Housing and Economic Forecast Points to Rising Activity

WASHINGTON, May 12, 2011   
Home sales are expected to stay on an uptrend through 2012, although the performance will be uneven with mortgage constraints weighing on the market, according to experts at a residential real estate forum today at the Realtors® Midyear Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo here.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said existing-home sales have been underperforming by historical standards and will rise gradually but unevenly. “If we just hold at the first-quarter sales pace of 5.1 million, sales this year would rise 4 percent, but the remainder of the year looks better,” Yun said. “We expect 5.3 million existing-home sales this year, up from 4.9 million in 2010, with additional gains in 2012 to about 5.6 million – that’s a sustainable level given the size of our population.”

FHA squeezed, but still in game

May 01, 2011 07:00AM

By Kenneth R. Harney

Is the Federal Housing Administration losing some of its post-boom, post-bust oomph? Is the Obama administration's plan to gradually throttle back FHA's home mortgage insurance volume already having effects -- and if so, what might this mean to buyers?

There are definitely signs that something's brewing:
• Total applications for FHA-insured single-family mortgages are down 30 percent year-to-year through March, according to the agency's data. Applications from prospective home purchasers are down 35 percent. FHA's popularity with buyers previously had sustained its high origination volumes.
• FHA put its second increase in premium charges in six months into effect on April 18. Higher premiums mean higher monthly payment requirements for buyers, and could have the effect of squeezing some consumers with tight budgets out of the market entirely.
• The private mortgage insurance industry, which competes with FHA for borrowers who make low down payments, is touting its newly resurgent conventional mortgage products, which may offer significant monthly savings when compared with FHA.

Private Party Financing "PPF" - When to use it vs. a FNMA/FHA Loan

Brokers, Agents, Investors, and Network Affiliates:
With over 5 million people having lost their homes in the past 3 years, and many millions more who have lost jobs and income and seen their credit ratings shot to heck, the question rises over and over, Is Private Party Financing “PPF” i.e. “Hard Money” an appropriate loan for real estate buyers?

The short answer is yes. More now than ever. While there are scenarios that lend themselves to PPF better than others. A growing portion of real estate sales will be financed with some version of PPF. There are of course various categories of PPF, that come up.

1. Seller Carry “WRAP” financing. - This is typically a case where the seller does not need the equity upon sale, or has no equity and is able to sell the home at a price that will eventually get the out of ownership without the buyer needing conventional financing at time of initial sale. The carry period for these can be anywhere from 2 years to 5 or more.

2. Lease w/ an Option to Buy. - This is in fact a type of private party financing of a sale yet to be determined. The structure can even be recognized in some cases as a “financing” for IRS tax purposes. Thus giving the Lease Option Buyer the rights to take a tax write off as an interest deduction. (Check with you CPA or Tax Advisor before trying this one.).

ePrequal.com gets a face lift and added features with it's soon to be released 2.0 version.

ePrequal.com, the revolutionary home buyer pre-approval system developed by Dave Van Waldick is about to be released with a fresh new look and feel.
Once again, home buyers, Realtors and Loan Officers will be able to get buyuers pre-approved to buy a home online in just a few shot minutes. They simply go to the short interview screen, answer the qustions to the best of their knwwledge, submit the request to our automate underwriting system "AUS" and they recieve a pre-approval back within 1 minute. If they are approved they receive a high value report including a Preapproval Certificate, a detailed Financial Summary of the transaction, an (Optional) Creit Report with Scores, and more. All this for FREE! In addition to the home buuyer applicant receiving thier pre-approval, any designated Realto, Loan Officer of other affilate designated by the buyer/agent will immediately be notriifed of the preapproval and recieve the information relavant to thier need to know.

Home Owners For Hope Foundation

Dave Van Waldick recently started a non-profit organization called Homeowners For Hope Foundation, to help voice the frustrations of millions of Americans at risk of foreclosure in the next 6-12 months. This after the government gave $120 BILLION dollars to the 4 major banks (B of A, Wells Fargo, Chase, and Citi) to help homeowners, the banks continue to ignore, confuse, and intimidate homeowners so they can be more profitable.




Dave recently organized and led a home owner support rally in downtown San Diego in front of Chase Bank. With supporters holding signs and walking in demonstration they were able to attract local news Channels 10 and 4 for interviews. Channel 10 news anchor Steve Fiorini and his crew spend almost an hour interviewing the H4H.org group, as well as noontime pedestrians and homeowners who have been foreclosed on. We thank the news stations for the coverage and support of millions of hard working taxpayers who only want to prevent losing their homes to foreclosure and move on with taking care of their families and re-gaining financial stabilty.

Why Aren’t Lenders Doing More Loan Modifications?

What type of help can be expected from the lenders and servicers?
Typically, when a borrower falls behind on a mortgage, there are few programs available to help them get current. Refinances are generally out of the question, and bankruptcy is not a viable option for most people. What can homeowners then expect from the Servicer?

Read more here: http://tinyurl.com/nc6kew

First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit

HOUSING AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY ACT OF 2008

The Treasury Department has moved at record speed to implement one piece of the new American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Act aka the stimulus act.

The Department and the Internal Revenue Service which will manage it announced on Wednesday, February 25, that forms and regulations are already in place for homebuyers who wish to claim the first-time credit enabled under the act.

The credit is available to homebuyers who purchase a home before December 1 of this year. In an effort to make the effects of the credit felt quickly in the economy, homebuyers can claim the credit either on their 2009 tax return or immediately on the 2008 return due in April.