If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Yes,  Time is running out to take advantage of the $8,000 tax credit for First Time Home Buyers in Minnesota.  To take advantage of this tax credit you must have closed on a home buy December 1, 2009.  In order [...]

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Breaking News- Taken from the National Association of Realtor’s Website Federal Housing Administration is going to permit its lenders to allow homeowners to use the $8,000 tax credit as a downpayment. Donovan’s remarks came in an address to several thousand Realtors® gathered this morning at The Real Estate Summit: Advancing the U.S. Economy, a special [...]

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FHA loan limit in the 11 county Twin Cities area has officially been increased to $365,000 up from the previous limit of $316,000 for the Twin Cities.  These higher loan limits are great news for buyers (and sellers) in the $315-375 price range.  They now have an option to buy with a down payment as small as 3.5% ($10-12,000).  [...]

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Is there more to come for the first time home buyer tax credit?  Currently the tax credit is for $7,500.  To be eligible you must be a first time home buyer, who bought their home between April 9, 2008 and July 1, 2009.  There are income restrictions, to get the full credit a single person [...]

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The FHA 203k Mortgage can be great for fixing up a foreclosure or short sale when you are buying a home in Lakeville, Apple Valley or for that matter anywhere South of the River or in the Twin Cities Real Estate market.  Here is how it works.  Say that the city or appraisal is requiring, or [...]

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The Federal Reserve droping short-term rates to 0 to .25% is down from the previous target of 1%.  What does this mean to the housing market in Minnesota?  The purpose of droping rates is to stimulate the economy.  If banks charge very little interest on money that is being borrowed, then potentially people will push [...]

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In effort to stabalize the housing market, the US Treasury may lower the 30-year fixed rate to 4.5%.  Treasury would do so by purchasing mortgage-backed securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and stablizing the currently volitile mortgage securities market. I would strongly recommend you visit with Alec Grebis at The Mortgage Scoop or call him at 952-808-2829 [...]

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The Dakota County Community Development Agency (CDA) is offering a FREE workshop for homeowners who are worried about making upcoming mortgage payments, are already facing foreclosure or for anyone interested in learning more about foreclosure. The workshop will be on Thursday, December 4 from 4 to 7 p.m. at Pleasant Hill Library located at 1490 [...]

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On the MN Real Estate Show last weekend we talked about Loan Modifications.  Read Rob Bonahoom’s, Investment Mortgage Guy’s blog on this topic.  It could be a great option for you. A loan modification is a change in your loan terms. A change in mortgage terms could be interest only to fixed rate or it [...]

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I just read a post by Alec Grebis’ on his blog www.TheMortgageScoop.com that still has me laughing.  He shared 2 numbers to me that are just amazing. We have spent the past year on the radio show talking about all these different Government bailout programs.  Most recently it’s been bailouts for banks.  But, it seems like people forgot [...]

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