Melissa Devitt "Your Right-Hand Girl"

I sponsored a seminar for realtors today and brought in a local Mortgage Company to present about the recent changes to FHA lending guidelines, as well as about USDA/Rural Housing Loans.

Here are a few key points that I learned and thought I'd pass along to you in case you didn't know...

• For FHA loans, seasoning is usually 90-days... However, in the case of a bank-owned property, there is no seasoning.
• Mortgage insurance rates on FHA loans have changed to the following: 1.75% for the upfront fee, and 0.55% per month.
• Hope for Homeowners... The homeowner can be in any type of loan and does not have to be delinquent to qualify. There are higher costs associated with this loan. Any equity that you gain from a later sale of that property (I believe within the first 5 years of taking advantage of this program) must be split with the forgiving lender.
• USDA/Rural Housing allows 100% financing with 6% seller contributions. No money down and no MI. There are income restrictions, but they are reasonable. You don't necessarily have to live in the "boonies" to be considered rural.
• For conforming loans, a bankruptcy has to be discharged at least 4 years now (it used to be 2 years).

I am not a mortgage expert, but did want to share with you what I found to be interesting changes that may be useful to realtors to market to potential buyers on their listings.

Think of creative ways to offer solutions to and to attract potential buyers.

Please feel free to correct anything I have stated here, or to share more on this topic! I would love to hear what else is going on out there to provide more opportunity for realtors to sell more houses!

My oldest son, Andrew, is 7-years-old and in 1^st grade. He just started cub-scouting this year and is a Tiger Cub. Yesterday evening, before it got dark, his den had a nature hike at Oakland Nature Preserve. It's pretty heavily wooded, lots of trees and overgrowth. I'm on the constant lookout for spiders (my nemesis)...

Meanwhile, my little guy (Colin who is almost 4-years-old) is searching for T-Rex's, Veloceraptors, Pterodactyls, Tigers, you name it. He seriously thinks he can find one if he is quiet enough!

It made me stop and reflect on life as a child. How simple they are... how wild their imaginations are... how faithful they are... to believe that they will see a dinosaur in a forest in Florida!

Children can teach us a lot about life, if we stop to pay attention to what they are saying and listen to the meaning behind their carefully chosen words.

Have a great day, and live like a child today!

So, after reading Paul Chaney's blog this morning called, Top Three Social Networks to Join and Why, I felt compelled to finally breakdown and signup for Twitter...

I am an active user of FaceBook, LinkedIn, ActiveRain, and Plaxo/Pulse so I must learn how to use Twitter, right?

Not knowing at all how to use Twitter, I am asking you, the experts, what do I do now?

By the way, my user name is: thetitlegirl

HELP!

So, I hope everyone enjoyed the same beautiful weather where they live as we did in Central Florida this past weekend. It was the first real taste of cooler weather for us.

The best part was being on a Harley and feeling "cold" in the evening while riding back from Biketoberfest on I-4 Saturday night. Daytona was not nearly as crowded this year for Biketoberfest... Not surprising given the economy. Not a bad thing either... it's usually too crowded.

Here's a pic of me and my husband with Vinnie DiMartino from V-Force Customs - formerly famous for his appearances on American Chopper...

We spent the day yesterday working in the yard, washing cars, and playing soccer in the backyard with the boys. What a great way to enjoy the outside of our home for once! It's always too hot to get outside for too much time usually. Well yesterday we spent as much time outside as possible! Even grilled out last night!

Other than that, I spent most of my thinking time this weekend trying to figure out what my Monday morning blog post would be about... then I realized I can recap my weekend and make it my regular Monday post every week!

Hopefully you all had a fabulous weekend too! Now, I am ready to dive into a busy week! Did anyone else do anything different or memorable this weekend?

No, I'm not one of those hard-core biker b!#@&s...., more of a biker chick...

• I don't wear leather chaps with only a thong underneath...
• I don't wear a fishnet "shirt" with only pasties to cover my "girls"...
• I don't have tattoos all over my body....
• I don't wear a bandana in my hair...
• I don't wear anything with fringe...

I do, however, LOVE the freedom of being on the back of a Harley, in the wide-open, feeling the wind in my face... I love escaping from the everyday, paying attention to nature, and feeling like a kid again!

For those of you who ride, you can relate to this experience! You crave it... you love the smell of exhaust, the occasional bug in the face, and even the lone raindrop...

So, now I am counting down the hours until tomorrow morning when I strap on my helmet, put on my jacket and gloves, and climb on the back of the steel horse that I ride!

My husband and I are off to Daytona Beach this weekend for Biketoberfest! Have a great weekend everyone! I hope to get some good pictures to share with you on Monday!