HUD report shows that you are missing the boat if you aren't partnering with a lender who can help your clients take advantage of the FHA 203(k) Streamline loan

If you haven't found a good lender who offers the FHA 203(k) Streamline loan, then you are missing out on a fantastic niche.  You may have read a recent post I wrote about two FHA 203(k) Streamline closings I had last Friday.  I closed one in 25 days and the other in 21 days - the latest 203(k) Streamline was closed in 29 days (the holidays slowed everyone down).  This is very fast for any loan but especially for the FHA 203(k) Streamline.  More importantly is how excited all of the clients are, especially when they move into their "new" home.  Most people are generally excited about closing on their home and moving in but these clients are so much more excited - I attend all of my closings and can tell a dramatic difference between the level of enthusiasm from the clients who are getting ready to have their new house renovated and customized to their specifications as opposed to those clients who are just buying a house.

As a "for instance," would you rather sell your client this home which is functional:


Or do you think your clients would be just a bit more excited if you helped them get the same great house but remodeled to their tastes like:

I would venture to say that we will all get more referrals from these clients than from the regular clients.  Additionally, we plan to help these clients throw an open house for their friends when the homes are finished and what a great marketing tool to share the experience of helping the clients show off their new home; what lender and Realtor does that?  We are going to also start pushing the Energy Efficient Mortgage which with some reasonable modifications will help clients save 20-40% on their energy bills.  If the budget allows for photovoltaic cells on the roof, the client might be in a situation where they pay little to nothing for their energy.  How cool (no pun intended) would that be to be able to call the client every month after they have received their energy bill to see how much it was - this will be a great reminder of what we did to help them and a great time to ask for referrals.
Any niche that allows you to stand out from your competition is a great thing.  There aren't a whole lot of Realtors taking advantage of this as evidenced by the statistics from HUD's website below.  Help rebuild your community one FHA 203(k) Streamline at a time and you will have happier clients, more referrals, and you will be helping to restore the value and pride of ownership in homes while being able to keep those in the building industry employed.  It's a winning situation for everyone.

This is a very under-utilized loan in the Vegas market the HUD report shows what great opportunity we have if we embrace this, market it, and educate our clients about this great opportunity for them:

 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT 
  REPORT DATE: DEC 31, 2011 

203K ENDORSEMENT SUMMARY REPORT 
  DEC 01,2011 TO DEC 31,2011 

 ANCHORAGE                                       2                3   
   BOISE                                           8               26   
   FRESNO                                         22               80   
   HONOLULU                                        7               15   
   LAS VEGAS                                       9               38   
   LOS ANGELES                                    45              146   
   PHOENIX                                        42              125   
   PORTLAND                                       29               85   
   RENO                                            2               15   
   SACRAMENTO                                     27              113   
   SAN DIEGO                                      13               38   
   SAN FRANCISCO                                  42              115   
   SANTA ANA                                      32               83   
   SEATTLE                                        62              182   
   SPOKANE                                        11               24   
   TUCSON                                          4               18   
            HOC: SANTA ANA                       357            1,106 

Las Vegas did 9 of these loans in December - Seattle did 62.  We are missing the boat and a great opportunity. 

Call me to learn more about marketing strategies and how to really help your clients:  Jed Wunderli - 702-812-1214.  

What drives you to be better?

I was on my morning bike ride and I was riding great.  Over the last couple of months I've noticed a fairly significant improvement in my average miles-per-hour while I've also noticed that my average heart rate has decreased somewhat significantly as well.  All of a sudden I'm riding about 1.0 miles per hour faster (about 2.2 mph faster than last year at this time) - and plan to improve that as well - and my Average HBM (heartbeats per minute) is about 7-10% lower than what it was just a couple of months ago.  The change?  I started cross training by running on the treadmill and doing the eliptical 2-3 nights a week in addition to my normal riding schedule (when it's not windy - I hate riding in the wind).

Why am I doing this other than the fact that I love cycling and want to see how good I can be at 46+ along with trying to manage my weight?  I have a riding buddy who calls me "Lance" because of how much I ride and how fast I ride (at least relative to my friend).  I always chuckle and defer humbly that I am far from him or any other pro cyclist, not to mention lots of great hobby cyclists.  However, I am competitive and if someone is going to call me Lance, I better try to live up to the name.  With this in mind in addition to my normal competitive nature, I started training harder both on the bike and off, and I am trying to watch what I eat - my sweet tooth is challenging some times - o.k. most times.
I then try to apply this same attitude and mentality to my business by analyzing what I can do to build more relationships - both referral and client.  I don't worry too much about my bottom line because if I take care of my relationships, they will help me create more relationships until I have enough to achieve my bottom line goals.  I look for niches (FHA 203(k) Streamline, Energy Efficient Mortgage, etc. - www.YouTube.com/thewunderliteam) and try to develop strategies that will help my Realtor partners build their business which positively impacts mine.  I also offer value-added services such as bond market analysis and the Energy Efficient Mortgage to provide benefits to my clients.
So what drives (rides) you?  What makes you want to improve your business?  What ideas do you have to help your fellow business partners achieve their goals as well?  It's the new year and a great time to assess what you can do to improve on last year.  Let's pick it up and sustain it throughout the year - not just for the first month.  Please share your ideas / comments.

D. Jed Wunderli
Certified Mortgage Planner
Alterra Home Loans
702-812-1214

The Home Ownership Accelerator - HOA

This is the 6th installment of the Loan Program Quick Reference Guide and today I am focusing on the Home Ownership Accelerator.  I have already extolled the virtues of the more common / popular loans but now it's time to talk about one of my favorite loans (my other favorite is the FHA 203(k) Streamline loan).  Here are the highlights:

The Home Ownership Accelerator allows a borrower to purchase a home with financing ranging from $100,000 to $2.5mil. with 25% down.  The closing process is fast and easy and the best parts are that this loan pays off in usually less than half the time of a traditional mortgage and it allows borrowers access to their equity.

You can learn all about it by watching this 5-minute video:  http://www.thewunderliteam.com/navPage.html?targetPage=http://www.hoamovie.com/

Benefits to Buyer

•   Pay off loan much more quickly than a traditional mortgage 
•   Build up equity much faster than a traditional mortgage
•   Buyer has access to the equity for investing or other purposes

D. Jed Wunderli
Certified Mortgage Planner
Alterra Home Loans
702-812-1214

HomePath Quick Reference Guide

This is the 5th installment of the Loan Program Quick Reference Guide and today I am focusing on the HomePath loan.  Monday I gave you the rundown on the standard FHA loan.  Tuesday it was the VA.  Wednesday I highlighted conventional loans and yesterday the spotlight was on the FHA 203(k) Streamline loan.  The HomePath is a good loan but it is very limited since it can only be used on FNMA-owned homes that are designated for the HomePath.  Here are the highlights:

HomePath Mortgage allows a borrower to purchase a Fannie Mae-owned property with a low down payment, flexible mortgage terms, no lender-requested appraisal and no mortgage insurance. Expanded seller contributions to closing costs are allowed.

Benefits to Buyer

·       Low down payment and flexible mortgage terms (fixed–rate, adjustable rate, or interest–only-Primary Residence).

·       Down payment (at least 3 percent) can be funded by the borrower’s own savings; a gift; a grant; or a loan from a nonprofit organization, state or local government, or employer.

·       No lender-requested appraisal.

·       No mortgage insurance.

·       Expanded seller contributions for closing costs allowed.

·       Many condo project requirements are waived.

·       10% down payment requirement for 2^nd Home and Investment properties!

D. Jed Wunderli
Certified Mortgage Planner
Alterra Home Loans
702-812-1214

FHA 203(k) Streamline Quick Reference Guide

This is part four in the "Quick Reference Guide Series" that I started writing on Monday.  I have already covered FHA, VA, and Conventional loans with regard to general guidelines and the benefits to the home buyer.  In today's post, I will be covering my favorite loan, the FHA 203(k) Streamline.  The FHA 203(k) Streamline is a very under-utilized loan program and yet it helps the buyer get a home that ends up being much closer to the home they really want than any turn-key home they could buy.  It also makes it possible to write offers on homes that don't qualify for standard FHA financing as well as homes that aren't getting a lot of offers because the home needs work.  Done right, this loan can close just as quickly (give or take a few days) as a standard FHA loan and it has the potential to generate far more referrals.  We have a system that we use from start to finish that I won't go into here - feel free to call or email and I can let you know exactly what we do.  Here is the FHA 203(k) Streamline Quick Reference Guide:

The FHA 203(k) Streamline (also known as the government rehab loan) is a little used (underused) loan program that provides tremendous opportunity for Realtors and clients – this is one to focus on!!

The program guidelines are exactly the same as for the standard FHA loan:

Program guidelines:

            Loan-to-Value:  96.5%

            Debt-to-Income Ratio:  as high as 55%

            Minimum Credit Score:  none, but prefer 640+

            Mortgage Insurance: 

1)    Up-front = 1% of base loan amount (financed)

2)    Annual (paid monthly) = 1.15% of base loan amount

Reserves:  None required

            Bankruptcy:  Need re-established credit

1)    Chapter 7 – eligible 2 years from the discharge date

2)    Chapter 13 – eligible 1 year from the filing with Trustee’s approval

Foreclosure / short sale:  eligible three years from the foreclosure date or sale date.

The difference between this program and the standard FHA is that the home buyer can get up to $35,000 for rehab / repairs.  Here’s how it works:

1)    buyer gets accepted offer

2)    buyer gets bid from contractor (we have one we work with very closely

3)    Appraisal is done using the purchase contract and the bid and the value is “as repaired.”

4)    The loan amount is based on the lower of purchase price plus the bid price or the appraised value plus 10%.

Benefits to the buyer:

1)    The buyer can use FHA financing for homes that wouldn’t otherwise qualify for FHA financing

2)    The buyer can bid on homes that have less competition

3)    The buyer can get a house just they way they want it

4)    The Realtor will get more referrals from the raving fans who are their buyers.

D. Jed Wunderli
Certified Mortgage Planner
Alterra Home Loans
702-812-1214