My friends at Contacts N Coffee (The Best local Networking Group in North County) meet on the First Friday of every Month at different venues for Happy Hour. You can check out Contacts N Coffee at www.contactsncoffee.com .

If you like wine then this event will be even more enjoyable for you.

http://www.thewinerelm.com/

Phone — 760-434-WINE (9463)

Email — events@thewinerelm.com

Address — 2917 State Street, Carlsbad CA 92008

If you are looking for a nice neighborhood where kids can play outside, walk or bike to their friends homes and walk to school this is it. You can even walk (better to bike) to the 4 main grocers: Vons, Ralphs, Trader Joe’s and Henry’s. Not to mention all of the other services that one would want near their grocery store like dry cleaners, sandwich shops, and restaurants.

Town homes start in the low $300′s and detached homes start in the high $400′s for the rare distressed home to averaging closer to the mid $500′s.

Send me an email and I will be happy to send you a list of Village Park Homes with pictures.

Happy Home Hunting!

Joscelin Magana
Coastal Country Real Estate
760-699-2922 xt.11
Jos@MaganaYnez.com

This Week; there are a number of key data points that will be closely followed. The March employment data is the headliner with early estimates of 214K non-farm jobs created and the unemployment rates unchanged at 8.3%. The data comes on Good Friday with markets closed except the bond market will be open until noon, stay tuned though as the closing is still unsettled. IN the meantime we have ISM manufacturing and services sector data,, factory orders, ADP jobs estimate, weekly claims and Feb consumer credit. The 10 yr note and MBSs ended last week both working on their respective 20 day averages. Rate spiked two weeks ago and now have recovered somewhat; we continue to hold that interest rates will not fall much more from current levels, but won’t increase much either.

There are many that expect the Fed will do another easing move, equally about the same that don’t expect it. The Fed will not ease again unless the US economy reverses the current positive outlook. We caution though that even another easing by the Fed isn’t going to help the long end of the curve that much. Another easing move (printing more money) will likely increase inflation concerns.

Chad Baird
JMJ Financial
Office: 714-345-7403
Email: chad.baird@jmjfinancial.com
website: http://www.jmjfinancial.com/lo/ChadBaird.html

1. Loan pre-qualification letter.
2. Proof of funds for the down payment and closing costs in the form of bank statements.
3. Copy of the earnest money deposit.  The amount is up to you. 1% of the purchase price is the minimum amount to be taken seriously.  2% of the purchase price will make your offer look stronger. In this case I suggest $10,000 to make an impression in what I imagine may be a competitive situation.

If you want to increase your chances of getting your offer accepted I recommend the following.

1. Do not ask for termite clearance.
2. Use a conventional loan not a VA loan (you will be required to declare the type of loan in the offer).
3.  30 day Close of escrow. (The lender will end up dictating close of escrow anyhow)
4. 3% of purchase price for the earnest money deposit.
5. The best offer price you are comfortable with

Important:

A short sale is a distressed sale and is sold in as-is condition. The seller and short sale lender will not pay for any repairs that surface in the home inspections.

The VA will have their own inspection and require that the home be clear of termites and that all health and safety issues be resolved. Pool equipment will need to be operational. The buyer will not be allowed to pay for repairs. This means that if there are termite issues and the pool pump surfaces in the home inspection that the deal is likely to unravel as the VA will not approve the loan without the seller making VA required repairs.  The VA also requires the seller to pay more for the buyer’s costs which lowers the short sale lender’s bottom line.

A competent listing agent will be leery of an offer on a short sale that is financed via VA unless a termite report  has shown that the home is clear of termites and the home is in good condition and unlikely to have failing systems surface during the home inspection.

That being said I don’t think that a VA loan will add strength to your offer as it raises several red flags. Most listing agents prefer that the buyer not ask for termite clearance or be ok with the idea that the you may not be able to get the lender to pay for any termite repairs if the request for termite repairs is rejected by the short sale lender.

If  you are coming in with a large down payment a conventional loan will be more attractive for the seller because if the bank does not accept the request for the seller to repair the termite issues you can write an addendum stating that there will be no termite repairs.

One of the first orders of business that we would  need to handle once the offer is accepted is to get a termite report to see what you may be paying for if the short sale lender will not pay for termite.

Scenario #1. You call a real estate agent because you saw a house online and would like more info. Agent describes the house and you get excited, it sounds exactly like what you’re looking for. You say, “I gotta see this house! When can we go?” Agent’s response, “Have you been in contact with a Loan Officer?”

Scenario #2. You and your spouse have been driving around the city, looking for “for sale” signs in front of houses that you’re interested in. This is one of the areas you’ve always wished you could buy your first house in. House looks great. There’s even some young kids playing basketball next door. They seem to be right about the same ages as your kids. Your wife dials the number on the sign. “Hi, this is Eric. How can I help you?” “Um, hi. We were wondering if you could tell us more about the house at 123 Perfect Lane?” After hearing all about the house, you’ve just gotta see the inside! When you ask, the response is “Do you have a pre-qualification letter from a lender yet?”

Scenario #3. You just got a raise at your job. The lease is just about up on your apartment, and a few of your friends have purchased homes recently. It’s your turn. You sign up for lists of homes from a dozen real estate sites. They’re all the same lists, but whatever. You thought there might be something special out there and you didn’t want to miss it. You find a few that you want to look at. That’s when you call your friend, who’s been in the business for a while. You tell him that it’ll be cool to hang out and look at some homes, maybe get a few beers afterward. Friend agrees and says, “Before we hook up, have you talk to a lender yet? If not, I have a few that I’ve worked with in the past that I could recommend, because we need to make sure you get pre-approved before we start looking at homes.”

See the pattern here?

There’s a reason that we want you to talk to a Loan Officer before we go out to look at homes. A few reasons, actually.

• You need to take a look at your credit history. Lenders have minimum credit scores that need to be met before lending money for a house.
• You might think that you can afford a certain amount, only to learn you have to look at homes that are a lot lower than you thought. Conversely, maybe you can qualify for more than you thought, and your dream house just got a lot nicer. Looking at homes that you could never qualify for is depressing. Trust me.
• We run a business. We don’t get paid unless you purchase a house. If you can’t purchase, we can’t waste our time, money or resources. It doesn’t make business sense.

Debt to income ratios, time on your job and amount needed are a few more things that they Loan Officer will have to figure out before determining how much, and IF you can qualify for a mortgage loan.

Sometimes it’s scary to find out what your credit is, or what you can truly afford. Sometimes it’s even better to continue renting for a while to save up more money for that down payment or to pay off a few credit cards. The Loan Officer will help determine the best strategy for you.

Ultimately, a trustworthy Loan Officer is an integral part in the house/condo buying process. They can be an ally. As long as you remember, It’s a Loan Officer, Not a Serial Killer!

This is a funny but true article that was recently posted on Active Rain, I thought you might like it. Feel free to pass it on to any buyers, along with my information and we can see about getting them pre approved.

Chad Baird

JMJ Financial Group

Senior Loan Officer

Cell 714.345.7403

Office 858.207.3072

Fax 858.724.0299