AZ Real Estate 04-06-2014

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AZ Real Estate REACH US

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CATHERINE REAGOR REAL ESTATE

Federal refinancing program is still offered

THINKSTOCK

The home inspection has turned up issues.

Now what? Rosie Romero

Special for The Republic

Y

ou finally got an offer on your house, and the buyer had a home-inspection done. The inspection report says several items may not be up to standards or are in need of repair or replacing. What do you do next? You have been informed about items or issues in your home that you did not know about. Maybe you knew about them but didn’t have the time or knowhow to fix them. Do you really have to replace your old water heater or dishwasher for the buyer? Most real-estate agents representing buyers recommend having a home inspection before completing a sale. They do it, of course, to protect the buyer from unknown or undisclosed issues and to give them a better understanding of the house they are about to buy. Joel Schmitz, owner of Sherlock Homes Inspection Service in Phoenix, says sellers — and buyers — should remember the report is based on a “visual inspection of the property as observed at the time of the inspection. It should state what items are in need of immediate major repair and any recommendations to correct, monitor or evaluate by appropriate persons.”

A report might say something like, “The water-heater tank is heavily rusted, or the roofing is brittle and may be at the end of its useful life.” It may also advise that the issues be further reviewed by a qualified and licensed contractor. If you as the seller don’t agree with what a home inspector found, you can have your own inspector come in to give a second opinion. Remember to have a licensed Arizona home inspector do that. Uncle Bill or your handy neighbor will not carry any weight on these issues. “You also have to separate the significant structural problems mentioned in the report from the aesthetic issues,” Schmitz says. “OK, the door lock on the bathroom doesn’t work. It’s not a big issue to most buyers, and they will not mandate that it be repaired.” The report may mention appliances or operating components in the house that may need replacing. But what is much more important is that the inspector has not found really big problems, such as cracks in foundations. “Generally, little cracks in a wall mean that there has been some settling — a very typical situation,” Schmitz says. “But when all the doors in the hallway stick or don’t latch, or the door frames are out of square, that could mean a more significant and troubling foundation See INSPECTION, Page R3

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ising values over the past few years have helped put many metro Phoenix homeowners back in the black on their mortgages, meaning they no longer owe more than their houses are worth. But about 22 percent of Valley homeowners are still underwater. For those borrowers, the federal government’s refinancing program designed to help homeowners upside down on their mortgages is still available. The Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP, is set up to help homeowners lower their monthly payment no matter how underwater they are. Many investors and second-home owners are also eligible. About 27 percent of Arizona homeowners who refinanced in January used HARP, according to the latest federal government report. Nationally, about 22 percent of new borrowers are refinancing with the program. About half of the Arizona homeowners who got a HARP loan owed more than 105 percent of what their house was worth. Other states where home values haven’t rebounded as much, including Georgia, Florida, Nevada and Michigan, are seeing higher percentages of HARP refinancings now. Arizona homeowners’ use of the federal program peaked in 2012, just after 30-year mortgage rates fell below 4 percent and before metro See REAGOR, Page R3

MORE ONLINE

To see a chart of the percentage of underwater homeowners in each ZIP code, go to azcentral .com/business/real-estate.

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