Horse Racing Starts Today at Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, Oklahoma

I was showing property yesterday in Gans, Oklahoma — which is just east of Sallisaw, Oklahoma in Sequoyah County. 

For those of you unfamiliar with running quarter horses or thoroughbred racing, Blue Ribbon Downs is in Sallisaw and is run by the Choctaw Nation. 

My client was looking at a property there where there is a lovely thoroughbred farm for sale complete with a  fully french-drained 5/8-mile training track.   This is an awesome property!  In going there, we got a little bit lost due to bad directions and so we decided to take full advantage of the situation and act dumb so we could get to our destination a bit more quickly and obtain some necessary information.  So we inquired at a nicely manicured farm where they raise running quarter horses. 

This is what I learned:   There is a lot of money to be made in Oklahoma right now because the Oklahoma legislature has made Oklahoma a place that is favorable to the horse racing industry.  The purses are high at our race tracks and trainers are moving here from Floriday, Alabama, and Georgia. 

While we were walking down the shed row with the owner of the thoroughbred farm, he was telling us all about his winners and his young prospects that he is planning on entering in upcoming races at Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, Oklahoma.  (That’s in Rogers County.)  He said it is worth the drive to Claremore because the purses are high and the track is well managed by the Cherokee Nation. 

Oklahoma is once more a place where people want to bring their race horses.

Guess who has a lovely equine property listing just a couple of miles east of Will Rogers Downs?  That’s right — it is I — a/k/a Debbie Solano!  I have a lovely ten-acre property very conveniently located just east of the track at Will Rogers Downs in Sequoyah School District in Claremore, Oklahoma.  Moreover, it is just a half-hour drive to Tulsa.  There is a nice country house on the property with an old hay barn and an equipment shed.  The owner has an option on the ten acres adjacent to her property and so if the purchaser desired a full 20-acre property for horses, then this would be the perfect place.  The property has lovely Bermuda grass and really good dirt.  The property is level at the front with a slight slope at the back in the shelter of a small hill.  The views are of pastures and woods surrounded by the “Blue Mounds Mountains.” 

So if you are looking for a horse place close to Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, please call me so I can show you this little horse place in Claremore.  Plus, if you want a big thoroughbred farm with a nice race track, I can show that to you too. 

However, if you are a cowboy type, looking for a nice Quarter Horse Ranch with a lighted roping arena for training your cutting horses and your reining horses, I can show you the perfect property in Southeast Oklahoma.  It’s my 40-acre Quarter Horse Ranch in Hugo, Oklahoma.  Another awesome property.

You say you are not a cowboy; rather, you are an equestrian?  You do dressage or ride hunter/jumpers?  I know of five full-size indoor arenas in our area that I can show you. 

We have something for every type of horse lover here in Oklahoma.  Call me today at 918-724-8201

Repent, Tulsa, Oklahoma!  By the Waters of the Arkansas River Kneel Down, Weep for our Country, and Pray!  Then Get Up, Speak Out, and Take Action!

You say we are not guilty.  Yes we are! As individual citizens, we are guilty of lacking in public responsibility and public accountability. Whose  mayor was in Washington this week with her hand out?  Whose civic leaders were in Washington, D.C. trying to steal more money from our children and our grandchildren?  Who refuses to be accountable for our current economic crisis.  Wake, up, Tulsa!  The house is burning!

You say, “We are not guilty.  We live in a red state.  I am proud to be in Oklahoma, where every county was a red county.  Oklahoma was the only state in the Union where every county was a red county during the November national elections.  We are not guilty.  We did not vote for Obama.  We did not put him there.  Our elected officials voted against the bailout and the porkulous stimulus package.” 

I confess to Almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters in Tulsa, Broken Arrow, Bixby, Claremore, Collinsville, and Jenks Oklahoma, that I have been busy selling real estate and have not spent enough time on my knees praying for my country.  Sure, I have prayed with my real estate clients over deals.  However, I have not gotten on my knees and weeped and prayed for my country — until last night when it really hit me hard how much I have been participating in our own demise by my silence and my complacency.

We are being socio-economically terrorized from within at the very core of our political system.  Our religious beliefs, our economy, our constitutional freedoms, and our very way of life are at risk.  It is not unlike what happened in Nazi Germany in the 1930.  Get on your knees, Northeast Oklahoma.  Kneel down, weep and pray for our country!

Meditate on the book of Joel, oh ye Oklahomans!  There will be a remnant, of course, but who will it be?  Why don’t we just declare Obama the antichrist and wait around for the apocalypse of 2012 in accordance with Edgar Cayce and the Mayan prophecies?  Why not do nothing and support Kathy Taylor and the other U.S. mayors in their grab for cash?

Or we could refuse to participate and move to Texas.  They can at least secede from the union of these United States of America.

But how will we survive?  Will our pride be destroyed and our economy dismantled from within?  Will we be totally dependent on casinos and cigarettes for our livelihood?

Shame on us, Oklahoma, for not being missionaries to the other ignorant blue states.  We could have said more…. but no, it was not politically correct to challenge our brothers and sisters when we knew they supported Obama.  We did not say, “No” when our elected officials continued to support Roe v. Wade.

We are guilty by our silence.  We are guilty for what we did not do.  We let this happen.  We are guilty for our sins of omission.

Sure, we kicked the illegal aliens out of Oklahoma.  They got up and moved to Arkansas.  Oh, did I mention that there is one in the White House?   Shouldn’t Obama be deported before more damage is done?  Why are we not outraged at such a travesty?

Repent, Tulsa, Oklahoma!  By the Waters of the Arkansas River Kneel Down, Weep for our Country, and Pray!  Then Get Up, Speak Out, and Take Action!

Don’t give up! Stand up for what is right now!  If not, you may end up getting whisked off to Babylon where you can really wonder, “What went wrong?  How did we end up here?”

As a country we are guilty of not living our faith at the voting booths.  We abandoned our religious principals and rejoiced in getting our people elected.  We have compromised our faith in the public square.

While many of you may not be Catholic, you may want to at least read the words of Bishop Edward J. Slattery, the Bishop of the Diocese of Tulsa:

• “Since January’s inauguration, I have found myself often preoccupied with what seems to be today’s principal flaw in American public life:  that those who are asked to lead us are at the same time asked to surrender the integrity of their convictions and, in that moment, lose both their freedom and the ability to lead society in any meaningful way.
• “To take you back a generation or two, in the presidential campaign of 1960, a charismatic and energetic John F. Kennedy was trying to overcome a host of religious prejudices to become the first Catholic president in our nation’s history.  When anti-Catholic bigotry fueled the rumor that Kennedy would take his political orders from the pope, Kennedy assured the nation that he would act independently of foreign (i.e. papal) influence and only in the nation’s best interests.  But the candidate with the winning smile went even further.
• “In his 1960 address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Alliance, Kennedy insisted that he would never allow his Catholic beliefs to shape or influence his political decisions.  “I believe, ” he confessed, “in a president whose views are his own private affair.”  (The full text of Kennedy’s speech is available online at www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkhoustonministers.html)
• “At that moment, Kennedy publicly surrendered the integrity of his private conscience.  If he believed in God, he promised that such a belief would not move him one way or another.  If he understood that by Baptism, he no longer lived, but only Christ in him, Kennedy was willing to deny that life, with all that it entails and make every decision affecting the welfare of this nation with regard only for the practical, the expedient or the popular.
• “By privatizing his faith, Kennedy invited his polital successors to waltz with two grinning evils.  First, by insisting that religious convictions have neither social nor moral implications, Kennedy removed religion from the public square, where social and moral considerations are openly discussed.  This marginalized the Church, and though we count for 17 percent of the world’s population, as Catholics we will have no common voice in this country.
• “Then, by removing from the political conversation any reference to what is really true and good, Kennedy and his successors have determined that the reference point of our politial decision-making would be what appears to be good right now and what appears to be true in this moment.  This is the reason why our political system has become so self-serving and so corrupt.  In place of a moral integrity born of faith, our only motives are practical self-interest and the expediency of what works….”  (Quoted directly from pp. 2-3 of the Eastern Oklahoma Catholic, March 2009)

So I now confess that I too have done what is practical and expedient.  I have failed to mention Christ in my conversations and to reach out with words of healing when the opportunity has arisen for me to evangelize to others in my community, including my friends and my family.

I cofess that I have placed my religion and my politics on the back burner, because it was not always comfortable to bring up points of contention — especially with my siblings who live in blue states.

I shall no longer be silent.

The deep contraction in the economy and in the housing market has created devastating consequences for homeowners and communities throughout the country. Millions of responsible families who make their monthly payments and fulfill their obligations have seen their property values fall, and are now unable to refinance to lower mortgage rates. Meanwhile, millions of workers have lost their jobs or had their hours cut, and are now struggling to stay current on their mortgage payments. As a result, as many as 6 million families are expected to face foreclosure in the next several years, with millions more struggling to stay current on their payments.

The present crisis is real, but temporary. As home prices fall, demand for housing will increase, and conditions will ultimately find a new balance. Yet in the absence of decisive action, we risk an intensifying spiral in which lenders foreclose, pushing home prices still lower, reducing the value of household savings, and making it harder for all families to refinance. In some studies, foreclosure on a home has been found to reduce the prices of nearby homes by as much as 9 percent – creating the potential that even borrowers who make every payment suffer from an increase in foreclosures in their community.

will offer assistance to as many as 7 to 9 million homeowners

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A Loan Modification Plan To Reach 3 to 4 Million Homeowners

1.  
   1. Shared Effort with Lenders to Reduce Interest Payments
   2. Incentives to Servicers and Borrowers

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Clear and Consistent Guidelines for Loan Modifications

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Required Participation By Financial Stability Plan Participants

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Modifications of Home Mortgages During Bankruptcy

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Strengthen Hope for Homeowners and Other FHA Loan Programs

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Support Local Communities and Help Displaced Renters  

3.

Support Low Mortgage Rates by Strengthening Confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

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1.  
   1.

    

    

   Provide Access to Low-Cost Refinancing for Responsible Homeowners Suffering From Falling Home Prices:

   1.  

   2. Provide the Opportunity for Up to 4 to 5 Million Responsible Homeowners Expected to Refinance:
   3. Provide the Opportunity for Up to 4 to 5 Million Responsible Homeowners Expected to Refinance:
   1.  
      1. Mortgage rates are currently at historically low levels, providing homeowners with the opportunity to reduce their monthly payments by refinancing. But under current rules, most families who owe more than 80 percent of the value of their homes have a difficult time securing refinancing. (For example, if a borrower’s home was worth $200,000, he or she would have limited refinancing options if he or she owed more than $160,000.) Yet millions of responsible homeowners who put money down and made their mortgage payments on time have – through no fault of their own – seen the value of their homes drop low enough to make them unable to access these lower rates. As a result, the Obama Administration is announcing
         1. a new program that will provide the opportunity for 4 to 5 million responsible homeowners who took out conforming loans owned or guaranteed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to refinance through the two institutions over time.

   4. Reducing Monthly Payments:
   1. For many families, a low-cost refinancing could reduce mortgage payments by thousands of dollars per year. For example, consider a family that took a 30-year fixed rate mortgage of $207,000 with an interest rate of 6.50% on a house worth $260,000 at the time. Today, that family has $200,000 remaining on their mortgage, but the value of that home has fallen 15 percent to $221,000 – making them ineligible for today’s low interest rates that generally require the borrower to have 20 percent home equity. Under this refinancing plan, that family could refinance to a rate near 5.16% – reducing their annual payments by over $2,300.  

   2. A $75 Billion Homeowner Stability Initiative to Prevent Foreclosures and Help Responsible Families Stay in Their Homes:

    

   The Treasury Department, working with the GSEs, FHA, the FDIC and other federal agencies, will undertake a comprehensive multi-part strategy to prevent millions of foreclosures and help families stay in their homes. This strategy includes the following five features:

   1.  
   1.  

      1. A Homeowner Stability Initiative to Reach Up to 3 to 4 Million At-Risk Homeowners
      2. Clear and Consistent Guidelines for Loan Modifications
      3. Requiring That Financial Stability Plan Recipients Use Guidance for Loan Modifications

1. Allowing Judicial Modifications of Home Mortgages During Bankruptcy When A Borrower Has No Other Options

1. Require Strong Oversight, Reporting and Quarterly Meetings with Treasury, the FDIC, the Federal Reserve and HUD to Monitor Performance

1. Strengthening FHA Programs and Providing Support for Local Communities

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1. A Homeowner Stability Initiative to Reach Up to 3 to 4 Million At-Risk Homeowners:

This initiative is intended to reach millions of responsible homeowners who are struggling to afford their mortgage payments because of the current recession, yet cannot sell their homes because prices have fallen so significantly. In the current economy, in which 3.6 million jobs have been lost over the past 14 months, millions of hard-working families have seen their mortgage payments rise to 40 or even 50 percent of their monthly income – particularly if they received subprime and exotic loans with exploding terms and hidden fees. The Homeowner Stability Initiative operates through a shared partnership to temporarily help those who commit to make reasonable monthly mortgage payments to stay in their homes, providing families with security and neighborhoods with stability. This plan will also help to stabilize home prices for homeowners in neighborhoods hardest hit by foreclosures. Based on estimates concerning the relationship between foreclosures and home prices, with the average house in the U.S. valued around $200,000, the average homeowner could see his or her home value stabilized against declines in price by as much as $6,000 relative to what it would otherwise be absent the Homeowner Stability Initiative.

Who the Program Reaches:

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Focusing on Homeowners At Risk: Anyone with high combined mortgage debt compared to income or who is “underwater” (with a combined mortgage balance higher than the current market value of his house) may be eligible for a loan modification. This initiative will also include borrowers who show other indications of being at risk of default. Eligibility for the program will sunset at the end of three years. 

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Reaching Homeowners Who Have Not Missed Payments: Delinquency will not be a requirement for eligibility. Rather, because loan modifications are more likely to succeed if they are made before a borrower misses a payment, the plan will include households at risk of imminent default despite being current on their mortgage payments. 

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Common Sense Restrictions: Only owner-occupied homes qualify; no home mortgages larger than the Freddie/Fannie conforming limits will be eligible. This initiative will go solely to supporting responsible homeowners willing to make payments to stay in their home – it will not aid speculators or house flippers.

 

1. ????

    

    

   Special Provisions for Families with High Total Debt Levels: Borrowers with high total debt qualify, but only if they agree to enter HUD-certified consumer debt counseling. Specifically, homeowners with total “back end” debt (which includes not only housing debt, but other debt including car loans and credit card debt) equal to 55% or more of their income will be required to agree to enter a counseling program as a condition for a modification.

   How the Program Works

2. The Homeowner Stability Initiative has a simple goal: reduce the amount homeowners owe per month to sustainable levels. This program will bring together lenders, servicers, borrowers, and the government, so that
1. all stakeholders share in

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1.  
1. the cost

    

   of ensuring that responsible homeowners can afford their monthly mortgage payments – helping to reach up to 3 to 4 million at-risk borrowers in all segments of the mortgage market, reducing foreclosures, and helping to avoid further downward pressures on overall home prices. The program has several key components:

   1.  

2. Shared Effort to Reduce Monthly Payments:
1.  
   1. Treasury will partner with financial institutions to reduce homeowners’ monthly mortgage payments.
   2. The lender will have to first reduce interest rates on mortgages to a specified affordability level (specifically, bring down rates so that the borrower’s monthly mortgage payment is no greater than 38% of his or her income).
   3. Next, the initiative will match further reductions in interest payments dollar-for-dollar with the lender, down to a 31% debt-to-income ratio for the borrower.

1. To ensure long-term affordability, lenders will keep the modified payments in place for five years. After that point, the interest rate can be gradually stepped-up to the conforming loan rate in place at the time of the modification.

Note: Lenders can also bring down monthly payments to these affordability targets through reducing the amount of mortgage principal. The initiative will provide a partial share of the costs of this principal reduction

1. ,
   1. up to the amount the lender would have received for an interest rate reduction.

1. “Pay for Success” Incentives to Servicers

:

:

: Servicers will receive an up-front fee of $1,000 for each eligible modification meeting guidelines established under this initiative. Servicers will also receive “pay for success” fees – awarded monthly as long as the borrower stays current on the loan – of up to $1,000 each year for three years.

1. Responsible Modification Incentives:

Because loan modifications are more likely to succeed if they are made before a borrower misses a payment, the plan will include an incentive payment of $1,500 to mortgage holders and $500 for servicers for modifications made while a borrower at risk of imminent default is still current.

1. Incentives to Help Borrowers Stay Current

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: To provide an extra incentive for borrowers to keep paying on time under the modified loan, the initiative will provide a monthly balance reduction payment that goes straight towards reducing the principal balance on the mortgage loan. As long as the borrower stays current on his or her payments, he or she can get up to $1,000 each year for five years.

1. Home Price Decline Reserve Payments:

To encourage lenders to modify more mortgages and enable more families to keep their homes, the Administration — together with the FDIC — has developed an innovative partial guarantee initiative. The insurance fund – to be created by the Treasury Department at a size of up to $10 billion – will be designed to discourage lenders from opting to foreclose on mortgages that could be

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viable now out of fear that home prices will fall even further later on. This initiative provides lenders with the security to undertake more mortgage modifications by assuring that if home price declines are worse than expected, they have reserves to fall back on. Holders of mortgages modified under the program would be provided with an additional insurance payment on each modified loan, linked to declines in the home price index. These payments could be set aside as reserves, providing a partial guarantee in the event that home price declines – and therefore losses in cases of default – are higher than expected.

How It Will Be Effective

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Protecting Taxpayers: To protect taxpayers, the Homeowner Stability Initiative will focus on sound modifications. If the total expected cost of a modification for a lender taking into account the government payments is expected to be higher than the direct costs of putting the homeowner through foreclosure, that borrower will not be eligible. For those borrowers unable to maintain homeownership, even under the affordable terms offered, the plan will provide incentives to encourage families and lenders to avoid the costly foreclosure process and minimize the damage that foreclosure imposes on lenders, borrowers and communities alike. Moreover, Treasury will not provide subsidies to reduce interest rates on modified loans to levels below 2%.

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Counseling and Outreach to Maximize Participation: Under the plan, the Department of Housing and Urban Development will also make available funding for non-profit counseling agencies to improve outreach and communications, especially to disadvantaged communities and those hardest-hit by foreclosures and vacancies. 

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Creating Proper Oversight and Tracking Data to Ensure Program Success: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be responsible – subject to Treasury’s oversight and the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s conservatorship – for monitoring compliance by servicers with the program. Every servicer participating in the program will be required to report standardized loan-level data on modifications, borrower and property characteristics, and outcomes. The data will be pooled so the government and private sector can measure success and make changes where needed. Treasury will meet quarterly with the FDIC, the Federal Reserve, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Housing Finance Agency to ensure that the program is on track to meeting its goals. 

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Limiting the Impact of Foreclosure When Modification Doesn’t Work: Lenders will receive incentives to take alternatives to foreclosures, like short sales or taking of deeds in lieu of foreclosure. Treasury will also work with the GSEs to provide data on foreclosed properties to streamline the process of selling or redeveloping them, thereby ensuring that they do not remain vacant and unsold.

2. Clear and Consistent Guidelines for Loan Modifications:
1. A lack of common standards has limited loan modifications, even when they are likely to both reduce the chance of foreclosure and raise the value of the securities owned by investors. Mortgage servicers – who should have an interest in instituting common-sense loan modifications – often

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refrain from doing so because they fear lawsuits. Clear and consistent guidelines for modifications are a key component of foreclosure prevention.

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Developing Clear and Consistent Guidelines for Loan Modifications: Working with the FDIC, other federal banking and credit union regulators, the FHA and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Administration is in process of developing guidelines for sustainable mortgage modifications for all federal agencies and the private sector – bringing order and consistency to foreclosure mitigation. The guidelines will include detailed protocols for loss mitigation as well for identifying borrowers at risk of default; the Administration expects to announce these guidelines by Wednesday, March 4th

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Applying Guidelines Across Government and the Private Sector: Treasury will develop uniform guidance for loan modifications across the mortgage industry by working closely with the FDIC and other bank agencies and building on the FDIC’s pioneering role in developing a systematic loan modification process last year. The Guidelines – to be posted online – will be used for the Administration’s new foreclosure prevention plan. Moreover, all financial institutions receiving Financial Stability Plan financial assistance going forward will be required to implement loan modification plans consistent with Treasury guidance. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will use these guidelines for loans that they own or guarantee, and the Administration will work with regulators and other federal and state agencies to implement these guidelines across the entire mortgage market. The agencies will seek to apply these guidelines when permissible and appropriate to all loans owned or guaranteed by the federal government, including those owned or guaranteed by Ginnie Mae, the Federal Housing Administration, Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, Veterans’ Affairs and the Department of Agriculture. In addition, these guidelines will apply to loans owned or serviced by insured financial institutions supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the National Credit Union Administration.

2. Requiring All Financial Stability Plan Recipients to Use Guidance for Loan Modifications:
1. As announced last week, the Treasury Department will require all Financial Stability Plan recipients going forward to participate in foreclosure mitigation plans consistent with Treasury’s loan modification guidelines.
3. Allowing Judicial Modifications of Home Mortgages During Bankruptcy for Borrowers Who Have Run Out of Options:
1. The Obama administration will seek careful changes to personal bankruptcy provisions so that bankruptcy judges can modify mortgages written in the past few years when families run out of other options.
4. How Judicial Modification Works:

When an individual enters personal bankruptcy proceedings, his mortgage loans in excess of the current value of his property will now be treated as unsecured. This will allow a bankruptcy judge to develop an affordable plan for the homeowner to continue making payments. To receive judicial modifications in bankruptcy, homeowners must first ask their servicers/lenders for a modification and certify that they have complied with reasonable requests from the servicer to provide essential information.

1. This provision will apply only to existing mortgages under Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conforming loan limits, so that millionaire homes don’t clog the bankruptcy courts.

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1. Bolster FHA and VA Authority to Protect Investors and Ensure Loan Modifications Occur:

Legislation will provide the FHA and VA with the authority they need to provide partial claims in the event of bankruptcy or voluntary modification so that holders of loans guaranteed by the FHA and VA are not disadvantaged. 

E.

 

Strengthening FHA Programs and Providing Support for Local Communities

2.  
   1. Ease Restrictions in Federal Housing Administration Programs, Including Hope for Homeowners:
   2. Strengthening Communities Hardest Hit by the Financial and Housing Crises:

   As part of the recovery plan signed by the President, the Department of Housing and Urban Development will award $2 billion in competitive Neighborhood Stabilization Program grants for innovative programs that reduce foreclosure. Additionally, the recovery plan includes an additional $1.5 billion to provide renter assistance, reducing homelessness and avoiding entry into shelters

   The Hope for Homeowners program offers one avenue for struggling borrowers to refinance their mortgages. In order to ensure that more homeowners participate, the FHA will reduce fees paid by borrowers, increase flexibility for lenders to modify troubled loans, permit borrowers with higher debt loads to qualify, and allow payments to servicers of the existing loans.

 

3. Support Low Mortgage Rates By Strengthening Confidence in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac:

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•

 

Ensuring Strength and Security of the Mortgage Market: Today, using funds already authorized in 2008 by Congress for this purpose, the Treasury Department is increasing its funding commitment to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ensure the strength and security of the mortgage market and to help maintain mortgage affordability.

1.  
2. Provide Forward-Looking Confidence:
1.  
   1. The increased funding will enable Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to carry out ambitious efforts to ensure mortgage affordability for responsible homeowners, and provide forward-looking confidence in the mortgage market.
1. Treasury is increasing its Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements to $200 billion each from their original level of $100 billion each.

3. Promoting Stability and Liquidity:
4. In addition, the Treasury Department will continue to purchase Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities to promote stability and liquidity in the marketplace.
5. Increasing The Size of Mortgage Portfolios:
1. To ensure that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can continue to provide assistance in addressing problems in the housing market, Treasury will also be increasing the size of the GSEs’ retained mortgage portfolios allowed under the agreements – by $50 billion to $900 billion – along with corresponding increases in the allowable debt outstanding.

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1. Support State Housing Finance Agencies:
3. No EESA or Financial Stability Plan Money:

The $200 billion in funding commitments are being made under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act and

1. do not use any money from the Financial Stability Plan or Emergency Economic Stabilization Act/TARP.

The Administration will work with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to support state housing finance agencies in serving homebuyers.

 Support Under the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan: Three Cases 

1.  

   1. Family B: Access to Refinancing

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      In 2006: Family B took a 30-year fixed rate mortgage of $350,000 on a house worth $475,000 at the time. (The family put just over 26% down.) They received a Fannie Mae conforming loan with an interest rate of 6.50%.

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      Today: Family B has about $337,460 remaining on their mortgage but their home value has fallen to $400,000.

      1.  
         1. Their “loan-to-value” ratio is now 84%,
          

          

       

       

       

       

   2. making them ineligible for a Fannie Mae refinancing.

    

Under the Refinancing Plan:

Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan  — Here is the content of the new plan to help people stay in their homes.  The following is directly taken from the Executive Summary provided today by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.  Happy reading!

February 18, 2009

Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan

Executive Summary

Read the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan Fact Sheet

HERE
Read Support Under the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan: Three Cases HERE

The deep contraction in the economy and in the housing market has created devastating consequences for homeowners and communities throughout the country.

Millions of responsible families who make their monthly payments and fulfill their obligations have seen their property values fall, and are now unable to refinance at lower mortgage rates.

Millions of workers have lost their jobs or had their hours cut back, are now struggling to stay current on their mortgage payments – with nearly 6 million households facing possible foreclosure.

Neighborhoods are struggling, as each foreclosed home reduces nearby property values by as much as 9 percent.

The Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan is part of the President’s broad, comprehensive strategy to get the economy back on track. The plan will

· Reducing Monthly Payments: For many families, a low-cost refinancing could reduce mortgage payments by thousands of dollars per year:

Please remember Stephen Thompson, a 23-year old from Tulsa who died in Iraq on Friday.

Remember Me

What is a short sale?

A short sale is a last ditch effort to sell a house at market value before it goes to sheriff sale.  It helps the seller stay out of foreclosure and the buyer gets a home that is priced by a motivated seller. 

Usually a short sale cannot be negotiated until there is a contract to purchase the home.  Banks usually will not ngegotiate a short sale unless the seller has missed a payment or two.

A short sale is often seen in situations where the seller has not lived in the home long enough to have built up much equity after having financed the home without a large down payment or in situations where the seller is in a situation where the owner took out a second mortgage and the “drive-by appraisal” may have been somewhat inflated.  

Whatever the cause, in a short sale the homeowner owes more on the house than he can hope to sell the house for after paying closing costs.  In lieu of a short sale, a seller can opt to take a check to closing or work out some kind of a payment plan with his lender in order to be able to sell the house. 

What should buyers look for, or look out for when purchasing a home in the Tulsa, Broken Arrow, Claremore Oklahoma areas? This article will help sellers look into some important aspects of selling their home and what potential buyers look out for as well.

The way you live in your house is not the way to sell your house. So, what makes a house a home for sale on the market, and one that soon has a “SOLD” sign out on the front lawn? And what aspects are important to look at because potential buyers will ask the question, “How much work are we going to need to do prior to moving in and beyond?” The appearance and cleanliness of the home are significant. Always have your home ready to be shown at a moment’s notice with me, your agent, Debbie Solano because this is what buyers are looking for. And a tip- burned out lights need to be replaced; classy lighting and upgraded fixtures can ameliorate the value of a home. Also, buyers said they would be willing to pay more for a home with a renovated kitchen.

Here are some things a buyer will look out for when dealing with the purchase of a home. The buyer will consider the following:

• Exactly what property is included in the sale? Lighting fixtures, drapes or blinds, refrigerators, stoves, washing machines and dryers are often problem areas.
• Is the neighborhood quiet, friendly? Are the homes well kept?
• Are there any development plans that will affect the property?
• The inspection report - are there any substantial problems with the house?
• Real estate taxes - what are the current property taxes, and what impact will your purchase have on the taxes?

Another issue that raises concern regarding buyer appeal is that sellers often mistakenly think that viewing empty properties will give the buyers an accurate sense of the space available. On the contrary, it is more difficult to really judge the size of a room without furniture and other objects as reference points. An empty room even allows buyers to focus on negative details instead of getting a sense of the overall space and the flow of each room to the next. Buyers need to ask themselves the question, “Can I see myself in this home?” Therefore, staging really helps buyers envision themselves in the space.

The idea of “staging” a home to make it look alluring to buyers has become popular during the last decade, as manifested by the proliferation of numerous home staging companies offering advice about how to make the house more attractive to buyers. Check out next’s months article about “Staging a Home.”

When selling your home with myself, Debbie Solano, your agent keep in mind what buyers look for, or look out for before coming to look at your home in the Tulsa, Broken Arrow, Claremore Oklahoma areas.