Buying OR selling, use professionals in ALL aspects of the transaction.
The Importance of a Good Lender: Buying a new home is complicated, and there’s almost no way to anticipate EVERYTHING that could possibly go wrong. There are some things every buyer should do..number one being work with an agent that knows the area, understands the local market, and has proven contacts for each of the areas of the transaction that could MAYBE go wrong..including a Local Lender. If you’re looking to buy or sell Residential, Land or an Equestrian property, call Kim Kelly at 760-285-3578.
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Buyers determine Price, no matter how awesome your property!
Sellers do NOT determine Price; Buyers DO! What?? This is the one Listing appointment principle that is the most difficult for my Sellers to really accept. Each one of us, when we put on our Sellers’ shoes, thinks of all the money invested and time spent on our property. The Reality of the Market at the time of your Listing MUST over ride these numbers and personal feelings. IT DOES NOT MATTER. What matters is very simply “What will a Buyer pay for your property?”
Working with a local Realtor who can show you exactly what the past SOLD properties have included, and how they compare to your own is critical to determining your Listing Price. Your Upgrades List is very important, as is your Lot orientation, architectural style, actual floor plan, quality of upgrades etc. Do NOT start adding the dollar amounts of these upgrades together and coming to a “number you HAVE to have to sell.” Again..ultimately, that does not matter to your potential buyer. Put on your Buyers’ shoes now. When you are looking for a property, there are certain things on your “Drop Dead Must Have list”. There are also amenities that you “Would Love to Have, but can Live Without.” But, you as a Buyer, do not want to feel that you are paying the highest price for that home in that Neighborhood.
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The Citrus Golf Club in La Quinta, CA.
La Quinta, California is one of our centrally located Palm Springs Valley cities. Buyers looking to be a little further from the downtown Palm Springs activities, but near to the Central desert Valley shopping, as well as the more open areas often gravitate towards La Quinta. La Quinta offers a wide variety of both Gated and non-gated housing options, as well as Golf Course communities such as The Tradition, The Citrus, The Hideaway, Madison Club and Mountain View Country Club to name a few.
Now that the Loan standards have loosened up enough to allow conventional, refinances, VA Loans, and FHA options, buyers always want to know, “How much Cash do I need to close?” Take a minute to watch the very short video below as it helps to break down that question for you…
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Silver Rock Public Golf Course in la Quinta, CA
La Quinta, California offers a plethora of choices and opportunities when it comes to buying a property. You need to decide many things as you move toward a home purchase. Are you going to be a year round resident, vacation home owner, or Investment Property owner? Do you want Golf Facilities, Equestrian Facilities, Swim facilities..what do you like to do? Then there is always the issue of financing.
What steps do you need to undertake to obtain a Loan? This short video will help you with this one..Once you have your financing in place, another important aspect to buying a home in La Quinta, is “do I want a Golf course, gated, La Quinta Community?” What do you get for your monthly HOA (Homeowners payments?) Will you use these amenities? Move slowly and thoughtfully toward your home purchase, and use a local Realtor that understands the Local market trends and areas.
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Guest post from Shane Parker of MortgageFit
Are you in the market to take out a home mortgage loan? Are you aware of the number of calculations that you have to make before taking the plunge into mortgage bandwagon? With the low rates in the mortgage market, there are too many homeowners who are either trying to refinance their mortgage loans or the prospective homebuyers who are looking for ways to take out mortgage loans within their means. A mortgage loan is a secured loan that requires your home as collateral and the agreement will say that the lender will foreclose your home in the event of default. In order to reduce the risk of the mortgage lender, they try to keep a valuable property (often your home) as collateral so that they can repossess it and recuperate the money by selling off the property. For more information on loan mortgage calculator, please click here.
When you’re about to take out a home mortgage loan, you have to make various calculations and for that you need to use the loan mortgage calculator efficiently. There are different types of mortgage calculators that you can use when you’re in the market to take out such a loan. If you’re not aware of the different calculators, here are some that you might try considering.
- Mortgage rate comparison calculator: Testing your shopping skills is immensely important when you take out a home mortgage loan as its sheer foolishness when you choose the first mortgage rate that you come across. You just have to compare and contrast the different mortgage rates from the lenders so that you can choose the one that offers you the best rates and the closing costs on the loans. This is even possible through the mortgage rate comparison calculator as you can save your time and money in getting multiple quotes from the lenders.
- Mortgage affordability calculator: Apart from checking the rates, there is another factor that you need to check before taking out a home mortgage loan and that is your mortgage affordability. Taking out the wrong mortgage loan that is not within your affordability will cause much distress in the long run as you might not be able to manage your monthly payments later on. Therefore, choose to take out a home loan within your affordability by checking it through this calculator.
- Mortgage monthly payment calculator: The mortgage monthly payment calculator is another one that can help you calculate your monthly payments. When you’re making timely repayments on the home mortgage loan, you might be eager to know the monthly payments that you have to make in a particular month. Use this mortgage monthly payment calculator in order to determine the payments that you need to make in a month.
- Mortgage amortization calculator: You might also need to use a mortgage amortization calculator through which you may know the term throughout which you can repay the loan with the principal balance and the interest rates. You just have to enter the rates that you’re paying and the principal balance that you’ve borrowed in order to get the desired result.
Therefore, if you’re in the market to take out a home mortgage loan, don’t forget using the mortgage calculators mentioned above. You can download them from authentic websites as they can help you with the accurate results.
For more info, visit Homebuilder-guide.com.
image: thefreemortgagecalculator.com
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Guest post from Shane Parker of MortgageFit.
Everyone nurtures the dream of buying a home and being a real estate owner. Some buy and some step back as they lack funds with which they can buy their home. Buying a home is perhaps the biggest purchase that you have to make in your lifetime as the amount involved is a huge one. Although there are mortgage loans that you can take out in order to realize your dream of being a real estate owner, there are some who don’t qualify for such loans due to inability to make the monthly payments and lack of good credit score. Are you too wondering about the possibilities of getting a mortgage loan? If answered yes, check out the tips that can help you grab the best mortgage loan in the market.
- Try and improve your credit score: Are you about to take out a mortgage loan without evaluating your credit score? If yes, stop there and make sure that a bad credit score can get you a mortgage loan that is way beyond your means. A mortgage lender will first check your credit score and then think of lending you a loan amount. The better your credit score, the better will be the rate that you’ll be offered and with a lower interest rate. If you have a bad credit score that is below 700, the lender will know that you haven’t been good at managing your finances and your liabilities. In order to reduce their risk, they will charge you high interest rates.
- Lower your DTI ratio: Another ratio that you need to check apart from your credit score is your DTI ratio. This is the ratio between the debt obligations that you have and the income that you earn in a month. If you have a high DTI ratio, the lender will know that you might default on the mortgage payments as you have too many liabilities to meet in a month. But if you can pay off your debt and lower the DTI ratio, you can easily grab a mortgage within your means.
- Save enough money for the required down payment: When you take out a home mortgage loan, you have to save enough money for the down payment. Generally, most lenders will ask for a down payment of at least 20% of the loan amount and if you fail to pay this amount, you’ll have to pay the PMIs or the Private Mortgage Insurance payments. These payments will increase the monthly installments and therefore it is certainly better to save money for the down payment.
Therefore, when you’re about to take out a mortgage loan to buy a real estate property, make sure you follow the above mentioned points. Manage your money so as to be able to make timely payments on the loan so that you don’t risk losing your home to a foreclosure.
If you’re interested in browsing listings of Palm Springs homes for sale, click here.
image: therealdeal.com
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The Debt Forgiveness that people with Foreclosures and Short Sales on their Primary and investment proerties 
have been enjoying since 2007 expires the end of 2012. What’s going to happen? It’s an unknown. It would seem that the Debt Forgiveness would be extended since it is one of the primary reasons that people have been able to re-organize and get back on their feet.
But..there is NOTHING logical about the Lenders I we know all too well from working Short Sales for the pasat 4, almost 5 years. If they see that it will affect their own bottom lines, I suspect it will be extended. In the mean time, be sure you get your Short Sales closed by 12/31 of this year.
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Palm Springs Valley – Legislators in California are urging the Federal Housing Finance Agency to allow mortgage principal write-downs to help homeowners who are “underwater.”
This approved resolution was introduced by Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley to urge Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to immediately offer principal reductions to homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth.
The reason for this push comes after the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency said he would not allow Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to lower the amount some underwater homeowners owe on their mortgages – even in the face of new new financial incentives from the Obama administration.
The reason given for not offering write-downs is because the FHFA said its analysis determined that principal reductions would be too expensive for taxpayers and would not necessarily improve the ability of many homeowners to avoid foreclosure.
Real estate professionals, lenders and economists in the Palm Springs Valley are of the belief that such a principal reduction could help the housing market to recover. However, it also raises some key questions — mainly, how would the write-downs be accomplished?
One local realtor thinks we should try to do anything we can to help homeowners stay in their homes – it’s one of the things to deter strategic defaults. And some local economists and financial experts question whether urging principal write-downs is the right approach.
A local Palm Springs Valley economist says that the intention is obvious – and it’s a good one, but he questions what the consequences would be and thinks write-downs are a big mistake. His feeling is that it makes more sense to let the market work itself out. And sometimes, such measures simply raise hopes and delay inevitable short sales or foreclosures. Also, it’s not right to offer mortgage relief for some underwater homeowners and not for others.
This economist stated that some banks already are voluntarily reducing principal for underwater borrowers, though they’re not talking about it. Banks are looking at the option of a foreclosure or short sale, where they’re going to lose money anyway versus a homeowner who is making payments to reduce their principal and continues to live in his or her home.
A local Valley loan officer has said he knows of underwater homeowners who have had their principals reduced voluntarily by lenders, and it generally works this way . . . the lender modifies the loans by saying, ‘If you pay on time every month for the next three years, we’ll reduce the principal X number of dollars.”
Another point that has been brought up is the raising of moral issues – whereas, some people got into something they shouldn’t have, but writing down their debt rewards mistakes or irresponsibility . . . and how do you determine who deserves it and who doesn’t?
It will be interesting to watch this dialogue as it continues – justifiable points on either side.
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