Jason Kotar's (jkotar) Blog

The Senate has agreed to extend the tax credit for homebuyers to include contracts signed by April 30, 2010 that close by June 1. The credit for 1st time homebuyers will remain at $8000 with the income limits raised from $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples to $125,000 and $250,000, r...

The Federal government just announced a program to help State Housing Finance agencies (HFA's) finance mortgages for first time homebuyers. The fact is that because of the credit crunch, many State HFA's were unable to sell the tax exempt bonds that raise the capital required to enable the agenci...

In teaching my class on Homes, Buyers and Mortgages, I ask the attending Realtors "How many listings in your area are overpriced?" The number most frequently mentioned is 50%. Why is that number so high, particularly in today's market? The most common responses are: The sellers refuse to accept r...

Every homebuyer finds out about their monthly mortgage and escrow payments from their lender which cover principal, interest, taxes, homeowners insurance and mortgage insurance (if applicable). If they are moving into a property managed by a homeowners association, they are also made aware of HOA...

Getting a conventional loan approved for all but the well-to-do with a 700+ credit score can be daunting. To say that Lenders today are risk averse is an understatement. What is a buyer to do if, after having gone to the expense and time of having an appraisal performed on the home they want to p...

One of the key elements in the home buying process is the buyer obtaining a mortgage pre-approval letter from a lender. Today, many prospective homebuyers go online to a website of a lender or real estate professional and use a "mortgage calculator" to tell them how much home they can purchase. T...

In a recent post, I mentioned that a number of loan programs are available with little or no down payment. While most of the programs offered by government agencies apply to low to moderate income applicants, there are major exceptions. Let me review the various options that need to be evaluated ...

Life got a little tougher for mortgage brokers last week as a large wholesale lender was forced to close their doors. The fact is that the number of loans being placed by mortgage brokers is down substantially from last year. The number of major banks that had wholesale operations for mortgage br...

Foreclosures continue to rise at a record rate. And, there is no reason to expect that trend to change within the next year. Many Adjustable Rate Mortgages, due to reset in the coming year, will experience a dramatic increase in interest rates. While the Presidents' efforts to get lenders to rene...

It has been some time since I last posted a blog here on ActiveRain, guess you can say I've been tucked away finishing my book and website. My book, Homes Buyers and Mortgages, is a solutions oriented book that provides not only information on how things have changed but serves as a resource guid...