Santa Clarita Real Estate Blog

Proposed changes in FHA loan rules will increase downpayment amounts and loan fees, and decrease closing cost allowances. H.R. 3706, the so-called FHA Taxpayer Protection Act of 2009, is expected to raise the minimum downpayment amount for FHA homebuyers from 3.5% to 5% and reduce the amount of closing costs that can be financed into the mortgage. [...]

Violations of FHA origination and underwriting requirements may lead to lenders losing their ability to issue FHA loans. Both FHA and Ginnie Mae have withdrawn their approvals for Lend America (also known as Lending Key and Ideal) based on numerous violations of FHA origination and underwriting requirements. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s [...]

First Look program aims to build stronger communities by allowing owner occupants a better chance at buying foreclosed properties. Fannie Mae’s new First Look program gives non-investor homebuyers a 15-day edge over investors for newly listed foreclosure properties. This is great news for homebuyers who have had troubles getting their offers accepted when competing against all-cash [...]

Home buyers must meet deadlines, income limits and purchase price limits to qualify for tax credits. Now that the Feds have approved the extension and expansion of the first-time homebuyers tax credit, many homebuyers are wondering how this will affect their next home purchase. For first-time homebuyers, this is basically an extension of the prior [...]

Measure extending first time homebuyer credit expected to be signed by the President this Friday. The House passed the measure to extend and expand the first time homebuyer tax credit today by a vote 403 to 12, following the Senate’s unanimous approval yesterday. The measure now heads to President Obama’s desk, who is expected to sign it [...]

First time homebuyer tax credit has been extended, and now includes a credit for move-up homeowners. The Senate has unanimously voted to extend the first time homebuyers tax credit, and expand it to include many current homeowners as well. The House is expected to vote on this measure as early as this morning, and if [...]

Tax credit to be expanded to include all buyers, with close dates as late as June 30, 2010. Senate leaders have apparently reached a tentative agreement to both extend and expand the federal first time homebuyers tax credit, which as written will extend the credit to include current homeowners as well. The Senate agreement provides [...]

Using MLS status to streamline your home search. Santa Clarita home buyers often find it hard to determine which homes are available for sale and which are already ‘taken’ when searching online, which can add a lot of confusion to their home searches and a lot of wasted effort researching homes that are no longer [...]

Santa Clarita’s first-time homebuyers will be selected by lottery to receive grant money to assist with down payments. The City of Santa Clarita is rolling out a new program dubbed FirstHOME to help first-time homebuyers, made possible via a grant from the California Department of Housing and Community Development. The FirstHome program will offer low-interest, [...]

Declining housing inventories and deadline for federal tax credit spur home sales. With the declining inventory of homes available for sale in the Santa Clarita Valley, it’s no surprise that the number of homes sold in the Southern California region fell during August while the median prices rose. Santa Clarita real estate stats for August [...]