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 

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

Reverse Mortgage Utah - REVERSE MORTGAGES ARE NOT FOR EVERYONE!

 

REVERSE MORTGAGES ARE NOT FOR EVERYONE!

 

If your home is fully paid off, and

 

If you have enough cash in the bank, and

 

If you have a monthly income sufficient to pay all your bills,

 

YOU DO NOT NEED A REVERSE MORTGAGE!

 

But

 

If you are still making mortgage payments, or

 

If you need to have more cash in the bank, or

 

If you need more monthly income to live comfortably, or

 

If you need a lump some of cash to pay off bills, or

 

Help a child go to college, or pay for a mission, or

 

Travel or do or buy??

 

MAYBE A REVERSE MORTGAGE IS FOR YOU!

 

For some a reverse mortgage is not needed; but

For others a reverse mortgage is a God-send.

 

Lillie and Jim purchased a home in 2005:

Purchase Price…………$220,000.00

20% Down Payment...........44,000.00

30 Yr. @ 6.82%..............$176,000.00 loan amount

 

Their principle and interest payment was $1,000.00 a month for 30 years. There are

360 monthly payments in a 30 year loan (12X30=360). In five years they had made 60

payments but still had 300 ($1,000.00) payments left to pay. In other words they had

paid $60,000.00 of the $360000.00 but still had $300,000.00 more to pay. They still had

25 years to go or 300 more $1,000.00 payments.

 

In the 2008 market crash they lost their investments and retirement income. In August of

2010 Jim’s company downsized and Jim lost his job. They were not able to survive on

their meager social security payments.

 

Their children volunteered to make the mortgage payments or assume the loan. That was

another 300 ($1,000.00) payments for another 25 years, totaling $300,000.00.

 

Would it be wise for anyone to pay $1,000.00 a month, for the next 300 months to live in

their home, if they didn’t have to? Consider the costs so far:

 

Down Payment………………………………...………..$44,000.00

Five years P.I… ………………………..…………….…..60,000.00

Property taxes and insurance ($300.00 X 60 months)……18,000.00

30X40 two story barn and other improvements…….….....36,000.00

Total cash in the home…….............................................$158,000.00

Is it wise to pay another?……………….…….…….….…300,000.00

Total cost plus 25 more years for taxes and insurance.....$458,000.00

 

After five years they still owed about $161.000.00 with 300 payments left. With no

income they immediately fell behind in their house payments.

 

WHAT WERE THE OPTIONS?

 

1. Let the home go into foreclosure

2. Ask the children to make the mortgage payments

3. Put the home on the market and try to sell it.

4. Refinance the home

5. Rent out the home.

6. Get an FHA Reverse Mortgage Loan

 

CONSIDERING THE 6 OPTIONS!

 

1. Let the home go into foreclosure.

 

Unthinkable: lose our $158,000.00 investment, our credit and a place to live.

 

2. Let the children make our mortgage payments.

 

Unthinkable: Nice to know they offered and are capable but they have their own

expenses and trials. We do not want to become a financial burden on our children.

 

3. Put the home on the market and try to sell it.

 

Unrealistic: The chances of selling a home in this market at a fair price are very

poor. It is also very expensive to sell (8-9%) and we would have only a little cash

after paying off the loan and no place to live.

 

4. Refinance the home.

 

Impossible: Must have good income and qualify for the loan because you must make

payments for the duration of the loan. With no job it is impossible to refinance.

 

5. Rent out the home.

 

Impractical: The mortgage payments are more than the home could be rented for in

today’s market. And…where would Lillie and Jim live?

 

6. Get an FHA Reverse Mortgage Loan.

 

Practical: About 5% in costs; and because there are no mortgage payments we

needed no credit or income. We had already put many thousands of dollars into our

home. This option allowed us to stay in our home as long as we wished with no more

mortgage payments for the rest of our lives. For Lillie and Jim this was the perfect

solution.

 

Getting a Reverse Mortgage is less expensive than selling a home through a real

estate broker. The Reverse Mortgage costs about 5% of the appraisal; selling with a

broker costs about 8-9%. The seller of real estate has higher sales costs and pays taxes

on profits. The individual getting a reverse mortgage always owns his property, gets to

live in the home with no mortgage payments forever, gets tax free money, and focuses on

savings, not expenses.

 

HOW MUCH IS THE REVERSE MORTGAGE SAVING?

 

If Jim and Lillie live 5 years they will save $60,000.00 in mortgage payments.

If Jim and Lillie live 10 years they will save $120,000.00 in mortgage payments.

If they live 15 years they will save $180,000.00 in mortgage payments

If they live 20 years they will save $240,000.00 in mortgage payments.

If they live 25 more years they will save $300,000.00 in mortgage payments.

 

What Happens In The End?

 

When does the Reverse Mortgage have to be paid off?

1. When the home is sold.

2. When the home is no longer the primary resident of the senior couple.

3. A year after the death of the last senior living in the property.

4. A year after the last senior abandons the property (i.e. rest home, etc.)

5. If the taxes and insurance are not paid, or the property not kept in repair.

 

When the time comes to pay off the loan, if the amount of the loan is more than the

property is worth, the children can let the home go back to the lender. The property will

then be placed on the market at a fair market value and sold on the open market as in a

normal real estate sale. Any losses to the lender will be paid by the insurance company

that insured the loan originally. If the heirs are interested in buying the property they can

purchase the property when it is offered for sale on the open market. Regardless of how

much the loan has grown the heirs are not responsible for it.

 

The reverse mortgage is a non-recourse loan. A non-recourse loan is a loan which

does not allow the mortgage company or anyone else to go to court and get a deficiency

judgment because they lost money on their loan. In other words, if there is a loss of

money when the property is sold and the lender cannot recover the full amount owed

on the mortgage, the lender can not come after the owners to recover any financial loss

whatever.

 

If the amount of the loan is less than the market value of the property the heirs may

choose to sell the property and make a profit. Or they may elect to refinance the property

and occupy the property themselves. The heirs will never have to pay more than the

property appraises for at the time of the future sale.

 

The Future Real Estate Market?

 

How unstable will our economy be in the future? Two or three years ago we could

have sold our properties for much more than they are worth today. Some have struggled

and paid off a home mortgage of $200,000.00 only to see the market sink, buyers drop

off and property values tumble to 50% of what they paid for their property. No one can

predict the future. The home your children inherit from you could be worth a million

dollars or next to nothing, depending upon things completely out of your control, the

economy.

 

IN SUMMARY: No one can predict what 10 or 20 years will bring. Today you

might be able to get a $100,000.00 reverse mortgage on your home; next year it will be

more or less, depending on the market. Two or three years ago you could have gotten

much more than you can today.

 

801-277-5100 Legend Financial Services specializes in Reverse Mortgages. Based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Purchase a Home with a Reverse Mortgage. Reverse mortgages can be used to purchase a home. For example, seniors that wish to downsize can sell their existing home, make a large down payment on a smaller home, and finance the rest with a reverse mortgage. Then, no payments will need to be made for life. http://www.legendfinancialservices.com/

Watch a Video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejzyNK3c2qg

Reverse Mortgage Utah - Home Loans for Seniors

Reverse Mortgage Utah - Home Loans for Seniors Call  801-277-5100

 

 

Reverse Mortgages

“I’m retired and my income is low. I have a lot of equity in my home, but it does me no good unless I sell the house. But I need a place to live! I wish there was a way to stay in my home and stop making mortgage payments. I would love to get at some of that equity to pay for prescriptions, medical costs and spoiling my grandchildren. Can’t the lender just let the interest build up on my loan and collect it later after I die? Right now I need a break!"

Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs), commonly known as reverse mortgages, are Federal Housing Administration insured low-interest home loans for seniors (over 62 yrs) that require no payments EVER as long as the seniors live in the home. Existing loans can be paid off and equity can be drawn out to pay for medical expenses, living expenses, or whatever the borrower chooses. The maximum loan amount is a percentage of the home's value determined by the age of the youngest homeowner.

Since no interest is paid by the borrowers, interest accrues on the note each month, but is not collected until after the death (or permanent vacancy) of the all borrowers on the note. Lenders assume the risk that the loan balance might become greater than the value of the home. Borrowers retain ownership of the home and can sell the home or refinance the loan to a regular loan later if they choose. Reverse mortgages can also be refinanced later on with a new reverse mortgage to pull out more equity if the home value increases substantially.

Getting rid of monthly mortgage payments and using the nest egg built up over the years can really ease the stress of retirement for seniors. Knowing that their home can never be taken away is also a great relief. The loan does not have to be repaid until the last surviving homeowner permanently moves out of the property or passes away. At that time, the estate has 12 months (with no required payments) to refinance the balance of the reverse mortgage or sell the home to pay off the balance. All remaining equity is passed on to the heirs.  If no equity remains in the home, the estate can simply walk away with no liability. The estate is not liable if the home sells for less than the balance of the reverse mortgage.

Purchase a Home with a Reverse Mortgage

Reverse mortgages can be used to purchase a home. For example, seniors that wish to downsize can sell their existing home, make a large down payment on a smaller home, and finance the rest with a reverse mortgage. Then, no payments will need to be made for life.

Call us today just to see how much money you can get.  

801-277-5100

Reverse Mortgages in Salt Lake City Utah

REVERSE MORTGAGE ELIGIBILITY

To be eligible for a reverse mortgage, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) requires that all homeowners be at least age 62 and have sufficient equity in the home That’s IT! There are no income or credit requirements for a reverse mortgage. Borrowers can even be in foreclosure or bankruptcy and the reverse mortgage can pay off the existing loan.



Simply provide your Legend Financial Services loan consultant with your age(s), the approximate value of the home and the existing loan balance(s). Your loan consultant will let you know the approximate loan amount that you can get (subject to appraised value). Whatever amount exceeds your loan balance is yours to keep and can be taken as a lump sum, line of credit, or monthly payments to you.  If you don't have a mortgage, the entire amount of the loan is available for you to use.

BENEFITS OF A REVERSE MORTGAGE

What are some of the benefits of a reverse mortgage?

• 
  Strengthen your personal and financial independence.


• 
  Help pay for health care or other needs.


• 
  You can never lose your home in foreclosure as long as you maintain the property tax and insurance payments.


• 
  The loan is only paid off when the house is sold by you or your heirs, or all borrowers move out of the house.


• 
  Keep your Medicare or Social Security benefits.


• 
  Use it as a credit line and draw upon it as needed.


• 
  Get all your cash right away.


• 
  Get the best of both—get cash now and have a balance in reserve to use as a credit line.


• 
  No Income Requirements: The homeowner does not need to be working and is not qualified based on income.


• 
  Lock in your loan amount NOW before any more possible depreciation of your home's value.


•