Real Estate

Georgetowner •

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Gregg Busch • March 25, 2011

As all of us are aware by now, after the largest housing bust since the great depression, getting a mortgage is far from the pre-bubble days where just filling out an application gave you an over 70% chance of getting a loan if you had good credit. Everything you can think of involving your financial picture now needs to be disclosed and reviewed by a lender. For those of you that are self-employed or own your own business, getting a loan can be even more toilsome.

Pre-housing bubble days allowed the “self-employed” to just state their income and put a decent amount down in cash. We, the lenders, just focused on the borrowers’ credit scores, the value of the property, and in most cases savings in the bank. As the housing market nationally started to crash, so did more of these stated income loans, referred to these days as “liar loans.” Not all self-employed borrowers that used stated income loans were lying about their income, but since the program was abused it went “pop” with the bubble.

Here is what you need to know about getting approved as a self-employed borrower:
1) You must have a 2-year history of being self-employed with reported 1040s to qualify for a mortgage. There are some exceptions, so e-mail me if you have any questions.
2) Lenders are looking for several months of “cash reserves,” which are total mortgage payments in liquid assets. Many mortgage programs, especially if the loans are over the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac loan limits, are looking for as little as 6 months or up to 12 months of cash reserves, depending on the loan size and down payment.
3) Lenders are now using income reported to the IRS as taxable income to qualify for a loan. If you are writing-off a lot of deductions then you are going to have a harder time qualifying for a loan. You have to be more conservative in your business deductions, which is hard in this economic climate. Bottom line: pay more in taxes to qualify for a larger loan.
4) Declining income is a red flag for an underwriter. If your business is still reeling from the economic tsunami of 2009, getting a loan can be even more difficult. Lenders will only use the lower of the two years of income to qualify you if, for example, 2010’s income is lower than 2009’s. We can make exceptions for declining income for a health issue or call to active duty, for example.
5) The higher your credit scores are, the better chance you have of getting a higher loan and qualifying for more. Reducing credit card debt is one of the easiest ways to improve your credit score, since credit card debt has an immediate impact on your score. Work with a credit repair company to get rid of any inaccurate information and make sure you check your credit scores regularly.
Gregg Busch is Vice President of First Savings Mortgage Corporation. For more information or a free pre-approval contact him at GBusch@FSavings.com or 202-256-7777.

Darrell Parsons • December 1, 2010

-Dear Darrell:

I picked up a copy of The Georgetowner last weekend, and once again began to think about moving to the city from our home in the suburbs. I love the energy of the city and think I would love living in D.C., but we have a one-year-old and another child on the way. I worry that living here will be difficult for the children, and that the cost of owning real estate in D.C. is way more than where we now live. This isn’t exactly a “real estate” question, but I would appreciate your thoughts.

— Melissa H, Gaithersburg, MD

Dear Melissa:

Great question, and a very difficult one, because the choice of where to live is based on so many case-by-case variables. In principle, I believe very strongly that children can thrive in the city environment, and in some ways the city model is more like small-town living than suburban life is. In Georgetown, for instance, there is a town center, and one can walk to the post office, the library, parks, schools, tennis courts, restaurants, and the town “stream” (i.e. the Potomac). Kids still play on various sports teams and belong to youth clubs — two which come to mind immediately are the Jelleff Boys & Girls Club and the Guy Mason Park rec center complex. Imagine living on R Street, rolling out of bed, and taking the kids across the street to Rose Park to run in the fields, play on the playground, hit a tennis ball or hike down to Rock Creek Park to throw rocks in the stream. The about-to-open renovated Georgetown library is two blocks away. There are French, Turkish, Korean, and Egyptian restaurants — not to mention Ledo’s Pizza — a stone’s throw away, and countless other restaurants within a few blocks. It’s an easy stroll to a showplace Safeway, and there is the easy access to the museums, monuments, galleries and music venues of downtown D.C.

Then there are the properties themselves: one-level, two-level, three-level row houses, condos and co-ops, many with decks, patios or back yards. With a little work, I believe you can find a property which would suit your family.

In general, the prices are likely to be higher than suburban property, but the tradeoff is the community, more time off the roads, less money on commuting costs, less stress, and easy access to the incredible variety of life in the city. I’ve described Georgetown above, but same applies to numerous other communities all over D.C.

Obviously I can’t tell you that your children would be content in the District, but my guess is that if you are content here, they will be also. Children learn from their environment, and they will certainly learn things peculiar to city life, things which I believe will enrich their lives in a very special way. And, of course, yours too!

Darrell Parsons is the managing broker of the Georgetown Long and Foster office and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity regulations. Have a real estate question? E-mail him at darrell@lnf.com. He blogs at georgetownrealestatenews.blogspot.com.

Georgetowner •

Dear Darrell,

Is there any advantage in my trying to buy a property before the end of the year, rather than waiting for early Spring of next year?

Bill E

Dear Bill,

From a tax standpoint, there might very well be an advantage for you to buy and close before the end of the year. But each person’s financial situation is unique to that person and is something you should discuss with your accountant or financial advisor.

From a real estate standpoint, there are a couple of useful things to keep in mind:

– If you look at a newly built property, it’s very possible that the builder will be offering end of the year incentives.

– Certain owners may be facing tax consequences of one kind or another, which would be ameliorated by selling before the end of the year. These sellers might be more flexible than usual.

– Prices and interest rates are low—interest rates, historically low. No one knows how these two will change between now and spring of 2011.

Many economists predict that we will see a slow, steady improvement in the economy over the next year or two. If this does happen, it is likely that prices and interest rates will rise. So, the question is: do you want to bet that the economy will be better or worse come spring? Prices already seem to have stabilized in DC. We’ve been fortunate in that regard. Whatever your decision, I encourage you to be in touch with a local Realtor who has a view into our local market. Most of what one hears in the news is based on the national market. To make informed decisions, you need to know what is happening locally.

Darrell Parsons is the Managing Broker of the Georgetown Long & Foster Office. Darrell@LNF.com or 202.944.8400. He blogs at: www.GeorgetownRealEstateNews.blogspot.com

Georgetowner • November 17, 2010

A couple of years ago, if a homeowner was offered a jumbo-sized mortgage for a home in Washington for 4.375% they would beg for the loan to be locked. In fact, the customer would probably think the mortgage loan officer was misquoting his or her rate sheet. But that was 2009. Today clients sometimes let greed take over. A lot of borrowers are taking their time in making the decision to move forward in anticipation of even lower rates.

Remember 2008 – 2009? The sky was falling. Banks were failing by the hundreds. The Treasury Department headed by Henry Paulson, formerly of Goldman Sachs, launched the TARP program under President George W. Bush in order to stabilize the financial system.

Fast forward to the recent midterm elections. Democrats lost the House to the Republicans because many voters believed that among other things that the Democrats were the architects of TARP and that TARP did not work. TARP did pass with the help of Democrats and TARP did salvage the banking system. In fact the Government may make a profit from TARP.

The country is climbing out of the deep recession slowly. The recovery is proving to be a slow one that will take time. In reaction to the slow pace of the recovery, the Federal Reserve Bank announced “Quantitative Easing 2,” or “QE2,” which entails the buying of $600 billion dollars of Treasury bills in order to stimulate the economy by keeping Treasury prices at lower levels. With the stimulus program, the Feds also are attempting to keep interest rates down.

In early November, before the Treasury started its pre-announced buyback, rates reached the lowest levels that the markets have seen since the 1950s.

Unfortunately, even when interest rates hit new lows, perspective mortgage clients can let greed take over. Some folks are always hoping for still lower rates. There are a few reasons why rates have moved higher since the Treasury buyback was announced.

First, everyone on Wall Street and elsewhere knew what the Federal Reserve and its Chairman Ben Bernanke were planning on doing. The prices of the 10-year Treasuries and those of the mortgage market reflected the anticipated program. Others are talking about the potential inflationary effects of a devalued dollar.

Since the buy back program was announced, the rate on the 10-Year Treasures has gone up and interest rates have also ticked up.

Interest rates should stay in a relatively narrow range for the near term. If you can save hundreds
of dollars now, go ahead and pull the interest rate trigger. Your next worry will be how to spend the money you will be saving.

Bill Starrels lives in Georgetown and is a mortgage loan officer. He can be reached at 703 625 7355 or by email, bill.Starrels@gmail.com

Georgetowner •

Dear Darrell,
I am working with a Realtor to buy a house. He keeps asking me for more and more of my financial information. I like working with him and think he is a good agent, but am a little put off by having to give my financial particulars. I also don’t want to be rude by telling him this is private and that I don’t want to share it. Is it common for agents to request this sort of thing?

Amanda R.

Dear Amanda,

Without knowing exactly what the Realtor is asking you for, it’s a bit hard to answer your question. But assuming the Realtor is asking questions related to the resources you have available for purchasing a property, these are legitimate questions. Part of the work of a good Realtor is to educate his client. There are a couple of ways to go about this when discussing financial information. One is for the agent to ask the questions (as is happening in this case). Another is for the agent to encourage you to talk with a mortgage broker who can tell you about a wide variety of loan programs which might be suitable for you. Either way, it is important for you to understand the costs of buying a home—the immediate costs and the long term costs. As evidenced by the huge number of people who have gotten into trouble because they were overextended financially, it is critical that you be certain that you have both the cash (down payment and closing costs, etc.), and the income to support the monthly mortgage cost. If you are uncomfortable giving this information to your agent, you can certainly give it directly to a mortgage broker, and that person can counsel you on financial matters. If you don’t know a mortgage broker I suggest you talk with friends or ask your agent for a recommendation or two. One other very important aspect of this process is that in light of the recent systemic financial problems, lenders are being far more cautious. This makes the process longer, and requires a fair amount more documentation and review. Your agent no doubt knows this and is probably trying to help you get your ducks in a row early on, so that when you find the property you want, you will be prepared to make an offer and move forward.