Happy Holidays!

Hello and happy holiday season! I hope this magical time of year finds you warm, happy, healthy, and full of the giving spirit.

The end of the year is quickly approaching, and you may be wondering if it's really worth putting your house on the market. The time is NOW! There's been a paradigm shift lately in the San Gabriel Valley within the housing market. During the last couple of years, we've seen a big increase in Asian (mostly Chinese) buyers; now comprising 1/3 of the market. It's Christmas season and New Year's is just around the corner. This means a bump in tourism and a much larger holiday market for sellers. Conventional thought dictated that the real estate buying season started in April, but jump onto this trend as a seller now and you'll be grateful!

Until next time, Happy New Year and a very Merry Christmas! 

HUD Home Program Update

 Hello everyone and thank you for joining me on my video blog. There has been an update in the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Program for home buyers and I wanted to fill you in. You can see my original blog post on the HUD Program by clicking here.

As I detailed in my original post, the HUD program has to do with homes acquired through the consequence of foreclosure on an FHA Loan. There are two ways to take advantage of this service, first: law enforcement, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and teachers (k-12) can buy a HUD home in a nice area for up to a 50 percent discount on the list price. Second, when using the HUD Program the buyer has a 30 day period to purchase a home before anyone else in the marketplace.

However! This 30 day period, starting on the first of December, turned into a 15 day period! This means there is less time to take advantage, so act swiftly!

Finally, in addition to the HUD update I wanted to let all of you know that tickets are still available for my home buying class. Through the HUD program, completing this class makes you eligible for down payment assistance! Be sure to sign up if you live in the Covina, CA area and are in the market to buy a house.

Thank you for joining me on my video blog and have a safe and productive week! 

2013 Property Tax

Welcome back to my video blog. Thank you for joining me today. As many of you know, property taxes are due Dec. 10th. No one looks forward to this, but I have great news if you purchased your home anywhere between 2004 and 2008. There is a decline-in-value reassessment application.  

What does it do? It could save you thousands! It reassesses the value of your property. Just the other week I helped a client reduce his property tax from $14,000 to just around $8,000. Don't miss this chance and end up paying double what you should. You need to hurry, though. The deadline to file your assessment claim is Nov. 30th.

Give me a call at 626.643.7090 and I can email you the form. Also call if you have any questions! Thanks for watching!

HUD Homes

Welcome back to my video blog! Today, I wanted to share two well-kept secrets about the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Program. What is the HUD program? It’s home acquired through the consequence of foreclosure on an FHA Loan. I have two secrets to help you fairly take advantage of the program.

The first is for the first 30 days a home is insured, owner occupants are able to purchase those homes before anyone else through FHA or conventional financing. The cash investor, who does not occupy the property, is shut out for the initial time period. You have a 2 to 1 advantage because 35 percent of the market is cash-buyers.

The second secret I have is for law enforcement, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and teachers (k-12). You can buy a HUD home in a nice area for up to a 50 percent discount on the list price. You don’t have to pay any interest on that 50 percent as long as you occupy the home for three years.

If you would like more information you can give me a call 626.643.7090

Thanks for watching!

Government Shutdown Risks Hurting The Housing Recovery

From: http://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrennan/2013/10/01/heres-how-the-government-shutdown-will-affect-housing/

By:  Morgan Brennan, Forbes Staff

The government shutdown is here. Whether it’s not being able to get a new Social Security card or visit a national park, Americans will immediately feel the effects. But there’s one bright spot of the economy that stands to be affected as well: housing.

One of the biggest questions regarding the shutdown and how it will affect housing has revolved around the mortgage market, specifically prospective buyers’ access to new home loans. After all, more than 90% of all loan activity is underwritten, insured, or owned by the government and its affiliated entities.

Initially at least, the mortgage market is likely to be only minimally impacted. New loans will continue to push through most government agency pipelines. What will change is how long the process takes, as many agencies expect to experience delays.

Mortgages purchased and securitized by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be unaffected because their operations are paid for by fees charged to lenders. And the Department of Veterans Affairs will continue to guarantee mortgages for Americans that have served in the military since these loans are funded by user fees as well.

But if the government shutdown of 1995-1996 is any indicator, the process will take longer than usual. “Loan Guaranty certificates of eligibility and certificates of reasonable value were delayed,” the VA warned in its September 25th contingency plan.

Where there has been mounting concern is the Federal Housing Administration, which currently endorses about 15% of the entire single-family mortgage market. Several media outlets recently reported that the FHA would be unable to endorse any single-family loans and that no staff would be available underwrite and approve new loans.

That prospect would be somewhat worrisome – if it were actually true. The FHA’s Office of Single Family Housing will indeed remain open for business, albeit with a smaller staff. “FHA will be able to endorse single family loans during the shutdown. A limited number of FHA staff will be available to underwrite and approve new loans,” the report now states. In other words, other lenders’ loans will continue to be insured and some in-house lending will continue to take place at a reduced rate.

The reason for that mix-up: the initial draft of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s contingency plan mistakenly stated that single-family loan operations would cease. The report was amended over the weekend.

The FHA’s single-family loan operations are funded through multi-year appropriations, meaning their budget is not tied to the government’s standoff over funding for the new fiscal year that starts in October. On the other hand, what will be more affected is the agency’s Multifamily Housing Office, which is funded through yearly appropriations.

“Because we are able to endorse loans, we don’t expect the impact on the housing market to be significant, as long as the shutdown is brief,” continues the HUD report. “If the shutdown lasts and our commitment authority runs out, we do expect that potential homeowners will be impacted, as well as home sellers and the entire housing market.”

One government lender that will indeed suspend its home loan activity, however, is the Department of Agriculture. The USDA says that no new housing loans or guarantees will be issued through its Rural Development programs in a shutdown. The department also warns that such a scenario could cause “a setback in construction start-up,” and if the shutdown lasts for an extended period, “a substantial reduction in housing available in rural areas relative to population.”

“The government doesn’t generally approve loans, they basically just insure them,” says Don Frommeyer, president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers and a vice president at Amtrust Mortgage Funding. “For the most part you aren’t going to see much of a hit in the mortgage market unless it goes for a long period of time.”

If it does stretch on, he adds, the worry will be what mortgage rates do in a market shrouded in fiscal uncertainty and how that will affect the home buying, especially in light of recent rate spikes.

Home lending aside, many economists and real estate experts are keeping a close watch on how Americans will react to this shutdown. “Administratively everything should keep moving along, but it’s more about the confidence of consumers and whether they perceive that the government shutdown could lead to a recession,” says Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors.

Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi recently told the Senate Budget Committee that a partial shutdown could shave as much as 1.4 percentage points off of fourth quarter economic growth if it drags on for several weeks.

Americans’ confidence in their ability to buy and sell homes hit a record high in May, according to a Fannie Mae survey. Since then, as mortgage rates jumped more than a percentage point, that confidence level has plateaued.  If prospective homebuyers fear that the country’s economic recovery will stall, or worse slip back into recession, they will pull back on purchases, worries Yun.

“Home sales is always the first housing variable that changes so one would see sales declining and that would naturally lead to more inventory on the market and eventually put pressure on prices,” he says. But that would be a worst-case scenario based on a long-term shutdown.

Jed Kolko, chief economist at Trulia TRLA +6.43%, notes that if the shutdown lasts longer than a few days, the first places to feel the impact will be local economies with large concentrations of federal government workers. Metro areas like Washington, D.C. and Bethesda, Md., where 19% and 13% respectively of total local wages go to federal employees, would be the feel the negative effects of unpaid furloughs and with them, tightened consumer spending and weakening local economic growth. Though not all will be equally affected, other metro areas like Virginia Beach, Va., Honolulu, Hawaii, and Dayton, Ohio are areas that Kolko is keeping an eye on: “Whether there is a big effect depends on how long the shutdown lasts, how long people think the shutdown lasts, and whether people get back-pay. All those things matter for the impact.”

Still others are worrying even more about the next fiscal standoff, in  mid-October, surrounding the debt ceiling debate and its accompanying threat of debt default by the U.S.  ”With the threat of an impending partial government shutdown and yet another battle over the nation’s debt ceiling, in particular, we are really messing with fire right now—even if it doesn’t seem to bother some legislators,” says Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow.

“But the effects of a government default associated with the impending debt-ceiling deadline would be more pronounced because of its greater impact on domestic and international markets. This will rattle consumers and investors alike, slow down the overall economic recovery and further slow the housing recovery, which is already undergoing a moderation in the pace of home value gains due to rising mortgage rates,” he warns.

Market Update Fall 2013

Thanks for visiting my real estate blog! The summer is over and I wanted to give you an update on how our market is compared to this time last year.

In 2012 at this time there were 665 listings, today there are 882 current listings. This means a lot of sellers have been taking advantage of our great market.

We have also seen a drop in the average days on market from 66 days to 30 days. The average days on market is from the day the home is listed on the market to the day it goes into escrow. Part of the reason this number has cut in half is because we have seen less short sales.

The average sales price has increased from $694,000 to $722,000.  The number of listings sold rose from 731 to 743.

Our market is steadily improving and you need to take advantage of it now. If you have any questions about your home please give me a call and I can do a market analysis.

Thanks for watching!

What's the Difference Between Down Payment Assistance and a Mortgage Credit Certificate?

Hello, everyone. Welcome back to my video blog!

Last time we talked about down payment assistance. Today, I wanted to talk about a mortgage credit certificate.

What’s the difference?

For down payment assistance, you must qualify. If your income is too high and if you have owned a home in the past three years, you do not qualify.

The mortgage credit certificate is available to both first time homebuyers as well as non-first time homebuyers in federally designated target areas. You do not have to be low income to qualify...up to $118,000 for a household of 3 and you do not have to buy a lower cost home....up to $823,000. Depending on the state, the credit certificate amount varies. It is a dollar-to-dollar tax credit available to you as long as you stay in your house and pay your mortgage. For example, in California they will provide 20 percent of tax credit on the mortgage interest you pay per year.

So, let’s say your mortgage interest per year is $20,000, you would save $4,000! In turn, because your payment is lower, you can qualify for a larger mortgage and purchase a nicer home.

When you close the home, you give the certificate to your tax accountant who will then calculate it into your taxes and you will receive a refund!

This is a great program and very few people know about it! So, if you have any questions either about a mortgage credit certificate or down payment assistance, please give me a call at 626-643-7090. I'd love to explain more about how the process works!

Be sure to check out our next post; I'll tell you about what's happening in our current market!

Down Payment Assistance

Hello, everyone! Welcome to my video real estate blog. I get asked all the time about what’s happening in the market, so I wanted a way to share relevant information with you.

Today, I want to talk about down payment assistance. Often, first time homebuyers have a difficult time purchasing a home for various reasons: too much competition, not enough inventory or they can’t make a large enough down payment.

Down payment assistance helps those having a difficult time buying a home. It offers almost all financing. It’s available at different levels and it’s encouraged and sanctioned by the government.

One of the most common down payment assistance programs allows you to make as little as a 3 percent down payment; sometimes incentives are offered where even less is required. To qualify for this, you must have the income and credit eligibility.

Another program that offers help to first time homebuyers is the Homeownership Opportunities Program (HOP).  HOP helps first time homebuyers at or below 80% of the area median income; this includes help with down payment and closing costs.

There are a number of different ways for first time homebuyers or those who haven’t owned a home in three or more years to get the home they want! If you have more questions about these programs and how to qualify, please give me a call. I’d be more than happy to help!