Home Buyers Take a Break In November

Americans have had the grace to be able to speak mostly positive about the Real Estate industry concerning its climb from recession this year, but November was not a month to keep that same route. The seasonally adjusted rate of new homes dropped by 11.3% . This was the lowest since April...355,000 for November and 345,000 in April.
The positive outlook for new construction left hopes of an expectation of 438,000 annualized rate, but by the consensus of economists in Briefing.com, we received word on a lesser amount of 400,000.
CNN Money experts suspect that this is a result of the change from the original tax credit of $8,000 that will allow a little release of pressure to buy so soon...the timeline to use these moneys was extended. Now Americans chasing that tax advantage can procrastinate a little without racing against a clock. Piggy backing on the positive reason for the negative turn, it's to be figured in that Americans are a little leery about spending money on down payment and so forth knowing that the Christmas shopping season was right around the corner in this less than stable employment market as well.
I expect the Real Estate market to show signs of life and reflect positive numbers in January and February.

Off the Topic of Mortgage and the Economy a Bit

We are in a world of variance. The natural byproduct of variation is deviance, because there is difference where there is variation and therefore a deviational measure. There are two forms of the definition of deviance. One definition is, deviance describes actions or behaviors that violate cultural norms etc... The other is used in statistics and relates to the difference between one variable or a group of variables to another...usually in measuring similar profiles against one another but not limited to that.
I was inspired by a message today from a Christian writer named Dr. James Denison. The message was titled The Noble Peace Prize and the Topic was The Peace of Christmas. Click Here for the link. Every spiritual person in America is not Christian, but all the good religions in the world teach a common good. You see, the humans on Earth come in a large variety of ethnic and culture groups, and the religions of the world come also in a large variety. We may all pass judgment upon our opposite spiritual beliefs, but I believe the deviation between each of the people from one religion to the next measures greater than the all out difference between what teachings each religion teaches from one to the next. Meaning, we the people of the religions make our selves more different by our free will to judge one another than the spiritual text that defines us. Obama has the ability to pioneer a road that has never been traveled, and unless we all join together and make the best of the trip, the road traveled will be bumpy whether it should be or not, and the ability to maximize the hopeful positive outcome if it does turn out good is limited by the negative resistance America's deviance has on it. As a whole, lets not be deviant to eachother and all work positively to a common interest.
Note: What I chose to write about in this blog was not intended to reflect the purpose of the message I was inspired by. It was just an angle of life that has weighed heavy on my mind recently and I took away another meaning in addition to what was shared.

So we have a positive forecast for the bailout money that was used to bailout the mortgage industry. The TARP that is used to help create jobs and so forth is foreseen to be a loss. We have a decision to make lets say. We are going to turn a profit in the end from it. As a business owner say with a large bit of debt, do you A) Take the profit and pay down your debit and hope that business continues to produce so you can continue, or B) take your profit and immediately apply it to a part of your business that isn't producing in hopes to get the entire "engine" efficiently making money? If you put the money into a part of the company that is not producing and it continues to not produce, you lose that money right?
The Democrats support plan B above and the republicans support plan A. There is a chance that both options turn out positive, but I guess the argument is, which one will work more...I'm assuming the economy turns around that is.

Bernanke sees end value in bailout...Fannie Freddie moneys profit to come

In a CNN money article titled Bernanke: Fed will make profit on bailout, we read that the head of the Federal Reserve is feeling confident that the money spent in the Fannie and Freddie bailout has a good chance to become a profit for the government. Hearing this so soon comes as a surprise because all I hear on the streets is negative. Anytime I search out economic updates and read articles from well credited writers on the economy, it seems like I hear more and more positive posts...soothsayers speak negative but media writers positive. For example, if you ask your local family member friend who forwards all the politcal emails, or "the next guy", the feeling is negative.
Is America's team a good comparison to America's voting public? It seems like the Dallas Cowboy fan is a good metaphor to a profile of the American citizen as it relates to a fan or not of the political games played during these up and down times. When the market is thick, dense, and bullish, the American is smiling and has all hope and no worries. Then, any negative dip, their ready to shoot their quarterback but reserve just enough spirit to have an open mind for the next "game". Winning a couple games isn't good enough for the Cowboy fan. They have to win the Super Bowl or the season is a bust. It appears that we are winning little games one day, one week, and months at a time in our economy...do we have to win it all at once for the majority to be happy. Progress, not perfection is my way of looking at it.
When Bernanke spoke of the money the government will make back and profit from, he was not speaking of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The TARP program is not expected to have the same positive turnout as the bailout money, and the positive side to that is that it wasn't as large as the bailout...win one big battle and lose a smaller.
Tracking the programs and their returns.

RESPA Reform Changes...New GFE and HUD-1

Are you ready for the changes that the Federal Government have for us in the mortgage industry under RESPA reform effective January 1, 2010? The new version of the Good Faith Estimate or GFE as we speak in the mortgage business (Martian Language), and the HUD-1 HUD 1 settlement statement or 2010 is what I'm speaking more specifically about.
If you are in or have originated your loan before January 1st, you can continue to close the loan after January 1st under the old GFE/Good Faith Estimate, but the title company will close it on the new HUD-1.
What if you are using two loans to buy or refinance your home...like a piggy back and a first for example? You will issue a GFE for both loans and the title company will have two HUD-1's as well. No biggy there.
The Loan Officer AND the borrower will likely benefit from this if used properly. The design of the change is to empower the borrower a little more by "force", to be more accountable in their process of shopping, and in the same, hold the Lender/Loan Officer accountable for their GFE quote in the beginning. In my opinion, the change is a positive for the lender, but that is because I have never bait and switched or mislead intentionally. In the past, I have had a hard time getting through to borrowers that were a little suspect in the entire shopping process as a whole because of the reputation that comes with mortgage. Therefore, my explanation of how to shop, when they were doing it all wrong, was in one ear and out the other. NOW, the honest loan officers in the industry can relax and let the system force the borrower to shop properly.

The lenders and loan officers that have built their business on smoke and mirrors sales tactics with the GFE's and survived on selling rather than consulting will feel haunted now. Here is why. The GFE, the official one governed by RESPA, is not allowed to be issued unless there is a property...this is good because the uneducated shopper (speaking of buyers and not refinance prospects here) would many times spin their wheels shopping lenders before they ever found a home and then months later when they found the home, they would use which ever company they found the months before. That makes no sense, because a lot can change in a week, must less a month or more down the road. Now, when there is a property and a borrower asks for a Good Faith Estimate, that lender is held accountable at closing by the "system" in the new law. The final documents at closing will put the numbers from the GFE side by side with the final numbers on the HUD-1. If these numbers do not match up, or stay within variance by law, the lender is held accountable for the difference. You see where the dishonest loan officer here will not like the new style? I like it, and many of the loan officers in this industry I am friends with like it because now we don't have to worry about "frisbying" out our GFE wondering if some dishonest sales type is our competition where we'll lose a prospect to a lesser deal and lesser loan officer.
Lets get clear on something. There are circumstances in a transaction process that would require rates or fees to change midway through, and the new laws have made room for those and defined the circumstances that will allow a lender to change the settlement variables from the original GFE. Just make sure that you the borrower, or you the loan officer have your client sign the "Change of Circumstance Affidavit" at least 3 days before you want to close the loan...that is part of the new law. If the APR or fees change from the originally disclosed Truth In Lending or Good Faith Estimate (no called the 2010), you will need to redisclose and sign the GFE and Truth In Lending 3 days before close.

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How to find information on the Public and Private Schools of Frisco?

When trying to decide what city to move to, research has proven that one of the biggest concerns for location are the schools in which are associated with the target living areas...Frisco is a good example of that.

In many of America's fastest growing markets move up buyers and first time buyers search out the preferred school districts first. Cities with growing housing markets are well aware of this variable and therefore build the foundation of what their city stands for with the schools as a major component.

Frisco, along with most of Collin County is a good example of this. Frisco has become a huge city of young families where the population of children is growing quickly.
If you are looking to find information about the public and private schools in the different parts of Frisco, please go to the neighborhood navigator and do your research. They have provided a good list and done the research for you.