To Modify or Not To Modify?
February 3rd, 2010 categories: Seller Resource, Short Sales
The sooner the foreclosure issue is figured out, the better for all.
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Sonoma County Mortgage Rate Update: 1/29/10
January 29th, 2010 categories: Mortgage Rates
What if this was the best time to buy a home
in 25 years and you didn’t?
Opportunity with an expiration date!
Historically low home prices!
The Real Estate industry is trying to get the word out to anyone who will listen that this is a great time to buy a home. Yes, that is how they get paid. But there is more here than self interest. The fact is we have never seen such tangible benefits to buying Real Estate as are visible to anyone with eyes wide open.
Home prices are rolled back to levels that make them affordable to many people who just a few years ago were unable to buy. Some say home prices are rolled back to 1980’s prices. Some try to express it by explaining that homes have fallen by an average of 50% in Sonoma County since the highs of just a few years ago.
However you express it, home prices are at a bottom. All you have to do is talk to the Real Estate Appraisers. They will tell you that they are seeing appreciation, however so slight, in many areas. Do you like to buy things when they are at their lowest? Most of us do. Then your time is now.
First Time Buyer Tax Credit!
The Federal Government extended the $8,000 First Time buyer tax credit until March of 2010. In order to be eligible for the $8,000, a home buyer must be in contract by April 30th. This is an amazing opportunity to buy a home and get money for doing it!
Can you imagine what you could do with the $8,000? You could set aside for emergencies, remodel the kitchen or bathrooms, take a vacation, etc. This is a great opportunity, but in order to get the $8,000, you need to get moving…literally!
Low rates!
Rates are going to go up. As many people know, the Federal Government has been keeping rates low in order to stimulate and stabilize the Real Estate market. The prediction is that this will come to an end in March of 2010.
The Mortgage Bankers Association’s Jay Brinkmann has been talking about this for some time now. He recently was quoted as saying his biggest concern going forward is what happens to the mortgage market when the Fed stops buying Fannie loans. Apparently, at last report, the Fed was buying 100 percent of their loans. Where are the other investors? Either they still don’t want mortgages or the Fed is pricing them out of the market.
What does this mean to you?
Brinkmann said, “We don’t know if rates will go up 20 basis points or 40 or far more,” says Brinkmann. A jump like that translates to rates as high as 1% over present rates. How would you feel if you ended up with a much higher payment if rates jump?
The point?
The point is all of these reasons are opportunities for you if you are thinking about buying that home anytime in the near future. But hear this…this is an opportunity with an expiration date.
Mortgage Rate Update…
Rates moving up! Rates moved higher this week on better than expected financial news!
Rates for the week ending 1/29/2010
- FHA loan with a minimum of 3.5% down, for a person buying a personal residence with a FICO score of 620 or better who would be locking for 30 days. 30 Year Fixed Rate 5.125% w/5.34 APR
- Conventional Loan with a minimum of 10% down, for a person buying a personal residence with a FICO score of 740 or better who is locking for 30 days. 30 Year Fixed Rate 5% w/5.29% APR
Call team “WineCountryMoves.com” today!
Happy buying!
This article was contributed by Dave Raffi, Regional Manager of Mission Hills Mortgage, 707-303-2933.
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FHA To Help Troubled Borrowers BEFORE They Become Delinquent
January 26th, 2010 categories: Buyer Resource
If you are having trouble making payments on your FHA mortgage, there is a new program that may help. The Federal Housing Administration announced on Friday, January 22, 2010, that you no longer have to be delinquent on payments in order to get help.
Is this a sign that the FHA is now being PROactive instead of REactive? This is not just a sign that the FHA is being proactive, it is definitive proof!
The Federal Housing Administration announced that in some instances, the FHA will assist troubled borrowers BEFORE they become delinquent or miss payments. All that would need to be proved is that any mortgage payment problems were related to a reduction in income from:
- Job Loss
- Fewer Paid Hours
- Slashed Wages
- Decline In Self Employed Business Earnings.
FHA Commissioner David Sterns gave a little more insight into the situation with the following statement: “The FHA has always required lenders to establish early contact with delinquent borrowers to discuss the reason for missing a payment and to evaluate reinstatement options. Now servicers will have additional options for those borrowers who seek help before they go delinquent, which increases the likelihood that the borrower will be able to retain their home.”
You can see from the above quote that the overriding goal for the FHA is to keep borrowers in their home, no matter their circumstances. The FHA has been helping delinquent borrowers modify their loans, now they are planning to help those who will likely become delinquent.
So what are the remedies that may be available to those who qualify? There are currently only two options that were listed…but these are two very good options.
- Forbearance – Lenders agree to postpone or reduce payments for a specified period of time. Please note that forbearance does not forgive payments, the payments are simply added to the balance of the loan.
- Permanent Payment Reductions – The permanent payment reductions are utilized in more severe cases. This may be done by increasing the length of the loan, reducing the interest rates, forgiving principal owed, or any combination of the three.
As we stated before, it is clear that the Federal Housing Administration ultimately wants to keep borrowers in their homes, and is giving good options to do just that. The new programs are helping to reduce the chance of future problems.
Helping people stay in their homes helps keep families intact, and also helps keep Real Estate values higher than they would be otherwise.
If you have any questions regarding FHA Loans, or anything related to Sonoma County Real Estate, please do not hesitate to contact us
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Sonoma County Mortgage Update: 1/15/2010
January 15th, 2010 categories: Mortgage Rates
Rates moving up!
Rates moved higher this week! Don’t assume they will stay low for ever. Frankly they are going to go up dramatically at some point. The day they go up, some “expert” will put out an article that says they are going down. Why? No one knows when mortgage rates will go up and stay there, especially the experts.
Rates for the week ending 1/15/10:
FHA loan with a minimum of 3.5% down, for a person buying a personal residence with a FICO score of 620 or better who would be locking for 30 days. 30 Year Fixed Rate 5% w/5.24 APR
Conventional Loan with a minimum of 10% down, for a person buying a personal residence with a FICO score of 740 or better who is locking for 30 days. 30 Year Fixed Rate 4.875% w/5.19% APR
Call the WineCountryMoves.com Team today and get started on your Sonoma County Real Estate Home Purchase!
Yasmeen Hillyard
707-771-0338
_______________________________________________________
Countdown for $8,000!
96 Days until the deadline…Don’t miss out! The Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 has extended the tax credit of up to $8,000 for qualified first-time home buyers purchasing a principal residence.
The tax credit now applies to sales occurring on or after January 1, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010. However, in cases where a binding sales contract is signed by April 30, 2010, a home purchase completed by June 30, 2010 will qualify.
Are you really going to miss out on this great opportunity?
Don’t disqualify yourself! I can show you how to buy a home with little money down, ok credit and stay within your budget!
Call me today and find out how!
No charge for pre-approvals!
This article was contributed by Dave Raffi Regional Manager: Mission Hills Mortgage: 707-303-2933
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What Will The 2010 Real Estate Market Look Like?
January 13th, 2010 categories: Buyer Resource
With the start of 2010, we have heard a recurring question; What will the 2010 Real Estate market look like?
I have done a lot of reading and research, both good and bad. There are a lot of bulls who expect great things from 2010, and there are also a lot of bears who are predicting some not so good news for 2010. I wanted to share some of the factors that will shape our year.
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Sonoma County Mortgage Rates Update: 01/08/09
January 8th, 2010 categories: Mortgage Rates
It’s a new year, but the opportunity is now!
$8,000 Tax Credit giveaway will go away!!
If you are one of the many first time buyers who didn’t take advantage of the First Time Buyer Tax Credit last year, then you are in luck. Congress has finally extended the first time home buyer tax credit into 2010. President Obama is signed the bill into law on November 6, 2009.
The first time home buyer tax credit extension allows a buyer to enter an agreement with a seller by April 30, 2010 and close on the house by June 30, 2010.
First time home buyers are defined as anyone who has not owned a home for the past 3 years. First time home buyers will get an $8,000 tax credit, similar to the tax credit for much of 2009.
But that’s not all you get….
Repeat Buyers get a huge tax credit too!
Buyers who have owned their current home for at least five years, are eligible for a $6,500 tax credit. The buyer must enter an purchase agreement with a seller by April 30, 2010 and close on the house by June 30, 2010.
Income limitations have been increased to $125,000 for single filers and $225,000 for joint filers. The purchase price of the home must be less than $800,000.
“The substantial rise in home sales we’ve seen over the past few months proves that the tax credit is working and is being used by buyers who were waiting for the right opportunity to get into the market,” said NAR President Charles McMillan, a broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate in Dallas-Fort Worth.
This important incentive is helping to stabilize the housing market, stimulate the economy and create new jobs in communities all across our great nation. Extending and expanding the home buyer tax credit will enable even more families to take advantage of current low interest rates and affordable prices to invest in their future through homeownership.
Will this affect you? Are you a home buyer or seller? Were you wanting to use the 2009 tax credit, but unable to complete a purchase prior to the old deadline?
Considering buying a home before the tax credits expire!
Visit your local credit union for your mortgage loan and estimate your monthly mortgage payments, with our calculators below, before home shopping!
Don’t miss out on this $8,000 or $6,500 tax credit. The deadline might seem far off, but an escrow can take months and if you wait you could miss out.
Call Yasmeen Hillyard today!!
____________________________________________________________
The Mortgage Rates?
Rates move up…slightly
We saw a slight increase in rates this week. Rates continue to stay pretty low, but the rally in the stock market had an effect on rates as cash flowed from the treasury markets to the stock market.
Remember, rates go up much faster than they come down. Rates go up like a ramp and down like a stairway. Don’t get lulled into thinking they will be down forever.
Rates for the week ending 1/8/10
This quote below is based on a FHA loan with a minimum of 3.5% down, for a person buying a personal residence with a FICO score of 620 or better who would be locking for 30 days.
30 Year Fixed Rate 5.25% w/5.395% APR
The quote below is based on a Conventional Loan with a minimum of 10% down, for a person buying a personal residence with a FICO score of 740 or better who is locking for 30 days.
30 Year Fixed Rate 5.5% w/5.64% APR
Happy buying!
This article was contributed by: Dave Raffi 707-303-2933
Regional Manager
Mission Hills Mortgage
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Loan Modications That Don’t Work
January 1st, 2010 categories: Seller Resource
With all of new news about loan modifications we have heard for the past year, Congress recently released numbers about how the plan is working so far. Let’s just say the plan has had time to gain momentum, and it looks like it needs some revision.
Currently, only 4% of troubled homeowners have actually received some sort of permanent loan modification. 4%…wow…what an underwhelming, anticlimactic number. The actual number of people who have received long term loan modifications reported was 31,382, and a nearly equal number, 30,650 were denied long term loan modifications.
Why have so many people been denied long term loan modifications? The answers given were 3 fold:
· Not making payments on time
· Bit submitting the necessary paperwork (more on this in a minute)
· Not qualifying for various reasons (lack of sufficient income was the most common reason given)
So with a nearly 50% rejection rate let’s take an extremely high level look at the process.
1. The homeowner realizes they are in trouble due to some financial hardship.
2. Paperwork is submitted to the lender documenting this hardship, and a complete disclosure of all finances is given.
3. The lender then decides if they will grant a temporary loan modification to the borrower.
4. If the borrower is able to make 3 consecutive payments that meet the new terms of the loan modification, the loan is supposed to be permanently modified to those terms.
Seems pretty easy huh? Again, the process was described in an extremely high level fashion for simplicity, some details may have been deleted. In practice, many are finding it is not so easy. Banks are blaming the borrowers for incomplete packages, and the borrowers are blaming the banks for losing paperwork is dragging their feet in the decision making process. Many borrowers state that they fax, refax, and even rerefax (is that a word?) to the lenders, and the lenders claim they never receive the paperwork.
Is there any good news? Of course there is. The number of troubled borrowers in trial modifications stood at 697,026 at the end of November 2009. This number is up from 650,994 at the end of October. The growth (7.1% month over month growth to be exact) shows that lenders may be fixing the process, or more willing to modify loans. In either case, we see this as positive news for loan modifications.
Congress has told servicers to have more transparent conversion numbers as well, with updates of how many have applied for loan modifications, how many received loan modifications, how many were denied loan modifications, and what the reasons were for denial were. Congress has said it will dispatch a “SWAT Team” to the top 7 mortgage servicers, and this SWAT Team will break up any process logjams that will allow for more help to be given. This is also good news…too bad it took congressional oversight to show the process is not working.
If you have story about your loan modification, whether it is happy story, or a horror story, we would love to hear about it. If you have any tips for people going through the process, please pass those along as well. After all, as soon as we fix the mortgage crisis, Sonoma County, California, and the rest of the country will be better off.
If you have any questions regarding loan modifications, Sonoma County, or Sonoma County Real Estate, please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to hearing from you.
This article was contributed by Chris Ingram.
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New Home Construction Rebounds
December 20th, 2009 categories: Buyer Resource
New home construction rebounded in November 2009, from a 6 month low that was recorded in October 2009. The actual numbers came in at an annualized rate of 574,000 units, as compared to Octobers’ woeful 527,000 units. We see any increase as good news, and the November increase was listed as an 8.9% improvement in monthly annualized numbers, a large increase.
The improvement in new home construction starts was regionalized however. The Northeastern U.S. saw a remarkable 16.4% rise, the Southern U.S. saw a 12.3% rise, the Midwestern U.S. saw a 3.0% rise, and we recorded a 1.9% increase here in the western U.S. Again, we will take any improvement, and are happy to see positive numbers.
We, as a nation, are still behind last years numbers. November 2008 recorded 655,000 new construction starts…we are 12.4% short of that number. Again, I will reiterate, we are happy with any signs of improvement, especially an 8.9% monthly increase in what is traditionally a slow time of the year for construction.
Is it too soon to start new construction? In many parts of the country you can still purchase a home for less than it costs to build a comparable home; Sonoma County is no exception to this trend. Many of these new home starts are for people who want a specific property that is not on the market, retirees and “moveups” who are looking for their dream home, and even those who cannot seem to find the perfect home listed for sale. We have written about a shortfall of homes on the market in some price ranges, and the new construction may be an outcome of that situation.
Another reason for the new construction numbers was the extension of the $8,000 tax credit for first time home buyers. Many builders noted that this alone was the reason for many buyers to enter into a contract to build a home, and we are excited that the government had the foresight to extend this important stimulus plan.
It is fair to note that this new home construction “recovery” is a month to month numbers comparison, and the new home construction numbers are trailing off towards the end of the year, which is typical in the new home construction industry. What happens in 2010 remains to be seen. We will surely post an article with our 2010 Real Estate predictions before the end of the year.
If you have any questions regarding new home construction, or Sonoma County Real Estate in general, please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to hearing from you and answering your questions.
This article was contributed by Chris Ingram.
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Sonoma County Mortgage Rates Update-12/18/09
December 18th, 2009 categories: Mortgage Rates
Should I look for a mortgage or a house first?
“Looking for a house before you have been pre-approved for a loan is like trying to win at LOTTO without buying a ticket.” Dave Raffi
The prize may look great but someone else will get it unless you are in the game!
Why do people go look at homes without knowing what their payment will be, if they can afford the home or if they can be approved to buy it? The simple answer is its fun. People love to look at homes a think, “This would be perfect for the kids” or “I can see our furniture right over there.” Problem is they are just teasing themselves and frankly being a tad foolish.
The bigger question is, “Why do Realtors drive them around to look at houses they may not be able to buy?” Crazy as it sounds some do. Most Realtors will ask you to get preapproved first. They know you need to be prepared and knowledgeable about payments down payment, etc. before you go out to look.
Moral of the story…I have met with countless people who have gone out and fallen in love with a home before they came to see me. Then we sat down and they said, “That payment is too high. I can’t afford that!” They left feeling discouraged. Don’t spend your time looking until you know what you can afford and what price range is best for you.
Lenders will meet with you, explain all the costs and what a payments look like, get you pre-approved and answer all your questions. What is the cost for that? Nothing! How’s that for a deal!! All you have o do is come in and spend an hour or so and you’ll leave with the confidence that comes from knowing you can afford the home you are looking at and that if you fall in love with one of them, you can buy it without problems arising.
Mortgage Rate Update…
Rates moving up!
This week was a tale of two directions. First of the week they moved higher and the latter part of the week they moved a bit higher. The net effect was no change! The point is rates are still amazingly low and if you are buying, lock your loan as soon as you get into contract.
You always have more to lose than gain by “floating” unlocked. Rates go up fast and go down slowly. Don’t gamble; lock in an incredible rate now!
Rates for the week ending 12/18/09
30 Year Fixed Rate 5% w/5.24 APR
This quote below is based on a FHA loan with a minimum of 3.5% down, for a person buying a personal residence with a FICO score of 620 or better who would be locking for 30 days.
30 Year Fixed Rate 4.875% w/5.19% APR
The quote below is based on a Conventional Loan with a minimum of 10% down, for a person buying a personal residence with a FICO score of 740 or better who is locking for 30 days.
Call team “WineCountryMoves.com” today and get started on your piece of the American dream!
Happy buying!
This article was contributed by Dave Raffi:
707-303-2933
Regional Manager
Mission Hills Mortgage
For a list of properties available visit: WineCountryMoves.com .
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NEWS ALERT: Foreclosure Filings Are DOWN
December 15th, 2009 categories: Buyer Resource, Foreclosures
Good news may shed some light on the future of the national Real Estate market as well as the local Sonoma County Real Estate Market. Foreclosure filings fell in November by 8% relative to October’s filings. This news marks the fourth straight month of improvement in foreclosure filings. Foreclosure filings fell 3% in October, 4% in September and 1% in August. This is certainly good news and shows a trend in the right direction.
Even with the recent good news, there is still a long way to go. Foreclosure filings in November 2009 were still 18% above November 2008 levels. Even though there is some way to go, we think that the recent trend is a move in the right direction.
So what is helping the foreclosure filing rate to decline? Some think it could be due to the housing assistance options and foreclosure assistance plan that the U.S. government has put into place. Others think it may be artificially induced by programs in some states where mediation is now required before foreclosure proceedings can begin…only delaying the inevitable foreclosure. It is likely a combination of factors in all reality.
Is there any other good news on the horizon? The Case Schiller Index has reported that home prices nationally have increased, albeit slightly, in each of the past 5 months. With the recent increase in home prices, fewer homeowners should be underwater in regards to their mortgage. Also, fewer homeowners are slashing home prices, and their confidence in the housing market is improving. Homeowners feel that worst is behind us, and price cuts are not necessary if they have a little time to wait for the right buyer.
So when can we expect a full recovery from the foreclosure crisis? A full recovery will likely not return until the unemployment rate is back at near historic levels. Only when this happens will homeowners be able to afford their monthly mortgage payments, and more new buyers will be able to become homeowners.
Are all of the foreclosures spread evenly throughout the country? Unfortunately not, and the levels of pain vary greatly by state. The “sand states” continue to lead the country in terms of foreclosure filings. California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida are the top contributors to the foreclosure problem. Nationally, 1 in every 417 home received a foreclosure filing in November, and the “sand states” had rates anywhere from 1 in 186 to 1 in every 119 homes. It is clear that we, and especially these 4 states, need a lot of help and there is a long way to go.
We will look at any signs of improvement in a positive manner, and we certainly think the improvement discussed here is a step in the right direction.
If you have any questions about Sonoma County Foreclosures, or Sonoma County Real Estate, please do not hesitate to contact us for the latest news.
This article was contributed by Chris Ingram.
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