Ed's Blog

Recently, the San Francisco Chronicle (June 7, 2010) reported that sales of single-family homes in San Francisco rose by 50% in the first quarter from a year earlier, and that the median price rose 5.4% to $685,000. The article went on to say that home prices are forecasted to gain 7% this year. That would be the biggest gain since 2005. Wow! Are you kidding me!? Good economic news in the newspapers? Fear not it's true.

And the news was good in more places than just San Francisco; as the article went on to say that “prices for existing single-family homes rose in 60% of US cities in the first quarter.”

But back to San Francisco. The article talked about bidding wars being back (who ever could have believed!?), and the nascent rebound in the tech industry. Now if only we can get a real employment recovery underway we’ll all be able to feel much better about the turn in the economy.

If you'd like to read the article, click here.

Rates Are Awesome- "Rates continue to obey gravity by staying low." We see home buyers in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, and other Bay Area communities qualifying for higher loan amounts due to lower rates. And we see homeowners saving Big Bank on refis.

Jumbo Loans Making a Comeback - More Jumbo lenders and lower jumbo pricing is enabling us to offer buyers better loan options for Jumbo loans. We recently closed on an 80% purchase at $1,325,000. Happy people all the way around. Sweet! Same applies to Jumbo refinances. Contact us for a quote.

Some Vets Have Until June 2011 To Receive $8,000 Federal Tax Credit- Vets who were overseas the past year will have an additional year to use the recently expired $8,000 federal tax credit for first time buyers.

New LQI (Loan Quality Initiative) from Fannie Mae Is Underway- Recently I told you how lenders verify everything once, and often twice! Take credit and employment for example. Many lenders will check these up front, and then check them again the day before funding the loan. So no big job changes or new purchases for buyers. That is, unless you don't care about closing escrow.

In fact, the new LQI (don't you just love acronyms!?) from Fannie Mae is requiring lenders to buy back loans where there were undisclosed debts prior to COE. So now lenders are scrutinizing inquiries on credit reports, interest deductions on tax returns, and public records on other properties owned by borrowers to see if there is any chance of an undisclosed loan somewhere.

We're Here to Help You- We love helping people buy homes. We're always glad to help our clients and your referrals when we can. And when we can't, we'll let you know. We've been at this for a long time and have helped a lot of people buy and refinance their home, second home, or investment property.

One Last Thing- We Offer Second Opinions - I don’t talk about it much, but if someone you know wants a second opinion on a loan, let us know. For a small fee we’ll review the financing offer in question. And if we can do better, and your friend ends up doing the loan with us, we’ll refund their fee.