Closing Costs Guide-Created by Jerry Feeny

Real estate closing costs can be confusing. These PDFs created by Jerry Feeny,  a well known and respected New York Metro real estate attorney, cover closing costs (coops, condos, townhouses-and other real property)  for buyers and sellers in New York City , The Hamptons and Westchester & Rockland Counties. 

We hope you find this guide helpful in ‘demystifying’ the age-old question of buyers, ‘what are my closing costs?’ And from sellers, ‘what costs do I have to pay at closing and what is left over from the sale price?

According to the survey by the National Association of Realtors, the reported cancellation rate doesn’t mean that one of every three transactions are falling through, rather more than triple the number of agents are facing  deal-jeopardizing problems in 2011.

 Some of the issues reported:

• Appraisals below contract price.   Appraisers hired by the mortgage company may have a different opinion of the value of the property, sometimes significantly below the price agreed in the contract.  Foreclosures being used as ‘comparables’ to value non-distressed properties are part of the problem here.  Inexperienced appraisers who are unfamiliar with local trends also contribute to this trend.
• Stringent underwriting and documentation requirements.  Restrictive underwriting rules at the Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can derail signed contracts or delay them for months.
• Poor service by lender staff.  Agents report “lack of customer service” and “generally bad attitudes” as contributing factors to delays and some contract failures.  However, agents also need to be on the lookout when loan processing deadlines start to lag or communication breaks down, and facilitate the progress of getting it moving again.

The key to closing on a home is to make sure you choose the right agent, lender and other team members who will help you understand the rules and requirements before hand, and stay on top of the professionals involved in your transaction.

Based on Los Angeles Times article.

 The reverse mortgage allows homeowners 62 and older to borrow against the equity of their home and continue to live in them without having to make payments, as long as the home remains their primary residence.  Interest is added to the loan balance which must be repaid after the borrower moves out or dies.  The borrower must keep current with property taxes and insurance.

 In a report released last month by Met Life Mature Market Institute and the National Council on Aging showed that:

• Homeowners aged 62 to 64 are far more likely to take out a reverse mortgage than they were in 1999, even though they are borrowing less.
• The average age of borrowers who took the federally required reverse mortgage counseling was 71.5, down from 76 in 2000 and nearly 77 in 1990.
• Two-thirds of homeowners seeking reverse mortgages to lower debt levels.

 The majority of reverse mortgages come through the Department of Housing and Urban Development and are guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration through a program called Home Equity Conversion Mortgages.

 Some experts caution retirees against reverse mortgages especially early in their retirement because they run the risk of depleting their equity in their most important asset.  Homeowners at or near retirement should work with a financial planner or estate lawyer to make sure their plan is clear for the next 20 years of living expenses.

This article is for information purposes only.  It is not intended to be legal, financial or tax advice by the Real Estate Geezer.  Always seek the advice of a competent legal, financial and/or tax professional.

Based on New York Times article

In the following charts and graphs you can see how the market stacks up against last month and this month last year.

“Landlord concessions continue to be the exception, as rental demand and prices press higher”

• Median net effective rent was $3,064 for the first quarter, 9.1% higher than $2,808 in the prior year quarter.
• Rental price per square foot increased to $52.57, reaching its highest level since the third quarter of 2008, just as the credit crunch began.
• The listing discount, the spread between the original list price and rent, compressed in the first quarter to 2.2% from 2.7% in the prior year quarter. This was consistent with the 14.3% increase in new rental activity over the same period.
• Use of landlord concessions fell to 11.1% within all new rentals from 36.8% over the same period last year.
• New rentals of studios increased 16.1%, 1-bedrooms increased 13.5%, 2-bedrooms increased 14.5% and 3-bedrooms increased 20.7%. The 4-bedroom rental market decreased 21.5% over the same period.

Basics of the home mortgage interest deduction

• Taxpayers who itemize deductions on Schedule A can include interest paid on mortgages with certain limitations:
• Only interest paid on a loan secured by a principal residence and second home is deductible
• Only deduct interest on loans for which they are legally liable, so paying someone else’s mortgage doesn’t count.

Once the above conditions are met, the following applies:

• Only interest on the first $1,000,000 of debt for first and second residences combined can be deducted, for Single or Married filing Jointly and married filing separately, the limit is reduced to $500,000 each.
• Only the interest on the first $100,000 of home equity loan debt.
• In this example, an unmarried taxpayer with a mortgage and home equity line of credit could deduct the interest on $1,100,000 in total.

Recently the IRS ruled that, for an unmarried couple who jointly owns the home together the $1,100,000 limit applies to the residence, not the taxpayer.

• One or two homes which are the principal and second homes cannot provide more than a home mortgage interest credit on $1.1 million of debt total regardless of how many people own the homes.
• Once the $1.1 million of interest deduction is used from the first and second home, no further interest deduction can be claimed.
• In this example John and Jane own two homes jointly but are not married.  Home one has a mortgage debt of $1.5 million and home two has a mortgage debt of $1 million, with no home equity line of credit on either property.  According to the ruling, John and Jane cannot together claim interest on more than $1 million of total mortgage debt.  However if John owned home one and Jane owned property two, then each taxpayer could claim the full limit providing they were otherwise eligible.

 Tax planning becomes very important in this situation.  Seeking the advice of a qualified tax professional can be extremely helpful prior to purchasing a home to be sure the structure permits maximum deductions.

Based on blog article by Jerry M Feeney, Residential Real Estate Attorney.  Information in this article is to be used for informational purposes only, and not to be considered legal, tax or financial advice by the Real Estate Geezer.

“Employment conditions have continued to slowly improve, inventory levels have remained modest, and new development stabilized, but tight mortgage underwriting conditions remain a challenge to the market.”

• Median sales price was $775,000, 0.9% below $782,071 in the prior year quarter. Price per square foot increased 6%, and average sales price increased 0.8% over the same period.
• The S&P’s downgrade of US debt, paired with the European debt crisis, Wall Street bonus concerns, and large swings in the stock market indices all contributed to the market’s slowed pace leading into the first quarter. As a result, the number of sales slipped 3.5% to 2,311 from 2,394 in the prior year quarter.
• Active listing inventory slipped 0.6% to 7,560 in the first quarter from 7,605 in the prior year quarter, but remained consistent with the 7,478 quarterly average over the past ten years.
• Days on market—the number of days between the last price change, if any, and the contract date—saw a 25-day increase to 152 days from 127 days as older inventory was sold off.
• Listing discount—the percent difference between the list price at time of sale to the sales price—increased to 6.3% from 4.5% in the same period last year.

If you:

• Need quick access to funds
• Want to avoid traditional mortgage fees
• Are finding it challenging to obtain a traditional mortgage for new construction or investment property
• Are required to verify you have sufficient liquid assets to support the purchase
• Want to use a bridge loan as a short term strategy
• Are purchasing a second home and wanted to use equity in primary residence as down payment value of primary home has decreased significantly

Securities Based Lending using the Portfolio Loan Account may be for you.

• Allows borrowers to use eligible securities in their brokerage account as collateral.
• No  origination, maintenance or facility fees
• Access to available credit without having to reapply for each new loan
• Quick application process, with access to credit in approximately five business days.

This post is based on a document provided by Amit Michael Kapil at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and is to be used for informational purposes only, not to be considered legal, tax or financial advice by The Real Estate Geezer

 MARKET RECAP

One week’s worth of data does not a trend make. We say that because of renewed concern the housing rally is set to peter out because of a burst of sub-par news.

The news on lower existing and new home sales was disappointing, to be sure, but hardly a foreboding omen. The news on pending home sales, which tracks contract signings for existing homes, wasn’t all that bad either. The index was down 0.5% in February, but the index has been up for the most part over the past six months. Sometimes a little perspective is needed.

Pessimism was further heightened by the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index, which showed another price decline. Month-over-month, the average price declined 0.5 percent in January. Year-over-year, the average price is down 3.8 percent.

The fear properties in various stages of foreclosure and delinquency will continue to roil the market is on the rise. We are not terribly concerned though; the attenuating factor being foreclosed and delinquent properties are a well-vetted, well-understood variable. More important, it’s an improving variable. Data from CoreLogic show that faster REO-clearing rates and improving employment and low mortgage lending rates point to a sustained housing-market recovery.

In our opinion, frustratingly low appraisals and too-stringent lending standards are more pressing issues for many buyers and sellers. Loosening the tethers on both, and particularly the latter, would go a long way toward keeping the recovery on course.

A strong economy would also go a long way toward sustaining the recovery. The good news is the economy continues to grow. The final number on gross domestic product shows that the economy grew 3.0 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011. This latest reported quarter was much stronger than the 1.8 percent growth reported in the third quarter of 2011.

The employment data support the notion the economy is growing. Yes, we are aware that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recently warned that improvements in the labor market may not be sustained, but we think otherwise nonetheless: Job creation has accelerated in recent months. Concurrently, jobless claims have decelerated. In fact, the latest report on weekly jobless claims shows the four-week moving average falling to its lowest level in four years.

Of course, the state of the economy always impacts credit markets. Interest rates dropped this past week when Bernanke stated he thought the economy has yet to reach full-recovery mode. Investors equivocated and money moved from stocks and commodities into U.S. Treasury securities. The mortgage market responded in kind, and we saw lending rates drop five to 10 basis points across most offerings.

We can’t say for sure how long rates will stay down. We’ve seen a marked increase in volatility in lending rates in March. We think volatility will remain high going forward, which is why we feel impelled to say that the risk of waiting for lower lending rates outweighs the benefit of substantially lower lending rates materializing.

The Most Persuasive Sign it’s Time to Lock and Load

Economist Hyman Minsky is the author of a persuasive short monograph titled “The Financial Instability Hypothesis.” Minsky basically states that the longer a market appears stable, the less stable it actually is because of excessive speculation and leveraging of that market.

We’ve been in a 31-year bull market in U.S. Treasury securities. That is, long-term real yields – yields adjusted for inflation – have been trending down since the early 1980s. A recent analysis by Credit Suisse shows that real rates on long-term Treasury securities are down to 50 basis points, or 0.5%.

Such a low rate doesn’t compensate for opportunity cost and time value. In fact, the real interest rate is so low today, even the early 1900s can’t boast of such low rates.

We’ve been in a very long bull market in bonds. Long sustained trends tend to lull participants into complacency. In turn, complacency tends to ratchet up the use of leverage. We don’t know how much leverage there is behind this lending market, but we suspect more than there was 30 years ago Carry trade – borrowing short term to buy long-term credit instruments – has been a very lucrative, easy-money trade over the past decade.

The point is, 31 years is a long time, record lows don’t last forever, and neither does easy money. If Minsky’s hypothesis holds, the odds interest rates could rise in the near future is much higher than many borrowers think.

Graph Courtesy from NY Times in an article by Vickie Elmer April 1, 2012.  Data and Commentary provided by Fred Ashe, from DE Capital Mortgage.