My dad always advised me to buy low and sell high! You would be hard pressed to find a better market for mortgage rates and real estate pricing. Have you heard that the affordability index has measured that home buying is at it’s most affordable level in since the 60′s? Tucson is a great market for buying real estate and it’s no secret that housing values have plummeted in Arizona. There are lots of foreclosures and short sales offering very low home prices. Check out www.homepath.com for Fannie Mae owned properties. My company, PHH Mortgage offers special financing terms for a Home Path Mortgage (we are not currently offering the Home Path Renovation Mortgage at this time). Home Path Mortgages can be obtained with a 3% down payment (or more), there is no mortgage insurance and they do not require an appraisal. Fannie Mae often pays for the buyers closing costs too.
If you already own your house, have you thought about a refi? Here’s an article from yesterday’s USA today: Mortgage Rates Reach Record Lows, Sparking Refinancings.
The article indicates 63% of residential mortgages have rates above 5% and 46% of homeowners have 20% or less equity in their home. It is harder to refinance your home without sufficient equity. It can be hard to refinance your home with equity too as underwriting guidelines continue to get tighter. However if you qualify, now is the time. 5/1 ARMs are currently below 3% APR. According to this week’s Freddie Mac survey, 15 year fixed rates are at 3.5% and 30 year fixed rates are at 4.32% which is very near the record low. Freddie Mac has been tracking rates for over 40 years.
What if you don’t have equity and you still want to refinance? You might qualify for the HASP (Home Affordability and Stability Plan) program that can enable you to refinance your loan even if the current mortgage is up to 125% of the home’s value. You had to have purchased your home before June of 2009 and the existing mortgage is with Fannie Mae (www.fanniemae.com) or Freddie Mac (www.freddiemac.com). Go to the Look Up tool to see if Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac owns your mortgage. They do not service the loans, but they are the investors.
Call me to review your options. David wolsky at 520-275-2536 or david@davidwolsky.com.
