm-6pm

Honor System: No

Products offered: Vegetables, Pumpkins, gourds, and other fall products, Agritourism activities: pick-your-own, corn mazes, hayrides, etc., Specialty foods including jams, jellies, honey, maple syrup, salsas etc.

 

TAYLOR FAMILY FARM 94 Great Plain Rd., Danbury, CT 06811 203-744-1798

Products offered: bedding plants, flowers, garlic, gourds, greenhouse, hay, herbs, honey, perennials, salad greens, transplants, vegetables Bethel & Georgetown farmer’s markets

 

VICTORIA TAFT'S GARDEN 94 Rte. 39 North, Sherman, CT 06784 860-350-2711 

Seasons Open: April to June, July to October Hours: Open daily starting in May, 9am-6pm

Honor System: Yes

Products offered: Green products such as annuals, perennials, nursery/landscape stock, potted herbs, cut flowers, etc.

 

WARRUPS FARM Stellar Certification Services 51 John Read Rd., West Redding, CT 06896 203-938-9403

Products offered: Christmas trees, flowers, fruit, garlic, gourds, hay, herbs, maple candy, maple syrup, pumpkins, vegetables.

Weston and Maple Demo’s Farmers’ Market Farm stand: mid August-end of Oct, Tues-Sunday, 10:00am-6:00pm

Retail store and pick your own sales Maple syrup making demonstrations 1st three weekends in March—pick your own pumpkins & hayrides weekends in October and Columbus Day, 11-5. Group visits Tues-Fri by reservation.

 

WHITE SILO FARM & WINERY 32 Route 37 East, Sherman, CT 06784 860-355-0271 

Seasons Open: April to June, July to October, November and December Hours: Call for hours

Honor System: Yes

Products offered: Fruit, Vegetables, Fruit Wines

 

 

 

I wrote recently about how the "mortgage approval pendulum" has been swinging as far from the 2003-2005 position as it possibly can.  This has slowed down the process considerably. 

Well - it's swinging even further and it could very well slow down the process even more.

It is called the Mortgage Disclosure Information Act and it will be effective on July 30, 2009. I'll give you some details below but for those of you who want the bottom line first - here's the deal.

There is a new time line going into effect, designed to give borrowers increased opportunity to read the Truth In Lending Disclosure (TIL) statement that your lender will send you.

The TIL statement is a document that lenders send to borrowers after the loan application is completed. It is not a mortgage commitment - it merely give you all the details of the loan that you applied for.  provides you with information such as:

• APR (Annual Percentage Rate): Not to be confused with INTEREST RATE - read the difference here
• Finance Charge
• Amount Financed
• Total Payments

and some other information which you should read and ask about if you do not understand it.

The TIL statement is not new.  What's new is the time line which provides a specific number of days from application to the sending of the statement and from your receipt of the statement until the earliest possible closing date

GOOD THING OR BAD THING?

I can guarantee that there will be a lot of debating on this issue.  There's no question that it will in some cases impede the process. The idea of getting a quick closing is pretty much dead. On the other side, the argument is to make sure that borrowers have enough time to read, ask questions and understand exactly what they are agreeing to do when borrowing money.

For me - I'm not going to venture my opinion here.  If you're a regular reader of mine, you'll know that I try not to waste time on things that are basically irrelevant.  Like it or not, as of right now, these changes are going into effect in about a week. So, the most important thing is to know the rules and plan accordingly.

THE DETAILS

First of all this applies to loans for all owner-occupied dwellings. It applies to purchases and re-finances.

It will not apply to:

• Home Equity Lines of Credit
• Construction-only Loans
• Bridge Loans
• Reverse Mortgages
• Investment Properties

So for everything else here's what to expect

*  The lender must mail the TIL no later than 3 business days after the loan application is completed.

*   The closing may not occur until at least 7 Days after the lender mails the TIL or 3 Days after the          borrower receives it.  Whichever is the LATER date will be the soonest you can close.

IS  THAT IT?

Not exactly.  Sometimes, between a TIL being issued and the closing date, some of the closing costs may change.  This can happen for a few different reasons - attorney costs, pre-paid interest amounts and a few other things.

So here's the wrinkle

Since closing costs impact the APR, it follows that if closing costs increase above the estimate, the APR will go up. Makes sense, right?

*   If the APR increases by more than .125% on a fixed loan or .25% on a variable, the lender needs to issue a new TIL statement to the lender.

*   If a new TIL needs to be issued, the closing cannot occur until 6 days after it is issued or 3 days after the borrower signs it.

TOO MUCH DETAIL FOR YOU?

Not trying to make your eyes blur.  It isn't necessary for you to memorize the dates and details. The net effect is that that these new rules, make planning ahead more important than ever.

• Select a lender before you find a house
• Get a Pre-Approval done as early as possible
• Sit with the Lender and make sure he goes over all the critical dates with you so that you can set your expectations properly.
  

 

 

When you are shopping for a home loan you will usually see rates quoted in two columns.  The first will say INTEREST RATE and the second will say APR - which stands for Annual Percentage Rate.

What's up with that?  Shouldn't the interest rate BE the Annual Percentage Rate? In a perfect world it would seem so - but, alas it is not.

The challenge is that this is one of those questions where if not explained simply, the answer can seem more confusing than the question.  At the end of the day, I really believe that it's one of those great mysteries of life that "they" will never share with us - the regular people.

I do not claim to understand all the math  but what I can do is explain to you the theory behind why there are two figures and how you can look at both numbers in a way that can help you make a decision about where to get your mortgage.

INTEREST RATE

This is the percentage that is used to calculate your monthly mortgage payments.  So if you have a $250,000 mortgage and a rate of 5%, - the annual interest will be 5% of $250,000 or $12,500. 

The $12,500 is then divided by 12 to determine the amount of interest you'll be paying monthly - about $1040.

The monthly interest payment will be added to the monthly principal payment to complete the calculation of your mortgage payment.   There will likely be taxes and insurance added to that but that is not money that ultimately goes to your lender so it is not relevant for this discussion.

ANNUAL PERCENTAGE RATE

This is the "Cost " of your mortgage calculated as an annual figure.  It includes not only the interest, but also points and some of your closing costs.  So it will be likely always be higher than the interest rate  This number is the true cost of your loan.

SO - WHY DO I CARE AND HOW DO I USE THIS INFORMATION?

What you need to look for when comparing loans is the "spread" between the two figures.

LOAN #1:  5% Interest Rate with an APR of 5.25%

LOAN #2   5% Interest Rate with an APR of 5.65%  

In Loan 1 the spread is .25%   In Loan 2 the spread is .65%   Loan two is a more expensive loan.

DOES THIS MEAN I CHOOSE LENDER 1?

There are many different factors you may use when choosing a lender.  This is just one of them.  It's one of my general life rules that the least expensive product does not make it the best.  Understanding what something is costing you, though is critical. 

 

 

  We hear a lot in the news about programs to help homeowners who have fallen behind on their mortgages.  Sometimes  it's from job loss, sometimes it's because the adjustable loan just adjusted and the payment has gone up dramatically. Believe it or not, the banks do not want to own any more foreclosures.  They'd much prefer to have homeowners stay in their homes and make the payments. 

Some banks are offering Loan Modifications to help homeowners back in line - either in interest or principal adjustments. The thing is that most of what you hear about is debt relief for folks that are imminently awaiting foreclosure

What about the multitude of people who are "upside down" (the value of the home has depreciated to less than what they owe)  but are diligently making their payments each month? Is there any help for these folks? Can you get relief on your mortgage even if you pay on time?  It only seems fair, right?  Why should you not be able to avail yourself of assistance because you haven't fallen behind? Is there such a program? 

The answer is a definitive "maybe!" - and might be worth checking out. There are a few avenues that might prove fruitful. Both of these can researched by contacting your lender.

Directly from your Lender

If your mortgage is backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, there is a program available to lenders enabling them to work with borrowers on loan modifications that will bring the principal amount of the mortgage within the confines of the current market value of the home. It is up to the individual lenders to utilize this program or not and to set the basic eligibility. There is no assurance that your lender will do this but - some are doing it and it could be worth your time to contact your lender to find out how this might apply to you.

Another option is PMI

The second option that could come into play depends on whether or not you have PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) on your loan. It also depends on which PMI company your lender uses.  Some PMI companies are offering homeowners a program that will help them out in a situation where they owe more than the value of their home.  There are a few different ways they can help but - again, it will depend on the specific PMI company that you have.  You can find this information out by contacting your lender.

Federal Government Assistance

There may also be some relief available from the Federal Government as part of the "Road To Stability" plan.  You can find out more about this by going to their website.

Please keep in mind that eligibility for any of these assistance programs can only be determined at the individual level. It never hurts to investigate though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quite often, price negotiations turn into very adversarial situations where one party tries to get the upper hand. There seems to sometimes be a feeling that you can win a negotiation by getting your opponent into a situation where he will be somehow harmed if you were to pull out.

Emotional Vs. Financial

This comes about because buying and selling homes not only have a financial component but an emotional one as well. The buyer is buying because he needs or wants a new home, and the seller is selling for the same reason.

Why is everyone moving anyway?

Perhaps your existing residence is too small for your growing family, or perhaps it’s too big now that the kids are grown. Perhaps the economy has put you in a situation where it’s tough to keep up and you are moving to get more control of your finances. Or perhaps you have a new job which comes along with a new commute.

There are lots of reasons why you might need or want to move. Here’s the thing, though. None of those issues has anything to do with the value of the house you are trying to buy or sell. The value is the value. So when you begin negotiating you need to do so strictly from a point of view of what the house is worth. If you can’t afford to buy a certain house, or you can’t afford to sell your house for less than a certain amount – then you should not be doing it.

Your emotional and family needs are important when deciding where and when to move, but once you start negotiating, all that stuff needs to go on the back burner.

No Winners or Losers

A successful house negotiation will not have a winner and an loser. It will be a mutually beneficial business arrangement where both sides have a fair result.

Whether you are the buyer or the seller, your Realtor should begin the preparation for negotiation exactly the same way – by using market data to determine the fair value of the house. If both Realtors are doing their jobs correctly, there should be very little difference in the perception of the home’s value – whichever side you are on.

In a perfect world, everyone would get together in a room and look at all the available data, come up with the right price and that would be that – but we all know that it doesn’t work that way.

The Buyer

You and your Realtor will, together, come up with two numbers. The highest price you are willing to pay and where you will start the bidding.

The Seller

You have already, in a sense, put in the opening bid by setting a list price. Your prep needs to basically working with your Realtor and doing essentially the same as the buyer.

Decide exactly what your lowest price will be and what your first counter-offer will be when you receive the opening offer.

Throw out the "Sticker Price"

The list price, unfortunately kinds of goes out the window at this point. The list price is designed to attract shoppers. Now you need to get down to business and decide how much you are willing to take for your house.

Trust your Realtor

Since conversations between Realtor and Client are confidential, these numbers will not be shared between the two sides. If done properly, however, “what I’m willing to pay” and “what I’m willing to sell for” shouldn’t really be too far off.

Then an opening offer is tendered, there is a series of counter and counter-counter offers and a price is settled on. At the end of it, there shouldn’t be any negative feelings about the number from either side since the ranges were decided ahead of time.

The first report from the National Association of Realtors June, 2009 telephone survey of 1,004 people is in.

According to the interviews it seems that "most consumers are not aware of how affordable homes have become in today's market". 

More data will be released later this week.  CLICK HERE to read the article from the Realtor.com.

 

This is another one of those phrases that Realtors hear all the time. It is, quite frankly, a very natural thing to feel and say. You paid good, hard-earned money for your home. You’ve put additional money (and sweat equity) into the house. You’ve lived it in for a period of time and your neighbor who bought at about the same time as you got 120% more than he paid when he sold about 2 years ago.

So why should you give it away? You shouldn’t!

What you have to do is to clearly define what “giving it away” means to you. It’s very subjective. Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Why do you want to sell in the first place?
2. What will you do if you don’t sell?

 

There are a dozen reasons why people want to sell their homes. Answer it honestly. Perhaps selling isn’t really that important to you. If it is, then move on to the second question – what will you do if you don’t sell? There are only 3 possible answers.

1. You’ll stay in your home
2. You’ll rent your home to someone
3. You’ll move and leave the house vacant

The most common answer is that you’ll stay in your home. If that is your answer then ask the following question 

How long will you stay before your original reason for moving becomes urgent?

If you think you will stay in your house for “a while – until the market turns and houses appreciate again” you should sit down and do some math.

Here’s an example which is, admittedly based on theory – no one really knows what is going to happen in the market. We’re going to start with the hypothetical assumption that the market will continue to depreciate for another 9 months, level off for 6 months and then begin to appreciate again.

Soooo…. using my favorite $100 house, let’s look at a couple of scenarios. First, where you overprice the home and then at what happens if you try to wait it out.

SCENARIO #1. You paid $90 for your home four years ago. Your neighbor who has a similar house also paid $90 four years ago. He sold his home two years ago for $110.

Your Realtor tells you that a good selling price for your house is between $98 and $102. He suggests listing it for $100. You know that you’ll probably have to negotiate a little and sell for $97 or so. You will then have to pay a real estate fee of about $6 so you’ll end up netting $92 which is only $2 more than you paid.

You feel that that is just “not enough” and constitutes “giving your house away” and you are not going to do that.

You decide on listing it for $108, and will negotiate down to $105 if you have to. After taking out a fee of $6 you will net about $99 which is, in your opinion, “good enough” after all, it’s WAYYYY LESS than your neighbor got. You are being very flexible without giving it away.

What happens next is that your house doesn’t sell quickly. The educated buyers who have been looking at houses for a few months, take a look at your house and they know, while it might be a great house, there are others out there that are better values.

90 days go by.

You then, reluctantly tell your Realtor that you’ll lower the price to $102 – which is the top range of what he originally suggested.  Sounds like a plan right?  There's one more wrinkle.

Based on a continued depreciation your house is no longer valued at $100. It is now valued at about $98. A new group of educated buyers (the other ones have already bought homes), visit your house and reject it. There are some other similar houses that are selling for $96 and $97.

Your house sits for another 90 days – and the cycle continues. Eventually the market does bottom out. Your house is now worth about $92 or $93. You decide that you simply can’t sell at that price and you pull your house off the market.

SCENARIO #2.  You hear your Realtor’s original price suggestion of $100 and decide to wait it out. You do nothing for 9 months. The market then bottoms out and your house is now valued at about $92 or $93. You feel that things are on track and you’ll just wait for things to rise again. 

You can see in both scenarios you are sitting there 6 -9 months later with a home that is worth about 7 or 8% less than you could have sold it for when you started the process.

Again I want to reiterate that this is all hypothetical. No one knows what is going to happen.  In our little story, the market begins to slowly appreciate and 12 more months go by and your house appreciated in value by about 5%. This now makes your home worth about $97. You are 21 months from when you started.  If you then factor in the mortgage payments that you've been continuing to make, your net proceeds from this plan will be far, far less than if you had sold it for $97 at the outset.

So – now go back to those two questions.

Why do you want to move and what will you do if you don’t sell?

This, of course, leads again to the third question – how long can you actually wait before you move.

No one really knows when the market will turn and how quickly it will appreciate when it does. In the best of scenarios, however, you need to understand that in all probability, your house is worth more today than it will be tomorrow or in 6 months to a year- and that it could be 1, 2, 3 or more years until it is worth more than it is today.

BOTTOM LINE :

 

1. Overpricing your home will not help you net more from the sale.

2. Overpricing will probably delay the sale of your home and you will end up selling for less.

3. Holding off until the market turns will not help you net more unless you can wait a very long time.

4. What you WANT for your house is irrelevant to the current value.

5. What you NEED for your house is irrelevant to the current value.

6. What you PAID for your house is irrelevant to the current value.

7. What you OWE on your house is irrelevant to the current value.

8. What your next house will cost is irrelevant to the current value.

9. What your neighbor sold for a year or two ago is irrelevant the current value.

 

Ultimately, you have no voice in the current value - you only have a voice setting the asking price.

BOTTOM BOTTOM LINE:

The question is not how much you want to net for your house.  The question is whether or not you want to move.

If you do, then you must price the house based on what people are willing to pay.

Homes actively listed for sale in Greater Fairfield County MLS:

Danbury    

321 Single Family  

253 Condominiums

 

Bethel       

131 Single Family    

40 Condominiums

 

Brookfield  

135 Single Family    

41 Condominiums 

 

Search Listings Here

 

Roger Miller had a hit song in the 1960s called England Swings Like a Pendulum Do. I know I'm dating myself with this reference but if I'm getting old it's fine. Better than the alternative.

Well most things swing like pendulums, don't they?  Right now the ability to get a mortgage has swung as far away from a few years ago as it can.

Allegedly, not too long ago, the primary qualification for a consumer being approved for a loan, it seems, was a mirror test.  If you held a mirror up to the face of the borrower and steam formed, they got the loan.

OK - that's a little extreme but let's face it, getting credit was a breeze. There was in fact, a loan known as NINA which stood for No Income No Asset.

As far as the house they were buying, there are folks claiming today, whether it's true or not it is being said, that appraisals were, for the most part matching the negotiated selling price.  

Neither of those points is meant to be a knock to lenders or appraisers.   My point is not so much whether loans should have been granted or not, but the perception that has driven the pendulum.

So, given the media coverage of sub-prime loans and "over zealous" appraisals, the lending industry has swung completely in the opposite direction.

There are some folks today who will have a more difficult time getting a mortgage.  For example, in some areas, the new "rule of thumb" for minimum FICO scores on a loan up to $417,000 is 660.  It goes even higher on bigger loans.

Every possible precaution that can be taken to insure credit-worthiness is being taken.  This will, without a doubt eliminate some borrowers who might have been included a few years ago. 

Same with appraisals.  Tighter requirements for "comps" are in place. Remember, an appraised value is not the same as the assessed value.  Sometimes the appraisers are not finding any valid comps and have to rely on other formulations to come up with the right price.  Some houses are not appraising for the sale price.

Even if the house appraises as you hope and even if the borrower gets approved, the fact is that the typical time for completing this process is likely to be longer than we may be used to.  What once took 4 - 6 weeks might, in some cases take 8 - 10 weeks or more.  Maybe not  - sometimes the stars align and things go quickly and smoothly - but be prepared.

One of the things that causes agita in Real Estate transactions is an unexpected delay. Trust me, there's nothing quite as aggravating for a seller or a buyer, than getting a phone call 5 weeks into the process that this or that hasn't been done, or more information is needed or that there's a backlog in processing.  There's a dozen different reasons but the end result is the same -  you can't move when you thought you could. 

These factors will vary from region to region and from specific transaction to specific transaction - talk to your Realtor and your Mortgage Professional to find out how things are going in your area.

My advice is to go into a home transaction - as a buyer or a seller - with the idea that it is NOT going to be as quick or as smooth as you want it to be - or what you might have experienced the last time around.

As a Realtor, my responsibility is to to stay in close touch with all the various players on an ongoing basis until the moment that we all walk out of the closing room smiling.  The most important thing I can do for you, is to help you set accurate expectations.   Disappointment, is always caused by inaccurate expectations.