Steps to take to prevent Forclosure!
One of their educator’s Cindy Tesch says there are some steps you should take if you fall behind on your mortgage – most importantly you need to devise a payment plan. But to do that Tesch says you have to confront your problem and that means confronting your mortgage company.
“Most consumers are scared or afraid because they don’t know what their mortgage company is going to tell them. So you want to stay in contact with the mortgage company,” Tesch said.
Tesch says mortgage companies are very willing to work with you. Something that’s really important to keep in mind — once your payment plan is set up you must make cuts to your budget because each month you will be paying your regular mortgage plus your back mortgage.
“If you really want to keep the home, look at the budget, see what is absolutely necessity and then cut out what isn’t. For just the time so you can get caught up on that mortgage,” Tesch said.
You may even consider selling certain assets — like a car if your family has two cars but can survive on one.
“If you really want to keep the home, look at the budget, see what is absolutely necessity and then cut out what isn’t. For just the time so you can get caught up on that mortgage,” Tesch said.
You may even consider selling certain assets — like a car if your family has two cars but can survive on one.
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Obama pledges mortgage help.
WASHINGTON (REUTERS) — U.S. President Barack Obama promised Saturday to help lower Americans’ mortgage costs with a new plan, coming soon, that would revive the financial system and “get credit flowing again.”
Obama, who has made fighting the country’s economic and financial crises the top priority of his young administration, called on the U.S. Senate to approve an economic stimulus bill that the House of Representatives passed this week. Full story.
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Questions to Ask Any Agent
1. How long have you been in residential real estate in our area? If they have not been in local real estate for several years, they have not been involved in the cyclical market that has defined our market to date. Along with this, ask how many transactions they average per year. One agent could have been in business 10 years and have only closed 30 transactions, while another agent could have been in business 5 years, yet closed 500 plus transactions. Experience is relative to the amount of business the agent does.
2. What is your procedure for assisting a buyer from beginning to closing? Make sure that the agent has a precise presentation for you that explains exactly how they work and how they represent only you and your best interests.
3. What is your experience with financing alternatives, and what might they be in my situation? Each buyer’s situation is different. We can literally put you in a much better financial situation with the same monthly payments simply by adjusting the financing. You might have many alternatives. Don’t depend solely on the lender. Your agent should lead the way.
4. How do you determine my qualifications and when? You would be shocked at how rare it is for an agent to complete your qualifications right away. Even so, it is important to have this done early in the process. This way you are ready to make a strong offer at a moment’s notice, increasing your chances for not only finding, but buying the home of your dreams.
5. How do you provide me with information on new homes for sale? Your agent should have a system that automatically updates you when new homes meeting your criteria come on the market.
6. What is your negotiating philosophy, and how do you apply it to me? This is important. Play close attention to how many transactions the agent does per year. More is better. The more transactions the agent closes, the more experience they have in negotiating just about every situation that could come up.
7. How do you find the best value for me? How do you make sure it is a good value? This is important because the agent should have some immediate and concise answers as to how they accomplish this for you. They should have systems in place and be able to explain them to you.
8. How do you protect me from the extensive costs that lenders, title companies, inspectors and others charge a home purchaser? The typical answer is that these charges are just normal. Make sure that the agent has relationships with companies that can offer you good service and some discounts. Also make sure that the agent has an immediate knowledge of what typical costs are.
9. Can you sell us a new, resale or foreclosed home? Most agents will answer affirmatively, but you should follow up with questions about specific builders and areas.
There are many more questions to ask, this is just a sampling. Do you have a specific question you would like answered? Let us know by clicking here!
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First time buyers could receive a $7,500 tax credit if they purchase soon.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — If you’re thinking of buying a home, there could be a big bonus for you in the economic stimulus bill that’s now before Congress.
Among its many provisions is a $7,500 tax credit for first time home buyers. The House passed the $819 billion stimulus plan, including this tax credit, in a vote late Wednesday. The Senate may vote on its version of the bill some time next week. Full Story.
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US home sales see surprise rise
© BBC MMIX
US home sales unexpectedly rose in December as buyers took advantage of much lower house prices, industry figures have showed.
Sales of existing homes rose 6.5% to an annual rate of 4.74 million, up from 4.45 million units in November, the National Association of Realtors said.
Analysts had been expecting December sales to total 4.4 million.
For 2008 as a whole, sales fell 13.1% to 4.91 million units, the worst year in a decade.
“It appears some buyers are taking advantage of much lower home prices,” said Lawrence Yun, the association’s chief economist.
“Buyers will continue to have an edge over sellers for the foreseeable future.”
The association said that existing home prices fell by 15.3% in December from the same period a year earlier, with 45% of transactions viewed as “distress sales”, where the seller was forced to sell at a discounted price.
2009 rebound?
The rise in home sales was also down to a fall in the number of unsold homes on the market.
However, analysts said that this trend could reverse, as sellers were likely to resume putting their homes up for sale in the spring.
“The bottom line is that existing home sales have weakened markedly following the credit market seizure in September,” said Paul Ashworth, senior economist at Capital Economics.
“The subsequent decline in mortgage rates may spur a rebound in 2009, but nothing is guaranteed,” he added.
New home construction has also been hit by the economic slowdown.
Housing starts in the US fell by 15.5% in December to hit an all-time low, official statistics released last week showed. The rate of new construction was down 45% from December 2007.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/business/7852011.stm
Published: 2009/01/26 17:07:33 GMT
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Many Aiken homes top $1M
What makes a million dollar home in Aiken? According to Aiken Multiple Listing Service (MLS), there have been 60 transaction … READ MORE
Front Gate Properties, We’re selling the BEST Real Estate in Aiken, SC.
Foreclosures up a record 81% in 2008
Filings continued to soar through the end of the year – and there’s no relief in sight for 2009. more
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The 2009 economy and your wallet
The new president’s first job will be to repair a badly broken economy. Here’s how he’ll take on the four biggest challenges – and what that means for you.
By Janice Revell, Money Magazine senior writer
Last Updated: January 13, 2009: 8:52 AM ET
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Low rates not enough?
CNNMoney: Mortgage applications dip despite low rates
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Applications for U.S. residential mortgages slipped from lofty levels last week as homeowners slowed refinancings ahead of expected federal action to lower housing costs, an industry group said on Wednesday.
The real story.
CNNMoney: Credit 2008: Year of the freeze
If the story of 2008 was the government’s unprecedented multi-trillion dollar bailouts of the financial sector, then the credit market was the story behind the story.
The issue of credit moved to the forefront in the past year, as the typically benign market exploded into crisis-mode, and nervous investors bought up historical amounts of safe government debt. It was a year of violent changes in borrowing rates and lending behavior, guided by countless government programs aimed at easing credit for corporate America, banks and consumers.
The so-called credit crunch began after the subprime meltdown of late 2007. High-risk loans on banks’ balance sheets became almost worthless, and as banks were forced to take large writedowns on these so-called “toxic assets,” they became less likely to lend, unwilling to take on more risk.
For much of the year, financial institutions were in a quandary. They had difficulty acquiring loans and at the same time resisted issuing loans. The credit crunch made everything from financing payrolls to getting car, student and home loans difficult for businesses and borrowers.
Then, after the credit situation started to improve somewhat in the summer, Lehman Brothers’ epic collapse on Sept. 15 marked a stunning turning point in the financial markets from which Wall Street is still recovering.
Within two days, overnight Libor, a key interbank lending rate, soared to an 8-month high of 3.06%. Within a week, the market for commercial paper, a key form of business lending, had shrunk to a 2-1/2 year low of $1.7 trillion. And within 10-days, two key measures of risk sentiment – the Libor-OIS spread and the TED spread – were at all-time highs.
However, as the year comes to a close, there are signs that the credit environment has been slowly improving.
Borrowing rates fell from historical highs to all-time lows: the 3-month Libor has dropped from a 2008 high of 4.82% to 1.42% on Dec. 31. And the overnight Libor rate has plunged from an all-time high of 6.88% on Sept. 30 to 0.14% at the end of the year – just 0.03 percentage points higher than the all-time low set a week ago.
Meanwhile, the “TED spread,” a measure of banks’ willingness to lend, slipped to 1.34 percentage points Wednesday – below where the measure stood just before Lehman’s collapse.
But most economists believe it’s still a long road to recovery. Though many of the bailouts have reduced borrowing and costs, all the lending facilities and liquidity programs in the world won’t encourage private lending on their own. Many have said the Fed can only push on a string.
Alan Greenspan, the former Fed chief, has said that we will know the credit markets have returned to normal when the Libor-OIS spread returns to just a hair above the anticipated Fed funds rate. That will show that banks are confident about the market conditions and have resumed normal lending practices. Libor-OIS was less than 0.8 percentage points before Lehman collapsed. It reached a record high of 3.64 percentage points on Oct. 10, and sits at 1.24 today. So according to Greenspan, we’re a little more than halfway to recovery.
Could it happen to me??
CNNMoney: Protecting your home’s value
Foreclosures can affect the value of your property even if you’ve been paying your mortgage faithfully. Here are some ways you can protect your home’s worth if your area is hit hard by foreclosures.
Good news?
Real Estate News – Latest construction, mortgage & housing market …
More real estate news. Mortgage rates tumble to record low …. MSNBC.com’s editorial cartoonists weigh in on the subprime mortgage meltdown. more photos …
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8874568/ – 67k –
Mortgages…now what??
Mortgage rates tumble to record low
Refinancing activity rises to highest level since boom year of 2003
 | Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages fell to a record low for the second straight week, causing refinancing applications to surge to the highest level in more than five years, a month after the Federal Reserve pledged to channel billions to prop up the sinking U.S. housing market. While homeowners around the country are taking advantage of historically low rates to refinance their loans, the opportunity isn’t available to those with poor credit or little equity in their homes, and foreclosures are still likely to surge. |
Existing home sales increase by largest amount in 5 years
Sales of existing homes rose by the largest amount in more than five years in September, a real estate trade group said Friday. The data is a possible glimmer of hope that the housing slump could be starting to bottom out.
The National Association of Realtors said Friday that sales of existing homes rose by 5.5 percent in September compared to August, the best showing since a 5.6 percent increase in July 2003, during the five-year housing boom.
More on this story at AikenStandard.com