Negotiate Your Rent

It seems that economic crisis has caused an opportunity for some. (besides buying up cheap properties) Apartment vacancies are on the rise putting people in a mighty good bargaining position.

Managers are starting to get desperate to get and keep people in their buildings all across the country. The Portland OR area is one of the biggest rent drops of-3.2%. So if your lease is up, now is the time to talk to your landlord about a new longer and cheaper lease.

http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/106480/Rents-Drop-Nationwide-as-Vacancies-Spike

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Taking Matters Into Their Own Hands

Toll Brothers Inc. is a luxury homebuilder who is tired of watching buyers sit on the sidelines waiting for mortgage rates to hit bottom. They are now offering on their new-home inventory a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage at an interest rate of 3.99% with no points paid up-front. The idea is to get those teetering on the fence to finally jump off and buy.

This is a brilliant idea on their part and the phone has been ringing off the hook. Now they are even locking that rate in for nine months for those who want to buy a new, built-to-suit home.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/22/real_estate/builder_slashes_loan_rates/index.htm?postversion=2009012217

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Do You MeetUp?

I was going through the Realtor magazine and found a page about people connecting. With all the blogs and facebook pages and ways people are getting together on the internet this article was letting people know that you can still meet face to face.

Apparently there is this website called http://www.meetup.com/ where you can start or join a group of like minded people who want to meet up and get to know new people.

So I got on there and looked up my city and found all kinds of cool groups! People who meet to hike, play poker, talk about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, dance Salsa, do pub crawls, even get-togethers for World of Warcraft fans.

You don't even have to join a "networking" group in order to network, although I did find a Real Estate Professionals group. http://www.meetup.com/portlandrealestate/

Is this one of those things everyone already knows about and I'm just the last to hear?!

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Inflated Home Values

This article on CNN.com mentions that one of the reasons that home prices were soaring too high was the appraisals. Loan officers and mortgage brokers were (and do) putting lots of pressure on some appraisers to "hit the number" that the officer or broker was looking for.

So now there will be a Home Valuation Code of Conduct starting in May. These will be guidelines for appraisals being used in loans being sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The guildelines prohibit lenders from coercing, extorting, colluding with intimidating or bribing appraisers.

So what you are telling me is, this was not against the rules before.

The only way this will be of any help at all is if it is actually enforced. Otherwise the appraisers following the rules will be the ones not getting work.

The enforcement comes by way of complaints from appraisers or consumers. If a lender receives too many then they won't be able to sell loans to Fannie or Freddie.

As usual, I'm sure there are already pleanty of regulations in place that are not already being enforced. Perhaps more are needed but I would be willing to bet that TRUE enforcement is what is really called for here.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/14/real_estate/appraisal_reform/index.htm?postversion=2009011405

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Pendings still going down...

It's hard to be optimistic when pending sales for the month of November have hit a 7-year low, but you just have to try.

There are so many factors working against home buyers like strict lending standards, recession, rising unemployment and the likelihood that their currant home isn't selling and/or the value has dropped too much. Even historically low interest rates have only caused a lot of people to refinance their currant mortgage.

The bright side? Well, we can only go up from here, right? It will be slow, but it will be in the right direction.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/06/real_estate/pending_home/index.htm?postversion=2009010614
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Refinancing Frenzy

Interest rates have fallen recently, as most people are aware, and naturally people are rushing to refinance in order to reduce their housing payments.

The average rate for a 30-year, fixed mortgage dropped to 5.08% last week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, more than a full point lower than just a month ago.

Mortgage applications were up 48% last week, and by far, the majority of those were from homeowners looking to lower housing costs.

Refinancing is not for everyone however. If you currently have an adjustable rate, you could lower your rate by a percentage point or more, you do not plan on selling soon and/or you have significant equity then you should certainly look into getting a new home loan.

Those with an adjustable rate can save themselves a lot of trouble by turning it into a fixed rate while it is low so that future rate increases won't jeopardized their lifestyle.

Getting a lower rate is a really good idea but because of the fees and costs associated with a new loan, it really is only worth it if you are lowering your rate by a whole percentage point or more.

The balance of your loan will increase when you refinance and paying off the new extra will take a year or two, so it won't be so helpful if you plan on selling before then.

Some people lost much or all of their equity when home values fell. If your equity has fallen below 20% of the total appraised home value, the borrower will likely have to purchase private mortgage insurance. The insurance adds a point or two to the monthly mortgage costs erasing any advantage of refinancing.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/24/real_estate/when_to_refi/index.htm?postversion=2008122608

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