Buying a house today is quite different than in times past. There is such a shortage of homes that people are making ridiculous offers, usually over the asking price. In today’s world, a buyer should be prepared to make offers on multiple properties before you make a successful bid.

Now is still a good time to refinance you mortgage, with interest rates still at all time lows,

and the likelihood that rates will go up soon. There are several reasons to refinance.

• Lower Your Mortgage Rate. A common reason for homeowners to refinance is simply to lower their mortgage rate.
• Shorten the Term of Your Loan.
• Consolidate Debts.
• Cash Out.
• Go from an Adjustable Rate Mortgage to a Fixed Rate.

There are also things to consider. There are refinancing programs out there with no closing costs. While that option may be tempting, typically those programs come with a slightly higher interest rate. Over the life of your mortgage, you could pay thousands more in interests.

You also might have the option of lengthening the term of your loan. This probably will make your monthly payment lower. That might be OK for the short term, but if you are going to stay in the house a while, you will pay more money in interest over the life of the loan.

You might have the option of having less than 20% equity in your house after you refinance. It might be nice to have the extra cash in your hand. But keep in mind in your equity is less than 20%, you may be required to carry PMI insurance. For a conventional mortgage, you can expect to pay a PMI premium between 0.3% and 1.5% of the loan amount. The premiums are tacked directly on to your payment. The unnecessary cost of the PMI insurance will reduce the benefit of refinancing your loan.

You should discuss your plans with Ruth Schoenherr. Ruth is a mortgage broker who will help you find home loans in the Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Largo, Safety Harbor, St Petersburg and Tampa Bay area. For more information, go to her web site at www.ClearwaterMortgageBroker.net or call at 727 447-2418.

Businessman talking to a couple

FHA stands for Federal Housing Authority. FHA Loans offer some advantages that may not be available through other avenues. They were designed to help a first time buyer to be able to own a home. The down payment is only 3.5% if you have a credit score of 580 or more.

The FHA does not issue loans directly. They go through independent companies that are FHA approved.

We can help you submit an application.

FHA loan requirements

To apply for an FHA loan, you have to meet several requirements that include;

• Being a resident of the USA
• Have a valid social security number
• Be of legal age
• Provide bank statements for the last 30 days and any documentation for deposits made.
• Have a minimum credit score of 500.
• Proof of income
• Good payment history of bills

Additional information provided before the FHA loan process include:

• For veterans, a certificate of eligibility
• Provide the names and locations of employers for the last two years
• Filed personal tax returns for the past two years
• If self-employed provide a valid business balance sheet
• Pay for credit report
• Provide details for a savings account and open loans
• Give an approximate value for all personal property
• Provide a gross monthly salary for your current job

The maximum amount of the loan depends upon the part of the country you are located in. They will loan up to $970,800 in high cost areas.

Ruth Schoenherr is a mortgage broker who will help you find home loans in the Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Largo, Safety Harbor, St Petersburg and Tampa Bay area. For more information, go to her web site at www.ClearwaterMortgageBroker.net or call at 727 447-2418.

According to new predictions from Zillow, Tampa came in No. 1 as the hottest housing market of 2022. Other cities in the Sun Belt region seeing a boom of interest from buyers include Jacksonville, Florida; Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina; and San Antonio.

Part of this situation is caused by the fact that since the pandemic, more and more people are working from home, and if you are working from home, why not have a home in a warm climate?

Increased local taxes in other parts of the country are contributing to the situation. The fact that we don’t have a state income tax makes Florida an attractive location also. Ever wonder how we get by with no sales tax? One thing that helps is the lodging tax – the amount of tax due on living/sleeping accommodations. Here in Pinellas County the lodging tax is 12% and the sales tax is 7.2%. Have you checked into renting a place on the beach lately? The rates are high enough, but all the add on taxes and fees are through the roof. Obviously the tourists are helping us with our tax situation.

Buying a house in this area has become a challenge that we haven’t seen before. Even if a buyer finds a listing that has just come on the market, and makes an offer thousands of dollars above the listing price, the buyer is likely not going to accept the offer, and will probably get dozens of offers in a bidding war.

Before you go out and face the insanity of trying to purchase a house in the market, you should have a phone consultation with Ruth Schoeneer. Ruth can give you some great advice and make sure your lending situation is in great shape so that your offer will be seen as an attractive choice.

Ruth Schoenherr is a mortgage broker who will help you find home loans in the Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Largo, Safety Harbor, St Petersburg and Tampa Bay area. For more information, go to her web site at www.ClearwaterMortgageBroker.net or call at 727 447-2418.

When you are buying a home, the realtor will usually recommend that you get a home inspection. The buyer has to pay the fee, and you may be tempted to skip the inspection to save the money. Don’t do it.

You may have your heart set on a particular house. But would you still buy it if you have to pay $20,000 for a new roof and $6,000 for a new air conditioner?

If you are looking at some major renovations, if you know about them up front, you might be able to include the cost of the renovations in the mortgage. If you wait until after closing, you are probably going to have to pay for the repairs out of pocket.

If your roof is a certain number of years old, your insurance company might all of a sudden require an inspection and then require you to replace the roof. They might say that if you don’t get the roof replaced, you can’t get insurance. If you have a mortgage, insurance coverage is required. Wouldn’t you rather know about that ahead of time?

Your air conditioner may work, and it might look OK to you. But it might be on it’s last leg. Wouldn’t you rather know about that ahead of time?

You may have defective duct work or a lack of insulation in the attic that might be resulting in huge power bills. Those bills might be so large that you have no choice but to get repairs. Wouldn’t you rather know about that ahead of time?

If your home inspection is part of your purchasing agreement, and you find a problem, it could provide you with a way out of the contract. A quality home inspection can reveal critical information about the condition of a home and its systems. This makes the buyer aware of what costs, repairs and maintenance the home may require immediately, and over time. If a buyer isn’t comfortable with the findings of the home inspection, it usually presents one last opportunity to back out of the offer to buy.

A home inspection can reveal whether rooms, altered garages or basements were completed without a proper permit, or did not follow code, according to Chantay Bridges of Clear Choice Realty & Associates. “If a house has illegal room additions that are un-permitted, it affects the insurance, taxes, usability and most of all the overall value. In essence, a buyer is purchasing something that legally does not exist,” she explains. Even new homes with systems that were not installed to code will become the new homeowners’ financial “problem” to fix (and finance).

A home inspection can be used as a negotiating tool. The home inspection report presents an opportunity to ask for repairs and/or request a price reduction or credit from the seller. Work with your realtor to understand what requests can and should be made to negotiate a better deal.

Ruth Schoenherr is a mortgage broker who will help you find home loans in the Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Largo, Safety Harbor, St Petersburg and Tampa Bay area. For more information, go to her web site at www.ClearwaterMortgageBroker.net or call at 727 447-2418.

We have all been told that when interest rates get high, we should raise interest rates to slow things down. Although it appears that they were a little slow to act, it appears that that is exactly what the Fed is going to do. See below from NPR Public Media December 15th, 2021.

“The Federal Reserve is paving the way for possible interest rate hikes next year, in an effort to contain stubbornly high inflation.

At the conclusion of a two-day policy meeting Wednesday, the central bank announced plans to phase out its large-scale bond-buying program faster than initially planned. The Fed started purchasing bonds during the pandemic as a way to keep borrowing costs across the economy low and to prevent any market disruptions.

Ending the bond purchases earlier would give the Fed more flexibility to raise interest rates sooner, if necessary, to keep prices from spiraling out of control. The central bank said previously it wanted to stop its bond purchases before considering raising interest rates.

The Fed is taking a harder line against inflation after consumer prices in November jumped 6.8% from a year ago — the largest increase in nearly four decades.

In a statement, the Fed acknowledged the rapid runup in prices. Although the central bank still believes inflation is largely driven by factors tied to the pandemic, which should ease when the health outlook improves, policymakers are no longer taking that as a given.”

Ruth Schoenherr is a mortgage broker who will help you find home loans in the Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Largo, Safety Harbor, St Petersburg and Tampa Bay area. For more information, go to her web site at www.ClearwaterMortgageBroker.net or call at 727 447-2418.

It can be a real advantage to be classified as a first time home buyer. You qualify for special programs if you are classified as a first time home buyer. For example, Freddy Mac has a program where you can get a home loan for only 3% down. There are other programs that give special advantages. If you call our office, we can explain some of the programs that might be available to you.

You may be surprised to find that you might fall into this classification for loan purposes.

Here are the criteria that HUD lists for what constitutes a “first time homebuyer”:

• An individual who has had no ownership in a principal residence during the 3-year period ending on the date of purchase of the property. This includes a spouse (if either meets the above test, they are considered first-time homebuyers).
• A single parent who has only owned with a former spouse while married.
• An individual who is a displaced homemaker and has only owned with a spouse.
• An individual who has only owned a principal residence not permanently affixed to a permanent foundation in accordance with applicable regulations.
• An individual who has only owned a property that was not in compliance with state, local or model building codes and which cannot be brought into compliance for less than the cost of constructing a permanent structure

So if you haven’t owned a home in 3 years, you are considered a first time buyer. There may be other programs that you are eligible for. You should call our office so we can discuss your situation with you.

Ruth Schoenherr is a mortgage broker who will help you find home loans in the Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Largo, Safety Harbor, St Petersburg and Tampa Bay area. For more information, go to her web site at www.ClearwaterMortgageBroker.net or call at 727 447-2418.

I’m sure you are aware that home values have gone up. Home prices have increased recently possible at the fastest pace in modern history. One indication of the rise is that the loan limit for conventional home loans has been raised recently to $625,000. Not too long ago, it was $450,000.

If you need to borrow more than the basic loan limit, you have to apply for what is referred to as a “jumbo mortgage”. The requirements that you have to meet to get a jumbo mortgage are quite restrictive – so much so that the average person would have a hard time qualifying.

This might apply to you if your home has gone up in value and you want to refinance and draw some cash out of the deal to use for other purposes. This now might make more sense because you probably can avoid the “jumbo loan” situation.

According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency website, The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced the maximum conforming loan limits for mortgages to be acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2021. In most of the U.S., the 2021 maximum conforming loan limit (CLL) for one-unit properties will be $548,250, an increase from $510,400 in 2020.

According to Zillow, the typical home value of homes in Florida is $321,643. This value is seasonally adjusted and only includes the middle price tier of homes. Florida home values have gone up 22.2% over the past year.

Ruth Schoenherr is a mortgage broker who will help you find home loans in the Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Largo, Safety Harbor, St Petersburg and Tampa Bay area. For more information, go to her web site at www.ClearwaterMortgageBroker.net or call at 727 447-2418.

Getting ready to make an offer? Buying a home is a nerve wracking experience in the best of times, but it is particularly challenging these days, when it is a seller’s market. There are some things you should consider.

Obviously you need to be pre-approved before you start shopping. First of all, you need to know how much house you can afford, so you don’t get your heart broken shopping for houses outside your budget. Secondly, no intelligent seller is going to consider your offer if you haven’t been pre-approved, and you are just wasting people’s time.

You need to consider the closing costs when you decide if you can afford a house. Closing costs can add 2% to 5% to your price tag, so you need to be aware of that. You also need to consider the additional costs of maintaining your home, including home insurance, utility bills and other miscellaneous costs. Before making an offer, you should consider asking for additional information, such as to see the water and other utility bills from the past year, and factor those into your budget.

Make sure your realtor has checked out the comparable homes in your market to make sure that the amount you are preparing to offer makes sense, and that you aren’t over bidding on the property.

You might want to hold down the contingencies to be competitive. When your home inspection reveals things that need to be fixed, you might want to consider repairing some of the things yourself after you move in. If you are too demanding with the contingencies, you might make your offer uncompetitive when compared to other offers.

Ruth Schoenherr is a mortgage broker who will help you find home loans in the Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Largo, Safety Harbor, St Petersburg and Tampa Bay area. For more information, go to her web site at www.ClearwaterMortgageBroker.net or call at 727 447-2418.

Yes, it possible. Mortgage rates are at record lows. People are getting them all the time. But you have to apply though a mortgage broker, since these deals are not available through conventional channels.

Loans with a 1.99 percent interest rate have low monthly payments, but those may be offset by very high upfront costs. After all, the average rate for the 30-year fixed mortgage is 3.10 percent, according to Bankrate’s weekly national survey of lenders, and that’s a record low rate.

The 1.99 or less is just not as attainable for most borrowers. You really need to stay at 2.5 or over to stay at decent costs,” she said. “2.99 at 1.666 points is a lot more reasonable.”

Would this be a good time to get a mortgage or a refinance?

Absolutely. Inflation is rampant and at rates we haven’t seen in 20 years or more. Politicians are calling for the FED to do something to slow inflation, and that can only mean higher interest rates.

If you are considering a home load or a refinance, what you really should do is have a meeting with Ruth Schoenherr. Ruth will tell you what is feasible in your situation

Ruth Schoenherr is a mortgage broker who will help you find home loans in the Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Largo, Safety Harbor, St Petersburg and Tampa Bay area. For more information, go to her web site at www.ClearwaterMortgageBroker.net or call at 727 447-2418.