Where ARE the Affordable HOMES?
According
to Coldwell Banker Real Estate, the most affordable homes are in
Minot, N.D. with a price of $130,300 for a four bedroom, 2.5 Bath with
about 2,200 Square Feet.
The least affordable is LaJolla, California at a mind stopping $1,708,000
for the same home, but the view is really nice.
Here is how the list goes..... Most
Affordable Housing 1
Minot,
N.D.
$130,300
2 Great Falls.
Mont.
$130,525
3 Arlington,
Texas
$134,550
4 Billings,
Mont.
$134,650
5 Killeen,
Texas
$136,750
6 Tulsa,
Oklahoma
$138,250
7 Topeka,
Kan
$141,850
8 Parkersburg, W.V.
$144,000
9 Cadillac,
Mich.
$145,000
10 Knoxville,
Tenn.
$145,690
Least Affordable
1 LaJolla, Cal.
$1,708,000
2 Beverly Hills, Cal.
$1,317,000
3 Santa Barbara, Cal.
$1,235,000
4 Palo Alto, Cal
$1,210,000
5 Greenwich,
Conn.
$1,191,000
6 Newport Beach, Cal.
$1,173,000
7 San Mateo, Cal.
$1,148,000
8 San Francisco, Cal.
$1,134,000
9 Wellesley,
Mass.
$1,101,000
10 Kailus-Kona, Hawaii
$1,082,000
That enough! The
prices just keep going up. I think that is due to the fact that they
just are not making any more dirt.
| RED
Tape:
This is an actual case.....
A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA loan
for a client. He was told the loan would be granted if he
could prove satisfactory title to a parcel of property being offered
as collateral.
The property dated back to 1803, which
took the Lawyer three months to track down. After sending
the information to the FHA he received the
following reply.
(actual letter)
"Upon review of your letter
adjoining your client's loan application, we note that the request
is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we compliment the
able manner in which you have prepared and presented the
application, we must point out that you have only cleared title to
the proposed collateral property back to 1803. Before final
approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to clear the
title back to its origin."
Annoyed, the lawyer responded as follows.
(actual letter)
"Your letter regarding title in Case
No. XXXXXXX has been received.
I note that you wish to have title extended further than the 194
years covered by the present application. I was unaware that any
educated person in the country, particularly those working in the
property area, would not know that Louisiana was purchased by the U.
S. from France in 1803, the year of origin identified in our
application.
For the edification of the uninformed FHA bureaucrats, the title to
the land prior to U. S. ownership was obtained from France, which
had acquired it by Right of Conquest from Spain. The land came
into possession of Spain by Right of Discovery made in the year 1492
by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus, who had been granted
the privilege of seeking a new route to India by the then reigning
monarch, Isabella. The good queen, being a pious woman and
careful about titles, almost as much as the FHA, took the
precaution of securing the blessing of the Pope before she sold her
jewels to fund Columbus' expedition.
Now the Pope, as I'm sure you know, is the emissary of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. And God, it is commonly accepted, created this
world. Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume that He also
made that part of the world called Louisiana. He, therefore,
would be the owner of origin.
I hope to hell you find His original claim to be satisfactory.
Now, may we have our damn loan?"
They got the loan.
This is just some of the problems we, as
Realtors, go through to be sure you, as the Buyer, get
"clear" title to your new home.
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Editorial:
Unfortunately we have unscrupulous
mortgage lenders in the marketplace. They offer financing that is
often very attractive but may require you (and the Seller) to unknowingly
commit loan fraud by not disclosing the actual and complete terms of your
home purchase contract.
When shopping for a lender not only compare the interest rate BUT also ask
to see what the "APR" is on your loan. The "APR"
includes all of the "FEES" that affect YOUR total amount
borrowed. This will help YOU decide if this is the way YOU want to
go.
The following information is very helpful to determine if your lender is
working for you or just trying to make a loan.
Thank you,
Art Jiles
"Loan
Flipping"
Loan Flipping or Equity Stripping is
a practice in which a lender, often through high-pressure or deceptive
sales tactics, encourages repeated refinancing by existing customers and
tacks on thousands of dollars in additional fees or other charges each
time. Some lenders will intentionally start borrowers with a loan at
a higher interest rate, so that the lender can then refinance the loan to
a slightly lower rate and charge additional fees to the borrower. This
kind of multiple refinancing is never beneficial to the borrower and
results in the further loss of equity. Flipping can also take place
when competing lenders refinance the same borrowers repeatedly; promising
benefits each time which are not delivered or which are outweighed by the
additional costs of the loan. These
loans are also harmful due to the fact that these loans are often approved
based on the equity in the property and not the borrower's ability to
repay the loan. As a general rule, loans made to individuals who do
not have the income to repay such loans usually are designed to fail; they
frequently result in the lender acquiring the borrower's home
equity. The borrower is likely to default and then lose their home
through foreclosure.
EXAMPLE: A
lender convinced an elderly couple to refinance their home to a new loan
amount of around $93,000.00, which included over $10,000.00 in financed
fees and a single premium credit life insurance policy for close to
$6,000.00. Two years later, the same lender convinced the couple to
refinance again (without paying any other debts) a fixed interest of
11.50%, financing into their loan what looks like over $2,200.00 in fees
plus a credit insurance policy for over $10,000.00. Another year
later, the same lender refinanced them again at an 11.50% interest rate
without any visible benefit while they were charged another nearly $900.00
in additional fees.
Predatory Lending Practices:
1-Financing excessive fee in loans
2-Charging higher
interest rates than a borrower's
credit warrants
3-Making loans without regard to the borrower's ability to pay
4-Prepayment penalties
5-Loans
for over 100% Loan-to-Value
6-Home improvement scams
7-Single premium credit insurance
8-Balloon Payments
9-Negative amortization
10-Loan Flipping
11-Property Flipping
12-Agressive and deceptive marketing
The use of "live" checks in the
mail
13-Friendly Leases
14-"Forgiveable Owner Carry" mortgage
Please, just remember this,,,,"If it sounds too good
to be true....It usually is NOT". |
