12-13-13 For those wanting to buy again, this is an important question: “When Can I Buy Again?”
The good news is you can. When you can buy depends on who buys or insures the loan. Martin Goldberg has some nice guidelines relating to this question. He posted it in May 2013. Keep in mind lending guidelines change and Mr Goldberg’s […]
12-4-13 – The Home Affordable Refinance Program, also known as HARP, is a federal program of the United States, set up by the Federal Housing Finance Agency in March 2009 to help underwater and near-underwater homeowners refinance their mortgages. The application deadline is Dec 31, 2015. To see if you qualify check out the HARP website!
If you’ve received unemployment benefits within the last 30 days you could qualify for mortgage assistance. Notice there’s a time parameter here. If you’re about to lose you unemployment benefits, you need to hurry. See it at Keep Your Home California
It looks like sales in September have dropped in the Valley. Sales in Fresno County dropped 13% from August. See the previous blog for our explanation. Though sales have fallen, median prices have managed to rise 1% over August. and a jump of 16.8% over the previous year. This is good for those who are upside down on their […]
11/25/13 – For Homeowners doing short sales, where what you sell your house for is less that what you owe, there has been a taxable issue with the State of California and the Federal government. Previous to 2007 the forgiveness of the debt has been a taxable item on your tax return. For example: you sell your house for […]
11-20-2013 J.P. Morgan Chase just settled with the Justice Department over a variety of legal issues related to the mortgage debacle. Apparently they were not forthright about the mortgages they sold on the secondary market. They were weaker mortgages than advertised. In the agreement J.P. Morgan is to provide 4 Billion in aid to distressed borrowers. The use of […]
For about the last 6 months the demand for houses has dropped. We’ve had to lower our prices and wait longer to get our properties sold. As we have tried to discern why, the following come to mind: 1.) Interest rates have gone up. 2.) Job growth has not taken root, leaving fewer qualified buyers. 3.) Uncertainty caused by […]
Have you ever wondered what your home is worth? Maybe you’re wondering if you could sell and payoff your loan without owing anything. Zillow is a website that offers free AVM’s: Automated Valuation Model. This is an estimate of what your home is worth based on sales in your area. Each company has a variety of parameters they use […]
3-17-14
There’s good news for Californians who are needing to do a short sale. According to the California Association of Realtors a letter from one of the FTB board members stating “California families who have lost their home in a short sale are not subject to state income tax liability on debt forgiveness “phantom income” they never received in a […]
3-5-14 I recently read that 25% of all homes with mortgages in Fresno County still owe more than there home is worth. There’s
two parts to this equation:
1) The debt exceeds the value of the home
and
2) The homeowner is paying interest on debt that’s beyond the homes worth. That’s not efficient.
Wouldn’t it be wiser to reduce the payment burden by […]