On Tuesday, the producer price index for October and the National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) Housing Market Index for November will be released in the U.S. Market participants will also be interested in hearing testimony from Fed Chairman…(read more)

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said tensions in financial markets will probably continue for many months, and now that his government has addressed the potential failures of massive corporations, the next step will be to deliver a boost to the…(read more)

With the glut of foreclosures in the Georgia market narrowing down your purchase options may seem daunting. However, for many first time home buyers one of the easiest and most profitable ways to purchase a home is to focus on the HUD foreclosure market. Why? Because in Georgia HUD Homes are available at HUGE discounts and for only $100 down!

HUD foreclosures are homes that previously had FHA loans on them. Many of them fall into the perfect price range for the first time home buyer. Generally, you will see many of them listed in Georgia between $50,000 and $150,000. This listing price is usually at a deep discount to “as is” value and an even deeper discount if you are looking for a fixer upper to finance with a FHA 203K renovation loan.

Since HUD has an unusual amount of homes on the market right now they have been forced to offer some FANTASTIC incentives to purchase. The best, and most widely used, is the $100 down payment incentive I mentioned above. However, recently they have started offering another incentive to buy, a $1000 credit at closing. Yep, only $100 down AND you get $1000 back at closing. In other words HUD is PAYING YOU $900 to purchase some of their homes!

FHA 203K renovation loans are tailored made for this market and are absolutely perfect for HUD foreclosures. The reason the match is made in heaven is that HUD foreclosures come with a appraisal and work write-up BEFORE you buy. That makes it easy to know what needs to be down and how much it is going to cost before you go under contract. Their guidelines are simple; if the repair is under $5000 they will escrow the money you need for the repair. You have the option of pursuing a traditional FHA purchase loan OR if you’d like to do more upgrades then they have allocated money for you can go with a FHA 203K renovation loans.

If you are in the Georgia or Alabama market and would like to purchase and renovate a foreclosure you should call us. We are the experts and we have the procedure down cold. This is not the type of transaction you want a rookie loan officer handling. If you’d like more info on HUD foreclosures or on FHA 203K loans then check out my website 203KLoan.net. We can even guide you on how to save huge on your monthly energy bills by renovating GREEN.

Jonathan Blackwell

FHA 203K Specialist

404-551-3845

203KLoan.net

JonathanBlackwell.com

Springfield, Oregon offers a program to help low to moderate income purchasers get into their first home. It is called SHOP which stands for Springfield Home Ownership Program. This assistance program was created to encourage home ownership in Springfield by assisting low income, first time homebuyer, residents with their first-time home purchase.

The Springfield home ownership program is designed to help first time home buyers with the down payment and closing costs in their purchase. A $10,000 interest free, payment free second mortgage is available for this purpose. The loan is accepted by FHA as a viable method of obtaining down payment money and is also accepted on some conforming products.

Prospective SHOP recipients are required to complete The ABC’s of Homebuying seminar. The course is designed to help you decide if buying a home is right for you and to understand the home buying process. The class is presented by NEDCO (Neighborhood Economic Development Corporation) and taught by experienced volunteers. The class is generally scheduled for one Saturday each month. Please check NEDCO for details.

Basically, the rules are pretty simple. First, the buyer must qualify based on income, currently from $31,100 to $51,500, depending on family size. Next, you must be pre-approved for a loan program that will accept this form of down payment and closing cost assistance. SHOP most often works best with an FHA loan, but I have also used it with a VA loan. The conventional loans are a bit harder, but can be done if the credit is good. It may or may not work with an FHA 203k streamline. The FHA program will accept SHOP but SHOP might not accept the repair option.

Then, find the house that suits you. If you need a Realtor, I am more than happy to recommend one.  There are housing requirements. For instance, it must be owner occupied or vacant, unless you are renting it. The program funding these loans does not want to force current renters out on the street. SHOP has funds at this time, but that is subject to change as the funds are used. However, it appears unlikely that the Springfield program will run out of money. Here is the link ot SHOP.  Please note the list of lenders is dramatically out of date. A lot of the lenders on the list don’t exist any longer. We, Alpine Mortgage Planning, are approved to work with the program.

Buying a home is a major step in anyone’s life. That is one of the reasons the program requires the ABC’s of Homebuying seminar. It is a great program for anyone to partake, even if you aren’t applying for one of these loans.

 These programs are funded with money from HUD and are excellent ways to help first time home buyers. With the elimination (probable) of the Down Payment Assistance (DPA) programs, we need to find every way possible to help our new buyers in this market place.

One interesting side note if the buyers has a non occupant co-buyer on an FHA loan, the co-buyer can help the buyer qualify (income) for the primary loan but that income is not counted for qualifying for the secondary loan. Additionally, all household income is counted when determining if someone qualifies for the no interest loan. There are, as always, some exceptions. I am always here to answer questions. Also, this program requires an investment of $1,500 from the buyer. This can be a gift. 

authored by Fred Chamberlin, senior mortgage consultant, Eugene/Springfield Oregon, 541-342-7576

One of the earliest and most intriguing names to emerge as a possible Secretary of the Treasury in the Obama administration is that of Warren Buffett . Buffet, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Corporation and "The Oracle of Omaha" was an early…(read more)

Four times annually, the Federal Reserve surveys 84 banks around the country regarding their general lending standards. One of the survey questions asks about current mortgage lending standards and whether it’s getting harder, or easier, to get approved for a home loan. In the most recent survey,…

Read the full post at http://www.themortgagereports.com

SO how are the evil mortgage products doing? Huh, they may actually be better than the fixed products? Maybe they aren’t evil after all… just different. It is likely for most, however, that a fixed FHA mortgage in Lake Mary is still a better bet, but you owe it to yourself to find out, do you not?

It is true that some of the wrong people got bad advice from some neophyte mortgage ‘professional’, but the good news is that those folks are back waiting tables.

Now, back to ARMs…

The interest rate against which adjustable-rate mortgages [ARMs] change is continuing to fall — This could very likely be the evidence we need indicating that the worldwide banking system is starting to stabilize.

On any ARM, the initial “start rate” remains fixed for some period of time [typically 3 - 5 - 7 - or 10 years], and then adjusts according to some pre-determined agreement. It is more a hybrid than it is a pure “ARM”.

For a conforming mortgage, an ARM will typically adjust once per year after that initial locked period, based on this formula:

[index] + [margin] = Adjusted Rate

Where the index is often assigned to 12-month LIBOR, and the constant is often fixed at a number between 2.250% and 2.75%.

LIBOR is the equation’s variable… that is why it has the attention of ARM holders… of which I am one. ARMs can be great financial tools… in the right hands. Check with your Lake Mary Mortgage Broker to see if ARMs are something you should consider. LIBOR is the rate at which banks lend money to each other. The 12-month LIBOR, therefore, is the borrowing rate for a 1-year, interbank loan.

So, to take the formula and make it real world for a Lake Mary Home Owner, your adjusted mortgage rate would be equal to whatever the 12-month LIBOR is at the time of adjustment, plus another 2.25 - 2.75%.

Looking at the chart, note LIBOR spiked in September in direct correlation to the September 15 failure of Lehman Brothers. That bank shutdown started a wave of “who’s going to be next?” anxiety on Wall Street but as global governments stepped up support for banks, LIBOR predictably fell.

For homeowners with adjusting mortgages, this is terrific news.

Okay, now follow me on this:

However, mortgage markets have rallied a bit as of late, creating an interesting opportunity for some holders of ARMs. Depending on credit scores and the amount of home equity, Lake Mary mortgage rates on a new home loan may be lower that the soon-to-be-adjusted mortgage rate of the old one.

In other words, getting a new loan may be smarter than letting your current mortgage change. Contact your mortgage lender to see which plan fits you best. If you are orphaned now that 65% of the industry has ‘left the building’, please feel free to contact me, Chris Brown, directly for your Lake Mary refinance.