Jeff Thomas
My Posts:
The Investment Property Dilemma
Here is just a few of the issues some of my clients have come across in the past few months. Client 1: Condo refinance in Vienna, Virginia A recently married client wanted to refinance his condo to a lower rate and get out of the adjustable rate loan program they currently have. Both borrowers had excellent income, job stability and money in the bank. The condo was converted to a rental unit... [Read more]
Why are FHA loans so popular?
Why is FHA so popular today? Credit score: FHA has always been a friend to the borrower with bruised credit. But up until roughly 1999 credit scores were not that integrated into the mortgage lending process. And FHA lenders were still manually underwriting loan files up intil the past few years. FHA does not have a minimum credit score written into its guidelines, but it has allowed lenders to... [Read more]
Taking 10 Seconds To Say Thanks To Those Who Serve
Farifax, Virginia: A family member sent this to me the other day and I thought it was pretty cool. XEROX IS DOING SOMETHING COOL If you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier who is currently serving in Iraq. You can’t pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services. ... [Read more]
FHA Streamline Loan Program Changes
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has implemented significant changes for streamline refinances . These changes will affect all FHA streamline loans across the country and in the northern Virginia area, Vienna, Virginia, Alexandria, VA, Fairfax and the surrounding cities and county’s. These changes take place on all FHA case numbers ordered on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 or later. The changes... [Read more]
Mary Had A Little Plan
What factors determine your credit score? Payment history – 35% Amounts owed – 30% Length of credit history – 15% New credit – 10% Types of credit used – 10% Obviously the single most important factor is your record of paying your bills on time. As delinquent accounts age they factor less into the calculation of your credit score. Here is what we did to help one of... [Read more]
Converting A Primary Home To An Investment Property
I have clients all over the northern Virginia area. Recently two similar calls from clients that live in Alexandria and Vienna . Both had a question about keeping their current home as a rental when buying another primary home. As simple as this question may seem, it is much more complicated when trying to qualify for a mortgage carrying two mortgages. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have specific... [Read more]
Fed Meeting and Interest Rates
Mortgage Backed Security prices are down -1/32 (FNMA 30-yr 4.5 at 100.26), above 9:45 et pricing of -5/32. There was little interest rate reaction to the Federal Reserve announcement. October In Supply Management Services came in a little lower than expected. The Treasury will auction a record $81 billion in 3-yr, 10-yr, and 30-yr Treasuries next week. The Dow is up 30 points today. Tomorrow, Productivity... [Read more]
Many Changes to FHA Since 2000
With over 1,000 changes to FHA programs since 2000, it is important to work with someone that understands how the “new” FHA loan works. In the last 5 years there have been significant changes made to FHA guidelines designed to make it much easier to originate these loans. but that has not actually been the case. Some changes make it more costly for the consumer. The Upfront MI charge... [Read more]
Senate Passes Unemployment Extension, Home Buyer Tax Break
The Senate voted to extend the $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit. Additionally, the new bill also includes a $6,500 credit for existing homeowners who have been in their current residence for at least five years. read article» NAR summary and comparison Summary: The Refurbished Home Buyer Tax Credit Details Current Existing $8,000 tax credit is through November 30, 2010. (10% of sales... [Read more]
2010 Loan Limits Remain The Same
Congress passed a resolution yesterday to keep mortgage loan limits to the 2009 loan amounts. (This is good!) The current limit is $417,000 for most areas of the country. While if you live in a high cost area, like most of northern Virginia and the surrounding areas the limit is $729,650. To check what the maximum is for your area click here: searchable form on HUD’s Web site by entering county... [Read more]
Home Sales Increasing
Rebound in Existing-Home Sales Shows First-Time Buyer Momentum October 23, 2009 – Existing-home sales bounced back strongly in September with first-time buyers driving much of the activity, marking five gains in the past six months. House values seem to be turning around for our area. Check out the link below. http://www.realtor.org/research/research/ehsdata
Home Buyer Tax Credit Extended?
Looks like the Tax credit will be extended with some help for current homeowners. See this article The Homebuyer tax credit might be extended check out this article: http://tinyurl.com/yh8amph I am not sure if this is good for the country as a whole. The actual cost of the tax credit is well beyond the $8,000 credit to first time home buyers.
$8,000 First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit Extension
In case you haven’t heard there is a chance that the $8,000 first time homebuyer credit will be extended past the current November 30 deadline. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said on Tuesday that top Democrats in the Senate have reached an agreement to extend the $8,000 tax credit for first time homebuyers. Senator Dodd told reporters that the Senate has had a meeting of the... [Read more]
Changes Coming To FHA Streamline Program
Changes to FHA streamline program are not for the ease of the consumer. And the changes are not for the better. In fact, most FHA loan holders will not like the changes. The US Dept of HUD recently announced that it will be making new revisions to FHA streamline refinance guidelines. Effective November 17, 2009, taking advantage of today’s historic low interest rates will be more difficult for consumers... [Read more]
FHA Streamlined 203(K)Loan
If you’ve been passing up on buying a home because of the expense of anticipated cosmetic repairs, you’re missing out on a great opportunity. Sure, it used to be that if you bought a home and then applied for a home equity loan to pay for repairs, the result would be two separate loans (or worse, a mortgage plus a short-term loan for repairs that often had a much higher interest rate).... [Read more]
