Sunday, June 11, 2017

Fannie Mae will ease financial standards for mortgage applicants next month

By Kenneth R. Harney, June 6, 2017

The top reason mortgage applicants nationwide get rejected is because they’re carrying too much debt relative to their monthly incomes. Fannie Mae will be raising its DTI ceiling from the current 45 percent to 50 percent as of July 29.
It’s the No. 1 reason that mortgage applicants nationwide get rejected: They’re carrying too much debt relative to their monthly incomes. It’s especially a deal-killer for millennials early in their careers who have to stretch every month to pay the rent and other bills.

But here’s some good news: The country’s largest source of mortgage money, Fannie Mae, soon plans to ease its debt-to-income (DTI) requirements, potentially opening the door to home-purchase mortgages for large numbers of new buyers. Fannie will be raising its DTI ceiling from the current 45 percent to 50 percent as of July 29.

DTI is essentially a ratio that compares your gross monthly income with your monthly payment on all debt accounts — credit cards, auto loans, student loans, etc., plus the projected payments on the new mortgage you are seeking. If you’ve got $7,000 in household monthly income and $3,000 in monthly debt payments, your DTI is 43 percent. If you’ve got the same income but $4,000 in debt payments, your DTI is 57 percent.

In the mortgage arena, the lower your DTI ratio, the better. The federal “qualified mortgage” rule sets the safe maximum at 43 percent, though Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration all have exemptions allowing them to buy or insure loans with higher ratios.

Studies by the Federal Reserve and FICO, the credit-scoring company, have documented that high DTIs doom more mortgage applications — and are viewed more critically by lenders — than any other factor. And for good reason: If you are loaded down with monthly debts, you’re at a higher statistical risk of falling behind on your mortgage payments.

Using data spanning nearly a decade and a half, Fannie’s researchers analyzed borrowers with DTIs in the 45 percent to 50 percent range and found that a significant number of them actually have good credit and are not prone to default.

“We feel very comfortable” with the increased DTI ceiling, Steve Holden, Fannie’s vice president of single family analytics, told me in an interview. “What we’re seeing is that a lot of borrowers have other factors” in their credit profiles that reduce the risks associated with slightly higher DTIs. They make significant down payments, for example, or they’ve got reserves of 12 months or more set aside to handle a financial emergency without missing a mortgage payment. As a result, analysts concluded that there’s some room to treat these applicants differently than before.

Lenders are welcoming the change. “It’s a big deal,” says Joe Petrowsky, owner of Right Trac Financial Group in the Hartford, Conn., area. “There are so many clients that end up above the 45 percent debt ratio threshold” who get rejected, he said. Now they’ve got a shot.

That doesn’t mean everybody with a DTI higher than 45 percent is going to get approved under the new policy. As an applicant, you’ll still need to be vetted by Fannie’s automated underwriting system, which examines the totality of your application, including the down payment, your income, credit scores, loan-to-value ratio and a slew of other indexes. The system weighs the good and the not-so-good in your application, and then decides whether you meet the company’s standards.

Fannie’s change may be most important to home buyers whose DTIs now limit them to just one option in the marketplace: an FHA loan. FHA traditionally has been generous when it comes to debt burdens: It allows DTIs well in excess of 50 percent for some borrowers.

But FHA has a major drawback, in Petrowsky’s view. It requires most borrowers to keep paying mortgage insurance premiums for the life of the loan — long after any real risk of financial loss to FHA has disappeared. Fannie Mae, on the other hand, uses private mortgage insurance on its low-down-payment loans, the premiums on which are canceled automatically when the principal balance drops to 78 percent of the original property value. Freddie Mac, another major player in the market, also uses private mortgage insurance and sometimes will accept loan applications with DTIs above 45 percent.

The big downside with both Fannie and Freddie: Their credit-score requirements tend to be more restrictive than FHA’s. So if you have a FICO score in the mid-600s and high debt burdens, FHA may still be your main mortgage option, even with Fannie’s new, friendlier approach on DTI.

You can read the entire article here and as always, contact us if we can assist you in any way.

- Daniel Barli, Esq.

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Friday, March 24, 2017

Very proud and blessed to share that Super Lawyers Magazine has honored me again as a SuperLawyers' Rising Star for 2017 for the State of New Jersey.

http://profiles.superlawyers.com/new-jersey/little-falls/lawyer/daniel-barli/06671f42-64a6-4520-b803-c593f956f530.html

Selection and nomination process can be found here:
http://www.superlawyers.com/about/selection_process.html

(Required Disclaimer, required by New Jersey Rules of Professional Conduct: “No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey").
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Tuesday, March 14, 2017

More new mortgages are risky ones

March 12, 2017 - Paul Davidson , USA TODAY

Riskier borrowers are making up a growing share of new mortgages, pushing up delinquencies modestly and raising concerns about an eventual spike in defaults that could slow or derail the housing recovery.

The trend is centered around home loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration that typically require down payments of just 3% to 5% and are often snapped up by first-time buyers. The FHA-backed loans are increasingly being offered by non-bank lenders with more lenient credit standards than banks.

The landscape is nothing like it was in the mid-2000s when subprime mortgages were approved without verification of buyers' income or assets, setting off a housing bubble and then a crash. And Quicken Loans, one of the largest FHA lenders, dismisses the concerns as overwrought. Still, for some analysts, the latest development is at least faintly reminiscent of the run-up to that crisis.
“We have a situation where home prices are high relative to average hourly earnings and we’re pushing 5%-down mortgages, and that’s a bad idea,” says Hans Nordby, chief economist of real estate research firm CoStar.

The share of FHA mortgage payments that were 30 to 59 days past due averaged 2.19% in the fourth quarter, up from about 2.07% the previous quarter and 2.13% a year earlier, according to research firm CoreLogic and FHA. That’s still down from 3.77% in early 2009 but it represents a noticeable uptick.

While that could simply represent monthly volatility, “the risk is that the performance will continue to deteriorate and then you get foreclosures that put downward pressure on home prices,” says Sam Khater, CoreLogic’s deputy chief economist. Such a scenario likely would take a few years to play out.

The early signs of some minor turbulence in the mortgage market add to concerns generated by recent increases in delinquent subprime auto loans, personal loans and credit card debt as lenders target lower-income borrowers to grow revenue in the latter stages of the recovery.

FHA mortgages generally are granted to low- and moderate-income households who can’t afford a typical downpayment of about 20%. In exchange for shelling out as little as 3%, FHA buyers pay an upfront insurance premium equal to 1.75% of the loan and 0.85% annually.
FHA loans made up 22% of all mortgages for single-family home purchases in fiscal 2016, up from 17.8% in fiscal 2014 but below the 34.5% peak in 2010, FHA figures show.

The share has climbed largely because of a reduction in the insurance premium and home price appreciation that has made larger downpayments less feasible for some, says Matthew Mish, executive director of global credit strategy for UBS. House prices have been increasing about 5% a year since 2014.

At the same time, the nation’s biggest banks, burned by the housing crisis and resulting regulatory scrutiny, largely have pulled out of the FHA market as the costs and risks to serve it grew. Non-bank lenders, which face less regulation from government agencies such as the FDIC, have filled the void.
Non-banks, including Quicken Loans and Freedom Mortgage, comprised 93% of FHA loan volume last year, up from 40% in 2009, according to Inside Mortgage Finance. Meanwhile, the average credit score of an FHA borrower fell to 678 in the fourth quarter from 693 in 2013, according to FHA, below the 747 average for non-FHA borrowers. Mish says non-banks generally have looser credit requirements, and lenders have further eased standards – such as the size of a monthly mortgage payment relative to income – as median U.S. wages stagnated even as home values marched higher.

Here’s the worry: If home prices peak and then dip, homeowners who put down just 5% and are less creditworthy than their predecessors will owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. That would increase their incentive to default, especially if they have to move for a job or face an extraordinary medical or other expense, Khater says.  Foreclosures would trigger price declines that ignite more defaults in a downward spiral.

In turn, funding for the non-bank lenders from banks and hedge funds likely would dry up, and FHA loans would be harder to get, dampening the housing market and the broader economy, Mish says.
Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance, says such fears are unfounded, noting Federal Reserve officials have complained that FHA loan standards have been too rigorous.

“The non-banks are bringing a welcome change,” he says. They still must meet FHA standards, he says, and are regulated by agencies such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Bill Emerson, vice chairman of Quicken Loans, the largest non-bank lender, says the credit standards of his firm and his peers are actually stringent by historical standards and appear looser only because banks sharply tightened their requirements after the housing crash.

“I don’t have any concerns about” a potential increase in delinquencies or defaults, Emerson said in an interview. “In the last three, four years, consumers have more access to credit….and all of a sudden it’s, ‘Here we go again.’ Likening the mid-2000’s meltdown to a 100-year flood, he added, “I don’t believe we’re anywhere close.”


Read the entire article here and contact us to assist you with your legal needs.
Daniel Barli, Esq.
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Sunday, December 18, 2016

We recently received this from our client:

"Dear Dan,

I want to thank you for being a great help to me during this whole process. You and your team have been friendly, responsive, and informative every step of the way. My wife and I are really glad to have you on our side.

Thank you again. - T.W."


It is a real pleasure to be able to help our clients through whatever challenges they are having.

If you need any help or have any questions, please feel free to contact us here.

Daniel Barli, Esq.
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Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Trump’s Transition Team Pledges to Dismantle Dodd-Frank Act

- Nov. 10, 2106, Jesse Hamilton, Elizabeth Dexheimer 

President-elect Donald Trump is translating some of his populist campaign rhetoric into policy statements, including the contention that the Dodd-Frank Act should be scrapped because it has made Wall Street banks an even bigger threat to the nation’s economy and working families.

After the government’s answer to the 2008 financial crisis, the “big banks got bigger while community financial institutions have disappeared at a rate of one per day, and taxpayers remain on the hook for bailing out financial firms deemed ‘too big to fail,’” says a statement posted on Trump’s official transition website. “The Financial Services Policy Implementation team will be working to dismantle the Dodd-Frank Act and replace it with new policies to encourage economic growth and job creation.”

U.S. bank stocks climbed for a second straight day on Thursday as investors bet a Trump presidency will lead to less regulation and sideline industry critics in Congress led by Senator Elizabeth Warren.
The 24-company KBW Bank Index advanced 3 percent at 3:16 p.m. in New York, led by Wells Fargo & Co., which rose 7.4 percent. Bank of America Corp. advanced 4.5 percent, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. climbed 4.4 percent.

Trump Antagonist

The call to scrap Dodd-Frank isn’t likely to go over well with Warren, the Wall Street scourge and Trump antagonist who said Thursday that she’d be willing to work with the incoming administration to enact economic and banking policies so long as he didn’t loosen existing rules. In remarks prepared for an AFL-CIO labor federation event in Washington, Warren cited issues they agree on, including the need to curtail Wall Street influence in politics, reinstate Glass-Steagall Act limits on banking activities and reform trade deals.

“When President-elect Trump wants to take on these issues, when his goal is to increase the economic security of middle-class families, then count me in,” the Massachusetts Democrat said on Thursday. “I will put aside our differences and I will work with him to accomplish that goal.”
 
In addition to repealing Dodd-Frank, Trump’s transition website outlines several policies that will be familiar to those who followed his campaign, including calls for a moratorium on new rules so existing measures can be reviewed. It also broadly addressed a tax-code overhaul, saying Trump’s plan “can be summarized as lower, simpler, fairer, and pro-growth.”

The new administration’s plans for financial regulation could pull from a proposal released earlier this year by Representative Jeb Hensarling, the Texas Republican who leads the House Financial Services Committee. His bill -- dubbed the Choice Act -- calls for ripping up core parts of Dodd-Frank, including a provision that empowers the government to dismantle failed banks. He also wants to do away with Volcker Rule restrictions on banks’ trading and investments, and to weaken the reach of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Warren’s pledge offers a first glimpse of a strategy she may use next year when Republicans control the White House and both chambers in Congress.
“Americans want to hold the big banks accountable,” Warren said. “If Trump and the Republican Party try to turn loose the big banks and financial institutions so they can once again gamble with our economy and bring it all crashing down, then we will fight them every step of the way.”

Read the entire article here and contact us for any questions or guidance you need. We are here to help you.
  
Daniel Barli, Esq.
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Sunday, October 23, 2016

Why You Should Avoid Zillow at All Costs

by Kristina Modares

Why You Should Avoid Zillow at all Costs....and Trulia and Realtor.com...etc

In a society obsessed with technology and social media, we are bombarded by loads of content. Today, anybody can post information online and just because something’s popular doesn’t mean it’s accurate. Now more than ever, we need to be very conscious of where our information comes from. Does the founder of this website have a motive for posting certain content? What is the real reason this website exists?

In real estate, most websites exist to extract your contact information. They’re giant traps created as a lead machine for Realtors (the ones who pay anyway). Websites such as Zillow, Realtor.com and Trulia are all designed with the sole purpose of creating (weak) leads for Realtors, and in turn, revenue for the websites. At the same time, these are the exact sites where buyers begin their home search and where sellers look to find the value of their current home. This creates a variety of problems due to the false advertising and inaccurate data. 

 Of all the online real estate databases, Zillow may be the very worst. It’s the most commonly used site despite the false advertising and information. I was first introduced to Zillow leads when I left my previous real estate team. It was my first time working entirely on commission, and I was doing whatever I could to generate leads. An agent in my brokerage told me about the Zillow leads she paid for. She offered to share a few of them as she didn’t have enough time to contact all of them in a timely manner. It seemed so easy. The first Zillow lead email she forwarded me included the name, number and email address of somebody who was interested in a South Austin home. At the time, I didn’t realize how the Zillow lead system worked. So, I called this lead, ready to give them more information on the home, happy to help and excited to talk to a potential client.

 The voice on the other end of the line sounded exhausted, “You’re the 20th Realtor to call me in the past hour. Please stop calling.” Not exactly the type of response I was hoping for when following up on these “hot leads”. I instantly felt guilty and apologized. The image below shows that the potential buyer was interested in talking to somebody about the property and did inquire about it. Little did he know he’d get dozens of calls from multiple agents over the next week.  

I understand sales jobs are competitive and finding good leads is key to survival, but was this even a way to obtain strong, profitable leads?  
 
Zillow creates a lose-lose situation. The potential buyer is angry, the agent is paying way too much money to compete with way too many agents, and it’s overwhelming for a buyer who is only on Zillow to browse through the home photos. During the timeline of these first searches, many buyers are in no way ready to transact on a property. I’m sure some Realtors thrive using Zillow leads, but it puts a sour taste in my mouth. It’s not honest, and it’s not accurate. Who is winning here? Zillow.

Let’s look into this a bit more. What is the lowdown on Zillow and similar sites?
  
Inaccurate information
For buyers:
Many of the homes listed on Zillow may not be for sale. For example, a client of mine was intrigued by a house they saw on Zillow. Zillow’s data showed the house was currently for sale, had been on the market for almost a month and was in the area and budget they wanted. What I found via the MLS is that the house had sold in three days a month prior and for over asking price.
Another way Zillow can provide inaccurate information is through the agent listed with the property. You would think this is the “listing agent” or the “seller’s agent.” Wrong. It’s usually attached to a paying Realtor client of Zillow. It’s misleading advertising, and it’s taking advantage of people. So instead of turning to a massive online real estate database like Zillow, turn to friends and family. A simple social media post asking for a great local Realtor will probably get you great results!

For sellers:
Zestimates are Zillow’s algorithm-produced appraisals. They provide people with a basic estimate of what a particular property is worth. Are Zestimates ever accurate? Rarely. According to economist John Wake, the typical Zillow Zestimate error is $14,000. “You don’t know if it’s $14,000 too high or $14,000 too low. And it gets worse because HALF the time Zillow Zestimates are off by a lot more than $14,000”. How can they be accurate when there are so many factors to determine how much a house is worth. No two houses are the same which makes it impossible for a computer to determine it’s value. Zillow uses a computer generated algorithm based on what has sold in the area, the square footage and the number of bedrooms. The basics. They don’t have inspectors checking out each property making sure their data is accurate. That’s the only way to determine a property’s worth. Yet, many sellers will only look to Zillow when they start thinking about putting their house on the market.

Unwanted Communication

Read the ENTIRE article here: 


Daniel Barli, Esq.
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Sunday, May 22, 2016

May 12, 2016 -

N.J. continues to lag nation on clearing foreclosures

By KATHLEEN LYNN, The Record

New Jersey led the nation in foreclosure starts in the first quarter, as the state continues to grapple with the fallout from the housing crash, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Thursday.

About 11.5 percent of New Jersey mortgages were either in foreclosure or late on payments in the first quarter, almost double the national average of 6.5 percent, the MBA said.

While national foreclosure rates are back to pre-recession levels, New Jersey’s court system is still dealing with a large backlog of distressed properties. Last year, almost 36,000 residential foreclosures were filed in the state. So far this year, an average of about 2,500 foreclosures have been filed each month, according to the state Judiciary.

Mortgage troubles don’t just affect the homeowners involved, said Patrick O’Keefe, an economist with the accounting firm CohnReznick in New York and Roseland. They also “influence the value of neighboring properties,” he said, because homes in foreclosure tend to be poorly maintained and sell at a discounted price. That affects appraisals and prices of nearby homes.

The national foreclosure and delinquency numbers in the first quarter reflect “a consistent downward trend that began in the second quarter of 2012,” according to Marina Walsh, an MBA vice president.
New Jersey has lagged the nation for several reasons. First, it is one of about two dozen states that require foreclosures to go through the courts, which takes longer. And the process was further slowed several years ago, when courts imposed a near-freeze on foreclosures while the mortgage industry responded to allegations it was abusing homeowners’ rights in the rush to evict.

In addition, New Jersey’s rate of job creation took a while to catch up to the national rate. While the unemployment rate has dropped in New Jersey to 4.4 percent, lower than the national rate of 5 percent, the Garden State still has not made up all the jobs lost in the recession, a milestone the nation passed two years ago.

A check of the properties heading for foreclosure auction in North Jersey showed many properties in lower- and middle-income places like Hackensack, Garfield, Elmwood Park and Paterson, with unpaid mortgages in the $100,000 to $300,000 range.

But more affluent towns have not been immune. Lenders have filed foreclosure actions against properties with million-dollar mortgages in Allendale and Upper Saddle River, as well as an Alpine home where $2.6 million is owed.

Read the entire article here:

 Daniel Barli, Esq.
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Sunday, January 10, 2016

Sale of Ironbound lot could pave way for new era in iconic Newark neighborhood

By Dan Ivers, on December 14, 2015 at 11:38 AM

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NEWARK - Bidding has opened on a large piece of property in the Ironbound District that stakeholders say could forever change the course of Newark's most iconic neighborhood.
The owners of the famed Iberia restaurant placed the 5.2-acre site on the open market earlier this month, and are courting developers who may see it as a prime parcel for a high-rise office or residential tower.
Frank Giantomasi, a real estate attorney with Chiesa, Shahinian & Giantomasi who is representing the owners in the potential sale, said the site - with frontage on major thoroughfares Market Street and Ferry Street - could be key in the city's plans to attract new professionals seeking both easy access to Newark Penn Station and amenities including restaurants, shopping and nightlife.
"This could be the first development that truly creates a walking class of commuters," he said.
While skyscraping buildings are commonplace downtown, the structures have always remained west of Penn Station. Similarly, boons of retail and mixed-use development have popped up downtown around the Prudential Center and Military Park, though Giantomasi said similar growth in the Ironbound would open up even greater possibilities.
"This says positive things for Newark, shows that the development is not all on the downtown side. This is more community development, as opposed to being driven by the arena or the performing arts center," Giantomasi said.
The Ironbound District, with its vibrant population of Portuguese and Brazilian immigrants living in the dense neighborhoods of brick and clapboard houses, is often counted as among the most unique in all of New Jersey – a distinction locals would like to maintain.
The Iberia property is currently home to both the restaurant and two storage facilities, but is mostly occupied by blacktop parking spaces, which city officials have often lamented as a deterrent to major development as they look to create a transit-oriented district similar to what has sprung up around the PATH station in Harrison.
"We're slowly losing against towns like Harrison, Jersey City, Hoboken to develop the area around Penn Station, so we can create the conditions to attract new people,'' East Ward Councilman Augusto Amador told the Star-Ledger last year.
Development has recently begun to bubble in the area, however, with national chains beginning to appear alongside more deeply entrenched family businesses, and plans for a boutique hotel and new apartment buildings underway.
Though similar declarations of a new age in the Ironbound have come and gone before, Giantomasi said he believed the neighborhood has too much to offer not to rise to even greater heights.
"Ferry Street is a unique street in America," he said. "It's the closest thing we have to a Bourbon Street or something like that, with restaurants, nightlife, eating and drinking."
Dan Ivers may be reached at divers@njadvancemedia.com. 
Daniel Barli, Esq. http://www.barlilaw.com
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Friday, November 6, 2015

Repossessions spike 66% as foreclosure crisis lingers

by Diana Olick
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Monday, August 3, 2015

Fuller impact of home foreclosure debacle hits NJ

July 19, 2015 - BY RICHARD NEWMAN

The number of New Jersey home repossessions by lenders has soared in the past two years and is on track to increase again in 2015, in sharp divergence to the national trend.
Completed foreclosures, where banks and mortgage companies have taken the homes, climbed 34 percent in the state last year, to about 5,780, after an 11 percent surge in 2013, according to The Record’s analysis of RealtyTrac data. By contrast, on the national level, completed foreclosures fell by double digits in each of the past three years.
In the first three months of this year, Bergen County was on pace to nearly double last year’s total of sheriff’s auction sales with 201 properties sold.
A CoreLogic report released Tuesday showed that in May 4.9 percent of mortgaged homes in New Jersey were completed foreclosures, the top rate in the country. The percentage of homes where the mortgages are seriously delinquent also was the highest at 8.4 percent.
The statistics indicate the foreclosure debacle, which has eased in other states following the housing meltdown that began in 2007, may only now be peaking in New Jersey, where foreclosures had been crawling through the system.
The reasons for the slow processing include a state judiciary that has tried harder than other states to hold banks accountable for illegal and improper paperwork. Also, New Jersey’s non-profit housing groups, which have support in the state Legislature, have worked to help keep homeowners in their homes. It has taken debt collectors about two years and 10 months on average from the time an initial notice is delivered until the property is repossessed, according to real estate information company RealtyTrac. Only Hawaii’s process is longer.
Now repossessions are moving faster. According to housing activists and lawyers who defend homeowners faced with foreclosure, the acceleration has coincided with a pickup in the real estate market. Although bankers deny it, homeowner advocates say that uptick seems to have made banks more eager to complete foreclosures, cash out and recover what they can from their losses.
“There have been secondary-market buyers coming in as a reaction to the housing market starting to rebound a bit,” said Adam Deutsch, a lawyer with Denbeaux & Denbeaux in Westwood, which has defended hundreds of New Jersey homeowners in contested foreclosures.
Other contributing factors underscore the complexity of the situation:
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Daniel Barli, Esq.
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Friday, June 19, 2015

CFPB Delays New Disclsoure Rules Through 10/1

Statement by CFPB Director Richard Cordray on Know Before You Owe Mortgage Disclosure Rule

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Richard Cordray issued the following statement on the Know Before You Owe mortgage disclosure rule:
“The CFPB will be issuing a proposed amendment to delay the effective date of the Know Before You Owe rule until October 1, 2015. We made this decision to correct an administrative error that we just discovered in meeting the requirements under federal law, which would have delayed the effective date of the rule by two weeks. We further believe that the additional time included in the proposed effective date would better accommodate the interests of the many consumers and providers whose families will be busy with the transition to the new school year at that time.”
The public will have an opportunity to comment on this proposal and a final decision is expected shortly thereafter.
Read the entire article here.
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Sunday, May 31, 2015

7 of the 10 counties in America with the highest property taxes right here in New Jersey

By Paul Milo, April 28, 2015

It's no secret that New Jersey homeowners are hit with some of the highest property taxes in the nation. But just how high, relative to other parts of the country, might be a bit of a shock.
A typical homeowner in Bibb County, Ala., paid just $228 in property taxes in 2013,according to an analysis by Zillow, the real estate website. Compare that to someone paying the median in Paramus or Ridgewood in Bergen, who shelled out $9,546 — about 45 times as much.
Bergen and Bibb lie on opposite ends of a list of median property tax rates nationally. Bergen was third-highest in the country, and the highest in New Jersey, while Bibb joined several other Alabama counties boasting some of the very lowest property tax bills for single-family homes.
Bergen, meanwhile, is one of several New York City-area counties dominating the top 10. Those counties had annual property taxes several times the 2013 national median of $2,132, based on the Zillow analysis, which examined counties in the 50 largest metro areas for which sufficient data was available.
Elsewhere in New Jersey, however, property tax bills, while nowhere near the lowest in the country, were somewhat closer to the national median, according to figures compiled by NJ Advance Media in February (NJ Advance Media looked at average county bills, not the median figure used by Zillow). The average bill in Cumberland in 2013, for instance, was just a little over $3,700 a year, while in nearby Salem, the average was about $4,800.
Per Zillow, here are the counties with the 10 highest and 10 lowest median property tax bills in 2013:
Highest:
  • Westchester, N.Y., $13,842
  • Rockland, N.Y., $10,550
  • Bergen, NJ, $9,546
  • Essex, N.J., $9,288
  • Nassau, N.Y., $9,091
  • Passaic, N.J., $8,978
  • Union, N.J., $8,926
  • Morris, N.J., $8,549
  • Hudson, N.J., $8,407
  • Hunterdon, N.J., $8,392
Lowest:
  • Tunica, Miss., $216
  • Bibb, Ala., $228
  • Walker, Ala., $244
  • Blount, Ala, $344
  • Amelia, Va., $358
  • Butler, Pa., $397
  • Lincoln, Okla., $402
  • Fayette, Tenn., $410
  • Meriwether, Ga., $457
  • Saint Clair, Ala., $470
You can read the entire article here.

The deadline to file tax appeals and LOWER your taxes is April 1st. Contact us for a free consultation to see how we can lower your taxes.



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Friday, May 8, 2015

New, Simpler Mortgage Disclosure Forms Could Delay Closings

April 20, 2015, by Michele Lerner:
For years, home buyers taking out what was probably the biggest loan of their life would get a stack of disclosure forms with small print alluding to things like a “variable rate feature” and a “prepayment penalty.” As it turned out in the housing bust of 2008, many of them didn’t quite realize that these phrases meant their payments could skyrocket after an initial period, or that they’d be penalized for paying off their loan early.
But the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 forced the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to make those disclosure forms, which are meant to explain the conditions of the mortgage and the closing costs, more consumer-friendly. The agency first unveiled the new forms in late 2013, and recently reminded consumers and the industry that they would go into effect Aug. 1.
But real estate pros now say they’re concerned that the simpler forms, which must be provided on a tighter timeline than before, might actually slow down closings—at least initially.
“It will probably be painful for the first three to six months after we start working with the new rules and forms, and some closings could be delayed,” said Patrick Cunningham, a partner and vice president with Home Savings & Trust Mortgage in Fairfax, VA. “It’s very important that buyers work with a Realtor®, lender, and title company that they trust to avoid delays if possible.”
The disclosure forms are used by title companies and lenders, and real estate agents sometimes show the forms to buyers so they’ll know what they will sign at settlement, or closing.
“The new mortgage disclosure forms coming in August will help consumers comparison shop for mortgages and avoid surprises at the closing table,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray on March 31, as he presented to the public a mortgage toolkit intended to guide borrowers through the mortgage process and make the best use of the new forms.
These are what borrowers will receive as of Aug. 1:
  • Loan estimate. This form replaces both the early Truth in Lending statement and the good-faith estimate and provides a summary of loan terms as well as estimated loan and closing costs. Buyers must receive this three days after applying for a loan, so they can have time to shop around.
  • Closing disclosure. This form replaces both the final Truth in Lending statement and the HUD-1 settlement statement. It sums up the final costs for the loan and closing and explains how payments are to be made. Buyers must receive this three days before closing, so they have enough time to fully review it.

You still have to read the forms

Although the new forms could be good for consumers because the intent is to clarify their loan terms, Cunningham said borrowers still need to do their part.
“People don’t always read their documents even though we ask them to,” he said. “At least [the new forms] look a little clearer than the old forms.”
Cunningham says the biggest problem he anticipates after Aug. 1 is complications in getting the closing disclosure finalized and delivered to the buyer three days before settlement.
“Right now, the general practice is that Realtors schedule a walk-through the day before or the day of settlement, but sometimes changes need to be made after a last-minute negotiation between the buyers and sellers, and sometimes loan documents get sent over just prior to the closing,” Cunningham said. “In theory, this will all happen three days before settlement—but in practice, I expect some settlements to be delayed because of the three-day rule.”
Delaying a settlement can cost both buyers and sellers money if moving arrangements have already been made. This could even affect another closing if the sellers are purchasing another home, Cunningham said, adding that delays can be avoided as long as the lender, real estate agent, and settlement company remain in communication.

Is ‘optional’ optimal?

Diane Evans, president of the American Land Title Association and vice president of Land Title Guarantee Co. in Denver, said she’s disturbed that on the new loan estimate form, owner’s title insurance is labeled as “optional.” The old good-faith estimate forms merely said, “You may purchase an owner’s title insurance policy to protect your interest in the property.”
“For a one-time fee paid at the closing table, an owner’s title insurance policy protects a home buyer from having to pay legal fees and claims that were not discovered during the title search, such as back taxes owed by previous owners, compensation to an unknown heir for their interest in the property, or even if there was a forged signature on a deed,” Evans said. “The introduction of the word ‘optional’ may diminish the perceived value of this insurance.”
In addition, Evans noted, although owner’s title insurance can be paid for by either the buyer or the seller, the new forms assume the buyer will pay. 
“Hopefully, everyone will be able to work out their systems and processes ahead of time,” Evans said, “but it would be easier if the new policies could be phased in rather than introduced with a hard stop on Aug. 1.”
So if you’re buying a home this summer or fall, stay in close touch with your lender, agent, and title company to avoid last-minute glitches.
The entire article can be seen here. 
Let us know how we can help you with these changes:
Daniel Barli, Esq. http://www.barlilaw.com
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