Florida Mortgage Lender Blog & Real Estate News

Being eco-friendly is an important issue to most people today. Making your home as energy efficient as possible makes sense on many levels, but do you know it makes sense when it comes to federal tax credits too? They're not small incentives either. These tax credits are another major reason to be serious about going green in your Florida home.

Tax Credits for Existing Homes

Making your home energy efficient will benefit you whether you are planning to stay in your home for years to come or you are considering selling in the near future. Prospective buyers will react favorably to eco-friendly installations. It will also help move your Florida home faster and get a better price.

In 2009 and 2010, you could get major tax incentives for going green too. When you purchase certain energy efficient items, you may get as much as 30% (up to $1,500) of the cost of the item returned to you as a tax credit. These items include:

· Energy efficient windows and doors

· Energy efficient insulation (primary use must be for insulation. Items such as insulated siding are not included)

· New Roofs created with Energy Star materials

· Most HVAC products including: central air units, air pumps, furnace for natural gas, propane, or oil, water heaters, main unit circulation fans.

· Geothermal Heat Systems

· Solar Energy

· Biomass Stove

· Wind Turbine System

· Residential Fuel Cells and other Microturbine Energy systems

· Hybrid Cars (hybrid gas, electric, diesel, battery, alternative and fuel cell) May have a much higher tax value between $2,500 and $7,500 based on several criteria

Tax Credits for Construction and New Homes

There are also excellent tax credits for consumers building a new home. These credits are up to 30% of cost on acceptable items with NO limit. These items include:

· Geothermal Heat Pumps

· Solar Panels

· Solar Water Heaters

· Wind Turbines

· Fuel Cells

Protecting your Florida home, making it more energy efficient, and saving money has always been important, but there has never been a better time to get started.

If you would like more information on how to take advantage of the Federal Tax Credit for Energy Efficiency, give us a call today at 407-876-5771.

Good News!

We are fully aware of the difficulty condo hotel, resort vacation condo & investment property buyers have been facing, securing mortgage financing.  Many have been forced to use all cash for their purchases.

The good news is we have a new source of financing.

NON-Warrantable Condo Loan Program

• The down payment varies depending on your credit FICO score
• The down payment varies for Second homes and Investment Properties
• Offering Interest only and Fully Amortizing Mortgages

Call us for details 407-876-5771

Some really startling numbers today from Fitch Ratings on delinquency "cure rates."  That's the percentage of delinquent loans returning to a current payment status each month.  "Cure rates have declined from an average of 45 percent during 2000-2006 to the currently level of 6.6 percent," according to today's report titled, "Delinquency Cure Rates Worsening for U.S. Prime RMBS."

While the number of U.S. prime RMBS loans rolling into a delinquency status has recently slowed, this improvement is being overwhelmed by the dramatic decrease in delinquency cure rates that has occurred since 2006, according to Fitch Ratings. An increasing number of borrowers who are ‘underwater’ on their mortgages appear to be driving this trend, as Fitch has also observed.

In addition, Alt-A cure rates have dropped to 4.3 percent from an average of 30.2 percent, and subprime is down to 5.3 percent from an average of 19.4 percent.  "Whereas prime had previously been distinct for its relatively high level of delinquency recoveries, by this measure prime is no longer significantly outperforming other sectors," said managing Director Roelof Slump.  To make matters worse, up to 25 percent of loans counted as cures are modified loans, which have been shown to have an increased propensity to re-default.

The overwhelming culprit in the cure rate is price.  "Loans that have recently become delinquent have an effective loan to value ratio that is on average approximately 23% higher than those loans that are current on their payments, and are typically over 100%," according to the Fitch report.  That makes modifications, refis, and home sales that much harder.

There's been a lot of talk of recovery in housing over the past two months, mostly on the backs of increased home sales and housing starts.  Without an increase in cure rates, we will only see more foreclosures, and in turn more distressed inventory, pulling home values down even further. complete story

Source: CNBC.com - Diana Olick

Stop Foreclosure & Save Your Credit SELL your Home - Short Sale

Americans fell behind on their mortgage payments at a record pace in the second quarter as job losses and falling real estate prices thwarted government efforts to stabilize the housing market.

The share of loans with one or more payments overdue rose to a seasonally adjusted 9.24 percent of all mortgages, an all- time high, from 9.12 percent in the first quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in a report today. The inventory of homes in foreclosure increased to 4.3 percent, the most in three decades of data, and loans overdue by at least 90 days, the point at which foreclosure proceedings typically begin, rose to 7.97 percent, the highest on record.

“We’ve seen a significant drop in the problem with subprime loans and we’ve moved now to a problem with prime fixed-rate loans,” Jay Brinkmann, the Washington-based trade group’s chief economist, said in an interview. “Job losses are driving it, and we expect that to continue into next year.”

Homeowners fall behind on their mortgage payments when they lose their jobs, and declining prices mean they can’t sell to pay off loans, Brinkmann said. Companies have shed 5.7 million jobs since January 2008, the biggest employment loss since the Great Depression. The median U.S. home price fell 16 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, the steepest drop on record, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Prime Loans

The percentage of loans on which foreclosure actions were started was 1.36 percent, down from 1.37 percent in the first quarter, driven by the decline in subprime loans. New foreclosures on prime loans increased to 1.01 percent from 0.94 percent, while subprime loans dropped to 4.13 percent from 4.65 percent, Brinkmann said.

The delinquency rate for prime loans rose to 6.41 percent from 6.06 percent, and the share of prime loans in foreclosure increased to 3 percent from 2.49 percent. complete story 

Source: Bloomberg News - Kathleen M. Howley

Stop Foreclosure & Save Your Credit SELL your Home - Short Sale

Do you want to purchase your first home, but have not yet saved enough for a down payment? You can now use the $8000 first-time homebuyers tax credit for the down payment. This was made possible by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and is available only when you apply for an FHA loan. complete story

Source: Bradenton Herald - Karen Blondin

Stop Foreclosure  Save Your Credit Florida Short Sales

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Each month, we publish a series of articles of interest to homeowners -- money-saving tips, household safety checklists, home improvement advice, real estate insider secrets, etc. Whether you currently are in the market for a new home, or not, we hope that this information is of value to you. Please feel free to pass these articles on to your family and friends.

If you’re buying Florida real estate, you might start worrying about your credit score. Unfortunately, there are a lot of myths about that score, and many individuals actually end up making things worse by following them.

Read this list of common credit score myths and be in the know before talking to a lender:

1. Close out your credit cards. This is a big no-no, especially when you want to buy Florida real estate. Closing out your older credit cards, especially, can actually make your credit score drop.

2. Lower your credit limits. Lowering your credit limits can hurt your credit score. Part of your credit score is based on how much credit you have available.

3. Get good credit by paying all your cards in full. If you’re buying a home, part, if not most of the cost will be credited. What lenders want to see is that you know how to handle credit, not that you don’t have any debt. Instead, use 10% to 20% of your available credit and pay your bills on time.

4. Comparison shopping for the best credit rates is a no-no. Not true. However, if you’re comparison shopping, do so in a short period of time. That way, all queries hit around the same time and get lumped into one “hard” inquiry.

5. Checking your score can hurt you. You’re entitled to one free credit inquiry from each of the three top credit agencies per year. Just make sure you're the one who asks for your credit scores instead of having a friend at a financial institution do it for you.

6. The more you make, the better your score. This is only true if you use the extra income to pay off your debts. Making more money, by itself, will not increase your credit score.

Of course, you want to make sure you have the best credit score you can if you’re buying Florida real estate. However, before you listen to the hype and myths, make sure you know the facts!

If you’re looking for a new home, we can help. Call us at 407-876-5771 for more information.