Pete Phillippe from Indymac Bank was so kind to send an extensive overview with updates in underwriting as of June 1, 2008 Industry wide General Loan guidelines by the Secondary market (some variance with specific Lenders).
- With Foreclosures , reestablished credit history now 3 yrs after event before a new loan given
- No 60 plus mortgage lates within the last 12 months
- Authorized users of credit trade lines will no longer be considered in credit decisions. Can’t piggyback on someone’s good history. FICO now is “not using” card holders good scores for the authorized user to improve their own scores
- On interest only loans, borrowers have to be qualified on the full principal and interest payment
- Min. credit scores 640 for 1 to 2 unit properties, 680for three to four units . . .620 if LTV less than 75% of property value
- Stated income loans max. 80% ltv for w-2 wage earners and self employed or commissioned borrowers, or combinations of salaried and commissioned. Usually 700 middle ficos required. Cash out? 75% ltv’s
- With FHA loans 580 and above FICOs still ok with alternative credit documentation and “good” credit explanations
Dont’ forget, these are general guidelines, exeptions are possible with every lender. For more info, you can also contact Pete Phillipe @ Indymac bank 707-535-1263. He will give all his client free credit reports.
More to come in the coming days.
Mirjam (mirjam@c21alliance.com)
With so much said in the news about foreclosures and short sales just some facts.
At this moment the bank owned properties are selling well, the lower price range of our market is selling, some bank owned properties were priced so low that they had more than 20 offers on them and I know of one property ( NW Santa Rosa) that went into escrow $100,000 over asking. It will be interesting to see the numbers when these transactions close.
Financial Title did sent me enclosed stat, an overview of the sub prime ARM’s that will mature the coming months/are maturing now. Sorry to say that quite a bit of these will end up as foreclosure. Banks are only interested to sell these properties as fast as they can.
While you have to be careful buying these (use a good Realtor), they are excellent opportunities for investors and buyers. Should you like to be on my ‘opportunities watch list’, just send me and email with your contact info so I can set you up. By the way, not only bank owned properties are great deals, sometimes a regular sale might be a better deal.
We are going to have a wonderful weekend, great for touring around Sonoma County an enjoy some wines. I did meet Pat Maier at the Chamber Expo this week, she was pouring an excellent 2005 Cabernet. Check out their website, you have to make an appointment to taste their wines, they are also available at some great restaurants in town (one was Willi’s Wine bar in Larkfield).
Have a wonderful weekend!
Mirjam (mirjam@C21alliance.com)
Realtytrac, a company that compiles data on home foreclosures, showed in recent data that foreclosures are not a national crisis, but more of a regional problem.
There are pockets, places such as Stockton, CA and Las Vegas, NV where the foreclosure rate is in excess of 4%, however, the national average is 1.033%. Considering the fact that 30% of all homes are actually free and clear of any mortgage, the true foreclosure rate is actually seven tenths of 1% of all homes.
In Santa Rosa, the price range up to $500,000 has been hit hard and about 50% of all the homes on the market in that price range are ‘troubled’ sales. So yes we are hit hard, however, looking at the nation wide numbers, it gives perspective and brings the point home that NOW is a great time to buy or move up.
Have a great day!
Mirjam (mirjam@c21alliance.com)
Mirjam on March 27th 2008 in Economy, Sellers, Financial news, Buyers
Good news for all you folks who own investment property for appreciation purposes in a ‘vacation’ area (Lake Tahoe, Hawaii). Exchanging this property will be a whole lot easier.
Per March 10, 2008 the IRS officially allows limited personal use of an investment property and will not prevent the qualification of a property held for trade or business or investment use for purposes of the tax-free-exchange rules. Here is a link to an article from Tom Kelly.
Using your investment property 1 or 2 weeks a year and keep it vacant for the rest of the year and still qualifying for 1031 exchange rules is ok by the IRS.
Sonoma County is a great area, historically track records of property values doubling every 10 years, the wine county is a great vacation destination and on top of that: great opportunities right now!
Have a great day.
Mirjam (mirjam@c21alliance.com)
Anybodies worst nightmare: you have worked on keeping your credit just perfect and by the time you find yourself ready to finally buy your first home (or for that matter refinancing your home) and you have to deal with Identity Theft. Please read enclosed article in PD: Woman’s stolen identity not easily restored.
Can you even imagine what this means? You’re getting ready to be pre-approved and you are denied because of purchase you did not do, creditcards you did not open, hospital bills while you were not hospitalized.
Cannot be said enough: CHECK YOUR CREDIT REPORT AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR! Or any time you detect suspicious activity. You can go to www.AnnualCreditreport.com or call 1-877-322-8228.
An other great website is www.FTC.gov/idtheft.
While writing this I come to realize that I am due my yearly check for my credit report. So guess what I am doing the coming days…
Enjoy your day
Mirjam (mirjam@c21alliance.com)
Coming 2 weekends will be the 30th annual barrel tasting weekend in Sonoma County. There will be food and lots of great wines to preview from the barrel. Tickets are $20,00 per person per weekend. It’s going to be busy, usually Sundays are less busy than Saturdays and rain keeps people away too…
Eric Trailer did a great article on the stimulus package : How Stimulating Will Raising the Conforming Loan Limit Be? Interesting article it is expected that the conforming loan limit in Sonoma County will be $ 625,000 so a lot more people will be able to either refinance or purchase a home with a conforming loan.
The market is picking up, this week we had 84 properties opening escrow, as of this morning, we had 414 properties opening escrow for the month. With 2462 active residential listings (count 7 am this morning) we have about 6/7 months of inventory. Here’s the chart for last 2 years:
Enjoy the weekend, should you go barrel tasting, let me know which winery/wines you liked best.
Mirjam (mirjam@c21alliance.com)
That’s the buzz word right now! It will be extremely beneficial for our local real estate market. As we discussed in our office meeting this morning, the most interesting part will be that the ‘conforming’ loan limits will go up but even more important, that the loan limits for FHA loan programs will go up.
Hmm for many agents …. FHA… let me think, that was a long time ago that we would even do these loans in Sonoma County, the current loan limit is around $ 380,000. Yep, but it’s going to be good, FHA (Federal Housing Administration) allows for 97% financing, it can be combined with gift funds (Nehemia program) and is very lenient with your credit score and the best part… the rates are great!
This increased limit for FHA loans might take an other month or before it can be used by lenders but it’s good news.
I am not going to repeat the stimulus program, please visit the info on the CAR website or this link to Inman News
An by the way… there are some tremendous deals out there right now, this property at 421 Manka Circle for $349,900 is one of them.
Have a great day!
Mirjam (mirjam@c21alliance.com)
No matter what the newspapers are telling: today is a good day to buy and sell real estate.
This morning’s paper had a small article about something what I have been trying to tell all my clients and anybody who wants to hear it: Strange but true: Real estate good investment now.
The article is about Real Estate Investments Trusts, more interesting for investors. However, with the home prices at the level where they are at right now and the rents tending to go up, it is a great time to either move up or stop renting and buy a home. Recently we did a rent versus own comparison and it did bring out an interesting fact for a lot of situations: If you keep on renting you will end up spending more per month.
And for the investors among you: if the rent versus own tips over in favor of the home owner, guess what that means if you are the landlord… that monthly rent check will bring cash flow!!!
And there are still some good loan programs out there, you’d be surprised!
Have a great day.
Mirjam - 707-486-2638
We hear about the “Baby Boomers”, the “Gen X and Y ” and the “Millenniums”….what does this have to do with the future of mortgages? In the latest issue of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) newsletter we learn that Gen Y will set the pace for the upcoming decade by their buying habits. Michael Murphy tells us….
“Financial institutions see Generation Y—a tech-savvy age group ranging from 15 to 29 in age—as a potentially lucrative but also more traditional demographic than previous generations, with nearly 80 million consumers and an overall annual income of more than $200 billion.”
Gen Y worries about their financial future because of tensions in job security, social security and future retirement, but in a recent Deloitte/Harris study showed only 31 percent of eligible Gen Y employees participate in 401K plans.
The Javelin Strategy & Research study showed Gen Y as more traditional in financial activity. In Javelin’s study of 2,800 consumers, it showed Gen Y as not ready to abandon the brick-and-mortar channels of financial institutions despite the group’s proclivity to initiate online transactions and use mobile phones.
When selecting a new financial services provider, Gen Y consumers ranked access to ATMs and access to branches as more important than online service capabilities, in comparison to other age groups, according to Javelin’s data. In the past 12 months 80 percent of older Gen Y used an ATM for either a deposit or withdrawal, nearly 60 percent used an automated telephone system to perform a banking transaction, and 90 percent visited a branch, demonstrating an apparent demand for multi-channel availability.
So what does this tell us?? If we are going to be successful in selling to this group we will need to provide a full array of avenues for them to contact us….not just new technology but the ole’ fashion “let me help” you “in person” sort of way.
Denise
Denise on November 23rd 2007 in Financial news, Sonoma County info
On the bottom of this page (scroll down) you will find the announcement for the Smart Home Choices Workshop. If you are interested in real estate and want to know more about the financial aspect, you are cordially invited to come. The program is going to be great! You can register online.
Somewhere I read the 70% of all the people that went into foreclosure never talked to their lender to see whether they could arrange a solution. It’s the fear, the shame, name it. Whatever it is, I think it’s also because of lack of knowledge. - The Smart Home Choices Seminar will be educational! However, there is a company that is there to help home owners to keep their homes. Lowering the interest rates is not the only solution.
This company is called HOPE, it stands for Homeownership Preservation. It’s good to know about companies like these. In our area, Redwood Credit Union will alway refer you to HOPE.
Foreclosure is not a good solution, it’s the last solution. There are many alternatives that should be tried first.
Of course, should you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact Denise or me.
Have a great day!
Mirjam