simi valley real estate: How To Squeeze Every Last Doller From Your Home Sale - 08/10/10 04:25 PM
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley Real Estate agent. Search Simi Valley Real Estate listings.
Here are my recommendations: Spend time before you spend a dime: Unless your home is in mint condition or you're selling it as a "fixer-upper", there's probably a long list of repair or remodeling projects to consider. These can range from relatively simple jobs, such as painting a bathroom, to more complex room-addition or remodeling projects. Some investments-like painting and yard work-involve relatively little cash outlay and yet return many times your cost.
Planning is everything: If there's one peice of advice I would give … (0 comments)
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simi valley real estate: Mortgage Rates Fall to 4.8%, Home Buyers Still Scarce - 06/02/10 02:22 PM
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. The Wall Street Journal, By Nick Timiraos:
Mortgage rates fell again last week, sending refinancing applications up. But in a sign that the housing market may be stumbling through a stimulus-induced hangover, new-purchase applications also fell again to a 13-year low.
Average 30-year mortgage rates fell to 4.8% last week from 4.83% the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. While rates on 15-year fixed-rate loans rose to 4.25% from 4.19%, the average fees charged to borrowers fell, effectively lowering the rate.
That helped refinance … (0 comments)
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simi valley real estate: Housing's New Normal: Wait and See - 06/02/10 02:17 PM
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. The Wall Street Journal, By Dawn Wotapka:
The housing market-especially for new homes-is having a great Wednesday.Luxury builder Toll Bros. this morning reported a narrower quarterly loss and said that in May's first three weeks, per-community deposits have climbed 23%, while traffic is up 11% from a year earlier. Chief Executive Bob Toll says consumers feel more confident in job security and their ability to sell existing homes. "It appears our business has finally emerged from the tunnel and into a bit of daylight," he says."We … (0 comments)
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simi valley real estate: Tax Credits Boost New Home Sales - 06/02/10 02:10 PM
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. The Washington Post, By Renae Merle:
New home sales surged last month as home buyers rushed to take advantage of tax credits that have helped lift the housing market, according to government data released Wednesday.
Sales of new single-family homes rose 14.8 percent in April, compared with March, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 504,000, according to Commerce Department data. Sales were up 47.8 percent, compared to the same period a year ago. That was a much bigger jump than financial analysts had expected, bringing … (0 comments)
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simi valley real estate: Delinquency Drop Shows Impact of FHA Measures - 05/26/10 02:30 PM
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. American Banker, By Sara Lepro and Kate Berry:
In a surprise reversal, the delinquency rate on single-family mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration has fallen in each of the last three months amid record volume.
Stable housing prices and higher-quality loans are aiding the agency's recovery, though FHA Commissioner David Stevens cautioned that the mortgage market is still on federal life support.
"Let's be real - it's still a government-financed market," Stevens told a group of industry executives Monday at a Mortgage Bankers Association conference in … (0 comments)
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simi valley real estate: U.S. Regulator Says Mortgage Lenders Stabilizing - 05/26/10 02:25 PM
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. The New York Times/REUTERS:
The U.S. thrift industry reported its third consecutive quarter of profit, earning $1.82 billion during the first three months of the year.
The Office of Thrift Supervision, which largely regulates mortgage lenders, said on Monday that earnings more than quadrupled from the prior quarter, and that overall it seemed that the thrift industry is stabilizing.
However, earnings were still suppressed by the additional $2.7 billion the industry tucked away during the quarter in anticipation of more loan losses, many tied to bad mortgages.
… (0 comments)
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simi valley real estate: Tax-Credit Rush Boosts Home Sales - 05/26/10 02:18 PM
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. The Washington Post, By Dina ElBoghdady:
Sales of previously owned homes surged in April to higher levels than analysts expected as buyers rushed to take advantage of a lucrative tax credit before it expired along with low interest rates and affordable prices, according to industry data released Monday.
Sales of existing homes, which consist mainly of single-family houses, town homes and condominiums, jumped 7.6 percent in April from March to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.77 million units, the National Association of Realtors reported. Sales were up … (0 comments)
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simi valley real estate: CitiMortgage Exits Jumbo Wholesale - 05/19/10 02:46 PM
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. American Banker, By National Mortgage News:
CitiMortgage, a top ten player in wholesale lending, will no longer fund non-agency jumbo mortgages through loan brokers, National Mortgage News has learned.
A New York area broker that has used the bank for years said he received notification on Monday, and a spokeswoman for Citi confirmed, that "we are not currently offering jumbos through the broker channel."
The bank-owned lender, however, will continue funding jumbos through its retail channel.
The spokesman said CitiMortgage offers "attractively priced" jumbo mortgages to … (0 comments)
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simi valley real estate: Data Firms Going Deeper on Mortgages - 05/19/10 02:40 PM
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. The Wall Street Journal, By Prabha Natarajan:
Investors' quest for more nitty-gritty details on borrowers of home loans and real-estate trends have spawned a new industry for data providers.
Credit bureaus are using data-mining techniques to make detailed consumer and loan-level information easily available to residential-mortgage-backed-securities investors and analysts-not just when the securities are created, but also whenever they are sold in secondary markets. The expectation is that such analysis will prevent situations where buyers of bonds and other financial products tied to mortgages know little … (0 comments)
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simi valley real estate: Housing Market Holds its Ground - 05/19/10 02:31 PM
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. Los Angeles Times, By Alejandro Lazo:
Southern California's housing market held its ground in April, data released Tuesday show, with prices rebounding off their year-earlier lows but sales slipping for the first time in nearly two years as the number of fast-selling foreclosure properties dwindled considerably.
The median price for all Southland houses, town homes and condominiums sold last month was $285,000, a 15.4% increase from the April 2009 bottom, when foreclosures accounted for more than half the resale market. But the closely watched median -- … (1 comments)
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simi valley real estate: "Where Can I Get the Lowest Rate?" - 05/12/10 02:30 PM
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. The following is taken from Kiplinger Report dated June 10, 2010 “Where can I get the lowest rate?”
Some mortgage brokers may be able to give you a wholesale rate that beats the rate from a bank’s loan officers. Known as correspondent lenders, they are typically large brokers that do the underwriting and immediately sell the loans they originate to wholesale lenders or investors-meaning they can both find you a loan and approve it. If you’re trying to get a loan, a mortgage broker may also offer more … (0 comments)
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simi valley real estate: Now Is The Time To Buy! - 05/12/10 02:24 PM
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. I hope you find the following article very informative. From Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine, May 2010
This spring, opportunity is knocking hard for home buyers. Aside from the soon-to-expire tax credit worth as much as $8,000 (you must have a contract by April 30 and close the deal by June 30), affordability has returned to pre-boom levels and mortgage money is cheap, with the 30-year fixed rate hovering around 5%.
Unless you area is rife with foreclosures that promise to drag down prices, there’s little reason to wait … (0 comments)
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simi valley real estate: Fannie Tightens Rules - 05/05/10 02:38 PM
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. South Florida Sun-Sentinel, From News Services:
Mortgage finance company Fannie Mae is tightening standards for the adjustable-rate and interest-only loans that fed the housing boom and contributed to the bust.
The company said it will require mortgage lenders to consider how high a borrower's mortgage payments might rise after teaser rates expire.
Fannie Mae said it will enact tighter standards for "interest only" loans that allow borrowers to avoid making principal payments for several years. To obtain those loans, borrowers taking out new mortgages must … (1 comments)
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simi valley real estate: Taking the Direct Route on Risky Mortgages - 05/05/10 02:32 PM
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. The Wall Street Journal, By David Reilly:No more liar loans. That should be one goal of the financial-overhaul legislation set for debate in the Senate this week.But, as things now stand, the bill doesn't directly set minimum standards for mortgages or stamp out those practices that helped inflate the housing bubble. These would include liar loans, also known as stated-income or no-documentation mortgages, as well as negative-amortization loans that caused mortgages to balloon by allowing homeowners to defer principal or interest payments.Instead, the legislation requires … (0 comments)
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simi valley real estate: Refinancing Can be a Long Road - 05/05/10 02:26 PM
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. The Philadelphia Inquirer, By Al Heavens:
I stopped at Cohen's Hardware at Fifth Street and Passyunk Avenue recently.
While owner Mitchell Cohen was ringing up my hose washers, I remembered that he had e-mailed me a while back about a problem with refinancing his mortgage.
"Did you ever get the refi?" I asked.
He wondered how I knew, so I identified myself.
Cohen said he was, indeed, able to refinance his home loan, but it wasn't easy, even for an established businessman who pays loans, … (0 comments)
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simi valley real estate: Homeowners Making Sacrifices in Tough Economy - 04/14/10 12:43 PM
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. Washington Post Online/Associated Press, By Adrian Sainz:
More than two thirds of Americans who've been unable to sell their home and buy one that better fits their needs have cut back on household expenses such as food, entertainment and clothing in order to pay their mortgage, a survey released Tuesday shows.
Homeowners who have fallen on financial hard times have made other sacrifices and lifestyle changes: About a third have downsized to a smaller home or delayed expanding their family as planned.
And, a quarter … (1 comments)
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simi valley real estate: Slate of Hearings On Housing Finance - 04/14/10 12:35 PM
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. American Banker, By Stacy Kaper:
Lawmakers plan to return to debating the future of housing finance this week and bring attention back to foreclosure prevention efforts.
The House Financial Services Committee has scheduled a hearing today on second liens and other barriers to principal reduction as an effective foreclosure mitigation tool with top executives from the mortgage divisions of Bank of America Corp., Citigroup In., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.
On Wednesday the full committee plans to return to the topic … (0 comments)
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simi valley real estate: No More State Tax on Forgiven Debt - 04/14/10 12:26 PM
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings.
Distressed homeowners no longer have to pay California state income tax on debt forgiven in a short sale, foreclosure, or loan modification. Enacted into law yesterday, Senate Bill 401 generally aligns California's tax treatment of mortgage debt relief income with federal law. For debt forgiven on a loan secured by a "qualified principal residence," borrowers will now be exempt from both federal and state income tax consequences. The existing federal exemption is for indebtedness up to $2 million, whereas the new California exemption is … (0 comments)
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simi valley real estate: Fed Fear: Raising Rate Too Soon - 04/08/10 12:08 PM
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. Wall Street Journal, By Jon Hilsenrath:
Federal Reserve officials worried about the dangers of raising interest rates too soon in the economic recovery at their March 16 meeting, newly released minutes of the session show
"The risks of an early start to policy tightening exceeded those associated with a later start," some officials concluded, according to the minutes.
Among their concerns is that they don't have much maneuvering room to help the economy if it stumbles, much less than they had in 2007 and 2008 … (1 comments)
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simi valley real estate: US Home-Purchase Loan Demand Steady as Refis Sink - 04/08/10 11:59 AM
Post by Ken Grech, a top Simi Valley real estate agent. Search Simi Valley real estate listings. Reuters, By Lynn Adler:
U.S. mortgage rates spiked last week, slashing refinancing demand, while requests for home purchase loans held steady amid a final rush for federal tax credits, Mortgage Bankers Association data showed on Wednesday.
Time is running out for home buyers seeking tax credits of up to $8,000, with purchase contracts needing to be signed by the end of this month and loans closed by the end of June.
With just a month to cash in on the tax incentive, which is designed … (0 comments)
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