Inherit home, refi immediately?

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DEAR BENNY: My husband and I inherited a home from my husband’s uncle who passed away a few weeks ago. Will the lender expect us to refinance the home or can we just assume it even if it is a conventional loan? –Karen

DEAR KAREN: Unless the existing loan was from a private person, it is most likely covered under the Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982. This federal law puts restrictions on the ability of a lender to exercise the “due on sale” clause that exists in most mortgages (also called deeds of trust). One of these restrictions reads as follows: “With respect to a real property loan secured by a lien on residential real property containing less than five dwelling units, including a lien on the stock allocated to a dwelling unit in a cooperative housing corporation, or on a residential manufactured home, a lender may not exercise its option pursuant to a due-on-sale clause upon … (5) a transfer to a relative resulting from the death of a borrower. …”

Accordingly, you should advise the lender of the death, and just continue paying under the terms and conditions of the old mortgage.
However, do you know what the interest rate is on that property? Rates are currently very low, and if you can get a better rate — and assuming that you and your husband can qualify for a new loan — you should consider refinancing.

DEAR BENNY: My father co-signed on my mortgage approximately 12 years ago. We are both listed on the title/loan papers, although I have been the only one actually paying the mortgage all this time. If one of us died would the property automatically go to the other party or do we need to make further arrangements for that to happen and stay out of the probate process? Any help that you could give me would be greatly appreciated. –Kimberly

DEAR KIMBERLY: The answer depends on how title is held. This answer must be general in nature, because different states have different procedures. If you were married, you and your spouse would generally hold title as tenants by the entireties; on the death of one, the survivor would own the entire house.

But clearly you are not married to your father. Thus, you can hold title as joint tenants with rights of survivorship — which means that on the death of one joint owner, the survivor owns the entire property, and probate regarding the house is not necessary. However, if you and your dad hold title as tenants in common, on the death of one owner, his/her share of the property will have to go through probate. On the death of one tenant in common, his/her share is distributed according to the last will and testament, or if there is no such will, then according to the laws of intestacy in your state. But probate is required for this type of title.

Benny L. Kass is a practicing attorney in Washington, D.C., and Maryland. No legal relationship is created by this column.

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Always look before you leap!

Gov Regulation Clogs Pipes w/ Home Valuation Code of Conduct #HVCC #realestate

It’s no secret that many facets of lending and real estate have changed as a result of the credit crisis. In addition to tightened lending practices that resulted from rising mortgage delinquencies, Washington has been heavily involved in altering the way lenders do business today.

Two individual pieces of legislation impacting our business need to be taken into account when determining closing dates for purchase transactions.

Home Valuation Code of Conduct – The Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) went into effect May 1, 2009. Intended to shield appraisers from undue influence from loan officers and lenders, this legislation installed a “firewall” between those individuals directly involved in the origination of the loan from the selection of and contact with appraisers.

HVCC also requires that borrowers receive a copy of the appraisal a minimum of three days in advance of closing. Part of the kicker here is that “received” is considered, in effect, three business days after the appraisal has been mailed to the borrower.As HVCC requires a firewall between the originator and the appraiser, the time to receive an appraisal has increased, in some cases by as much as two weeks or more. While this may not always be the case, it is important to take into consideration when considering closing dates. Today, conservative closing dates are mandatory to properly manage expectations of all parties.

Housing and Economic Recovery Act – The Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) amends and impacts several aspects of obtaining a mortgage, the disclosures required for borrowers, and the timing of their delivery. This impacts the minimum time required to close, and should any changes be made to a loan application that could impact the Annual Percentage Rate (APR), this could impact the closing date.

Other than paying for a credit report, lenders may not accept any additional fees from a borrower until four business days after disclosures have been provided to or mailed to a borrower. This has the potential to delay several aspects of the application process.

Finally, upon making application, a borrower is provided a Truth in Lending (TIL) statement, detailing the total expected costs that could be incurred over the life of the loan. Should anything change in the loan application that could change the APR by more than .125%, a new TIL must be reissued to the borrower a minimum of 3 business days before closing. Items impacting the APR could include a borrower accepting a higher interest rate than initially qualified by floating their rate at application, a change to the loan amount, a change in product, a change in closing date, and any changes to fees.

What Now? – While there is more we can discuss on the specifics of these legislative implications, I felt it important enough to let you know now that I would not recommend you write purchase contracts with short closing time frames.

This video can provide both my buyers and sellers the rationale behind not scheduling closing dates in advance of 30 days at a minimum and ideally not less than 45 days. If you want to see some Pres and Media on HVCC look here and if you wish to just sign the petition against it click here. You can also view signatures here.

This whole matter is a knee jerk reaction to abuses in the system, causing too much regulation and hence the clog, besides being generally impractical. Thanks for reading and commenting and, please pick up the phone and call me if you have more questions.

Sincerely,
Carlo

Why did you sign the divorce papers? Get your name off of that loan!

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DEAR BENNY: I am recently divorced. We had two houses. In the divorce, I got one and he got one. We both signed quitclaim deeds to each other. However, I needed to refinance mine to pay off the bills I accumulated just to get my house back into livable shape. (It was a rental while we were married.) Both houses have mortgage loans: Mine carries a rate of 6 percent and his is at 5.75 percent interest. Needless to say, there is no incentive for him to refinance that favorable loan rate.

My ex is not the healthiest man, and my name is still on his loan. I told my lawyer several times through the divorce process that I wanted it stated in the divorce agreement that we both have to refinance. It did not happen.

Even though a quitclaim was signed, what is my exposure if something happens to my ex, considering my name is still on the loan? –Becky

DEAR BECKY: Why did you sign the divorce papers when they did not require your ex to refinance so that your name will get off of that loan? You might want to explore whether your lawyer did not properly represent you — although there may be legitimate reasons why that did not happen.

Should your ex die, his estate will most likely have to be probated. The most likely outcome will be either that the heirs to the property will assume the mortgage and keep the property, or will arrange to have it sold. Under either scenario, you are protected.

However, if your ex stops making the monthly mortgage payments, and goes into default, since your name is still on the loan, the lender has the right to either foreclose on the property — which will be a blemish on your credit rating — or sue you for the balance of the note. I assume that when you were married and borrowed the money, you signed a promissory note, which indicated that you were both — jointly and severally — obligated to repay the loan.

You should immediately contact the other lender and advise them that you no longer own the property. Make sure that you provide them with your current mailing address, so that any notices of default will go to you as well as to your ex. Should that happen, you should immediately retain a lawyer (a different one) who can take all appropriate steps to protect you, including filing suit against your ex.

You have a problem that at the present time can be resolved only if your husband refinances.

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Everyone Wants a Lower Price, But What About the Impact of Interest Rates?

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When shopping for a home, the natural tendency of any buyer is to want to pay the lowest price possible maybe even buying a foreclosure. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that the sales price is not the only factor that determines what the monthly payment will be. In fact, the impact of higher interest rates can easily nullify any benefit of waiting for a lower price.

Why Should I Rush to Buy?
While you may have heard discussions in the media about the decline of property values in many markets, the rate of decline appears to be stabilizing.

That being said, it would not be unreasonable for buyers to want to hold out for an additional decline of 10%, hoping to capture the best possible price. However, as property values have declined in many areas to 2003 levels or lower, waiting longer to pull the trigger could be a mistake. Many markets are reporting that lower property values have been bringing out investors and the result has been multiple offers on many properties. Properties priced correctly are not declining and, in fact, are creating a lot of interest.

Interest Rate Complacency
The problem is that many home buyers have been lulled into a sense of complacency because of extremely low interest rates. Since the Federal Reserve initiated its program of buying mortgage-backed securities, which control the rates people pay for their home loans, rates had been range bound, bouncing between 4.50% to 5.00% for a 30-year fixed-rate loan.

But buyers shouldn’t be confused by this. These rates are artificially low! Historically, interest rates have been above 6.00%. And any rate obtained below this number is a great deal, especially on homes with price tags from 2003!

Markets are Unforgiving
The last two weeks of May showed just how unforgiving the markets can be for people who choose to procrastinate. In just five days, interest rates from many lenders increased anywhere from .50% to 1.00% as fixed-income investors demanded more for their money.

For anyone who was waiting for prices to drop even more, a 1.00% increase in interest rate would bring a higher monthly principal and interest payment on a home, even if the price of that same home had fallen an additional 10% in value.

If you are waiting for prices to fall even lower, be aware that while holding out for a lower price may help you win the battle, you could lose the war in terms of monthly payments and overall affordability. With the Federal Reserve scheduled to end its buying of mortgage-backed securities this year, rates only stand to go higher for those that wait. In fact, interest rates are already on the rise and could go higher from here.

Clock is Ticking on Free Money
If you have clients who are planning on purchasing their first home this year, be sure to let them know that they need to take possession before 12/01/2009 to be eligible for a tax credit of up to $8,000. In a survey conducted in March by Move.com, nearly 50% of home buyers are currently unaware that this free money exists in the marketplace. And since over 50% of all buyers are first-timers in today’s market, this could impact a lot of your clients.

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Rising Mortgage Rates Could End Refi Boom – Get Qualfied

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Monday, June 1, 2009 10:10 AM

NEW YORK – Roger Wald recently discovered he would save $25,000 a year if he refinanced or sought a loan modification for his five-year mortgage at 4.75 percent. Wald, an auto body repairman in Sarasota, Fla., could have gotten that rate last month.

But like many homeowners, he waited for rates to fall further. Now, he’s worried he missed his chance.

Mortgage rates at some lenders spiked by as much as 1 percent on Wednesday and saw little relief on Thursday, according to mortgage brokers.

“The 4.75 percent my broker quoted two weeks ago? There’s no way I’m going to get that now,” said Wald, 49.

The fear dogging homeowners and investors alike is that April’s record lows in mortgage rates may have come and gone.

The stock market has rallied since early March on the assumption the economy will rebound later this year. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has been calling early signs of economic stabilization “green shoots” — and one of those shoots was a pickup in refinancing activity caused by tumbling mortgage rates.

But mortgage rates have rebounded sharply over the past few days as the nation’s growing debt raises concerns that government-backed assets could lose some of their value. It’s a trend that could slow both refinancing and home buying if it continues. Higher mortgage rates won’t necessarily derail the economy’s recovery, analysts say, but it certainly won’t help.

“If the Fed does not step in, you are going to see the ‘green shoots’ get frost bite,” said T.J. Marta, founder of financial research firm Marta on the Markets.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage is back at 4.91 percent this week, up from 4.82 percent last week, Freddie Mac said Thursday.

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate hit a record low of 4.78 percent in April thanks in large part to the Fed’s decision this year to buy as much as $1.25 trillion in mortgage securities and $300 billion in Treasury notes. So far, the Fed has bought $130.5 billion in government debt and more than $431 billion in mortgage securities.

Lower rates led to a surge in mortgage applications. Applications rose for five straight weeks between early March and early April, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. And sales of both existing and new homes ticked higher from March to April, according to data released this week.

The Fed’s moves, however, have recently lost their effectiveness in the market. The yields on the 10-year and 30-year Treasury notes have surged to a six-month high, and are nearly where they were a year ago. That’s significant because Treasury yields, or their annual rates of return, help set mortgage rates.

Mortgage activity is already starting to decline. Mortgage applications tumbled 14 percent in the week ended May 22 from the previous week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday. Applications to refinance a loan were down almost 19 percent.

The Fed has many tools to bring rates down again. It could increase how much it intends to spend on Treasury purchases or mortgage-backed securities. It could also decide to simply buy longer-dated Treasurys, said David Ader, government bond strategist at RBS Greenwich Capital. Recently, the Fed has been focusing on buying shorter-term government debt.

But if the Fed buys more Treasurys, some investors worry the central bank’s moves could have unintended consequences. That’s because when the Fed buys the debt that the government issues, it is essentially creating money. And that can cause inflation and weaken the value of the dollar against other major currencies.

A plunge in the dollar and high inflation might scare away foreign investors from buying U.S. debt, said Mike Larson, a real estate analyst with Weiss Research. And that would cause Treasury yields to rise eventually anyway, he said.

“The Fed is really backed into a corner,” Larson said.

It would be preferable if the 10-year Treasury yield fell back to 3 percent, from its current 3.75, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com. Such a pullback would help bring down mortgage rates and motivate people to refinance and buy homes.

When borrowers refinance to lower rates their monthly payments goes down so they have more free cash to spend on other things they need and want. And that’s good for businesses — consumer spending in accounts for about two-thirds of economic activity.

Dan Lawrence, Wald’s mortgage broker in Florida, said clients of his who have refinanced to a lower rate averaged between $300 and $400 in savings on their monthly mortgage payments, and almost assuredly pump some of those savings back into the economy.

“They’re going to go out dinner more. They’re going to buy shoes,” he said.

But many analysts, including Larson at Weiss Research, expect mortgage rates to head back toward 6 percent. The question, they say, is how fast.

Blogger: If you intend to buy hurry. Don’t wait for the bottom of the market to be in your rear view mirror. And if you are investing in deals then examine Foreclosures.

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Divorceee pleads: Help me keep my home and free myself of the quitclaim deed.

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DEAR BENNY: I am a recently divorced woman. After many years of marriage in the same residence, I was decreed full ownership of the family home. However, I had to secure a substantial loan on the home to give to my ex-husband in order for him to move out. Because of my financial situation, I could not secure the loan without keeping him on the loan and on the deed. However, in the divorce settlement there is a quitclaim deed stating that I have five years to refinance the loan and get my ex-husband’s name off the loan and off the house deed.

I will not quality for a loan myself. However, I have a son, a recent college graduate, who has an excellent job and salary, and who is living downstairs and helping to pay the mortgage.

Should I go ahead and record the quitclaim deed? My name has been changed. Would the mortgage company be alerted and would they then require the loan to be paid in full? Would I then be forced to sell sooner than the five years? Also, I know my ex-husband’s name would still be on the loan. They may make me refinance with my name alone (I would not qualify), but maybe with my son’s credit I could qualify, making him part owner with his name on the deed. Could you please clarify the most prudent steps for me to take to keep my home and free myself of the quitclaim deed? –Amy

DEAR AMY: First, federal law does not permit the lender to call your loan just because you changed your name or add your son to title.

I suggest the following: Assuming that your son qualifies for a loan, have him buy half of the house. You then will both apply for a new loan, which if approved will pay off the existing loan, and your ex will be out of the picture.

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Recession Shopping: 10 Things to Buy Right Now – Housing

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Bargains in a Bad Economy:
By DAN KADLEC
We all know the story. Housing got way too hot a few years ago, and when the bubble burst it took down the whole economy. Well, as housing recovers so too will everything else. Dire forecasts persist. Some argue that home prices will not begin to recover before 2011. But this is a long-term investment. What’s a few years — especially if you can drive a hard bargain now? Besides, there are modest signs that the turn could come much sooner, and when it does the deals will go away. Prices have fallen by 50% or more in parts of Florida, Nevada and Arizona. That’s a stunning discount which when coupled with low mortgage rates makes housing today more affordable than it has been in many years. You can now buy the median house with 37% less income than you needed two years ago. Meanwhile, the government is offering up to $8,000 in tax credits this year for first-time buyers — an amount that would cover nearly half of a standard down payment on a typical home priced at $165,600. You can get below-market financing on new homes from builders like Toll Bros. (recently offering a 3.99% 30-year fixed rate mortgage) and Lennar (3.625%), and you can find deep discounts in the foreclosure market. Vacation properties have undergone an equally dramatic decline. Beach houses that once cost $3 million are now available for $1.5 million, according to the National Association of Realtors. The typical second home now runs $150,000, down from $204,100 at the peak, NAR reports.

Blogger says: The best thing in the meantime is to protect your credit rating and check your credit as often as possible.

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Discover and build a healthy credit profile

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By paying your bills on time, making at least your minimum payment due on your credit card each month (I recommend using a card’s Auto Pay feature), and staying within your credit limit, you’ll earn a good credit rating that will help you get the things you need in the future, like a loan for a car and eventually a home loan.

Always pay at least the minimum amount due on your Discover Card, as shown on your monthly statement. If you can pay your entire balance each month, that’s even better, and will help you avoid higher interest costs.
• Make your payments on time, every time. Again, I use AUTO PAY!
• Make sure the total of all your transactions is within the limit for your card.
• Never spend more than you can afford to pay back. Consider this guideline: credit card spending and other borrowing (not including rent or mortgage payments) should generally not exceed 20 percent of your net income.

720 – 850: Lenders see you as a moderate to low risk, and are
more likely to give you a competitive interest rate
on loans they provide.
620 – 719: In this range, you will be considered a fair to good
risk, but interest rates on loans provided may be
higher. You should work to improve your score
by paying your bills on time and reducing your
outstanding debt.
350 – 619: You may have difficulty obtaining credit cards, lines
of credit, or loans you need for a new car, a home,
etc. So improving your score should be a priority.

Hopefully, this makes you a better consumer, fearing not the economy but how to participate in it. If you need more info please let me know.

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