Realty World Tri-Shasta

Prices are down here in Shasta County and so are interest rates, if you are looking to buy a home this is the time to do it. There are some great homes out there that are available at a good price, and they are not lasting very long on the market. On a majority of the homes listed for under $200,000 it at times has been a bidding war, and we have seen properties go for mare than what they are listed for.

First time home buyers, now is the time to move. Go out and get you pre-qualification or pre-approval done with the lender of your choice. If you go and do that first you will be able to figure out how much money you may have to bring into the transaction and be able to figure out how much home you are going to be able to afford.

Also figure out what area you want to live in and start to look there, if you don’t find what you are looking for expand the area you want to look. And the most important thing is to just go out there and view homes, even attend Open Houses if necessary, to get the feel of what you are looking for. That way when you come across that “certain” home there will be no question as to whether or not this home is made for you.

The best way to decide what you are looking for in your first home is to write it down on a list. Sit down and discuss with your partner esactly what you guys are looking for, what is important, what is not important, and what would be a nice feature but you don’t have to have. When you then view homes keep that list in mind, or refer to it with each home.

Now, if it comes down to more that one home compare those homes to each other and that little list you carry around in your pocket. Compare and contrast, even work out a special numbering system. If worse comes to worse go back and view those homes again. Your agent should be more than willing to take you back to those homes as many times as necessary to help you make your decision.

So good luck and good hunting.

Here are ten questions that need to be asked of one of the Shasta County Home Inspectors:

1. What are your qualifications? Are you a member of the American Society of Home Inspectors or National Association of Home Inspectors?

2. Do you have a current license? Inspectors are not required to be licensed in every state.

3. How many inspections of properties such as this for you do each year?

4. Do you have a list of past clients I can contact?

5. Do you carry professional errors and omission insurance? May I have a copy of the policy?

6. Do you provide any guarantees of your work?

7. What specifically will the inspection cover?

8. What type of report will I receive after the inspection?

9. How long will the inspection take and how long will it take to receive the report?

10. How much will the inspection cost?

In Shasta County property taxes are based upon 1% of the sales price. Following are some questions that should also be asked when it comes to purchasing a home.

1. What is the assessed value of the property? Note the assessed value is generally less than market value. Ask to see a recent copy of the seller’s tax bill to help you determine this information.

2. How often are properties reassessed and when was the last reassessment done? Generally taxes jump most significantly when a property is reassessed.

3. Will the sale of the property trigger a tax increase? Often the assessed value of the property may increase based on the amount you pay for the property. And in some areas, such as California, taxes may be frozen until resale.

4. Is the amount of taxes paid comparable to other properties in the area? If not, it might be possible to appeal the tax assessment and lower the rate.

5. Does the current tax bill reflect any special exemptions that you might not qualify for? For example, many tax districts offer reductions to those 65 or over.

My broker received the following email, printed it out and gave me a caopy. I felt the following information is important enough to get out there to all of you homebuyers here in Shasta County:

President Obama’s new real estate rescue plan offers two key possible benefits: Mare refinancing opportunities and greater chance for a loan modification.

NEW YORK  CNNmoney.com)–The eagerly anticipated foreclosure prevention progrom unveiled Wednesday by President Obama targets 9 million borrowers for help- are you one of them?

The $75 billion effort, dubbed the Homwowner Affordability and Stability Plan, boils down to two basic solutions:

First, the government is aiming to help more homeowners refinance to take advantage of new low interest rates.

Second, it provides incentives to lenders and servicers to restructure your mortgage to more affordable levels.

Official guidelines won’t be unveiled until March 4, but here’s how to know whether you’ll likely be able to take advantage of either of these options.

Help for those seeking refinancing

This part of the program targets borrowers who have kept current on their mortgages. Many of the homeowners in this group have been unable to lower their housing costs through refinancing because of falling home prices.

Right now, if you’re underwater on your mortgage, owing more than the home’s market value, forget about qualifying for a refi. In fact, at least 20% equity in your home is now a must, unless you’re using an FHA loan.

The new guidelines should help. Even homeowners with debt that exceeds home value by 5% could be eligible. And there will be no prepayment penalities. But your loan must be owned or backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

The Administration estimates that this will enable up to 5 million homeowners to obtain lower interest rate mortgages.

Who’s not eligible. Homeowners whose property values have dipped severly, putting them underwater by more than 5% are out of luck.

Those with “jumbo” mortgages also don’t qualify – only those with “conforming” mortgages do. To be absolutely sure what kind of loan you have, you need to check with your servicer or lender after March 4. But in general, unitl the past year, loans above $417,000 were considered jumbo mortgages, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were not allowed to buy and guarantee them.

All borrowers will have to prove they have sufficient income to be able to keep their loan payments, though what would be sufficient proof wasn’t yet clear.

Mortgage modification help for at-risk borrowers

Homeowners in default or at risk of default may qualify for loan modifications, which restructure the terms of loans.

Anyone wiht high combinedd mortgage debt compared to income or who is underwater may be eligible for a loan modification.

Borrowers with high levels of debt, such as car loans and credit card debt exceeding 55% of their incomes, may still qualify for a modification but they’ll be required to accept debt counseling in a HUD certified program.

If you qualify, your servicer or lender will reduce your monthly mortgage payments to 31% of your gross income.

The payment would stay there for five years and then gradually revert back to the conforming loan rates in place at the time.

The reduction would come mostly through interest-rate reductions, though in some cases, principle reduction also would be an option.

Borrowers would also receive incedntive bonuses of up to $1,000 a year for five years for making payments on time.

President Obama estimated 3 to 4 million homeowners could benefit from the new modification procedures.

Who’s not eligible. Speculators, those who bought homes for investment purposes, do not qualify for help-all homes must be owner occupied.

The program will also not reward homebuyers who were irresponsible in their borrowing. All applicants will be closely examined by lenders and those who acted unscrupulously by, for example, misrepresenting their incomes in no-doc loan applications, would not qualify.

And, in order to protect taxpayers from excessive expenses, no loans will be modified unless it results in a net savings compared with the costs of foreclosing. Finally, rates would not be lowered below 2%.

That will disqualify many borrowers who simply can’t afford any reasonable mortgage payment because of illness, for example, or job loss.

“[The plan} will not reward folks who bought homes they knew from the beginning they would never be able to afford,’ said Obama. “In short, this plan will not saver every home.”

No mortgages for amounts above conforming loan limits would be eligible.

When looking for an agent here in Shasta County, or any other county in that matter, to help you buy or sell a home, people are wonder which agent would represent them the best? The best advice I can give someone is to sit down and talk to several agents and get to know them a little better. Pick the one that you are the most comfortable with, and who answers your questions the closest to how you would want them answered.

Here are some questions that could possibly help you along that journey of finding an agent:

1. How long have you been in residential real estate sales? Is it your full-time job?
2. How many homes did you and your company sell last year?
3. How close to the initial asking price of the home you sold were the final sale price?
4. What types of specific marketing systems and approaches will you use to sell my home?
5. What type of support and supervision does your brokerage office provide to you?

It is important to know the type of questions you are going to ask, and the answers you expect to hear, before you sit down with the agent you are going to interview. It is always great to take notes, that way you can compare notes later on when you sit down to decide what agent you are going to use.

Good luck and happy hunting!