Monday, February 18, 2013

FHA Loan - Refinance your Home in Utah





Find out if now is the right time to refinance! You may be able to lower your monthly payments or reduce the time it takes to pay off your loan. Here are some important reasons to consider refinancing:




        Get a lower mortgage rate and reduce interest costs.


        Convert an adjustable rate mortgage to a secure, fixed-rate mortgage.


        Consolidate your first and second mortgages into a mortgage with a lower rate.


        Pay off installment debts and credit cards.




Ready to refinance your current mortgage?




Apply online to be pre-approved.






Refinancing Advantages




The advantages we offer for your refinancing needs include:




    Low rates


    Easy online application


    All types of mortgage programs


    Guidance and advice from an experienced loan professional




Call Today


801-277-5100 

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Utah Mortgage Broker - Mortgage Broker in Utah


 



 



 



IS YOUR EQUITY SAFE?



 



Hi I’m Mark Hammond, president of Legend Financial Services.   Do you think your home equity is safe?  What about your parents’ home equity?  Do your parents take pride in the fact that their home is paid off and that they will leave you a nice legacy?  What if that were not true?  What if by the time they pass away there won’t be much left at all?  If that is true you might plan differently before it’s too late.



 



The economic crash in 2008 is a wakeup call to a lot of things going on in the world right under our noses that most people are still unaware of.   A bubble burst in the real estate market that was a long time coming.  Our economy in the United States has become largely based on inflating real estate prices and little else.   In the 50s, after World War II we had a large manufacturing base and lots of jobs.  America rose to be a super power because most of the other developed nations were destroyed from the war.  We prospered because we had a strong manufacturing base and little or no competition abroad.  We also had laws and taxes on businesses that created large revenues and made America a great place to live with good education and social services.  Our workers were protected and given stable jobs with great benefits.  Since the early 80s, however, corporations have pressured the US government for more and more tax breaks, which has hurt the American way of life.  It didn’t “trickle down” like Reagan said it would.  In the 90s Clinton signed the North American Free Trade agreement, NAFTA.  This and other legislation made it more profitable for corporations to move their manufacturing jobs out of America.  



 



So gradually we’ve been losing ground as an economic power in the world.  But, what made this appear insignificant to most Americans was that real estate appreciation was fueling the economy.  



 



In the early 90s, banks and lenders figured out ways to make a lot of money by packaging mortgage loans into securities to be sold on Wall Street.  I started working in the mortgage business right when this began and I watched as Wall Street investors paid more and more and more every year for pools of these loans, while all the along relaxing the lending guidelines steadily in order to allow more and more people to buy and refinance homes to keep the money rolling in.  Our economy shifted more to services focused on housing and construction and there were many jobs available in that industry because houses kept appreciating.  This appreciation created more spending and more jobs.  And people borrowed money on credit cards only to then pay it off with a home equity loan.  And that’s what America did, they lived beyond their incomes for the most part and borrowed the rest.  It was an irresponsible financial strategy that can be blamed on both Wall Street and Main street.  



 



But eventually the weakness in the rest of the economy took its toll and people who were overburdened with debt began to default on their loans.  And when that happened the house of cards we lived in began to fall down.  



 



Huge amounts of people in America rely on the real estate industry for their livelihood, and so much of what you’re hearing out there about the market is trying to reassure you that this is just a cycle and things will come back.  “Everything will be ok and things will turn around again.”  From Wall Street to Main Street, everyone is desperately hoping this is true.  Well I’m here to tell you that it is a lie.  The real estate market will not rebound for a very long time, and Utah, where our offices are located, is always following well behind the trends, so we have a lot of depreciation still ahead.     You can expect your home equity to drop steadily for many years and I’ll give you 3 powerful reasons why:



 




  1. Financing has been severely restricted and will get stricter.  Lenders and investors have recently learned from the school of hard knocks that people must have more “skin in the game” (bigger down payments) or they will stop paying if times get tough.  Increased down payments and increased credit and income standards result in less people being able to buy and this causes prices of homes to drop.  In other countries, getting a mortgage is far more difficult than it is in America and much higher down payments are required and fixed rates are rare.  Since our lending system has failed in its ability to evaluate risk correctly, you’ll see lending get even more strict.  Even at the severely restricted levels of risk that lenders are taking now, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are still very close to folding.  



 



Ease of financing is a huge determinant of home values.  There is a subdivision in Utah of mountain property that is close to Salt Lake and would have much higher property values except the county never approved the subdivision and you can’t hold legal title to your lot, but instead you own an undivided interest in the resort.  Because of this lenders won’t lend on the property and so the land is very cheap and not very many cabins get built cause people can’t borrow money to do it.  As it gets tougher to get financing, real estate values will drop more and more.



 



You should face the reality that the US government is no different from the person that is losing their home to foreclosure.  The US is strapped with debt and is in the process losing its power grip on the world.  The ease of financing in this country is largely due to federally insured mortgage programs which insure the lenders from loss so they can offer low-down-payment loans.  As the US weakens, these guarantees will mean less to investors and our lending programs will start to resemble the rest of the world.



  




  1. Incomes are dropping in America, which causes demand for our high-priced real estate to drop too.  So the equity in your home and in your parent’s home is dwindling away.  Like the majority of its citizens, America is drowning in debt.  We’ve allowed corporations to push us around with our tax and trade policies and we’ve lost the foothold we once had in the global economy.  Corporations and the super wealthy are in charge and they have no allegiance to America or our workers.  They’re skirting around their tax obligations and causing our schools and public services to fall apart.  Profit is their only concern and we demand too high of a wage and too high of a lifestyle and that cuts into their profits.  So they’ve cast us aside and our way of life is in serious jeopardy.  Without rising real estate values, there’s not much to our economy.  A large number of us depend on the building industry for our jobs.  When real estate continues to drop in value, you’ll see the building industry shrink even more than it already has.  How many people do you know that still work in building or some industry that supports building?  It’s the biggest industry we have in America.   Why is real estate so much cheaper in other countries?  Cause people make less money, which is what is happening here.  All the more reason to expect your home equity to shrink.



 




  1. Here’s the scariest one of all!  Recent studies show that up to 15% of homes in America are VACANT!  15%!!!  A large number of them are owned by banks, taken back in foreclosures.  What’s even more scary is that 60-70% of those bank-owned properties aren’t even for sale!  What does that mean?  Why aren’t the banks trying to sell them?  Because the banks are trying to protect the value of their collateral and if they dropped all those houses onto the market, the real estate market would tank.  It’s supply and demand.  Too much supply will cause prices to fall.  So our real estate market right now is a façade, it’s fake.  The prices aren’t real.  The banks are doing a high wire act to keep it from completely falling apart.



 



So we have huge problems with both sides of the supply and demand equation.  Restricted financing and lower wages bringing down demand,  and a glut of homes still to be introduced to the market increasing supply is a very destructive combination to bring down home values.   Oh I know that population is growing, but that doesn’t matter if there are no jobs and no access to financing.  Africa has a some big populations too, and how’s their real estate market?



 



So let me ask you a question.  Is your parents’ house paid off?  Are you expecting to inherit that home at some point in the future?  I’m sure you’d like that inheritance to be as large as possible and I’m sure your parents want the same thing.  Banks and the mainstream news media don’t want you to see the writing on the wall.  The truth is, your parent’s ability to support themselves in the future and the legacy they leave you can be drastically better or worse depending on how you plan NOW.  At Legend Financial Services, we see the writing on the wall and have organized a group of key strategies to help make it possible for your parents to not outlive their money.  And instead of gradually losing your legacy, we can help you to inherit up to 2-3 times what you would have inherited by sitting still.  



 



Understanding what’s to come is just the first step.  The next step is doing something about it.  It’s up to you to talk to your parents and help them understand what’s at stake if they do nothing.  Give yourself the knowledge that can save you from financial ruin.  Don’t go down with the ship.  Get our free information that will explain how to avoid losing your nest egg in this declining real estate market.  These are tried-and-true conservative financial strategies that your parents will understand.  



 



Email me at Mark@LegendFinancialServices to get this information.  Put “Rescue my Equity” in the subject line.  If you have a group you’d like to speak to about this please let me know that in the email.



 



 



 



Mark Hammond



President



Legend Financial Services



801-277-5100 x 303



Mark@LegendFinancialServices.com