real estate

When anyone is purchasing a new home for the first time, you must make a list of the different features and factors that you, in particular, want in a home, and by putting all of these in a list will indicate, at some point, what kind of home or structure you will be able to buy like size, amenities, location, appliances, and other modern conveniences needed in the general area of the home, like schools, medical facilities, any recreational needs, parks, tennis courts, shopping centers, drug stores, auto mechanics, etc..So when Purchasing a new Home for the first time be sure you take into consideration the following:

You must ask yourself:  Is the area I am looking at going to be safe for my children and is it in a safe neighborhood and is that floor plan expandable, is the garage big enough and is there room for a pool in the back yard eventually, and what kind of sewer system does the house have, and what about fireplaces, and am I close enough to be able to walk to the beach or go fishing on a spur of the minute or is that master bedroom really big enough or what about the master bath, is there only a shower in the master bath or is there both a shower and tub or can I add a tub later and what about traffic in the morning and evening  and what about traffic noise, or is the house big enough for entertaining and do I have a yard that I will have to maintain, and if I don’t want to maintain it myself, what is the cost for a gardener each month.

These are a few of the important types of questions that you need to think about way before you start shopping for a new home, because even the most modern and up to date home communities today do not offer all of the conveniences or the amenities that many people think they are getting when buying a new home and this is true even in some of the most upper end gated custom home communities, where there are problems that many people do not anticipate before they make a decision to buy a home there.
One must also be aware of warranties on the building itself, and consider the warranties on the appliances, and what if you knock out a wall next year, how will that affect your building warranty.

What about insurance policies that have be in place, by law, when buying a new home, and what if something happens to you, who will make the payments and do the needed upkeep on the property, and do you really want a single family house, or will a condo, or town home fit your lifestyle better, because today’s modern condo complexes are quiet, secure, full of amenities, and there is no yard work required, or other maintenance costs like with a single family house.

Housing options in most cities are many, but making a decision on which place to buy can be very time consuming and complicated, as modern America has housing opportunities like no other country in the world and it can be easy getting into a place and then after a short time, realizing that this wasn’t the right home for you to begin with, and this will create many problems in your life.

If any problems start popping up like poor drainage, poor building construction, or cheap appliances that crash in a few months, or when it rains all the water runs into the garage, etc., what do you do then.

Buying a new home is a giant step and the best way of ‘buying a new home for the first time’ is being prepared and the best way of being prepared is to start writing everything down that you are looking for, and what you are not looking for.

Now that home prices have leveled in many parts of the country, many first time homebuyers are looking for creative ways to move into the home of their dreams.   FHA, the Federal Housing Administration, is making it easier for many to purchase with low down payment requirements.The enabled many to get the ,000 tax credit currently in place for first time home buyers.    What is FHA doing to make home buying so affordable?

For starters, you can finance a new home with very little down.   3.Exactly 3.5% of the purchase price.WIth a FHA loan, you can get into your new home with just 3.5% down compared to at least 10% with a conventional loan.5% down, and it doesn’t even have to be your own money.   The money can be gifted to you by a family member.    Conventional loans for years have been the staple for purchasing new homes.80/20 financing and 100% loans were common for first time homebuyers.   Now, expect to pay anywhere from 10 to 20 percent down to get a conventional loan, and above 80% is going to require Private Mortgage Insurance.

FHA also allows first time home buyers the opportunity to purchase when conventional lenders issue a denial.The Federal Government insures FHA loans, and because of the state of affairs with the housing market, the guidelines are a little less strict compared to conventional.Perfect credit and a 680 credit score is going to be required by most lenders for conventional loans.    For a FHA purchase, the minimum credit score required by most lenders is 620.A 620 Credit score will be required by most lenders but some select lenders can go as low as 580.

FHA is a very strong option for purchases.   Although 3.100% of the 3.5% down payment requirement can be gifted.   What this means is that you can have your down payment gifted from a family member, and walk into your home without having to put any of your own money down.   

Up to 6% of the purchase price can be in the form a seller concession.   Conventional loans limit the seller credit to 3%, while you can go as high as 6% through FHA.The concession can be used to buy down the rate for the homebuyer, or cover any of the other closing costs.The 2-1 buydown is a great way for first time homebuyers to take advantage of the seller concession.By using this seller concession, buyers can get an interest rate 2% below the normal rate.   

You can also expect the appraisal process to be a little smoother with FHA compared to a conventional appraisal.FHA loans do not require that the appraisal be ordered through the newly formed home valuation code of conduct (HVCC) which has slowed the process down significantly.

FHA has been around since 1934, and now represents almost 50% of the purchase market.FHA is growing in popularity among first time home buyers.    To find out more about how to qualify for an FHA home loan, visit http://www.timmarose.com

Once your bid for your dream property has been accepted, there is still so much to do before you can call the house trully yours. {In the following article, an experienced  real estate agent will familiarize you with the most important pitfalls of the process.}

Once the offer has been accepted, your legal adviser should explain to you your liabilities under the contract. Your solicitor should help you to understand all the expenses related to the closing procedures, including Land Transfer Tax, disbursements and legal fees.

UTILITIES

The solicitor will also send letters to all the concerned municipal or regional utility departments, in order to confirm there are no arrears or outstanding charges for gas, water or hydro expenses. These letters also verify if the equipment on the property is rented or owned and they also advise the various utility departments of the planned closing date, the new owner’s name and the name of the vendor’s attorney. Details about the billing type and whether the billing is metered, all this is also asked for by these letters.

TAXES

A Tax Certificate is asked by your attorney to verify the amount of the current year’s taxes and to inquire as to arrears and outstanding charges for taxes for the current year and any previous years.

BUILDING & ZONING

A letter is sent by your legal adviser to the Building and Zoning Department along with a copy of the survey for the property to disclose the full particulars of zoning by-laws and restrictions relating to the distance from the street and side and rear lines, type of construction, lot areas and building areas, lot frontage and depth requirements and permitted uses.

TITLE & EXECUTION SEARCH

The appropriate division of the Land Registry Office will begin a Search of title to the property in order to find out whether or not the seller is the owner of the property and whether or not he has the legal right to convey the property. The search also reveals if the property is not a subject to any encumbrances, encroachments, easements, liens, agreements or mortgages that were not revealed in the Agreement or Purchase and Sale. Also an execution search is completed in the appropriate Sheriff’s Office to make sure that there are no executions against the vendor or previous owners of the property that would affect your title.

FINANCING

All the initial searches we have just outlined are taken care of by your solicitor. In the meantime, it is up to you to make all the necessary arrangements concerning the financial side of the deal. You should have decided, before signing the Agreement of Purchase and Sale, the amount of financing you will qualify for and the amount you will require to complete the business. There are always some costs related to mortgage financing that you haven’t known about on the day of closing. Again, it is a good idea to ask your solicitor about these fees, when you get the Mortgage Commitment Letter from the financial institution that you have chosen.

BEFORE THE DAY OF CLOSING

A few days before the closing, you will need to come to your attorney’s office to sign all the necessary documents and to produce a certified cheque to verify the balance of closing funds.

CLOSING DAY

Your legal adviser will arrange a meeting with the vendor’s legal adviser at the appropriate Land Registry Office to subsearch the title and finish the execution searches. The solicitors will exchange all the documents, keys and cheques and your solicitor will attend to the registration of all the necessary documents. As soon as this has been completed, you can get the keys and the vendor will get the funds.

AFTER CLOSING

Now your solicitor will provide you with a reporting letter that certifies your title and explains all the transaction details. Then you are at last free to move in to your new home! Just make sure to check that all items that should be included in the purchase price, as indicated in the Agreement of Purchase and Sale, are left on the property by the vendor. Let your lawyer know without any delay if you think something is absent.

Once your offer for your dream property has been accepted, there is still so much to do before you can call the house trully yours. {In the following article, an experienced realtor will point out the most important details of the process.}

As soon as the owner has accepted your offer, you should meet with your legal adviser and talk about all the obligations under the contract. Your lawyer should help you to understand all the costs related to the closing procedures, including Land Transfer Tax, disbursements and legal fees.

UTILITIES

It is also necessary to verify the absence of any arrears or outstanding charges, such as gas, water or hydro expenses. Your attorney does this by sending letters to the municipal or regional utility departments. The utility departments will also be informed if the equipment on the property is rented or owned, and also about the planned closing date, the name of the new owner and the seller’s solicitor. Details about the billing type and whether the billing is metered, all this is also demanded by these letters.

TAXES

A Tax Certificate is requested by your attorney to confirm the amount of the current year’s taxes and to inquire as to arrears and outstanding charges for taxes for the current year and any previous years.

BUILDING & ZONING

Your lawyer will also send a letter to the Building and Zoning Department, together with a copy of survey for the property. The purpose of this is to find out all the particulars of zoning by-laws and restrictions concerning the distance from the street and side and rear lines, construction type, lot and building areas, lot frontage and depth requirements and permitted uses.

TITLE & EXECUTION SEARCH

A Search of title to the property is commenced in the appropriate division of the Land Registry Office to determine whether or not the seller is the owner of the property, whether or not he has the right to convey the property, and that the property is not subject to any encumbrances, encroachments, easements, liens, agreements or mortgages that were not disclosed in the Agreement or Purchase and Sale. The appropriate Sheriff’s Office will do an execution search to confirm there are no executions against the vendor or prior owners of the property. If there were any, they would affect your title.

FINANCING

While your legal adviser is doing his initial searches, it is your responsibility to make necessary arrangements for financing. Already before signing the Agreement of Purchase and Sale, you should have decided the amount of financing you will qualify for and the amount you will need to finish the transaction. There are a number of expenses that you may not expect on the day of closing that relate to mortgage financing. Your lawyer can advise you of these fees when the financial institution that you chose provides you with a Mortgage Commitment Letter.

BEFORE THE DAY OF CLOSING

You will also need a certified cheque to verify the balance of closing funds to your lawyer. Bring this with you when you come to sign all the documents needed a few days before the closing.

CLOSING DAY

Your lawyer will agree to meet with the vendor’s solicitor at a mutually convenient time at the appropriate Land Registry Office where he will sub-search title and complete final execution searches. They will exchange documents, keys and cheques and your solicitor will make sure all the necessary documents are registered. After the documents registration, the seller is entitled to get the money and you can get the keys from your attorney.

AFTER CLOSING

After the closing process has been completed, a reporting letter will be prepared by your lawyer. This letter will certify your title and explain all the details of the transaction. Then you are at last free to move in to your new place! Just make sure to check that all items that should be included in the purchase price, as described in the Agreement of Purchase and Sale, are left on the property by the seller. Let your legal adviser know without any delay if you believe something is missing.

No generation in American history has ever experienced the number of foreclosures and defaulted mortgages as is happening now. Yet well-funded investors in real estate are seizing upon this opening to profit from an profoundly profitable new opportunity.

‘Bulk REO Investing’ is the name of the new strategy, and it’s captured the attention of many well-heeled investors.

Consider with me, if you will, the fundamentals of the Bulk REO business.

Understanding the notion of Bulk REO’s requires understanding of the foreclosure process.

Mortgage lenders faced with a non-paying home owner send a large volume of threats, warnings and documentation to the borrower who is late. The official foreclosure proceedings begin subsequently, as directed by the lender. The name for this period is ‘preforeclosure’.

The defaulted property is ultimately auctioned, thus completing the foreclosure process. If there are no buyers at the foreclosure auction, the lender regains title to the property. Such a property is then classified as an ‘REO’ (Real Estate Owned) by the lender.

REO properties are usually listed for sale with local real estate agents. But as a consequence of the weak economy, lenders are frequently selling their REO properties far below their actual value. However, the purchase of a ‘package’ (or group) or REO properties is the trade-off for receiving such great prices.

Qualified real estate investors are increasingly finding once-in-a-lifetime opportunities in these REO packages. REO packages are easiest to buy and sell with a well regarded source of financing in place. Some sources of funding for these transactions are: personal funds, hard money lenders, commercial lenders and non-conventional sources such as private investors and hedge funds. One excellent source of funding for Bulk REO Investment transactions can be found here: Bulk REO Investment Training.

Most people know that the main reason to refinance your house is to save money overall on your mortgage. Most people who are interested in saving money, especially are interested in lowering their monthly mortgage payment – not just reduce the total amount that they are going to repay the lender.

There are at least two different things that you can do to save money each month on your monthly mortgage payment without refinancing. First, make sure that you are paying the right amount of property tax each year and second, make sure that you are not paying too much for homeowners insurance.

If you think that you might be over-paying on your property taxes, then the easiest way to dispute it is to call your county assessor and find out how to dispute the amount. They will walk you through the process and usually it is fairly simple. You may be paying too much in property taxes if your home has went down in value recently.

Once you have dealt with your property taxes, then it is time to focus on your home insurance. First, get multiple free home insurance quotes from several providers. Then do everything you can to maximize the amount of discounts that you can get – things like insure your cars there, raise your deductible, install a Illinois home alarm system, and possibly even other discounts depending on what company you go with.

But by focusing on cutting your property tax bill and your homeowners insurance costs – one thing is certain, you can reduce your overall monthly mortgage payment without having to refinance your house!

One of the things people might not know about the Government when it comes to various mortgage programs is that just because they say they are doing it, doesn’t mean that lenders are actually doing it.

For example, just because the Government said that they had a good program with the Hope For Homeowners program, it doesn’t mean that any lenders were participating in it — so very few (if any) people were actually helped with the program.

But…

Lenders are actually doing the Obama 125% refinance – or at least one is as of today. Back in early July, the Obama 125% refinance was announced, but just today was the first that I have heard of a lender doing the program.

So if you currently owe more than your home is worth (up to 125% more) and have good credit and are not currently late on your mortgage, you can now take advantage of the Obama 125% refinance.

Over time, I expect that there will be more lenders that will work with you – but for now, there is at least one so be sure to call your Illinois Mortgage Experts today to learn more about whether the Obama 125% refinance can help you in your situation!

Many veterans who are currently in a VA loan are hearing about the VA streamline refinance program (also known as the VA IRRRL program) and have had someone tell them that “there is a minimum credit score requirement” for the Illinois VA streamline refinance program.

Which is kind of true.

Realizing that the words “kind of true” can be confusing — here is why “kind of” fits:

VA doesn’t actually require a minimum credit score, but many lenders do.

As you are probably aware, the VA doesn’t actually lend you money, various VA-approved lenders actually lend you the money and your loan is insured by HUD in the event of a default. So because VA isn’t the organization who is actually lending you money, if a certain lender has a guideline that requires a minimum credit score for the VA streamline refinance program, that guideline must be met.

VA Streamline Refinance: What Minimum Credit Scores Apply?

For many lenders right now, the minimum credit score for the VA streamline refinance is 620. There may be a select few that don’t require a minimum credit score, but most of the lenders offering the VA streamline refinance are requiring a 620.

So if your mid credit score is below a 620, and you have a lender (or two, or three…) tell you that they require a 620 minimum credit score, be sure to ask them if they are aware of any other lender who doesn’t require a minimum credit score for a VA streamline.

I am aware of at least one!

The crackdown on shady mortgage rescue scams has begun across the nation and is alive and well right here in Illinois. Last week, the Illinois Attorney General sued several companies under the Illinois Mortgage Rescue Fraud Act.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the four complaints that were filed in Cook County Circuit Court included:

• Capital Foreclosure Solutions of Chicago and company President Katen (Keith) Pabley; SGM Mortgage Inc., of Lyons and company President Scott Kotalik; United Home Solutions, Inc. of Happy Valley, Ore.; and The Mack Financial Group Inc. of Henderson, Nev.
• Midwest Foreclosure Solutions of Norridge and company President Judel James Robert; and Maria C. Scardicchio.
• People’s First Financial of San Diego.
• Loan Modification Inc. of Lombard and company President Edward J. Galowitch.

According to the complaints, the Illinois Attorney General charged that the companies collected fees up front with the promise of helping borrowers negotiate with mortgage lenders then failed to perform any services. Illinois is not the only state where the Attorney General is going after fraudulent loan modification firms – but it is the one that people here in Illinois are closest to.

If you have been a victim of one of the listed companies, be sure sure to contact the Illinois Attorney General’s office for more information.

Mortgage Fraud in Illinois: Is It Worth It?

Lately, there have been quite a few headlines in the news regarding mortgage fraud – both right here in Illinois as well as in the national media. Because of the current housing crisis that the country is in, many people point to “mortgage fraud” as being one of the primary contributing factors that put the country in the current economic crisis it is in. And although to some people it may seem to be a case of “too little, too late”, agencies such as the FBI are cracking down on mortgage fraud.

From The FBI Website:

Mortgage Fraud is investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is punishable by up to 30 years in federal prison or $1,000,000 fine, or both. It is illegal for a person to make any false statement regarding income, assets, debt, or matters of identification, or to willfully overvalue any land or property, in a loan and credit application for the purpose of influencing in any way the action of a financial institution. Some of the applicable Federal criminal statutes which may be charged in connection with Mortgage Fraud include:

• 18 U.S.C. § 1001 – Statements or entries generally
• 18 U.S.C. § 1010 – HUD and Federal Housing Administration Transactions
• 18 U.S.C. § 1014 – Loan and credit applications generally
• 18 U.S.C. § 1028 – Fraud and related activity in connection with identification documents
• 18 U.S.C. § 1341 – Frauds and swindles by Mail
• 18 U.S.C. § 1342 – Fictitious name or address
• 18 U.S.C. § 1343 – Fraud by wire
• 18 U.S.C. § 1344 – Bank Fraud
• 42 U.S.C. § 408(a) – False Social Security Number

Illinois Mortgage Fraud: Is It Over?

Although that some people think that mortgage fraud doesn’t happen anymore, it is alive and well. Mortgage fraud is happening right here in Illinois right now. If you know of anyone who has been a victim of mortgage fraud, or know of a mortgage fraud scheme happening right now, be sure to contact the FBI.