About Georgetown's Sun City

The White House website posted a Q&A on its blog yesterday for homeowners in distress to learn how the President's plan will help them specifically. Here are a few excerpts:

Borrowers Who Are Current on Their Mortgage Are Asking:

• What help is available for borrowers who stay current on their mortgage payments but have seen their homes decrease in value?

Under the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, eligible borrowers who stay current on their mortgages but have been unable to refinance to lower their interest rates because their homes have decreased in value, may now have the opportunity to refinance into a 30 or 15 year, fixed rate loan. Through the program, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will allow the refinancing of mortgage loans that they hold in their portfolios or that they placed in mortgage backed securities.

• I owe more than my property is worth, do I still qualify to refinance under the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan?

Eligible loans will now include those where the new first mortgage (including any refinancing costs) will not exceed 105% of the current market value of the property. For example, if your property is worth $200,000 but you owe $210,000 or less you may qualify. The current value of your property will be determined after you apply to refinance.

Borrowers Who Are at Risk of Foreclosure Are Asking:

• What help is available for borrowers who are at risk of foreclosure either because they are behind on their mortgage or are struggling to make the payments?

The Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan offers help to borrowers who are already behind on their mortgage payments or who are struggling to keep their loans current. By providing mortgage lenders with financial incentives to modify existing first mortgages, the Treasury hopes to help as many as 3 to 4 million homeowners avoid foreclosure regardless of who owns or services the mortgage.

• Do I need to be behind on my mortgage payments to be eligible for a modification?

No. Borrowers who are struggling to stay current on their mortgage payments may be eligible if their income is not sufficient to continue to make their mortgage payments and they are at risk of imminent default. This may be due to several factors, such as a loss of income, a significant increase in expenses, or an interest rate that will reset to an unaffordable level.

To read the full Q&A, click here or to learn about Austin Texas Real Estate visit http://www.RomeoM.com

As of January 1st 2009, HUD began allowing a reverse mortgage to be used as a means to purchase a home. Qualifications for this option were comparable to typical reverse mortgage options (buyer must be the primary resident, over the age of 62, etc.) but there are some differences. For clients that are utilizing a portion of their equity from selling their existing home and looking to purchase a new one, HECM for Purchase could be an ideal option. To Learn More about this purchase option, visit the HUD Website.

For more Austin Texas Real Estate information please visit http://www.RomeoM.com

Most of us set goals and resolutions at the beginning of each year, but how many of us actually keep them? I'm not talking about goals about losing xx # of pounds, quitting smoking, going to the gym, etc., I'm talking about financial goals. During troubled times, reaching those goals may seem like an impossibility, but with some self-discipline and perserverance, you can accomplish those goals even in a recession. Afterall, most successful business people have actually prospered during troubled times. The key is to reinvent your lifestyle or businss to reflect these goals. Success lies with maintaining good habits and not falling back into your "old" ways of doing things. Some tips to acheiving these goals are to:

• Stop putting things off and start now
• Learn as much as you can about your goal and become an expert in that field
• Consider the long-term effect of every financial decision you make. Live today, die tomorrow.
• Set time limits on goals. A goal with an infinite due date will never get accomplished.
• Set milestones along the way to celebrate each accomplishment. People thrive on praise and this will help us continue on our path
• Fine tune your behavior to adopt "best practices"
• Make your goals public so as to motivate you
• Keep a balance between your goals and family and friends. No one wants to celebrate alone.

Remember, Thomas Edison and Walt Disney "failed" many times before accomplishing what made them famous. You're never too old to set goals and keep them. Good Luck!

For Austin Texas Real Estate information please visit http://www.RomeoM.com

Normally, January and February are the slowest months for real estate in Austin. This year is different. It seems like everyone I talk to in my industry is struggling to keep up with an unexpected, but welcomed surge in activity.

I'm not sure whether it's the warm weather, a more optimistic outlook, low interest rates, or a combination of all three. What I do know is that the buyers who are getting in the market now are finding some amazing deals on homes that didn't sell during the extraordinarily slow fall buying season.

If you don't believe my anecdotal evidence, according to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) the number of homes under contract during the last week of January was up 47% compared to the same week in January of 2008.

As I've said before, Austin did not experience the big upswing in home prices and is therefore less susceptible to price declines. However, there has been some correction. During the month of December, the average price for homes sold in the Austin area decreased almost 6% year over year. Looking ahead, as long as the housing inventory remains at or near equilibrium, which continues to be the case, we do not expect to see any significant further home price declines in the overall Austin market. As further evidence, PMI Mortgage, the leading mortgage insurance company, recently ranked Austin 9th out of 381 US cities as least likely to experience a further decline in home prices. For more information, visit http://www.RomeoM.com

New information from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) show that the U.S. housing market may be reaching bottom and parts of the country on the way up.

The NAR index, which tracks contracts to purchase resale homes, shows a rebound in numbers from November to December and also showed an increase in the yearly results.

The index, adusted for seasonality, showed that the pending sales index for resale homes rose 6.3% in December to 87.7 from November's reading of 82.5, the lowest month on record. The index was up 2.1% from December of 2007.

The number of pending home sales increased about 13% Texas and the Southern and Midwest U.S., but fell about 4% in the West and 2% in the Northeast.

For more information about Austin Texas Real Estate visit http://www.RomeoM.com