IS YOUR HOME UNDER WATER?

 


I have some exciting news for those of you homeowners who are currently upside down on their homes.  If you have a mortgage that is held by Freddie Mac, FannieMae, FHA, or VA you may be able to refinance your home to take advantage of today's lower rate without any equity in your home.  In some cases, you can even refinance your investment property as well!

Homeowner's with FreddieMac and FannieMae loans may be eligible under the HARP program depending when their loan was sold to them.

VA has a VA Refinance Streamline to help Vets that do not have any equity in their home and will consider refinancing without an appraisal.

FHA just released new lower insurance premiums for people with FHA loans sold to them prior to 5/2009.  If you have wanted to refinance in the past but it just didn't make sense because of the increase in the mortgage insurance now is the time!

To get started to see if your current mortgage qualifies for any of these products, just email me your mortgage statement to jcombs@firstcal.net for your free, no obligation consultation.  Unfortunately due to law changes, I am only licensed in CA.  But I may be able to direct you to a licensed loan officer in other states if necessary.

Let's do it! 

Jayne Combs
Licensed Mortgage Consultant
NMLS#222444
First California Mortgage
588 San Ramon Valley Blvd
Danville, CA 94523
(925) 270-7763

Applying for a Mortgage Loan

10 Commandments

Thou shall not change jobs or become self-employed

Thou shall not buy a car, truck or van unless you plan to live in it

Thou shall not use your credit cards or let your payments fall behind

Thou shall not spend the money you have saved for your down payment

Thou shall not buy furniture before you buy your house

Thou shall not originate any new inquiries on your credit report

Thou shall not make any large deposits into your bank account

Thou shall not change bank accounts

Thou shall not co-sign for anyone

Thou shall not purchase ANYTHING until after the closing

Are you Upside Down on Your Home?

New Appraisal Codes

After September 1st, your appraisals are going to look a bit different.  Basically, the agencies have been warning us for the last year or so that they were creating a uniform set of "codes" that will be used by all appraisers, nationwide. 

Fannie and Freddie have impletemented the new codes as of 9-1-11.  FHA just announced that they are delaying implementation unitl 1-1-12.

While most of the changes involve changing the written explanations to codes, here are 6 of them that you and your clients will definitely want to know about.

1.  Bathroom Code - Instead of saying 2.5 bathrooms, the appraiser will now say 2.1 bathrooms.  The figure to the left of the decimal means full bathrooms and the number to the right of the decimal point is the amount of 1/2 baths.  So the number 3.4 means there are 3 full and 4 half-baths.

2.  Condition Rating Code - You'll no longer see "good, average, or poor" ratings.  There will now be codes from C-1 to C-6, with C-6 being the worst and you will probably not be able to finance a C-6 rated property.

3.  Quality Rating Code - This basically applies to new construction, either a new home or an addition to an existing home.  The codes will be Q-1 to !-6.

4.  Other codes - there are 60 "fields" that have changed that have inititals instead of descriptions, which are included in the UAD Appraisal Codes Chart.

5.  Type of Home Code - Appraisers can no longer just say that the home is "single-story or 2 story".  They must specify the type of design like: Colonial, contemporary, Victorian, farmhouse, ranch, cottage, etc.

6.  Basement Information - Appraisers will also be required to report the square footage of basements, regardless if it's finished or not.

Here's the chart for you!