The FED just announced that they are buying 600 Million worth of Mortgage Backed Securities. It’s bittersweet since it seems like a short term fix, but here’s the good news.
Rates are at 5.5% TODAY !
If you have a rate of 6.5% or higher, REFINANCE, NOW.
Call me at 770-374-4667 to discuss!
In a sort of odd Christmas Present to some home owners, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has post-poned foreclosing on about 16,000 homes until Jan 09.
"This is another news item that the government is hoping will stem the tide of foreclosures," said Walter Schmidt, head of mortgage strategy at FTN Financial Capital Markets in Chicago. "But I don’t know it helps, it could put off the inevitable" because falling home prices give homeowners incentives to walk away, he said.
The move by the two government-sponsored enterprises comes a week after their regulator unveiled a plan that could cut payments for hundreds of thousands of borrowers by easing terms on their loans. Homeowners facing foreclosure who are spending more than 38 percent of their income on mortgage payments could have payments reduced by the companies, under the program.
The "streamlined modification" program of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is slated to begin on December 15. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac estimated their foreclosure suspensions may affect about 16,000 borrowers if the homes are occupied.
"We felt it was in the best interest of both borrowers and Fannie Mae to take this extra step to ensure that homeowners with the desire and ability to prevent a foreclosure have an opportunity to stay in their homes," Herb Allison, Fannie Mae’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.
The foreclosure moratorium also appears to lend credence to speculation the government is pushing the companies to operate more in a public policy role, perhaps at the expense of profit. That has some investors concerned since the government has not defined the roles of the shareholder-owned companies after the conservatorships are lifted.
As you start looking for a new home, you probably aren’t even considering your NEXT move . You probably just want to get this one taken care of! But it is always prudent to shop for a new home with an eye on potential resale value down the road. No one can predict what the future will bring , but here are some simple things you can look for:
As you can tell most items may not add directly to the value, but all these items will help the home sell much, much quicker. You’ve got to be the best of the best in a down market.
I’d be happy to answer any questions you have and show you properties that meet your needs. Please call (770-374-4667) or email me when you are ready to look for a new home.
One of the most important steps in the home-buying process is being pre-approved for a home loan. Many buyers apply for a loan and receive approval from a lender BEFORE searching for a home. This is called “pre-approval.”Why is pre-approval important at the beginning of the home-buying process?
There is also a significant difference between buyers who are merely “pre-qualified” and those who are pre-approved.
Pre-Qualified Buyers - are those whose lenders have determined how much they can borrow based only on information the buyer has provided to the lender. Nothing has been verified to determine the buyer’s true creditworthiness. The buyer still must fill out a loan application and go through the lender’s approval process.
For buyers who have been pre-approved, the lender has already done a credit check along with verification of employment and deposit. The lender’s pre-approval is a commitment to loan the buyer up to a certain predetermined amount. The only piece missing is the lender’s appraisal of the home to confirm its value.
Contact me when you are ready to purchase your next home. And let me know if I can provide any additional information about pre-approval or financing options.
Real Estate across the country is different. In some state, it may take 90 days to close while in others, like Georgia, 30 days is the norm. Additionally, in some states you can close at a title company’s office, in other states you may get an attorney to help coordinate the closing while still in other states (Georgia) your Realtor is the one who coordinates for you. In Georgia, a Realtor has a fiduciary responsibility to look out for your best interest.
So what does fiduciary mean? Wikipedia defines it as,
A fiduciary duty is the highest standard of care imposed at either equity or law. A fiduciary is expected to be extremely loyal to the person they owe the duty (the "principal"): they must not put their personal interests before the duty, and must not profit from their position as a fiduciary, unless the principal consents. The fiduciary relationship is highlighted by good faith, loyalty and trust, and the word itself originally comes from the Latin fides, meaning faith, and fiducia.
This agreement is set by a contract known as the, "Buyer’s Brokerage Agreement." If an agent does not go over this relationship with you AND asks you to sign it before helping you, they are not looking out for your best interest. It only with honesty, loyalty and integrity that someone can represent you in the biggest transaction of your lifetime.
It’s more than just searching for homes, it’s knowing the market and identifying good investments, negotiating the best price, protecting your investment of earnest money, looking out for your family in their move and it’s about telling you that you might consider waiting to purchase or not purchase at all in certain situations.
In early October I hosted a Client Appreciation Party and it was a blast! We had pumpkins to decorate, ghoulish tattoos for the kids and BBQ to eat. It was such a reward not just for my clients but for myself to really enjoy all the new relationships I have. It’s what makes the business fun.
The party was held at Little Mulberry Park in Dacula, GA.
I’ll be posting more on this great event in the coming days. If you see your photo, let me know if you want prints, I’ll happily get them out to you.
When a buyer is looking for a new construction home, the question always comes up, "Is This A Good Builder?" It’s a loaded question to say the least. Although, the Real Estate Commission will be upset about this, most agents DO have opinions about the builders. The bottomline however, is that an agent’s answers are based purely on their perceptions of a builder or their direct experience. Keep in mind that even the most successful agents whose team closes 600 transactions or more a year, may only have a few transactions with a builder.
Still, the question remains. So should you buy from a builder or not? There are some key things worth mention and I’m also a firm believer in bringing in the inspector early on. Having the inspector there early on will "catch" many of the issues.
See, the truth is that most builders are not inherently bad. Instead it’s the people they hire that make the difference.
For example, you could have a fine, upstanding builder who hires an equally qualified general contractor to manage his subdivision. He in turn hires excellent framers, concrete people, electricians, plumbers, drywallers, painters, carpet people, lighting, landscape and fixture folks and of course, "punch out" people to finish up. There may even be designers, realtors, and other people who have some input. Last but not least, let’s not forget that the county will likely want to inspect and of course they have their own people in on the deal.
If one or two of these "hires" or contractors has a bad day, bad employee … bad "run" then you’ll end up with 5 to 10 homes that all have a leaky shower for instance.
Building a bunch a homes very quickly isn’t always a bad thing, but it gives the builder a smaller margin of error. One wrong move and it’s going to effect 10 homes or more in some cases. Whereas a smaller builder may only be building 1 to 4 homes at a given time.
So how do you find out if a builder is "good" or not? Try to inspect the finished product, try to inspect the product as it’s being built. Then you’ll know the work of the contractors.
Real Estate is Local, so is building. One subdivision does not a builder’s reputation make.
After much feedback I’ll be updating the newsletter that comes out of here. There’s got to be a better solution, feel free to update me on that!
After writing about accountability a few weeks back, I decided to check my self and posted a week’s worth of activities . Be sure to check it out if you have any interest in becoming a real estate agent or want to know what I am doing every day .
The market is up and down on a weekly basis. Great deals are still selling in 2 weeks, good deals are sitting. Homes that are price correctly will sell in 60 days or less. Other can sit up to 6 months to 1 year. A little milestone was reached as several parts of the county dipped under 12 months of inventory which.
Just a little note to remind folks that I’m pretty much jumping into to becoming a social media guru. I want to be the one on the internets for all your real estate needs, so be sure to follow me @JarvisTeam .
I’ll be posting some follow up to the tax credit in the coming days. In addition, I’ll be covering some blog topics to use in my class.
On July 30th Pres. Bush signed a major housing bill (HR 3221) into law. As part of the bill, Congress created a new, temporary tax credit to provide some incentive to buy a home. Here’s a quick check list to see if you qualify:
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