Presenting The Lister Sisters!

The average interest on a 30-year mortgage fell to a 38-year low of 4.85 percent during the week ending March 27 from 4.98 percent the prior week, Freddie Mac reported.

The decrease came on the heels of the Federal Reserve’s announcement that it plans to purchase another $750 billion in mortgage-backed securities and up to $300 million in Treasuries. President Obama says refinancing is now possible for 40 percent of mortgages and encourages home owners to reap the benefits of the record-low rates.

Tags: First time home buyer, Freddie Mac, interest rates, low mortgage rates, Mortgage, mortgage bail out, mortgage rates

Release Date: March 18, 2009

For immediate release

Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in January indicates that the economy continues to contract.  Job losses, declining equity and housing wealth, and tight credit conditions have weighed on consumer sentiment and spending.  Weaker sales prospects and difficulties in obtaining credit have led businesses to cut back on inventories and fixed investment.  U.S. exports have slumped as a number of major trading partners have also fallen into recession.  Although the near-term economic outlook is weak, the Committee anticipates that policy actions to stabilize financial markets and institutions, together with fiscal and monetary stimulus, will contribute to a gradual resumption of sustainable economic growth.

In light of increasing economic slack here and abroad, the Committee expects that inflation will remain subdued.  Moreover, the Committee sees some risk that inflation could persist for a time below rates that best foster economic growth and price stability in the longer term.

In these circumstances, the Federal Reserve will employ all available tools to promote economic recovery and to preserve price stability.  The Committee will maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and anticipates that economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period.  To provide greater support to mortgage lending and housing markets, the Committee decided today to increase the size of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet further by purchasing up to an additional $750 billion of agency mortgage-backed securities, bringing its total purchases of these securities to up to $1.25 trillion this year, and to increase its purchases of agency debt this year by up to $100 billion to a total of up to $200 billion.  Moreover, to help improve conditions in private credit markets, the Committee decided to purchase up to $300 billion of longer-term Treasury securities over the next six months.  The Federal Reserve has launched the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility to facilitate the extension of credit to households and small businesses and anticipates that the range of eligible collateral for this facility is likely to be expanded to include other financial assets.  The Committee will continue to carefully monitor the size and composition of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet in light of evolving financial and economic developments

Good Morning!

You are invited to our First Time Home Buyer Seminar.  Hosted by two of your very own Lister Sisters, Nicole and Michelle, and our fabulous in-office Edina Realty Mortgage Officer, Robyn Kellogg. Please join us for some Buca and great information. This is a pressure free information session. You won’t be asked to sign any contracts or anything like that. (We will have a drawing for a fun door prize or two, so you may want to sign up for that…) We just want to be your Real Estate Resource! Oh, and did I mention that it is 100% free to attend!

Here are the details…..

When: Tuesday, March 3, 2009 6:30 PM

Where: Edina Realty, Eden Prairie Office.  11800 Singletree Lane, Eden Prairie, MN 55344

Questions, Comments, Concerns? Contact us! We’d love to hear from you!

Tags: first time buyers, Mortgage, seminar

Article produced by Bloomberg News overviews the (2 part) Homeowner Affordability and Stability plan from the borrower’s perspective.

I think you may find this to be a useful guide to help you formulate answers to questions your clients may soon begin asking.

Questions and Answers for Borrowers about the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan

Borrowers Who Are Current on Their Mortgage Are Asking:

1. What help is available for borrowers who stay current on their mortgage payments but have seen their homes decrease in value?
Under the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, eligible borrowers who stay current on their mortgages but have been unable to refinance to lower their interest rates because their homes have decreased in value, may now have the opportunity to refinance into a 30 or 15 year, fixed rate loan. Through the program, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will allow the refinancing of mortgage loans that they hold in their portfolios or that they placed in mortgage backed securities.

2. I owe more than my property is worth, do I still qualify to refinance under the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan?
Eligible loans will now include those where the new first mortgage (including any refinancing costs) will not exceed 105% of the current market value of the property. For example, if your property is worth $200,000 but you owe $210,000 or less you may qualify. The current value of your property will be determined after you apply to refinance.
(more…)

Tags: foreclosure, home seller, Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, Mortgage, short sale, tax credit

This is a note about the $15,000 tax credit from Robyn Kellogg with Edian Realty Mortgage.

Happy Friday-

This is what we DO know and what we DO NOT know………………..
 
As most of you are aware it appears that the tax credit for first time homebuyers
will increase from $7500-$8000 instead of the $15,000 that we all had been
reading and hearing about.
 
IF this passes, there would be no repayment as long as you stay in your home
for 3 years.  I have seen and heard of  different purchase contract dates.  I have
seen as long as you purchase between 1/1/09 and 8/31/09 and also 1/1/09 and 11/30/09.
 
Needless to say, we will need to see what actually passes and what is signed off by President Obama.
 
More details to follow.
 
Have a great weekend!

Tags: $15, 000 tax credit, buyer financing, Housing tax credit, Mortgage, tax credit

Daily Real Estate News 

Fannie Mae plans to eliminate some credit-score requirements, scale back income-documentation standards, and waive the need for appraisals in some cases, starting on April 4.

The mortgage finance company believes the changes will allow more home owners to refinance into new home loans at near-record low interest rates.

Analysts say the relaxed rules for loans that Fannie Mae owns or guarantees are unlikely to have a significant impact on mortgage-bond investors and mortgage insurers.

Tags: buying, credit score, fannie may, first time buyers, home ownership, Mortgage

What this means for you:

Buyers -

Lower rates boost your
buying power

When rates drop 1%, you can buy
almost 10% more home in price.

Sellers -

Lower rates boost home
affordability, bringing more home buyers
into the market

Home affordability is at its highest in the
Twin Cities since 1990, according to the
Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors®.

Owners -

Lower rates could mean
lower monthly payments

Consider refinancing into an FHA mortgage,
which can be assumable to a buyer when
you sell your home.

Tags: low mortgage rates, mn mortgage rates, Mortgage

Record low mortgage rates are providing a small measure of stimulus to the troubled U.S. economy as borrowers scramble to refinance their home loans–a move that frees up cash to spend on other items.

The Mortgage Bankers Association reports that the volume of loan applications has soared since November to its highest level in six years.

However, despite mortgage rates hovering around and even under 5 percent in recent weeks, a surge of buyers back into the housing market is not likely anytime soon, and some homeowners who want to refinance are finding they cannot because of lenders’ tightened credit standards

Tags: buyers, home ownership, Mortgage, motgage rates, Refinancing

Fannie Tries Short Sales Over Foreclosures
Fannie Mae has launched pilot projects in Phoenix and Orlando intended to reduce foreclosures by pre-approving short sales, agreeing on a price and the loss it will take prior to a deal even being made. It is hoped the program will improve the popularity of short sales among real estate agents.

Property professionals initially had welcomed short sales but soon found the process to be a frustrating one–due to squabbling about the sale price and slow approval times by the mortgage companies–that often ended with no sale at all.

“Short sales have received such a bad reputation among real-estate agents that, as a portion of the overall mortgage market, they have gone down,” says Tom Popik of the research firm Campbell Communications, whose November survey of realty practitioners found that agents had to wait as long as 8.1 weeks to receive a response from the lender on a short sale. That was nearly double the 4.5 weeks the process took earlier in the year.

Fannie Mae’s pilot will focus on homes that are listed at less than the mortgage balance and carry a Fannie Mae-backed loan serviced by Countrywide Financial Corp.
If it proves successful, the concept could be expanded to other geographical areas and additional lenders. There are concerns, in the meantime, about the program’s success, with real estate agents noting that property prices could decline before the pre-approval is issued.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Nick Timiraos (01/09/09)

Tags: fannie mae, Foreclosures, Mortgage, mortgage rates, short sales

Hello Kristin here your friendly Lister Sister. 

Here is my question to you.   What are you waiting for? 

Buy if you can!  Interest rates are incredible and the market is flooded with great homes!  Name your price and go.  If you are new to the market realize interest rates are historically low.  This may be some of the lowest interests rates we will ever see in our life time.  Are you hedging because you think they may go lower?  Well, don’t.  Use a buy down technique to get the seller to contribute funding to “buy down” the mortgage to the percentage  you are hoping for.  I will post future articles (soon) about buy downs-what they are and how they work.  For the mean time if you can’t wait just talk to a friendly mortgage broker who can fill your head with tons of information on buy downs and other funding techniques.  Don’t hedge, don’t wait.  Take advantage and get the home you want before someone else does.  Things are starting to shake…

Tags: buydowns, buying a home, low interest rates, Mortgage