FHFA Announces New Short Sale Guidance

August 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has released their updated requirements for Short Sales. Servicers of Fannie and Freddie loans will be allowed to approve short sales for borrowers with severe financial hardship with limited documentation, provide borrowers who are current on their loan the option for a short sale if they face a financial hardship such as divorce, long distance employment transfer, or a severe disability, and provide valuation guidance to real estate agents early on in the short sale process.

Servicers are required to implement the changes by Nov. 1, 2012.

For the full release, see the FHFA’s News Release.

As always, for more information, please do contact me.

Thank you,

Matt

Filed Under: Short Sales Tagged With:

Housing Market Year-Over-Year Infographic

August 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I am always asked, “How is the market?” It is nice to see graphics like the above from The National Association of Realtors (NAR), however this is a National statistic. Please remember that real estate has many local drivers and will vary based on local facts. That said, if Nationally the trends are as NAR indicates, then it is very likely that your neighborhood and community are seeing similar results.

As always, if you have any questions, please do reach out in the comments or via email.

Cheers,

Matt

Filed Under: Chicago Real Estate, Home Buying

3.8% Tax in Health Bill: Additional Resources

August 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Whether you support the new Health Care bill or not, as Americans we will be affected by new taxes that are included in this bill including a new .9% tax on the self-employeed and an additional 3.8% tax on those with Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of over $200,000 (individually) or $250K if taxes filed jointly.

The below link takes you to some good resources which start to explain how a typical American may be affected. Either way, it is good to be educated about what is going down on Washington.

3.8% Tax in Health Bill: Additional Resources.

Filed Under: Uncategorized