It’s great to read about non-profits helping our citizens.  At tonight’s Celebration of Justice Reception, the Attorney General will present the Rhode Island Housing HelpCenter with a Justice Award in the category of Consumer Protection.

According to Richard Godfrey, Executive Director of Rhode Island Housing, “Our HelpCenter provides a safe place for advice and education when it comes to protecting both homeowners and tenants from foreclosure, or coping with the loss of a home. Here in Rhode Island, which is currently ranked 11th in the nation for foreclosure activity, distressed homeowners are at particularly high risk of predators.”

Rhode Island Housing is a self-sustaining public agency, which generates its own operating income, without state funding. Everything the agency earns is reinvested to meet the needs of the state. Together with its partners, the agency works to ensure that all people who live and work in Rhode Island can afford a safe, healthy home that meets their needs. Rhode Island Housing provides low-interest loans, grants, education, advocacy and consumer counseling to help its customers rent, buy and retain their homes. It also offers special programs to ensure that these homes are safe and healthy.

A more detailed press release on this award was posted in the Providence Business News.

Tomorrow morning, Sally Lapides will join in a panel discussion hosted by the Rhode Island Association of Realtors reviewing the myths and facts about the Luxury Market here in Rhode Island. This is the 10th part of their series on surviving tough times in the Real Estate market.

The event is free to members of the association and costs $20 for non-members. It will be held at RIAR’s office in Warwick. Space is limited, the event starts at 10:00 am. Call 401.785.9380 and choose option 1 for more information.

Last week on Real Estate Insight, Sally sat down with Rich Epstein and Steve Tetzner to discuss the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit and Energy related tax credits. The conversation was both educational and entertaining. Listen to the Podcast commercial-free below:

Real Estate Insight can be heard live Sunday mornings 10:00am -11:00am on WHJJ Radio 920AM.

 First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) continues a lobbying push for an 18-month moratorium on the Home Valuation Code of Conduct, arguing that they produce deal-killing appraisals and encourage the use of appraisers unfamiliar with local conditions. Adopted to curtail corrupt appraisal practices, it has caused quite a bit of problems as well.

Under the HVCC, neither a mortgage broker nor a Real Estate agent may select an appraiser. A lender may select the appraiser, but the person who does the selecting can have nothing to do with the loan production staff.  Many have opted to enlist a third party Appraisal Management Company (AMC).  An AMC receives a request from a lender and then assigns an appraiser from its approved list of appraisers. Too often the appraiser does not live in the area of the subject property; he or she may not be a member of the local MLS and does not have access to relevant comparable information.  If all real estate is local, how does it make sense to use an appraiser who does not have specific local-market knowledge?

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced it would not implement the HVCC for its mortgage insurance programs.  Although they are currently reviewing its appraisal policies and may adopt changes that take HVCC into account.

I have been selling real estate in Rhode Island for thirty-four years and 2009 will probably go down in my book as the most challenging.  Everyday, I work to untangle a negotiation that is stuck or a problem that needs to be solved.

Our typical spring market generally begins in March and ends in June. The high-end typically is very quiet in the city over the summer with many buyers and sellers leaving for second homes and vacation time with loved ones.  In the suburbs, most clients want to be settled into their new home by June so that their children get a chance to meet the neighborhood kids before the school year begins.  But this year the spring market got pushed back a quarter and the summer seems to be atypically busy.

President Obama’s housing stimulus plan has allowed first-time homebuyers the opportunity to purchase a home and receive up to an $8,000 tax credit.  The closing has to take place by November 30, 2009 so agents are busy seven days a week showing properties in the lower price ranges.

So, I understand why the lower ranges in the real estate market are coming alive, but why all of a sudden in the dead of summer is the high end beginning to have activity in some areas?  The East Side and Barrington seem to be showing signs of coming out of their paralyzed high-end slumber.  A handful has gone under agreement and is set to close before the end of August.

Once this happens, other buyers will follow because real estate professionals will have some comparable sales to be able to price new listings against or re-price listings that have been sitting on the market.  Appraisers will be able to justify sales prices for the banks because they will have comps.  It will be easier for sellers to understand why the competition sold.  Was it price, condition, staging, marketing or a combination of all of them?

It is too early to say that we are coming out of this unprecedented real estate cycle but the good news is that buyers and sellers understand the market better.  The media isn’t pummeling us hourly with bad real estate news.  Everyday, you can find an article on an area of the country that is starting to see real estate activity.  I am happy to report that like Sleeping Beauty awakening from her long slumber, we may be seeing the beginning of a slow awakening too.