Vista Mortgage Group Blog

Fortunately, we have continued to experience the benefits of historically low interest rates; which has allowed many people to refinance into more affordable payments and has allowed many to purchase new homes.

We still have the ability to help homeowners refinance into lower rates/payments, even if your mortgage is greater than the current value of your home! 

This is one of the best programs to have come from our new Administration.  Allowing homeowners to free up more money in their monthly budget (versus paying it to a bank), puts more money into stimulating our economy and "re-creating" more jobs (versus artificially creating temporary government jobs or printing money to boost the economy).

If you want to find out if you qualify for a refinance (up to 125% of your home's value - with no cash out allowed), call Vista for a no-cost analysis of your situation.

There are also many great new loan programs designed to help more people purchase a new home and Vista can help you analyze those options as well.

It has been a long time since my last post.  After my Mother passed away (2+ years ago), I felt like the air had been knocked out of me.  To make things worse, the continuing decline in our economy and housing markets left me very disheartened.  I kept hoping that our new administration would find the "key" to really turn things around quickly, but that is not what I found.

I continually received calls from homeowners who were searching for information about their "options"; which were limited and unfortunately, not well-publicized.  Programs for helping homeowners were spotty and apparently, left to the complete discretion of the lenders and loan servicers, who were not well-organized, nor overly willing to help people stay in their homes. 

I have heard many stories about the frustrations of trying to get a "loan modification" through a lender, only to finally give up and turn over the keys.  Or lenders who were unwilling to accept a reasonable "short sale"; which caused owners to be forced out through a foreclosure.  MANY of these homeowners jumped through the lenders' hoops repeatedly, only to have the story and requirements change with each new person that they had to talk to.  One homeowner told me that they were required to document their income, assets, liabilities, job situations and personal hardships (which is to be expected) EVERY MONTH FOR A YEAR, before their lender finally "allowed" them into a "3-month trial" modification and after the first month, the lender stopped accepting their payments and RAISED THEIR INTEREST RATE!

Where is the common sense!?!  Where is OUR bailout?!?

There are actually counselors and advocates available (who are not trying to "sell" you something) that will help you through the process.

If you are struggling and want a no-obligation assessment of your options, you can contact our office and we can do the preliminary analysis to determine whether or not you would be eligible for a TARP refinance.  If not, we can point you in the right direction to work toward a "modification"; which, by the way, you should NOT have to pay for!

Amazingly, for the first time in the recent months, we are beginning to hear the voice of common sense ....or the voice of a better-informed government and media!

The first indication that our government is beginning to understand our "subprime crisis", was when Bernanke announced that it would not be wise to bail out the Wall Street investors who purchased the mortgage-backed securities!  If they made poor decisions in their investment strategies, they should pay the price.

On August 31, 2007, President Bush, announced his plan to revamp the FHA loan guarantee program and introduce a new FHA program called "FHA Secure"; which will allow people who are currently delinquent to refinance into a fixed rate, providing they have 3% equity in the property and they can show that they made payments on time, until their rate adjusted.

I really believe the the FHA Secure option is a rational, reasonable and potentially effective solution for families who accepted Adjustable Rate loans and were unable to adequately prepare for the adjustment in the rate and a higher payment.

People enter into Adjustable Rate mortgages for many different reasons:         1)  They are offered a lower adjustable rate/payment that they can afford versus a fixed rate/payment that they can not afford    2)  They want a lower rate/payment, knowing that they only intend to stay in the property for a shorter period of time (2-5 years) and they plan to sell before the rate adjusts     3)  They have credit issues that put them into the subprime category of rates and the adjustable rate/payment offers a more affordable payment and a 2-3 year window (with the rate/payment fixed, typically for the first 2-3 years) that should be used to improve their credit history; which would allow them to potentially qualify for better rates in the future.      **** Adjustable Rate loans should always be carefully explained and reviewed with a borrower, so they understand that they will either need to prepare for a higher payment at the time that their rate adjusts OR that they will possibly want to evaluate a refinance before the rate adjusts (if they intend to stay in the property) OR that they will possibly want to sell before their rate adjusts (if that was their initial desire).

more to follow......

Amazingly, the current mortgage crisis has been primarily conveyed by the media as a "subprime" issue; which is ridiculous. 

Foreclosures are NOT EXCLUSIVE to Subprime mortgages (higher risk loans where borrowers have less than a 600 credit score). 

Foreclosures occur for a variety of reasons: 

loss of a job, divorce, excessive use of credit, medical emergencies, adjustable-rate payments, someone needing to sell and can't (lower market values or someone who owes more than what the home is worth), death of a spouse, fraudulently qualifying for a payment that someone can't afford, etc.

With the growing attention on the "Subprime" market and increasing home foreclosures; many lenders are completely dropping their higher risk loan programs (Zero Down, "Stated Income", Option Arms, etc.) and tightening their guidelines for qualifying on the programs that they are keeping (requiring higher credit scores and offering lower Loan-to-Value limits).

This is going to make it much more difficult to obtain financing; if you are not a "conventional" borrower, if you have credit challenges, if you don't have some Down Payment (or equity remaining in the home, if you are doing a refinance) or if you don't have a 2-year work history in the same type of work.  It will also become much more difficult for you to take "cash out" of your home's equity!

Since it will be more difficult to qualify for a home loan; it will become even more important for you to have strong credit scores (680+....700+ is best).  Start working on improving your credit before you need to apply for your next loan!  Your Loan Officer is a tremendous resource for helping you to create a plan for getting your credit in the best possible shape.

Contact one of our experienced professionals to get tips on improving your credit scores through responsible credit management and what factors have the greatest impact on your scores.

Heidi Hahn-Troxler, Broker / Owner