Good morning Memphis! Good morning to you across the country on IHEART radio. You’re on the Real Estate Mortgage Shoppe with me Jo Garner, Evolve Bank and Trust. Our co-host today is Lynn Lanigan owner of Lanigan Worldwide Moving an Allied Van Lines Agent.
Lynn, its great having you back on the show. Tell us a little about yourself and what you do.
Our topic today is “Making a Positive Move in 2013: Tips On Your Move & Your Mortgage.” But we want to talk to you about ANYTHING you want to discuss regarding your real estate, your financing, your credit, you upcoming move—just call us on the air at 901 535 WREC.
We’re talking about making a positive move in 2013, but our rates haven’t done much moving this week. Where they will be moving in 2013 is largely dependent on the decisions being made on Capital Hill. If the tax breaks are not extended it is possible we could see the real estate market’s march to recovery forced down to a limp like it has been for a few years.
Let’s look at the headlines from the last few weeks: Consumer Spending Jumps Most in 3 Years. U.S. Homes Gained $1.3 Trillion in Value During 2012. Sales of Existing U.S. Homes Rose to Three-Year High in November. U.S. Housing Values Rose 6% in 2012 for First Gain in Six Years. Builders Hanging Help-Wanted Signs as Industry Rebounds. Home Building Permits Near Four-and-Half Year High. Homebuilder Confidence Rises to Highest Level Since 2006. Hopefully these trends will continue but continued recover depends on decisions made in Washington, the drama overseas with the European debt crisis, and our Federal Reserve continuing to buy mortgage-backed securities.
And rates stayed low this week. The 30 year fixed rate is still hanging around 3.5 percent. The 15 year stayed around 2.875% to 3%. Lynn, These low rates and the fact that the prices on houses appear to be on their way Up, means you are going to be very busy helping people move to new homes in the coming year.
This week most of our customers are calling to get preapproved for a loan to PURCHASE a home while the rates and prices are still low. Some of our callers have a big chunk of dollars to use as a down payment. Other callers are looking for down payment assistance. There are SEVERAL down payment assistance programs out there right now. The newest one, the Helping Homeowners, is the best yet and you don’t have to be a first-time homebuyer for this one. The minimum amount of money down is 1% of your own funds and the assistance pays up to $15,000 for down payment, closing costs and prepaid taxes and insurance. The down payment assistance does not have to be paid back if you live in the house for at least 5 years.
This program is a godsend for sellers who do not have enough equity to pay for all of the buyers cost but still want the sale to go through for cash-strapped buyers. The down payment assistance pays it. But this money is only available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Call me directly off the air if you want to see if you qualify for this program. My direct number off the air is 901 482 0354. My direct number again is 901 482 0354.
Some homeowners want to buy a home now but are not sure how fast they can sell the house they are currently living in. If you are in that situation and have quite a bit of equity built up in your home, we can look at giving you a temporary loan on your existing home so that you can go ahead and put a large down payment down on your new home to keep that payment low. You can then grab the deal on the house you want today instead of having to wait. Then you can pay off the temporary loan on your old house when it sells even if its long after you have already bought and moved into your new house. Do you have this situation or one that is similar? Give me a call and we can talk about solutions for you. There are plenty of work-arounds out there. My direct number if you want to talk OFF the air is (901) 482 0354. Or call us on the air at 901 535 WREC.
If you need to go ahead and buy your new home and move in before selling your old one, Lynn Lanigan has some great solutions on how to make that move seamless.
The other half of our calls are from homeowners wanting to refinance their mortgages to the lowest rates in 65 years. The special Home Affordable Refinance Program otherwise known as HARP is still popular. If you know someone who is underwater on their mortgage (in other words, if they owe more than the current value on their home) the HARP program does not require an appraisal value. If you have an FHA loan, you can refinance that on the FHA Streamline program with no appraisal to a lower rate replacing the old FHA loan with a rate around 3.25% or even in the 2’s without an appraisal.
I talked with a customer yesterday who owes $357,000 on her home with a 4.5% rate. I showed her how we could lower the rate to 3.5% saving her about $200/month but shortening her term by 3 years. By shortening the term 3 years, we saved her 36 months at what her principal and interest payment was at almost $1900. Just doing that saved her about $68,000. But since she will be paying the next 25 years with a note $195/mo less, we saved her an additional $58, 000. The whole transaction saved her about $125,000. That’s real money! What a deal!
Today we’re talking about “Making A Positive Move in 2013: Tips On Your Move & Your Mortgage.” We’ve been talking about how to make some positive moves on your mortgage. Lynn, I believe you have some great tips on how to make a great move moving your STUFF.
Questions to be answered by Lynn Lanigan:
1. What sets Lanigan Allied apart from other moving companies?
2. What do your drivers do to avoid damaging the property?
3 How long has Lanigan Allied been in business?
4 What are some money-saving tips people can use to save money on their move?
Questions to be answered by Jo Garner :
1. You mentioned that you have several down payment assistance programs and that the new one is really a great one. What is the difference between this program and the others?
Answer: With the Helping Homeowner dpa, Rate is much lower—low to mid 3’s compared to the 4.2% rate from the common THDA program. Cost is much less. Zero points vs the 1.25% points from the popular THDA program
Buyer does not have to be a first-time homebuyer vs. 1st time homeowner requirement with the popular THDA. Buyer cannot own more than one property at a time though. No debt-to income ratio limit as long as FHA has approved the mortgage. Full payment of the 3.5% down payment, the closing costs and the prepaid taxes and insurance with borrower’s required down payment only 1%.
2. You can ask me to explain in more detail the bridge loan solution for people who want to buy and move into their new residence before they can sell their current home.
3. You have been talking about a solution you and your assistant, Susan Belew offer to get people refinanced on the FHA streamline program with very little out –of-pocket money. How does that work?
4. Can you use the FHA streamline refinance with no appraisal and the HARP loan with no appraisal value on your primary residence AND investment property?
Real Estate Tip of the Week: If you want to buy a house quickly, make sure your credit is okay. If you have a judgment that has been filed against you in court, these have to be paid or satisfied before you can close on a mortgage loan. If you want your credit scores to be as high as possible to get the best mortgage rates, make sure your revolving debt such as credit card balances are paid down and maintained at less than 30% of the total credit limit. )
Lynn gives a website that give multiple closing tips to save the customers money
Jo Garner makes 3 announcements:
1. If you want to listen to the podcast of our show today and podcasts from past broadcasts, go to www.mortgageloansblog.com and click on the Podcasts and Media tab. The blog site again is www.mortgageloansblog.com
2. Talk Shoppe is not meeting this Wednesday to give everyone a chance to spend with family and friends. Talk Shoppe offers free education and networking to the community for anyone interested in real estate or in business. Year after year, Jack Redden, one of our former supporters, encouraged us to remember someone who is alone this holiday or someone who is suffering loss. His challenge was for us to invite them out for coffee or lunch and spend time listening and being a friend. Jack passed away this year, but his challenge remains. Take time to care. For more information about Talk Shoppe, go to www.TalkShoppe.BIZ
3. Next week right here on the Real Estate Mortgage Shoppe program, we have Richard Scarbrough, experienced real estate investor and realtor with First National Realty here. We will be talking about getting started with your real estate investing.
Transition Songs: 9:15 am On The Road Again by Willie Nelson, 9:30 am Moving On Up The Jeffersons , 9:45am All Over The World by ELO
Jo Garner, Mortgage Officer with Evolve Bank & Trust cell 901 482 0354 jogarner@mindspring.com personal email www.MoneyShoppe.NET and www.mortgageloansblog.com
Lynn Lanigan, president of Lanigan Worldwide Moving an Allied Vanlines Agent (901) 744-7070 llanigan@alliedagent.com www.laniganalliedvanlines.com
Gwen Christensen, owner of Builders Floors and Interiors (901) 382-2155 www.buildersfloorsandinteriors.com
Charlotte Bergmann, partner of Angelic Visits (a senior support service) and former US Congressional candidate (901) 281-8292 www.angelicvisits.com
Pam Fillmore, Attorney handling wills and other corporate legal issues (615) 500-3511
For real estate financing solutions and legal solutions, plug into the Real Estate Mortgage Shoppe program. You can find mortgage rates, FHA Streamline refinance with no out-of-pocket costs, refinancing options, home purchase loan programs, answers and money-saving tips for moving from your home or moving your business and more.