Here’s how our FREE home hunting service works: each night our Buyer Profile computer searches the main real estate database for all homes (not just our own listings) that match your exact requirements (style of house, square footage, lot size, location, etc.), and then automatically downloads these listings which we then email, mail or fax to you. Each week you receive this free information, enabling you to beat out other buyers to hot new listings.

If you would like to receive regular updates of new listings that match your homebuying criteria simply email and we will be happy to assist you.

FREE computerized list of available properties in YOUR specific price range and AREA!!

It’s easy to get started…

Fill out the form Exclusive VIP Home Buyers Program and click the SUBMIT button to enroll in our VIP Buyer Program. You’ll then get a chance to enter your buying criteria on the next page.  Just leave your specific price range and Neighborhood at Exclusive VIP Home Buyers Program

Elite Real Estate and Financial

https://www.JuliaMartinHomes.com

CA DRE #976550

How to Avoid Costly Housing Mistakes in the Midst of a Divorce

Divorce is a tough situation which opens up many emotional and financial issues to be solved. One of the most important decisions is what to do about the house.

In the midst of the heavy emotional and financial turmoil, what you need most is some non-emotional, straightforward, specific answers. Once you know how a divorce affects your home, your mortgage and taxes, critical decisions are easier. Neutral, third party information can help you make logical, rather than emotional decisions.

Probably the first decision is whether you want to continue to living in the house. Will the familiar surroundings bring you comfort and emotional security, or unpleasant memories? Do you want to minimize change by staying where you are, or sell your home and move to a new place that offers a new start?

Only you can answer these questions, but there will almost certainly be some financial repercussions to your decision process. What can you afford? Can you manage the old house on your new budget? Is refinancing possible?  Or is it better to sell and buy? How much house can you buy on your new budget? The purpose of this report is to help you ask the right questions so you can make informed decisions that will be right for your situation.

4 OPTIONS:

You have 4 basic housing options when in the midst of a divorce:

1. Sell the house now and divide up the proceeds.

2. Buy out your spouse.

3. Have your spouse buy you out.

4. Retain your ownership.

It’s important for you to understand the financial implications of each of these scenarios.

❶ Sell the House Now and Divide Up the Proceeds - Your primary consideration under these circumstances is to maximize your home’s selling price.  We can help you avoid the common mistakes most homeowners make which compromise this outcome. As you work to get your financial affairs in order, make sure you understand what your net proceeds will be – i.e. after selling expenses, and after determining what your split of the proceeds will be. Note that the split may not be 50/50, but rather may depend on the divorce settlement, the source of the original downpayment, and the legislative property laws in your area.

❷ Buy Out Your Spouse - If you intend to keep the house yourself, you’ll have to determine how you’ll continue to meet your monthly financial obligations, if you now only have one salary. If you used two incomes to qualify for the old loan, refinancing on your own might be a challenge.

❸ Have Your Spouse Buy You Out - If you are the one who is leaving, you have the opportunity to start again in new surroundings with cash in your pocket. However, be aware that if the the old home loan is not refinanced, most lenders will consider both you and your spouse as original co-signers to be liable for the mortgage. This liability may make qualifying for a new mortgage difficult for you if you decide to purchase a home, even though you won’t have legal ownership.

❹ Retain Joint Ownership - Some divorcing couples postpone a financial decision with respect to the home and retain joint ownership for a period of time even though only one spouse lives there. While this temporary situation means you have no immediate worries in this regard, keep your eye on tax considerations which may change from the time of your divorce to the time of the ultimate sale.

When You Decide to Sell:

If you and your spouse decide to sell your home, it will be important to work together through a professional to maximize your return. Differences aside, you both should be present when a listing contract is put together. Both of you should understand and sign this contract, and both should be active in the ultimate negotiations.

When You Buy Your Next Home:

Use the proceeds from your previous home or buy-out to determine an affordable price range for your next home. Maintain a clear focus on getting the right home to suit your new situation. You may wish to review with an agent who offers a house-hunting service to help find a home that matches your new home-buying criteria.

The material contained in this report is for information only.  It is not intended to replace individualized legal advice. It is recommended to seek professional legal counsel for your legal issues.

Stabilizing and restoring the health of the housing market is critical to a broader economic recovery, according to a white paper released yesterday by the Federal Reserve Board. Many of the issues and recommendations outlined in the paper support key principles established by the National Association of Realtors® to help revitalize the housing industry and economy.

The white paper, The U.S. Housing Market: Current Conditions and Policy Considerations,calls for increased lending to creditworthy home buyers and more loan modifications, mortgage refinancings, and short sales to reduce the rising inventory of foreclosed homes and help stabilize and revitalize the housing industry; an approach long recommended by NAR to help spur the housing market recovery.

“As the nation’s leading advocate for homeownership and housing issues, NAR knows that a strong housing market recovery is key to the nation’s future economic strength,” said NAR President Moe Veissi, broker-owner of Veissi & Associates Inc., in Miami. “Improving access to affordable mortgage financing for qualified home buyers and investors and aggressively pursuing more loan modifications and short sales is necessary to help reenergize the housing market and spur an economic recovery.”

The pendulum on mortgage credit has swung too far following the housing downturn. According to the 2011 NAR Member Profile, 34 percent of Realtors® reported that the most important factor in limiting their clients’ ability to buy a home was difficulty in obtaining a mortgage. While NAR supports responsible and strong underwriting standards, unnecessarily tight credit restrictions are keeping many qualified home buyers from purchasing homes, which could help absorb excess inventories of homes in foreclosure.

“Creditworthy consumers continue to have difficulties securing affordable financing despite their proven ability to afford the monthly payments,” said Veissi. “Expanding financing opportunities to qualified buyers could help reduce distressed property inventories, minimize the negative impact those homes have on local markets and restore vibrant housing markets and neighborhoods.”

To prevent further foreclosure inventory increases, NAR also urges lenders to take more aggressive steps to modify loans and keep struggling families in their homes. Significantly reducing monthly mortgage payments will help more families remain current on their mortgage and allow them to remain in their home, reducing the impact of foreclosures on local home prices.

For homeowners who are unable to meet their mortgage obligations, NAR has urged lenders and servicers to quickly approve reasonable short sale offers so these people can avoid foreclosure. The short sale process can be time-consuming and inefficient, and many would-be buyers end up walking away from the transaction.

“Loan modifications and short sales help stabilize home values and neighborhoods, and limit the losses incurred by lenders, the federal government and taxpayers, which is good for everyone,” said Veissi.

The Fed paper also addresses converting foreclosed properties into affordable rentals. NAR supports reducing the barriers that prevent owner-occupants and small investors from accessing financing, such as opening the Federal Housing Administration 203(k) program to investors. NAR also believes these efforts are best made by local entities that understand the challenges of the local community and will respond to renters’ needs.

In addition, NAR is concerned about proposed bulk sales of distressed properties and believes that every effort should be made increase liquidity for consumers and small investors since bulk sales will likely result in greater losses for taxpayers and have a more negative impact on housing values.

The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1.1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

For more information on homes for Sale in San Diego visit www.JuliaMartinHomes.com

The Pending Home Sales Index,* a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings, increased 7.3 percent to 100.1 in November from an upwardly revised 93.3 in October and is 5.9 percent above November 2010 when it stood at 94.5. The October upward revision resulted in a 10.4 percent monthly gain.

The last time the index was higher was in April 2010 when it reached 111.5 as buyers rushed to beat the deadline for the home buyer tax credit. The data reflects contracts but not closings.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the gains may result partially from delayed transactions. “Housing affordability conditions are at a record high and there is a pent-up demand from buyers who’ve been on the sidelines, but contract failures have been running unusually high. Some of the increase in pending home sales appears to be from buyers recommitting after an initial contract ran into problems, often with the mortgage,” he said.

“November is doing reasonably well in comparison with the past year. The sustained rise in contract activity suggests that closed existing-home sales, which are the important final economic impact figures, should continue to improve in the months ahead,” Yun added.

Pending home sales are not affected by the recently published rebenchmarking of existing-home sales because the index uses a different methodology based directly on contract signings, and is adjusted for seasonality.

The PHSI in the Northeast rose 8.1 percent to 77.1 in November but is 0.3 percent below November 2010. In the Midwest the index increased 3.3 percent to 91.6 in November and is 9.5 percent above a year ago. Pending home sales in the South rose 4.3 percent in November to an index of 103.8 and remain 8.7 percent above November 2010. In the West the index surged 14.9 percent to 121.2 in November and is 2.9 percent higher than a year ago.

The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1.1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.  For information on homes for sale visit my website www.JuliaMartinHomes.com.

It’s a rare area of agreement between Republicans and the Obama administration: The government should reduce its outsize role in making sure that people can buy homes.
And yet, in the past three months, these officials and others in Washington have taken steps that expand the government’s support of the housing market.
The reason is that the economy and the housing market, in particular, remain weak. Officials are worried that withdrawing government support for housing could make it more difficult for people to buy homes, reducing demand and sending housing prices even lower.
In September, the Federal Reserve announced it would resume purchasing mortgage investments, which flood the mortgage markets with money and reduce interest rates on home loans.
In October, the Obama administration joined with federal regulators to announce a new plan to enable more “underwater” borrowers, who owe more on their loans than their properties are worth, to refinance at today’s low rates if they have government-backed loans.
And this month, Congress and President Obama signed off on a bill that would increase the size of a mortgage that borrowers can obtain from the Federal Housing Administration.
None of these steps is likely to expand the government’s footprint significantly. But the moves are making the mortgage system more reliant on the federal government — and thus harder to wean from Washington’s help — contrary to the stated wishes of boththe administration and Republicans.
“It’s difficult to have any significant pullback without potentially damaging the U.S. economy,” said David Stevens, Obama’s former FHA commissioner and now the president of the Mortgage Bankers Association.
An Obama administration official acknowledged there is a tension between scaling back the government’s role in housing and making sure the current market recovers. The official said the administration continues to believe that in the long run the government ought to have a smaller role, but it is trying to be careful that the steps taken don’t destabilize the fragile housing market.
In the years since the banking system went into crisis after making trillions of dollars of risky mortgage loans, the taxpayer-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA funded or insured 90 percent of new loans. That has effectively nationalized the U.S. mortgage business, putting taxpayer money at risk and keeping private-sector money on the sidelines.
Earlier this year, the administration released a white paper, which made clear that it wants to reduce the role of Fannie, Freddie and the FHA over the long term. But officials are trying to strike a difficult balance. They have said that existing housing programs are crucial to making sure people can still buy and sell homes at a time when banks are averse to offering mortgages that don’t carry a government guarantee.
Many Republicans, meanwhile, are skeptical of the government’s role in housing, arguing that an excessive government emphasis on housing in the past two decades fueled the housing bubble and crash. Some have called for a rapid and substantial reduction in the government’s housing role; others favor a more gradual approach.
“It’s very easy to pay lip service to the need to reduce the government footprint in the housing market,” said Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance. “But can you do it in a depressed housing market like we’re in now?”
At the center of this debate is the nation’s badly battered mortgage finance system. That’s the system that allows banks to get money to make mortgages by selling them to investors around the world. Since the onset of the financial crisis, banks have only been willing to make loans, and investors have only been willing to invest in them, if they carried government guarantees.
Federal housing agencies have taken baby steps to increase private-market participation in the mortgage market. For example, the maximum loan amount that Fannie and Freddie can back was reduced on Oct. 1 to $625,500 in expensive areas and $417,000 in most areas. FHA continues to insure $729,750 mortgages in expensive areas.
A longer-term debate is whether there should be a federal role in housing whatsoever. Many Republicans don’t think so, but Obama’s top advisers have generally agreed that it makes sense for the federal government to continue playing a substantial role in lending, providing loan insurance in the face of a massive decline in the housing market.
Such a role would likely keep the nation’s housing markets operating as they generally have for the past few decades, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage being the norm.

It’s the silver lining of falling home prices: With low interest rates and cheaper housing, the percentage of Californians who could afford to buy a home increased in the third quarter, a real estate group said.

The portion of households that could afford a home priced at the statewide median of $292,120 rose to 52%, up from 51% in the previous quarter, according to an index released Thursday by the California Assn. of Realtors.

Beth L. Peerce, president of the group, said that one problem potential home buyers could face is tight credit. Many first-time buyers don’t qualify for a loan, she said.

Some analysts have noted that banks have tightened their loan criteria since the housing crash. But it was those loose lending standards that caused the real estate bubble in the first place, so many other analysts argue that more carefully scrutinizing borrowers is appropriate.

The federal government has been providing enormous support to the mortgage market through loans backed by theFederal Housing Administration, although it has recently taken steps to scale back that support.

In California, potential buyers needed to earn at least $61,530 a year per household to afford a home at the third quarter’s median price, the Realtors group said. The median is the point at which half the homes in the state sold for more and half sold for less.

The real estate group calculated the monthly payment for a mortgage on such a home to be $1,540, including taxes and insurance, and assuming a 20% down payment and a 4.63% interest rate.

Among the provisions will be a measure increasing loan amounts made above the value of the home. The program is being offered under the federal government’s two-year-old Home Affordable Refinance Plan, the Federal Housing Finance Agency.