| NOVEMBER 2007 |
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In This Issue: For Most Buyers, the Mortgage Market Is Healthy Back To Basic Home Buying Skills FHA Home Loan Program Poised to Take Off  U.S. averages as of September 27, 2007: 30 yr. fixed: 6.42% 15 yr. fixed: 6.09% 1 yr. adj: 5.60% View Current Rates-Contact Josh Feldman  Contact Troy for more information  Will not last long!! Deep-water living at it's finest!! Contact Troy for more information!! Hurry!! LOT 8 Pinckney Street Docks For Sale !!!! LAST LOT IN THE COMMUNITY!! A beautiful Community on the intracoastal waterway in the Historic Community of McClellanville, South Carolina. Pinckney Street Docks is a unique place to call home. Surrounded by Jeremy Creek and the Intracoastal Waterway in Southeast South Carolina. Pinckney Street Docks, with its cascading live oaks, breathtaking views, and deep water access, is a remarkable neighborhood in a quiet coastal community of McClellanville. Your have access to World Class Fishing, Crabbing or Shrimping right at your back door. If you are into boating, you can launch right from your own private deep-water dock and be on a secluded beach at Cape Romain, spend the day sailing in Bulls Bay or on the Atlantic Ocean. You can take a break from the water and enjoy the near by Francis Marion National Forrest or go shopping in Charleston, Mt. Pleasant or Georgetown, all a short drive away. If golfing is your pleasure, you can play the many local courses or head North to Myrtle Beach, about an hours drive. Take some time to see the hidden opportunity this really is. All lots have been sold and this one (lot 8) is being sold by a private owner. Contact Troy for more information  At Countrywide, Josh offers expert advice for all your home financing including a speedy application process and an industry recognized commitment to customer service. Competitively priced home loan products: New Construction Financing Programs for first time home buyers Home Equity Loans No down payment options And reduced paperwork for qualified buyers Contact Josh Now !! |
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For Most Buyers, the Mortgage Market Is Healthy
The majority of mortgage products have been unaffected by troubles in the sub-prime segment. Interest rates for 30-year, fixed-rated loans remain in the low 6 percent range for people with reasonably good, though not necessarily perfect, credit records, according Kenneth R. Harney, managing director of the National Real Estate Development Center and syndicated columnist. While there is plenty of money to lend, Harney says underwriting standards are more strict than they were a year ago. Jumbo loans, for example, often require two appraisals – one by an appraiser selected by the lender and the other by one working for the investor. Similarly, FICO credit-score standards generally are higher than a year ago, stated-income mortgages with no verifications are hard to find and lenders are especially wary of excessive "layering of risk" – combining low down payments with marginal credit scores and high debt-to-income ratios – in markets where prices are trending lower. I personally believe basket is full of customers who have told me what they want, but until now they have been apparently waiting for a sign that the market has hit bottom. There is significant pent-up demand. Remember, the first of the 76 million Boom generation will be reaching age 65 this year, and who will fear losing out on the bargain prices available today. The availability of mortgage money is good especially for 95% interest only five year financing of homes, lots, and investment properties. Consider this: interest rates are very moderate now, and the properties that are selling tend to be selling at 10% below the most recent list price. These are two sides of the same coin: ACQUISITION COST AND HOLDING COST. The cost to acquire real estate right now is at or near the bottom of the cycle, and interest rates, the cost to hold, is moderately low. If you got a signal that the cost to hold is soon going to “soar”, a rational decision would be to move on this information and lock in a currently moderately-low interest rate, and negotiate your price on the property of your choice. Mortgage rates can move up fast. Don’t get caught “with your bat on your shoulder”, having the “coulda, woulda, shoulda” regrets that we all love to tell friends. Please contact me know, and let me help you purchase the home you have been wanting!! | ||
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Back To Basic Home Buying Skills
If people were more responsible for their own financial behavior, that would have taken the power away from the people who put them in risky loans. The reason for all the creative financing was because people didn't want to do the work. This involves hard financial work and sacrifices many households have long avoided. As a carrot, keep in mind, the benefits of owning your own home, likely to be your most valuable asset, far outweigh any passing pain you may endure to achieve that goal. Here's how to prepare for what's become a more difficult home buying ordeal. Set A Tight Budget. You need to know all sources of every penny and you need to know where every penny goes. You can't know where you can cut costs until you know in detail what those costs are. Offering a budget template, the Better Business Bureau says, "A budget will provide you with a roadmap to financial security. If you drive carefully, perform the right repairs and maintenance along the way, and steadily steer toward your long-term goal, you'll wind up where you want to be." Save. Pinch Pennies. Save Some More. Saving is a prerequisite to homeownership. If your budget reveals you are spending money on eating out when you can eat healthier for less at home; if it shows you gulp way too many cups of Joe at the local cafe when you can invest in a commuter mug and brew your own at home; if it shows movie rentals by mail cost less than screening every major motion picture live, you've already found hundreds of dollars to save. Stop traveling, stop partying and stop unhealthy habits that could leave you too weak to take on that second job. Bulk up your habit of spending only for what you need, not what you want. If you don't have a savings account worth three to six months of your net income, you are already a financial disaster waiting to happen should there be an emergency. In addition to money for the down payment, lenders today will expect you to have some cash left over for insurance, taxes, maintenance and other costs that come with homeownership. Certainly, it could take years to build the kind of down payment pot that will get you the lowest possible rate in an expensive housing market, but think about the time it will take you to recover from a loan you can't afford should that loan lead to foreclosure and a financial meltdown. You really can't afford not to save. You really can't afford not to find more ways to save. Read Your Credit Report. Don't just get it. Read it. AnnualCreditReport.com is the only federally-approved website you should visit if you want a truly free credit report. Other websites will give you your report for "free" but typically only after you sign up for other cost-based services. You are trying to save money, not come up with more things to buy. Your credit report is a report card on your credit use, the good, the bad, the ugly and, too often, the incorrect. Which is why you want to see it, If there are errors follow the instructions to correct them. Also visit MyFico.com to learn how to improve your report and your credit score -- a numerical rendition of your creditworthiness. Get Some Help With Direction. Can't figure what your credit report is trying to say? Not sure how to calculate what you'll need to save? Don't know how to set up a budget? It's okay to ask for help. It's smart to ask for help. You don't know everything about buying a home. If you are a first-timer you likely know very little. Learn how to find answers. Whether it's your REALTOR, financial planner, financial counselor, or mortgage broker, they are all here to help you. Get help in setting goals, sifting through mortgage programs, understanding the title and escrow process, finding a home and keeping a home -- all well before you are actually in the market for a home. Learn about market and economic conditions that could impact your decision. Learn about home prices, mortgage rates, home buying costs and other issues surrounding what's likely to be your most complicated purchase ever. Equal Housing Opportunity Serving the Greater Charleston Area 843-388-8118 Info@sungmac.com http://SunGmac.com October 2007 Real Estate Update Copyright © 2007 Realty Times. All Rights Reserved. | ||
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FHA Home Loan Program Poised to Take Off
Last month the House overwhelmingly approved a reform bill that would cut minimum downpayments to zero, and increase loan limits in high cost areas of California well beyond $500,000. Under the House-passed bill, FHA could insure mortgages as high as 125 percent of the median home price in a market area, or 175 percent of the conforming loan limit for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- currently $417,000. In addition, the HUD Secretary could raise limits by another $100,000 if local conditions required such a move. In effect, southern California, where FHA loan applications have been almost nonexistent in recent years, could conceivably see a new wave of jumbo FHA mortgages in the $700,000 range and beyond. Meanwhile, the Senate Banking committee last Wednesday reported out its version of an FHA reform bill, but with much tighter loan limits - $417,000 maximum - and a 1.5 percent minimum cash downpayment, down from the current 3 percent minimum. The full Senate is expected to approve the Banking committee's bill soon, sending the FHA issue to a House-Senate conference committee to work out the differences. What's likely to emerge in the final bill sent to the president in the coming weeks? At the very minimum, Congress is now almost certain to make FHA competitive again in high-cost markets. A $417,000 limit for California would still be well below the state's median home price in the mid-$500,000s. But it would provide potentially tens of thousands of home buyers an attractive, consumer-friendly alternative to what they've got now. The huge gap between the House and Senate loan ceilings will need to be bridged in the upcoming conference. There may also be pressure to raise Fannie's and Freddie's limits during Senate floor debate or through a separate bill -- opening the door to at least a temporary "jumbo" program for FHA, Fannie and Freddie. There are some potential minefields facing conferees however: The House version of the bill contains a proposal from Financial Services committee chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) to tap into FHA premium revenues to help finance a new National Housing Trust Fund for affordable housing activities. Separate legislation from chairman Frank would also tap into revenues of Fannie and Freddie. The Bush administration opposes siphoning off FHA resources for the Fund, and the Senate did not include the concept in its bill. Another sticky issue: The Senate bill prohibits "downpayment assistance" for FHA loans involving "anyone party to the transaction." That would presumably cut off dozens of nonprofit groups around the country that now provide such assistance. The House bill imposes some restrictions on downpayment assistance providers, but does not ban them. The House bill authorizes FHA loan terms up to 40 years, but the Senate bill is silent on that issue. The Senate bill allows FHA to use "risk based pricing" on all loans where borrowers make less than a 3 percent downpayment -- a provision favored by the Bush Administration. The Senate bill has no language on the subject, but some Republicans are strongly opposed to allowing FHA to directly compete with private mortgage insurance firms for borrowers who present varying levels of default risk. October 2007 Real Estate Update Copyright © 2007 Realty Times. All Rights Reserved. |
