Good credit helps when you apply for a mortgage

With a Zen-like statement, the NY Times begins a report on mortgage lending:

Lending terms are easing up for borrowers who have superior credit. But mortgages are no easier to come by for applicants with unexceptional FICO scores.

So, what does that mean?

Samples of FICO scores indicate more loans are being approved with lower scores.  At the same time, down payment amounts are dropping. 

Yet,

Borrowers with scores below 620 — about 28 percent of Americans, Zillow says — couldn’t even get a rate quote. “If you look at the borrowers on the fringe,” said Erin Lantz, Zillow’s director of mortgages, “credit is not any easier to get now than it was three years ago. Despite the improvement in the economy and homes being incredibly affordable and mortgage rates at all-time lows, still about a third of Americans are shut out of the market.”

Read the full article Rewarding Stellar Credit.

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

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Fairfield, NJ 07004

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

E-mail sflatow AT vested.com

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How Do You Price Your Home for Sale?

This is an excellent article for home sellers from Realty Times.  Some good tips and advice.

My advice?  Leave your emotions out of the equation.

If you're thinking about selling your home soon, one of the most important decisions that you'll need to make is your asking price when you list. There are a few factors that come into play when making this decision and your real estate agent is your best resource for navigating that unfamiliar terrain.

Read the full report - How Do You Price Your Home for Sale?

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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Carrying Debt After Retirement - a bad choice?

This is the second article I've recently read regarding the biggest challenges facing folks going into retirement - debt.  So, maybe it's true?

If college debt is a hindrance to young adults, mortgage debt is the drag on homeowners heading into retirement.

As we stay in debt and work, that's sort of OK.  But when the paycheck stops, the interest bills are still due.

One repercussion for older borrowers is that they will have to work longer, said Christopher J. Mayer, a professor of real estate at Columbia Business School[.] Another likely outcome is a spike in demand for reverse mortgages. This program enables homeowners 62 and older to borrow money using their home equity as collateral. The loan is repaid to the bank, along with interest and fees, after the borrower moves or dies. The funds must first be used to pay off the mortgage, which then frees the homeowner from monthly payments.

So what's your personal game plan?  Pay off the debt ASAP before retirement, or face it down the road?

Think about it.   Read the full story, Carrying Debt After Retirement.

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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Disclose a "meth lab" on your property.

When I first saw this, I thought it was a joke.  Many properties around the country have been used illegally by tenants, that's for sure.  But cooking meth as they call it creates additional problems for the property owner.  Some states require the owner to disclose when property has been used as a meth lab.

Here's the full article from Realty Times.

Are You Obligated to Disclose Previous Meth Contamination on Your Property?       

Written by Elizabeth Whited on Monday, 23 September 2013      

Meth labs have been found in some pretty strange places. To name a few: college campuses, hotel rooms, vehicles, and even inside a nursing home. But the most common, and logical (if setting up a meth lab anywhere could be considered logical) place is in a rental property, or home. After all of the cleanup, and the extensive procedures to take care of a previous meth lab on a property, is it still necessary to inform new renters, or potential buyers?
     
The answer, of course depends on the state. The Scripps Howard News Service conducted a search for states that require meth contamination disclosure to potential home buyers, and tenants. They found that only a little over half of the states in America require disclosure (with varying laws).
Real estate agents and home owners in Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, South Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Illinois, Arkansas, Louisiana, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, West Virginia, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Alaska, or Hawaii, are obligated to disclose meth contamination in a home for sale.

Some states require written notices, some require no disclosure if the site has been properly cleaned and treated, while others allow disclosures to be undone, once the site is off of the state’s contamination list.

Even fewer states require disclosure for rental properties or units. Property managers and leasing agents in Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, South Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, and New Hampshire need to disclose the creation of methamphetamines in the unit. In Arizona, it is even illegal for anyone other than the owner to enter the unit, until it has been cleaned in accordance with the law (Scripps Howard).

If a rental unit is suspected of housing a meth lab, it needs to be inspected by professionals. The hazardous toxins and chemicals need to be cleaned and treated, as the side effects on humans, and especially children can be disastrous. Not to mention, the explosive tendencies of the chemicals themselves. The website www.methlabhomes.com updates property owners on meth contamination cleanup news.

Now would be a good time to make sure all property management staff have been trained in identifying classic meth lab red flags, since as Breaking Bad has taught us - it can happen anywhere, by anyone.

Source: http://media2.scrippsnationalnews.com/meth/

                     

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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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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