Get The Good Rates or Pay The Toll

I am stealing that line from Neil Cavuto of Fox Business Network.

In a recent broadcast of Fox News, Cavuto mentioned how someone asked him about mortgage rates.  The person was hesitant to buy a new house because mortgage rates went back up.  Cavuto asked him what he was going to do… wait to see if they go back down was the response.

Cavuto, in his off tangent thinking, begins to share how “Damn” young this guy is.  But his answer to the potential home buyer was “5.25% is pretty good.”  Then he proceeded to tell the young man to “Shut up.”

Why did Cavuto tell him to shut up?  The answer is pretty simple.  ”5.25% is pretty good.”  Remember when mortgage rates were double digits.  Remember when prime was over 20%.  Remember when…

Most people, if they think hard enough, will remember those days.  Now, doesn’t 5.25% or even 5.75% sound “pretty good.”  Yes, it does.  And yes, 4.75% sounds better.  Unfortunately, those days are in the past, and soon you will be saying I remember when rates were 4.75%.  For those of you who waited to see if rates would go any lower, are now going to say, I remember when rates were 4.75%, but all I got was a 5.75% rate.  But you know what?  That is still “pretty good” compared to what it could be.

So what is the moral of this story?  It is shut up about the rates.  They are going to be what they are.  It is only a matter of how long does a borrower want to wait to lock in their rate.  4.75% is gone.  5%+ is in.  It is still a “pretty good” rate.

Oh, and to put this into monetary terms, a $150,000 mortgage at 4.5% over 30 years has a payment of $706.  The same mortgage at 5.25% has a payment of $828.  That is roughly $30.50 per .25% increase to the rate.  That breaks down to just over $1 per day per .25% increase to the rate.  Can you afford an extra $1 per day to go to your mortgage if rates went up .25% tomorrow.  If the answer is “No,” then you need to do something today.  If the answer is “Yes,”  then can you afford a full 1% increase (or $4/day)?

Each day you spend watching the rates go up is just another dollar that you could have been saving.

Jason Price

Owner/Principal Broker

(352) 308-7219 Phone

For some time now, Knightlines Mortgage Services has been offering the people of Florida a convenient way to finance and re-finance their residential property.

But that isn’t the entire story - we are also doing commercial lending in all 50 states.  AND - now we can offer commercial financing OUTSIDE of the country as well.  Caribbean, South America, etc - just call for the details.

Mawma, I GOT AN AIRBOAT

If you asked me what the Fakahatchee Strand was 5, 10, 20 years ago I’d guess some thing: “It was a strand of pearls … so brilliant and cherished that all the Fakahatcheeans wanted it as their own.”

The truth of the matter is that I know it’s a part of the Everglades but I haven’t experienced it up close and personal.  By up close and personal I mean in an air boat … until Lumberjack works the kinks out of his new airboat.  See those feet up there?  They’re Lumberjack’s.

These Colors Don’t Run

Maybe the colors do run but that is all I could think of what else to write while looking directly at the red neck of a red neck standing in front of a blue boat.   He’s named the boat Jenny.  It’s pronounced “Jen-nay” just like Forest Gump’s boat.  Serious. 

See this series of three bolts, props, etc., below? 

This is an integral part to an airboat

All I know is that if I’m going to be on this boat I need to have my hair pulled up in a bun, like a school matron or I’m getting my scalp yanked off.  (The men told me scarey stories.  I don’t believe most of them but I’m just scared enough to “bun”.) 

Men Only, No Womens aLLOWED

There was a lot of testosterone at the “meet the air boat” party.  They let me in anyway.  Then they tried to give me lessons on how to gig and prepare a frog.  Uh … no thanks.  Why the heck would anyone eat a frog?

No Womens Allowed Here, Either

She’s a beaut, Lumberjack.  (Insert, arrh arrh arrh like Tim Allen from “Home Improvement”.

They won’t let women around the man boat because they say we don’t know what we’re doing and will hurt ourselves on accident.  I know *exactly* what *I’m* doing.  I even came dressed and ready with my canoe shoes on. 

I can’t wait to get out on this airboat.  After the kinks are worked out and my hair is in a bun.  Lumberjack and I have boating history already.  We’re almost pro’s.  Read also: Canoeing the Imperial River

If you’re looking for a pro airboat company to take a ride contact Corey Billie Airboat Rides.  Ask for Griff.  No, he’s a different Griff but he’s a native and a whole bunch more responsible than us Griff’s.

Found in Bonita Springs

This beautiful hibiscus was found in Bonita Springs in a community named Brendan Cove. 

Don’t Hate The Player Hate The Game

Regardless of whether a home owner was a flipper, a rehabber or just a regular Joe homeowner, some of them take the home sale hard. Understandably, people get emotionally attached to their homes. They’ve raised a family in them or spent some of the best years of their lives in that home. Anyone can understand the attachment and sadness of moving on.

There is another type of homeowner that gets defensive when selling their home. They start looking at the buyer more like an enemy. All the buyer ever did was choose to purchase the house. It isn’t a personal attack, it wasn’t a calculated deception and they didn’t buy the house to “get one up” on them.

There are a lot of people out there who believe that they got ripped off because they didn’t sell their home at precisely the time it was worth the most. That time during the flash of lightening when their home was worth a fortune (on paper) and they woulda, coulda, shoulda sold it.

Face it, the home is for sale because the owner either wants to or needs to sell it. The buyer is someone that needs a home. Lord knows there are enough homes from which to choose. Instead of feeling fortunate that they have found a buyer some sellers agree to sell and then slowly turn both barrels on the buyer.

The sellers become bitter over whatever losses, real or imagined, that they’re suffering and the buyer become the focal point of their anger. There is no way to rationalize it.

Through the years I’ve been involved with transactions where the sellers refused entry for inspections, refused to complete repairs or got cases of amnesia when it came time to leave household items behind. Sure, these items are contractually agreed upon so they can be disputed but often times, it’s a down to the wire discovery.

Sometimes the final walk through for the buyers brings the discovery of missing kitchen cabinet knobs, curtain finials or the lanai set that is suppose to convey with the rest of the furniture. The seller “accidentally” loaded up a little extra to make up for what they feel the buyer is taking from them.

The fact that the economy is crappy and the housing market is in a slump is irrelevant. In the mind of some seller’s it’s all the fault of the buyer.

There probably isn’t a real estate agent that hasn’t replaced something that took a walk that shouldn’t have, just to get the property closed. Most recently I met buyers for a final walk through and had to tell them several items were missing from the home. Since they had invested a considerable amount of time and money to get this far they decided to close. They were the bigger person.

What the seller of this home didn’t realize is that these buyers weren’t stealing from him; they were simply buying a home that he needed to sell. It wasn’t the buyer’s fault that the value of the home went down over the last few years. The seller should have hated the game, not the player.

###

Real Life in Bonita Springs is a project by Chris Griffith dedicated to writing useful blog posts for consumers about the Bonita Springs, Florida area.  Find out what it is really like to live in Bonita Springs, Florida by reading about our fair city. You’ll get the latest in local real estate information, Bonita Springs real estate market reports and a little bit of humor.  If you have topic ideas, feel free to request a story about the idea, after all, this site is just for you.

You can subscribe to a weekly email newsletter by visiting www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com and entering your email in the subscription area on the left pane of the web page or by adding us to your reader by subscribing to this blog. Oh, and if you’re reading this content anywhere else but www.LifeInBonitaSprings.com or Naples Daily News it is probably stolen.

Mortgage Prequalification VS Mortgage Approval

OK, by now most Consumers realize that they should have financing in place before even starting to look for real estate - so I won't beat up on that topic any more!

(BTW - even if you're not a first time buyer take a look at First Time Home Buyers Rule , it contains great advice for all Buyers.)

What I DO want to emphasize is that you need to be quite sure of the accuracy of what you've been told.

Most people use the terms PRE-QUALIFICATION and PRE-APPROVAL interchangeably and that can lead to a lot of problems.  There is certainly some fogginess in the two terms, but in general this is the way things go:

PRE-QUALIFICATION:

You go to a Mortgage Broker and say you need a loan for $x.  All too happy to help, the Broker asks you a few questions:  Do you have a job? Do you think that you make enough to afford the loan?  How's your credit?  Do you have enough money in the bank for an appropriate down payment?

If all of the answers are proper then YES, you are pre-qualified!!
All valid questions of course.  But we're missing something important here..... PROOF! Without that, you've got nothing.

PRE-APPROVAL:

You're basically going to be asked the same questions about your credit, income and assets BUT you will need to furnish proof of everything before an answer is given.

You'll provide employment history and current pay stubs, a credit report will be run, you'll provide bank statements, etc.  You're basically doing everything in the loan process  - the only thing you don't have is the specific property that you want to buy.

At that point a formal letter is sent out to your Real Estate Agent saying that you are PRE-APPROVED for a mortgage for $x, with y% down for a particular type of property.

If you have any questions, or to get pre-approved for a Bonita Springs mortgage, just call me @ 561-282-7406.

Marc Blasi

For some time now, Knightlines Mortgage Services has been offering the people of Florida a convenient way to finance and re-finance their residential property.

But that isn’t the entire story - we are also doing commercial lending in all 50 states.  AND - now we can offer commercial financing OUTSIDE of the country as well.  Caribbean, South America, etc - just call for the details.

Just click the logo to visit my profile on each of the networks.

Delinquent Real Estate Taxes

If you don’t see the video above, click:Property Tax Video

If you’re looking for information regarding Lee County Florida property taxes visit: www.LeeTC.com,www.LeePA.com, www.LeeClerk.org.

If you’re looking for information regarding Collier County Florida property taxes visit:www.CollierTax.com,www.CollierAppraiser.com, www.CollierCountyClerk.com.

A Chuck Wagon, King & Queen Hold Court

There have to be a couple of thousand people a day that drive right by Forester Drive and don’t even know that Kings Kew and Queens Kew is tucked back behind the Bonita Beach and Tennis Club. 

A few weeks ago I took a spin through just because it had been a whiles since I’d been to the Kew.  Years ago, back before real estate and children I lived in that area and as the sands of time ran through the glass … There was boating, a good deal of the real estate is gulf access and it is also walking distance to the gulf.  The best of both worlds.

So I stopped in and took a few pictures of a mailbox I found.  I hear the song Rawhide (and the whip) when I look at it, but see the old Chuck Wagon Dog Food Commercial that has the wagon “drive by” the bewildered dog and then disappear behind a kitchen cabinet thereby giving the dog mental issues he’ll never get past.

The upside of my mini-diversion into Kings Kew and Queens Kew is I found this glorious creation:

Yes, it’s real.  I was told by Flickr Fan that it’s some variety of Passiflora which basically means Passion Flower.  The light was harsh and I did the best I could under severe pressure lurking around someone else’s mailbox, in high noon sunlight, for no apparent reason. 

Isn’t she pretty?  I thought so, too.