Time’s Short For The $8000 Tax Credit For San Antonio Home Buyers
October 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Thanks to Melissa Kulikoff, Senior Loan Officer at Supreme Lending, San Antonio, for the following alert for buyers hoping to close their purchase in time to qualify for the up to $8000 first time home buyer Federal tax credit.
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Let’s take a look at our November time line for closings. The tax credit expires the Monday after Thanksgiving. I’ve checked with several title companies and most of them are NOT open Friday.Therefore, your deal must be clear to close with docs drawn Wednesday 11/25 to close on 11/30. Is your closer going to be able to get closing document approval that quickly and still close & fund on 11/30? Better ask now!Are you a VA buyer? Please remember VA appraisers have 10 days to provide the appraisal report. That means if a VA appraisal is ordered for you on the 2nd, it might not arrive until the 16th……..not a lot of time for the lender to review the appraisal and issue a clear to close authorization to your title company. If you have a real estate agent and aren’t sure where your closing stands, call your him or her right away. A $8000 federal tax credit is a lot of money. Make sure everything’s being done to insure you close on your purchase by midnight 30 November. Please contact me right away if you’re a buyer who is still “shopping” for a lender. Time is running out. Contracts I receive after 11/10 will likely create heartburn for all involved trying to close before the credit expires.
___________________________________________________________________________You can contact Melissa at Melissa.Kulikoff@supremelending.com, telephone 210 807-6850 or 210 807-6851.If you have realty questions or need realty advice or assistance, contact a member of the SanAntonioHomeQuest.com Realty Solutions Team at swkrealtor@aol.com or kelleybus@aol.com, telephone 210 863-2661 or 210 867-8743.
FY 2009 BAH Brooks AFB, Lackland AFB, Randolph AFB, Ft. Sam Houston
October 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment
This link to calculate your San Antonio BAH is provided compliments the San Antonio Home Quest Realty Services Team. Visit us SanAntonioHomeQuest.com for all your San Antonio realty needs.
Click to calculate your San Antonio BAH for 2009.
San Antonio BRAC - Find Homes For Sale
October 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment
In the coming months, thousands of military and civilian personnel and their families will relocate to the San Antonio area in conjunction with Base Realignment And Closing (BRAC) initiatives. Well qualified San Antonio real estate specialists are prepared to service the realty needs of our new BRAC neighbors.
My San Antonio Home Quest Realty Solutions Team is leading the way.
Contact me if you have questions or need advice about San Antonio’s realty market. Ask me about the latest San Antonio BRAC developments. Describe your homeownership wants and needs and I’ll send you the matching listings directly from the San Antonio Multiple Listing Service (MLS).
I’m Stephanie Kelley, Accredited Buyers Representative (ABR), Certified Residential Specialist (CRS), Graduate of the Real Estate Institute (GRI). Visit me at SanAntonioHomeQuest.com , call me at (210) 863-2661 or (800) 201-9145, E-mail me at swkrealtor@aol.com or kelleybus@aol.com.
Buying A San Antonio New Construction Home - Don’t Get Loan Pre-Approval
October 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment
At sanantoniohomequest.com, we believe an educated home buyer is a wise buyer. That’s why we have compiled a series of easy to remember essential hints for our home buyer guests. Here’s a popular one.
If you might buy a newly constructed San Antonio home, get loan pre-qualified, but not pre-approved.
Why?
Keep this in mind. As a marketing strategy, almost all production home builders offer significant buyer incentives tied to using a select lender and title company. That’s because the builder either owns outright, partially owns, or otherwise receives financial benefits from the designated lender and title company. Consequently, if your plan is to buy a new home from a builder and, if you will need a mortgage loan to do so, it is better to get loan pre-qualification but not a loan pre-approval.
Here’s the reason why.
You’ll have to submit a lot of paperwork and pay for a credit check to get pre-approved for a mortgage loan of any type. Then, if you decide to buy a newly constructed home, in order to get the buyer incentives offered by the builder, you’ll have to submit the same paperwork and pay for another credit check to obtain your mortgage loan from the builder’s select lender. In essence, you’ll double your effort and your credit check costs.
So, what should you do?
If you don’t know the maximum loan you can obtain based on your income, credit history, and debt, you might still ask a lender to qualify you. Any lender will qualify you, usually over the telephone or on the Internet. Pre-qualification doesn’t involve paying for a credit check. It’s essentially an estimate. Lender’s do pre-qualifications as a marketing technique, in hopes of establishing a relationship leading eventually to selling you a loan.
Or, you can go to sanantoniohomequest.com and use our mortgage calculators to do the pre-qualification calculations yourself, for many different loan types.
If you have questions, or need advice this, or other realty purchase issues, please call or send an E-mail.
I’m Stephanie Kelley, Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR®), Certified Residential Specialist (CRS®), Graduate Realty Institute (GRI ®). I’m a Realtor ® at Keller Williams Legacy, San Antonio. You can visit me at sanantoniohomequest.com, call me at (210) 867-8743 or (210) 863-2661, or E-mail me at swkrealtor@aol.com.
Buying A San Antonio Home - Get Loan Prequalified
October 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment
At sanantoniohomequest.com, we believe an educated home buyer is a wise buyer. That’s why we’ve compiled a series of easy to remember essential hints for our home buyer guests.
Here’s one of our most popular hints:
To know how much home you can afford, get loan pre-qualified; and, if you plan to buy a resale property, get loan pre-approved.
On the other hand, if you might buy a new construction property, get loan pre-qualified, but not pre-approved. Why? Because you’ll duplicate your loan pre-approval time and expense if the new home builder attaches your buyer incentives to using his preferred lender.
So, for now, let’s concentrate on the loan pre-qualification issue.
The wise buyer knows his or her home affordability range and a mortgage lender can help with that decision.
So, what should you do?
I recommend that you start by qualifying with more than one lender. Ask each lender for a good faith estimate (GFE) of costs associated with the loan or loans (like a VA vs FHA vs conventional) you might procure. Select the lender that offers to give you the best deal.
When you’re ready to buy a resale property, ask your most promising lender for a loan pre-approval letter. At that time, your selected lender will run a credit check on you, which you will either pay for up front or be charged for at closing.
Your Realtor® should send along your loan pre-approval letter with your resale property purchase offer. Just having your loan pre-approval might make you the winning bidder in a bidding war.
Call me or send an E-mail if you have questions.
I’m Stephanie Kelley, Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR®), Certified Residential Specialist (CRS®), Graduate Realty Institute (GRI ®). I’m a Realtor ® at Keller Williams Legacy, San Antonio. You can visit me at sanantoniohomequest.com, call me at (210) 867-8743 or (210) 863-2661, or E-mail me at swkrealtor@aol.com.
To Rent or Buy A San Antonio Home - That Is The Question
October 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment
So, you’re new in town and plan to eventually buy a San Antonio home, but you’re considering renting an apartment or house while you scout out the area .
Temporarily renting might be a reasonable alternative, but, before you leap into a lease, first do some homework. Remember, while renting, you run the risk of missing your best buying opportunities while tied down as a tenant. In other words, renting at the wrong time can cost you money for long time.
Here’s how to do your rent vs. buy research.
If you have time, use the Internet to search for local realty news at sites like mysa.com or Realty Times. Use sites like Trulia.com to ask questions of local realty experts and visit their blogs.
Ask a trusted friend or business associate to refer you to their favorite realty agent or mortgage lender. Don’t hesitate to call for advice. Realtors and lenders will be willing to help, hoping someday you’ll use their services. In the unlikely event that someone gets pushy or uses a hard sell technique on you, you can always say “no thanks” and go away.
So, here’s what you need to know.
First, is it a buyer’s market or a seller’s market? If it’s a buyer’s market, think twice about renting.
Second, are the mortgage interest rates very favorable and what are the projections? If the rates are very favorably low, but projected to increase, think twice about renting.
Third, are home values appreciating or depreciating? If the values are depreciating and projected to go lower, then renting and waiting for the market to reach bottom might work well.
Fourth, are the prices for homes for sale going up or down. If they’re going up, then consider buying a right away home before they go higher. If they’re going down, you should either buy now or wait for the market to reach bottom.
Fifth, keep in mind that all realty markets have fairly predicable seasonal activity cycles. Find out the best months to purchase a San Antonio home. If you’re in a low sales month, you might forget renting and take advantage of your stronger position as a buyer capitalizing on a weak market.
I’m available to help you make your rent vs. buy decision. I’m Stephanie Kelley, Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR®), Certified Residential Specialist (CRS®), Graduate Realty Institute (GRI ®). I’m a Realtor ® at Keller Williams Legacy, San Antonio. You can visit me at sanantoniohomequest.com, call me at (210) 867-8743 or (210) 863-2661, or E-mail me at swkrealtor@aol.com.
Latest Tax Credit Information For San Antonio Home Buyers
October 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment
A slew of professionals tied to the housing sector made eager pleas to Congress last week requesting the $8000 first time homebuyer tax credit be extended. The benefit was part of the stimulus plan and is set to expire the end of November. The White House indicated the program “helped the economy” and led to “quite a bit of success” and noted consideration of extending the program. There are additional proposals in the Senate to not only extend the program but also to increase the tax credit and remove the first time homebuyer qualification. Unfortunately the cost to extend the credit is around $1 billion per month. This has politicians from both sides of the isle concerned. The House voted Thursday to extend the credit for American service members another 12 months. Both parties have members pushing for the extension to apply to all purchasers. Analysts indicate some sort of extension is very likely.
| Shannon Collier Senior Loan Officer |
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| 12500 San Pedro Ave., Suite 100 San Antonio, TX 78216 |
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| Work: 210-545-9300 Fax: 866-703-8734 Cell: 210-725-8470 |
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| scollier@wrstarkey.com | |
| www.ShannonCollier.com |
