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Mortgage Relief Debt Forgivemess Act?

by Liz Warren

Have you heard of this act?  This Act is for helping people in foreclosure on their primary homes or facing a short sale (working with a lender who will accpet less on the principle owed). Once that sale is complete or if you are foreclosed upon, the difference owed is treated as income to the individual and taxed as income creating a double wammy. 1. Loosing your home and 2. paying taxes on income you didn't receive

This "unfairness" has caught the interest of Congressmen. The House says this is not fair. So now we have this new Act getting debated. Hidden within this act is something that could affect all primary homeowners. If this Bill passes it will impact the homeowner's tax free deduction when selling your primary home (up to $500,000 for married couples, filing jointly, and $250,000 for singles). This bill requires a homeowner to live in their home five full years and not the current two years out of the past five, in order to get this tax free money. Shorter periods of occupancy would get prorated.

If this bill passes this could have a heavy impact on the sale of your primary home!

The Real Mortgage Story

by Liz Warren

How about some real statistics about what is happening in the "mortgage crisis".

Did you know that the "mortgage problems" are mostly in seven states? Three are Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. These three states had problems three years ago and these problems were due to job losses. Real estate is "local" and jobs have a great deal to do with any local real estate market. Until jobs are increasing, these areas will continue to have problems.

The other states, California, Arizona, Florida, and Nevada were basically overbuilt. They now have excess inventory. the speculators that were purchasing mutiple homes and condos in mass- picking up 5 or 6 properties are the ones who are crashing and cannot make their mortgage payments.

The other 43 states are doing pretty well. In fact, in these states foreclosures have actually fallen from 2006 to 2007.

Did you know that 35% of homeowners in the United States have NO MORTGAGE!

The real numbers are that 94.88% of loans are doing fine. Even 75% of subprime mortgages are performing fine. In reality, only 3% of loans are "in trouble".

To read some of the articles in the news you would think the entire market was crashing when it really isn't.

National Association of Realtors Portland Area Outlook

by Liz Warren

To keep you updated on the latest info on the Portland Metro area real estate outlook, I have provided a link to the October 2007 National Association of Realtors info. You can read this document and find out appreciation rates, subprime lending numbers, foreclosures and other interesting projections based upon economic factors and interest rate movement. Hit this link to download.

Attention Oregon Vets!

by Liz Warren

Here is a fabulous offer from McCormick & Schmick's Restaurant to Honor VETS on November 11....please read this news release:

McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurants Honor Active Duty & Veterans


In their annual salute to all veterans McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurants will again provide free meals in honor of Veterans Day. All veterans can receive a free lunch or dinner entrée at McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurants nationwide on Sunday, November 11. Vets should show proper identification (VA card, VFW card, veterans ID,
DD214, discharge papers, etc.) Reservations Are Strongly Encouraged! In a show of thanks to our nation's veterans, Bill McCormick and Doug Schmick offer to serve those who've served at their McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurants. Last year the company served nearly 15,000 vets nationwide. This year's event is taking place on the Sunday before Veterans Day so that families can participate. McCormick & Schmick's annual veterans program began as a small effort in just one
restaurant in 1999. Due to its overwhelming popularity and positive response received from veterans the program has expanded nationwide. A complete list of participating restaurants may be found at
http://www.mccormickandschmicks.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=content.display

&pageID=263.

BUY vs. RENT? No Brainer for building wealth

by Liz Warren

 

Mortgage Industry Update

by Liz Warren

The mortgage industry is not in chaos and there is plenty of money available to loan. The industry has changed though. To  summarize some of the changes, and there are a few, here is a bullet list of some items for consideration when searching for a new loan and for understanding what is different since last year.

*161 lenders have closed their doors since 2006

*Underwriting standards are stricter than ever

*Credit scores less than 620 with little money  down are not eligible for subprime loans

*Buyers are turning to FHA and VA loans to get 97%  and 100% loans at reasonable rates

*Non-profit down-payment assistance programs are gone

*It's very tough to do a 1st and 2nd mortgage to finance a 90-95% loan of the sales price

*Jumbo loans (over $417,000) are now quoted at  7.5% or more depending on the borrower and their down-payment

*Jumbo loans often require two appraisals-one by  the lender and one by the investor

*Lenders are very cautious about fraud these days

Lenders are searching for risk reduction. and scrutinizing loans heavily which have low FICO scores (credit scores), stated income borrowers, low down-payments, and high dept to income ratios.

I would highly recommend  you search for an experienced mortgage broker if you're looking for a first mortgage or refinance!

 

Ok folks, if you are an info junkie you will enjoy the University of Portland's quarterly report for real estate. Hit the link below to download the report by pdf file.  It includes quite a bit of info on the Oregon economy,  Not only does this report cover residential and commercial properties, it comments on the apartment market and downtown condos. No, it is not specific to the mountain market but....since many of our sales are second homes the general implications are broader and ripple out to the second home market.

www.mthoodarearealestate.com/agent_files/portland state/portland state university center for real estate.pdf

 

Displaying blog entries 341-347 of 347

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Liz Warren
Merit Properties Group - Keller Williams Realty PDX Central
Box 131
Welches OR 97067
Direct: 503-705-3090