If you are looking for a Twitter client for Windows Mobile, might I suggest Twikini.  It is the best mobile client for Twitter that I had tried.  You can download a free trial copy at www.trinketsoftware.com/Twikini, and if you are a blogger, you can even get a free copy if you blog about it. Nice!

Here is a screen shot:

Governor Mike Huntsman finally signed into law the "Home Run Grant" that had passed the legislature last week.  By doing so, the State of Utah is providing $6,000.00 for the purchase of any never occipied home.  The grant can be used for down payment, for closing costs, or to buy down the rate.    

The UHC has assembled a small FAQ on the grant that I am posting below...please feel free to contact me with any questions.

What is the $6,000 Home Run Grant?

The Home Run Grant is a mortgage assistance program that grants $6,000 to home buyers who purchase a newly-constructed, never-occupied primary, single-family residence in Utah.  The Home Run Grant is funded by the Housing Relief Restricted Special Revenue Fund, established by Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, the Utah State Legislature, and Utah Housing Corporation.  

When is the Home Run Grant program being launched?

Governor Jon Huntsman signed Senate Bill 260 on March 19, 2009 to authorize Home Run Grants.

Who is eligible to receive a $6,000 Home Run Grant?

• Home buyers must meet the following income restrictions:
  • Single person, $75,000
  • Married couple, $150,000
  • If more than one unmarried person is taking title to the Eligible Home, each such single person is subject to the $75,000 income limit.
• Home buyers must occupy the purchased home as a primary, permanent residence no later than 30 days after closing.
• If home buyers need a mortgage loan to purchase the home, the loan must be a fixed interest rate, amortizing mortgage loan with a term of 30 years or less.  Cash buyers can also qualify by contacting Utah Housing Corporation directly.
• The Home Run Grant Program is effective for home purchases closed after a Home Run Grant Commitment has been issued for that specific transaction. Unfortunately the funds may not be used for homes purchased without the Home Run Grant Commitment.

How does a home buyer get the Home Run Grant funds?

To get a first-come, first-served written commitment for the Grant, home buyers must:

•  
  • Enter into a written contract to purchase a newly-constructed, single –family home.
  • Contact a lender to obtain final underwriting approval for any needed financing.
  • Have their mortgage lender furnish required documentation to Utah Housing Corporation for the Grant.
  • Utah Housing will reserve the $6,000 Grant for 30 days.

What homes can be purchased with a $6,000 Home Run Grant?

Homes must be recently-constructed, single-family residences that have a Certificate of Occupancy or a Final Inspection.  They cannot be previously-occupied.  Eligible property types include single-family detached homes, condominiums, planned unit developments (PUD), twin homes, town homes and manufactured homes permanently affixed to a foundation.

How does a home buyer apply for a $6,000 Home Run Grant?

Home buyers should tell their home builder, realtor and mortgage lender that they want to apply for a Home Run Grant. Mortgage lenders are the key link between the home buyer and the Home Run Grant. The mortgage lender assists the home buyer to provide necessary information to secure the grant from Utah Housing Corporation.  The home buyer does not work directly with Utah Housing Corporation (unless it is a cash buyer).     

What type of loan can home buyers use to purchase the home?

If home buyers need a mortgage loan, it must be a fixed interest rate loan with a term of 30 years or less.  Loans may be obtained from any lender qualified to make mortgage loans under Utah law.  Examples of qualifying loans include:

*        Conventional

*        FHA, VA, or Rural Housing

*        Utah Housing Corporation’s FirstHome and FirstHome Plus

What mortgage lenders can assist homebuyers to secure a $6,000 Home Run Grant?

Any mortgage lender qualified to make mortgage loans under Utah law can assist home buyers to secure the Home Run Grant.

Do I have to be a first time home buyer to get a Home Run Grant?

No.  Home Run Grants are available to all home buyers who meet the income restrictions of $75,000 for singles, $150,000 for couples and, if more than one single person takes title, the $75,000 limit applies to each such single person. 

Can the $6,000 Home Run Grant be combined with the new $8,000 federal tax credit?

Yes, if a home buyer is a first-time home buyer and meets the independent criteria of both the federal and Home Run programs, they may take advantage of both.   The $6,000 Home Run Grant is available to both those who are first-time home buyers as well as those who previously owned a home.  The  $8,000 federal tax credit is available only to first-time home buyers.

How many Home Run Grants are available to home buyers?

A total of approximately1,600 grants are available. Each grant is $6,000.  Only one grant can be used for the purchase of each home.  Home Run Grants are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis to qualified home buyers.  The approximate number of remaining grants will be posted on the UHC web page at www.utahhousingcorp.org.

How are Home Run applications submitted?

Home Run applications are submitted through a home buyer’s mortgage lender.  Home buyer applications cannot be made directly to Utah Housing Corporation unless the Buyer is paying cash for the Home. 

Is the Home Run Grant taxable?

The Home Run Grant may be taxable as income under federal and state tax laws.  UHC has requested a ruling from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) about whether or not a Home Run Grant will be taxable.  UHC does not give tax advice and home buyers should review the ruling and other pertinent tax information in connection with the preparation of their 2009 tax returns.

If I have additional questions, who do I contact?

David Doerr at American Lending 801-798-8711 www.amlend.com/david

Aside from the percieved invasion of privacy that Google may be perpetrating in its information gathering, I think they are amazing, from Google Docs to Gmail to iGoogle.  I may be behind the curve a bit, but I just found a cool way to keep track of any topic on the internet, where ever it may arise. Google has a service called "Google Alerts"

It is a web search tool that you can iput certain search terms, and whenever something is updated on the internet with a specific phrase, or even a general topic, you are sent an email with a link to the web page.  I have been using it to track the progress of the "Utah Home Run Grant" and I have an alert set up for my name, so anytime anyone posts something about me, or my namesakes, I am alerted.

You can check out google alerts here http://www.google.com/alerts

I love this country, I am an American! I spent 2 years in Brazil, I saw hyper-inflation first hand, I don't want any part of it. I am glad we have a system that can control things, but I am also leary of too much intervention and too much pork in my diet.  

I suggest you check out...

www.stimuluswatch.org.

it shows where the dollars are going to be spent, and if I were West Virginia, I would be a little mad, 1 project? One big questions i have is why so much money in Puerto Rico?

Lets hope we all get that 4.5% rate everyone has been waiting for.

So, you are paying your mortgage...  what can this "bailout" do for you?

Last week, Secretary Henry Paulson announced that the Federal Reserve Bank was going to purchase a large amount of Mortgage Backed Securities(MBS) to inject some much needed liquidity and capital to the banks holding these bundles of notes.  The impact was felt immediately on the mortgage market, rates for fixed rate mortgages plummeted on the injection of dollars into the system, dropping the 30 fixed rate by as much as 1%. Just today Chairman Bernanke re-iterated this today in his speech before a group of business leaders in Austin, Texas which caused an initial knee jerk reaction and sent the pricing of MBS skyrocketing and causing the effective yields (interest rates) to fall.

It is time to do a mortgage check up, see where you stand and see if these lower rates can help you refinance, purchase a new home, or even an investment property.

According to the Milken Institute Provo-Orem has been rated the #1 Metro area for job growth in the entire USA.  That is great, the economy here is slowing just like it is all around the US, but it is nice to see that Provo/Orem is still creating jobs and having people move into the area.  Provo-Orem is followed by Raleigh-Cary, NC (follow the link to read about it from my friend Tracy), Salt Lake City, UT, Austin-Roundrock, TX, with Huntsville, AL rounding out the top 5. 

Utah has 2 of the top 5 places people are moving to to look for jobs in the country, and I am excited by the possibilities. With the continued job growth, the real-estate market is beginning to pick up, and homes are being sold. Right now rates are tremendous, and are expected to get better in the next few months.  If you are thinking about moving to Utah, please give me a call before you talk to a Real Estate Agent, being pre-approved for a loan now is more important than ever, since credit standards are tight, it is better to know exactly what you need to do to buy the home of your dreams rather than waste a lot of your time looking at things you cannot qualify for. 

Contact me and let me submit your loan for a no cost pre-approval.

This morning I got an email from a great friend and colleague of mine aboiut the housing market in Texas, Mississippi, and Utah.  My friend is in Texas and Mississippi buying properties, getting a great deal, and doing a lot of good.  He knows those markets well.  Even though my friend has lived here in Utah in the past, and has visited here recently, he is a little out of touch with the market, and tried to quote the Deseret News as a source of good information on the current state of the housing market here in the great state.  This is the response email I sent him.

"When will you stop quoting MSM for "facts" The des news is nothing but a sensationalization of numbers to make things seem worse than they actually are, Jasen Lee is a REPORTER, he has no market experience, someone with 30+ years of experience in Real Estate should know better than to ask a hair dresser for a appendectomy, I am not yet "bullish" on the housing market in Utah by any means, however what it doesn't tell you is that a majority of the houses in the foreclosure "pool" were spec homes that have never been lived in, that they were all over 500K, and a majority were over inflated anyway.  St. George is right on, but I hate the "Provo/Orem" moniker, it should read Utah County, and that should be split into 3 areas at the least, North, Central, and South.  North County is filled with Spec homes; empty never lived in homes, over inflated values in Cedar Hills, Alpine/Highland, and Saratoga Springs.  Central County, Provo/Orem and PG/Lindon are very stable, and have seen growth and appreciation, and South County is growing like crazy, Mapleton, Spanish Fork, and Payson are all doing very, very well, I have a developer looking to start a 144 unit development in South County in the next couple of months.

Things could be much much better, too many people are scared to buy in the affordable area, 300K and below, because the MSM keep propagating that the "sky" is falling.  Rates are still excellent; homes fewer than 300K in Utah are appreciating at a 10% rate even right now, do you realize that a foreclosure rate of 1 on 472 is .021% not 21, but .021. That means slightly over 2 in every 1000 homes is in some stage of foreclosure, 2 in 1000, and we both know that being in foreclosure could mean a lot of different things, NOD filed, short sale, etc.

Builders like Ivory, Fieldstone, Richmond American, and Tuscany are giving tremendous deals on new homes to get rid of the land.  In the 150-200K range, in SFR's, not town or condo, there is a scarcity of properties, one of my agents was looking for a home for a client and she found four in Orem TOTAL, four active listings, it is simple econ 101.  "

Now is a good time to get Pre-Approved for a loan, not just prequalified! Whether you are moving in, or moving up, give me a call and let's get you iinto a home.

Absolutly SOMETHING! Hu waaaaaaaah.

What has happened to me, have I lost my desire to Blog, or am I one of the lucky few loan officers to still be busy and I don't have the time to chip away at the keyboard? I actually think it is a combination of the two.  I have been very busy on the loan side of things, and very busy on the life side of things to be able to think about blogging. 

Blogging relieves my stress, I can rant and rave about things, I can get something off my chest, I can offer some sound advice to the masses. So, here and now, I pledge to make at least 1 blog post per day: To develop my business, to develop my life, and to develop my character.

The generous host of this blog, Active Rain, has given me the option of editing the comments, or not reposting the entire post, due to contact from a yet to be named source.  I do not have the time to go through 1200 comments and decide what needs to stay or go.

I will once again re-itterate that you should use your 700+ credit score wisely, the state of Utah has recently passed, and signed into law, laws specifiacally prohibiting "borrowing" someones credit score to purchase property. No money is to change hands unless it is disclosed on a HUD1 and no money is to be wired from an account other than your own to close a transaction. There are plenty of legal ways to invest in Real Estate, and make a hefty profit from it, if you have any questions about whether something is legit or not, please feel free to contact me.

Please review the latest newsletter from the Utah Division of Real Estate, and see if the story at the bottom of page 14 sounds familiar. I have seen this attempted over and over, I do not know where these people learned these techniques, but they are fundamentally flawed. 

I thank everyone for their input, and I hope that I can continue to provide a place for people to vent frustrations.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions, 

It has been a long time coming, and finally the State of Utah and the Utah Mortgage Fraud Task Force along with the Federal Government has made indictments against:  Bradley Kitchen of Provo, David Bolick of Sandy, Steve Cloward of Orem, Ron Clarke of Provo, Jeffery David Garrett of Provo and Rebecca Ann Hadlock of Saratoga Springs. They were indicted on four counts of mail fraud, nine counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud.  Each count could carry a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.  The U.S. Attorney's Office seeks the forfeitsure of $7.5 million each from Kitchen, Bolick, Cloward and Clark; $6 million from Garrett and $4.5 million from Hadlock. Read the full story here.

I have personally know about the potential charges against Mr. Clarke for over a year.  I am somewhat of a "Real Estate" geek, and I always admired a few of the 'heavy hitters' in the area, Mr. Clarke being one fo them.  He sells a lot of high end homes, and I cannot understand the greed involved in the types of fraud he is allegedly involved with, and throwing everything away for a few dollars.  If true it is sad.