We have all been hearing a lot about this Loan Program lately.  It seems every offer I get nowadays requests a USDA loan and I thought it would be great if we all had a little more information about these types of loans, especially since they are allowable loans in Grant County and Moses Lake.

The USDA is a guaranteed loan program that can offer buyers 100% loans much like the 80/20 loans of the past.  This is a government backed loan program that has no private mortgage insurance requirement and has more flexible qualifying guidelines that allow more people to affordably purchase their homes.  There are also no maximum loan amounts on these loans like the FHA guidelines have.

One of the first requirements that these loans have is that the property must be purchased in a eligible property area.  Second is that you must meet certain income eligibility requirements, there are lower credit scores allowable on this program as well.  Be aware however that your closing costs can be more with this loan as they take the mortgage insurance premiums and charge them at the beginning of the loan instead of throughout the loan.  Lenders however will let you finance this fee if you need to.

If you would like more information on USDA loans and how they can help you get into a home feel free to call at 509-760-7733.

So today the Commissioner announced some changes that are in the pipeline for FHA mortgages.  Since I would say today in our area 3 out of every 5 mortgages are FHA this will impact a lot of us in this area.

The FHA has decided to raise up front mortgage insurance costs from the borrower from 1.75% to 2.25%.  They are also requesting permission to increase the maximum MIP that they can charge.  Does it suprise you that an insurance company wants to increase rates?  Doesn't suprise me a bit!

For new borrowers to qualify for a loan if they have a 580 credit score they must now put 3.5% down on the transaction.  For someone with a lower score they will have to come up 10% down on the home.

The bigger change is that sellers can now only contribute 3 % on an FHA sale which is down 3% from what we've normally used at 6%.  It seems they want buyers to have a bigger financial stake in their home by them having to actually put money into it upfront.

FHA loans have gone from a low of 3% of all totals loans to now a high of 40% of all loans.  Here in Grant County that is now probably a estimated of about 75% of all loans so this will impact a majority of our loans in some way.

The biggest impact we will see in our area from this is the loss of 3% of seller contributions.  Some people to qualify for a loan need the full 6% to actually qualify for the loan as they don't have all the needed cash to close.  This will affect how many buyers are out there buying homes here in Moses Lake.

For more information

Moses Lake boasts a fantastic opportunity for artists around the basin as well as families interested in being involved in the community.  Aptly referred to as MAC the museum is home to the Adam East collection of Native American artifacts from the Columbia Basin Region.  They also frequently change out the subsequent art on the walls with ever evolving Columbia Basin Artists and traveling exhibitions.  The best part is that the museum is always FREE

As well as offering you those opportunities of learning the history of the Columbia Basin they also offer weekly classes for you or your family on ever revolving topics that may interest you.  Just two weeks ago I was able to take my kids to a Family Free Saturday where they made igloos out of marshmallows!  Coming up on January 23 they are offering a class on Origami.

Within the quarterly brochure that goes out to all families in Moses Lake from the Moses Lake Parks and Rec Department you will find a full schedule of all the classes offered by the museum for you and family.  Once a month they offer a Family Free day for you and your family to enjoy.  Don't miss out on the opportunity to fully take advantage of all the community has to offer!

Moses Lake Real Estate Agent Heather Adkinson

With a lesser amount of listings on the market at this time then last year there is a much better chance that your house will be shown.

Pendings have stayed about the same but the solds were dramatically increased over last year at this time.

Look for a lot of new listings in the next couple weeks as sellers gear up for a new season and a new more positive outlook on the market

I don't know about what you did for Christmas but I spent mine with clients.  It's not because I was trying to show you up or anything. It's not because I wanted to be able to say "hey I work harder then you."  Nope none of those are the reasons.  It was just plain because I wanted to!

We closed on this cute little house of my single mother client on the 18th of this month.  Her children were then going to spend winter break with their Father.  I was going to be without my children as well, so instead of mourning that fact we had a "girls day."  Wine flowed freely and friendships were made that day.  I would have to say that it was probably the best Christmas I had.  No Drama, no cooking, no gifts!  I loved it!

New Years Eve Party 2010
Larson Rec Center
Only $10.00 for the whole evening
Grades 6-12 Time 9p.m.-1a.m.

Sign up at Parks & Rec or the Larson Rec Center
Parent Waiver Required
509-764-6316
Registration Deadline Dec 28th

Houselogic.com  If you are looking for ways to help your neighborhood become just all around more friendly I found a great place to go that will give you fantastic ideas on doing just such a thing.

Houselogic.com is a great new website driven towards consumers with a wealth of information on anything you could think of.  In the Community Concerns section it will give you ideas to help you motivate the community feeling in the neighborhood.  Do you want a playground in your neighborhood?  Well it gives you ideas for that too!

Check it out and find all those things that you wanted to do but didn't know how to start.  And while you're there click through the site to find all the other information that they have that will be of great help to you.  It's a fantastic website that I think is going to be of great help to everyone that uses it!

I was very surprised to see the statistics that the number of first-time home buyers rose to 47 percent of all home sales from 41 percent of transactions in last year's study, and was the highest on record dating back to 1981.  Moving from the previous high of 44% set in 1991.

With these first time home buyers they also ended up buying houses in the median price range of 156,000 down 10,000 from the year previous.  Most of those first timers financed their home with FHA financing which seems to be the norm nowadays.  With conventional financing requiring more down, the FHA option that only requires 3.5% down is an attractive option to buyers who haven't padded the nest egg to pay for the down payment

The first time home buyers that actually came up with the down payment used a variety of sources 61% used their own savings accounts, 22% received a gift from a friend or relative, 6% got a loan from a friend or a relative, 6% tapped into their stocks and bonds, and another 6% tapped into their 401 K.  The glaring positive in this is that 96% of consumers chose the fixed-rate mortgage. NO MORE ARM's!!

These home purchases did not come with out sacrifices on their part whether it be cutting back on expenses, selling off "toys," and spending less on clothing.  I think these are all things we have to expect to do when making one of the largest investments that we will make in our lives.

The median down payment on houses was 8%, and the number of buyers purchasing homes with no money down fell from 23% in 2008 to only 15% currently.  It seems we all may be learning our lesson and trying to use our money more responsibly.  I hope this only continues to help the process, and our economy recover from mismanagement of finances on a global level.

For more information on this article from NAR

December Free Family Saturday
December 5, 2009
Moses Lake

Description:
Visit MAC anytime between the hours of 12 noon and 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 5 and create your own holiday ornament.

Location:
Moses Lake Museum & Art Center
228 West Third Ave.
Moses Lake, WA 98837


Admission:
FREE

Other Information:
A free family art activity open to all ages on a first come, first serve basis.

Contact Information:
Contact: Ann Golden
Web site: www.mlrec.com/museum.html
Email: agolden@ci.moses-lake.wa.us
Phone: 509-766-9395

It looks like the last month has slowed down for us in pendings.  We had more pendings last year in the month of November then we do this year.  So is the First Time Homebuyer Credit working for us?

It definately has impacted the solds as you see there were more sold in the month of November this year then last year at this time.

With 367 active listings at this time there is tons to choose from! 

December always ends up being a pretty slow month for activity with everyone gearing up for the New Year.  It is always a great time to start getting your house ready to sell if you are going to list in the New Year. 

Don't forget to get the advice of a professional Realtor on what you can do to make your house more sellible we are more then happy to help!