President Barack Obama signed into law a $24 billion economic stimulus bill providing tax incentives to prospective home buyers. According to the Associated Press, the bill is expected to contribute $22 billion to the economy, offering qualified home buyers up to $8,000 in tax incentives until April 30, 2010!
The current bill will offer First Time Home Buyer's $8,000 in tax incentives, if they have not owned a home in the last 3 years.
The extended tax credit has also established a new incentive for Move-Up Buyers! Qualified home owners could receive up to $6500 in tax incentives to purchase a new primary residence between November 6, 2009 and April 30, 2010.
Here are some important things you should know...
First Time Home Owners income limit for single taxpayers is $125,000; the limit is $225,000 for married taxpayers filing a joint return.
The tax credit amount is reduced for buyers with a modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) of more than $125,000 for single taxpayers and $225,000 for married taxpayers filing a joint return. The phaseout range for the tax credit program is equal to $20,000. That is, the tax credit amount is reduced to zero for taxpayers with MAGI of more than $145,000 (single) or $245,000 (married) and is reduced proportionally for taxpayers with MAGIs between these amounts.
Move-up Buyers need to make no more than $125,000 for single buyers and $225,000 for couples
"The income limit for single taxpayers is $125,000; the limit is $225,000 for married taxpayers filing a joint return. The tax credit amount is reduced for buyers with a modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) above those limits. The phaseout range for the tax credit program is equal to $20,000. That is, the tax credit amount is reduced to zero for taxpayers with MAGI of more than $145,000 (single) or $245,000 (married) and is reduced proportionally for taxpayers with MAGIs between these amounts.
Modified adjusted gross income or MAGI is defined by the IRS. To find it, a taxpayer must first determine "adjusted gross income" or AGI. AGI is total income for a year minus certain deductions (known as "adjustments" or "above-the-line deductions"), but before itemized deductions from Schedule A or personal exemptions are subtracted. On Forms 1040 and 1040A, AGI is the last number on page 1 and the first number on page 2 of the form. For Form 1040-EZ, AGI appears on line 4 (as of 2007). Note that AGI includes all forms of income including wages, salaries, interest income, dividends and capital gains."
To determine modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), add to AGI certain amounts of foreign-earned income. See IRS Form 5405 for more details.
I recommend you talk to your CPA for a more plain English version!
You can not purchase a home from your family members or your spouse's family members.
You can purchase any new primary residence for a purchase price less than or equal to $800,000.
You must have lived and owned your current home for at least five consecutive years of the eight years prior to the purchase date.
You can down size your home.
You can build a home, but the first occupancy must be after November 6, 2009 and on or before April 30, 2010
Non-resident aliens can qualify for the tax credit if they meet all requirements. Ask your CPA for specifics!
Newly-constructed homes bought from a home builder, eligibility for the tax credit is determined by the settlement date.
The tax credit is equal to 10 percent of the home's purchase price up to a maximum of $6,500. This tax credit is a dollar-for-dollar reduction in what the taxpayer owes to the IRS. Any leftover tax benefit would be mailed to the home buyer in the form of a check.
This is exciting and I am sure it will stimulate the currently non-existing Move-up Buyer market! Hopefully the banks will release some more of their inventory! There are hungry buyers out there who want to get into a home before Christmas!
Have question about the tax credit? Post a comment and I will try to point you in the right direction!
Happy Hunting!
Happy Hunting!
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I was so glad to hear this morning that Active Rain is hosting another RainCamp.... thanks Facebook! AND... it is within driving distance from my office! I was so tempted to book a flight for their first event in Seattle... I am soooo glad I waited!
It is so nice to know that not only will I be learning a lot about blogging and Active Rain... I will get to meet my Active Rain friends face-to-face!
Short sales in our area are increasing more and more every month and take up a large percentage (and growing) of the homes for sale right now in our Sacramento real estate market.
I wanted to write this post to give you an idea of how obtaining a mortgage for a short sale will differ from a private party or bank owned home.
When you make an offer on a foreclosed home, you are dealing directly with the bank because they are the current owner. The bank has already completed the foreclosure process, set the sales price, and are actively waiting for offers to come in so they can sell the home and get it off their books.
A short sale is a little different in that the bank does not technically own the property... they only have a mortgage lien against the property. When you make an offer on a short sale home, your offer goes first to the homeowner for their approval and signature. Then the accepted offer is sent to the bank(s) that hold the mortgage lien(s) for the home in order to obtain a short sale approval.
The short sale approval is a document that gives the homeowner permission to sell the home for a specified amount and the bank agrees to release the mortgage lien even though they will not be paid in full. This process can take days or months... it really just depends on the bank(s) that currently hold the mortgage lien(s) for the home.
When you make an offer on a bank owned home, you usually know right away if your offer is accepted. Making an offer on a short sale is a little different in that the bank has to get clear about the current value of the home through broker price opinions and appraisals. They also need to review the current owner's hardship and financial documents to make sure the owner qualifies for the short sale. This is what takes so much time and can test your patience as the home buyer.
If you are patient and do your homework upfront, purchasing a short sale can provide you a great way to get a deal in today's market with less competition.
Even though the bank takes their time making the decision to approval the short sale... they will often ask the buyer to close escrow in a matter of weeks once the short sale is approved.
Right now the real estate market can be a little hectic. Mortgage lenders are picking apart perfect files and closing escrow in less than 30 days can prove to be a real challenge.
In order to make sure your loan goes through as quickly as possible here are a couple tips:
•1. Make sure you work with a mortgage professional who asks you for a complete loan file upfront! A complete loan file should at least include (tax returns and W-2s, 2 months banks statements, most recent retirement statements, and 30 days worth of pay stubs). You need to make sure you are working with someone who will take your loan seriously and thoroughly review all of your documentation looking for red flags. Your mortgage professional will want to do as much work upfront as possible so there is no time wasted tracking these items down once you are in contract.
•2. Keep a file for new information as it is received! You will want to create a file where you can hold any new bank statements, paystubs, or retirement statements as they come in. Your mortgage professional will needs these items once you are in contract. The quicker you can get these items to them, the quicker your loan can be submitted.
•3. Respond quickly to your real estate agent or mortgage professional when they ask you for something! Even though you are in escrow... life still goes on as normal. You need to make it a priority to get back ANY items requested of you as quickly as possible. Remember your real estate team can only work as quickly as you allow then to! Every day wasted just makes your real estate transaction that much harder to close.
If you have patience, understand the short sale process upfront, and respond quickly when asked...short sales can prove to be a pot of golden opportunities for a homebuyer!
I hope this information has helped you understand the short sale process better. Please post a comment if you have any questions on this topic and I would be happy to answer them!
As always... Happy hunting!
Erin
Happy Hunting!
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If you don't put out your open house signs... Would anyone show up? The same goes for your Blog!
I started writing our blog about 2 years ago. In the beginning, I viewed our blog as it's own separate entity and did very little to cross promote it with our other marketing efforts.
I think a lot of that had to do with my confidence level and I felt I had not quite found my voice. It can be intimidating to start blogging. Every post that I wrote and every comment I received made me realized I did have something to contribute to the community. At some point... the training wheels popped off and I was off to become a full blown blogger!
The beginning of this year I realized I had this huge library of content that could be leveraged in our other marketing efforts. Our blog was no longer about the points I could collect or about the Internet ranking I could achieve. It is about a valuable resource of articles (and rants) that I could LEVERAGE to get more clients.
Looking back... How could I miss the biggest pot of gold in my possession?
We produce an e-newsletter that is sent out to our database. I don't know what I was thinking, but I would write a brand new featured article for each e-newsletter. At some point I realized... duh... Why am I recreating the wheel here? Why not use something I had already listed as a blog post?
At first, I would copy and paste the blog post right into the e-newsletter. This worked fine, but I quickly realized that I could kick it up a notch by adding a teaser paragraph instead of the entire article. This way it would force our readers to click through to our bog to get the rest of the information.
This did 2 things...
First it allowed me to track within Constantcontact.com (the website we use to send our e-newsletters) which articles were of interest to our database. You see, if you just copy the entire article into the e-newsletter, you have no idea if they read that particular article or not. Constantcontact.com will tell you they opened the email, but I had no way to identify which articles were the most popular. If you add a teaser paragraph and a link to the rest of the article, Constantcontact.com will track every time a reader clicks on each link. Now all of a sudden I knew how many people read our articles and who specifically clicked a particular link!
The added bonus for restructuring our e-newsletter?... Every time a reader would click a the link, it would drive more traffic to our blog site. Think about it... One of the ways Google rates your blog is based on the number of visitors it gets. This is a great proactive model you can use to push more traffic to your blog!
I have recently changed this featured e-newsletter article into a promo piece for our blog. I list 4 or 5 blog posts with links to each! My goal is to get people trained to go to our blog to get the information directly. I encourage folks to sign up to receive these posts via email on this promo piece.
I also create e-newsletters with other referral partners who work with the same target market. I use this same model and offer content that benefits their database. This creates even more traffic to our blog and that original blog content is being send to hundreds of people! In the past I would write that same post and it would sit there waiting for someone to drop in and read it.
If you have not figured it out yet... this model can be used in many different ways. I have added my blog posts to Twitter and Facebook and have seen huge jumps in my blog stats.
For Facebook, I have created several groups and fan pages that allow me to attract my target prospective clients. This way I can offer links to each group that is of interest to that particular niche market.
See... It is kinda like sitting an open house and not putting out the signs. Is the house great...yes! Are you good at what you do?... YES! But if you don't put out the open house signs... there is no way folks would know that you are in there waiting for them! In order to have a successful open house, you need to have a sign at every corner, send out an email to your database, and list it online and in the paper so that people actually show up!
The same thing goes for your blog. If you write the best post out there and it just sits.. how is that doing you any good? But if you post it on social networking websites and send it out to hundreds of people via your database (and other people's database)... now you have got yourself some action!
Did this post make you think differently about your blog? Leave a comment... I would love to hear from you!
Erin
Happy Hunting!
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I have read many blog posts recently regarding the subject of pre-approvals. It seems that many folks in our industry have a different idea of what a pre-approval is.
The problem is there are no uniform rules when it comes to pre-approvals. Not all pre-approvals are equal... it really comes down to who is providing it.
So as a Realtor... How do you know which pre-approval is the strongest? Many Realtors will say that if the pre-approval comes from a large bank, then the pre-approval must be stronger than the one that is provided by a mortgage broker. I battle this often when I go head-to-head with another offer that has a large bank pre-approval.
The truth is many times the big banks don't require the client's financial documents in order to pre-approve the borrower! They just pull the credit report and ask the client what their income is. Many Realtors will assume that the big bank logo holds some kind a merit... I have to disagree!
I know Realtors who insist they get a pre-approval from a correspondent lender which is a bank line. Although we are a mortgage brokerage, our company (as well as many other mortgage brokerages) have the ability to fund as a correspondent lender (act as a bank). The cold hard truth is there are no short cuts when I place a loan as a correspondent lender than if I placed it as a broker. I may save a day or two when I request the funding as a correspondent lender... BUT UNDERWRITING IS EXACTLY THE SAME!
On a side note... I know of mortgage "professionals" in my area who hand out their pre-approval template to their Realtors! It shocks me that either side (Realtors and mortgage "professionals") participate in this! This pre-approval template allows the Realtor to enter anything they want into the letter so they can print it and present it with their offer! It is amazing there are still people like this in our industry.
We happen to be on the complete polar opposite of these folks. Some might say our process is way too strict and it takes too much time upfront. We feel the more homework we do before the client is in contract the better... especially in this market!
Here are the steps we take for EVERY pre-approval we write.
1. The client must provide us with a complete loan file What does this mean anyways? They must provide us with 2 years tax returns, 2 months bank statments for all accounts, the most recent quarterly/monthly statement for all retirement accounts, a copy of their ID's, divorce decree (if recently divorced) and any other client specific paperwork that is requested UPFRONT!
Many folks want to know why they can't just tell me their income numbers over the phone. What I think people don't understand is even though their pay stub reflects $6,000 a month... that may not be the income number that ends up on their loan application. Lenders are picking files apart right now, scouring through tax returns looking for write-offs and business expenses that could further reduce the borrower's income. This goes for rental income as well! Just because you deposited $1,000 in your bank every month... the underwriter 9 times out of 10 will insist you be qualified based on the rent you claimed on LAST YEARS tax return.
So if the mortgage professional does not ask for a complete package upfront... How can they truly analyze the borrowers ability to qualify for a loan without all of the information?
2. Once we have all of the information from the client TWO members of our team review the file before we ever enter any data into the automated loan approval system. If you are a Realtor and a mortgage professional is telling you they have an automated approval... Remember this approval is only as solid as the information entering into the system.
If the mortgage professional is entering the $6,000 income I used as an example above and it really should be more like $4,000 according to the tax returns... then that automated approval does not mean jack!
We go the extra mile and have two sets of eyes look at every file we get a pre-approval for. This way any sticking points on a particular file is more likely to be caught upfront.
3. Once we decide on the most conservative numbers to use, we run an automated approval. As long as there are no shift in assets, loss of income, or a new tax return is filed, or guidelines change... our pre-approvals are solid because we actually pre-underwrite the file.
You would be surprised how may listing agents call the mortgage professional who gave a pre-approval letter for one of their offers and the mortgage "professional" does not even now what an automated approval is! If this happens to you... file that offer directly to the trash!
As you can see, there is a big difference from the mortgage "professional" who hands out a pre-approval template to their Realtor compared to our 3 step process... YET THEY ARE BOTH CALLED PRE-APPROVAL LETTERS!
I think it comes down to who is providing the pre-approval letters! Don't be shy to call the mortgage professional and interview them! I welcome these calls! I find I can often times talk the listing agent into accepting our client's offer because they are not neccessarily looking at the highest offer... they just want to pick the one that is in the hands of someone who can close!
Happy Hunting!
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This bill, authored by Assembly Member Cathleen Galgiani, protects consumers by ensuring that they have the right to choose their own real estate service providers when purchasing foreclosed properties.
AB 957, known as the Buyer's Choice Act, prohibits sellers of so-called REO properties - typically foreclosed properties owned by banks - from requiring the buyer to use a particular title company, escrow settlement or other real estate service provider. This unethical, anti-competitive practice drives up costs for homebuyers and takes business away from locally owned companies.
If you follow our Blog, you will know I have written countless posts about our escapades with bank owned title companies.
I chuckled when I found the first blog in my archive... Arnold must have been listening!
Overall I think this new law is a good thing... but the reality is I don't think it will change anything!
My biggest beef with the Bank Owned Title Companies is they give the banks a big discount on their fees... BUT they just end up passing them on to the Buyer.
Here is an example of one of our clients who got gouged by a Southern California title Company:
Escrow fee: $891 (Wow.. that seems a little steep..Shouldn't it be more like $400?)
Title insurance: $1674 Buyer Messenger Fee: $35 (Did you send the Buyer a secret message I did not know about?)
Sub escrow fee: $62(What?.. Didn't they already pay you a hefty escrow fee?)
Loan tie-in-fee: $200 (tie into what? There is only one loan?)
Processing Fee: $150 (You mean the escrow fee did not cover it?)
Courier Fee: $24 Buyer Archive fee $50 (Wow.. now you are getting creative!)
Wire Fee $25
Archiving Fee #2 $50 (OK... now you are pushing it!)
This is from a real closing statement! When I got the estimated HUD statement before my client's signing... I had to laugh... because it is all I could do!
I have tried calling the bank owned title companies to ask them to explain these fees. Every time I have called to discuss these crazy fees, the bank owned title companies (mostly located in Southern California) pretty much tell me to stuff it (my interpretation) and tell me they don't have to explain any of their fees to me.
Not only are the bank owned title companies making their money off the Buyer's backs... they are miserable to work with! I am not kidding here... ABSOLUTLY MISERABLE!
So let me get off that soap box and back to my point!
If you have made offers on Sacramento foreclosed property lately... you know there is a lot of competition right now in certain price ranges.
The Banks control a huge percentage of our Sacramento inventory and right now they make the rules. Buyers who ask for seller's concessions or repairs get their offer filed directly to the trash... in multiple offer situations.
So if you are one of those 10 offers sitting in front of the asset manager (works with the bank to sell their foreclosure inventory) and you are giving them grief about using their title company... where do you think your offer will be filed?
It is like asking a bank to modify their standard addendum they require all Buyers to sign that takes away many of their rights and their first born child (not really)! The Banks are never gonna do it!
That is my stance as of now...
Arnold.... It is the thought that counts!
Happy Hunting!
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I attended my first Elk Grove Investment Club meeting tonight and it was great! Hosted by Todd & Erin Newington of First Priority Financial with guest speakers, Bill and Chris Stanley of Realty Roundup, a local property management company, it was well attended by area investors.
I am often asked by potential investor clients about the local market and so I make sure that I stay up on the local rental market as much as possible. What a great opportunity to listen to the opinion of an area expert. Realty Roundup is the largest property management company in the local area and information regarding the Elk Grove rental market was shared by Chris Stanley with the investors.
Chris stated that the Elk Grove rental market has remained fairly stable over the past couple of years. The rental values have stayed steady as well as the number of vacancies. He attributes this to the fact that we have many homeowners walking away from their homes due to hardships but still wanting to remain in the Elk Grove area thus entering the rental market. Approximately 75% of their recent applicants have been somehow affected by the foreclosure market - either they have lost their homes through foreclosure or short sale, or they were renters of homes lost to foreclosure or short sale. Currently the most stable of the 3 Elk Grove zip areas is 95624.
Chris also seemed to feel that those former homeowners that have lost their homes through foreclosure or short sale, may end up being your best renters as they don't have that hefty payment any longer. Realty Roundup looks for the renter's income to be at least 3 times the monthly rent.
The Elk Grove area is a great place for your investment dollars...prices are very reasonable, we currently have incredible interest rates and we are seeing positive cash flows again! Don't wait! The opportunity is right NOW!
For more information on the local rental market and investment opportunities, contact Lori Mode of The Mode & DurhaM Team, Keller Williams Realty, at (916) 230-0371 or Lori@ModeandDurhaM.com.
Please join us at the Elk Grove Real Estate Investors Group next TUESDAY NIGHT - October 20th!
We have a special guest this month for our Elk Grove Real Estate Investors meeting who will discuss the Sacramento Rental Market!
Wonder what is going on with the Sacramento Rental Market?
Find out what other landlords are getting for rent in your area!
Join us and meet Bill Stanley from Realty Roundup.
Bill has been in the property management business for years and operates one of the largest property management companies in our area.
We thought it was appropriate to bring back Bill to give us an update on the rental market as we move into 2010.
Bill and Chris will cover...
Sacramento Rental Market statistics
Vacancy rates
Current rental rates
Turn-times to replace a tenants
How many tenants are leaving because they are buying?
What to expect when Investors manage their own units?
Hot points to be aware of
Marketing ideas
How to best select a tenant?
Post foreclosure applicants
How to select the right property manager?
Question and Answer
Leverage their experience and bring your questions! Join us on October 20th at our Elk Grove Investment Club... Elk Grove REI!
Meet our Speaker! Realty Roundup (916) 685-6601 www.RealtyRoundUpinc.com Realty Roundup, Inc. is a full service Management Company, serving owners of single family residences, duplexes, triplexes, multiple units, apartments, and small commercial.
MEETING LOCATION 9275 E. Stockton. Blvd., Ste. 100 Elk Grove, CA. 95624 Networking - 6:30pm Market Update - 7:00pm Main Speaker - 7:15pm
Members are FREE! Guests are $15
Join us and meet other Sacramento Investors who are actively investing in the Sacramento Real Estate Market!
Upcoming guideline changes will impact your ability to buy a Sacramento home
If you are buying aSacramento home you will want to read this...
There are 2 ways to get a file approved with Fannie Mae. You can have your file manually underwritten or you can run the loan through their automated approval system.
In February of 2009, tougher guidelines were put in place by Fannie Mae. This change made it much more difficult to qualify for a new mortgage.
Since February, only manually underwritten loans had to follow the new rules.
As of December 12, 2009, Fannie Mae will update their automated underwriting system and close a loophole we were using to get our clients approved.
Here are 2 big changes included in this update that will impact many of our clients:
#1 Challenge: The Borrower's debt-to-income ratio can not exceed 50%
Ouch! I just got an approval for a client at 61%! As of December 12th... This client will not qualify! They are out looking for new homes as we speak!
I reviewed the last 10 Sacramento mortgages we funded ... This update will impact more than HALF of the loans!
Now keep in mind... most of our clients are investors have good income and assets. What these clients also have is ton of write-offs! Their CPA does such a good job... Their client no longer looks like they make any income!
A common misconception many clients have... They think they can use their current rental income to qualify for their mortgage. Nope! Lenders will most likely reference their last year's tax return to determine the rental income to qualify the borrower. So... if you have had any vacant units or spent a ton of money in repairs... you could find you can't claim as much of the rent as you think.
It is not just rental income that is a problem! The lender may require your regular earned income to be averaged over the last 24 months. This means you might not be able to use your current higher income to qualify! Instead, you may need to average your current income with a lower income year.
This change is a big deal!If I were you... I would find out exactly where you are at in regards to your debt-to-income ratios in the next week or so... if you plan on buying a home by the end of the year.
If you are looking to purchase in 2010, you will want to work closely with your mortgage professional and your CPA to see if you can roll over some write-offs into the 2010 tax year.
#2 Challenge: New asset rules mean you need more money in the bank to buy a home!
In the past you could use 100% of the current value for stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Fannie Mae now requires you only list 70% of the value. They are also reducing retirement accounts from 70% to 60%!
This only really becomes an issue if you do not have many assets to work with.
Just when you thought it could not tighten any more... it does! That is OK... we will just modify and adapt!
They are going to force us to sharpen our pencils. That is OK!I agree with that... it is a goog thing!
THIS IS A REMINDER FOR US... PLANNING IN THIS MARKET CRITICAL!
If you think this may impact you... please call Todd at (916) 687-6868 Ext. 1 to discuss your options!
This blog by:
Team Newington Sacramento Mortgage Planners First Priority Financial (916) 687-6868
Last week I was at a seminar that consisted mostly of real estate agents. The subject of loan officers came up and the crowd actually booed. Being 1 of the 3 loan officers in the room... I just looked around in amazement. Talk about a tough crowd!
Have you noticed real estate agents get a notable twitch when the subject of loan officers comes up? I am exaggerating here... but sometimes it does feel that way.
Some real estate agents act as if they are a superior class and I the lowly loan officer need to leave them alone. The funny part is... all I did was say hi and introduce myself.
Everything was going good until I told them what I did for a living. Talk about throwing out some judgment or stereo type before you really get to know me as a person!
Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a salesy person. I don't care for salesy people (not matter what they are selling) and I certainly don't act that way... My Type D personality would not allow that ;). I am not going to hand you a flyer (I would rather die first)... I am certainly not going to chase you down the hall or into your office trying to get you to give me a deal. So then why when I tell you what I do for a living do you assume this is how I will act?
The truth is I don't need your business.That does not mean I don't want your business!
The fact is... we generate enough leads every month to allow us to referral clients to Realtors. One local agent received over $13,000 in commissions last year from our referrals alone.
So now that we have addressed that I don't need anything from you... Can we move on to getting to know each other as people who share a common client base and real estate market?
What if you thought about my introduction a little differently? When I am out networking, I am looking for folks who are hustling in their business. It intrigues me to find out how people are thriving in our market and I feed off their energy. I love to talk about war stories and battles won and how they are constantly evolving and growing their business despite of brutal market storms.
Why?... Because we are both in the same boat. I love the banter back in forth when you find a real estate agent in the crowd who gives you that spark. Do you know what I am talking about? When you can almost finish each other's sentences because your day-to-day life in business is parallel... even though they sell homes and we sell mortgages.
So if I don't need your business, Then why am I out networking and introducing myself?... Fair enough!
The word of the day is L E V E R A G E.
If you are kicking butt selling homes and we are kicking butt financing them... How can we work together to play an even bigger game?
I don't know about you... but our business is way up this year and the opportunities are endless. What is not endless is the amount of hours in the day.
So how can I find a real estate agent with a similar business/marketing plan who is going after the same target market then build something great. Maybe it is an event or seminar... maybe a website or blog. Whatever the thing is... it does not matter! Just two highly dedicated teams who are working together to create something bigger than they could alone.
So if you are a real estate agent and you are guilty of turning on your heels and running for the door at the sight of a loan officer coming down the hall... think about what you might be missing out on.
Have an idea of how we can work together and go after some business together? Call me to discuss the possibilities!
This blog by:
Erin Newington Sacramento Mortgage Planners First Priority Financial (916) 687-6868
Happy Hunting!
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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.
I was so glad to hear this morning that Active Rain is hosting another 
Short sales in our area are increasing more and more every month and take up a large percentage (and growing) of the homes for sale right now in our Sacramento real estate market.
If you don't put out your open house signs... Would anyone show up? The same goes for your Blog!
So as a Realtor... How do you know which pre-approval is the strongest? Many Realtors will say that if the pre-approval comes from a large bank, then the pre-approval must be stronger than the one that is provided by a mortgage broker. I battle this often when I go head-to-head with another offer that has a large bank pre-approval. 
The 
If you have made offers on Sacramento foreclosed property lately... you know there is a lot of competition right now in certain price ranges. 
Please join us at the Elk Grove Real Estate Investors Group next TUESDAY NIGHT - October 20th!
Upcoming guideline changes will impact your ability to buy a Sacramento home
Ouch! I just got an approval for a client at 61%! As of December 12th... This client will not qualify! They are out looking for new homes as we speak!
In the past you could use 100% of the current value for stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Fannie Mae now requires you only list 70% of the value. They are also reducing retirement accounts from 70% to 60%!
;)
;)
