A very serious consideration today!!!  If you live in an area with a lot of sun and have been approached by sales people to obtain a solar lease, BEWARE!  These "leases" are actually a lien on your property which frequently cannot be subordinated or transferred when selling your property. Which means, you need to pay it off from your sales proceeds.  A few of these liens can be subordinated so the Buyer can take them, but there are fewer buyers who want to take on such a responsibility.  And, the administrative fees for these liens are way out of line - 7% or more!!!

So I am advising you to NOT purchase your solar set-up through a lease.  If you want solar, borrow money from your equity and install the solar equipment on your roof. 

2013 Trends in Real Estate

No one in the real estate business likes to make predictions. However, there are a few signs that the real estate market is starting to pick up.

1.       Foreclosures are down sharply.

2.       The rise in rents is encouraging buyers to buy real estate.

3.       Demand is starting to outweigh supply.

4.       Homebuilders are starting to come back into the desert.

5.       Lenders are slowly loosening up and lending again.

6.       Real estate tax breaks survived the fiscal cliff.

7.       Complaining about the real estate market is getting old.

  Courtesy of Paul D. Bojic, Esq., Real Estate Attorney

Tech Tips - Apps You Don't Need

Tech Tips: Don't Overload Your Devices with Apps You Don't Need      

When you find an app that looks interesting, ask yourself some questions:    

1. Will it save me time?

2. Does it do something different or better than other apps I like?

3. Do I have the time to learn how to use it?   

If you can satisfy all of those questions - go get it! Otherwise, save the space and stay away from cluttering up your device whether it be your smart phone or tablet.

Top 10 Things You Need to Know About the 3.8% Tax

Learn the most important takeaways for REALTORS® when it comes to the 3.8% tax that's part of health care reform:

1. When you add up all of your income from every possible source, and that total is less than $200,000 ($250,000 on a joint tax return), you will not be subject to this tax.
2. The 3.8% tax will never be collected as a transfer tax on real estate of any type, so you’ll never pay this tax at the time that you purchase a home or other investment property.
3. You’ll never pay this tax at settlement when you sell your home or investment property. Any capital gain you realize at settlement is just one component of that year’s gross income.
4. If you sell your principal residence, you will still receive the full benefit of the $250,000 (single tax return)/$500,000 (married filing joint tax return) exclusion on the sale of that home. If your capital gain is greater than these amounts, then you will include any gain above these amounts as income on your Form 1040 tax return. Even then, if your total income (including this taxable portion of gain on your residence) is less than the $200,000/$250,000 amounts, you will not pay this tax. If your total income is more than these amounts, a formula will protect some portion of your investment.
5. The tax applies to other types of investment income, not just real estate. If your income is more than the $200,000/$250,000 amount, then the tax formula will be applied to capital gains, interest income, dividend income and net rents (i.e., rents after expenses).
6. The tax goes into effect in 2013. If you have investment income in 2013, you won’t pay the 3.8% tax until you file your 2013 Form 1040 tax return in 2014. The 3.8% tax for any later year will be paid in the following calendar year when the tax returns are filed.
7. In any particular year, if you have no income from capital gains, rents, interest or dividends, you’ll never pay this tax, even if you have millions of dollars of other types of income.
8. The formula that determines the amount of 3.8% tax due will always protect $200,000 ($250,000 on a joint return) of your income from any burden of the 3.8% tax. For example, if you are single and have a total of $201,000 income, the 3.8% tax would never be imposed on more than $1,000.
9. It’s true that investment income from rents on an investment property could be subject to the 3.8% tax. But: The only rental income that would be included in your gross income and therefore possibly subject to the tax is net rental income: gross rents minus expenses like depreciation, interest, property tax, maintenance and utilities.
10. The tax was enacted along with the health care legislation in 2010. It was added to the package just hours before the final vote and without review. NAR strongly opposed the tax at the time, and remains hopeful that it will not go into effect. The tax will no doubt be debated during the upcoming tax reform debates in 2013.

when is the right time to refinance?

When is the right time to refinance?

Answer: Knowing the right time to do a home mortgage refinance depends on where you are financially and what you are trying to accomplish. It may be the right time for refinancing your home if:

• You want to lower your monthly payment and you dion’t mind if you end up paying more interest over the life of the loan
• You want to shorten the term of your loan and you can afford to pay more per month
• You want to get cash out for a home improvement project or to pay off consumer debt
• You have an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) and you want to convert to a fixed-rate mortgage to lock in current rate

Wondering how to refinance a mortgage with a minimum of hassle? Here are 6 mortgage refinance tips to help you choose the right refinance and complete the process smoothly.

1. Get disclosures from at least 3 refinance lenders –
Studies show that most people still don’t shop for the best mortgage or compare mortgage quotes. Taking the time to do this could save between 0.375 percent and 0.625 percent on your refinance rate. On a $200,000 loan over 30 years, that’s between $11,492 and $19,388!

2. Choose the right loan –
You could spend hours negotiating 0.375 percent off the rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage. But if you plan to move in a few years, you could knock nearly a full percent off your rate by switching to a 7/1 or 5/1 mortgage, which is fixed for five or seven years. The saving during that time could be enough to buy your next car – with cash. Or, pay down your principle.

3. Know your credit score -
More than ever, your credit score influences what you pay for a mortgage. A single point like the difference between 679 and 680 can add thousands to your loan fees. Get your credit report from www.annualcreditreport.com and purchase your scores. You can’t get meaningful refinance mortgage information and quotes without a credit score.

4. Increase your credit score –
Mortgage pricing changes at 20-point increments in your credit score: 640-659, 660-679, and so on. If you’re at 679, pay down some balances to get past 680 before refinancing.

5. Get your documents early –
You’re responsible for what you sign. Do you really want to be wading through 30 pages of boilerplate during a half-hour appointment with your title officer? Read them at home and call your loan officer if you have questions.

6. Never, ever sign anything you don’t understand!!!

A few more items to think about –

 If you have a 30 year fixed loan, one extra full payment per year pays off the loan in 18 years!
 If you have an adjustable loan and pay the principle every month with the interest, when the loan adjusts, your balance will be substantially smaller.
 An adjustable loan changes yearly after the first set time and is based upon the remaining years; i.e. 5/1 fixes to a 25 year loan rate on year 6. Also remember the yearly adjustment is based on the index rate and the margin rate of your loan.


If you have any questions, please feel free to call me!

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!