Tampa Mortgages
Clearwater FL Homes for Sale benefit -Tampa Mortgage Rates fall due to Icelands Volcano
April 22nd, 2010 Categories: Real Estate News, Tampa Mortgages
Tampa Mortgages - Clearwater - St Pete - Tampa Bay area
Tampa 
Mortgage rates and Clearwater home affordability have improved lately, thanks to an unlikely ally — Mother Nature.
In the 7 days since Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull erupted, ash clouds have grounded planes, disrupted businesses, and stranded exports in warehouses worldwide.
It’s a drag on commerce that’s spilled over onto Wall Street. As experts debate the potential for future seismic activity, traders are taking some of their investment risk off the table.
In trading circles, it’s called “safe haven buying”. When the market gets cloudy, investors often move their cash into relatively safe assets. This includes government-backed securities — mortgage-bonds among them.
Demand for bonds rise, pushing up prices and driving down rates.
Conforming and FHA mortgage rates in Florida touched a 3-week low earlier this week.
Volcanic eruptions and like natural disasters remind us: Tampa mortgage rates change for all sorts of reasons. Some we can predict, most we cannot. There’s literally thousands of influences on the U.S. mortgage market.
If you’ve been shopping for Clearwater FL homes for sale or Clearwater beach condos or floating a mortgage rate, luck’s been on your side. Mortgage rates have fallen post-Eyjafjallajökull. However, as ash clouds dissipate and business resumes worldwide, investors will regain their collective appetite for risk and safe haven buying will reach its natural end.
When that happens, Tampa mortgage rates will rise.
Therefore, if you are in the process of buying a Clearwater home or beach condo use the seismic uncertainty to your advantage. Consider locking your Tampa mortgage rate sooner rather than later — while rates are still low.
Got any questions, just give us, your local Clearwater FL Realtors a call or talk to your loan officer about locking your rate on the Clearwater FL homes you want to buy.
We’re passionate about being your Clearwater Fl real estate advocate. We’re committed to delivering Results daily based on Integrity, Knowledge & Experience - helping you find the perfect Clearwater FL homes for sale.
We’d like to be YOUR Clearwater FL Real Estate Team!
Call Cyndee @ 727.710.8035 or Jack @ 727710.8036
Warmly,
Cyndee and Jack Haydon
Charles Rutenberg Realty
Clearwater FL Real Estate Office
1545 S. Belcher Rd
Clearwater Florida 33764
727-710-8035 (Cyndee’s cell)
727-710-8036 (Jack’s cell)
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Clearwater FL Homes for Sale | Is Your Tampa Mortgage Preapproval Stale?
April 11th, 2010 Categories: Clearwater Florida, Tampa Mortgages
Clearwater FL Homes | Buyers need to Update Tampa Mortgages & Preapprovals
Clearwater FL - It’s a busy weekend with the National Open House event. Lots of people checking out Clearwater FL Real Estate. Before you get too excited…have you checked if your Tampa Mortgage preapproval is still valid or is it stale? As the federal home buyer tax credit nears its April 30 end-date (19 days and counting down), there’s a lot of would-be home buyers in Clearwater FL still working to get a home under contract - both first time home buyers and those taking advantage of the move up tax credit.
A piece of advice for all of you looking to buy a home right now: If your Tampa Mortgage pre-qualification and/or pre-approval letter is more than 8 weeks old, it would be smart to have your mortgage lender “re-pre-approve” you. Here’s a short video I found on Youtube that explains the basic pre-approval process you may find helpful (of course you’ll want to talk to a local lender about your specific situation):
Why? Because we live in a dynamic lending market and the mortgage guidelines have been in flux and your original lender letter may now be invalid.
For example, over the past half-dozen months, the majority of Tampa mortgage lenders have reduced their risk tolerance can many of these items have tightened up with respect to:
- For Clearwater Homes for sale, buyers Maximum debt-to-income ratios have changed
- Minimum allowable credit scores for Clearwater Home buyers
- Calculation of “assets in reserve” when buying Fl homes for sale
For Clearwater Beach buyers of Clearwater FL condos for sale and co-ops, even the subject property itself is coming under tighter guidelines and tougher scrutiny. We’ve written about some of these changes before:
Clearwater FL Homes for Sale - Related Articles:
- Clearwater FL Homes for Sale Haunted by FHA Appraisals
- Clearwater Beach Florida Buyers Must Know 6 Reasons Cash May be the ONLY Purchase Option
- Clearwater Fl Homes for Sale - 5 Home Seller Myths Expose The Emperors New Clothes
Today’s Tampa mortgages require applicants need to be strong on all fronts to make lenders comfortable based on the current risk and problems they’ve experienced. Did you know that it takes more than just good income and credit to get approved anymore and today’s home buyers should revisit their qualifications.
What passed underwriting to get a loan approved in January may not still pass in May. We recently had a client surprised by the fact that even though they had lots of income and verifiable assets their low credit score kept any lender from being willing to finance their mortgage even when planning to put 50% down. Luckily for them, in 3 months they were able to clean some things up and raise their score so we’re set to close next month.
Being pro-active brings other advantages, too. If a mortgage re-pre-approval does unearth an issue, it’ll be easier for every party to the transaction to address and correct it up-front versus trying to clean up a mess once a home’s already under contract and racing the deadlines.
Got questions, just give us, your local Clearwater FL Realtors a call or talk to your loan officer about your pre-qualification/pre-approval letter before you bid on a Clearwater FL home.
So if you’re looking for Clearwater FL Realtors we’d like you to know that we are passionate about being your Clearwater real estate advocate. We’re committed to delivering Results daily based on Integrity, Knowledge & Experience - helping you find the perfect Clearwater FL homes for sale.
We’d like to be YOUR Clearwater FL Real Estate Team!
Call Cyndee @ 727.710.8035 or Jack @ 727710.8036
Warmly,
Cyndee and Jack Haydon
Charles Rutenberg Realty
Clearwater Real Estate Office
1545 S. Belcher Rd
Clearwater Florida 33764
727-710-8035 (Cyndee’s cell)
727-710-8036 (Jack’s cell)
| Currently 1 Comment »
Clearwater FL Homes for Sale Haunted for Months by FHA Appraisals
March 11th, 2010 Categories: Real Estate News, Tampa Mortgages
Selling your Clearwater FL Home Beware FHA Appraisals Carry 4 Month Penalty
Clearwater Florida - Dear Mr./Mrs. Home seller today there almost 3000 Clearwater Fl Homes for sale. I would guess that most sellers don’t realize that after January 2010 FHA appraisals now have a 4 month shelf life. So while it’s not officially a penalty, you tell me, because now when you get what you think is a “low appraisal” on your home using the new HVCC appraisal process you may be tempted to not sell to the current buyer because the appraisal says it’s currently worth less than you believe. You may be tempted to say find I’ll let this buyer out of the purchase contract and just put your house back on the market for sale hoping to get another buyer and a better appraisal.
Well…Did you realize that the lending rules have changed and now any other potential buyers for your home for sale in Clearwater that are going to get an FHA or VA loan (which is the majority of home loans done under $300,000 in the Tampa Bay today HAVE to use that same appraisal - remember…the one you hated and just wanted to forget about?
Why? Because when a buyer is getting an FHA loan and an Appraisal / Case# is assigned - that Case# stays with that house. If a valid appraisal exists - that’s what’s going to be used so now that appraisal will actually now stay with your home for 4 months. (If you have more questions contact our local FHA expert, Brian P Forrester at 727-216-8138.
So now you can see that regardless of what future buyers WANT to offer you for your home for sale in Clearwater they can’t and still get an FHA loan for anything more than the value given in the original appraisal.
- Related Article: Clearwater Beach Florida Buyers Must Know 6 Reasons Cash May be the ONLY Purchase Option
So the bottom line Mr./Mrs. Home Seller is that no matter how much buyers really do love your house or condo - our buyer’s can’t and won’t purchase overpriced Clearwater Fl homes - and your fantasy price won’t make it through the appraisal process (with ANY buyer) so if you really want to sell, please listen to what the real estate market sold homes in Clearwater (in the last 90 days) are telling us…and price your home realistically.
If you are considering buying a home in Clearwater, this is just one of the many areas we help with and why we believe you benefit from having your own representation in this process. We believe you deserve an advocate as well as all the current information available to determine a home’s value right now. We provide extensive analysis and advice to the buyers we work with based on our knowledge and experience so you can make strong offers. This can prevent you from overpaying as well as enabling you to get the home of your dreams that’s priced right as well as not risking losing $1000+ educating the home seller about his home’s value by doing home inspections, appraisals and more only to find out you can’t buy the home cause the bank won’t finance the home and the seller won’t seller for less and is actually stuck in denial.
I could go on forever with more real life real estate stories and will share more in the coming weeks - knowing that home sellers have an agent representing them - don’t you deserve the same when you plan to buy your home or beach condo?
So if you’re looking for Clearwater FL Realtors we’d like you to know that we are passionate about being your real estate advocate. We’re committed to delivering Results daily based on Integrity, Knowledge & Experience - helping you find the perfect Clearwater FL homes for sale.
We’d like to be YOUR Clearwater FL Real Estate Team!
Call Cyndee @ 727.710.8035 or Jack @ 727710.8036
Warmly,
Cyndee and Jack Haydon
Charles Rutenberg Realty
Clearwater Real Estate Office
1545 S. Belcher Rd
Clearwater Florida 33764
727-710-8035 (Cyndee’s cell)
727-710-8036 (Jack’s cell)
| Currently 3 Comments »
