Posts filed under ‘Financing a Home’
Senate Approves Increase in FHA Fees
The Senate on Wednesday gave the Federal Housing Administration the go-ahead to raise monthly fees that borrowers pay the agency.
The annual fee is expected to raise from the current rate of 0.55 percent to 0.9 percent of the total loan. The bill gives the FHA the authority to raise the annual fee as high as 1.55 percent.
Simultaneously, the agency plans to lower the loan initiation fee that was raised from 1.75 percent to 2.25 percent earlier this year. Officials would like to drop the up-front fee down to 1 percent of the total mortgage amount.
The net effect of lowering the up-front fee and raising the monthly fee would mean that someone who borrowed $170,000 at 5 percent would pay an extra $38 per month. Current mortgage holders won’t be affected.
The fee changes are projected to bring in an extra $3.6 billion per year to help stabilize the agency’s finances.
Source: The Associated Press, Alan Zibel (08/05/2010)
http://www.realtor.org/RMODaily.nsf/pages/News2010080603?OpenDocument&WT.cg_n=RMO&WT.cg_s=RSSDaily&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DailyRealEstateNews+%28Daily+Real+Estate+News%29
If you’re thinking of making a move, please give me a call. Stephanie Weiss 480.273.7472
Percent of Home Financed Has Shifted
Credit standards have tightened in the last two years. As a result, the portion of the home financed has changed however it is not entirely intuitive how it changed.Copyright National Association of REALTORS®. Reprinted with permission
Why Do I Need My LSR Now?
I have many people contact me to show a property and they assume I will jump in my car and meet them at the property, especially in this online world we all live in. First of all, not only is that not a “safe” thing to do from the Realtors perspective, but it doesn’t make any sense.
Most Realtors, before showing properties will require that a buyer looking for a home provide an LSR (Loan Status Report) which is basically a pre-qualification signed and completed by their lender stating that they have been approved for the loan, what that amount is, interest rate and whether they issued a GFE (Good Faith Estimate), etc. If a buyer is paying cash, they will need to produce a VoF (Verification of Funds) from their lending institution showing evidence that the buyer has the necessary funds to purchase the property. Additionally, if you as a buyer are really looking for a property that you are going to call home, doesn’t it make sense to sit down with the Realtor in their office to go over your specifications so that they can help you achieve your goal? Just because it looks good online, doesn’t mean it is and most Realtors know the neighborhoods they work very well.
Also, there is nothing worse that showing a buyer a home and then finding out they cannot buy that home they just saw and had to have. Not only is it a disappointment for the buyer but believe it or not, it makes the Realtor feel bad as well. A serious home buyer will get their LSR in advance of looking for properties so that when the buyer finds that dream home they must have, they can actually act on it.
There are very few deals, if any these days where a seller will accept a contract without evidence that the buyer is capable of purchasing that specific property, whether financing or paying cash and if financing, it’s actually required in the contract. When the buyer looks for a property and then gets the LSR, that can delay the buyer making an offer on the property and very possibly missing out on that deal.
The LSR also confirms that the buyer is ready, willing and able to look for properties and move forward. We as agents, believe it or not, do not like showing properties to a buyer for days and then find out they can’t qualify for a loan and that we’ve just wasted their time, our time, money, gas, etc. trying to find a home for a buyer that does not have the financial means to purchase.
You can obtain the LSR form online at: http://www.aaronline.com/documents/LSR.pdf
If you’re thinking of making a move, don’t hesitate to give me a call at 480.273.7472
StephanieWeissMoves@gmail.com
Search for properties at: http://StephanieWeissMoves.com
