Robin Evans

In an effort to protect buyers from predatory lending practices, our government has now created another set of rules. These new regulations will more than likely have buyers, sellers, Realtors, lenders, and attorneys pointing fingers of blame when a closing does not happen on "time".

Below are a list of the new regulations:

1) The earliest any home purchase transaction can close is 7 business days after the home buyer is issued his or her initial mortgage disclosures from the lender.

2) Upfront fees cannot be collected by the lender (except for a credit report fee) until the initial disclosures are received. If the disclosures are overnighted, they are considered "received" the next business day-(excluding Saturdays) allowing the fees to be collected on the following business day.

3) The home buyer must be provided with a copy of his or her appraisal a minimum of 3 business days prior to closing.

4) An increase of more than .125% in the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) from the initial Truth in Lending Disclosure (TIL) requires the TIL disclosure to be revised and reissued to the home buyer. The home buyer must receive a revised TIL disclosure at least 3 business days before closing, providing the home buyer with the time required to determine if the home buyer is comfortable with his or her loan choice. If mailed, the TIL disclosure is considered "received" 3 business days after mailing.

Items that could affect the APR - causing the disclosure to be revised and reissued:

• Unlocked rate

• Change in loan amount

• Product change

• Rate re-lock due to market improvement

• Change in closing date

• Changes to fees, inclusive of settlement agent fees

Item #4 has the most potential to create unexpected chaos and delay closings.

The link below gives more information about the new HERA regulations.

https://www.wellsfargo.com/downloads/pdf/mortgage/HERA_HOEPA_Retail_FINAL_E.PDF

It should be obovious that now is a great time to buy a house, but for some reason many people are not "buying it" yet. Home prices are at record lows. Interest rats are hovering around 5%. Sellers are moving and motivated, yet buyers are hesitant to "make a move".

Now is particularly a great time to buy for first time home buyers and move up home buyers in Raleigh, Cary, and Durham. For first time buyers, there is plenty of inventory for them to choose from. In the past, the Triangle market under $200K was very tight. If the house was in good condition, in a nice location, and priced under $200K, there would be multiple offers. The house would be under contract within a week. Now there are homes to choose from and buyers do not have to move quiet so fast on their offer. However, homes in this price range that are in excellent condition are still selling briskly.

Besides having inventory to choose from, first time home buyers also have the $8000 tax credit to help off set the expense of buying a home. This credit is good until November 30, 2009. So buyers planning to use this credit, need to be under contract by October 1, 2009 to make sure that they close on their new home by the end of November.

Home buyers looking to sell their existing home and move to a larger home should also take advantage of our current market. For sellers with homes valued under $300K, now is still a great time to sell. Yes, your home may not sale for as much as it would have a year ago, but on the flip side, home prices above $300k have come down more than those under $300k. The best deals can be found in resale homes or new homes priced $400k or above. In this price range there is tons of inventory and sellers are motivated.

For more information about improvement in the Triangle Real Estate Market, below is a link to a great article.

http://www.metronc.com/article/?id=1940

I love first time buyers! My favorite first time buyers are the ones that show up at their first appointment on time with paper and pen in hand. These wonderful first time buyers value and respect their Realtor and look to the Realtor for much needed guidance. It is not just their enthusiasm and excitement for their first home purchase that make these clients so special, it is the fact that they understand that real estate is not easy and that they need help.

In today's world with such easy access to information, so many buyers believe that all that they need to know about purchasing a home can be found online. If I had just a few minutes to speak with such buyers, I would express to them that buying and selling a home is more complicated than it looks. I would also explain that it is not the paperwork, laws, or properties that make the process so complicated, it is the parties involved that make it a complicated business.

So for today, I am very thankful and excited for the first time buyers that I am currently helping. For all of the "do it yourself" buyers, all I can say is find a good realtor, that will be your best decision in your home purchase.

As a Realtor in Cary, NC I have found that most parents making a move want to ensure that their children will be attending the very best schools possible in their new town. The first step that parents generally take to determine acceptable schools is to research schools online. For families moving to NC, especially Raleigh, Cary, Apex, and other Wake County towns, there are several excellent websites to help parents find much needed information about local schools.

This is a link to the NC Report Cards for schools in Wake County. http://www.ncreportcards.org/src/search.jsp?pYear=2007-2008&pList=2&pListVal=Wake&GO2=GO

Other websites such as Great Schools.com gives more information than just test scores. http://www.ncreportcards.org/src/search.jsp?pYear=2007-2008&pList=2&pListVal=Wake&GO2=GO

Once parents have narrowed down their list of acceptable schools, the next step is to find homes that are in the acceptable schools district. Buyers / Parents need to be aware that in Wake County the school board does redistrict the students and neighborhoods. School assignment is broken down by nodes, not by neighborhoods. Each neighborhood could actually be assigned to a couple of different schools. Parents also need to be aware that Wake County has both Year Around Schools and Traditional Calendar Schools. The location of your home determines which school and type of calendar your child will attend. You may apply to either a year around calendar school or traditional calendar school, but there are no guarantees that your child will be able to attend a different school.

This link is to the Wake County Public School system website for student assignment:http://www.wcpss.net/growth-management/assignment.html

For families searching for homes in Wake County, it is important that you check the assignment website when you have found your dream home. You definitely want to be aware if your child's base school will be changing in the next few years. MLS sheets and real estate websites should have the correct school assignment, but keep in mind that this information does change.

If you are looking for a home in Wake County, do familirize yourself with the nuiances of the local school system and their redistricing plans. Ask your Realtor questions about the local school system. Research and be aware of the county schools systems future plans, so that their plans do not interfere with yours.

I have a closing scheduled this Thursday. Closings are always very good news. This has been a wonderful transaction so far. My buyers chose the house on the first day of looking. The sellers were very motivated and we were able to come to fantastic terms that work well for both the buyer and seller. The listing agent is a gem to work with. The inspections went well with only minor repairs needed and few repairs requested. So far so good. The only questionable part of this transaction is will the FHA loan be processed quickly enough for the closing to take place this week. Yes, FHA normally takes 45 days to process and then we still keep our fingers crossed. However, being an optimistic and relying on my lenders assurances, I am holding on to high hopes that the loan will be processed quickly and we will close as sheduled on Thursday. This would be a 20 day turn around for an FHA loan. In the mean time I will be praying for an FHA miracle.