10 Great Tips To Keep Your Home Safe While You're Away

Keeping Your Home Safe During the Holidays

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10 Great Tips To Keep Your Home Safe While You're Away

1. Home vacation checks. Arrange with your local police department to periodically cruise by your house when you’re out of town.

2. Alert your neighborhood watch group. Inform the group of your vacation plans so they can be extra alert to suspicious activity about your house. If there’s no formal watch group, ask a friend or neighbor to check up on your residence. This includes having them remove any packages on your doorstep or accumulated newspapers.

3. Police inspection. If possible, schedule a police officer to assess your residence for security ideas.

4. Check with your home security company. Inform them you’ll be out of town; provide them a phone number where you can be contacted. Give the alarm company the phone number of anyone checking up on your residence. If the alarm is tripped, the company will be speaking to you or your friend, rather than the burglar in the house when he picks up the phone.

5. Inspect motion detectors. Make sure that motion detectors cannot be set off by billowing curtains or pets.

6. Secure all portals. Make sure all the locks work. Repair any cracks in doors or windows. Set the pin lock on your garage if it opens by remote. Sliding doors should have bars that prevent giggling them open.

7. Conceal valuables. Keep valuable items out of sight from peepers outside the house. Don’t keep spare keys in places obvious to burglars such as under a flower pot or fake rock. Remove valuable items from sight in your car, if parked in the driveway, and put a lock on the steering wheel.

8. Stop mail and newspaper delivery. Arrange with the post office and newspaper service to have your mail and newspaper on vacation hold.

9. A lived-in look. Mow your lawn just before you leave for a long trip so that it looks recently cared for. Use automatic light timers for holiday lights if your house is decorated with these to fool burglars that you are home.

10. Discard any signs you have expensive items in the house. Examples might be empty computer containers or flat screen TV boxes lying around outside. Store bikes, toys, etc., in the garage.

The Bajak and Associates Team would like to take this opportunity and wish you and your loved ones a safe and Merry Christmas!

Source: AFN

Buying A Home During The Holidays

Buying A Home During The Holidays

LenderVolt

Moving during the holidays can be a headache with all the seasonal activities and obligations – not to mention unpleasant weather in many locations. However, there are plenty of positives to buying a home during the holidays that may make the headaches of moving worth the effort, including the six listed below.

1. Home Prices Are on an Up-Trend – Existing-home sales increased in October to their strongest pace since earlier this summer, but continual supply shortages led to fewer closings on an annual basis for the second straight month, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

The median existing home sales price in October was $247,000 up 5.5 percent from October 2016 ($234,100). October's price increase marks the 68th straight month of year-over-year gains. 

Though the recent lack of existing home inventory is likely a factor for the spike in October's home prices, as the housing market continues to rebound, so will home prices.

On the other hand, if you're thinking of selling your home, the increase in prices are resulting in more equity for current homeowners, and those homeowners are using that equity for down payments on their next home purchase. The prospect of higher mortgage rates and home prices, are encouraging households to buy now, according to NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.

2. Less Buyer Competition – The same issues that make holiday moving a hassle tend to keep people from shopping for homes at that time. While there may be fewer homes available, there are also fewer home buyers – and that should equal less competition for any home that fits your needs.

3. More Motivated Sellers – Home sellers don't enjoy moving over the holidays any more than home buyers do. It's likely that people who are selling their homes over the holidays are highly motivated to do so. Perhaps they must relocate for a new job, or their home has been on the market for a long time and they need the money from a sale before the year is out. Combine motivated sellers with decreased competition and you have great leverage to get a better deal.

4. Lower Prices – Home prices have been rising rapidly, in part because of an overall shortage of homes. However, December historically has lower home prices than any other month, due in part to the reasons listed above. There's no guarantee that this year will continue the trend, but it's worth checking the prices within your local market.

5. Faster Closings – As a general rule, everyone involved in a holiday real estate transaction wants to complete the transaction before the year ends. Buyers want to settle in their new homes (and if sellers are relocating, they want to settle in before the holidays as well). Lenders want to include the loan on the current year's books. Real estate agents and brokers want to include their commission on the current year's income. Motivated parties should make the closing process go as smoothly as possible – but do your part by having all the required paperwork in order.

6. Better Interest Rates – Currently, mortgage rates are still near record lows but if you've been paying attention to any news regarding the Federal Reserve's plans to increase the short-term federal funds rate you know that mortgage rates will be negatively impacted.

Beyond the 6 reasons already disucussed, there are other reasons to buy your home during the Holidays:

7. Potential Tax Benefits

While this shouldn't be the sole reason for buying a home at the end of the year, some tax advantages certainly do sweeten the deal. If you itemize on your taxes, you may be able to deduct any points (also known as origination fees) you paid at closing, property taxes and mortgage interest.

Whether it's better to purchase before the end of 2017 or in 2018 for tax purposes is dependent on how much you plan to deduct this year or next. It is always a good idea to consult with a tax professional when it comes to determining homeownership deductions.

8. Rent Prices Are Still Rising

Rising rents are eating up an increasingly large share of tenants’ incomes, costing the typical U.S. renter almost $2,000 more per year than they would if renters were devoting the same-sized chunk of their paychecks to their landlord as they used to.

In some markets, the difference is far greater: Renters in San Jose, Calif., spend 38.4 percent of their incomes on rent, compared to 26 percent historically, which meant paying a total of $13,525 more in rent this year. That’s enough to buy a decent recent-model used car every year – or take a six-month world cruise every few years. It could also put a dent in student debt or help build retirement savings.


If you're wanting to get out of the rental circuit in 2018, this would be a great opportunity to become a first-time home buyer. However, before hunting for your new home, it is wise to get prequalified! Find out what your options are at LenderVolt.com and see what works best for you!

Sources: NAR.Realtor.com; AFN; Mortgage 101

Banks Tightened Lending Standards for Commercial Real Estate in Second Quarter: Fed

Fed: Banks Tightened Lending Standards for
Commercial Real Estate in Second Quarter

LenderVolt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Loan officers at U.S. banks reported tightening lending standards on commercial real estate loans while terms for business loans remained largely unchanged, the Federal Reserve reported on Monday in a quarterly survey.

The officers surveyed also reported a weakening in demand for both types of loans in the second quarter.

"A moderate net fraction of banks reported tightening standards for construction and land development loans and loans secured by multifamily residential properties" in commercial real estate, the U.S. central bank said in its survey.

A number of Fed policymakers have warned that a run-up in commercial real estate prices could intensify any future economic downturn. The Fed put a bigger emphasis this year on commercial real estate in its annual "stress tests" to determine how well big banks could weather financial turmoil.

Some banks also reported a tightening in auto and credit card loan standards, with demand also weakening in that category.

The Fed surveyed loan officers at 76 domestic banks and 22 U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks.

Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Paul Simao

12M Consumers May Get Credit-Score Boost

LenderVolt

Have a Bad Credit Score? It Could Soon Get Better—but Is It Enough to Buy a Home?

The three largest credit-reporting agencies will begin cleaning up credit reports in July, which could help lift the credit scores of about 12 million consumers.

In a survey by the Federal Trade Commission, one in four people say they spot errors in their credit reports, most commonly concerning tax liens and civil judgments. Up to half of tax lien data on a credit report is inaccurate or incomplete, says Eric J. Ellman, senior vice president for public policy and legal affairs at the Consumer Data Industry Association. Civil judgments—which means a court has ruled a person owes money—also tend to be ripe with errors or omissions on a credit report, experts say. Consumers can dispute the errors, but the process can be cumbersome.

Beginning July 1, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion will automatically exclude tax lien and civil judgment records from credit reports if they are missing a person’s name, address, Social Security number, or date of birth. Claims that do contain this key information, however, will remain on credit reports.

Six percent of Americans with a credit score—or 12 million— likely will see their score go up once the new policy takes effect. About 11 million could see an increase of about 20 points. “A lot of people who have liens or judgments against them already have crummy credit to begin with,” says Keith Gumbinger, vice president at HSH.com, a mortgage resource website. “A 10- or 20-point increase isn’t going to make a difference for a lot of borrowers.”

But borrowers who are on the cusp of qualifying for a home loan may stand to benefit the most. For example, Gumbinger says, a would-be buyer with a credit score of 570 who receives a 10-point uptick may be able to qualify for an FHA loan. FHA loans require a minimum 580 credit score.

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Source: “Have a Bad Credit Score? It Could Soon Get Better – But Is it Enough to Buy a Home?” Realtor.com® (June 22, 2017)

6 Reasons the VA Loan Blows Other Loans Away!

6 Reasons the VA Loan Blows Other Loans Away!  And Tips on How to Use it…

LenderVolt

In this awesome article, we're going to share with you 6 reasons why the VA Loan Blows away other loans such as Conventional and FHA Loans!  Be sure to read it to the end for many other home-buying resources!

For years past, there seems to have been a stigma against VA loans in Real Estate, and we don’t get how it still exists!!

VA Loans were originally part of the original GI Bill passed in 1944 to assist those who served our country by allowing them a straight-forward shot at owning a home.  Fast-forward to today and the VA Loan is regarded by many to be the best loan product available to our Active-Duty and Honorable Prior-Service military (if you’ve earned it by service to our country).

Let’s get started!

#1. No down payment required (yes—this means as little as $0 to buy a house)

This is the most significant aspect of the VA Loan program to to most VA home buyers!  This allows VA borrowers to STOP throwing their money away on RENT and instead—OWN their home—with no money down!

Let’s say for example that the average home on the market is selling for around $500,000.  Let’s compare the out-of-pocket money costs due at Close of Escrow (“COE”) for these 3 types of loan programs:

Herein lies one of the biggest advantages to the VA Loan: while the average homebuyer must set aside money over many years to save enough for a large down payment (and therefore possibly missing out on any opportunities along the way), the VA Loan allows Veterans and Active-Duty Service-members to purchase a home—for NOTHING down.

Note: Even if a VA Borrower DID have $100k sitting around for a down-payment, that’s still a large chunk of change to part with!  The option of holding onto liquid [cash] assets rather than placing them into a long-term non-liquid asset such as a house is valuable in and of itself.  This allows you to purchase a home without the major opportunity cost of giving up your savings, should an investment opportunity present itself!

This is big, but there’s more…

#2. No Private Mortgage Insurance (“PMI”)

Ok, so I said #1 was the best part, but this is pretty awesome too.  With nearly any other loan program, if you have anything less than 20% down on a property, you’ll have what’s called “Private Mortgage Insurance” which is pretty much mandatory insurance to protect the lender in case you default on the property.

Note: Private Mortgage Insurance is for the sole benefit of the lender and the guarantor of the loan program (for example, the VA for the VA Loan, and the FHA for the FHA Loan) and does not benefit you the borrower in any way, other than that its existence allows for riskier loans to be made available (lower down payment loans; less-than-prime credit score loans, etc).  

With a VA Loan, there is NO Private Mortgage Insurance!!  This not only saves you hundreds to thousands of dollars annually compared to a loan with PMI, but it also allows for you to be approved for a larger loan than you would with PMI premiums, considering your Debt-to-Income (“DTI”) ratio won’t have any PMI dragging it down!

Now there is a VA Funding Fee* of 2.15% of the purchase price for first-time VA Loan borrowers, and 3.3% for subsequent loans. One great thing about this fee however is that it does NOT have to be paid out-of-pocket and may be added to the loan balance—making this a truly ZERO-DOWN program to purchase a home.

The purpose of this one-time funding fee is to minimize the risk for the VA which guarantees the loan and allows for the program to continue.

*NOTE: If you are a Veteran receiving compensation for a service-connected disability rating, you are EXEMPT from the VA Funding Fee!

Let’s say for example that you were to buy a property for $500,000 with an FHA Loan and you placed down the required 3.5% ($17,500) as your down payment.  For the life of this loan (until you sell the home, refinance or pay it off), you would owe a monthly PMI payment starting at $348/month ON TOP of your regular mortgage payment.

Note: This is an estimate only and may be higher or lower depending on the specific loan scenario. This payment amount would also go down through the years, considering it is 0.85% annually of the remaining balance on the loan.

When obtaining the loan, you would also be required to pay the required “up-front PMI” of 1.75% of the base loan amount, which may typically be simply added onto the loan balance.

For example, the base loan balance on this loan would be $482,500 ($500,000 – $17,500). The up-front PMI of 1.75% of $482,500 would be $8,444.

See below comparison chart to see the differences between these 3 hypothetical loans.

Now, some lenders will claim to have “low down payment programs” with no PMI, but you can be sure they are charging you more one way or another.  For many conventional low down payment programs, they offer this by increasing the interest rate significantly from what you would typically be paying.  This doesn’t mean it’s a bad deal, but it certainly has its down-falls compared with the VA Loan.

#3. LOW interest rates

As mentioned above, most other low/no money down loan programs come with a caveat PMI and/or higher interest rates.  The awesome thing about the VA Loan is that—historically—VA Loan rates typically beat out FHA and Conventional Loan rates!

Interest rates are a big deal for anyone wanting to stretch their dollar, especially when keeping your home for a long period of time. For example, see the table below to compare monthly payments at different fixed interest rates.

As you can see from the table above, a rate that is even just 1% lower can save you hundreds of dollars per month!  This is a major benefit to Veterans using the VA Loan.

Please note that interest rates vary from day-to-day, so what’s considered normal today may be unheard of in five years.  Once you lock in a 15 or 30 year fixed rate however, your payment is set, so you don’t have to worry about fluctuations in the market.

#4. Greater flexibility with credit and income requirements

When comparing the VA Loan to most Conventional Loan programs, you will often find that the VA guidelines offer greater flexibility for borrowers with some bumps and bruises on their credit or those that are pushing the typical Debt-to-Income thresholds.

Although hypothetically speaking a borrower with a 580 FICO score could get approved for a VA Loan under the right circumstances, the ideal minimum is 620 (which is still pretty darn flexible!).

#5. Use it for a detached house, a condo, or even a 2-4 unit INCOME property!!

This is one of my personal favorite advantages of this program.  While you can obtain an FHA or Conventional Loan for 2-4 units, only with the VA Loan can you use leverage to the MAX by purchasing multiple units for NO MONEY DOWN!With an FHA or Conventional Loan, your down-payment will go up proportionally to your purchase price.  With the VA Loan however, so long as you stay below your County’s VA Loan Limit (find out your County VA Loan Limit HERE) then you can purchase up to a FOUR unit property with your VA Loan!  This means you could—in theory—purchase a four-unit property (so long as you live in ONE of the units for at least 12 months) and rent the other three units out and use the rent money to pay for your mortgage!

So, when you’re picking your neighborhood and search for homes, remember that you have options with the VA Loan, so make sure you’re picking the one that makes most sense to you!

[Using the VA Loan for multi-family income properties] can be a very profitable move when executed correctly!  We’ve helped several of our VA Loan clients purchase 2-4 unit CASH-FLOW properties with their VA Loan and the general consensus is that it was the best investment they ever made!

Note:  For condos/town houses with condominium ownership (shared interest in common areas), the complex must be on the VA Approved Condos list within the VA Website Portal. This does not apply to PUDs (Planned Unit Developments), however.  In most cities, there are plenty of approved complexes to choose from, but it is something to keep in mind when searching for a home.  A similar list applies to FHA-eligible complexes as well.  The search in the VA Website Portal can be confusing and difficult to use.  If you’re a VA Buyer and you can’t find a certain complex in the portal, don’t give up! Give us a call and we’ll be happy to help! (657) 216-5898.

#6. Use it for LIFE!

Get this—you can use the VA Loan over and over again—so long as you sell/pay-off your previous VA Loan under good standing.  Sure, there are other loan programs promising low down payments, no PMI etc.  As we discussed above, many of these have other costs associated with them in one form or another—whether it is PMI or high interest rates.

While these programs may come and go and change through the years (example: FHA recently changed the PMI to stick with the loan for life, while previously it was only 5 years), the VA Loan has pretty much only gotten better for our Servicemen and Servicewomen through the years.

Note:  Contrary to popular belief, it is even possible to obtain a SECOND VA Loan (while keeping your first)!  This is called a “Second-tier Entitlement” and under certain circumstances, allows a service member to obtain a full or partial entitlement on a second property, provided the circumstances meet the VA criteria! (see HERE for some examples of obtaining a SECOND VA Loan while keeping the first).

Summary

So to put it all together: If you have earned the benefit of the VA Loan, with it, you can buy a property for no money down with no PMI and a lower interest rate than most other loan programs—even use it for an INCOME-generating property—and use it again and again for years to come.

If you’re Active Duty military or a Veteran, THANK YOU for your service to our great country.  The VA Loan is a hard-earned reward and you deserve to know about the benefits it provides to you.

One of the first things you’ll most likely want to do first is getting pre-approved , and we can also help you search the MLS for homes for sale (no, not Zillow or Trulia --a search that's directly syndicated to the Multiple Listing System)!

For more information on the VA Loan in Southern California, check out our site!

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Source: Jed Bratt, The Real Estate Jedi, March 7, 2016