Who do you know that is looking to buy or sell real estate in the next 6 months? Contact me and I can either help them locally or refer them to a competent real estate agent through my extensive network of agents nationwide.
Jim Little, Your Sun City REALTOR

As I mentioned in Friday’s post, the use of the first time buyer tax credit toward BUYING A HOME,  is a work in progress.
A very knowledgeable loan originator, Jeff Belonger in Cherry Hill NJ just posted a very good explaination of the rules as they are today. Rather than re-invent the wheel, see Jeff’’s post [...]

A few pieces of good news for the day.

The Home Affordability Index is the best it has been in the 18 years of its existence. 73% of homes for sale were affordable by the median  income family($64,000 as of this writing)
Mortgages were still artificially low, subsidized by the Federal Reserve. This can’t go on forever [...]

When buying a home in today’s market, you MUST be concerned about MORTGAGE FRAUD. Not only the FRAUD FOR PROFIT that many have experienced, but the FRAUD FOR HOUSING. Yes, if you lie, or are encouraged to lie in the mortgage application, that is FRAUD. It is both a Federal and Arizona FELONY. Your buyer’s [...]

The Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) can be a valuable tool when buying a home. It can also become your worst nightmare.
Benefits of an ARM include:

Ability to qualify for  more house since the qualification is based upon the first payment level.
Gradual increase in payments if the ARM is correctly selected. This increase will hopefully be [...]

ARMs, how they work.
A basic Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) is based upon the following items (be sure your lending officer and real estate agent explains them in detail)

An Index
Margin
Adjustment Period
Maximum Increase per Period
Maximum Increase over the Life of the Loan

INDEX: Each ARM is tied to an economic index. The index relates to the cost of [...]

Much has been said recently about the causes of our current and projected foreclosure rate.
Often vilified by the press as the cause of today’s mortgage mess, is the adjustable rate mortgage. (ARM)
The ARM was originally developed as an instrument to give people, often first time buyers a way to get on the property ladder earlier [...]

To know the answer to that question, it is important to ask yourself the following questions first:

Do you plan on living in the home for 3 to 5 years?
Do you have a stable job or retirement income?
Are rents and rental occupancy rates increasing in the area you wish to live?

If you answered yes to these [...]

Lenn Harley, a broker in Maryland at Homefinders.com wrote about this in her blog. I feel it is important enough to quote a few of the secrets here.
Secret: The agent’s whose name is on the FOR SALE sign in the yard has promised the seller that he/she will get the best price for the seller.  [...]