Luxury Home Buyers in Barrington and South Barrington Illinois, Hawthorn Woods IL, and Chicago's North Shore Take Note....

Luxury Home Buyers in Barrington and South Barrington Illinois, Hawthorn Woods IL, and Chicago's North Shore Take Note....

High-end home buyers are coming back into the market based on low interest rates on Jumbo loans and bargain basement prices.  Luxury home buyers choose Buyer Broker Chicagoland because they know we are always 100% on their side, with no dual agency conflicts of interest that a “buyer agent” can have - and as Certified Negotiation Experts - they can save tens of thousands - if not 100k or more on their purchase.  The difference between a typical agent and an expert negotiator is huge.  Unlike 99.9% of other agents - we align our compensation to be in the buyer’s best interests, instead of the opposite -- which is something any true fidicuary should do.

Jumbo loans (those bigger than $417,000) are a better bargain  than they have been in years. The average rate on a 30-year jumbo mortgage is just over 5%, down from 6.41% two years ago.  So a monthly payment on a 30-year $600,000 home loan is now about $3,280,  about $480 less than the cost of the same loan two years ago, for an annual savings of about $5,800.

Besides being cheap relative to historical rates, they are cheap relative to smaller "conforming" loans, which are backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and federal agencies. The difference between the rates on a jumbo mortgage and a conforming loan is just 0.43 percentage point, the narrowest spread since 2007.

Jumbo loans accounted for almost one in every six new mortgages, including new-home purchases and refinances, in the first quarter of 2011. At that pace, the number of jumbo loans issued in 2011 could be the highest in five years, when the housing market was near its peak.
Some people are trying to lock in a government-backed jumbo loan now ahead of a planned limit reduction.

In October, the federal government will start reducing support of jumbo loans as large as $729,750, which it began as an emergency measure three years ago. The new limits will vary by location, but will drop.

Buyer Broker Chicagoland sees that buyers in Barrington, South Barrington, Kildeer, Long Grove, Hawthorn Woods and Chicago's North Shore (Deerfield, Highland Park, Winnetka, Glencoe etc.) are trying to take advantage of substantial price declines.  That includes people who bought well before the housing bubble and who are still significantly above water now and want to trade up while prices are low.

Buyers who sat out the boom but stayed employed and saved money during the downturn now have money for these homes, and the jumbo loan is their ticket in.

Jumbo loans typically require a down payment of 20% to 30%. Buyers need to be able to document their income, assets and net worth, including two years of tax returns and recent brokerage and bank statements.  As a buyer - you will also need a high credit score, at least 740 to 760 on the FICO-score range.

In the future, since lenders won't be able to sell as many jumbo loans to government-backed agencies—thereby unloading risk—they may not originate as many.  The added risk means they likely will raise their interest rates.

Many lenders will have to stop originating mortgages over the $625,500 limit by the end of July for home purchases and by mid-August for refinances, since mortgages can take up to two months to close.

If you are in the market to purchase a luxury home in the coming months, feel free to call 847-566-7558 to schedule an initial one-hour no-cost consultation - to learn more about each other, and see how we get the results that we do.

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if you are serious about buying a home in the Chicago area within the next 90 days - feel free to contact me. As an Exclusive Buyer Broker (always on the buyer's side - never on the seller's side) I work with a select number of clients - so that I can provide the highest possible level of service. (My clients receive a lot of personalized research and attention - which by it's very nature, takes time - but has high payoff.)

Feel free to visit the Buyer Broker Chicagoland web site for more information.

Download our high-tech GPS-enabled Chicago area home search application onto your cell phone (works with any type of phone - as long as you have web browsing capability) by texting BBC to 87778.

Call 847-566-7558 or e-mail to schedule a complimentary initial consultation – so that I can determine if you are qualified to be a client. Thanks and have a great day!