http://leahcoss.ca

Many people get very hung up on retaining or using their first time home buyer status. When I ask them why, they are often unsure of what the savings exactly are and if they even qualify based on the home they are buying.

Really, when it comes down to it, there are just 2 main benefits to being a first time home buyer and it really depends on you and where you are buying to see if this will effect you at all.

1. As a First time Home Buyer you are allowed to pull out up to $25,000 of RRSPs Tax Free. If you pull out any more than $25,000 then you will be taxed on that money but for the most part $25,000 will be a big help.

Now, if you do not have any RRSPs then obviously this is not much of a benefit for you. If you plan to save up RRSPs in the future but will be buying a house in the meantime then unfortunately you will not be able to take advantage of this benefit. Once you buy a home that you are on title to you lose your first time home buyer status.

2. You are able to save on your property transfer tax when you buy your first home up to a purchase price of $425,000. (with a sliding scale up to $450,000 but that is a long complicated story). So what does this mean?

Well, if you buy a home for $400,000 you will save the $6,000 property transfer tax. If, however, you live in an expensive area like Vancouver and are looking to buy a 2 bedroom condo or any kind of a detached home then chances are you can’t find ANYTHING for under $425,000 and this benefit does not help you.

If you buy a place for $480,000 you save NOTHING. Not even a percentage that factors in the $425,000 to save you even a little.

So how is this amount calculated? You are charged 1% on the first $200,000 of the purchase price and 2% on the remaining balance. So for a home that is $500,000 you will have to pay $8,000 and whether you are a first time home buyer or not you will have to pay this whole amount.

So there you have it. The benefits of being a first time home buyer. These really are great benefits but only if you have a use for them.

If you have any questions about this then please leave comments below or contact me at Coss.L@mortgagecentre.com.

Thanks so much and I hope to talk with you soon

http://mortgagesInVancouver.com

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http://www.myfirsthomenewsletter.com/subscribe.php – Purchasing your first home is an exciting and scary time. For the most part, new homebuyers are unfamiliar with the home buying process. Before accepting a mortgage loan, it is important to educate yourself on various loan programs. Furthermore, first time home buyers should be aware of factors that improve and decrease their chances of getting a good loan package.

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http://realestatemarketingthisweek.com/first-time-home-buyer/the-median-income-first-time-home-buyer-can-afford-twice-the-median-priced-home/ – The median income family can afford twice the median priced home –

Part 2 – And now I mentioned Dan Havey is back in the studio with us, Dan has done a lot of great things in the mortgage industry. He left us about a year and a half ago, is that right Dan?

Yes, I left the mortgage industry in October of 2007. Tell us a little bit more about yourself.

As you know I came originally from Wisconsin, where I got a degree in Business Finance and I came out here in 1989 and started working with my brother selling real estate owned-REO, bank owned properties for Fannie Mae, Countrywide, and the Resolution Trust Corporation-RTC which was the government entity that was put in charge of disposing of all the real estate owned by the 1800 S&Ls that had failed. I did that until about 1995 when I moved into the mortgage industry and there for 12 years I worked predominately with bankruptcy attorneys helping their clients get out of bankruptcy and foreclosure. I left the mortgage industry in October of 2007. Now I am working predominately in the arena of marketing for real estate and mortgage companies, helping out companies, just like Im here helping out Michael today, to get people to realize that right now actually is a really good time to buy.

There are a couple of points I want to make and it was something that Michael had said earlier. The first one was that 4% interest rate. Originally Obama said a couple of weeks ago, when he rolled out the mortgage plan, that they were going to take the $200 billion and use it to buy mortgage backed securities, well the article I was reading today said it appears that plan may have changed. Instead of buying the mortgage backs they were actually buying the stock of Fannie and Freddie to help support the company and keep these companies going under. I dont quite understand why being how they own them now.

Well youve got to hand it to the government they have really done a heck of a job helping Fannie Mae out, for instance today the stock is up to $0.41. Wow, doing so well, I remember when it was $150 or so, where it was at the top of the market.

Today, right now is definitely the best time even if rates dont get down to the 4% point. The beauty of it and were going to talk more about this in a later segment, is that we have seen a 51% decline in home values from the peak of the market. So you dont have to have the absolute greatest interest rate in order to be able to buy a house today. The median home price right now is $130,000 in Maricopa County, it was $264,000 just two years ago.

So the median home price is $130,000? We are going to talk a little bit about what a person has to make to actually qualify for that. Well it is definitely well within the means of a median income family. Right now a median income family makes about $64,000 in the state of Arizona according to the US Census Bureau and HUD. I ran some numbers today, I think at 6% interest and at that rate they can buy a $280,000 house. So you can buy twice the median home price if you are making just what the median income family would be in the state of Arizona. So the median household income buys double the median priced house in Maricopa County. That is correct, at 6% interest.

And the reality of it is interest rates are not even that high right now. So for people to be waiting for that perfect interest rate of 4% it doesnt really matter if it gets here or not because right now is such an incredibly fabulous time to be buying a house. There are so many foreclosures out there on the market right now, there are so many short sales out there on the market right now, and the point you made earlier is very important, that people have to get in and get prequalified, know exactly what they can buy. Now in many cases you are going to need a down payment, so get with your mortgage broker, get with Velocity Financial and start working on that program of getting those funds together for the down payment as well.

Dan Havey we talked in the past about whats available for financing these days, interesting to give little pat on the back for Velocity Financial is one of less than 15% of all of the lenders in the state of Arizona that are qualified to do FHA financed homes. Now FHA financing, people used to think it was only for first time home buyers, thats no longer the case. The FHA loan which only requires 3.5% down payment it doesnt matter if you have owned a home before and in many cases you can own another home now so long as your new purchase is going to be your primary residence you can utilize FHA financing and put only 3.5% down… http://realestatemarketingthisweek.com

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I am not a rich person but I need a home for my wife and two girls. The price range is between 100,000 and 120,000 if that is needed. I have zero money to put down, but I might be able to dig up about a thousand dollars or so. Any help would me much appriciated. Thanks Alot!
By the way my approx. credit score is 710

if you have a 620 you can look at mycommunity….it’s zero down….otherwise you can use the FHA with 2.25% down payment.

make sure to get the seller to pay for the closing costs!!!

*710 is good but it will not change your rate on the government programs

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I would like to purchase my first starter home by mid 2008, but my credit is somewhat shaky. I have two credit cards (totalling 700) and one will be paid off by the end of the summer. I have 6 late payments on this card in the past 5 years of its existence, but the most recent was in 2005. The other card is 1.5 years old with perfect payment history. I have 4 collection accounts (2 with cell phone companies from 2003 and 2 for medical bills in 2006). On a good note, I obtained a car and paid the balance (before the end of the loan) of $6,200 in 10 months with never a late payment for 2005. Federal government student loans totalling $5,250 have also been on time for the past 14 months.
With this said, how hard would it be to obtain a mortgage? I’m sure the interest rate would be high, but I am so desperate to buy a house! I have lived in an apartment for 5 years and am tired of "throwing money out of the window."

With that credit history, let’s just say it will be a "challenge."

Currently, renting is not really throwing money out of the window. When you buy, there are quite a few fees and taxes you have to pay that will not go towards your equity. For example, property tax, and association dues on a condo. Buying makes more sense financially if house prices are going up, and currently they are not.

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http://realestatemarketingthisweek.com/real-estate/the-old-rules-of-real-estate-financing-no-longer-apply-and-suze-ormond-should-know-that/ – The old rules no longer apply and Suze Ormond should know that. –

Part 7 – We have Dan Havey the author of Real Estates Future in the studio today.

Michael, I was just curious, back when I got into the industry many, many years ago there used to be a rule of thumb that if you were going to refinance you had to lower your interest rate by at least two percent and I know as time went along and products changed that really became unnecessary, but I am just curious in todays mortgage market its a lot different than we were dealing with even two years ago. Is that still true that there is a 2% rule? Whats going on now?

I happened to catch Suze Orman on television and she was talking about mortgages, the caller who called in to the program, the question became I believe similar to what Dan just asked, her comment was that basically if you’re in 6% interest rate or above now is the time to re-fi. That is what she said, a blanket recommendation. I know a lot of people put a lot of credence into what she says, maybe you could speak to that, the lowest interest rates you’ve seen in your career, you have been doing this for a while.

I have, and they are. You know there was a lot of speak the last couple weeks about the Fed, the Fed funds rate by the way is the lowest it’s ever been in history. As of this week the discount rate is to the point that banks are lending money to each other at nothing, the Fed funds rate for intrabank lending is at zero, the problem is the banks don’t have any money.

To be serious about the refinancing, because its a serious topic, I think people are starting to see their mail boxes filled with lots of advertising crap about refinance. I believe that doing the refinance is no different from doing a loan modification or buying a house, you need to sit down with the human being that’s local, that you can know is a legitimate source. You’re going to give all this personal information about you, your family, your kids, your Social Security number, you want to make sure you have somebody there that you know whos legit.

In regard to the old rule of thumb 2%, nothing could be further from the truth, and I will expand, but to the point of Ms Ormond that if youre at 6% or higher, that is a blanket statement and blanket statements never work. We just did a refinance for a guy who was at 5 1/2%, and it makes sense. Every situation is different, as far as how much do I have to lower my interest rate to make it work? It depends on the type of mortgage that you get.

The only type of loan to get today in December of 2008 is a 30 year fixed. I know that one of the things that was really interesting to me, and that you and I have referred clients to one another for several years, so we share a number of clients, were familiar with those families and those households, and this is Wednesday, on Monday and Tuesday of this week I’ve had seven phone calls from clients who you’ve already done loans for, refinances for, asking if this is the time to refinance a loan that is only a couple years old.

And I know in several of those cases the answer is yes you’re actually helping families right now with that process. I am and we do. To answer the question, you need to determine what the payback term is, in other words when your refinance is done it’s a new loan, there’s the title insurance, appraisals, lots of different things may need to be done, not in every case, but in most cases there are costs associated with that. The cost has to be offset by the amount of savings. Its a breakeven analysis

Absolutely it is, the shorter the breakeven the better the loan. I am working on a case right now which is going to be done in the next couple of days where the guy lowered his interest rate by an1/8 of a percent and it made sense for him. It’s not for everybody, 2 percent or lower, 2% is significant, now you’re talking about really significant savings in terms of cash flow… http://realestatemarketingthisweek.com

Duration : 0:6:31

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Click here for Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTXPzr_2BxQ

As the founder of Bello Mortgage, let my 11 years of experience and hundreds of resources find the best mortgage for you.

The Canadian First Time Home Buyer video gives new home buyers the basics on what they should be expecting when they look to buy and finance their new home.

This 2 part video looks at:

-Application Process
-Difference between Pre-approval and Approval
-Different types of mortgages
-Downpayment
-Financing availability
-Closing costs

Click on the website for more.

Free Legals, Appraisals & Bonus Offer if you state you found Bello Mortgage through YouTube.

For more information or to receive our Free Newsletters, visit:

http://www.mortgagespecialist.ca

or call:

604.303.9000 and talk to Pedro

Duration : 0:9:9

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http://realestatemarketingthisweek.com/first-time-home-buyer/fha-guidelines-regarding-foreclosures-and-first-time-home-buyers/ – FHA Guidelines regarding foreclosures and first time home buyers –

Part 7 – Ok I was just checking because I thought this was a story about all the mortgage backed securities that were going under. It started at the top and it worked its way down. The reality of it is that people were buying homes, not reading what they were signing, not understanding how it worked and shame on the people who were putting it in front of them, knowing that they didnt know and we all need to take a little responsibility here for this past crisis. It is not just the Wall Street firms; its not just the mortgage companies and banks, the brokers have little in fact to do with it, we didnt create the loan products that people were buying, we were merely disseminating it to the public. I am glad to say I was not a part of any of that. I was able to stay away and do traditional, conventional type financing for people. So luckily I didnt have a lot of clients who got stuck into that nightmare.

Speaking of that nightmare, Dan when we talk about the people who have had foreclosures, their lives have been turned around, turned over and they think that there is no where for them to go. One of the nice things about the Federal Housing Administration loan, the FHA loan, thats the first time home buyer type loan, the minimum down payment loan, its only 3 years after you have had a foreclosure that you can qualify to purchase a home again. So it is important if you have had a foreclosure, you need to point your future away from the flame, you need to save your money, do your best, work as tightly as you can on a budget and look forward to that time when you can go back out and buy a home again.

Property values are going to be up from where they are today, but there is still going to be plenty of great value out there and there are not going to be loan products that are going to get you in trouble again. They wont exist. What really caused the great inflation in home values starting in about 2002 was the financing was just getting crazy. I wont get into a whole lot of technical stuff about mortgage backed securities and all that, but the lenders were creating products, selling them off their books, thinking that they would never have to worry about them again. They sold trillions of dollars worth of these loans and those are the ones that are going bad.

Ones that were toxic in the first place: the stated incomes, the option ARMs, all those loans are all gone now. I was saying earlier today that we are back to where we were in financing in 1992-1993, back when the median home price was $75,000. Now I dont think we are going to go anywhere near that again, I think at $130,000 we are getting real close to the bottom of the market and what I was thinking was when I got into the business in 1995 and you were in at about the same time I was, and I remember talking to a guy who comes into our office to sell us loan programs, now this is the very beginning of the really crazy stuff, and he was saying we can do 70% no doc loans.

We go, what do you mean? If somebody puts down 30% they dont have to verify anything, they dont have to verify their employment; they dont have to verify taxes, anything. We were absolutely floored, but by the peak of the market we were doing 100% no doc loans. If you were breathing they gave you a loan and the credit scores didnt have to be that high, I think I saw them as low as 600… http://realestatemarketingthisweek.com

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I am looking for some personal experience from the first time buyer.
Where is the best place to get mortgages loan?

Is there a federal mortgage loan?
I am looking to buy in the next few months and I need some one to guide me on loan and everything about home buying for the first time.

There are no "first time home buyer" loans as such. There are loans available from FHA, VA and the USDA which don’t require as a big of a downpayment as a conventional loan. For example, the FHA only requires 3.5% down as compared to a conventional which wants 10%.

If you’re looking in a few months for a house, start saving for a downpayment NOW. The more you can put down, the lower your mortgage payments will be. If you can put 20% down, you don’t pay private mortgage insurance (PMI). Also, pull your credit reports from the 3 credit rating agencies. If there are any errors, get them cleaned up.

When you’re ready, get pre-approved for a mortgage. This will require the lender pulling your credit report, checking your last two years tax returns, last two months bank and investment statements and a month’s worth of paystubs. If you are approved, they will give you a letter with your approved amount. This way you don’t look at houses out of your price range.

Next, get a buyer’s agent. This is a realtor that works on YOUR behalf. Ask other people you know who have bought houses recently to see who they use and if they’d recommend them. They will show you houses in your price range with features you’re looking for. When you find the house you want, they will help you write the purchase agreement and make the offer. They will negotiate with the seller’s agent and help make you stay on schedule with items that need to be taken care of when buying a house. You don’t pay anything out of pocket for them as they split the commission with the seller’s agent.

When the seller accepts and signs the purchase agreement, go back to the lender who gave the pre-approval and officially apply for a mortgage. They will have the property appraised and if the sell price is less than the appraised price, they should approve the loan.

Also, you need to contact your insurance company and get homeowner’s insurance for the property. Mortgage lenders require this.

One thing you will want to do is get a home inspection. Your buyer’s agent should be able to recommend some home inspectors to you. They will go through the house inside and out and tell you of potential problems and things that will require maintenance.

If everything checks out, then all you’d have to do is sign the papers, get the keys and officially become a homeowner.

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