More than 450,000 Californians will be getting mortgage help from at least $18 billion, thanks to a mortgage settlement with the nations 5 largest banks Chase, B of A, Wells Fargo, Citi and Ally Financial. The banks are being penalized for rushing the foreclosure process over the last few years by using what’s called robo-signing. Which basically means that the bank employees didn’t actually read or properly service the loans they had, that ended up in foreclosure. Most of the mortgage help for California homeowners will come in the form of reducing principal for underwater borrowers that need to modify their loans, but there are some other circumstances in which you might get mortgage relief. First, your loan cannot be a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan. If it’s not and you got foreclosed on between 2008-2011, you might qualify for a foreclosure settlement payout. And under the new mortgage settlement, banks will not be able to foreclose on someone if that homeowner is currently being considered for a loan modification. Now, while this mortgage settlement isn’t going to fix the housing market, Heck this is a just a chip in that $750 billion iceberg, it is a step in the right direction for those that need mortgage help in California. What’s your thoughts?

Still want proof that you should be checking your credit report every 6 months? A South Carolina man wasn’t able to get approved for a new home because Bank of America had been reporting to all three credit bureaus each month that he’s been dead for almost 3 years. Do yourself a favor and watch out for yourself. If you want to know how to get a free legitimate credit report in California, give us a call.

Actor Steven Seagal is being sued by a man who allegedly ran illegal cockfighting matches. Steven was filming his realty show Lawman, when he teamed up with an Arizona sheriff, jumped into a SWAT tank and ripped through the man’s house, killing about 100 chickens and the gangster’s 11 month old puppy. I know it’s sad the puppy died, but the other guy was torturing chickens for entertainment. But, don’t they have search warrants in AZ? I mean why do you even need a tank to stop a gambling ring? What’s next, using a fighter jet to break up an underage drinking party? Could you imagine looking out your window? The only thing scarier than Steven Seagal in a tank is Steven Seagal in a tank top. If you live in Arizona you might want to look both ways before you cross your yard.

With this mortgage settlement announced, many are speculating that we could see home prices drop even further. While current homeowners aren’t thrilled about this, it’s a great opportunity for anyone thinking about buying a first home, or even an inexpensive rental property. If you want to see in just a few minutes if you can take advantage of this window of opportunity, please give me a call. Thanks for watching and please pass this video along. I’ll see you next time.

This week we got more details about the Obama program for upside homeowners, and here’s why the Obama loan is bad news. He says as long as you have at least a 580 credit score, and haven’t missed any payments in the last 6 months you qualify for a loan. Now they do say you must have a job but there’s no income requirements or verification. So that anyone regardless of income level can qualify for a lower interest rate in California regardless of if they can truly afford to live in their house.
Doesn’t he remember how the banks got into this mess in the first place? While he says he wants these loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration, the Obama refinance program will be allowing borrowers who have privately held mortgages who stand to default, the opportunity to stay in their homes and refinance into low interest rates on a “government backed” FHA loan. This way, we the taxpayers will take all the risk for them, so when they default, we can all reach into our pockets and pay for it rather than the big banks. One more thing his advisors forgot to tell him, while FHA interest rates are low, if you’re not paying mortgage insurance now, you will be under the new Obama loan, so when you add in the Upfront Mortgage Insurance and monthly mortgage insurance, the savings ends up being nowhere near the $3000 he’s figuring.

This past week President Obama held his state of the union address and proposed a refinance plan that could help homeowners save $3000 a year on their mortgage by being able to refinance their upside down home regardless if their mortgage is owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and eligible for the HARP 2.0 program, and I feel it’s my duty to interpret that plan for you. Well just hold those applause because he didn’t actually share the details of this refinance program other than saying that a small fee will be placed on the banks to pay for the plan. And we all know when he says “banks” he means “you”. Because let’s face it, anytime banks have to pay a fee, theyre going to pass that fee along to you in the way of higher rates and higher fees. Now personally, I don’t think this plan is going to work. For one thing it would have to go through a republican controlled senate, who are notorious for resisting government intervention in the housing market. And while his staff is predicting this program can help 2-3 million homeowners,that just sounds an awful lot like the FHA short-refi program they rolled out in 2010 that was estimated to help 1.5 million people, but as of 3 months ago only 195 people got loan approval for that program. So it looks like it’s back to the old drawing board Mr. President!

Think you’re having a hard time selling your house? Try selling a starship. A guy in London is such a huge Star Trek fan that he spent 10 years and $150k converting his small apartment into the starship voyager after his wife left him in 1994. This guy went all out. He even trekked up the bathroom so he could stay in character while I guess launching his photon torpedoes. Well she actually owns the place and after finding it hard to get a buyer from this planet. She’s been awarded the right to dismantle the place so it can sell, and it looks like resistance is futile. Live long and prosper bro!

Take a look at this week’s interest rates back under 4% and with 1 out of every 5 California mortgage brokers giving up their license in the last year, or allowing them to expire (it seems like even more here in San Jose), aren’t you glad that you have a friend in the mortgage business you can feel comfortable introducing your friends and family to when they are thinking about buying or refinancing a home? Please share this video with them and let me know what you think by clicking the like button and leaving a comment below. Thanks for watching, I’ll see you next time.

While you were ringing in the New Year, Congress was at work ripping out the heart of your tax deductions. The ability of people who buy or own a home to write off the premiums they pay for mortgage insurance is now gone. This change affects anyone who bought a home after 2006 with less than 20% down and paid PMI or private mortgage insurance. If you bought your house before 2007, you weren’t able to claim the mortgage interest deduction anyway, so I guess you can be happy if you can’t have it, no one can. Obviously this will have an affect on homeowners in the future with less than 20% down, since they can no longer enjoy the benefit of the tax deduction, and it might be to that buyer’s advantage to consider a loan with LPMI or lender paid mortgage insurance that is built into the rate. If you want more information about LPMI as an alternative if you have less than 20% down, give me a call or send me an email. Now, there’s 58 other tax code benefits that have also been eliminated, so you want to check with your CPA or tax professional soon so you don’t run in to any surprises come tax time.

OJ Simpson may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but now he’s found someone dumber than him, and no it’s not his next girlfriend. Chase bank has been trying to foreclose on OJ’s Florida home and they’ve been sending their process servers to his house on a daily basis trying to serve papers, only to report back that he wasn’t home. Hmmm, hey Chase maybe he’s at Kato’s house. So ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I implore you today: If the man is in jail, put the house up for sale.

Typically mortgage companies offer traditional 30 year fixed or 15 year fixed mortgages, but what if you could customize your loan option for the term that you want. Suppose you refinanced 7 years ago on a 30 year fixed mortgage and interest rates have dropped 1% or more since then. Should you be forced to reset the clock to 30 years again to enjoy the monthly savings you could have with a lower rate? I say NO! One of the benefits you can enjoy working with me if to customize your own term from 8 to 30 years. The program is called YOURgage. So if you’re 7 years into your 30 year term, YOURgage allows you to refinance at 23 years to stay on track to paying off your home. Some other reasons why you might want to choose this option. 1) Customize your loan to fit your retirement plans.(retire in 18 years) 2) Pay off a loan in time to afford your child’s college tuition. 3) Fit your loan payment to match your budget ( specifically want a $1500 payment).This is a fixed rate product and is available for both refinances and purchases. I’ve already started saving my clients an average of $180 a month, so let’s see if I can save you money without resetting your term. Please share this video with someone you know who’s refinanced in the last 5 years. I know you know someone. Thanks for watching, I’ll see you next week.

Want to know when’s the best time to buy a home in California? Here’s why 2012 is the best time to buy a house in San Jose or the bay area. Right before the new year, President Obama signed HR3630, the payroll reduction tax cut bill. The new law will ensure that millions of American’s won’t see a reduction in their paychecks, the jobless won’t see an interruption in their unemployment checks, and medicare doctors will continue to get paid….for the next 2 months. Hey 2012 is beginning to look better already, right? Wrong!
This is all being funded on the backs of the real estate industry. For the next 10 years, new mortgages through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be effected by having an additional 10 “basis points” or the equivilent to an extra $17 per month on a $200k loan, added to them to fund our government’s overspending. Yes you heard right, the agencies that received over 150 billion in bailout money and are still in trouble, are being asked to collect money to pay off this 2 month band-aid. Higher interest rates are coming, so it might be wise to take advantage of these low interest rates you see on your screen. Cause we all know, for the economy to recover, real estate must recover, but the fed seems to keep building barriers to that recovery. Happy New Year from your good old Uncle Sam.

Actor Wesley Snipes already serving 3 years in the big house for tax evasion is now in trouble again. Snipes is being sued by American Express claiming he never paid his credit card bill. Apparently he owes $29k, or the equivilent of the gross of his 2005 movie The Marksman. Yeah, I know he knows karate, but he’s not going anywhere for another year and half. That’s plenty of time for me to move.

According to CNN Money, one in five baby boomer couples have helped their children buy their first home, and more than 68% surveyed expect to provide down payment assistance to their children or grandchildren in the future to help them buy their first home. FHA mortgages are perfect if you are a parent who wants to help their college student or young adult a small condo or their first home. Guidelines allow for the 3.5% downpayment to come in the form of a gift from parents, and with the ability for closing costs to be paid by the seller and or the bank, 2012 may be the best time to buy a first home. Who’s the next person that comes to mind right now that is ready to get their adult children out of their house and into their own? Please forward this video to them, and if you are checking us out for the first time, go ahead and hit the subscribe button and leave us a comment below.

The Home Affordable Refinance Program or HARP, the program that will allow you to refinance your upside down mortgage has come out with their guidelines recently. Originally we were told that banks would start taking loan applications for this program in December. Well, that’s been pushed back to March. Here’s why. In order to be eligible for the program, you must get a desktop underwriting or DU automated approval through Fannie Mae’s system. The current version of DU will reject if LTV is over 125% but, the new version of DU coming out in March that will accept unlimited LTVs. Now remember, in order to qualify for this program, your current loan must be owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, and needed to be completed before June 2009. If you own a home in California, and want to find out of you qualify to refinance starting in March, give me a call or send me an email. If any new developments come along before then, I’ll be sure to let you know.

Do you remember a few weeks ago, Bank of America announced they were going to start charging $5 a month to use their debit cards. Well after a huge backlash from their customers, it appears B of A has had a change of heart. Check this out this public service announcement that appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show recently.

Interest rates this week remained stable, and this is the time you should be getting ready to make your new years resolution to save money in 2012. If you’re renting, you might be surprised to find out that owning a home could be cheaper than renting. If you want to find out in 5 minutes, give me a call and let’s take a look. If you know anyone who’s underwater on their mortgage, please forward this video to them so they can get the help they need once the HARP program is released by the banks.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris has declared “bring me the head of Ed DeMarco” He’s the guy in charge of the FHFA which happens to run Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. She is insisting that these agencies be required to help distressed homeowners by giving them a permanent mortgage principal reduction that is owed on their mortgages. Not a loan modification, but a principal loan reduction. It just so happens that Kamala is running for reelection next year in California, so this would seem to be a great platform to garner lots of votes. Think about it, if I’m upside down on my mortgage and you tell me you’re going to take a hundred thousand dollars offer my loan by giving me a loan reduction, why wouldn’t I vote for you? However, will this really solve the problem or just create more in the future? You see, your ability to get a loan in the first place is dependent upon an investor that’s willing to purchase mortgage backed securities. Now if you’re an investor who’s just been told that the collateral of that loan you just purchased has been cut in half, what do you think that’s going to do to your confidence to invest in loans again? It’s like putting $100 in your bank account today, and having $40 of it taken away overnight. I think the first thought on your mind would be I’m never putting money into that bank again even if they gave you a fantastic interest rate. Either way there is no easy solution to help people with an underwater mortgage, but I’d love to hear you thoughts, so please leave me a comment below.

Looking for the special gift for that special someone this holiday season and don’t want to settle for a fruitcake, or another lame sweater? Well then give them something they’re sure to be buzzing about all through the year. Bees. Philips, the company that makes your TV and electric razor has created the sustainable environmentally friendly Urban Bee Hive designed to fit into the window of your apartment that comes with a honeycomb texture to help draw bees from the outside. To access the honey, just pull a cord to release smoke into the hive and calm the bees before opening it. If it doesn’t work, you just got 10,000 angry bees in your apartment. This is all warm and granola like, but this is not a good idea. Think about it… You have the factory bees that Phillips provides, but a couple months later a family of killer bees move in and now you have a nuclear bee bomb in your house and you don’t know it. All it takes is one hyperactive child, cat or Jack Russell terrier and you have your own sci-fi movie going on. Yeah, no thanks. I don’t want one bee in my house. Even if it’s a smoke sedated one.

Thanksgiving is next week, and I just wanted to thank you for watching and sharing my videos each week. I love reading your comments, so please remember to leave me one below. If you or someone you know has any questions about your current mortgage and interest rates, and you want to know if now is the best time to refinance or buy your first home, please give me a call, and if you like this video, go ahead and give me the thumbs up and don’t keep me a secret. Have a good one. See you next time.

Real Estate website Zillow just released results of a survey taken by first time homebuyers that revealed some shocking results of how knowledgeable they are about the house buying process. Now all you Realtors watching this, you may want to give your clients some home buying tips that can teach them what to know before buying a house. 47% believed that the home became theirs once everyone signed the purchase contract. and 42% believe that home values are guaranteed to appreciate by about 7% each year, when in reality, in a normal market it’s typically 2-5% each year, and we all know, we are NOT in a normal market right now. 41% of all new homebuyers believe they need to pay for private mortgage insurance, regardless of how much of a downpayment they’re making, when in reality, that’s typically true if you’re putting less than 20% down. And finally 37% of first time homebuyers believe buying homeowner’s insurance is optional. I’m here to tell you it’s not. That’s why every realtor, mortgage broker and insurance agent needs to take time to make sure our clients are aware of what to know when buying a home. If you want to take Zillow’s Buyer IQ test for free, you can click on this link. Buyer IQ test.

The richest man in India, who also is the 9th richest man in the world, had a 27 story, one billion dollar home built in Mumbai for him and 3 members of his family. The house of Mukesh Ambani is complete with 3 helipads and 6 floors of parking, but he’s afraid to move into it because it fails to conform to the architectual principles of vastu shastra (trying saying that 5 times fast), and he believes that moving in will bring bad luck to him and his family. Seriously dude? You’re the ninth richest man in the world, how much more good luck do you need? Superstition aside, he’s got every right to be afraid to occupy the house: it’s a billion-dollar eye-sore in the midst of a country and a city where most of the people are desperately poor. I say, Squatters, pack your bags and enjoy your new home.

The economy picked up during the third quarter as the gross domestic product came in with the largest increase in a year. While this is good news for stocks, it could have an affect on interest rates as money moves out of bonds and into stocks. So take advantage of these still low rates if you’re thinking about buying or refinancing your home. If you liked this video, please leave me a comment below, and click the subscribe button and share it with a friend. Remember to set your clocks back this weekend! I’ll see you next time.

Earlier this week President Obama revealed the new changes and details to his revamped Home Affordable Refinance Program or HARP for California homeowners. A few changes have been made to the original HARP program in attempt to remove some of the roadblocks that prevented many people from being able to refinance their home if they’re underwater or upside down on their mortgage. So I want to share with you some of the changes that have been made to determine if you or someone you know could now refinance your home if you’re underwater.

The first thing you should be aware of is that this program is NOT going to help everyone that is upside down. One of the main qualifications is that your loan must be owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac and you must have received that loan before June 2009. Now, how do you know if Fannie or Freddie owns your loan? Just give me a call or send me an email and I can look that up for you. If it is owned by them, then it doesn’t matter how far upside down on your mortgage you are or the value of your home, because the loan to value cap has been lifted completely. In addition to that, you won’t need to have an appraisal, and loan fees will be reduced or possibly even eliminated if you are refinancing to a shorter term, like going from a 30 year to a 15 year fixed.

It’s important that your last 6 payments have been made on time, and you can’t have more than 1 late payment in the last 12 months. More details and rate pricing from the banks will be revealed around November 15th, and the banks that I work with are expected to start taking your loan application for this program around December 1st. Also, the program will be available through the end of 2013, but there’s no guarantee that low interest rates will be around that long, so if you, or someone you know who is underwater wants to see if your loan qualifies for the new and improved home affordable refinance program, please give me a call right now. Thanks for watching, and please share this with your friends.

In foreclosure news, banks must move faster to help you keep your property in California. If you’re already behind on your mortgage, or waiting for months just to hear back from the bank to find out if their willing to modify your loan, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are gonna start to lay the smack down on your bank. Starting January 1st, if you are more than 30 days late on your payment, your bank will be required to send you a packet in the mail offering you alternative options to foreclosure. When you let them know which option you want to take, they’ll have just 30 days to evaluate you as a borrower to see if you refinance or modify your loan. Then they will decide which course of action they think is the best alternative for you. Now this doesn’t mean that they HAVE to make sure you are approved for a modification or principal reduction, it just means they can’t keep you hanging on waiting for an answer. If they do, they’ll be hit with a $500 fine for not getting back to you. Now, with the average underwater homeowner being upside down about $65k on their home already, a $500 fine to the banks will just be a drop in the ocean of their bigger problems.

Muhammad Ali may be the greatest fighter of all time, but he’s not the greatest homebuyer of all time, and now he’s duking it out with a Louisville, KY couple that sold him a house 5 years ago with all kinds of problems and he’s hoping to KO them in court. But it’s been 5 years and it appears Ali doesn’t have a leg to stand on and DOWN goes Ali’s investment. Hey champ, you may float like a butterfly and sting like a bee, but you would have saved money if you paid a home inspection fee.

Interest rates are up .25 point since my last video. But whenever rates get to unheard of numbers like 3.75%, you can expect that they won’t stay there for long. Still with rates in the low 4’s, right now would be the best time to share this video with someone you know who would love to buy or refinance their house. Also you can press the subscribe button, and leave me a comment below, I’d love to hear from you.