Mortgage Secrets…Learn What the Experts Say

FUNDS TO CLOSE for FHA

With DAPS (Down payment Assistance Programs like Nehemiah) going away and the increased requirement of 3.5% buyer contribution, I wanted to share with you the FHA guidelines of FUNDS TO CLOSE. ***Some of these FHA guidelines may have additional investor and industry restrictions so verification per loan is necessary.

So how is your client going to get the necessary funds to qualify for an FHA loan and close their loan on time? After all…they’ve been looking for months and months and now they finally found the right home, got their offer accepted and you’re ready to help them move right on in.

Below are just 3 of the 22 Important Ways to know well ahead of the closing date and quite honestly, you should know these before you start looking for a home or helping a client look for a home. If your mortgage broker or lender does not know these restrictions and possibilites, it’s time to look for someone who is informed and can help to make your transacitons smooth sailing from start to finish.

1. Earnest Money Deposit~
   If the amount of the earnest money deposit exceeds 2 percent of the sales price or appears excessive based on the borrower’s history of accumulating savings, the lender must verify with documentation the deposit amount and the source of funds. Satisfactory documentation includes a copy of the borrower’s cancelled check. A certification from the deposit-holder acknowledging receipt of funds and separate evidence of the source of funds is also acceptable. Evidence of source of funds includes a verification of deposit or bank statement showing that at the time the deposit was made the average balance was sufficient to cover the amount of the earnest money deposit. Read the rest of this post

“Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.” ~ Demosthenes

If you thought last Monday was wild on the news from Fannie and Freddie, the headlines that lead us into this week are even crazier. First, Mortgage Bonds are up sharply, which should lead to
much better home loan rates, especially for home purchases - time to get off the fence, and also for great refinance opportunities, just what we have been expecting, call me to see if this makes sense for you. Remember you can utilize your equity to purchase more real estate.

The week begins with more fallout in the financial sector. Lehman Brothers is done after 158 years, thanks to their over exposure to sub-prime mortgages. Another casualty that was narrowly avoided was Merrill Lynch, which is being acquired by Bank of America, again due to their greed and over exposure in the risky mortgage business. Also on the ropes is insurance giant, AIG, as they try to raise cash quickly to stay afloat.

So where is the good news you’re asking??? What do all these headlines mean to YOU? It’s a time to look for opportunities. There are many and where do you begin?

To start, there are MANY smaller opportunities or shall I say tools to utilize that are now available by way of The Fed. working on bailing out the American public.

“HOPE for Homeowners Act of 2008″

$7,500 Home Purchase Tax Credit

Seller Interest Rate Buy Down = Easier Qualifying

Fannie & Freddie Bail Out = lower interest rates

FHA loan limits & 100% financing

The huge opportunity is of course simply the shear number of homes that are “On Sale”. Can you remember the last time Southern California property was this cheap?

Find out why, when, how, and what. Get your questions answered. Make smart financial decisions. Come to our FREE educational workshop. That’s right, I said FREE. Invite Your Friends & Family this Saturday the 20th at 10am

Sneak Preview

Just wanted to share with you some GOOD NEWS out of all this crazy, roller-coaster-of-a-ride we call a market. What a GREAT time to be looking to buy a home!

be+DO=have

“My greatest point is my persistence. I never give up in a match. However down I am, I fight until the last ball.” ~ Bjorn Borg, tennis player

Washington has been busy lately. In one of the most rapidly approved bills in memory, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act was passed into law, and could have significant implications on the housing and mortgage industry. The constant volatility in the market requires constant change and A LOT of persistence and perseverance. You can count on me to stay ahead of the game. And while there is a lot to share with you, I wanted to reach out to let you know a couple of things that could impact you or someone you know and care about right away.

The first thing that stands to impact many homebuyers is the elimination of what is known as seller down payment assistance for FHA loans. Seller down payment assistance is where a home seller contributes money to a down payment assistance company who in turn provides a legal grant to the homebuyer. This has helped over 900,000 families obtain homeownership since 2000.

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Quote of the Week:

Know What You Don’t Know

“The doors of wisdom are never shut.”

Benjamin Franklin
~ Inventor    

Good Afternoon!

Please take a moment to watch this very quick video about something I’m going to try out, Question and Answer emails / videos:

http://www.vimeo.com/1610110

Forward this email to your friends and family so that they can watch the video, too.

QOTW - Q & A Introduction http://www.vimeo.com/1610110“This week I talk about how doing the opposite of what we’re taught or what we think we should do is usually the right thing to do, surprisingly. Also, I’d like to introduce my new Question and Answer idea that I hope will be useful to all of my viewers. If you have any questions that you would like me to address by video, email, or privately, send them to me via email at kkooiman@silverstarfinance.com.

Here is an example of a recent Q & A that I read online through one of the companies I learn from: Read the rest of this post

Right now we are in a Different time…right?  And like any rough time in our economy, being positive and truthful is necessary.  Most of what you are hearing and seeing is negative and down right depressing.  But I have to say, if you’ve been reading my weekly emails [ come on, I know you have =) ], you will have noticed that there are a lot of positive things happening not only at Silverstar but in the real estate market as well.

When was the last time that you could buy a home in Southern California at such a discount?  And when was the last time you could buy cash flowing investment real estate?  And think of how much lower your property taxes will be or could be?  Like I said, Better is Always Different.

Well Guess What???  The time is now, even Alan Greenspan agrees.

Alan Greenspan told the Wall Street Journal last week that we are witnessing a 100-year event. That could possibly mean that in his opinion our housing crisis surpasses that of the great depression of the 1930s. (Different)

“The truth is, this problem will not be fixed from the top down. It will only be fixed from the bottom up. Courageous positive individuals need to take action now to clear excessive inventory (one house at a time) before pricing will normalize.” (Better)

Even though the government is trying to implement new policy to help homeowners survive, the market turn around will ultimately come from homes being bought by people who are qualified to buy their first home and investors who are purchasing rental properties.  Everyone needs a roof over their head so don’t think that real estate is a bad investment or it’s a bad time to buy.

True, this is a different (better) time to buy that and requires different strategies and qualifications.  I know what it takes to buy a foreclosure or an auction property based on experience, not based on what someone else is saying.  I also know the importance of financial security and how to help you develop a road map to manage your debt and cash flow.  We have been helping our clients for years develop their blue print.  Change is good, working with someone who changes is even better.

How Silverstar is Different
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With foreclosures steadily on the rise, one of the questions that has been surfacing is the possibility of homeowners simply walking away from their mortgage because they owe so much more than someone who just bought a foreclosure on the same block.

I’ve heard the term “buy & burn” used lately to describe someone who goes and purchases a new home that could even be in the same neighborhood at a cheaper price and then turn around and walk away from their current home and loan. The resulting default or foreclosure wont matter to them at this point because they’ve already closed escrow on a new less expensive home. I guess they just have to make sure they are set for a few years while their credit takes a huge hit.

Yes this is fraud and it is definitely NOT the right thing to do but people are doing it. I’m not sure if it is desperation or simply they don’t feel obligated to stick to what they originally agreed on. Either way, I think people that are doing this will definitely get what’s coming to them down the road and I don’t know how they could sleep at night.

What happened to personal responsibility? I guess if these people were lending out their money, they’d be ok with someone sticking it to them as well?!! ha ha. It’s just sad that so many people made really bad choices and now they are just dumping their problems onto everyone else across the board! Okay, Ok enough with my personal tirade….back to the point.

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Quote of the Week:

“It is not the crook in modern business that we fear, but the honest person who does not know what he is doing.” ~Owen D. Young

Research has confirmed that one out of every three homeowners have no idea what kind of loan they have. If you and/or any of your family members find yourself in that category, I have set aside some time to review their loan and provide advice to determine what to do next.

When a family member, friend or neighbor needs advice about buying/selling/borrowing, please don’t keep me a secret because you want them to get the best possible result and be delighted that you introduced me, don’t you?

All anyone has to do is give me a call to talk about their own situation or equally as important, to give me the name and number of someone they think will benefit from a relationship with a trusted adviser.

Rarely do I send out the same video twice but, in this case, it’s such a no brainer (saving money) that I would hope everyone would inquire after watching the video. Will you do me a favor? Will you please forward this email to those who you work with or better yet, to a Human Resources person who is authorized to forward this to the entire company ? I’m sure your fellow co-workers/friends/teammates will certainly appreciate their company looking out for them by way of giving them a way to save hundreds, if not thousands of dollars each and every year. This will, of course, spread the word about what we do here as well. Let’s just call it another win/win for everyone. Read the rest of this post

This quote is a perfect fit for what I talk about in my video today:

“The great thing in this world is not so much where you are, but in what direction you are moving.” And it’s completely up to you!!  ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

Great Big Dreams Require Great Big Thoughts & Little Tiny Steps from Janet French on Vimeo.

It’s really quite simple to enlist the help of a Trusted Advisor team. All it takes is one simple phone call to schedule a short 1-2 hours of your time to sit down with me and get your finances on track. From that point forward, all you need to do is keep committed, meet with us annually and let us handle the rest. Now you’re on your way to a balanced life!!

And if even if it’s not the time to refinance your loan, you may be thinking, “What on earth could a mortgage consultant do for a client that doesn’t need a loan? After all, the loan is closed…what else is there???”

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Human progress and excellence comes when someone goes beyond “why” to “why not?”
~ John Glenn, astronaut, U.S. senator

As you watch this video, think about the following:

Often you don’t know what you can do until you do it; what you can be until you become it; or what you can have until you have it. Enjoy!

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Quote of the Week:

Vision (I made “vision” realllly big because it takes as much energy to think BIG as it does to think small. Pretty cool, right?)

“People who say that life is not worthwhile are really saying that they themselves have no personal goals which are worthwhile. Get yourself a goal worth working for. Better still, get yourself a project. Always have something ahead of you to look forward to…to work for and hope for.”

Dr. Maxwell Maltz

Author and Psycho-Cybernetics

The inspiration for my video this weeks comes from a very personal story of mine that happened last week and it has everything to do with asking the right questions of your paid professional before AND during the loan process. A great point that I mention in my video this week is the importance of knowing what your trusted advisor is going to do for you AFTER your escrow is closed. I mean, don’t you want to know? If you are working with someone who isn’t a cheerleader for what his/her company does for their clients after a transaction is closed, well, I hate to break this to you but, there probably isn’t a whole lot that company AND that person has to offer you by way of continuing education and debt management. It’s an unfortunate part about the mortgage industry. We are doing our part to fix that problem!

Please take a few minutes to watch this video (that was supposed to go out two days ago….arrrrgh!), then read the rest of my email:

http://www.vimeo.com/1125901
Read the rest of this post