I took a look at the website. It is as you said. I aplogize to you and to Wells Fargo.

Also, I indicated it was the recent meddling of the Treasury (misspelled) that resulted in lower mortgage rates. That should be “The Fed”. The Treasury is simply considering manipulating mortgage rates.

Here is Wells Fargo website, and lying or not they say for FHA loan:

“Down payment and closing costs may be funded by a gift, grant or secured loan”

https://www.wellsfargo.com/mortgage/buy/loans/descriptions/nocash

why should they make the money and you do the work—-
disgusting—big time

I had this experience, with amusing results. In 2004, I was set to make an offer on a condo here in Chicago, a rehabbed 4-room one-bed in my Rogers Park neighborhood. It was asking $139K. Well, just 2 years previous, a substantially similar but much more attractive place sold for $110K.

When I told my agent to offer $110K, she looked at me aghast. I mean, but the poor woman just went to pieces! Her lips began to quiver and her eyes appeared to be tearing. With a trembling voice, she said, “oh,honey, I just CAN’T make an offer like that. That is ridiculous. It would offend the agent and she might not work with me again, “and on and on, until she finally said, “Honey, I just can’t work with you anymore.“ She turned me over to another agent rather than submit my offer.

Now, I’m not sure it was legal of her to refuse to submit my offer, for my understanding is that ALL offers must be presented to the seller. However, I’m glad she did, for the VERY SAME UNIT is languishing on the market at $85K… and I don’t want it anymore. It never was my first choice, and now I’m going for my first choice, for the price I think it’s really worth. So she saved me from making a bad choice.

That said, I am not waiting so much as to try and play the `investment` play, but more because I am concerned about losing a large amount of money if I were to buy and then found myself in a situation where I needed to sell. In the next 1 to 2 years, I hope the most of the downside is in the market and I can finally get the benefits of owning.

(BTW, I was confused why that wasn’t 3.5%, but reportedly the minimum downpayment increase from 3% to 3.5% that was scheduled for 2008-10-01 got pushed back to 2009-01-01.)

You know what. I just took another look at the FHA press release on DPA, and it does appear that only the seller-assisted down payments are prohibited.

Pelt at will.

Here, IR is posting about how realtors lie and you are presenting information suggesting “purchase loans at 3% down and that the 3% down could be a gift.“

That is however a lie.

I believe you will find the 3% down is for FHA-only loans and yet the allowance for gifted funds are for non-FHA loans.

Why do I say such things? Well, correct me if I’m wrong, but FHA no longer allows down payment assistance programs as of October 1st of this year.

Has Wells Fargo lied to you?

Since they have clearly misled you (and probably others who would arrive at the same logical conclusion), I would say they have intentionally lied. Still, in a court of law I’m sure it can be proven if you examine the advertisement carefully, you will find they are advertising loan “features” and not a single loan with both of these features.

It would be easy to prove me wrong, all it takes is for anybody in the U.S. to get one of these purchase loans, visit this blog, and throw egg in my face. I would be truly happy wipe the egg from my eyes to discover the return of 100% financing (which is really what down payment assistance programs like gifted funds do). Maybe there is a loophole somewhere and I’m about to be pelted.

It is fair to say the recent interaction from the Treasury has artificially dropped mortgage interest rates. This seems to me an attempt to force mortgage activity to fake everybody into thinking that housing has finally rebounded so we can all pretend like its over. I would even agree that I’ve heard the loan-to-value ratio has reached 90% for some loans (meaning a down payment of only 10% and not the safer, saner 20% IR assumes).

However, I would challenge anybody who has secured a purchase loan for less than 5% down payment for a non-FHA loan (or even 3% down for an FHA loan) to come here and let me have it. Tell me how little skin you have in the game with your December 2008 purchase loan.

The truth is, everybody is lying: The realtors, the banks, heck, even the Treasure if you really think about what they are saying and what they are actually doing.

boy.. that one really pissed me off and made me want to offer more to show the realtor I AM worthy and I DO have the money to afford such a house.

With regards to “They are not making land anymore”, I thought the traditional form of that was “They are not making any more land”.  That wording can account for the fact that “they” were never making land in the first place.  Either way, though, I don’t think it’s fair to call that statement a lie, when it comes to Irvine and most central O.C. cities, where there isn’t *that* much land left not designated to open space or other uses where new housing development can be done.

Not to say there’s no developable land left, of course—just that all things considered, dwindling remaining areas for development do favor buying sooner rather than later.  Of course shrinking lot sizes may be a larger effect than rising prices, when it comes to that.

But I’m saying baloney to all the examples of how much money you need for the 20% down.  I’m saying baloney to all the talk about resets.  What difference do resets make, unless someone was doing interest only or negative amortization, if interest rates are reaching all time lows.  And I’m saying baloney to those who say there isn’t any mortgage money out there.

Mortgage Rates Dropping to Lowest Rates in Modern History due to Fed and Treasury Actions!

The U.S. Government and Treasury this week began buying Mortgage Backed Securities directly from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  Investors appreciate the “Guarantee” of the Government`s backing, and as a result, Investors are coming back in to the market, and rates are being PUSHED DOWN!

30 yr fixed rates are in the low to mid 5% range (5.25% - 5.75%) for conventional loans, and FHA-VA are down as well!

The Fed and Treasury have invested directly in to the major banks, and seem to be pressuring and encouraging the Banks to modify mortgages to PREVENT FORECLOSURES and Short Sales!

Buyers are back!  Refinances are surging!  Inventory is probably tightening up as a result of reduced foreclosures and short sales.

Now, there is talk of additional Fed Actions to drive rates even lower!  Watch for news from the Treasury Department in the coming days! We are very excited to pass on this good news to you!

So those of you who want to believe that there is no financing available and that you need 20% down can go on thinking that.  But the truth is there is plenty of money available at low rates and low downs if you have good credit.  If you have bad credit then that is a different story.

Moving in to rant mode, people who we read about here who use the HELOCs for cash machines make me sick.  I for one would love if all those mortgages had personal recourse so those people can be pursued by the banks.  If anything, I find flippers more worthwhile persons because at least they should know that its an investment and that it thus has downside risk (like my 401(k)).  Rant off. 

Oh, and to answer “blah”, I have about 15 months of living expenses in cash now, so I’m not that worried about sudden calamity.  Yes, losing my job would suck and its certainly more likely today than a year ago, which is why I have more cash than I did a year ago.

All that said, if you’re renting now (or were a year ago), stay out until you are personally comfortable.  Your odds of hitting the exact bottom are low, but the recovery will be slow, meaning it won’t be a sudden escalation of price.

I think someone who did that would actually do quite well with the informed buyers (maybe there just arent many of those).

I think they’re all Fuel Transfer Engineers now (aka: pumping gas)

which is certainly true but perhaps not so clear???

My .02

SGIP

But, he’s still always trying to get the highest price for the seller.  When he describes things, they seem more clean and shiny.  It seems like more things are possible and good.  It feels like you shouldn’t worry, because money is for enjoyment.  He seems sincere on that point.  It’s like a worldview instead of a lie for him.

Also I would like to add another item to the list that was quoted by one of the agent during bubble.  “Prices in orange county is never going down”.  Oh well, I guess she is shopping at dollar store for Christmas this year.

Good luck!

First the pet peeve vent: when a Realtard says “I looked at the closing statement and your fees are too high”....Most LO’s make $1000 per deal or so and the Realtard makes $25,000. Pot, met kettle.

If a strict flat commission fee of X (1 to 2%)on all sales were enforced, we’d get rid of the bad actors and retain those Realtors who want to make this profession a career. Trust me, Agents can survive on 1-2% max. Anyone who says otherwise is simply confused about their importance in the marketplace. Two homes a month at an average of price of $400k means a $16kpm income at a 2% cap. Is that kind of income going to lead to food stamp assistance? Hardly.

“But i’ve got marketing expenses….“ Who cares? You can have all the marketing in the world but if you still can’t spell granite in your listing and take crappy photos on top of mispricing properties then marketing ain’t your biggest problem.

“But I’ve got assistants to pay…“ perhaps fewer people in the “biz” will streamline the process. At an assumed $16kpm income level, you can do some of the work yourself, can’t you?

I could rant on, but I’ve burped up enough bile about Realtards for the day.

My .02

SGIP

As far a helping people outside the family, I am getting the feeling there is no place for an honest, helpful RE agent. You will be steamrollered by the aggressive, do what ever it takes types.

Is that your experience?

But there are houses for sale out there at prices that approach a reasonable valuation in today’s market. A year ago, unlikely, but just maybe he did not over pay to badly.

If the economy bottoms out in the next year, and he keeps his job, and he got a house below market, and he gets full value of the write off, and ...
He should be OK.

Bit risky for me, but I would stop short of bashing him.

Plus there is the option he, or his family, has lots of money and losing some of it is not a big deal.

/Rant off.

But as for realtor lies, my favorite is from the Simpsons.

Lionel Hutz:  You know our slogan “The right house for the right person.“  Well, the right house is the one for sale.  The right person is anyone…

“But not me, I’m smarter than that,
I worked it out
I’ll be stretching my mouth to let those big words come right out” [ like assciototaoci ]

Of course, after the pergraniteel, we can add

“when I show them ‘round my house to my bed
I had it made like a mountain rage with a snow white pillow for my big fat head”

“And my [foreclosure] will be a big [foreclosure], and I will walk through the front door”

BIG TIME!

I personally know three realtors. Out of the three, I’d say one is a truly honest agent. Of course, he left the business four years ago do do something else. Of the remaining two, I got:

“You better buy something now (in Irvine) because prices are just going to go up and you’ll never be able to afford anything.“

and

“You just can’t time the market.“

The one that left the business a few years ago never tried any of those tactics and was himself skeptical of the bubble pricing.

What I’ve learned in the last few years is that the real estate market can indeed be predicted. With my crystal ball I predict that next month will see another 1-2% monthly drop in the Case-Shiller national indices.

“Don’t make too low an offer, you don’t want to insult the seller”...

They are not making land anymore.

The realtor with Blue Pacific was so condescending to me and my wife as he said this that it made us angry.

This place will be bought by the homeowner equivalent of those people who charged into Walmart last Friday and trampled a guy to death. Shop ‘till you drop - it’s a fun recreation activity!

http://michellemalkin.com/2008/12/02/terrific-law-breaking-activist-helps-homeless-break-into-foreclosed-houses/

Am I alone here or does the idea of giving “investment banks” and “financial firms” yet more and more money after their track record of late make your head explode?

I really wish someone would explain to me how giving billions in my tax dollars to the reckless, greedy bastards on Wall St. makes this all better?  I would rather our billions be used in a program similar to the WPA of the Depression era.  Uncle Sam should be spending our tax dollars on rebuilding roads, bridges and investing in mass transit projects and other large, long term infrastructure projects that not only would provide jobs but show dividends over decades to come.

Do you suppose price will be ignored in the future?  Nope. Folks are about to care a great deal about what something costs and that’s not just the acquisition price either.

Just my two point two cents.  :-D

At the same time, when we bought we accepted the fact that housing market would eventually turn and we would loose part of our down payment (if we had to sell).

There are some mighty useful computer service companies out there, if you ask me.

That and last year when my Brother-in-law asked me
to borrow 70k, co-sign on a 15% down adjustable loan because the Mortgage Broker assured him he could pay me back in 2 years using a cash out refi when prices return. Said sorry to the Brother in Law.  Next week he signs a lease

Robert

IR - your “Reply to this astute observation” link seems to be hosed

And, sometimes, people get desperate and they don’t want to “give up” on something. My guess is that a lot of the folks who engaged in HELOC abuse bought actual items to fill their large houses with, and they are now renting storage units to store it all in. If you’re storing a bunch of stuff, what’s one more fridge in there?

There ARE plenty of buyers out there. But, in the grand scheme of things, there are fewer of them relative to homes to be sold than there used to be.

It seems like the bubble brought in a huge number of buyers that were very different from traditional home buyers. Old School meant you bought a home who’s payments didn’t exceed 3x income with 20% down and a 30 year fixed. Very simple and straight forward with no surprises awaiting you at some point in the future. Then the bubble buyers came along and purchased homes with exotic zero down loans with payments that they could barely “afford” prior to the eventual Arm reset\teaser rate expiration. To use the bubble years as a point of reference for where prices should be today seems silly at best. It was an abberation that was not sustainable.

Of course there will always be people who will purchase beyond their means. But I’m wondering if after the craziness of the bubble years that a majority of buyers will refuse to buy until prices allow 3x income purchases. I’m trying to understand how people can prepare for the future when your mortgate payments prevent you from saving and contributing to retirement accounts.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/12/02/actnsswift-virus-affecting-embedded-youtube-vids/

If you try to play The Fixx’s video above, it says “We’re sorry, this video is no longer available.“, so I thought maybe YouTube or the owner had taken it down as a misguided precautionary measure, but I see, IR, that it’s just that Universal Music Group doesn’t allow embedding of that video.

this house on zillow

This home is worth 700k or less—no new work, small lot, no pool—nothing for this price—No one would buy it here.

way over priced—

I knew the bubble was bad when people at night clubs were trying to sell me mortgages.  “It will reset, but you’ll adjust.  You’ll find a way to make more money.“

but why do people who have been foreclosed on take the refrigerator? Do they have another house they bought that doesn’t have one? Does their rental (which usually have one - right?) unit not come with one? Are they going to try and sell it? I don’t get this.

All Cash Mortgage!

They can just charge the fees and not worry about the nasty underwirting standards screwing everything up.

i knew it was a bubble when my unemployed friend bought a house for $900K.

There’s a mortgage shop on the east side of the 405 right across from the ill-fated CPW development (just north of Jamboree) that is called 10% Down Mortgage or something.

I thought maybe the Zero Down guys had to change their business model!  Maybe next month it will be 20% down!

One of the linked YouTube Videos on this site is infected with Actns/Swif.T virus. If you see any pop-up for a “Antivirus 2009” program, you should decline it.

I would recommend that you remove all links to YouTube videos until this is sorted out.