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January 6th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

It may not be the most absorbing of topics but if you have a burglary or all the food in your freezer spoils, you will be glad you had the foresight to arrange a house insurance policy. If you own your house, you may be offered a joint policy that covers both the building and the contents as well although this may not be worth it if you rent where you live.

While you are searching for the ideal house insurance, it would be a good idea spending some time going around your household making up a written inventory of all your most important personal things. An elementary way to do this is to carry out a walk-through of your home with a camcorder if you have one or a digital camera if not and take pictures of the rooms and the contents. In combination with the written stock, this makes a superb record of your house and possessions. Nevertheless, you should not overlook the need to keep your household insurance current so any new items must be added to the list and pictures taken as soon as possible.

Most providers in the insurance marketplace are able to provide quotations and terms online so it is possible to request a few of quotations which gives you the chance to view the best for you. The advantage of getting an immediate online quote is that insurance quotes from major providers are brought to your computer screen in a matter of a few seconds.

Insurance firms call the amount they protection as the sum assured and this amount is the most they will pay out on your plan should you make a claim for total loss through damage, accident or burglary. The sum assured is often worked out by the insurance supplier for you based on figures for replacing the contents of an average house.

Do not be surprised if a company fixes up a house visit to evaluate your insurance cover or call for a figure from you to replace the contents so they can work out a premium founded on what you have told them. This situation may also help your particular needs as your personal contents value may be much higher than the general sum assured, in which case you would be under insured.

Insurance providers normally call for particulars of specific items that may not be covered by their standard policy so be aware of this before committing yourself. Many people who work from home are caught out by this as business stock is not usually covered automatically. High value items such as jewelry and electronic stock are often not included in the house insurance and may have to be addressed at additional cost. The household owner should be conscious that whatever the stipulations of the insurance plan, it is the household owner who is responsible if a claim is denied for something that the policy does not provide for so it is important that these issues are verified in advance of any decision being made.

Real estate short sale is an unpleasant experience for an owner

January 6th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

A surprising number of people are using the phrase “real estate short sale” currently and that has drawn a number of curious people to wonder what all the commotion is all about. Anyone who has read newspapers or watched TV has probably come across some sort of stories about the declining real estate market leading banks to consider real estate short sales as an alternative to foreclosure. Real estate prices have dropped dramatically, and the sell time has risen as well. Detroit and similar regions are, it is fair to say, experiencing a full real estate market meltdown. These declining real estate markets are the main reason for the rise in short sale real estate.

Banks undergo a real estate short sale when they let a property be sold for an amount of money that is less than what it is worth. The following two conditions must be met in order for the bank to approve such a deal. Foremost, you will need to have a market value that is in such bad shape that the sale price of the property cannot cover the balance on the mortgage. The second condition is kind of obvious, but it dictates that the owners will be unable to continue making mortgage payments on the property.

For example, a property that was purchased five years ago with an adjustable rate mortgage for 217,000 dollars. Let’s say that two years after purchasing the property the owners took out an additional 10,000 dollars second mortgage, which means that today the owners owe 227,000 dollars on the property.

In a five year time span, the amount the mortgages would have been paid is negligible. Let’s also believe that the property is in a part of the country where the market values have fallen to 215,000 dollars for similar properties, and that the adjustable mortgage interest rate has risen from seven to eleven percent. Additionally, we end up with a real estate short sale situation once one of the owners has lost their job.

The bank may decide to save expenses and time delays that a foreclosure would cost by simply allowing a short sale. The reason is that it is far better to have a definite amount of money know and the property off the bank’s books than waiting on an unknown amount of money at some unknown point in the future. If the lenders and owners do not agree on the terms of the sale, complications can result, but in general, that is how the real estate short sale works.

For owners going through a real estate short sale, the experience can be a dreadful one, but there are experiences which can be far worse. Having to go through the experience is awful, but it is a lot better than having a foreclosure on your credit report. On the other side of the coin, it can often represent an excellent buying opportunity for the savvy real estate investor.

Improving Your Odds of Getting Approved for a Mortgage

January 6th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

If you have found the house that you plan to live in for the rest of your life, you are probably now talking to banks to see about a mortgage. Without good credit, banks are going to have to really evaluate whether or not you would be a good person for such a big loan. Your goal is to improve your chances of getting a mortgage, because without one there is no way that you can get a house. What can you do to improve your chances of getting a mortgage?

Educate yourself. You definitely want to educate yourself on what your financial history is like. If you aren’t sure what it is, get a copy of your credit score and your credit report. Banks look at your credit report and score to determine what their risk is when they lend money to you. If your credit history is not so hot, you may find that a lot of banks are hesitant or won’t loan you any money to buy your house. You have the power if your credit score is good because banks are going to want to loan you money and may even offer you special deals so that you choose them.

Know where your money is going to. When you go in to talk to banks, take a copy of the budget that you drew up that shows exactly how much you are currently spending on renting a house and how much you would pay with your mortgage payment. When banks find out that you are able to afford the mortgage payments they are going to be more likely to approve the application.

Build up your down payment. The vast majority of first time buyers don’t have 20% of the price of their future home saved yet. If your credit history isn’t rock solid, a lot of banks won’t want to take the risk on a loan with less than the required down payment. To up your odds, save up your money before applying for a mortgage.

Find a cosigner. When your credit is not so great, a lot of banks are going to ask for a cosigner, which is someone who is going to put their house and mortgage on the line in case you don’t pay. If you have someone who will do this for you, this is going to drastically increase your chances of getting that mortgage. A lot of people are going to be reluctant to cosign for you if you are fiscally irresponsible.

Research the real estate market. You are going to have a better chance of getting a mortgage if you are planning on buying a house in a hot market. If you are going to buy something in a market that is cooling down, you are probably going to find a lot of banks aren’t willing to give you a mortgage on a property that is going to decrease in value.

Find out about your neighborhood. Some bank officials are going to ask you about how much houses in the neighborhood sold for in the past. When they find out that you know how much your future neighbor’s house sold for three years ago, they are going to be impressed and give you the loan

Getting a mortgage approved is getting more and more difficult everyday with the economic downturn. However, if you follow these six tips you are going to find that getting a loan for your dream house is going to be possible.

Out of Sight Mortgage Payments: What Can You Do?

January 6th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

I’m not afraid to admit that I was one of the millions, caught up in the frenzy of the “easy refinance.” Some of us bought cars, some of us went on luxury vacations. I bought some investment houses. Either way, were all in the same boat: Stuck in bad loans with increasing payments, and not able to refinance due to the sagging housing prices. Let’s face it, most of us aren’t going to qualify for loans if the house is worth less than we owe. So what are our options? Keep juggling and hang on? Dump the house and take the loss? Who can we trust to help us?

I not late on any payments, but I am working like a dog to keep up with them. I won’t be able to sustain this speed for very much longer. You see, I started investing in rental homes a while back and have faithfully stuck with them through thick and thin. Now I’m struggling and looking for help and looking at my options. People keep telling me I’d be in a better position if I had missed some payments!!

The “end of the line” for me was when a rental home value dropped by $100000 in just a few months. I calculated the time it would take to regain my loss in a healthy market assuming 8% appreciation a year, and it would indeed by over 10 years. So that means no matter what, I’ll be scraping to make ends meet for a long long time. No appreciation, no gains. Just damage control. It just doesn’t make sense anymore and perhaps it would be better to take a hit now, and start the recovery process, earlier. So where do I go from here?

This is the question I was facing when I first decided I was in trouble. Maybe your in the same position. I owe more on the house than it is NOW worth. The quintessential upside down loan. So I looked at everything from lawyers to banks to real estate agents. Here are the options I found out there. Some of them might be right for you . . . . .

1. Maintain that balancing act! (Those of us that can!) For some of us, this will be a personal choice, and for the rest, it won’t be an option. All of us that are caught in upside down mortgages and can afford to keep up the payments need to ask yourselves if your willing to gut it out for the next (x) number of years with little to no equity gain. Who knows, the market may recover soon, but it’s not likely. You can’t time the market, not even the banks can.

2. Try to renegotiate your loan with the bank: I’ve done this successfully. It’s a good step if your home hasn’t depreciated over $100,000. You just call up the bank, and as for the “loss mitigation department.” You tell them your having a hard time, and they will send you a hardship package to fill out. You fill it out, looking as financially desperate as possible, and they will come back to you with a modified loan.

3. Short Sale: This is sort of a pre-foreclosure sale. Your late on a few payments, and the bank takes a serious look at you and threatens foreclosure. You find a realtor to represent you and present the hardship package. The realtor prices the home at a substantial discount and finds a buyer. They present the offer to the bank, and the bank usually accepts the deal, which is a positive situation for all. The bank is always interested in short sale instead of foreclosure as it saves them 10s of thousands of dollars in hassle and legal fees, and allow both parties to move on to new business. You should remember that there are still negative ramifications for short sales, even if less damaging than those associated with foreclosures and/or bankruptcy. However, short sales do carry less negative effects than foreclosures. Short sale sellers are widely seen as more credit worthy than foreclosed sellers. Case in point, Fannie Mae recently adjusted their guidelines to dictate only a two year waiting period for a short sale seller to buy another primary residence, while they extended the waiting period for foreclosures to five years.

4. A Deed in Lieu of foreclosure is one of the banks least favorite options. This is where you just hand over the deed, and say goodbye to the bank. The lender has to then sell the house to recover it’s losses. The bank will subsequently provide the borrower with 2 documents. One document will cancel the debt and relieve the borrower any further debt, and the other one assures they can never come back to you for the money.

5. Foreclosure: This is the final option and if you like to go to court, then this is the option for you. In foreclosure, the lender first sends you a summons to appear or foreclosure complaint. The borrower responds to prevent foreclosure and explains the problems at a hearing. The borrower can this point you can still pay the full amount and get the house back during this redemption period. After the redemption period is over, the lender sells the property a public sale or auction and getting as much as they can (or settle for). Any excess goes to you, the original owner/borrower. If the sale amount is less than the loan amount, and in your case it probably will be, you will still owe the balance to the lender. This amount is determined as a result of deficiency proceedings.So as you can see, as we go down the line, the options get worse and worse! As far as my situation, I have to walk away from at least 3 houses. I’m losing a hell of a lot of money, but I’m getting my life back.

Exploring the 4 Property Rule

January 6th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

Portfolio lending is becoming increasing popular. One of the reasons for this is portfolio lending is not restricted to the horrific 4 property rule. Through a portfolio lender, it is possible to acquire a multitude of mortgages. However, those looking to procure loans through entities such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will run into the 4 property rule wall.

It is understandable that new rules need to be put in effect to prevent the fiasco that precipitated the nefarious $750 billion bailout bill. However, the onset of the 4 property rule is among the most egregious. In fact, this particular rule is a complete rejection of the principles that the free market is founded on. That is, the 4 property rule is a massive overreach of government regulation designed to limit the free market. Worst of all, this type of regulation limits a great deal of personal liberty and freedom.

Wondering what the 4 property rule actually is? Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced in 2008 that the maximum number of financed properties a person can have is four. This crazy rule even includes a person’s primary residence so really the maximum number of rentals is limited to three.

And, as an investor this includes your primary residence! Again, this rule does nothing to help real estate investors. It is simply protectionism. And, as we all know, protectionism usually backfires. It does absolutely nothing to help the market and overall economy. Instead, the 4 property rule can significantly weaken the economy.

For example, prior to the current economic meltdown, many legitimate investors took advantage of skyrocketing real estate values. They would purchase properties at low prices and then sell high. In some cases, real estate investors would purchase significant volumes of property for resale. Some investors would purchase literally dozens of properties for resale. The profits derived from this wholesaling had an enormous benefit on the overall economy.

That is, in the absence of the 4 property rule, the sale of massive volumes of real estate would yield a number of positive effects. For example, the revenues generated could be invested into the stock market. Once invested, it would provide liquidity to many different companies. It would also generate significant tax revenue to the state and local governments. And, of course, the wealth created by this multiplexing of real estate sales would greatly expand purchasing. This would improve the economy in other sectors of the market. With the onset of the 4 property rule, all of this would cease and much of the economy could be undermined. Hopefully, this rule will eventually be revoked and return a more free market approach to the world of real estate.

The good news is, regardless of whether or not this rule is revoked, portfolio lenders do not have to follow this 4 property rule. If you have more than 4 financed properties (or hope to), a portfolio lender is what you need.

Appraisers Not Fudging Numbers - No Help for Reverse Mortgage

January 6th, 2009    Subscribe To Our Feed

I received an email a few days ago from a prospective customer. I say prospective loosely because I’m quite sure he won’t become one.

He began by flattering my marketing abilities. Once I was buttered up he opened the door to his true inquiry: How can choosing you instead of another lender, get me the largest cash sum possible from my house?

There is actually no way to do it another way. All of us in reverse mortgages use the same formula to establish the cash amount that can be removed from a loan.

Once we covered that, he declared he wanted a first-rate appraiser that would work really hard. This is a way of covertly saying he wanted one that would report in a biased way.

The point being for him, a reverse mortgage lender will lend him a greater amount of money if his value comes in higher.

With home values reducing he is in the same shaky boat as many senior mortgage holders. They want to use the reverse loan to rid themselves of the burden of the monthly payment.

Yet the lender can’t at all times loan an adequate amount to fulfill this wish if the appraisal returns too low. So the poor borrower has to maintain payment on the regular loan until his home value increases enough to give it another shot.

Until recently appraisers were able to take certain liberties on their report, but now they are having a rough time.

A totally “by the book” appraiser reading this might be a little hot under the collar. But everyone knows plenty of fudging was going on.

Fast forward to today when everyone is getting the blame for the mortgage fiasco, appraisers included. Appraisers are being scrutinized more so than ever.

Appraisal audits are more frequent than ever and appraisers are running the risk of losing their license if business is not conducted as it should.

I relayed all of this information to the potential client, and he hasn’t called me since. I warned him that other lenders would assure him the highest possible appraisal.

Some people will say anything to get the business. I will be forthright with you, even if you choose another lender.

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