Cedar City Info

http://rismedia.com/2012-01-31/mixed-mortgage-messages-originations-decline-but-quality-soars/

Administration Announces Changes to HAMP
The Obama administration has announced changes to its flagship foreclosure prevention initiative – the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Among the changes, borrowers who are struggling because of debt beyond their mortgage will be eligible for a secondary evaluation with more flexible debt-to-income criteria, and eligibility will be extended to investor-owned homes that are used as rental properties. The administration is also giving principal reductions a bigger role within the program, tripling incentives for investors that agree to write down an underwater borrower’s principal balance and offering these same incentives to the nation’s two biggest mortgage investors – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Have you tried to modify? There are ways to do it successfully – 1sts and 2nds!

http://www.dsnews.com/articles/hamp-mods-pass-900000-as-servicers-tackle-second-liens-negative-equity-2012-01-09

How about some 2011 sales stats? In the Cedar City/Enoch areas there were 552 residential properties sold in 2011. Of these, 258 were foreclosures and 82 were short sales. This translates into about 47% of our sold market being foreclosure sales, and another 15% short sales.

From high-flying flags to middle school choir programs, Cedar City is draped in gratitude today to our veterans. Thank you for your service, past and present, and godspeed.

The median sales price in Cedar City, as of August 2011, is $115,000. So affordable for so many people! At the current rates (~3.75%) it’s possible to purchase a home with NOTHING down, and a principle/interest payment of $532. More good news? The homes you can buy for $115,000 are nice – they’re the homes you used to buy for $160,000. Call for a list!

Because of the recent changes FHA made to it’s mortgage insurance premiums, conventional financing may actually be a better choice for borrowers with good credit but limited savings for a down payment. Freddie Mac’s ALT 97 program allows flexible options for the source of the required 5% down payment and could save the borrower money each month and significant money over the life of the loan.

In a typical transaction with a purchase price of $210,000 and maximum financing, the winner is clearly the conventional loan with a monthly payment $12 lower and a lower principal balance after five years of more than $3,600. That’s a significant savings that allows the borrower to build equity faster in the conventional financing scenario than with FHA financing.

Call us if you have financing or real estate questions!

It’s amazing what happens when Cedar City residents work together, focusing on solving problems and moving past complaining!

http://www.thespectrum.com/article/20100604/NEWS01/6040302/Residents+speak+out+on+study

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. Abraham Lincoln, November 1863

http://www.thespectrum.com/article/20100325/NEWS01/100325009

Some builders think so! If our inventory keeps shrinking, and land prices stay low, there could be some new opportunity!