The Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (www.chfa.org) has been in business in Connecticut since 1969.  This makes 40 years that they have been providing below market interest rates to primarily first time home buyers.

Their rate is set every Thursday at Noon.  Last week and this week they have set their rate at 4.375% with 1 point for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage loan.

I have been involved in originating CHFA mortgage loans at McCue Mortgage Company in New London, CT since 1980.  The rate has never been this low.  It has been at 4.625% and 4.75% a few times this year but this is a new low.

With the extension of the up to $8,000.00 tax credit and the much more reasonable house prices, CHFA has just provided one more reason to buy a home now.

Also, if you purchase a home in a CHFA Target Area (all of New London, parts of Norwich, Groton and Windham in eastern CT) the rate is lowered to 4.125% with 1 point.  The Target Area program allows you to be a previous home owner and still take advantage of the CHFA program.

It doesn't get much better than this.

Can you imagine what this Thanksgiving holiday weekend would have been like if the up to $8,000.00 tax credit had not been extended?

As a mortgage banker we worked with a large number of people who were buying now strictly because of the tax credit.  They all would have needed to close by Monday 11/30/2009 if the exetnsion was not granted. 

This nice relaxing Thanksgiving weekend would have been very busy.  We made every effort to have our clients still close by 11/30 if they wanted to do so, but the pressure dropped off dramatically as soon as the president signed the bill extending and expanding the tax credit.

The two tiered approach with contracts having to be signed by the end of April and closing having to take place by the end of June, should take the pressure off in the spring.

I hope you enjoy the holiday weekend as much as we are going to.  Happy Thanksgiving.

In Connecticut, the Red Cross holds Bloodmobiles throughout the state in order to make sure that there is a sufficient blood supply in case any of us need it.

I have given just over 3 gallons of blood, one pint at a time of course.  My Dad had donated over 15 gallons during his lifetime.  I have a ways to go to catch up with him.  The Red Cross allows you to donate blood every 8 weeks.

This Friday there is a Bloodmobile at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London from Noon until 5:00 PM.  It seems like a much better way to spend part of your day compared to rushing around with the Black Friday crowd.

Visit www.ctredcross.org for more information on Bloodmobiles near you.

Hope to see you at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital this Friday.

Happy Thanksgiving

1. What is a male turkey called?

2. When was the first Thanksgiving?

3. What Native American tribe celebrated the first Thanksgiving with the pilgrims?

4. What percentage of Americans eat Turkey on Thanksgiving?

5. Where was the first Thanksgiving enjoyed?

6. What day does Thanksgiving fall on each year?

Happy Thanksgiving  from all of us at McCue Mortgage Company.

HOLIDAY WALKING TOUR

Holiday Walking Tour
Sunday, December 27, 2009
2:00 PM
Tour begins at St. James Episcopal Church
at the corner of Federal and Huntington Streets

This tour in downtown New London celebrates the beauty of 8 historic churches in the district. Each church will host a tour of their building. Highlights include: the main sanctuary, its history, items of interest, historic activities, and current maintenance challeges.

Reservations Recomended-$15.00

GO TO: www.newlondonlandmarks.org for more information and to purchase tickets for this tour.

Just in case you are getting frustrated on how to cook that turkey for Thanksgiving here is the best solution:

Call 1-800-BUTTERBALL.  Over 3,500,000 people have taken advantage of this free hotline to answer all of your questions about preparing that turkey since Butterball Turkeys set up this hotline a number of years ago.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.  Please enjoy the holiday.

This month begins the 60th year of McCue Mortgage Company as a mortgage banking firm here in Connecticut.

I have taken a page from our website www.mccuemortgage.com that gives a brief history of the firm.  As the year progresses I will share what we are doing to celebrate this milestone.  As you can imagine there will be a lot of information to share.

We look forward to helping many more clients in the years to come.

"The McCue Mortgage Company was founded in 1949 by William D. McCue. During the 1950s, the company became well established in correspondent relationships with John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company and New York Life Insurance Company. McCue Mortgage served as a seller and servicer for these two insurance giants.

In the early 1960s, the life insurance companies withdrew from residential mortgage investing and The McCue Mortgage Company moved into the area of specialized FHA insured lending and multifamily subsidized loans under the National Housing Act. The company continued to involve itself in these specialized lending programs through the 1960s and 1970s.

In 1974, McCue Mortgage became a seller and servicer for The Connecticut Housing Finance Authority. Since then, McCue Mortgage has dominated this market in Connecticut.

In 1983, McCue Mortgage expanded its portfolio of loans offered to include conventional financing. This action proved beneficial as conventional lending now represents a significant percentage of the loans produced at McCue.

Since the 1990s, McCue Mortgage has been positioned to help buyers at every level of the home-financing spectrum, from first time homebuyers to those purchasing their dream home, with a commitment to provide the best service possible. Since 1994, McCue Mortgage has been actively purchasing mortgage loans on a correspondent basis."

It has been a great run thus far and we intend to help many more clients with their home financing needs.

As a longtime Pitt alum and fan but also a Connecticut resident, it was great to see UCONN beat Notre Dame in football today.  Pitt and Notre Dame have played each other for years but I believe this was the first time that UCONN played Notre Dame and in South Bend also.

To see UCONN beat Notre Dame in two overtimes was just the best.

Now Pitt just needs to beat West Virginia this coming Friday and I'll be really happy.

Life is good.

If you own a condominium or have a listing in a condominium project and the complex was FHA approved before October 1, 2008, please note that you will need to obtain a FHA certification of the complex again.

The FHA recertification will be valid for two years from its issue date.  This is being done due toi the fact that a complex may have been approved 10-20 years ago and other than confirming the complex is at least 51% owner-occupied, FHA has not reviewed budgets, insurance, reserve balances or anything else to do with the condo since it was approved.

This will cause a lot of work for condo associations, management companies, Realtors and mortgage lenders but it will allow FHA to review the current status of a complex.  If you are thinking about selling a condo or if you are listing a condo please contact us to help you with this process.

Now is probably the best time to do this.  As more and more people become aware of these new guidelines it will be getting very busy working towards accomplishing these recertifications.

At McCue Mortgage Company we will be happy to help you.

HUD/FHA has extended the Spot Approval for condominiums again.  All through this fall we kept hearing that Spot Approvals of condominiums will be coming to an end.

We just were informed today that the moratorium on Spot Approvals will now kick in on February 1, 2010.

This will mean that as of February 1, 2010 a condominium project will have to have an approval of the condominium project itself rather tha just one individual unit.

At McCue Mortgage we look forward to helping condominium associations, management companies, Realtors or condo buyers obtain the full project approval.  Please contact us for details on what is needed to accomplish this.

Please keep in mind that approximately 75% of the existing condominium projects have the full approval already.  The condos impacted by this change have not obtained a full approval in the past.

If you are just listing a condominium now, please check to see what the FHA status is.  This is a great time to start working on the full project approval.  Don't miss out on FHA buyers for your listing.