For a limited time: Fannie Mae to help cover mortgage closing costs

Jacob Gaffney

The offer is only available to FirstLook homes. That's Fannie's program where homebuyers get to buy homes without competition from investors.Fannie Mae is offering more incentive to owner occupants, that is non-investor purchasers of new homes, by helping to cover the closing costs in some states.

The home can be purchased via Fannie Mae's HomePath website which features foreclosed homes from the portfolio of the government-sponsored enterprise.

Fannie Mae recently announced the extension of the FirstLook period from fifteen days to twenty days.

“This incentive will provide more opportunities for families to find a property to call home,” said Jay Ryan, Vice President of REO Sales. “Our goal is to sell as many HomePath properties as possible to owner-occupants who will stabilize neighborhoods and help the housing recovery.”

Homebuyers need to get their offers in by March 31, 2014, and close before June.

The incentive will offer qualified buyers up to 3.5% of the final sales price to pay closing costs.

"In many cases, buyers could use these savings to buy down their interest rate through upfront points, resulting in additional savings over time," explains a statement for Fannie Mae. "Buyers can work with the lender of their choice to determine if this is an option."

Here are those 27 states:

Arizona	Maryland	New Mexico
California	Massachusetts	Ohio
Florida	Michigan	Oregon
Idaho	Minnesota	Puerto Rico
Illinois	Missouri	Tennessee
Indiana	Nebraska	Virginia
Iowa	Nevada	Washington
Kansas	New Hampshire	West Virginia
Maine	New Jersey	Wisconsin

Morris Hagerman is a local real estate agent with Real Estate One in Royal Oak, Michigan.  He serves Berkley and the other Woodward 5 communities, including Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak and Huntington Woods.  Hagerman is also a member of the Berkley/Huntington Woods Area Chamber of Commerce.  You can contact him by phone at 248-854-8440, email at morrishagermanproperties@gmail.com or visit his web page.  

It is smart to review the value of your home annually

Many people when asked if they would like to know the current value of their home shrug.  They don’t see any reason why they should at least get an estimate of the market value of their home on an annual basis.

Truth is, there are many reason homeowners should get a real estate professional to provide an estimate on the market value of their home.  One example comes to mind of a man that left his house to one son and his investments to another.  (The situations are changed to protect privacy.) When he made the will, things were about even.  But, when he died, the estate was split like his will required, but the house was worth so much more than the investments that it was a very uneven split.  If the man had monitored the value of his house throughout the years, he would have been able to make adjustments to his will to keep it up to date.

Think about it, it is considered smart for people to meet with their financial adviser annually to review their investments.  It is also smart to meet with your real estate agent to review the value of what is for most of us, the biggest investment we make.

Here are some reasons to review the value of your home annually but certainly not an all inclusive list:  

• Make judgements about your own home by comparing it to the value of your neighbor’s home.  

• Make judgements about your community by comparing the value of your home to county, state and national home values.

• Knowing the equity in the home helps you plan for repairs that are needed.

• Your net worth can be more precisely known.

• You may want to make adjusts to your insurance policy to keep up with your home value.

• Some communities have rebuilding requirements that may affect your ability to rebuild if you are under insured.  

• Don’t pay property taxes beyond the value of your home.

• Better plan for retirement by keeping track of the equity in the home.

• If you are considering a reverse mortgage, knowing the value will help you make a better decision.

• Let’s hope you never need emergency cash, but knowing the value will help you plan for emergencies better and save money on insurance.

• Know if an improvement will be right for the house by not over investing in your home.  

• Be aware of the value of your estate.

• If you pay PMI (private mortgage insurance) when a equity level is reached, you many not have to continue to pay.

• If the equity in your home reaches a certain level you may not need to make monthly escrow payments for property taxes, allowing you to invest the money instead of letting someone else hold it.

• Pay off bills by taking some of the equity out of the home.

• If you plan on refinancing the mortgage you will need to know when you reach the equity level you may need.

A real estate agent that is looking out for your best interest will not charge you for a CMA (Comparable Market Analysis) for your home.  To get the best idea of the value of the home, the agent will need to visit to home, research recent history on comparable homes that have sold in the market and make adjustments in the value based on your home.