Back from a great workshop w/my favorite group, CAMB @reaffinity. Engaged & interested mortgage folks. High attendance. Invigorating. W00t! # National Mortgage Professional just posted my August contribution. Would love feedback. http://budurl.com/zpw8 (Thanks @andrewtberman!) # Powered by Twitter Tools.
There’s some common sense ways to protect your home from burglary — keep the doors locked, the windows shut, and the alarm system on, for example. But drawing from a series of interviews with ex-convicts, NBC’s The Today Show reveals there are ways by which a vacationing homeowner can unwittingly make his home a theft target. Awareness is the key to prevention. As cited in the video, when vacationing: Have neighbors pick up mail and newspapers daily If it snows, have somebody drive tire tracks on your driveway Don’t announce your vacation on social media networks If you don’t have a safe, consider moving valuables to a child’s room You can’t protect a home 100 percent from burglary, but you can at least make it “not the easiest target” on the street. Use your common sense, and follow the steps outlined in the video. It’s what the burglars don’t want you to know.
If you plan to use the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit program, time is running out. The program expires November 30, 2009 and closing on a home can take up to 60 days. That leaves you 6 weeks from today to find a home and go under contract. The First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit program was passed as part of the 2009 economic stimulus plan. It credits up to $8,000 in tax payments to qualified buyers. The qualification criteria are as follows: Buyer may not have owned a “main home” in the past 36 months The home may not be purchased from a parent, spouse, or child Adjusted gross income for the household must be below $95,000 for single tax filers and $170,000 for joint tax filers Furthermore, not everyone who’s qualified will get the full $8,000. The credit can’t exceed 10 percent of a home’s purchase price, for example, and households with income approaching program limits get lesser benefits, too. […]
Single-family Housing Starts rose for the 4th straight month in July, another sign that the battered housing market may be making its comeback. “Housing starts” are new homes on which construction has recently started. Not surprising, in a related story, homebuilder confidence moved to a 12-month high. Ironically, an increase in newly-built homes could actually slow a nationwide housing rebound because values are driven by supply and demand. More in-the-pipeline supply means that buyer demand has to stay strong or else prices will eventually fall. So far this year, though, demand has kept pace. Over the past 6 months, the combination of low mortgage rates, aggressive home valuations, and federal and state tax credits has kept buyer activity up and home values on the rise.
It looks like banks are less scared of mortgage loans these days. In its quarterly survey to member banks, the Federal Reserve asked senior bank loan officers whether “prime” residential mortgage guidelines had tightened in the last 3 months. Just one-fifth of banks said guidelines tightened last quarter, a dramatically lower figure versus last quarter — a signal that mortgage underwriting may get less restrictive in the months ahead. It is worth noting, however, that not a single responding bank said its guidelines had eased. For now, getting through underwriting is still much tougher than it was 2 years ago. Some of the changes today’s borrowers face include: Higher minimum FICOs Larger required downpayments and equity ownership Higher income levels versus monthly debts Larger reserve requirements Furthermore, second mortgages are scarce when loan-to-values exceed 80 percent. The underwriting changes of the last 24 months preclude many Americans from getting access to today’s low rates if the Fed’s reported trend continues, that could […]
by jberman