| Jumbo gamble for county home sales part of stimulus plan
That was the debate Friday in the Sonoma County real estate community over a key provision in the federal economic stimulus package that would make it easier and cheaper to take out big home loans.
The plan would temporarily raise a key lending limit, freeing many buyers from the necessity of using high-interest "jumbo" loans to buy homes in Sonoma County.
Many agents and mortgage brokers seemed optimistic that the measure could be just the incentive some buyers need to re-enter the housing market, firm up home prices and bring the long-predicted bottom into sight.
"I think it's great and important and it's really going to get some people off the fence and into the market," said Timothy Hedges, manager of the Prudential California office in Sebastopol.
LandAmerica to Replace Documents at No Charge and Offer a Discount on ...
RICHMOND, Va., Nov. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- LandAmerica Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: LFG) , Fortune magazine's number one Most Admired Company in the mortgage services industry, announces that it will replace recorded mortgage documents, property tax information, recorded deeds, and tax assessor maps at no charge for homeowners who lost their homes in the recent fires in Southern California. "Among LandAmerica's Guiding Principles are Teamwork and Responsible Corporate Citizenship. We are grateful for the brave team of volunteers and firefighters who fought these horrific blazes, and we offer our help to property owners who are recovering from the fires' destruction," said Margaret Foster, LandAmerica's Executive Vice President for the West Region. LandAmerica is also offering California fire victims loan policies at 50 percent of its basic insurance rate to repair or replace property damaged by the fires.
Economic stimulus a big break for home buyers
You could get a big break on your mortgage from the economic stimulus package announced Thursday. Besides its core purpose of providing tax refunds, the tentative package - which still has several hurdles to clear - essentially rewrites the definition of "jumbo" loan, raising the cap from its current $417,000 to as high as $729,750 in high-cost areas for one year. That would mean home buyers who need the high-ticket mortgages this area requires could qualify for the benefits now limited to non-jumbo, or conforming, loans: an interest rate that's roughly a full percentage point lower. On a $650,000, 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, the savings could be $417 a month, according to California Sen. Barbara Boxer's office. "This is exactly what we need for California," said David Crane, Gov.
|
