Current Home Lending Info Blog for Southern Nevada

Condominimiums have become priced very reasonably, and for that reason more and more people are looking at purchasing these properties as a way to enter home ownership, take advantage of the benefits of it, and maintain the cheap monthly payment that are keeping many people in their apartments. 

While this is something that is very cost effective, there is something you want to make sure of before looking at a specific area or condo project that you are interested in.  FHA loans, which currently offer the cheapest down payment at 3.5% down, have a list of all of the condo developments in the country that they are willing to lend on.  Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac also have their own list as well of condo's that they will allow the banks to lend on.  Since the majority of all lending institutions rely on these government entities to dictate the guidelines for the loans, it is imperative that you make sure that your condo is on the approved list for whatever loan you are looking for.

If you are looking for an FHA loan, you will want to visit https://entp.hud.gov/idapp/html/condlook.cfm.  If you are looking for a Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Conventional loan, you will need to visit https://www.efanniemae.com/syndicated/documents/dps/condopud/NV.pdf.  These are the two main websites that will let you know whether or not it is possible for your loan to go through based on the condo that you picked.  Make sure that when visiting these condo's, you take a look at the name of the condo as you drive in.  If you would like more help with these types of loans, please contact David Schwartz at 702-370-2116, and he will assist you in determining if the condo development you are interested in is able to obtain the best financing available for what you would like to do.

Have a great day!!

Well, while the Stimulus Bill is long, and will take quite some time for the entire bill to be rolled out and put into effect, here are three items from the bill that you can focus on now, and look for immediate benefit:

1)  A LOWER MORTGAGE RATE - Many responsible, conservative home owners have been quite upset over the past couple of years with the attention, the homeowner's that are unable to fit the bill, are getting.  It seemed for quite some time that only those who failed to make their mortgage payments were allowed to save face and find a way out of their prediciment.  While it is not the best case scenario at this point, the bill has allowed those who are upside down in their home at a value of 105% of what the home is currently worth to be eligible to refinance their home into more favorable rates.  This obviously is a great deal better than the previous requirement of having 20% equity in the home, and is a start in the right direction.

2)  A GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE INSURANCE PROGRAM - As the unemployment rate has been at some of its highest levels in history, the new administration has taken note of this, and has allowed somewhat of a crutch in the event that you do lose your job and are left having to foot the bill for your insurance.  In most cases, if you have lost your job since September 1, 2008 you will be eligible to receive government funds to cover up to 65% of the monthly premium for you to hold onto the insurance for you and your familiy during the rough patches.

3.)  TIME TO BUY A NEW CAR - Also included in the stimulus package is a very interesting incentive towards buying a new vehicle (car, SUV, or motorcycle) for the year 2009.  The Bill allows you to be eligible to deduct any state taxes, if applicable, as well as local sales tax on your new ride.  So, if your sales tax is 7.5% on a $35,000 car, you stand to write off an additional $2,625.  Not a bad incentive to go out and get the car you want this  year, although make sure you settle your home buying/refinancing issues first to make sure you do not mess with your ability to qualify for home financing!  :)  Also, with many of the car manufacturers willing to make almost any deal to get cars off the lot, many are offering incentive programs to buy this year, such as paying your first 6-9 months of your car payments, even if you lose your job or have to give the car back.  That last part is not in the Stimulus Package, just a good ol' gift from your local car manufacturer.

If you would like to discuss any of these topics, please do so here.  Respond to my blogs with your thoughts or contact me to speak more about how I can help in any way possible...

Stay positive, we will work our way through this mess, and come out blossoming once again!

Best Regards,

David J. Schwartz

Over the past two years, you have seen some extraordinary circumstances arise that has caused many Americans to hold on with a death grip to any bit of money that they have, in fear of the fact that large institutions were shutting down left and right, and their homes were depreciating 20, 30, 50%!  In fact, the nervousness of the average American caused such a dramatic situation, that they were pulling money out of their banks, in fear that the banks would go under, and the FDIC would not be there to make sure that their money stayed safe.  This drastic change in the American's trust of the financial institutions of this country caused them to pull their funds out, which resulted in the banks becoming depleted of liquid funds that they may use to counteract the foreclosures of some of the riskier loans they had taken on.

After the dust has settled, we are now sitting here in Las Vegas, Nevada and looking at a desert...  Tumbleweeds still roll by, some neighboorhoods look like a ghost town, even though they are a couple of years old... Entire 20 story condominium buildings sit vacant with nothing but expensive carpeting and built in espresso machines covering the grounds and walls. 

And yet, I see opportunity.  By utilizing the resources that this fine country has given us, we have the opportunity of a lifetime.  While many people have come head on with the storm that has them either "Married to Their Home" right now, where they are barely making their mortgage payments only by stripping themselves of any type of extracurricular activity that costs money and buying Ramen Noodles in bulk, the government and non-profit groups are doing what they can to help out those that have stuck with their homes, scraped together the money to make their payments, and hopefully soon they will be able to sleep comfortably again at night. 

But, with so many homeowners each month taking everything not cemented down and letting their homes foreclose, those that stood by four to five years ago and either weren't in a position to buy, or chose not to and were kicking themselves at the time, can come in and pick the same homes they had wanted to buy five years ago but maybe stopped to think that they couldn't afford that house at that time!

So, to those of you now, who are still in apartments and rented homes and townhomes, it is time for you to come out and take part in the NUMEROUS benefits that buying a home today offers. 

Many are aware of the $8,000 tax credit that they have as first time homebuyers from the IRS, but keep in mind...You only have another 5 months or so to make your purchases.  Also, most homebuyers today are finding out that they are making payments on their mortgage that are about the same, EVEN cheaper than what they are currently renting for.  Add in the mortgage interest, Property tax, and mortgage insurance write-offs, and you are actually making more money per year than you would be renting.

The loan programs that benefited the banks and brokers of the world have been almost completely cleared up, and you can secure rates in the fours on a fixed loan with no penalty for selling or refinancing anytime you want.

Not to mention, if put in an FHA program (as most first time homebuyers I work with are put into), you can rest assured that if the rates decide to drop dramatically after you have purchased, you can do a streamline refinance, that costs a very small percentage of what a normal refinance or purchase would, and be able to take advantage of what the current rates stand at without having  to prove your income, assets, and value of the home again!  It's almost as easy as ordering a pizza.

I am attaching a link to a document, rentvbuycomparisonchart.pdf, that shows you a real life current example of woman who was renting, and was deciding to purchase.  You can see from this link that now may be the time to reach out to your mortgage broker, run some numbers, and see if homeownership is right for you, right now.

Best Regards,

David J. Schwartz

David@HomeLoansOfNevada.com

702-370-2116

For those that don't know, we have our new Home Illustrated Magazine coming out tomorrow, Friday May 15, 2009.

We have a beautiful two page ad that goes over some of the information that we have for the buyers in our market today including our Free Foreclosure Bus Tours as well as Free Reports for those looking to buy their first home!  Don't waste your time working with those looking take advantage of potential buyers beccause they only do a couple loans a month.

We are a service based lending team, with an emphasis on helping as many people as possible.  To be honest, the way that I look at every deal is by asking my questions, "How would I price this loan and help the client understand what program would be best for them if it were my mother that was the client?" 

We guarantee our fees, our rates, and our service WILL NOT be beat by any lender, let alone in just the state of Nevada.

So please, help support our group, grab a Homes Illustrated Magazine, view our information on www.homesillustrated.com and have a great weekend!!

Thank you to all for your continued support!

Dave Schwartz

That's right, you will now be able to see my beautiful face on two full pages in the new Homes Illustrated Magazines for the Las Vegas Community.  In the book, we go over our Foreclosure Bus Tours as well as 800 numbers we have set up to provide free information about buying a home in today's market, and information on First Time Home Buyers.

Our first magazine ad will be published on Friday, May 15th.  Homes Illustrated publishes every two weeks, so we will be in the next book as well on the 29th. But, once the 29th hits, we will also be on a THIRD PAGE!  That's right, I believe it is page 5, but we are co-marketing with The Merri Perry Team.  Please look for us in the magazines, and contact us if you would like more information about any of the topics and services we are providing.

You can also visit us on www.homesillustrated.com, and search under lenders to get our information on there as well.

I would like to thank everyone who has supported us, and I look forward to building our community.

I have also added new technology to my office so that I will soon be providing Video Blogs and Audio Blogs, on top of the written blogs you are reading now.  We will be putting all of our blogs on this page, so you can visit the different blogs that i have created, but this is our generic blog.  We also have an FHA Blog as well as a Mortgage Professional Education Blog as well to help other members of our industry to listen to and to read.

We are growing by leaps and bounds.  If you are a mortgage professional, processor, underwriter, or anyone else who has experience in the residential or commercial lending industry, please contact me, David Schwartz, at 702-370-2116 to schedule an interview.  We are simply bringing on more clients than we ever had, and with that we need to expand.  If you are currently a producing loan broker, and you would like to become a part of our team, be provided leads, a free online client retention management system, two online educational lender websites with interviews, articles, forums, and more, not to mention a very sofisticated loan comparison flyer and rent vs. own flyers that you can customize for each client, please feel free to contact me and we will go over it more.

Thank you to everyone for your support!

David J. Schwartz, Sr. Lending Consultant

P.S. visit Craigslist and BusinessFinance.com to learn about our new unsecured business lines of credit we are providing, or call me via the phone number listed above to get more information.  There will be a link to our site that links you to our informational page on our unsecured lines of credit soon as well.  Have a great day!

HUD, or the Department of Housing and Urban Department officials are now saying that the FHA program that is currently being used to finance over 50% of all transactions in the state of Nevada may be doing better than what they anticipated in their original speculations on the losses they would take during the real estate craze.

"While obviously delinquincies and defaults have been rising, we also have seen some encouraging signs in recent analysis of the FHA portfolio," HUD secretary Shaun Donovan told reporters last week.

The secretary went on to say that the credit scores associated with FHA loans have gone up over the past year, and that the FHA program did not get hit as hard as some of the conventional and sub-prime programs did due to the fact that the FHA product at the height of the market, was not being utilized as the major tool for financing the areas that reached the highest defaults and decline in prices.

Nevada is one of those states that was not utilizing the FHA loan as some of the other states were during that time frame when homes were on a drastic rise.  The main reason for this is due to the fact that, at the time, most lenders and brokers had negative conotations of the FHA loan and the strict guidelines they had on homes, as well as the fact that they required a 3% down payment, when the conventional lenders were allowing us to take advantage of the many 0 Down products that were available.

In today's market, FHA has become a major resource for us to lean on, given the fact that, even though they raised the down payment requirement up to 3.5%, it is still lower than the conventional products that are now available, which require a minimum of 5% down.

FHA is a government backed loan, and has many perks to it that make it a great program to utilize in our current market.  Not only is the down payment minimal, it also allows for those that take FHA loans to do what they call FHA streamline refinances at a term usually 3-6 months after purchasing the home.   What an FHA Streamline Refi is, is basically a way for those that originally chose to purchase their homes with an FHA product, to refinance should and when rates drop without having to document assets, income, and value of the home again.  The paperwork for those that purchased using an FHA loan is as easy as the Stated Income/Stated Asset Programs of old were.  Speak to your current mortgage broker, or if they are no longer in businesss, contact us and we will assist you in determining if a Streamline Refinance is feasible for you, and can usually be completed in a couple of weeks, making it easy for the homeowner, and allowing them to, very efficiently, lower their monthly payment, making it more affordable for current homeowners.

Have a great weekend!  Dave Schwartz  702-370-2116, The Schwartz Group