You can now do a short sale on your home and buy a new home without waiting three years. Prior to the new guidelines you were unable to buy a home with a FHA insured mortgage following a short sale of your primary residence. download FHA Guideline PDF
If you were current when your short sale is made you have every chance of buying a new home according to the new guidelines from the Department of Housing
from FHA guideline-
Borrowers are considered eligible for a new FHA-insured mortgage if, from the date of loan application for the new mortgage
- All mortgage payments due on the prior mortgage were made within the month due for the 12 month period preceding the short sale, and
- All installment debt payments for the same time period were also made within the month due.
Lenders are not allowed to approve a new home purchase if… Read the rest of this entry »
Yes he did. Speaking to associates at a Home Depot, last Friday, President Obama was touting his new ‘Energy Initiative’ and used the word. The worst part he was talking about insulation.
I don’t know how sexy insulation is, but with tax season coming it is a very good time to plan ahead for spring. If you do it right you could get a few ‘sexy’ bucks from Uncle Sam.
If you are planning to do a remodel project take time to plan. I know, how else would you do it? I am talking about planning what materials and products you and your contractor are going to use. Don’t forget to get a permit if the cost of improvement exceeds $1000.
The San Jose Planning Dept. has reduced staff, so start the process early.
Read the rest of this entry »
This must be a symptom of low supply and the fear the bottom has passed.
The median price of a home sold in the county rose 9.9 percent compared to a year ago to $494,400 in November, according to MDA Dataquick, the second straight month of year-to-year increases.
The number of homes sold also rose 47.2 percent to 1,649 in Santa Clara County.
“The latest stats show just how much the Bay Area market has changed in a year,” said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president.
The question I hear most is…”Has the market bottomed out?”
If this price trend continues for another quarter I will answer Read the rest of this entry »
Selling your home because it’s a non performing asset?
Zillow is here to help.
I often compare the short selling of homes to the selling of stocks that are not delivering a fair dividend. How does that cause a rental market you ask?
This is what’s happening…
The surge of interest in rental properties is due to the decline in housing values. This is causing so many homeowners to walk away or to attempt a short sale of their homes. The Los Gatos Rental market is a glaring example. Have you tried to find a rental here? Those upside down sellers need housing and are searching for rentals in large numbers
It is fair to say Zillow has found a new product to peddle.
We can only hope that the lease prices are more accurate than the terrible performance of their “Zestimate” which, arguably, has not shown to be very accurate.
Their rental zite (yes zite as a play on their ‘z’ nomenclature) provides mapping too. If you have any experience with the search engine or results I am interested in hearing your opinion.
Image via Wikipedia
5 New HomeOwners and 5 Successful Sellers makes for great news this past week.
220 BERSANO LN, Los Gatos 95030
$1,729,000 Beds: 4 bed(s) Baths: 3|0 bath(s)
17050 Wild WY, Los Gatos 95030
$1,485,000 Beds: 3 bed(s) Baths: 2|0 bath(s)
16345 LOS GATOS BL #49, Los Gatos 95032 (Los Gatos)
$510,000 Beds: 2 bed(s) Baths: 1|1 bath(s)
30800 LOMA CHIQUITA RD, Los Gatos Mtns 95033 (Los Gatos Mtns)
$159,000 Raw Land
14685 OKA RD #11, Los Gatos 95032 (Los Gatos)
$140,000 Beds: 3 bed(s) Baths: 2|0 bath(s) Mobile Home
There are 12 new Los Gatos listings for the week you can see these new listings using comprehensive search tool on my home page.
Do you remember that commercial? Was it a Mr. Goodwrench add? We now know we payed them then and bailed them out this year! Payed both times. Ugh!
Pay now or Pay Later? That is the question in our mortgage market now…not Shakespearean, but profound considering….Should you jump?
Mortgage rates eased for the fourth consecutive week, hitting historic lows well below 5 percent this week, Freddie Mac said in releasing the results of its latest Freddie Mac Reports.
Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.78 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending Nov. 25, down from 4.83 percent last week and 5.97 percent a year ago.
This is what we have been expecting and will lead to higher rates as the market change cycles. Not to mention the 1.25T the Federal Reserve is spending to buy mortgage backed securities from Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae.
The program is going to continue through March 2010 which makes you wonder…Why are they delaying the inevitable? The program was supposed to be finished up at the end of this year. The answer is: To keep the rates low. Thank you for that. What happens when the rates increase?
The Mortgage Bankers Association last month projected that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages will hit 5.4 percent next year, 6 percent in 2011, and 6.3 percent in 2012. Inflation?
I would suggest buyers take this seriously. Would you rather pay rate to a mortgage bank or a few thousand hard dollars now?
I have included 95124 in today’s, Los Gatos Real Estate sales numbers, to give a general sense of the area and surrounding community in a more broad sense.
Date Range 11/1/2009 – 11/23/2009
Homes for sale 260
New Listings 66
Pending sales 55
Closed Sales This Week 2
Congratulations to 2 the new Buyers and Sellers that closed escrow this last week.
16345 LOS GATOS BL #49,
$510,000 Beds: 2 bed(s) Baths: 2 (1/1) bath(s) 1017 sq ft
115 WOOD RD, Los Gatos 95030
$2,900,000 Beds: 5 bed(s) Baths: 5 (4/1) bath(s) 4386 sq ft
You always thought that over time your home would be worth it’s weight in gold right? Well, maybe not exactly. Now you are feeling like you are paying for a bottomless pit. Many homeowners are considering alternatives to paying for their ‘non performing asset’ and Short Selling seems to have become the option of choice.
VIDEO
There are a number of other reasons you may need to consider the short sale option too. Health, Job loss, divorce, relocation or a mortgage reset are hardships that your mortgage lender will agree are reason enough to allow a short sale if your assets are outweighed by your heavy mortgage burden.
There is some sunlight shining in your bottomless pit.
Your home is gold and there are miners digging for it right now. If after consulting with your bank and finding your best option is selling then you will need to consult with the experts. Your list should include your CPA, attorney and a Realtor experienced in navigating the short sale process. These professionals will provide advice at little or no expense until the home is sold.
There are pitfalls to selling your home for less than you owe. Your CPA can determine the tax implications, your Attorney; the legal ramifications and your Realtor will share the market opportunities, strategies and process.
Al and Erin, homeowners in Sunnyvale, CA., say “Be cautious in hiring ‘so called’ short sale expiditer companies”. Al and Erin hired one and learned the hard way that they were sold a load of gold colored rocks. Not gold. The company they hired took a fee at the front end and had no motivation to complete the process. They already earned money.
Consulting with your team of professionals will save time and money. Your mortgage lender will consider a short sale more readily when confronted with the alternatives this team will present to them and you will not be burdened with undo out of pocket expense.
Buying a short sale is like being a miner…A miner will dig and dig, for months, until they find gold right? Buying a short sale can be very much like mining for gold. You need to have a miner’s mindset and use better tools than the others.
“How many months is this going to take?” This question is being asked with great regularity… too much really. The answer…It depends on who has the mine. Period. If the Listing agent (who has the mine or short sale) is not proactive then it doesn’t matter how hard your Realtor works or how high your offer is…you won’t find any gold.
Your Realtor is your mining pick. They need to know how to qualify the listing agent’s knowledge, experience and ability or, at least, be willing to work to help the listing agent make progress with the bank who is ultimately going to approve the short sale and…shine the light on the gold.
A successful gold miner will have a map of the gold mine and know how to navigate it. Your Realtor of choice will need to have a good map and understand the best way to navigate their way to the gold and extract it. This map is developed through representing sellers AND buyers of short sale properties, understanding all the pitfalls and the best practices to avoid them.
More and more short sales will be coming to the market and, the best homes and best buys available, will likely be short sales. This is the market condition reality for the next year or longer according to Banking industry experts and Real Estate professionals based on market statistics and economic conditions.
The extremely low interest rates are bringing droves of buyers out and multiple offers on the best homes are the norm in San Jose as well as Los Gatos and all around Santa Clara County, for that matter. Too many miners and not enough mines. You can avoid having to compete with these buyers if you realize they are overlooking the opportunity in front of them. The Short Sale properties. Agents are avoiding them because they think that most of them will never close. Ahhaa! The key! Find other mines! Be a good miner and have the sharpest pick!
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