Seth Jacobs – Maine Mortgage Banker / Broker

Real Estate Agents in Maine are finding new ways to generate business everyday Online. Studies indicate that over 80% of today’s home buyers visit the Internet long before seeking the professional assistance of a Real Estate Professional.

Below are some popular sites  to visit and become familiar with  their features and benefits.

Property Listings & More

1) Redfin.com: In addition to listings, this site offers information such as how long a home has been for sale, its last sales price, and its current value. It also provides virtual tours to listed homes.
2) Trulia.com: Like Zillow.com, which offers satellite views and the estimated values of each home, Trulia’s “heat maps” show how hot or cold an area is based on prices, sales, and popularity among its users. Trulia.com also has free tools real estate agents can easily add to their own websites to increase functionality and traffic.
3) Maps.Google.com and Bing.com/maps: For a bird’s-eye view, even 360 degrees in some cases, these amazing map sites offer a virtual perspective of available homes that’s truly hard to beat.
4) Walkscore.com: Is an interesting site that rates any address based on the walking distance of its nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, coffee shops etc.
5) SchoolMatters.com: A Standard & Poor’s company, this site offers parents (and potential home buyers) an objective rating of public schools and public school districts by region, including test scores and demographics. GreatSchools.net offers similar info and ratings on private schools based on region.

Government Websites: Government loan programs offer great opportunities for many consumers in many regions across the country, especially first-time buyers and veterans. The following websites are likely one of the first of many sites potential home buyers visit during this process:

1) HUD.Gov is the official website for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (H.U.D.) This site lists HUD homes and provides information for home buyers, including financing options and home buying programs available through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).
2) Homeloans.va.gov: This site houses information about government home loan programs specifically for veterans.

Contact me  if you think of any more sites I should add to my list. I look forward to developing ways that we can grow our business together.

Find out if you are eligible for a VA Home Loan

If you are considering a VA Home Loan the fastest and easiest way to find out if you qualify is by connecting to a VA Home Loan Specialist who can help to determine your eligibility, qualification level and let you know what your options are.

It doesn’t cost you anything and there is no obligation.

You May Be Eligible If Any One of the Following are True:

• Served 181 days during peacetime (Active Duty)
• Served 90 days during war time (Active Duty)
• Served 6 years in the Reserves or National Guard
• You are the spouse of a service member who was killed in the line of duty.

Get connected with a VA Loan Specialist who can help you maximize your VA benefits and let you know what you qualify for.

The Federal Housing Administration plays a critical role in the nation’s housing financing system, providing safe, affordable mortgage financing to consumers in all markets during all economic conditions, the National Association of REALTORS® said in testimony today.

Click to read more: REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-FHA Plays a Critical Role in Home Financing.

Happy Friday the 13th,

It’s still a great time to refinance and the purchase market couldn’t be better for a buyer.

These rates are based on no points, rate and term refinance or a purchase, with qualifying income, loan to value and fico scores. **

FHA 30 Year Fixed 4.50%

FHA 15 Year Fixed 3.875%

30 Year Fixed 4.75%

15 Year Fixed 4.125%

Jumbo 15 year Fixed 4.50%

Jumbo 30 year Fixed 5.125%

What’s New?

Here’s a couple of neat things we can do or do better!

With the current economy and a lot of people struggling, some new products have become available to help these borrowers.

1. FHA loans with FICO scores as low as 540.

2. FHA loans with up to 2 mortgage late payments in last 12 months.

3. Conventional loans 620 minimum fico, 1 mortgage late in last 12 months

4. Conventional loans with only 3% down or 97% LTV, NO monthly mortgage insurance

5. Jumbo Loans In house at great rates (see above)

6. We now have Maine State Housing

7. We now do everything under one roof! Appraisal Ordering, Processing, Title, Underwriting and Closing!

For a FREE evaluation contact me today!

-Seth

The national median existing single-family home price was $158,700 in the first quarter, down 4.6 percent from $166,400 in the first quarter of 2010. The median is where half sold for more and half sold for less. Distressed homes typically sold at a discount of about 20 percent, accounted for 39 percent of first quarter sales, up from 36 percent a year earlier.

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist,said lower priced homes have seen the best sales performance. “The biggest sales increase has been in the lower price ranges, which are popular with investors and cash buyers,” he said. “The preponderance of sales activity at the lower end is bringing down the median price, so what we’re seeing is the result of a change in the composition of home sales.”

Although sales are slightly below a year ago, the volume of homes sold for $100,000 or less in the first quarter was 8.9 percent higher than the first quarter of 2010, creating a downward skew on the overall median price.

The share of all-cash home purchases rose to 33 percent in the first quarter from 27 percent in the first quarter of 2010.

How is Portland, Maine holding up?

Well ending March 31st 2011.. a total of 102 home and condo transactions transpired compared with 136 in 2010 and thus representing a somewhat significant volume decrease of 25% year over year! Despite the volume drop.. median prices continue to remain strong and actually showed a statistical 8% jump from $206,000 in the first quarter of 2010 compared with $222,000 this previous quarter. Buyers “from away” coupled with still many first time home buyers in the marketplace continue to help keep our market strong overall.

Employment in April was up across the band of specific jobs; retail jobs increased 57,100 the largest increase since April of 2000; manufacturing +29K, goods producing +44K, service-providing +224K, government jobs down 24K. Those unemployed fro more than 27 weeks declined to 5.839 mil frm 6.122 mil in March. The U-6 unemployment rate at 15.9%; U-6 measures total unemployment, plus all personnel marginally attached to labor force and total employed part time plus all persons marginally employed.

MARKET WRAP: Mortgage finished near unchanged levels but were able to pare losses after news that a new earthquake hit Japan, which drew money out of Stocks and into the Bond markets. The 4% coupon finished at 97.78 up 6bp. The only economic report today showed that Initial Jobless Claims fell 10,000 in the latest week but the news didn’t have much of an impact on trading. Stocks suffered moderate losses after the Japan news as the Dow lost 17.26 to 12,409.49, the S&P 500 lost 2.03 to 1,333.51 while the Nasdaq dropped 3.68 to 2,796.14. Oil settled at $110.30 up $1.47. There are no economic reports set for tomorrow.

For the past few years, homes have been the most affordable on record. Low rates and low prices make a wonderful combination. However, this wonder combination may soon be coming to an end. Why do we say this? For one, new home sales are the lowest they have been since the government started keeping records in 1963. While that sounds like bad news, the inventory of new homes for sale is not going up. This inventory is actually one-third of what it was just five years ago. This commentary just appeared in Fortune: “I’m a dirt-road economist who sees what’s happening on the ground, and in 35 years I’ve never seen a shortage of new construction like the one I’m seeing today,” declares Mike Castleman, CEO of Metrostudy. “The talking heads who are down on real estate will hate to hear this, but America needs to build a lot more houses.” Bottom line, we are not building fast enough to accommodate future demand. Even the ominous shadow inventory which has hung over the market is now shrinking. There were 2.0 million units in various stages of “pre-foreclosure” one year ago and 1.8 million units today, according to CoreLogic. This may not seem a huge drop, however, it is the first move downward in several years.

What makes us think that the demand will arise to continue to shrink the shadow inventory? The population of America is rising. We had shrinkage of household formulation during the recession and this masked the continuing rise in population. Tight credit conditions also turned many potential homeowners into renters, though many are renting houses. However, the news that the economy has now produced 400,000 jobs in the past two months is the continuance of a reversal of this trend. As America goes back to work, household formulation will rise again and there will be significant latent demand uncovered. We understand that two months of data does not guarantee the whole trend reverses itself. We lost about eight million jobs during the recession and the workforce grows by 150,000 monthly. So we have a long way to go, but the trend is moving in the right direction. The key is moving from a vicious to a virtuous cycle. More jobs create demand. Demand creates more jobs. And all this will help loosen credit conditions as a stronger economy will help convince banks to have faith in the average American again. You may be hearing the “bad news” regarding home prices right now–but this is a story that may be changing faster than many analysts have envisioned. Even the Federal Reserve Board is taking notice as a member stated this week that the Fed may be raising rates by the end of this year.

More Americans signed contracts to buy homes in February, but sales were uneven across the country and not enough to signal a rebound in the housing market. Read more…

Is this the last opportunity to purchase or refinance at bargain home prices and rates which are at record lows?

For the past several months, rates have been rising from the historically low levels they reached during the second half of last year. These rates presented a great opportunity for homeowners to refinance their home loan. It was even a better opportunity for those who were interested in purchasing their first home, an investment property or trade up. With bargains available, purchasing made so much sense for those who see real estate as a long-term investment and more importantly a better life for their family.

Rising rates were not bad news for the state of our economy. The rates were rising because the economy is recovering and that is very good news. Evidence of a recovery is all around us. Just last week, CNN indicated that rents are about to rise precipitously and one must ask whether the recovery of the home purchase market will be next….

“Already, rental vacancy rates have dipped below the 10% mark, where they had been lodged for most of the past three years. “The demand for rental housing has already started to increase,” said Peggy Alford, president of Rent.com. “Young people are starting to get rid of their roommates and move out of their parent’s basements.” By 2012, she predicts the vacancy rate will hover at a mere 5%. And with fewer units on the market, prices will explode. Rent hikes have averaged less than 1% a year over the past decade, according to Commerce Department statistics, adjusted for inflation. Now, Alford expects rents to spike 7% or so in each of the next two years…”

World events, especially the tragedy in Japan, have caused a short-term drop in home loan rates just as the economy is heating up. This means that you now can purchase or refinance a home at the lowest rates in months. According to the Freddie Mac Weekly Survey, rates have dropped over 0.25% in the past several weeks. Rates on 15-year fixed home loans are the lowest they have been since December. This lower rate equates to an approximately $500 in annual savings in interest on a $200,000 mortgage.

How long will rates stay low because of this crisis? No one can tell. But if you missed out on refinancing or purchasing last year, this could be your opportunity. Today, those who hesitate may be missing a very historic opportunity. Home affordability is the lowest it has been in our generation. Those who have a lot of money have been picking up bargains for the past year. Why? Those who are successful stay ahead of the trends. These lower rates mean that everyone can take advantage of this occasion to own the home of their dreams or reduce their payment on the home they already own. With gas prices up, wouldn’t the savings help?

Contact me quickly as we expect to be plenty busy this week with those who recognize the significance of the timing.

-Seth