6 Biggest Mistakes Homebuyers Make

Article From CNN
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/autos/1004/gallery.Costly_homebuying_mistakes/index.html

1. Not knowing your credit score

If you're even toying with the idea of buying a home, you must find out exactly what your FICO score is. If you find it is less than ideal, wage a systematic campaign to raise it. Too many borrowers ignore this step and get surprised when they get interest rate quotes. Once you've pored over your credit history and corrected any errors, your next step is to pay down revolving debt balances to no more than 30% usage. That will help raise your score significantly.

Why does it matter?

The lower your score, the higher your costs of borrowing. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, for example, charge higher up-front fees to borrowers with credit scores below 740.

For a buyer with a credit score between 680 and 700, the fee comes to 1.5% of the mortgage principal. On a $200,000 mortgage, that adds up to $3,000. Someone with a 740 score pays nothing.

Lower-score borrowers also get saddled with higher interest rates, about 0.4 percentage point more for the below 700 borrower. That costs an extra $62 a month -- $744 a year -- on a $200,000, 30-year, fixed rate loan.

2. Buying a car before a house

Anytime consumers open new credit accounts -- credit card, auto loan, etc. -- their FICO score could drop, according to Craig Watts, a spokesman for Fair Isaac, the creator of FICO scores."Hence the admonition to not open other new accounts while your mortgage application is in process," he said.

A big purchase would use up a considerable proportion of a borrower's total credit limit, which results in a drop in the score. Lenders often continue to check credit scores in the weeks before closing.

"The lender will likely slam on the brakes if the applicant's credit scores have suddenly dropped below the minimum required for the requested loan rate," Watts said.

3. Skimping on home inspection

Buying a pig in a poke can cost buyers big bucks -- just when they can least afford it. So It's vital to find all the costly flaws before you buy. Many homes on the market today are distressed properties -- foreclosures and short sales -- and that only increases the importance of good inspections, according to David Tamny, president of the American Society of Home Inspectors.

"The owners usually didn't have the money to keep up these homes," he said. "There's a lot of deferred maintenance."

A home inspection can find problems with the foundation, electrical, plumbing, roof, attic insulation, and heating and air conditioning. In some states, separate licensed inspectors offer mold or termite inspections.

Often homebuyers, who may be strapped for cash, stint on inspections and look for the cheapest way to go. That can lead to disaster.

4. No lawyer ( No escrow )

Nearly everyone involved in a real estate transaction -- the seller, the buyer's real estate agent, the seller's agent and the mortgage broker -- has a vested interest in getting the deal done because they only get paid when the house is sold. So they may push a deal even if it's not in the best interest of the buyer.

One of the best defenses against making am expensive purchase you'll regret is to hire a real estate attorney -- even in cities where it's not standard practice. These professionals charge flat fees and their advice is objective. It's nice to have someone on your side.

5. No contingencies

When signing a sales contract, buyers usually have to put up 1% to 3% in "earnest money," which they don't get back if they pull out of the deal except under certain conditions spelled out in the contract. Sellers try to limit the grounds for canceling, and inexperienced buyers may sign contracts that don't include common exceptions, such as uncovering major problems during the home inspection, failing to obtain financing and failure of the house to appraise.

Failure to obtain financing is common these days because lenders have become very picky; underwriting is very strict.

Even if your mortgage company is still willing to finance your purchase, the house itself may be worth less than you've contracted to pay for it, and the lender will pull its approval.

With residential real estate markets still slow, sellers usually accept contingency clauses, but if they resist, it may be better to rethink the deal. Losing a deposit of $2,000 to $6,000 on a $200,000 home hurts.

6. Not budgeting for insurance

Don't underestimate insurance costs and fail to budget for them.

Many homebuyers don't understand just what is -- and what is not -- covered. Standard policies pay for theft and wind, fire, lightning, hail and explosion damage. Not covered is flooding, earthquake damage or problems caused by neglect of routine maintenance, according to Jeanne Salvatore, spokeswoman for the Insurance Information Institute, an industry-sponsored educational group.

"The most important thing is before you buy a home, find out what it will cost to insure it," she said. "Insurance needs to be calculated into the cost of owning a home. Unlike a mortgage, which you can pay off, you'll be responsible for the insurance costs forever."

For flood insurance, most buyers use the National Flood Insurance Program. Earthquake coverage may be available through a state authority or some private companies.

Depending on location, flood insurance can run into a lot of money. The cost of $250,000 worth of government flood coverage on the building and $100,000 of its contents can go as high as $5,714 in high-risk, coastal areas.

How Foreclosure Impacts Your Credit Score

By Les Christie, staff writerApril 22, 2010: 4:44 PM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com)

http://money.cnn.com/2010/04/22/real_estate/foreclosure_credit_score/index.htm

If you're delinquent on your mortgage, your credit score will suffer. Everyone knows that. The question is, by how much?

Until recently, those answers were hard to come by. Credit bureaus were uncommunicative about expressing, in points, just how much impact different foreclosure types of mortgage delinquencies have on scores.

Recently, Fair Isaac, which developed FICO scores, pulled back the curtain a bit, revealing some estimates of point-score declines following mortgage delinquency problems.

Here are the average hit your credit will take:
30 days late: 40 - 110 points
90 days late: 70 - 135 points
Foreclosure, short sale or deed-in-lieu: 85 - 160
Bankruptcy: 130 - 240

To come to these figures, Fair Isaac created two hypothetical consumers, one who starts out with a fair-to-middling score of 680 and the other with a very good one of 780. (FICO scores range from 300 to 850.)

The hypothetical person with the 780 FICO has 10 credit accounts versus six for the 580, plus a longer credit history, lower utilization of total credit limit and no missed payments on any account. The other consumer has two slightly damaged accounts. Neither have any accounts in collection or adverse public records.

See the chart above to see how each scenario affected each borrower.
Notice that for both borrowers a single one-time black mark results in steep drops, but it is when they fall further behind that things get really harsh, according to Craig Watts, a spokesman for Fair Isaac.

"The lending industry tends to regard an account differently when it has become 90 or more days late," he said, "The likelihood that consumers will resume paying their overdue obligations drops off significantly after the delinquencies have reached 90 days."

One reason credit companies were so closed-mouthed is that they often can't definitively state how much each delinquencies will affect scores because there are too many variables.

Some borrowers will fall much more steeply than others for the same payment problem, according to Maxine Sweet, vice president for public education at Experian, one of the nation's main credit bureaus.

"If you picture someone who has just one mortgage and one other credit account versus a mature credit user like me with 15 accounts, if they miss one payment that would impact their scores a lot more," she said. "For me, one missed payment would just be a blip."

The point loss also depends on the borrower's starting point: People with very high credit scores have more to lose than low-score borrowers; the impact of a single blemish on an 800 score is more than on a 500.

Of course, it just gets worse when you face foreclosure.

Mortgage borrowers can lose their homes three basic ways: a foreclosure; a short sale, where the home is sold for less than than is owed and the bank (generally) forgives the difference; or a deed-in-lieu, in which the borrower gives back the property and the bank again forgives any unpaid balance.

Sweet said credit bureaus generally slash scores equally for those three resolutions to someone losing their home. The important factor, she said, is that "it's reported that you paid less on a settled account."

Some borrowers may think that because they never missed a payment, they can "walk away" from their homes with relatively little impact on scores. Not true. "When a deed-in-lieu or short sale is reported as a partial payment, it's treated as a serious delinquency," Watts said, "just like a foreclosure."

Even if borrowers made payments faithfully for years before short selling or doing a deed-in-lieu, their credit score will still take a hit. The total decline will run about 85 points for the 680 score borrower to as much as 160 for the 780 score.
Mortgage debt, combined with other financial problems, can send borrowers into bankruptcy, the worst thing that can happen to your credit score.

The effects are long-lasting, according to Sweet. In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, which involves partial repayment over several years, the stain will take seven years to remove. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which involves liquidation, takes 10 years to get over.

It's gonna cost you

Absorbing a big credit-score hit can make many transactions more costly. It's not just paying more for credit card debt and auto loans, insurance can cost more as well.

The average savings for someone with a good versus mediocre credit score is about $115 a year for auto insurance and $60 for home, according to Loretta Sorters, of
the Insurance Information Institute.

A low credit score can even make it harder to rent a home because landlords often use credit scores to weed out prospective renters.

Despite the problems a poor credit score can cause, Experian's Sweet recommends that people who are in financial dead ends, like totally unaffordable mortgages, it's better to recognize that and cut your losses quickly; don't prolong the problem.

"You need to do what you need to do to get your finances back in order," she said. "Don't worry about your credit score."

More U.S. residents on the move

46% of movers cite desire to own home, live in better neighborhood
By Inman News, Wednesday, May 12, 2010.
Inman News

The percentage of U.S. residents who moved between 2008 and 2009 jumped to 12.5 percent (37.1 million people), according to a report by the U.S. Census Bureau. That increase comes after a record-low move rate between 2007 and 2008: 11.9 percent, or 35.2 million people.

The bureau's data comes from the 2009 Current Population Survey conducted between February and April every year at about 100,000 U.S. addresses. It includes residents who are at least 1 year old.

Renters were far more likely to move in 2009 than homeowners (29.2 percent vs. 5.2 percent). At the same time, movers seemed to shun main cities within metropolitan areas, which lost a net 2.1 million movers, while the suburbs gained a net 2.4 million movers.

"Most often, people cited housing-related reasons as their main reason for moving," the report said.

"About 17 million movers (45.9 percent) said they wanted to own a home or live in a better neighborhood.

Other reasons for moving included family concerns (26.3 percent), employment needs (17.9 percent) and other (9.8 percent)."

Poverty and unemployment were also factors in the move rate.

More than a fifth (20.9 percent) of those unemployed had moved in the past year compared with 12.5 percent of employed persons, the report said.

People with incomes below the poverty line were also more likely to have moved in the past year than those with incomes between 100 and 149 percent of the poverty line (23.6 percent vs. 17.5 percent), the report said.

Non-Hispanic whites had the lowest move rate (10.7 percent), followed by Asians (13.8 percent) and Hispanics (15.8 percent), while blacks had the highest rate (16.7 percent), the report said.

More than two-thirds of movers (67.3 percent) stayed within the same county, rising to 2.4 million movers from 2.1 million the year before. The next-highest share of movers (17.2 percent) relocated to a different county in the same state. The remainder either moved from a different state (12.6 percent) or moved to the U.S. from another country (2.9 percent), the report said.Regionally, only the West saw a significant increase in its move rate, to 14.8 percent from 13.2 percent the year before -- the highest rate among the four U.S. regions. The Northeast saw the smallest share of its population relocate (8.1 percent), followed by the Midwest (11.6 percent) and then the South (13.7 percent), the report said.