Sonny Kwan

www.whitehouse.gov

I read a recent blog post written by Deb Brooks of Huntsville , TX  to our president Barrack Obama about the state of housing in the United States and the impact it has become on Realtors and lenders.

It got good response with good feedback from our fellow Activerain members and I thought we all should take part in doing the same to support the President on his campaign to get the United States back on track.

We have some of the brightest minds collectively in one group here on Activerain and giving the whitehouse a bunch of emails from the very people who will and can make a huge difference in the economy may be exactly what our country needs to hear.

The new Fannie Mae policy says the following:

Servicing Guide, Part VII, Section 504.02: Contacting Selected Borrowers

Effective March 1, 2009, closing of preforeclosure sales may not be conditioned upon a reduction of the total commission to be paid to real estate agents to a level below what was negotiated by the listing agent with the borrower, unless the fee exceeds 6 percent of the sales price of the property in aggregate. Servicers are reminded that they must continue to obtain any approvals that may be required by interested third parties in connection with preforeclosure sales.

Now all agent can get back to work on helping people sell their homes and feel good about helping our clients. Next thing they need to do is make the lenders act more quickly on responding to the offers, that way we all benefit.

How to get Free money to buy a home , almost free

1) First time homebuyer Tax Credit for anyone purchasing a home till December 1, 2009. This is for anyone who hasn't owned a home in the past three years. If a person has already filed their tax return, they can file an amendment at anytime during 2009 and receive up to $8000 tax credit (cash). This doesn't need to be repaid. We have copies of the IRS tax forms as well as the Bill summary. Email us if you want a copy. Income limits are $75,000 singles and $150,000 joint.

2) State Bond has a new Express Conventional 3% down, 5.25% 30-year fixed interest rate program. This program can be coupled with the $10,000 House Key Plus down payment assist program. Depending on the price, this could mean a zero down loan. Please keep in mind that the $10,000 down payment is a loan with payments of $94 per month. You need a credit score of 620 to get mortgage insurance. Seller can pay all the closing costs. You can NOT utilize the King County $30,000 down payment assist or the City of Seattle $60,000 down payment assist program with this new Conventional loan.

3) State Bond's original loan (House Key) doesn't have any money remaining, but they will allow people to make a reservation and stay on the wait list until funds come available. This program allows Conventional, FHA and VA. If you can get funds available in this original program, you can reserve the King County $30,000 down payment assist program, or the $60,000 City of Seattle down payment assist program. This is a little tricky because you have to have a signed offer before being put on the wait list. If the funds do not come available, then the transaction can not close. In short, you need a patient seller.

4) We offer an Interest Freedom Loan, 30-year fixed, where the seller can pay the buyer's closing costs and up to 6 months of the buyer's house interest payments. A loan amount of $270,000 would only have a house payment of $309 per month plus tax and insurance. Wouldn't this help a buyer through these difficult economic times?

5) Jumbo Home purchase, loan limits up to 90% LTV for $900,000 loan amount. Rates as low as 5.25% on a 5/1 Arm.



Give us a call if you have any questions, or need us to run any scenarios.
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Kimberly Terry and Cathy Pizzini-Evergreen Home Loans

Sonny Kwan -John L Scott Real Estate

During the home buying process, the buyers agent will find what homes best suits the client from the buyer worksheet and questionnaire. The agent will do a CMA (comparable market analysis) of the property of similar homes, square footage, like vs like, days on the market, motive for selling etc...

When we find the home that you like...whether it is listed with another agency or FSBO (for sale by owner) ....

•1. Write up the offer ( purchase and sale agreement) up to 25 pages of legal documents must be signed and dated.

•2. Earnest money check written by you to the escrow company ( they will facilitate the transaction between you and the seller without having to meet) in the amount ..depending on the transaction , 3% of the sales price is typical, less have been written. It depends how sincere we want to show the sellers and the listing agent if there were more offers on the table other than ours. *All this money goes toward your down payment of the home. I will do everything to make sure you do not lose your earnest money deposit. Buyers usually lose it if they default on the contract to buy the home. If for any reason you don't like the home, the form 17 (seller disclosure statement seems fishy) you don't approve of the inspection, or you can't get financing, all your earnest money gets returned to you. ( I don't turn your money into escrow until we approve the inspection anyway.)

•3. They accept our offer.

•4. We review the seller disclosure statement (5 pages) we have 3 days to reject the offer based on this.

•5. We call the inspector to inspect the home, we are looking for major defects in the home, though many minor things will come up, we are looking for potential major issues. Typical fees are $350-$450 paid by you to the inspector. I will take the report and negotiate with the sellers what the report states, have them repair the items documented or have the sellers give you a credit. ( usually a reduction is the sales price and you end up doing the repairs yourself.) unless the lender requires us the get it done before we close.

•6. We also have the opportunity to back out of the deal at this time after we see the report and are unsatisfied with the findings.

•7. When we accept the offer, the earnest money gets deposited into escrow , I give you 2 days to have it in your account.

•8. Paperwork is started, it goes to your lender for review, they order an appraisal, either you pay for it up front or have the lender roll it into your final closing statement. The appraiser sees if the property will appraise at the price we offered. If it comes out low, the seller needs to justify that or you need to come up with the difference. Usually right on.The lender will then do the underwriting to make sure everything about the property is in line with what the title says about the home, A title company will see if the seller really have the rights to sell the property, are there any encumbrances or liens against the property.

•9. Once the paperwork is sent to escrow, we sign closing papers and I hand the keys to your new house.

•10. This process take about 45 days maximum.

Copyright © 2009 By Sonny Kwan, All Rights Reserved, The Home Buying Process

The listing agents role is to list the property for sale at a comparable market price that will get the sellers ( homeowners) the most amount of money from their home after the sale is complete.

They market the home, stage it if it needs it, contact potential buyers and agents about the home, give advice what the sellers need to do in the current market to the get them the highest and best price for the home.

The listing agent is hired by the seller to do everything possible to get the most money from the sale. Anything the seller tells the listing agent cannot be shared with any other agent or buyers unless it is written on paper to be shared.

Example, if the seller says to his listing agent, "sell my house at $500,000 but I will take $450,000 if someone really wanted it". The Listing agent cannot , by fiduciary responsibilities convey that to another agent or potential buyer.

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The Buyers agent's role is to find and investigate for his buyers whatever he can legally do to get the buyers the best deal possible. Example...what the sellers paid for the home initially, what kind of work they have done as far as remodels to justify the price, is the market for this home correct? How many days it was on the market. When showing the property with the buyers, catch the sellers telling us more than they should tell. Help buyers do a walk through of the property and point out any flaws that are present. Walk the buyers through every step of the process up to and after the home is in the buyers possession.

Again, anything share by the buyers cannot be disclosed to the Listing agent or the sellers such as " we want to make an offer at $450,000 but will pay $500,000"

Copyright © 2009 by Sonny Kwan, All Rights Reserved, Listing Agents Vs Buyers Agent