UPBEAT TIMES, INC. • February 2016 • 17 THE MORTGAGE COACH
SANTA ROSA, CA. ~ T e numbers have been tallied and the results are in. T e future is knocking, but who will answer the door? 2015 turned out to be yet another stellar year for the Sonoma County housing market. Median sold home prices for De- cember was $530k up over 9% from just a year earlier, where it tal- lied $485k. Owning a
home has al- ways been the traditional
way to build wealth. adds
It stability
to our life, a place to raise our
families,
and build our communities. T e fallout from the fi nancial
meltdown and the free-fall of the housing market may lead some to question that tradi- tional thought; but year aſt er year, the housing market has been the pulse of how well the economy is doing. T e stock market may make
radical swings-- reacting to the daily events; but it is your home’s value that really guides your confi dence in the econo- my. We purchase a home for the long haul.
Your Future’s So Bright You’ll Have To Wear Shades!
by Barry O'Meara •
barryo@stearns.com
T e loose lending guide- lines that fueled the bubble that burst have been tight- ened and regulated away. T e Dodd-Frank Act has instilled stricter guidelines that require the lender to demonstrate the “ability to repay” and provide enough time for you to “know before you owe”. Ability to re- pay is simple; show me the income. If the in-
come does not show on your taxes we cannot use it. No longer can the lend- er originate a loan based
on stated income. You need to provide two years of a consis- tent income. T is means w-2s and paystubs.
Self-employed
need to provide two years tax- es. T ere are occasions that they might only ask for one year but don’t count on it.
I
have seen some loans out there that will use alternative to cal- culating your income to qual- ify but those are going to be higher cost loans.
the lowest cost loan, prove the income. “Know before you owe”; the
pinnacle of TRID. T is is the statutory rule that requires you to review your Closing Disclosure (CD) at least three days before you sign your loan documents. T is is the rule that has been
one of the biggest stumbling blocks in lending. Lenders have been dealing with co- ordinating the issuing of the CD and getting the loan docu- ments out to title. On the surface this may
not seem like a big deal-- but trying to coordinate and con- fi rming title fees, issuing a CD, verifying when that CD was received, and wait three days, just to set-up a time to sign loan documents! T ese three days do not count holidays or Sundays. When you add the fact you have a purchase con- tract date to meet, you can feel like you are running a relay race laden with hurdles. So with all the new lending
overlays, I feel confi dent that the appreciation we have been experiencing is sustainable and not a bubble. Sonoma County has had solid job growth and has the stage set to attract more employers and businesses to our area. For the Bay Area we are more
If you want
aff ordable. With the expansion of the Sonoma County Air- port and the start of the new SMART train, large employ-
“We can complain because rose
bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
Abraham Lincoln “Don’t spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door. ” ~ Coco Chanel
ers can see the benefi t of re- locating and expanding their operations to Sonoma County. Growth does not happen over- night, but the foundation has been set. Sonoma County’s fu- ture is so bright you’ll have to wear shades. Dusting off my crystal ball, here is what I envision for 2016. Home values will continue to Interest rates will
appreciate.
remain in the low 4% range. Someone will win a Presiden- tial election.
write the travel book on the back roads of Mexico.
Sean Penn will It’s a
Leap Year so let’s get hopping! JOKES & Humor # 6
Three comedians are shoot- ing the breeze at the back of a nightclub after a late gig. They’ve heard one another’s material so much, they’ve reached the point where they don’t need to say the jokes anymore to amuse each other – they just need to re- fer to each joke by a number. “Number 37!” cracks the fi rst comic, and the others break up. “”Number 53!” says the second guy, and they howl. Finally, it’s the third comic’s turn. “44!” he quips. He gets nothing. Crickets. “What?” he asks, “Isn’t 44 funny?” “Sure, it’s usually hilarious,”
they answer. “But the way you tell it…”
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UPBEAT TIMES, INC. • February 2016 • 17
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