Randy Charlton's Real Estate Blog by The Randy Charlton Group - Keller Williams Realty

The Loan Process

Step 1: Application Your loan process should go smoothly if you complete your loan application properly and provide all necessary documentation to your loan consultant at the time of application. Step 2: Ordering Documentation Your loan consultant will order the necessary documentation for the loan. Any verifications will be requested, and the credit report and appraisal will be ordered. You will also receive a preliminary Good Faith Estimate of your costs and details of your loan. Step 3: Awaiting Documentation Within approximately two weeks, all necessary documents should be received. Each item is reviewed carefully in case additional items may be needed from you to resolve any questions or problems. Step 4: Loan Submission Submitting your loan is a critical part of the process. All of the necessary documentation will be sent to the lender, along with your credit report and appraisal. Step 5: Loan Approval Loan approval may be obtained in stages. Usually ..(read more)

Capital Gains Taxes

The information below is meant as a guide only. Always check with your local tax specialist for current laws and guidelines. Almost everything you own and use for personal purposes, pleasure or investment is a capital asset. Your main home or investment property is no exception. When you sell a capital asset, such as your home, the difference between the amount you sell it for and your basis, which is usually what you paid for it, is capital gains or capital loss. While you must report all capital gains, you may deduct only your capital losses on investment property, not personal property. What are short-term vs. long-term capital gains and losses? Capital gains and losses are classified as long-term or short-term, depending on how long you hold the property before you sell it. If you hold it more than one year, your capital gains or loss is long-term. If you hold it one year or less, your capital gains or loss is short-term. What is the basis and how is it ..(read more)

Home Buyer's Property Tax Guide

Property Tax Defined
Property tax is a tax administered by local government districts. Tax rates vary from county to county and are based on a predetermined percentage of an annually assessed value of each individual property. Property taxes are paid in biannual installments. Paying Property Taxes On Your New Home
Paying your first year of property taxes can be tricky, depending on when you close escrow on your new home. If your property is in escrow, and the sellers have just paid property taxes, then your agent should request proof of payment. Because it can take up to six weeks for a property tax payment to post, the preliminary title report may show that property taxes are still due. Proof of property tax payment by the seller will allow escrow to close successfully without a potential tax hold. If you purchased your property between January and October, your property tax bill may be forwarded to the seller’s new address. If you do not receive your property ..(read more)

Advantages To Home Ownership

Whether you are looking for more space to raise a family or the perfect place to make your own, there are many advantages to owning your own home, ranging from the purely personal to the very practical. For many people, the motivation for home ownership is primarily financial. Owning your own home is a first-rate investment for a number of reasons: Scheduled Savings
When you buy a house, your monthly mortgage payments serve as a type of scheduled savings plan. Over time you gradually accumulate what lenders call “equity,“ an ownership interest in the property that you can often borrow against or convert into cash by selling the house. In contrast, renters must continue paying rent to a landlord for as long as they rent, without the opportunity to build equity. Stable Housing Costs
Another advantage to home ownership is that while rent typically increases year after year, mortgage payments can remain unchanged throughout the entire repayment ..(read more)

15 Home Listing Tips

1. Pricing Your Home Right
Your agent can research comparable sales in your area and advise you of the appropriate price range for your property.

2. Be Flexible on Financing Terms
Have your agent explain what financing options are available. Flexibility on financing terms may secure a better selling price.

3. Time It Right
Ask a real estate professional to determine whether the market cycle is poised to net you the most money.

4. Make Your Property Accessible to Buyers
Lock boxes are a great way to make your home most accessible to agents for showing. Appointment-only showings are the most restrictive. If your lifestyle is not compatible with frequent showings, your agent will help you determine a solution to suit your needs. Remember, the easier a home is to show, the better the odds are of getting the deal you want.

5. Use The Latest Marketing Technology
Make sure your agent ..(read more)

Buying Foreclosures REO's

Buying Foreclosure REOs One of the very best ways to get a good deal in real estate is to concentrate on buying foreclosure REOs. Forget about chasing down short sales and dealing with lenders who don't want to deal. Instead, I suggest going straight to the source, which is often the very same lenders who refused to deal but now must. These are lenders who have taken back a home in foreclosure. Regardless of government-sponsored voluntary bail-out programs designed to help home owners in foreclosure -- the programs which are rightfully called "too little, too late and too voluntary" by The New York Times -- foreclosures will continue to rise throughout 2008. This means more banks will end up owning properties, which is bad news for sellers in default and bad news for the banks but could mean good news for first-time home buyers and investors. The deals are out there. But don't make the mistake of thinking the bank is going to hand you a home on a silver platter. Banks ..(read more)

HUD Increases FHA Loan Limits!

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently announced an increase in FHA loan limits, which were mandated by the Economic Stimulus Act. The new limits are based on median home prices throughout the United States. These new changes create a lot of opportunity for home owners and home buyers, and promotes access to lower cost loans. To find out what the limit is in your county, visit http://www.fhaoutreach.com/.

House OKs Lift on Fannie, Freddie Loan Limits

Below is an article recently posted online addressing the purposed increase in current conforming loan amounts. If successfully passed, this measure along with the recent reduction in interest rates, will be exactly what is needed to stimulate the real estate activity in our area. If you ever have any questions, please feel free in giving me a call at 909.938.9568. - Randy Daily Real Estate News | January 25, 2008

House OKs Lift on Fannie, Freddie Loan Limits

The economic stimulus package hammered out between the White House and Congress on Thursday lifts the size of home loans that may be bought or insured by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Fannie/Freddie cap would rise to $729,750 for one year. Currently Fannie and Freddie are capped at $417,000.

The measure also would permit the Federal Housing Administration to indefinitely insure loans up to that same level. Currently, FHA ..(read more)

One Of My Favorite Quotes!

Wanted to share with you one of my all time favorite quotes. We all go through tough times in life, but it's the people who can pick themselves up and dust themselves off that seem to find success. Now when I say success I do not mean just financial ... I mean career success, relationalship success, athletic success and so on. So when you come up against obsticles in life, please remember the below quote. "I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost more than 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over in my life ... and that is why I succeed."(read more)

How To Prevent Foreclosure

I've been receiving a lot of home owner questions lately regarding foreclosures and short sales. Recently I came across a great article on Inman News that addresses some key points when it comes to potentially avoiding foreclosure on your property. The bottomline is be proactive. I hope you find this article useful. It also contains some great links. - Randy Wednesday, January 09, 2008 By Ilyce R. Glink
Inman News I received a call to my radio show just before the end of the year from a woman who had just received a letter from the bank that it was starting foreclosure proceedings. Let's just say that it wasn't the year-end gift she was hoping for. She told me how she had lost her job and used up all her savings to keep making her mortgage, home equity line of credit, and credit-card payments each month. After awhile, it was too much to manage, even after she got a new job. What she wanted to know was where she could go to get help that would stop the ..(read more)

North Ontario On The Rise

Below is a great article featured on DailyBulletin.com concerning the new developments in the area. I do not know about you, but I'm excited about the sports arena. No more fighting traffic to see sporting and entertainment events.

- Randy 11,000-seat arena envisioned as regional destination takes shape in Ontario By Andrea Bennett, Staff Writer Article Created: 01/01/2008 09:32:47 PM PST ONTARIO - With snow-glazed peaks to its north and the 10 Freeway to its south, Ontario's Citizens Business Bank Arena is expected to be a major destination point for the region when it is completed in the fall. Just north of the 11,000-seat arena is Piemonte's five-story Class A corporate office building. The mixed-use development by Panattoni Development Co., north of the arena and south of Fourth Street, includes retail, a seven-story luxury hotel and about 800 condominiums called Torino at Piemonte. "The arena construction is well under ..(read more)

Existing-Home Sales to Trend Up in 2008

Below is a portion of a recent posting on the National Association of Realtors website. According to the NAR, homes sales for 2008 will increase slightly as the mortgage crunch slows.

WASHINGTON, December 10, 2007 - Existing-home sales are projected to trend up in 2008, with pending home sales showing a slight near-term rise, according to the latest forecast by the National Association of Realtors®. However, a recovery for new-home sales is unlikely before 2009. Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the worst part of the credit crunch has already worked its way through the data. “The unusual mortgage disruptions that peaked in August were clearly seen in lower home sales that were finalized in September and October, so the market was underperforming,” he said. “Now that mortgage conditions have improved, some postponed activity should turn up in existing-home sales over the next couple of months, and ..(read more)

FHA Financing Is Back!

FHA financing has been re-vamped to be more transaction-friendly
While FHA-insured mortgages have been in existence for over 60 years, they have been revised to be more flexible to today's transactions. No longer will you see the dreaded "VC Sheet" which required automatic repairs of the property being financed. Here are some of the primary characteristics of an FHA mortgage: No income limits No prepayment penalties Qualifying ratios of 29% and 41% (which can be revised if a proposed change to the subject property is energy efficiency-related) 95% Loan-To-Value Ratio Borrower's down payment may be in the form of a gift Possible to be zero dollars down payment If you have an interest in ..(read more)

Support Our Troops

If you go to this web site, sponsored by Xerox, LetsSayThanks.com, you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the armed services. How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!!

This is a great site. Please send a card. It is FREE and it only takes a second.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our guys and gals over there need to know we are behind them!

Be Careful Who You Give Your Phone Number To!

Google has implemented a new feature which enables you to type a telephone number into the search bar and hit enter and you will be given the person's name and address. If you then hit Map Quest, you will get a map to the person's house. Everyone should be aware of this! It's a nationwide reverse telephone book. If a child gives out his/her phone number, someone can now look it up to find out where he/she lives. The safety issues are obvious, and alarming. You can have your phone number removed or blocked. I tried my number and it came up along with the Map Quest and directions straight to our house. In order to test whether your phone number is mapped. Go to: www.google.com. Type your phone number in the search bar ( i.e. 555-555-1212) and hit enter. If you want to BLOCK Google from divulging your private information, simply click on your telephone number and then click on the Removal Form. Removal takes 48-hours.