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Looks like Fannie Mae is deciding to place lumps of coal in the stockings of potential borrowers this year, after stuffing it with goodies over the past several years with more agressive lending...

As of last week Fannie pulled the plug on certain types of "no income" verification loans, causing many lenders to do the same. Gone are "No Ratio", "No Income", and "No DOC" loans that were based off of Fannie Mae guidelines. There are a few out there that may still have a program in place, we have a lender still doing a NO DOC (only based on credit score and equity) loan at lower LTV's (75%).

The other news regarding Fannie of great importance to the Realtor / Investor community, is that they will reduce maximum available financing by 5% LTV if the property is in a market considered "significantly depreciating". If you aren't familiar with this designation, and what this means check out a previous blog post below...

Many lenders had reduced their max loans already on the more aggressive lending programs, but for those who could verify income and assets, and had good credit 100% financing was still available.

As of January 15th, 100% financing will no longer be available even for perfect borrowers in these depreciating markets. There have been some lenders who have already implemented these changes effective now.

You might appreciate that we all may have a buyer we are working with that would liketo get into a property with no downpayment on a normal loan. They are on the clock now, for sure...the time to deal is now. Otherwise that buyer who has been floating out there waiting to scoop up a property might have to go scoop up some more cash to get into the deal.

As our way of spreading holiday cheer and as additional incentive to motivate those borrowers still on the fence, here is what we are going to do - we will eat, the appraisal fee on your closed loan file. That's right get your appraisal gratis....

We have cah out refi's with no seasoning to use the appraised value up to 75% LTV. So if you bought a property cash or hard money, rehabbed it and now its worth a lot more, we can use that value, even if you just bought it a couple of months or weeks ago. This program is great - no income verification, fixed rates in the mid to low 7%'s.

Hard Money Loans - from Broward to Ocala, homes built after 1968 can get full purchase fnancing plus rehab money up to 65% after rehab value. If you have a property older than this, we still have an investor who will fund the entire purchase price for the right deal.

Call us today - we will help you get buyers qualified, or help you get cash out of your properties through refi's....call us today 888-2Lend-Fast or 954-217-9518.

Happy Holidays to all! Call us now!

It has been so nice to wake up and not break out in a sweat as I walk the 20 feet from my front door to my car in the mornings anymore. I look forward to this all year, and it’s a big reminder of why people continue to move down to Florida. We have heard so much talk of people moving out of Florida recently, that this is a good reminder of why people stay and keep moving here.

Imagine having to wake up in biting cold every morning for months, or having to shovel snow, or scrape ice off of the windshield of your car before heading off in the morning. Of course, for millions o f Americans outside of Florida, this is a way of life. But if you had the choice not to, you might trade in the bite of winter for the for steam of the Florida summer.

Every year, people wake up and think “That’s it, I can’t take another of these winters!”. So even though there is a lot of “negativity” towards Florida and real estate currently, the long term outlook remains good for us. Florida’s population is estimated to be close to 29 Million by 2030 (about 18M currently), and 7 of the top 19 fastest growing counties in the United States are located right here. (source: US Census)

Just as important are jobs—Florida continues to have the lowest unemployment rate of the ten most populous states, based on the latest nationwide data, and has been below the national average since mid-2002.

Based on the latest nationwide data, Florida ranked third in job growth among the ten most populous states, behind only Texas and California. “Florida remains the fourth most populous state in the nation and continues to rank third highest in job growth nationally, relative to our population,” said Monesia T. Brown, Director of the Agency for Workforce Innovation. “Based on the November 2007 Site Selection Magazine, Florida’s business climate is among the top 10 in the nation.”

Where there is job and population growth, there will be a rebound. While right now may not be the best time to be selling a property, it’s a fantastic time to buy. If you have a reason to move (bigger house, more bedrooms, etc.) you have lots of selection and every seller wants to be your best friend. Negotiate a great deal on the house you really want to live in.  We would love to help you find a great deal on your new loan and also connect you with motivated sellers though our network of investors, sellers, and Realtors.  If you are interested in buying now, please give us a call - 1-888-2LEND-FAST.