Category Archives: Mortgage Consultant
President Obama will see what Congress does on HARP 3.0 before enacting it himself
Prior to the recent state of the union address there was speculation that President Obama might bypass Congress and enact new mortgage relief guidelines through an executive order. The rumored changes, being tentatively called “HARP 3″, were reportedly going to open the benefits of the current HARP programs to borrowers who currently do not qualify for it. But in the speech President Obama gave he made it clear that, initially at least, he would wait to see if Congress could draft and pass legislation to accomplish that goal.
In the current gridlocked environment in Washington it seems unlikely that the House and Senate will be able to agree on any such legislation. It is unclear how long President Obama will wait on this legislation before taking matters into his own hands. Or it is possible that the Obama administration is just bluffing and has no intention of bypassing Congress with a HARP 3.0 program. Onl
Foreclosures are on the rise in the Colorado metro area
Foreclosure starts have jumped up 21% in August on a month-over-month basis, according to the latest number released by the Colorado Division of Housing. This increase is boosting the statewide foreclosure starts to 15.7%, as highlights by the press release.
This trend is in line with earlier expectations, said Colorado Division of Housing spokesman, Ryan McMaken. He also emphasized that this is due to the foreclosure moratorium that created a huge foreclosure backlog and now has banks moving to clear this as soon as possible.
$61M Apt Project In Midtown Atlanta Breaks Ground
SkyHouse, an apartment development at 100 Sixth St. in Atlanta by Novare Group and Batson-Cook Development which secured $61.3 million in development financing last month as reported by CoStar, has broken ground.
SkyHouse is a high-rise residential apartment concept that has been introduced in Austin, TX; Orlando, FL; Atlanta-Midtown on West Peachtree Street, and now again in Atlanta on Sixth Street in Midtown. Each building project is completed in a condensed 12-month construction period. The West Peachtree broke ground in January 2012 and was completed late last year and opened for leasing last month.
Jonathan Rice, Robert LaChappelle and Paul Berry of CBRE’s Atlanta Debt and Equity Finance team arranged financing through UBS Realty Investors. Get more info…
Buyer Beware: Laws don’t address the surprises you may find in foreclosure auction homes, newspaper investigation finds
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A house sold in a foreclosure auction last year proved too macabre for one buyer.
Bill Thoman decided not to bid on a house in the Waterway Village subdivision north of Vero Beach when he learned tenant Albert Cuillo III died inside and the body wasn’t found for several weeks.
Real estate laws don’t require sellers to disclose deaths that happen within a dwelling — including murders and suicides — nor bodies that decomposed at the site, a Press Journal investigation found.
Thoman thinks sellers should disclose that a corpse decayed in a home for a prolonged period, even if the law doesn’t compel them to do so, because it could pose a health hazard. Bacteria and toxin-borne flies could contaminate the home’s central-air ducts, which might need to be replaced, he said, adding he had no idea how well the house was cleaned.
“It’s absolutely outrageous,” Thoman said. “It’s
FHA announces pending fee increases, now is the time to streamline
Today the FHA announced planned changes that will increase the costs of FHA loans going forward. First, the monthly mortgage insurance premium on new FHA loans will increase once again. The plan is to raise the annual MIP by 0.10%. Second, as we previously reported, the FHA will begin requiring their monthly mortgage insurance premium to continue for the life of the loan. Currently FHA monthly MIP payments can be dropped after five years when more than 22% equity is reached in the home. When these changes are implemented that will no longer be the case for all new FHA loans.
The FHA will give official guidance on the timing of these changes in the next few days.
Cool Modern Ideas for Entertainment Centers
Entertainment centers no longer have to be bulky pieces of furniture. Slim and sleek, you can skip the center completely and just hang the flat screen on the wall.
If you have grown tired of the bulky stand taking up an entire wall, then it’s time for something a little more modern. Here are some cool ideas for storing the television in your home with style and flair.
Wall Mounted Television and Shelves
You love the look of TVs mounted neatly on the wall, but you need someplace to put the cable box and your Blu-ray player. The problem is solved with neat shelves that hang on the wall under your television.
Choose sleek glass for a minimal appearance, or look for floating shelves that seem to float on the wall without supports. M
Boxer Picks Up 7 Bldgs. in Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix
Boxer Property purchased seven properties in the Houston, Atlanta and Phoenix markets.
The assets include three buildings at Sam Houston Plaza; 507, 519, 523 N. Sam Houston Parkway in Houston. These properties are part of the 2.5 million square feet Boxer purchased in 2012. Also included are 3675 River Exchange near Atlanta; Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs in Phoenix; and 5600 Northwest Central Drive and 5005 Mitchelldale in Houston.
The newly acquired office buildings do fit into the Boxer model of purchasing value-added, multi-tenant office buildings, with 236,053 square feet of RBA between them However, the company has begun to branch out into other commercial real estate arenas with a new variation of building types such as Class A and hospitality.
Todd Casper, Mike Hassler and Russell Ingrum of CBRE represented the undisclosed seller. Get more info…