Hello all, I am back, after a short hiatus, I am ready to delve back into these issues head first.
President Bush is lated to sign a new Housing Rescue Bill which will affect a lot of standards and norms we have in our current market. There are some good and really bad results from this new Housing Bill. Im going to delve into these now. Let's start off first with the bad.

1) Fha Limits will change.Where as currently they are lending 97% LTV, it's going to change to 96.5% LTV. Let me explain how this works out. LTV is Loan to Value, and that is the amount of the loan you can receive financing for. For example, if you have a $200,000 house you are going to purchase via FHA, Currently they only loan 97% LTV, which means they will give you 97% of the money needed to purchase that real estate. So the remaining 3% is your responsibility as downpayment. In this situation 3% of $200,000 is $6,000. So you would need to come up with $6,000 out of pocket. Well when the housing bill goes into effect *it's estimated to be in full swing October 1st 2008* the New LTV will be 96.5% Meaning that you, the borrower, will have to come up with not 3% but 3.5% of the purchase price. So on our $200,000 example we had from before, you would need to come up with $7,000 now, instead of $6,000! This is a bit of a problem, but there is something else that is being taken away which would constitute needing to get out there and buy up some REO's, short sales, and other properties quickly.

2) All Seller Assisted downpayment gift programs (Ameridream, Nehemiah, Etc.) are all going to be invalid come October 1st. These programs are set up for the Seller to provide assistance to the Buyer with their downpayment. Now because it IS illegal for a Seller to ouright give money to a Buyer for down payment assistance, these programs were put into use to get around this red tape. With Ameridream and Nehemiah, it is possible for a Buyer to truly get into a house with No money down! These programs are great and have been the mainstay of many FHA buyers. If these programs go away, not only can buyers not get any aid with their downpayment, they will also have to come up with more money to get their house! A lot of REO's have been approving Ameridream and other downpayment assisted deals. Short sales as of late have been following suit. So this will play an interesting role in how thing will pan out. Now that you have heard all of the bad... now for the good.
The good) Now every 1st time homebuyer that has purchased a house inbetween April 9th 2008 and July 1st 2009 will be eligible for a credit up to $7,500!!! So basically, if you are a 1st time homebuyer and you buy a house within these dates, You can get up to $7,500 back, straight up!! This is a pretty serious incentive to buy a house! Coupled with the other norms changing, it's a recipe for needing to hurry up and get out there and purchase a house! If you were on the fence before, NOW is the time. Especially with all the REO's being added daily, and Short Sales becoming a bigger force in the market, the efficiency on those is starting to get better.

In Re-Cap this is what we're up against:
1)FHA LTV's are changing from 97% to 96.5% LTV. This means you have to come up with 3.5% as opposed to the current 3% downpayment.

 
2) Ameridream, Nehemiah, etc. downpayment gift programs are going to be obsolete as of October 1st 2008 (as quoted by CNN.com, and many legal and housing experts are predicting this.) So if you didn't have any money to put down, this would be a great time for you to take advantage of Nehemiah and Ameridream before they are no longer valid. Utilize Ameridream and Nehemiah before they die.

3) You will receive a credit up to $7,500 for being a 1st time homebuyer between April 9th 2008 and July 1st 2009!!
What else can you be waiting for, please contact me today and I will help you take full advantage of these opportunities!

Also, City of Peoria is offering a $15,000 downpayment grant for anyone buying a foreclosure in the City of Peoria! This is seperate from Ameridream and Nehemiah so this is not going to go away in the same manner, but the money is limited!! So with this, you eat up a huge chunk of your downpayment *resulting in lower payments, better rate etc. etc.* AND you can have seller assisted concessions to you can get into your REO of choice in Peoria for 0$ due at Close of escrow! Now this program is valid for all REOs (REO - Real Estate owned, Lender owned properties. basically they are properties that have fully foreclosed. I am trying to get word form them if they are going to give the full $15,000 on short sales, but they have been evasive. I will update this as soon as I get word from them.

So there you have it. If you have any questions at all or any other inquiries PLEASE don't hesitate to ask me!
Remember, there are no stupid questions; It is only stupid to NOT ask questions. Thank you for reading this, I look forward to hearing from everyone

Jason Caballero
Dan Schwartz Realty, Inc.
Mobile: (520)250-6369
Office: (602)274-8322
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