After my best friends purchased a home downtown, and reading a few threads here in Metro Jax, I am starting to be more convinced that Springfield and or Downtown is a great place to buy a home. But I want to ask you guys, do you think that purchasing in the river or beach areas in town is affordable?
I am sure that over 90% of potential home buyers are going to be using mortgage. If you can find a house that is the right mix of reinvestment cost to ready-to-move in, you could get away with cash. It is A GREAT time to buy a house only if you truly have money.
For the mortgage, good luck trying to get through their strict background check on your credit reports, income, and assets, because banks are real cautious about lending their "money" to anyone these days.
I truly wish you a best of luck and hope you can get a house since it is really a great time to buy a house.
-Josh
in two words..... buyers market! All options are available..... rates appear to be close to 4.75%. If mortgage is difficult, check your options as govt incentives are out there.
1) while buying a home now is smart, dont think of it as an investment
2) get a lawyer, negotiate terms everything.
Beaches are going to be quite pricey. Even complete fixer uppers will be 50% more expensive than just across the ICW. Not sure which area you are asking about re: the first neighborhood.
I am a Realtor specializing in the Riverside and Avondale neighborhood and am, of course, somewhat biased towards downtown & historic areas. The main difficulty with purchasing a foreclosure or short-sale in an older neighborhood is the fact that the vast majority are being sold as-is and they almost always need repairs that VA or FHA financing will require in order to receive financing for the property. Even homes more as "new" as 20 years may need a new roof in order to be purchase through VA or FHA.
There are a few "seller owned" properties that are affordable where the seller is able (in not necessarily willing) to do repairs in order to get the transaction done. These are usually estate situations or cases where the sellers purchased a significant number of years ago. Let me know if I can be of any help.
If you're looking for a house that doesn't need a lot of work, there are some phenomenal deals on almost new SRG homes in Springfield. These houses were built within the past six years.
There are deals on older and newer houses in Springfield.
Thank you all for the comments, I really appreciate them.
AVS and Springfield Chicken live in Springfield and are Realtors and they post here regularly. We have other wonderful live and work in Springfield Realtors too. Good luck. Definitely this is the time to buy. . . some fabulous deals!!!!