There are some great programs for buying new homes in San Jose (and other areas as well) that are ending VERY soon. For many of the San Jose city programs, the buyer must have a ratified contract by 4/24/09. Yes, that is VERY soon. But, if you are interested in new construction in San Jose, it may be worth moving fast. The city incentives range from $40,000-$110,ooo from what I have personally seen with the programs. And, there is also still MCC money as well. Plus, until the funds run out, buye… Continue

FHA financing is a great option for buyers that do not have at least 10% as a down payment and/or do not have FICO scores of at least 720. And, there are some important things to know about FHA financing so that when a FHA buyer goes through the process, the stress and frustration is at a minimum, since the buyer is already prepared for the FHA process.

First of all, the main qualifying factors for a FHA loan is that the LTV (loan to value) can not be more than 96.5% of the purchase price, mean… Continue

I found some great information on the San Jose Chamber of Commerce website that I wanted to share that has some cool statistics that I thought was really interesting.

Did you know that the San Jose Metropolitan Area (Santa Clara County) ranks first in the nation in median household effective buying income ($62,614) among all metropolitan areas? Source: 2005 Survey of Buying Power, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine.

Did you know that the city of San Jose is the 10th largest city in the… Continue

Here’s the skinny in simple terms:

The tax credit is for home buyers (either spouse if filing jointly) who have NOT owned a principle residence during the three-year period prior to the purchase. Ownership of vacation property or rental property does not disqualify home buyers from this program.

The maximum credit is $8,000 or 10% of the home purchase, whichever is less.

The credit is available for homes purchased on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 31, 2009.

There is no recaptur… Continue

There are many “professionals” who have come out of the woodwork making a business of doing loan modifications for people. Some are doing them illegally and some legally. Buyer beware! I have blogged about it before and in this blog, I want to simply give you the easy steps that you can do yourself if you want a loan modification.

First, you call your bank and ask to talk to the loan modification department and customer service will directly you appropriately. You ask for a loan modifcation, th… Continue