Subprime woes spread to pricey real estate.
NEW YORK – The subprime mortgage crisis is spreading to a somewhat unexpected place: homes costing more than $500,000.
As lending has rapidly gotten more restrictive for borrowers taking out large loans, sales of expensive homes have fallen sharply around the country during what should be one of the busiest seasons for buyers and sellers, mortgage bankers and real estate agents say.
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You see a lot of articles and books about how to make money “real estate flipping.” Perhaps you’re heard radio or television news reports about the illegalities of flipping real estate. Maybe you’ve seen the late-night infomercials promising you easy overnight fortunes.
What’s the truth about making money flipping real estate?
First, real estate flipping isn’t illegal. Because some dishonest real estate investors conspired with deceitful mortgage brokers and property appraisers, their stories made “good news” for newscasters who love to grab attention with “Investors Scam Banks and Bilk Buyers out of Millions!” sound bites. True, some investors defraud mortgage lenders and/or desperate home buyers. Cheating investors hyped up property values, helped home buyers tell untruths on mortgage applications, and conned banks and buyers.
On the other hand, ethical real estate investors make a lot of money real estate flipping. There are many ways to make money flipping real estate:
1. You can help home sellers in foreclosure save their credit by arranging a sale of the property and never even take title. In other words, buy the property and double-escrow the property to a home buyer who wants to live in the home.
2. Find a seller under stress with a bargain property, secure a sales contract, and sell your contract for roughly $500 to $5,000 to a seasoned real estate investor without financing or taking title.
Once you’ve learned the terminology and figured out how much you can afford to spend on a new house, the next thing you will need to do is get a mortgage. Because you will be borrowing money, lenders will examine your credit score, a metric used by lenders to determine the likelihood of an individual paying back the money he or she has borrowed.
Clean Up Your Credit
Higher credit scores translate into the ability to borrow more money at lower interest rates. To make sure you get the best possible deal, you should check out your credit score by ordering a copy of your full credit report. (The free reports that you can get list your creditors but don’t list your numerical score, often referred to as a FICO score). Check your score well in advance of when you need the loan, so that you will have time to take any necessary steps to improve your credit prior to applying for a mortgage or fix any inaccuracies that may have occurred.
To learn more, read Consumer Credit Report: What’s On It and The Importance Of Your Credit Rating.
Mortgage Rate News
Interest rates have continued to drop since mid October with the average 30-yr fixed rate mortgage recently dancing just around 6%.
Analysis
It’s a mixed bag. There’s no way around the negative impact that flat home prices, cutbacks in new homes construction and ever-decreasing consumer spending continue to have on the overall economy. Manufacturers have experienced increases in overseas orders, but this is largely due to the weakened value of the dollar.
There are some positive indicators though.
Service companies that comprise the majority of U.S. jobs continue to report growth. Treasury notes have fallen and the S&P’s rising stock index signals optimism about interest rates holding when the Fed convenes next week.
But any pick-up in growth that was seen in the third quarter can be seen screeching to a halt under the weight of troubled financial markets, the downturn in construction, the increasing cost of fuel and food and declining home values.
Predictions
There is a high probability that Fed will cut the Federal Funds Rate when it convenes on the 11th.