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Post by Can Tho on Aug 19, 2009 10:25:44 GMT 9
Should you buy a foreclosure? If you've considered buying a house in foreclosure or one that's on the brink, you're seeing lots of opportunities now. But before you jump in, consider these 12 points. [Related content: homes, home buying, foreclosure, property taxes, home selling] By Sally Herigstad MSN Money Make $500,000 in one year! Buy houses for pennies on the dollar! The business of buying foreclosures and pre-foreclosures has never been hotter. The experts will guide you every step of the way to help you get rich quick. Just take a seminar or buy a book and you'll be on easy street in no time. With foreclosure filings reported on 291,000 U.S. properties in February, up 30% from a year ago, it's easy to entertain visions of buying cheap houses and flipping them for quick profits. The only trouble is, it's not so simple. New realities are changing the foreclosure business, and the unwary investor can be left in the lurch. Here's what's changed and what you might want to watch out for: There may be little or no equity on the table. Dana Mackey used to send 100 letters at a pop to distressed homeowners in the Agoura Hills, Calif., area. He would typically get about a 10% response. Of those, he would be able to work with several families either by carrying paper so they could stay in their homes or by purchasing the homes from them, and he'd make a good profit. That doesn't work anymore. Most of the houses in trouble in his area are now "underwater" -- people owe more on their homes than the homes are worth. Many homes have $950,000 mortgages but are worth only $700,000 in today's market. "Before, I was able to help them," says Mackey, of Prosperity4Kids. "Now, they're so far gone that there's nothing you can do. The banks don't want to negotiate. The banks don't want the property back, but they don't want to take the $250,000 hit right now either. And the market keeps dropping." Mackey has stopped sending the letters. More from MSN Money 10 homebuying tips for uneasy times What makes a house recession-proof Why you might never own a home Compare mortgage rates How to wow your mortgage lender Foreclosures are becoming more emotionally and politically charged. Groups such as the Moratorium Now! Coalition are working to stop foreclosures and evictions nationwide. Frustrated with rising unemployment and foreclosures, the coalition's motto is "Bail out the people -- not the banks." Reading a few stories of families sleeping in trucks after being foreclosed on could make Scrooge cry. Few topics raise people's emotions as quickly as a classic battle between the haves and the have-nots. You, as a buyer, may be an innocent bystander in this drama, but that might not keep you from having trouble taking possession of a home -- or keeping it. A sheriff in Chicago, for example, has told his deputies to stop evicting people from foreclosed properties because he believes some people, especially renters, have been evicted without proper notice. In February, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, also known as ACORN, announced a campaign of civil disobedience designed to help families resist eviction and remain in their homes after foreclosure. (See "When foreclosure doesn't mean eviction.") The homeowners likely won't make it easy on buyers either. "What people don't count on is the high emotional stakes involved with someone who is in the process of losing their home," says Craig Venezia, the author of "Buying a Second Home." They may have been fending off pre-foreclosure buyers, feel they were pushed into the loan or be emotionally drained by the prospect of losing so much. They don't exactly welcome your contact; sometimes, they're hostile. You've got more competition than ever. Once a homeowner receives a notice of default, the foreclosure process is public. Some homeowners report being contacted by as many as 65 people offering to "help" during the pre-foreclosure period. At an auction, it's no better. You register and get a bidder's card or paddle, but so do as many as 2,000 other people. "People think, 'If I get a foreclosure, I'll be the only one,'" says Larry Loftis, the author of "Successful Real Estate Investing in a Boom or Bust Market." You could skip auctions and look for REOs, or real-estate-owned properties, where the bank has already foreclosed and owns the home. But those are put on the Multiple Listing Service rolls along with every other property. There's really no way to get around the competition. More from MSN Real Estate Search local foreclosure listings Top 5 best -- and worst -- housing markets Rents drop nationwide as vacancies spike Even before the current foreclosure boom and its fallout, buying foreclosures had major downsides. Here are nine more good reasons you may want to steer clear in any market: Some pre-foreclosure tactics are sleazy. There's a whole seminar market that teaches you how to find people who are about to lose their homes and pretend to be their white knight. The seminars teach you to pitch that, yes, Aunt Martha will lose the property, but she'll save her credit. You use complicated contracts and high-pressure and scare tactics, and misrepresent what the homes are worth. What you're hoping is that Aunt Martha has about 60 grand in equity. You take over her property, her loan -- and her equity. Loftis says, "It's deceitful and unethical, but that's what they teach." You can pay too much. Auctions are designed to create a buying frenzy. It's easy to get caught up and spend more than you'd planned. "People should not be misguided into thinking that the lenders just take a loss. Sometimes they do," says Venezia. "What I've seen is that more short-selling is happening, but it's still more of the exception than the rule." Remember, when a house sells for far less than both the market price and the mortgage, it makes the news exactly because that's not how it usually works. You don't get much time to do your research. Foreclosure auctions are a quick process, so when you find out a property is coming up for auction, you don't have much time to research it. If a property sells at auction, all liens are wiped clean, but you are liable for any property taxes. That could wipe out any savings. "You're going to know less about the property," says Venezia. There's no home inspection. Some of the houses are sold sight unseen. And if you're the winning bidder, it's yours -- there's no going back.
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Post by Can Tho on Aug 19, 2009 10:26:35 GMT 9
Your profit can disappear in the time it takes to rehab and sell a home. Even if you get a property at what you think is a good value, you have to factor in all your costs. It's not just labor and materials. It's the time you hold the property. It could take months to fix up one property and find a buyer for it, and all that time you're paying mortgage interest, utilities, property tax, insurance and more. You really have to do the math.
Say you manage to pay $200,000 for a house worth $250,000. You plan to put in $10,000 worth of carpet and paint before clearing a nice profit. Not so fast. There's always more that needs to be done than you had expected, so say the rehab actually costs you $15,000. Closing costs add $12,500. Then, say it takes you six months to fix the house and find a buyer -- and each month you're paying $3,000 in expenses. The cost of flipping Selling price, once fixed: $250,000 Purchase price: $200,000 Gross profit: $50,000
Expenses Closing costs: $12,500 Rehab: $15,000 6 months of taxes, interest, etc.: $18,000 Total expenses: $45,500
Net profit: $4,500
That's a pretty slim profit margin -- one that's completely wiped out if the previous owners trash the place. Or if there are any unknown major defects, such as a leaking roof, a severely cracked foundation or mold. Or if it takes longer than you think to rehab the house in your free time. Or if selling the house takes longer than you anticipated. Not to mention that it could take two to three times longer to complete than a traditional sale, tying up your time and money.
That's a lot of risk, and it could turn out even worse. There are other ways to invest in real estate without exposing yourself to so much risk.
The owners or tenants may still live there. If you buy property at a foreclosure auction, you may have to be the one to evict the tenants. Do you have the stomach for that?
More from MSN Money 10 homebuying tips for uneasy times What makes a house recession-proof Why you might never own a home Compare mortgage rates How to wow your mortgage lender
Vacant properties are a huge financial drain. Most foreclosures involve single-family homes. These homes feel like safer buys because they're what we know. But you're better off buying multifamily homes, with renters to cover the mortgage payments, taxes and utilities. "If you buy a quad, even if someone moves out, the other tenants cover your expenses," author Loftis says. "You rehab one unit at a time. You never have a property sitting empty that eats your lunch."
The neighborhood may have underlying problems. You need to ask, "Why is this house in foreclosure?" If the owner lost his job, that's one thing. But if many jobs are being lost in the area, causing a glut of homes on the market, stay away.
Financing a foreclosure can be complicated. At an auction, you have to bring a cashier's check for a down payment, and then you might have 24 hours to come up with the rest of the cash. Getting a traditional mortgage on a foreclosure would be extremely difficult. You would need to have different sources -- your own cash, access to trusts or hard-money lenders (which can charge exorbitant interest rates).
You can get great deals now -- without buying foreclosures. One of the best reasons not to buy foreclosures: It's a buyer's market. Loftis recommends that you look for properties that have been on the market six months or longer. You'll find sellers who are willing to give you a good price.
Video on MSN Money Buying at auction
How to navigate a foreclosure auction, with CNBC's Carmen Wong Ulrich.
Still, buying a foreclosure might make sense.
If you're thinking of buying a foreclosure or pre-foreclosure for your own residence, it's an entirely different scenario. If you do your research, avoid occupied houses and never buy sight unseen, it could be worth the trouble. Georg Finder, an independent credit evaluator in Fullerton, Calif., bought a fixer-upper that way. He paid about half as much for his house as his neighbors had paid for theirs, and he used some of the savings to make cosmetic fixes. For Finder, the positives outweighed the negatives. He still lives there, 20 years later.
Published March 19, 2009
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Post by Can Tho on Aug 19, 2009 10:40:00 GMT 9
Nervous about buying a home?
You should be. Your home is probably the single biggest investment you'll make in your lifetime. With an unpredictable economy, a mortgage crisis and record foreclosures, the commitment to buy can be downright overwhelming.
In recent years, lax lending standards eliminated some of the obstacles, but now lenders are once again getting picky.
The good news is that for those who qualify for a mortgage -- with a steady income, strong credit and a modicum of savings -- this is actually a good time to purchase a home. Mortgage rates are low, and home prices have been declining in most parts of the United States. Buying my first home
To help you navigate the uncertainties, especially if you're entering the market for the first time, here are 10 tips for buying a house:
1. Find out how much you can afford, and stay within your budget.
Don't overreach. Forget the McMansion on the hill if it's beyond your means. Focus on finding something that will offer affordable monthly payments and a debt load you can handle. Calculator: How much can I afford?
To make sure you fully understand and remain within your boundaries, consider a preapproved mortgage. Many reputable lenders offer them. The preapproval process tells you exactly what you will have to pay. Preapproval also provides some extra peace of mind, ensuring that when the time comes, you'll have financing in place. That can be important to real-estate agents and sellers as well as to buyers.
If you're planning to buy, your household budget should allow for hefty savings toward a down payment, unless you're expecting a generous gift from a family member. The days when first-time buyers could purchase a home with a down payment of less than 10% are gone. Lenders are now requiring buyers to put down a minimum of 10% and sometimes up to 20% to 25%.
"First-time buyers must come to the table with some dollars," says Ilyce Glink, the author of "100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask" and "100 Questions Every Home Seller Should Ask." "You need more income, a better credit score and to think about how much debt you can carry. It has become a more difficult process." Get your credit score up
2. Shop around for the right agent.
Real-estate agents operate on different internal clocks. One may be inclined to call you every day, while another may want to call every few weeks. Ask questions about the agent's approach and try to find one well-suited to your situation.
Ideally, the agent you choose will do a lot of business in your neighborhood of choice and will have been in the business for years, gathering plenty of useful information about lending options, title searches and useful ways to compare properties. Try to avoid real-estate agents who are doing on-the-job training.
"Finding a Realtor is a lot like a short-term marriage," Glink says. "Shop around; look for the Realtor who is working the most. What's their level of experience? Are they a good fit with you personality-wise?"
3. Do your homework.
A diligent and dedicated agent by your side is not enough. Buyers need to research their potential new home and neighborhood as thoroughly as possible. Thankfully, a lot of that work can be done from your bedroom or office computer.
The National Association of Realtors says 84% of buyers use the Internet to help them find a home. Do not be part of that other 16%. You'll find the Net is packed with resources about cities, neighborhoods, crime statistics and school districts. Local bloggers can give today's homebuyers insight into everything from pricing trends to who's feuding with a neighbor down the block.
"The Internet is a terrific tool. When I last looked for a house in 1992, that kind of information was nonexistent," says Elliot Goldstein, 46, who, with his wife, Stacey, 45, and their two children, is planning to move to Hoboken, N.J. "I get virtual house tours, multiple listing services . . . everything I need to find out about Hoboken I can find out online."
4. Visit the neighborhood.
Rich as the information on the Internet is, it's no substitute for showing up. Experts suggest repeated visits to your neighborhood of choice, so you can check out homes for sale and attend open houses. Walk around. Shoot the breeze with the neighbors. Visit the community several times at different times of day.
"Walk it, smell it, hear it," says Dennis Torres, director of real-estate operations at Pepperdine University. "At 3 p.m., maybe your lawn will be overrun with kids getting off school. At 10 p.m., there could be a club that's only open at night playing loud music."
5. Don't be afraid to haggle.
How low can you go? Real-estate agents say it all depends on the pressures facing the individual seller. Some of those pressures are related to particular locations -- towns go up and down in appeal -- and some have to do with the individual's situation. But broadly speaking, if ever there was a buyer's market, this it.
"In a strong market, a seller would laugh off a lowball bid," Glink says. "Now you may be able to bid 20% less than you did nine or 12 months ago. Sellers will entertain lowball bids if they're truly desperate to get on with their lives."
Or at least negotiate a few additional amenities. That was the case for first-time homebuyer Jenna Smith, 23, whose six months of near-constant house hunting in suburban Atlanta taught her what she could and couldn't negotiate.
Smith wound up buying into a new suburban development in January. But first she asked the builder to install hardwood floors instead of carpeting. She also wanted a new refrigerator and microwave. The builder eventually agreed, and Smith had her home -- with hardwood floors and appliances -- for $197,000.
6. Buying foreclosed properties? Proceed with caution.
This gets a bit tricky. Real-estate experts are talking a lot about foreclosed properties. Many suggest that, under the right circumstances, exploitation of a foreclosure can give a buyer a nice home at a very nice price. Map: Foreclosures across the country
Foreclosure filings and bank repossessions are up dramatically, according to RealtyTrac, a California company that monitors homes in stages of foreclosure. So much so that some agents and lenders have been organizing weekend bus tours (one charges passengers $97 a ride) to showcase foreclosed properties in hard-hit cities such as Stockton, Calif., Chicago and New Haven, Conn. The tours have been popular both with shoppers searching for homes and with investors interested in buying multiple properties. Check out a foreclosure bus tour
Though buying a foreclosed property can potentially provide big savings, it can also present a lot of problems that may not be apparent. Pepperdine's Torres recommends that buyers avoid homes with title uncertainties and consider only properties that have been officially foreclosed on and deeded back to the foreclosing bank.
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Post by Can Tho on Aug 19, 2009 10:41:16 GMT 9
7. Find the right lender and mortgage.
Many unscrupulous subprime lenders have been shut down. That doesn't mean there aren't still some shady characters around. Don't be tempted to deal with them. Find a lender with roots in the community and a record of integrity that offers reasonable rates.
It pays to do some comparison shopping. Real-estate agents can be a good source. A good agent should be able to recommend reputable area lenders and help a buyer compare types of loans.
"Mortgage rates are very near historic lows, and inventory is high," says Stephanie Singer, a spokeswoman for the National Association of Realtors.
Thorough research of loan offerings will pay off. Smith, the recent buyer from the Atlanta area, landed a 5.875%, 30-year fixed-rate mortgage from her employer, Merrill Lynch. Merrill required her to come up with a 20% down payment on the $197,000 home, or $39,400. Her monthly mortgage payments are about $1,100.
8. A good home inspector is hard to find. But find one.
In recessionary times, the pride of homeownership tends to suffer. It's not that people don't want to maintain their homes; it's that other priorities intervene. With competing pressures coming from credit card bills, skyrocketing gas prices and rising grocery bills, that new paint job on the house may not make it to the top of the list.
A good inspector can help you spot problems that may result from neglect. Bringing in a home inspector is relatively cheap (often from $200 to $300), but according to Torres, it's the least buyers should do to make sure they're purchasing a home in reasonably good shape. Torres recommends buyers accompany inspectors when they examine a home and look out for anything suspicious. Don't be afraid to ask plenty of questions, he adds.
"Ask what every crack, what every stain might be," Torres says. "Look beyond the cosmetic, the paint, the carpet and the flowers. Check under the steps, check under the eaves."
9. Buy for the long run.
Homebuying should be viewed as a long-term investment. Don't expect the kind of price appreciation that occurred in the early 2000s. Buy a home you can live in happily for a good many years, if possible. A long-term commitment will pay dividends in peace of mind.
"A home is about putting down roots," author Glink says. "It's not about fixing or flipping or making a mint no matter what some infomercial tells you."
10. Don't time the market. Do take your time.
When will market prices hit rock-bottom? No one knows for sure, so waiting to get in at the lowest possible price isn't recommended. Still, experts predict it will remain a buyer's market for the foreseeable future, so don't rush.
Goldstein and his wife will be moving into their new three-story row house in Hoboken for about $1.2 million at the end of August, allowing his two children to spend a final summer at the family home in Closter, N.J. If negotiations hadn't gone his way, Goldstein was prepared to walk away, he said.
That's the way to do it.
"Don't let other people talk you into something you don't want," says buyer Smith. "It's your house; they don't have to live in it."
Produced by Anh Ly / Graphics by Joe Farro and Anh Ly
Published July 10, 2008
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Post by Can Tho on Aug 19, 2009 10:44:00 GMT 9
.Retiring? Pay Off Your Mortgage . .By TOM LAURICELLA The collapse of the real-estate market is teaching a painful lesson to many seniors about the risks of carrying debt into retirement. Under most circumstances, any kind of debt cuts into financial flexibility for those on a fixed income. But mortgage debt is particularly insidious. It magnifies losses when home prices fall and puts seniors at risk of losing the roof over their heads. Sandy Nichols .For most it may not be that serious a threat, but it has an impact nonetheless. Retirees Howard and Loretta Tekulsky have had their house in Boynton Beach, Fla., since 1996. They've been living off their investments, but with the downturn in the market they need to cut costs, the biggest of which is their mortgage payment. They asked their bank if they could refinance at a lower interest rate. The answer was no. During the boom times, the house was valued at nearly $500,000. That would have given them plenty of equity in the home to get a new loan. But a new appraisal said the house was worth only $160,000, and their mortgage would have been too big compared to the value of the house to qualify for a lower rate. "It's a little disheartening," says Mr. Tekulsky, age 76. Paid Mortgages Were the Norm It used to be that by the time most people retired they had paid off their mortgage and could count on the equity in their home to help support them after they stopped working or to help pay for nursing-home costs later in life. But no longer. "The mentality has really changed in the last few years," says Ronald Meyers, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., financial adviser. "People were taking on mortgages when they didn't necessarily need them." In 1992, 18% of Americans age 65 to 74 had housing debt, according to government data compiled by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. By 2004, that percentage had risen to 32%. And in 2007 -- the most recent year available -- 43% of 65- to 74-year-olds had a mortgage. The levels of debt have also risen. In 1992, the median amount of housing debt carried by those age 65 to 74 was $24,609; 15 years later, the median amount owed was $69,000 (both figures are 2007 dollars). Credit-card debts have grown, but not by as much. In 2007, 37% of 65- to 74-year-olds had a credit-card debt, up five percentage points from 1992. The median amount owed had tripled during that time to $3,000. Of course, debt isn't automatically a bad thing if you can afford to pay it off. But there's been a jump in the percentage of seniors who have debt payments equaling more than 40% of their income, a level which many lenders consider a yellow flag. Of those age 65 to 74, 11.2% hit that threshold, up from 4% in 1992. To be sure, for some retirees paying down a mortgage isn't an option. But for those who have savings beyond what is needed for living expenses, is it ever a good idea to hold a mortgage into retirement instead of using that money to pay it down? Anthony Webb, a research economist at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, says the answer for most people is "no." For money held in a money-market account or some other safe investment such as U.S. Treasurys, Mr. Webb says an investor is unlikely to earn enough of a return to offset the cost of the mortgage interest. And while a portfolio of all stocks could earn high enough returns to come out ahead of a mortgage, in a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds the drag of the mortgage is likely to offset the potential boost given by stocks. "A household that carries a mortgage and invests in the stock market is basically trading on margin," he says. And of course, stocks can lose money. Unfortunately, retirees running into problems with mortgage debt "has become a huge problem," says Len Raymond, founder of Homeowner Options for Massachusetts Elders, a nonprofit that provides housing aid. Depressed Home Values Hurt While some homeowners struggling with mortgage debt can refinance, Mr. Raymond says there aren't many options for those with mortgages that are too big for a home that has fallen sharply in price. "It's almost impossible," he says. "Lenders are not interested in principal reductions" of mortgage amounts. Mr. Raymond's group emphasizes other options for retirees besides borrowing against their house through home-equity lines of credit or refinanced mortgages. For those who need to make repairs to make their home safer for a senior or compatible with wheelchair use, the city of Boston, for example, offers no-interest loans of up to $25,000. In addition, under certain circumstances reverse mortgages can help, he says. (Reverse mortgages enable homeowners age 62 or older to convert home equity into cash.) There also may be programs such as energy-cost assistance or tax relief that can ease the monetary burden of owning a home, Mr. Raymond says. The bottom line is that for those nearing or in retirement, "it's very, very important to be conservative" when it comes to protecting home equity, Mr. Raymond says. "It can be a real crucial bridge later in life, and without it you can end up in a really tough situation."
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Post by Can Tho on Aug 19, 2009 10:45:35 GMT 9
7 simple steps to a dirt-cheap mortgage Want to take advantage of the attractive rates to buy a home or refinance, but have a lot of questions? Here are your answers. By Luke Mullins of U.S. News & World Report
more on USNews.com Find your best place to live America's best places to live 2009 9 ways to salvage an ailing credit score With the national housing bust still rippling through the economy, the battered real-estate market is offering up tempting incentives for consumers to jump in.
Home prices at the national level have plummeted more than 32% since 2006, presenting shoppers with some outstanding bargains. What's more, President Obama's stimulus package included a tax credit worth up to $8,000 for qualified first-time homebuyers and those who have not owned a home in the past three years.
Then there's the mortgage market. After the Federal Reserve announced plans beginning last fall to buy up long-term Treasury bonds and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities, mortgage rates dropped to all-time lows.
But consumers looking to take advantage of these attractive rates — through refinancing a mortgage or buying a home — are often left with puzzling questions: What direction are mortgage rates headed from here? Is now the best time to refinance? To answer those and other burning questions, U.S. News surveyed a handful of experts and compiled a list of seven simple steps to snag a dirt-cheap mortgage.
1. Know the trends. While 30-year fixed mortgage rates averaged a very attractive 5% for the week ending May 22, they spiked to 5.29% May 27. Keith Gumbinger, a vice president with the mortgage information publisher HSH.com, expects rates to remain a little above 5% for the rest of the year.
What's your home worth? "The Fed has plenty of balance sheet space to go out and buy enough mortgages to keep rates at these levels," Gumbinger says. And, heading into the last days of July, they had. Could mortgage rates end up higher? Sure. The massive amount of government debt needed to finance the Obama administration's huge bailout and stimulus programs has already pushed yields on 10-year Treasury notes — which fixed mortgage rates typically track — sharply higher. Mike Larson, a real-estate analyst for Weiss Research, believes this pressure will push mortgage rates even higher in the coming months. "I'm not expecting a huge move," he says. "A move to (about 5.5%) is very likely in the cards for the coming couple of months." But even rates of 5.5% are extremely low by historical standards.
At the same time, mortgage rates on "jumbo loans" fell sharply, from an average of 7.9% in the week ending Oct. 31, 2008, to 6.34% during the week of May 22, and have primarily remained below 6.5 percent since. Jumbo mortgages — those that are too large to be purchased by Fannie and Freddie — have loan amounts greater than $417,000, although this limit can be higher in certain parts of the country. Gumbinger says rates on jumbo loans could get even more attractive by the end of the year.
Search for cheap mortgages
2. Pull the trigger. Mortgage rates, of course, are not the only factor to consider when deciding whether to buy a home. For consumers who are confident about their employment prospects and plan to live in the property for at least three to five years, the current mortgage rates make homebuying all the more attractive. "If near 50-year-low interest rates are not the proper inducement, what is?" Gumbinger says. And since calling the bottom of any market is nearly impossible, those looking to refinance are better off locking in today's rates, rather than hoping they head even lower. Larson calls pulling the trigger on current rates a "no brainer" for prospective mortgage refinancers. "Locking in makes sense," he says.
Mortgage shopping 101: First things first
View more MSN videosGo to Money Talks NewsStill, anyone looking to refinance should ensure that the new rate would be at least a full percentage point below his or her current loan rate. That should provide enough of a monthly payment differential for the borrower to recoup the fees associated with the transaction over a reasonable time.
3. Understand the criteria. In the face of higher delinquencies, bankers have tightened lending standards for borrowers of all sorts. So while current mortgage rates are certainly attractive, only those borrowers who fit today's tighter credit profile will be able to access the cheapest financing. For a home purchase, those standards include a FICO score of around 720, a down payment of at least 3.5 percent, manageable levels of debt, and documented income verification. People looking to refinance, meanwhile, will need to document their income and must typically have an equity position of at least 10% in their home, Gumbinger says.
4. Clean and polish. Don't panic if you don't meet these requirements; there are steps you can take to improve your credit profile. Reduce your debt load by paying down credit cards or student loans. Consider putting off your home purchase for a couple of months as you save up for a down payment. To boost your credit score, obtain your credit reports from each of the three main credit reporting bureaus: TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. By law, consumers are entitled to one free credit report from each of these bureaus during any 12-month period, which can be obtained through annualcreditreport.com. Examine each report thoroughly to ensure that everything is accurate. "If you are a junior and your father is a senior who's got rotten credit habits, make sure that your report is distinguished from his," says Gail Cunningham of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. If you discover any inaccurate material, contact the appropriate credit bureau about filing a dispute. Next, take care of any unpaid obligations and, in the future, make sure to pay all of your bills on time.
5. Shop around. Since rates and fees vary widely among lenders in today's market, consumers intent on getting the best mortgage deal will have to do some digging, says Rick Allen, director of strategic initiatives for Mortgage Marvel. "It comes down to shopping around," Allen says. "The market is pretty efficient, but different lenders are looking for different levels of profitability." Allen suggests consumers check out from three to 20 different mortgage providers and compare their mortgage rates, fees and closing costs. "Those three factors together ... really go to determine whether or not you are getting the best deal," he says.
6. Be patient. Because the Fed-engineered drop in mortgage rates was so unexpected — and occurred just as the industry was slashing jobs — many lenders have been inundated with applications. "In the beginning of the year, it was hard to find a lender who would even answer the phone and take an application," says Guy Cecala, publisher of the trade publication Inside Mortgage Finance. And although lenders have recently been beefing up their staffs, an average mortgage refinancing can still take about six weeks to close, Cecala says. That means borrowers should be persistent but patient. There are, after all, only so many phone calls that a lender can return in a day.
Home affordability calculator Yearly gross income $ Monthly debt payments $ Cash available for purchase $ 7. Be prepared. One way consumers can help improve the efficiency of the mortgage application process is to have all of their paperwork in order before speaking with a lender. "There is no excuse for not being prepared," Gumbinger says. "Go ahead and get your paperwork, get your documentation in order, go through your credit reports, do all of your prep work (beforehand)."
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Post by Can Tho on Aug 19, 2009 10:49:20 GMT 9
Looking for Mr. Wright A 300-mile road trip covers many of the architect's key masterpieces.ArticleInteractive GraphicsComments (16)more in Life & Style ».EmailPrinter FriendlyShare: Yahoo Buzz ↓ More. facebookMySpaceLinkedInDiggdel.icio.usNewsVineStumbleUponMixxSave This ↓ More. Text .By J.S. MARCUS Corbis The Taliesin estate .In a life that stretched from the Civil War to the Space Age, Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings of every size and function, from New York to Hollywood and back again. Tracking his seven-decade career, which utterly changed American architecture, could fill a lifetime of vacations. But a 300-mile road trip through the upper Midwest can give travelers a distilled impression of the work and the man. The place to start is about 40 miles west of Madison, Wis., just outside the town of Spring Green, in the rolling hills settled by Wright's Welsh ancestors. Wright was born not far from here in 1867, in a town called Richland Center. At age 19, Wright helped to design Spring Green's russet shingle church adjoining the cemetery where many members of his maternal family, the Lloyd Joneses, lie. Unity Chapel, admired by Wright's followers as his first building, still holds services. Map: Wright Country View Interactive See an interactive map of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in the upper Midwest .Related Reading Buffalo's Wright Stuff The Hand and Eye of Genius Photos: Frank Lloyd Wright at the Guggenheim .Wright claimed the valley for himself with the first version of his enormous, mysterious house, Taliesin (Tal-ee-es-in), Welsh for "shining brow." Initially completed in 1911 and built of local limestone, the rambling, 24,000-square-foot building—with residential wings, a studio, courtyards and gardens—emerges from the brow of a hill, as if an extension of the land itself. In spite of its size, the house manages at times almost to disappear. "You're driving along...and then it just jumps out at you," says the novelist T.C. Boyle, whose 2009 novel "The Women" offers a fictional account of Wright's very tumultuous love life. "One minute you see it, and the next you don't." Taliesin was Wright's refuge. As a leading architect in the prosperous Chicago suburb of Oak Park, he'd left his wife and six children and moved up to the valley with his client and neighbor, Mamah Borthwick Cheney. She and her young children were among the seven people murdered at Taliesin in 1914, when a servant set the house on fire and ran amok with an ax. Wright, who had been working in Chicago, buried Cheney in an unmarked grave near Unity Chapel and began to rebuild the house; he never stopped, turning Taliesin into a great improvisatory riff. View Full Image Corbis The Robie House dining room. .For Sidney Robinson, on the faculty at Taliesin's Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, the centerpiece is the expansive living room. (The school dates back to the "fellowship" of students and followers Wright established there in the 1930s and began to grant degrees in the 1980s.) Mr. Robinson, who lives at Taliesin while in residence at the architecture school, points out the way Wright continually changed the height of the room's ceiling over several decades, creating a complex array of visual effects that always leads the eye out into the landscape. Like Taliesin in general, the room manages to seem both rough and refined. Near the primeval fireplace, topped with forbidding limestone slabs, there's a delicate, four-sided music stand, which Wright designed for use by a string quartet. (Taliesin is open to organized tours May 1-Oct. 31.) Next, a traveler can reverse Wright's flight from respectability, leave the wildness of Taliesin behind and drive across the Illinois prairie to the tree-lined streets of Oak Park. The Chicago suburb's historic district, which can be toured on foot in a few hours, is a great repository of Wright's innovative, wood-and-brick Prairie Houses. It remains a place of stark contrasts, between the horizontal earth-toned Wright houses and the surrounding Victorian homes he meant to subvert. "Wright was a kind of punk," says Mr. Boyle, who himself lives in a Wright-designed Prairie house not far from Santa Barbara, Calif. Like punk rockers of the 1970s, who deconstructed the popular music of their time, Wright systematically reworked the formal, isolated rooms of the dominant Victorian style of his time, and went "back to the basics" of flowing spaces, Mr. Boyle says. View Full Image Alamy Unity Temple .Wright's own home and studio in Oak Park, on the corner of Forest and Chicago avenues, were built from 1889 to 1898; although not in a recognizable Prairie style, they're two must-sees for pilgrims. Unlike most of the other Wright-designed buildings nearby, these two are open to the public. John Vinci, the Chicago architect who worked on their restoration in the 1980s, says the highlight is the children's playroom in the main house. Its surprises include a soaring half-moon ceiling and, above the door, a hidden gallery of theater seats that can turn the room into a stage. Another treasure lies just a half-mile away. Unity Temple, the Unitarian church Wright designed in 1905 and '06, is widely viewed as the crowning achievement of his Oak Park years. Composed of two concrete cubes, the church astonishes a visitor with its elaborate, naturally lit interior. "I don't usually do top ten lists," says Terence Riley, director of the Miami Art Museum and the former chief curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, "but I do believe that Unity Temple is one of the best buildings in America." A 30-minute drive from Oak Park stands the Robie House, Wright's most-admired iteration of the Prairie style, built in 1909 and 1910 in Hyde Park on Chicago's South Side. The public can still visit, despite a restoration expected to end in 2010, and it's fascinating to see the work involved in bringing its refined interiors back to their original state. Wright's Prairie houses influenced European modernism, but by the early 1930s they seemed old-fashioned. And so the architect, sequestered at Taliesin and largely ignored by architects and clients alike, staged one of America's great comebacks. He started in 1936, with a commission to design the headquarters of Johnson Wax Co. an hour north of Chicago, in Racine, Wis. Corbis Johnson Wax headquarters .Wright leapt ahead of the Modernists and created buildings that still seem ahead of their time. The headquarters is best known for the "Great Workroom," a windowless space for 100 employees working under dozens of narrow, soaring columns, that spread out at the top like lily pads. They give structural support and diffuse the light that comes down through the ceiling. Mr. Riley calls the room "one of the most unexpected things in the world." The company, now called S.C. Johnson & Son, offers tours to the public on Fridays and at other times by arrangement. Just north of Racine lies Wingspread, the last and most luxurious of Wright's Prairie Houses, designed for the Johnson family and completed in 1939. Marked by a dramatic, dome-topped living space, Cherokee-red concrete floors and a voluminous central chimney with five separate fireplaces, Wingspread, now a conference center, is open to tours by arrangement. Although the ideal end to a Wright tour would be a viewing of his final masterpiece, New York's spiraling Guggenheim Museum, a more convenient solution lies 20 minutes north of Racine. The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, just west of Milwaukee, is another one of Wright's late-in-life flights of fancy. (Open for mass on Sundays and feast days.) Some of the architect's critics, including Mr. Riley, question the decorative nature of Wright's late buildings, of which this church is a prime example. As you drive by, the shimmering blue disc-like structure, which seems to float on top of its vast green lawn, looks more like a flying saucer than a building. Wright died a month before the groundbreaking ceremony, and the design tells us what he had on his mind at the very end of his life. Trip Planner WHERE TO STAY: Madison, Wis., home to some important Wright buildings, is the ideal base for a visit to Spring Green. T.C. Boyle, while researching his novel on Wright, stayed at—and liked—The Edgewater Hotel, on the shore of Lake Mendota, down the street from the state capitol. Lakefront room with two double beds, $179 weekdays, $209 weekends; www.theedgewater.com. In Oak Park's historic district, The Harvey House Bed & Breakfast, in a restored 1890s house, is about a mile from Wright's home and studio and a few blocks from Unity Temple. Double rooms are $175-$250 weekdays, $200-$325 weekends. www.harveyhousebb.com WHERE TO EAT: Nancy Horan, a former Oak Park resident and author of "Loving Frank," a best-selling 2007 novel about Wright's affair with Mamah Cheney, recommends the neighborhood's Cucina Paradiso Italian restaurant (veal saltimbocca, $22; pear pizza, $11). In Racine, several local bakeries make kringles, Danish-style ring-shaped pastries. One of the best is Bendtsen's.
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Post by NhiHa on Sept 2, 2009 1:15:48 GMT 9
How long will low mortgage rates last?Chris Kissell .How much lower will mortgage rates go? Adjustable mortgageMORTGAGESo Sanh Tien LoiRefinance nha oThat question is on the lips and minds of mortgage shoppers from Seattle to Miami. In recent months, rates have sunk to near historic lows, presenting Americans with a rare opportunity, according to economist Bob Walters. "The best time to buy a house and refinance -- solely from an interest rate standpoint -- is now," says Walters, chief economist at Quicken Loans in Livonia, Mich. Still, some shoppers continue to wait, hoping for a perfect world where rates dip south of 5 percent and recently stabilizing home prices resume their epic plunge. If history is any indication, such procrastination may be a mistake, Walters says. "All of us who have been in the business for a while know that interest rates rise faster than they fall, and they usually rise in a very unexpected time frame," he says. "People could wake up to substantially higher mortgage rates at some point." While it's impossible to predict what will happen to rates for the rest of 2009 -- and beyond -- many mortgage professionals are advising clients to act now. "If you have plans to refinance or buy a home, don't wait," says Chris Sipe, a loan officer at America East Mortgage in Frederick, Md. "There is no logical reason to do so." Fed fallacyPeople who dream of lower mortgage rates often pin their hopes on the Federal Reserve. The central bank's Federal Open Market Committee meets eight times each year and sets a target for the federal funds rate. It's widely believed that Fed decisions directly move mortgage rates up or down. But that's not true, says Walters, who contends that "there's not a great correlation" between Fed rate actions and mortgage rate movement. Instead, the anticipated inflation rate provides a better barometer of where mortgage rates are headed, he says. "Mortgage rates are always going to be some percentage above what the expected inflation rate of the next 10 years or seven years is going to be," he says. "I tell people to watch that more than to watch (the) fed funds (rate)." thingy Lepre, senior loan officer at Residential Pacific Mortgage in San Francisco, agrees that the Fed's role in moving mortgage rates often is overstated. "It doesn't make much difference what the Fed does," he says. Like Walters, Lepre keeps his eye on inflation when forecasting mortgage rate movements. Right now, inflation fears are rising, thanks to two years of massively stimulative monetary and fiscal policy intended to jolt the nation's faltering economy. Looking ahead, two Federal Reserve policies that have kept interest rates low are due to expire in the next few months. In October, the Federal Reserve begins to wind down its campaign of buying $300 billion in long-term U.S. Treasury securities. A Fed effort to buy up $1.25 trillion in mortgage-backed securities is slated to expire at the end of the year. So, it's possible -- although not certain -- the stars are aligning to drive long-term rates higher for an extended period, Lepre says. "One can easily make the case that we will not see mortgage rates this low for the next 10 years," Lepre says. Plan of actionAs the possibility of higher rates grows stronger, many mortgage professionals are urging fence-sitting mortgage shoppers to act. Mortgage consultant Michael Becker, who works for Green Pastures Mortgage & Finance in Lutherville, Md., says consumers should keep an eye on the calendar. Several federal programs set up to help homeowners and boost mortgage activity expire over the next year. They include: 1 •First-time homebuyer $8,000 federal tax credit, scheduled to end Nov. 30. 2 •Increased Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conforming loan limits in high-cost housing markets, scheduled to terminate at the end of the year. 3 •Home Affordable Refinance government program to help struggling homeowners refinance, scheduled to end in June 2010.Mortgage shoppers must remember these deadlines as they plan their purchases, says Becker. "While Congress may decide to extend these programs, there's no guarantee," he says. "You should at least look into these programs to see if you qualify." Mark Madsen, a mortgage consultant at RainTree Mortgage in Las Vegas, agrees. He says first-time homebuyers especially need to remember that a failure to close on their homes before Dec. 1 will leave them ineligible for the tax credit. "Buyers need to keep in mind that it may take several months to negotiate and close on a new home," he says, adding that delays are especially likely in foreclosure and short-sale transactions. While some home shoppers may be tempted to delay a purchase and wait for prices to fall further, such a strategy could backfire if rates jump, Madsen says. "Waiting around for the price to go down an additional $5,000 may end up costing you several thousand dollars a year in higher mortgage payments if rates do go up a percentage point or two next year," he says. In Maryland, Sipe is urging any homeowner with an adjustable-rate mortgage scheduled to adjust higher in the next 24 months to "exhaust every option available to get out of it." "That would scare me to death, personally," he says. He adds that when a rate reversal finally does arrive, it's likely to be "quick and very decisive," leaving few options for homeowners desperate to refinance into a lower rate. Cloudy crystal ballOf course, it's possible predictions of higher mortgage rates will prove unfounded. As Walters has noted, "Nobody has a perfect crystal ball." For that reason, mortgage shoppers should make buying decisions based on life circumstances instead of hunches about whether or not mortgage rates will climb, he says. "Rates are very attractive, but I don't think they should drive the buying the decision," Walters says. "The buying decision is really driven by one's life and where they are and their dwelling needs." David Kuiper, a mortgage planner at First Place Bank in Holland, Mich., also urges mortgage shoppers to tune out prognostications about where rates might go. Instead, it's wiser to make choices grounded in the here and now, he says. "I want my clients to make their decisions based on fact, and not on speculation," he says. "Interest rates and home affordability are very attractive right now. It's important not to get too greedy with either one of them."
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