Posts Tagged ‘first time homebuyer’
– 90 DAY FLIPPING RULE SUSPENDED FOR 1 YEAR!! –
Great news for investors! Admitting that it is in fact possible to buy, rehab, and sell a property in less than 90 days, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has suspended it's infamous 90 day seasoning requirement! This is also great news for home buyers, as this suspension should effectively allow quite a few more houses onto the market that otherwise would be just "seasoning" (aka sitting) on the market for 90 days. Before we get into this too deep, lets first get an idea of what this seasoning requirement originally entailed. Basically, since 2003, the FHA has required that a house is "seasoned" on the market for 90 days before it is allowed to be resold. This means that an investor or any other person who purchased a property had to wait for approximately 3 months before they were allowed to sell the house to an FHA insured buyer. More than anything, this was done to prevent people from buying a house and immediately selling it at an inflated price to a naive or uninformed buyer. Luckily, over the past several years, most of the riff raff has been weeded out of ...
$8,000 TAX CREDIT EXTENDED (AND EXPANDED) FOR DFW RESIDENTS!!
The $8,000 tax credit, which was scheduled to lapse on Dec. 1 of this month, was effectively extended through the end of June 2010. This is great news for people who were rushing to find a good home in order to qualify! Homebuyers must now sign a contract before April 30 and close on their home by June 30. There were also some changes in regard to income limits. Single buyers can now earn up to $125,000 and still get the full credit, while a married couple can earn $225,000. Hooray! But the government didn't stop there. Not even close. The new bill even makes more homeowners eligible to claim the credit on their taxes. First-time homebuyers (those who haven't owned a a home in the past 3 years) still qualify for the existing credit of $8000, but now those who have owned (and lived in) a residence for at least 5 years can claim a credit in the amount of $6500! "The new version of the tax credit has the potential to stimulate the ...
$8000 TAX CREDIT – TIME IS RUNNING OUT!!!
Attention Dallas Fort Worth first time home buyers! Time is running out! As of now you have less than 3 months to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit offered by the Federal Government. If you are still planning on buying a house and taking advantage of this historic opportunity you must make your home purchase by December 1st of 2009 (in order to qualify). Here are some of the basic guidelines to see if you might qualify for the tax credit. First of all, a "first time home buyer" is considered to be someone who has not owned a home for the past three years. As for the limit you can receive, just look at the purchase price of the home and take 10%. The max is capped at $8,000, and is subject to income limitations, meaning that if you are single you would need a modified adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less to qualify for the full credit. Married couples need a gross income of $150,000. If you happen to make more than that, you may in fact be eligible for reduced credits. The last main requirement is that ...
- SHOULD YOU BUY MORTGAGE (DISCOUNT) POINTS? -
One of the most commonly referred to aspects of obtaining a mortgage is the all-important issue of "points." If you're in the market for a new home, or if you're looking to purchase for the first time, you've undoubtedly heard of them before, although you may have no idea what it means, or what "points" even refers to. Let's start at the beginning. When you hear someone talking about mortgage points, they are speaking in reference to "discount points." In the most basic sense, one point is equal to one percent of the amount you are planning to borrow. So for example, if you were getting a loan for $150,000, then one point would be equal to $1,500. After that is when it gets tricky, so pay attention. When you purchase points, you are basically making the decision to prepay part of your mortgage interest. If that doesn't make sense, look at it this way. For every point you buy, your lender will offer you a lower interest rate. The actual amount your interest rate will drop can vary, but in most cases its is approximately 1/4 of a percentage point per every discount point you ...
- REFINANCING YOUR MORTGAGE -
Few thing in life can compare to the fun filled adventure that is refinancing your mortgage. Wait, what did I just say? That doesn't seem quite right. The truth is, dealing with a refinance can be quite the arduous process, and for the most part, it's not fun at all. This can be attributed to the abundance of paperwork to fill out, the random lender fees, and the sheer fact that most people don't like modifying their mortgage to begin with. But there is a reason so many people subject themselves to these hardships, and there are times when refinancing your mortgage is an extremely smart decision that can save you thousands of dollars over the life of your loan. You may have heard on the news that interest rates have been hovering around historic lows lately, and because of this, thousands of homeowners have refinanced their mortgage in order to cut their monthly payment. You might be wondering how this works. Basically, by replacing (refinancing) your old mortgage with a new one (that offers a lower interest rate), you can possibly save hundreds of dollars per month. Imagine if your monthly ...
- QUALIFYING FOR A MORTGAGE -
Unless you find yourself in the rare situation of having a few hundred thousand dollars laying around (or stuffed under your mattress), you're going to have to take out a mortgage if you want to purchase a house. There just isn't a way around it. So here's some tips for getting the process started, or as we call it in the mortgage biz, "getting pre-qualified." The first thing you are going to need to do is make sure all of your finances are in order. If managed early (and correctly), this can help so there won't be any inconvenient roadblocks at the last minute that might prevent you from buying your dream home. Long story short, lenders are going to look at a few specific things before they give you the green light to go shopping for your first mansion. Here they are: 1. Your credit history. Pretty much the first thing the banks will do when they see your name is pull a copy of your credit report and check it very thoroughly. Banks do this because ...
- TOPIC O’ THE WEEK: BIWEEKLY MORTGAGE PAYMENTS -
If you have the pleasure of owning your own home, your loan servicer probably contacts you all the time trying to get you to change or update your mortgage in some way. Some of these changes may include refinancing your current loan, taking out a home equity line of credit, or converting your loan into a biweekly mortgage. While the thought of changing your mortgage may seem as a major annoyance, it is definitely worth the time to see if any of these changes could benefit you. So let's get started. The folks at the bank claim that switching to a biweekly mortgage can cut the total length of your loan by 5 to 7 years, and at the same time save you thousands of dollars in interest. Of course this sounds amazing, but is it TRUE? Is it worth pursuing? Will the Rangers slump after the all-star break? Fortunately for you, the former questions are easier to answer. Overall, the process of converting your existing loan into a biweekly mortgage works quite simply. In fact, by switching to a biweekly mortgage you aren't even really changing anything ...
– WELCOME TO THE MORTGAGE GUIDE OF DFW -
Here at DFW Mortgage Guide we have numerous loan programs that can be custom-built to fit your situation, whatever it may be. We serve the Dallas Fort Worth area metroplex exclusively, so you know you are dealing with a company that knows the area. We also work with over 20 lenders and have access to almost any loan program available. These include: PERMANENT FINANCING MORTGAGES We offer a multitude of Mortgage programs for Dallas Fort Worth including conventional fixed rate mortgages, FHA Loans, VA, Jumbo, ARM's, USDA, Interest Only, investment properties, condominiums, and many more! HOME IMPROVEMENT MORTGAGES Whether you are looking to purchase a home that needs improvements, or if you need to do some work on your existing house, we have options available for first and second lien home improvement mortgages. HOME EQUITY MORTGAGES We offer Cash-Out Mortgages for primary homes, second homes, and investment homes, as well as interest only HELOCs for primary residencies. SECOND LIEN MORTGAGES We also offer stand alone second mortgages and second lien mortgages closed concurring with first lien mortgages. REFINANCE EXISTING MORTGAGES If your existing mortgage payment is too high, it ...
