By now we’ve all heard buzz about the supposed “credit crisis,” with tales of all Dallas real estate buyers being required to put 20% to purchase a home and then still having to search to find a lender who will write a loan. It seems the press just can’t get enough of all the “misery” in the Dallas real estate industry. But is this really what is happening?
To be sure, we are in the middle of what might be considered the biggest disservice ever perpetrated on potential home buyers. The truth is that mortgage money is as available today as it was a year ago and loans are being made every day with little or no money down. Who are these lenders and where can you find one? They may be right down the street - you just have to know where to look!
Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans are making a huge impact on the mortgage industry; recent estimates show that about one out of five mortgages is an FHA loan. Although FHA loans never “went away,” their re-emergence is a result of the collapse of the sub-prime market. Technically, FHA doesn’t require a minimum credit score; in reality, however, lenders typically will not approve an FHA loan with a credit score below 500 in Dallas Texas. That is still a far cry from the notion that an 800 score is the only thing lenders care about.
(more…)

Step One - Find a good
Selling Your Dallas Home- The first and most obvious way to use the 

With the market today, your only real choices on an investment property are fixed rate loans with 15, 20 or 30 year terms (you COULD technically do an ARM, but the rates are about the same as a fixed rate loan). What you have to ask yourself is, am I in this for the short term (do I just want to cash flow the property monthly and flip it in a few years) or am I going to keep this property for the rest of my natural life (and pay it off and keep it). The answer to those questions, along with your financial position, can help you determine the best term for you.
See, the problem with our age of instant information is that in some cases, by the time the data is collected, it is OUTDATED! Taking that a step further is people who only read the headlines… if you ONLY read the headlines and not the articles you would think there is not a stitch of good news going on anywhere! A good example of this is when we put rates in the Real Estate section of the Dallas Morning News. I have to submit those rates early on Wednesday, and often before some lenders even post their rates for that day. Well, the section of the paper where the rates are posted in doesn’t come out until Friday and sometimes they are posted on the weekend! That can be up to 3 DAYS from the time I submitted my rates! I have seen lenders change their rates by almost a full point in 1 day, let alone the market swings that can happen in 3 days!



Tags: credit crisis, Dallas Real Estate, fha loans
Posted in Credit, Dallas Fort Worth, Home Buyer, Housing Market, Money Matters, Mortgage, Real Estate, Tips for Buyers | No Comments »