Idaho Homes And Money Blog

Well the summer here in Boise Idaho seems to be flying by but the Idaho real estate market is just heating up! As of this month, mortgage loan applications are up 16%. One thing I wanted to bring to your attention is the new Truth In Lending Laws that will affect you if you are closing on a home in Idaho with any lender, banker or broker.

Under the new law set in place on July 30th 2009, each time your closing cost numbers change with in an .125%, we as a lender have to re-disclose all these changes to you as the borrower by mail. This may not sound like a bad idea as there are some mortgage companies out there quoting clients rates and fees dishonestly low that will change once they get to the closing table. This new law however, mandates that every time these fees change, we have to re-disclose these changes to you. These disclosure time frames can easily hold up your time to close on your new home loan as we can not move forward until these disclosures have been mailed, received, reviewed, signed, and resend back to the lender each time numbers change on your file.

Because of these changes, I recommend that if you plan to buy a new home in idaho, plan for a 45 closing date for your new home purchase maybe even 60 days with the new rules in play. We may be able to close your loan sooner but this will prevent you from having a bumpy closing and the possible per day extension fees to extend your purchase contract.

We will be happy to explain these changes more in detail or give you an estimated closing time you can plan for on your new home purchase. We are here to serve you and your mortgage needs.

At your service, John West

Most weekends, if I can spare the time, I like to drive around looking at real estate in Boise, Eagle, or Meridian, Idaho as it’s always been a passion of mine. This weekend I was surprised to see how many homes had the “Pending” sign or “Sold” sign in front of them! Some subdivisions even had several building crews out building new homes. Many of our clients are even seeling multiple offers when they are making offers on homes now. Even though Idaho is from a healthy real estate market, the market is defiantly showing signs of stabilizing which means a great time for you to take advantage of this market if you have been thinking about buying a new home.

The old rule of thumb is to buy low and sell high and that is where our market is currently at. The prices are still and record lows but I know that they won't continue holding that pattern. This is the time to buy and our team is happy to explain your financing options to you so that you feel confident to move forward.

At your service, John West and Team

The Standard and Poor reported that single family home sales are up again for the 2nd month in a row adding to the notion that the housing slump may be coming to an end. Although this is great news I feel we can hardly do back flips when I think about the cost it took to get us here. I mean what effect has the $8,000 tax gift had on the market changes and what will happen when the $8,000 government gift is no longer being offered? Will our market continue to improve? This the question everyone is debating right now. Consumer confidence is up right now at 54.1% which is much higher then expected. This is mainly due to the news blowing smoke but I am not sure how long this can last when we as a nation realize just how much money has been spent by dear ol Uncle Sam.

However sales prices and interest rates have never been better and you can purchase a home in idaho for about the same price or lower than you can rent the same home for and that is a great thing for first time home buyers!

If you are considering buying a home in Boise, Meridian, Eagle, or Nampa, Idaho this year, I would quickly get your financing in place so you can find a home before the inventory is all gone!

Wall Street Journal reported that the HVCC (the new 3^rd party appraisal management system lenders now have to use) is not working for the clients best interest. They agreed that the new system cost homebuyers more money with less than quality results from the lowest bidding appraiser that ends up doing the job. Now this is not new news, it’s just nice to see this information finally in print so that others will get on board to lobby for a change against this program.

Just in case you don’t know what this HVCC program is I can explain.

Recently a law has been put into place that cuts all communication with your lender and your appraiser that will estimate the value on your home refinance or new Idaho home purchase. This law was put into place in efforts to stop the direct “pushing” of value that was speculated to be taking place between lenders and appraisers. Now while this sounds like a great idea on paper, it has only worsened the market situation and produced worse quality appraisals then before. Being in this industry, I know that even trying to get your home appraiser to somehow inflate the value of your home would only go so far. Even if I could get him to lie or somehow support an inflated value, the lending bank would double check that appraiser’s work and would perform an appraisal review before accepting that appraisal. If they see that the value is not properly supported, they will turn the appraisal down. Appraisers don’t want to stake their livelihood and license on inflated appraisals. Now unfortunately what has happened is that we cannot directly order conventional home loan appraisals through our trusted appraisal partners. We now have to order them through a third party company who also needs to get paid. This company will now charge you so your appraisal will cost more and will now have to be paid by you upfront. Once the HVCC company has the appraisal request they will shop around to find the lowest biding appraiser that they can and order it through them. HVCC will keep the difference you paid and the lowest bidder’s charge. Now we wait. We cannot do anything until the appraisal has been completed and has been returned to the lending company. This is where most of the horror stories began. Keep in mind the appraiser that was most likely given the order is the guy that will do it for the cheapest and with the cheapest comes the poor results. We recently had an appraisal come back where the appraiser took photos of another home and put them into the appraisal as the actual home, unbelievable.

At this point a petition has been passed around and everyone in our industry realtors included, have been signing it to get this law overturned as it is not working and making our market bottleneck even more.

This law does not cover FHA home loans and we can still order our own appraisals as usual.

As the laws change in our industry, I am always looking for the smoothest possible way to navigate you through the home loan process. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about obtaining a home loan in Boise, Eagle, or Meridian, Idaho. Our team is dedicated to serving your home loan needs.

At your service, John West

Here's some great news for Boise investors. In July, the Dow Jones increased 8.6%. That's the best July performance since 1989! It's also the best monthly performance since October 2002.

The S&P 500, a listing of the 500 largest companies in America, was up 7.4% in July. That's the best July performance for the S&P 500 since 1997. Not only that, it's up 46% since its low point in March 2009.

What can we learn from this?
When investing in Idaho Real Estate or stocks, it literally pays to keep a cool head and stick with your long-term goals. If you followed Chicken Little's advice and cashed out your investments, you would have missed these great gains. Successful investors weather through the bad storms by sticking with their plans. You should do the same.

The importance of investment planning
A solid investment plan helps many investors make smart decisions during tough economic times. Without a plan, investors find themselves making rash decisions. They become reactive instead of proactive. All investors need a well thought-out plan. That's why it's important to have a trusted investing professional on your side to help you create one. Call our team to learn more about getting set up with one of our trusted financial advisors.

Staying smart
All investors are welcoming the significant gains in July. But it's just as important to follow your plan during the good times as it is during the low seasons. Remember, the market can be fickle. Don't rush into the market or a particular property just because you think it will preform well.

The Tip:

If you're out of debt and have three to six months of expenses saved in an emergency fund, you should be investing. If you keep postponing investing for your retirement, you will never be able to retire. Remember, don't make a rash decision because the market does ebb and flow. Get a financial advisor to help you get into the market the right way.

Our team is dedicated to help you with your mortgage planning both in refinancing and or purchasing.

John West (208) 321-4161 or email me at john_j_west@homtail.com