BuyandClose.com Blog

1.- On Monday, the state House and Senate approved a trimmed-down tax break package they hope will kick-start the state's ailing housing market by doubling the $25,000 homestead exemption and allowing homesteaders to take Save Our Homes benefits with them when they buy a new house. Shall I wait or shall I buy this new home ?

2.- With the housing downturn forcing many of small and medium mortgage broker firms to sack workers and shut branches, some mortgage files are getting lost in the shuffle, turning up in places like Dumpsters that are easily accessed by scam artists. Please advise your clients to carefully share their information with independent mortgage broker firms.

3.- With loan defaults rising along with many mortgage payments, fast-growing numbers of homeowners are gambling on bankruptcy filings to try to stay in their homes.

Most consumers filing for bankruptcy continue to do so under Chapter 7 of the federal Bankruptcy Code. Under that provision, a person must forfeit certain assets -- including, in some cases, a portion of home equity. Those assets are sold to pay off debts. 

While Chapter 7 filings stop foreclosure proceedings, the break is usually only temporary. As a practical matter, many homeowners who file under Chapter 7 lose their homes. 

In recent months, however, an increasing number of homeowners have filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 13, which staves off foreclosure proceedings while the homeowner works out a plan to pay off mortgage debt and other obligations over time -- usually three to five years. To qualify, debtors must have a regular income and must stay current on their new bills. About four in 10 filers today are filing under Chapter 13 -- up from three in 10 two years ago. The 2005 change in bankruptcy laws was designed in part to shift more filers to Chapter 13, which forgives less debt than Chapter 7.  New Seminar coming soon !!!

4.- Worst to Come? In 2009-2011, monthly payments on $229 billion of option ARMs will readjust (so borrowers may have to pay more). Option ARMs once were a niche product targeted mainly to people with very strong credit. By 2005, option ARMs accounted for $238 billion of loan volume, or about 8% of loans originated that year, according to Inside Mortgage Finance. The increase in overdue payments partly reflects a decline in home prices in much of the U.S., which has made it more difficult for borrowers to refinance or sell their homes. Do you know of any past customers who will need to Refinance his home ?

5.- The market is convinced the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates tomorrow, but for the Fed itself, it is a closer call.. After learning that Merrill Lynch had to write off $7.9 billion in losses tied to mortgage-related securities, Wall Street again is yearning for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates to make the financial pain go away. Wall Street is counting on another Fed rate cut to relieve the stresses still haunting financial markets and the economy. Do you think the FED will cut interest rates tomorrow ?

6.- New-home sales rose 4.8 percent in September, but the increase did little to dampen pessimism about the industry's prospects for the next year. But what you project is what your client will perceive.

7.- A recession is a decline in any country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or negative real economic growth, for two or more successive quarters of a year. Three-Ingredient Recipe for Recession : Housing prices keep falling, oil prices keep rising and both lenders and borrowers growing more cautious after five years of incaution. Are we heading towards a Recession ? If affirmative, how do you sell homes during recession periods ?