On February 14, 2011 FHA announced changes to the annual Mortgage Insurance Premiums on all FHA transactions. Effective with FHA case numbers ( you must be in contract to get a case number) assigned on or after April 18, 2011 the annual MI premiums will increase by 25 basis points (bps). The following table is to demonstrate the changes
Loans > 15 Years
˜ 95% – 85 bps to 110 bps
> 95% – 90 bps to 115 bpsL
Loans ˜ 15 years
˜ 90% – None to 25 bps
>90% – 25 bps to 50 bps
What does this mean? On a 30 year mortgage for $600,000, the FHA loans monthly premium will increase by approximately $125 which is roughly the equivalent of $20,000 in purchasing power.
A couple of things to consider…
There are no changes to the Up-Front Mortgage Insurance Premiums – it will remain at 1% and can be financed in to the loan
The change is effective with FHA case numbers assigned on or after April 18, 2011
15 year FHA loans with LTV’s below 90% remain at -0- annual MI
The change applies to refinance transactions also.
Thank you to Holly Brand and Wells Fargo for supplying this information.
Dave Tapper
Coldwell Banker to honor their top 100 agents!
Today, March 24th 2011, Coldwell Banker is honoring their Top 100 agents in the San Francisco and San Francisco Peninsula area at the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco.
I’m honored to be included in the top 100 and would like to congratulate my peers and all the other associates for achieving this award.
Sincerely,
Dave
If you are thinking of investing in real estate, would it make you feel better or more secure to know if your Realtor or Broker also went through the same process that you are about to experience?
When your investment banker recommends a stock, a common response is ” would you buy it for yourself? Would you tell your kids to buy it”. That’s what I always ask! Should it be the same in real estate?
I’ve been in real estate since 1998 and have had hundreds of transactions, but I don’t think I have been asked this question more than 3 or 4 times.
Why aren’t realtors asked questions like this more often, I wonder? I’m not saying that a Realtor who is not a home owner/ investor cannot provide excellent advice and knowledge, I just think that it’s important that if you are relied on to give advice to someone who is investing in real estate, the largest investment in someone’s life, it may help not only in the advice giving, but having experienced the fear and the anxiety one feels going through the process.
Does it matter to you, should it? Your thoughts?
Tap
If there is one common question that I am frequently asked by agents and buyers during my open house, it is this.
There are many reasons why sellers decide to sell. Some want to move to a larger home, some want to downsize.
Some home owners have to sell because of job loss, loss of income, or job transfer.
There are other home owners who want to sell because they have lost their love ones, lost their partner or divorce. Some just want to cash out. As you can see these are just a few of the many reasons why home owners sell.
With that said, some sellers don’t want their agent to tell prospective buyers why they are selling because they don’t want others to know their private business, which I can understand completely.
So my question to you is, why is it important to you?
Thanks,
Tap
Getting divorced is tough enough. It can be very emotional for everyone. But what happens when real estate is involved? It make matters much more difficult.
Many families are torn when deciding who gets what. How do we split our real estate portfolio? How do we know what is fair, how do we evaluate the values?
Can you imagine how difficut it must be for Frank and Jaime McCourt, the owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team? Not that you should feel sorry for the McCourts and their difficult task of dividing their Hundreds of Millions in a reported nasty divorce. But it does make it that much more difficult.
If you are not selling the property(s)The first and easiest, along with the least inexpensive would be for you to have your Realtor evaluate it. You should actually have multiple agents come and do a market analysis.
Another thing you can do is ask your Realtor to do a “REV”. A “REV” is short for a review. Your Realtor will ask his/ her associates in their office to come and give their respective opinions on value. This will allow you to have 10-20-30 + different agents provide value in one day. It’s also free!
Usually attorney’s have appraisers come and give their opinion of value. But remember, an appraisal is just an opinion from one person.
The easiest solution is to sell for market value and then divide your assets, but usually one spouse would prefer to stay in the home.
There are no easy answers to this difficult problem, but asking your agent to evaluate your home may be a good way to start.
