Paid cash for our's in '96 after selling a nice townhome in an upscale community. Never bought into the refi mentality and have seen it quadruple in value. Even in a recessed economy, we are sitting at 2-1/2 what we paid. Not having a mortgage is what's kept our small businesses alive during hard times. The last thing we want to do is gamble on our family's home. JMO.
The NEw Chdap Program is really nice if you quality. doesnt amtter the bank, its a Silent Second mortgage, and how it works is, you have to live in the home as a primary residence for at least so long, and not refi your main for at least so long. Time frames are a little different for each loan, if you move out, sell, or refi before those time frames are up, you have to pay it back, if you meet the terms, its free money. I cant see why at the prices houses are going for now, that anyone wont meet those terms, ours is three years to live, 5 years to refi and all will be well, good news is we are on a 30 year fixed, so no reason to have to refi, unless I can really lower my Interest rate and make up for the silent Second.
It's definitely a buyers market right now. Cash is King! I'm just glad that I bought my house back in '91, and have never had to pull money out of it at any given point in time. I get a big kick out of it when my neighbors ask me how much I paid for my house. Thankfully it'll be paid for in a few more years!!!! Kell, that is one hell of a deal on the financing! Makes me consider a refi!
I bought a 2100+ sq ft place in Lake Forest back in August.. We put our offer in the day before easter and it took us 5 months to get the deal closed. It was a short sale and took FOREVER to get the lien holder banks to agree to sell short.. We were supposed to close on about July 1 however an unaccounted second was discovered on the property for 200k and it took an additional month to get them to sell short.. we paid 561K and the place sold in 2005 for 740K. It was move in ready and had all new interior doors, remodeled kitchen w/granite, all new double pane windows, 5yr or less old roof, good neutral paint, and new AC unit. I just need to remodel the master bath, scrape the popcorn off the bedroom ceilings, and I would like hardwood or tile downstairs and I will be a happy camper. My loan agent called me the other day asking if I wanted to refi.. I decieded to hold off.. I dont feel like paying closing costs just yet.. I think rates might go down some more or at least stay where they are at.. I thought about contacting my curent lienholder to see if they would refi for cheaper than the broker was proposing.. Its a great time to buy but with the market the way it is and jobs being axed it sure makes for some scary thoughts..
we bought our house in 2000 for cheap and, even though it has dropped about 200k from the peak, at least we're still positive. we also have a couple of cheap rentals that did the same thing. we'd like to buy a condo in the h.b. area in the next 6 months if anyone can recommend a good local realtor.
Well I use to be in the Mortgage industry during the boom....(imagine that)...had my RE lis too (just like a lot of people) and I also loved to follow the investment groups....see what scandals they had going and how they ended up. One of those was Marshall Reddick....and he got a lot of people tied up in saturated markets (sorry if thats any of you). Uhm...so that being said I've worked with a lot of banks...and from my side of the fence the fast/easiest/ and most reliable was USUALLY Wells Fargo. So I started with Wells...got a "GFE" (good faith estimate) and then went batting with some of my local friends....Wells can give you super low rates where some of the smaller guys have trouble with it....yet I don't want a two month escrow(which is where wells is at with an FHA loan). So my local girl matched them and then beat them...which is great. My place is a REO property...owned currently by Morgan Stanley....and they are locking in some kind of preferred lender deal with my girl in January.... She works(actually manages the branch) for Prospect Mortgage....her name is Julie Miller and she's local. Direct lending...no brokering and beat out the big guys (714) 541-6604 I love my Realtors too....Woody and Jayme Harper with Prudential in Orange. http://www.woodyharper.com/ Another STR guy is using them as well...we were battling for our time with them regularly My origination cost was 1.125% with zero points. 30yr fixed.
4.875% Nicely Done! Oh BTW I own...or more correctly I own ~30% of my house...the bank still own the other 70% but the let me live in it, so I am happy. I have a pretty good rate, 30yr fixed 5.625, already have a few years under my belt so I am doing the REFI numbers... borderline making sense.
Its comments like this that scare me.. especially as a new home owner who believes he has his prop taxes being impounded (compounded maybe?) and has not seen a prop tax bill.. hm... I guess I got some research to do.
No longer own any houses, sold mine a couple years back. I am paying mortgages on property in AZ. I hate to pay for Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI), normally $55 per month for every 100k you owe on the loan. So I never had a loan that was more than 80%...then no PMI is required. Change in tax law, my accountant tells me that (PMI) is now tax deductible. Dean
I "share" my Tustin Ranch condo with what's left of Washington Mutual. Been here for 10.5 years. Refi'd it about 6 years ago (without taking money out) into a 15-year fixed at 5.375%. I'm basically locked down here forever...
have my house since early 2002, refi once.. Value is still pretty good and thingking about refinancing but a lot of the banks do not want to do 100% financing no more.. they any at least 20% of the value..
FHA is the new subprime or "Who wants a Loan Mod" I could wax on about Real Estate, but if one fails to see the big picture it looks somewhat murky. I will say this is not the bottom, nor is it a peak but things like rate and price are only relative to the stability of your income and assets. No matter what market conditions are forecast by the Guru du Jour someone will want to jump on the band wagon. The only people who should think about buying property are a traditional Borrower with a real employment history and money down. Otherwise they will not remain stable and performing and will jump on another bandwagon crying wolf or the sky is falling and kicking themselves for committing to something as soon as the winds change. California is a terrible place to buy your first property, especially a primary residence. The majority of agents that are actually licensed took some online course or read a pamphlet that merely consisted of sample questions that would be on the test. Further most Loan originators know guidelines and little else and are not even licensed because the D.O.C. does not require accountability. Further still despite a So Cal location the majority of property remains over valued and a poor choice from an investment standpoint. Most newer construction is located so far from employment centers that although it looks desirable enough the occupant will spend more on commuting than the 10-30% difference in price. Worst is that the majority of people you have dealt with in the business over the last few years have skipped out with no accountability for the easy money raked in during the boom, hopefully most went back to the used car lots from whence they came. Compiling data and forecasting market conditions is a discipline of economics and part of the curriculum for a degree in Real Estate. Although most Residential agents simply rely on the internet for "facts" or merely sell based on manipulation of emotion "don't you just love that tree?". Worse still most (and L.O.'s as well) are focused solely on the next commission and what they are going to blow the next check on since they have no other income:?:, so expect a positive light painted. As Brain Tracy said "the assertions of Salespeople should not be taken as fact". The point I am trying to make is home ownership is a big deal, especially since most are only seeking a residence which is not an asset. Nor is it a credit card as has been happily obliged in days of yore. Most people in a bad situation cannot Refi, not just because banks are woefully understaffed but because they never had documentation to begin with. Currently Loan mods are an option, investors will wheel on rate but not typically principal and for a fee you may afford to stay in the home of your dreams without having to mail in the keys. I have no sympathy for people owing more than their value because much like gas prices "what goes up must come down". If people had done a little research instead of believing mass hysteria spread through the net and media the bubble of their own 401k's would have never burst either. But 90% of the time buying is based on emotion, no matter what the cost.:-k
Had a good run in the market until recently. Sold our first home, a two-bedroom condo that we bought for $110K back in 1998, for an 80 percent profit. That allowed us to buy our first single-family residence with a healthy down payment. That home more than doubled in value. We sat out of the market for half a year as we searched for the right house, and plunked down more than 50% for our current home near the peak of home values in 2006. Well, our equity has crashed, of course, but we still have plenty of cushion to keep us from paying PMI. Honestly, I'm not sweating the drop in values too much cuz we're in what we call our "15-year home," since we have good schools in the area and it's where we plan to stay until our daughter goes off to college. Hopefully we'll get back to break-even in that span, but we'll see. It's unreal how many homes are on the market in our area at shockingly low prices ... and they're simply not moving. In the meantime, a refi to lower our monthly is looking like it makes sense, especially if we can get something in the 5% range. Time to call our mortgage dude and see how bad Countrywide/BofA wants to keep our business.
Wow Disco....speaking of selling a theory with emotion....good lord! I'd say sorry you feel that way....but like in all things, one bad apple does not justify the generalization of all things similar. Ca has the best and the worst of it all....car salesmen, insurance, all walks of life. I bought here based on the premise it's a time when I could...not based on I think it's a better deal than the house I sold in Montana. 3 acre custom ranch with matching barn vs a condo in the O.C. But then again I try to stick with apples to apples when I compare.
This past week I've seen several 4.875% & Jumbo loans(loans of 417K+) in the 5.75%. Also if you've been paying on your current loan for a while, you may have paid off most the interest & not worth to refi.
Disco, I see your point and agree on a lot of it. I also know very little about real estate laws, etc. Yes, properties are overvalued here, but also in other areas of the country...DC, Boston, etc. SoCal isn't unique in that regard. As far as newer homes being further out of the way...true, but for what we could buy in a very small, old condo with no garage in SD proper (not in the ghetto but not great neighborhoods either), we can buy a bigger home elsewhere (not that I want a mansion or something outside of my means). I have a 30 min commute to where I work now from SD. If I move where I'm looking, I'll have a 10 min commute. True, the majority of people are probably not in my position, but it does make sense for some people. We considered moving back to the east coast to be near family. But, in this economy, us leaving stable, good paying jobs in search of employment cross country is a really bad idea. I'm not willing to hold out and keep renting until that happens (it's been 4 years of throwing my $ down the drain with the rent check). I've owned 2x before in other states and I miss that tax deduction Not disputing your statements at all...just realizing for some people buying now makes sense.
Yeah. I just wish I rented for the last 3 years..........when I bought this condo for about $70-80k more than it last appraised for a loan renegotiation that fell through. Times are tough.
