Santa Cruz Mortgage

Mortgage lenders are primarily concerned with your ability to repay your Santa Cruz real estate mortgage.  They will consider your credit score, debt-to-income ratio and how much you have for a down payment before telling you what you can afford to spend on Santa Cruz real estate.

Credit Score

One of the first things your lender will review is your credit score.  Credit scores range from a low of 350 to a high of 850.  In this case, the higher, the better.  The lower your credit score, the higher your interest rate and points will be, and the lower the amount of home you’ll be able to afford. If your score is too low, you may not qualify for a mortgage. If your score is low, you may need to take some time to improve your credit score before…

Short sales in Santa Cruz are used by homeowners to prevent losing their homes to foreclosure.  When you see an advertisement for a short sale, the home is in pre-foreclosure.

What is a short sale? It is an agreement between the sellers of a home in the beginning stages of foreclosure and their lender which allows the home to be sold for less than the existing loan balance. If an agreement is reached by all parties, a short sale could save the sellers’ credit by avoiding a foreclosure.

A short sale is not a short process, however.  It is a lengthy process with many legal and financial aspects.

The basic short sale process flows as follows:

• The seller contacts the lender to discuss the possibility of a short sale.
• The seller issues…

When considering whether you should purchase a new Santa Cruz home, you want to take into consideration the five-year rule. That’s the minimum number of years many experts believe you need to own a home in order to break even on it when you sell it.  Some experts are now suggesting seven years, but in this article I’ll be talking about the five-year rule.

What happens if you own your Santa Cruz home for less than five years? Often, you’ll lose money because:

1. You pay thousands of dollars in closing costs each time you buy property. That money does not build equity or increase the value of your home in any way.

2. In the first five years of your home loan, a much higher percentage of your monthly mortgage payment goes toward interest…

Are you unsure about buying Santa Cruz real estate? Warren Buffet was recently quoted as saying, “If I had a way of buying a couple hundred thousand single-family homes…I would load up on them and… take mortgages out at very, very low rates…it’s a leveraged way of owning a very cheap asset now, and I think that’s probably as attractive an investment as you can make now.”

Homeownership in the United States is dropping and we are becoming a society of renters, according to a Morgan Stanley Housing Market Insights report.  Why is this happening?

• It’s harder to get mortgages: Banks have made it more difficult for people to become homeowners. If they have marginal credit or small down payments, they won’t get…

Consider buying foreclosed properties if you are looking for real estate bargains. Foreclosure is a legal process in which the insurer or lender repossesses the property from the borrower who defaulted on their loan.  Santa Cruz foreclosures are easy to find with just a little work.

Here are nine tips to help you find the best Santa Cruz foreclosures:

1. Find a real estate agent: The first step is to get a reliable and trusted real estate agent.  Never try to purchase a foreclosed property by yourself.

2. Get pre-approved for a loan: If you’re not paying cash, pre-approval is a must. It means you have met with a loan officer and he or she has “pre-approved” you for a certain amount you can afford.

3. Locate foreclosed properties:…

If you are financially distressed, it might be time to cut your losses and minimize the damage to your financial future. If you’re feeling the economic pressure of an impending foreclosure, then consider putting your Santa Cruz real estate up for a short sale.

While it might seem like short sales should be a speedy process, they’ve been known to play havoc with many unsuspecting sellers. In honor of April Fool’s Day, we’ve created a list of the many short sale pitfalls sellers encounter.

• Settle your accounts – Strive to pay off all your other debt. Your bank might not approve your short sale application if you have judgments from other creditors pending.

• Pay your HOAs – Even if you’re defaulting on your mortgage, it’s…

There’s good news for buyers and sellers of Santa Cruz real estate: The U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook that came out the end of February is encouraging. According to this research done by Freddie Mac, both the economy and the housing market are showing cautious signs of recovery.

Here are some of the changes stimulating these improvements in both nationwide and Santa Cruz real estate markets:

• Loans that were seriously delinquent or going into foreclosure declined to the lowest quarterly share since the start of 2009, according to the latest Mortgage Bankers Association Mortgage Delinquency Survey.

• In January, existing home sales were at their highest since May 2010, according to the National Association of…

Whether you’ve bought and sold a dozen homes or you’re a first-time home buyer, you probably know that after you purchase Santa Cruz real estate, there is usually no option to return or exchange it. Because of this finality, you need to be sure your contract spells out all the conditions you want met before the deal can close. In real estate contracts, these conditions are called contingencies.

Contingencies are the requirements that both the buyer and the seller must meet in order for the closing contract to be valid. If something does not meet specific criteria, the contract must be renegotiated or it becomes null. Below is a list of contract contingencies every buyer should include in their bid — so that you don’t end up with an unexpected…

The latest statistics indicate that the U.S. real estate market is at or very close to the bottom right now.

On January 18, Bloomberg News reported, "Confidence Among U.S. Homebuilders Climbs to Highest Since 2007." Bloomberg said, "The confidence measure, which increased for a fourth straight month, improved in all four regions of the U.S. This is ‘yet another indication of the gradual but steady improvement that is beginning to take hold in an increasing number of housing markets nationwide,’ Bob Nielsen, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders and a builder from Reno, Nevada, said in a statement.”

The official data on home prices might not show the recovery yet, because they are always months behind, but most other data…

The mortgage application process can be confusing -- so you only want to have to go through it once when buying Santa Cruz real estate.  Keep these tips in mind as you complete the application process to make sure you get the answer you want: Approved!

• Make Sure Your Credit is Clear: If there are any lingering issues on your credit report, get them resolved prior to application and get your credit in high standing for the best loan rates. 

• Lower Your Debt: If you meet the income requirements, but have substantial debts elsewhere – car payments, student loans, credit card debt – your application may be denied.  Budget, save up and pay off as much as you can. 

• Have the Required Income: With the tightening of regulations, any…