While many home-buying hopefuls are racing to the bank to close their deals before the $8,000 tax credit disappears, not every potential home-buyer thinks the best deals are out there yet.

But the money one might save by looking for a better home price could pale in comparison to the huge cost of waiting if the mortgage market doesn’t hold steady, and most mortgage brokers & banks expect a rise in rates later this year.

“Rates are almost at an all-time low,” said John Fenech at Sunbelt Lending with Coldwell Banker in St. Petersburg. “We’re still at about 5% for a 30-year-fixed loan (for someone with good credit and a good job).”

John says even a 0.5% change in interest rates means a $56/mo. difference for someone looking at a $180,000 30-year fixed-rate home loan. That translates to $672 a year. And $20,160 over the course of a 30-year loan.

Click here to get approved on line

With inventory shrinking and supply at the 6 month mark a place we haven’t see in Pinellas County in 4 years buyer are starting to feel pressure they haven’t experienced in years. This translates to good news for sellers, and after the losses they have seen in the past 3 years it’s the light at the end of the tunnel for many.

If you were looking for a sign that right now maybe the best time to buy, “it is”. Here is your sign! Don’t put off buying the home a home.

Don’t forget to check out “Search the MLS” or the list of “Bank Owned Homes”

To encourage distressed borrowers to agree to deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure, Fannie Mae is reducing the waiting period — from four years to two years — for them to become eligible for a new mortgage.

The new policy, which will apply to loan applications submitted after June 30, requires a minimum downpayment of 20 percent from borrowers who have agreed to a deed-in-lieu within the past two years. Borrowers with a deed-in-lieu in the past two to four years will be required to put 10 percent down to be considered for a Fannie Mae-backed loan.

Borrowers who lost their homes due to “extenuating circumstances” beyond their control — such as the loss of a job, illness or divorce — can put as little as 10 percent down after two years.

Those loan-to-value ratios will also apply to borrowers who have been involved in short sales and who were already subject to a two-year waiting period.

Bankruptcies and foreclosures are expected to damage millions of borrowers’ credit scores, leaving many unable to obtain a mortgage for years to come (see Inman News series: “Rebuilding homeownership”).

Fannie Mae generally requires five years for borrowers to re-establish credit after a foreclosure, but they may qualify in as soon as three years if they can document extenuating circumstances. The minimum wait for borrowers who have filed for bankruptcy is two to four years, depending on the type of relief sought.

Fannie Mae said the waiting periods for borrowers who have declared bankruptcy or been foreclosed on will remain in effect, and issued new guidance on requirements for re-establishing credit after a bankruptcy, foreclosure or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.

After the waiting period has passed, only borrowers with traditional credit will be approved for loans, the policy said — nontraditional credit or “thin files” will not be accepted.

Borrowers who have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation must generally wait for four years after closure of the bankruptcy proceeding before Fannie Mae will consider them for a loan. The waiting period can be as short as if extenuating circumstances can be shown.

Those who have paid off all or part of their debts through a Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing may be eligible within two years of having their cases discharged. If they fail to complete their Chapter 13 plan, they are required to wait four years after their case is dismissed.

This is a great video which will give you a very good understanding of how the HAMP & HAFA programs work and what you need to do to get approved.

The Price Group have completed many short sales in Pinellas & Manatee, we are ready to assist you with the HAMP & HAFA programs, so if you need advice call us today!

If you found this infomation useful please forward to a friend or retweet using Twitter.

A very hot March
(MLS stats Click Here .pdf)

Absorption Rate: With falling inventory and the trend for increased sales, the absorption rate continued to rise to 11.5 percent for single-family and 9.5 percent for condos. Currently the months’ supply of inventory is 5.5 single-family and 7.6 condo.

Inventory: The number of listings on the market continues to drop on a year-over-year basis. After a slight increase in listings earlier this year, listings dropped again in March. They were down nearly 16 percent for single-family and over 17 percent for condos since March 2009.

Units Sold: The biggest gain took place in sales. Single-family unit sales were up dramatically at nearly 27 percent over March 2009. Condo unit sales increased a whopping 58.5 percent over last year. That’s a pretty torrid pace considering how difficult the condo market has been for the past three years.

Median Price: The median sales price for single-family homes was barely below the March 2009 level, with a 1.1 percent decline. The condo median price fell 12 percent from last year.

Contracts Pending: With single family pending contracts up 60 percent and condo pending contracts up 32 percent from last year, there is great promise of a couple more good months ahead.

Most of the single-family home sales were in the $100,000 to $200,000 range at 37.4 percent and the second highest grouping was in the below $100,000 range at 33 percent. In the higher ranges, 24.7 percent sold in the $200,000 to $400,000 category while 4.7 percent were sold at more than $400,000. Around 1 percent were sold for $1 million or more.

Condo sales were brisk in the below $100,000 range at 46.7 percent. It is interesting to see 12.1 percent selling in the over-$400,000 category, with a surprising 3.1 percent sold at more than $1 million. Are we seeing recovery in the luxury market? The $100,000 to $200,000 range pulled in 26 percent of the sales, while 15.3 percent were in the $200,000 to 400,000 segment.

Pinellas County looks attractive again!

Don’t miss out on this GREAT TIME to buy or you could be sorry!

A record number of desperate borrowers have registered for a traveling mortgage relief marathon that “sounds too good to be true.”

The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America’s Save the Dream Tour opens 9 a.m. Thursday at the Miami Beach Convention Center, offering thousands of struggling homeowners a chance to modify their loans – at no cost.

The event, which offers free counseling and face-to-face contact with lender representative, runs 24 hours a day. Doors close at 8 p.m. on April 19.

Bruce Marks, CEO of the Boston-based nonprofit, said Wednesday morning that a company record 15,000 had already registered for Thursday’s event.

“We’ve had a huge response,” he said, even though the tour made a stop in West Palm Beach just last February.

Darren Duarte, spokesman for NACA, said the overwhelming number of people who showed up for help in Palm Beach County led the tour, which makes stops around the county, back to South Florida.

“During the last day the crowd was extremely large and we got to see a lot of people but there were a lot of people we didn’t get a chance to see,” Duarte said about the February event. “So we saw there is still a need here and a demand here.”

More than 24,000 applied for mortgage relief at the Palm Beach County event, leading to nearly 11,000 modifications, Duarte said.

Greg Calley said he was among those who benefited. The American Airlines mechanic said he was poised to short-sell his Jupiter townhome after a year of trying unsuccessfully to work with Chase to modify his loan, which he struggled to pay.

Then he heard about Save the Dream.

“I thought it was too good to be true,” he said, echoing a common skepticism about whether the nonprofit really can help mortgage holders receive a free, same-day loan modification.

But Calley said that by the time he left the Palm Beach event, his monthly payment was $1,000 cheaper and his interest rate reduced by 4.5 percentage points.

The tour’s arrival in South Florida comes on the heels of a month that set a new South Florida record for property repossessions in March, with 3,707 in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, according to a report by real estate consulting firm CondoVultures Realty.

Those who attend the workshop are encouraged to register and are urged to bring pay stubs, tax forms and other financial documents.

More info: http://www.naca.com

If you are like many American’s who purchase or refinanced their home during the heat of the real estate boom this could be the program that was designed to help YOU! Over the past 2 years I’ve been working to help many clients who have found themselves upside down and need financial help to correct their housing situation. It’s been a long and hard road for many of these good people whose lives have changed in one way or another.

Finally it looks like our government has taken a step in the right direction to streamline the process of helping these good hardworking people.

There are two program: The first is called HAMP, and this is how it works:
The Home Affordable Modification Program is designed to help as many as 3 to 4 million financially struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure by modifying loans to a level that is affordable for borrowers now and sustainable over the long term. The program provides clear and consistent loan modification guidelines that the entire mortgage industry can use.

Borrower eligibility is based on meeting specific criteria including:
1) borrower is delinquent on their mortgage or faces imminent risk of default
2) property is occupied as borrower’s primary residence
3) mortgage was originated on or before Jan. 1, 2009 and unpaid principal balance must be no greater than $729,750 for one-unit properties.

After determining a borrower’s eligibility, a servicer will take a series of steps to adjust the monthly mortgage payment to 31% of a borrower’s total pretax monthly income:

•First, reduce the interest rate to as low as 2%,
•Next, if necessary, extend the loan term to 40 years,
•Finally, if necessary, forbear (defer) a portion of the principal until the loan is paid off and waive interest on the deferred amount.
Note: Servicers may elect to forgive principal under HAMP on a stand alone basis or before any modification step in order to achieve the target monthly mortgage payment.
The Home Affordable Modification Program includes incentives for borrowers, servicers and investors – For More Info Click Here

If you can’t complete the HAMP program for one or a number of reasons than you maybe (should be able to) go in to the second program call HAFA.

Here is the info on HAFA: How HAFA Can Help

The Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) Program was designed to complement the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) by helping current homeowners with mortgage debt who are eligible for HAMP but still cannot keep their home.

When a borrower applies for help from HAMP, not everyone succeeds with the program. Sometimes their lender is unable to approve a loan modification. Other times the borrower declines the terms of the loan modification. Some borrowers are approved and accept the terms of the modification, but fail to complete the program for various reasons. Before HAFA, these borrowers were usually headed for foreclosure.

HAFA gives those borrowers a viable alternative to foreclosure. If they have or want to find a buyer for their home, they may request approval for a short sale with pre-approval short sale terms and minimum acceptable net proceeds. If not, they may request approval for a deed-in-lieu . When a borrower applies for help with one of the HAFA solutions, the program already has their financial and hardship information from their HAMP application.

HAFA also imposes limits on the lender to help the borrower. Under the terms of this program, a lender must release the borrower from all future liability for the first mortgage debt. The lender may not ask the borrower for cash or a promissory note, and the lender may not ask a court for a deficiency judgment. The program also prohibits the lender from asking the listing real estate agent to discount their commission at the closing of a short sale.

All documents have been standardized and procedures, time frames, and deadlines have been streamlined under HAFA to make the process easier for both borrowers and lenders.

HAFA also provides financial incentives for both borrowers and lenders to participate in the program. Borrowers are entitled to receive $1,500 in relocation assistance , to be paid at closing. Lenders or loan servicers may receive up to $1,000 to help with administrative costs. There are also financial incentives for the lender or investor on the first mortgage to allow some of the proceeds from the sale of the property to be paid to subordinate lienholders.

Finally, participation in the HAFA program puts the foreclosure process on hold for the borrower. The lender may initiate the foreclosure process, but if the borrower is in the middle of the application process, or if any approved short sale or deed-in-lieu agreement has not been completed or reached its deadline, the lender may not complete the foreclosure process.

For more information Click Here

There are a lot of people who need this information so please forward to a friend or RT on twitter

There was an article in the Tampa Tribune today called “Default can spur revenge desire”

This is a great article of what we as Realtors are seeing out there today. People destroying they homes as an act of revenge on the banks and financial institutions who loaned money to borrowers to achieve the American dream of home ownership.

I’ve lost count of the number of homes I’ve shown that A/C systems, appliances, doors, locksets etc. have been removed. It’s a disgrace that this type of stuff is going on and it seems that people are getting away with it.

There are some options that the government has just put in place to help homeowners who are behind on their mortgage payments or they are going to end up behind on payments in the near future. The 1st program call HAMP is designed to help people reduce their mortgage payments to a maximum of 31% of their income, here is a link to the program HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program)

If this program isn’t enough to get you on the right path, after completing the HAMP program you can ask to be enrolled into the HAFA program read about it here (Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives)
If you found this information useful please forward to a friend or RT on twitter.

WASHINGTON – April 6, 2010 – A run-up in housing prices contributed to the downfall of real estate, but now some appraisers fear low-ball valuations could lead to the next market muddle.

They say a new federal rule to speed up short sales will increase banks’ reliance on broker price opinions (BPOs) – cheaper, quicker and unregulated home valuations that some argue could lead to an emerging type of mortgage fraud called “flopping.”

Banks have increasingly used Realtors to do broker price opinions, or BPOs, to set list prices as the market swelled with short sales.

Already losing money on the deal, a lender can pay a Realtor for a BPO and avoid a professional appraisal bill costing perhaps hundreds of dollars more.

The new Treasury Department rule streamlines the process for short sales, in part, by requiring participating banks to accept purchase offers that meet preapproved list prices, which can be determined by a BPO.

It’s all very dense, but consider a $1 million home that is inaccurately valued at $700,000, then sold at that amount. The bank is out the $300,000, and neighborhood values decline.

“If you pay an agent … to do the job of an appraiser … how much time and accuracy do you think you’re going to get?” said Realtor Jared Dalto of West Palm Beach-based Seawinds Realty.

Realtors who do BPOs argue appraisers are just angry about losing business. They say a BPO can actually be more accurate in some cases because Realtors know area market trends better than appraisers.

“We’re on the street every day. I’m seeing what’s happening,” said Realtor Frank Verna, who specializes in distressed property sales in northern Palm Beach County. “An appraiser may do a more in-depth study, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s correct.”

Another concern voiced by appraisers is that an agent doing a BPO could have a conflict of interest to assign a specific value to a property to help it sell. The issue was stressed in March letters to Treasury Department officials from national appraisal groups, which noted concern that using BPOs exclusively could increase “flopping.”

The definition of flopping varies, but it generally includes a BPO assigning a lesser value to a home, which is then sold by the bank based on the discounted value. The buyer then flips the property, selling it at its true market value and giving a kickback to the Realtor who did the original BPO.

Palm Beach County Realtors and mortgage brokers interviewed for this story said they haven’t encountered flopping here, but Peter Zalewski, a principal with the Miami research and brokerage firm Condo Vultures, said he sees it in his area.

“It’s definitely happening,” Zalewski said. “If you have access and information, you can put a spread on anything today, and buyers are coming in with cash, which means there is no need for an appraisal.”

Verna, who said there is no licensing requirement for Realtors who do BPOs, recently had 25 properties to look at in one day. He said one BPO takes about an hour to complete.

Mike Slade, a principal with Callaway & Price appraisals in West Palm Beach, said his appraisers can take up to a day to complete one appraisal.

While both appraisals and BPOs may involve only a few minutes spent physically looking at a home, an appraisal is supposed to include more research on area prices, sales and upgrades.

Appraisers are licensed and regulated by the state. Realtors are expected to adhere to a code of ethics set by the National Association of Realtors. The association defends BPOs, saying they benefit borrowers because they are less expensive yet are widely accepted as reliable and accurate.

“While misconceptions in the industry persist, there is no evidence that a BPO exacerbates mortgage fraud or abuse,” said NAR President Vicki Cox Golder.

Plus, Verna added, most short sales have multiple BPOs done on them. “It’s not one person controlling the value of the property,” he said.

Bank of America didn’t return a request for comment about the use of BPOs. Another large lender didn’t want to speak on the record about the issue but said BPOs have been useful given the large volume of properties it now deals with.

Skip McDonough, a broker with Family Mortgage in Jupiter, said he has seen “tremendous inconsistencies” in property valuations done by a certified appraiser vs. a Realtor.

“A good broker will do a good job and a BPO can be a valuable tool,” said Slade, of Callaway & Price. “Unfortunately a broker may have the expectation of getting a commission on the sale. As an appraiser, the only fee I’m getting is what you pay me.”