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Brian Brady- America's VA Home Loan Broker

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America's #1 Mortgage Rates Report: January 6, 2008

01-06-09
Brian Brady- America's VA Home Loan Broker

Mortgage rates are 4.75%…No, wait a minute. They shot back up !

Welcome to January, 2009. It looks to be a rocky ride through Inauguration Day. After that, all bets are off. Here’s the good news, though; mortgage rates, while just over 5% this afternoon (up from 4.75% this morning) are still excellent.

Sean Purcell and I discuss why the lenders are raising rates on Radio Mortgage.

Give this ten minute podcast a listen.

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America's #! Mortgage Rates Report: November 19, 2008

11-19-08
Brian Brady- America's VA Home Loan Broker

The economy is really sick:

Today's CPI report signals deflation, or a prolonged price slide, may become another hazard facing Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and President-elect Barack Obama. Deflation could worsen the economic downturn by making debts harder to pay off and countering the impact of Fed interest-rate cuts.

``The economy's really just in horrific shape,'' said Joseph LaVorgna, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank Securities in New York. Fed officials will ``take rates as low as they have to'' to avoid ``a deflation-type scenario, which now all of a sudden is very possible.''

LaVorgna predicts the Fed will cut its main rate to 0.5 percent from its current 1 percent when it meets on Dec. 16.

Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn said today that while the risk of deflation is ``still small,'' policy makers must be ``aggressive'' in fighting the danger. The economy ``is declining right now'' and will record a couple of quarters of contraction, he said in answering questions after a speech in Washington.

Fed policy makers last month forecast the U.S. economy will contract through the middle of 2009, with some officials prepared to cut interest rates further in response, according to a record of the group's meeting.

If the Fed's thinking of cutting rates further, why aren't mortgage rates going down? I think it's because the Fed has done all it can do. Future rate cuts are like that eighth scotch. Drinking that eighth scotch isn't going to make you feel any better than the seven prior. It just might make you feel worse.

I advised folks, right after the election, to lock loans with rates under 6% if they were closing within 30 days. Today, I"m suggesting that you lock any loan that is closing this year. Today, a 45-day lock for a 6.0% rate would costs 1.25%. While you may see rates drop below 6% , in the next 45 days, the risk of them moving higher is greater.

Take 6% and run.

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Loan Limits Lowered in Southern California For 2009

11-11-08
Brian Brady- America's VA Home Loan Broker

In my 2009 San Diego Real Estate Outlook, I suggested that lower loan limits could cause a convergence of home prices. I expect the mid-priced homes ($500,000 to $1,000,000) to decline towards the loan limits while lower priced homes (under $500,000) already dove in 2008.

Southern California Loan Limits For 2009:

Loan Type San Diego Orange Los Angeles

VA $697,500 $729,750 $729,750 (no change from 2008)

FHA $546,250 $625,500 $625,500

Conforming $546,250 $625,500 $625,500

Originally Posted on Millionaire Real Estate Lender

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One Hundred Under One Hundred Grand: Phoenix Investment Opportunity

10-28-08
Brian Brady- America's VA Home Loan Broker

Investors take notice! Phoenix home prices led the nation in declines:

The Case-Shiller indexes compare the sale prices of the same homes each year to determine price trends and are considered one of the most accurate home price gauges.

The hardest hit of all 20 cities on a year-over-year basis was Phoenix, where prices plummeted 30.7% during the past 12 months. Las Vegas prices plunged 30.6% and Miami sank 28.1%.

Phoenix real estate broker, Greg Swann of Bloodhound Realty, assembled a list of 100 homes listed for less than $100,000. Greg reports that not EVERY home on the list is tenant-ready but that there are gems hidden among the heap of lender-owned properties:

Click on this link for a PDF file of listings for 100 potential rental homes selling — right now — for $100,000 or less. These are lender-owned homes, so they’re going to be fixers. And some of them will need so much work they’re not worth bothering with. But some of them will need next to nothing — $5,000 or less in repairs — and they will be cash-flow positive from the very first tenant.

For the most part these are not Cadillac homes, but they still have a lot going for them: 1,400sf and above, stucco and tile, built 1995 or later, with back yards and garages. These homes can attract decent rents — $800 and above in most cases — and many of them will be appealing to owner-occupants on resale.

I sell a lot of rental homes, and the homes I sell stay rented. A list like this might produce ten workable rentals. But they’ll be choice rentals, attracting premium tenants and selling at a premium price when you’re ready to move on.

Investment properties make good sense when leveraged to the point where the rental income covers all costs. Most mortgage lenders require 25% down for the best rates. On a $100,000 property, that means that an investor will need some $30-35,000 for down payment, closing costs, and repairs to make the home tenant-ready. A $75,000 loan will most likely have a PITI payment of about $600.

Check Greg's list out and contact him to run the numbers. The big question you need to ask him is "Can the property command at least six hundred bucks a month in rent?"

I think you'll be blown away by his answer.

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VA Home Loans Make San Diego Veterans Happy

10-13-08
Brian Brady- America's VA Home Loan Broker

I had the good fortune of closing another VA home loan for a Navy family this month. I was stoked to read that our team delivered a superb experience for them over on a Redfin Forum:

I am just going to do a cut and paste from another thread but I figured there is alot of good info I just learned thru the course of my recently closed VA loan. I have to say I found it important to consider a good agent familiar with VA. It was especially helpful during negotiations with REO's or "great deal" properties with multiple offers. A good agent can calm the seller's fears that a VA loan will take forever and isn't as strong of an offer. I had a couple of retired Marine Captains as my agents and I could speak their praises all day long. (Mike chiesl and Dan Chapman) I also had a great mortgage broker- who was able to pull off 100% financing above the previous $417 cap. Anyway you can read more of my recent experience below. Good Luck!
I just got a approval on VA- the no down payment is correct but there is a 2.13% VA funding fee which can be funded into the loan (the perk with this is there is no PMI) So over 2.5 years the fee is less than paying like $300/m PMI. Also the seller needs to cover closing costs. Other than that you will be caped at 417K and after that you pay 25% on the difference. So a $450K loan - 417 = 33K and you pay 25% cash on the 33K difference so $8300 or so. Which is still lower than conventional - most of which are wanting 10% down now. Google says the guy I got qualified with is America's #1 mortgage broker- after a hour on the phone with this guy I would agree. Brian knew his stuff. Never thought we would need our VA benefits but without liquid assets it is a good choice in today's market.

An update to my previous post-

I may have been one of the first VA loans to close without any money down since the President signed H.R. 3221, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 on July 30th. I couldn't be happier that I was able to buy a great house here in San Diego and use the money I saved on a down payment on remodeling instead all thanks to Brian (America's #1 Mortgage Broker on Google). VA Benefits just got that much Sweeter in California (where you are hard pressed for a house under 417K in a lot of areas) . You now can go over the $417 K cap without paying the difference of 25%. Under old guidelines your benefit was good for 0 down up until $417 at which point you had to come up with 25% of the difference. So say on a 600K home you subtract 417K and then take 25% of the difference = $45,740.00 -Ouch! But they just changed the guidelines thru the end of the year! So any home in San Diego County, for example, under $697,500 (you can check your area cap at https://entp.hud.gov/idapp/html/hicostlook.cfm) is eligible to pay 0 down with VA, which is great. You can read the details of the bill at http://www.homeloans.va.gov/circulars/26_08_11.pdf . I literally was one of the first loans to close this kind of VA loan and Brian was able to pull it off, which is no small task in today's market. I really can't say enough good things about him and he even put me in touch with some amazing real estate agents. If you can use your VA benefits I would suggest doing it before the end of the end of the year, when the guidelines change again. Look this mortgage guy up and give him a call, seriously! Cuz the closest next option is 3% with FHA and mostly 10% with Conventional. And then a good agent can negotiate getting some of your closing costs, VA funding Fee, and even a point paid by the seller, like I did. -But you really need to be careful with who you choose to get your mortgage. It can be dicey with all these lenders going bust. It would be awful to find you dream house, get thru negotiations, start a loan with the wrong person, who starts your paperwork with a bank who goes bust 3 weeks into the process and then you lose your escrow monies and the house. So just be really choosy and go with someone who is familiar with the VA process from before the boom loan time to save yourself some money and headaches. Now can be a great time to buy with the new rule, the foreclosure deals, and since rents are up somewhere around 13% in San Diego area-just make sure you have a good team behind you

Now...that is a testimonial worth having.

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