When financial markets experience large price changes in a short period of time, it’s common for a correction to take place. Last week’s Fed announcement produced a strong rally in mortgage rates and a large decline in the stock market. With little fresh news from the Fed this week, these markets reversed a portion of last week’s movement.

The news from Europe was mostly positive this week. European officials agreed to expand the bailout fund which is being set up to provide additional liquidity for debt issued by struggling nations. In addition, Germany passed an important vote showing support for the aid programs. At times, the healthier European nations have expressed reluctance to pay for the aid to weaker nations. Since Germany is the largest Eurozone member, its support is critical. As a result, investors perceived a lower risk of default, and they became more willing to invest in riskier assets. This helped the stock market and hurt mortgage rates.

My guess is that by the end of 2011, the banks will have their own homes in order and finally a bit of normalcy will hit our economy.  At that point, however, expect home prices to start to recover quickly.

So for those buyers sitting on the fence, this is probably the last year you’ll have to get a bargain basement deal on that house you’ve been looking at.

If you’re looking for some foreclosures at great prices you can email me at Support@illinoisrates and request to be added to our weekly newletter for new foreclosures that come on the market.  If you’d like to search the MLS yourself, simply click www.illinoisrates.com/mls.  No registration required.  Search as often as you like!

Call me when you’re ready to get your loan approved or to see how much you qualify for @ 1-800-325-0400 x 700.

A recent purchase is great to the buyer but bad news for the lender.

On October 2006, someone buys a home for $100,000 and takes on a mortgage of about $95,000.  The buyer cannot afford the payments and the home goes into foreclosure.  So far this is pretty normal.  You don’t pay you lose.  Ok.

Well the bank now owns the home and wants to sell it.  But it is not worth anywhere near the $95,000 that is owed on it.  So the bank lists it with a local real estate agent and hopes for the best.  Now a new buyer looking for a great deal comes along and offers a low ball offer of around $5,000.

You’d think the bank would just laugh and say, “no thanks.”  Instead they counter and end up settling for $8,000!  No, not $80,000, just a mere $8,000!  Now that’s a bargain!

So a great success story for our new buyer and the bank got a little money back right?  Not so fast.  Because of prior issues with the property, the city of Chicago had placed leins on the property totally thousands.  This is the seller’s problem or in this case the banks problem.

So the bank agrees to sell the property for an incredible low price of $8,000 and has to pay off the old liens on the property.  The end result is the bank not only recieves nothing but has to pay over $1,200 to sell the property.

Figure about $5,000 in attorneys fees to foreclose in the first place and the $1,200 they paid out to sell the house, it would have been better just to let the old owners keep it!

So it’s a great time to be buying!  Homes for under $10,000 in the Chicagoland area are commonplace.  So if your looking for a home for yourself or a great investment, check out the available properties that are on the MLS.  You can view them on our website or by clicking on www.illinoisrates.com/mls.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to provide you one of the most exciting loan products ever created.  The reverse mortgage is a government program to help those over the age of 62 by allowing them to stay in their homes with no mortgage payments.  You read that right; there are no mortgage payments on a reverse mortgage.

You may have seen commercials on television or heard about them from your friends or maybe you’ve never heard of them before.  I’d like to take this opportunity to share with you some of the features and benefits of having a reverse mortgage.

NO PAYMENTS! – Easily the best feature of the reverse mortgage is that you never have to make a payment. 

GOVERNMENT PROGRAM – Although a bank will most likely manage your loan, it’s the federal government that stands behind it.  You never need to worry about the bank going out of business or someone trying to change the terms of the loan.

COUNSELING REQUIREMENT – In order to make sure that this is the right plan for you, the government requires you have an independent third party not for profit organization review your case to be absolutely sure this is the plan for you.

GET CASH BACK – Not only do you not have to ever make payments, if there is enough equity in the home, you may be able to receive cash back at the closing.  You can choose to receive the money in one lump sum or have it spread out over a time period you specify.

NO CREDIT CHECK – Your credit does not matter.  No credit report will ever be checked.

NO INCOME REQUIREMENT – Because payments are not required, your level of income does not matter.  Even if you’re currently not receiving any income!

Are you still unsure?  Then give us a call.  We will come to your home and answer all of your questions.  We have experienced licensed loan professionals that are available to you from 9am to 10pm 7 days a week.  Call us today and get on the path to financial freedom.

 We offer FREE credit repair to potential homebuyers.  We can instruct your clients on how to increase their credit score and be able to qualify for a mortgage.  With a predetermined objective, we are able to tell a client exactly how to increase their score within a certain time frame.

Sometimes, it doesn’t take much.  We’ve had score increases of over 100 points in just 72 hours.  This is the exception not the rule, however, we will work hard to get the credit to where it needs to be all for no charge.

All we ask in return is that you give us a chance at providing the financing for your client. 

So give us a call at 1-800-325-0400.

Also, have a great and safe New Years!

Well, this my first post to my BLOG and I’m not quit sure of what to say.  I’ll start by saying that I will longer be using the word BLOG.  Ok, enough of that.

I am a licensed real estate agent and licensed loan officer.  I have been in the real estate industry for over 20 years.  So if you need to find a new house, or sell your current home, refinance your mortgage or get a bill consolidation loan, I’m your guy.

I have also started doing credit repair for people that are looking to buy but do not have the credit to qualify.  I do not charge for this service.  All I ask in return is to let me be your real estate agent and / or loan officer when the time comes.

So that’s about it.  I wonder if someone will ever read this.  If you do and you like it, please let me know so I’ll know to post again on my…well, you know.

From picking out the right loan program to determining your property value, we are experts on getting you the money you need.

Over 100 years of finance and real estate experience is employed by American Fidelity’s Berwyn, Il office.  So rest assured, we have the knowledge and competence to take care of almost every issue.

Dedicated to customer service, our staff is always available to answer your calls.  If you ever have a problem reaching someone, call Steve at  800-325-0400 x 700 or on his cell at  847-910-2195.  Steve has been managing the daily activities of American Fidelity for almost 20 years.

Although we conduct most of our business via telephone, our customers are always welcome in our office.  Please feel free to stop on by during regular business hours.  We’re always happy to see you.

Experts on service, experts on mortgages, experts on real estate, call today and find out what we can do for you!