Ann Arbor Real Estate Talk

What if Your Ann Arbor Home Does Not Appraise?

The first thing to do if you Ann Arbor home doesn’t appraise is not to panic. When we are representing buyers on a the purchase of the home in Ann Arbor, we write into the contract, “the purchase price must meet the appraised value of the home.” (even if you are paying cash.)

You are excited and have made an offer on a Ann Arbor Home for sale, and your now you are in the process of obtaining financing for your new Ann Arbor home. The bank or mortgage broker is going to want an appraisal on your home to guarantee that the home is worth what you are paying.

In this market, seriously… many homes do not come in at the Purchase price on the contract for Appraised Value.

How does a low appraisal affect you?

If the home does not appraise, then there is room for more negotiation with the sellers.

If the appraisal comes in lower than purchase price, you have some options

1) You can walk away from your Ann Arbor Home, because the appraisal contingency is part of the contract, and if the property does not appraise, that is a contingency that you can use to end the contract.

2) Another option for you would be to renegotiate the purchase price – by offering the sellers to pay the price that the property was appraised at. If you really want the property, that is a consideration. Offer the appraised value to the seller, and see what their response is.

3) You “may” want to consider paying more than purchase price – bring cash to close the deal. This is NOT something that I recommend for my buyers who are purchasing  Ann Arbor Real Estate.

Keep in mind, if you are obtaining a loan on your property, then it is imperative that is appraises. Your lender will NOT loan you money to purchase the home if it doesn’t appraise. Even for cash buyers!!

Issues with Ann Arbor Appraisals

One of the biggest issues we have with homes appraising in the Ann Arbor Market Area is that appraisers are being hired by banks that do NOT live in the Ann Arbor area. Not knowing Ann Arbor, the schools, they often do not use the right home comparables.

This is not the market to pay over appraised value, and I would advise my clients against this. I would not recommend paying more for the property than it appraises for.

If I can answer any question about Ann Arbor homes for sale, or Ann Arbor real estate, please contact me. 734-926-9707

FHA loan limits are changing in Washtenaw County  beginning October 1st.

The Federal Housing Association sets the FHA loan limits throughout the nation and they can vary depending on socio-economic status of each county.

The FHA loan limits have been $345,000.00 in Washtenaw County.

On October 1st, FHA is lowering the FHA loan limit in Washtenaw County to $271,050.00.

What does lowering the FHA loan limit mean for you?

Well for one it means that the most popular way of financing a home the last 5 years is going to change, for the worst in my opinion. The main reason for the FHA loan popularity was the amount of down payment  you need to buy a home in is 3.5%.

According the recent rep0rt of the Ann Arbor Board of Realtors the average home price in the Ann Arbor Area for August was $203,061.00. This is a 4% increase over August 2010.

Homeowners wanting to use an FHA loan will need to pursue other avenues to obtain financing if they want to purchase a home and finance over the new FHA loan limit of $271,050.00.

FHA loan limits not the only way to finance a home

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits for Washtenaw County are still capped at $417,000.00

Homeowners that have 20% to put down can also go with a conventional loan.

Before you start looking to purchase a home in Washtenaw County know your options, work with a LOCAL lender, who knows the Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County area.

Call us today and we can help you talk to many good lenders in the Ann Arbor Area. 734-926-9797

Is Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac really helping homeowners stay in their homes?

Well not according to the investigative reporting at the Detroit Free Press.  They recently did a study and obtained documents via Freedom of Information requests and the results are disturbing for Ann Arbor Area home owners.

In December Fannie Mae announced via a top executive that they were doing everything possible to help homeowners stay in their homes. However, the documents 2300 of them proved otherwise. While the banks were trying to work out loan motifications via the HAMP (Home Affordable Modification Program) Fannie and Freddie were telling them to “Proceed with sale”.

Who It Hurts

• The obvious is the homeowner who is in the middle of trying to negotiate with the bank for a loan modification.
• It hurts the tax payers (us) as Fannie Mae knows we the home owners will bail them out. Right now they have an unlimited  check book to get more money from the government (or us as the taxpayers.)
• It may clean up the books but it hurts neighborhoods and property values for all of us.
• Since Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over by the government we have cost us over $1.4 billion.

Alan White a law professor at Valparaiso University who reviewed the documents obtained from the FREEP said, ” they are sabotaging the nations foreclosure crisis and helping drive down property values.”

Read the entire article on the FREEP for more details.

//

Today we received a notice from the Ann Arbor Area Board of Realtors alerting us to a new mortgage scam floating around the country.

How it works

This scam involves sending letters to borrowers to inform them that a new company has assumed the management of their loans and to start making mortgage payments to the new company. The selling of mortgages is a pretty common thing so BUYER BEWARE!

Since many home owners aren’t familiar with the mortgage transfer rules, they follow the directions of the letter.

A month or two later is when they realize they’ve been tricked. But, not until they have made several mortgage payments to the crooks.

Mortgage Servicing Rules

The FDIC Mortgage Servicing Laws require that they receive 2 letters.

1) One from the current company notifying them that as of a specific date their payment should be sent to a new company and

2) One from the new company that provides mortgage payment information (principal, interest, and escrow). Both letters should include the loan number.

Another precautionary measure, borrowers may contact their original company to verify that the letter they received is legitimate.

If you are looking to buy a home in Ann Arbor, check out our home search site with Google maps, Satellite images and multiple photos.

window.fbAsyncInit = function() {
FB.init({appId: “258847270794016″, status: true, cookie: true,
xfbml: true});
};
(function() {
var e = document.createElement(“script”); e.async = true;
e.src = document.location.protocol +
“//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js”;
document.getElementById(“fb-root”).appendChild(e);
}());

The Medical Residents “match” letters went out of Thursday, across the United States.

Congratulations if you are moving to Ann Arbor.  We are DRS Certified, and each year help many U of M Residents relocate to Ann Arbor for the duration of your residency.

I am sure there is a number of you moving to the University of Michigan trying to decide if you should buy or rent.

We are currently working with 8 newly accepted residents moving to Ann Arbor.

The Missy Caulk TEAM can help you whatever way you decide is best for you during your Residency.

If you want to purchase or rent you can start your home search here.We have condo’s, single family homes and rentals on the Ann Arbor homes for sale site. It is a direct MLS feed so the data is accurate.

DRS Agent™ is an exclusive designation to a limited member group of agents nationwide that have achieved a level of success and desire to enhance their real estate business with medical professionals. The DRS Agent™ Network is proud to associate itself with PhysicianLoans who have been working with medical professionals since 1993 and have helped thousands with niche product home financing.

Call us today at 734-926-9797 and we will get right back to you.

If you are a buying a home in Ann Arbor, give your lender a quick call to verify your Pre-Approval.

Why Should I Get Pre-Approved Again?

When a lender qualifies you for a home purchase, they look at your debts, income, credit scores and the interest rates to give you an amount of a new mortgage you will qualify to finance.

Rates have jumped .75% the last 6 weeks. Give your lender a quick call to verify you are still qualified for that amount.

Example of the Difference in Payments

Here is an example of how your payment can change based on the % of interest you will pay.This is based on a $200.00o  loan with 3.5% down. This example is an FHA loan. More and more homeowners are using FHA loans to finance in Ann Arbor especially first time home buyers.

Back in mid-November rates were approximately 4.17%.

Today they are between 5 and 5 1/4%

In November if you purchased your home at the 4.17% rate with 3.5% down, your monthly payment would have been $940.43, principal and interest.

Today if you purchased that same home at 5.00%, with 3.5% down,  your monthly payment would be $1036.06, principal and interest.

Now to many folks, this payment of almost $100.00 more will not make any difference but to some $95.63 a month could change the price of the home you can afford to purchase.

Predicting the Future

I don’t have a crystal ball to tell you what is going to happen to interest rates in the next few months, but .75% jump in 5 weeks is a strong indicator that interest rates will rise.

Homes for Sale in Ann Arbor