Hey everyone! It’s Nationwide Open House Weekend. Visit one of these three open houses today and enter to win either a $1500 gift card to the Tin Roof or a $500 Costco Gift Card!
Full listing info: 2811 W Beacon — Open Sunday 4/21/2013 from 1-3 PM
Held open by Kathy Reinholdt: 5 Bed 3 Bath (plus office) daylight rancher with beautiful fenced back yard. Main floor master with onsuite bathroom. Two large living rooms, one up and one down. New custom cabinets and tile floors in the bright kitchen, main floor hardwoods, huge basement with walk out access to large backyard with boulder retaining wall and huge deck. Full sprinkler system, two car attached garage vinyl windows gas fireplace, gas furnace, central ac and gas hot water.
Full Listing info:1637 S Grand Blvd — Open Sunday 4/21/2013 from 1-3 PM
Held open by Wil Perry: Awesome opportunity on Grand Blvd. Corner of Grand and 17th near the PARK. Beautiful inlay wood floors, main floor living room, formal dining room and kitchen. Three bedrooms upstairs, possibility of 4th bed upstairs in unfinished area. Lots of space in the basement for expansion, more rooms or a living room. Nice access to single car garage off 17th so no backing out onto grand. Needs some work but could shine!!! Don’t miss this one.
Full Listing info: 4723 N Walnut Ave — Open Sunday 4/21/2013 from 1-3 PM
Held open by Aaron Lennon: Great Shadle home! 2 Beds 1 bath on main floor with 3rd non-egress room downstairs. Galley kitchen, large living room and a big family room downstairs. All light fixtures have been replaced and upgraded! Custom shelving will stay with home including flat screen TV. 1 car front-entry garage, fully fenced HUGE back yard with alley access and 12 foot gate. Great patio out back for BBQ’s and more. Upgraded bathroom, wood floors, so many great features in this wonderful home!
Stephen Boyd, Sr. Mortgage Consultant
In the last few days, I have received quite a few questions regarding rental agreements and leases on investment properties. In researching this issue, it appears that Fannie Mae has updated this guideline to include the following condition:
If there is an existing rental agreement or lease on the subject property, verify that it does not contain any provisions that could affect Fannie Mae’s first lien position on the property. Review the lease to determine if it is subordinated to the new first mortgage. If it will not be subordinate to the new mortgage, ensure that any tenant’s rights to the property have been formally waived by the tenants.
We will start seeing this condition from underwriting moving forward. This condition supports the general Legal requirements of a 1st mortgage with Fannie Mae … this excerpt is “When the property that secures a first mortgage is rented, the rental agreement or lease cannot include provisions that could affect significantly Fannie Mae’s position as mortgagee.”
Sr. Mortgage Loan Officer
AmericanWest Bank
509-232-1632 Direct
509-280-6484 Cell
509-462-5862 Fax
NMLS #487418
This is pretty cool. Last fall we sold a house for some friends of ours, they let us know their appreciation through this really awesome wood carving.
It’s pretty amazing. Very detailed, even has a belly and the wrinkles in the back of my neck. It’s now our new sales trophy in the office.
Pretty cool.
What do you think?
Owner financing is growing in popularity. Individuals with liquid cash are loaning it to those who may not otherwise qualify for the more traditional financing methods.
One of the biggest misconceptions I see people having when investigating owner financing or even hard money lenders in Spokane is that rates will be similar (or even close) to nationally advertised mortgage rates.
National banks who lend money out at the advertised low rates have very specific criteria in which they will lend to, people who fit into that box are of a risk level that they can lower the interest rate to that level, there’s also the element of quantity too (having millions of loans with the money diversified sure helps).
Individual or Hard Money lenders loan out money to people who don’t necessarily fit into the box of the mainstream borrower. Their terms are usually in the ballpark of 65% LTV (loan to value) meaning on a $100,000 property, they would loan $65,000 on the property and the borrower would have $35,000 down payment. They usually charge some points too. Most are between 1% and 5% of the loan amount as a fee for loaning the money. Interest rates vary widely. Most are between 8% and 15% although it is all over the board.
Hard Money and Owner Financing are great options for borrowers with a little cash to put down who don’t fit into the traditional lending box. If you’d like information, please contact us and we’ll put you in touch with some of our lenders.
I was talking to a new home buyer the other day and we struck up a great conversation. The question was:
“What types of things do I need to be asking about this process?”
Great question…
Homes are a huge purchase and finding out all the information on them is extremely important. My top three take-away’s from this conversation are:
- Think Ahead: This home may be perfect. We are often short sighted when we do our planning, but with the purchase of a home, it’s sometimes difficult to liquidate quickly and buy a better model a few years down the road. What will your life look like in five years, ten? Does the house you are looking at fit into those goals?
- Utilities: Owning a home is more than a house payment. Owning a home means owning utility bills, maintenance etc. Get a great grasp of what your costs of ownership are going to be before taking the plunge.
- Meet your Neighbors: Why wait until you’ve signed on the dotted line before you meet your neighbors. You’re going to need to live with them for a while, so meet them early. There isn’t a do not knock list. Show up and introduce yourself, find out the neighborhood scoop. Talk to more than one as you can encounter your occasional crazy out there.
Doing your homework on a new house is super important. Having a great agent will help you with that information. If you are looking to buy a home in the Spokane & Coeur d’Alene areas, give us a call and we’ll help you find the perfect home.
Photo Credit: eagle102.net cc licensed
Most people facing foreclosure fear they are out of options. Contrary to popular belief, there are actually over a dozen ways to avoid foreclosure when faced with it.
In a similar article, we wrote about alternatives to short sales, where we discuss foreclosure as one of the alternatives to a short sale; as such, a short sale is also an alternative to foreclosure.
For sake of this publication, we will discuss three options we feel must not be overlooked. For a free list of all alternatives, leave us a comment below and we’ll email you one promptly.
- The service members civil relief act: is available for service persons who are facing financial distress due to deployment. There are major benefits some of which can even help the spouses of deployed service personnel. For more information on this act please read the SCRA document.
- Refinance – Homeowners with lots of equity may refinance the home to better terms and avoid Foreclosure.
- Mortgage / Loan Modification – many lending institutions have options to modify the payments of a loan in order to keep the asset from foreclosing. While some may be unsuccessful at this tactic, we’ve seen it work first hand for persons in foreclosure.
There are many more alternatives to foreclosure we can discuss, for a comprehensive list please leave a comment below and we’ll get one to you directly. If you are interested in finding out all of your options to sell your home, including how long it may take to recoup your lost equity, please complete our free Short Sale Calculator.
Photo Credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com cc Licensed
