My Real Estate Blog

Fast Facts 02/01/2012

Calif. median home price: December 2011: $285,920 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. highest median home price by region/county December  2011: Marin: $693,880 (Source: C.A.R.)
Calif. lowest median home price by region/county December 2011: Madera: $106,000 (Source: C.A.R.)

Calif. Pending Home Sales Index: December 2011: 91.6, an increase from the revised 82.5 recorded in December 2010 
 
Calif. Traditional Housing Affordability Index: Third quarter 2011: 52 percent (Source: C.A.R.)

Mortgage rates: Week ending 1/26/2012 30-yr. fixed: 3.98% fees/points: 0.7% 15-yr. fixed: 3.24 fees/points: 0.8% 1-yr. adjustable: 2.74% Fees/points: 0.6% (Source: Freddie Mac)

Reprinted From C.A.R.

New Barriers To Reverse Mortgages

November 22, 2011

By Anne Tergesen

Changes are in store for the way reverse mortgages are processed that might make it more difficult for some borrowers to qualify.

For fees that can amount to as much as 5% of a home’s value, reverse mortgages allow people age 62 or older to convert their home equity into cash. The homeowner can elect to receive a lump sum, a line of credit or monthly payments. The loan is due, with interest, when the borrower dies, moves, sells the house or fails to pay property taxes or homeowner’s insurance.

In the past, the amount a borrower received was determined by his or her age and property value, says Peter Bell, president of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association. But on Oct. 5, the Federal Housing Administration, which insures virtually all reverse mortgages, told lenders that they are also free to consider a borrower’s “financial capacity and credit assessment criteria … in the origination and approval of” reverse mortgages.

Starting a week ago, MetLife Bank, the largest originator of reverse mortgages, began examining applicants’ finances. The goal: To gauge whether they have enough in the way of income and assets to cover the ongoing costs of defraying property taxes and homeowner’s insurance premiums.

Mr. Bell says the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees FHA, is working on new regulations–likely to debut in 2012–that would require lenders to perform such financial underwriting. As a result, he adds, “it is possible that some borrowers who could have gotten a reverse mortgage before” will no longer qualify.

Still, Mr. Bell says, the number of people likely to be affected will be nowhere near the numbers impacted when, in response to falling home values, HUD cut the amount of equity that reverse-mortgage borrowers could extract from their homes. From fiscal year 2008 to 2011, the volume of Federally-insured “home-equity-conversion” reverse mortgages fell 35%.

The new regulations are also likely to give lenders the right to require borrowers with smaller financial cushions to receive monthly payments, rather than a lump sum. To ensure that borrowers have enough cash to cover their property taxes and homeowner’s insurance premiums, the new regulations may also allow lenders to set aside a portion of a reverse mortgage’s proceeds for those expenses.

In recent years, the number of reverse mortgage borrowers at risk of default on these loans due to an inability to pay insurance and property tax bills has risen. Mr. Bell says a new counseling program has put about 60% to 70% of those in arrears on a path towards retaining their homes.

Higher loan limits transform FHA into key source of financing

When a Co-Borrower Has Poor Credit

By VICKIE ELMER

Published: November 24, 2011

IN most cases it is easier to qualify for a home mortgage by applying with another person — be it a spouse or partner, or even a close friend or sibling. But problems may arise if the other person’s credit score is less than stellar.

The federal agencies that oversee and buy mortgages from lenders, like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, require lenders making conventional loans to focus on the lower of the two FICO scores. (Scores generally range from 300 to 850, with the national median at 711, according to FICO.)

But both scores may be factored into other loans. On a jumbo loan, for instance, the lender is likely to “put more weight on the credit score of the person with the higher income,” said Greg Gwizdz, an executive vice president of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in Somerville, N.J.

For some people, however, it may be necessary to hold off on a home purchase for a few months to allow the co-borrower with credit issues to clean up his or her report and raise the score.

This can be done by being “hypervigilant on paying your bills on time” for a few months, said Tracy Becker, the president of North Shore Advisory, a credit restoration company in Tarrytown, N.Y., or by perusing the credit report and correcting any inaccuracies.

Ms. Becker says that one way to raise a FICO score by 30 to 40 points in a few months is to be added as an authorized user to a well-established person’s credit card, even if you don’t use the card. Your score can rise, too, if you pay down credit-card balances so they are at least 10 percent of the maximum credit limit.

Even if you cannot afford to pay down the cards that far, it can help even to reduce the balance to, say, 60 percent of the limit, said Joanne Gaskin, the director of product management global scoring at FICO. The closer your balance is to the credit limit, the more the score will increase when the balance is paid down. 

If the cards are “maxed out,” Ms. Gaskin said, “that’s going to be very negative.”

Preparation is key, Ms. Becker said, suggesting that both parties review their credit reports and scores together early on in the home-search process.

Alexander Arader, the owner of Arader & Associates, a mortgage broker in Stamford, Conn., said that a borrower with a credit score of 620 to 640 could pay as much as one percentage point more in interest than a borrower with good credit, say around 760 or higher.

“Do whatever it takes to get your credit score up,” he said.

If there is little time for a significant upgrade in a credit score — perhaps because you found your dream home and can’t wait to make an offer — borrowers should explain to the lender any issues that might have affected the credit report, said Mr. Gwizdz of Wells Fargo.

“Take time to tell your story,” he said, and make sure you carefully document any major life issues that might have contributed to a score’s decline, like an illness, divorce or job loss.

The borrowers also need to make it clear why a second person is on the mortgage, especially if that person is not living in the house, he said. A parent helping a child buy his first apartment in Manhattan will have less trouble explaining the connection than a friend who isn’t there full-time, he said.

Sometimes it may make more sense to have just one person on the mortgage — provided, of course, that the person can afford the monthly payments alone. Some banks may allow two people to appear on the property’s deed with only one on the mortgage note. 

While the FICO credit score is important, it is only one part of what lenders evaluate in the application process, Mr. Gwizdz noted.

Among other factors that underwriters examine: the size and source of the down payment (many are now requiring 20 percent); both applicants’ incomes and whether they have been rising; their debt-to-income ratios; and the property they are buying.

“Though their home price expectations have become slightly positive, consumers remain concerned about the direction of the economy and continue to view their household finances as being relatively flat,” said Doug Duncan, vice president and chief economist of Fannie Mae. “Most Americans expect no improvement in their personal financial situation in the next 12 months and will likely remain wary about undertaking the significant financial obligation associated with homeownership until their view of their income, expenses, and job security heads in a more positive direction.”

Highlights from the survey include:

• Nearly a quarter (22 percent) of respondents expect home prices to increase over the next year (up 3 percentage points since last month), while 22 percent say they expect home prices to decline, down 1 percentage point since last month. Fifty-three percent say prices will stay the same, a 2 percentage point drop from October.
• Approximately one-third of Americans say that mortgage rates will go up over the next 12 months, down 3 percentage points from October and a return to the level seen in September.
• Sixty-eight percent of respondents say it is a good time to buy a home (down by 1 percentage point since last month), and just 10 percent say it is a good time to sell, unchanged from the previous two months.

Reprinted From C.A.R.