Dreaming about owning a vacation home in paradise? You don’t have look any farther than Marco Island.
Click on the video below for some things to think about before you buy. Then you can find me on my website.
http://www.JoanneSellsMarco.com
Dreaming about owning a vacation home in paradise? You don’t have look any farther than Marco Island.
Click on the video below for some things to think about before you buy. Then you can find me on my website.
http://www.JoanneSellsMarco.com
I can give you access to ALL the dreams homes of Marco Island and Naples. Complete with photos and visual tours, they are just a click away.
Call me today.
Joanne Tailele
ERA Flagship Real Estate
239-784-2637
JoanneSellsMarco@gmail.com
On Aug. 6, 2013, President Obama delivered a speech and released a fact sheet on the Administration’s proposal for housing finance reform. This was the Administration’s most significant discussion on housing finance since the release of the Treasury Department’s 2011 white paper, “Reforming America’s Housing Finance Market.”
In the speech, the President outlined key principals of comprehensive housing finance reform, many of which NAR has been advocating since 2009:
NAR will continue to work with Congress and the Administration to develop policies that ensure mortgage credit is always available at reasonable costs so that everyone who is willing and able to afford a home can do so.
When President Obama took office, our housing market was in free-fall, leaving many families feeling trapped and anxious about their mortgages. The President took immediate action to stabilize our housing market and protect the middle class. These steps helped millions of middle class families stay in their homes, save money on their mortgages, and turn their communities around.
Working together we need to build a more durable and fair system that promotes the American Dream of homeownership, while preventing the nightmare of another crisis. Today, our housing market is coming back. Home values are rising, foreclosures are at the lowest levels since 2006, home sales have increased at double digit rates, and American families are on pace to purchase over 5 million homes this year. In part because of President Obama’s tough regulations that cracked down on the most reckless practices from the housing crisis, responsible Americans can feel more confident and secure when they borrow money to purchase their own home. But the job is not done, and restoring security to homeownership is one of the President’s top economic priorities.
In today’s speech, the President laid out his ideas to help more responsible homeowners refinance, to cut red tape, to increase home values by fixing our broken immigration system, to help the hardest hit communities rebuild, and to ensure those who rent have decent and affordable options. The President also made it clear that going back to the same bubble-and-bust housing system that caused the financial crisis is not acceptable. We need a rock-solid foundation for financing homeownership with a bigger role for the private sector, where taxpayers aren’t on the hook for the irresponsible behavior or bad decisions of financial institutions and we finally put an end to an era where Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could expect a bailout for risky behavior in pursuit of profits. These bipartisan solutions will help build on the progress we’ve made over the last four years, and together we can make owning a home a symbol of responsibility and a source of security for generations to come.
A Better Bargain for the Middle Class: Housing
A Better Bargain for Responsible, Middle Class Homeowners:
Core Principles for Durable, Fair Housing Finance (GSE) Reform:
Making Families’ Most Important Financial Decision Safe and Simple:
Confirming Mel Watt Will Provide Certainty and Leadership During This Key Phase:
A Better Bargain for Responsible, Middle Class Homeowners
There are several additional steps – including legislative proposals – that could immediately work to further strengthen the housing market and ensure that the middle class can secure affordable mortgages, refinance their loans at today’s low rates, and build housing wealth while ensuring that no communities or homeowners are left behind by the housing recovery.
These steps could help a typical family save $3,000 or more per year.
Core Principles for Durable, Fair Housing Finance (GSE) Reform
B. Intermediate Steps to Transition to a New Housing Finance System: While bi-partisan legislation will be critical to creating a new housing finance system, non-legislative steps can be taken now to facilitate a gradual transition to the new system and to facilitate the wind down of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, including:
Making Families’ Most Important Financial Decision Safe and Simple
For most middle class families, buying a home is the most important financial decision they will ever make. Unfortunately, in the lead-up to the foreclosure crisis, too many borrowers were steered into predatory or unsafe mortgages that they could not afford or understand – often a result of confusing mortgage forms, conflicts of interest in the lending process, hidden fees, and complex products. This is why President Obama took unprecedented steps to strengthen consumer protection and to ensure that mortgages are safe, sustainable and simple to understand.
The President fought for and signed into law the strongest consumer protections in history with the Dodd-Frank Act. The Dodd-Frank Act created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and tasked it with one job: to protect families when making financial decisions. The first-ever independent consumer watchdog, the CFPB protects middle class families by making it safer and simpler to apply for a mortgage and know that it is sustainable. To this end, the CFPB has done the following:
While these unprecedented consumer protections are making a big difference, more can be done to protect middle class families. That is why the President supports the CFPB in finalizing its simplified mortgage disclosure forms, is calling for improved rules that encourage lenders to care more about borrower success, and made clear that any future housing finance system must ensure a level playing field for community-based banks and financial institutions so borrowers can work with the lender that is right for them.
Confirming Mel Watt will Provide Certainty and Leadership during This Key Phase
The President’s Policies Helped Stabilize a Housing Market in Free Fall
When President Obama took office, our housing market was in free-fall. The President immediately took unprecedented steps to stabilize our housing market and protect the middle class, and later, when there was a log jam in Congress, the President took a number of significant administrative and enforcement actions that helped heal the housing market. While more work remains, the important actions by the President helped millions of families stay in their homes, save money on their mortgages, and turn their communities around.
Most people wade into homeownership for the first time in their 20s and early 30s, when they still have the bulk of their working years ahead of them and a long runway to build equity – a key asset for eventually moving up to a bigger home.
But what if you’ve reached midlife and still envision buying a home one day? Tackling that first home purchase after 40 can be easier in some ways than when you’re just staring out in your career, but it also brings its own set of financial factors.
“It’s important to consider the financial work you have left,” says Eleanor Blayney, consumer advocate for the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards based in Washington D.C. “The financial hurdles you still have over the rest of your life and how homeownership and debt in particular are going to impact that.”
A National Association of Realtors survey of people who bought a home between July 2011 and June 2012 showed that nearly 80 percent of first-time homebuyers were 32 years old or younger.
In the next age bracket, those age 33-47, 36 percent were first-time buyers; between the ages of 48 to 57, only 19 percent were first-time buyers. The rates of first-time homeownership generally declined as buyers got older, according to the survey, which featured 8,500 respondents.
Even so, the last decade’s economic downturn and housing crash has forced many to put off that first home purchase.
Here are some things to consider if you’re over 40 and eyeing homeownership:
Lending rules don’t change for older buyers
Good news: Being closer to retirement age than someone in their 20s and 30s can’t legally be held against you by a lender when they consider you for a home loan, regardless of the loan period.
“So if somebody was to walk in today, and they’re 114 years old, and they ask for a 30-year mortgage and qualify for it, we have to give it to them,” says Tom Jarboe, regional manager at lender Primary Residential Mortgage Inc.
The decision on whether one qualifies for a loan hinges on the borrower’s income, assets, credit history and other factors.
Banks generally look back two years to establish a borrower’s income history and also look to evaluate the likelihood that the borrower will continue to make the same level of income for at least another three years.
If you’re in your late 50s or early 60s and disclose that you’re planning to retire within three years, a lender will evaluate your projected earnings from Social Security, retirement accounts, dividends on investments and other sources.
Consider benefits of paying off loan
Most banks operate under the assumption that even a 30-year fixed mortgage will be swapped out for another loan within eight years, if not sooner. That’s because many homebuyers often end up refinancing, or moving for work or due to family considerations.
But paying off a home and owning it free and clear by the time one retires is a smart play, particularly as the cost of housing is a significant expense for a person relying on a fixed income.
That can be tougher for someone who puts off that first home purchase two decades into their prime working years, assuming they haven’t saved up money to make a hefty downpayment – think at least 30 percent.
But it’s doable.
Blayney recommends that even older borrowers who take on a 30-year mortgage take steps to pay off the loan or lower the monthly payment significantly by the time they retire.
That could mean making extra payments during the early years of the loan, or putting up more than the minimum downpayment so the borrower is financing a smaller amount. A 15-year mortgage, which typically translates into lower interest, but higher monthly payments, is another route to a quicker loan payoff.
Look into first-time buyer assistance
One of the biggest obstacles to homeownership is coming up with a downpayment to qualify for a loan.
Federal and state housing agencies offer assistance for first-time homebuyers, including in many cases former homeowners who haven’t owned a home for at least three years. You can find a list of some programs by state at http://www.hud.gov.
Remember though, while some loan programs allow homebuyers to make a downpayment of as little as 3.5 percent of the purchase price, experts say you’ll need to save enough for at least a 20 percent downpayment in order to get the lowest interest rate and avoid having to pay private mortgage insurance, or PMI.
And they can come with hefty fees and restrictions.
Ask yourself if this is the right time to buy?
You may want to own a home, but are you financially ready to take on the financial commitment that comes with a home loan?
Experts recommend borrowers consider the implications of buying a home in their later years, as well as taking on a large loan.
“This isn’t the situation where if you happen to time your purchase incorrectly when you’re 25 and you buy at the top of the market, you still have most of your life left to recover financially,” says Rick Sharga, executive vice president at home auction site Auction.com.
Consult with a financial planner
Buying a home in midlife or beyond has direct implications on retirement.
Homeownership can bring stability to one’s monthly housing costs, versus rental housing, as well as tax benefits, but it also carries with it a trove of costs, including property taxes, insurance and maintenance.
A good way to evaluate all the ways to buy a home, whether in cash or through financing, will affect one’s retirement finances is to enlist a financial planner to go over one’s retirement goals.
“You have to sharpen your pencil, sit down and do all the math,” Blayney says. “There’s no one answer.”
Copyright © 2013 The Associated Press, Alex Veiga, AP business writer.
from Florida Realtor News
IRVINE, Calif. – July 11, 2013 – U.S. foreclosure activity decreased 14 percent in June to its lowest level since December 2006, despite a 34 percent jump in judicial foreclosure auctions from a year ago, according to RealtyTrac’s Midyear 2013 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.
The report finds 801,359 properties with foreclosure filings – which includes all default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions – in the first half of 2013. It’s a 19 percent decrease from the previous six months and down 23 percent from the first half of 2012. One in 164 U.S. housing units had at least one foreclosure filing in the first six months of the year.
June report
• 127,790 U.S. properties had foreclosure filings in June, down 14 percent from the previous month and 35 percent from a year ago. It’s the lowest monthly level since December 2006 – a six and a half year low.
• The number of new foreclosure starts in June dropped 21 percent from the previous month and 45 percent from a year earlier, hitting its lowest monthly level since December 2005 – a seven and a half year low.
• In Florida, new foreclosure starts dropped 26 percent. Other states with a significant drop in starts include Nevada (down 84 percent), Colorado (62 percent), New Jersey (40 percent) and Illinois (39 percent).
• June bank repossessions (REO) decreased 9 percent compared to May and 35 percent from one year earlier. Bank repossessions in June decreased from a year ago in 34 states.
• Judicial foreclosure auctions (NFS) were scheduled for 28,296 U.S. properties in June, up less than 1 percent from May but up 34 percent year-to-year. States with substantial annual increases in scheduled judicial foreclosure auctions included New Jersey (up 103 percent), Florida (up 100 percent), Maryland (94 percent), New York (66 percent), and Illinois (65 percent).
• Florida, Nevada, Illinois, Ohio and Georgia posted the top five state foreclosure rates for the first half of the year, while five Florida cities posted the top five metro foreclosure rates: Miami, Orlando, Jacksonville,Ocala, and Tampa.
Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, says that foreclosures are “no longer a problem nationally,” but they continue to be a problem in states like Florida where the long court process has delayed the progression. However, even states like Florida will soon see an improvement.
“The increases in judicial foreclosure auctions demonstrate that these delayed foreclosure cases are now being moved more quickly through to foreclosure completion,” says Blomquist. “Given the rising home prices in most of these markets, it is an opportune time for lenders to dispose of these distressed properties, either at the foreclosure auction to a third-party buyer, or by repossessing the property at the auction and subsequently selling it as a bank-owned home.
Half-year 2013 Florida report
Florida posted the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate in the first half of 2013: 1.74 percent of housing units with a foreclosure filing (one in every 58) during the six-month period – nearly three times the national average.
A total of 155,264 Florida properties had a foreclosure filing in the first six months of the year, the most of any state and up 12 percent from a year ago.
In June, Florida foreclosure starts (LIS) decreased 23 percent from a year ago but scheduled foreclosure auctions increased 100 percent and bank repossessions increased 14 percent during the same time period.
Other states with foreclosure rates among the 10 highest in the first six months of 2013 were Arizona (0.81 percent of housing units with a foreclosure filing), South Carolina (0.80 percent), Maryland (0.80 percent), Washington (0.78 percent) and Indiana (0.66 percent).
Half-year 2013 Florida cities report
Florida had all five of the top metro areas for foreclosure in the first half of 2013. Miami ranked No. 1 among metropolitan statistical areas with a population of 200,000 or more – 2.35 percent of housing units had a foreclosure filing (one in every 43) during the six-month period – nearly four times the national average.
Four other Florida cities joined Miami to round out the top five metro foreclosure rates in the first half of 2013: Orlando at No. 2 (1.94 percent of housing units with a foreclosure filing), followed by Jacksonville (1.91 percent), Ocala (1.85 percent) and Tampa (1.74 percent).
Florida cities accounted for a total of 12 of the top 20 metro foreclosure rates.
In Florida, the foreclosure process – from first notice to REO status – took an average of 907 days in the first half of 2013, or roughly two-and-a-half years.
In the U.S., a foreclosure averaged 526 days, though two states have a longer foreclosure process than Florida. In both New York and New Jersey, the average foreclosure takes 1,033 days.
© 2013 Florida Realtors®
From Florida Realtor News
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – July 10, 2013 – Question: My partner and I are looking to buy our first house together, but Florida doesn’t recognize our marriage. Does the recent Supreme Court decision help us in terms of owning real estate? – Steve
Answer: Not yet. It’s likely to be a while before the high court’s marriage ruling trickles down to real estate law.
Typically, when a married couple buys a home, they do so as “Tenants by the Entireties,” which is a legal status of ownership that gives the spouses certain privileges. For example, when one spouse dies, the other automatically owns the property alone without any further action.
While same-sex couples aren’t allowed to own property this way in most jurisdictions, including Florida, a similar bundle of rights can be created. I have long advised that unmarried couples buying property together enter into an agreement regarding the management of the house. That pact also should specify what happens to the home if the relationship sours.
Same-sex couples should follow this advice as well. They can set up a trust agreement for the ownership of the house, and the details of the agreement can help decide what happens in the event of a split or death of a partner. Certain types of trusts can even provide for protection from creditors, if that’s an issue for you. So while the simplicity of Tenants by the Entireties ownership structure is not yet available to most same-sex couples, proper planning can give them the same legal protections.
About the writer: Gary M. Singer is a Florida attorney and board-certified as an expert in real estate law by the Florida Bar. He is the chairperson of the Real Estate Section of the Broward County Bar Association and is an adjunct professor for the Nova Southeastern University Paralegal Studies program.
The information and materials in this column are provided for general informational purposes only and are not intended to be legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed. Nothing in this column is intended to substitute for the advice of an attorney, especially an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction.
Copyright © 2013 Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.). Distributed by MCT Information Services.
On this day of family picnics, and fireworks and joy, take just a few minutes to say thanks for the privilage of being an American. Most of us have never lived anywhere else, and especially not in a third world country where our freedom and liberties are unheard of. Life is not perfect in America, but it the only place I would ever want to be. With the majestic landscapes, from ocean shores to rocky mountains, to wind swept prairies to rolling hills – there is no place like home.
Unless you are a native American, your family once came from somewhere else. Perhaps it was just a generation ago . . . or perhaps like my family, you have been hear since this all began in 1776. My father’s family first arrived in America on Nov. 9, 1738. They sailed on a ship called the “Charming Nancy” and they only spoke German. It took over a hundred years for my mother’s family to make it to the “new world” from Sweden in mid 1850′s. Eventually both families ended up in Ohio and two families merged into one, the first mix of nationalities when my parents married in 1940.
The homestead house, painted by Koczwara, still owned by my cousin
I was fortunate to grow up on the same land that my father, and grandfather and great-grandfather lived on. My neighbors were my cousins and life was a simpler time. Now only one family member lives on the family homestead, that is soon to fall out of the family forever. It saddens me to know that part of our history will be gone. But we are more than “Boardmanites” or Ohioians, (and now a Floridian), we are Americans.
I am one of those people who can’t sing the Star Spangled Banner because of the lump in my throat. I stand when our flag passes me in a parade , and I put my hand over my heart. I understand the sacrifice that hundred of thousands of men and women have paid since 1776 to give us the country we have today. No, it’s not perfect and as long as we have humans in all our frailties, it will never be perfect . . . but This is MY Country, Land that I Love.
Remember those that gave their lives for our freedom today. And take a minute to pause for the other types of heroes as well . . . the first responders, the police, the paramedics, the fireman —- ah, the fireman. While you re splashing on the beach, or clapping to the high school marching band, say a little prayer for the families of the 19 fireman that lost their life in the Arizona fires.
Then laugh from your belly, sing a little more in key, clap your hands a little louder and ooh and ahh at every firework, and say “Thanks for letting me be an American.”
Have fun and stay safe.
From Florida Realtor News.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – July 3, 2013 –
Question: I got divorced in 2010 and deeded the house to my ex-husband. Little did I know that mortgage would still be haunting me today. I’m trying to get a loan for a new house, but the lender sees that other mortgage and won’t approve my financing. What can I do? – Anjie
Answer: The first thing to do is to ask your ex-husband to refinance the mortgage in his name alone. Normally, a married couple will borrow for their home together and have to put both names on the mortgage to qualify. When the marriage turns sour, one spouse will get the house and make the mortgage payments going forward. The divorce, however, is from each other. The loan from the bank is not affected.
The other spouse rarely realizes this until he or she gets turned down for a new mortgage because the debt load is too high. Or he or she gets served in a foreclosure lawsuit when the ex-spouse stops making the payments. This sort of problem is best dealt with before the divorce is final. Have the property sold or refinanced into one name while all of the other details of the divorce are being negotiated.
Trying to get a former spouse to cooperate several years after the divorce can be an exercise in futility. By shopping around to several lenders, you may find one that will look at the situation and the divorce paperwork and make an exception for the debt on the old house – especially if your ex-husband makes his payments on time.
About the writer: Gary M. Singer is a Florida attorney and board-certified as an expert in real estate law by the Florida Bar. He is the chairperson of the Real Estate Section of the Broward County Bar Association and is an adjunct professor for the Nova Southeastern University Paralegal Studies program.
The information and materials in this column are provided for general informational purposes only and are not intended to be legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed. Nothing in this column is intended to substitute for the advice of an attorney, especially an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction.
© 2013 Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.). Distributed by MCT Information Services
With my twenty four years of experience in real estate, I can safely say that a Home Warranty is one of the best securities both buyers and sellers can have. Who pays for the warranty can be a negotiated item, but I recommend sellers to take one out before listing their home. Like Murphy’s Law, the minute you put your home on the market, unexpected repair issues arise, either while it is on the market or discovered during a Home Inspection.
A home protection plan is a service contract that covers the repair or replacement of many of the most frequently occurring breakdowns of home system components and appliances. It lets homeowners know they’re okay if something goes wrong with a covered item.
Home protection plans can cover a wide variety of properties, including single family homes, new construction homes, condos, vacation homes, townhouses, foreclosure properties and multi-unit properties such as duplex/triplex/fourplex.
Besides helping to take the worry out of purchasing a home with older systems and/or appliances, a home protection plan helps guard against potentially high costs of repairing or replacing items in case of a breakdown. Unexpected repairs can be expensive for most families. A home protection plan can help guard against some of the unexpected costs of home ownership.
HOW DOES A HOME PROTECTION PLAN WORK?
When a covered item breaks down, customers can request service online or by calling to speak with a trained customer service representative. After a service request is received, one of our approved contractors will contact the customer to schedule a time to diagnose the problem. A service call fee, per trade, is due when the service contractor arrives to diagnose the problem.Typically, once repair or replacement is complete, a follow-up survey will be sent out to measure your satisfaction regarding the service performed.
WHO DOES THIS PLAN BENEFIT?
For Sellers
For Buyers