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Displaying blog entries 351-360 of 388

Mt. Hood Homeowners Owing More Than The Value of the Home

Wednesday, March 4, 2009
by Liz Warren

Attention property owners in the Mt. Hood area from Government Camp, Rhododendron, Welches and Brightwood. Are you falling behind on your mortgage payments? Do you owe more than your home is worth? Have you heard of the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan? The Obama administration has released information about a government program which will help homeowners refinance or modify their current mortgage.  This is for owner occupied properties only but one does not need to be behind on their mortgage to qualify. 

 

Here is a link to get information

 

 Here is the important part: "Find out if you are eligible"

 

You need to determine if your mortgage is owned by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae.  The link for Fannie Mae is correct, but the link for Freddie Mac is incorrect and you will spend a great deal of time trying to get Freddie Mac.  Here is the correct link for Freddie Mac to give them information about your name/address etc. They  respond within two days letting you know whether they own your mortgage.

 

Do this RIGHT AWAY because they will be totally inundated with callers trying to get information. You do not need to know your loan number or balance. Do it NOW!

 

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Oregon Association of Realtors Mortgage Deduction Position

Monday, March 2, 2009
by Liz Warren

My previous blog post discusses the Obama mortgage deduction proposal for high wage earners. If you read below you will find the Oregon Associations position to the budget proposal, which was posted today.

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Oregon Takes a Hit

Friday, February 20, 2009
by Liz Warren

First American CoreLogic Inc, which is a company that predicts loan performance for banks, posted a recent report stating that the Oregon real estate market, although relatively stable in comparison to other areas across the nation,  saw some major declines at the end of last year.

Rhode Island, Arkansas, Maine and Pennsylvania were other states which were hit with some declining prices. First American predicts that the declines will continue into 2010.

There are some areas which saw some appreciation though. This list included eleven cities and most of these were back East in New York and Pennsylvania.

 

 

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Mt. Hood Buyers: caution on increased fees coming!

Friday, February 20, 2009
by Liz Warren

Buyers for Rhododendron, Welches, Brightwood and Government Camp homes, get ready for fee increases coming on Freddie and Fannie Mae loans as of April 1st of this year! Now it's going to cost even more to get a loan even with a great credit score and large down payment.

Shades of the 1980's lending requirements are coming! What does that mean, if you have a down payment of less than 25%, even with a good credit score, you will be charged a three quarter point loan fee.

If you have little or low equity in your home and complete a refinance, the lenders plan on charging a 3% fee. Talk about tightening up the credit! This is really a whole new ballgame. The pendulum has gone completely the other way from the free for all of the past couple of years. The message lenders are giving is SAVE SAVE SAVE. Home ownership will become a very coveted item.

Beware! In this type of lending environment an owner of a home should do everything in their power to hang on to it or it could take a VERY long time to be able to buy again.

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Great News for Mt. Hood Investors!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009
by Liz Warren

The credit crisis saw a tightening of investor loans in the fourth quarter of 2008. Fannie Mae said an investor could only have three mortgages. This was extreme and really put the slow down on investors able to enter the market but things are loosening up for investors. As of March 1st this year, Fannie Mae is changing their requirements and investors may have as many as 10 mortgages.

The lending requirements on the borrower is strict. Once the investor has the first four the next ones, five through ten require a credit score of 720, a 75% loan to value, no bankruptcies or foreclosures for seven years, no delinquencies on any mortgage for at least 12 months back and six months reserves required for every property. Yes, these are very strict items but at least it will open up the gate a bit for investors to get back in the game and help buy up foreclosures and other properties!

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Mt. Hood Area First Time Home Buyers

Sunday, February 15, 2009
by Liz Warren

 If you are ready to purchase your first home in the Mt. Hood area from Welches, Government Camp, Rhododendron to Brightwood, you should take advantage of this updated First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit. Here is the revised edition!

 

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Historical Chart of Interest Rates

Wednesday, February 11, 2009
by Liz Warren

Take a look at the chart below provided by Freddie Mac showing the average interest rates over the years. If this isn't the best time to buy a home, I don't know what is!

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$15,000 Possible Tax Break for Home Buyers!

Thursday, February 5, 2009
by Liz Warren

Wow! Is this really happening? There's a possible $15,000 tax break for home buyers in the new stimulus package and the Senate has oked it at this point. Current law gives a $7500 tax incentive for first time home buyers but this new proposal would allow a tax credit of 10 percent of the value of new or existing residences, with  a $15,000 limit.

This pending bill will help get the foreclosure and swelling inventory of homes off the market and will help stabilize home prices. Congress will make their decision in about ten days on this bill so stay tuned.

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Rates Went Up?

Wednesday, February 4, 2009
by Liz Warren

Why did interest rates pop up a quarter of a percent the past week? We were floating along at around 5% and now we are around 5.25% for a 30 year fixed.

It's the refis.

Rates went low and everyone rushed in to refi their home to take advantage of the low rates. So many lenders had let their staff go that now the system has clogged up and it may take three weeks to a month to get back to normal. Rates were raised to slow down the process and get rid of the clog.

Once the clog is gone we are hoping rates will drop back down again to the 5% 30 year fixed level. Keep your fingers crossed.

As I mentioned in a prior post, many of the current homeowners trying to get refianced will be disappointed by higher lending standards and lower home values.

I ran into a client recently who told me was in the middle of a refinance. They were charging him $400 for an appraisal and his value came in $50,000 less than his county tax value. He was shocked at the value of the appraisal.

Another client told me their refinance came back several times with additional conditions for the refinance. First a 'patched' roof was required, then a new roof was required before they would lend the money.

Lending has DRASTICALLY changed from just a year ago putting a new twist to all transactions that require lending- which are most of our sales. 

I am trying to keep up with all of the changes through classes and continuing education but there are surprises around every bend. 

If you have  questions about refis or new loans, give me a call. If I can't answer your question I can put you in touch with the right resource who can.

 

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Can I Refinance?

Monday, February 2, 2009
by Liz Warren

The refinance boom is on but things are a little different these days. If you refinanced over the past six years or so you will find things have radically changed since the last time you applied.

Although many folks are applying for the refinance, many will not receive them due to multiple factors. In order to refi now you will probably need:

1. A credit score over 660

2. To be current on your mortgage payments.

3. Know the value of your home because if you owe more than current market value-no refi.

4. Stricter lending rules on the home and the buyer may prevent the refi.

5. Loan qualifications have changed to the old 1980 requirements. An owner must have two years of employment history documented. Forget any stated income loans-they are gone!

 For some serious education on credit scores, visit www.myfico.com . Understanding how your credit scores affect not only buying a home but purchasing a car, getting a credit card and other credit information can be found on this site! 

If you need help in determining the value of your home before you attempt to refinance on Mt. Hood, give me a call or shoot me an email!

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Displaying blog entries 351-360 of 388

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