Archive for Home Owner
Do You Need To Sell Your Home To Be Able To Buy Your Next Home?
Posted by: | CommentsThis may be a simple question of dollars and cents for you or it may be more of an emotional question for you. If you’re getting a Houston TX Mortgage your Lender will be able to tell you if you can qualify for the new home while still carrying the old mortgage debt. Unless you have a history of renting you will not be able to offset any of the old mortgage debt with a renter.
Let’s say you do qualify to hold both Houston Mortgages at the same time, and then it really comes down to the emotional question. Is it something you’re prepared to do for an extended period of time? Do you have the monetary reserves to weather a protracted period of time if your home doesn’t sell? If you lease it and your Renter bails can you handle it? These are some the questions you should ask yourself before you make this decision. Plan for the worse just in case it happens
Would Chuck Norris Think You’re a Super Mortgage Shopping Ninja?
Posted by: | CommentsChuck is a stern judge of character and a super star when it comes to martial arts but would he think you’re a Ninja when it comes to your shopping for a Houston TX Mortgage? I’m going to share a Super Ninja trick with you that will elevate your status to the level of Chuck Norris approved rate shopper.
My eight year old son has been studying Kuk Sool Won for 3 years and is working on getting his black belt by the age of ten. Over the last three years I have noticed how much he practices the same basic skills again and again so he has the correct building blocks for each new belt. Without these basic skills he would not be able to effectively move on to the next level.
Now I bet you don’t have 3 years to invest in becoming a Super Mortgage Shopping Ninja so we will concentrate on one skill today that the Super Mortgage Shopping Ninja’s use every day. Are you ready… they learn and use the best software for comparing all the Houston Mortgage lenders rates on an hourly basis. Guess who the Super Mortgage Shopping Ninja’s are? They are the Houston TX Mortgage Brokers/Bankers who can pull all the lenders rates with a few quick clicks of their keyboards and instantaneously transform data into real time rates and pick the lowest rate that fits your Houston Mortgage needs.
The reality is there are so many sources for Houston TX Mortgage rates that are accessed on the internet but the consumer is not provided access to each lenders different variables that add or subtract pricing based on each consumers unique circumstances. For Houston Mortgage Lenders, the software and the understanding of how this applies to your circumstance will vary widely based on your lenders depth of knowledge and tools they use. So, for you to be a Super Mortgage Shopping Ninja you will need to work with a top Houston Mortgage Lender that is a black belt Ninja.
A Ninja can only be trained by another Ninja. I know Chuck understands this and hopefully you do as well. It’s not that you can’t become a Ninja; it’s that it’s easier to find a Ninja to help you do your bidding than to take the next several years to become one yourself. Picture yourself having accomplished everything a Ninja Mortgage Broker/Banker would do without having invested the years to do it, that’s when Chuck would say your now a Super Mortgage Shopping Ninja.
Is it Time to Refinance?
Posted by: | CommentsThis question has a few different answers and most of them point to YES as long as you plan on staying in the home for over 3 years and the interest rate difference is about 1 point difference. Some other pieces may influence this decision to refinance a Houston TX Mortgage like going from a 30 Year Houston Mortgage to a 15 Year Houston Mortgage or going into a 5/1 ARM.
Any way you cut it you will need to talk to a Houston Mortgage Lender and have a cost analysis done to make sure your new Houston TX Mortgage will save you lots of money!
Is it Time to Buy a Home?
Posted by: | CommentsWith the average rate currently around 4.75% on a 30 Year Houston Mortgage and the extra inventory on the market it absolutely the best time to buy. You don’t ever want to buy in a market that is trending up because you lose your bargaining chip because everyone knows the market is trending up.
If you decide to get a Houston TX Mortgage then realize you’re getting in at a great time!
How Big Did You Want It?
Posted by: | CommentsReally… How big of a home do you want to buy? I want to share with you one of the BIGGEST issues that comes up when someone decides bigger is better. You should know I see this just about every day when our customers apply for a Houston TX Mortgage. Heck I can remember being in those same shoes many eons ago.
We were looking for our first home and had one child already. We were planning on having a second one if a few years so we wanted a big home so we could have space for our family and friends. When the search process started I noticed the bigger homes were much more expensive than what I had expected. I was determined to get that larger home and searched until we found a few that fit the square footage we wanted. I was so fixated on square footage that I didn’t care about the other amenities that would be important to my family later on. It didn’t have dual zone A/C or an updated kitchen. The insulation in the attic was only 5 or 6 inches thick. No back patio and the back of the house faced the East with no tree coverage. Talk about miserable afternoons during the summer. But heck… I got that big home I wanted.
Unfortunately it cost me much more to update all those things it should have had from the beginning. I also noticed a bunch of the space I wasn’t using because of how miserable it was on the East side of the house because of the heat. Just imagine, if I had bought a home with all those things my family really needed and not worried as much about the space we would have enjoyed the home of our dreams the first time we purchased.
Remember, bigger isn’t always better when getting your Houston Mortgage.
Right now it’s reported that over 2.5 Million Home buyers have filed for the Home Buyer Tax Credit and roughly 10% of those may be fraudulent. That means the IRS will be investigating over 250,000 new fraud cases. Make sure your not one of them!
As readers of the Houston TX Mortgage Lender blog I felt it my duty to inform you of this. If you know of anyone thinking of doing this please try to dissuade them. The maximum penalty is up to three years in jail and a fine up to $250,000… or both!
It’s not like it wouldn’t be hard for the IRS to figure out who is committing this type of fraud. They first successfully prosecuted James Otto Price III on July 23, 2009 and have been executing search warrants and opening criminal investigations ever since.
Houston Realtor Named Google’s Top Realtors
Posted by: | CommentsWhy would we want to reward high ranking Realtors?
- According to the National Association of Realtors, over 90 percent of all home shoppers begin their own search on the Internet.
- 95 percent of consumers don’t go beyond the first page of an Internet search.
- Over 60 percent of all Internet searches are done on Google.
This award is given by NewHomesDirectory.com , the leading source for finding new homes in Houston.
A little bit about Paul:
Paul Silverman, MIRM, CSP, GREEN, CGP, ePro, ABR, SRES, AHWD is a Licensed Real Estate Broker with over 14 years in the Real Estate Industry and nine professional designations. When Paul is asked what he enjoys the most, there is one answer that is clear – educating about the buying process and helping his clients make the right decisions. Paul has recently been awarded the 2008 National Award for Region 5 Marketing Director of the Year, the 2006 PRISM Award for Marketing Professional of the Year, and was one of four finalists for the 2006 & 2007 Texas Star Awards for Marketing Professional of the Year. In addition, Paul has achieved the MIRM designation, the top designation for marketing directors which is shared by only 22 others in Texas. During his career, Paul has been a New Home Sales Counselor, New Home Construction Manager, Marketing Director and Sales Manager. In addition to his job duties, Paul has shown his dedication to the Real Estate Community by serving on many board of directors of various organizations. He has previously served on the Houston Association of Realtors MLS Advisory Group, Builder Broker Task Force, co-chair of the NextGen Realtor Group and the Board of Directors of GHBA Sales and Marketing Council. Paul is currently a Realtor in Houston, Pearland, Katy, Friendswood, Sugar Land and all surrounding areas.
Are You Hoping The Home Buyer Tax Credit Extension Will Pass?
Posted by: | CommentsThen you will be happy to know it’s getting closer to becoming official, the Home Buyer Tax Credit Extension passed the House yesterday with a 409-5 vote. The Senate must still approve before Obama can sign it into law. If you were still trying to close on your purchase transaction and were under contract by April 30th, 2010 you will have until September 30, 2010 to close on the transaction once its signed into law.
My suggestion is if you are trying to get a Houston TX Mortgage then get it closed ASAP. If your Houston Mortgage is not going as well as planned because the lender is not doing a good job then you should look to switch to another lender ASAP so that you don’t risk not closing on your home. I know of many Houston TX Mortgage Lenders that are able to close in 30 days (including us).
Have you ever been in a dog pile?
Posted by: | CommentsThat’s how I woke up this morning as my 8 year old 60 pound son climbed into bed jumped on me, waking me up. Next thing you know I’m getting attacked by my 130 pound wife (don’t tell her I told you her weight!), the 100 pound doberman and the 6 pound chiwawa. To make matters worse the 10 pound cat starts crying very loudly because she thinks everyone is hurting each other.
This is not a feeling you want when you’re getting a Houston Mortgage! When the Processor, Underwriter, Your Realtor, the Sellers Realtor and the Loan Officer all start calling you wondering why you aren’t doing what you’re supposed to do so everyone can close, your now at the bottom of a dog pile. It all starts with the Loan Officer, if they don’t understand your scenario and take control of the process and keep you in the process so you know what you’re supposed to be doing then you will end up in a dog pile.
Wouldn’t you rather be the top dog instead? A smooth transaction and you’re kept in the loop as much as you want to be kept in the loop. All parties to the transaction are happy and you know you’re going to close on X date.
Stay out of the dog pile and get a Houston TX Mortgage from a seasoned Loan Officer that a Realtor, Friend or Family referred you to. Don’t just look one up in the phone book or walk into your bank and ask the teller who the lender is. You will not know anything about that person’s ability to help you be the Top Dog…
Tip of the Day!
Posted by: | CommentsWhen you apply for a Houston TX Mortgage you should not try and open or close any trade lines until you have closed on your Houston Mortgage. If you open or close any trade lines you could find yourself not approved after you have been approved. That may sound a little confusing but be assured… don’t do it!
