Dan Currie's Q&A

Heather,Are you applying for the loan in your own name or with someone else?...and, have you (or the other person/s applying with you) had ownership of a home in the past 36 months? If not, you may qualify for the tax credit up to $8000. The government will allow your lender to loan you money to pay for all of your (and only) financing costs and settlement costs (not down payment), and you can pay back the loan when you receive your cash from the government after amending your 2008 tax returns to get it immediately.Hope this helps!Dan Currie

A "Quit Claim Deed" form will allow you to add your children as joint deed holders to the property. You can call a title company to assist you in the deed preparation inexpensively; as they have attorneys do this for them. However, this may not be in your best interest depending on why you want to add their names to the property and depending on the ages of your children. Here are some potential problems:1.) If your children are of legal age, and someone obtained a judgment against them (it could be a result of an auto accident), or a tax lien was filed against them, a lien could be placed against the property; this would affect all other joint owners.2.) In reverse, if the intention is to give your children ownership, and you would have any liens against you which would be placed against the property, it would affect the equity position you intend to give to your children.3.) In the event of the death of either of your children, their portion of the equity interest in the property could be caught up in a probate process.4.) In the event one of your children becomes incapacitated, a living probate process could cause problems.5.) If you ever wanted to refinance or sell the property, or if the children want to refinance or sell the property, it would require all owners to agree to authorize the mortgage document or transfer of title respectively.6.) If you are concerned about medicaid spend-down, there is a "look-back" period that must be satisfied.7.) If you are concerned about estate costs and probate concerns upon your death, or if you are concerned about living probate concerns, you should seek legal advice from a specialist in this area. Recently, Indiana passed a law that allows for the transfer of deeds on real property upon death, to the deceased heirs as willed, without the property being handled through probate.8.) If you have a loan secured by the property, you may be triggering a "due-on-sale clause" by adding parties to the deed; although it is unlikely that the lender would call the balance due if it is being paid current.9.) Finally, you may be better suited to create a "living revocable trust", and/or creating a "LLC", "LLP" or some corporate entity to shelter and protect the partners (joint owners) and the property against liability claims.So, make sure that you are letting your attorney know what you are trying to accomplish, and they can give you the best advice.Good luck ... hope this helps get you started!

Contact the Marion County Assessor,s Office or go to the Recorder's Office and look in public records.

Depending on your credit score, capital for down payment, and reserves, you can purchase up to 10 properties with Fannie Mae, buy unlimited HUD owned properties with just $100 down, and finance acquisition and rehab up to 75% of what the improved value will be for properties to sell.Please let me know if I can assist further. I am in Noblesville, In. You can review my profile for additional information.

FHA will finance HUD owned properties for a non-owner occupied purpose and requires only $100 down payment. They will not finance the cost of improvements to put the home into a acceptable condition to be used as collateral; so if it needs required repairs, the costs must be placed in escrow at closing.

I have a vacant home for sale and I would sell it on contract. It is a 2-story, 4 bedroom, 1 bath, 2 car detached garage, with full basement unfinished, new furnace and water heater, living room and kitchen with an eat-in area. The home is located in Indianapolis in Washington Township just south off Millersville Rd. and 3 blocks East of Keystone Ave. on eastern Ave. The price is $69,900. If you want to see the home or discuss financing terms under contract, call me at 317-507-0274. I can assist you locate other properties too.

Ask the real estate broker's referred loan broker why you should do business with them. Then ask a few other loan brokers AND mortgage lenders the same question. Choose who you think will serve you best. And if your real estate broker has offended you, unless you signed an "exclusive representation agreement" with them, you can choose to have another Realtor represent you.There are no real advantages in today's credit markets between lenders and brokers as long as they can accommodate your needs.(Remember this is the only difference between the two): loan brokers use wholesale lenders to locate a rate of interest for you and lenders use their own money and then sell the loan to correspondent lenders who provide the interest rate the lender can offer you. Here are a few considerations in your favor:1.) Ask your real estate broker to negotiate to have the seller pay points to buy down your interest rate (discount points and origination points; and make sure your lender is not receiving a "service release premium", or if you are with a loan broker that they are not receiving "yield spread premium"). You can deduct those from your income (check with your tax specialist).2.) Ask your prospective lender if they can make you a "bridge loan" to pay any of your "settlement charges" (everything that will be a charge or deposit shown on the "HUD Statement" at closing) that will not be paid by the seller (can be up to 6% of the sales price if you are using an FHA 203b loan). Because you will be receiving a tax credit up to $8,000 as a 1st time home buyer (if you close on your purchase prior to 12-1-2009), you are eligible for the bridge loan (it can not be used for down payment; only settlement charges). You might ask your bank or another small loan company if they will loan you the amount equal to your tax credit; (you can amend last year's tax returns and pay off the loan when you receive the cash from the credit.)3.) FHA allows you to receive all of your required down payment as a gift (from family, relatives, or friends as applicable).4.) If you are interested in a home, but it needs a lot of work, the FHA 203k loan program (there are 2 types; streamline and standard) will fund all of the costs of the improvements, renovations, repairs, etc. (up to 96.5% of the value as it would be after completion of the improvements) as well as the purchase. Ask about the FHA "Energy Efficient Mortgage" too. If you can get a bargain because of the condition of the home, this loan program could help you build immediate equity; (FHA will finance a HUD owned home for you with just $100 down payment required). (The Fannie Mae "Homestyle" loan program finances improvements too.)5.) Ask your lender (or loan broker) about getting you a "2/1 buydown". This can be a great financing tool that the seller can pay for; this reduces your interest rate 2% in year one and 1% in year two from the "note rate" (reducing your payments considerably in the first two years). This is a good strategy if you are expecting an increase in income soon, if you are trying to pay off other higher interest rate debts, or if just want to accumulate savings again.6.) Ask your real estate broker for the seller to pay a "pro-rated tax credit" toward property taxes due on the property.7.) If either of you are an EMT, firefighter, law enforcement officer, or a teacher servicing anywhere in the city's "revitalization area", you can get a HUD owned home for 50% of the list price.There are some other things you might consider depending on your circumstances. Experienced Realtors and Loan Originators that have kept up to date with all of the changes in the credit markets are very capable of helping your get the best advantages in a coordinated manner if they will work together effectively to try and help you!Choose a good team that cares about you! Good luck and be well; hope this helps!

Go to the library and get several books on selling and leasing residential property. Then, call several Realtors who live in your area and measure who knows more; you or them. When you decide; hire them!

You asked if you should wait to lock the rate ... weight is what broke down the wagon and sunk the ship!Negotiate for the seller to pay points to buy down the interest rate for lower payments and annual interest costs. You should be able to deduct those "seller-paid points" when filing your income tax returns next year; this will save you tax dollars (get advice from a qualified tax specialist!).However, get the best rate available now! You can always reduce the rate later if it comes down. "Don't count your chickens ... " "A bird in the hand ...", etc.

Ask your agent to list it as both a residential home (if it can be converted to a single family residence; FHA will finance improvements), and list it as an investment property. Remember, FHA will also finance for a owner-occupant buying a 2-unit property. Fannie Mae will finance up to a 4-unit property. Anything over 4-unit, is a commercial property; or if it is zoned commercial or used for mixed-use.