Following the subprime mortgage market collapse, new loans are down, and lenders are turning back to safer - less profitable - offerings. But with tougher competition and a shrinking market, they’re getting a little more creative. In January, more than 60 percent of all mortgage loans were made to prime customers with FICO scores of 650 or more. Those customers most often go the traditional 30-year fixed-rate route - a simple, unsexy product that offers lenders little room to differentiate or to squeeze more profits out of their loans.

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Recently buyers who were in contract to purchase a home in Oakland, Calif., asked the seller to credit them money in escrow. The money was to be applied toward repairs that were recommended in the course of the buyers’ inspections. The sellers were offended. They had agreed to sell for significantly less than their asking price. They weren’t inclined to make any further concessions. So they turned down the buyers’ request and told their agent to put the house back on the market. The buyers, realizing that they were buying the house at a fair price, removed their inspection contingency and the sale went through.

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Recently listed is this one of a kind, 2.87 acre Waterfront Lot with a beautiful view of W. KERR SCOTT LAKE.

It features easy lake access and is dock approved.

The lot is alredy cleared and is ready for building your beautiful home.

Important for lake lots, the property has been “Perc” tested and approved for a septic system for a 3 Bedroom 2 Bath home.

$400,000 for this unique NC lakefront property.

Contact Greg Stikeleather, Broker, 704.880.5247 or email Greg at grstike@charter.net

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Americans, it seems, are rediscovering the pleasures of their own backyards. For many what was once a place for casual barbecues with friends has now become a full-fledged room with all the amenities of the indoors: gourmet appliances, light fixtures, cushioned furniture and even flat-screen televisions. In colder parts of the country, homeowners are putting in heat lamps and fireplaces so they can lounge outside almost any time of year.

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A mortgage broker is just the ticket when you are a “story loan.” What I mean by that is the lender has to understand your circumstances in order to approve the loan. Because a mortgage broker can access multiple lenders a lot more efficiently than you can on your own, story loans often benefit from using a mortgage broker. I’m a fan of using an upfront mortgage broker, a term coined by Jack Guttentag and explained by him in the Bankrate column “Want your mortgage wholesale? Try an upfront broker.” You should be able to get a loan secured by the equity in your home; you’ll just pay a higher interest rate based on your poor credit score.

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search for : mortgage broker, Bankrate, Want your mortgage wholesale?

Thanks to abnormally low mortgage interest rates, home sellers had an extremely favorable “seller’s market” for the last few years. That means there were more qualified home buyers in the market than there were homes available for sale. Homes often sold in just a few days or weeks. Typical home sale prices appreciated 10 percent or more annually for the last few years in many communities. Since 2000, the average U.S. home has doubled in market value, according to the National Association of Realtors.

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More so than with any other room, remodeling a bathroom can increase your home’s resale value. In fact, a moderate-sized bathroom remodel, which costs about $10,499, brings a 102 percent return on your investment, according to the 2005 Cost vs. Value Report published by the National Associa-tion of Realtors in REALTOR Magazine and by Hanley-Wood in Remodeling magazine.

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search for : remodeling a bathroom, home’s resale value, bathroom remodel

The woods are full of agents these days, and many are beginners. Here are the eight questions you can ask to separate the average agents from the experienced heavy hitters. Whether you’re buying or selling, the difference between having an average real-estate agent or a superstar can mean thousands of dollars in your pocket. It can mean selling your home for top dollar (stellar) or losing the house of your dreams to a more organized buyer (decidedly not stellar).

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One out of every three low-income borrower falls behind on bill payments in a typical year, one out of every four now pays more than 40 percent of their income on debt payments and the total debt held by low-income households has soared by 308 percent during the last 15 years. A recent National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) survey found consumers universally ignore the fundamentals of sound financial management, such as budgeting and tracking expenses, ordering free credit reports, and managing debt. In another study by Bankrate, Inc. researchers found 34 percent of home owners do not know what type of mortgage they own. The study also said 34 percent of homeowners with adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) do not know what they will do when their loan readjusts.

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