Traci Gregory, Financier

We are an FHA Direct Endorsed Lender

I’ve read with dismay about the people giving up their houses, going to credit counseling, trying to make ends meet.

The biggest bill most of us pay is for rent or for our mortgages, and for some reason the news makes it appear that there is no mortgage money when in fact there is quite a lot.

The credit crunch could affect mortgage money availablity, but it has not. 

I’ve been a mortgage banker for 20 years . . . and I know that refinancing a $250,000 mortgage that is at 7% ($1630/month)  to 6% or less ($1498/month)  would make a positive change in any budget.

• People with questionable credit can refinance with an FHA loan, even if their loan isn’t an FHA backed loan now.
• Streamline refinances are done with no appraisal, and in a lot of cases, reduced fees, to help homeowners stay in their houses.  For conventional AND FHA loans.

This is a time to hunker down, figure out how we’re going to get through the next few years, and giving up the time and money we have invested in our homes is not a good way to start a hard run!

I understand that Cobb County’s revenues for intangible taxes and real estate filing fees was averaging between $2 and $3 MILLION a month in 2007.  Now, they are at less than $300,000 a month.  Even the local government is feeling the pinch of the fall in real estate business.

I recommend that everyone who owns a home and is paying more than they are comfortable with look hard at all the options for refinancing and lowering their payments, particularly if they want to get into a 30 year fixed rate, plain vanilla, feel-safe-to-everyone mortgage.

I also highly recommend that the Real Estate Professionals in the area get more familiar with FHA and for people outside Cobb County, Rural Development loans.  THAT MONEY IS WAITING TO BE SPENT!

There IS down payment assistance money – for homeowners who don’t have cash to close.  We can revive the economy on a local level, but only if we don’t give up on it.

DOJ/Antitrust on Real Estate Commissions

The Department of Justice, Antitrust Division has unleashed a firestorm with its new website "Competition and Real Estate". 

They have links on the front page to articles named Consumers can save thousands of dollars in commissions  and Calculate how much you can save.  You can look up your state and see what discounts and rebates are allowed by law there . . .

Georgia, for instance, allows for choice of brokerage services (Discounted commission for selling agent; or MLS Listing fee only) and allows brokers to offer rebates to consumers.

In the firestorm, the National Association of Realtors has posted on their website . . . "The DOJ arguments at the Web site display a flagrant disregard for the free competition the agency is supposed to champion. It uses the Web site as a promotion for unbundled and discount services. It doesn’t present persuasive argument to show that one model has certain advantages over another. Instead, it dictates what it believes is the ultimate wisdom about real estate brokerage."

You can read their entire commentary at Realtor.Org

Real Estate Agents may make a lot on a commission, but they work hard for it, and honestly, it is like any other service you buy, you can spend the money or do it yourself, but paying a professional is probably the way to go unless you have a lot of time to spend on doing the sales job.  My hero Frank McKinney uses Real Estate Agents, AND helps them sell his houses . . .

Maybe the Justice Department is trying to boost the economy by recommending people get cheaper in the way they do things, but historically, I believe agents sell houses faster than FSBO owners.  And nothing is selling fast right now.

And, that's why I have time to blog on a daily basis  . . .