Real Estate Information

Greetings!

The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), as part of the Obama Administration’s Making Home Affordable Program, are partnering with the HOPE NOW Alliance and NeighborWorks America® to bring a free homeowner event to the area. These events are designed to help bring together homeowners in financial distress for a face-to-face meeting with a representative from their mortgage lender and/or local housing counselor.

Don’t miss this free opportunity to get free help to save your home and meet one-on-one with your mortgage lender or a HUD-approved housing counselor to find out if you qualify for the Obama Administration’s Making Home Affordable Program or other options from your lender.

Onsite parking is complimentary (with voucher received upon departure).

If you plan to attend, please bring the following documents:

• Monthly mortgage statement
• Information about other mortgages on your home, if applicable
• Two most recent pay stubs for all household members
• contributing toward mortgage payment
• If self-employed, the most recent quarterly or year to date profit and loss statement and two years of tax returns
• Documentation of income you receive from other sources (alimony, child support, social security, etc.)
• Two most recent bank statements
• A utility bill showing homeowner name and property address
• Unemployment insurance letter, if applicable

The Request for Modification and Affidavit Form (RMA) and the IRS Forms 4506-T or 4506T-EZ will be available on site. You can also print these forms and get more details about other documents your mortgage lender might require at: MakingHomeAffordable.gov, click on “Get Assistance/Request a Modification”.

For more information:

• Call the Homeowner’s HOPE tm Hotline at 1-888-995-HOPE (4673).
•  To get tips to avoid scams, visit LoanScamAlert.org.  Help is Free!
• Visit MakingHomeAffordable.gov or HopeNow.com.

I'm often asked if this is a good time to buy a home. Some clients are concerned that home prices may fall further than they have already. They are assuming that the best course of action is to wait for the bottom in the market and then buy. The problem with this approach is that you don't know where the bottom is until you see it in the rear view mirror, meaning until you've missed it!

Home prices are one factor in determining your cost of ownership, but so are interest rates and financing availability. Even though interest rates have gone up in the last six months, they are still near historic lows. Since your monthly mortgage payment is a combination of paying down your principal and paying the interest owed, if home prices come down a little further but interest rates up, it could cost you even more to service a mortgage on an identical home!

While a home is a major investment, it is also the center of your personal life. It's important to live in a home that reflects your taste and values, yet is within your financial "comfort zone." To that end, it may be more important to lock in today's relatively low interest rates and low home prices, rather than to hope for a further break in prices in the future.

Please give me a call if I can be of any assistance in determining how much home you can afford in today's market.