Living In Tucson Blog

Hi friends! I frequently get phone calls that ask “Am I still in the mortgage business?” You bet I am! I have been originating mortgages since 1994. My kids were only 4 and 7 when I started. It’s been nearly three years since my son Adam graduated from Tulane and my daughter Becka is 22 years old and has recently moved to Pittsburgh. By the way, Faye is doing great too! Although our industry has gone through many ups and downs over the past 18 years, I am still helping folks buy or refinance their homes. Rates are at historic lows and the buying power in Arizona has never been better!

I accepted a position as a loan officer at GMAC Mortgage this week and I am excited to represent them in Tucson and Arizona (I am licensed throughout the state – NMLS #182108). My official start date was April 15th.  In the meantime, call me to say hello at (520) 977-3300 or email me at david@davidwolsky.com.

I love March in Tucson with the smell of orange blossoms wafting through the air. The weather is usually about as good as it gets and there are lots of fun activities to enjoy such as the 4th Avenue Street Fair and Spring Training. It’s not too hot and the days get a little longer even though we don’t set back the clocks here. I enjoyed the beautiful weather this afternoon by taking a long bike ride. I must have been passed by more than a dozen pickup trucks on Soldier Trail during while riding north from Tanque Verde. There must have been a pickup truck rally at Agua Caliente Park!

This morning paper had an article on the front page with the headline “Tucson’s No. 1 for housing investors”. This assertion is made by Realtor.com and is based on the low prices for investors who buy distressed properties and fix them up for resale. Homes are selling faster this year and the prices appear to be stabilizing although it is too soon to predict a turnaround in housing. Just this past week, the government released a report that existing home sales are down. Of course, the report is national and real estate is local. As I indicated in my last post, buyers that I have pre-qualfied and the Realtors who referred them to me are telling me the inventory is low and the competition for homes that are priced right and in good shape is very competitive.

In other mortgage related news, FHA mortgage insurance premiums (MIP) are going up. The program attracts buyers who have credit scores as low as 600 and small down payments so it is no mystery that the defaults are still happening and raising the MIP will help to reduce the governments losses by collecting higher fees. Starting in April, new FHA loans will have 1.75% upfront MIP instead of 1%. The FHA loan requires a minimum down payment of 3.5% of the loan amount. The 1.75% upfront MI is added to base loan (96.5% of the sales price). Another change to anticipate is reduced seller concessions from 6% of the sales price down to 3%. The reduced seller concessions should have little impact on the loan program. Even though sellers do wind up paying for buyer’s fees, it typically wouldn’t exceed 3% in my experience. FHA loans have represented a significant percentage of home loans in the past four years.

If you have any mortgage related questions, call me, David Wolsky! david@davidwolsky.com – (520) 977-3300.

Wow…it’s been a long time since my last entry into this blog. As John Lennon wrote, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”. Among my excuses, like my dog ate my homework, it’s been a busy couple of months at the office and my wife Faye and I took a couple of mini vacations to Florida and California visiting family and friends and we are about to go on one more trip to Philadelphia. Life is too short, so we try to attend weddings and other happy occasions and spend time with friends to celebrate life in all its fullness.

Since my last blog entry, there has been a wide array of mortgage related news out there. I suspect that anyone who may have been following my blog might have been following some of this news. Most recently, news of changes to FHA mortgages was been announced. The upfront mortgage insurance premium is being increased from 1% to 1.75% in April. The annual premium which is paid monthly will increase by 0.1%. The average mortgage payment will increase by $5 per month.

In the past couple of months since my last post, there have been some encouraging signs in the housing industry especially here in Arizona. We have seen headlines of declining values for months, but the Case Schiller Index which tracks real estate values has had two consecutive months of increased values in Arizona even though most of the country is declining. According to Kiplinger’s most recent weekly newsletter, the inventory of unsold homes is dropping. I can tell you first hand that Realtors are having a hard time finding good properties to sell their buyers. Any decent homes that are priced right are getting multiple offers. A fair amount of transactions are short sales or foreclosures.

Another sign of the improving economy is job creation. The numbers are climbing in the private sectors. One possible impediment to our recovery is the price of gas at the pumps. Let’s hope those speculators won’t drive up the prices too significantly.

So now that you have a job and you are ready to take advantage of record low rates and the reduced cost of a home, call me! I’m here to help you with your mortgage approval. You can reach me, David Wolsky at (520) 275-2536 or david@davidwolsky.com.

Many people are wary about getting back into the housing market. They are concerned about declining values and challenging mortgage requirements. Despite these negatives, it may be a great time to get back into residential real estate. In the past few months, we have seen an increase in the median price of homes in Tucson, however, a third of the homes sold here in 2011 were under $100,000. The affordability index has never been better! Interest rates have hit record lows according to a recent Freddie Mac’s weekly survey and it’s not quite as arduous to obtain a mortgage as you may have thought.
 
Will 2012 be The Road to Recovery?
 
Predictions are that there will be new foreclosures hitting the market in 2012.  The good news is delinquency rates are declining quite a bit. The bad news is these foreclosures continue to slow down the housing recovery. Interest rates should remain historically low for the first half of 2012 while housing prices will find their bottom. You can expect to see modest increase in prices of homes in the second half of 2012. Pent up demand for housing is increasing.  Rental properties and foreign investors are ready to soak up deals and refinance programs such as HARP (Home Affordable Refinance Program) will also help the housing market recover its equilibrium.
 
Wild cards:
 
Eurozone, Employment, Election Year!
 
Call me, David Wolsky, for any mortgage related questions. I can be reached at (520) 275-2536 or david@davidwolsky.com. 

This gentleman is an inspiration! I hope to be retired long before I turn 106, if I am lucky enough to live that long. Maybe I will have my house paid off by then. In the meantime, enjoy this brief video and Happy Holidays from me.

From CNN last week:

106 Year Old Stockbroker

• Freddie Mac reports that a 30 Year fixed rate mortgage at record low of 3.91% with 0.7 points.
• Forclosures jumped 21% in the 3rd quarter but 11.8% lass than a year ago.
• Unemployment rates fell in 43 states in November. The most states to report delcines in 8 years.
• Housing starts rise 9.3% in November. Building Permits up 5.7%.
• Existing Home Sales for November jumped 4% over last year.
• Existing Home Sales for 2007 through 2010 were revised lower by 14%.

On November 15th, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will release the updated guidelines for the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) to help more homeowners refinance. So far, 900,000 borrowers have been able to take advantage of the program. Those homeowners will not be able to refinance with another HARP loan a second time. The program is open to borrowers for mortgages originated prior to June of 2009. As of now, you are able to finance up to 125% of the property’s value. We can expect the loan-to-value ratio to increase above 125% also known as “being underwater”.                            

54% of the homes in and around Phoenix are underwater. It’s the second worse market in the country behind Las Vegas where 64% is underwater! About a third of the homes in Tucson are underwater.

The Fed is determined to keep rates low so borrowers can take advantage of the savings and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are removing restrictions to the program helping more homeowners stave off foreclosure.

HARP stands for Home Affordable Refinance Program. Eligible borrowers obtained their original mortgages prior to July of 2009. You can borrow up to 125% of the current value. Some loans will require an appraisal and others do not. It was designed to help millions of borrowers get relief though, unfortunately, the program has only helped a few hundred thousand homeowners. I have had mixed success with my customers with this program. The first thing to do is determine if Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac owns your loan. They have search engines on their websites, www.fanniemae.com or www.freddiemac.com. Remember, you don’t make your payments to Fannie or Freddie. They are investors, not loan servicers (collecting the payments). That means they buy the loans and pay a premium to lenders to service the loans. The best bet is going back to the lender who is servicing your loan and find out if they can refinance your home.

Currently, there is no relief for underwater homeowners with mortgages not owned by Fannie or Freddie. Proposals are being considered to help. President Obama was selling refinancing in his recent jobs speech. I have noticed a bigger effort from my company, PHH Home Loans and Coldwell Banker Home Loans to originate HARP refinances. If you had bought your house prior to July 2009 with a mortgage from PHH or CBHL, get in touch with me to see if we can save you some money! Those borrowers I have helped have saved an average of more than $125 per month! I’m David Wolsky and can be reached at (520) 275-2536 or david@davidwolsky.com.

Here’s an interesting article I ran across online yesterday. It is the story of a homeowner’s decision to walk away from their home loan. My job is to originate mortgages and I don’t advocate walking away from a mortgage, but I certainly can empathize with this homeowner’s plight. I hear all kinds of misery and housing horror stories almost every day.

By Ryan J. Downey:

I made my last mortgage payment on November 1, 2009.

Bank Of America changed the locks on my house on September 29, 2011.

I realize that my results may not be typical and that every situation is unique. But I’d like to provide people in a similar spot with something that wasn’t readily available to me when I realized I had to walk away from my house: answers.

What happens when you walk away? Are you arrested? Are you shunned? Do your kids decide they hate you?

READ MORE

I office at Coldwell Banker Residential Broker in the Tucson Foothills location and the managers Greg & Patty love to show videos during their sales meetings. Here’s a cute one they showed recently. Enjoy!

Contact me for a great REALTOR referral or a free home loan pre-approval. I’m David Wolsky at (520) 275-2536 or david@davidwolsky.com!