Mortgage Rate News

When looking to buy a home, it is important to get a bargain, if possible. And in the house buying game, part of the process is looking for a home that might be ready for a lowball bid. Money Talks offered these five things, taken from a Newsweek article, that may indicate that you could benefit from offering a lower home bid:

1. Seller getting ready to move. (Or may have even already moved.)
2. After 90 days being listed, there has been no price change on the home.
3. Equity is available on the property; it’s not at risk of being upside down.
4. In a new development, the home is the last one.
5. The home sale is part of an estate sale or a divorce proceeding.

Another consideration could be a home in foreclosure, or a home in danger of entering foreclosure proceedings. You might be able to benefit from a short sale in such cases. Or, in the case of a foreclosure, you might be able to get the home for much less as the bank tries to move it.

In any case, a home seller that could be ready for a lowball bid can be a great way for you to test the waters and see if you can get a real estate bargain. You might find that the seller is willing to deal in non-cash extras as well. You could end up with a carpet and/or paint allowance. Or maybe the seller will pay for the home inspection or some other type of inspection. Perhaps you can get partial landscaping (if it’s a new home) or some other benefit tossed in.

This is the kind of market that you look around in. If you are in a good position, you don’t need to rush things. Be careful about what you buy, and take the time to ensure that you are getting a truly good real estate bargain.

Tags: home sale, home lowball bid, home mortgage loan, mortgage loan blog,
real estate bargain, buying a home, short sale

Right now, a housing bill is finding its way around the Senate floor. This housing bill has a lot of “stuff” crammed into it. Stuff that the bill’s sponsors say will help the housing market (and by extension, the economy) recover, and that it will prevent something of this magnitude from afflicting us again.

Mortgage lenders are among the six trade groupsNei certi siti potete informarvi come installare i giochi, gestire i problemi di connessione, e seguire i direzioni del software che vi guidera’ al casino online virtuale. that are opposing some of the aspects of the Senate housing bill, insisting that it imposes unfair requirements on them, and that it will also reduce the number of mortgage loan products offered to customers. Here are some of the things that mortgage lenders, trade organizations and businesses object to:

• Requiring that mortgage lenders determine which loans are best for borrowers.
• Requiring that mortgage lenders better verify whether or not borrowers can actually afford the loan.
• Instituting a national mortgage lender licensing requirement overseen by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators.

On the one hand, these groups have a point: Is it really the mortgage lenders’ responsibility to ensure that borrowers can afford their loans? Should they really be responsible for making sure that consumers get the best deal. Shouldn’t that be the borrowers’ job?

I’d agree if I hadn’t just been through a mortgage loan process that involved mortgage lenders trying to convince me to buy more house than I was comfortable affording. “I can get you approved for this amount! Let me show you some of the great programs that will make it possible for you to pay for a home that costs this much!”

Mortgage lenders make it sound like you really can afford the loan. Then most of them don’t care whether you can, because they just sell your loan to someone else, pocket the commission and move on without having to worry about whether or not you foreclose in five to seven years. Most people just don’t know where to go to get the information that can help them avoid such pitfalls. Financial literacy isn’t taught in school — despite its increasing importance in today’s world.

While I don’t think that mortgage lenders should accept full responsibility for the home loans, they should accept some of it. And requiring that they not offer an ARM to someone they know won’t be able to make the payments when it resets is one of those things.

It’s not the end of the world if consumers don’t have access to ARMs.

Tags: home loans, mortgage loan blog, home mortgage loan, mortgage lenders,
foreclosures, ARMs, Senate housing bill

Back in 2003, a rule was put into place. This rule stated that foreclosures could not be resold without a 90 day waiting period if the buyer was going to use government backed loans for purchase. The whole point was to reduce the number of property flipping schemes that charged buyers too much for foreclosures.

All that is about to change. For a year, at least.

The Bush Administration has approved a suspension of that rule in order to facilitate the faster sale of foreclosures and other properties that are in distress This is mainly because foreclosures continue to rise, adding to the number of homes on the market — many of which won’t be sold. CNN Money reports on the reasoning behind the suspension of the house flipping rule:

“A glut of foreclosed and abandoned homes harms neighborhoods, frustrates homebuyers and delays a community’s recovery,” FHA commissioner Brian Montgomery said in a prepared statement.

This is a significant gain for house flipping experts, who have found it difficult to operate in the current market. With home values dropping, house flipping has been hard. And with foreclosures increasing, no doubt experienced flippers have been lamenting the fact that the five year old rule prevents them from profiting from the glut in home supply.

Now that has been remedied. For one year, house flipping can once again be the subject of real estate investment seminars and “pay a small fee to learn how to make a bundle in the real estate market” get rich quick schemes. And true house flipping professionals can make tidy profits as they are allowed to go after buyers who get FHA loans and use other government back home mortgage loan programs.

But it also means that it is time for “buyer beware.” With the rule suspension, house flipping of foreclosures will increase — and so will the scams and the overcharging.

Tags: foreclosures, real estate investment, home mortgage loan, home mortgage blog,
house flipping, FHA loans, Bush Administration