Join us in Burnsville for a free Investment Property 101.5 seminar. This seminar is meant to delve into the Cash Flow of a property and the different ways to analyze investment potential of a property, future cash flow, or current price. Brian Peterson, who has been analyzing investment properties for years, will go over many of the ratios and ways to look at your property financially. This seminar is meant for people wanting to take the next step, maybe looking to have several properties, or those who need a refresher on the tools and methods to analyze these properties.

There will be a special interest in multi-unit properties and commercial properties and ways to come up with prices, cash flows, or to compare to other investment properties. We have special guest Rob Bonahoom, from MN Home Loan Partners of Cornerstone Mortgage Company in Burnsville, to talk a little about the current financial environment for approving loans. Come take it to the next level with this outstanding seminar! You never know what you can take away from these events, but they have proved very valuable to investors in the past.

The Investment Property 101.5 seminar is located at the Cornerstone Mortgage Company office at 436 Gateway Boulevard in Burnsville from 6:30pm to 8pm on March 9th. Please click here to register or call 952-808-0042.

I know… what is a 203k loan??  A 203k loan is HUDs way of trying to help home-buyers get into a home that needs some help, while giving them access to funds to rehabilitate the home. It is a tool that combines planning, nonprofit organizations that specialize in housing, and smart lending to deliver an end product that helps you as a homeowner.

Have you been looking for a home and can’t find just that right one? Sure, you could make repairs or remodel certain properties to make them exactly what you are looking for, but that takes upfront money. Enter – Section 203 (k) or 203k. The 203k loan enables you as a home-buyer to purchase a home, make qualified repairs to the home, or rehabilitate the home and roll the repairs and upgrade costs into the mortgage loan.

Per HUD’s website, “The Section 203(k) program is the Department’s primary program for the rehabilitation and repair of single family properties. As such, it is an important tool for the community and neighborhood revitalization and for expanding homeownership opportunities. Since these are the primary goals of HUD, the Department believes that Section 203(k) is an important program and we intend to continue to strongly support the program and the lenders that participate in it.” (www.hud.gov 2010)

MN Home Loan Partners of Cornerstone Mortgage Company in Burnsville is very excited to be able to offer a free seminar to help home-buyers learn about the 203k process. Like anything unknown, it can be intimidating, but that is why we are here! Join us the first Tuesday of the month for the ‘Fixin’ To Stay? Try A 203k’ seminar. Elizabeth Vaughan of MN Home Loan Partners, goes over the details of the 203k loan process. She breaks it down, makes it all clear, and will help you determine if the 203k is the best loan for you. As I said before, its totally free, and no obligation, so stop by!

The 203k loan seminar will take place at Cornerstone Mortgage Company’s Burnsville office, starting at 6:30p. Please click hereto register so we have materials for everyone. Fixin’  To Stay, Try a 203k Seminar is offered each first Tuesday of the month.

Many homeowners in today’s market find themselves upside-down in their homes. For some, a short sale is the solution, but there are many questions a homeowner should ask – and get the answers to – before entering a short sale agreement: How does a short sale differ from a foreclosure? How does a short sale impact my credit standing? Is there a waiting period before I can purchase a new home? Denae Frampton and Trent Johnson of The Minnesota Real Estate Team and Carrie Guarrero of the MN Home Loan Partners of Cornerstone Mortgage Company in Burnsville will provide an overview of the short sale process and answer these and other questions. They will also educate attendees on consumer scams to watch out for and grants and other solutions (such as refinancing a current mortgage) available to help qualified homeowners.

Seminars are held at our Cornerstone Mortgage Company office in Burnsville, MN.  Click  Here to Register For Seminar or call 952-808-0042. Since we know how busy life can get, we are proud to offer this free informational seminar on a monthly basis. The next dates for the Short Sale Solutions seminar are April 1 and  May 6.

Thursday, March 25th, 6:30-8PM*
*Location: Shoreview Community Center, 4580 Victoria St N #203

Are you a First Time Home Buyer? Not sure what to expect? Do you qualify for tax credits? How do you get pre-approved? Come learn about the buying process, from working with a loan officer to getting pre-approved and house-hunting with a Realtor, to getting your offer accepted and finally closing on your home!

Join Darcy McDonald of Cornerstone Mortgage and Tony D’Agostino and Steve Howe of The Minnesota Real Estate Team as they guide you through your real estate transaction. They will educate you about today’s current market, extended tax credits and special loans for those homes that may need a little TLC. Bring your questions we will be happy to help you get answers! After this seminar you will be prepared to hit the ground running and enjoy the adventure to get to your new home!

Click Here to Register For Seminar or call 952-808-0042
No worries, we will also host additional seminars coming up on April 22. South of the river location more convenient? Again, we have you covered. We host First Time Buyer seminars at our Burnsville Cornerstone Mortgage Company office as well, upcoming dates for the Burnsville location are March 18, April 15, May 20, and June 17.

SELLERS – Traditionally, many sellers have waited until Spring in Minnesota to list their homes. In 2010, the four items above, in addition to the fact that we are currently in a sellers’ market and depending on your homes’ price range, you’re about to see some competition you may not want to be up against (the impending foreclosures) make that tradition a BAD one. As a seller, the market is right – now.
BUYERS – I can’t remember a time where there were so many incentives to buy! If you’ve been sitting on the proverbial fence – get off! First time home-buyers are especially blessed with benefits on the front-end in the way of down payment and closing cost assistance, silent second mortgages with no-interest and no-payments, some of which are forgiven over time, lower interest rates than most first-time home-buyers lifetimes have shown and back-end incentives like up to $8,000 tax credits and fix-up funds and energy-rebates to boot?!? Of course there are also the all-time forgotten, normal benefits to home-ownership like the interest and property tax deduction and well, the ability to paint your walls whatever color you feel like! HELLO people! Are you paying attention?? This is going to go away and if you are in the position to buy now, don’t be the one shaking your head a couple years down the road saying, “I wish I would have done this or known that two years ago.”

What is going on with the buzz about FHA making changes?

Carrie:

Did everyone think FHA was the only one who weren’t going to tighten-up lending guidelines? Frankly, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened sooner and, I’m pleased, for the most part.
So, what’s new? The down payment change to 5% DOES NOT appear to be happening. The current down payment requirement looks like it will stay at 3.5%. But, mortgage insurance amounts will change. On an FHA loan, mortgage insurance is required to be paid in the form of both upfront mortgage insurance premium and an annual mortgage insurance premium. Currently, these amount as set at 1.75% upfront and .55% annually for minimum down 30 year fixed rate mortgages. The change, that is scheduled to begin April 4, 2010, increases the upfront premium to 2.25% and leaves the annual premium at .55%  for 30 year fixed rate mortgages.

WHY? Because, mortgage insurance premium is there to protect them in the event of a loss and everybody and their brother flocked to FHA financing starting immediately in 2007 when the market meltdown took place. Lenders who had never done an FHA loan in their careers suddenly sought and sold it as the answer. Now, loans are defaulting. I’m not going to say that’s the only reason, of course FHA guidelines remained loose in the areas of credit and ratio requirements and the lenders simply approved the people who were “going through the system”. There’s simply not time enough here for me to go into my opinions about how we got here. One of the many facts is that FHA suddenly became the loan product to use and now, the result is rising foreclosures and the need to establish greater reserves and replenish the mortgage insurance fund. Not unreasonable considering the environment we’re in today.

On a positive note, FHA has long had a 90-day flipping guideline meant to prevent rapid sales at inflated values. FHA has temporarily lifted the flipping guideline for 1 year from February 1, 2010 to allow for investors to buy a home, fix it up and immediately re-sell it. Previously, the investor would have had to wait a minimum of 90 days before writing a purchase agreement. Hopefully, this will allow for some additional rehabilitation of homes that need it, spur the sale of home improvement product and remodeling employment and well as bring already repaired homes to the marketplace for first time home-buyers. Of course, as with all guideline changes, there are a host of additional rules to follow. For the complete mortgagee letter click here
Now here’s the kicker, the fun part. It’s really laughable. FHA is now going to require that borrower’s have 10% down if they have a credit score under 580. Well, I suppose if there were any investors out there who readily purchased loans with less than a 620 credit score, that might be helpful, but their aren’t. In addition, there are a few who are pushing to a minimum of 640, so really, it’s mute. Maybe, in the future, as lenders loosen their underwriting guidelines, maybe it will apply and FHA won’t have to change their guideline again down the road. Who really knows? Right now, it just really doesn’t make a difference and everyone needs to be well aware and focus on the minimum credit score requirements are as I’ve talked about before – 620 with 3 active lines of positive credit that have been around for 12 months. It’s not going to get easier and credit is KEY. To read more about mortgage credit requirements click here.

Incentives, low mortgage rates, down payment assistance programs, 6 percent seller paid closing costs….

Lets say you are a first time home-buyer in Minnesota, do you want to miss this ‘Sweetheart of a deal’ and lose out on the opportunity to get an actual $27,000 in hard money?? Well, if you are in the first time home buyer market and haven’t purchased yet, or don’t get moving and buy now… you can kiss that $27,000 goodbye. Literally.

Listen to The Minnesota Real Estate Show on KTLK, 100.3FM on Saturday, February 6th from 11am to noon to hear us hash out the details, but here is the basic breakdown.

First time home buyer purchasing a home for $175,000.

As a buyer of a distressed property (short sale or foreclosed) with an income under $67,200 a year, you could potentially take advantage of ALL of these down payment assistance and government programs:

The $8,000.00 first time home buyer tax credit.

$10,000 in down payment assistance.

$5,000 in seller paid closing costs

AND if you take advantage of today’s interest rates BEFORE they go up, you could save over $4,000 in monthly payments (the difference between your mortgage payment with the higher interest rate and the current interest rate over 5 years which is the average of how long people stay with the mortgage before moving or refinancing)

I know it is a lot to wrap your mind around, so here it is plain and simple: Take advantage of the sweetheart of a deal, don’t wait until the honeymoon is over. Now is the time to buy.

Tune in to The Minnesota Real Estate Show on Saturdays from 11am to noon to catch the discussion, and as always, feel free to call in and ask your question!