Archive for April, 2009
Best Buys: Special financing on Fannie Mae Foreclosures
Looking for a Bank Owned Foreclosure in the Tampa Bay area? Would you like to buy without a large down payment or PMI? In tracking REO / Bank Owned Homes throughout Tampa, we want to make sure that you know about these homes:
Wellington Manors: 19724 Prince Benjamin, Lutz , 33549. $319,900
Cory Lake Isles: 10405 Canary Isle Dr, Tampa 33647. $265,100
Cory Lake Isles: 10941 Cory Lake Dr, Tampa 33647. $190,000
Palm Cove: 7901 Stoney Hill Dr, Wesley Chapel , 33544. $152,000
All these homes have the advantage of special Homepath financing:
* They can close in 2-3 weeks
* They offer a 95% Loan for Homeowners
* Or a 90% Loan for Investors
* No PMI (mortgage insurance fees)
* No Appraisal Fee
For more information, or to schedule a showing, contact Team Bohannon at 813-979-4963.
Buy a Home for Under 303K with just 3.5% Down!
Great News for home buyers in Tampa – the FHA has restored the 2008 loan limits. Even though the median home price is down 41% from peak levels, the FHA loan limit remains at at over twice the median sale price. As a result, Tampa home buyers can put down as little as 3.5% on a single family home priced up to $303,108, (max loan amount of $292,500). Of course a sales price can exceed this number but the down payment would increase. Buyers in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, and Hernando counties can take advantage of these generous loan limits today. The VA limit remains at $417k. Contact Team Bohannon for more info.
Buy & Bail, USDA Loans on a Pool Home?
The family mentioned in the previous post about “Buy & Bail” wanted to take advantage of today’s great prices to buy their dream home, a sprawling pool home in New Tampa’s Live Oak Preserve built by Southern Crafted Homes. However, they did not want to sell their old home at a loss. When they asked about renting out the old home, we ran into “buy & bail” restrictions with FHA and Conventional Loans.
Searching for alternate ideas, I asked Bob Saltzman, veteran mortgage broker at HFN for some options. Bob suggested that the buyer consider a USDA loan, which does not yet have the same restrictions. The home was located at an address that was eligible for a UDSA loan with 100% financing! So far so good. The buyers also met the UDSA’s income eligibility guidelines. However, upon further review, the USDA no longer lends on homes with pools. Back to the drawing board.
Rent Your Current Tampa Home & Buy Another? Beware Buy & Bail…
Tempted to buy a new home at today’s low prices and great interest rates but wondering what to do with your current home? Maybe you should just rent out your old home and buy the dream home? If the new home is in the same area, there are some new issues to consider.
Lending guidelines now look for “Buy and bail” scenarios, whereby someone would buy a new home and then allow their previous home to go into foreclosure. This premeditated foreclosure scheme is considered mortgage fraud.
“Buy and bail” has become a major issue for lenders. As a result, innocent home owners who want to buy a 2nd home in the same market face a more challenging environment to obtain a loan. Consider this example from of of my clients:
They enjoy living in their Live Oak neighborhood, but want to move up to a larger home with a pool. Even though they had put a substantial down payment on their current home 3 years ago, the value is now close to what they owe. They decided to rent out their current home rather than sell it…. at least until values recover somewhat, and then purchase another house in the same subdivision which is selling at a huge discount.
In order to avoid “buy & bail” rules with conventional or FHA financing, they would need to prove that they have a at least 30% equity in the old home, and they would need to qualify without using any anticipated rental income from their old home.
Tampa Bay Housing Starts Plunge 90%
Tampa Bay builders started just 697 homes between January & March, a 90% decline from three years ago when 6,043 homes were started in the same quarter of 2006.
Long gone are previously prominent builders such as: Engle Homes, Transeastern Homes, Smith Family Homes, Tripp Trademark Homes, Windjammer Home Builders and Nohl Crest Homes. Mercedes Homes and WCI plan to operate under Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
MetroStudy notes that unsold inventory from builders has decreased from 3,351 to 2,430 over the last year. For the complete story, click here
Homes Sales Increase While Prices Fall
The number of homes sold in the Tampa Bay area increased by 25 percent between February and March, according to the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors. The 1,400 home sales in March was the highest amount since June 2007.
While the number of home sold has increased, Tampa sale prices continue to trend down. The median sales price in the Tampa metro area was $131,400 in February, which represents a 27% decrease in the last year. For the full article, click here.
Pasco County prices Down 57.3%
Home prices are down by 57.3% from the peak in July 2006 according to a report released by Integrated Asset Services. Pasco County home values were amongst the hardest hit in Florida. For the article in the Tampa Tribune, click here.
100% Financing Available – USDA Loans
Looking to finance 100% at a great interest rate….now you have options. Your very own Department of Agriculture is offering $16 billion in funding for home loans rural areas. Surprisingly, some areas of Hillsborough County and Pasco County qualify as rural areas. Homes in New Tampa, Wesley Chapel, Land O’Lakes, Lutz and other areas may qualify. To see if a specific address is eligible, go to this page:
http://eligibility.sc.egov.usda.gov/eligibility/welcomeAction.do
(click on Single Family Housing on the left, then enter the address)
The USDA Rural Development program has a set of eligibility standards to determine if you qualify based upon the county and zip code the home resides in, your current income and credit history, as well as the number of dependents you claim. USDA guidelines are very specific, and only certain lenders have certification and experience dealing with USDA government financing. Contact Team Bohannon at Coldwell Banker for a list of our go-to lenders for USDA Loans.
Tampa Condo Market Turns The Corner?
Price reductions have spurred a potential rebound in condo sales throughout the Tampa Bay area. The number of condos sold in Hillsborough County has risen from 180 units in December, to 256 units in February, to 387 units in March; though 3602 units remain on the market – an 18 month supply.
Financing options for condos tend to be limited. Eligible complexes can apply for a Fannie Mae loan at just 3.5% down. For a list of FHA-approved condominium projects, see this link . If a complex is not FHA-approved, your lender many be able submit am application for approval if the complex meets strict guidelines. Otherwise, you will put down a minimum of 20%, though some complexes require cash sales due to low owner occupancy rates.
While prices are down, there are risks to consider. We suggest a thorough review of financial documents and meeting minutes prior to making a decision, as many complexes may be on questionable financial footing due to foreclosure activity.
Avoid Last Minute Surprises at Closing
Tampa home buyers and Tampa Realtors can avoid last minute surprises at the closing table by triple checking all the details in advance. Bob Saltzman, one of our go-to-lenders @ Home Financing Network, recently had this timely observation in his weekly newsletter:
It’s Always Something!
We have noticed lately that underwriters that previously would allow certain loan approval conditions to be met at the closing table now require them to be signed off on prior to closing. Maybe a simple initial on a contract, a pay-stub or escrow check that seems relatively unimportant may delay a closing at worst, or inconvenience buyers and/or sellers at best. We all know that there is a credit crisis, so it makes some sense that there are more hoops to jump through, but there is a more specific reason for more caution on behalf of lenders that provide FHA or Fannie/Freddie financing – which is practically all the lending going on now.
The challenge for lenders is that with no other investors buying loans, the cost of even the simplest of errors is catastrophic. Where previously a “scratch and dent” loan that is performing (perhaps it is 6 months old and the borrower has been making timely payments) would be snapped up for perhaps a 1 to 3 percent discount to the market, now the slightest error or missing document makes this otherwise valuable loan a tremendous liability to the lender who is lucky to sell it for a 40% or more loss. That means for every single error a lender makes in following agency requirements, they now must close 40 or so flawlessly to make up for the one fumble. All the more reason for all of us to pay attention to detail and manage expectation accordingly with our customers. Thought you may appreciate knowing the reason for any additional scrutiny you experience.
