Grandma and Grandpa Learned me Good!

Death is an inevitable part of life. Everyone will experience losing a loved one at some point of their life. Losing a loved one is a very difficult thing to process. It can stop you in your tracks and send your mind into warp speed. As your mind is warping you think about what I should have done, need to do, regret doing, and all the ways that you failed to connect to the loved one you have lost. Then you step back for a moment and begin to remember all the good things that you did with the loved one. You begin to see all the things that they had taught you that you did not know were lessons at the time.

As many of you already know I recently lost my Grandmother. Evelyn Freeman was one of the greatest people that I have had the opportunity to be influenced by. She was a mother, daughter, wife, grandmother, great-grandmother, friend, confidant, disciplinarian and most of all a teacher. It is because of my Grandparents that I am so sharp with my math skills. We would sit down at the table and play 10,000 which has various forms. We play with seven dice and have for the last 30 years. The game requires addition, quick number recognition and some luck if you want to beat my grandfather. After we took each other’s money playing 10,000 my dad and grandpa would begin to snore and grandma and I would sit up and play Skip-bo. This was another game that required math skills and the ability to plan ahead, have a strategy, notice potential obstacles, and be crafty and alert. I lost a lot but my grandmother would give in and let me win a few to keep me going. Many times she would stop and say did you see this Mathew? You could have done this if you would have been patient.

Here are a few things that Grandma and Grandpa taught me:

Commitment – 68 years my grandmother and grandfather were together. They were committed to their relationship that may not have always been just peachy. Through the good and the bad they stuck by each other and worked through it. Grandpa was a farmer and crops were not always plentiful. There were many times that their home value tanked and others when it sky-rocketed. Grandma and Grandpa knew a few things.

1. They always needed a place to stay and so they saw their place as “home” first and an investment second(it’s worth 77 times what they paid for it years ago).
2. Slow and steady wins the race. They were never in a hurry to make significant upgrades that they could not pay for with cash. Their “home” provided everything they needed. Although many of their friends were building palaces that eventually crumbled they stuck together.
3. Maintaining the goal of paying off the mortgage so they had to answer to no-one when they could have pulled out lot’s of money to do what they loved, Gambling.

Price is what you pay value is what you get – Grandma and Grandpa paid the price of hideous wallpaper that still resides on the walls in exchange for the ability to live without financial fears. As the crop failed they knew that they had enough seed stocked away to get them through the times. The wallpaper can wait. They did not rush to buy the next big thing. They also always stuck with a fixed rate mortgage. One term and done. If they refinanced they made sure they they stayed on track to pay off. Never backwards.

A slow start is a good start – This was a saying during every dice game when grandpa was losing. What he was really saying was: Every strong household needs a solid foundation. There is no need to rush anything in life. Live in the moment and understand what the future may bring. Know your history and be prepared for it even if it requires you to stay in second gear a little longer. “Don’t be lightning McQueen and allow your tires to blow!” When you build a foundation that is solid you will always catch up to the others. Just think about the three little pigs:)

Exercise good Judgement – Going back to skip-bo grandma was trying to tell me not to get ahead of myself. Study the board and my opponent, my market, prepare and seize the opportunity when it presents itself. Today’s market is that opportunity. Low prices and low rates. A perfect storm if you will. The government will pay you to buy your first home. Let your opponent show their cards and then make your first move. Always have a counter and never be too desperate.

1. Exit Strategy – So much of the market mess was created by the lack of an exit strategy. We knew how to get in and capitalize if the market stayed the course. We did not plan a strategy to get out. Long term hold, investment that pencils out from the gate, ability to stay the course as things go awry, and the ability to avoid panic. A carefully crafted exit strategy can be the difference. Grandpa and Grandma stayed the course and were always in a position to sell if they needed to simply because they did not leverage their home for toys.

Risk only what you are willing to lose - As I said earlier my grandparents loved to gamble. They always seemed to win although I know that this was not always the case.  What I began to realize as I grew older is that they only gambled with what they were willing to lose. This gave them the ability to to play freely. They did not have to worry about the downside of a bet. Lose and go home to play again another day. They did not gamble what they could not afford to lose. Many of us gambled with the very thing that we could not afford to lose. We took major risks, we rushed, bought more of a home than we ever deserved to own and now we are hoping that others can bail us out. Believe me when I say I am not criticizing. This was a hard learned lesson. For those that read this and say I have done everything right. My home is upside down and now I have to bailout all the others that made the mistakes my grandparents would have said:

1. No-one else matters. Are you selling your home? If no then remember that our home is worth 77 times what we paid for it. Have you lived in your “home” for 45 years. Be patient and you will be rewarded for your patience.
2. A slow start is a good start – so you started backwards – you are now only left with forward – cherish it!
3. Owning a home is like marriage. It is a commitment that you must stick with. Don’t divorce your home at the first sign of adversity. Remember what you loved about it in the first place and focus on that. In the waning moments of my grandmother’s life she looked over at my grandfather and said, “I always had an eye for that man.” She remembered that her commitment was to the very end.
4. Remain childlike. Continue to question until they day that you are gone. My grandpa said to me the other day, “Mathew I am always learning something new. I know a lot about farming but the things that they can do now days. I just finished learning about a new almond tree that does not require pruning or bees. Bees are $145 a hive driving the profit down. We will see how they yield in comparison but they are the new thing.” Perspective for a moment, this is my 93 year old grandfather who can spit out the number of days before corn will produce good silage. 105 days if you were wondering.
5. Use or lose it! Freeman’s live long and it is mainly because they continue to challenge themselves to the end. We are a stubborn bunch who are strapped with curiosity. That game 10,000 not only taught me the sharp arithmetic skills that I have come to love but it kept my Grandparents learning and teaching.

If you are one of the many that lost your home to foreclosure or had to short-sale just know that this does not define you. How you bounce back will. I strongly suggest Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover it will change the way that you look at money management forever. Three years and some guidance from one of the most sought after finance educators in the country and you will have positioned yourself to buy again. If you are one of those that has done everything well and were a victim of the market answer this: Do you open your 401K statements and look at the balance weekly? If you answered know then stop thinking about the house.

In conclusion, when I was reflecting back on the life of my Grandmother I began to realize that I am in such a hurry sometimes. Why the rush? My grandmother lived 89 happy years and one of the last things that I heard her say was I always had an eye for that man. Take care of him. She knew what was ultimately important. She also asked to go in her home. Not a convalescent or a hospital room. No, she wanted to go in the very home that she spent her life in. Home-ownership to my grandmother was a commitment. One that was not rushed, doctored up, neglected, but one that was honored. She was humbled by the fact that she was allowed the opportunity to own acreage in the heart of the valley. Prime agricultural Real Estate. She was not willing to risk that and move to bigger and better. She gambled only what she was willing to do without.

In loving memory of Evelyn Freeman. You will forever be missed but never forgotten. May your lessons continue to be passed on for generations to come.

Loan to Value: Definitions in Mortgage Continued

Buying a new home or refinancing your existing mortgage is something that hopefully everyone will experience at one point in their life. Mortgages are tailored for the individual or couple that is buying the home. They are assessed by the overall risk the investor will have on the loan based on the qualifications of the consumer. Yesterday we discussed DTI or Debt to Income which is the borrowers ability to repay the debt. Today I would like to take a look at the collateral side of lending commonly referred to as LTV or Loan to Value.

Like DTI, Loan to Value is also expressed as a ratio. It is the amount you will finance for the purchase or refinance divided by the value of the home. The home is what is used as collateral and the greater the equity the lower the risk. Another way to put that would simply be low LTV lowers the risk and high LTV increases the risk.

Let’s look at an example for a refinance transaction. You currently owe approximately 150K on your home. An independent appraisal has determined that the value of your home is approximately 300K. The loan to value on your home would be:

loan amount / appraised value = LTV   150K / 300K = 1/2 = 50%.

We never would use the 1/2 in the example as the number is always expressed as a percentage however, for the example I wanted to illustrate the correct math. 50% LTV would be considered as a low risk loan to value. That means that you have 50% equity in the home and in the event the lender had to take back the property via Foreclosure they would be able to sell for a profit.

80% LTV is considered the break even point for an investor that has to foreclose on a property. They spend approximately 20% of the equity in fees, marketing and reduction of price as well as the holding costs if they are to retake the property. This is exactly why they need insurance know as Mortgage Insurance when our LTV exceeds 80%.

Let’s take a loook at another example. You are buying a home and you have 3.5% to put down as a down payment. The home that you would like to buy is selling for 100K. This means that you would need to finance 96, 500K of the purchase:

LTV = Loan Amount/Appraised Value = 96,500k / 100,000k = 96.5% LTV(please note that purchase price and appraised value can be different. In the event they differ on a purchase the investor will base LTV off the lower of the two.)

We have looked at a few basic examples of LTV here today. The last thing that I would like to dicuss briefly is CLTV. CLTV stands for combined loan to value. This is when you have two or three loans on a property. If you have a loan for 100K and a second mortgage for 50K and the value of the property is 300K how would you determine the combined loan to value? Let’s look at an example:

Loan 1 + Loan 2 / Appraised Value = CLTV; 100k + 50k / 300k = 150k / 300k = 50% CLTV.

These are very basic examples and I must tell you that there is always an LTV and sometimes a CLTV. You will have both in many cases:

Example above the LTV = 100k / 300k = 33% and the CLTV = 100k + 50k / 300k = 50%.

CLTV may also be referred to TLTV or HCLTV which are total loan to value and heloc combined loan to value.

I hope that you enjoyed this information on LTV. Stay tuned for definitions of credit and mortgage insurance coming soon.  As always thank you for listening.

 

 

Foreclosure Fix: Obama’s plan released

The details of Obama’s Foreclosure relief program have been released. If you bought a home prior to January 1st, 2009 and you owe less than $729,500 on your Primary Residence you may be eligible for a Loan Modification.

Some of the Requirement of the plan include but are not limited to the following:

• Mortgage obtained prior to January 1st, 2009
• Mortgage amount less than $729,500
• Primary Residence Only
• Fully document your income by providing tax returns and pay stubs
• sign a statement of financial hardship
• go for counseling if their total household debt – including auto loans, credit cards and alimony – total more than 55% of their income

Modifications may be structured as follows:

• Servicers are asked to modify loans to meet a 38% total house payment and the government will subsidize servicers dollar for dollar to lower that ratio  to 31%. The interest rate can’t go below 2%.
• lender can extend the term of the loan up to 40 years or shift part of the principal to the loan at no interest. Servicers also have the option of reducing the loan’s balance.
• The new interest rate will remain in place for five years after which the interest rate will Increase 1% per year until it reaches the original rate or the prevailing rate at the time of modification whichever is lower.

Loan Modification plans focus on people who are behind in their mortgage payments or at risk of defaulting on their mortgage. The definition of “At Risk” is defined as those that are:

• suffering serious hardship
• declines in income
• increase in expenses
• facing an interest rate hike
• having high mortgage debt compared to income
• owing more than the house is worth
• demonstrating other reasons for being close to default ie: Extreme Hardship

Both borrowers, servicers and the investors will receive benefits for active participation in the program. Servicers are said to receive $1,000 dollars per modified loan and additional benefits annually for timely payments by the borrower. The timely payments are a result of previous failed efforts of loan modification that have resulted in over half of the modified loans slipping back into default within a year. Investor’s will receive one-time $1,500 incentive for modifying loans that are not yet delinquent and borrowers will receive $1,000 per year in Principal Reduction for timely payments, for up to five years.

There is also a provision for second mortgages to be eliminated but the details of that provision will depend on the cooperation of the second mortgage holders.

The modification program will be in effect until the end of 2012 and is said to help up to 9 million homeowners.

Contact your loan servicer to see how this plan will work for you. Many of the details of the program have been taken from multiple sources of media and listed here for your benefit. I do not have or know the extent of the help further than the explanation above. I stress that each situation will differ so the best source for you will be to contact your servicer for your situation.