EXPAND HOME AFFORDABLE REFINANCE PROGRAM TO 125 PERCENT LOAN-TO-VALUE
The Federal Housing Finance Agency has authorized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to expand the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) to homeowners who are current on their mortgage payments from the present loan-to-value ratio ceiling of 105 to 125 percent. With these expanded refinance opportunities, qualified borrowers whose mortgages are currently owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be allowed to refinance those loans according to the terms of the Home Affordable Refinance Program established earlier this year.
“I am pleased to join Secretaries Donovan and Geithner in announcing this expansion of the Obama Administration’s Making Home Affordable program,” said FHFA Director James Lockhart. “The higher LTV refinancings will allow more homeowners to strengthen their finances by taking advantage of lower mortgage rates. The Enterprises are also incenting these borrowers to combine a lower mortgage rate with a faster amortization schedule, which will enable them to get ‘above water’ on their mortgages more quickly. This program could assist many homeowners who otherwise would have difficulty refinancing due to declining house prices,” Lockhart said.
Monthly Payments Lowered by 67%
April 14, 2009 by admin
Filed under Mortgages, Positive Real Estate
If you you could buy a valuable asset for what once cost 44% of your income now costs 25%, wouldn’t you buy? That is the line I can hear agents across the Country singing to their home buyer prospects.
According to the John Burns letter,the median-income household, which earns $52,800 per year, only needs 25% of their income to buy the median-priced single-family home of $164,600. In July 2006, that ratio was 44%.
Sell the payment as they say.
As Burns points out in other areas of the country the payment is even better. In Oakland, CA housing costs have declined 67% for the monthly payment.
http://www.realestateconsulting.com/
Builders Take the Rates Even Lower
Some home builders are offering lower mortgage interest interest rates than the prevailing rate. While the averaxe fixed rate is somewhere just below 5%. These new home builders have “lowered” the bar even more.
- Lennar Corp. is offering a fixed 3.625% rate over the life of a 30-year fixed rate mortgage.
- Honanian recent offer is 3.99%
- Toll Brothers offered a 3.99% interest rate in many of its luxury developments earlier this year. But has since pulled the offer.
Marin County Prices and Mortgages
Bob Ravasio reports over at his Marin real estate blog that mortgages are as low 4.85% in the Bay Area. Bob also rips into the sensationalization of a recent SF Chronicle article that said Marin County homes are down 26%. Which is a twisting of the facts.
As Bob tells it:
Thank goodness it’s not true.
While there was more information in the body of the article, for those who read that far, it made it clear that the reason average sale price has gone down so dramatically is that more low priced condos are selling relative to single family homes. These tend to be much lower value, driving the average down on a much smaller base.Average sale price is a terrible barometer of what is going on in the short term, yet because it is the easiest to explain or analyze, it is the statistic that gets used all of the time.
Refinance Aps Jump 41.5% last week
The Fed announces expanded purchases of mortgage-backed securities and applications for refinance loans jumped 41.5 percent last week after rates were the lowest in six decades: Mortgage Bankers Association
Fed to buy up to $300B long-term Treasury bonds
The Federal Reserve just announced it will spend up to $300 billion over the next six months to buy long-term government bonds, a new step aimed at lifting the country out of recession by lowering rates on mortgages and other consumer debt.
“This is not only going to keep mortgage rates low for a long period of time,” said Greg McBride, a senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com. “The mere announcement may produce a honeymoon effect and bring mortgage rates down to even lower levels in the coming days.” It is believed this move will get rates down to 4.5%
Southern Cali Giving Free Loans to First Time Homeowners
Los Angeles County is giving interest free second trust deed loans of $50,000 to $75,000 to first-time borrowers who do not already own a home or for those who have not owned a principal residence for three years preceding the purchase. So lets see Obama is handing out $8k. If the house is new California will hand out $10k. Buwah! Its like 2004 all over again!
n an effort to stimulate home buying, cities and counties throughout Southern California are rolling out programs that give incentives to first-time buyers.
Among them, Los Angeles County’s Housing Economic Recovery Ownership program is set to launch March 17. Single-family foreclosed or abandoned homes are eligible in designated census tracts with a maximum price of $493,000 and foreclosed or abandoned attached homes up to $394,250. No repayment of the second trust deed is required until the home is sold, transferred, refinanced or no longer owner-occupied.
But you have to go to house school, an eight-hour home ownership course from an approved U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development counseling agency.
Not to be outdone Riverside , the city of Corona’s Redevelopment Agency has reinstated its Home Owner Assistance Program for first-time buyers. The agency will contribute the 20% down payment to purchase a foreclosed home up to $350,000.
In Riverside County, the city of Corona’s Redevelopment Agency has reinstated its Home Owner Assistance Program for first-time buyers. The agency will contribute the 20% down payment to purchase a foreclosed home up to $350,000.
Jumbo Loans Are Easy (er) and Up
This in from Laura Berg at Countrywide:
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NEW JUMBO GUIDELINES
· 80% TO $1,500,000
· 720 MINIMUM SCORE
· CAN YOU BELIEVE IT A 50% BACK END DEBT TO INCOME RATIO!
Wow so perhaps the credit market is starting to loosen its noose a little eh?
NO MORE COMMISSION REDUCTIONS FOR FANNIE MAE SHORT SALES
https://www.efanniemae.com/sf/guides/ssg/annltrs/pdf/2009/0903.pdf
Effective March 1, 2009, closing of preforeclosure sales may not be conditioned upon a
reduction of the total commission to be paid to real estate agents to a level below what was
negotiated by the listing agent with the borrower, unless the fee exceeds 6 percent of the sales
price of the property in aggregate. Servicers are reminded that they must continue to obtain
any approvals that may be required by interested third parties in connection with preforeclosure
sales.
Fannie Mae loan servicers can no longer require real estate brokers to reduce their commissions as a condition to a short sale approval. This new Fannie Mae policy takes effect on March 1, 2009. According to Fannie Mae, the closing of a pre-foreclosure sale cannot be conditioned upon a reduction of the real estate commission to a level below what the listing agent and borrower negotiated. An exception applies if the total commission is more than six percent of the sales price.
This good news may be tempered by the difficulty for REALTORS® to ascertain whether the underlying loan in a short sale transaction is a Fannie Mae loan. REALTORS® may wish to ask the lender or loan servicer whether the loan is a Fannie Mae loan, and to consider submitting the Fannie Mae Announcement to the lender with the short sale package
Thanks to Barbara Simmons of Simi Valley Real Estate for this great news.
LOAN LIMITS INCREASED
2009 CONFORMING LOAN LIMITS INCREASED BY AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT
http://www.fhfa.gov/webfiles/1279/CLLarra022309_final.pdf
The Federal Housing Finance Agency regulates Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the 12 Federal Home Loan
Banks. These government-sponsored enterprises provide more than $6.3 trillion in funding for the U.S. mortgage markets and financial institutions.
