About Saint Petersburg's Downtown St Pete

Today is Free Museum Day in St Petersburg, Florida. 10 am to 3 pm today there is free admission to:

Museum of Fine Arts

St Petersburg Museum of History

The Dali Museum (sorry - this is free only for Pinellas County residents)

Great Explorations Children's Museum

Morean Arts Center Galleries

and more

The photo is taken from the front door of our officee, looking across some of the outside tables at Tryst looking at the entrance to the Museum of Fine Arts. Don't we have a great location for our real estate office?

And did you know? The American Style Magazine for the second year in a row designated St Petersburg, Florida is the #1 Top Arts Destination for a mid size city! Come to St Pete and see for yourself.

FHA 203K Rehab/Home Improvement Loan in Florida With all the Bank-Owned, Foreclosure, Short Sale and Aging properties on the market today the 203k loan is becoming the answer on a growing number of real estate purchase transactions. This HUD approved FHA 203k loan gives buyers the MONEY they need for property repairs and Improvements at closing. It's an FHA loan that requires only 3.5% down at closing. All homes are sold AS-IS and an escrow account is set up to pay for the improvements.

Everyone is winning with this program. My company an I offer a 1 hour training class at no cost by a HUD Certified 203K Instructor that is done at your office for anyone who is interested in hearing more about the 203k loan program.

The FHA 203K Streamline Rehabilitation Program Process is simple when followed. Now that you have found a home....whats next?

Congratulations on finding a new home! Now that your loan has been APPROVED it is time to get busy. We are currently in contact with the Realtors, Title Company and the Sellers to coordinate the closing of your loan. It is very important that we move quickly to complete the next few steps to meet your closing date on time.

1) Order a termite inspection today.

2) Make a complete list of all repairs to be done. (This is a final list so make sure it is COMPLETE!)

3) Get a Licensed and Insured contractor to provide a detailed estimate for all the work. (The estimate must include a breakdown of labor and materials)

4) The contractor will need to complete the forms I have attached in my email and provide copies of their licenses and workman's compensation insurance.

5) If you are using Sears, Lowes, Home Depot or IKEA to do the work we only need their estimates. We already have copies of their documentation.

6) Please submit all the estimates, forms and Licenses along with insurance within the next 7 days. (VERY IMPORTANT)

7) We need all these before we can order the property APPRAISAL.

8) When the Appraisal and termite reports are completed, the underwriter of your loan file may require additional repairs to be done. We will contact you if this is the case and you will need to get an estimate for these repairs as well.

9) At closing you will get a check payable to you and the contractor for 50% of the total cost of repairs.

10) When the work is complete the Lender will have the property re-inspected to certify the work is completed and at that time the remaining 50% will be paid to the contractor.

Non-Occupying Co-Signers Are On The Increase for Purchase Transactions In Tampa

Non-Occupying Co-Signers - FHA allows a direct family member to co-sign with the buyer and still live at another property even if it is located in another State. This allows individuals who are directly related to buyers with high Debt-To-Income Ratios to Co-Sign and add additional income to the application in an effort to bring the ratios in-line with the lenders guidelines.

The Non-Occupying Co-Signer can also gift the buyer the money for the down payment or simply pay it out of their own funds.

A Non-Occupying Co-Signer has been a popular sales tool for my Realtors who cater to younger first time buyers who's incomes are still fairly low but who's parents are more then happy to help their children qualify for their first home.

The Non-Occupying Co-Signer is not allowed on the FHA 203K rehab loan.

The Non-Occupying Co-Signer can be dropped from the loan via refinancing the home back into the buyers name in as little as 1 year.

The increase may be a result of me and my Realtors marketing it more to our clients; but it has helped me get loans for 2-3 clients per month for the last year that otherwise would not have qualified for a home loan.

Sellers are still allowed to contribute up to 6% of the purchase price towards buyers closing cost.

The Festival of Reading will be held in downtown St Petersburg this Saturday, October 24, 2010 from 10 am to 4 pm at USF St Petersburg. More than 40 authors, including Michael Connelly, will be reading and signing their books. The festival used to be held at Eckerd College but has grown a lot over the years. Visit the USF waterfront campus in downtown St Pete and take the opportunity to meet and talk with Florida authors and to buy books and have them autographed.

Correction: Saturday is October 23rd!

The 25th anniversary celebration of the movie "Cocoon" in St Petersburg is scheduled for October 19 and 20 in St Petersburg. Tuesday night is a VIP Reception and Party at the Princess Martha Hotel and Wednesday is both a Tea Dance at the St Petersburg Coliseum and an Open House at the Mirror Lake Complex. The film won an Academy Award for special effects.

Not only do we remember the local scenes, but there was quite an array of start in the film: Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, Don Amece (who won an Oscar), Brian Dennehy, Wilford Brimley, Tyrone Power Jr and others. Barbara Harrington had helped recruit retirees as extras, and when the director saw them, he sent her out for older, more decrepit extras.

Hernando De Soto was looking for the Fountain of Youth in Florida back in the early 1500s ... so it made sense that in 1984 the retirement home residents were looking for the Fountain of Youth here, too.

Wouldn't it be nice if "Cocoon" was one of the movies being shown in the downtown St Petersburg parks this month!