February 2010

Understanding the New Good Faith Estimate

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 at 11:29am. 696 Views, 0 Comments.

Typically when you obtian a loan, you are provided with GFE or "Good Faith Estimate" which outlines the terms of the loan as well as the closing costs and the total amount the borrower will need to bring to escrow to close the deal. Due to concerns relating to the mortgage meltdown, the rules concerning GFE's have changed.

Previously, the GFE was only supposed to disclose fees and costs that are being charged to the buyer. The new rules stipulate that the GFE is to include ALL FEES related to the transaction such as pest and home inspection fees, and other fees which may or may not actually be paid by the buyer. For instance-I'm currently in escrow on a Condominium in the Lake Merritt area which already had a pest report done which was provided in the…

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Lake Merritt Makeover

Thursday, February 18th, 2010 at 5:38pm. 548 Views, 0 Comments.

You have probably noticed a lot of work being done lately around Lake Merritt lately. Recent improvements include landscaping, new walkways, lighting and even a new restaraunt Lake Chalet. I recently attended a presentation by a non-profit organization that aims to restore and preserve the quality of the water in the Lake. One of the interesting pieces of news that I heard was that there are plans to demolish the dam that runs along 12th st (where the water flows into the estuary) and build a sort of overpass that will allow traffic to flow over the moving water below. The goal is to allow boats to pass back and forth from the lake out to the estuary, so they can get out into the Bay. This would be a dramatic difference and a tremendous improvement to the…

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Short Sales Are Still The Best Option for Many

Thursday, February 11th, 2010 at 4:39pm. 458 Views, 0 Comments.

Many of us were hoping that the short sale phenomenon was going to be temporary, but it's turned out to be a huge percentage of the sales in our area throughout 2009 and into 2010..with no end in sight. There are so many homeowners who are "underwater" that many of them are choosing to attempt a short sale. For most of these people, the only option other than a loan modification is to continue paying your mortgage or walk away and foreclose. Loan modifications aren't popular with many, because the modification in most cases will not change the principal balance of the mortgage, but rather reduce the interest that the borrower is paying on that balance. For many people, the thought of continuing to pay on a mortgage balance of say $700,000, when the…

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Fha Spot Approvals are Officially No More

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 2:50pm. 396 Views, 0 Comments.

You may have read in one of my recent posts about the fact that Fha is changing their guidelines with regards to Condos. Well unfortunately as of Feb 1 the Fha is not going to approve any loans for the purchase of a Condo unless the Condo Development is already on the list of approved Condos. So basically this means that if you an Fha buyer and you are looking to buy a Condo, your options are significantly more limited than they were last month. There a few lenders who are looking for ways around this, but currently it just isn't possible.

So if you have been recently pre-approived for financing or are in the process now, make sure you are clear that if you intend to buy a Condo, you need to make sure that your agent verifies whether or not the…

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