Archive for April, 2009
COMMUNTIY SPOTLIGHT: FAIR LAKES
April 30th, 2009 categories: Nearby Communities
This week we put our “Spotlight” on Fair Lakes. If you like a little urban style as part of the mix you may want to be aware of Fair Lakes. It breaks the suburban pattern somewhat by blending in a city feel right in the middle of suburbia. Not too long ago I helped one of my clients make a move from a traditional suburban home and into one of the condos at Fair Lakes. They are enjoying the change.
Especially if you have a condo or townhouse in mind, it is worth checking out.
This will get you started. If you want to see what foreclosures or short sales are available in this community, please use one of the links below to let me know, and I will get you a current list.
TO VIEW “FOR SALE” PROPERTIES IN FAIR LAKES : CLICK HERE
MORE INFORMATION ON: FAIR LAKES
MORE INFORMATION ON: CHANTILLY-FAIRFAX COUNTY, CHANTILLY- LOUDOUN COUNTY, CENTREVILLE AREA, and NEARBY COMMUNITIES.
Moving to the Northern Virginia area? Visit our RELO CENTER.
PROPERTY SEARCH: Search for properties in Northern Virginia.
PROPERTY UPDATE: Get current updates of “For Sale” properties via email.
Please let us know if we can be of any help with other questions you may have about Fair Lakes!
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MORE THAN A FEW MULTIPLE-OFFER SCENARIOS: HOW COME?
April 27th, 2009 categories: Buyer Strategies, Seller Strategies
Real estate agents and others who work in the industry and are “in the trenches” day by day are positioned to see things happen before they show up as national statistics.
Lately I have noticed more multiple-offer situations. I have noticed this on the properties that are above average in terms of their appeal. I definitely don’t see this happening across the board. Nevertheless, it gets my attention.
Are we inching closer to the end of the falling home prices that have been the norm?
According to NAR stats, the number of Existing Home Sales fell by a modest 140,000 units last month.
We have had five months of sales hovered in the 4.5 million range.
Add to that the fact that the national housing inventory is down by about 900,000 from its July 2008 peak.
These are good statistics.
Along with that, the Commerce Department said the supply of newly-built homes for sale is at a 7-year low. Another good housing stat.
If home sales fall and the number of buyers stays the same, what is the result? The result is buyers looking at fewer houses. Would we expect supply and demand to cause home prices to rise? Even saying such a thing in the current environment sounds and feels too heretical to consider!
But wait, there’s more! The March data is not inclusive of the $8,000 tax Credit for those purchasing their first home. Remember that the stimulus package was not passed until February. So most if not all of the March data does not reflect these buyers.
So…amidst the other statistical indicators that have not been anything to cheer about, there is also some data that is encouraging.
Does this point to somewhat higher home prices ahead? It is probably a definite “maybe.”
That’s the thing about the future…you can’t be sure of it until it arrives.
Bottom line: make your home buying and selling plans with common sense based on a long term view, and not based on any absolute reading of events that have not yet occurred.
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OPEN HOUSE FOR VERY NICE CHANTILLY HOME
April 25th, 2009 categories: Chantilly Fairfax County, Featured Listings
We are having an Open House on a wonderful Chantilly home tomorrow.
This home will be Open on Sunday, April 26, from 1 PM to 4 PM.
The location: 4519 Silas Hutchinson Drive – Chantilly, VA 20151
4519 SILAS HUTCHINSON DRIVE - CHANTILLY, VA 20151
This home is in Pleasant Valley, a popular neighborhood that is well located for easy access to all the area employers. To get there, you turn off Route 50 on to Pleasant Valley Road, then turn left on Cub Run Road. Proceed on Cub Run to Silas Hutchinson Drive.
I have worked with many buyers who like this community so well they wait for their “just right” home to come on the market so they can live in this neighborhood.
The house sits on a quiet street and has any number of amenities including a nice-sized fenced yard. This one is not a foreclosure or bank-owned property, so forget the hassles, setbacks, and disappointments.
We invite you to take a quick Visual Tour so you can get a sense of the property. And, if you miss the Open House, let me know and I can answer any questions. You can also easily arrange a tour if that would be of interest.
Price: $370,000
MLS#: FX7030066
More information: please click here and you will see the property on our Featured Listings page.
If I can answer any questions, please Contact Us.
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CONTRACT FOR DEED – COMMON MYTHS ABOUT THIS FORM OF OWNER FINANCING
April 24th, 2009 categories: Buyer Strategies, Mortgage & Finance, Seller Strategies
[PLEASE NOTE: Attorney John Pitrelli continues his series on what home buyers and sellers should know about practical legal matters in the current real estate environment.]
This is a follow up to my previous post about Owner Financing. The Contract for Deed has been frequently misunderstood and often maligned. The purpose of this post is to dispel some common myths about the Contract for Deed.
The following are false statements:
- A Contract for Deed is illegal.
- Contracts for Deed violate the due on sale clause in all Deeds of Trust and will result in a foreclosure of the loan.
- A Contract for Deed is not a final sale of the property.
- Real Estate commissions will not be paid until the Deed is actually recorded in the future.
- An Owner/Purchaser under a Contract for Deed has no greater rights with respect to the property than a general creditor of the Seller.
- A Contract for Deed should not be recorded in the land records.
- Selling or Buying under a Contact for Deed is no better then renting.
- The IRS will not recognize a Contract for Deed as a sale or allow the Purchaser to deduct interest and tax expense for home ownership.
- There must be an underlying loan to sell by Contract for Deed.
In my next post I will explore the advantages and disadvantages of the Contract for Deed.
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IN A HOME FIRE EMERGENCY, HAVE THIS ON HAND
April 22nd, 2009 categories: Home Life
Many people have fire extinguishers at home, but there is a question as to whether if may still work, assuming you can remember where it is located.
For most of us who are not professional fire fighters there is an interesting product called Tundra Fire Extinguishing Spray
It is made by the First Alert company and it is said to have some advanages that traditional extinguishers don’t have.
- Tundra sprays for 32 seconds — double a traditional fire extinguisher
- Tundra spray covers 3 times more surface area than a traditional extinguisher
- Tundra cleans up with a damp sponge
The Tundra Fire Extinguishing Spray
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ALL ABOARD – LOW RATES MAY MAKE THIS THE TIME TO BUY
April 21st, 2009 categories: Buyer Strategies, Mortgage & Finance
Many people have been calling to ask if this is a good time to buy a home. Like a person working a ticket booth at a train station, I don’t really know the best destination for you. Of course, having been around the mortgage industry for a while, I’m happy to point out some things on the way, but in the end, I’ll rely on you to decide where 
you want to go. For some people, inevitably the answer is yes, buy a house, even in the worst of markets. For some people, the answer is no, even in the best of markets. It all comes down to your goals in both the short term and the long.
Compared to any other time in the last five years and arguably much longer, this is probably one of the best times to buy. Rates are at historical lows, allowing you as the buyer to buy a lot more house while maintaining a low monthly payment. Couple this with the fact that the high number of foreclosures have driven the market to all time lows, you have a fantastic opportunity for long term gains. But let’s start with the short term and why you may want to buy from a lending standpoint.
Having a mortgage is a good thing. The benefits of buying today can be reaped immediately as you begin to pay tax deductible interest for the roof over your head rather than dumping money down the proverbial hole they call rent. Next, having a mortgage will immediately begin to help your credit score. As long as the payments are made on time, I have seen clients boost their credit by 40-50 points in a six month time frame. Besides paying off large sums of credit card debt, making mortgage payments on time is the single greatest thing you can do to build your score.
Looking at the long term, buying today is probably one of the most financially savvy decisions you can make. Rates will probably not be anywhere near their current levels come 5 years, so buying a home may cost you a lot more if you keep pushing it off. Sometimes it makes more sense to cut down on spending in the short term to be able to afford the payments that will save you far more money down the road. i.e., if you think you cannot afford a mortgage payment now, wait until the market is inflated and prices and rates are up. I can tell you it is far easier to qualify buyers at today’s rates than it will be when they go to seven percent or beyond.
Lastly, Federal Housing Authority (FHA) mortgages today are assumable loans. If you buy your house today and get an FHA loan (about 40%+ of my loans are FHA today), you may be able to demand a larger price for your home. If you have a loan at five percent today and rates go to eight percent, assuming your buyer can qualify, they can take over your loan at the lower rate rather than securing a new loan with a higher rate. Hopefully the savings they realize can demand even more money in your pocket.
It is always important to gauge yourself and make sure you don’t bite off more than you can chew. But it is also important that you start thinking about getting in line to buy that ticket. You don’t want to kick around the station all day with no plan in mind. Get on or stay off, but either way, the train is going to pull away eventually. You don’t want to have any doubt about whether you were supposed to be on it.
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50% OF MARCH FORECLOSURE STATS COMING FROM 3 STATES
April 19th, 2009 categories: Buyer Strategies, Mortgage & Finance
Anyone losing their home is one person or family too many, but when you hear the stats on foreclosures I think it is important to know the numbers behind the numbers.
We are all likely to be hearing about foreclosures rates for quite some time, and when you do hear them you may find it helpful to consider what percentage of the foreclosed homes are located where.
There is a lot of geographical concentration in the location. That may be an understatement.
Putting together the numbers from RealtyTrac.com it appears that over half of the country’s foreclosures from the March stats occurred in just 3 states — California, Florida and Nevada.
Along with this, consider that these 3 states represent about 19 percent of the USA’s population.
Of course, this does not mean that foreclosures are not a national issue. It is because the impact of these three disproportionately high foreclosure-rate states impacts mortgage lending practices across the nation.
As an example, consider that:
- Mortgage guidelines are more disciplined
- Down Payment requirements are generally higher
- Private mortgage insurance is probably going to cost you a bit more
If you are borrower, this is important to keep in mind. But if things are lining up for you otherwise, don’t let this deter you. Just be aware.
You can take a look at the RealtyTrac websiteand see these March statistics for yourself.
And do remember, when you continue to hear the monthly foreclosures stats, do your own thinking on what is right or not right for you. Media reports have a way of inducing what might be called a “bad news trance.” If can be broken by keeping one’s critical thinking skills in constant use.
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WILL YOUR ADJUSTABLE RATE MORTGAGE GO LOWER THIS YEAR?
April 13th, 2009 categories: Mortgage & Finance
Among those strange sounding terms you hear now and then in the media is an index called the LIBOR.
Conforming mortgages rates are often tied to this index when they do their adjustments.
LIBOR stands for London Interbank Offered Rate. Basically, it is an interest rate at which banks borrow money from each other. When banks are nervous the LIBOR may be on the rise.
For example, the LIBOR jumped after the Lehman Brothers went under.
However, since that time the LIBOR has been heading downward. There is an estimated $30 billion in conforming mortgages scheduled to adjust by Labor Day, so this could be a good thing for homeowners with conforming ARM type mortgages.
Normally, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac backed ARMs have an annual adjustment. The adjusted interest rate is always equal to some constant — usually 2.250 percent — plus the rate of LIBOR on the date of adjustment.
The ARM formula might look something like this:
New Mortgage Rate = LIBOR + 2.250 percent
Back in October, when LIBOR was sitting above 4 percent, an ARM may have adjusted to 6 1/2 percent. But today, a similar ARM would move to about 4 and 1/4.
If you have an ARM, what is a strategy that will work best for you? Maybe it would make sense to let the ARM adjust on the theory that the rate will stay low. On the other hand, it is hard to ignore the fixed rate money that is hovering in the 5% range.
What is the smartest thing to do, if you have an ARM or need to take a look at refinacing for other reasons? Call you loan officer and ask questions on your individual situation. It is always smart to make sure your home financing is as good as it can be.
If you need a referral, don’t hesitate to let me know. I get calls routinely on this issue from past clients and other blog readers and am happy to provide a few reliable contacts as well as answer questions dealing with the real estate aspect of this issue.
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ELIGIBLE FOR MAKING HOME AFFORDABLE PROGRAM?
April 11th, 2009 categories: Mortgage & Finance
You have heard about the federal government’s efforts to help improve the mortgage and housing situation.
Well, on April 4, 2009, the Making Home Affordable refinance program had its official start.
If you’d like to know more, here is some basic information and an idea on what to do next, if you want to dig a bit deeper. Please use this as a starting point and not as “gospel.” This is my understanding based on what I have learned so far.
One part of the thinking behind the program is to put aside declining home prices and get people into the program based on benefit to the applicant, as well as their payment history. A projected 5 million participants are expected to be approved.
But there are eligibility criteria. Let’s start with three requirements.
First, is your existing home loan backed by either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac? As I understand it, this is requirement #1. You can check by using Fannie and Freddie’s online service. Start with the Fannie Mae site. It has a bigger market share. If you come up empty on that go to Freddie Mac’s site but you will have to provide your social security number when you check here.
Second, you will need a good payment history during the last year. I understand that one “30 days late” payment will disqualify you from the program. If you were less than 30 days late and paid the penalty fee, you should still be OK.
Third, the amount you owe on your mortgage can’t be more than 5% of your home’s value. The formula is (Mortgage Balance) / (Home Value). For example, if the quotient is greater than 1.05 then your loan-to-value exceeds 105%. If this is the case, then you are not eligible for Making Home Affordable.
If you think you quality so far, here are a few other important details:
- If you didn’t pay mortgage insurance prior to refinancing, you won’t have to pay it after refinancing — even if your loan-to-value exceeds 80%.
- Income verification is required — and it does not matter if the original was a stated income loan.
- You can’t pay off second mortgages using the loan proceeds — they are subordinated.
These are not the only guidelines. You will find more on the websites we have included above. Some of the information can be a bit jargon-oriented, including the government’s fact sheet. But don’t let that slow you down. If this has been a problem, it is at least worth a look to see it this would be a possible solution.
So, start with the first step and check to see if your loan is a Fannie or Freddie backed mortgage. Then, if you want to go further, but are unsure of what to do, you can contact your loan officer. If you don’t have someone you have been working with, contact me and I will give you the names of several solid options, and I will answer any questions within my area of expertise.
Big point to remember: the program is over on June 10, 2010.
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DON’T LET THESE 8 CHANGES MESS UP YOUR REFINANCING PLANS
April 8th, 2009 categories: Mortgage & Finance
It was bound to happen. A combination of factors has led to a lot of refinancing activity.
But not all lenders are able to process the applications in a timely manner.
With up to 60 days or more from the time of application to the time of closing, it is not uncommon for life situations to change. But be careful because some changes can blow the application out of the water.
Some things you can control, and some things you can’t control. It is smart to control those in the first category, so that you avoid circumstances that may negatively impact your application. That is especially true in the current environment.
Here are at least 8 things you should NOT do, in order to keep your refi plans on track,.
- Don’t buy that new car, and avoid a trade-up to a bigger lease.
- Don’t quit your job or change professions.
- Don’t change your salaried job to a commission income job.
- Don’t move large sums of money between accounts.
- Don’t neglect to pay your bills in a timely manner.
- Don’t open new credit cards, even at better rates.
- Don’t take a cash gift without completing the proper “gift” paperwork.
- Don’t make unusual and undocumented deposits into your bank account.
If you have a circumstance that may cause you to break any of these – for example, a cash gift from family that may be needed to make the deal fly – just check with your loan officer to make sure it won’t be a problem for your application.
The mortgage application process can have numerous “minefields,” so it pays to be careful with life changes, especially now that the process itself is taking a longer time.
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