To some it’s obvious and to others it’s not, but the following items are critical during the loan process.  If you have questions about these or are in the middle of your loan process and have to do one of these let me, or your loan officer know (always tell your loan officer) so you can be sure you are not affected negatively.

IMPORTANT

It is critical to the success of your loan package that you avoid doing any of the following until after your loan has closed escrow:

1. Do not change or quit jobs.

2. Do not switch banks, make cash deposits or move your money around.  If you do please keep a complete crystal clear paper trail that shows all money transfers and deposits between accounts.

3. Do not pay off bills. You should continue to pay the amount required, but do not assume that paying a debt off will alwasy benefit your score or loan approval.

4. Do not make any major purchases.  Adding debt can be detrimental.

5. Do not close credit accounts or apply for any new credit cards or loans.

If you must do any of the above, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LOAN OFFICER IMMEDIATELY. Audits are done just prior to funding and you may be placing your loan in jeopardy if you do not notify your lender of any changes.

Hope that helps!  Please share and leave comments here.

Matt Steinmetz

4155.2 4.7.h Exceptions to the 90-day Restriction

The only exceptions to the 90-day resale restriction described in HUD 4155.2 4.7.e are for

If HUD decides to extend the waiver, we will notify you ASAP.

Happy Holidays!

Matt Steinmetz

1. every time you list property, ccar generates a free property website at streeturls.com and google indexes this site
2. home opens today.com #1 open house website in norcal
3. CCAR has over 2700 followers on Facebook (maybe Realtors should link your listings here?)Free training on social media at ccar
4. CCAR mobile portal m.ccartoday.com
5. 20 photos on mls listings and soon to be more.  My Question to CCAR-Can you geo tag those? (this will help with Google’s new  localized search results)
6. cloud cma?   (sorry I didn’t get much on this topic.  Please comment if you have info to share)
7. Short sale help desk coming soon at CCAR

Robert A. Kleinhenz Ph.D. 
Deputy Chief economist CAR 

• GDP normal grows at 3.6%- coming out of a recession needs to grow faster.  3rd qtr 2011 grew 2.5%
• Unemployment continues to be high
• On Avg we are adding 125k people to job force each month.  We need to create at least this many jobs to keep unemployment from getting worse plus we have to add more for the people that were laid off.  This is why unemployment isn’t getting better.
• Inflation seems to be tame and in check for now.  Other items like jobs are more important to focus on
• need to produce 400k jobs per month to get to a 6% unemployment
• When economy is slow Gov. can get involved to jump start economy- but the consumer spending is a huge portion and needs to come back.  In 3rd qtr 2011 consumer spending went up ut consumer savings went down at the same time.
• We are growing but not growing fast enough
• fed has committed to keeping interest rates low for next couple of years.
• House sales should see around 500k annually (total units sold), we are just below this for the year and was a little below this last year around 491k
• 250k sold annually in 2007
• Home price- median price for state $287,440 this is down 8.3% year over year.  Fairly stable home prices over the past couple months.
• 55% of total market place were non distressed sales up to September- 45% REO and short sales
• See video on shadow inventory
• CA housing leads the nation. CA bottomed out first and is recovering first “we took our licks early on”
• 76% of deals did not close escrow on time in 2011 out of clients surveyed by CAR
• Watch this video regarding standing/shadow inventory:

Click here to view the embedded video.

As of Sept. 2011 on Contra Costa County we had 3,600 in shadow inventory or 2.6 months of inventory.  This is moderate pressure on the market.  Rents are on the way up (↑ 8% in the Oakland MSA)  However the outlook for home sales in 2012 is barely better than 2011.  This is interesting the since affordability in Contra Costa County is very high.  Buyers are getting much more bang for their buck than just a few years ago.  Speaking of buyers, it’s no surprise to me that 34% of sales in 2011 were for first time buyers.  Here’s a good spot to plug my buyer education page! 

A copy of the presentation information can be found at www.car.org/marketdata 

The remainder of the information was regarding laws that will come into play.  Most were dealing with short sales, foreclosures, and notices to renters when filing a N.O.D.  and N.O.S. for homeowners.  I encourage you to call the CAR legal hot line for more info on laws.  (I don’t want to quote them wrong on this!) 

My brain locked into the following bit of info/opinion as it was also mentioned last year at the same event.  Which is that the housing market will see a shortage of inventory later this decade.  Meaning that since new homes are not readily being built, when the market turns around and homes are being purchased faster, inventory will be low.  When inventory is low and qualified buyers are high… That means increases in home prices.  Demand>Supply

Please share this with the buttons below and leave a comment.  Let me know what you think about all of this and how it affects you!

Thank you,
Matt Steinmetz  nmls# 221315
Envoy Mortgage
2151-A2 Salvio St.
Concord, CA 94520

Visit Envoy925.com

Office: 925-671-9501 x119
Fax: 925-671-9512

Down Payment Assistance*FHA*VA*HomePath*FHA 203K*Less Than 90 Day Flips*USDA*Condo Approvals*Escrow Holdbacks*and now Up to 8 Financed Properties

Click here to view the embedded video.

Watch the video and leave comments here.  Be sure to share this with your friends, family and co-workers because this may help a lot of people.

Matt Steinmetz
Envoy Mortgage

Concord, CA Contra Costa County
925-548-3983

This is about 5 minutes and goes through the waiting periods, before you can buy a house again, after you or your client has a derogatory item on their credit report.

Thank you,
Matt Steinmetz nmls# 221315
Envoy Mortgage
2151-A2 Salvio St.
Concord, CA 94520
Office: 925-671-9501 x119

Visit Envoy925.com

Follow me on My Blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter

FHA*VA*HomePath*FHA 203K*Less Than 90 Day Flips*USDA

Condo Approvals*Escrow Holdbacks*and now Up to 8 Financed Properties

Whether you are a first time buyer, a seasoned or a want to be investor, or considering a 2nd home, it’s time to buy again! 

New construction has slowed to recrod lows and in 72% of U.S. cities it is cheaper to buy than rent which means as soon as the economy picks up there could be a housing shortage which will push prices higher.  Low home prices today coupled with low mortgage rates makes it easier to buy and for investors, easier to get positive cash flow. 

Don’t shrug off homes that need repair either, check out this post Funding your Fixers  and with FHA or even Fannie Mae’s Home Path you can put less money down.

 Matt Steinmetz   nmls# 221315 

Branch Manager 

 Envoy Mortgage   

2151-A2 Salvio St. 

Concord, CA 94520 

Visit our new website http://www.envoy925.com  

Office: 925-671-9501 x119 

FHA*VA*HomePath*FHA 203K*Less Than 90 Day Flips*USDA*Condo Approvals*Escrow Holdbacks*and now Up to 8 Financed Properties 

Follow me on LinkedIn , Facebook , or Twitter  

Escrow Hold Backs can save your real estate transactions. When an appraiser calls an item that needs to be repaired in today’s market, many times there is no seller to negotiate payment of this item. Buyer’s don’t want to invest money into fixing a home until they own it and if your selelr is a bank it may be difficult to have this item repaired. This can delay your closing.
Using an escrow hold back we can get your deal closed on time and have the repairs completed after close.

Thank you,
Matt Steinmetz  nmls# 221315
Envoy Mortgage
2151-A2 Salvio St.
Concord, CA 94520

Office: 925-671-9501 x119

FHA*VA*HomePath*FHA 203K*Less Than 90 Day Flips*USDA*Condo Approvals*Escrow Holdbacks*and now Up to 8 Financed Properties

Follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter

Matt Steinmetz
nmls 221315
925-671-9501 x119
Envoy Mortgage
Concord, CA
Contra Costa County

Reselling these properties is key to driving the housing market into recovery. Estimates are wide-ranging on the size of this shadow inventory of foreclosed homes and delinquent loans still in the process.

More could be coming in the way from the FHA alone. According to the report, nearly 600,000 mortgages are in serious delinquency.

Thank you,

 Matt Steinmetz   nmls# 221315

Branch Manager

 Envoy Mortgage 

2151-A2 Salvio St.

Concord, CA 94520

Office: 925-671-9501 x119

Fax: 925-671-9512

FHA*VA*HomePath*FHA 203K*Less Than 90 Day Flips*USDA*Condo Approvals*Escrow Holdbacks*and now Up to 8 Financed Properties

Follow me on LinkedIn , Facebook , or Twitter 

It was said that home sales had hit bottom in fall of 2010 on a national level and 2 months earlier in CA.  Meaning CA is 2 months ahead in the eyes of recovery.  I’m sure some of you agree while others are saying YA RIGHT!  With that said I learned that current sales are at the same level they were in 2002 with the difference being that prices are lower today then they were then.   So for you Realtors that have made it through the hard times I am sure I am not the first to tell you that you are working harder for less pay today than in 2002. 

The median price in CA is now around $309,000 and on average a home sits on the market 6.2 months.  My experience in Concord, CA and Contra Costa County is that the median is slightly lower than that, maybe $285,000.  In Solano county lower again at about $250,000.

It was said that there will be a housing shortage during the 2nd half of this decade.  If that is true then we should see prices hike up and we’ll all be worried there will be another bubble.

Something I found interesting was that I read today that there will be a 3.6% decline in values in 2011, but the speaker at the seminar believes there will be a 2% increase.  Spins and perspectives are always interesting, aren’t they? 

There was also a bit of discussion on the new laws and changes to existing laws pertaining to real estate, rentals, evictions and foreclosures.  One law I found interesting was that it is now a crime not just a violation to pay an unlicensed person for doing loan activity.

At any rate these are the times for consumer protection, right or wrong, it’s what the people seem to want.  I have heard many say it’s gone overboard but just like everything, it has to go overboard before it is corrected.  Just like lending, the market (the bubble), or anything else in life. 

Let me know if you have any thoughts on this by leaving a response.

Matt Steinmetz
Envoy Mortgage

Concord, CA

Follow me on Twitter @steinmetzmatt and “Like” our Facebook page Envoy Mortgage Concord, CA