Archive for the 'Credit & Finance' Category
$1.5 Billion on it’s way to help those in a struggle !
Related Posts: Credit & Finance
hiA plan to channel $1.5 billion to housing agencies in five states hit hardest by the real estate crash has Florida officials hopeful they can keep more people in their homes and out of foreclosure. President Obama announced the program Friday while in Nevada for a town hall meeting and campaign push for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The states included in the new program are Nevada, California, Arizona, Florida and Michigan, all of which consistently rank high on any measure of mortgage woe. But with more than 20 percent of its home loans seriously delinquent or in foreclosure, Florida tops the nation for defaults, according to a Mortgage Bankers Association report also released Friday. Obama administration officials called the $1.5 billion “modest” considering the depth of the nation’s housing crisis but said they hope it will lead states to come up with innovative solutions tailored to their own needs. Those solutions are expected to plug holes in the administration’s earlier Making Home Affordable Program, which has struggled to help unemployed homeowners who don’t have the income to qualify for a loan modification. It also attempts to tackle one of the thorniest issues to come out of the market meltdown – how to cope with upside-down loans where the homeowner owes more than what the property is worth. About 41 percent of South Florida borrowers, and 55 percent of Treasure Coast borrowers were underwater in December, according to analysts at Zillow.com. The $1.5 billion in taxpayer money, which is coming from the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program, can be used to help negotiate with lenders to write down mortgages on underwater loans.
The money will be doled out to states based on a formula that considers home price declines and unemployment. Officials couldn’t say Friday how many people it might help. There was some optimism Friday that the national housing market has begun to make a turn for the better. The Mortgage Bankers Association survey showed that despite continued record foreclosures, there was a small decrease in the number of loans 30-days late in the last quarter of 2009. That means fewer homes entered the foreclosure pipeline.
Instead, national 30-day delinquencies fell from 3.79 percent to 3.63 percent. In Florida, the 30-day delinquencies fell from 4 percent to 3.67 percent. The drop off may also be attributed, in part, to foreclosure rescue plans such as the Making Home Affordable Program. The program offers incentives to banks to reduce mortgage payments by cutting interest rates or principal amounts, but has been panned by critics for not reaching enough people.
A year into the program, 116,297 permanent loan modifications, including 14,598 in Florida, have been completed. But that’s only a fraction of the estimated 3.4 million loans nationwide that are 60 or more days delinquent.
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Justices adopt Florida foreclosure mediation rules
Related Posts: Credit & Finance, Government, Real Estate News
hiLenders will be required to pick up the tab for investigating and verifying ownership and then try mediation before foreclosing Florida home mortgages under new rules approved Thursday by the Florida Supreme Court.
The rules are designed to help Florida’s judicial system better cope with a flood of foreclosures. They follow a December administrative order by Chief Justice Peggy A. Quince telling local judges to adopt a uniform mediation program.
Florida has the nation’s fourth-highest foreclosure rate. Almost 400,000 cases were filed in Florida’s courts last year.
The rules and corresponding legal forms were proposed by a pair of Florida Bar panels.
The investigate-and-verify rule should help prevent those kinds of errors and give judges greater authority to sanction lenders who do make false allegations, the justices wrote.
The decision was unanimous except for a rule that will require prior approval of a judge before a foreclosure sale can be canceled. Justices Charles Canady and Ricky Polston dissented.
Last-minute cancelations have needlessly delayed other sales, again clogging the system.
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Fannie can help with closing costs on foreclosures
Related Posts: Credit & Finance, Government
hiFannie Mae, the largest provider of residential home funding in the United States, announced on Friday that it would start to pay closing costs for buyers of foreclosed homes in its inventory. Buyers of qualified properties will get up to 3.5 percent in closing costs or an equivalent amount for the purchase of new appliances.
Fannie wants to clear out the nearly 50,000 properties it has in inventory – listed on HomePath.com, the Web site created by Fannie Mae last year to sell the growing number of foreclosed homes. The offer is available to any owner-occupant who closes on the purchase of a property listed on HomePath.com before May 1, 2010. Applicable properties can be found on HomePath.com, along with property descriptions, photographs, community and school information, and more.
In addition, some Fannie Mae-owned properties are eligible for special HomePath Mortgage and HomePath Renovation Mortgage financing, which offers qualified homebuyers the ability to purchase with as little as 3 percent down.
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FHA Relaxes anti-flipping Rules
Related Posts: Credit & Finance, Government, Real Estate News
hiEffective yesterday, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) started providing mortgage insurance for some home purchases in which the seller bought the property and held it for less than 90 days.
The agency changed what is known as the “anti-flipping rule” to speed up sales of renovated homes in communities with too many bank-owned and foreclosed homes, says FHA Commissioner David H. Stevens. Waiving the 90-day rule encourages private investors to buy vacant properties, fix them up, and quickly sell them to buyers who are eligible to buy them using FHA financing.
The waiver is limited to sales that meet the following general conditions:
• All transactions must be arms-length, with no identity of interest between the buyer and seller or other parties participating in the sales transaction.
• In cases in which the sales price of the property is 20 percent or more above the seller’s acquisition cost, the waiver will only apply if the lender meets specific conditions.
• The waiver is limited to forward mortgages, and does not apply to the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) for purchase program.
• Specific conditions and other details of this new temporary policy are in the text of the waiver, available on HUD’s website: http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/waivpropflip2010.pdf.
Source: Washington Post (01/30/2010)
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Helpful information on Home Buyer Tax Credits
Related Posts: Credit & Finance, Government, Real Estate News, Real Estate Sales, What If Realty News
hiHere are some helpful things the IRS wants you to know about the credits.
• The credits are available only to buyers purchasing primary residences. The IRS defines this has the residence where you spend most of your time.
• There are two credits available. One is for first-time buyers, or those who have not owned a home in the past three years. The maximum for this credit is $8,000 and, unlike a previous credit, this one does not have to be paid back. It applies to purchases made this year between Jan. 1 and April 30.
• The government broadened the credit in November to include some buyers who already own houses. Those buyers are eligible for a credit worth up to $6,500 for purchases made between Nov. 7 and April 30. In order to qualify, the buyer must have owned a primary residence for at least five consecutive years out of the past eight years. This credit also does not need to be paid back.
• There are income and price requirements. If the home was purchased after Nov. 6, it can cost no more than $800,000. Also, if purchased after that date, individuals cannot earn more than $125,000 and married couples filing jointly cannot earn more than $225,000.
• You don’t have to wait until 2010 to claim your credit, even if you buy this year. Purchase a home before the April 30 deadline and the credit can be claimed on this year’s taxes.
• If you’re claiming the credit, a paper filing is necessary. Only taxpayers not claiming the credit can file electronically. Dobzinski said buyers can still use electronic forms, but must print them out and mail them in, along with form 5405.
• Unlike last year, buyers claiming the credit must prove they are eligible. This is because some people filed for the credit last year, even though they had not purchased a home. You’ll need to send the HUD settlement statement along with the tax form. If you’re claiming the longtime owner credit, also include proof, such as copies of mortgage interest statements, property tax records or homeowner’s insurance records.
• Keep in mind that the credit is for your primary home. If you decide to rent or sell the home within three years, the credit must be repaid.
• Buyers claiming the credit will have to wait longer than usual to get the credit because of the need to file by paper. Expect to wait four to eight weeks, instead of the typical two weeks when filing electronically.
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