Nov 12

D-FW: 'Tested and proven'

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.

Nov 11

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

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®.

Nov 8

Freddie could take more than a decade to unload REO inventory

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

Nov 6

Homeownership Rate Rises After Two Years of Decline

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

Oct 28

Mortgage lenders could soon take homes’ energy costs into account

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.

Aug 20

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

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

Aug 17

Mortgage tax deductions may soon be in play

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.

Aug 16

Appraisals Weigh Down Housing Sales

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.

Jul 27

New rules give you more access to your credit score

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.

Jul 24

Big Mortgages Are Back

So-called jumbo loans—generally those bigger than $417,000—are a better bargain now than they have been in years. The average rate on a 30-year jumbo mortgage is 5.15%, down from 6.41% two years ago, according to mortgage data firm HSH Associates. That means the monthly payment on a 30-year $600,000 home loan is now about $3,280, some $480 less than the cost of the same loan two years ago, for an annual savings of nearly $5,800.

Julie C. Nichols

Mortgage news you can use

Filed under: Industry News