Still Better to Buy then Rent in 2012 !

If you haven’t considered buying a home yet in 2012 there is still plenty of time.  If you compare today’s low interest rates and see what you are paying for rent, it may motivate you to pay yourself in 2012 and buy a home.  On average if you can afford $750 a month it might surprise yourself that you could easily afford a $100,000 home including roughly taxes and insurance.  You can practically look all over the metro Atlanta area.

You may not have a construction background but thinking about doing small repairs can make a difference too. There are duplex’s too that are affordable these days where you can live in one side and rent the other.  You might be able to live almost for free and put savings away each month for retirement.  Don’t miss Homepath financing incentives by Fannie Mae,  with little down, no MI and no appraisal.and up to 6% closing costs.

Opportunity is knocking in 2012 so do your homework and fell free to contact us for a no obligation consultation. Put twenty five years of real estate experience to work for you!

Obama administration details refinance plan for underwater borrowers

Last week, in his State of the Union address, President Obama introduced a proposal to help millions of homeowners, who are underwater on their mortgages, refinance their loans at current low rates. Today, the administration released detailsof the plan.

The plan, which must be approved by Congress before it can become active, would expand access to federal refinancing initiatives for holders of mortgages that are not currently backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

“No more red tape, no more runaround from the banks,” the president said during the address, referring to the underwater mortgage assistance plan that his administration estimates could save qualified homeowners up to $3,000 a year by refinancing their loans.

The refinance initiative would be available to owners of single-family, owner-occupied homes who meet several basic “responsibility” criteria. The criteria include that qualified borrowers:

• have been current on payments for the past six months and have not missed more than one payment in the previous six months;
• have a FICO credit score of at least 580; and
• have a loan not higher than Federal Housing Authority loan limits for the home’s geographic area.

“A small fee on the largest financial institutions will ensure that (the plan) won’t add to the deficit, and will give those banks that were rescued by taxpayers a chance to repay a deficit of trust,” said President Obama during the State of the Union address. The administration estimates the initiative could cost from $5 billion to $10 billion.

Other aspects of the plan include a proposed “Homeowner Bill of Rights,” which would encourage streamlined, simplified mortgage forms and limit the practice of “dual-tracking,” in which banks concurrently work on restructuring a loan and pursue a foreclosure for the same property at the same time.