Can falling loan limits affect you? Yes they can!

Federal loan limits will decrease on October 1 unless Congress takes immediate action to make the current loan limits permanent. The Daily Breeze today reports on the unreported story about loan limits:

Jumbo loans - the federally insured mortgages that allow homebuyers to secure lower interest rates and thereby increase the size of the loan they qualify for - will see a big change on Oct. 1.

That's when the jumbo loan limits will drop nationwide. The amount of decline depends on the homes prices in each county.

For Los Angeles County, the limit will fall from $729,750 to $625,500.

That affects home loans through the Federal Housing Administration that require a 3.5 percent down payment, as well as mortgages through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that demand 20 percent down.

But don't look for a mob of homebuyers rushing to close their loans before then. That is at least partly because few consumers know about the change.

Think that high loan limits are just a thing for a few high cost areas? Think again. NAR's research found that more than 669 counties in 42 states and the territories would be negatively impacted by the loan limit change. The average decline in loan limits would be more than $68,000. Only 8 states will see no decline (AR, IA, KS, MS, NE, ND, SD, & OK). Every other state will see a drop in loan limits.

August 20 - Energy Upgrade California - Come Meet the Contractors!

The South Bay Environmental Services Center invites you to a special event:

Energy Upgrade California: Come Meet the Contractors!
Enjoy free lunch from LA's premier food trucks and enter to win prizes . . .
like a Home Energy Audit!

When:
Saturday, August 20, 2011
10:00am - 12:00pm

Where:
South Bay Energy Efficiency Demonstration (SEED) House
5021 Lennox Blvd, Lennox, CA 90304

Join us for a special Homeowner workshop on Saturday, August 20 to learn how to save money, increase energy and water efficiency, and earn up to $6,000 in rebates and incentives from Energy Upgrade California!


10am - 11am - Homeowners Workshop
Learn how to save money by making your home more energy efficient and how to maximize your rebate with Energy Upgrade California!

11am - 12:00pm - Lunch & Meet the Contractors
Afterwards, enjoy complimentary refreshments from the BORDER GRILL (specialty Mexican Food) and REBEL BITE (comfort food with an attitude) FOOD TRUCKS, enter to win prizes, including a Home Energy Audit, and meet with our qualified Participating Contractors to get the ball rolling on your energy efficiency upgrade!

Event is FREE, but for planning purposes, please pre-register now

Please call SBESC at (310) 371-7222 if you have questions, and please feel free to share news of this event with your friends.

NAR Urges Action on Debt Ceiling

NAR calls on Congress to raise the debt ceiling to protect the fragile housing market and home buyers' financing options.

NAR issued a statement today calling on members of Congress to raise the federal debt ceiling with the warning that the continuing debate over the issue is destabilizing housing markets around the country as households, concerned about rising interest rates, remain on the sidelines.

"Until a resolution is reached, Congress will be unable to address the myriad issues facing the nation’s families, communities, and economy," NAR President Ron Phipps says in the statement. “The indecision in Congress is paralyzing progress on other fronts, and it is harming home buyer confidence and negatively affecting home sales.”

NAR does not take a position on the specifics of the legislation but has been in communication with members of Congress and their staffs throughout the debate over the risks of a default by the U.S. government. Although the consequences of default can’t be anticipated with certainty, there is broad consensus among economists that interest rates will rise. Higher interest rates will dampen home sales at a time when markets around the country are struggling to recover.

Are short sales being held up by lenders for all the wrong reasons?

Conferences held in May by both the National Association of REALTORS® and the California Association of REALTORS® held forums dedicated to short sales and the problematic state of housing financing. This blog post is a write-up of a forum held by NAR in Washington on mortgage financing, including short sales.

At NAR’s Mortgage Liquidity Symposium on May 10, a panel of banking and lending professionals faced an audience of hundreds of REALTORS from all over the U.S. There were some testy exchanges – in particular one panelist, Martin Eakes, Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Responsible Lending, claimed that we were at risk of going back to 1929 where, he felt, irresponsible and inappropriate lending practices were the order of the day. Some REALTORS in the Q&A session expressed frustration about short sales and appraisals.

Here in the South Bay, the Daily Breeze wonders if the problematic process for completing short sales are contributing to the slow housing recovery:

Realtors are increasingly blaming slow bank processing of short sales as at least one big reason for the weak housing recovery.

Short sales - which involve homes sold for less than the current mortgage - represented 26 percent of existing single-family home sales for March in Los Angeles County, the last month for which there is data. Short sales usually take several months or longer for banks to approve.

The Los Angeles Times' columnist David Lazarus also asks why short sales are drawn out so much:

The situation has grown so problematic that the California Assn. of Realtors recently ran ads in newspapers statewide saying more needs to be done to assist homeowners on the verge of foreclosure by expediting the short-sale process.

"Horror stories abound from potential home buyers and Realtors forced to wait 90 or more days for a response to a purchase offer or being required to fax short-sale applications or other paperwork as many as 50 times," said Beth Peerce, president of the organization.

FREE High-Efficiency Toilets - One day only in Manhattan Beach

Free High-Efficiency Toilets - April 9, 2011

This program is available to all qualified Manhattan Beach residents. You must pre-register using your water bill account number, so call today. More info here.

To pre-qualify and find out more about the upcoming FREE toilet giveaway event, please call ConserVision Consulting at (866) 861-0784 or visit our website at www.waterprograms.com/westbasin/