Homeowners in the Portsmouth NH area, and all across the country, in need of some relief on their mortgages may find some hope and help in the latest housing plan to come out of the “Making Home Affordable” program.

If you find you can’t afford your home  mortgage, you may be eligible for modification of your home/condo mortgage.  There are qualifications to be eligible, and you don’t qualify if you can afford your home mortgage and just are looking for help to get a lower rate.

Some of the criteria used to determine eligibility are as follows:

• The mortgage must be on your primary residence;

• You must live in your home;

• The balance on your mortgage must be less than $729,750 for a single family home or condo;

• If you’re already in foreclosure proceedings, you may still qualify.

To read more about the eligibility details, read this article on the ‘Making Home Affordable Plan”.

Once it’s been determined you’re qualified for your mortgage to be modified, the mortgage servicer will then determine what it will take to be able to reduce your monthly mortgage payment to 31% of your monthly income.

The lender involved in working with you to adjust your monthly housing payment will do what it takes to get your payment to that 31% payment.  Your housing payment includes the principal, interest, property taxes, homeowners insurance payment, and any condo or association dues.  If you have a mortgage insurance premium payment in your current payment, that portion will not be included in the new payment plan.

Lowering the monthly payments to the 31% level will be accomplished in a variety of ways – lowering the interest rate to as low as 2%, stretching out the length of the mortgage to as much as 40 years, or restructuring the principal amount so that only part of it has interest being paid on it.

No matter how the payment is reduced, it will not alleviate the amount you actually owe.  This housing plan is reducing your payments for you for five (5) years, not the life of the loan.  That part of the plan doesn’t get talked about as much as the other parts of the plan have been.  At the end of this five year term, the rates increase by 1% each year until the rate is about equal to the current rate at that time.

If you’re interested in finding out if you qualify for a mortgage modification, contact your mortgage lender directly.

Are you looking to buy or sell real estate here in the Portsmouth NH area?  If so, send me an email or give me a call – I’d love to talk to you about the real estate market and your interest in buying or selling here in the Portsmouth NH real estate homes market!

Servicing the New Hampshire towns of Portsmouth, Newcastle,
Rye, North Hampton, Hampton, Stratham, Exeter, Greenland, Newington,
Dover, Durham and surrounding areas, and the Maine towns of Kittery,
Kittery Point, Eliot, South Berwick, York, and surrounding areas.

By now, unless you’ve been living under a rock or just plain out of country, you’ve heard myriad details about President Obama’s “Stimulus Plan”.

Home buyers I’m working with in the Portsmouth NH real estate market area have been asking how and when they’ll get their $8,000 to help them buy a house.   Clearly all the reports have just muddied the waters for home buyers instead of clearing things up.

For buyers and sellers in the Portsmouth New Hampshire real estate market interested in learning the nuts and bolts of this $8,000 tax credit for home and condo buyers, here are the bullets of the plan:

1. - for first-time home buyers or those who’ve not owned a primary residence in the last 3 years;
2. – for the purchase of primary residences only, and for those purchased from Jan. 1, 2009 through December 31, 2009;
3. - is an $8,000 TAX CREDIT, not money given to you for your purchase;
4. - does NOT have to be paid back like 2008’s $7,500 tax credit.

The National Association of Home Builders has put together some great questions and answers on the Federal Housing Tax Credit that may help clarify other questions you might have on this tax credit.   Check it out for additional details.

If you’d like to read more information on the Federal Housing Tax Credit, additional provisions can be found here –>  Stimulus Law Provisions.

Are you ready to find that perfect home or condo? Today’s environment with great interest rates and lower home purchase prices makes this a fabulous time for most people to think about purchasing real estate.

Send me an email or give me a call, 1-888-349-5678 x 3839, and we can get started talking real estate and find you that perfect home or condo here in the Seacoast areas of NH and southern Maine!

Servicing the New Hampshire towns of Portsmouth, Newcastle,
Rye, North Hampton, Hampton, Stratham, Exeter, Greenland, Newington,
Dover, Durham and surrounding areas, and the Maine towns of Kittery,
Kittery Point, Eliot, South Berwick, York, and surrounding areas.

Home and condo buyers in the Portsmouth NH area have been asking about the lastest version of the Economic Stimulus Plan.   And truth be told, the plan isn’t in place just yet.

It is, however, being worked on, and what we’ve been hearing certainly sounds good.  The $15,000 amount being talked about in this Stimulus Plan wouldn’t be a ‘loan’ as the first one that came out for $7,500, which had to be paid back.

The House has one version of this Stimulus Bill and the Senate has a different version, and therein lies a lot of work to get one that both the House and the Senate can agree on.   And then, once that happens, the President has to sign it and put it in place as a new law.

So, if you’re looking to buy a home or a condo in the Portsmouth New Hampshire real estate market, get your ducks in a row so you can be ready to take advantage of this new Stimulus Bill once it goes into effect.

To find out what you need to do to be ready, these posts will help you do that, and you can contact a local real estate professional to help you through the process.

• Home Mortgage Application Tips

• Buying a Home or Condo in Portsmouth NH Areas

Would you like information on the New Hampshire or Maine real estate market?
Do you have questions about the buying or selling process?
Give me a call at 1-888-349-5678 x 3839 or send me an email and let’s talk real estate!

Make sure you start off by getting a written pre-approval letter from a professional lender.

Now that you’ve found the perfect Portsmouth home or condo, it’s time to make your mortgage application.  Here’s what you’ll need to get together for
your lender so you can provide him or her complete information to get your home mortgage in the works:

• –  one month’s worth of pay check stubs;

• –  your last 2 years’ of your W-2 forms;

• –  your most recent 2-3 months’ of bank account statements;

• –  account numbers and contact information on all credit cards and outstanding loans;

• –  child support and/or alimony payments, if applicable;

• –  your last 2 years’ of tax returns, if you’re self-employed.

This information is necessary to process your request for a Portsmouth NH home or condo mortgage, so the more documentation you can provide up front, the smoother and more stress-free your real estate purchase and mortgage process will be.  If your lender requests additional informtation, do your best to get that information back as quickly as you can.  Keep the process flowing and don’t cause unnecessary delays by not providing what’s asked for or by challenging your lender’s need for certain information or documentation.

Here are some other tips to pay heed to while you’re in the home buying
process:

• –  Don’t go out and run up your credit cards or make any big purchases.

• –  Don’t open any new credit cards or charge accounts.

• –  Don’t switch jobs during the process.

• –  Keep all your accounts current and pay your bills on time or early.

• –  Make sure to keep your current mortgage payments paid and up-to-date.

Most lenders these days pull a new credit report and do new verificatons of employment just before the closing.  Any substantive changes in any of your accounts or employment may jeopardize your ability to obtain the mortgage for that perfect Portsmouth NH home or condo you’ve been working
hard to buy.

Be prepared and plan ahead, and your home buying and mortgage experience will be a happy positive one!

Are you thinking about making Portsmouth New Hampshire your home?  Call me today at 603-431-1111 x 3839, or send me an email, and let’s talk real estate!

If you’re thinking about buying real estate in the Portsmouth NH and Maine Seacoast areas, here are some important things to know about credit scores and how that impacts your ability to obtain a home mortgage.

Your credit score is more important today than ever before, and
if you’ve got a good credit score, you want to do everything you can to
protect that good score.

Your credit score is a good indicator of how
likely you are to pay off your debts on time.  The more likely your
credit history shows this to be, the better the mortgage program will be that you qualify for.  The higher your credit score, the better you look to mortgage companies and banks.

Credit scores range from 350 to 850, and the higher your score, the
lower the risk you pose.

This is how credit scores are categorized:

• Excellent Score –  760 and higher (this number has been increased to closer to 800)

• Good Score – 720 – 760

• Average Score –  680 – 720

• Reason for Concern –  620 – 680

• Reason for Great Concern –  620 and under

Would you like information on the New Hampshire or Maine real estate market?

Do you have questions about the buying or selling process?

Give me a call at 1-888-349-5678 x 3839 or send me an email and let’s talk real estate!

If you’re thinking about buying real estate in the Portsmouth NH and Maine Seacoast areas, here are some important things to know about credit scores and how that impacts your ability to obtain a home mortgage.

Your credit score is more important today than ever before, and
if you’ve got a good credit score, you want to do everything you can to
protect that good score. Your credit score is a good indicator of how
likely you are to pay off your debts on time. The more likely your
credit history shows this to be, the better the mortgage program will be that you qualify for. The higher your credit score, the better you look to mortgage companies and banks.

Credit scores range from 350 to 850, and the higher your score, the
lower the risk you pose. This is how credit scores are categorized:

Excellent
Score –  760 and higher (this number has been increased to closer to 800)

Good
Score – 720 – 760

Average
Score
–  680 – 720

Reason for
Concern
–  620 – 680

Reason for Great
Concern –  620 and under

Are you thinking about buying
a home or condo or multi-family in the Portsmouth New Hampshire areas? 

If so, then the newly released increases in the FHA mortgage amounts may be
of particular interest to you!  Check the Rockingham County and Strafford County loan limits in the chart below (the yellow highligted rows) – those are some very nice increases for this area for maximum mortgage amounts.

The chart below shows the loan limits for those mortgages that close on or
after March 17, 2008.  This is good news for buyers and sellers as there is now
an option for those needing lower down payments for prices that were above the
existing FHA mortgage loan limits.

Do you own real estate in Portsmouth NH or
in the Seacoast area?  Are you having difficulty making ends meet?  We
all know times are a bit tough for many people lately, and it’s difficult making
all the payments you need to. 

I just read an article put out by the American Homeowners Foundation,
entitled “Top 10 Foreclosure Avoidance Tips”.  These tips are great for
those needing help now, and for anyone down the road that may find themselves
needing this kind of help.

 
Some of the tips they list are:

• 1)  Don’t ignore the problem
• 2)  Contact a HUD approved local nonprofit counseling agency for
  programs to help you
• 3)  Find out what your home is worth so you know how much equity you
  have in it
• 4)  Stay away from companies that charge you a fee for mortgage
  counseling
• 5)  Know your mortgage rights

These are just some of the tips they’ve listed, and on their site that I’ve
linked to above, they go into detail on each of the tips about why that advice
and how to do what they’re suggesting.  There’s some very helpful information in
their article, as well as on their website, American Homeowners.

New Hampshire Home Mortgage Workshop

Homeowners of New Hampshire – There will be a
New Hampshire Home Mortgage Workshop held in Manchester
this coming Saturday, Mary 8th, from 9am to noon.  This workshop will be held at
the Carol Rines Center, located at 1528 Elm Street, Manchester NH.

In an effort to help New Hampshire residents through the current home
mortgage environment, US Senator John Sununu and Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta
are inviting all interested parties to attend this workshop.

Those attending this workshop will be provided information regarding programs
and resources available to New Hampshire residents that have been developed in
response to today’s home mortgage market and the economic
concerns that many have today.  There will be housing counselors on hand to
address specific concerns or questions NH homeowners may have,
and they will be ready to work with you to help determine the best course of
action for your individual situation.

This workshop is open to all who want to attend, and there is no charge to
attend.

We all have concerns and questions about the mortgage industry situation, and
how it impacts each of us.  This free workshop is a terrific opportunity to get
some first hand information, as well as an opportunity to get some direct
specific information and assistance if you need it.

DEBT-Free!!  Who doesn’t want that??

We all know how hard it can be to manage our own
finances.  Been there, done that!  I just didn’t know how, until someone showed
me the way, and I’ve never looked back since that turning point.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately about ways to achieve a
debt-free status, or pretty close to debt-free.  From that reading, I put
together these tips to help all of us.  For those looking to to buy Portsmouth NH real estate, or homes and condos in any
of the surrounding Seacoast areas of NH or Maine, getting rid
of debt will certainly help, especially with all the changes in the mortgage
guidelines lately.

Here are 7 tips that may just help you find your way to
being debt-free, if that’s your goal: