CarolinaMortgageConnection.com

Archive for May, 2009

UPDATED!

Please read the article posted at http://carolinamortgageconnection.foundbydesign.net/2009/06/01/update-tax-credit-as-downpayment-for-fha/ for updated important information about this tax credit!

Original Article:

The $8,000 First Time Home Buyer federal tax credit passed by the Obama Administration may be useful after all! The FHA is going to permit that tax credit to be “monetized” and used as a downpayment on an FHA mortgage loan. So if you do the numbers, you could possibly purchase a $228,500 home with no money down! After all, FHA requires 3.5% of the purchase price to be committed to the deal by the buyer, and 3.5% of $228,500 is just shy of $8,000! Of course, you’d still have closing costs and points to worry about, but with the right negotiations, they could be covered by the seller.

You may not want to buy a home quite that size, but the good news is that with this new option to use the First Time Home Buyer tax credit as a downpayment for Charlotte FHA mortgages, many new home buyers in Charlotte will have access to a tremendous home buying program!

Shaun Donovan, secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was quoted as saying:

We all want to enable FHA consumers to access the home buyer tax credit funds when they close on their home loans so that the cash can be used as a downpayment.

Regarding the housing market, Donovan said:

I do think we have some early signs hat the market overall is stabilizing. Since January we’ve seen both home sales moving up and down around a relatively stable number and we are seeing the first signs that the rapid decline in home prices is starting to abate.

The National Association of REALTORS has been lobbying for the use of the tax credit for first time home buyers as a downpayment for some time now and it looks as though it will pay off. Some question if using the tax credit for first time home buyers as a downpayment will rekindle a “zero down” / “no money down” marketplace and risk further issues in the future, but in the mean time this should definitely help many Charlotte first time home buyers find another reason to get off the fence!

UPDATED: TAX CREDIT CAN NOT BE USED FOR THE MINIMUM 3.5% DOWNPAYMENT AS REQUIRED BY FHA. READ MORE AT http://carolinamortgageconnection.foundbydesign.net/2009/06/01/update-tax-credit-as-downpayment-for-fha/

If you believe the national news, the US Housing Market may be hitting or at least approaching its bottom. For the second time in three months, new home sales rose ever so slightly. With the abundance of real estate inventory and today’s amazing low mortgage interest rates, Charlotte home buyers, along with the entire nation, are beginning to take advantage of the opportunities.

With low mortgage rates in the Charlotte region, potential home buyers sitting on the fence are beginning to jump off and take the plunge. There are a ton of homes to choose from and the prices are just right for many. Now may in fact be the best time ever to buy a home!

If you are on the fence about buying a home, maybe you should take the next step and see where you quailify. By getting pre-approved for a mortgage in Charlotte, you can confidently know what you can afford and take advantage of the great real estate prices and low Charlotte mortgage rates.

In what could be viewed as a strategic move designed to orchestrate a complete banking takeover, the Bank Stress Test Results were released, showing that an overwhelming majority of our nation’s banks “need” more capital to survive. Nevermind that most of these banks are saying they don’t need the money… that doesn’t seem to matter! Is Obama hell bent on Socialism in America, but without the guts to just straight out admit it? Maybe… it seems he continues his “hope and change” ideas while a majority of America still basks in the afterglow of the promise of a new direction.

However, most Americans could not tell you SPECIFICALLY what that new direction is.. they just wanted something new. Not that I blame them for the feeling or desire for something new… I agree. But did we want this direction? Scared yet? Concerned?

So let’s review… Banks that don’t need money are Forced to take money (BOA is just one example), the Government gets a stake in the banks, tells the banks you “can not pay us back yet” and then creates a new test that most of them fail. Given that most Americans are tired of the “bailout” scenario, the new idea is to convert the TARP money to stock (government owned stock!). So the banks, which don’t want more money from TARP, now get a large portion of their stocks taken over by the government.

“But the government will get out as soon as they can!” Sure about that? Please tell me the last thing the government took over that it decided to give up? Should we go so quietly?

This is a conspiracy theory, right? Maybe… but the one area in which Obama is being blatant is student loans. He wants to cut out any lenders that are in business to provide them and make them direct loans to the government… As some see it, Obama wants college kids indebted directly to Uncle Sam! That could mean major control over someone’s life!

Agree or disagree? Tell me how you see all this….

I know this has nothing to do with Charlotte home mortgage loans or real estate, but I ran across this awesome blog post and wanted to share.

http://life.angrysummit.com/chernobyl-23-years-later-photos

These are photos today of the ghost town that remains… very intriguing and fascinating. I highly recommend you check it out.

Wow… I never imagined we’d be sitting in this position. Mortgage rates for the Charlotte area and all the Carolinas are lower than I ever expected! Right now the question isn’t “Do you want to refinance your mortgage?”… it’s “HAVE YOU REFINANCED YOUR MORTGAGE YET?”

We are seeing the lowest rates of our lifetimes right now… a 30 year fixed mortgage rate today would blow away what we thought were great mortgage rates last year!

If you have not yet refinanced your Charlotte home loan, now is the time. Request your rate quote today!