New Refinance Program

HARP Refinance Program Expanded

Borrowers who are current on their home loans may be able to refinance for lower interest rates, even if they are seriously upside down. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced today that it will broaden the scope of the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) by removing the current 125 percent loan-to-value cap for fixed-rate mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Other program enhancements include, among other things, reducing certain fees, eliminating the need for a new property appraisal if the FHFA has a reliable automated valuation model (AVM) estimate, and extending HARP until the end of 2013. New federal guidelines for the HARP changes should be released to mortgage lenders and servicers by November 15.

The basic eligibility requirements for an enhanced HARP loan are as follows:

Existing mortgage loan must be owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. To check whether a borrower has a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan, go to http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/get-assistance/loan-look-up/Pages/default.aspx.

Existing mortgage loan must have been sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac before June 1, 2009.

Existing mortgage loan cannot have been refinanced under HARP previously (except for Fannie Mae loans refinanced between March and May 2009).

Current loan-to-value (LTV) ratio must be more than 80%.

Existing mortgage loan must be current, with no late payments in the past six months, and no more than one late payment in the past 12 months.

More information is available from FHFA at http://www.fhfa.gov/webfiles/22721/HARP_release_102411_Final.pdf.

Watch your email!!!

Recently there have been an enormous amount of hacking to emails - especially in Yahoo accounts.  It seems their security is very low - and more so in the older accounts.  Do not open any email from people you do not know or seem suspicious by asking off the wall questions or soliciting.  Watching out for you!

The Best Investment

Recently, people have put their money in to gold or silver, but looking at an investment over the long term most economists will tell you that housing has been the overall winner in the investment category!

Moving Up

Great news across the country!!! Broadly it looks like home prices have flattened out. That’s good news. Earlier this year, it had looked like we were looking for another leg down. You would like to see prices to go up, but we take what we can get. The 1.1% gain was the strongest of 3 straight increases. 19 of 20 cities increased with the exception, Portland, unchanged.

High end San Francisco housing is up .5% and the Silicon Valley houses are moving up rapidly. In fact, we have experienced multiple bids on REO's and Short Sales recently. The average normal home sale has been steady.

Can you save on your mortgage?

How to Avoid Costs of a Bi-Weekly Plan and Get the Same Results
In the event that you are one of the people who take the position that the costs are simply too high for a bi-weekly program, there are two simple things you could do that will have the same financial effect on reducing the term of your mortgage:
When you make your payment each month, add an additional 1/12th of a payment and indicate that it should go to the principal balance
OR;
Make an extra payment once a year and indicate that the extra payment should go to the principal balance
As with everything in life, convenience has a price. And when it comes to paying off a mortgage early using a bi-weekly mortgage payment program, setting it up so you can forget about it is worth the price.
At least it is to most people.

Vacation or Retirement????

It's a great time to buy! Especially now that people are selling or strategically leaving their vacation homes or homes. Wouldn't it be nice to pick up your Retirement Home that was once someone's vacation home? Think about it......

As of July 1t, this new law went into effect - we at Mirabella Properties would like to hear your thoughts on the subject.....

Mandatory CO Detector (Carbon Monoxide Detector) Installation for California Homeowners

Although the bill (SB 183) was signed into law in 2010, California residents must have carbon monoxide detectors in their homes as of July 1, 2011.

Who is impacted? This timeline applies to single-family homes, including individually-owned condominiums, (owner or tenant occupied) that have appliances that burn fossil fuels or homes that have attached garages or fireplaces. Types of fossil fuels include coal, kerosene, oil, wood, fuel gases, and other petroleum or hydrocarbon products, which emit carbon monoxide as a byproduct of combustion.

How much does a CO detector cost? Approximately $20 to $60

How is the law enforced? People requesting home loans will have to show that they have installed CO detectors in their homes.