RATES NEAR ALL TIME LOW'S! ACT NOW!

Rates have dropped to near all time lows! If you have needed to refinance your home loan and was unable to—due to the economic changes—there has never been a better time to refinance! Conventional 30-year fixed program rates are now at 4.50% or below.

Call us today, toll free at 1-866-468-7800, so we can discuss the new options available for you today, such as:

• Lower your monthly payment!
• Getting out of your Adjustable Rate Mortgage, into a low fixed rate (call before your payment increases).
• Pay off your high-interest credit cards and improve your FICO scores (ask us about “Credit Xpert®”)
• Consolidate your 1st and 2nd mortgages (such as your high-interest Home Equity Line of Credit)
• Get Cash for College or pay off your Student Loans 
• Get Cash for Home Improvements or to purchase another Investment Property
• Gain a monthly income while being retired, using a “Reverse Mortgage” product (call for details)
• Call to find out whether you have a Fannie Mae or Freddy Mac loan.  We have the ability to refinance your loan without mortgage insurance.
• If you have a FHA Call me regarding a streamline refinance and reduce your mortgage.

Please give us a call ASAP at so we can determine how much you can save each month!

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WHAT WERE THE ACTUAL NUMBERS?

The following numbers are for closed transactions only for the month of May, the latest full month available.  Expect these numbers to be big, but not as big as the June numbers will be as homebuyers scrambled to close their transactions before the tax credit expired.  (It has been extended for closings ONLY, not new contracts, until September.)  The total number of sales was 3,257.  This was up 22% from the previous month of April and up 22.1% from May ’09.  There were 2,015 single-family resale, 942 condominiums and 300 new homes.  There was a 240% increase in new homes from the previous month due largely to buyer incentives offered by the builders. The median price for all properties was $450,000, and for a single-family resale it was $515,000.  Condo’s came in at $305,000 and new home’s median price was $645,000.  The trend towards lower prices continued with nearly 80% of all sales under $700,000 and only 653 sales over $700,000 . The average down payment was 19.2%, a sharp departure from 100% financing and indicative of intensified lender scrutiny.

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ECONOMY SEEMS TO SLIP BUT UCLA SEES EARLIER RECOVERY IN ORANGE COUNTY

UCLA predicts that California, “will slog through another year of double-digit unemployment, but Orange County and other coastal counties will bounce back before the inland communities.”  This and other facts came out in their quarterly forecast.  The forecast sees the state unemployment rate averaging 12.1% this year with 167,000 jobs being added.  Unfortunately, that will not make a dent in the 1.3 million jobs lost throughout the recession.  The report went on to state, “the economy will begin to pick up slightly in the beginning of 2011 and by the middle of 2011 begin to grow at more normal levels.”
 
Nationwide, experts predict a modest recovery with gross domestic product averaging 3.4% this year.  Many of the original numbers regarding exports were modified after Europe’s crisis became clear.  According to the report, it typically takes four to six years to recover from a major restructuring of a local economy, which defines southern California to a certain extent because of the lopsided employment in the housing sector that occurred during the sub-prime boom.  The good news is that California exports and manufacturing will likely pick up the slack and lead California forward. 
 
Even better news for the resale market is that as a result of the worst downturn in decades in new construction, housing demand will fall on existing homes for at least the first two years of the recovery while new housing catches up.

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CALIFORNIA WARNS ABOUT SHORT-SALE SCAMS

Attorney General Jerry Brown is warning homeowner’s to be wary of scam artists offering to short cut the system or promising results that are not reflective of a true short sale.  His office offers the following tips: 1)  With limited exceptions, only licensed real estate agents or attorneys can engage in short-sale negotiations with a homeowner’s lender.  2)  Licensed agents seeking upfront fees from homeowners for short sales must first submit an advance fee contract to the Department of Real Estate and receive a no-objection letter.  3)  Surcharges and hidden fees just to place an offer on a home are illegal.  4)  Misrepresenting the market value of a property to a homeowner’s lender by only submitting offers on the property from affiliated straw buyers is illegal.  Most short sale transactions are handled by Realtor’s directly with no upfront fee, and negotiated directly with the lender by the agent, escrow, or a short sale intermediary hired by the agent.

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