San Jose Real Estate * Santa Clara County * Richard Gonzalez * Real Estate Silicon Valley Broker Blog – News, Views, and Opinions

Today the banks who signed on for HAMP in 2009 have agreed to increase their participation in HAFA(Housing Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives) an extension of HAMP that provides incentives for banks and servicers to streamline the Short Sale process.

Banks and HAFA

Bank of America for instance partnered with equator.com in November  to decrease the short sale approval timelines from 6 months to 45 days  to conform to the HAFA guidelines. Other lenders Like Wells Fargo are able to approve  23% of the Short Sales they service in 10 days.

What is HAFA?

HAFA will continue to evolve as banks and servicers adopt and implement HAFA rules and guidelines. In the mean time home owners can visit www.whatishafa.org to determine if they qualify for HAFA.

Just when most buyers face the end of the $8,000 tax credit Governor Schwarzenegger has revealed a new incentive planned for May 1st that would give buyers up to $10,000.

The day after the federal government credit expires this new state credit would pick up where the federal one left off.
Details of the credit qualifications have not been finalized but the funding is coming from a $100 million dollar program crafted last year as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Read article here

The very first question most home-buyers ask is “How much do I have to earn to buy a home in Santa Clara County?”. The answer may be found in the California Association of REALTORS 2009 Fourth Quarter Housing Affordability Index report.

• 52% of Santa Clara County residents currently qualify based on current housing prices and personal incomes.
• The Chart below shows that you have to bring home a combined total of $85,200 in order to make an average payment of $2,840(taxes and insurance included).
• Based on this criteria you should be able to purchase a home on an average sales price of $497,250.

There are more affordable homes in Santa Clara County and as such you can qualify for less. Consult your banks loan officer or mortgage broker to pre-qualify yourself.

Click here to read C.A.R.’s full report

I week ago I attended the California Association of REALTOR meetings in Indian Wells and attended an open committee meeting with high level managers from Bank of America and Wells Fargo. I added a video describing these changes to my Youtube Channel.

Click on the video below to see my report from the Indian Wells Resort.

I decided to create an ongoing video update of the Santana Row neighboring area sales and will continue to do so on a quarterly bases to help you track sales activity along with financing terms used in the area. The video can be viewed on my youtube channel and can be viewed by clicking the video below.