Call or Text Us 480-524-0100

The Phoenix Real Estate Guy

Phoenix Real Estate - Anything & Everything About It. Plus Random Musings. See all homes for sale in the Phoenix area

Can I Sell My Phoenix House Now?

By

I want to sell my house, but I’m still underwater.

Does that sound familiar?

Many Phoenix area homeowners have been upside down on their mortgage for the past few years and would like to sell their house. Unfortunately, they have not been able to because they were in a negative equity position and did not want to short sale.

Am I Still Underwater?

It is possible that you are not.

Get a free market analysis to see if you are underwater or not.

A recent report on the Greater Phoenix Housing Market by Arizona State University reported positive news that we
haven’t seen in the past few years including:

  • The median sales price is up 32.4% over that past 12 months and
  • Normal re-sale transactions are up 74%

The report states that these increases are due to recent imbalance between supply and demand in the
local real estate market. However, it is not likely that these high increases will continue and that prices
should stabilize over the next few months.

So, if you think that it is possible that you may no longer be underwater and you want to sell, now might
be the time?

How do you find out? You could use an online estimator, try to check county records or even hire an
appraiser.

Unfortunately, the abovementioned options can prove to be inaccurate, time-consuming or expensive.

If you are looking for arguably the most effective tool for finding out what your home is worth, you can
get a Free Market Analysis from Thompson’s Realty.

What is a Market Analysis?

All real estate is local and every neighborhood is unique. The 32.4% increase mentioned above is an
average. That means that some neighborhoods have increased in value much more than others. Our
market analysis considers factors unique to your home and applies them to local current buying trends.
So, if you want to sell your house, it can provide information such as:

  • Your targeted sales price,
  • What similar homes in your neighborhood have been selling for,
  • How quickly it should sell,
  • What renovations you should consider and
  • How much you should make.

I’m Still Underwater, What Are My Options?

If you obtain a market analysis and you are still underwater, you currently have a couple of
options. If you really want to sale your home, then you may want to consider a short sale.

If you want to keep your home, you need to find out if you qualify for the HARP 2.0 Underwater
Refinance Program.

Keep in mind that many Phoenix-area homeowners have seen significant price increases in the
last 12 months. So it is possible that even though you used to be deep underwater, you may
now be close to break-even or maybe even have a little equity in your property. You can sell your house fast to Zee Holdings Cash Buyers CT. If that is the case for you, see if you can take advantage of HARP 2.0 program and refinance to the current
low rates.

Now is the time to act. Contact us today to discuss your options your options.

Arizona HARP Refinance: Is It a Good Option For You?

By

The Home Affordable Refinance Program was first announced in 2009 as a way to help underwater homeowners refinance their homes and hopefully stimulate the economy. After HARP 1 didn’t go as well as hoped, the HARP program was modified and labeled HARP 2.0 early in 2012. While HARP 2.0 is helping more homeowners than HARP 1.0 did, there are still millions of homeowners left out in the cold when it comes to home refinancing and taking advantage of lower interest rates. As a result of these left-out homeowners, talk of HARP 3.0 is growing louder and louder and it may soon be announced.

Click here for a free HARP rate quote.

When talking with someone who is potentially interested in a HARP refinance, I usually try to bring up 2 points:

  • Not all Arizona HARP lenders are created equal
  • Does a HARP refinance make sense vs. a short sale?

HARP Lenders in Arizona: Not All Lenders are Equal

When it comes to working with a lender to find out if you qualify for the HARP refinance program, keep in mind that not all lenders are created equal when it comes to the HARP program. Quite a few lenders are not actually doing HARP loans, but they broker them to other lenders who can do them.

Example: Academy Mortgage is not actually funding HARP loans, but the loan officers here can still help you with your HARP refinance by funding it through another bank.

Brokering a loan is neither good nor bad, but as a consumer you should just be aware that when a loan officer brokers a file, it often means they don’t have as much control over the file which might cause a few more bumps along the way. The best way to know what bumps are common when brokering a file is to ask a financial expert at OP.no when completing the application.

Click here for a free HARP refinance quote.

HARP Refinance: Does It Make Sense?

For homeowners living in the Phoenix market, many areas have seen significant price increases in the last 12 months. Supply is short and demand is high – and many people who were once deeply under water are now at close to break-even or maybe even have an increase in their property’s equity release costs.

This recent trend in rising home prices is working to the advantage of anyone considering a HARP refinance because as property values rise, a short sale (the other common alternative to a HARP refinance) becomes less and less attractive.

So when asking the question “Should I do a HARP refinance or just short sell this house?” keep in mind that property values are rising and from what I can may continue to rise through at least 2013.

If you are are in the situation where the interest rate on your home is higher than 5%, be sure to ask your loan officer and/or Real Estate Agent what the pros and cons of a short sale vs. HARP refinance are.

Click here for a free HARP rate quote.

FHA Streamline Refinance: This is a big deal…

By

Dan Green, a mortgage originator with Waterstone Mortage and author of the fabulous blog, The Mortgage Reports, wrote a terrific (and truly important) piece, FHA Streamline Refinance Changes : Banks To Stop Verifying Income, Job, And Credit.

Go. Read it.

In a nutshell, if you have an FHA mortgage, you can refinance it.

Even if you are underwater (owe more on your mortgage than the house is worth. A likely scenario in the Phoenix area).

Even if you have lousy credit (though you can not have had any late mortgage payments in the last 12 months).

No job, income or credit score verifications are done. No appraisal is conducted.

Almost sounds too good to be true.

Almost sounds like exact type of financing that got us into this mess to start with…

But, like Dan says, it’s the FHA that is on the hook for these refi’s:

Remember : The key idea here is that the FHA doesn’t actually make loans to homeowners. Rather, it insures the banks that make loans to homeowners. In this way, once a homeowners has his mortgage in the FHA’s “system”, so to speak, the FHA is on the hook for that loan no matter what its rate or loan size.

This is why FHA homeowners are not allowed to increase their loan balances with an FHA Streamline Refinance. Raising the loan size would raise the FHA’s exposure to default.

This is why the FHA Streamline Refinance skips job, income and credit verifications. It really doesn’t matter if someone lost their job; or has a 500 FICO — the FHA is still on the hook for that loan.

It’s in the FHA’s best interest to put all FHA-backed homeowners into the lowest mortgage rates possible because with lower payments, in theory, come fewer defaults, which means fewer claims.

Is Your Mortgage an FHA Loan?

Check your loan papers. Call your lender. If you’ve been turned down in the past for an FHA streamline refinance, or never tried to get one because of your credit or your home value, try again. The doors appear to be wide open.

Go. Read Dan’s post. Call him, or your lender of choice.

Photo Credit: Stolen Borrowed from Dan, with permission.

 

 

Who is The Phoenix Real Estate Guy?

The Phoenix Real Estate Guy was started by Jay Thompson, and I have a little blogging problem... he liked to say...

Welcome to The Phoenix Real Estate Guy, or "TPREG" as we fondly refer to it.

Read more about Jay and the history here

Recent Posts