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More First-Time Home Buyer Tips

Many people wonder if they can buy a home in Boise if they have student loan debt, and a couple of days ago, I wrote an article giving first-time home buyers some information about some possible steps to being a home if they have student loans.

The blog post dealt primarily with some alternative means to getting into your first new home. To get you up to speed, you could, like many families looking to buy one of the Boise homes for sale in the area, get a loan from your family. Formalized programs exist that protect the person loaning you the money for the home and allow you to avoid some of the debt-to-income issues that may arise from having too much student debt.

Will Debt Prevent You From Owning Boise Real Estate?

I often cringe when I see the cheesy advertising that many Realtors use. But, this video from the Ellen Show takes it to a whole new level.  I thought this might bring you a few laughs too. :)

First, let me thank you for visiting www.BoiseRealEstatePlus.com.  My goal is to make this the best site available for buyer's and seller's in the Boise, Idaho area.   I would love to hear your feedback and suggestions for improvement!

Thank you for your time! Search Boise Idaho real estate.  If at anytime you have questions or can't find what you're looking for, don't hesitate to call me on my cell (208) 484-2560 or email me.

When searching for Idaho real estate or Boise Idaho short sales you'll see a criteria line that says "Status".  Below are the definitions for the terms you may see.  Please note: Agents are allowed 3 business days to make status changes.  You can call or email me to find out the most up-to-date status on a particular property.

Active:The Idaho real estate listing does not have any accepted offers.

Within the "Active" status, there are a number of "contingent" sub-categories:

-Contingent short sale: This status means the seller has at least one offer on the property and they are waiting for lien holder approval (which generally takes several months).  When a short sale is in this "contingent short sale" status the homeowner will typically only

Have you wondered how the current Boise real estate market compares to when it was at it's peak?  To go to the month with the most home sales, we go back to August of 2005 when there were 1342 home sales in Ada County (August '08 had 472).  The days when all you had to do was stick a sign in the yard and you had multiple offers within days!

After a booming 2005 and most of 2006, the Boise real estate market began to loose some steam and inventory began increasing.  In May 2006, there was only a 2.8 month of supply of homes in Ada County.  Just four months later, the supply more than doubled to 5.9 months (which is actually a balanced market).  But development, spec homes, and optimism carried forward.

While demand can shift rapidly, supply takes

The City of Meridian held the grand opening of the new City Hall in Downtown Meridian on November 21.  Idaho Power awarded the city $100,000 in incentives for the building's energy efficiency.

Some of the energy efficient features include occupancy sensors, a reflective roof treatment, premium performance windows, efficient complex cooling, and demand controlled ventilation.

The energy efficient measures are estimated to save the city $40,000 per year in electricity costs.

The City of Meridian will be pursuing a Silver Certification by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).  A designation granted by the U.S. Green Building Council for energy efficient and sustainable building.

You may or may not be surprised to hear that 10% of the homes for sale in Ada County are being offered as short sales.  As of today, there were 4487 single family homes for sale and 469 were listed as a "Possible Short Sale."  While 10% is a large number, short sales are only accounting for 4% of home sales (within the Boise MLS).  In August, there were 472 sold homes in Ada County and only 19 of those were short sales.

The reason most of these homes never reach closing is because it's very hard to get a response, and approval from the lender.  Right now 89 short sales are "sale pending" waiting for that very thing.  It generally takes 3 to 6 months to get a short sale to closing.  Many deals fall apart during this process due to no response from the

I came across Google Trends the other day, very interesting- it shows you the amount of Google search activity for a particular topic. To some degree you can see how "real estate" searches have correlated with actual market activity. The most accurate correlation seems to be in the U.S. Google search for "Real Estate." Other interesting information can be gathered like what cities are generating the most searches and even how that search term correlates to how often it is being used in the news.

Here are some examples:

"Boise Real Estate"

"Idaho Real Estate"

"Real Estate" search in the U.S.

What is the Federal Housing Administration?

The Federal Housing Administration, generally known as "FHA", provides mortgage insurance on loans made by FHA-approved lenders throughout the United States and its territories. FHA insures mortgages on single family, multifamily, manufactured homes and hospitals. It is the largest insurer of mortgages in the world; insuring over 34 million properties since its inception in 1934.

What is FHA Mortgage Insurance?

FHA mortgage insurance protects lenders against loss if the homeowner defaults on their mortgage loan. The lenders bear less risk because FHA will pay the lender if a homeowner defaults on their loan. Loans must meet certain requirements established by FHA to qualify for insurance.

Why does