10 Ways to Boost Your Homes Sales Price by Spring

Click on the title to link. For any of you thinking about selling this spring, this has some great ideas to help you boost the sales price of your home. We are always here to answer any questions for you regarding the process. If you need a referral to a good Realtor then we have those also.

Foreclosures At Rock Bottom Prices

Click on the title to link. This is another article on purchasing foreclosures. If you are in the market to buy a house then you will be hard pressed to not at least look at some foreclosures (or short sales). Be educated and read this article.

Don't Get "Rate Greedy"

There is one constant any time rates are really low, people always think they can/will get better. And they vary well may, and sometimes do. But you really have to be careful to not get greedy about it. Rates are at 50 year lows, that is pretty awesome! So you really have to question what makes one think they are going to get much lower, if at all. And is it worth the risk? People often do not realize a couple of things.

1. A large move in rates (.25% down, for example) will generally have a small effect on you payment. Does it help? Of course. And having a large loan amount also makes a bigger difference. But it is a risk to wait for that kind of movement. A .25% drop in rates is not something that happens daily (generally).

2. Rates move up much faster than they move down. It has also really bugged us that lenders are much slower to better rates than they are to worsen them. And when they get worse they can get worse much quicker than they get better. So although rates may take some time to improve .25%, they can worsen .25% in the blink of an eye. So, again, you cost vs. benefit has to really be thought through.

Bottom line, you can certainly wait things out and hope rates keep going down. And you may very well get a better rate. But know the risks going into it, and don't get greedy. 50 year low rates don't come around very often; roughly every 50 years. :-D

6 More Hurdles for Home Financing

Click on the title to link. We changed the title of our post just slightly from the article to reflect the fact that the hurdles listed in the article are really six more hurdles. They are the major ones indeed, but there are so many that you could practically write a short book about it.

The bottom line? If you have not got a mortgage in a couple of years then you need to know that this is not "business as usual" anymore. In fact, it is so ridiculous sometimes that it can be maddening. We deal with it everyday and it is insanity what some of these lenders deem necessary. About the only thing left to analyze is urine samples. And don't put it past our current government to move in that direction (kidding, mostly).

Regardless, rates are insanely low. We just keep waiting for them to go up, and they keep going down. Obtaining a mortgage before could be unpleasant because of the dope you were working with. Now it can down right lead you to craziness UNLESS you are working with someone you trust. Now, more than ever, it is critical that you work with someone who is referred to you, or can really show you how they work. If they cannot do that then run. We are here to help walk you through all of this, hand in hand. That is the only way you will have a smooth and understandable process.

Ideas For A Down Payment

Click on the title to link...

Home Sales Slide at 40 Year High

Click on the title to link. There is also an associated video you can view that, for some reason, we could not embed.

Details on the New, Extended Tax Credit

Click on the title to link. As you probably know by now, the Feds have extended the tax credit. Additionally, they broadened the net to include existing homeowners who meet certain guidelines. Read this helpful article to get the "down low".

Home Buyer Tax Credit - Extended

Whether you agree or disagree philosophically with the government help programs, congress has extended the home buyer tax credit. It's no longer called the "First" time home buyer credit because it is available to certain non-1st time buyers. There are a lot of myths about who can get this tax credit, so please review the following:

Important date: May 1, 2010. This is the date that purchase contracts must be signed to be eligible. The transaction must close by July 1, 2010. But purchase contracts dated June 1st, for example, are not eligible even though they will close prior to July 1st because the contract was executed after the May1, 2010 deadline.
First-time Homebuyer: Tax Credit Amount = up to $8,000. How is this calculated? It is 10% of the home’s value or $8,000 whichever is less. So, any home over $80,000 will get a maximum tax credit of $8,000.
What is a First-time homebuyer? It is anyone that has not previously owned a home or has not owned a primary residence within the last 36 months. Individuals that currently own second homes or vacation homes but have not lived in them for the past 36 months may still qualify.
Existing Homebuyer: Tax Credit Amount = up to $6,500. This is for current homeowners that have lived in their current home for at least 5 years. So, if you purchased your home 2 years ago you would not qualify.
Military Bonus: If you served in our military for more than 90 days outside of our boarders, you get a one-year extension and have until 2011.
Income Limits: The tax credit begins to phase out for a single person that makes more than $125,000. For married couples it phases out at $225,000.

As always, please let us know if you have any questions.