Home buyer gets back his deposit

We are the New Jersey title insurance agent that does it all for you. For your next commercial real estate transaction, house purchase, mortgage refinance, reverse mortgage, or home equity loan, contact us, Vested Land Services LLC. We can help!

What's a home buyer to do when the real estate purchase contract says one thing and the seller says it doesn't?

Some contracts for the purchase of real estate allow the buyer to cancel the purchase due to various contingencies.  The best known is the "mortgage contingency" where, if you don't get a mortgage within a certain  time frame, you, and sometimes the seller, can cancel the contract.

A recent court case involved a more difficult contingency - one where the buyer can cancel if she doesn't sell her present home.

For many attorneys representing sellers, this is a no-no.  But not in RIVERMOUNT DEVELOPMENT LLC VS. LIVINGSTON, et al, where the contract contained such a clause. When the buyer acted upon it, the proverbial stuff hit the fan.

In the end, the buyer won, but I can't imagine the costs to the buyer and its attorney financially and emotionally.

For your real estate purchase or mortgage refinance or

if you have questions about what you see here, contact

Stephen M. Flatow, Esq.

Vested Land Services LLC

165 Passaic Avenue, Suite 101

Fairfield, NJ 07004

Tel 973-808-6130 - Fax 973-227-0645

E-mail sflatow@vested.com

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It's not about Title Insurance! Getting Down Payment Help Now. Sharing Home’s Gain (or Loss) Later.

We are the New Jersey title insurance agent that does it all for you. For your next commercial real estate transaction, house purchase, mortgage refinance, reverse mortgage, or home equity loan, contact us, Vested Land Services LLC. We can help!

From the New York Times, an interesting way to get a large down payment for that expensive home:

Getting Down Payment Help Now. Sharing Home’s Gain (or Loss) Later.

With home prices in some markets going through the roof (pun intended) just how does a home buyer come up with that large down payment.

For aspiring homeowners, coming up with a healthy down payment has long been the biggest obstacle to owning a home.
 With property values soaring in many areas — median prices in San Jose, Calif., and Denver are 60 percent above their prerecession peaks — the barrier is rising. That has some firms promoting unconventional ways to scrape together a down payment, including crowdfunding and using Airbnb rental income.
 Now, a small but growing number of home buyers are trying something different: asking an outside investor to put down money alongside them.
 It is called shared equity, and Unison, a company based in San Francisco, is the largest of a handful of firms putting it to work. Unison will provide at least half of a consumer’s down payment in exchange for a piece of any appreciation in the home’s value when it is sold. If the home sells at a loss, the company absorbs a share of that, too.

Read the full article here. 

What will they think of next?

For your next title order or

if you have questions about what you see here, contact

Stephen M. Flatow, Esq.

Vested Land Services LLC

165 Passaic Avenue, Suite 101

Fairfield, NJ 07004

Tel 973-808-6130 - Fax 973-227-0645

E-mail sflatow@vested.com

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Purchase a home with a small down payment? It can be done.

For your next commercial real estate transaction, house purchase, mortgage refinance, reverse mortgage, or home equity loan, contact us. Vested Land Services LLC can help. Located in Fairfield, NJ, we are the title insurance agent that does it all for you. Contact us at 973-808-6130.

A Smaller Down Payment, and No Mortgage Insurance Required

Does the need for a 20% down payment to purchase that home have you stymied?  Well, mortgage insurance, an expensive proposition, is on way.  But this article from the NY Times has a solution.

How did they do it? They took out one loan equal to 80 percent of the purchase price, and another loan for 10 percent — something that has traditionally been called a piggyback loan or a second mortgage.

The key is to be within the income requirements of the lenders offering this program.

So, don't despair, get out your calculator, see if you qualify, and start looking for your home.

And don't forget to call us for the title insurance!

Read the full report here.
 

For your next title order or

if you have questions about what you see here, contact

Stephen M. Flatow, Esq.

Vested Land Services LLC

165 Passaic Avenue, Suite 101

Fairfield, NJ 07004

Tel 973-808-6130 - Fax 973-227-0645

E-mail sflatow AT vested.com

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Taking over or assuming an existing mortgage

Back when I began to practice law in the 1970s it was quite common for buyers to assume an existing mortgage rather than apply for a new one.  Believe it or not, there are still some loan programs that allow a buyer to still do that.

This article from the Times, Taking Over a Seller’s Loan, addresses the possibility of taking over an existing mortgage in limited cases, primarily with the FHA or VA has insured the loan or it’s an adjustable rate mortgage.

Homeowners with a mortgage insured by the Federal Housing Administration or the Department of Veterans Affairs should consider using their loan terms as a marketing tool when it comes time to sell.

Mortgage loans from both government agencies include a little-known feature known as assumability. In other words, the buyer of a home financed with an existing F.H.A. or V.A. loan may be able to take over, or assume, the seller’s loan, under the same terms, rather than take out a new mortgage.

“You could now have a seller saying, ‘I have a great house to sell you and a great mortgage to go with it, which is better than my neighbor, who only has a great house,’ ” said Marc Israel, an executive vice president of Kensington Vanguard National Land Services and a real estate lawyer. “It’s a very clever idea.”

So what’s the catch? In a rising market, the buyer needs more cash to put down.

When a house sold back in the 70s for $28,000 and had a $25,000 mortgage, the need for cash was $3,000.  But when prices run up by the 10s of thousands of dollars, well, you get my point.

Read the full article.

For your next commercial real estate transaction, house purchase, mortgage refinance, reverse mortgage, or home equity loan, contact us. We can help. Located in Fairfield, NJ, we are the title insurance agent that does it all for you.

For your next title order or

if you have questions about what you see here, contact

Stephen M. Flatow, Esq.

Vested Land Services LLC

165 Passaic Avenue, Suite 101

Fairfield, NJ 07004

Tel 973-808-6130 - Fax 973-227-0645

E-mail sflatow AT vested.com

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Don't take "no" on your mortgage application laying down

From the Wall Street Journal.
"When the Bank Says No, Draft a Rebuttal- A rebuttal letter can help you fight a lower-than-expected home appraisal"

The buyer is ready to buy, and the seller is ready to sell. Then comes the low blow: The home is appraised below the contract price.

In order to close the transaction, the buyer has to come up with a greater down payment.

A possible recourse, albeit one with slim chances, is a formal rebuttal letter, also called a reconsideration letter, prepared by the borrower or loan originator, with input from a real-estate agent or an appraiser.

To challenge an appraisal, borrowers should make their case with the commissioning lender, said Michael Vargas, president of New York-based Vanderbilt Appraisal Co., which specializes in high-end homes. Lenders, however, are prohibited from communicating directly with appraisers, under the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC), rules enacted by Congress in 2009 to reduce mortgage fraud. Therefore, the lender will commonly send the borrower's rebuttal to an appraisal-management company, a third-party entity that hires appraisers, for review.

Read the full article.

For your next commercial real estate transaction, house purchase, mortgage refinance, reverse mortgage, or home equity loan, contact us. We can help. Located in Fairfield, NJ, we are the title insurance agent that does it all for you.

For your next title order or

if you have questions about what you see here, contact

Stephen M. Flatow, Esq.

Vested Land Services LLC

165 Passaic Avenue, Suite 101

Fairfield, NJ 07004

Tel 973-808-6130 - Fax 973-227-0645

E-mail sflatow AT vested.com

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A larger down payment does help you get that house

For your next commercial real estate transaction, house purchase, mortgage refinance, reverse mortgage, or home equity loan, contact us. We can help. Located in Fairfield, NJ, we are the title insurance agent that does it all for you.
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As this story demonstrates, the credit crunch is not over.  Fact of the matter is that buyer's with larger down payments have a better chance of getting their mortgage approved.

This is from Realty Times:

Take reports of lenders easing the credit squeeze with a pinch of salt.

It still holds true that the larger the down payment, the more likely you are to get a mortgage and at the lowest rate.

LendingTree recently released a study analyzing down payments for borrowers in each state and found overall, nationwide, the average down payment is down 9.4 percent since 2011.

Rather than lenders actually requiring less down, some of the decrease could be due to fewer investors coming to market with larger down payments, if not all cash.

Unfortunately the down payment remains among the greatest obstacles to buying a home, so get with it.

Read more at Down Payment Remains Top Obstacle for Home Buyers

For your next title order or

if you have questions about what you see here, contact

Stephen M. Flatow, Esq.

Vested Land Services LLC

165 Passaic Avenue, Suite 101

Fairfield, NJ 07004

Tel 973-808-6130 - Fax 973-227-0645

E-mail sflatow AT vested.com

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