Foreclosures Listings with Addresses from ForeclosurePoint.com June 30, 2008
Posted by Patti Shawgo in Local News, Real Estate.1 comment so far
While I don’t necessarily think that you are going to get the best deal ever by purchasing a foreclosure, there is definitely interest in finding foreclosure listings. And being that the purpose of my blog is to give the people the information they want and need about the local real estate and mortgage market, here you go.
www.foreclosurepoint.com There is a quick, free registration and then you are free to search foreclosure listings. Maryland and Pennsylvania are both available. Deleware and West Virginia are not. I tried it out and it is very, very easy to use. For the free registration it does not give you much information about the property beyond the address and “Zestimate” of value, but there’s an easy way to find out more than what they are telling you.
So after you have the address, step one, google it. Step two, go to the Maryland SDAT (http://www.dat.state.md.us/ click on Real Property Search) and you can get even more info (last transfer price, etc). When you google it, don’t include the zipcode and you generally get better results. What you are hoping to find is the lawyer’s office or auction house that is in charge of auctioning it off.
Protect your Investment & Your Family with a Will & Trust June 29, 2008
Posted by Patti Shawgo in Interesting Stuff.1 comment so far
If you just bought a house, or even are just thinking about it, it’s important to have a will. Suze Orman has a fantastic, simple Will & Trust kit. All that you need to do is fill in the blanks and it will automatically put together a will and living trust for you.
The best thing? You can get this Will kit for free. I was watching the Suze Orman show the other night and she gave out a free code for her will kit. Just go to https://www.suzeormanwillandtrust.com/giftcode/ The code is People First.
Arundel Community Development: Get up to $40,000 towards Down Payment & Closing Costs June 27, 2008
Posted by Patti Shawgo in First Time Home Buyers, Local News, Mortgage News, Real Estate.add a comment
The Anne Arundel Community Development program has been around for a while, and it doesn’t seem to get much press. But it is really a fabulous down payment assitance program. If you are thinking about buying in Anne Arundel County, you’ll want to check it out. Arundel Community Development Services is a private, non-profit started by Anne Arundel County to create affordable housing opportunities.
The details of their first time buyer program? It is very similar to the Baltimore County MALP program I’ve spoken so much about. You must take a class through Arundel Community Development and this class must be completed before you go under contract.
Additionally, your household income must be below 80% of the area’s median income. These limits are:
Household Size Income Limit
1 $43,050
2 $49,200
3 $55,350
4 $61,500
5 $66,400
6 $71,350
7 $76,250
8 $81,200
The $40,000 is a 0% interest, 0 payment loan, but when you sell or refinance it does get paid back, this is not a forgivable program. However, the difference a $40,000 down payment can make in your monthly payment is huge. If you are looking at a $200k house, you suddenly have a 20% down payment and not only will your principal and interest payment be less, but now you will not need mortgage insurance either!
Interested in learning more? Email me at patriciacshawgo@gmail.com or GET MORE INFO HERE
Time is almost up! Get your Baltimore County Rental Property Registered now! June 25, 2008
Posted by Patti Shawgo in Uncategorized.add a comment
Back in March I wrote this article about Baltimore County requiring landlords to register their rental property by July 1st.
http://mdrealestate.wordpress.com/2008/03/05/is-your-baltimore-county-rental-property-licensed/
Is your property registered yet? You must get a home inspector to inspect your property and it must pass for you to be able to register it. I spoken to a number of home inspectors who say that they are inundated with requests for inspections. The average price for these inspections seems to be $175-$200.
Then there is a form which must be turned into the county along with your registration fee. So, procrastinators, get on this now! There’s not much time left.
Does Fannie Mae’s Lastest Move Mean Anything? June 23, 2008
Posted by Patti Shawgo in Uncategorized.add a comment
Recently, Fannie Mae announced that they would no longer consider declining markets in their loan to value limits. Previously, if the house you were looking to purchase was on the Fannie Mae ”declining market” list, the most you could finance a home for was 5% than if you purchasing a home in a non-declining market.
This may be all well and good, but mortgage insurance companies, who insure any loans that are over 80% of the property’s sale price or value, still have declining market policies. What this means for you is that while Fannie Mae will let you finance 97% of the purchase price of a house in Baltimore and surrounding counties or Washington DC and surrounding counties, there is no mortgage insurance company that will insure that loan.
Fannie Mae’s hope is that as the market begins to regulate, mortgage insurance companies will begin to loosen their restrictions in this regard. For the present time, however, Fannie Mae’s change does very little, but I will be monitoring this situation and reporting back here.
