Archive for the ‘economy’ Category

Fannie Mae Offers First-Time Home Buyers Big Help With Closing Costs

This 5 bedroom, 3-bath house qualifies for 3% closing cost from Fannie Mae

 

Kennesaw’s Ashford Capital Partners’ Managing Partners Matt Riedemann brings you news you can use.

If you’re a first-time home buyer just entering the market, you’re in for a springtime treat: Fannie Mae will now pay your closing costs, up to 3% of the price of the home—provided you take the mortgage giant’s home-buyer counseling course first.

The new HomePath Ready Buyer program, announced on Wednesday, allows first-time buyers (defined as those who have not owned a home in the past three years) to take an online course, get certified, and become eligible for what could amount to significant savings. For instance, on a $150,000 home, Fannie Mae could contribute up to $4,500 toward your closing costs—which typically range from 2.5% to 3% of a home’s price—and even reimburse you for the $75 online course.

“This could actually get someone in the game,” said Frank Montro, a Chicago-area real estate broker who specializes in selling rehabbed homes. “This goes straight to the buyer’s needs.”

Montro says first-time home buyers are usually either “cash-poor or credit-poor. They pay their bills on time and they qualify for the mortgage, but they just don’t have the savings.”

By offering closing cost assistance on their properties, Fannie Mae is opening the gates to a pool of people who have largely been left behind in the housing market recovery. Traditionally, first-time buyers have made up about 40% of the market. Last year, they accounted for 33%, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

While this announcement marks the mortgage giant’s latest step in loosening credit availability—it also announced a new 3% down loan program in December—it does so with some strings attached. The closing cost credit applies only to properties in Fannie Mae’s own inventory.

Fannie Mae owns thousands of houses across the country, all seized in foreclosure proceedings, and now the government-backed private corporation is actively trying to unload that inventory. Searching our own site’s listings, we found 7,075 single-family homes listed as Fannie Mae HomePath properties.

April 17th, 2015 – Chrystal Caruthers – http://www.realtor.com/news/fannie-mae-first-time-home-buyer-closing-costs-help/

Kennesaw’s Ashford Capital Partners’ Managing Partners Matt Riedemann brings you news you can use.  Check back tomorrow for more.

Fannie Mae: Economy pulls housing out of doldrums

Improving fundamentals support gradual housing momentum

Fannie Mae

Kennesaw’s Ashford Capital Partners’ Managing Partners Matt Riedemann brings you news you can use.

Driven by strengthening private domestic demand, economic growth is expected to accelerate modestly this year and drag last year’s unspectacular housing activity upward, according to Fannie Mae’s Economic & Strategic Research Group.

Fannie’s analysts say that amid continued low gasoline prices, firming labor market conditions, rising household net worth, improving consumer and business confidence and reduced fiscal headwinds, the economy is expected to climb to 3.1% in 2015, up from the a previous estimate of 2.7% in the prior forecast.

The stronger economic backdrop should lead to improving income prospects, underpinning a higher rate of household formation in 2015.

“Our theme for the year, Economy Drags Housing Upward, implies that both housing and the economy will pick up some speed in 2015, but that the economy will grow at a faster pace,” said Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan. “We have revised upward our full-year economic growth forecast to 3.1% for 2015, which is not yet robust but still an improvement over last year’s growth. Consumer spending should continue to strengthen due in large part to lower gas prices, giving further support to auto sales and manufacturing. We believe this will motivate the Federal Reserve to begin measures to normalize monetary policy in the third quarter of this year, continuing at a cautiously steady pace into 2016 and 2017, likely keeping interest rates relatively low for some time.”

“Strength in the broader economy, accompanied by continued employment growth and meaningful income growth, should contribute to some improvement in housing activity this year,” said Duncan. “Given historically low mortgage rates and a gradual easing of lending standards, our forecast calls for a 5.8% increase in total home sales for the year. Most of that is likely to come from growth in existing home sales, but we expect the rising share of new home sales to lead to a healthy increase in single-family construction of about 19%, or 765,000 units. Although we don’t view this as signaling a breakout year for housing, we do expect to see broad-based improvement in 2015 following a disappointing and uneven year for the housing recovery in 2014.”

Come back tomorrow to http://www.AshfordCP.com/blog  where Kennesaw’s Ashford Capital Partners’ Managing Partners Matt Riedemann brings you news you can use.

Author:  Trey Garrison – http://www.housingwire.com/articles/32683-fannie-mae-economy-pulls-housing-out-of-doldrums

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