Julie C. Nichols

D-FW: 'Tested and proven'

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 11:00:00 -0800

There are many ways to illustrate a region’s success in attracting and retaining corporate citizens.

For Dallas-Fort Worth, the best way to paint that picture is through the onslaught of recent accolades: best cities to live and do business in, best region for new college grads, fourth-largest metro and a leading job creator in the country.

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Texas home-sales volume increases as prices hold steady in third quarter

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:00:00 -0800

Texas homes continued to hold their value as sales jumped up in the third quarter of 2011.

For the period of July through September 2011, the volume of single-family home sales in Texas was 58,019, nearly 18% more than the same quarter in 2010. Real estate prices remained flat in the third quarter with the median price statically unchanged from Q3-2010 at $151,800 and the average price down less than one percent to $197,833, according to the latest Texas Quarterly Housing Report issued by the Texas Association of REALTORS®.

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Audit finds that dead people were among beneficiaries of homebuyer tax credit

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 09:00:00 -0800

Remember the federal tax credit programs offering $7,500 and, later, $8,000 to first-time home buyers? The credits were designed to deliver a jolt to the reeling housing industry. And they did: More than 4 million people applied for and have received nearly $30 billion worth of credits.

Most of them, according to the Internal Revenue Service, went to people who legitimately qualified for the credits. But a series of audits has documented foul-ups by the IRS, ranging from credits granted to prison inmates and dead people, fraud schemes involving claimants who never bought a house and even credits for purported home purchases by teenagers and kids as young as 3 years old.

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Freddie could take more than a decade to unload REO inventory

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:00:00 -0800

Freddie Mac vendors sold fewer REO properties in the third quarter than they did earlier in the year as nonperforming loans continue to climb.

More than 25,300 repossessed homes held by Freddie Mac sold in the third quarter, down 13.5% from the nearly 30,000 in the previous three months. It was also a 17% decline from the record-setting 31,600 sold in the first quarter.

Read more: http://tinyurl.com/3dukdc4

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Mortgage Rates STILL LOW

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:00:00 -0800

Mortgage rates sagged this week as ongoing concerns about the European debt crisis had investors fleeing to the relative safety of mortgage-backed securities that fund most U.S. home loans.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4 percent

Read More: http://tinyurl.com/6en79y3

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Homeownership Rate Rises After Two Years of Decline

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 11:00:00 -0800

After falling to a 13-year low during the second quarter, the homeownership rate posted a highly unexpected rise in the third quarter, according to a Census Bureau report

Read More: http://tinyurl.com/3txfhr4

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Five Great Things about Homeownership

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 15:00:00 -0700

If you've been on the fence about homeownership, now is the time to take a leap! Don't let the negative press deter you from one of life's greatest joys.

Take a look at five short and sweet reasons that homeownership is great!

1. Equity. When you pay rent, you never see that money again. It is lining the landlord's pocket.

Read More: http://tinyurl.com/3mk279w

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Tyler home sales up over last year

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 08:00:00 -0700

The Tyler area saw a 17.27 percent increase in home sales in September compared to the same time a year ago.

Last month, 258 homes were sold in the area, compared to 220 sold in September 2010, according to figures released Tuesday from the Greater Tyler Association of Realtors.

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Home sales strong in Lubbock

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 07:00:00 -0700

Real estate agents in Lubbock had a strong September, racking up home sales nearly 40 percent better than a year ago, according to figures released by the Lubbock Association of Realtors.

And preliminary indications suggest October is on track for another good showing.

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New Texas Homestead laws effective 9/1/2011

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 12:00:00 -0700

Effective Sept 1 2011, Changes in "Texas Homestead Exemption," Law

Effective September 1, 2011, the State is now asking for you to submit a copy of your driver’s license and vehicle registration with your form. Both the DL & registration address MUST MATCH the physical address of the property you are claiming as your homesteaded property.

Visit your county's central appraisal district website for specific details.

http://appraisaldistrict.net/county.asp

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Mortgage lenders could soon take homes’ energy costs into account

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:00:00 -0700

A new, bipartisan effort on Capitol Hill could put energy costs and savings squarely into standard mortgage underwriting equations. A bill introduced Oct. 20 would force the big three mortgage agencies to take account of energy costs in every loan they insure, guarantee or buy. It would also require them to instruct appraisers to adjust their property valuations upward when accurate data on energy efficiency savings are available.

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Fannie Rules change for the better for Investor cash-out loans

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 07:30:00 -0700

Effective 8/20/11 Fannie Mae is making changes to the Cash-out Rules but the new rules are pretty specific, so please read carefully and let me know if you have any questions.

Previously, if you purchased a house for cash, you would have to wait for 6 months before you could do a cash-out loan on the property…. And if you owned MORE than 4 properties with mortgages, you were not allowed to do a cash-out at all on any investment property you owned.

Fannie has recognized that people paying cash are probably buying houses that need major repair and they will now allow a cash-out refinance of homes that were purchased less than 6 months FOR CASH.

Here is where the rules are specific and EACH RULE APPLIES:

1) The house must have been purchased using CASH (NO LIEN on the property).

2) The loan to Value will be based on PURCHASE price (NOT market value and NOT including any upgrade/repair costs)

3) The purchase was an arms-length transaction (ie, you didn’t buy from a relative)

4) The purchase can be documented with a HUD-1 settlement statement confirming there was no financing

5) You must provide bank statements at the time of purchase to prove you had and used your own money for the purchase.

6) And lastly… this is the wonderful part… we can do this transaction if you own more than 4 financed properties.

DO UNDERSTAND however, that if you purchased a property for cash MORE than 6 months ago AND you currently have 4+ properties with mortgages already, this new change does NOT apply. I know it does not seem fair, but they drew a line in the sand and this is what we have to work with going forward.

Please contact me if you have any questions about this change. juliecnichols@gmc-inc.com

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U.S. Seeks Ideas on Renting Out Foreclosed Property

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 09:00:00 -0700

The Obama administration said on Wednesday that it was soliciting ideas on how to turn the federal government’s inventory of foreclosed houses into rental properties that could be managed by private enterprises or sold in bulk.

The goal, the administration said, is to stabilize neighborhoods where large supplies of empty, foreclosed properties have hurt property values. In addition, the plan is an effort to clear the nation’s balance sheet of real estate holdings that, because they have been difficult to sell individually, have hung over the housing market and stunted sales of existing homes and new construction.

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Austin economy keeps outperforming nation's as a whole

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 12:00:00 -0700

Against the worst national economy in more than 60 years, the Austin area stands out as the best market in the nation.

That's the bottom line from Mark Sprague, an expert who follows the economy and housing markets both locally and nationally.

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Mortgage tax deductions may soon be in play

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 09:00:00 -0700

If you take mortgage interest tax deductions, the next 100 days could have significant financial implications for you, thanks to Congress’s new federal debt ceiling plan.

The compromise legislation created an unusual mechanism — an evenly split, 12-member bipartisan supercommittee — that could call for major cutbacks on real estate write-offs by Thanksgiving.

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Appraisals Weigh Down Housing Sales

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 08:00:00 -0700

Appraisals are supposed to be unbiased assessments of a property's value. The housing bubble that burst a few years ago was inflated, in part, by overly generous appraisals. Now, lenders are pressuring appraisers to come in with lower estimates, some real-estate professionals say. Banks also are using less-experienced appraisers, who often don't appreciate factors that make a home worth more, they say. And valuations are being heavily influenced by distressed sales priced at a discount to the rest of the market.

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Why Texas is thriving

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 07:00:00 -0700

The Dallas Federal Reserve notes that Texas entered the Great Recession late and came out of it early, with 2-percent job growth in 2010 and an expected 3 to 4 percent for 2011.

Of the 496,000 jobs added to the U.S. economy between fall 2009 and spring 2011, more than half of that job growth came from Texas – a finding Perry has bragged about recently.

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FBI's 2010 Mortgage Fraud Report

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 14:30:00 -0700

Analysis of available law enforcement and industry data indicates the top states for known or suspected mortgage fraud activity during 2010 were California, Florida, New York, Illinois, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Texas, Georgia, Maryland, and New Jersey; reflecting the same demographic market affected by mortgage fraud in 2009.

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Mortgage rates hit new lows

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:20:00 -0700

On the heels of the announcement that interest rates would remain exceptionally low for at least two more years, mortgage rates fell to new lows this week.

Freddie Mac says a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to an average of 4.32 percent in the week ending Aug. 11, the lowest level of the year. Fifteen-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to an average of 3.5 percent, the lowest since Freddie Mac has been keeping track.

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New rules give you more access to your credit score

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 11:05:00 -0700

Part of the financial reform bill, the new rule kicked in on Thursday 7/21/11 and says that any borrower who is denied credit or offered a higher-than-usual interest rate is entitled to see his credit score without even having to ask. The rule is supposed to wipe out much of the secrecy surrounding the lending process and give consumers the information they need to get a better deal in the future.

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