Tim Bradford - AMMCorp.net

Recently I asked a group of people over 65, "If you could live your life over, what would you do differently?" There were three answers:

• I’d take the time to stop and ask the big questions.
• I’d be more courageous and take more risks in work and in love.
• I’d try to live with purpose - to make a difference.”

What if there was no such thing as fear, what would you be doing today? How would you be living – or doing business – differently?

You aren’t afraid of what you think you are afraid of.
You are afraid of what you think.

 In reality, the only thing that prevents us from succeeding is…ourselves! We are excellent at procrastinating and not asking for what we want or need. And having sabotaged ourselves, we use excuses and blame for not creating the behavior or not taking the action necessary to learn and move forward. As Pogo said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us." By allowing ourselves to be fearful, we set ourselves up for future regrets.

What can we do? We can start by recognizing what the enemy looks like – the 10 most common fears that control people:

1. Fear of failing   Some people would rather do nothing then risk looking bad, making a mistake or not completing what they start. Perfectionists fall into this category. Growth and true learning are frozen because of this fear.
2. Fear of success  This fear is a little more subtle. To many people success means more stress, pressure, work, responsibility, attention, etc., rather than ongoing fulfillment and satisfaction.
3. Fear of rejection For many people this is the #1 fear in their life. They don’t understand that it’s not the rejection that matters, but the understanding that there will always be differences and preferences in life between people and ideas. What does matter is how we learn from, and deal with, and respond to the rejection in a healthy positive manner.
4. Fear of the unknown  We have the highest rate of poverty, physical, sexual, verbal, and emotional abuse in the history of this country. Yet we also have the lowest rate of taking positive healthy action to stop or correct these circumstances. Why? Because most people would rather live with, and deal with, what they have and know now, than to take a risk with the unknown.
5. Fear of change  This is a sister fear of the fear of the unknown. Most people talk about changing but few do it. It is not easy to acknowledge that something is wrong or not working in their lives, and they don’t like feeling clumsy or embarrassed at not doing something new perfectly.
6. Fear of intimacy  Many people equate intimacy with sex. Wrong! In fact, many people use sex to avoid intimacy. True intimacy is the ability to openly express and communicate lovingly, honestly and unconditionally to those who are important in one's life, community, and work. This kind of communication is vital if one wants to learn to be a tolerant, non-judgmental person who respects the needs and wants of those people in their lives.
7. Fear of expression  This fear prevents people from experiencing real creativity. It also prevents good, clear honest communication. Lack of expressing true feelings has ruined so many personal, professional, and business relationships. The challenge to many is to discover how one really feels and then to communicate those feelings in an effective, non-abusive manner.
8. Fear of abandonment  This fear keeps people in relationships or jobs that are not nurturing, healthy and supportive. They would rather be miserable and suffer in their current situation than be alone and unwanted or unneeded. Even so, they feel no “real” connectedness socially or spiritually.
9. Fear of emotional pain  Most people will do almost anything to avoid “feeling the pain.” We live in a society that incessantly promotes taking drugs, legal or illegal, as well as alcohol or food to avoid feeling emotional pain. Not dealing with this pain it will eventually bring on even more of life’s painful lessons, both personally and professionally.
10. Fear of taking risk  This fear keeps 80% of our workforce in their place, even though they wake up every morning hating their jobs, bosses, careers or professions. Their work environment is negative and debilitating. Their superiors give only lip service to change and innovation. Yet these people will not take a chance on themselves for fear of being judged a failure!

That's a lot of fearfulness…but it's not permanent. Every one of us has the ability to break away from the fears that hold us back from growing and achieving. We do not have to reach a point in our lives that is shadowed by regret for what we did not do.

What are the strategies that will take you out of fear and into the future? That's the subject next time, so stay tuned….

Coach Patti

Patti Kouri, Accelerated Performance Coaching
Helping You Through Self-Made Limitations! 

Take control of your Life and Business, and create extraordinary results.
Join a select group of real estate professionals at
Coach Patti's Annual Jump Start Workshop, November 14-16, 2008
With special guest speaker, Floyd Wickman.
Reserve your seat today!

 

Chris Derrow, president of Real Living Mortgage, was featured in RISMedia's Real Estate magazine talking about the five steps for choosing a lender. Topics include preapproved credit lines, loans and necessary documentation.

Christina Asad Edwards, REALTOR
2006 & 2007 Sales Masters Top Agent
Christina.AsadEdwards@RealLiving.com
www.teamedwards.info
mobile or text 937-205-4741 office 937-573-0082
Real Living Realty - #1 in OHIO!
Realty, Mortgage, Title, Relocation

 

There has been talk that FHA is going to reduce their cash-out LTV. At this moment, there are 2 different types of maximum cash-out's. 95% & 85%.....  There are different quidelines for each cash-out mentioned above. FHA Loans cash-out LTV's. (the two current types)

 

 

From speaking to a few people, it looks like FHA will go back to the 85% LTV for cash-outs. The main reason behind this is because the 95% cash outs aren't performing as well as they would like.  It's a shame, because I think this is a great FHA loan program.  I have closed 3 FHA cash out loans in the last year and all 3 of them are doing well.

 

Here is my take on why they should still be a viable mortgage. As it stands, you can do a rate & term refinance on a FHA loan up to 97.75% of the value of your home. (LTV)   And if you are qualifying this borrower with the normal qualifications such as income and credit, the borrower should be good to good except for unseen circumstances. Circumstances such as loss of job, loss of income, death in the family, divorcee, etc etc.

 

Now, you are doing a FHA cash out up to 95%. You are including some of your credit cards into the new loan to reduce your total monthly payment. You still qualify by normal guides and such. And you might save $300 or more a month on your total output. Sounds great, right?  You are ahead of the game, right?

But.... yes, there is always a but...  I am sure there are studies out there that many of these same borrowers go back out there and open up some new credit cards. Wham, they could be right back to where they were or possibly with a higher debt load. But overall, I would think that the consumer should still be better off. Wouldn't they just go out there now and get new credit cards if they couldn't refinance?

 

 

FHA cash out -- If anyone is still interested in doing a 95% cash out, as long as it follows these basic guidelines, you would need the new mortgage to be assigned a FHA case number for any lender or investor to do this loan. The problem is that there hasn't been a date set for this to take place. Again, if you are thinking about this, you need to act quickly. I will update this blog with any new information that I obtain... thanks

 

 

 

- FHA Loans - FHA Mortgages - Conventional Loans - VA Loans -

Experience & Knowledge at its BEST !!!

 

 

____________________________________________________________________________________

For more information on FHA loans, please go to this link. The FHA Expert

For more information on how you can obtain your dream home, please click here : Mortgage Financing Options

For important mortgage insight to watch for, please read : Consumers need to be aware of these Red Flags !!!!!

Copyright © 2008 by Jeff Belonger

Homeowners over 62 who have significant equity in their home may be eligible for a federally-insured reverse mortgage, which can be used to save a struggling homeowner from a pending foreclosure. A reverse mortgage can also be useful in many other situations, because it allows the homeowner to tap a portion of the equity in their home to pay off any existing liens and use the rest of the available proceeds for whatever they want, without ever having a monthly mortgage payment again.

The proceeds from a reverse mortgage are tax-free and do not affect Medicare or Social Security. The borrower retains ownership of their home, can live there for as long as they choose, can repay the loan at any time, and can never owe more than the home's value. The U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (which created and oversees the program) says reverse mortgages are "a safe plan that can give older Americans greater financial security."

Federally-insured reverse mortgages are available from certain FHA-approved lenders, such as my company. Please feel free to talk to me about the options that may be available to you through a government-protected reverse mortgage.

Seniors  are tapping into their home's equity to shore up their budgets.  It's a great option and works like this; Upon reaching age 62, a homeowner can take out a "Reverse Mortgage".  It's reverse, because monthly mortgage payments are sent from the bank to the homeowner.  The homeowner can also take out a lump sum or a line of credit or a combination of the three.

A client I had didn't want to take her kid's inheritance for her own good.  That to her was just selfish.  Contrare!  Her kids were all better off than she was and wanted her to have a better "quality of life" in her latter years.  They didn't want anything from her but her happiness.

Why work all your life, pay the house off, run into some financial difficulties or avoid badly needed home repairs or drive a completely undependable car?  Reverse Mortgages MAKE SENSE for a lot of people.  

In Florida, Call Randall for more information or to apply - 863-229-1235

The Media can be misleading.

Yeah I know, no surprise there!

But let's talk about HR 3221, H.R. 3221 or if you want to call it by it's really long name, the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008

It was signed into law Monday July 28th, 2008. It was reported all over the world. it's the talk of the town. I've been interviewed on radio shows, quoted in articles and blogs. Ok, now what?

Just about nothing. We're waiting.
There's quite a few facets included in the bill that still need to be hashed out. Here's a quick peek at just some of the facts.

 

The $7,500 Tax Credit

It's a tax credit (not a rebate). It's for purchases made between April 9, 2008 and July 1, 2009. It's essentially an interest free loan for 5 years that has to be paid back.

Down Payment Assistance Programs

HR 3221 wipes out the ability for down payment assistance on an FHA loan starting October 1, 2008. Think you have till then? Think again. The Lenders are already not allowing DPA on the loans they are accepting.

Skin in the game

FHA used to finance up to 97%. That meant that the buyer had to pony up the other 3%. As of October 1st, under the new rules, the borrower will have to 3.5%.

Reserve Requirements for Second Homes

Thinking about buying a second home? Vacation home? How about Rental Property. It's a great time to find bargains. How much liquid reserves do you have in the bank? There wasn't a minimum reserve requirement before. Now there is.

Have less than 30 % equity in the second home? You'll need to prove you also have 6 months worth of PITI reserves for both properties in the bank (liquid). Yeah I said SIX months! Have more than 30%? You'll just need to prove you have two months reserves.

Capital Gains Exclusion

Are you good at percentages? Remember when you were entitled to $250,000/$500,000 of tax-free gains from the sale of a home if filing separately/jointly provided you lived in the residence for at least 2 of the preceding 5 calendar years? Not any more.

Now that exclusion is calculated by taking the capital gains on the sale of the home and multiplying it by a ratio (percentage) of how long you lived in the home and how long you owned the home.

Loan Limits Increased!

Nope. Matter of fact, depending on where you live, FHA, Fannie and Freddie Conforming Jumbo loans will decrease.

The Mandatory Refinance at 90% of Present Value

I saved the best for last. First of all it's not mandatory. It's actually voluntary on the lenders part. Should a lender decide this is in their best interest, they'll still hold the note. They'll reduce the size of that note to 90% of the present value and that's what FHA will be on the hook for. Then again, nothing here is in concrete. The details still have to be hammered out by HUD. Until that happens, nothing really has changed.

So there you go. You know know more about HR 3221 than the next guy at the water cooler.

What should you do if you think any of these changes will involve you in the future? Contact your trusted mortgage professional today.

 

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