A Friend in Need - Helping Other People
Yesterday, I was informed of a very close and dear friend, Charles Richey, had been hospitalized with Guillain-Barre Syndrome. This particular disease afflicts the nervous system and the inflicted individual looses the use of all their limbs and ability to swallow.
Charles has helped me with my website on many occasions and has always been there to just to talk or give me encouragement when things were rough for me. There are many real estate agents through the United States that have benefited from his assistance. In addition, Charles, is very active in the Las Vegas area with animal rescue organizations. Many times when we talk he will tell me about a new dog that he has staying with him until a home can be found.
Charles does not have any health insurance at this time and with the overall real estate market not as strong as it has been, he will be incurring substantial hospital, physician, and after inpatient care - if you have been hospitalized you may have some idea of what Charles will be facing in the future.
On the Internet, we meet many people and may not meet them in person. So when a call goes out to help another- the internet is a power vehicle to get the word out. I have been lucky to meet Charles and his wife Jacqui in person and have had dinner with them.
You may not know Charles Richey from Las Vegas, but perhaps you know someone that has been striken with this disease and can offer comforting words of advice for this family or if you are so inclined to assist Charles you can visit this site or click on the graphic below.
Donate to the Charles Richey Fund
Thank you for reading this post and any assistance you can offer Charles Richey from Las Vegas.
Blog Makes Top 100 Real Estate Blogs
Today, I was very surprised to find this blog to ranked in the Top 100 Real Estate Blogs as per Top 100 Real Estate Blogs.
The ranking is determined by Google Page Rank, Technorati Rank, and Alexa rankings.
The blog is entitled Naples Real Estate News and Market Updates and does cover the communities of Bonita Springs and Estero as well.
Thank you - Top 100 Real Estate Blogs.
Naples Real Estate News - 09/19/07
Good news today comes out of the federal government - fed rate reduced by 50 basis points and Congress proposes an increase in FHA’s insurable levels. The bad news - foreclosures are up significantly. Read more
WARNING: Credit Repair Scams
Are you credit scores low? What can your credit score impact? Many people are not aware that their credit scores could affect their employment or employability. Now the a once quiet cottage industry (several have popped up in the Naples area) - credit repair companies are starting to appear on the horizon. Is this a solution for you? Are the results guaranteed?
Naples Florida Real Estate News - 09/18/07
Making the news today - "Vote Yes on 1 - Save Our Homes NOW" momentum is growing - but can subprime mortgages or foreclosures accomplish the same thing? What will the Federal Reserve do today? Read more
Naples Florida Real Estate News - 09/17/07
Are you considering buying real estate? Where are interest rates going in the long term? Other positives to consider…. Read more
WARNING: Beware Of Foreclosure Scams
Are you facing foreclosure? If not, you might know someone that is facing foreclosure, considering a high percentage of people know someone facing foreclosure.
Today, there are hundred’s of companies springing up all over the country purportedly foreclosure rescue companies.
The Internet maybe a wonderful tool to gather information however in today’s environment it can be used for taking advantage of people by individuals lacking good moral and ethics. How does this happen?
Naples Florida Real Estate News - 09/10/07
Paying your risky ARM timely? You might want to read about FHASecure. Is the My Safe Florida Home program coming to Naples, Bonita Springs or Estero? Which mortgage companies are eliminating jobs now?
What is Liquidity?
Today, DJ Gardner from First Magnus Financial explains what liquidity is for lenders and why it is important to you, if you are thinking about purchasing a home or condo in today’s real estate market.
What happens when Investors, overnight, stop investing in certain types of loans? First, Lenders stop offering them. We have seen a lot of this lately. Next, Lenders that had made these loans, now have nowhere to sell them. Their warehouse sources make margin calls, forcing the Lenders to come up with cash. But the Lenders need to sell the loans to get the cash. If the Lenders do not have other sources of liquidity they may be forced out of business. We have seen a lot of this as well. Many very fine companies could not meet their margin calls. The next thing is what we began to see this week. Investors, mutual funds, hedge funds, etc. need to mark their assets to market every day. If no one is buying a particular asset, the value of that asset is difficult to determine. Fund managers cannot distribute fund assets, if they do not know the value of the fund. So they deny withdrawals from the fund causing fund investors to hold what assets they can get their hands on in highly secure, highly accessible investments.
This is a liquidity crunch. This week, the Fed and other central banks around the world have helped as they can, by providing more money in the banking system. In the weeks to come, they may choose to make it easier for banks to borrow money by cutting discount rates. The US market now believes the Fed will cut its discount rate before the end of September.
Purchasing Your Naples Florida Residence
This evening’s article was submitted by John Campbell of TIB Bank in Naples. John discusses various aspects of the Alt-A mortgages which have been used and currently used to purchase residences in the Naples FL real estate market.
First the bad news: There is a severe liquidity crisis in the residential mortgage lending markets. Several major wholesalers have stopped lending the so called "Alt-A" loan. 50% of the residences purchased used to get Alt-A loans without any trouble. Now Alt A loans are hard to find — at any price.
Alt-A loans include: Borrowers with good credit histories, job histories and liquid assets; loans over $417,000; no-income-verification loans —— at any loan amount; adjustable rate loans such as 5/1 ARMs and 7/1 ARMs ——-at any loan amount; 80/20 loans and other "high loan-to-value" loans; super jumbo loans over $1,000,000; and finally interest only loans.
"Alt-A" is not "sub-prime" - sub Prime Loans are like Alt-A but the borrowers tend to have poor credit histories, unstable job histories and limited liquid assets (or at least are not asked to disclose these things under a "No Doc" Loan).
The market for sub-prime loans has dried up significantly also.
"Alt-A" is a $500,000 loan on a $620,000 condo as a 5/1 ARM with interest only payments to a second home buyer who owns a business and does a stated income loan (or even a full doc loan). It is currently a very common loan scenario in the Naples area, as well as Bonita Springs and Estero.
A third category of loan, conforming loans is not as affected by the liquidity crisis. Conforming loans are under $417,000, fixed rates, full documentation and have a standard set of qualifying guidelines. Most lenders have always had superior turn around time and the best rates in the market on this product. And, now that conforming loans are one of the last available type of loans, borrowers will be requesting more of them.
The market for mortgage loans has changed dramatically in the past two weeks. If a borrower needs or wants a limited documentation loan, they should be prepared to pay a higher rate or especially be prepared to pay "points." The limited documentation loan will require proof of cash reserves and a good credit score. There will be more explanations about adverse credit and a focus on the appraisal. In the past 10 years we have experienced the wild west of lending with seemingly unlimited resources and easy access to relatively cheap money. Now the large global players who bought all of those mortgage backed securities have decided that the risk versus reward factor was too low and they are not buying the Alt-A and sub-prime loans at any price. It is as if we have settled all the easily accessible and arable land and only the rocky and dry land is left. And, it happened overnight.