Good morning, Memphis and around the country on IHEART radio. You’re on the Real Estate Mortgage Shoppe program. I’m your host, Jo Garner, mortgage professional with Evolve Bank and Trust. Our general topic today is “Sudden Tax Rate And Mortgage Rate Hike: Stay Calm And Let’s Crunch Your Numbers.” Tom King, our Shelby County Property Tax Appeal Expert with King and Vaughan Consulting is in the studio with us.
Lot’s happening over the last couple of weeks or so. We have a lot to talk about. Whatever your real estate topic—we want you on the air and around the coffee table with us. You can join us by calling (901) 535-WREC. That number again is (901) 535 9732.
Last week mortgage investors were playing pin the tail on the donkey –not knowing where to place their bets. When the jobs report came out yesterday, it’s a pretty clear indicator that the Federal Reserve will begin tapering off their multi-billion-dollar-a-month buying spree sending rates ratcheting up again.
Rates yesterday on the conventional 30 year fixed rate were about 4.1 percent, compared with 3.99 percent last week, higher than they have been in 15 months. The benchmark 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 3.28 percent this week, compared with 3.21 percent last week. The 7-1 hybrid adjustable rate, fixed for the first 7 years is a steal right now. I just locked a customer on this plan at 2.75%.
Tom, you are exactly right. I’ve had people calling me convinced they have missed the party. You haven’t missed the party! You’re just arriving fashionably late—but the party is still going on! I have been working with a precious couple for the last couple of months. They have been house shopping and FINALLY found that perfect house and got their offer accepted. She came running into my office all excited. I really dreaded telling her that the mortgage rates had done another high jump that day. I said a quick silent prayer as I went over her contract and, Voila! There it was –the seller had agreed to pay up to 6% of the price of the house toward the buyer’s closing costs. She could see me furiously working the calculator and kind of talking to myself—so she leaned over the desk a little like she was watching her horse at the races.
She and her husband needed their mortgage rate to stay in the 3’s on 30 yr loan in order for the house payment to stay in their budget. We were able to get the market rate of 4.125% bought back down in the 3’s using some of the money the seller had agreed to pay for their costs. They got the lower rate they needed and it cost them nothing. See? You just need to crunch those numbers and look for ways to make the deal work.
I had customers using the special HARP refinance programs where you don’t need an appraisal and the streamline FHA refinance with no appraisal— a few weeks ago if these families had locked their rate, they could have saved over $400 or $500 per month on a refinance. But they waited and thought they had missed the party when the rates took the leap. We crunched the numbers for them and they were still saving around $200 or $300 per month. Cake is still being served at the party. Call me and let’s crunch your numbers.
My very experienced assistant, Susan Belew, and I have been working with people who are buying houses AND refinancing them. There are so many winning scenarios out there. Some people are disappointed because they can’t sell their current home the amount they want to get. But even if you just break even selling your house or having to pay a little at closing to get it sold, think about the great deal you were able to get buying your NEW house? You are probably able to get more amenities and square footage for a lot less than you could a few years ago and with the mortgage rates still really low, your payment is so much lower too. Get with an experienced realtor, an experienced loan officer and go find your deal. Susan and I would love to help you. You can reach us at 901 482 0354 or on our blog www.MortgageLoansBlog.com
If you know someone with a Rural Housing USDA loan, this one can be streamline refinanced with no appraisal and less documentation. USDA just released that low-doc pilot program a few weeks ago.
We still have down payment assistance program from qualifying customers. We still have temporary bridge loans for customers who cannot sell their current home right away but need to go ahead and purchase their new home. If you self employed and not sure if the income on your tax return is enough, send me a copy of all pages of your tax returns including the K-1s. If there is income in there, I can find it.
I know it sounds like your boat has crashed into a sandbar with the jump in your real estate property tax rate and the mortgage rates but don’t panic—just call me directly off the air at 901 482 0354—that’s (901) 482 0354. Or connect with me on my blog www.mortgageloansblog.com Let’s work on your numbers.
Tom, I know you have been working with homeowners to try and keep their real estate property taxes down. Property assessment values are down but the tax rate on those values just spiked up to __________. What advice can you give to Shelby County homeowners to lower their property taxes?
Questions for Tom King to answer:
1. What can you do if the deadline for the informal appeal is expired. What can the homeowner do at this point?
2. What if you have already appealed? Now what?
3 I know you regularly do residential real estate tax appeals? Do you do commercial building appeals too? What can you do for commercial appeals?
Questions answered by Jo Garner
1. How do you determine if it makes sense to refinance?
2. What is the maximum you should pay to buy a mortgage rate down?
3. What are some trends you are seeing over the first 2 quarters of this year?Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist said, “Borrowers continue to strengthen their fiscal house by taking advantage of near record low mortgage rates. In total, borrowers who refinanced in the first quarter of this year will save approximately $7 billion in interest payments over the next 12 months, which they can put towards savings, paying down debt or to support additional expenditures. Further, the estimated $8 billion in ‘cash-out’ activity will further augment borrowers’ investment and consumption spending.”
Housing inventory has been low so with so much demand for housing and the low supply, we’re seeing house values rise over 20% within the last 12 months.
4. It is said that two of the biggest reasons people don’t buy a house or refinance a house right now is because they do not think they have enough money for closing or they think their credit is not good enough. How do you get around those two obstacles?
A. The first obstacle you mentioned was not having enough money to close. With as low as the rates are right now, Susan and I can look at scenarios where we can either roll your closing costs into the balance of your loan on a refinance or we can arrange for the lender to pay your costs for you. Even on an FHA streamline refinance where you are refinancing your existing FHA loan to another one, you won’t need an appraisal on this one and with the lender paying your costs, you can still get in for zero or very little. Call me at 901 482 0354 and let’s compare some scenarios for you. That number for me, Jo Garner, is 901 482 0354.
B. On a home purchase Susan and I can check to see which down payment assistance programs may be available to you which will lower your dollar amount needed to close. Or, in some cases, we can look at doing a two loan combination with a first mortgage up to 80% of the price and a small piggy-back loan to allow to you to put down less without being saddled up with unnecessary mortgage insurance. This 2nd scenario works great with second homes and rental properties. We can also look at giving you a loan secured on a different asset so that you have all the funds you need to close. Just let me know how I can help you.
C. To overcome the credit hurdle, my assistant Susan Belew and I have trained on the Credit Simulator tools. These tools can suggest steps you can take to gain the most credit score points in the least amount of time with the least investment.
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Real Estate Tip of the Week: Jo may append a short tip on : If you are in a bidding war with someone else who is making an offer on the same house you want to purchase, you might consider making a higher than list price offer –if the realtor thinks it will still appraise for that amount and especially if you need the seller to pay your costs and maybe a little extra to buy the rate lower.
Jo needs to make 2 announcements: Talk Shoppe offers free education and networking to anyone interested in real estate or business. This Wednesday 9a to 10A at Devry University 6401 Poplar 6th floor Talk Shoppe presents “Mining Business Leads From The Memphis Business Journal: byToni Rowland of the MBJ.
Talk Shoppe will be featured on the Comcast Cable Tonight Show next Friday June 14th 6:30pm on Channel 17. For more information about Talk Shoppe go to www.TalkShoppe.BIZ.
Next Saturday 9AM CST on the Real Estate Mortgage Shoppe program we will have Attorney Ron Cohen of Premium Title Group and we will be talking about All Things Legal Regarding Your Real Estate.”
Transition Songs: “Where Were You When The Ship Hit the Sand” by Tennessee Ernie Ford and Dean Martin; “I Said My Pajamas” by Doris Day; “21” by Dean Martin and Roger Miller
About Tom King. (901) 487-6989 Tom King has been an appraiser in the Memphis area for over 35 years. He cut his teeth on appraising since his father was an appraiser also.
Tom currently is partner in the King and Vaughan Consulting firm with Deanna Vaughan. For this company Tom is a certified Shelby County real estate property tax appeal expert. With the new property tax appraisals coming out, Tom is about to be VERY busy.
In his free time Tom likes to sky dive and is VERY experienced at it. He also lives in the country and has horses. He is a long-time member of Bellevue Baptist church and very active in the Christmas Tree production.
Jo Garner’s Bio
www.MortgageLoansBlog.com www.MoneyShoppe.NET (901) 482 0354 jogarner@mindspring.com
Jo Garner is a mortgage officer with extensive knowledge in tailoring mortgages to her customers who are refinancing or purchasing homes all over the country. She offers conventional, FHA, VA or other loan programs for refinancing and purchases.
Jo can help you look at rent vs buy, when it makes sense to refinance, how to get the best deal on your home purchase financing.
Jo Garner has been in the real estate/financing business for over 20 years. She got her start in Portland, Maine where she first began her real estate career. She received her real estate education from the University of Southern Maine and was personally mentored in San Diego, California by Robert G. Allen, author of Nothing Down, Creating Wealth and The Challenge.
On moving back to West Tennessee in 1987, she went into business buying and selling discounted owner-financed notes secured on real estate. In 1990 Jo went to work for a residential mortgage company and has been a mortgage loan officer for over 17 years. Her goal is to offer excellent, affordable service to her customers, tailoring the loan programs to the specific needs of her clients.
In addition to her work in the mortgage field, Jo Garner is the primary sponsor and founder of Talk Shoppe in Memphis. www.TalkShoppe.BIZ She was also the editor of Power Shoppe, a free weekly ezine designed for real estate professionals and others indirectly connected to the real estate industry and currently publishes on her blog www.MortgageLoansBlog.com.
For real estate financing 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 real estate, money-saving tips and more.