If you’re contemplating walking away from your mortgage, particularly if your loan is backed by Fannie Mae, weigh thoroughly your options. If you’re really distressed, short sales may be the better alternative. Fannie Mae has warned that strategic defaulters won’t be able to get a Fannie-backed loan for seven years after the default and that it will pursue deficiency lawsuits…
Read More »The number of distressed Florida homes in May dropped by 14 percent over the year due in part to the decline in Pinellas foreclosures. In May, foreclosure filings in Pinellas dropped by 24 percent compared to filings one year earlier, offsetting the increases in filings in other Tampa Bay counties. The 12-percent drop in filings in Sarasota also helped, based…
Read More »Find out if you qualify for a VA loan because it’s among the best home loans available. VA loans are desired greatly because of the following: Zero down payment Because the VA gives a guaranteed entitlement of at least $36,000 to each military member, most down payments required by lenders are covered. Loan amount can be up to 100 percent…
Read More »The improvements in sales and prices of pre-owned Tampa condos in April showed that investors continue to see great profit opportunities in the Tampa condo market, particularly distressed properties. There were 1,031 pre-owned condo units that got sold in the Tampa area in April, based on a report released by the Florida Realtors. This total marked a whopping 77-percent increase…
Read More »You now have another option to finance your home purchase aside from using a FHA loan or a 20-percent down conventional loan as private mortgage insurance is now being offered again. Lenders require PMI if the down payment is less than 20 percent of the loan amount as they want to make sure their loss is covered in case the…
Read More »There are more choices for buyers looking for Tampa bank owned properties as lenders repossessed more homes in May. In the Tampa Bay counties of Pinellas, Pasco, Hillsborough and Hernando, banks repossessed 886 residential properties in May, up from 787 units in the previous month and up from 662 one year earlier, based on a foreclosure report. These nearly 900…
Read More »Florida is bursting with unsold condos, and a huge number are bank owned. So state legislation had to be crafted to help sell these vacant condos. Even Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA had to make special rules to help the state. Distressed Condo Relief One of these state legislative bills recently signed into law by Governor Charlie Crist is…
Read More »There are more bank owned homes for buyers nationwide as bank repossessions increased in May for the second consecutive month, based on a report released by RealtyTrac. Nearly 94,000 homes were repossessed by mortgage lenders in May, more than the 92,432 homes that became bank owned in April. Overall foreclosure filings dropped in May – these included default and foreclosure…
Read More »You can obtain a free copy of your annual credit report from each of the three major consumer credit report agencies – Equifax, TransUnion and Experian – once every year. But make sure you’re requesting your credit report at the website Annualcreditreport.com. See to it that the URL on the page you’re using starts with https://int.annualcreditreport.com/. This website was created…
Read More »Florida has been hogging the headlines because of its record foreclosures, and it’s not only the foreclosure numbers that are attracting the media, but also things such as the following: 1. Florida has received almost $1.308 billion from the federal government to help contain its foreclosures, the second highest received by a state since the launching of the Neighborhood Stabilization…
Read More »Just like many other Americans, you may be hesitant about buying a home because of the grave crisis brought about by foreclosures on families that lost their homes. And you’re right. Families should not take loans they can’t pay. But what if you can afford to buy a home for your family now that prices have become affordable? Even if…
Read More »The short sale house you saw online may be the best you’ve seen so far. The features are great and the neighborhood is good for the children. But check out first the following realities because they could prevent you from buying your dream home. Short Sale Documentation from the Seller Lenders require a minimum set of documents before they review…
Read More »You can get an additional loan to finance your planned energy efficiency upgrade and roll it into your approved mortgage loan through the FHA Energy Efficient Mortgage program. You can borrow 100 percent of the total cost to make your home energy efficient as long as the total does not exceed the EEM loan limit. First, hire a certified home…
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