Justin Williams - Loan Officer

A Client called me up today wanting to refinance with cash out. I asked the client what the purpose is for the addtional cash.

She had replied that she is very nervous and excited about adding a new addition to the family. I was thinking well she must be pregnant but to my surprise the new addition was for an...ADOPTION

Adoption Costs

Now many people may not realize this but Adoption Costs can be very expensive.

According to Adoption.com ( http://costs.adoption.com/ ) The typical Adoption Costs are as follows:

Agency and private adoptions can range from $5,000 to $40,000 or more depending on a variety of factors including services provided, travel expenses, birth mother expenses, requirements in the state, and other factors.

International adoptions can range from $7,000 to $30,000.

Not including are the new addition factors including that can range from $1,000 to $5,000.

Shocking isn't it that adoptions can be very costly.

Adoption Buzz

Over 5 million Adoptees in America according to the Census Bureau.

November 20th is National Adoption Day.

Last November a National Poll conducted on adoption had 58% of respondents said they have had a "personal experience'' with adoption -- meaning that they, a family member, or a close friend had been adopted, had adopted a child, or had placed a child for adoption.

Popular A-List Actress Angelina Jolie has created a positive picture for adoptions with 3 adopted children whose images were reported at $10 million dollars for a record of the most expensive celebrity image of all time.

Madonna and other famous stars, soon followed suit.

Adoption Financing

Check with your local Mortgage Consultant to see if Refinancing with Cash out or doing a HELOC loan is more beneficial for you. Rates are at an all time low so if you have the equity to tap into, this could be a wonderful resource to utilize to your amazing new addition to the family.

The IRS has helped with the Adoption Tax Credit given to families applying for adoptions that can be found here http://tax-credit.adoption.com/

The Tax Credit is $10,960 per child which is an amazing benefit for adopting families. Consult with your Tax Advisor on how to apply the credit towards your tax returns.

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I personally loved doing all the research on this Blog learning about how adoptions work and all the other fascinating stories involved with adoptions. I am really glad there are tons of Adoptions each year and if you are thinking about doing an adoption in the future, may god bless and best wishes.

Just-In-Time's Loans - Mortgage Needs and Advice on Time. (757-228-3668)

Need to tap into your Rental property?

Investment Properties are hotter than ever with all the current Short Sales anf Foreclosures going in the market.

So now that you captured a rental property and are utilizing a stable rental income for quite some time now, it has come to attention than an unxepected financial need arises and have to decide if tapping into your investment property is worthwhile.

Analyzing your Rental income, Mortgage and Rental Lease

There's 3 main factors come into play with your Rental are as follows

1. Rental Mortgage: - Does your investment property have a mortgage tied to it? If so how much is the current mortgage.
2. Rental Income: - Now after paying the mortgage and all the other expenses that comes into play, how much does your Rental Income bring forth as a profit, if any?
3. Rental Lease: - Here's the big "R". What are you charging for your Rent? Is this outdated, is there room to grow?

ABC is easy as 123

So lets put all the factors into play, shall we. Let's say for example:

You need an extra $25,000 for a much needed College Tuition for your Son/Daughter.

You have a $50,000 mortgage at $375 and $500 Rental Income on your investment property.

You spoken with your Mortgage Expert :) and the Extra 25k will put your new mortgage at $560

Uh-Oh your new Mortgage is higher than your Rental Income, Don't Despair, it's time to check if it's time to upgrade your Rent.

Afterall we are in a HOT HOT HOT rental market!!

Rentometer

I actually stumbled upon this site using stumbledupon, its a real cool site that randomly stumbles websites linked to your preferences.

This website is FREE to use and you can use this tool to see if you are charging to little for rent and seeing what the other rental properties in your area are going for.

The website is a mashup with Googlemaps data, feeded rental listings via the net and other rental listing websites out there.

The website can be found here http://www.rentometer.com/ and is very easy to use, just put in your address and the search results will display a meter indicating where you rank in Rental income and also displays the Googlemap to click on markers near your property to get individual results, cool right?

So there you have it, your very own free tip tool to find out if you need to hike up your rental price, and for the previous example, lets say you found that properties in your area are renting for about $600, there you go a Win/Win Situation :)

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As always thanks for checking out my blog, feel free to leave a comment and have a great day!

Just-In-Time's Loans

Zen in Homeownership

Becoming a homeowner is the the biggest American Dream there is. Homeownership has great benefits. Homeownership also comes with certain responsibilities.

We are in a time that people became too hasty and rushed in the home buyers market without thinking ahead of the percussions.

Yes it was great that there were more new homeowners in the past couple years than ever before but now that the dust has settled the numbers doubled to people losing their homes ever than before.

Just because rates are hot, the loan programs made it so that anybody with a decent Fico can qualify or even because the market now has the cheapest home-values ever before, before diving right in you must be prepared for your future responsibilities.

Just like in the movie "The Karate Kid" Mr. Miyagi taught Daniel LaRusso the necessary training to achieve balance in the mind and heart, not in the hands.

Paint The Fence, Wax The cars, and Sand The Floor

Mr. Miyagi made Daniel paint the fence front and back and eventually the house, another chore is to sand the floor and finally wax the cars.

These tedious chores were designed for payment to Mr. Miyagi for the training he is receiving.

Daniel eventually becomes frustrated with doing all the chores and confronts Mr. Miyagi with despair from lack of teachings.

Mr. Miyagi reveals that Daniel has unknowingly been learning defensive blocks, through muscle memory learned by doing the chores.

You may not realize it but you have been training all along with your rent.

The Training

Training for Homeownership is in the same way, we been training ourselves all along with Rental History and having a steady reliable income as we prepare for home ownership. We have achieved success in doing so and are looking for a change.

1.) Payment Shock - This is a term used to express how much of a difference will be higher than our accustomed housing expense now.

Keep this in mind, Finding a great home but with a much higher payment is something we need to consider.

The house may be great, but is it within your means and are you ready for these future expenses. A future budget is a great plan to have.

2.) Credit History - You built a good history so far and have to realize now unlike rental payments, your mortgage is now being recorded on your credit report. Have you been on and off making late payments?

If so you may want to stabilize a good 12 month history pattern to stabilize your new payment obligations.

Once you become a home owner its more than imperative to keep your payments on time.

3.) Debt Management - You have been training with your current debts and stabilized so far, when applying for a mortgage your overall debt to income ratio is looked at with your new payment.

Are you debts workable? If not try to consolidate or liquidate your debts as much as possible, there is no bigger debt than your mortgage.

Balance: Training the Spirit and Body

Through the training of practicing karate on a boat and a tree stump on the beach learning the "Crane", Daniel learns not only karate, but also important life lessons, such as the importance of balance, reflected by the belief that martial arts training is as much about training the spirit as the body.

Balance holds true with Your mortgage, the mortgage is not the only expense you need to consider. Homeownership comes with other potential budget items such as home repairs, maintenance, taxes, Insurance and landscaping.

Once you fully understand your current situation, your future plans, and the big picture in terms of homeownership, it’s important to look at the pros and cons of homeownership to make the best decision for you and your family.

The Pre-Flop

I work with a couple Real Estate Investors in the Virginia Beach Area and they mainly invest in Short Sales and Foreclosures to sell back to potential buyers.

I had a client pre-qualified up for a $200,000 FHA Mortgage and the client was interested in buying a short sale, I called up my Investor to ask for a few listings in that price range and showed my client the listings.

The Flop

My client was excited to see a house he wanted and worked with his Realtor to put in an offer. He offered my investor $180,000 for the listed price at $185,000. The investor then agreed to the offer price but not the closing costs and pre-paids amount. The contract wanted all pre-paids and closing costs paid from the Investor.

Don't Fold Your Cards Just Yet

Well my client didn't have the extra 5k needed and his Realtor suggested he look at these other houses that are willing to pay for all closing costs and prepaids but the catch was these were town-houses and cheaper. My client had his heart set on this Single Family Home, so my client was about to give up.

Use that Ace Up Your Sleeve

I didn't want my client to go away empty handed, so I reached out and told my Investor colleague to...

"Raise His Price to $185,000 and then use my Down Payment Assistance Program to gift the 5k"

The investor look star struck and couldn't believe that he could do that by not coming out of more out of pocket expense. I told him since this was a Government loan we could use the Down Payment Assistance program which would make all parties happy and quick and easy instead of turning away a sale.

Well of course all parties was happy, The Realtor and the Investor still can't believe that we could do this and are in amazement that they don't do this often.

Well of course, previously we were in the mind frame of conventional mortgages, now that Government Loans are becoming popular again, Realtors, Investors, and Buyers aren't accustomed to this and forget that Family Members or a 501c3 non-profit organization can provide down payment for the buyer :)

The "River"

• The program I used was the Genesis Program (Nehemiah and Ameridream are alternatives)

• The loan is scheduled to close on May 26th 2008 *WooHoo*

• I wrote a blog last month regarding DAP's found here
  

• I actually enjoy playing Texas Holdem Poker in which this blog was inspired from. I play in local tournaments hosted by Aces Places in the Hampton Roads Area. If you ever see me at AJ Gators in General Booth, come play me if you dare :)

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As always thanks for checking out my blog, feel free to leave a comment and have a great day!

Just-In-Time's Loans

So your thinking about buying a house

A lot of mistakes I seen recently is new home owners applying for loans with the preconception of not worrying about reserves or a down payment towards their new house.

Even if you did qualify for a 100% LTV loan that doesn't require any reserves and the seller is willing to pay all closing costs and prepaids, you still have to be smart in saving some money for new furniture, new bills and all of expenses that can occur when becoming a new home owner.

This is why its vital to play it smart and start a goal in saving extra money now.

Saving Money , Getting Organized : Made Simple

There are a lot of ways to help save some extra money here and there but I want to share a simple and effective way of doing so without effecting your daily rituals.

This plan is a combination of the Envelope System and the Debit Card System made simple.

Requirements

• Sticker and Black Marker
• Check Card or Debit Card (You will need 3)
  
• Phone with texting feature

Set Up

1.) Have your 2 cards in handy and write one 1 card "Budget" - [ Rent/Mortgage, Food, Gas, Phone, Bills ]

2.) Label the other card "Spending $$" - [ Going Out, Entertainment, Misc ]

3.) Label the final card "911" - [ To cover any un-forseen events and your savings, 911 should psychosomatic to not to spend ]

How It Works

The beautiful thing about debit/check cards is that the funds are directly taken from the account and once the funds is gone, its game over until your refill.

First write out a budget to see how much is needed for your must pay bills every month. Then find out a good number for your misc/entertainment amount.

View past bank statements and determine a SET LIMIT for your "Spending $$" expense. Don't try to put all your left over from your paycheck to "Spending $$" because you still have "911" to start depositing into.

• Every time you receive your paycheck, deposit your must pay expenses into "Budget".

• Then deposit a budgeted amount for "Spending $$".

• The left over into "911"

• Text your bank to get an update on your "Spending $$" funds, the biggest mistake is when people are out and can't check funds. Texting is fast and convenient so you will always know how much funds are available. Ever seen the Commercial where the wife asks the husband to buy a new tv and the guy starts drooling over the big tvs then texts in for his account balance and submits into buying a smaller tv :)

For Example

You get 2k a month from your job. Your must pay bills = $1,000 a month. You then decide that you normally spend around $500 in entertainment money a month. The left over is $500 into the 911 fund.

You don't touch "Budget" and "911" and just focus on swiping with the "Spending $$" card even for minor stuff like buying gum or magazines.

When its time for you to go out with your "Boys" or "Girls" simply check your "Spending $$" card by texting your bank and it will appear with your set limit for that month.

So its mid month and you know that you have $400 left on that card you party it up or if you find out that you have $75 left, you might wanna tell your friends to go do something cheap :)

I have been using this simple label system method and it works wonders!! I hope this helps save for your future homeownership!!

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Banks who currently have the text feature to check account balances: (Source MSN)

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As always thanks for checking out my blog, feel free to leave a comment and have a great day!

Just-In-Time's Loans