Archive for February, 2010
Taking The First Step Towards Home Ownership
For most First Time Home Buyers, it’s scary to take the plunge into home-ownership. A lot of new buyers in mn don’t know where to begin, and aren’t sure they’re ready for the work ahead.
To help you, we’ve put together a great First Time Home Buyer Class to help educate you on the process and [...]
Housing Inventory for First Time Home Buyers
Two statistics we use to analyze the Twin Cities Housing Market are “Inventory of Homes for Sale” and “Monthly Supply of Inventory”. These typically help sellers determine what a realistic timeframe is for the listing and eventual selling of their home because it gives them a sense of the number of homes on the market [...]
February 2010 Monthly Skinny
Here’s another snapshot of the Minneapolis and St. Paul area housing market, courtesy of the Minneapolis Area Associattion of Realtors.
They call it the “Monthly Skinny” report.
(note: I suggest pausing on each slide to fully read the numbers displayed)
First Time Home Buyer Class – March 18, 2010
[ March 18, 2010; 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm. ] *REGISTER HERE*
So you want to buy a house – now what?! Well, the first step towards home ownership is getting educated about the process and finding a Team of Professionals you can trust and feel comfortable with.
That’s where we come in. Join us for a very informative 90 minute home-buying course where you will learn everything you [...]
Big FHA Mortgage Changes Coming
You may have heard that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is changing some key things in their loan insurance package.
For those that don’t know, FHA mortgages are loans that are insured (not originated or funded) by the FHA. They offer 3.5% down payment and competitive interest rates.
Well, a TON of people are using these loans [...]
First Time Home Buyer No-No’s
Ok, I know you’re thinking this is elementary school language, but sometimes in the home buying process you need to take a step back and remember some very important items.
I wanted to share this article written by Darcy McDonald, a mortgage officer with Cornerstone Mortgage–she is my First Time Home Buyer partner and she has [...]
Monthly Market Update
I like to watch these short videos that are made by the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors, and thought I’d share it with you. They call it the “monthly skinny” which is a good name for it since it’s nice and compact.
There is a TON of good information on where we are as a Twin [...]
90-Day FHA Rule Waived
As of February 1, 2010 the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is waiving their regulations on the “90-day Flipping Rule” they have in place for new FHA borrowers.
To be clear, let’s define everything here.
An FHA loan is a mortgage that is insured (not underwritten) by the FHA for borrowers that meet their qualifications. About 80-90% of [...]
2 Year Foreclosure Moratorium?
Today, the MN House will vote on a bill which may allow homeowners getting foreclosed on a little breathing room.
The bill HF2604 would allow homeowners to stay in their homes if they continue to paying their mortgage or at least 41% of their income to the lender. It would also allow renters of foreclosed properties [...]
St. Louis Park – Live Where You Work
I was working with a Minnesota First Time Home Buyer last week and we were searching for properties in St. Louis Park, MN. One listing told us the buyer could get $2,500 in local grants, so we decided to look into it.
As it stands now, St. Louis Park has a buyer incentive called “Live Where [...]
