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Hudsonville HomeSpectacular home on the beautiful and quiet Hidden Lake! This home has gorgeous views of the lake from virtually every room facing the lake. A large deck with stairs provides an ideal location for cooking out, relaxing, and or entertaining! Inside this amazing home are many "wow" factors and over $40,000 worth of upgrades. The large gourmet style kitchen has access to the deck, view of the lake, granite counters, Italian tile backsplash, wood floors, center island snack bar, pantry, and a built-in desk. The adjacent dining area is also large and offers a wonderful view of the property. The living room has dramatic ceiling lines, a gas fireplace, view of the lake, and is surround sound ready. The Owners` Suite is a dream, boasting an excellent size, is surround sound ready, has one large closet and one large walk in closet, luxerious private bath with a large garden tub, separate shower, and dual sinks. Other features include: abundently sized bedrooms, finished lower level walkout, main floor utility, mud room, storage room, etc. You are sure to enjoy this beautiful home year round whether you are cozying up to the fireplace or relaxing on the beach!
Brandon Fowler
Five Star Real Estate
Click here for more information about this houseSearch other MLS listingsAwesome home with semi-open floor plan and located on a beautiful wooded lot! This gem of a home boasts lots of extras, including $20,000 in updating. Features include: spacious rooms, 2 sliding glass doors with transom windows, great room with cathedral ceiling, hardwood and tile flooring, refaced kitchen cabinetry, kitchen with built in desk, convenient mud room, huge great room with gas fireplace, large master bedroom with W.I.C. & large closet, and finished daylight lower level with a walkout service door.. Lower level bedrooms have egress windows that are large in size but don`t meet code current code standards. The wonderfully landscaped yard features a deck, fenced back yard, children`s play equipment and sandbox, and an 18x36 in ground concrete pool. Newer items include: UGS, pool pump & filter, pool covers, furnace, central air, gutters, and roof. This home shows like new throughout! Pride of owner and well maintained. Can`t duplicate all this home has to offer in a new home for the price!
Brandon Fowler
550-1249
bfowler@grhomepage.comFive Star Real Estate
791-1500
Mortgage Rate "Buydowns" Can Sell Houses in Slow Markets.
by Kenneth R. Harney
To help move at least some of the unsold houses glutting local markets, lenders are beginning to look "back to the future" for financing techniques that worked in the tough times of the 1980s.
One creative technique is known as a mortgage rate "buydown." Rather than lower the asking price on a house by thousands of dollars, a seller can offer a discounted rate package that lowers' purchasers' effective interest costs and monthly payments during the early years of their loans.
The most popular form of buydown in the 1980s was a "3-2-1" on a fixed rate 30 year mortgage. During year one of the new purchaser's mortgage, the seller agrees to pay 3 percentage points of the interest rate on the mortgage note. During the second year, the sellers pays 2 percent, and in year three the seller pays 1 percent. After that, the purchasers pay the full note rate.
To see how this works in practice, and why it can be a triple win -- for the seller, buyer and the realty agent -- consider this example. Say a seller has had her house on the market for months at $210,000 with no serious offers. She could cut the asking price, say to $200,000, to stimulate some bids. Or, more creatively, she could advertise a "3-2-1" buydown -- essentially subsidizing any qualified purchaser's mortgage payments during the first three years.
Here's how it would work, according to an active proponent, Joseph Lipes, president of Connecticut-based Family Choice Mortgage Corp., who ran the numbers for Realty Times. The sale would be for $210,000, not $200,000. Assume the going 30-year fixed mortgage rate is 6.5 percent. The purchaser applies for a 95 percent ($200,000) mortgage.
In year one, the purchaser's 6.5 percent rate would be subsidized down to 3.5 percent by the seller, creating a monthly payment of $898.09 for the purchaser, instead of the full $1,264.14 principal and interest. The seller's outlay for the subsidy would come to $366.05 a month, or $4,392.56 for the full year.
In year two, the purchaser would be paying at a 4.5 percent rate or $1,013.37 a month. The seller's contribution would be $250.77 per month or $3,009.20 over 12 months.
In the third year, the purchaser would be paying at a 5.5 percent rate, or $1,135.58. The seller would contribute $128.14 a month for a total of $1,542 for the year.
During the course of the three years, the home seller would pay a total of $8,999.44 in rate subsidies, according to Lipes. "So rather than have the sellers lower their sales price from $210,000 to $200,00" -- which might not strike potential purchasers as all that interesting -- "the sellers keep their price at $210,000 and pay $8,944.44 for the three year buydown," a savings of more than $1,000.
"As long as the house appraises for $210,000, it's a win" for the seller, the buyer, and even the realty agent who's commission will be slightly higher because of the higher sale price. Even more important for the Realtor: the house gets sold, in part because the buydown concept can be very attractive to certain purchasers, especially those with tight budgets that will be stretched in the first several years paying for new furniture, appliances and the like.
Lipes points out that Fannie Mae guidelines permit purchasers to qualify for the mortgage at the "bought-down" rate -- 3.5 percent in this case -- provided it's a primary residence and the purchaser has a 660 FICO score minimum (680 for self-employed individuals.) On sales of second homes or investment properties, the rule requires qualification at the full note rate.
Lipes says, "Buydowns have no hidden pitfalls such as negative amortization loans, payment-shock ARMs or others." It's all straightforward, easy to understand, and most important of all in sluggish markets: It's a novel approach in the eyes of many potential buyers today, and it really works.
Realty TimesGrand Rapids
