Notes and Opinions from one of Arizona's Most Trusted Loan Teams

We were very pleased to obtain a rare approval to do conventional loans with only 5% down. Most companies are not allowed to participate in this program.

The program requires mortgage insurance, but unlike FHA, this mortgage insurance will go away when the loan pays down or the property value rises. This is an advantage. Additionally, these loans are available up to $417,000. That loan amount exceeds what FHA is able to do anywhere in Arizona.

Good credit and income are required. Feel free to talk with either of us if you have questions. We can also prequalify you for this program before you commit to buying a new home.

The program is also available for rate and term refinances.

Two big deadlines are approaching that make this the best time to buy or refinance.

1. The government has announced that the Treasury will quit buying Mortgage Backed Securities at the end of March. This practice has been holding rates down. Once these important mortgage financing instruments are back in the regular market place, rates are expected to rise for the balance of 2010.

2. First time buyers and move-up buyers wanting to take advantage of the tax credits for home purchases need to have an accepted contract in place by April 30th and close before June 30, 2010.

Call us today and make a move before it's too late!

Jon: 602-354-0526   Carolyn: 602-354-0534

This is from the National Association of Realtors:

Washington, January 05, 2010

Contract activity for pending home sales fell after a surge of activity in preceding months to beat the original deadline for the first-time home buyer tax credit but remains comfortably above a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

The Pending Home Sales Index,* a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in November, fell 16.0 percent to 96.0 from an upwardly revised 114.3 in October, but is 15.5 percent higher than November 2008 when it was 83.1.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said a drop was expected. “It will be at least early spring before we see notable gains in sales activity as home buyers respond to the recently extended and expanded tax credit,” he said. “The fact that pending home sales are comfortably above year-ago levels shows the market has gained sufficient momentum on its own. We expect another surge in the spring as more home buyers take advantage of affordable housing conditions before the tax credit expires.”

To say that we're sorry to see the end of 2009 would be a stretch. All real estate related businesses have continued to struggle with a market unlike any we've seen in the last 30 years. Homeowners have also faced unprecedented challenges.

That being said, the year is ending with a couple of good notes. Home sales have been increasing for the last 5 months in a row. Interest rates remain low, mostly due to government intervention. We closed a 5 year ARM recently at 2.75%, the lowest in our history. It was a perfect loan given the borrower's plans for the property and we were happy to offer it. They will save nearly $25,000 over the fixed rate period of the loan.

We continue to offer a wide variety of loans including FHA, Conventional, and JUMBO loans. It's not unusual for us to handle loans of $100,000 and $1,000,000 or more on the same day.

We wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year in 2010. We expect the markets will continue to improve and we are looking forward to a much better business climate for all of us. All the best to you and your family.

The first time buyer tax credit extension was signed into law this week. This will extend the credit for contracts signed by April and closed by June 2010.

Rates have stayed very low. We have never closed so many loans in the 4's in our entire history. There is plenty of money around, including Jumbo loans. This is very different than a year ago.

Prices have been firming up but still remain very attractive in most of Arizona. Still a lot of deals to be had out there. Go get one and call us about the financing! Better yet, pre-qualify with us and shop like you had cash...

Effective October 30th, we are moving the loan orgination portion of our business to CFS Mortgage Corporation. You can see the address and phone changes elsewhere on the website.

CFS Mortgage Corporation is another Arizona based company. They are more than 26 years old and operate as a mortgage banker, funding their own loans. We have known their owners for more than 20 years and their business philosophy is identical to ours. (A deal is a deal...Do what you said you would, when you said you would do it...etc.) In addition, we will be able to offer a much larger variety of programs to suit your needs.

With their strength backing us up, we are going to continue providing the loan products and service you have learned to expect from us over the last twenty-five years. Welcome to The Sterling Group at CFS Mortgage Corporation!

It continues to amaze me that mortgage brokers are still taking the brunt of criticism for the mortgage meltdown. Our current "everyone is a victim" mentality is using the evil mortgage broker as the fall guy for everyone who is out of work, behind on their payments, is losing their home, or facing an ARM adjusment. Apparently, no one remembers the recent story about Wells Fargo workers being paid a "bounty" on bringing in minority borrowers into their subprime programs as alleged by former employees in Baltimore.

I don't know how many times I can say this, but mortgage brokers did not design the programs, approve the loans, or design super-risky Wall Street investment strategies. The same three banks that now control 53% of all new loan originations did all those things. The only reason they are still around is because their buddies in the government gave them huge sums of taxpayer dollars.

Yes, there were some bad actors in the small business origination field. Most of them are gone now and the government continues to lock the barn door with ever-increasing regulations that favor their biggest politcal donors, the banks. And the banks continue to gain market share......hmmm?

Trust me on this. If you make your living in any kind of real estate or housing related field, you don't want to see a mortgage business that is dominated by four or five banks. The one lesson of capitalism we need to remember is that consumers suffer when they don't have a choice.

Hey, anybody remember when there was only one phone company?

Carolyn Drake and I did a 15 home tour in a beautiful development called Inscription Ranch. This development is about 15 miles north of Prescott, Arizona. At this elevation, it was about 20 degrees cooler than Phoenix, which was a very nice break. The terrain is rolling to mountainous with plenty of cedar, oak, and pine trees. This is not what most people think of when they talk about Arizona, but we are in the Rocky Mountain chain here.

Some folks wouldn't appreciate the distance to civilization, but it was truly wonderful to us city slickers. The development has it's own water and sewer, so that part is pretty civilized. The home sites average about 2 acres. When you stand still for a minute all you hear is wind in the trees and birds. Very, very relaxing.

Each home is custom built. The smallest we saw was about 2300 square feet, had wonderful views and unique custom tile. Since the market has bottomed out here, the $432,000 price tag was just plain reasonable. We didn't get to all 15 homes on the tours. Some were being shown by their owners who were universally friendly and proud of the unique touches. One home we visted at length had a home office loft with unbeliveable views of the forest and mountains on three sides. I decided I would never get much work done there, you could easily lose an hour or two on the scenery. This home had an incredible outdoor area including an outdoor fireplace and ramada that was nicer than my living room at home. Oh, yeah there was also a 3 car garage, an RV garage and a 3000 square foot home with ceilings up to 14 feet. All for $695,000.

Being a mortgage company we obviously went there to promote our luxury loan programs and introduce the agents to our new website at www.LuxuryLoanExperts.com.  We did that, but we were blown away by the homes and the development. I have added one of these to my wish list. My compliments to the tour organizers, we hope they got some buyers as fired up as we were by this great Arizona property. If you are ever in Prescott, make the drive to see a truly special development and special lifestyle.