VA Loan Eligibility For San Antonio Homes For Sale
July 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Do you have questions about your VA eligibility for buying a San Antonio home?
Your eligibility is determined on a case-by-case basis by the Department of Veteran Affairs and is proven by a Certificate of Eligibility showing the amount of your entitlement.
To be considered for a VA home loan, you must meet one or a combination of these basic military service requirements:
90 days of active duty during wartime
181 days of continuous active duty during peacetime
6 years of service for Reservist/National Guard
Must you have an honorable discharge to qualify? Perhaps not. When it comes to the question of discharge type, the VA determines eligibility on a case-by-case basis.
The VA’s issuance of your Certificate of Eligibility (COE) is essential before you apply for your VA backed home mortgage. It tells the lender the amount of your entitlement.
So, what’s so great about a VA home loan? Basically, it’s a wonderful reward for your dedication and service to your country. Specifically, you’ll enjoy:
No down payment (100% financing)
No private mortgage insurance (PMI)
Relaxed qualifying standards
Competitive interest rates
No penalties for mortgage pre-payment
Cash-out and debt consolidation
Streamline rate reduction
For more information on your eligibility, you should contact the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, or speak with a VA loan professional at your credit union, bank, or at a mortgage brokerage.
We can help you find a VA loan expert. Contact us.
We’re Stephanie and Randy Kelley, Realtors® of Keller Williams Legacy, San Antonio, Texas. If you have questions, need San Antonio realty or mortgage loan advice or assistance, or just want to chat a bit about the wonderful Alamo City, please call us at (210) 863-2661 or (210) 867-8743, or E-mail us at swkrealtor@aol.com or kelleybus@aol.com. Our SanAntonioHomeQuest.com Realty Solutions Team is always ready to help you with your home buying or selling needs.
Labels: Homes For Sale San Antonio, PCS San Antonio, San Antonio Army PCS, San Antonio Physician Loan, San Antonio Real Estate, San Antonio Realty, San Antonio Realty Market Report
Minimum Credit Score To Qualify To Buy A San Antonio Home
July 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment
It’s a fabulous summer for San Antonio home sales. There’s a larger than usual inventory of reasonably priced and well prepared resale homes. New home builders are enticing buyers with valuable incentives. Mortgage interest rates are historically low.
Yet, many buyers have been holding back, concerned about their ability to acquire a mortage loan and confused about the sustainability of the national economic recovery.
Nonetheless, lenders report a promising trend. It appears more prospective buyers are now willing to launch their home search and are wisely consulting with a loan officer about qualifing for a mortgage loan.
Lenders report the average loan seeker almost always starts the loan qualifying discussion with questions about the significance of the FICO credit score. Most people already know their score but aren’t sure what it means. Here’s the answer.
FICO scores generally fall between 550 and 800. Nearly 20% of the U.S. population have a credit score under 620 and that’s the cutoff for a prime-rate loan. But the FICO score is only one of many factors taken into consideration when qualifying for loan. For example, income and debt issues can offset even the best FICO score.
Once all factors are taken into consideration, a loan officer can advise a prospective buyer to either start looking for a dream home or to take steps to improve the financial factors holding back qualiflying for a mortgage loan.
We’re Stephanie and Randy Kelley, Realtors® of Keller Williams Legacy, San Antonio, Texas. If you have questions, need San Antonio realty or mortgage loan advice or assistance, or just want to chat a bit about the wonderful Alamo City, please call us at (210) 863-2661 or (210) 867-8743, or E-mail us at swkrealtor@aol.com or kelleybus@aol.com. Our SanAntonioHomeQuest.com Realty Solutions Team is always ready to help you with your home buying or selling needs.
Why Waste Your San Antonio BAH In A Buyer’s Market
July 20, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Are you an active duty military member who’s renting or hoping to rent a San Antonio area home? Do you know a fellow military member who’s now renting?
With so many opportunities for San Antonio area home buyers, everyone renting or planning to rent should at least explore the fantastic home buying opportunities currently available.
This summer, San Antonio residential real estate is boldly in a buyer’s mode. Mortgage interest rates remain historically low. List prices are comparatively much lower than in past years. Sellers are now helping buyers with down payments, buying down rates, offering concessions and much more!
The real estate market changes quickly, so don’t let yourself or your friends miss out on this year’s fantastic opportunity to put your BAH to better use. Check out homes listed for sale on your favorite San Antonio realty website (like sanantoniohomequest.com). Call a realty agent and ask about the latest home buying opportunities. Tell your home renting friends to do the same. You, and they, won’t be disappointed.
We’re Stephanie and Randy Kelley, Realtors® of Keller Williams Legacy, San Antonio, Texas. If you have questions, need San Antonio realty or mortgage loan advice or assistance, or just want to chat a bit about the wonderful Alamo City, please call us at (210) 863-2661 or (210) 867-8743, or E-mail us at swkrealtor@aol.com or kelleybus@aol.com. Our SanAntonioHomeQuest.com Realty Solutions Team is always ready to help you with your home buying or selling needs.
Information About Texas Real Estate Broker Services
July 16, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Texas law requires all real estate licensees to give a written statement about brokerage services upon first substantive dialogue with a prospective buyer, tenant, seller or landlord. According to Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) rules, a substantive dialogue can occur at a face-to-face or telephone meeting or by written communication (including email) that involves a substantive discussion relating to a specific real estate property. If the substantive dialogue occurs at other than a face-to-face meeting (like a telephone conversation), the required written statement should be sent to the party promptly.
The required information is easily conveyed using TREC’s Information About Brokerage Services disclosure form. The form is found here:
www.trec.state.tx.us/pdf/contracts/op-k.pdf
We’re Stephanie and Randy Kelley, Realtors® of Keller Williams Legacy, San Antonio, Texas. If you have questions, need San Antonio realty or mortgage loan advice or assistance, or just want to chat a bit about the wonderful Alamo City, please call us at (210) 863-2661 or (210) 867-8743, or E-mail us at swkrealtor@aol.com or kelleybus@aol.com. Our SanAntonioHomeQuest.com Realty Solutions Team is always ready to help you with your home buying or selling needs.
July 2010 San Antonio Realty Market Report
July 13, 2010 | Leave a Comment
The second week in July is typically San Antonio’s realty market yearly high point. Many pending sales will close within the next 30 days. Uncommitted buyers with school age children must rush to find the right home in order to be able to close on their purchase or at least be under a binding contract before school starts.
This year, many factors are converging to make San Antonio’s realty market exciting, interesting, and somewhat confusing.
Although the local economy is strong and population growth is high, home values in many neighborhoods have depreciated. Home sellers have lowered their list prices accordingly, but buyer response has been tepid and the inventory of homes for sale is growing at an unusually fast pace. Also, builders are offering enticing incentives in an effort to move their new home inventory more quickly.
Despite the fact that mortgage rates are the lowest since the 1950’s and there is an ample supply of very reasonably priced homes to pick from, Realtors® report their current home buyer traffic has fallen well below expectations. Some are concerned that the end of the Federal home buyer tax credit programs may have signaled a long term lull in demand caused by faltering buyer confidence in the national economy.
It is difficult to reach conclusions as to the long term market trends, but in the short term, it’s clear San Antonio’s home market remains extremely favorable for buyers. As for sellers, the advantage will go to the seller most willing to reduce his or her price expectations and to expend the money, time, and effort to improve the property’s condition and appearance.
For those who love the stats, here are the key indicators for San Antonio’s single family detached home listings as of 11 July, 2010.
There are 12,948 active listings compared to 12,033 one year ago. The inventory is rising fast. That’s a good sign for home buyers.
The average sales price for the most recent closings is $190,497, compared to last year’s $189,785. The absence of any significant sales price appreciation is another good sign for buyers.
Average cumulative-days-on-the-market (CDOM) for the most recent sales is 121 compared to 137 last year. During 2009, CDOM figures were unacceptably high, but dropped fast during the Federal Tax credit home buying frenzy. It remains to be seen if cumulative market time will improve further, but a slight upward trend is possible. Nonetheless, for the time being, CDOM data is positive for San Antonio home sellers, specifically, and for San Antonio’s realty market, generally.
Industry analysts see these data as reflecting a housing market strongly favoring buyers over sellers.
That’s all for our 11 July 2010 San Antonio realty market report. We encourage reader comments and recommendations about how to make our reports more informative and useful.
We’re Stephanie and Randy Kelley, Realtors® of Keller Williams Legacy, San Antonio, Texas. If you have questions, need San Antonio realty or mortgage loan advice or assistance, or just want to chat a bit about the wonderful Alamo City, please call us at (210) 863-2661 or (210) 867-8743, or E-mail us at swkrealtor@aol.com or kelleybus@aol.com. Our SanAntonioHomeQuest.com Realty Solutions Team is always ready to help you with your home buying or selling needs.
Active Option Defined For San Antonio Homes For Sale
July 7, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Active option means a buyer has successfully negotiated a contract to buy the property and, for a small fee, has purchased the unrestricted right to back out of the contract within a negotiated number of days, usually 10 days in this market. If the buyer exercises the option to walk away, the property will go back on the market as an active listing. During the option period, the buyer will have the property inspected by a licensed residential property inspector (if he or she so chooses), takes steps to finalize loan arrangements, and contemplates going through, or not going through, with the purchase.
The seller may continue to allow showings during the active option period in hopes of garnering a back up offer.
We’re Stephanie and Randy Kelley, Realtors® of Keller Williams Legacy, San Antonio, Texas. If you have questions, need San Antonio realty or mortgage loan advice or assistance, or just want to chat a bit about our wonderful Alamo City, please call us at (210) 863-2661 or (210) 867-8743, or E-mail us at swkrealtor@aol.com or kelleybus@aol.com. Our SanAntonioHomeQuest.com Realty Solutions Team is always ready to help you with your home buying or selling needs.
Labels: Homes For Sale San Antonio, Homes San Antonio, PCS San Antonio, San Antonio Army PCS, San Antonio Physician Loan, San Antonio Real Estate, San Antonio Realty, San Antonio Realty Market Report
San Antonio Gated Community Security
July 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment
The safety of San Antonio gated communities may be a myth. The police department advises gated community homeowners to be especially vigilant because thieves and no-good-doers scope out and work the communities just because they know the residents have a false sense of security. Gated communities are notorious for being targets for auto vandalism and burglaries. Some San Antonio gated communities tend to have a rash of incidents about every three years.
We’re Stephanie and Randy Kelley, Realtors® of Keller Williams Legacy, San Antonio, Texas. If you have questions, need San Antonio realty or mortgage loan advice or assistance, or just want to chat a bit about our wonderful Alamo City, please call us at (210) 863-2661 or (210) 867-8743, or E-mail us at swkrealtor@aol.com or kelleybus@aol.com. Our SanAntonioHomeQuest.com Realty Solutions Team is always ready to help you with your home buying or selling needs.
Labels: Homes For Sale San Antonio, PCS San Antonio, San Antonio Army PCS, San Antonio Physician Loan, San Antonio Real Estate, San Antonio Realty, San Antonio Realty Market Report
