News You Can Use from Gary Moore

If you are looking at homes for sale these days, you cannot help running into foreclosures and short sales. If you are looking at a Fannie Mae HomePath foreclosure, you may be in luck.

If a property is eligible for a HomePath mortgage, a borrower may pay as little as 3% down and does not have to pay mortgage insurance. On properties which close before Oct. 31, Fannie Mae will pay 3.5% of sales price toward the buyer's closing costs and prepaid items.

Another aspect of the HomePath mortgage that is loved by Realtors is the fact that no appraisal is required! Low appraisals have been deal killers since the real estate market meltdown.

Realtors also have a bonus. To see the Realtor incentive go to www.BrentwoodHomeLoan.org/HomePathMortgage

Any Realtor can represent a buyer of a Fannie Mae property. This is unlike HUD foreclosures for which a buyer must be represented by a HUD-approved Realtor. Many Realtors are set up with Fannie Mae to list their REO—real estate owned by an institution. Unlike HUD foreclosures which are all listed by a single real estate firm, Fannie Mae will give listings to many Realtors who apply and get approved.

To search for homes which are eligible for HomePath financing go to this link on my web site: www.BrentwoodHomeLoan.org/HomePathSearch.

To see the HomePath Buyer's Guide, which can be saved as a pdf file, go to www.BrentwoodHomeLoan.org/HomePathMortgage.

While prices seem extremely low in Middle Tennessee, investors are busy buying homes. HomePath also has a program which cuts corners for investors.

For investors, the minimum downpayment is 10%, there is no mortgage insurance and no appraisal is required.

The first step toward qualifying to buy a HomePath foreclosure is to contact me to obtain your loan pre-approval. The underwriting is different on a HomePath loan, so do not assume because you have been told you qualify for such-and-such loan that the HomePath loan will be the same. While there is no mortgage insurance required, the interest rate is a little higher to offset that. Still, the monthly payment usually comes in lower than an FHA loan.

Not every lender is set up to do the HomePath mortgages. Call me to get pre-approved and set up to become a buyer of one of these bargains. I will provide the Realtor a pre-approval letter to help buyers negotiate the best possible deal. I will provide the Realtor with the proper language to put in the contract to get the closing costs paid.

A borrower's option can always be to go to my web site and complete an on-line application at www.BrentwoodHomeLoan.com.