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Lara McHenry

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Current news for First Time Home Buyers

05-14-09
Lara McHenry

Don't Let Breaking News Lead to Breaking Promises


When it comes to breaking news, accuracy is always more important than speed.

A great example of this important idea was made clear this week after information was released that stated HUD would now begin to allow qualified FTHBs (First Time Home Buyers) to utilize their anticipated tax credit toward their down payment and closing costs in advance of actually receiving it - and the story shot through seemingly every channel of our industry, at lightening speed.

In fact, a mortgagee letter had even been posted on HUD's website. Unfortunately, the letter was quickly removed from HUD's website, creating a buzz of uncertainty and confusion that shot through the industry just as quickly. Those who chose to blast the story out to their contacts right away, however, were left scrambling to find answers that simply didn't exist.

As of right now, there is no such program or "bridge loan" in place. It might be prudent to mention however that there may be some smaller banks and financial institutions out there creating their own work around to this dilemma and keeping these loans in their bank portfolio since they can not send these loans to secondary market, i.e. FHA, etc. We do not at this time as an industry have a HUD, FHA / VA, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac approval for a way to lend first, credit later. So please be wary of any misinformation that may come your way.

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Homeowner Affordability & Stability Plan...what does it mean?

02-26-09
Lara McHenry
Think Spring March 8th We Set Our Clocks One Hour Ahead!
 
 
 
 509-789-8567
 
 



 

 

Next Issue:
Tax Credit Vs Credit Deduction
Requirements To Qualify For HASP
Homes That Qualify
Jumbo Loan Amount Increases
 
 
  
  The Stimulus Bill Breakdown
February 25, 2009

Obama Unveils Homeowner Affordability & Stability Plan

Last week, President Obama announced the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan as part of the broad, comprehensive strategy to get the economy back on track. The plan will help up to 7 to 9 million families restructure or refinance their mortgages to avoid foreclosure. The plan not only helps responsible homeowners on the verge of defaulting, but will assist neighborhoods and communities also, as defaults and foreclosures contribute to falling home values, failing local businesses, and lost jobs. So how do we really determine the fine print of the stability plan? How does it help you, me, and the failing economy? The Homeowner Affordability & Stability Plan...(now acronymoniously renamed HASP..By yours truly for the benefit of spacial compliance in the text) HASP provides two initiatives to help struggling homeowners. 1)a refinancing program for homeowners with less than 20% equity in their homes, or who owe more than the home is worth. 2)The second program attempts to lower monthly payments for homeowners at risk of losing their home. Both initiatives further enhance a third initiative which is to strengthen confidence in Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac. The details are still to be worked out and will not be fully announced until March 4 but we have included an overview of the plans main components.

Refinancing Initiative

Under current rules, those families who own less than 20% equity in their homes have a difficult time refinancing and taking advantage of the historically low interest rates. Therfore the new initiative plan provides refinancing help for homeowners with less than 20% equity in their homes or for those that owe more than their home is worth. This initiative is open to homeowners who have conforming loans which are guaranteed by Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac and who owe up to 5% more than the home is worth. According to the plan, "credit-worthy" or "responsible" homeowners can refinance their mortgage into a 30 or 15 year fixed rate loan based on current market rates. The refinanced loan, however cannot include prepayment penalties or balloon payments. For many families, this low-cost refinancing may help reduce their mortgage payments by thousands of dollars a year. As with the rest of the plan, details about this initiative will be released at a future date- including what if any credit score requirements will be included.

Stability Initiative

This initiative aims at providing help to individual families as well as entire neighborhoods by helping to reduce foreclosures and stabilize home prices. It is intended to help homeowners who are struggling to afford their mortgage payments, but cannot sell their home as prices have fallen significantly in some areas. The goal of the initiative is simple; reduce the amount homeowners owe per month to sustainable levels. "To accomplish this, lenders are encouraged to lower homeowner's payment to 31% of their income by lowering their interest rate to as low as 2% or by extending the terms of the loan. In addition, lenders can also lower the principal owed by the borrower, with Treasury sharing in the costs. Homeowners that are current on their mortgages but are struggling can still apply for this program. As such, this is one of the few programs designed to help homeowners who may face delinquency soon, but are current at the moment. Since the focus of this initiative is on helping families and neighborhoods, investment properties do not qualify. This initiative also includes a number of additional elements and incentives that benefit homeowners and lenders alike, including; *Incentives to help borrowers stay current; to provide an extra incentive for borrowers to keep paying on time, the initiative will provide a monthly balance reduction payment that goes straight to reducing the principal balance of the mortgage loan, he or she can get up to a $1,000 each year for five years. *Reaching Borrowers Early: To keep lenders focused on reaching borrowers who are trying their best to stay current on their mortgages, and incentive payment of $500 will be paid to servicers, and an incentive payment of $1,500 will be paid to mortgage holders, if they modify at-risk loans before the borrower falls behind. If you would like more in depth information regarding other details about HASP including supporting low mortgage rates,The tax credit for Homebuyers, Tax Credit versus Tax Deduction, Phaseouts regarding specifics on the homebuyer tax credit and allowances, Which homes will Qualify, What the higher loan amounts will be and more we would be happy to email or fax you the full comprehensive breakdown.
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New Spokane Market Blog

01-03-09
Lara McHenry

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN SPOKANE IN 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR,

THE BIGGEST CONCERN ON EVERYONES MIND OVER THE PAST YEAR HAS BEEN THE HOUSING MARKET, WHAT IDEAS DO YOU ENTERTAIN TO PUT US ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY?

WHAT DO YOU SEE AS A SOLUTION? SOUND OFF!

Posted by Lara McHenry on 01/02/2009 10:16 PM Comments (3) MARKET INPUT in the Real Estate Market Channel your input on the housing market
<!--div class="cleare--> This post has been included in Washington Information Spokane County, WA Information Spokane, WA Information

3 Comments on WHAT'S HAPPENING IN SPOKANE IN 2009

Welcome to ActiveRain!

If you would like a few tips on getting the most out of ActiveRain, please visit my blog Welcome to Active Rain. It has a few simple steps of what to do now that you have joined.

If you ever have any questions, just let me know.

Troy Trumm

01/03/2009 08:49 AM by Omaha Real Estate & Omaha Homes for Sale - The Trumm Team (Alliance Real Estate)

Lara....Welcome to ActiveRain. This is a great community to network with others as well a great place to learn from other's experiences and knowledge. I've enjoyed it; I hope you enjoy it as well.

Sergio Rebollo Jr.
Exit Prime Realty
Coral Gables, FL 33134
305-582-4062

Miami Short Sale Specialist - Profile

01/03/2009 12:02 PM by Sergio Rebollo Jr. (Exit Prime Realty)

I kind of butchered my blog approach here....let's see how about if actually state what is happening in the Spokane Market and what those expectations for 2009 may be...."Gee...DUH!"

Spokane Washington is a micro market and considered to be a mid sized metropolitan area and our industry is fueled by health-care, technology, bio tech, manufacturing, agriculture and tourism and other conservative efforts.

It is really rather interesting as we sit here in Spokane and take a look at what we are hearing about the market nationwide and we realize that we just do not fit into the mold. Albeit we are facing some recession related ramifications and there will always be the nay Sayer's and "Debbie Downers" that will always run around preaching "the sky is falling" but the reality is that in Spokane its not as grim as it appears nationally.

I of course wouldn't be ridiculous and say its perfectly fine and wonderful ......let's hold hands and sing its a "small world" No the Reality is this...we are seeing some blows in Real Estate, we felt it at the gas pump, we are definitely seeing it in the grocery stores, and retail is definitely taking a hit.

However the hit is minimal and its yes weakened our market....but we are still stronger than the national average. We continue to buck the trends and continue to receive such rankings from Forbes, Business Inc, and various other periodical princes that state commentary like "#22 in better economies" "best place to retire for keeping your wealth" "best place for young people" #4 in best place to do business"

Headlines aside, what am I seeing out there as a full time relocation Realtor? Well.... in migration is still happening, but at a slower rate, because we are very close to an air force base we are seeing in migration in that area due to all the base closures in surrounding states. I am seeing housing prices dropping or leveling out. The inventory is higher than usual but in the last couple of months we have still seen many sales. What is happening nationwide and even here is that good old Kharma is slapping us back into reality and saying..."stop the glut"

Back when we were happily enjoying the good times of ARMS and Zero Down Loans didn't we really know that these loans were made specific for a set type of lender and needed to be used wisely and determinately. I say, in our guts as a nation we knew this was not a good thing....yet we went on to keep doing it, now we are seeing the outcome of using our homes to refinance and gain cash...as if the house were an ATM. All bad things must come to an end....The loans are not BAD it's the choices of the people who used them for all the wrong reasons that are bad.

With this said, Spokane is healing...or putting itself to rights as the rest of the nation struggles to do. The good news is that we do not have as much "bed rest" as other areas!

There is always going to be a need for people to buy and sell homes, as long as we stick to good common sense and ethics and counsel our clients in the way they need to be counseled we can survive. The good news is...recessions do not last forever, they always end.

If you would like more specific information about the Spokane Economy feel free to email me anytime.
0 Comments
Blog_tag

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN SPOKANE IN 2009

01-02-09
Lara McHenry

I kind of butchered my blog approach here....let's see how about if actually state what is happening in the Spokane Market and what those expectations for 2009 may be...."Gee...DUH!"

Spokane Washington is a micro market and considered to be a mid sized metropolitan area and our industry is fueled by health-care, technology, bio tech, manufacturing, agriculture and tourism and other conservative efforts.

It is really rather interesting as we sit here in Spokane and take a look at what we are hearing about the market nationwide and we realize that we just do not fit into the mold. Albeit we are facing some recession related ramifications and there will always be the nay Sayer's and "Debbie Downers" that will always run around preaching "the sky is falling" but the reality is that in Spokane its not as grim as it appears nationally.

I of course wouldn't be ridiculous and say its perfectly fine and wonderful ......let's hold hands and sing its a "small world" No the Reality is this...we are seeing some blows in Real Estate, we felt it at the gas pump, we are definitely seeing it in the grocery stores, and retail is definitely taking a hit.

However the hit is minimal and its yes weakened our market....but we are still stronger than the national average. We continue to buck the trends and continue to receive such rankings from Forbes, Business Inc, and various other periodical princes that state commentary like "#22 in better economies" "best place to retire for keeping your wealth" "best place for young people" #4 in best place to do business"

Headlines aside, what am I seeing out there as a full time relocation Realtor? Well.... in migration is still happening, but at a slower rate, because we are very close to an air force base we are seeing in migration in that area due to all the base closures in surrounding states. I am seeing housing prices dropping or leveling out. The inventory is higher than usual but in the last couple of months we have still seen many sales. What is happening nationwide and even here is that good old Kharma is slapping us back into reality and saying..."stop the glut"

Back when we were happily enjoying the good times of ARMS and Zero Down Loans didn't we really know that these loans were made specific for a set type of lender and needed to be used wisely and determinately. I say, in our guts as a nation we knew this was not a good thing....yet we went on to keep doing it, now we are seeing the outcome of using our homes to refinance and gain cash...as if the house were an ATM. All bad things must come to an end....The loans are not BAD it's the choices of the people who used them for all the wrong reasons that are bad.

With this said, Spokane is healing...or putting itself to rights as the rest of the nation struggles to do. The good news is that we do not have as much "bed rest" as other areas!

There is always going to be a need for people to buy and sell homes, as long as we stick to good common sense and ethics and counsel our clients in the way they need to be counseled we can survive. The good news is...recessions do not last forever, they always end.

If you would like more specific information about the Spokane Economy feel free to email me anytime.

6 Comments