Real Estate Blog

Hello:

Here is your weekly mortgage update, brought to you Ryan Halldorson of Smart Financial Mortgage.

"Interest rates increased this week as the market tries to figure out the impact of all of the new government programs being implemented to stabilize the financial institutions of the world. It will likely take several weeks to months to find out where rates are going to settle in at. We see wild swings on a daily and even hourly basis. With the elimination of seller funded down payment assistance, obtaining down payment money will be one of the biggest hurdles to loan qualification. There are several specialized programs such as VA and Officer/Teacher Next Door that still allow 100% financing. Another 100% program is available for “Rural” Housing. Some of the cities in Arizona that have access to this program are Maricopa (the city), Payson, Prescott Valley, and Kingman to name a few. The greater Phoenix and Tucson areas are excluded as is Flagstaff. The property must be a primary residence and qualification for the loan includes the typical income, asset and credit. To find out more on this program and view a map of eligible areas you can go to http://eligibility.sc.egov.usda.gov/eligibility/welcomeAction.do Store that info in that back of your mind and someday you might be able to pull a rabbit (or better yet a buyer) out of the hat. Good Luck!"

NOTE: No warranty is made or implied for the content of this information.

I've recently been asked "what's a short sale." So, I thought I would post the answer on my blog. I hope the inforamation helps.

On a short sale, the house is technically still owned by the homeowner (who is usually behind in mortgage payments and facing foreclosure).  The homeowner owes more on the home than the balance of the loan and they wish to sell it for the market value. The bank can either agree to a short sale and forgive the unpaid debt, or foreclose on the home and re-sell it. There are so many of these that the banks are taking weeks in some cases to review offers.  This is alright unless someone is in a hurry and needs to close on a home purchase within 30 days. Short sales usually take 60-90 days to close from the date of offer, although the timeframe is improving lately.