FHA announces new appraisal requirements this week.  Borrowers will have to have two appraisals if they meet the following criteria’s:

The loan amount, excluding the upfront mortgage insurance premium, will exceed $417,000, and

The LTV excluding upfront MIP, equals or exceeds 95%, and

The property is determined as being in a declining market.

How is a declining market determined? 

• By the appraiser:  The appraisal report requires the appraiser to indicate if the property is located in a declining area in both the neighborhood section of the appropriate appraisal form as well as in the housing trend section, and/or determine if there is an “over-supply” of properties.  The certifications contained in the appraisal reporting forms are supplemental standards to the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) and Certification # 14 specifically requires an appraiser to consider and report on all conditions that impact value.  Appraisers must provide specific support for any conclusions noted in the Housing Trend section of the appraisal report and research local price trends, relying upon such services as local Multiple Listing Services or others as described below.

• By the lender:  The lender may determine through services such the S&P/Case-Schiller Index, Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) Index or National Association of Realtors (NAR) statistics, or through an automated underwriting system, e.g., Fannie Mae’s Desktop Underwriter or Freddie Mac’s Loan Prospector, that the property is located in a declining market area.

Most of L.A and Ventura County are in a declining market.  FHA is going to take the lower of the two appraisals. 

For FHA rates please go to www.bethbastian.com 

This week my father Lance my step-mom Sandy, my son Dillon and my niece Avalon are in D.C.  My father has not been to D.C. since he got home from Viet Nam and was really looking forward to this trip and getting a tour of the White House.  

My father is a very quite man who does not talk about Viet Nam, or much else for that matter, so I really have no idea his thoughts on Viet Nam.   Today I received this email from my step-mother about the White House and my father:

An interesting thing happened at the White House.  Lance had something metal "not allowed," and had to make a decision today.  It is his P-38, a tiny metal (sharp) can opener thing he used in Viet Nam to open the food cans (c-rations), and it is the only remnant of his Army days that he has kept for 40 years.

This morning, as we all checked and double checked our stuff, and knew exactly that only money, I.D. cards, and keys were allowed, Lance never bothered to think about his P-38 on his key ring.  We checked the kids many times before leaving the hotel.  I could not have a purse, camera, nothing...which sure felt strange for me to walk out with just money and I.D. and nothing else.

When we got there for the behind the scenes tour...Lance had to give them his P-38, and they said they do not store things, so no, he would not get it back.  He said okay, and that the tour was more important, but we all could tell it was tough for him to do that.  He said, "I've had this on my key ring for 40 years from when I was in Viet Nam."   Another security guard talked to Lance about the Army, and they exchanged dates of when they both were in Viet Nam.... Well, after that, you'll never guess what happened.

The other security guard who took it from him walked over when no one was paying attention, gave it to Lance and told him to keep it in his pocket and not take it out at all.

That was a real cool patriotic moment for us!  Those veterans have quite a bond!

Beth 

FHA and the buy down

If you know that you are only going to be in the house for a few years, or you know that in a few years your income is going to go up FHA has a loan for you.

In a nut shell the first year you will have a low rate, the second year the rate will go up one point, and the third year the rate will go up again and stay that rate for the rest of your loan.  Now for the example:

Your loan is for $300,000

The first year your rate would be 5% with a payment of $1610.46.  This is only your payment before taxes, insurance and mortgage insurance.

The Second year your rate would be 6% with a payment of $1798.65.  Once again this is only your payment before taxes, insurance and mortgage insurance.

The Third you’re your rate would be 7% with a payment of $1995.91.  This is your payment before taxes, insurance and mortgage insurance. From this point on your rate would stay 7%.

Now these numbers are very close to what you would get today with an FHA buy down loan, however all of this has been simplified so I can explain the process of the very basic terms. 

If you think this type of loan would be good for you please give be a call at 805-857-0484

Beth

FHA and the new loan limits hit Ventura County, but with the good intentions of our government, there are some hick-ups.  The powers that be deemed it that we should have a loan limit of $729,000; they did not give any other directions.  So the first few weeks of this new FHA limits there were some issues.  Now time has gone by and lenders are learning how to work with these new numbers. 

The million dollar question is will this help the California real estate market?  Well my answer is “it can’t hurt”.  FHA offers low down payments that can be a gift from Mom and Dad, the rates are not bad in reality they are pretty good.  Today, if you were to buy a home with a 600 fico and full doc and 3% down you can get a 6% rate on a 30 year fix.  Not bad….

This new product will open the door to homes that people would not have been able to buy, that means more houses will sell and the real estate market will get better.

www.bethbastian.com 

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One aspect I love with AR is the ability to comment.  On AR we have so many talented bloggers with such good topics, that I find that commenting comes easy to me.  Now I just need to find the blogger with in and start post more of my own blogs.  Thanks all of you for being so creative. 

Simi Valley is a town with approximately 36k homes, we are an hour north/west of Los Angeles.  I thought it would be interesting to show you are current sold numbers, and I wonder what your sold numbers are. 

Sept 01-24 2005    131 homes sold

Sept 01-24 2006    101 homes sold

Sept 01-24 2007      23 homes sold

This is both attached and detached; prices are starting to fall so I hope we will start moving inventory. 

This weekend a fellow Active Rainer Inga Czech and I are walking in the Avon Breast Cancer Walk, we will be walking 39.3 miles over two days, in order to due this we each had to raise $1800...and we just made it.  So come and check out website CATTS.  

 If you find yourself in Long Beach California and see a large group of women wearing pink be sure to honk your horn and show support, we will need it!!

Any well wishes would be great..... 

Admitting you made a mistake is the first step. Or at least that is what we all have been told.  This morning Ben Bernanke spoke, and something wonderful happened, he finally said what we all see is going on.  Ben stated that “credit markets could dampen future economic activity” remember he used to say “subprime was contained”.  Ben gets it, the fed get it…right now I am smiling ear to ear.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand-This is a must read for every high school graduate.  It is worth the 1400+ pages

Hitch Hikers guild to the galaxy by Douglas Adams Funniest book every written....ever

Angels and Demons- Dan Brown This book scared they hell out of me...they went after the Vatican...

  I just liked this one

    I read far to many books, however I can thumb through the IKEA catalog for hours.

Ana Connell your up!!