If you are thinking of Buying or Selling a beach home/condo at the Shore, a Resort Real Estate Specialist is your best bet for accurate information. Licensed in Ocean City MD and the DE Coastal Resort Areas. I will help you through your transaction if you decide that NOW is the right time for you to Buy or Sell. COLDWELL BANKER RESIDENTIAL BROKERAGE. Email: Susan@ShoreFun4U.com Go to: https://OceanCityMD-BeachHomes4sale.com/
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Monday, November 25, 2013
Sunday, November 24, 2013
One very fantastic looking home - give me an Ocean City MD beach home like this one! ShoreFun4U-Susan Antigone
Chatsworth by Cambuild
By Magaly - Categories: Art, Bathroom, Bedroom, Bookshelf, Decorative Accessories, Dining Room, Eco-Friendly, Fireplace,Furniture, Hall and Entrance, Houses, Interior Design, Kitchen, Lighting, Living Room, Rugs, Selected Work, Staircase, Terrace,Wall Decor Add a comment
Chatsworth is a project completed by the Perth-based Cambuild.
The interior is sleek and smooth, with a neutral palette and accents in a vibrant red.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Thursday, November 21, 2013
SOCIAL MEDIA STATISTICS
http://www.fastcompany.com/3021749/work-smart/10-surprising-social-media-statistics-that-will-make-you-rethink-your-social-stra?utm_source=facebook#!
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Ocean City MD marketing mascot carries bride down the aisle - It's ShoreFun4U at the beach.
http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20131119/WCT/311190016/A-Very-Rodney-Wedding
Monday, November 18, 2013
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Read article about Safe Haven in Delaware - sign the petition if you want to hold those responsible accountable.
http://www.change.org/petitions/delaware-attorney-general-prosecute-lynn-lofthouse-beth-west-and-all-safe-haven-board-members-responsible-for-the-following?share_id=FiqKlFnLwM
5 year rule for buying a house.
http://moneyning.com/housing/the-five-year-rule-for-buying-a-house/
The Five Year Rule for Buying a House
Handing over the keys when buying a house
When I first considered buying a house, my entire family got involved. I have the luck of being related to real estate agents, investors, and other experts that are more than happy to give advice about buying a property — even before you ask.
The first thing they asked me was exactly how long I expected to stay in the house. Though I didn’t know the exact amount of time, they wanted to make sure that I’d own the house for at least five years.
Why’s that? What’s the five year rule for buying a house?
The Upgrade Cycle
It definitely varies by geographic area — if not by specific neighborhood — but a lot of folks near me will buy a townhouse or condo as their starter home. After about three years, they’ll start looking for a bigger place to upgrade to, either a bigger townhouse or a single family home. This upgrade cycle will repeat itself a few times, as people work their way up to a house that they are happy with and that is big enough for their family.
The thought seems to be that if you’re making a little more money every year, you’ll be in a position to afford a bigger house in three years time. And everyone knows assumes that buying is more cost-effective than renting — as long as you’re paying down the principal on your mortgage, you’re going to come out ahead.
But with an upgrade cycle of about three years, there’s a good chance that you will lose money.
The Five Year Rule
When you purchase a house, the general rule is that you want to be sure you’ll be in the same location for at least five years. Otherwise, you’re probably going to take a hit financially.
The first hit is your closing costs. Every time you go through closing — buying and selling — money hits the table. Depending on where your house happens to be, the buyers and sellers pay different amounts, but everyone pays something. This can easily add up to thousands of dollars, and limiting how often you have to pay that kind of money is always a good idea.
And you take a second hit when you look at your mortgage statement to see exactly where your monthly payments are going. The way mortgages are structured, you pay much more interest in the first few years that you own a house. Usually, it isn’t until you’re about five years into paying down your mortgage that you’ve made enough progress on the principal to make it a better deal than paying rent each month.
David’s Note: When you take out a mortgage, you are paying an interest rate on what you owe. So, in the first year, when the principal is highest, the interest you need to pay is also the highest. However, since the monthly payment is the same throughout the term of the loan (at least with a fixed rate mortgage), more of the payment will be used to cover the interest payments, meaning less is going towards the principal. As your principal goes down, your interest payments will go down, leaving more of your check to go towards the principal.
If you can wait at least five years to move, you’re in a better position to be ahead of the game.
Defeating the Five Year Rule
Five years is a generality. If you add in a couple of other factors, you can make buying a house that you don’t plan to stay in long-term a better choice.
The biggest factor is how much you’re going to pay on your mortgage. A lot of people buy as much house as they can afford, according to what lenders offer them. That’s usually the upper end of what you can financially manage. If, however, you buy at the lower end of what you can afford and make extra payments, you can pay off a bigger chunk of the principal. You need to run the numbers for the specific house you’ve got your eye on, but you can often come out ahead.
You may also consider buying a house that you won’t stay in for five years — but that you also won’t turn around and sell. It’s not out of the question to purchase a house, start paying it down, and fix it up so that you can turn rent it out. You do need to be careful that you’re choosing a house that you can afford in addition to a mortgage for your next home, even if you can’t find a renter,. There are plenty of other arrangements that can work out similarly, but you need to study up on real estate before making such a choice.
Bottom line: if you know you’re going to buy a house based on what the bank says you can afford, and you don’t want to think about renting it out, don’t purchase a house until you’re ready to spend at least five years in it.
David’s Note: Here’s a quick and dirty formula that you can use to help you figure out whether it’s better to buy or rent, which works with any duration of ownership. Try to calculate: Seller and Buyer Agent Fees When You Sell + Purchase Price + Maintenance Cost for the Time of Occupancy + Interest Paid on Mortgage + Investment Gains from Your Down Payment + Taxes Paid (Such as Property Tax) + Closing Costs – Selling Price. This number could come out negative or positive, but if it’s lower than the rent you would have paid during the same time frame, then you would be better off buying. If the number is higher, meaning that the selling price wasn’t high enough to cover all those costs, then renting would be the more cost-effective choice.
Do you adhere to the five year rule when buying a house?
For Sale By Owner - do you know what you are getting yourself into? Call Susan Antigone - ShoreFun4U Your Real Estate Town Advocate & Specialist.
FSBOs Must Be Ready to Negotiate
In a recovering market, some sellers might be tempted to try and sell their home on their own (FSBO) without using the services of a real estate professional. The real estate agent is a trained and experienced negotiator. In most cases, the seller is not. The seller must realize the ability to negotiate will determine whether they get the best deal for themselves and their family.
Here is a list of some of the people with whom the seller must be prepared to negotiate if they decide to FSBO:
- The buyer who wants the best deal possible
- The buyer’s agent who solely represents the best interest of the buyer
- The buyer’s attorney (in some parts of the country)
- The home inspection companies which work for the buyer and will almost always find some problems with the house.
- The termite company if there are challenges
- The buyer’s lender if the structure of the mortgage requires the sellers’ participation
- The appraiser if there is a question of value
- The title company if there are challenges with certificates of occupancy (CO) or other permits
- The town or municipality if you need to get the COs permits mentioned above
- The buyer’s buyer in case there are challenges on the house your buyer is selling.
- Your bank in the case of a short sale
Top 5 Home Seller Real Estate Mistakes - Homes for Sale in Ocean City MD. Choose your lifestyle. Beach or Bay. Waterfront or Inland.
Top 5 Home Seller Real Estate Mistakes
NOVEMBER 11, 2013 BY
ShoreFun4u - Susan Antigone, Ocean City MD, Real Estate home advocate & specialist. i can help you buying or selling.
Selling your home is challenging at the best of times. It may be the largest sale you have ever made. Combine this fact with a tough real estate market and you have a recipe for serious stress. Though it may be stressful, there is no reason to make selling your home any more difficult than it has to be. But first, you need to know what to avoid. Don’t make these common home selling mistakes when it comes time to place your home up for sale. Making any of these errors can be the Real Estate kiss of death for getting top dollar.
Overpricing The Home
This is a difficult hurdle for many home sellers to get over, especially if it is their first time selling a home. You love your home; you may have raised a family in your home. You may have also purchased your home at a price that later proved to be fleeting – such as at the height of the housing bubble. All of these situations can give you a feeling of certainty that your home is worth a lot – perhaps even a lot more than the comparable homes in your area.
Overpricing your home could prevent potential buyers from even considering it, or it could cause the home to sit on the market for an extended period of time. The longer your home sits, the more it is perceived as overpriced – or perhaps as a home with something wrong with it. When you finally do drop your price to something more reasonable, buyers begin hitting you with low-ball offers in hopes that you are desperate. After having your home on the market for six months or more, they may be right.
Overpricing often leads to you accepting a price far below your original number, and sometimes even below similar homes. Putting your home up for a fair price, and perhaps even for a slightly lower price than others in your market, can do the opposite. It can drive up the eventual selling price through multiple bids from hungry buyers.
Aim for a fair price that reflects the current market. Typically you can get a good handle on this after your home has been on the market for three to four weeks with ample people looking at it and providing feedback. Listen to what the market is telling you!
Neglecting Their Homes Condition
Homes are made up of many different components, all important to its overall look and performance. Buyers want to purchase homes that are in good repair, where everything works and can be expected to work in the near future. At least, this is true of buyers looking to pay close to the asking price of your home. This is why home sale preparation is essential to get top dollar for your home.
Bargain hunters are different. They want to find a home with obvious or not so obvious flaws. They look for weaknesses in the appearance or the function of a home, and hope to take advantage of those weaknesses in the bargaining process.
If you are like most homeowners, you want to sell your home for the maximum amount of money possible. However, you must realize that top dollar only goes to properties in good repair. Unless you want to haggle with the bargain hunters, you need to keep your home in good condition. If it is not that way now, you need to make it so before putting it up for sale. If your home and yard looks like the one in the old sitcom Sanford and Sonthen it is highly unlikely you will be getting top dollar for your home. In fact it goes without saying you will more than likely sell it for far less than what it is really worth with some minor repairs and upkeep!
If you are in doubt about the state of your home, you can always consult with an experienced real estate agent that is known for making sales. A good agent will give you a straight-faced answer about the current condition of your home, and what you can expect to get for it. Along with a home appraiser, a good agent is an excellent person to look to for advice on the saleability and state of your home.
Problems With House Showings
House showings are an absolute necessity to make a deal. Buyers want to see your home, and they want to do it on their time. When you put your house on the market, you have to accept the fact that you are committing to showings, and you must be willing to make your available for those showings. Turning down showings is a sure way to kill potential sales.
Your agent is trained and experienced in “selling” a home. He or she knows how to present the home in the best possible light, and how to answer important questions that buyers are certain to have. They know how to make your home look good, and how to talk to buyers in a way that encourages a purchase. Choose an agent you trust, and let them do the heavy lifting.
This means that, if possible, you leave the buyer and the agent alone to tour your home. This will cut down on confusion, and ensure the best possible buyer experience. In addition do not expect the agent your hired to sell your home to accompany showings. This is a mistake that many sellers make thinking that the Realtor “sells” the house by being there. Realtors do not sell homes. Homes sell themselves! Purchasing a home is a very emotional decision. DO NOT expect that an agent pointing out minutia is what sells homes.
Keep in mind that most buyers and their agents do not want YOUR AGENT hovering over them. They want to be able to view the home and speak freely without the listing agent impeding their ability to do so.
Strong Odors In The Home
It may seem obvious, but sellers that forget to do things like take out the trash regularly, especially on the day of a showing, are not doing themselves any favors. Pet odors are also a concern, and should be addressed.
Strong odors are a turn off for buyers, and will greatly impact their impression of your home. This is why real estate agents always recommend a professional cleaning prior to listing a home. Make sure your carpet is clean and that all other odors are eliminated prior to showing. If you are a smoker it is highly recommended when selling to refrain from doing so in the house. More than likely you have become immune to the smell of cigarettes. For someone who does not smoke this is one of the biggest housing turn-offs.
If you start to show your home and are getting feedback that there is an older of cigarettes yet you have not been smoking in the home for a while it is probably safe to assume that the smell has become embedded into the furniture and curtains. It may be time to have these items professionally cleaned. Never under estimate odors when trying to sell your home. Above all else do not take this personally. Remember selling your home is a business transaction. Don’t take the attitude that you will find a buyer who also smokes, unless of course you don’t mind getting less money for your home!
Dark and Dirty Homes
Keep your home well lit and extremely clean. You want to make your home look as inviting as possible, which means good lighting and no clutter. If your home does not have a ton of windows make sure that on darker days you plan ahead and leave lights on in the darkest areas of the home. Dark homes are not appealing to buyers. Don’t rely on the buyer’s agent to be the one turning on lights. While you may not want to go to the expense of hiring a professional stager, you can at least make the effort to make minor staging concessions yourself.
Cleanliness applies to the exterior as much as the interior, so make certain the landscaping is cleaned up, leaves are raked and the grass is cut. Any clutter in the lawn should be eliminated. Keep the inside vacuumed, counters cleared off and all clothes put away at the very least.
The Importance of An Agent
All of these mistakes are easily avoided with the help of an experienced real estate agent. A good agent knows what makes a home sell, and what does not. If you want to be certain that your home looks good to buyers, find a local agent that will work with you on selling your home. It may make the difference between a satisfying sale and serious disappointment.
Keep in mind that not all Real Estate agent are the same. In fact Realtors are a dime a dozen as it is very easy to get a Real Estate license. Do your home work and hire an agent that has a track record in both soft and strong markets. A top notch Realtor will thrive whether the market is doing well or not. Good internet marketing is a must as this is where buyer’s will be looking at your home. A great real estate agent will have an exceptional presentation for your home. This is something you deserve – a fantastic agent knows this.
Follow this advice and you will be well on your way to enjoying a successful Real Estate transaction!
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Where would you like to live? Find the Super Zip Code areas - high education, high income.
Where do you want to live? Finding Super Zips: The Washington Post analyzed census data to find Zip codes where people rank highest on a combination of income and education. They are Super Zips. Check them out here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Ocean City may not be highest in education and income, but it sure beats the rat race and city life hustle and bustle. You can always find a parking place!!!!
Ocean City may not be highest in education and income, but it sure beats the rat race and city life hustle and bustle. You can always find a parking place!!!!
Robot Servants --- real or imagined?
Here
Come the Home Robots — for Real
This is the droid
you're looking for. Humanoid servants are poised to finally be of service
around the home
Houzz Contributor. I'm
a Silicon Valley-based writer, columnist and blogger,
In the 1930s futurists predicted that by now
we’d all have a particular kind of robot in our homes: a humanoid robot
servant. An article in a 1932
issue of the newspaper San Antonio Light envisioned the ubiquity of a robot valet that would help gentlemen in the 1980s get
dressed in the morning.
One reason for the belief that robots were coming was that hucksters and tinkerers and even large corporations were making rudimentary mechanical robots and showcasing them around the country.
One reason for the belief that robots were coming was that hucksters and tinkerers and even large corporations were making rudimentary mechanical robots and showcasing them around the country.
<div><a href='http://www.houzz.com/photos/6652440/Finally--Here-Come-the-Home-Robots---'><img src='http://st.houzz.com/simgs/70c1ce2202794989_3-0395/home-design.jpg' border=0 width='228' height='320' /></a></div><div style='color:#444;'><small><a style='text-decoration:none;color:#444;' href='http://www.houzz.com/photos/other'>Other</a></small></div>
Westinghouse, for example, toured the country
showing off a $22,000 home robot called Miss Katrina Van Televox. Promotional
materials claimed that it “talks ... answers the phone ... runs a vacuum
cleaner ... makes coffee and toast ... [and] turns the lights on and off.”
Pretty amazing, given that no commercially available robot today can do that.
Westinghouse continued to develop robot technology, eventually building Elektro, the Moto-Man, which could “walk” (on wheels), “talk” via an actual record player inside and respond to voice commands. He even smoked cigarettes. In a cheesy video promotion from the 1939 World’s Fair, one audience member says: “Why, he’s almost human!”
Believing robots could perform like humans was pretty common; it was based on spectacular ignorance about the complexity of a person — and of a real robot. Creations like Westinghouse's persuaded the public that companies were on the brink of developing a robot that could replace a human servant, cleaning the house and doing other chores.
More than 80 years after Miss Katrina Van Televox wowed audiences, we do have housekeeping robots and we do have humanoid robots. We have “robots” that can talk, answer the phone, vacuum the floor, make coffee and toast and turn the lights on and off. But none of these robots exist in a single entity, as envisioned by yesterday’s futurists.
Voicemail answers our phone. Our computers and phones can talk to us. Special-purpose robots vacuum and also mop the floors. Coffeemakers and toasters are computerized. And all kinds of products exist to automate lights.
It turns out that the old vision of a robotic servant was based more on the inability to conceive that household chores could be done by special-purpose machines. Back then a human did all these things, so the solution for automation was to build a mechanical human.
Still, researchers are working on humanoid robots that actually do useful things. Here’s what’s coming.
Pretty amazing, given that no commercially available robot today can do that.
Westinghouse continued to develop robot technology, eventually building Elektro, the Moto-Man, which could “walk” (on wheels), “talk” via an actual record player inside and respond to voice commands. He even smoked cigarettes. In a cheesy video promotion from the 1939 World’s Fair, one audience member says: “Why, he’s almost human!”
Believing robots could perform like humans was pretty common; it was based on spectacular ignorance about the complexity of a person — and of a real robot. Creations like Westinghouse's persuaded the public that companies were on the brink of developing a robot that could replace a human servant, cleaning the house and doing other chores.
More than 80 years after Miss Katrina Van Televox wowed audiences, we do have housekeeping robots and we do have humanoid robots. We have “robots” that can talk, answer the phone, vacuum the floor, make coffee and toast and turn the lights on and off. But none of these robots exist in a single entity, as envisioned by yesterday’s futurists.
Voicemail answers our phone. Our computers and phones can talk to us. Special-purpose robots vacuum and also mop the floors. Coffeemakers and toasters are computerized. And all kinds of products exist to automate lights.
It turns out that the old vision of a robotic servant was based more on the inability to conceive that household chores could be done by special-purpose machines. Back then a human did all these things, so the solution for automation was to build a mechanical human.
Still, researchers are working on humanoid robots that actually do useful things. Here’s what’s coming.
<div><a href='http://www.houzz.com/photos/6652449/Zeno-R25--home-electronics-'><img src='http://st.houzz.com/simgs/b3f16a90027949a4_3-0422/-home-electronics.jpg' border=0 width='320' height='178' /></a></div><div style='color:#444;'><small><a style='text-decoration:none;color:#444;' href='http://www.houzz.com/photos/home-electronics'>Home Electronics</a></small></div>
A humanoid robot called Zeno R25 is designed
to walk around the house, recognize and converse with people and even express
emotions with voice and facial expressions.
Its developer, RoboKind, has a solid track record of making highly interactive robots that in the past were very expensive. The key attribute of Zeno R25 is its relative affordability: $2,699.
Zeno R25’s rubber face can “smile, frown, blink, look angry or surprised and lip-sync speech,” according to the project’s Kickstarter page. It can reflect the emotions of other people in the room, so if you’re happy, Zeno R25 will act and speak happily.
The robot has eight microphones, so it can tell where speech is coming from, enabling it to turn and face the person it’s talking to. It can see with cameras in its eyes. The arms and hands can reach out and grab things. And it’s all programmable and software upgradable; in the future you'll be able to program it to bring things to you and convey messages to other members of the family.
Its developer, RoboKind, has a solid track record of making highly interactive robots that in the past were very expensive. The key attribute of Zeno R25 is its relative affordability: $2,699.
Zeno R25’s rubber face can “smile, frown, blink, look angry or surprised and lip-sync speech,” according to the project’s Kickstarter page. It can reflect the emotions of other people in the room, so if you’re happy, Zeno R25 will act and speak happily.
The robot has eight microphones, so it can tell where speech is coming from, enabling it to turn and face the person it’s talking to. It can see with cameras in its eyes. The arms and hands can reach out and grab things. And it’s all programmable and software upgradable; in the future you'll be able to program it to bring things to you and convey messages to other members of the family.
Another awesome robot that could be used in
the home (but only for advanced enthusiasts) is Aldebaran Robotics' NAO Next
Gen robot.
The robot is advanced and expensive, costing $16,000. It’s really designed for researchers and also for specific therapeutic applications — for example, some researchers are using the Next Gen to teach autistic children how to focus their attention.
The robot runs on similar electronics as an advanced smart phone. Plus it has HD cameras, infrared sensors, two speakers and three capacitive sensors that can detect touch. Four microphones enables the robot to detect the direction of sounds, including voices. It runs Linux and can be programmed, but only by an experienced software developer. It could also be easily controlled via a smart-phone app, which would be pretty easy to build. It is 23 inches tall and speaks eight languages.
The Next Gen isn’t ready for prime time as an all-purpose home robot. However, it’s very close. The main constraint is the cost. If the hardware could be manufactured for less than $5,000, a consumer electronics or robotics company could write software that would make the Next Gen a family-friendly robot for consumers.
What’s really revolutionary about both Zeno R25 and Next Gen is that, unlike the mechanical servants of the 1930s, which could do a short list of specific actions under very controlled conditions, they can potentially do just about anything. It’s like the difference between a mechanical typewriter and a computer.
More than 80 years after the first home robot craze swept the nation, we’re finally on the brink of introducing real humanoid robots that can walk, talk, interact — and maybe even help out around the house.
The robot is advanced and expensive, costing $16,000. It’s really designed for researchers and also for specific therapeutic applications — for example, some researchers are using the Next Gen to teach autistic children how to focus their attention.
The robot runs on similar electronics as an advanced smart phone. Plus it has HD cameras, infrared sensors, two speakers and three capacitive sensors that can detect touch. Four microphones enables the robot to detect the direction of sounds, including voices. It runs Linux and can be programmed, but only by an experienced software developer. It could also be easily controlled via a smart-phone app, which would be pretty easy to build. It is 23 inches tall and speaks eight languages.
The Next Gen isn’t ready for prime time as an all-purpose home robot. However, it’s very close. The main constraint is the cost. If the hardware could be manufactured for less than $5,000, a consumer electronics or robotics company could write software that would make the Next Gen a family-friendly robot for consumers.
What’s really revolutionary about both Zeno R25 and Next Gen is that, unlike the mechanical servants of the 1930s, which could do a short list of specific actions under very controlled conditions, they can potentially do just about anything. It’s like the difference between a mechanical typewriter and a computer.
More than 80 years after the first home robot craze swept the nation, we’re finally on the brink of introducing real humanoid robots that can walk, talk, interact — and maybe even help out around the house.
Reduce bird strikes on windows. Ever had a sea gull fly into your window? Window designs are helping prevent this.
http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/19788139/list/Keep-Your-Big-Windows-----and-Save-Birds-Too
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
20% Down Payment going away for wealthy borrowers - check out expensive homes in Ocean City MD.
End of the 20 percent down payment?
At least in the luxury-home and jumbo-mortgage markets, lenders are accepting less money down for home purchases.
By MSN Real Estate partner Fri 9:23 AM
In Ocean City MD - some single-family homes for sale are well over $1 million. Even some condominiums in luxury highrises are upwards of $800,000. Financing is easier with restrictions loosening. Bank of America lowered its minimum downpayment. Check out real estate in Ocean City MD with ShoreFun4U - Susan Antigone at Long & Foster Real Estate. Your Real Estate Home Advocate. Please call or email.
Wealthy borrowers no longer need large down payments to get a mortgage.
More lenders are approving borrowers who put less than 20 percent down for million-dollar home purchases, suggesting banks are feeling sanguine about the luxury market.
Last month, Bank of America lowered its minimum down-payment requirement to 15 percent, down from 20 percent, for loans of up to $1 million. Wells Fargo cut down-payment requirements by the same amount to a minimum of 15 percent in July for private jumbo mortgages, which start above $417,000 in most parts of the country and exceed $625,500 in pricier housing markets, such as New York and San Francisco. Also, in March, New Penn Financial, a mortgage lender based in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., and subsidiary of Shellpoint Partners, began allowing 15 percent down payments for private jumbos.
Some banks haven't announced changes for private jumbo-loan down payments but will consider them. PNC Bank, for instance, says it weighs accepting down payments below the 20 percent threshold on a case-by-case basis.
Since the housing downturn, most lenders have required at least 20 percent down for private jumbo mortgages. A large down payment, according to lenders, made it less likely that borrowers would walk away from their home if prices plummeted and left them underwater on their mortgage. Mortgage applicants who wanted to make a down payment of less than 20 percent of the purchase price were often denied a loan. In some cases, their only option for approval was to pay mortgage insurance for at least the first few years of the loan.
Now lenders are lowering the bar, mostly for jumbo-mortgage approval.
"You're finally starting to see some loosening of terms on the jumbo side," says Mike Fratantoni, vice president of research and economics at the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Credit unions have joined the trend. In August, North Carolina's State Employees' Credit Union, whose members are current and retired state employees and their families, lowered down-payment requirements from 20 percent to 10 percent while increasing the maximum size of mortgages it will give out to $2 million per couple, up from $1.5 million. Beyond North Carolina, the credit union originates mortgages for homes in Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina and Virginia.
To be sure, some lenders have allowed small or no down payments for wealthy home buyers for a while. Divisions of large banks that cater to the wealthy, such as BNY Mellon Wealth Management and Citi Private Bank, provide 100 percent financing to clients while requiring a portion of their investment portfolio as collateral in lieu of a cash down payment.
In contrast, the latest incentives from large banks don't require borrowers to have large sums of cash with that financial institution. And experts say it is likely that more banks will lower down payment requirements over the next year.
Most lenders, for their part, say they are loosening this requirement because a significant risk has subsided: Rising home values suggest that fewer borrowers will foreclose or walk away from their homes since they are appreciating assets. Lenders foreclosed on roughly 3,000 homes valued at $1 million and over during the first eight months of the year, down 21.1 percent from the same period a year prior, according to Lender Processing Services, a mortgage-data tracking firm.
Competition among lenders is also more intense as higher interest rates make it harder to attract mortgage applicants. Since May, applications for refinancing have dropped roughly 58 percent, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, and lenders have sought to lure more homebuyers by requiring less cash down.
Jumbo borrowers stand to benefit in several ways. They can compare more than just rates when they shop around for a mortgage. And they can get the keys to their home without locking as much cash into it: On a $2 million home, borrowers would need to put down $400,000 with a lender who requires 20 percent down. That would drop to $300,000 with a 15 percent down payment, and the borrower would be able to put the $100,000 saved to work elsewhere.
In many cases, there are also fewer costs. Borrowers often have to pay a fee called mortgage insurance when they make a down payment that is below 20 percent, but most lenders who lowered cash-down requirements on jumbos have waived those costs.
Here are a few more points to consider:
Gender Identity Added to Code of Ethics
Gender Identity Added to Code of Ethics
Ocean City MD Real Estate Agents are up to date on the Code of Ethics when helping buyers and sellers of homes for sale or purchase at the beach.
Ocean City MD Real Estate Agents are up to date on the Code of Ethics when helping buyers and sellers of homes for sale or purchase at the beach.
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