Getting Pre-approved

The first step in the homebuying process.

The View From the Space Station

Triggerpit.com has compiled a truly awesome selection of the" best of the best" views of the Space Ship Earth from the International Space Station -- courtesy of NASA.

How to Get a Mortgage after a Foreclosure or Short Sale

The guidelines for new mortgages are changing. Everything we take for granted about home loans (and being a home owner) is being debated now in Washington D.C.

Its clear that required mortgage down payments will increase along with other key elements that many of us have taken for granted. For example, there is growing support to eliminate the mortgage interest tax deduction. There are also political rumblings behind getting rid of the ‘As American As Apple Pie’ 30 year mortgage and replacing it with a 15 or 20 year term.

The Real Estate Insider News is reporting that a new approved guideline, the new QRM (Qualified Residential Mortgage) rules will be in full effect April 2012. (Its widely believed that the QRM rules will force minium down payments to increase to 20%). As Fannie and Freddie are ‘scaled down’ and their continued roles in the mortgage markets are in flux expect lots of heated debate about mortgage requirements. Stay tuned and be vigilant.
The question remains, given today’s guidelines what are the absolute bare-minimums to obtain a mortgage?
….and perhaps more interesting…how to obtain a mortgage immediately after a Short Sale. The answer is still the ever popular FHA. Here are the main requirements:

1) 3.5 percent down payment, based on the purchase price of the home (e.g., $7,000 on a $200,000 home), or a gift of that same amount;
2) 3 percent to 6 percent of the purchase price, on top of the down payment, for closing costs, or a credit from the seller of the same amount; and
3) 640 FICO credit score —
Lenders will want you to document income, asset and job history documentation, current paycheck stubs, two months’ bank statements and two years of W-2 forms or tax returns, and:
a minimum of two years have passed since the discharge of a bankruptcy;
a minimum of three years have passed since a foreclosure;
anywhere from zero to three years have passed since a short sale, depending on the circumstances surrounding the short sale.

Sunday Open Houses

Despite the showery weather, we're expecting big turnouts at our office's 16 open houses in North Jersey.
My open house is the lowest priced of the lot by far. 149k for a partially renovated cape.
I'll be at 28 Dietrichs in Little Ferry from 1 to 4.More about this and our other open houses can be seen here.

http://geoffgove.wwmediaagent.com/
Geoff Gove 917-370-6400
Century 21 Van Der Wende

It's Official- Cell Phones are Killing Bees | Inhabitat

The signals cause the bees to become lost and disoriented. The impact has already been felt the world over, as the population of bees in the U.S. and the U.K. has decreased by almost half in the last thirty years – which coincides with the popularization and acceptance of cell phones as a personal device.

Read more: It's Official- Cell Phones are Killing Bees | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World It's Official- Cell Phones are Killing Bees | Inhabitat

Foreclosures Up in NY/NJ Area while Dropping in Most of US

DS News is reporting that the latest data from RealtyTrac shows foreclosure activity in the U.S. has fallen to its lowest level in 40 months. Filings were reported on 219,258 properties in April, down 34 percent from a year earlier. RealtyTrac says these figures don’t necessarily mean we’ve turned the corner since the slowdown can be traced to delays in processing. The curb in activity wasn’t entirely widespread. Foreclosures hit a new record high in Nevada, while defaults spiked in Massachusetts and New Jersey.

The foreclosure process is taking much longer in some states. The average timeframe from initial default notice to REO in New Jersey and New York was over 900 days in the first quarter of 2011, more than three times the average timeline in the first quarter of 2007 for both states.

Bin-Ladin Fixer-Upper for Sale in Florida

For sale: Large, abandoned Mediterranean-style home with 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms. $1,999,000.

Location:: Just 30 minutes north of DisneyWorld

Notable history: Once owned by Khalil bin Laden, brother of the world’s once most-wanted man, Osama bin Laden. Abandoned after the family fled the U.S. immediately after 9/11, the home sold in 2006, at the height of the Florida real estate boom, for $4,043,800. However, the new owner went bankrupt and was sentenced to prison for fraud.The mansion was then foreclosed on in 2007 and re-listed for sale in 2009.

Unfortunately, the bin Laden home needs a major facelift. The home was marred by vandalism, including broken windows, and other “damages including a safe thrown down a stairway and bullet holes in the walls.” While there has been some interest in the home, real estate agent Autumn Norris-Maker told NBC News that finding financing for a home this run down has always been a sticking point.

More details at Zillow.com

Live Where You Work?

The Live Where You Work program is a home mortgage incentive program that provides low-interest mortgage loans to homebuyers purchasing homes in towns where they are employed. The goal of LWYW is to build stronger communities by promoting homeownership and encouraging people to live closer to their jobs. This, in turn, will reduce the need for cars and increase the use of alternative transportation such as walking, biking and public transit.

If you would like to buy a house in the town where you currently work, then LWYW might be right for you. Employees benefit from attractive mortgage rates, more flexible loan application review and underwriting criteria, and reduced commuting times to work. Municipalities benefit from having a committed workforce living nearby, and the activity and economic vibrancy that comes with people living near where they work.

Eligible Properties: Properties must be located in a participating Live Where You Work municipality. Eligible properties include one-family units, including condominiums, (new and existing), and existing 2 to 4-family unit properties that are more than 5 years old. Some Live Where You Work municipalities include *Urban Target Areas (UTA). In Urban Target Areas eligible properties can also include new two-unit residential dwellings. Properties must be located in State designated Smart Growth locations.

(*) To determine if your proposed house is within an Urban Target Area (UTA), visit the Smart Growth Locator at www.njlocator.gov, follow the instructions and look up UTAs by using the UTA list.

Further details are available on their Fact Sheet or call 1-800-NJ-HOUSE.

Municipalities Currently Participating in the LWYW Program include
• Atlantic City • Jersey City • Paterson • Bayonne • Keyport • Plainfield • Belmar • Morristown • Rahway • Carteret • Neptune • Trenton • Cherry Hill • Newark • Washington Twp • Edgewater Park • New Brunswick • Woodbridge • Elizabeth • Old Bridge • Orange • Passaic

(*) Urban Target Areas (UTA) are based upon census data. To find out if an address is located in a UTA, you will need to identify the census tract within which the address is located. Email me if you would like to be updated on any changes to the above list as a result of the 2010 Census or changes to the Spart Growth parameters.

Un-Natural Selection -- How We Affect the Evolution of Other Species

Most of us understand the basic mechanism of natural selection: Those creatures that can adapt best to their changing environment survive to reproduce, and those individuals that can't die out.
It turns out that we've become our own unforgiving environment especially in the past century. While animal breeding may be the most pro-active example of man's conscious attempts to speed up the evolutionary proces, there are countless other examples of unnatural selection. From elephant tusks to resistant bacteria, this month's New Scientist lays out a long list showing how we've inadvertently changed the nature of the Flora and Fauna that surround us,

Millions of years ago, the natural environment was shaping us into the species we are now. Today, we create our own environments, which has its consequences for many other species. And we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Star Trek used to emphasize the premise that their planetary explorers should do nothing that would change the natural order of things wherever they landed. What would Captain Kirk say today?

Famous, Fabulous and Homeless?

How does Nicolas Cage get behind on his mortgage payments? The same way other rich and famous people do. Catch up on Nick's current woes as well as those of other celebrities from bankrate.com.

Prospects for Double Dipping in Housing Market

Housing is feeling awfully double dippy. S&P/Case-Shiller home-price data out Tuesday showed a 3.3% year-over-year drop in February, while the index's measure of 20 metropolitan areas was just a hair above the crisis low seen in April 2009. For banks, the renewed downturn is likely to mean some pain, although not necessarily a crushing blow. That is largely due to the jobs picture. Today's unemployment rate of 8.8% is almost exactly where it was in early 2009. But back then joblessness was rising. Now, it is falling. If that trend holds, and if renewed price falls don't near the 10% level, banks probably won't see a serious increase in delinquencies. Even underwater homeowners are less likely to default if they remain employed.

And one possible silver lining in the Case-Shiller data was that the size of month-to-month declines has been slowing of late.

Notable Facts for Earth Day

The Department of Interior reminds us that the greatest shallow-water offshore wind energy potential in the U.S. — which is 1,000 gigawatts of electricity, or one quarter of national demand — lies off the Atlantic Coast.

Through energy efficiency measures, the U.S. has the potential to reduce annual non-transportation energy consumption by roughly 23% by 2020 — the equivalent of taking the entire U.S. fleet of passenger vehicles and light trucks off the roads.

Supersizing Solar in NJ

New Jersey may not exactly be the sunniest state as far as solar compatibility is concerned, but it continues to be one of the most supportive for solar subsidies and innovative installations. Now it can also claim the title of the largest single installation in the U.S. Avidan Management, one of the state's largest commercial Realty companies has just formally commissioned the giant array on the rooftop of it's Edison complex.

Peak Season for Best of Green

The Grammy and Oscar winners for this year are history, but you can still go on TreeHugger's website and check out both nominees and winners in just about every Green category you can imagine. What is the greenest computer, the most helpful smart phone app, the coolest concept gadget, the best sci-tech blog? Who is the greatest green geek to follow on Twitter? Included are TreeHugger results from readers polls in such categories as Green Celebrity and Musical Group.

Then, head on over to Planet Green, where you can rate the winners in each category in their View and Vote slideshow polls, open through April 22. Once the picks are in for the highest rated organization, person, product, or idea in each category, they'll have a final vote:for the best in show of Best of Green.

Freddie-Mac Expects Housing Market to Spring Forward

Our number one backer of residential home mortgages has just released it's forecast for the spring Real Estate Market. We've picked out some major highlights:
Unemployment declined for the fourth straight month to 8.8 percent, and net employment sprung up by 216,000, the largest monthly job gain since last May and a hopeful signal that the labor market was warming up. On a March-over-March basis, employment was up by 1.3 million…Driven by low mortgage rates and home prices well below peaks, homebuyer affordability is at the highest level in at least forty years, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Indeed, sales contract signings for existing homes were up in February, positioning the market for a bounce up in settlements during the second quarter, the traditional time for the seasonal upswing in sales…..Look for home sales to be up about 5 percent in 2011 compared with 2010, on a calendar year basis…. short-term rates will remain low and supportive of household borrowing. The coupon difference between 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages has gradually widened to about three-quarters of a percentage point….The rental market should continue to have gradually warmer market conditions as well, with rents continuing to pickup and vacancies dipping.

If Solar Energy Got the Same Subsidies as Fossil Fuels...

The Energy Establishment contends that renewable energy sources like solar power and wind are decades from being viable alternatives to fossil fuels. A pro-solar group One Block Off the Grid disagrees. To challenge this longstanding myth advanced by opponents of subsidies for renewable energy, the pro-solar group put together the Infographic at right.

Germany, for example, only receives 2.6% of the sunlight as the US does, but still manages to produce 60 times as much solar power. How do they do it? According to Triple Pundit, it was done through a  government-introduced mechanism called a feed-in tariff (FIT) that was first initiated twenty years ago. The tariff requires utilities to connect renewable energy generators to the grid and buy the electricity produced at a rate of 65 to 90% of the retail cost. Other countries have now replicated this model.

Meanwhile, the GOP has proposed massive new cuts for renewable energy subsidies.

Paint Your Home and Get Your Mortgage Paid -- For Free!

Homeowners having trouble keeping up with their payments may have a new option available to them. Along with loan modifications, short sales, and going cold turkey by defaulting with their lender, they can now opt to get a free paint job -- and turn their house into a billboard. Adzookie, is an innovative mobile advertising company known for its direct advertising on smartphones. They sum up their tempting offer on their website:

Adzookie will pay the home-owner’s mortgage for at least three months with an option to extend up to a year. If the contract is canceled by Adzookie or the home-owner during the contract period, they will paint the house back to its original colors.

The other likelihood is that their town's Zoning Board will step in with new restrictions -- if there is nothing currently spelled out in their codes. For those on busy streets, this could be an effective, if temporary, win-win. For those on quieter streets, this could make them busy(and unpopular with their neighbors) if they're the first to take the dare and jump in. Some neighbors may actually prefer it to some other options.

Be warned that Adzookie is not a huge company and has already gotten thousands of requests within a week of it's announcement. It is planning to pick 10 to get the ball rolling this spring. CEO, Romeo Mendoza, is now looking for other advertisers to sign on so it might help as many as 100 homeowners this spring.

Realtors® Urge Congress to Approach GSE Reform Slowly

Washington, DC, The National Association of REALTORS® is urging Congress to move cautiously when reforming government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Reforming America’s housing finance market can only be achieved through a forward-looking, comprehensive approach that supports the housing and economic recoveries, said NAR President Ron Phipps in testimony before the House Subcommittee on Capital Markets today. “As the leading advocate for home ownership, NAR strongly agrees that the existing system failed and that reforms are needed; however, redesigning a viable secondary mortgage model that will protect taxpayer dollars and serve the country’s home owners today, and in the future, can only be achieved through a methodical, measured effort,” said Phipps, broker-president of Phipps Realty in Warwick, R.I.

NAR is concerned that without a comprehensive plan for reforming the secondary mortgage market, proposed legislation to quickly constrain Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before an adequate replacement secondary mortgage market mechanism is established will further disrupt the still fragile housing market recovery.

“REALTORS® agree that increasing private capital in the mortgage finance market is necessary for a healthy market and for reducing the government’s involvement; however, proposed legislation that relies only on private capital to operate the secondary mortgage market will slow, if not stop, the housing and economic recovery,” he said.

Phipps testified that the pendulum on mortgage credit has already swung too far in the wrong direction and is hurting consumers and the economy. He added that quick decisions aimed at punishing certain market players will only punish the taxpayers by constraining their ability to access affordable mortgage financing, and that making it harder for those who can afford a safe mortgage does not further the goals of the recovery.

“Home ownership is a pillar of our economy. NAR research shows for every two homes sold, a job is created, providing needed revenue to both our state and local economies. This must be considered when debating the future of federal housing policies,” said Phipps.

Banks Increasing Incentives to Encourage Short Sales

A year ago, the big news was the government's $8,000 buyer incentive to jump start the housing market. Last summer, Wachovia(now Wells Fargo) began extending cash incentives to homeowners willing to sell their homes as a short sale, rather than going through foreclosure. Borrowers who have found themselves upside down on their Wachovia mortgage could receive 1% of the purchase price (minimum of $2,500) when they sell their home as a short sale. The borrowers get their cash incentive after the successful sale.

More recently, Chase is reported to have raised their ante to as much as $30,000 for higher valued homes. With the Bank's approval borrowers in a short sale sell their property of less than they currently owe in home loans. The lender forgives a portion of the mortgage in order to allow the seller to sell the property.

In the past short sales have been given a bad reputation, often taking longer than a traditional sale, often nine months or longer to obtain the necessary approval of the lender. Many homeowners are intimidated by the whole process and let their home go to foreclosure. They may lose out on a short sale that could in fact be a better choice in the long run.

Banks know that underwater owners are more likely to do a strategic default. Lenders would rather lessen their losses by proactively offering pre-approved short sales to their underwater owners than have the homes go through a foreclosure. Recent studies have proven that the cost of a foreclosure is significantly more than a short sale. Lenders have recently figured out that a short sale ends up saving them money and is in fact quicker than a foreclosure. Wachovia and Chase have set themselves apart from other lenders by turning foreclosures into short sales instead of the other way around. It creates a win-win situation for the homeowner and their Lender.

More info on Short Sales here.

MIT Scientists Create Artificial Solar Leaf That Can Power Homes

An April fools prank? Not likely, since this was published in Inhabitat.com on March 28th. Scientist Dr. David Nocera has perfected a low-cost, artificial leaf-like device, that like a real leaf, mimics the process of photosynthesis. Nocera announced the creation of a miniature solar cell at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society last week. Nocera hopes to use his “leaf” to help make individual homes capable of becoming their own self-sufficient power stations.

Nocera’s “leaf” is ready for commercial production and distribution. Hopefully one day soon, each home will find it as common as a hot water heater!