Real Estate Home Loans in Boise Idaho, Waterstone Mortgage - Prime Equity Group

In today's challenging real estate market, more buyers are looking at REO properties. Foreclosures are presenting both realtors and lenders new challenges. To help, Fannie Mae's HomePath® program is designed to move Fannie Mae REO properties.

For the homebuyer, HomePath could be just what you or your client needs to move into a new home:

• Low down payment and flexible mortgage terms (fixed-rate and adjustable)

• No Mortgage Insurance

• No Appraisal Fee

• Borrowers may qualify even if their credit is less than perfect

• Available for owner-occupied, second and investments

• Single-family, condo, duplex, 4-plex all eligible

• Low down payment can be funded by:

- Borrower's own savings

- A gift or grant

- A loan from a non-profit organization, state or local government or employer

Give me a call today at (208) 287-1717. I know HomePath and REO properties. I can help you or your customers make the most of this unique program designed to help revitalize and stabilize neighborhoods.

Last night Congress finally passed legislation to restore funding to the 502 single-family rural housing program.  Senator Michael Bennet (CO) and Reps.  Kanjorski (PA) and Capito (WV) championed this issue that has been working its way through Congress since March. 

The legislation will increase the guarantee fee for borrowers (but still allow it to be financed), which will make the program self-sufficient.  The legislation also increases the commitment authority so Rural Housing Service can formally guarantee loans (they had been providing conditional commitments).  We anticipate a notice from Rural Housing shortly after the President signs the bill.

Sales of previously occupied homes surprised economists by beating economic and market estimates.  According to the National Association of Realtors, June Existing Home Sales beat estimates by 190,000 units.   The annualized rate came in at 5.37 million units vs. consensus estimates of only 5.18 million units.

This is the first reading since the housing tax credit has expired, so it is a positive sign that we surprised to the upside.  The month-over-month numbers for June were actually down 5.1% but the year-over-year numbers showed an increase of 9%!

Only 17 out of the 91 European Union's banks failed their stress test.  The ultimate goal of the stress test was to give the global markets more confidence in the EU.  The results were released last week and so were the criteria.  No one expected the criteria to be so tough.

These tests ran a bank's balance sheets through a series of worse case scenarios.  A bank fails the stress test if its Tier-1 capital ratio is below 6% under two scenarios: Adverse scenario and adverse scenario plus sovereign risk.  The adverse scenario assumes that the bank must face an economic climate that is so severe that it is only experienced once in 20 years.  The same tests in the U.S. last year assumed a once in seven year possibility.  These tests assumed a further decrease of 6% in unemployment from current levels and a 6% hike in interest rates from current levels.  

Borrowers who walk away from mortgages they can afford to pay - making "strategic defaults" - are running increasing risks that they'll be penalized for doing so.

Starting in October, Fannie Mae says, strategic defaulters will be disqualified for new Fannie Mae-backed loans for seven years after their foreclosures. Fannie also says it will go to court where it can to recoup outstanding mortgage debt from borrowers who strategically default.

Under a bill that's passed the House and awaits Senate action, the Federal Housing Administration would be barred from insuring mortgages for those who previously ditched a mortgage they had the ability to pay.

Get-tough policies are forming at the same time that about a quarter of mortgage borrowers owe more than their homes are worth.

Fannie Mae buys about 40% of all mortgages and packages them for resale to investors. The FHA insures about 30% of home mortgages.

U.S. foreclosure rates fell for the third straight month according to RealtyTrac's new report.  New foreclosure fillings in June dropped 2.81 percent from the previous month and 6.98 percent from the previous year.

While foreclosure rates are falling, they are still at high levels with 16 straight months of readings of over 300,000.  Still 410 out of every 411 homes are not in foreclosure, so there is still some strength in the housing market.

As signed by the Conference of the House and Senate on June 29, 2010, passed by the House of Representatives on June 30, 2010 and pending Senate action

 BACKGROUND - This summary describes the key points in H.R. 4173, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, agreed to by conferees from the Senate and House of Representatives on June 29, 2010, that are relevant to MBA members. The Conference Report on the bill was passed by the House of Representatives on June 30, 2010 by a 237 to 192 vote. It is anticipated that the Senate will take up the bill during the week of July 12-19 and that the bill will be passed and signed into law soon after.

SCOPE OF SUMMARY - The Dodd-Frank Bill is a massive piece of legislation intended to address countless problem areas that are believed to have caused the financial crisis. It is more than 2,300 pages long and includes 16 titles.

Titles IX, X and XIV are of particular interest to MBA members. Title IX includes provisions on "risk retention" and "qualified residential mortgages" as well as credit rating agency provisions. Title X establishes the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and its responsibilities. Title XIV, the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act, is replete with provisions affecting the industry including originator compensation, underwriting requirements and qualified mortgage provisions, to name a few. This summary includes: (1) Brief Overview of Key Provisions of Dodd-Frank Bill; (2) Short Summary of Provisions of Particular Interest to MBA Members; and (3) Expanded Summary of Specific Provisions.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF KEY PROVISIONS OF THE DODD-FRANK BILL - The bill would:

• Establish Financial Stability Oversight Council to address systemic risks
• Provide liquidation authority to permit orderly liquidation of systemically risky companies
• Revise bank and bank holding company regulatory regime by transferring Office of Thrift Supervision functions to Office of Comptroller of Currency (OCC) and clarifying regulatory functions of Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Board of Governors of Federal Reserve (FRB)
• Establish regulation of investment advisers to hedge funds
• Establish a new Federal Insurance Office to monitor the insurance industry including regulatory gaps that could contribute to systemic risk
• Restrict banks, bank affiliates and bank holding companies from proprietary trading or investing in a hedge fund or private equity fund
• Increase regulation and transparency of the over-the-counter derivatives markets
• Establish new regulation of credit rating agencies
• Establish new requirements regarding executive compensation including shareholder "say on pay"
• Require securitizers to retain economic interest in assets they securitize
• Empower new CFPB as an independent office in FRB with broad new authorities and functions and responsibilities under wide range of current consumer financial protection laws
• Establish extensive requirements applicable to mortgage lending industry, including detailed requirements concerning mortgage originator compensation and underwriting, high cost mortgages, servicing, appraisals, counseling and other matters
• Preserve enforcement powers of states respecting financial institutions and restrict preemption of state laws by federal banking regulators.

Once the tax credit expired (new contracts had to signed by April 30th) everyone expected that listings would go down.  But they haven't...they have gone up.  With all of the negative media attention on housing it would be easy to consider that it is because the sellers are distressed in some way.  Maybe they lost their job or they are trying to sell the home before it goes into foreclosure.

But here is the real reason why listings are up:  Interest rates are at an all-time low.  Despite the constant bombardment of negative media coverage, the vast majority of existing homeowners are very credit worthy, live within their means and have stable income.  Experienced homeowners have seen interest rates in the 5's, 6's, and 7's in the last several years.  And those that have owned homes for longer have seen double-digit interest rates.  So, they know that when interest rates are at an all time low - it is time to make a move.

The idea is that if they were ever going to move to a different school district, move up or down in size, etc. now is the time to do it.  Sure, they might get a little less for their house this year compared to what they might sell it for a couple of years down the road but that is more than offset by the huge savings in mortgage and interest payments.

This means that homebuyers also have attractive interest rates which are another good time to sell, because more people buy when interest rates are low.  Buyers are a little slower to "pull the trigger" on a sales contract because there is moderate amount of inventory around.  But many of these potential homebuyers already missed out on the tax credit window because they thought the government would keep extending it or maybe they just weren't ready to enter the market yet.  Regardless that window of opportunity has shut.  Don't miss this even bigger window of opportunity!

Mortgage rates can make a right turn at any second.  Mortgage rates are not low because of anything that the Federal Reserve, Treasury, or Obama administration is currently doing.  Mortgage rates are low because of global fear about the economy and financial system.  This causes banks and investors to hoard their cash and park it into nice, safe and boring mortgage backed securities.  You earn a very low interest rate in return for safety.  But the financial markets and the global economy will turn around, and when it does it will move mortgage rates up with it.

Home sales rose slightly in June in the Treasure Valley, according to sales data released Monday. The Intermountain Multiple Listing Service said 940 homes were sold in June in Ada and Canyon counties, compared with 933 in May, a less than 1 percent increase.

Ada County logged 630 sales last month, compared with 625 in May. Canyon County reported 310 sales in June, up from 308. The median sales price in Ada County in June was $157,000, up 2.3 percent from May. Canyon County saw a slight dip in the median price to $99,900, compared with $100,000 the previous month.

The much-talked about $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers recently expired for most people, But if you're military or a certain government employee, this fantastic opportunity has been extended to 2011! You still can qualify for a tax credit of up to $8,000 even if you're not a first-time homebuyer.

Briefly, if you sold a home because of "orders" between 1-1-09 and 4-30-10 and served at least 91 days extended duty, you will qualify for the homebuyer tax credit as long as income, sales price and age (18 years) requirements are met. You need to sign a contract by April 30, 2011 and close on your home by June 30, 2011.

Who qualifies?

• Member or spouse of "uniformed" services or the US Foreign Service
• Employee or spouse of the Intelligence Community

To also qualify, you must also have served Extended Duty for 91 days between Jan. 1, 2009 and April 30, 2010:

• Outside the US or
• Inside the US and had to relocate at least 50 miles from principal residence

Call Dean Tucker at Waterstone Mortgage - Prime Equity Group for more information (208) 287-1717. As a seasoned mortgage professional I can help you make the best decision about one of the largest financial purchases you may ever make.