Our friend Jeanie Bolger, Sr. Loan Officer at Nova Home Loans sent us over some valuable information we thought we’d share with you on steps to pay off debt collection.

We all know that in tough economic times it can be hard to make ends meet. If your bills have gone to collection is can severely affect your credit score. You can improve your credit score by deleting collection accounts. When banks have trouble collecting payment from debtors, they hire a debt collector (those are the people who call you at home or at work). When you pay off your debt, it’s important to work with the collector to pay off your loan and improve your credit score. And you have many options.

Your best case scenario is to have the account deleted from your credit report in exchange for payment. You will need to request the removal through a pay for delete letter to the collector offering a settlement payment if the collector deletes the account from your credit reports. You can also contact them by phone, but you’ll want the agreement in writing before taking action. Most collectors will want payment in full rather than the settlement payment, but will delete the account when full payment is collected.

If you cannot have the entry completely removed, offer a settlement payment to have it updated as “Paid in full”. Another option is to have the Account marked “Paid. Settled.” This will not boost your credit as much as a “Paid in Full” would, but may be your only option if you are unable to pay in full.

Make sure your keep a record of all your conversations, agreements, and proof of payment. Monitor your credit report to make sure the collector updates the account as paid. If the collector does not update the account, dispute the account with the credit bureau, providing proof of payment if necessary. The only unacceptable scenario is to pay the collection without having having fact reflected in your credit report.

Of course, always consult your CPA, tax attorney or whomever you trust like that.

Stay Tuned for more from Jeannie Bolger, Sr. Loan Officer – Nova Home Loans.

Downtown Phoenix is a flourishing community full of life and diversity. Why wouldn’t’ you want to live there?

Our friend Anna moved here only a few months ago from Chicago and I was lucky enough to help her find the home she wanted.

I’m so glad I could help find her a home that she and her fiance could love! If your looking for a new home in Phoenix, call me today at 604-456-9388

I gotta say. I’m really shocked that this $29,900, 2br/1.75ba, 1,100sqft condo is still on the market.

I don’t represent this property. But I do live at this condo complex and I think anybody should beg, borrow or steal to live here –especially if you are looking for something very inexpensive. I’ve been inside. It looks almost like nobody lived there.

Click here for the listing information. Call me if you have questions: 602-456-9388.

The City of Phoenix is now offering a $15,000 loan towards closing costs and down payment to purchase a newly renovated “Move-in Ready” homes through their Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

The Neighborhood Stabilization Program is an effort in response to the number of vacant foreclosures in Phoenix neighborhoods. Housing programs are popping up all over the Southwest in hopes of turning foreclosures into affordable, refurbished homes and enhancing neighborhood curb appeal.

NSP is offering an extensive catalog of renovated properties in established neighborhoods as well as providing guidance through the entire process.

To qualify, home buyers must meet these requirements:

1. Applicants must meet the income guidelines for household Family size. For Example, A family of 4 must have an income at or below $78,600 annually to receive the loan.
2. Candidate should be able to qualify for a 15 or 30 year fixed mortgage
3. Though you don’t have to be a first time home owner, you can’t currently be on title on any residential property.
4. Applicants must be able to contribute one half of the home’s required cash down payment for a min. $1,000. For example, a $100,000 home would require a $1750 down payment.
5. All loan hopefuls have to take a two hour one-on-one credit counseling and an 8 hour home buyer education class

A word of caution: I have helped buyers through this program. Half of the time it went smoothly and relatively quickly. The other half of the time it took longer and everybody was pulling their hair out. Now, to be fair, that was mostly because the listing agent’s contractors were not doing the basic things that the city inspectors asked of them.

Further, that was in 2010. Now NSP has homes that are already renovated. So, this is a whole new world from when the program just got started.

Regardless, families state-wide are in a great position to be homeowners in great phoenix neighborhoods. My friend Jeannie Bolger, of Nova Home Loans let me know all about this program and, as a mentioned a few weeks ago, she is experienced in these loans and could be a huge help in the process.

You can visit www.phoenix.gov/nsphome to view the Move In Ready list of available homes or give me a call today at 602-456-9388.

So when you are looking to buy a home, how much do you think you need for a down payment? 5%? 10%? What about 20%?

I get people saying to me all the time, “I can’t buy because I don’t have 20% down.” But its not true!

I want to find the news reporters who keep this myth alive, dress them in Lady Gaga’s meat dress and introduce them to a pack of coyotes.

The reality is that with a high enough credit score, you could qualify for a loan where you only need to pay 3% down!

How amazing is that? A new home with only 3% down!

But what about all this talk of 20% down to qualify?

It’s all nonsense. Period. End of story. Jeannie Bolger, Senior Loan Officer with Nova Home Loans, believes the 20% down payment myth stems from misinformation and everyone wanting to give advice without actually doing the research.

(By the way. I love Jeannie. She is great. She gets people qualified and works hard throughout the process.)

So how can you qualify for the 3% loan? To begin, the loan is backed by FannieMae/Freddie Mac (aka, the guv’mt). According to Bolger, to qualify you need at least a 680 credit score. Keep in mind this is only a minimum and is not a guarantee.

Having a lower credit score doesn’t hinder you, in fact, if you have a credit score of 640 you could qualify for a loan with paying 3.5% down!

Don’t get me wrong, paying more as a down payment is great if you can afford it because it can save you money on interest rates. Plus, paying 20% down allows the home buyer to waive the mortgage insurance premiums.

This is an amazing opportunity for people to take advantage of and should not be passed up. With interest rates near (or under) 5% and homes at their rock-bottom prices, now is the best time in over 40 years to buy a home.

So snap up those short sales or foreclosures with an incredibly low down payment and give me a call today to help you find the perfect home!

OK, folks. You’ve seen my critique recently of the Arizona Republic’s negative Nancy routine around real estate. Only recently have they admitted that the sky is not about to collapse on us like a giant chalupa.

So, the Biz Journal is starting to change its tune, too. A recent Phoenix Business Journal blog discussed the idea that the Phoenix real estate market is starting to stage a comeback.

But unlike a late inning rally, this comeback will take years before things return to normal with some experts saying 2013 or even 2014. So says Michael Orr of my favorite real estate stats table, The Cromford Report.

So what does this mean for you? Well, if you have the money, this is the time to pounce on available real estate. Many experts agree that the worst is behind us in terms of low housing prices and that they can only increase.

Scott Golba, a local real estate manager tells us that “This is not the time to go out and buy one home. It’s time to buy two or three homes.”

You got that emphasis, right? Buy two or more!

This will be a two-fold benefit for investors, as so many people are unable to put down the necessary payment to buy a house and instead opt to rent. This is positive cash-flow into a buyer’s pocket that can easily pay for a majority, if not more, than the cost of the home over a period of time.

So, give me a call and I can answer all of your questions regarding the housing market in Phoenix. I can help you find the home of your dreams or the home that meets your investment plans. 602.456.9388

If you are new to this blog you may not know that I am a HUGE fan of my condo complex. This property was built in the 1950s, was an apartment building until 2004, when it “went condo”. It is a great example mid-century modern architecture and the units are big –especially for the price.

This 2br/1.75 bath, 1,106 sqft unit is going for $42,000. Less than the price of many cars these days!

So, it stands to reason that I get excited about the idea of helping owner-occupants purchase these incredible units. I don’t represent this seller, but I can help you grab this unit. Note: they go pretty quickly!

Give me a call at 602-456-9388.

If you want a little history, check out this blog post about the renovation of the house that also sits on the property.

Here are some more photos.

Average Days on Market Going Down!

You’ve seen my charts, graphs and data on this blog over the past six months as I make the case that either (1) homes actually are going up in price or that (2) the local news media has its head stuck up some, er …., shall we say, “dark cave” when it comes to predicting the way the market is going.

So, here is a bit of anecdotal evidence to further the case.

About three weeks ago a couple clients of mine and I started narrowing down the list of houses that they wanted to see when they came to town last week. We started with a list of over 20 properties that were “favorites”. This was the short list of properties that we might want to see.

By the time they got here, half of those had accepted offers. Further, during the time that we were looking at what was left another one went under contract. Luckily we found the perfect property for them anyway. And what happened? There were multiple offers on the property.

I am constantly amazed at how quickly these properties are going as I show people around Central Phoenix. If I were to isolate the average “days on market” for properties in Central Phoenix, versus the rest of the city (not even the rest of the valley), I’m confident that they would be on the market for 20% to 30% less time than anywhere else.

Oh, but there’s that data again.

Several things are happening to make this trend (gleaned from anecdotal conversations with clients):

1) The economy is getting better. Yes, it is slow, but it is enough that those who have jobs are feeling more comfortable about making home buying decisions.

2) Gas prices. As gas prices go up, more people are looking in CenPho. I hear it from my clients all the time.

3) People are looking around and seeing that houses are going more quickly, so they are making decisions more quickly themselves.

If you have been putting this decision off for a while, call me at 602-456-9388 before the lower inventory results in higher prices.

I know that I’m a total broken record, but here is a quick point that I want to make. Actually my broker at John Hall & Associates shared this with me.

In the graph below you see the sales per month over the last couple months versus last year. The labels are clear. Last year with the subsides (federal tax credit) our sales per month were lower than they are today with no subsidy.

Need I say more?

Buy in Phoenix! Buy short sales in Phoenix! Buy foreclosures in Phoenix! Call me at 602-456-9388.

I’ve been saying for months that the number of foreclosures has been going down. Yet the Arizona Republic would continue to print misleadingly false news.

Well, they have finally reported what is really happening. In this article they finally say that the notices of trustee sales (notices of foreclosures) is going down.

Background: When somebody stops making payments on their house, they get a notice of foreclosure. If they don’t pay up, they are foreclosed on and they go to a trustee sale on the courthouse steps. If nobody buys the property at auction, the bank puts it on the market as a foreclosed property.

So, see in this chart that the number of foreclosure notices has been going down since September of last year, quite dramatically!

In case you are thinking, “Well the foreclosures go down because more people are short selling instead.” Nope. First, you get a trustee notice before you short sell, so this informs that, too.

Second, see in this chart that the number of foreclosures has been going down and the number of normal sales is going up. This is because, in part, people are avoiding foreclosure after they get their notices. It is also because there is an increased number of renovated properties on the market. These sell as regular sales.

So there, Arizona Republic!

What does this mean? Prices will start moving upward during this summer buying season. Let’s hope interest rates don’t go up, as well!