Thanks to the new California first time homebuyer tax credit that governor Schwarzenegger signed into law, first time homebuyers can qualify for a state tax credit of 5% of their purchase price, up to $10,000.  Because the federal tax credit expires at the end of April 2010, if you enter into a purchase contract before the end of April, and close the esrow after May 1, you can receive the federal and state tax credits combined.  The federal first time homebuyer tax credit will give 10% of the purchase price, up to $8,000.  Taking advantage of both credits in the months of April can result in up to $18,000 of tax credit.  This really is an incredible opportunity, and one that any of you that have been thinking about buying property, should take advantage of.  If you live in California, and want to see what opportunies are available, give me a call at 800-785-4952.  Fresno Real Estate

California Home Loans

This is just a reminder that the $8,000 tax credit, awarded to first time home buyers, expires soon on April 30, 2010.  This means that the signed purchase agreement for your California real estate needs to be dated no later than April 30, and the escrow needs to close by June 30.  This type of free money from the government may not be extended again, so if you are thinking about purchasing property, get off the fence, give me a call at 800-785-4952, or contact a local real estate agent, and start the home search.  Some of you will be pleasantly surprised at how much home prices have dropped in the last 18 months, and perhaps that home that was out of reach, is now affordable to you.  Interest rates are still at a historically rock-bottom, so lets see what we can get you pre-qualified for.  My California home loans website answers many questions you have about the home buying process, and all of the information is FREE.  Happy house hunting!

Fresno Real Estate

I want to take this time to thank all of my readers, past clients, and current clients, for a memorable 2009. It sure seemed like one heck of a tough year for everyone.  2009 was marked with dramatic changes in the real estate and mortgage industries, but also in the political and economic landscapes as well.  Many of you took advantage of the opportunities in this market, and bought or refinanced real estate at reduced prices with historically low interest rates, and some of you were first time homebuyers that will also receive an $8000 tax rebate next year.  I congratulate you all and wish you a fantastic 2010.  During this time of the year, I am reminded of how fortunate my life is, and how rich my life has become with my family and friends.  It makes me think that no matter how doom and gloom the news around me may be, it is the people in my life that bring real joy and happiness to me, and with their help, I can overcome anything.

2 weeks ago, I decided to do something for charity.  I always try and give during the holidays, but this year, rather than do my usual cash donations, I decided to take on a project.  I set a budgeted amount to spend and went to a local "Big Lots" store.  I proceeded to purchase some really cool toys.  Some for older kids and some for younger kids.  When I was done shopping, I delivered the toys to a "toys for tots" collection center.  When I handed the bag of toys to the Marine soldier, he thanked me, and as I walked to my car, I felt overwhelmed with joy.  The fact that I took the time to shop, and get toys that I liked, made this donation far more rewarding to me.  I know that a child, much less fortunate than mine, will receive one of my gifts and will really appreciate it.  I truly feel like I made a difference, no matter how small it is.

Today, in a similar fashion as before, I have set a budget, and will be heading to the grocery store to purchase food stuffs that a local homeless shelter needs.  Their list includes mens clothing and shoes, so I have gone through my closets to get as many items as I could, to bring to the shelter.  I'm super excited about today, and hope that some of you will take the time to give.  I don't know how inspiring this post in fact is, but I can tell you that the feeling I had at the toys for tots center, is one that everyone that can give should want to feel.  It's more than just intangible, it's real.  So if you get a chance in the next 2 weeks, and you find yourself sitting around more than usual, I recommend you go on the website of any of your preferred charitable organizations, and see what they need.  Take the time to put a donation together and go deliver it in person.  You'll be glad that you did.  Happy Holidays and have a Happy New Year!  Cheers!

California Home Loans | Mortgages | Refinance | Mortgage Loan

Fresno Real Estate | Mortgage | Refinance | Home Loans

I recently helped a first time homebuyer acquire a beautiful home, and I let him get me away from insisting on realistic expectations, that came back to bite me.  The property is such a jewel: a home on a private golf course, selling for less than half of what it sold for 3 years ago.  It's on a 1/3 acre lot, a custom vintage home from the 1960s.  This California real estate represented everything my client was looking for, and beyond, when we began the home search over a year ago.  The home was bank-owned, and the listing was an "AS IS" scenario.  While there were typical love and care issues that were needed on this REO, it had a dated roof.  The sellers made it clear that they would not repair anything on the home, and would only address issues that were required by the California Mortgage lender.  We discussed the possibility of an appraiser noteing the age of the roof on the appraisal, and we felt like there was a chance they would identify the roof's age.  We made the offer with the client understanding that he was agreeing to buy the home as is, whether the appraiser said anything about the roof or not.  An initial roof inspector suggested the roof was over 45 years old, and needed to be replaced.  So my client then began to talk and brag to his friends about how this home was great, and how the roof would be addressed by the sellers.  I always followed up with him stating we would do the best that we could, once the appraisal was completed, to address any issues the lender required.  When the appraisal was completed, there was nothing mentioned about the roofs' age.

My client's entire demeanor changed.  We went from a productive, agreeable, and respectable relationship, to a hostile, irritable one.  My demeanor continued to be one of a professional, consultive approach, but now had fallen to deaf ears.  To me, nothing had changed.  The hopes of a roof issue being addressed on an appraisal was merely a bonus.  After all, it only amounted to about 4% of the total purchase price.  But to my client, over the 2 weeks we waited for that appraisal to be completed, the roof became a paramount issue that he had staked his ego on.  We moved forward, and closed the escrow on-time, but in the end, my client directed his frustration at me, and was unhappy with my service.

I find it incredible on one hand that I completely succeeded in: locating the home of my clients dreams, negotiating a fantasticly low purchase price for it, secured a historically rock bottom interest rate on his California mortgage loan, and positioned my client to take advantage of the first-time homebuyer credit, and that my client could be unhappy with me.  When I look back on this transaction, I will take away the one thing I should have done more forcefully, and that is to insist on realistic expectations, and not allow my clients' hopes to prevail over what can happen.  It's tough to take a hit from a client I expected to receive tremendous endorsement and referrals from, over something I had no control over.  Expectations should not only be discussed upfront but need to be repeated throughout the process, no matter how much your client wants to abandon them.

Fresno Real Estate | Mortgage | Refinance | Home Loans

It's been over 100 days since the HVCC law came into effect, and I'm throwing in the towel on this one.  What a disaster.  The HVCC law "protects" borrowers and lenders by preventing mortgage pros from speaking directly with appraisers, and thus not allowing them to "influence" the values.  The practical consequences of this law has caused lenders to feel less confident in the appraisal, than ever before.

In practice, this HVCC law has helped create a third party appraisal referral industry.  This industry is collecting as much as 40% of the appraisal fee.  Because so little remains for the appraiser, many of the experienced appraisal professionals cannot stay in the industry.  What remains are inexperienced and green appraisers who do what they can to arrive at a value, and travel as far and wide as possible to stay busy enough to survive.  Lenders are now forced to charge borrowers additional fees for appraisal reviews that can undercut values, and kill the loans from moving forward.  Many lenders are even requesting second appraisals, at the borrowers expense, to feel confident about the reported values.

In the end, borrowers are stuck paying more for the appraisal, and many lose out on purchasing a home because of the inaccuracy of appraisal work being seen.  There has also been a tremendous amount of "poor assigning" done by these third party agencies, where they have assigned appraisers, who are not local to the area, assessing values where they are completely unfamiliar with the geography.  These third party agencies have no real competition, and can bank on other peoples work, so what do they care?

I had to face just this type of scenario with a recent client, where an appraiser from 110 miles away was assigned to an appraisal of residential property.  His value was off by about $10,000 from where the market was, and after 2 appraisals, and 6 weeks of going back and forth, the proper assessment was accepted.  The purchase escrow did close successfully, but the real estate office was upset with me because I could not guarantee the appraisal would come in at value, and felt like it took way too long to close.  My response is simple and true, don't blame the mortgage professional, blame Washington.

California Home Loans | Mortgages | Refinance | Mortgage Loan

I recently had to do what so many of us hate doing, maybe more than anything else, in our profession.  I had to tell a friend that I could not help him buy his first home and secure financing for his California home loans.  I've been told a thousand times by a thousand people that you should not help your friends professionally to begin with.  That it's safer to simply refer them to someone you know or work with, rather than deal with the pressures of taking on a friend as a client.  Well, up until today, I thought that way of thinking was just silly.  I've helped several friends buy their first California real estate and/or secure their California refinance.  Most of the transactions, like all of my other clients, went smoothly.  But this friend tested the very limits of my patience and professionalism.

As you continue on in your career, you learn lessons along the way.  How to spot a borrower that you should stay away from, and how to cut your losses when you're fighting an uphill battle.  The challenge for me came when it was a friend that wanted me to fight his fight.  He asked me to please help him through his challenges, and so I did.  As we continued though the process, the rubber finally met the road, and the documentation he was submitting to me, did not support what was coming out of his mouth.  As his documentation revealed different aspects of his situation that he did not disclose to me, he began to have explanations for everything.  The red flags were there, and my experience told me to cut him off.  Whenever you realize a client is lieing to you, you should always walk away.  But I attempted to deliver his explanations to my team and insisted they push forward.  In about a seven day period, I had several people in my office questioning me, and what I was doing.  By continuing to get my friend approved, I was alienating my broker, and my processor, and losing their confidence.  At the end of the day, I did what I knew I would have to do.  But not after I damaged some of the relationships and respect I had built up in my company, all these years.  It simply wasn't worth it.

Friends are a wonderful group of people to help.  But that help must come with a set of standards that have to be adhered to.  Just because someone is a friend, does not mean you should look the other way when they lie, once, or twice.  The feeling in my gut is relief, that it's over.  But the sense of loss and failure, for a person I wanted to help so much, will linger on and will remind me the next time a friend wants help, and starts to lie, that you just have to say "NO."

I picked up a new client this week, with an interesting set of circumstances.  I want to share it with the community, because there is a great lesson to learn here.  My borrower went into a local housing development, and really liked one of the finished homes that they were selling.  He went into the sales office to inquire about purchasing the home, and they referred him to their inside mortgage agent, for a loan approval.  They collected his financials and pulled his credit, and offered him an FHA loan with a 3.5% downpayment, or conventional loan with a 20% downpayment.  My borrower asked them if he could go conventional with less money down and they told him no, and that this was all that they could offer him, and that this was all he could do.  They then pressured him by telling him that he had to choose which loan program he wanted because they had others that were interested in buying the home.

He was immediately turned off by the pressure, and became uncomfortable with them.  He told them he would get back to them.  He then contacted my office wanting to get pre-approved for a home loan.  I then submitted the loan, and approved him for a conventional purchase with 5% down.  The guy had 800 credit scores.  I generated an approval letter for him to share with the sellers, and they would not accept that he had secured financing through another mortgage company.  They presented him with a letter and asked him to sign it, obligating him to pay $250 per day past the expected close of escrow date, because he chose to work with his own lender.  They then threatened to take away the seller concessions they offered him, if he went with me.

My borrower became furious.  As he stated to me, they did not present all of his financing options available to him, then they attempt to penalize him for working with someone he's comfortable with, and then threaten to remove the seller concessions when they were originally offered to him because he was not working with a buyers agent.  He almost walked away from this purchase. He also felt because he was of asian decent and his english was not perfect, that they were racially discriminating by originally telling him that he had to go with their mortgage people. Fortunately, I was able to speak to him and suggest they would agree to work with us, and sure enough they did.

The moral of this story is that no one needs to force anyone to do anything in this business.  While sales may be slow for some of us, the home sells itself.  Forcing potential clients to work with people they're not comfortable with hurts everyone.  The credibility of this developer is now in question and the borrower does not feel good about this transaction.  There may very well be violations of the Department of Real Estate codes, as well as racially predatory practices that took place.

My thoughts are, be a professional.  Do your job thoroughly, and respectively.  Do not assume because someone doesn't speak perfect english, that they're stupid.  If we all try to be considerate and respectful with each other, and those we work for, as well as to our clients, we can have very successful closings that bring future referrals our way.

Joe Almirantearena - California Home Loans

I received a call yesterday from a borrower with an interesting situation that I thought I would share.  For the last 2 years she has been working on improving her credit scores and reducing her debt.  She started with a 420 credit score, and today is enjoying a 640 mid credit score.  She wants to buy a home in her area, because her current rent payment is nearly equal to what a California home loans payment would be for the price of a home she's interested in.  Her income is solid, her debt is low, but she does not have any money for the downpayment.  In California, up until 5 weeks ago, there was a loan program called FHA access, that allowed you to secure a 97% FHA 1st, with a 6% second that would cover the down payment and closing costs.  Citimortgage was the servicer of this program, but as many of you know, they have ceased their wholesale operations as of the middle of January.

So saving for a downpayment is the next step for her, and this little trick can make all the difference in the world.  If a borrower is interested in purchasing a home, figure out what the monthly PITI for the home would be.  Take that amount and subtract it from the rent payment they are currently making.  Whatever that dollar amount adds up to be, save that amount each month, open up a savings account at a local bank, and deposit that amount each month for 12 months.  I asked her to do just that.  If she does it, she will discover at least 2 things.  First, whether or not she can actually afford the higher mortgage payment, and second after 12 months of saving, she will have a significant portion of her downpayment saved up to buy her California real estate.

Considering how unstable the California real estate market continues to be, and how uncertain the economy as a whole is looking for 2009, there's a strong probability that she will find after 12 months that California real estate prices still remain low, and California mortgage loan interest rates competitive.

I had a conversation with a client of mine that many of us are going through.  He contacted me yesterday to wish me a happy thanksgiving, and to ask when I felt the bottom of the California real estate market would be.  I told him that there is money pumping into the credit sector now, and that prices have already come down substantially in the last year.  I told him he should take advantage of a sub 6%, 30 year fixed interest rate market, and get off the fence.  He seemed to believe that prices will come down even further, and that the middle of 2009 would be the low point.  I told him that if that is what he believes, he should go with it.

It left me a bit puzzled.  On one hand, everyone agrees that we are in an economic crisis, and on the other hand people do not seem to understand that if businesses go out of business in 2009, less competition will drive up price levels, creating stagflation, and increasing interest rates.  Considering how much property is available for sale, the sky high foreclosure rate, and the very low interest California home loans market, the time to buy is now!

How do all of you feel about the market right now?  Do you feel it's time to get off the fence?

I'm not one to blog about a holiday, normally.  I see it often times as an insincere way to promote oneself.  However, today I feel inclined to write about people that are perhaps the most important members of our society, and many times least rewarded.  We've all been reading and writing about how bad the real estate and mortgage industry has been this year.  How challenging it has become to close a California mortgage loan or work with sellers that resist reducing their asking price, but the truth is these priviledges we enjoy are due to the men and women who have fought for us, and died for us.  Many were teenagers and people that did not fall into the traditional careers that we chose.  But they are the backbone of liberty, independence, and freedom that we enjoy.  Take the time to thank a service member the next time you come across one, and offer them a debt of gratitude for the life you enjoy.