Fred Chamberlin - Eugene/Springfield's #1 Experienced FHA Mortgage Consultant

For the past week, I have been writing a series about how to purchase foreclosures. I will be posting the first three of them shortly, but right now I have breaking news about the Fannie Mae on the HomePath program for the sale of Fannie Mae owned foreclosures. Not all properties are eligible but those that are could end up being a great deal for first time home buyers and for investors too.

My post was done on my website so if you want all of the information, you will need to read it there. This is a great program to help get rid of some of the excess inventory generated by the foreclosure epidemic. Please check out my post.

I thought about putting this in the wordless Wednesday but then I wouldn't have been able to explain who and what this was. Several members of the Active Rain Community got together, at my instigation, for lunch at the Macleay Country Inn, just outside of Salem Oregon on Saturday.

Who you see here, left to right are: Melina Tomson, Tomson Burnham LLC, Salem; Leslie Stewart, Prudential RE Professionals, Stayton; Cecily Park, Windermere/Pacific West Properties, Salem; Sean Keene, Keller Williams, (Salem) Portland; and Sandy Edwards, Prudential, Stayton. Margaret Oscilia, Creative Concepts and Contracting, Salem had to leave for an appointment and missed the picture. I, of course, was not in the picture, I was taking it.

We had a great time, many of us meeting for the first time after sharing information and humor on the A/R platform for some time. It was a casual get together and hopefully not our last. All of us are pretty active on the Rain and hope we can get more action from people in our areas. To all that attended, THANK YOU. If you didn't attend and would like to be included in our next get together, let me know.

I came across this quote from Abraham Lincoln today: "How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg, doesn't make it a leg." The same way that calling a program "Hope for Homeowners" does not mean that the program actually offers any hope to homeowners.

According to everything I am reading and hearing, the "Stimulus Bill," has provisions to make the Hope for Homeowners program more usable than it currently is. At the same time, calling a bill "Stimulus" doesn't make it so either. I am sure many people already know my opinion of what our elected representatives have done in the past and my trust in them doing something right in the future. All-in-all, I think the program that was scrapped, the FHA Secure, was probably the best one we had but hopefully the new changes (the second round) to the H4H will make it actually usable. I will wait to see.

In the meantime, I will continue to do the best with the options available to me and they do not include the H4H program. They do include the short sale refinance but these are not available to people that are currently delinquent on their loans and the loan modification that are.

Have you thought about buying a foreclosure for you new home? Do you have clients that think they can make the deal of the century by purchasing a foreclosure? Have you been watching those 3 a.m. infomercials that tell you that you can be the next Donald Trump-type millionaire in just 34.6 days by buying foreclosures for only pennies on the dollar?

Honestly, bank owned properties can be an excellent value but they are not necessarily going to be the extreme value that you might think they are going into the search. There are companies out there selling lists of foreclosures promising all kinds of wonderful things, but delivering the same thing, except dated, that you can get just by dealing with a knowledgable Realtor. Of course, if you want to give your money to some late nite or internet huckster, by all means, do it, just send me a bit too, since you are ready to throw your money away.

When you have gone through all of that, and "maybe" decided that you want to get with the system that works, the first thing you need to do is decide how you are going to finance this wonderful investment for you and your family. Check out my post on the 203k Streamline I just posted at http://eugeneloanguy.com, I think it might be enlightening. Good luck in your search and let me know when you start building casinos in Atlantic City.

I just posted a new article on my website about recent financial reports and the possibility that we may be approaching the bottom of the Real Estate Market. Now, I am no Guru, but I read the stuff that is coming out and there is a possibility that things are turning around and if they are, it is time for those sitting on the sidelines to get in the game. If they aren't????

Author: fchamberlin // Category: Bank Owned properties, Eugene Homes for Sale, Eugene Oregon, Florence Orgon, Interest Rates, Local Information, Mortgage Loans, Real Estate Loans, Springfield, lane county, refinance

The latest news from the housing market continues to be mixed but with some definite upbeat news. Yesterday, the government announced that existing home sales were higher than expected and higher than the month previously. Today the consumer confidence came in lower than was expected and lower than the month before. It is the consumer confidence that shows that people are willing to start making purchases, not just homes, but appliances, cars and other than staple items. The Fed continues to purchase mortgage backed securities and mortgage rates are dropping below 5% again for a 30 year fixed.....read the rest of this here.

I honestly thing things are changing. I am talking to people around the country that are getting more purchase business than they had before. I am talking to Realtors that are getting calls on listings and are showing homes. I realize that this is just a microcosm, but I have to read what I can see. Ok, maybe I am a cheerleader in this business, but if so, so be it!