Category: Mortgage Companies

What’s In This Year’s Home Buying Season for Home Buyers in Orlando

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

The Orlando real estate industry has been reveling the home-buying season in 2014. April 2014 marked a month of consecutive reductions in the rates of fixed mortgages. Rates of interest on the standard 30-year home loans dropped to their lowest level in the second week of April. The rates, the lowest since February, reduced again in the third week – increasing buyer activity in the industry.

Now, according to a new industry report, this year’s spring buying season commenced with a significant rise in the month-to-month sales of residential real estate property. According to industry experts, the month of March saw 17.28 percent more sales than February. Further, in terms of just the “normal” sales in February and March, the latter month outperformed the former by nearly 24 percent!

Realtors in Orlando will confirm the opinions of the experts – all major listing agents in Orlando reporting their hands full with residential buying and selling since the beginning of the season.

Home Buyers are fueling median residential real-estate prices in Orlando

The median price of properties in Orlando was recorded as $160,000 in March 2014. Just a month ago, the rates stood 1.27 percent lower, at $158,000. The rise in median prices is being fueled by increased demand from prospective buyers – a trend characteristic of the spring buying season.

Realtors unanimously hold the spring buying season a good time to buy residential properties, especially for first-time buyers. According to the experts in Orlando short sales, the median rates of short sales in March 2014, witnessed a 4.59 percent hike from the value same time last year.

With the short-sale inventory expanding, the spring season is also expected to bring new opportunities for buyers who haven’t been able to find suitable deals yet. Compared to the number of foreclosed homes available for purchase in March 2014, a fairly large number of foreclosed homes were made available to buyers in March this year (125 percent more than in March 2013). Homes also spend lesser time on the market now, than they did a year ago. The average listing period in March 2014 was 76 days, compared to the 79 days in 2013.

Making the most of the home-buying season

Conditions in the Orlando real estate market seem to be ideal for residential buyers now. Banks are easing up on home loans, the rates of fixed and variable-rates mortgages are decreasing and the market has plenty of options in different price ranges. Further, with Florida’s diversifying economy and its growing reputation as a premium retirement destination in all of the US, many prospective buyers are showing foresight by investing in properties during the season.

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Home Buyers in Orlando Gear Up as Rates of Fixed Mortgages Fall Further

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

The spring buying season of 2014 started off on a good note and it seems to only be getting better. Rates of fixed mortgages were on a downward spiral since the first week of April. The week beginning April 14 marked the second time when the rate of fixed mortgages fell to its lowest levels since February.

As noted by Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage buyer, the average rate of interest on standard 30-year home loans dropped to 4.27 percent in the week beginning April 14. The week before (April 7-13), fixed mortgage rates stood at 4.34 percent. The 4.34 percent – rate was again, 0.7 percent below the rate of fixed mortgages in the week beginning March 31. At the beginning of the year, these rates stood fairly high at 4.5 percent.

This week’s decline marked the second consecutive week when fixed-mortgage rates were the lowest since February and Orlando Realtors say prospective buyers are getting more enthusiastic about the spring buying season.

Will the Drop-in Fixed Mortgages Sustain Itself in the Coming Weeks?

Most probably yes. According to 56 percent of the market analysts interviewed by the website Bankrate.com, the rates are going to hold steady in the coming weeks. They say the rates of interest will continue to be low and remain stable over the next couple of weeks. They did not predict a rise in mortgage rates.

Realtors note that concerns of a weak market – one that wouldn’t be able to support a dynamic increase in prices of residential real estate  – to be one of the primary reasons rates began spiraling downwards in January 2014.

A good time to buy homes?

According to the Orlando real estate agents it is. According to the most recent report from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, March was marked by an increase in new residential construction. The report, released April 16, revealed that housing starts in March increased by 2.8 percent, compared to February. The month also saw a  reduction in permits for residential buildings, as compared to the number of permits issued in February (2.4 percent decline). The number of permits was, however, 11.2 percent higher than the number in March 2013.

Increasing inventory and reducing rates of mortgages typically result in increased buyer activity. The Orlando real estate industry has seen its fair share of residential starts and realtors say more prospective buyers are inquiring about the rentals and purchases in upcoming properties.

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Mortgage Regulations Change In 2014

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

With 2014 came a whole new list of regulatory and legal changes for mortgage companies.  These rules and regulations were established with the intention to help both lenders and borrowers from making bad decisions when it comes to home mortgages. Here is a list of regulations that began in January that will affect the mortgage process for potential home buyers according to the Assoc of Mortgage professionals.

New Mortgage Regulations

* Stricter Regulations for the Self-Employed. People that don’t have an IRS form w-2 will be finding it more difficult when you apply for a loan. It’s a much greater task for individuals to prove their debt to income ratio without documentation even if their net worth is high with perfect credit to go along with it.

* A Decreased FHA Loan Limit. The Federal Housing Authority has announced that as of the beginning of 2014 that mortgages shall not exceed the amount of $625,000.00 which is down from the previous amount of $729,750.00. People wanting to apply for a larger loan would have to apply for a “Jumbo Loan”, which will probably involve a much higher down payment.

* A Cap on Loan origination Fees. As of January 2014 points and fees for a new mortgage cannot exceed 3%of the total loan.

* The Ability to Repay Mandate. This regulation was set in place by the (CFPB) Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Its purpose is to set a standard for lending to make sure that each borrower is a truly qualified borrower. Lenders will now have to follow a set of rules in order to establish a consumer’s income, assets, and current obligations before approving them. This is what the government considers a “Qualified Mortgage”.

As a Realtor in Orlando, I think it’s a great idea that these new rules are now in place. It helps to protect potential homebuyers from getting in over their heads and in the long run, it should decrease the number of future homeowners from falling into default with their lenders. These are signs that the mortgage industry has learned a lesson from the real estate crash of 2007.

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5 Amazing Reasons Why A Large Down Payment Is So Important Right Now

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Summary

If you haven’t bought your first home I suggest you start putting your money away right now because it’s always a good idea to put down a large down payment. Here are a few great reasons why it’s your best option in most cases.

Bleeding you dry with interest

The banks need to make money and they do it by adding a massive amount of interest to your mortgage repayments. For the first half of your mortgage, you’re lucky if you’re paying hardly anything towards the price of your home. It’s quite a substantial amount of money and most people write it off as something that must be done. Put more money down in the beginning and over the life of your mortgage you’ll end up paying a lot less interest which is only a good thing.

A more lavish lifestyle

Do you like to fly to the beach a few times per year so you can top up your tan? Maybe you just like to eat out at nice restaurants a few times per week. When you’re still young it’s worth it to dig in and come up with a larger down payment when buying your home because it means your mortgage repayments will be smaller. You will have more money in your pocket every month and every dollar you earn won’t be getting pumped into your home.

You can sell if you have to

When you don’t put down a large down payment you’re in very risky waters should you ever decide to sell your home. I’m sure you know houses don’t always go up in price and sometimes they fall sharply. If you don’t have enough money invested in your home when it’s time to sell you might not even be able to make enough money to pay back the bank. This won’t matter too much if you don’t plan on selling your new home, but you never know what might happen in the future.

The light at the end of the tunnel

The first few years are great when you buy a new home because you’re just happy you have a place to call your own. It doesn’t take long for reality to kick in and you realize you’ll be making big monthly payments for the majority of your life. When you put down more money in the beginning the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t as far away. You’ll still have many unhappy years of handing over your hard-earned money, but at least it will be over a lot quicker than usual.

You don’t need the money

In some cases, it’s not a good idea to put down too much money in the beginning because what happens when you need it? You won’t be able to take it out again once it’s in, but this is a good thing if you have a simple life and you don’t have any other need for a large chunk of money. When you have credit card debt people say you should pay off your debt instead of saving your money because you’ll actually come out on top. It’s the same situation here and if you invest in a bigger down payment you’ll come out on top, provided you don’t need it of course.

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Should Orlando Sellers Get Their Own Appraisals?

Posted on by Jenny Zamora

Should I get my home appraised before I get a buyer so that we can make sure it appraises for what we want?”  This is a question I get from Orlando Sellers sometimes and then I ask them… “Would you accept an appraisal that was provided by someone that owns the house that you want to buy?”  Their answer is always…”probably not”.  With all the horror stories about bad appraisals and bad inspections lately being the cause of deals falling apart, I don’t blame sellers for wanting to get their own appraisals or inspections done to make sure they get it right. I’ve been on the receiving end of that scenario quite a few times lately with some of my own clients getting bad appraisals causing deals to fall apart.

Unfortunately, if you’re a seller, getting your own appraisal or inspection done is usually a waste of money. Today’s educated buyer is skeptical of appraisals that are paid for by the seller.  Especially when pre-listing appraisals are ALWAYS above the listing price. You’ll see verbiage like “Appraisal value $350,000 price reduced to $280,000”. When I see things like that it makes me feel like I’m dealing with a used car salesman. The truth is that it’s reduced because the market or buyers don’t agree and claiming that it appraised higher than the true market value will just ruin your credibility.

No appraiser in the world can tell you precisely what a house will sell for when it’s listed. At the end of the day, Appraisals and inspections are opinions just like BPO’s [broker price opinion] when you’re dealing with a short sale.

Here are some things that immediately come to mind when a seller tries to provide their own appraisal.

* Does the seller or listing agent have a personal relationship to the appraiser?

* Is the appraiser credible? What’s his background?

* When EXACTLY was the appraisal done? Is it up to date?

* Who paid for the appraisal?

Orlando Sellers Should Let Realtors Do Their Job

Instead of paying several hundred dollars for an appraisal or an inspection that probably won’t be accepted anyway, why not let the realtor do their job. Orlando real estate agents should be able to give you a very good estimation of how much the house will sell/appraise for.  Realtors have all the tools and knowledge that they need to provide you with good solid figures of how much to list the house for. When doing a comparative market analysis [CMA] they take comparable properties that have been recently sold in the same area. Done properly, the CMA will get you very close to what the house should be listed for as well as what it should appraise for.

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