“Patrick Square has a traditional look, but it is an ultra modern community incorporating the latest sustainable construction practices and fiber-to-home technology for digital services,” said Patrick Square’s President Michael Cheezem.

Including home sites, standard Village Homes are priced from $229,000 to $349,000 and range from roughly 1,400 square feet to nearly 2,700 square feet. All Village Homes have alley-entry garages for safer, uncluttered streetscapes and front porches to encourage neighborly interaction.

With interiors by Howard House Interior Design of Atlanta, Ga., The Madison is an airy two-bedroom, 1,431-square-foot cottage sitting next to The York near the Keller Boulevard entrance off Issaqueena Trail. The York is 1,835 square feet, has three bedrooms plus a den, and Aesthetics from Seneca, S. C. did its interior design.

Also open is The Pendleton overlooking natural green space. The 2,100-square-foot home has a master bedroom and bath downstairs with two more bedrooms, baths, a flex room and extra storage space upstairs. Large porches grace the front and sides of the Greek Revival-style home, which features interior design by Kay Green Design of Orlando, Fl.

Wind River Mushroom Farm operated from 2004 to 2006 but was forced to close two years later after a repeated labor shortage. The facility is state of the art and cost more than $8 million to build.

The auction will offer as one parcel: 158 acre site, 82,902 sq. ft. heavy industrial processing warehouse, 10,000 sq. ft. industrial shop and three late model modular homes. The property has tremendous potential and the ability for on-site staff housing.

Potential buyers are encouraged to attend any open house:

Wednesday, Sep. 30: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m

Thursday, Oct. 1: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m

Wednesday, Oct. 14: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m

Details of the sale are available at the auction website, maascompanies.com or by contacting the auction company directly at 507-285-1444.

@ Businesswire 2009

Via [http://www.buynsellproperties.com/4a_tips.php?topic=news_btips>Buy and Sell]

It would restrict lenders from penalizing risky borrowers who pay loans off early, require lenders to make sure these borrowers set aside money to pay for taxes and insurance and bar lenders from making loans without proof of a borrower’s income. It also would prohibit lenders from engaging in a pattern or practice of lending without considering a borrower’s ability to repay a home loan from sources other than the home’s value.

In an extraordinary action, the Fed in March agreed to let investment houses go to the Fed — on a temporary basis — for a quick, overnight source of cash. Those loan privileges, which are supposed to last through mid-September, are similar to those permanently afforded to commercial banks for years.

“We are currently monitoring developments in financial markets closely and considering several options, including extending the duration of our facilities for primary dealers beyond year-end should the current unusual and exigent circumstances continue to prevail in dealer funding markets,” Bernanke said in prepared remarks to a mortgage-lending forum in Arlington, Va.

The Fed’s decision to act — temporarily at least — as a lender of last resort for Wall Street firms was made after a run on Bear Stearns pushed the investment bank to the brink of bankruptcy and raised fears that others might be in jeopardy. It was the broadest use of the Fed’s lending powers since the 1930s.

Bear Stearns was eventually taken over by JPMorgan Chase & Co., with the Fed providing $28.82 billion in financial backing.

Those controversial decisions have drawn criticism from Democrats in Congress and elsewhere that the Fed is bailing out Wall Street and putting billions of taxpayer dollars at risk.

Bernanke, in appearances on Capitol Hill has said he doesn’t believe taxpayers will suffer any losses.

In his speech Tuesday, the Fed chief defended those actions anew. If the Fed didn’t intervene, he said, problems in financial markets would have snowballed, imperiling the country.

“Allowing Bear Stearns to fail so abruptly at a time when the financial markets were already under considerable stress would likely have had extremely adverse implications for the financial system and for the broader economy,” Bernanke said to the mortgage forum, organized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The Fed’s consideration of giving Wall Street firms more time to tap the Fed’s emergency loan program is part of an ongoing effort by the central bank to bring back stability to fragile financial markets and help to bolster shaky confidence on the part of investors.

Policymakers — in the White House, in Congress and other federal agencies — will need to work together to come up with ways to make the U.S. financial system more resilient and stable and to prevent a repeat of the types of problems that brought about the end of Bear Stearns, an 85-year-old institution, Bernanke said.

Although those efforts are already under way, it will fall to the next president and next Congress to settle them.

The Bush administration has proposed revamping the nation’s financial regulatory structure. That plan would make the Fed an ubercop in charge of financial market stability. But the Fed would lose daily supervision of big banks. Bernanke said the Fed must maintain this power if it is to be an effective overseer of financial stability.

The Fed, which regulates banks, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which oversees investment firms, announced an information-sharing agreement on Monday aimed at better detecting potential risks to the financial system.

Over the longer term, though, Congress may need to adopt legislation to bolster supervision of investment banks and other large securities dealers, Bernanke said.

Bernanke recommended that Congress give a regulator in the future the authority to set standards for capital, liquidity holdings and risk management practices for the holding companies of the major investment banks. Currently, the SEC’s oversight of these holding companies is based on a voluntary agreement between the SEC and those firms.

“Strong holding company oversight is essential,” he said.

Bernanke also said that a growing number of central banks in recent years have been given the statutory authority to oversee systems for processing financial transactions by securities firms as well as overseeing traditional banking transactions. “A strong case can be made for granting the Federal Reserve explicit oversight for systemically important payment and settlement systems,” he said.

And, the Fed chief favors looking into an idea — raised by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson — to create formal procedures to make sure that if an investment firm fails it won’t wreak havoc on the broader economy. Such procedures, which allow for a more orderly liquidation, are in place for banks.

The housing, credit and financial crises have bruised the economy. Growth has slowed and employers have cut jobs every month so far this year.

Bernanke said that “it is unrealistic to hope” that financial crises can be entirely eliminated, while maintaining an innovative financial system. “Nonetheless, recent experience has illustrated once again that financial instability can have serious economic costs,” he said.

Why? First, if you are thinking about delaying a purchase because you want to “time the market” to get the very best deal, that is almost impossible to do with precision. Even if you are in an area with declining market prices, the most knowledgeable experts cannot reliably anticipate the “bottom” of a real estate market. Afterwards, they can look back and say, “The market began to turn in 1997,” like it did in some areas of California that had a tough market in the nineties. Before the turn, though, no one knows.

Second, if you aren’t an owner, you’re a renter. Renting is just throwing money away. You don’t get to reduce your income taxes by itemizing deductions like property taxes and mortgage interest.

As a renter, you are limited on what changes you can make to your living quarters. As an owner, you can paint your living room chartreuse if you want or put in an avocado green carpet. You can change light fixtures, garden and landscape. You can do whatever you want that makes your home a comfortable place for you and your family. It’s your home, not a temporary place to sleep and eat until you do buy a home.

Third, interest rates are very low right now. If you wait, interest rates could be higher. That means your monthly payment could be higher, too. No one can predict rates that far in the future, of course, but rates are very low right now.

Plus, the easiest way to accumulate wealth is through home ownership. Three out of four people have more equity in their home than assets in retirement plans, stocks, mutual funds, and savings. Though no one can guarantee your property will appreciate, over time it generally does. Over the long term, you can generally count on it. In the last five years, the median price of homes all across America has increased in value approximately 10% per year. Usually, it’s not quite that high.

Admittedly, there are some areas that had more rapid appreciation in recent years. Those markets may suffer from lower price-growth than the rest of the nation or region over the next couple of years.

How do you minimize the possibility of lower appreciation for your home?

Determine your price range. Then choose a neighborhood where your target price is in the lower tier of prices in that neighborhood. That way, your home has less vulnerability on the down side and the higher-priced homes will help pull you up during hot markets.

Also, try to steer away from homes on busy streets or homes that back to busy streets. Buy a house as close to the center of the tract as possible. Don’t buy houses across the street from a park or a school. Try to buy in a homogeneous area, where all the homes are similar to one another. For example, if you are buying a single family home, you do not want to buy next to an apartment or condominium complex.

Finally, talk to a real estate agent and ask for advice. Ask them what the market is like in your area.

Best of all, there are LOTS of sellers out there right now. Inventory is high. If you make an offer, ask for incentives to buy that particular home.

If you are putting ten percent down or more, you can ask for up to six percent of the purchase price in incentives. These incentives cannot be rebates of cash or help with down payment, but you can ask the seller to pay your closing costs. You can also ask the seller to pay for a temporary interest rate “buydown” that lowers your payment over the first one to three years and still gets you the security of a fixed rate mortgage — and fixed rates are very low right now.

If you’re putting down five percent or less, you can still ask for incentives. The amount you can ask for is limited to three percent of the purchase price. The reason there are limits is because you are going to finance the purchase with a mortgage and lenders have guidelines on how much sellers can provide in incentives. Those guidelines help them limit loan fraud.

Talk to a real estate agent. Have that agent recommend a lender who will talk to you about incentives and explain what you can request.

Who do you take with you?
If you’re married, you take your spouse. There is always the chance you’re going to find something perfect and you cannot make a decision without your spouse. Well, you can…but you’ll probably pay for it later.

If you’re a couple, then take your partner for the same reasons.

If you’re single and buying on your own using your own money, then you can take a friend, but it isn’t necessary. You will make the final decision on your own.

No matter how old (or young) you are, don’t take a parent with you.

Apologies, and there are exceptions to the rule because parents really do want the best for you and want you to be successful. Buying a home is part of being successful and they wholeheartedly want you to buy a house, but…

…not this house, and…

…not that house.

Via Real Estate ABC >>