I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! Ours was a lot of fun but personally, I think I can go months without seeing another Turkey...
Last month's newsletter referred to the expiration of the $729,750 loan limits and now the temporary Fannie Mae limit is $625,500. In some areas, the limit is as low as $417,000. Feel free to contact me for the limit in your area.
Contrary to what you might hear in the media, mortgages are plentiful and rates are indeed very good. The only difference is that now you have to actually document the fact that you qualify for the loan versus just "stating" your income. This presents particularly difficult challenges for self-employed borrowers who may be able to afford more than they qualify for. The "no income verification" loan was initially developed for the self-employed borrower and now it has been eliminated due to poor lending practices. Frankly, when these lenders told me that income verification was not required for W2'd employees, and that they didn't need to put any money down nor did they need equity, I was shocked. But, since the lenders set the terms, many more borrowers "qualified" and "benefited" from this flexibility. Many did indeed benefit but the increased availability of credit helped drive up home prices and as a result, many also did not benefit - as housing prices have plummeted in many areas. As it turns out, that was the beginning of the end of the secondary market for jumbo mortgages and the seeds for the mortgage meltdown.
The good news is that the Fed has stepped in and mortgage rates have improved...
The Fed announces it will buy $600 billion of Mortgage Backed Securities
The Federal Reserve just announced that it would purchase $600B of Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae. This brilliant move by the Fed is designed to help increase the availability of credit, while lowering fixed mortgage rates. Remember, the government doesn't set interest rates, the market does. And when mortgage backed securities are being purchased, fixed rates improve - it's that simple.
Did your property actually get back into your Trust after you refinanced?
If you have refinanced at any time and the Title Company was supposed to put your property back into your Trust after your close of escrow, do you know if it actually happened? I urge you to double check as it could be very costly to you if it did not occur. Please call Fidelity National Title at 415-837-2323 to find out if it did go back into the Trust. Please note that it does take a while after closing so don't check too fast...
That's it for now... feel free to contact me anytime!
Sincerely,
Charlie Christensen
888-711-5454 Toll Free / 415-454-1130 Local ext. 111
charlie@cwcfinancial.com |
