Tallahassee Real Estate Blog

Good Deal … Bad Deal … We’ll See

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had a good day yesterday, did you?

Overall, I think Tallahassee had a good day with this bill being signed by President Bush yesterday. Tallahassee is a town that historically is very active in loans guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (government loans) so the fact the financial reinforcement has been provided means that Tallahassee home buyers will have their “normal” sources of mortgage funds. Read the rest of this entry

If you are in the market for a new mortgage loan, whether for buying a home or refinancing a home, then you might have run across a term that is causing great confusion in the real estate market today. The term that I am referring to is “Declining Markets.”

What Is A Declining Market And How Does It Affect Me?

Whenever I want to know something that relates to the mortgage industry, I ask a great mortgage loan officer that I know, Joe Kupiszewski, of Century 21 Mortgage. So I went to Joe this morning and asked if he could brief me on “declining markets” and he gave me a bevy of information. What I hoped to provide was a declining market definition, but what I learned is that it really is not that important anymore. And as Joe so clearly put it, it is confusing

Joe provided me with the latest word from Fannie Mae, but added “The problem is that while this is the latest word, it is not the final word. The big rub comes in from the mortgage insurance companies, which makes sense. After all, they are the ones insuring the first loss position. The last paragraph of page two of the attachment sums up Fannie Mae’s positions very clearly.Their terms: Maximum 97% Loan to Value (LTV) on conventional/conforming loans regardless of the market with their proprietary Desktop Underwriter (DU)/Automated Approval, and 95% LTV maximum financing if the loan is underwritten outside of DU (manually).”

O.K. You got that?

I believe what Fannie Mae is now saying is declining markets are no longer an issue with them, though they might be with the mortgage insurance company. So I asked Joe for a little clearer explanation on what Century 21 Mortgage could do and he responded: “If you are able to put down 10% or more and have decent credit, conforming is the way to go. If you are not, I would give a serious look at FHA. VA is still going at 100%, but the borrower must qualify through prior or present service in the military. You may be able to find 95% financing on conventional, but it could very easily disappear before you get to close.

FHA/HUD has also raised their guidelines. I still see lenders claiming 560 FHA in my spam folder every day, but 2 months ago, they were at 520.  We are at 580 MINIMUM and that will have to be on an exception basis. Further, FHA recently announced tiered pricing so it is no longer a one size fits all product - both good and bad.  The differences are not huge, but they are creeping in.”

My Conclusion On Declining Markets And The Mortgage Market

• Most real estate markets in the U.S. are declining, therefore the term “Declining Market” has little or no real meaning anymore.
  
• Fannie Mae is working hard to work out of this mortgage market mess.
• Most mortgage lenders are fair and honest, but there are those that send “spam” and make promises on terms that they cannot ever deliver.
• You need to work with a mortgage lender that you can trust. Period.

For those of you who have read this and have a thirst for more information, you can download the lastest word on declining markets from Fannie Mae. Good luck and have a strong cup of coffee handy!

As a reminder for those who subscribe to the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog by email, some embedded pictures and videos might not be appearing in your email and you might need to click the title header to go to your browser where all will be visible.

Keep checking out the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog every day for updates that include charts, graphs, and analysis of the Tallahassee real estate market.

If you like this Article then please subscribe to my blog through a full RSS feed, or you can . You will be able to stay informed about the happenings in the Tallahassee Real Estate Market. You can also subscribe to this blog and have it delivered by Email.

Joe Manausa is a real estate investor and the Broker and Co-Owner of Century 21 First Realty. He can be reached via e-mail through the Tallahassee Real Estate Website or catch his latest writings on the Tallahassee Florida Real Estate Blog , or by calling (850) 386-2001.

Just over three months ago, I wrote a blog article in the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog that examined the relationship between Home Prices and Interest Rates in determining the time to buy a home. It has been the source of numerous comments and debates in several real estate forums on the Internet.

If you refer back to that article, I suggested that future rising interest rates would make a cheaper house less affordable. While I figured that it was highly likely home prices would be falling, I knew that rising interest rates would leave most buyers with higher monthly payments. Sure enough, mortgage interest rates are rising, as you can see in the chart below.

So, even if you are not thinking about buying a Tallahassee home, you might want to look into refinancing your home. Back in April, I wrote a blog titled When Should A Mortgage Be Refinanced? This could be a good reference to review before contacting a real estate mortgage lender.

On another note, here are some of our most popular features on the Tallahassee Real Estate Web Site:

• Full Tallahassee MLS Property Search (Data provided by the MLS)
• Complete Access to Homes For Sale In Tallahassee without annoying registration
• A new and growing Tallahassee Neighborhoods and Subdivisions map and information service
• A near-daily view of the market provided by the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog
• Tallahassee Real Estate Market Information delivered by a full RSS feed
• Tallahassee Real Estate Market Information delivered by E-Mail
• Home buyer resources including a Free Tallahassee Home Buyer’s Guide
• Home seller resources including a FREE Tallahassee Home Pricing Analysis
• A new Free Tallahassee Relocation Tool, whether moving to or from Tallahassee
• A constantly updated Tallahassee Real Estate Market Report
• A Tallahassee real estate career evaluation tool that will let you know if real estate is right for you
• A First Time Tallahassee Real Estate Buyer’s Guide that answers critical questions
• Much, much, more from the top Tallahassee Real Estate Company

As a reminder for those who subscribe to the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog by email, some embedded pictures and videos might not be appearing in your email and you might need to click the title header to go to your browser where all will be visible.

Keep checking out the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog every day for updates that include charts, graphs, and analysis of the Tallahassee real estate market.

If you like this Article then please subscribe to my blog through a full RSS feed, or you can . You will be able to stay informed about the happenings in the Tallahassee Real Estate Market. You can also subscribe to this blog and have it delivered by Email.

Joe Manausa is a real estate investor and the Broker and Co-Owner of Century 21 First Realty. He can be reached via e-mail through the Tallahassee Real Estate Website or catch his latest writings on the Tallahassee Florida Real Estate Blog , or by calling (850) 386-2001.

You might not be aware of an important decision that the United States Senate will be considering in the next few days. This decision will determine whether or not housing consumers will be able to get fair, safe and affordable mortgage credit, which of course is a major part of the health of the national housing market.

Current loan limit increases for FHA, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae are due to expire at year’s end. There is a major push by many groups to make these loan limits permanent in order to restore investor confidence and stabilize mortgage markets and the entire economy as well.

While this is definitely national news, it also hits us close to home in the Tallahassee real estate market. You see, many Tallahasseans have relied on these government insured loans over the past twenty years (and longer, but before my time…). Except for the boom market years of 2004-2006, these were the typical loan programs that we saw utilized in our sales in the Tallahassee real estate market.

So, what can you do? Send a letter to your Senators. The House of Representatives has already voted to do so, but the Senate has reduced the maximum limit in its bill. Our economy is heavily tied to the housing market and we need to follow the lead of the House of Representatives.

How Do You Do IT?

Follow this link and fill out your name and address. It will generate a letter and email it for you if you wish, or allow you to modify it and print it for snail mail. It takes less than a minute and you’ll be doing your part to maintain your own home’s value.

The Senate needs to keep the higher loan limits in place for 2009 and beyond.

Here are the letters that I have sent to Senator Bill Nelson and Senator Mel Martinez.

June 12, 2008 07:50 PM

Subject: Make Higher Loan Limits Permanent for FHA, Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae

Dear Senator Nelson,

As your constituent and a REALTOR, I urge you, as a Member of the Senate, to support making permanent the FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits in the bipartisan Economic Stimulus Act, signed by President Bush last February. The legislation raised the maximum loan limits in high cost areas to $729,750 but it expires on December 31, 2008. The limits help homeowners in 240 counties in 26 states and can help get our national economy back on track.

The House-passed housing stimulus bill, H.R. 3221, makes the $729,750 limits permanent. Senate bills cap the limits at $550,440. Our 1.2 million members applaud the progress the Senate has achieved, but strongly believe that the final bill must include the House bill’s loan limits.

The national mortgage market meltdown dramatically raised the cost and reduced the availability of mortgages in my market. Higher limits are helping to revitalize local housing markets, providing safe, fair and affordable mortgages for our state’s homeowners. The limits are also helping to stabilize our entire economy. Higher limits simply reflect market realities in high cost areas. A lower limit unfairly penalizes citizens based simply on geography.

Drastically reducing the temporary limits at year’s end to the Senate cap of $550,440 will push our fragile housing and credit markets back into turmoil. We need permanent limits of $729,750 to stabilize our housing markets and help citizens of every state — not just residents of high cost areas. Please support making the $729,750 loan limits permanent.

Sincerely,

Joe Manausa

2138 Amanda Mae Court , Tallahassee, Florida 32312

June 12, 2008 07:50 PM

Subject: Make Higher Loan Limits Permanent for FHA, Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae

Dear Senator Martinez,

As your constituent and a REALTOR, I urge you, as a Member of the Senate, to support making permanent the FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits in the bipartisan Economic Stimulus Act, signed by President Bush last February. The legislation raised the maximum loan limits in high cost areas to $729,750 but it expires on December 31, 2008. The limits help homeowners in 240 counties in 26 states and can help get our national economy back on track.

The House-passed housing stimulus bill, H.R. 3221, makes the $729,750 limits permanent. Senate bills cap the limits at $550,440. Our 1.2 million members applaud the progress the Senate has achieved, but strongly believe that the final bill must include the House bill’s loan limits.

The national mortgage market meltdown dramatically raised the cost and reduced the availability of mortgages in my market. Higher limits are helping to revitalize local housing markets, providing safe, fair and affordable mortgages for our state’s homeowners. The limits are also helping to stabilize our entire economy. Higher limits simply reflect market realities in high cost areas. A lower limit unfairly penalizes citizens based simply on geography.

Drastically reducing the temporary limits at year’s end to the Senate cap of $550,440 will push our fragile housing and credit markets back into turmoil. We need permanent limits of $729,750 to stabilize our housing markets and help citizens of every state — not just residents of high cost areas. Please support making the $729,750 loan limits permanent.

Sincerely,

As a reminder for those who subscribe to the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog by email, some embedded pictures and videos might not be appearing in your email and you might need to click the title header to go to your browser where all will be visible.

Keep checking out the Tallahassee Real Estate Blog every day for updates that include charts, graphs, and analysis of the Tallahassee real estate market.

If you like this Article then please subscribe to my blog through a full RSS feed. You will be able to stay informed about the happenings in the Tallahassee Real Estate Market. You can also subscribe to this blog and have it delivered by Email.

Joe Manausa is a real estate investor and the Broker and Co-Owner of Century 21 First Realty. He can be reached via e-mail through the Tallahassee Real Estate Website or catch his latest writings on the Tallahassee Florida Real Estate Blog , or by calling (850) 386-2001.