Texas

Texas home buying programs that are underutilized by loan officers in DFW

02-09-10

Ronda Allen: Real Estate Agent in Prosper, TX

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Office: (972) 816-4369

Mobile: (972) 816-4369
Secondary: (972) 816-4369

Recently, a home buyer asked in the Q&A section of http://www.trulia.com why the USDA guaranteed loan program wasn't more utilized by loan officers in the DFW area. I asked that very same question about five years ago. Growth in the suburbs of Dallas and Fort Worth, at the time, was happening along the furthest edges of the Metroplex, into what would have been deemed the 'rural' areas. Many of my clients were buying homes in the smaller communities of Oak Point, Aubrey, Pilot Point, Little Elm, and Prosper. This USDA guaranteed loan was available to homes in these communities, and others, and it allowed for 100% loans (zero down-payment and 100% roll-in of closing costs). The program had, and still has, both geographic boundaries and income caps, but it's a great loan that makes a home achievable for a good number of buyers who have decent credit but not a lot of cash.

I worked with a buyer in Fort Worth last Fall. The couple were profoundly deaf, so I was introduced to a new loan officer. This one could use sign language, and his services were very helpful. But, while working with this particular loan officer, I was also introduced to an under-utilized mortgage instrument known as the Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC). This is a super tool in any loan officer's tool belt in the state of Texas. It's especially good for use with a buyer client who may not have a large income, but has very low debt. The buyer is eligible to write off a portion of the annual interest paid on the mortgage as a special tax credit each year. This dollar-for-dollar tax savings program may allow a first-time buyer (or one who hasn't owned a home in the last three years) to purchase a home even when they think their income wouldn't qualify them for home ownership. I am eternally grateful to the young couple who introduced me to this loan officer. I will be using his services with many clients in 2010.

VA loans, for use by qualified veterans is active service to our country, or honorably discharged veterans, have always been a key business tool for my primary lenders. For many years, I have used the power of a VA loan together with USAA for hazard insurance, to provide top block service to military buyers. The VA loan is a zero down-payment, 100% loan, and part of the closing costs are classified as VA non-allowables - closing costs that the seller will be paying on behalf of the buyer.

First-time home buyers currently have a national mortgage tax incentive program, but the Texas First Time Home Buyer Program provides special reduced interest rate loans to help families or individuals enter the home buying arena. There may even be down-payment assistance available. You can learn more about this program at http://myfirsttexashome.com.

One mortgage tool that I am interested to begin using is through the Texas Veterans Land Board. This is different than a standard VA loan. TVLB is a separate entity. I am so impressed with the personnel at TVLB. I am learning more about their products, and you can, too, at http://www.texasveterans.com. If you served no fewer than 90 cumulative days of service, are active duty or were honorably discharged, listed Texas as your home of record at the time of entry into service, or are now a legal resident of te state of Texas for at least one year, reside in Texas at the time of loan application, and have a solid credit history with VLB on any open or repaid VLB loans, you appear to be a good applicant for TVLB home loans, home improvement loans, and other services through the Texas Veterans Land Board.

Other website resources for buyers and homeowners include:

http://www.texasrealestate.com

http://www.texasrealtors.com

http://www.keepmytexashome.com

All of this information is courtesy of the Texas Realtors University, United Texas: Housing Initiatives That Work.

Have a blessed day.

Ronda

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Free Let's Rodeo Concert in Kingwood

02-09-10

Cliff Collins, 3C Realty - A Keller Williams Team

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Office: (281) 812-8238

Free Let's Rodeo concert in Kingwood on February 19, 2010. On Friday, February 19th, Keller Williams Realty Northeast will be hosting a free Let's Rodeo concert at Kings Harbor in Kingwood. To help kick off rodeo season, Kingwood-based country music band 8 Seconds will be performing from 7-10pm. If you're interested in kicking your own heels up, instructors from the Dance Arts Country Ballroom will be on hand at Harbor Plaza to teach line dancing and other country dances at 8pm and 9pm. You can even enjoy some fantastic Texas BBQ from local award-winning Pitts & Spitts, manufacturers of high end smokers. They will be offering up chopped beef sandwiches, chips and drinks for sale beginning at 6pm. They accept cash only, so make sure you visit your bank before coming. You don't want to miss the mouth-watering goodness!

The Society of Stephen, a local community outreach program, will be raffling off two tickets to see Brooks & Dunn at one of their last performances ever at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in Houston, TX on March 20, 2010. Proceeds from the raffle help to fund the Society of Stephen's program to help feed and clothe families in the Humble, New Caney and Splendora communities.

Come to Kings Harbor for a free Let's Rodeo concert in Kingwood on Friday, February 19, 2010. Bring a lawn chair, a blanket and your dancing boots. You're gonna have a hollerin' good time.

Cliff Collins, 3C Realty - A Keller Williams Realty Team, your Kingwood real estate specialists

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The Amen Brackets / Susan Brown, Your Texas Connection, Keller Williams Realty

02-09-10

Susan Brown

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Office: (281) 812-8299

Mobile: (281) 415-1454
Secondary: (281) 812-8290

Let me start off by saying I am not a computer whiz by any means. And I am most definitely a WYSIWYG person. (Even with that I didn't know it meant What You See Is What You Get until just a few months ago) And I am not ashamed to admit I've asked an 8-year-old for help setting up my Wii. You now have the picture.

I've learned on Active Rain how to use Nvu to make different fonts, colors, etc to enhance the looks of my blog. However, you cannot simply cut & paste to add this to your post. No. You must leave the safety of WYSIWYG and switch to HTML. (That stands for Hyper Text Mark-up Language, I looked it up!) Anyway, when you switch tabs while creating your blog - a dire warning comes up that basically says you better have saved your work because otherwise it will be lost, never to be found again. And lest you don't believe this dire warning - you'll be crying a few minutes later as you rewrite your post. (Personal experience is a great teacher)

Okay, so in this magic world of HTML, codes run rampant & colors become letters & there are targets & heads and bodies. I have no idea what most of it means. BUT I do know that <p> starts a paragraph & </p> ends one. And this simple code got me to thinking the other day.

It dawned on me that the simple code could also stand for the beginning and ending of a prayer. Kind of like my own personal code for asking for help from God. And you know I'm always praying for assistance when I'm working with the HTML - so this is really fitting for me.

Next time you use the <p> & </p> - add a prayer. It's a nice reminder of who is really in charge!

Amen Brackets

Susan Brown, Your Texas Connection sells real estate in Walden on Lake Houston, Eagle Springs, Summerwood, Atascocita, TX, Kingwood Greens, Royal Shores & Kingwood, TX - just to name a few! Susan's the team leader for Your Texas Connection at Keller Williams Realty NE. Visit their website for more in depth info about the team and what they can do for you. Or call Susan direct (281) 415-1454 if you'd like her to start working on your behalf today!

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Get Motivated

02-09-10

Amy Law

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Office: (281) 328-8700

Mobile: (713) 492-4875

Yesterday my broker paid for everyone in the office to go to a HUGE giant seminar called GET MOTIVATED. It was in the Toyota Center, (where the Houston Rockets play). They also had this event going on in Reliant Center, (next to the Astrodome, where the Houston Texans play football), and at Grace Community Church, (which sits 7000). The event was so over sold that many people from my office did not get in and others never found a seat. That was disappointing. That, however, is a completely different story for a different audience, (get ready Houston Chronicle!)

There were great speakers there, including Sarah Palin, (whom spoke first and we missed because we were Colin Powell 2/8/2010 trying to park), Rick Belluzzo (the main guy from microsoft), Colin Powell, Zig Ziglar, Rudolph Giuliani, Tamara Lowe, and 2 great speakers about investing. I don't remember either of their names, but they were the best speakers of all.

One note-They really need to put the names of the speakers as a footer at the bottom of the screens, because if you missed the speaker's introduction, you had no other chance to catch their names, and they were not all listed in the workbook.

What did I learn from this event? That the speakers all travel a lot. All of the time. This makes everyone of the speakers proud to be an American, because America is so great in so many ways and people all over the world are lined up to get in. I agree. Proud to be American

I learned that I can make money in the stock market if I sign up for Wealth Magazine. I didn't sign up for this, but others in my group did. Maybe they will share. You can make money buying real estate at tax auctions and deed auctions, and with self directed IRAs to be able to retire rich--I did sign up for this one, it didn't sound like a "canned thing" that only I could use--but something I could teach my real estate clients.

I learned that all of those speakers are great sales people, and it was very interesting to see and hear them work on such a very huge scale. They had great graphics/power points that did not match their words but supported their words. (I hate it when people read their PowerPoint presentation to you. None of these speakers did this). I have done quite a bit of public speaking, and it was fun to study their technique.

FISH! One thing I noticed about people there is attitude: I studied the bookFISH a couple of years ago about picking your attitude. I have always had an attitude that fascinates people for my professionalism and my love of sitting in meetings and working with others on teams and committees. I try to keep my chin up no matter what is thrown at me, (and I have had way more than my share of $%& thrown at me lately!) But, the book FISH really changed my life, as I realized how FRAGILE a positive attitude can be, and if I am not very careful I can shatter other people's positive attitude.

Once I discovered how fragile a positive attitude is, I became much more aware of not letting others yank my happiness out from under me. It almost happened to me yesterday because the sitting situation was so horrible in the venue. I had to be very careful of my reaction to the events as they occurred yesterday. (We had a terrible time finding seats.) But, I was aware. I did not give anyone else the power to ruin my time there, and it saved me. I had a great time, and I learned lots.

So, I learned so much yesterday from the GET MOTIVATED event, but mostly what I learned wasn't from the great speakers, (don't get me wrong if you were one of those great speakers--I learned lots from you!!!), but it was from the situation:

GET TO WHERE YOU NEED TO BE EXTRA EARLY (or you'll miss Sarah Palin!)
STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHT (to sit down!),
DON"T GET DISCOURAGED EASILY OR YOUR DAY WILL BE RUINED!,
PLAY ALONG AND YOU WILL HAVE MORE FUN
EAT LUNCH BEFORE EVERYONE ELSE by SKIPPING THE SPEAKER RIGHT BEFORE LUNCH, (then take someones seat that wasn't as clever)
Be careful and aware of if you are ripping someones rug of happiness out from under them. If you see it starting---STOP!! And, if you're the one standing on the rug of happiness, don't let anyone take it out from under you and knock your happiness down. Do not give them that power. It just takes awareness to keep your happiness balanced on that magic rug.
Have a happy day! (And get rich doing it!)

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A Mortgage Tax Credit for Veterans in Texas

02-09-10

Anne Johnson-Cheverere

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Office: (512) 328-5151 x511

Mobile: (512) 917-5260

The State of Texas Governor's office has released information on a tax credit program geared to help our veterans. Actually the program offers up to $2,000 in annual mortgage discounts -- for eligible applicants. The benefits lasts for the life of the loan. Read an article from the Austin Business Journal. Get all the details at Texas Veteran's Mortgage Credit Program

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