28 • October 2014 • UPBEAT TIMES 100% USDA!
SANTA ROSA, CA. ~ Own- ing a home has always been the corner stone of building a foundation for accumulating wealth and estab- lishing stability in our communi- ties. Home own- ership gives you a solid base you can call home. You can free yourself from the scrutiny of a landlord and em- power yourself to paint your walls the color you choose. Being a homeowner enables you to benefit from home values ap- preciating. Sonoma County’s homes are on solid ground with values again on the rise. The hardest part of being able to make that first step of get- ting your foot in the door is being able to save for that initial down payment. Being able to save money becomes a challenge when life inter- venes. Using conventional fi- nancing requires you to come to the table with a minimum of 5% down. FHA requires you to come to the table with a minimum of 3.5% down but with a hefty mortgage insur- ance premium. The premium paid on your mortgage in-
surance is higher than what you would pay for property tax. There is one other alter- native for a low down pay- ment.
That
loan program is USDA. Yes, the same group that guarantees that the meat you purchase is safe to eat also guaran- tees you an opportunity to buy a home! USD A has a
guarantee loan pro- gram that will do 100% financing.
The
program is considered a Rural Loan program but the property does not need to be that “rural”.
The guidelines
are based on city popula- tions. Per their guidelines, the city’s population needs to be fewer than 30 thousand. This opens the door of op- portunity for a lot of Sonoma County residents. Like all good things there are limitations. The first lim- itation is the income. For So- noma County, eligibility for this program is a household income up to $93,450 a year for a family of 4. A fam-
SEED SAVERS BOOK RELEASE!
Salem, OR. ~ Author Sandy Smith with her new book at the recent Heirloom Festival held at the Sonoma County Fair- grounds in early September. Upbeat Times had a chance to meet with her briefly and she told us about some of her books and her recent release, Seed Savers, which is part of a 5 book series. Seed Savers takes place in a future where gardening and saving seeds is against the law and eating fresh produce is forgotten by a ma- jority of the population. Check her out on
Amazon.com or
http://authorssmith.com.
You
can also e-mail her directly at
authorssmith@gmail.com and tell her Upbeat Times sent you!
28 • October 2014 • UPBEAT TIMES
ily of 5 or more the income limit is up to $123,350. The property must be turn-key so it does not allow for purchas- ing a fixer.
Also, they will
not lend to a property located in a flood zone. The leniency of their guide- lines is in credit rating. The minimum credit score is 620 and you can be just 3 years out of a bankruptcy, foreclo- sure,
o r a short sale. Under
conventional lending guidelines, you are penalized for
your low credit rating. You pay with higher fees and or a higher interest rate. Con- ventional guidelines require you to be seven years out of a foreclosure. The interest rate under the USDA program is the same regardless of your credit rating. With USDA, gift funds are allowed as well as seller or lender credits. This allows you to move in with little out of pocket. The USDA program does
have monthly mortgage in- surance premiums but much lower than FHA.
Under
FHA, the monthly mortgage insurance premium on $300k
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barryo@stearns.com Autumn’s Change ... continued from page 27
loan amount is $337 whereas; under the USDA program the monthly mortgage insurance for the same loan amount is $125. Both FHA and USDA require an upfront mortgage premium but both allow y ou
to finance it. These fees are paid di- rect to the agencies so be- ing able to finance
them makes a huge dif- ference in the funds needed to close your loan. A good example of this program is some clients that purchased a home in Camp Meeker for $282k and with a 100% financing.
They
were able to move into the home with about $1500 out of pocket and with a month- ly payment of $1860. They were able to use lender credit to cover all their closing costs.
They went into con- tract with a $3000 earnest money deposit but when the escrow closed they received a check for $1500. For more information on this program you can visit their web site at http://eligibility.
sc.egov.usda.gov/eligibility/ welcomeAction.do For any questions or scenarios I can be reached at the e-mail at the top of this article!
MSW, CHT
If you think dogs can’t count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then giving
Fido only two
of them. Phil Pastoret
stores want their bulbs on the shelves too soon. It’s the ‘Big Buck’ hurrying something that shouldn’t be rushed.
When
growing anything in nature we need patience . . .right? Savita has many varieties of blooming bulbs and astounding- ly beautiful Amaryllis for sale when she does the markets. You can email her at Savita@pfpros. com or call her if you like, 707- 527-8653. Some of her favor- ites include Drumstick Allium because of its long blooming season, Spanish bluebells which tolerate much shade and are such great naturalizers, Crinium lilies with their marvelous fragrance, lovely jonquilla and the divine blue carpets of blooming mus- cari bulbs.
Check out McClure & Zimmer- man’s catalogue, John Scheepers Inc. on Tulip Drive and one of Savita’s favorites, maybe yours too, Old House Gardens, full of many unusual heirlooms worth planting for future generations. When storing bulbs you or- der or purchase, keep them in a cool, dry place until it’s time to plant them. Wilder keeps hers in empty shoe boxes in her garage. All bulbs want well drained, composted soil and remember to plant bulbs 2-3 times their height. Savita likes to use com- post from Sonoma Compost Company.
Before planting she
recommends waiting until your soil has cooled down for a week of 50 degree night time tempera- tures. For our area that’s usually late October, early November. Most bulbs like half a day of sun (6 hours, preferably morning). Water just enough to get them going and maybe not at all if it’s raining.
The tips will start to poke up through the richly composted soil in early spring and remem- ber, since most of us are doing the no-till method these days, when the bulbs fade and the leaves have died back you can plant lettuce and greens while the bulbs disappear beneath the soil until next spring! Savita and I agree, we need to grow food but we also need to plant enchant- ing flowers to feed our souls. . . Claude Monet said it best, “More than anything, I must have flowers, always, always.”
The person who is waiting for something to turn up might start with their shirt sleeves. ~Garth Henrichs
The Mortgage Coach
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