Changes in the Mortgage Rules will go in effect Aug. 1
Here are the four key parts of the new regulation you need to know:
Initial Disclosures. Under the new rules, initial disclosures must be provided to the borrower for all loan types within three (3) business days of when an application is taken or received. Initial disclosures include: the Good Faith Estimate (GFE), Truth in Lending Statement and state-specific disclosures.
Collection of Up-front Fees. The new regulations prohibit lenders from collecting many up-front fees prior to when the borrower receives the initial disclosures.
Re-disclosures. If there are changes to a borrower's loan program, loan terms, and/or Annual Percentage Rate (APR), the initial disclosure package must be re-disclosed to the borrower, and it must be received by the borrower at least three (3) business days prior to closing.
Timing of Loan Closings. Prospect cannot schedule the loan closing until at least seven (7) business days after the initial disclosures are mailed to the borrower. If re-disclosures are needed because of changes to the loan program, terms or APR, the loan closing cannot be scheduled until at least six (6) business days after the re-disclosures are mailed to the borrower.
We stay informed on all changes in our industry. Call The Sumlbes Team for more information.
Last week, The National Association of REALTORS® reported that existing home sales - which include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops - increased 3.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million units in June.
This is third consecutive month that NAR has reported an increase in existing home sales. Lawrence Yun, NAR's chief economist, added that "We expect a gradual uptrend in sales to continue due to tax-credit incentives and historically high affordability conditions."
Signs of an improving market are all over the place. It looks like we hit bottom and are on the way back up. Sales are improving on the Little Rock scene as well. There has never been a better time to buy a new home.
Waters Edge subdivision is back and going strong. We have one home completed with 4 more being built. Price range is from $200-$250,000. Wonderful quality with hardwoods, granite counters, custom built cabinets, architectural shingles, covered patios/decks, upgrade appliances and much more. Best value in Little Rock. Great area just 2 miles from the Rave Theatre and Shackelford Crossing. Very convenient to shopping, downtown, airport and West Little Rock. Beautiful area with lake and walking trail. For the Realtor this is in area 6 not 7. We are just outside the boundary of 7 so you will have to search in area 6. Show you clients the area sells itself. Go to www.watersedgehomes.info for more information.
New Appraisal Code Causes Chaos
The new "code of conduct" that was supposed to protect lenders and borrowers from faulty appraisals has caused higher costs, delays and considerable chaos in home sales and loan refinances.
Mortgage brokers, appraisers and real estate agents are up in arms over the new rules, which dictate how lenders select an appraiser when they originate certain home loans. Few borrowers care much, if at all, about how appraisers are hired or paid, but those borrowers whose loans have been delayed or derailed due to the new rules may take a very keen interest, indeed.
At the center of the controversy is the Home Valuation Code of Conduct, or HVCC, which outlines appraisal-related practices lenders must follow with respect to so-called conventional or conforming loans that they want to sell to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The practices are intended to reduce the incidence of appraisal fraud and prevent inappropriate pressure being placed on appraisers to inflate home valuations. The code, which became effective May 1, does not apply to "FHA loans," which are insured by the Federal Housing Administration, or "VA loans," which are guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have both posted FAQs about the code.)
New rules protect borrowers from inflated appraisals
David Feldman, president of First American eAppraiseIT, an appraisal software and management company in Irvine, Calif., says the code is "very good for borrowers" because the new practices will help to ensure that home valuations will be "less inappropriately influenced."
"(Homebuyers) don't want to pay too much, and they want to pay the right price," he says. "For refinances, if you were hoping for a 'higher value,' prior to the code, if there was any pressure, you might have gotten it or not. Now that will be lessened, so it protects borrowers from themselves."
Accuracy. The accuracy and credibility of an appraisal should be the borrowers' chief concern. Appraisal management companies, or AMCs, which now perform more than half of the appraisals nationwide, contract with tens of thousands of appraisers but typically assign jobs only to several thousand, who complete their work "quickly and with good quality and good service," Feldman says.
John Stafford, a loan officer with Reliant Mortgage in Dallas, takes exception to such claims. He says there are two types of appraisers: the "slap-dash" kind, who base their valuations on the first comparable sales they can find, and the more competent kind, who "work very hard to get the absolute best value, but fair value within the regulations as they are."
Borrowers should be concerned, Stafford says, because "a lackadaisical effort on an appraisal can easily create a value that is 10 percent lower than it should be." An artificially low value can kill a home purchase transaction if the appraisal doesn't support the sales price or derail a loan refinance if the appraisal results in a higher loan-to-value ratio and, consequently, a less attractive interest rate.
Timeliness. The timeliness of an appraisal is also a prime concern for borrowers because they typically need to meet the time frame of a purchase-contract contingency or interest rate lock.
Rob Carter, a Realtor with ZipRealty in Washington, D.C., believes the code has introduced much more uncertainty into the appraisal process.
"We are all used to knowing when the appraisal is going to get done and what the outcome is going to be," he says. "It's a little frustrating when you don't know."
Arkansas Business reports the top 10 Real Estate Companies in Arkansas. Of the top 10 Keller Williams is one of 2 companies that reported sales gains over the previous year. Dana Powell, broker for KW, attributes this increase to the training at KW and learning how to sell in a shifting market. It takes skill based agents to succeed.
Three of the top teams in the state are at KW Little Rock. Roddy McCaskill Team is ranked #4, Neoma Rowell Team is #10 and The Sumbles Team is #11.
In Arkansas and elsewhere, economy stable
By Nelson Chenault for USA TODAY
LM Glasfiber, a windmill blade maker in Little Rock, aims to team with another firm to hire 1,500.
ECONOMICALLY STABLE
Enlarge By Nelson Chenault, USA TODAY
Michael Taylor and Donny Pointer work on a project at Pulaski Technical College.
LITTLE ROCK — When a senior editor at New York-based SmartMoney magazine addressed an economic forecast conference here in November, he opened by joking about how nice it was to come to a place where people weren't jumping off buildings because of financial distress.
It was a perfect icebreaker, largely because it rang true. In Little Rock and in several other corners of the country, the financial crash has been more of a fender-bender — at least so far.
Layoffs and foreclosures are on the rise and some business investments are on hold, but unemployment rates remain well below the national level in Arkansas and several other states, including Wyoming, North Dakota, Wisconsin and West Virginia. New companies are moving in and some are expanding, adding a few hundred jobs here and a few hundred there.
In December, Forbes named Little Rock one of the best middle-class housing markets because median home prices were rising while the national market was plummeting.
Those small successes are magnified in a dismal economic climate, especially when they play out in states that have never been economic high-flyers or big population gainers. "Arkansas never really experienced extreme highs or extreme lows," says Jim Youngquist, director of The Institute for Economic Advancement at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
This unassuming, steady-as-it-goes growth pattern is why places that did not enjoy dizzying highs before the recession are experiencing a gentler fall now.
"We're gratified that ... we've kind of withstood it," Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe says. "But we're not immune from it."
"Heading into this recession, from Texas up to Montana, the upper Great Plains and mountain states have been doing much better in 2007 and into 2008 and starting out 2009," says Jim Diffley, managing director of regional services for IHS Global Insight, an economic analysis firm.
Many states "did not participate in the housing boom and bust, and households have not seen their wealth evaporate," Diffley says. At the same time, some regions benefited from a boom in commodities prices such as oil, minerals and agriculture. That edge is slipping as prices drop, and states that have been spared so far will feel the pain, he says. They could recover faster, however, because they're diversified and not overwhelmed by the mortgage meltdown.
The feverish housing boom that sent prices soaring in states such as Arizona, Nevada and Florida never landed in places such as Little Rock. Nor did the subsequent meltdown that collapsed prices and triggered a wave of foreclosures.
Unemployment rates in several metropolitan areas in Arkansas are well below the national average. The number for the Little Rock area is 4.9%.
Wisconsin, which is faring better than other Midwestern states decimated by hemorrhaging in the auto industry (6.2% compared with 10.6% in Michigan, 8.2% in Indiana and 7.8% in Ohio), never enjoyed big jumps in wages, says Joel Rogers of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy.
"Wisconsin was not booming and had not been booming for some time," he says.
Diversifying a key strategy
Whether it's in the South or Midwest, diversification is vital to an area's ability to weather the financial crisis:
•In central Arkansas' 11-county region that includes the capital city of Little Rock, jobs come from state government, higher education and medical centers. Now, the area is capturing a slice of the soaring wind energy industry by luring windmill blade manufacturers such as LM Glasfiber and Polymarin Composites, which together hope to hire more than 1,500 people in the Little Rock metropolitan area (population 665,000).
HP, one of the world's largest technology companies, is building a customer service and technical support center that will employ 1,200 in Conway, north of Little Rock. Caterpillar just announced that it will locate its new North American production facility in North Little Rock, creating 600 jobs. The Fayetteville Shale formation in central Arkansas holds the promise of bountiful natural gas production and more jobs. Indian company Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren Ltd., maker of steel pipes for the oil and gas industry, is building a facility in Little Rock.
The Clinton Presidential Center here has helped the River Market District along the Arkansas River expand from a single building to several blocks of shops, museums, bars and restaurants.
Without fast growth, home construction is slower — lessening the risk of new mortgages going bad, prices plunging and foreclosures spreading when the economy turns bad.
The number of homes sold here in Pulaski County dipped in 2008, but the median sales prices rose 1% to $142,500 and the average number of days on the market grew by only three. Foreclosure rates are up but remain very low compared with other parts of the country.
In northwestern Arkansas, where growth exploded in recent years from Bentonville to Fayetteville because of big employers such as Wal-Mart, Tyson Food and J.B. Hunt, the foreclosure rate is much higher than around Little Rock. Wal-Mart said this month it will cut 700 to 800 jobs at headquarters in the area.
• Wisconsin's economy is spread over 11 metropolitan areas — none as dominant as Detroit in Michigan or Chicago in Illinois — so trouble in one doesn't necessarily drag down the whole state. The state has many suppliers to the auto industry but not as many as Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. General Motors announced last year that it would close its plant in Janesville, Wis., by 2010, a loss of 2,400 jobs.
"It affects Janesville and the surrounding area greatly, but not so much the rest of the state," says Dennis Winters, chief of the Office of Economic Advisors in the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. "A lot of industries are doing really well — electric machinery, manufacturing equipment, export market." The state is home to companies that make motorcycles (Harley-Davidson), boats, giant cranes and medical devices.
• In Roanoke, Va., a city of 93,000, the largest employer is Carilion Clinic, a health care company of more than 10,000 workers. Mortgage delinquencies are below the national average.
"We're kind of a steady player," says Beth Doughty, executive director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership. "We don't have dramatic ups and, consequently, don't have any dramatic lows."
A $60 million art museum just opened, and Carilion is building a medical school with Virginia Tech, whose main campus is in nearby Blacksburg. "The only sectors adding jobs are health care and education," Doughty says, "and we're strong in both."
Cutbacks still occurring
Things may be going better in central Arkansas than in other parts of the country, but that doesn't mean all is rosy.
There are cutbacks. LM Glasfiber, the Danish windmill blade manufacturer, announced last month it would lay off 150 at its plant here. Arkansas' general revenue declined in December by $20.2 million compared with the same month the previous year because of a drop in income and sales tax collections.
"There's a large emphasis on tying education, workforce education, to the needs of businesses coming to an area," Gov. Beebe says. "I don't think anything is as important as the quality of the workforce."
That's why Pulaski Technical College is conducting classes to train people to work in wind energy industries. Donny Pointer has been an account development manager at Coca-Cola for 15 years, but he's always had a second job — until now. That's why he's taking a 20-hour training course to prepare for jobs at the new Polymarin plant.
"I need some supplemental income," Pointer says.
This is a recent article in USA Today. It makes you realize the world is not over. If you listen to the national media you would think we were all in financial ruin. That simply is not true. Lets get the word out. Arkansas is actually a bright spot in the national picture.
In Arkansas and elsewhere, economy stable
LITTLE ROCK - When a senior editor at New York-based SmartMoney magazine addressed an economic forecast conference here in November, he opened by joking about how nice it was to come to a place where people weren't jumping off buildings because of financial distress.
It was a perfect icebreaker, largely because it rang true. In Little Rock and in several other corners of the country, the financial crash has been more of a fender-bender - at least so far.
Layoffs and foreclosures are on the rise and some business investments are on hold, but unemployment rates remain well below the national level in Arkansas and several other states, including Wyoming, North Dakota, Wisconsin and West Virginia. New companies are moving in and some are expanding, adding a few hundred jobs here and a few hundred there.
In December, Forbes named Little Rock one of the best middle-class housing markets because median home prices were rising while the national market was plummeting.
Those small successes are magnified in a dismal economic climate, especially when they play out in states that have never been economic high-flyers or big population gainers. "Arkansas never really experienced extreme highs or extreme lows," says Jim Youngquist, director of The Institute for Economic Advancement at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
This unassuming, steady-as-it-goes growth pattern is why places that did not enjoy dizzying highs before the recession are experiencing a gentler fall now.
"We're gratified that ... we've kind of withstood it," Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe says. "But we're not immune from it."
"Heading into this recession, from Texas up to Montana, the upper Great Plains and mountain states have been doing much better in 2007 and into 2008 and starting out 2009," says Jim Diffley, managing director of regional services for IHS Global Insight, an economic analysis firm.
Many states "did not participate in the housing boom and bust, and households have not seen their wealth evaporate," Diffley says. At the same time, some regions benefited from a boom in commodities prices such as oil, minerals and agriculture. That edge is slipping as prices drop, and states that have been spared so far will feel the pain, he says. They could recover faster, however, because they're diversified and not overwhelmed by the mortgage meltdown.
The feverish housing boom that sent prices soaring in states such as Arizona, Nevada and Florida never landed in places such as Little Rock. Nor did the subsequent meltdown that collapsed prices and triggered a wave of foreclosures.
Unemployment rates in several metropolitan areas in Arkansas are well below the national average. The number for the Little Rock area is 4.9%.
Wisconsin, which is faring better than other Midwestern states decimated by hemorrhaging in the auto industry (6.2% compared with 10.6% in Michigan, 8.2% in Indiana and 7.8% in Ohio), never enjoyed big jumps in wages, says Joel Rogers of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy.
"Wisconsin was not booming and had not been booming for some time," he says.
Diversifying a key strategy
Whether it's in the South or Midwest, diversification is vital to an area's ability to weather the financial crisis:
•In central Arkansas' 11-county region that includes the capital city of Little Rock, jobs come from state government, higher education and medical centers. Now, the area is capturing a slice of the soaring wind energy industry by luring windmill blade manufacturers such as LM Glasfiber and Polymarin Composites, which together hope to hire more than 1,500 people in the Little Rock metropolitan area (population 665,000).
HP, one of the world's largest technology companies, is building a customer service and technical support center that will employ 1,200 in Conway, north of Little Rock. Caterpillar just announced that it will locate its new North American production facility in North Little Rock, creating 600 jobs. The Fayetteville Shale formation in central Arkansas holds the promise of bountiful natural gas production and more jobs. Indian company Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren Ltd., maker of steel pipes for the oil and gas industry, is building a facility in Little Rock.
The Clinton Presidential Center here has helped the River Market District along the Arkansas River expand from a single building to several blocks of shops, museums, bars and restaurants.
Without fast growth, home construction is slower - lessening the risk of new mortgages going bad, prices plunging and foreclosures spreading when the economy turns bad.
The number of homes sold here in Pulaski County dipped in 2008, but the median sales prices rose 1% to $142,500 and the average number of days on the market grew by only three. Foreclosure rates are up but remain very low compared with other parts of the country.
In northwestern Arkansas, where growth exploded in recent years from Bentonville to Fayetteville because of big employers such as Wal-Mart, Tyson Food and J.B. Hunt, the foreclosure rate is much higher than around Little Rock. Wal-Mart said this month it will cut 700 to 800 jobs at headquarters in the area.
• Wisconsin's economy is spread over 11 metropolitan areas - none as dominant as Detroit in Michigan or Chicago in Illinois - so trouble in one doesn't necessarily drag down the whole state. The state has many suppliers to the auto industry but not as many as Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. General Motors announced last year that it would close its plant in Janesville, Wis., by 2010, a loss of 2,400 jobs.
"It affects Janesville and the surrounding area greatly, but not so much the rest of the state," says Dennis Winters, chief of the Office of Economic Advisors in the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. "A lot of industries are doing really well - electric machinery, manufacturing equipment, export market." The state is home to companies that make motorcycles (Harley-Davidson), boats, giant cranes and medical devices.
• In Roanoke, Va., a city of 93,000, the largest employer is Carilion Clinic, a health care company of more than 10,000 workers. Mortgage delinquencies are below the national average.
"We're kind of a steady player," says Beth Doughty, executive director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership. "We don't have dramatic ups and, consequently, don't have any dramatic lows."
A $60 million art museum just opened, and Carilion is building a medical school with Virginia Tech, whose main campus is in nearby Blacksburg. "The only sectors adding jobs are health care and education," Doughty says, "and we're strong in both."
Cutbacks still occurring
Things may be going better in central Arkansas than in other parts of the country, but that doesn't mean all is rosy.
There are cutbacks. LM Glasfiber, the Danish windmill blade manufacturer, announced last month it would lay off 150 at its plant here. Arkansas' general revenue declined in December by $20.2 million compared with the same month the previous year because of a drop in income and sales tax collections.
"There's a large emphasis on tying education, workforce education, to the needs of businesses coming to an area," Gov. Beebe says. "I don't think anything is as important as the quality of the workforce."
That's why Pulaski Technical College is conducting classes to train people to work in wind energy industries. Donny Pointer has been an account development manager at Coca-Cola for 15 years, but he's always had a second job - until now. That's why he's taking a 20-hour training course to prepare for jobs at the new Polymarin plant.
You may have noticed an incentive package being passed. What does it mean for me, is what I always ask. Well if you are a first time home buyer it means a lot.
Congress Enacts Bigger and Better Home Buyer Tax Credit
A tax credit of up to $8,000 is now available for qualified first-time home buyers purchasing a principal residence on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009. Unlike the tax credit enacted in 2008, the new credit does not have to be repaid.
$8,000 Home Buyer Tax Credit at a Glance
The tax credit is for first-time home buyers only.
The tax credit does not have to be repaid.
The tax credit is equal to 10 percent of the home's purchase price up to a maximum of $8,000.
The credit is available for homes purchased on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009.
Single taxpayers with incomes up to $75,000 and married couples with incomes up to $150,000 qualify for the full tax credit.
If you have questions feel free to contact The Sumbles Team for complet information. We can help you find your new home and the great thing is you don't pay us a fee. The sellers pay for all fees. We are one of the top teams in this area and are experienced in all phases of Real Estate. Call us today at 501-960-4111.
My wife and I have lived in the Little Rock area for 40 years and we dine out frequently. I am going to start blogging about our dining experiences. Little Rock is a great town for eating out. Lots of great restaurants. We are very fortunate to have great places to eat especially for a smaller city. Today I want to talk about a great place called Copper Grill. It is located at 300 West Third in downtown Little Rock. It is on the first floor of a newly built condo high rise. Mary Beth Ringgold is the owner. She owns two other well established restaurants in town, Cajuns and Capers. She has vast knowledge and experience in the restaurant business and it shows at Coppers. The atmosphere is clean and very comfortable. It has high ceilings and stained concrete floors. It has a big city feel. There is a court yard for dining outside. Inside there is a long bar with 2 plasma T.V.'s for sports fans. The food ranges from sandwiches to steaks. I have tried most everything and it is all very good. The cheese plate is our favorite appetizer. Great selection of unique cheeses, nuts and crusty bread. They simply have the best burger in town. its not a burger joint but the burger is to die for. Have a mix of french fries and onion rings to go with it. Their sea food specials are always great and they have an angus rib eye that is very good. Mid priced but worth it. The wait staff is well trained and very attentive. Good selection of fine wine to choose from. If they don't have it just ask. It will be there the next time you come in. Very accommodating. There is a small grocery next door that has home cooked meals to take with you. Wonderful selection of soups. Try the cheese dip. Its made with poblano peppers. Park in the parking deck on 3rd. just past the restaurant. Try Copper Grill I guarantee you will return.
Randy and Kathe
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
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