Hemet Home Loan Guy, Joey Aszterbaum

As your local mortgage lender, I work closely with the best real estate professionals in Yucaipa, Hemet, Murrieta, Temecula and the surrounding areas. I like to turn the Real Estate Spotlight on great Realtors and other folks so that when you decide to buy or sell real estate in the Inland Empire (San Bernardino and Riverside County), you know who you can trust and turn to.

Graham Holmes is an awesome Realtor and deserves the Real Estate Spotlight.

Graham and his long-time friend and business partner, Christopher Walker, founded Mission Grove Realty. Their office is in Hemet and they serve buyers and sellers in Yucaipa, Hemet, Banning, Beaumont, San Jacinto, and just about everywhere in San Bernardino and Riverside County. Chris and Graham built their company on a strong foundation of service, and set themselves apart quickly with their ability to sell real estate using the internet.

Graham always has the needs of his buyers and sellers at the forefront of his mind. His type of compassionate and knowledgeable service is what helped him grow his business quickly...and why he earned the Hemet-San Jacinto Association of Realtors Rookie of the Year Award a couple years back. He helped my sister sell her home in San Jacinto and buy a home in Hemet just down the street from my own, and she couldn't have been happier with his excellence!

Graham and  John Occhi, his friend and co-Realtor, have really distinguished themselves in this tough real estate market as a powerhouse team for selling REO, bank owned properties and short sales in Yucaipa, Hemet and the rest of Riverside County.

Graham is a family guy. He moved from England to Yucaipa with his wife Diane and his daughter Amy to start his Mission Grove. As a family they are very involved at a small and friendly church in Yucaipa called St. Alban's. They invited my family and I to attend there for a while. It's easy to see why Graham and his family fit it there...all the St. Alban's group is very caring, friendly and thoughtful. They have a sister church in New Orleans that they help and have a passion for making a difference in the world.

Take a look at some of the great properties that Graham has for sale right now:

To contact Graham Holmes, call Mission Grove Realty at (951) 927-8940.

Joey Aszterbaum is the Hemet Home Loan Guy and a member of the Active Rain social network of real estate professionals. To buy or refinance your home in Hemet, Riverside County, or California visit www.HemetHomeLoans.com or call 951.571.5751

Bummer! Cloudy weather in the Hemet-San Jacinto Valley is preventing a good view of tonight's lunar eclipse.

This is the third time in the least year that there has been a total lunar eclipse, when the moon passes through the shadow of planet Earth.

Nearly everyone in North America and Western Europe will have a great view of tonights eclipse...that is, unless clouds get in the way!

This would have been a very unique eclipse, forming a triangle with the planet Saturn and the star Regulus. Having the eclipse so close to Saturn is a very rare event. Apparently it will only happen this one time in the next thousand years!

My kids are keeping watch for a break in the clouds above Hemet. Barring that, it looks like we may need to wait for the next lunar eclipse.

Joey Aszterbaum is the Hemet Home Loan Guy and a member of the Active Rain social network of real estate professionals. To buy or refinance your home in Hemet, Riverside County, or California visit www.HemetHomeLoans.com or call 951.571.5751

Adjustable Rate Mortgages, or ARMs, are one option when you finance a home. But, in a time of declining home prices, is it a good option? It's been a while since I wrote ARMed and Dangerous? and it's time for a quick update.

First...today's interest rates** for Patrion Mortgage's portfolio Hybrid ARMs:

3/1 ARM - 4.250%
5/1 ARM - 4.375%
7/1 ARM - 4.500%

Those are tempting numbers. So should you ARM yourself? When you're considering an ARM, here are some things you might want to consider:

Equity Position

If you live in Riverside County (Hemet, San Jacinto, Temecula, Murietta and the surrounding areas), then there's a good chance that your property value has decreased over the last two years...as low as 8% and as high as 30% depreciation in home values, depending on the neighborhood. Some luxury homes have seen prices drop more than 30%!

The bigger down payment you have when you buy real estate, or the more equity you have when you refinance your home, the greater ability you will have to sell or refinance in the future. For example, a 3/1 ARM means that the mortgage rate is fixed for 3 years, then subject to change annually (by adding a 'margin' to an 'index', in this case the LIBOR or London Interbranch Overnight Rate). If the rates are significantly higher in three years, but you have no equity because of depreciation, than you can't sell or refinance...you'll just make the payments or hand in the keys.

In most areas in and around Hemet, 20% equity makes things awful safe. The longer that rate stays fixed, the better chance that your property is going to appreciate again and put you in a better equity position. Since there's only a slight difference in the interest rate, consider a 7/1/ ARM, especially if you have less than 20% equity.

Occupancy

If it's your primary residence and you have no intention of refinancing or selling your real estate, then a 30-year fixed interest rate is the safest bet. However, most people, despite their intentions, tend to sell or refinance their home in California every 5 years.

Some real estate investors like adjustable rate mortgages because they offer a better cash flow position. In other words, the lower rate gives them the ability to make a better net on their rent.

Debt Ratio

If you can pay back a loan with a higher interest rate with your current income, you might consider an ARM instead. 3, 5, or 7 years of payments at a lower interest rate can save you a lot of money. It's a better financial strategy, if you're disciplined, to take the savings and invest it in other appreciating assets or paying off useless debt (unsecured credit cards, etc.) And if you have good job security and project to make more in the future, then an increase in your house payment then shouldn't scare you from getting a lower rate now.

Caps - Initial, Periodic and Life

The 'Cap' of an adjustable rate mortgage is like a stop sign for rising interest rates. For example, you may have a 5/1 LIBOR ARM that has 2-2-5 caps. Those numbers tell you the initial, periodic and life cap.

The initial cap is the first number in 2-2-5. What it means is that after the initial fixed-rate period, your interest rate increase could be as much as 2%. So if you have a 4.375% rate for the first five years, your interest rate could rise no higher than 6.375%.

The second number in 2-2-5 is the periodic cap. With a 5/1 ARM, the mortgage rate adjusts every year after the first five. In this case, it can adjust as much as 2% each year after the initial adjustment. In this case, if rates continued rising, you could have an interest rate of 8.375% in the seventh year of your home loan.

The third number in 2-2-5 is the life cap. This means that your home loan can never adjust more than 5% from the initial rate. In this case, you will never have a mortgage rate over 9.375%, and it would take over 7 years of rising interest rates to get you there.

Other Factors

An ARM is not a one-size fits all mortgage loan solution. Every person has different needs. The best way to consider what type of mortgage loan is good for you when you buy or refinance your home is to find a trustworthy mortgage loan professional.

Do you want to get a quick text message update on the day's interest rates? Visit the Hemet Mortgage Twitter, join, then follow the directions to add your mobile phone.

Joey Aszterbaum is the Hemet Home Loan Guy and a member of the Active Rain social network of real estate professionals. To buy or refinance your home in Hemet, Riverside County, or California visit www.HemetHomeLoans.com or call 951.571.5751

**These Hybrid ARM rates are approximately 1% lower than other mortgage companies right now. Why is that? Well, Patrion Mortgage is a division of Altura Credit Union (which used to be named Riverside County's Credit Union). As a direct lender, Patrion has some home loan products that they like to keep on their books instead of selling on the 'secondary market'. Another reason: the credit union is embedded in Rvierside County (we have a new branch opening in Hemet soon) and has a different profit motive than other instititions. Credit Unions are not-for-profit and have the responsibility to their member/owners rather than to stockholders or private owners.

So I guess the weather man is just about as good as the chief economists at predicting the future.

There was actually SNOW in parts of Hemet and San Jacinto. It's common to see the snow on Idyllwild and the San Jacinto mountains, but it's very rare to see them on the hills on the north side of the valley. It snowed close to my office, but my wife had the camera.

It wasn't cold enough for it to stay on the ground, but at least my wife caught some of it on the hills before it melted. You can even glimpse part of the famous Hollwood sign. Well, not the really famous one. ;)

Joey Aszterbaum is the Hemet Home Loan Guy and a member of the Active Rain social network of real estate professionals. To buy or refinance your home in Hemet, Riverside County, or California visit www.HemetHomeLoans.com or call 951.571.5751

On Wednesday the President signed the economic stimulus bill that I wrote about in No Mo' Jumbo? Higher Mortgage Loan Limits from Congress to President. So when do these changes take place? And what will the new home loan limits be?

When? The new loan limits legally became effective when the bill was signed, however the stimulus package gives HUD (Housing and Urban Development) 30 days to publish updated median house prices. HUD intends to publish these within the next two weeks.

How Much: The new loan limits will be 125% of the median house prices for the area...but not to exceed $729,750. Riverside County's last published median house price was $381,400. That would make the loan limits $476,750. If HUD changes the median, will it be higher or lower? Pretty sure it will be lower. The trend is for home prices to decrease (the median price for homes dropped more than 17% over the last year).

Before the act, Conventional home loans were limited to $417,000. FHA loan limits were 95% of the median price for homes.

Stay posted for updates on the median house prices for Riverside County, California (including Hemet, San Jacinto, Murietta, Temecula, Idyllwild, Banning and the surrounding areas).

Joey Aszterbaum is the Hemet Home Loan Guy and a member of the Active Rain social network of real estate professionals. To buy or refinance your home in Hemet, Riverside County, or California visit www.HemetHomeLoans.com or call 951.571.5751