Real Estate Information Archive

Blog

Displaying blog entries 1-2 of 2

Mortgage Financing Options That May Save your Home

Thursday, October 7, 2010
by Don Roth

In the challenging economic times that we face, there are many homeowners that need information to assist them in exploring options on financing and hopefully find a vehicle to allow them to continue home ownership in the future. The accompanying list of sites are very good sources that provide detailed information to allow homeowners to make intelligent decisions. If there is additional information that you require, please contact me at your convenience. And please be sure to share this with anyone that may need to review their financing options.

http://www.knowyouroptions.com/

Making Home Affordable Program The Making Home Affordable Program includes opportunities to modify or refinance your mortgage to make your monthly payments more affordable. It also includes the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program for homeowners who are interested in a short sale or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) The HOPE for Homeowners (H4H) program was created by Congress to help those at risk of default and foreclosure refinance into more affordable, sustainable loans. H4H is an additional mortgage option designed to keep borrowers in their homes. HUD has also developed guidelines for helping to avoid foreclosure, as well as a list of HUD-approved housing counseling agencies for those already struggling to save their home.

Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) PHFA has established the Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Initiative to help interested homeowners to save their homes. Twenty-eight counseling agencies in the PHFA Comprehensive Housing Counseling network are participating in this program.

Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) The Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) Program provides additional options to avoid costly foreclosures and offers incentives to borrowers, servicers and investors who utilize a short sale or deed-in-lieu (DIL) to avoid foreclosures.

Project HOPE NOW HOPE NOW is an alliance between HUD-approved counseling agents, mortgage companies, investors and other mortgage market participants that provides free foreclosure prevention assistance.

Also below are the contact numbers for the loss mitigation department for a few of the major lenders:

Ameriquest:  800-221-6926

Bank of America:  716-635-2982

Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp:  800-446-8939 x 3553

CitiMortgage:  636-256-5088

Countrywide:  888-435-3102

GMAC:  800-850-4622

US Bank:  888-780-3997

Wells Fargo:  866-261-5642

Central Pennsylvania Real Estate Report June 2010

Thursday, July 15, 2010
by Don Roth

Have the real estate prices in the Greater Harrisburg market begun to stabilize? The answer right now looks that we, as I have been saying, are getting close; but my only concern is that we need one or two more months of validation. When comparing the number of homes sold in June 2009 vs June 2010, there was a 3% increase in the numbers and a 7% increase in the average sales price to $200,419. The average sales price did increase from previous months average that had been in the $180’s, so we just want to be sure that this is not an anomaly.

There are three primary reasons that one may say caused the gain; 1) the effects and benefit of the Home Buyer Tax Credit; 2) there are perceived values in the market and; 3) mortgage interest rates remain extremely low, such as 4.75% for a thirty year fixed rate mortgage. But something else occurred, the higher end (homes that sold in excess of $300,000) of the market improved substantially and the number of homes over $400,000 had a more dramatic increase on a year over year basis, consisting of 14% of the number of sales in 2010. So one month does not make a trend, but there are positives that are beginning to appear. I will keep updating the movement of the market and if you have any specific real estate questions, please contact me at Don@DonRoth.com. Enjoy your summer.

 

Average Sales Price
West Shore
School District
June 2009
June 2010
Days on Market
Camp Hill
$207,105
$210,822
47/69
Cumberland Valley
$275,774
$274,719
81/99
West Shore
$185,265
$176,950
64/60
Northern
$241,428
$215,042
98/113
Mechanicsburg
$179,917 
$213,903
64/52
East Pennsboro
$222,441
$177,397
81/53
East Shore
Central Dauphin
$175,821
$218,610
63/111
Derry Township
$244,788
 $268,814
86/72
Harrisburg
$ 85,580
$ 75,581
95/102
Lower Dauphin
$233,382
$220,843
58/90
Middletown
$138,847
$178,515
106/130
Steel High
$ 76,880
$ 71,975

153/141
Susquehanna Township
$173,245
$175,716
70/96

When reviewing the yearly comparisons between years for different school districts, there is usually a relatively small number of homes sold and when you have a few higher priced home sell, the month to month variance can be greatly exaggerated, up or down. Again, if you have any questions, please contact me at your convenience.

Displaying blog entries 1-2 of 2

Syndication

Categories

Archives